[UNBRICK] HTC Unbricking Project

[dexter93]

We are proud to announce that the Vivid, Raider and Velocity is now UNbrickable. Users with the QHSUSB_DLOAD issue can now fully recover their phones and get them fully functional.

​

Note: This will fix only devices which were bricked by turning S ON. And bricks caused by a damaged hboot via interrupted OTA update/RUU flash on a S-ON device. Any devices bricked with other ways are currently *not* supported. We are working on it

The "core" of the unbricking project dev team:
MOVZX
RussianBear
Fuses
Dexter93
Testing stuff and irc support:
globatron
Deceptivechaos
dburgd84
Snake_skw
Other stuff:
dmcb123
xIndirect
Hawke84​

Thanks to trevE, xHausx and the rest of the evo3d team that gave us the basic info to work on and made us curious to see if we could get something out of it. Also thanks to ief and his team @revolutionary for helping us understand the bootloaders better. We should also not forget to thank cxb01 of malshenzu.com and xda members arthurire and untrueparadox who helped in translation.

 

[dexter93]

Prerequisites

• a linux box/live cd with automount disabled and without unity
• the appropriate package for the device
• the latest RUU for your device
• a device bricked by writing security flag 3 with an unsigned hboot, or caused by a damaged hboot via interrupted OTA update/RUU flash on a S-ON device
• a usb cable
• some basic linux experience
• patience

DISCLAIMER: We do NOT guarantee that this method will work for you, or that it is flawless. We are also not responsible if your phone is completely dead after the procedure, or your house burns down because your phone exploded. You are doing this in YOUR OWN RISK.

Instructions​

NEW: Detailed video on the process. Its displaying the process on a Sensation, but its pretty much the same thing. Thanks to kgs1992

1. Boot the linux box and download the appropriate package for the device.
2. Extract the package in the home directory
3. Open up a terminal
4. Remove SIM, microSD card and battery and connect the device using the USB cable. This procedure must be done without battery
5. Detect the device using the script provided. Type this in the terminal
   

   ./brickdetect.sh

   You should get something like sdX. We are interested on that "X"
6. Unplug the usb cable from the device
7. Backup the hboot currently in the phone by using this command. Plug the device in ONLY when asked to
   

   sudo ./emmc_recover --backup b_hboot.img --device /dev/sdX12

   Replace the "X" with the letter the script gave you
8. Follow the on-screen instructions from emmc_recover
9. Hexdump the b_hboot to check the hboot version
   

   hexdump -C b_hboot.img |less

   The output should be like this:
   

   00000000  05 00 00 00 03 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 10 40  |...............@|
   00000010  d8 fc 0f 00 d8 fb 0f 00  d8 fb 1f 40 00 01 00 00  |...........@....|
   00000020  d8 fc 1f 40 00 00 00 00  12 00 00 ea 31 2e 38 33  |...@........1.83|
   00000030  2e 30 30 31 31 00 00 00  38 32 36 30 20 53 50 4c  |.0011...8260 SPL|
   00000040  00 00 00 00 00 f0 20 e3  53 48 49 50 00 00 00 00  |...... .SHIP....|
   00000050  00 f0 20 e3 00 f0 20 e3  48 42 4f 4f 54 2d 38 32  |.. ... .HBOOT-82|
   00000060  36 30 00 00 00 f0 20 e3  39 34 61 63 34 34 62 66  |60.... .94ac44bf|

   This is the typical hex of a hboot. We are interested to check if that is the hboot partition and if it is, to get to know the version. In this case it is 1.83
   
   
   Side note on the hboots for the Holiday
   Hboot 1.85.2525 is the ICS Juopunutbear hboot based on 1.85.0025. In this package it comes as "hol1.85ics" - use that in the version name instead of "1.85"
   Hboot 1.85.2121 is the GB Juopunutbear hboot based on 1.85.0021. In this package it comes as "hol1.85gb" - use that in the version name instead of "1.85"
   ​
10. If in the above step you failed to identify the hboot, unplug all devices connected to that pc, reboot and try again
11. Unplug the device
12. Check again it is the right version, because if you do a mistake here, you won't be able to go back
    You can only flash the same version as the one in the device.
    
