Root [AT&T] Did I just brick my new LG G2 ?

[adt2]

Okay, so I'll be the first to admit, I'm relatively new to Android and extremely new to rooting and all it entails. That having been said, I recently bought an LG G2 to replace a Nexus 5 that suffered an accident, and quite frankly I don't care for the G2. LG's software blows, the phone is just slightly too big to be used with one hand, and the back is so slippery it's hard to hold.

Doing my best to remedy one of those problems, I decided to root it and try to install stock Android so the phone would at least behave like my Nexus 5. Got it rooted okay (at least according to the root checker app), but was never able to get any kind of recovery installed on it AFAIK (tried several walk-throughs, but none of them were successful).

This morning, I get a notification that there's a software update available, and I hit okay, and shortly thereafter I get the LG logo followed by some tiny white text at the top left corner of the screen - something about a boot error and/or boot certification verify / secure boot error, and then the screen goes blank and that's that.

I've tried hard resetting (volume down+power button, release power button at LG logo, press power button again, and select "Factory Reset") and I get the same error. I've tried holding the volume up button and plugging the phone in to my PC to put it in download mode and nothing at all happens (no error, no download mode, nada).

Any ideas here? I have no problem factory resetting this sucker, as all of my data is backed up elsewhere...but I need to do something to bring it back to life. Or am I just screwed?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[funkylogik]

Sounds like you unlocked the bootloader and that's stopping it from taking the update or something. I don't know much about that phone but I've heard people having problems getting a custom recovery on it and having to roll back to an old Android version to do it so I wouldn't recommend taking the update.
What you should do is ask a mod to move this to the g2 forum where peeps can help. This forum is really quiet.
If you don't get any help there, pm me and I'll hook you up with some people on G+ who know what they're doing with that phone :thumbup:

 

[adt2]

Yo, mods, I am completely okay with moving this thread to the G2 forum if that's okay. I wasn't quite sure where to post it, anyway. Or I can duplicate the OP and post in G2 forum, whichever.

@funkylogik - thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it sooner rather than later, I suspect.

 

[Brian706]

Yo, mods, I am completely okay with moving this thread to the G2 forum if that's okay. I wasn't quite sure where to post it, anyway. Or I can duplicate the OP and post in G2 forum, whichever.

@funkylogik - thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it sooner rather than later, I suspect.

Which carrier are you on? There's a separate root forum for each carrier. Let me know and I'll move it on over!!

 

[adt2]

AT&T in the USofA.

Thanks!

 

[iowabowtech]

Another victim of the dreaded OTA brick.

Well, all is not lost. First question, do you perhaps have fastboot mode showing up? That would make things a bit easier but not a deal breaker if no. Is the phone recognized at all in Windows and if so, what is it called?

Worst case, since you don't have a custom recovery or download mode, you can check this out:

[FIX] NO Recovery mode, No download mode, after OTA on rooted LG G2 - xda-developers

Some things you need to know. That tutorial was written for a D802 (international variant). You should be able to use the same basic procedure except you need the files for the ATT D800 which you can acquire here:

Listing of 10d_partitions

You may well have to adjust your command set as well based on your partition numbers. As you can see from the instructs, this requires Linux. Even a live disc will suffice (preferably on a USB stick if you must go that route).

 

[adt2]

Another victim of the dreaded OTA brick.

Well, all is not lost. First question, do you perhaps have fastboot mode showing up? That would make things a bit easier but not a deal breaker if no. Is the phone recognized at all in Windows and if so, what is it called?

Not sure re: fastboot - I don't know what that looks like, but based on the screenshots I saw in a quick Google search, I don't think that's what's going on (and if it's something I installed or enabled, it was an accident).

Plugging the phone into my laptop results in about a dozen "unrecognized disk do you want to format?" windows popping up, so clearly Windows sees something. Looking in Device Manager, it appears to be "QHSUSB_BULK" under "Other Devices".

 

[iowabowtech]

Not sure re: fastboot - I don't know what that looks like, but based on the screenshots I saw in a quick Google search, I don't think that's what's going on (and if it's something I installed or enabled, it was an accident).

Plugging the phone into my laptop results in about a dozen "unrecognized disk do you want to format?" windows popping up, so clearly Windows sees something. Looking in Device Manager, it appears to be "QHSUSB_BULK" under "Other Devices".

Yep, it appears you aren't in fastboot. It seems the posted link is your last remaining option...that I know of anyway. You're in the exact situation it was written for. Note that their device was recognized as the same qhsub_bulk.

 

[adt2]

Okay, I'm making a little progress, but I think I'm going to have to wait until I get home tonight to finish. Got Ubuntu loaded onto a USB stick and have booted into it and started finding my way around. I can't get access to dconf-editor to disable the automount thing, nor can I get access to gdisk, because I can't get the machine to connect to my office wifi (assume it has to download tools?). Probably have better luck at home.

I'll give it a shot this evening and report back.

 

[iowabowtech]

Okay, I'm making a little progress, but I think I'm going to have to wait until I get home tonight to finish. Got Ubuntu loaded onto a USB stick and have booted into it and started finding my way around. I can't get access to dconf-editor to disable the automount thing, nor can I get access to gdisk, because I can't get the machine to connect to my office wifi (assume it has to download tools?). Probably have better luck at home.

