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Root [MetroPCS] True Hard Brick!

quetal

Newbie
Jun 18, 2014
13
0
ok.
i'll try to be as concise and detailed as possible here.
bought this for my mom 1 year ago while it was still on 10i
then the dreaded 12b ota update appeared.
as you know, this phone has a 1gb internal memory. my mom loved playing jackpot slots game which always created a garbage funzio folder which filled up its internal memory and in every playthrough it would fill up her phone's memory with the needless junky funzio folder produced by the game.
which would produce a black box pop up stating no more free memory available...drove her crazy.
so I decided to root her phone to use SDMAID which would uninstall bloatware updates. and just free up memory.
so I followed the rooting guide, this was before towelroot, the guide for reverting back from 12b to 10i, which at the time was the only known way to root this model.
so...
downgraded from 12b to 10i
rooted
made SuperSU a part of system
12b ota update reappeared soon after, clicked yes, but with SuperSU made a system app, the 12b update failed.
no problems after that.
complete success.
completely fully functional phone, just still on 10i. 12b update unnecessary and unwanted.
I did NOT uninstall any apps using SDMAID whatsoever. this is including system apps.
still, there was the small 1gb of internal memory problem which due to jackpot slots game perpetually creating the "funzio" folder made it more grievous.
to resolve this, I used a mounting app.
the app I used was EXTERNAL 2 INTERNAL
I see this app no longer exists on the playstore.
anywho. its basically a mounting app, like directory bind or GL to SD root, except it mounts the entire internal memory onto the external. Many people assume it unifies the internal with the external...but nope, it just mounts it.
anyway.
did that so the black pop up stopped appearing stating the free memory space of the internal was used up. which it did. since it fools the phone into thinking the internal was 29gb instead of 1gb.
no problems.
everything a success.
no problem for 6 full months.
about 2 or 3 months ago, my mom comes to me saying something is wrong with her phone.
shows it to me and I see the dreaded boot loop occurring.
specifically this message.
"Android is upgrading...
optimizing apps 1 through 15"
which is essentially the same thing you see when you upgrade from 10i to 12b. which I found strange since having made SuperSU a part of the system it shouldn't succeed in committing the ota upgrade.

Android is upgrading...
optimizing apps 1 through 15"
back to metropcs logo
Android is upgrading...
optimizing apps 1 through 15"
metro pcs logo
rinse repeat
vicious bootloop

so I removed the battery.
that didn't work.
did a hard factory reset.
that didn't work!
o_O
Connected the phone to my pc, pc fails to recognize the phone even though LG usb drivers are of course installed. PC states unknown device connected but unknown device malfunctioning. Please disconnect.
So when I connect the phone via usb cord to the pc usb port windows makes the ping notification sound but lg device does not appear in devices listing.
ie, PC fails to recognize the device.
Though...some programs due recognize the device such as kingoroot and the official lg stock rom repair install tool.
did the kdz 12b upgrade
states "kdz decrypt error and extract file error"
that didn't work.
tried installing the stock rom from the LG website itself using the LG repair/reinstall tool distributed on the LG website for the F6...recognizes phone, gets to step 2 of the installing process...but never reaches stage 3 which is "success and finished"....it just gets forever stuck on the stage 2 part of the process. I mean for 6+ hours!

nothing that i've tried works.

now, that said. I have some theories as to what might have happened on the day it went toast.
after questioning my mom about the day it mysteriously bootlooped...here's what I gathered and my theories.
1)She had it attached to the cord while charging and dropped it.
I checked the usb port, the cord, seems to work. can still charge up just fine. This cant be why its looping. but who knows if something got dislodged.
2)there may have been another 12b update sent out via ota by metropcs on that day, and maybe my mom clicked yes. She cant remember seeing a notification for the update. I wasn't there so I cant say.
if there was another ota 12b update, it may have had a conflict with the SuperSU that was now a system app and there is a system script conflict taking place. or perhaps a conflict with the external 2 internal mounting app.
3)the external 2 internal mounting app may be conflicting with either the SuperSU or a possible ota 12b update.i say possible only because I wasn't there to know if a ota 12b update attempt occurred. but the message of "Android is upgrading" in the bootloop seems like the 12b ota upgrade attempting to install. (and btw, fyi, I forgot to use SDMAID to freeze ota software updates and upgrades. all is clear in hindsight)
it maybe all of the above.
again.
I downgraded from 12b to 10i to root, I rooted with full success, I made SuperSU a part of system, 12b ota update permission request appeared very soon after, clicked yes, and failed to install due to SuperSU's being made a system app. phone stayed 10i, which is what we wanted. used external 2 internal app to mount internal to external to stop the low Internal memory notification pop ups. all successful.
no hiccups, no problems.
full success. fully functional phone for 6 months after doing all these forementioned things.
then bam! random, from outta nowhere, vicious unstoppable bootloop that no hard factory reset, no kdz installation, no OFFICICAL LG DIAGNOTIC/REPAIR TOOL can fix.

any idea how to salvage this phone guys?

cuz I'm pretty close to giving up trying....and taking it to the backyard, saying a prayer, and burying it in a shoebox.
RIP.
 
