Root Razr MAXX is bricked, won't boot. DRU18 fails too!

[BillDennes]

I actually had the JB OTA installed, but forgot to run Rootkeeper before I did the upgrade. Couldn't get the new root exploit involving Smart Tasks to take.
So, I tried running Droid Razr Utility 18 to start over from a rooted stock ICS base. This ran as expected EXCEPT these lines:

Writing 'boot'...INFOPreflash validation failure
FAILED (remote)

Now my XT912 phone is truly bricked. Won't boot at all. I've tried every "erase" or "clear" option that I could find in Recovery, but I can't clear whatever it is that is making the validation fail.
I'm in way over my head here and I sure could use some help with what to do next. The phone is on contract 'til May '14, so I sure would like to get it working again. Help!!
Thanks!

 

[socobandit]

As far as I know there is no returning to ics one you go to jb. I'm sure someone here knows a way to recover the phone with adb or something but I'm not sure

 

[Thom]

Question moved to All Things root to maximize visibility.

... Thom

 

[carracerz14]

And that's exactly why every thread giving instructions to install JB told you in BOLD letters that there is absolutely NO going back to ics.

Man I wish people would read, it would save a lot of headaches.

Can you get to the boot up menu by holding all three buttons when you try to power up?


If you can get into recovery, you can try flashing the jellybean update again from your sd card. Hopefully that might work...

 

[BillDennes]

And that's exactly why every thread giving instructions to install JB told you in BOLD letters that there is absolutely NO going back to ics.

Man I wish people would read, it would save a lot of headaches.

Can you get to the boot up menu by holding all three buttons when you try to power up?


If you can get into recovery, you can try flashing the jellybean update again from your sd card. Hopefully that might work...

Does this mean that I finally made the five hundred dollar mistake?
Sinking fast - Now can't get past the 3-button Boot Mode Selection Menu: any choice that I make goes through a boot and comes up with what looks like the Fastboot screen, but the title is "Invalid Flash Mode (S) (Boot Failure)".
Also, now it won't power down. If I try, it springs back to life like Dracula. Can't be good for the battery.
Right now I'd settle for unrooted JB after all but it seems that I can't get forward to there, either. Sheesh!

 

[carracerz14]

If you can't get into recovery to try and re flash then I'm afraid there's nothing you can do...

You can try downloading rsd lite from Motorola and load the jb file into that and see if that will flash it.

It's a long shot, but can't get any worse that it already is, unless the battery dies....

 

[carracerz14]

Before you do that, try using matts jellybean unbricking utility, I gotta find a link though

Last link in the OP http://www.droidrzr.com/index.php/t...jellybean-update-98728-questions-and-answers/

You will have to run the utility, and then re flash jb in recovery, assuming this even works...

 

[BillDennes]

I've downloaded the utility and made an SD card with only the JB leak.
I can get into Fastboot but it says "battery low" and means it. Will not program. I've got the charger connected and am giving it some time to see if the battery will charge at all. Could I have aced the charging brains out of it too?
Too bad about the non-removable battery...
More later when I try again.

 

[carracerz14]

Battery won't charge in fastboot...

 

[socobandit]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1549625. This should help.

 

[BillDennes]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1549625. This should help.

Thanks for the excellent pointer. The Method, while cool, did not work for me. Perhaps I got /System wiped out on my phone.
BUT - There were two references to making a cable. Even showed a photo of one, but no directions. Would this work no matter what? Where can I learn how to do this?
So near and yet so far...

 

[socobandit]

Sorry...should've said to just follow the first part just to get it charged so you can try a reflash

 

[BillDennes]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1549625. This should help.

I did try just the first part. Never got the charge icon, but went right back to AP Fastboot. Therefore could go no farther.
Down in that thread is an explanation of why it probably failed, and a reference to the type of cable that I'm suddenly interested in.
Keeping hope alive (if not my phone)...

 

[razrclive]

If you get lucky maybe the battery going fully flat may save you. If you can leave it flat for a day maybe the ROM will be reset on reboot allowing you to recover. If not seems you are bricked for good unless can afford paying a repairer to fix it.

