Develop Bugs

[Q] Help please! 3x vibrate and amber flashing light after removing battery! (brick?)

Hey guys, I'm normally silent in these forums 'cause I've never had a brick, just by reading correctly. This problem I'm having isn't a flashing brick! What happened is the following:
I know that the DHD in combi with my BT car radio is somewhat difficult (because of bad HTC coding). It seems that when I have my facebook friends in my contacts that the DHD starts slowing down and eventually hang when connected to the radio, because my radio tries to get every contact including it's info. Normally I do not sync my FB contacts with my DHD however I must have mistakingly done this.
Today I connected to my car radio and after getting out of the car my DHD showed that it was still connected (a sign that my DHD had the hang problem again). I turned of BT (took a hell of a time) and contiued on. When I came back I tried connecting the DHD again, however when I pushed the BT checkmark in settings it showed BT on, but no BT connection came up. So I went into BT settings only to find that BT wasn't turned on, then in the BT settings I checked turn BT on.
At that moment my DHD hang instantly, no inputs were registered at all. I waited a few minutes but nothing changed (I could still see the screen frozen at turning on BT). So I took out the battery and reinserted it, but when a pushed the power, the phone vibrated thrice and then did not boot, but only showed a flashing amber led.
I have rooted, S-offed and did the whole shebang to flash my DHD once. This was a long time ago and I haven't had any problems, all was OK. So at first I tried to search the forums, what might have happened. No post seems to be the same as my problem, because everyone is having these problems after an incorrect flash (my flash was correct, cause I've been using the ROM for more than 4 months!). Still I tried the solutions given in these posts (enter fastboot and flash again).
But it seems my DHD won't go into fastboot. When I hold VOLdown&power my DHD vibrates 5 times and shows a steady green led. So I thought maybe flashing a new ROM resolves the problem. If I cycle the battery and then connect is to my computer, my DHD goes into Clockwork recovery. From there I flased a new ROM to my DHD (update.zip method), but to no avail. I've factoryresetted, cleared al data, wiped battery stats, all to no avail...
As of this moment I'm at the end of my knowledge, I've done everything I know could have helped, but nothing did. Therefore I'm asking you, the Oracle of XDA (users), please does anyone have any clue what happened to my DHD and if so, how do I resolve the problem!
Thanks in advance for every little motivation/obligation you show be giving me your insights!
Info:
ROM: Android Revolution HD 2.0.9
CWM Recovery: 2.5.1.3
I've allready wiped battery stats as per this topic!
Additional thoughts: Might a hardware fault be the reason? Because it happened after some problems with BT, and also because I'm still able to correctly flash new ROMS with CWM though the problem remains?

Allright, so nobody know an answer I'm guessing... I've started the replacement process with my insurance company. However I'd still would like it if someone would know what the heck I did wrong...

Have you tried flashing a new radio, as that is what controls the hardware?
All a new ROM will do is update the RIL, not the radio.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=896597
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

It does more than likely seem like a hardware fault so it cant really be solved with software changes. Although I still would have tried to flash an RUU which updates basically everything on the phone to bare stock.

Use an RUU via your pc (v2.36 or lower so you can root it again) to restore to an out of the box state.

Allright guys, thanks for your ideas! I'm however experiencing problems trying your idea's. fFashing a radio or flashing a stock rom are not possible, because I need a connection with my computer. This connection is not possible, if I start the phone normally (or with vol down) I get the amber flashing light or the green steady light. Both do not connect to my pc, I get some device "Qualcomm CDMA Technologies MSN" for which windows can't find any drivers. When I let the DHD go into QWM recovery, the RUU won't find the DHD.
So I've tried extracting the RUU rom en putting this on the SDCARD of the DHD, but when I try to install it via CWM Recovery it says that it's an invalid file...