I'll give it a shot this evening and report back.

Yeah give it a shot at home. With newer ubuntu, even a live disc, I haven't had problems getting auto recognition of a wireless network. I haven't needed any workarounds there. I don't see where you need internet for that procedure tho. Am I missing something?

 

[adt2]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong? It's not even giving me the option of browsing wireless networks. It's asking for the network name, SSID, MAC address, etc. I'm more a "point and click" type of guy.

 

[iowabowtech]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong? It's not even giving me the option of browsing wireless networks. It's asking for the network name, SSID, MAC address, etc. I'm more a "point and click" type of guy.

I guess in this case you would need the net in order to get those files. Forgot you're doing a usb stick here. Ok so, let me make a ubuntu live disc real quick and boot to it to check for function. Been awhile since I've done that and I may be forgetting something.

 

[adt2]

I appreciate it, but it's not that urgent. I can do it this evening. If I get home and STILL can't get wireless access, then we'll have a problem...

 

[iowabowtech]

I appreciate it, but it's not that urgent. I can do it this evening. If I get home and STILL can't get wireless access, then we'll have a problem...

If you have a wired connection available at home, it should work with zero smoke and mirrors. I have a kubuntu live disc I had laying around. Booting it up now and I'll see what gives. Should be close enough to get an idea.

 

[iowabowtech]

Yeah I didn't have an issue. I can't remember Ubuntu's live disc options but if it gives you an option for internet or booting into the Ubuntu OS, do the latter. Then in the taskbar, lower right corner I had a wifi looking icon. Clicked on that, saw available networks, chose mine, entered network key and was off and running.

So its possible that ubuntu didn't recognize your network card automatically, maybe it will on your home PC or again, if you have a wired connection there, it'll likely take the issue out of the equation as well. If not, we'll figure it out.

 

[adt2]

Okay, I'm home and online. Just got finished following the steps re: using the dd command to push all the packages to the phone. I'm a little confused about what to do next.

Tutorial says "Now reboot your phone, if all went well you'll be in TWRP recovery." Do I unplug phone from computer first? Any particular way to reboot, or just hit the power button?

Next: "Now just use TWRP to flash your ROM..." Is it going to be obvious how to do this once the phone is rebooted? "...and follow this tutorial (link) to reboot into your ROM." (this tutorial looks simple enough for me to follow)

Thanks for all your help - I think I'm almost there!

 

[iowabowtech]

Yeah so I'd say you have no choice but to disconnect and then loooong press the power button. That MIGHT just reboot the phone. If so and it reboots to recovery by default then great. If NOT, then again long press the power button in order to get to a completely powered off state. From there you should be able to use the usual button press combo to access recovery. Then at that point, follow the other, linked tutorial.

 

[adt2]

Okay...we're making some kind of progress. No idea if it's the good kind or not. Disconnected the USB cable and hit the power button and now I get two lines of white text - something about fastboot mode and udc something-or-other. All button press combos lead to these two lines of text.

 

[adt2]

After booting into recovery and hitting Power twice, I get returned to the "Fastboot mode started / udc_start()" screen.

 

[iowabowtech]

After booting into recovery and hitting Power twice, I get returned to the "Fastboot mode started / udc_start()" screen.

Have you tried to enter download mode instead of recovery? I think you already know the method but just to make sure...long press power until the phone turns off. Then press and hold volume UP and while continuing to hold volume UP, plug in the usb cable from the PC.

 

[adt2]

Download mode works (I guess) and results in the following:
Fastboot mode started
udc_start()
--reset--
--portchange--
fastboot processing commands

So far nothing else is happening (that I can tell)...

 

[iowabowtech]

Download mode works (I guess) and results in the following:
Fastboot mode started
udc_start()
--reset--
--portchange--
fastboot processing commands

So far nothing else is happening (that I can tell)...

This is what download mode looks like:

You can't quite read the words on the screen but it actually says download mode and the screen would look just like the one above. That's not what you're seeing correct? All you're getting is fastboot mode no matter what? Just want to make sure on all this before recommending the next course of action.

 

[adt2]

No, I'm not getting the little graphic image. Just the white fastboot text as noted above. As of right now it's still on the screen with no indication of any other action going on behind the scenes.

 

[iowabowtech]

Dammit. Ok, well the bad news is that at LEAST the TWRP recovery flash did not work. The problem is, we don't know if anything else failed to flash so we're slightly in the dark about where we're at right now. The GOOD news is that you at least have fastboot mode now which means you should be able to fastboot flash the necessary images to the phone. Coming from a Nexus I assume you're already in tune with fastboot no? By using the necessary images, I'm thinking we can at least get you to where download mode will be available. If we can get to that point, you can then use the LG Flash Tools and associated files to return the phone entirely to stock. So step #1 is to see how the phone is being recognized in Windows device manager. If it's showing adb interface or similar wording, you can try issuing a fastboot devices command. If it fails to detect, we may need to get a fastboot driver set up. Hopefully it already works. Let me know and we can go from there.

 

[adt2]

That all sounds way above my pay grade, but I'm willing to follow instructions. Question #1: can I do any or all of this from a Mac, or do I need to reboot into Windows? I think I have OS X variants of adb and fastboot. Running "adb devices" in Terminal starts the daemon but returns no visible devices.