 

[BillDennes]

Does anybody know if bricks like mine qualify for the trade-in on the Razr HD MAXX?
Sigh...

 

[Admack]

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx charging dead battery in a bootloop. - YouTube

 

[BillDennes]

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx charging dead battery in a bootloop. - YouTube

I looked at that excellent video and concluded that it would probably be just as well to avoid setting myself up to be upset every time I looked at the mistake I made taking my phone apart. Low self confidence these days :+)
So, I ordered a Factory Cable via eBay from San Bernardino (real close to me). I think that the couple of days waiting might not be so bad in the long run.
I'll update this later in the week. If I can get it past "Battery low - can't program", I'll try mattlgroff's unbrick and let you know about that.
Fingers crossed...

 

[BillDennes]

A mind is a terrible thing to waste :+)
I've been studying matt's .bat files starting with DRU16 which is the oldest one that I have. It appears to me that they all do a two-part dance to replace mbm, and then go on to replace devtree, system, preinstall, boot and maybe others with modules that came in the DRUxx (or Unbrick) zipfile.
I've learned that (as promised) running DRU18 to flash ICS back over JB is not enough to bring ICS back to life. [Kinda like "Do not back up - severe tire damage!!"]
My question: What horrible magic does the JB update do to the phone that we cannot (detect and) reverse, alowing fools like me to revert to ICS211 easily? It is still the same hardware, right?
I really want another shot at rooting ICS/211 and saving that with Voodoo Rootkeeper before I apply the JB leak. Trying to get root with the JB exploit that uses Smart Tasks did not work for me way back when, which is why I tried to go back (over the tire rippers) to ICS/211.
Might I do even more damage by running DRU182 after I get my battery back, or would this be a free try?
I sure wish I knew a little more about how all of this fits together.
Thoughts?

 

[carracerz14]

Because there is a new bootloader and kernel with JB... Those are things we can't change because of the locked bootloader. If it were unlocked, it would be easy.

 

[BillDennes]

Because there is a new bootloader and kernel with JB... Those are things we can't change because of the locked bootloader. If it were unlocked, it would be easy.

A few posts ago, RazrClive said "If you get lucky maybe the battery going fully flat may save you. If you can leave it flat for a day maybe the ROM will be reset on reboot allowing you to recover."
Would that kind of reset wipe out the newer kernel and bootloader too? How does all this stuff get set up in a new dead phone?
I read this to gain some knowledge of how these pieces fit together:
http://androidforums.com/sony-erics...om-kernel-cwm-firmware-flashing-adb-root.html

 

[carracerz14]

A few posts ago, RazrClive said "If you get lucky maybe the battery going fully flat may save you. If you can leave it flat for a day maybe the ROM will be reset on reboot allowing you to recover."
Would that kind of reset wipe out the newer kernel and bootloader too? How does all this stuff get set up in a new dead phone?
What might I read to gain some knowledge of how these pieces fit together?
Lotsa questions...

No, I don't really know what that user was talking about reseting the phone. A dead battery won't reset anything, and even if it did, it wouldn't change any of the system stuff that you messed up.

Hopefully the factory cable works then we can figure something out. Otherwise you might be screwed

 

[BillDennes]

Where does CWM's Nandroid Backup fit in all of this? What all does it back up?
I made a Nandroid of my phone while it was still an ICS/211 machine. Could I restore all of the pieces from it that I need revert to ICS/211?

 

[carracerz14]

Oh god no don't even try that

 

[BillDennes]

Oh god no don't even try that

Why not?
Let me guess: The bootloader lives outside the partition structure, therefore I would not replace the JB bootloader by running the Nandroid recovery to ICS/211?
Okay, then how would I replace the bootloader with an ICS version?
(In my heart I know that once upon a time my phone existed as an empty device with NO software of any kind on it. It all got put there somehow. So how?)
:+)

 

[carracerz14]

You can't. It's impossible. Plain and simple.

We have locked bootloaders which prevents us from changing anything like that.

It all got put there by motorola devs who have the unlock key, which we don't.

Any time you try to flash a backup from a different system you will for sure brick. There's no way around it.