I actually bricked mine on purpose, and the thing that happened when it got bricked was that no lights and no life at all we're visible on the phone...
Atleast you get shakes and lights, thats a good sign!
Sadly i don't know what has to be done to restore it, but maybe Jkoljo does, PM him about your problem, if you get an assistance and some solving, write back here for your solution for others to use in the future!
They hang out in the Android Revolution HD IRC Channel, thats where i would go tbh.. Live support ftw!
Edit: While reading your above statement, it seems your drivers may be faulty in windows, redownload HTC Sync from htc.com, install, reboot, and try again.

The "Qualcomm CDMA ..." notification on the PC is a sign for the Qualcomm service mode. Also the 3 vibrates and the orange light is an indicator for that. You can enter this mode by pressing vol+ and power your device.
Stupid question, but is it possible that your vol+ button is stuck or something like that?
And you said you're able to enter CWM? how? I'm asking because you said you can't enter the bootloader.
I'll do some research when i get home today.
Meanwhile Try if ADB/Fastboot sees your phone
Edit: just checked my theory of the broken vol+ button: i held down my vol + button, took my battery out, reinserted it and powered up my phone. Result: 3 vibrates and a flashing orange light.
Then i did the same, but held down vol - ( vol+ still pressed). Result: your second phenomenon: a few vibrates and the green light stays on.
So I think this proves my theory because this is exactly what you described
I suggest you to play a bit with the vol+ button. Maybe the button will work again then
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

Well, I'm gonna fire up IRC then and try get some help. It's indeed not bricked as far as I'm guessing cause I do indeed have lights and I'm able to boot into CWM!
Flussen said:
The "Qualcomm CDMA ..." notification on the PC is a sign for the Qualcomm service mode. Also the 3 vibrates and the orange light is an indicator for that. You can enter this mode by pressing vol+ and power your device.
Stupid question, but is it possible that your vol+ button is stuck or something like that?
And you said you're able to enter CWM? how? I'm asking because you said you can't enter the bootloader.
I'll do some research when i get home today.
Meanwhile Try if ADB/Fastboot sees your phone
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right I'm guessing this is my problem! Just two days prior to resetting I started having problems with my VOL+ button (wouldn't work, only VOL- worked). So I'm guessing my hardware VOL+ button is broken and stuck to pressed...?
To answer your question about CWM: When I take out the battery so the phone is powered down, then reinsert the battery, connect the phone to the adapter or my computer (without pressing the power button), the phone boots into CWM after about 1 minute!
So after consolidating all the answers I'm guessing this is my problem: Hardware VOL+ is constantly pressed, therefore the phone boots consequently into Qualcomm service mode. Everything seems to be OK (flashing able to CWM), though just this little VOL+ problem puts my phone into an unusable brick...
The problem is that I'm not able to repair this myself (when I would try this, I'm guessing I'll break the seals therefore my insurance won't pay)... Anyone an idea how to circumvent the VOL+ button problem, without opening up my phone?

bdacier said:
Well, I'm gonna fire up IRC then and try get some help. It's indeed not bricked as far as I'm guessing cause I do indeed have lights and I'm able to boot into CWM!
Right I'm guessing this is my problem! Just two days prior to resetting I started having problems with my VOL+ button (wouldn't work, only VOL- worked). So I'm guessing my hardware VOL+ button is broken and stuck to pressed...?
To answer your question about CWM: When I take out the battery so the phone is powered down, then reinsert the battery, connect the phone to the adapter or my computer (without pressing the power button), the phone boots into CWM after about 1 minute!
So after consolidating all the answers I'm guessing this is my problem: Hardware VOL+ is constantly pressed, therefore the phone boots consequently into Qualcomm service mode. Everything seems to be OK (flashing able to CWM), though just this little VOL+ problem puts my phone into an unusable brick...
The problem is that I'm not able to repair this myself (when I would try this, I'm guessing I'll break the seals therefore my insurance won't pay)... Anyone an idea how to circumvent the VOL+ button problem, without opening up my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have needles at home? The ones you use when you repair cloth.. Try using one very carefully behind the volume +, you could also take a bit of A4 Paper, cut out some of it and make it fit between the gap of the Volume button, and try getting dirt out of there.

