Flash Failure!? Fastboot Flash Mode HELP!!!!

[summer_b]

Hello!

I am new to this forum and quite honestly, very, very new to smart phones in general and my technological understanding is pretty elementary. I should have maybe known that was a recipe for disaster with a smart phone! I'm looking for some help with my Droid 3 that had a massive malfunction overnight last night and I'm being told by Verizon is unfixable and I will lose some things on the phone and there is no way around that. That might very well be true, but I wanted to ask just to be sure as the tech didn't seem quite certain and before I accept the fact that I have lost pics/video I'd like to be sure it's gone for good.

For the record my phone has not had any severe drops, water damage etc. Last night it was functioning normally. I did not download anything, no new apps or updates (unless they were automatic ones) and my cell phone use is VERY basic. I don't know what bricks, or rooting or any of that is so I'm not sure why this error message came up. I plugged my phone in before bed because it was at 30% battery and woke up to a blank screen with an error message. Verizon is sending a new phone but I have a few days to figure out if (like computers) there is a way to extract files from within even when the item seems beyond repair. I only have access to one screen on my phone that reads:


AP Fastboot Flash Mode (S) (Flash Failure)
0A.53

Battery Low
Cannot Program
Connect USB
Data Cable


I am not sure if my phone even has power. When it is unplugged from the charger the message disappears and the screen goes black. Once plugged back in the msg returns. I have removed the battery, put it back and the same happens. I have plugged in the usb and the computer doesn't even compute the hardware which makes me think my phone is dead. I have tried the restart of pressing the volume keys and power key at the same time to no avail. My concern and fear is that my battery is bad or something and perhaps if I had a battery that would "turn over" I could get my pics out of there. I did not have them saved to an sd card. Newbie that I am, I learned today the difference between a SIM card and and SD card... :-( Can anyone possibly help find a way to get back into this phone?

 

[Shimmy549]

Try holding down the power button and m key at the same time. Try to boot up your phone from there (I think it's the first option in the menu). Hopefully, that will circumvent whatever went wrong.

I can't guarantee it, but any other solution would be more difficult.

If it does work, don't consider yourself in the clear. Get your important stuff transferred to an sd card for safekeeping.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

 

[summer_b]

Thank you! I will give that a try soon. It was suggested that with my battery having been low when this happened (and not appearing to charge now) that I need to try it with a different battery or get this one fully charged. Am heading to Verizon later today so they can try it with a different battery. I hope that changes it so a re-boot is possible. The Verizon guy said if they can't get around it with a new battery then I'm sunk. Fingers crossed!

 

[Shimmy549]

As far as I know, it seems like a bigger problem than it is. I've heard of things like this happening when people mess with ROMs and screw up, but never in situations where the person never messed with the phone's file system at all. Either way, you SHOULD be able to boot from recovery.

The low battery would be a problem if it happened to die on you, but it should literally take about a minute to go from the recovery key combo to your home screen.

I don't think a faulty battery would cause this to happen, either. It's more likely that it just wouldn't hold a charge. Are you keeping the phone plugged in or did you take it off the charger when you gave up working on it? Maybe it's charging, but you're unplugging it before it can cross the "low battery" threshold?

Anyway, I think this will be an easy fix. Hopefully, the Verizon guy will know what he's doing.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

 

[technogeek00]

It is odd for this to happen unprovoked but I had this error message occur when I messed up and didnt verify a file I was pushing to my phone's system.

Simply flashing back the SBF fixed it right up. You will not be able to flash while the battery is low though, you will have to charge the battery first. As far as I know the Droid 3 will not charge while off when the filesystem is has errors as it requies a charging mode to be activated. I could be wrong there and someone else could probably shed more light on the subject.

Finally, flashing back the SBF will erase your personal data but the technicians are wrong in saying your phone is toast, from the situation you described your phone is more than recoverable.

Let me know how it turns out.

 

[summer_b]

Thank you to everyone! I had a friend offer to take a look at it and within a couple of hours he was able to recover everything and save the necessary things to a cd for safe keeping. It appears my phone is even up and running, would just need to be activated again. The replacement phone has arrived during this time, not sure if I should stick with my phone or move on to the refurb they sent me? Any thoughts??? If this happened because of an attachmed file I opened via e-mail and didn't "verify" I could make it happen again. How in the heck do I make sure I verify something? Yeah... the smartphone is maybe too smart for its owner in this case... Thanks for your patience with these simple questions!

 

[Shimmy549]

An email attachment? No, it was just a fluke. It probably had nothing to do with anything you did with your phone. Something glitched when your phone was firing up after you pressed the power button. Beyond that, you didn't cause it to happen.

I think you should keep the original phone.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

 

[technogeek00]

Since there isnt a real difference that matters in Droid 3 hardware I would say keep the old one. Otherwise I would say take the better hardware version haha.

I agree with the post above, highly unlikely this is because of an email attachment it was just an odd accident.

 

[jrfchristian]

Exact same thing happened to me 2 nights ago. Went to bed, plugged in phone, woke up with same black screen, word for word. Tried charging it all day, but it would never charge. Took it to the Verizon store today, and was told that due to a bad charger port, my battery probably was drained rather than charged, causing the domino effect which led to this glitch. My phone is still under warranty, so they are sending me a new one. When It comes, the problem will hopefully no longer be an issue. I asked the rep if the battery may be ruined, but he assured me that it wouldn't be. I never rooted my phone, or altered any files, so the fact that this happened to me is a bit off-putting, and frustrating. I am going to go crazy being w/o a phone for days, not to mention the fact that they didn't offer to pay the cost to overnight it to me for my inconvenience. They did pretty much the bare minimum with regards to addressing this issue, but hopefully it will be solved with the new phone. I'll provide updates when it arrives...(hopefully good ones):icon_eek:

 

[anthrpicdecadnce]

I find it odd that they arent overnighting it to you. Every time i've had to return a a cell phone for warrenty replacement, they would overnight me the new phone. And this has happened quite a bit (it it absolutely pathetic how reliable technology is nowadays)! I wonder what it is about their business methods that produce these inconsistencies...