Phone Bricked ?

[Alexlv93]

Hi everyone !

Yesterday, I tried to install a new ROM (RR Android 7.1, the latest version).
I flashed the ROM with Gapps and rebooted the phone: I know the first boot is usually a bit long (15-20min according to my previous experience) but after 1h and no evolution, I decided to let the phone boot overnight.

This morning, it was still booting and when I plugged it to my PC and tried to transfer another ROM (to try again), it was no longer recognized ("the device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected")...

I also tried to plug the micro-SD card directly to my PC, it's not even recognized (nothing appears in the Computer window after being plugged, just the connect sound).
Drivers have been checked already.

So, basically, I have a OS-less phone that cannot receive any file from USB (mounted or not, MTP activated or not)
I still have access to Bootloader menu and Recovery.

Does anyone have an idea I haven't tried yet ? :fingers-crossed:

 

[redpoint73]

It's not bricked by any stretch.

First of all, you should have made a TWRP backup before trying to flash a ROM. You should always do this before a new ROM, root, or other mods; just a simple and golden "phone modding" rule to live by; so I don't know why so many folks neglect this step. If you had a TWRP backup, you could simply restore, have a working phone OS, and go from there.

When trying to read the MicroSD card, does you computer have a card reader built-in, or are you using a USB card reader? If the latter, try another, if you have one. They can be finicky, especially the cheap ones. You can even use an old working phone as an impromptu "card reader" in a pinch (I've done it a few times).

When connecting the phone to your PC, are you booted to TWRP when trying to copy/paste a new ROM? Can you connect by adb when in TWRP (you typically should be able to). If so, you can try to adb push a ROM, or alternately adb sideload a ROM.

Also, just FYI, if the phone is stuck for more than 10 or 15 minutes with no response after a ROM flash, you can conclude something is wrong, and go back into recovery, re-flash, try another gapps package (frequent cause of stuck boots after flashing an AOSP ROM in my experience), etc.

 

[Alexlv93]

Thanks for the reply ! That'll teach me a lesson...

The SD card reader is built-in to my PC.

I'm always booted to TWRP when connecting my phone, just tried the ADB Sideload command but nothing happens (except FAIL). Is there something I'm missing ?

 

[redpoint73]

Try to reinstall HTC drivers, and whatever adb/fastboot tools you are using. Try another USB port, and another cable.

Don't see anything that should prevent adb or just seeing internal storage from working. Usually just a case of drivers, etc.

Another thing you can try, assuming you are using Windows, go into Device Manager, find the device, and pick the option to manually select drivers. Then pick the generic Android MTP drivers. I sometimes have to do this to get my home PC to "see" the M8 on adb or to browse internal storage.

 

[Alexlv93]

When connecting the phone to your PC, are you booted to TWRP when trying to copy/paste a new ROM? Can you connect by adb when in TWRP (you typically should be able to). If so, you can try to adb push a ROM, or alternately adb sideload a ROM.

By the way, when not mounted. The phone DOES appear in "Computer" window but can't trasnfer anything in "Internal Storage" and my SD card shows up as a ~16Mb storage capacity while it's a 64Gb model...

 

[Alexlv93]

Try to reinstall HTC drivers, and whatever adb/fastboot tools you are using. Try another USB port, and another cable.

Don't see anything that should prevent adb or just seeing internal storage from working. Usually just a case of drivers, etc.

Another thing you can try, assuming you are using Windows, go into Device Manager, find the device, and pick the option to manually select drivers. Then pick the generic Android MTP drivers. I sometimes have to do this to get my home PC to "see" the M8 on adb or to browse internal storage.

Well I can still browse the folders of the phone (internal and external storage), there's just nothing in there anymore.
I tried everything, thank you very much for your help and time but I'm still stuck

 

[redpoint73]

Well I can still browse the folders of the phone (internal and external storage), there's just nothing in there anymore.
I tried everything, thank you very much for your help and time but I'm still stuck

Internal storage not showing anything, may indicate the storage is corrupted. Try going into TWRP, select Wipe, and tap the "Format data" button; and see if that helps. Obviously, any data will be lost during the format, but I think we're past that point anyway.

Although this wouldn't explain why you can't see anything on the SD card. Internal storage corruption happens fairly occasionally. But I've never seen it coincide with SD corruption/issues. So that part has me puzzled.

 

[Alexlv93]

Internal storage not showing anything, may indicate the storage is corrupted. Try going into TWRP, select Wipe, and tap the "Format data" button; and see if that helps. Obviously, any data will be lost during the format, but I think we're past that point anyway.

Although this wouldn't explain why you can't see anything on the SD card. Internal storage corruption happens fairly occasionally. But I've never seen it coincide with SD corruption/issues. So that part has me puzzled.

This morning I tried another ROM (Lineage) + Gapps and it worked just fine using ADB Sideload !

I can't thank you enough for your help, I was about to give up and buy a new phone :laugh:

Thank you very much !