# Bricked Bionic, Noob, Need serious help



## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

First let me apologize for being an absolute moron.

With that out of the way... let me try to recap my idiocy. I bought a Bionic through eBay and have owned it for a total of 1 day and already bricked it.

Basically.. it had 5.5.893 (I know it was 893), seemed great for the 10 minutes I actually tooled around it (after getting Verizon to put in a new Sim card and activate it and such).

So.. I had not yet even applied a gmail primary account or set anything up on the phone, and I got an update notice that .902 had been downloaded and would install, and was getting the message every hour.

Basically, I had been reading about rooting the phone and started panicking over the .902 update (mainly seeing the "forever" root option needing to be on .893)... so my master plan was to use an FXZ to wipe and reapply stock .893 without the .902 download file until I could root it with Forever root and then update to .902 again through an update (or a flash).

I downloaded the Motorola drivers (2.1 for 64-bit I think), I downloaded RSD Lite 5.5, I downloaded (from several different links) both

*targa_cdma_targa-user-2.3.4-5.5.1_84_DBN-55-110814-Verizon-US.tar* and	*bionic_minimal_fxz.tar*

I do not have ADB (or whatever it is, though I got some files with the PetesRoot tool I tried) running on my machine.

Tried the zip files, both... several times through the RSD Lite instructions on many of the threads.

The large file fails immediately after decompression, at Step 1.
The smaller file fails at Step 3 (system.img step I think).

I also tried the instructions from some thread that had me download fastboot exe and fastboot images zip (extracted) to the same folder (and I through a few adb files that I had also downloaded from Petes Root tool thing) and tried to run some fastboot command through a "terminal window" which I took to be the Run command in window / C prompt. So I navigated to the cd path and entered the instructions they said ({fastboot flash boot boot.img; fastboot flash system system.img; fastboot -w; fastboot reboot}) but that failed too.

So here I sit... a 1 day old bricked Bionic... it was not rooted before this mess, it was stock, no backups, no ability to put it into USB debugging (though I did it the first times I tried to Root, which didn't work, which led to the Fastboot Power/Down Volume thing, where I'm now stuck), it's just in the fastboot every time I power on, and none of the RSD things are working.

Anyone care to work with a noob on advice / salvaging the idiots phone? (and though I'm listing all these things like ADB, RSD, PetesRoot, Fastboot etc... please keep in mind I really have little knowledge of what they are behind the scenes)

Also... if this is not the right way to go about using or posting to the forums with this type of problem... please let me know the appropriate path/way to handle it.


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## disabled account (Nov 6, 2011)

Fyi you didn't have to forever root anything. 902 is rootable through Motofail.Search for the 902 fxz and try flashes in fastboot. There's no need anymore to go to 893 for any reason.

Sent from my AXI0M* AOKP using Tapatalk*


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

Would you mind giving the specifics on flashing 902 in fastboot? because everything I've tried has failed.

Also... something I forgot to mention... since it was an eBay purchase, the wall charger I got was not Motorola, so it's a Samsung USB cable I'm hooking up with... I saw some reference that it had to be the original Motorola cable. Any idea if that is true? Or if I should just buy a Motorola cable from a Verizon store?


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## disabled account (Nov 6, 2011)

FarmhouseVP said:


> Would you mind giving the specifics on flashing 902 in fastboot? because everything I've tried has failed.
> 
> Also... something I forgot to mention... since it was an eBay purchase, the wall charger I got was not Motorola, so it's a Samsung USB cable I'm hooking up with... I saw some reference that it had to be the original Motorola cable. Any idea if that is true? Or if I should just buy a Motorola cable from a Verizon store?


http://droidmodderx.com/bionic/fast-boot-files-for-the-bionic/
That's everything you'll need to know. As for the sammy cable. That I'm not sure about. I've only ever used my moto cable. Try everything in the droidmodderx tutorial first.

Sent from my AXI0M* AOKP using Tapatalk*


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

Sorry... I sort of went through this in my original post... I already tried that entire process... using the files listed in my original post, and they failed using RSD, It failed out during Step 1 of the flash process. That was the whole point of my Post... I've been trying to do the instructions on these threads, and it's not working, it's failing out for some reason. I installed the drivers, I installed RSD 5.5 (and tried 5.6 as well) and when I try to flash those FXZ files, it doesn't even get past Step 1 before it Fails out.

