Help Nexus 4 in half hard brick?

[technobaboo]

First, some background on me bricking it. It's not my fault, as LuneOS caused it (I think).

I took two non-working Nexus 4s and swapped components until one worked. It worked fine on Android, everything working (no lag, memory&storage issues, working mics, etc). Then, I installed LuneOS (http://webos-ports.org/wiki/Mako_Info). LuneOS booted fine, working with no bugs. Then, I decided to get an OTA update and installed it. Instantly after clicking the button (on LuneOS), I got a black screen. I waited for about an hour just in case it was actually still updating, then forced the phone off. Then, the brick happened. The people at webos-ports (creators of LuneOS) told me that the software did not even touch the bootloader, or any partition except system. The bootloader should not be missing! The only thing they said it could do was install packages. I followed every instruction, and it has been stable on other devices, so I don't know what happened.

I managed to get my Nexus 4 in sort of a half hard brick. It boots to a black screen and the bootloader/recovery never shows up with vol+power, download mode works. But, it always shows up on Windows as "Full Jelly Bean on Mako." (not in Download Mode). I looked online and no one has had a bricked phone that has had this. (BTW, I have a Mac and Ubuntu machine. I went to a friend's house for the Windows one.) Also, the LG USB drivers recognize it as an Android USB Modem (COM).

 

[Brian706]

Try holding volume down then holding power and hold them both down for approximately 10 seconds.

If that doesn't work, do the same as above but release the power button as soon as the device reboots.

If that doesn't work, hold the power button until the phone reboots, then immediately let go of the power button and hold volume down.

If that doesn't work, attach the phone to a PC and try running the command: adb reboot bootloader.

Sometimes it can be tricky to access the bootloader when you're in a bootloop but play around a bit with different techniques.

Also, have you looked at this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/general/stock-stock-roms-collection-ca-eu-au-t1976057

I know you said you can't use download mode but maybe there is something you missed??

So, did you take a stock ota update while you were on the other ROM? Or was it an update for the ROM you were using? Most custom Roms don't do ota updates but I don't know anything about that ROM. If it was a stock update, that is the problem there. You are never supposed to take an ota while rooted or on a custom ROM.

Also, do you have a custom recovery installed and a working backup? If you do manage to access the bootloader you could restore, but at this point I'd probably recommend using fastboot to flash the stock images and start fresh, assuming you get bootloader access.

 

[technobaboo]

I can access Download Mode, and no key combination other than that works. ADB and fastboot do not work in any mode (no bootloader loaded, i guess). I looked at that exact page but could not find any flasher that could flash TOT files (that launched, anyway). I couldn't find any links other than a virus for LGNPST. I do have a custom recovery (CWM) but I can't get to the bootloader to activate it. The OTA update was preformed for LuneOS, which just runs

cd /media/internal/.upgrade-storage/
opkg upgrade --download-only

(from http://webos-ports.org/wiki/System_Upgrade)

 

[Brian706]

Take a look at this thread too... It's for the Nexus 5 but it has info about the LG Flash tool

http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...orial-how-to-flash-factory-images-lg-t2713833

Between that and the tot files from the other thread, maybe you can recover the device.

 

[technobaboo]

Thanks! Now all I need is the dll for either the lg optimus pro or nexus 7... The links I found were broken.

Also, would it be okay to upload a mac app for this? I'm running it in Wine successfully. Even the COM port works!

 

[technobaboo]

So, it's been a while, but I think that the phone is not actually hard bricked because of one thing. When plugged into a charger, the red blinking light of ultra-low battery shows when holding power+volume down... So, trying keeping it held down while charging on a 2A charger. (sorry to double-post, important)