Allright, I've tried cleaning the VOL+ key but it still won't work. As a matter of fact I can feel a little "click" when pressing the VOL+ key, so I'm guessing the mechanical part of the key is working correctly. However when in CWM I can only use the VOL- key to switch thru the options, VOL+ is not registered by the phone. Therefore my assumption is that the there's a problem on the PCB with the VOL+ key, ergo a hardware fault... Insurance has been called and I'm up for a switch, now let's hope the insurance doesn't figure out I've rooted and installed another ROM than stock!
At least I wan't to thank all of you who've tried to help me! My ego has been saved, knowing it's indeed a hardware fault .

Cant you use adb within cwm to adb reboot bootloader?
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

bdacier said:
Allright, I've tried cleaning the VOL+ key but it still won't work. As a matter of fact I can feel a little "click" when pressing the VOL+ key, so I'm guessing the mechanical part of the key is working correctly. However when in CWM I can only use the VOL- key to switch thru the options, VOL+ is not registered by the phone. Therefore my assumption is that the there's a problem on the PCB with the VOL+ key, ergo a hardware fault... Insurance has been called and I'm up for a switch, now let's hope the insurance doesn't figure out I've rooted and installed another ROM than stock!
At least I wan't to thank all of you who've tried to help me! My ego has been saved, knowing it's indeed a hardware fault .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got the exact same problem! I don't have insurance on it though. And, im a day late for warranty.
What am i supposed to do? Any suggestions? Will htc deny my request to fix it coz it had a custom firmware?
Any help of any sort is appreciated.

I had exactly the same problem, and I'm sorry to say that I had to have it repaired. My button would also "click", but not register.
Maybe if you are buy a new power button from eBay?

Realising this is an old thread, but still:
I was just experiencing the same problem after I did a reboot to let one of my friends borrow my DHD to turn off the PIN code check on his SIM.
It started with the blinking lights (black screen), then I pulled the battery and found that my DHD was only accessible through ADB in recovery mode.
Did a couple of "ADB reboot" without any success, then tried using "ADB reboot recovery", which seemed to work (still black screen though), and then I did a "ADB reboot".
Back to normal!

hi , i had this issue too , its bcz of the moisture ur cell phone has absorb and as HTC desire HD very sensitive with its volume rocker area , the first thing that will be affected with moisture is ur volumer rocker circuit , try making it dry with a hair dryer blower or place ur phone in a rice sack for a day .
i am sure it will work .

[Q] So, apparently you shouldn't accept OTA updates with an unlocked BL...

My phone won't boot now. Every time I press the power button, there's a single vibration and no other response. Plugging it in to my computer activates flashmode, however I've tried 2 FTF files, and neither have fixed anything, though both seemed to flash correctly. I cannot enter fastboot.
Halp?

Well, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1126354 at least got me to the SE screen... Let's see what happens

I may have panicked when posting this thread. THe linked solution worked wonderfully.

-solved-

Is it hard-bricked (after flash attemp)?
With the recent ICS ROM release, I followed the posted instructions with my noob attempt at flashing ICS for the lt28i (not att). I got ICS on but after flashing GB 6.0.F.0.111 Firmware (the baseband only), the phone showed Sony logo a few times and went to a greyish screen (like it is still on?). The USB connection no longer works and I couldn't charge or force shutdown (power+volume up). So it is hard-bricked?

Try to hard reset your phone -power and volume up -hold until it vibrates.Then try to shut the phone and put into flash mode - volume down first and then usb
Sent from my LT28h using xda app-developers app

That was one of the first thing I tried, no respond no matter how long I held it.

Try another cable first. Then see if you can get out back in flash mode.
Sent from Rooted LT28at with ICS.

