[DEV TIP]How I Got Out Of A Semi-Brick

[bigrushdog]

I almost had a heart attack last night doing some kernel work. This is what happened, and how I got out of it.

I had just finished compiling a kernel I was working on and was excited to flash it and give it a run. So I built the boot.img and did

adb reboot bootloader

I got into the bootloader and

fastboot flash boot [B][I]boot.zip[/I][/B]
fastboot reboot

Working quickly, a got a little sloppy. Most unfortunately, I had a boot.zip in the same folder as the boot.img so boot.zip got flashed to the boot partition. Upon reboot, I got the usual splash screen but the upper left hand corner indicated I was in "RSD Mode 3". I pressed and held Vol up + power to get into bootloader but that was unresponsive. All I could do was press Vol Down + power which brought me back to the same state. I was unable to issue fastboot commands from here as well. This is what I did to fix it.

While I was in "RSD Mode 3" I did

fastboot flash boot boot.img

Even though there was no response from the device, I pressed Vol Down + power until the screen went black. I then quickly pressed and held Vol Up + power. The device then went into the bootloader, received the queued command from fastboot, and flashed the boot.img. Finally, I did

fastboot reboot

and was back in the game.

Guys, I think the moral of the story is to slow down and be careful with fastboot. You can bet i'll be a little more careful

 

[PaulG1488]

good post I'm sure this will help devs in the future

 

[diaa08]

way to stay calm under pressure lol. good info.

 

[ilogik]

Small world, I used to live in Fontana for 25 years and moved to NY couple of years ago Oh and thanks for the tip

 

[ejlax]

Ran into this today, i had a similar, but different experience..hope this helps

Once i got into the RSD 3 mode, fastboot commands were basically dead...all i would get was <waiting for device>...

in order to get out, i had to hold BOTH VOL+ and VOL- and Power at the same time, then as soon as the screen turned off, I had to press VOL- and power at the same time to get to a 'regular' looking boot screen. I saw regular because there was no text at the top ofthe screen; however fastboot commands would work here. Because i FUBAR'd a kernel install, i just did

fastboot flash boot boot.img

fastboot reboot

and voila...it was alive again

a bit scary though

 

[Geobot]

Ok, so I definitely know the heart attack feeling, and hopefully someone here can help me out. I got my Xoom today(wifi), and went looking for a root. I found a link to a root here that -said- it worked for both 3g and wifi models(found out later that it doesn't, obviously). So, I flashed the boot image, and came up with the RSD message. At that point all fastboot and adb capability was lost, and I can't seem to get it back.

Here's what happens with the following button combo's:

Hold Power+VolUp and release on screen-black: Motorola splash screen(dual core etc) with no text in corner

Hold Power+VolUp until after the splash comes up: splash with "Starting RSD protocol support 3"

Hold Power+VolUp and then hold VolDown immediatedly afterward: Splash screen with "Starting Fastboot protocol support."

Hold Power+VolUp and then VolDown after waiting a second: Splash screen with NvFlash/RSD/Fastboot menu

Hold Power+VolUp and then press VolUp again: Splash with "Starting RSD protocol support 3"

If I choose Fastboot from the menu, it just sits at the "starting fastboot protocol support".

If I choose RSD, it gives me the "starting RSD protocol support 3"

If I choose NvFlash, it says "entering nvFlash (something) and the screen immediately goes black and the notification led comes on (sits there until reboot)

No other button combinations seem to do anything. Holding Power+VolDown doesn't do anything from any mode, and Power+VolUp+VolDown acts just like Power+VolUp.

In any mode, I can't issue fastboot or adb commands. Fastboot simply says <waiting for device> for anything. I tried the advice above, to queue up a "good" boot.img (from here at xda), but it doesn't recognize it on a reboot from/to any mode I can get to. I've tried each about 20-30 times now, and I'm about ready to test the thing's shatter-resistance with my fist, so any help here would be -greatly- appreciated.

 

[Geobot]

Quick update to previous post: Resolved!!

My advice? If you get stuck unable to fastboot or adb in linux, try it in windows. I hadn't booted into win for over a year, so it never occured to me until I saw someone mention it in the Tiamat thread. Even a fresh JDK/SDK install in Ubuntu didn't work for me. I didn't have any tools or SDK's installed in my winXP partition, but after a quick install, it worked first time, so now I'm the happy owner of a rooted Wifi Xoom with SD card.