    
    !!!!!DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLASH ANOTHER VERSION OR DOWNGRADE!!!IT HAS BEEN PROVEN FATAL!!!!
13. Flash the hboot on the device. Replace "V.VV" with hboot version (eg. 1.83, 1.84, 1.85gb, 1.85ics) and "X" with the one you got from the detect script. Plug the device in ONLY when asked to
    

    sudo ./emmc_recover --flash holV.VV.nb0 --device /dev/sdX12 --backupafter hboot_f.nb0

14. Follow the on-screen instructions from emmc_recover. A successful flash should have this output:
    

    511+1 records in
    511+1 records out
    1047808 bytes(1.0 MB) copied

15. Unplug the device, put SIM, microSD card and battery in and power on
16. Congratulations, the device is unbricked.
17. FLASH THE RUU IMMEDIATELY AFTER RECOVERING!! The device will be unstable after the recovery if you don't flash it.

Notes on the procedure:​

• If the device doesn't power on, get a copy of the hboot_f.nb0 and b_hboot.img (should be located in the home directory) and contact us
• The connection between the device and the pc will be unstable, and will time out. You have to be quick when doing the above, specially while flashing. If the connection times out don't panic, just unplug and replug the device
• Unity and automount are known to cause issues in ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10. We recommend getting rid of both, or use a 12.04, or 10.04/.10 liveCD
• USB3 ports do not work properly. Please plug the device in a USB2 port
• How to disable automount on ubuntu

  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.media-handling automount false

Downloads

For Vivid, Raider, Velocity ( Holiday):
32bit version MD5: 9172d77fb8a335675bf5ff3d64b9efc5
64bit version MD5: 3958de3729b7add72c0e3123d89745f7

Don't have a linux distro installed on your pc? We highly recommend this livecd
​

 

[davezaff]

Will this remedy those who are stuck in dl_mode?

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

 

[dexter93]

Will this remedy those who are stuck in dl_mode?

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

that depends on how you managed to brick it

 

[davezaff]

Factory reset in hboot....after flashing ics,
Then nada.....in dl mode ever since.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

 

[ideaLduK]

Factory reset in hboot....after flashing ics,
Then nada.....in dl mode ever since.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

Can you run fastboot commands? If you can, try fastboot oem rebootRUU , get the rom.zip from an RUU of your choice (assuming youre soff, otherwise use your carrier own RUU), put tue zip jn your fastboot dorectory, then use fastboot flash zip rom.zip (im not sure with this last command, please someone confirm)

Sent from my HTC Raider 4G LTE running ICS.

 

[davezaff]

No.....in qualcomm dl mode......fastboot will not work when it is in this mode. I believe jtag is needed but hopefully there is a way around it.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

 

[rajbsn]

This is great news!! Thanks a ton for bringing this to Vivid world.

I'm looking forward to it. I have a brick and like to try it

 

[lebmb]

stuck in ruu mode vivid, when plugged in it's black htc screen with 4 triangles, check pics
not sure how it got there, but i'm willing to guess that it had something to do with ics upgrade/attempt to s-off.
bootloader is locked, ics ruu stops at 34%
when flashing rom.zip from ruu through fastboot it stops here

(bootloader) start image[tz] unzipping for pre-update...
(bootloader) start image[tz] flushing...
(bootloader) signature checking...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,100
FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immediately)
finished. total time: 116.140s

Fastboot getvar all returns this
fastboot getvar all
(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.85.0025
(bootloader) version-baseband: N/A
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: 0360
(bootloader) version-main: 3.26.502.54
(bootloader) serialno: REMOVED
(bootloader) imei: REMOVED
(bootloader) product: holiday
(bootloader) platform: HBOOT-8260
(bootloader) modelid: PH3910000
(bootloader) cidnum: CWS__001
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 3861mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: RUU
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: b215ac78
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.527s

looks like no radio, lol interesting
hopefully this can help, if not i will have to send to HTC but they had my incredible S for a month now with no solution yet lol so i dont wana wait another month for this guy.
ready to give this a shot