1. Press and hold both the volume up key and the power key for five seconds.
2. After your phone vibrates once, release the keys. The phone restarts automatically.
To force a phone shutdown
1. Press and hold both the volume up key and the power key for 10 seconds.
2. After your phone vibrates three times, release the keys. The phone turns off automatically.
Sent from my LT28at

KEB64 said:
1. Press and hold both the volume up key and the power key for five seconds.
2. After your phone vibrates once, release the keys. The phone restarts automatically.
To force a phone shutdown
1. Press and hold both the volume up key and the power key for 10 seconds.
2. After your phone vibrates three times, release the keys. The phone turns off automatically.
Sent from my LT28at
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he's said he tried this and got no response from his phone. Based on that I'm guessing his phone is dead and can't get it to charge. Perhaps the cable is bad, it happens, at least you can rule it out.
Sent from Rooted LT28at with ICS.

jeriku said:
I think he's said he tried this and got no response from his phone. Based on that I'm guessing his phone is dead and can't get it to charge. Perhaps the cable is bad, it happens, at least you can rule it out.
Sent from Rooted LT28at with ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I detailed it out to help differentiate between a restart and a forced shutdown.
Sent from my LT28at

Hard reset/force shutdown didn't work for me
I tried to recharge the battery with a wall charger, and the screen powered off in around an hour and the red led turned on after another hour or so.
But the phone now couldn't power on and still not responding to USB connection or hard reset (the red led is still on whenever I plug in the charger or an USB port though)
EDIT: I got some respond, the phone now powered on by itself and keep on resetting at the Sony logo (stuck in bootloader?).
When I plugged it into the charger, didn't get the red led like usual, but when I plugged it into the USB port, the pc tried to detect the phone, but couldn't since the phone kept resetting.
Got some vibration for trying to hard reset (1) and force shutdown (3), but those didn't work as the phone powered on and reset by itself

I know it's not much help at this point but weren't you supposed to not flash the ics baseband and leave that gb file there? It sounds like your just stuck in a boot loop (soft brick) so something should get you back to working. Just be careful what instructions you follow next.
Sent from my LT28at

My wild guess you flash with a low battery (or when the boot loop happened, it killed the battery). I don't think the phone can turn on by itself without a human touch. Reading your post - look like there was an error while you flash baseband. My suggestion:
1. If you still see the Sony logo, hold volumn up then hold power button until you fell the vibration. The phone will shutoff. Or if the phone off (black screen) - plugin the wall let it charge for at least 2 hrs. Don't do anything with the phone.
2. Reflash LT28i firmware, run flashtool on your computer (keep all wipes checked) until it ask for 'turn off phone and put in flashmode. Then hold down volumn down plugin the USB. This should revise your phone back to GB. After done, unplug and turn it on. You can setup anything you want or do it later. Make sure charge the phone again if battery is under 50%.
3. Flash ICS LT28h, run flashtool - uncheck all wipes and check 'exclude baseband'. Until it ask for phone in flashmode. Turn off phone, hold down volumn down plugin the usb. This should flash ICS to your phone. Unplug turn on and setup if you haven't done so.
Good luck.
Sent from my Sony Xperia™ Ion - ICS & Rooted

Got the phone to stay in flash mode instead of reboot after constantly trying to put it into flashmode.
Got ICS but back to the initial LTE issue which messed it up in the first place.
Thanks for all the advices.

kulimkan said:
Got the phone to stay in flash mode instead of reboot after constantly trying to put it into flashmode.
Got ICS but back to the initial LTE issue which messed it up in the first place.
Thanks for all the advices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The LTE issue is because you didn't read. Get a generic GB and use flash tool. Dont wipe, uncheck all the "Exclude" boxes EXCEPT exclude baseband. Flash and restart.
"Flash the Gingerbread 6.0.F.0.111 Firmware excluding everything except baseband and do not wipe data. This will give you ICS with LTE."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28302842&postcount=1