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Question, for my own curiosity:

When you tried to flash KDZ, what state was phone in? Like an emergency mode or software update mode?

Edit-

An older LG of mine (MS840), after bricking MANY times, was always brought back with KDZ process. Really, no matter how big of a flashing experiment went up in flames. If you have a boot loop going on, that's much better than a black screen. There has to be something you can do with it....
 
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are you sure your putting it in download mode holding volume up and plugging usb in? also why stick with stock when custom roms work better.jw if your going to root it might as well go the full way.

not sure why you want to stay away from 12b,again itd be better fixes,but again custom roms like Xperion might work for you.i dunno i just dont understand why people root their devices and stay on stock when theres so many possibilities.
check drivers put in download mode,make sure you have the right update kdz file.theres many articles on here.im amazed i even read that long of a thing when you could have simplified it down.good luck
 
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Try this http://androidforums.com/threads/br...is-might-work-for-you-too.833575/#post6471224. I've hard bricked my phone about 10 times by messing around with roms, bootloaders, and sd hacks. This has always worked for me every time. Take out your SD card, power off the phone. Then hold the power and volume down button to go in to 'emergency mode'. Download the tool and follow the steps. Basically restores your phone completely to stock unrooted, using a rom downloaded directly from LG's website.

Edit: As frosthax1 said make sure your phone is plugged in to your pc to go in to emergency/download mode. Also remove your lg drivers. I'm not sure if this is a needed step, but I've never needed to install lg's drivers on my computer to restore my phone with this method.
 
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I'd keep the drivers..... If you're drivers were no good, it wouldn't let you flash anything. If you're using KDZ flasher tool it's not uncommon for it to fail, sometimes over and over again.

Try the KDZ method a few more times. If that keeps crapping out halfway through, try the link Muffin posted, looks like the LG mobile update site method. If you're drivers are indeed no good, it will tell you. I've used it before and its picky. Emergency mode/download mode is a MUST for that method; good drivers, USB cable and e-mode activated or it won't even acknowledge your phone.
 
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"Dropped the phone while charging" -- Sounds like you may have damaged the USB port, which COULD explain "USB device not recognized". I know when the trip wire pin goes bad or I use a charger only incomparable cable that happens. USB device not recognized usually means the USB cable or USB port is incomparable or messed up.
 
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Is there a way to access recovery from powered down on F6? Maybe doing a factory reset through LG recovery? In some cases a reset will fix a boot loop. If your SD hack changed something in a partition that stock recovery doesn't touch, than it ain't lookin too good if USB won't communicate. It may charge, but doesn't mean it's talking :(

Edit.... I've had a boot loop problem many times after using LG online repair and KDZ flasher, and reset did the trick for that. A smoked battery will also cause problems too...

I dunno, I'd be more inclined to believe it's a perma-brick if it did nothing at all, and if it really had a bad USB I don't think it would make it only half way through a restore procedure, but probably not even allow you to start it at all. Don't give up just yet....
 
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Upvote 0
Is there a way to access recovery from powered down on F6? Maybe doing a factory reset through LG recovery? In some cases a reset will fix a boot loop. If your SD hack changed something in a partition that stock recovery doesn't touch, than it ain't lookin too good if USB won't communicate. It may charge, but doesn't mean it's talking :(

Edit.... I've had a boot loop problem many times after using LG online repair and KDZ flasher, and reset did the trick for that. A smoked battery will also cause problems too...

I dunno, I'd be more inclined to believe it's a perma-brick if it did nothing at all, and if it really had a bad USB I don't think it would make it only half way through a restore procedure, but probably not even allow you to start it at all. Don't give up just yet....
Yeah when you use the LG online repair tool it doesn't necessarily wipe your old data and dalvik cache. You'll get a boot loop if you don't factory reset either before or after.
 
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I agree that this doesn't sound like a hard brick situation. One possibility is that the kdz file got corrupted when you downloaded it. Its also possible that something on your computer is preventing the kdz tool from working right. Sometimes just using a different PC can make a huge difference. It has made the difference for me more than once.
 
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