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Root Discussion on wrong radio = brick

iowabowtech

root@android:/ #
May 2, 2010
12,187
8,698
Iowa|USA
Ok, I've been having some problems comprehending the chances and exact circumstances where flashing an incorrect radio can (and will) lead to bricking. With the release of Unrevoked Forever, it is much easier now to flash back and forth to various radios. Not saying that would necessarily be commonplace behavior but where is the base of knowledge that would PREVENT THIS FROM OCCURING? Is there a reference table somewhere that shows x radio goes with x Roms?

Here's a bit from an N1 Q&A thread from XDA:

_______________________________________________________________________________
SPL/Bootloader/Radio/Bricking Phones:
SPL / Bootloader is like BIOS on a computer. At least I think of it that way. SPL can be updated! SPL comes as either Security-On of Security-Off (S-ON/S-OFF).

Note: It is my understanding that radio will boot first, followed by other systems. So it is IMPORTANT that your radio image/version will work with your SPL image/version. This is the one and only reason for phones being bricked. You can not brick your phone by flashing a ROM or Boot image or recovery image. Once you flash the wrong radio for the SPL, the only known method of recovery is to send the phone back into HTC for repair.

_______________________________________________________________________________


Unrevoked has this to say about Unrevoked Forever:

When doing updates, be sure to flash all partitions at the same time. For instance, on Incredible, running a 0.92 hboot and a 2.15 radio with a 2.6.29 Linux kernel will result in the system becoming unusable until reflashed.

Can somebody answer me how we can flash all partitions at the same time? Is this truly possible? Sorry for asking this in another thread already but I really want a definitive answer so I'm making my own thread.

Let's say we want to flash to a ROM that requires a different radio than we are currently running. How EXACTLY would one go about this? Do you flash the new radio first which may be incompatible with your current ROM or do you flash the ROM first which may be incompatible with your current radio? WTF?

Can somebody PLEASE explain this whole situation in layman's terms? I mean I've flashed my share of ROMS and kernels like the next guy and even updated the radio like many of us have but that was the one update that we all knew was proven safe. All I'm asking is to know exactly what is the real, down and dirty dynamics behind the radio flashing danger so I can be absolutely sure to avoid it in the future. I have yet to see a truly understandble explanation of this.
 
I can say that this morning I went from stock 2.1 rooted with 1.xx radio, flash Forever, then flashed Frankenrom, then radio 2.15, then ocuv .32 kernal. This was one after the other after the other. I did reboot each time. from the frankenrom to the radio all i did was install quickboot to get into recovery easier.

I, on the other hand, approached this method a tad differently.

From stock 2.1 non-rooted with .29 kernel, I updated my radio twice from 2.x to 2.15, then I rooted. After root, I "unrevoked-forever" my phone. I then installed Skyraider 2.2 which led me to have Android 2.2 with the .32 Kernel and 2.15 Radio under stable conditions.

I am unsure, however, if my hboot changed.

I may have gotten lucky with this procedure, so please, by no means do not copy what I did unless someone with much more experience then me can confirm these results as safe.
 
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When doing updates, be sure to flash all partitions at the same time. For instance, on Incredible, running a 0.92 hboot and a 2.15 radio with a 2.6.29 Linux kernel will result in the system becoming unusable until reflashed.

I think all Unrevoked was trying to say is that certain combinations of ROM's and HBOOTs require a certain level of each other... I.e., HBOOT 0.92 may require the 2.15 radio and you won't be able to boot until you reflash it to put the right combinations... This was common with HTC devices in the Windows Mobile days (i.e., certain ROMs required certain radios and would lock up until the combination was fixed.)
 
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I, on the other hand, approached this method a tad differently.

From stock 2.1 non-rooted with .29 kernel, I updated my radio twice from 2.x to 2.15, then I rooted. After root, I "unrevoked-forever" my phone. I then installed Skyraider 2.2 which led me to have Android 2.2 with the .32 Kernel and 2.15 Radio under stable conditions.

I am unsure, however, if my hboot changed.

I may have gotten lucky with this procedure, so please, by no means do not copy what I did unless someone with much more experience then me can confirm these results as safe.

pretty sure you couldn't have done it in that order...you need s-off to flash the 2.15 radio, right?
 
Upvote 0
I, on the other hand, approached this method a tad differently.

From stock 2.1 non-rooted with .29 kernel, I updated my radio twice from 2.x to 2.15, then I rooted. After root, I "unrevoked-forever" my phone. I then installed Skyraider 2.2 which led me to have Android 2.2 with the .32 Kernel and 2.15 Radio under stable conditions.

I am unsure, however, if my hboot changed.

I may have gotten lucky with this procedure, so please, by no means do not copy what I did unless someone with much more experience then me can confirm these results as safe.

pretty sure you couldn't have done it in that order...you need s-off to flash the 2.15 radio, no?
 
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2.15 is only flashable after s-off.

I think the main concern here is that you could flash a radio from an incompatible device and brick that way. It doesn't sound like its possible to brick with any of the 3 radios we have for the Inc. I'm wondering if we can't get some EVO radios working now that we are unlocked.
 
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