# How to recover from bricking your phone - The Easy Way



## Neph (Feb 4, 2012)

*Edit: Very few people seem to be getting this to work properly. Until further notice, I am calling this a busted method. I will be working on a better method and hopefully have it out by mid-april.*

Ok, this method assumes that you can still get into Download Mode on the phone. If you can't, you're at full brick status.

Steps:
Grab the LG Update Tool from here and install the program :
http://www.lg.com/us...s/phone-support

Put your phone into "Download Mode":
Pull battery, replace battery, hold down vol up + vol down, then while still holding insert usb cable

Run the LG Update Tool:
Start Bar -> All Programs -> LGMobile Support Tool -> LGMobile update

If the program finds your phone you are in good shape, if not, you will need to trouble shoot your issue (missing driver, loose cable, etc)

In the LGMobile Support Tool Program click on Customer Support -> Recovery Phone

Choose Model : LGVS920
Input your IMEI from your phone or box into the S/N box and then click "check"

A box will pop up confirming your info. If all goes well a new window will pop up about downloading software. The file is about 800MB. Let it run it's course and you should be back up and running with a factory fresh phone.

If anyone runs into issues using this, please let me know. I stopped at the downloading step as I do not feel like re-doing all my system settings for a 5th time.


----------



## magdelaine (Mar 5, 2012)

I am trying this method with no luck. Everything works until Phone Update runs after choosing "Recovery Phone" from the menu. The phone is displaying "Download Mode" on the screen and the LG Mobile Support app says the phone is connected. However in Phone Update it says "Problem with communication between cell phone and PC" and says to unplug, pull battery, power on, and restart. I updated the drivers with the app just to make sure I had the right ones. The only thing I haven't done is restart my PC. I suppose I'll do that next.

I have no idea what is really wrong with the phone. I rooted it last week and had no trouble, but last night it restarted on its own and got stuck on the "4G" image. I would imagine this means it's stuck in boot loop? So I thought I would try this.

Any ideas would be appreciated!


----------



## magdelaine (Mar 5, 2012)

I tried restarting computer, doing all steps again, no love.


----------



## magdelaine (Mar 5, 2012)

I'm trying this next: http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-spectrum/155149-flashing-lg-signed-firmware.html


----------



## magdelaine (Mar 5, 2012)

Interestingly, I got this firmware flashing to work. However it's still stuck on the 4G. I guess it's the operating system? Was there an OTA update?

And does the firmware flash remove root?


----------



## MrB206 (Nov 14, 2011)

Yes. Flashing or taking an ota that isn't rooted will remove root.

Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk


----------



## magdelaine (Mar 5, 2012)

OK, even though I couldn't get this method to work, I did flash the firmware and when I did a factory reset the phone came back to life. So it's not perfect but moving from rooted to not and back again seems pretty simple.


----------



## MrB206 (Nov 14, 2011)

According to Dan, the gent who found the exploit for root, factory reset WILL fix any bootlooping. Please report back here how you go to factory reset... some of us are new to LGs, so we might not know the technique to get into phone recovery for this model.


----------



## real0325 (Nov 6, 2011)

magdelaine said:


> OK, even though I couldn't get this method to work, I did flash the firmware and when I did a factory reset the phone came back to life. So it's not perfect but moving from rooted to not and back again seems pretty simple.


so how did you get the firmware to flash.


----------



## MrB206 (Nov 14, 2011)

With some bootloops and issues, holding VOL DOWN and POWER will bring up the 'hard restore' mode that will restore the system partition to stock. If you truly brick it (like won't power on), you're S.O.L., because the phone doesn't have a phone recovery mode like Moto phones do.


----------



## real0325 (Nov 6, 2011)

MrB206 said:


> With some bootloops and issues, holding VOL DOWN and POWER will bring up the 'hard restore' mode that will restore the system partition to stock. If you truly brick it (like won't power on), you're S.O.L., because the phone doesn't have a phone recovery mode like Moto phones do.


i just tried it no luck. im looping back into cwm im checking the threads now, i remember seeing this.


----------



## Neph (Feb 4, 2012)

If you have CWM recovery installed and did the button combo, it will not send you into factory reset mode. It will instead send you into CWM recovery. This also plants a flag on the "misc" partition which will cause you to continually boot loop into CWM. Use the file I have listed at the bottom of the first post here to clear this flag.

http://rootzwiki.com/topic/20439-cwm-touch-recovery-for-lg-spectrum-ported-from-koushs-release-for-nitro/

If you are not on the touch recovery, I also recommend upgrading to it as it supports nandroid backup/recovery properly.


----------



## real0325 (Nov 6, 2011)

Neph said:


> If you have CWM recovery installed and did the button combo, it will not send you into factory reset mode. It will instead send you into CWM recovery. This also plants a flag on the "misc" partition which will cause you to continually boot loop into CWM. Use the file I have listed at the bottom of the first post here to clear this flag.
> 
> http://rootzwiki.com...ease-for-nitro/
> 
> If you are not on the touch recovery, I also recommend upgrading to it as it supports nandroid backup/recovery properly.


yes i have touch recovery,i love it.


----------