I need help in either figuring out why it is failing out (which is why I gave the history of how my phone got stuck in Fastboot) or a different avenue to try.


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## disabled account (Nov 6, 2011)

FarmhouseVP said:


> Sorry... I sort of went through this in my original post... I already tried that entire process... using the files listed in my original post, and they failed using RSD, It failed out during Step 1 of the flash process. That was the whole point of my Post... I've been trying to do the instructions on these threads, and it's not working, it's failing out for some reason. I installed the drivers, I installed RSD 5.5 (and tried 5.6 as well) and when I try to flash those FXZ files, it doesn't even get past Step 1 before it Fails out.
> 
> I need help in either figuring out why it is failing out (which is why I gave the history of how my phone got stuck in Fastboot) or a different avenue to try.


you tried to rsd 902? Pretty sure op said you tried 893.By process of elimination I'd say it's your cable. Try a moto one next. Other than that I've never had an issue using rsd before from 886-902.

Sent from my AXI0M* AOKP using Tapatalk*


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

I'm pretty sure I did... but maybe it wasn't a real 902, so I'll try that one again. I just deinstalled the drivers and RSD, so I'm going to spell out what I'm going to do if that's alright, so you can nay or ok the process as it "should" work.

My phone was on 893 before I forced it into Fastboot (Power,Volume Down and haven't been back in the phone since), the phone downloaded the 902 update but did not install (that I know of) when I did the Fastboot to try and flash to an 893 without the 902 download update... that's where the phone was when I Fastbooted it, and bricked it into Fastboot loop.

1) Download the Motorola drivers - v5.2.1 64-bit (I am running Windows 7 64 bit) from thread

2) Download RSD Lite version 5.6 from thread

3) Have zip file *VRZ_XT875_5.9.902.XT875.Verizon.en.US_CFC_01.xml* in a folder on the desktop unzipped

4) My phone currently has the battery taken out of it (so it wouldn't lose charge while I investigated what to do... so I would put the battery back in, and press Power button which would put me in a "failed" Fastboot state (that screen is the first and only ting to come up).

5) Plug the USB cable into my phone (the status does change in Fastboot to recognize the connection)

6) Launch RSD Lite

7) Check that the phone connects to RSD Lite

8) Hit the "..." button and navigate to the zip file, highlighting it and opening it.

9) Choose the middle option of Uncompress and Flash

At that point, it should do it's thing correctly? (This is where it has failed at the first Step every time I ran it... other than the time I ran the "smaller" flash file listed in my original post, which failed at 3rd step)

Can someone confirm that this process "should" work and I'll try it with the 902 FXZ file?


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

Sorry.. step 3) should have it as the file is in a folder on the desktop STILL ZIPPED (not unzipped)


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## disabled account (Nov 6, 2011)

FarmhouseVP said:


> Sorry.. step 3) should have it as the file is in a folder on the desktop STILL ZIPPED (not unzipped)


There you go. Working now?

Sent from my AXI0M* AOKP using Tapatalk*


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## Ryfermadness (Dec 12, 2011)

If you are using rsd and you can't get it to work try using a different computer cause rsd for some reason does not like my HP laptop. Used my friends Toshiba laptop and worked fine

Sent from my AXI0M* AOKP using RootzWiki*


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

lol no, I wanted to make sure those are the steps as it "should" work (so thank you for giving the nod that the process is correct)... I'll go try it now.

Ryfer... that's interesting... though I'm on my desktop which should be pretty solid... Systemax fairly high components. If it keeps failing, maybe I'll switch to my work laptop which is a Dell.


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## disabled account (Nov 6, 2011)

FarmhouseVP said:


> lol no, I wanted to make sure those are the steps as it "should" work (so thank you for giving the nod that the process is correct)... I'll go try it now.
> 
> Ryfer... that's interesting... though I'm on my desktop which should be pretty solid... Systemax fairly high components. If it keeps failing, maybe I'll switch to my work laptop which is a Dell.


Maybe you've got the wrong drivers.

Sent from my AXI0M* AOKP using Tapatalk*


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## Timmy10shoes (Jul 1, 2011)

Since you I have a flash failure at step 1 (cdt). You will have to moto-fastboot the 901/902 cdt.bin. Then you will be able to rsd lite the 902 fxz.


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

Timmy10shoes said:


> Since you I have a flash failure at step 1 (cdt). You will have to moto-fastboot the 901/902 cdt.bin. Then you will be able to rsd lite the 902 fxz.