I like a newb wiped and got a fatal error. I am going through the steps posted but am thinking I may have just bricked this thing. Not sure what to try from here as I am not getting much response from my device at all.

joe3681 said:
The LTE issue is because you didn't read. Get a generic GB and use flash tool. Dont wipe, uncheck all the "Exclude" boxes EXCEPT exclude baseband. Flash and restart.
"Flash the Gingerbread 6.0.F.0.111 Firmware excluding everything except baseband and do not wipe data. This will give you ICS with LTE."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28302842&postcount=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was the guide I followed actually.
At my second attempt (all unchecked except baseband), the phone powered on but got a lot of 'Sorry!' messages as some of the processes failed.
When I checked the phone stat, it went back to GB lt28i.
@zackspeed
try to charge the phone for a few hours and see if the red led turn on (at least that what I did to get some responds from my phone)

So I also had the phone come back to the Sony splash loop on its own. Will the phone continue to charge while its doing that??? I have a red light again and now just playing the waiting game I guess.

KEB64 said:
1. Press and hold both the volume up key and the power key for five seconds.
2. After your phone vibrates once, release the keys. The phone restarts automatically.
To force a phone shutdown
1. Press and hold both the volume up key and the power key for 10 seconds.
2. After your phone vibrates three times, release the keys. The phone turns off automatically.
Sent from my LT28at
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works friend thz

Not booting

I've been searching through the forums for a while now and I've not found a fault like mine unless I've just completely missed it but I have an xperia play now when I got it, I was told it was dead but when I connected the usb cable it lit up with the amber light and when I press the power button I get a short vibrate but nothing more. Nothing comes on screen and the sony PC companion keeps popping up telling me that my xperia play is connected and it continues to do so every 10 seconds or so until I disconnect it, the sound it makes when a usb device is connected and disconnected can get rather annoying after a while.
I tried reflashing it but that didn't work, I flashed it most recently with R800_4.0.2.A.0.79.ftf and before that with Xperia Play_Release_Generic UK.ftf but nothing seems to change it, at first I thought it could be hardware that was failing like the screen had died but that wouldn't explain it connecting and disconnecting from the laptop every 10 seconds or so and also in the past 2-3 weeks that I've been messing around with it, I've had the screen come on twice but I can't replicate what happened to make it work, it just seemed to come on randomly, I have however managed to kill it the same way each time by sliding the phone open and pressing the power button to lock screen, each time I pressed it with the phone slid up, it killed it back to no screen coming on and it connecting and disconnecting.
I can enter fastboot and tried to flash a kernel but it told me the phone needed to be rooted to do so and I can't find a guide telling me how to root it without having to change settings on the phone, which I can't do.
If anyone has had this problem before or can help it would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Is it flashtool telling you that you need to be rooted? If so then your bootloader isn't unlocked.

Lordomn said:
Is it flashtool telling you that you need to be rooted? If so then your bootloader isn't unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah flashtool is telling me that when I'm trying to flash a new kernel. I assumed that the bootloader needed to be unlocked to enter fastboot? or that's at least what I've read while searching for a solution. Can it be unlocked without having to do anything on the phone?

Need to fix a completely wiped phone

I just wiped my phone with TWRP using the "advanced" settings and ticked everything. Obviously not a good idea as I think I have wiped everything including the ROM from my phone. Any idea how to get it going again? It just goes to the "Sony Xperia" screen and stays there when booting. I'm not sure how to get back into TWRP (i used to get there from a utilities app that restarted the phone into recovery). I have TWRP backup on my computer before I did the stupid thing...
Thanks for any help!

