Booting problem.

[tlmuller]

Long story short, my eris got wet. I dried it in rice and it started up fine after about a day but the trackball was acting like it was constantly pressed down. So seeing as the warranty was already voided because it got wet I decided to open up my phone to make sure there wasn't any rice bits inside. After closing up my phone it now will only boot up to the hboot screen. Holding down the volume down button causes it to check the sd card for files that cant be found. The file list is to quick to really read but they all start with PB00 and end in .zip. A guy at verizon recommended that I try to root my phone but all the directions I've found require you to put your phone in usb debug mode which is kind of a problem for me. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[John58543]

You may try installing one of the 2.1 leaks...download the file then copy the file to the bottom level of your SD card (may have to get one of those mini SD card readers for your computer if you can't mount your phone) and use the upgrading to 2.1 tutorial found in this forum...I would try that...might work.

 

[tlmuller]

Not having any luck with that. It tries to install the update and when it finishes goes back to the same screen. I've tried this several times. I'm probably screwed right?
These are the missing or incorrect filesB00DIAG.zip, PB00DIA3.nbh, PB00DIA2.nbh, PB00IMG.zip, and PB00DIAG.nbh.

 

[John58543]

Well at this point it seems so...at least that's all I can think to do...

Anyone else have any suggestions?



Sent from my Eris using Tapatalk

 

[erisuser1]

Could you fill in some details?

The behavior you describe - searching for PB*.* files when you start up the phone by pressing End (Power) + Vol-down simultaneously is normal - there are no "missing files". In fact, this is the way that you would start the process of rooting your phone - by putting the "root PB00IMG.ZIP" file in the topmost folder of your SD card.

Are you saying that if you just press the power button to start the phone, nothing happens? (Or something else?) Or that it always goes into HBOOT mode, whether you do anything with the volume buttons? What about if you press "Vol-up" to go into recovery from HBOOT? Do get a graphic which shows an exclamation point inside a triangle?

The USB cable is not needed at the beginning of the root process (if you have some way to get the root PB00IMG.ZIP file to your SD card without using the phone - for instance with a SD media reader connected to your PC). Even if you did not complete the rooting process, you would have a phone which boots; but before we get that far along - what did you try that convinces you that the USB cable isn't working? (Did you ever use fastboot with the USB cable before the H20 accident occurred? The PC device driver for that is different from the driver used for mounting the SD card and needs to be explicitly installed before you can communicate between a Windows PC and "fastboot" running on the phone.)

If you are planning on throwing the phone away and eating the loss, then there's nothing to be lost by trying to root the phone.

But, frankly - I'm sort of skeptical of thinking that somehow everything is OK with the device and it just got "unprogrammed" - that seems a little too "neat". The reason I say that is that is that typical damage that occurs when an energized phone gets wet is physical damage - if physical damage occurred to anything involving the Flash memory or application processor in the phone, then the HBOOT prompt would probably never appear at all; that code needs to be fetched from and run on the same physical device(s). (Although there are all some scenarios, such as damage to a chip select line of stacked flash memory chips which would allow some addresses ranges to work, and others to fail).

OTOH, if something happened to the electronics which sense switch states (Vol-up, Vol-down, Send, Trackball-press, End), then it is possible that the phone never attempts to boot normally because it sees one of those switches in a strange state when you press the power button. That would be consistent with having undamaged flash memory, but failure to boot. (A depressed trackball wouldn't cause a boot failure BTW, but it would cause the Eris to boot into "Safe Mode").

Anyway, I realize that this is more questions than answers - but it helps if you can provide a few more details.

eu1

PS Don't try and install a "leak" ROM unless you previously installed a "leak" ROM - doing so is merely making a bad situation worse. If you still have 1.5 on the phone, and you want to try a "last ditch effort" experiment, you may as well use the "root" PB00IMG.ZIP file. If by some miracle it corrects the problem, you'll be happier with the outcome.

 

[tlmuller]

It always boots into the hboot screen even without pressing on the volume buttons. And I do have a micro sd adapter so I can do every thing without the usb cable.

 

[erisuser1]

It always boots into the hboot screen even without pressing on the volume buttons. And I do have a micro sd adapter so I can do every thing without the usb cable.

That sounds to me like your Vol-down button is permanently depressed. That would certainly cause exactly the symptoms you described.

Since the problem didn't appear until after you re-assembled your phone, is it possible that the case (or the volume rocker switch) is just wedged a little so that the Volume-down switch is being held in the on position?

Pull the back case off and press each of the vol-up and vol-down switches with your fingernail; do they both feel the same? Can you feel a definite "click" for each of them? If so, leave the cover off and try re-starting the phone in the usual fashion.

Same result?

Also - you may have noticed that the phone battery will not charge when it is in HBOOT/FASTBOOT mode. If you get it to boot successfully, put it on the charger and make sure you get a full battery charge before you do anything else (for instance, trying to flash with a low battery will either fail because of a battery check - or worse yet, cause corruption to occur if you flash something).

eu1

 

[tlmuller]

Both of the volume keys seem to work fine with or without the cover. Also if it helps when I hit the volume down key and then the volume up key to try to boot up the phone it sticks on the android load screen for about 5 minutes and then goes back to the hboot screen. It did this before I tried to flash it as well.

 

[erisuser1]

Well, now I'm sort of out of ideas. When you had earlier said that it always goes to the HBOOT screen, I thought you meant immediately, rather than after some extended period of time trying to boot.

Still, the fact that the phone seemed to work (sort of) correctly up until you disassembled it suggests a problem of a mechanical nature invoving the switches, rather than electrical damage... especially given your remarks in your post prior to this one.

It's tough to know what water damage can do - I got my previous phone wet, and after drying it out, it worked for another 4 years... with only one slight problem: I couldn't shut the phone off (had to pull the battery during air travel). Weird, right?

For what it is worth, I put up an Example with Pictures post over on the root board that shows exactly what the first part of the rooting process should look like on the phone, should you want to give that a shot as a last-ditch effort. (I am skeptical that flashing the device will help matters if the phone has mechanical or electrical damage - software rarely fixes hardware.)

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

eu1

 

[tlmuller]

Well thanks for all of your help. When I try to flash it it mimics all of the steps shown in your pictures but boots back to the hboot screen when it reboots at the end. I think I'm just going to bite it and buy a used one off of ebay.

 

[wustafah]

i need help my g1 only loads up to the android screen and then the screen goes black if anyone cant help or suggest anything please email me @ (wustafah@gmail.com)