Solved Soft bricked RAZR XT910

[Marshy]

Hello good people,

I have a Droid Razr XT910 gsm uk retail, which is in need of some assistance. Until recently I had a perfectly good working Droid which I banjaxed.

The setup was, I had safestrap 3.75 and was running cm 11 on rom slot 1 and cm 13 on stock rom slot.
Everything was running beautifully until I decided to install supersu on my newly installed cm 13..

For some reason it failed and was preventing the os to boot, so I got back into recovery and for some reason thought "fix permissions" sounded like a good idea.. in that I thought it would revert supersu's changes or something..

but it didn't.. still not booting, so this time I thought to "hell with it!!" I'll just reinstall the rom and all will be well in the world.. however it seemed to take a long time with no progress, and then I worried that I had inadvertently removed root with the permissions thing, which was stopping it to load, so I did a powerdown.

Oops!

Now, when I boot I get the error droid, and I don't get to go back to safestrap recovery. At error droid, if I do the volume up and down buttons, I get some options about updating via ADB or from external SD card or delete cache and data or factory reset. Which I did but no joy.

So now all I get is the fastboot menu options and the droid error options menu.. and now I'm having a time trying to find out what to do..

Seeing as I overwrote my stock rom with cm 13 and didn't make any back ups, are there any doctors in the house here that can explain to me my options?

Much obliged!

 

[FoxKat]

Well that's some mess you have there. I would expect the best route would be to flash the stock OS and start over, but I'll let some others chime in here first. The consensus is usually the right choice so as they say two heads are better than one.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[GoCliffGo05]

RAZR XT910 Firmwares SuperThread (Jelly Bean)

Check this thread to see if your firmware is listed. If so, flash it with rsd lite and wipe data after flash. Should be set to go.

Sent from my Note 4

 

[Marshy]

@FoxKat Yes. If I had a picture of Laurel and Hardy, I'd be one twiddling my tie right now lookin like a right eejit. As I found out, I didn't even need Supersu and there's warnings not to use it, but I found this out after the fact.. Live an learn eh.

@GoCliffGo05 Hey, Thanks for looking in. Yeah, I happened across that link in my travels, down loaded what I think is the right one. There's mention of Requires RSD Lite 6.0? but on the Rsd lite site the versions go from 5.7 to 6.1.4? Anyway I got 6.1.4 down. Hope that's ok.

My problem now it seems is the battery has gone flat, I left it on charge over night but the Moto logo won't switch off and it hasn't charged, Fastboot says battery low - cannot program. I know it needs a full battery for the process. Now fortunately, I bought a new battery for the phone there not long ago, and it came with a charger, I just need that tiny screw driver to get it out. If there isn't another way? it's open heart surgery time for this one..

I guess if this works, which would be great, I'll lose all the data on the phone. Safestrap an all?

 

[GoCliffGo05]

Unfortunately the only other option would be to buy a programable cable from team black hat and wait for it to arrive.

And yes, sorry bud you're gnna lose all data.

If rsd 6.0 is required, anything above that will be ok.

Sent from my Note 4

 

[Marshy]

@GoCliffGo05

Hey that's a great idea, I watched a vid on how to make one which is well within my skill range. I have the battery out now and it's on charge using a universal charger. But I'm curious, tell me this, besides being able to charge in fastboot how can I use this cable to recover the phone and data?

Thanks!

 

[FoxKat]

Here are two factory data programming cables that will allow you to fastboot and flash a ROM even with a dead battery or no battery at all. The second one also comes with a USB OTG cable allowing you to connect external USB hard drives and thumb drives for backup storage.

eBay

eBay

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Marshy]

@FoxKat

Ok wait! Will I be able to recover the data with this thing?

Sorry I see now, missed the bit of text at the start of the post in all my excitement. Thanks!

 

[FoxKat]

Recovering data would happen after you get the phone working again. I can't attest to it but in most cases when you flash a ROM the data remains intact. So there's a good chance all your data will still be there afterwards.

You may be able to use those cables to gain access to the internal SD card before flashing the ROM but you'll need to be using a software package designed for data recovery.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[FoxKat]

@GoCliffGo05

Hey that's a great idea, I watched a vid on how to make one which is well within my skill range. I have the battery out now and it's on charge using a universal charger. But I'm curious, tell me this, besides being able to charge in fastboot how can I use this cable to recover the phone and data?

Thanks!

Be wary of charging the lithium ion battery on a "universal charger" unless it's specifically designed to charge LI batteries. Charging those batteries incorrectly can result in overheating and eventual rupture and hot flaming gases.

In fact it's recommended to only use the Factory Data Cable for as long as it's needed to obtain a working operating system. Since it dumps the full current and voltage of the charger block directly to the battery it bypasses all the safety features of the built-in charging system and doesn't meter or adjust charging it, therefore it can also result in overcharging and a ruptured battery. I generally recommend no longer than one hour initially followed by one or two half hour periods maximum.

To be 100% safe, disconnect the battery completely and use the cable as the only source of power while flashing the ROM.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Marshy]

@FoxKat

Yeah the charger is ok, I put the battery on for an hour or so and it's back in the phone. If I plug the phone into the mains charger I can turn it on and fastboot says we're good to go. However, as soon as I unplug it, it turns off, and when I plug it in the PC a white light comes on but I can't get the phone to turn on?

The factory cable has pin 1 and 4 connected which is the black and red wires. I've cut a usb cable in have and intend to bridge black to red which should be the same thing as a factory cable.. right?

Edit: Ok wait. It come on now.. I didn't tighten the contacts properly. But now it says battery low again..

Will this usb cable bodge work? When I plug it in the PC makes a usb connected sound even though there isn't anything attached? Is that right?

 

[FoxKat]

That is correct from recollection. The white light you mention is known as the "white light of death" and indicates the battery has been deep discharged.

In most cases the battery can be revived with the factory programming cable.


Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Marshy]

Good god! Let there be no mention of the grim reaper just yet..

I've made a cable, I'll plug it in this time.. unless there's a reason I shouldn't..

Edit:

Something's not right, With the cable the way it is, it's supposed to be powering the phone and fastboot is supposed to report ok?

Edit:

All it seems to be doing is disabling the usb ports in that part of the PC.. weird..

 

[Marshy]

So anyway.. The cable thing is a bit fiddly so abandoned that.. the charger did it's job and am currently in progress
of a fastboot install.. Hurrah! fingers crossed.


Edit:

It worked!!

Ok Now to root and safestrap again.. woo hoo!

Thanks for the help and advice, I feel this Android has plenty of life in her yet, god willing!

Cheers!

 

[GoCliffGo05]

Glad you got it resolved. Happy flashing.

Sent from my Note 4