I've tried to flash from Emma and and Xperia Companion but I can't enter Flashmode (hold the volume down button and connect to computer). It just automatically turns on and shows the Sony/Xperia screen and the LED is solid RED.
I let it run down over night and still unable to enter Flashmode.
I assume TWRP is still there as it was the program that wiped the phone. Any ideas how I can get into TWRP?
The computer does not recognise the phone either. It was rooted and had an unlocked bootloader before it happened.
Thanks!

Hold power down and press power button. Release power button when phone vibrates but keep holding vol down until you see twrp logo. If you don't see it after maybe 10 seconds. If nothing happens you can try pressing power button and when you see led light keep pressing or holding (try both) vol down. If that doesn't work then you can try flashing with flashtool. You can check my thread for downloads and instructions

col320ce said:
I just wiped my phone with TWRP using the "advanced" settings and ticked everything. Obviously not a good idea as I think I have wiped everything including the ROM from my phone. Any idea how to get it going again? It just goes to the "Sony Xperia" screen and stays there when booting. I'm not sure how to get back into TWRP (i used to get there from a utilities app that restarted the phone into recovery). I have TWRP backup on my computer before I did the stupid thing...
Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In sim card slot there is a small red button. Hold it down with toothpick or paper clip until you feel three vibrations. That will shut off your phone.
Now you can try Flashtool or Emma.

Thanks so far ... here is an update.
After letting it run down overnight it eventually let me get it into flashmode. Xperia Companion doesn't work (unlocked) but Emma is trying to work. It has taken a few hours to download the software as the phone only stays in flashmode for about 30 seconds but it was able to eventually download the software. Now it is trying to load it but it gets to 11% and the phone goes out of flashmode (but automatically re enters it without me doing anything) and the cycle continues. Is there any way to force it to stay in flashmode?
I've tried the suggestions above to get to TWRP but nothing seems to work.

I can think of 2 reasons. Either emma is broken (never used it, can't tell) or your connection to pc gets interrupted by bad cable or broken connector. Why don't you try flashtool instead of emma?

col320ce said:
Thanks so far ... here is an update.
After letting it run down overnight it eventually let me get it into flashmode. Xperia Companion doesn't work (unlocked) but Emma is trying to work. It has taken a few hours to download the software as the phone only stays in flashmode for about 30 seconds but it was able to eventually download the software. Now it is trying to load it but it gets to 11% and the phone goes out of flashmode (but automatically re enters it without me doing anything) and the cycle continues. Is there any way to force it to stay in flashmode?
I've tried the suggestions above to get to TWRP but nothing seems to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Silly question, but did you recharge your battery after letting it run overnight?

PiixJu said:
Silly question, but did you recharge your battery after letting it run overnight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wiped whole storage few times as he did (Without letting it run overnight tho) and you can't charge your battery without system or recovery. If your battery drains in this situation you are SOL

yeah I think that is my problem. The phone won't charge and that's why it only stays on for 30 seconds before losing connection.

Can I charge the battery out of the phone? I know it a pain to pull out ... but I've done it before as it needs changing every 12 mths or so.

Not sure about that. I mean there has to be a way to charge it outside phone but you would need special equipment since you can't just use random charger. Since you said you charged your batteries before you could try to use one of them and hope that they have charge in them for flashing. I saw that @munjeni has a lot of experience with this phones hardware so you could try and contact him and ask if he knows about contact points on motherboard for charging

Ok. Got it going again eventually. Not sure exactly what I did that made it work but FYI these are the things that I did that seemed to help:
Charged it on my ASUS tablet charger today - seemed to do a better job than the other charger I was using (it was a Nokia). It seems to hold a very small charge but was not charging the battery properly. Hooked it up to Emma which had already managed to download the software and put the phone under my laptop (trying to warm the battery to squeeze everything our of it). 355 seconds later it had copied the software and the phone was able to turn on normally again. The phone was getting to about 60% of the software copied across before I used the ASUS charger and the heating the phone technique.
BTW I couldn't get flashtool to work. It recognised the phone but stopped saying USB debugging was off.
Thanks for everyones help!!