WARNING - Avoiding Bricked Phones + RSD Lite Tutorial

Want to downgrade Android version using the RAZR i? Be careful, there are many bricks and things you should know before you do this. Bricked means that the phone is not working or responding to official manufacture software or resetting, essentially a 'hard brick' phone is normally not able to be repaired by the user without exchanging parts inside the phone.

Avoiding Bricked Phones
1. One of the most important rules after you have downgraded/unlocked bootloader is do not accept an Over the Air (OTA) update! Users are reporting that it bricks phones!
2. Do not downgrade from Jelly Bean to Ice Cream Sandwich using RSD Lite, this defnitely results in a hard-bricked phone that cannot be recovered with software. Downgrading using a fastboot can be done yet it is still risky - there are a lot of bricked phones.

Downgrading Jelly Bean to Ice Cream Sandwich
Some users are able to do this while avoiding bricks. There is a huge amount of bricks related to this though. Really know the phone and recovery methods before you try to do it.

Recovering Over The Air brick
If you have unlocked your bootloader and then receive a message notification on your phone or computer saying that there is an update, don't update! This is resulting in a 'soft brick'. If you have a soft brick, download RSD lite (linked below) and flash a ROM.

The Most Common Type of RAZR i Brick
What does the screen say? "Service Required, Code Corrupt"
How? I get about 10 messages per day with this, it's becoming easier to see how the bricks are happening. 1. Using a homemade fastboot or RSD to downgrade from Jelly Bean to Ice Cream Sandwich. Next, the user accepts a Motorola update (called Over The Air). This creates a brick. Then users are trying a popular "unbrick" method which unbricks, then hard bricks. I think the modifcations and downgrade procedures are somehow incompatible, they don't work well together, it is producing the worst kind of brick and it happens here *every day*.

Here I will add links to bricked phones because of the downgrade, there are many more RAZR i threads for bricking from modifications and root in addition to these:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2185954
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2126440
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2197005
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2180972
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2191234
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2189185
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2184877
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2157162
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2146350
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2123324
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2173614
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2162505
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2018998
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1945176
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2150770
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2147442
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2095661
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2089559
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2140305
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2138640
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2136962
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2131564
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2127864
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2134391
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2130903
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2121392
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2119961


Still want to downgrade? Make sure you have ready enough about recovery etc. and note the huge number of bricks after downgrading Jelly Bean to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Flashing an Original ROM with Motorola's RSD Lite Flash Tool

Use this tool entirely at your own risk. If you modify your phone using this tool, it is your responsibility. This tool is intended to be used by those that have read about ROMs/flashing, including the XDA University guides on this. This should not be used unless you are familiar with these processes. There are many, many new users with bricked phones so don't take this casually! Using this tool to flash wipes all user data. This method of flashing is not known to fix "service required, code corrupt".

The source of this guide is the official Motorola document on this in addition to my own usage.

1. You need to make sure you have the Motorola drivers for the phone installed. You can get them here.
2. You need RSD Lite. You can download that here.
3. You need to download the original ROM that you want to flash. You can download one from here.
4. Your phone should be charged to at least 50%, but I recommend a full charge.
5. Start RSD Lite. Now put the phone in fastboot mode. Connect the phone to the computer.
6. Press the 'browse' button and select the ROM to flash. Your phone should be visible in the lower box on the screen. The ROM information should be visible in the top box to the right.
7. Click the start button. You select the ROM you want and de-compress the ROM. Now flash. When it is finished, it should say that it has completed or failed.


-----Reserved-----

Bricked Moto? Fastboot not responding so can't use RSD lite? Problems switching between Android versions, accepted Over The Air update with unlocked bootloader?

Check your mail. :good:

When people use that unbrick solution for a 'soft brick', it seems to be 'hard bricking the device' entirely. Personally, I wouldn't use that method for anyone who hasn't used it before.

Some users reported that some lines of code in jb fastboots trigger the lock too. But either way, I agree, this phone is quite risky to downgrade!

r1c47 said:

Excuse my ignorance, but what reason would someone have to downgrade from a "stock" JB to ICS?

I want to know because I'm getting the notification from my carrier that the OTA update is available and I want to know if there's any reason I should not. Currently I'm looking for ways to keep my root(ICS) going into JB and I'm reading about otarootkeep as an option, but I'm wondering if after I upgrade and it doesn't work(lets hope it does), if there's an alternative to root JB without unlocking the bootloader(the same as I have it right now).

Thanks for any replies.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Hi. Well, one of the major reasons that people listed was battery problems. I have to admit, with ICS, my battery lasted 2-3 days. With JB, it last about 1 day. Many people said it was Google Now in JB. I always kept that off, and yet my battery was just 1 day. I did all of the usual things, formatting SD, wiping everything, factory reset, and a lot more, and still just 1 day. There are threads about that, a lot of people not happy with JB battery performance. I know other people had other issues, but just one I had in common with most people was battery.

OK I know there are a few threads on this, I found one about ICS/JB performance that you may be interested in reading: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1943058&page=3

Personally, I don't think there's a 'wrong' option, but do know that downgrading from JB to ICS on this phone is creating a LOT of bricked phones. So it would be safer to choose one OS or the other! Good luck!

matheusgallo said:

Nice tuto guy!

but you can add information to unbrick to your tuto...

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

No problem! I know for a fact that OTA bricks can be solved with RSD Lite, so that's one positive note! I'll update as soon as I can.

I have not seen those messages before, I cannot figure out how you got them.

Did you install any modifications at all in the few days after your unlocked the bootloader? If you only unlocked the bootloader and rooted, there should be no problem. Since there is a bootloop problem, there must be a conflict. If you have made any more modifications it will likely be them. I would have said try RSD Lite but if that didn't do anything...p.s. do you have a nandroid backup? Did you flash a recovery? Can you get into recovery?