Even though my phone isn't in 901 or 902 (was in 893 when it bricked)? That seems odd... How do I go about doing that? I assume there's a thread... I'll do some searching in the mean time.


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## Timmy10shoes (Jul 1, 2011)

FarmhouseVP said:


> Even though my phone isn't in 901 or 902 (was in 893 when it bricked)? That seems odd... How do I go about doing that? I assume there's a thread... I'll do some searching in the mean time.


You could moto-fastboot the 893 cdt also. But since your going to 902, I figured the 902 cdt is just as good. Read the OP http://rootzwiki.com/topic/13485-unbrick-your-bionic-here-windowsmaclinux-support/


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

Timmy10shoes said:


> You could moto-fastboot the 893 cdt also. But since your going to 902, I figured the 902 cdt is just as good. Read the OP http://rootzwiki.com...clinux-support/


OK... so I read that string... and it appears that is the attempt to Flash using Flashboot (which is where my phone is stuck) through a command prompt rather than RSD Lite... is that correct? After unzipping the files and gathering them in a folder yourself (rather than RSD Lite uncompressing them)? And changing the existing CDT.bin file to CDT.bin.bak and plopping the newly downloaded cdt.bin file into the gathered data folder?

If so... here's what I have in that Flash folder so far:

*********************************************************************
allow-mbmloader-flashing-mbm.bin
boot.img
cdrom
cdt.bin.bak (renamed)
cdt.bin (downloaded and transferred in)
device_tree.bin
ebr
emstorage.img
grfs.img
lbl
logo.bin
mbm.bin
mbmloader.bin
mbr
preinstall.img
radio.img
recovery.img
system.img
VRZ_XT875_5.5.893.XT875.Verizon.en.US_CFC_01.xml (this was the name of the file I unzipped as well)
******************************************************************************************************************************************************

also threw in fastboot.exe because I didn't understand the "moto-fastboot" part of the instructions in the thread you provided:

[Also move the moto-fastboot files from the moto-fastboot folder (from the flash_me zip) to your folder]

What are the moto-fastboot files / where are they from?

I opened the DOS window application for a C:\prompt and went to follow these instructions in the string:

1. open a command prompt on your pc
2. cd desktop/Your folder name
3. moto-fastboot flash cdt.bin cdt.bin enter
4. moto-fastboot erase cache enter
5. moto-fastboot reboot enter
Don't type enter, just click enter

1&2 were fine, got to the folder where I had what was listed above, but at #3 I typed in "C:\etc...\Folder\moto-fastboot flash cdt.bin cdt.bin" [and hit enter] and got
and error that moto-fastboot wasn't a valid operation or something.

Where am I going wrong?


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## LDubs (Nov 8, 2011)

[Also move the moto-fastboot files from the moto-fastboot folder (from the flash_me zip) to your folder]

What are the moto-fastboot files / where are they from?

open the flashme.zip, they should be in there.


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

LDubs said:


> [Also move the moto-fastboot files from the moto-fastboot folder (from the flash_me zip) to your folder]
> 
> What are the moto-fastboot files / where are they from?
> 
> open the flashme.zip, they should be in there.


I thought it might be part of a larger file pull... and tried to download that FlashMe file... but the link is no longer good, gives an error.


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## FarmhouseVP (Feb 25, 2012)

Please Note:

My Boinic is now up and running... but only because a very nice forum person offered to help, wound up setting up a system share, and they got the folder together with everything necessary, flashed the phone through terminal piece by piece, and got it up and running (for which I will be sending them a thank you donation







).

From the look of the folder (and transcript of terminal flashes, which I kept for future use) there is no way I could have done that on my own.. and from what I could see in the threads, nothing that comprehensive (which would make sense, since it was ridiculous).

After his help, I was on .902 and was able to Root the phone via Motofail method, which seems to have worked. I also went forward with Safestrap to make a full backup immediately (man those file are huge) and recently got Titanium and Root Checker to start looking into backing up Apps and such once I get the main Apps I want downloaded.

Thank you all for all your efforts, much appreciated from a Newbie (moron). I would love to know what I did wrong... but from the sounds of it, there's no way to pinpoint it.

Thanks again, and look forward to learning some things from the forum and as I go along.

Cheers


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## cguy1213 (Jan 13, 2012)

Hey ran into something similar and bionic is now bricked, can you direct me to person who helped you? Thanks


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