Once again, the XDA forum saves the day. I love this place.

 

[cvela]

I recommend everyone keep a backup copy of their system.img around just in case too. I was going nuts after messing with my framework-res.apk file to get SMS working (for the verizon web account activiation message). I used root explorer, and BAM! crash, crash, FC, FC, then stuck at the moto logo at boot. I couldnt get it back with just a boot.img flash. I went for broke and found a post of the HI66 system.img. it was HUGE, dont know if thats what I needed. but flashed that and I was back in business as nothing else was working and couldnt get ADB to take to push the old framework-res.apk.

 

[jai134]

I have a similar issue. I have tried for over three hours now to understand why I cannot reboot into fastboot. It seems lika I have lost both fastboot and NVflash. Only RSD mode and a logo screen without text. Can't shut it down with powerbutton or factory reset. I tried to root it with a 3g boot.img whitch was terribly wrong on a wifi-only xoom and I'm now trying to flash a stock wifi boot.img. It just sits there on the M dual core screen.
What can I do from RSD mode 3?
EDIT: I have a feeling that it has freezed on that logo screen. I want to try a hard reset and the only way for me is to try to first shut it down then power it on again. Don't know if it helps but it is silly to be unable to stop it. How can I shut it down?

 

[kerbdog0]

I've tried all the suggestions above with no luck
Will try a windows machines tonight to see if that will help, but I fear I will need to send my Xoom back to mfg for rework

 

[hawkinsmp]

may seem a stupid suggestion but what if you let the battery go dead. it will turn off. Then connect to power supply and do a fast boot restart, holding power button and vol down.
Just a thought!

 

[jai134]

I will try but I think I already tried that. It seems like boot and recovery is dead. I tried to flash the 3g .sbf file today. Thought that an already bricked tab couldn't be more bricked and perhaps it would restore the recovery or boot but RSD Lite couldn't do it. It's unvisible for a computer. I've tried both win7 and my Arch Linux box. The device is dead. Hopefully they wont have to replace the motherboard. I'm sending it for repair on Monday.

 

[dogma444]

mines bricked also says
failed image lnx 0x0002
starting rsd mode 2
i can get it in the fastboot protocol mode with the - button and power but cmd window says waiting on device. my started after i did an fastboot oem lock with a bad kernel.

 

[orionshock]

mines bricked also says
failed image lnx 0x0002
starting rsd mode 2
i can get it in the fastboot protocol mode with the - button and power but cmd window says waiting on device. my started after i did an fastboot oem lock with a bad kernel.

iirc the Failed Image lnx 0x0002 is due to locking the boot loader with custom stuff.

Unplug xoom usb
boot into fastboot
plug in xoom usb
fastboot oem unlock

 

[chaz03]

iirc the Failed Image lnx 0x0002 is due to locking the boot loader with custom stuff.

Unplug xoom usb
boot into fastboot
plug in xoom usb
fastboot oem unlock

Man that just sound to easy to work. ADB has no clue the device is.....wel, a device! Its like my xoom de-evolutionized to a primitive state and is suffering from tourrets. Anyway command typed in adb gives you back < waiting for device >. I've tried just about all the techniques here on the forums. And the people who claim to have been brought back to life are not victims of this "RSD mode 2" Im pretty sure this is like a failsafe if you blow up the original bootloader, 3. IDK though, pretty sure they are going to require some hardware replacements. Im not sure people are recognizing the degree of our bricks. These are what appear to be real BRICKS. no "soft" ness up in here. straight up cement

 

[chaz03]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1041192

adb wait-for-device && adb reboot recovery

tried this command and seemed pretty slick but, still nothing

 

[zyexx]

Same thing here, was there any solution?

 

[Boris Sidis]

Give this a try:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1079784

 

[imthere]

Please, I have same problem, but I can just reset it by pressing and holding Vol Up + Power On. When I press Vol Down + Power Down, nothing happens. If I press Vol Down when it restarts, it doesn't show me the message but shows the Motorola Dual Core logo and stops. Even in this situation I can't comunicate via usb. Now it just turn off when the battery is totally low.

 

[Greenblob]

I CAN boot into fastboot mode and issue fastboot commands from CMD. apparently mine is booting into RMD 3 mode or whatever it's called. when I boot normally (just hold down power button, I get the moto dual-core screen, and then it boots into the Clockwork Recovery Mod... PLEASE HELP