 

[dexter93]

No.....in qualcomm dl mode......fastboot will not work when it is in this mode. I believe jtag is needed but hopefully there is a way around it.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

This is a quite unexpected behavior and usually it is caused by dodgy hardware,or other unknown factors. You can try this method, but I am pretty sure it won't work for you

stuck in ruu mode vivid, when plugged in it's black htc screen with 4 triangles, check pics
not sure how it got there, but i'm willing to guess that it had something to do with ics upgrade/attempt to s-off.
bootloader is locked, ics ruu stops at 34%
when flashing rom.zip from ruu through fastboot it stops here

(bootloader) start image[tz] unzipping for pre-update...
(bootloader) start image[tz] flushing...
(bootloader) signature checking...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,100
FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immediately)
finished. total time: 116.140s

Fastboot getvar all returns this
fastboot getvar all
(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.85.0025
(bootloader) version-baseband: N/A
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: 0360
(bootloader) version-main: 3.26.502.54
(bootloader) serialno: REMOVED
(bootloader) imei: REMOVED
(bootloader) product: holiday
(bootloader) platform: HBOOT-8260
(bootloader) modelid: PH3910000
(bootloader) cidnum: CWS__001
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 3861mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: RUU
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: b215ac78
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.527s

looks like no radio, lol interesting
hopefully this can help, if not i will have to send to HTC but they had my incredible S for a month now with no solution yet lol so i dont wana wait another month for this guy.
ready to give this a shot

You are stuck on the pre-update. When you see this

FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immediately)

you simply have to flash the rom.zip again

 

[lebmb]

This is a quite unexpected behavior and usually it is caused by dodgy hardware,or other unknown factors. You can try this method, but I am pretty sure it won't work for you

You are stuck on the pre-update. When you see this

FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immediately)

you simply have to flash the rom.zip again

I tried multiple times, with different computers and usb cables and nothing
also redownloaded ruu from football and htc

 

[bioan]

Factory reset in hboot....after flashing ics,
Then nada.....in dl mode ever since.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

Same here. Will your method work for us dexter? If you will ever need a beta tester I am here. Thank you.

Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

 

[deltaarmstrong2000]

If you ever need another beta tester, Im here as well. If i goes wrong so bad, I have a riff box to jtag it back.
Looking at a htc raider thats totally locked up from a customer who flashed the wrong kernel. He won't admit to whats he's done, so it's my project now.

 

[lebmb]

saw the amaze unbrick released and the OP getting updated lol time to get ubuntu ready LOL
Dexter if you feel that this won't help resolve my issue then i wont try it and just send it to htc but i'm hoping it will work to avoid doing all that
thanks awesome work

 

[DemonRagna]

I hope this will solve my problem. I had to switch to an iPhone and I'm not too fond of it because I had to get my SIM card chopped. Hopefully I will be able to use my Vivid once again.

 

[lightbiter]

jtag

If you ever need another beta tester, Im here as well. If i goes wrong so bad, I have a riff box to jtag it back.
Looking at a htc raider thats totally locked up from a customer who flashed the wrong kernel. He won't admit to whats he's done, so it's my project now.

I didn't think riff box supported the vivid yet?

 

[dexter93]

Release Bump!

Sorry for the wait, but HTC has really messed things up with the versioning in the Holiday
Everything you'll need is in the second post !

 

[rajbsn]

Great Work!!

I have just tried this and when I executed ./brickdetect.sh I got a message

The bricked device is on
Use the above node to perform operations using the emmc_recover tool

Any idea what should I do next?

 

[dexter93]

Great Work!!

I have just tried this and when I executed ./brickdetect.sh I got a message

The bricked device is on
Use the above node to perform operations using the emmc_recover tool

Any idea what should I do next?

That means that your phone isn't found. Check to see if it is a supported type of brick and if it is, have you got auto mounting and unity disabled and you are using a USB2 port?

Sent from my HTC Sensation

 

[davezaff]

How do I disable those settings?

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium