Ways To Not Brick Your Device (Please Add To List If You No More) - Transformer TF300T General

So, i'm really new to flashing roms. and i never knew how its possible to brick your device, in till this process. I always wanted to no what not to do to brick. So here's what i learned, what not to do, so you don't brick your new transformer tf300t
READ, READ, AND READ AGAIN! - you have to read everything before you start anything. At first i would read step one, then actually do it. Read step two then, do it. DONT DO THAT! Read everything twice at least. even the comments. don't try anything if no one else has tried with positive results. Only people who know what there doing, are ballsy enough to be first, second or third.
DONT OVER WHELM YOURSELF - Make sure you no all the material first, so don't regret it later. If you want this new rom everyone is talking about. You can't just read everything about the rom, and think your ready. Do you need to unlock your bootloader, Do you need to be rooted, are you rooted, What about the Recovery, Nandroid Backup, how to recover back up if you didn't read this first and bricked your tf300 lol Make sure you know all the material before started anything. and somehow manage not to overwhelm yourself in the process,If your overwhelmed, your not ready. If you don't know something, just simply ask ( but if you expect an answer, follow step one READ, READ AND READ AGAIN.) Don't ask a question when all you have to do is scroll up to find your answer lol or Read the post right below yours
Start Off With Something Easy - After Rooted of course and read all of the material. Start off with the build.prop tweak by seanzscreams (i believe) Be careful Though many pple have still bricked trying this, including me lol
So if you change your build,prop make sure you backed up original to build.prop.bak and name tweaked one back to build.prop
Don't forget about permissions rwrr
IF YOU SAY TO YOURSELF, I DONT NO IF I SHOULD ROOT, I DONT NO IF I SHOULD UNLOCK BOOTLOADER, BUT... BUT... MY WARENTY - If you've thought this, then chances are your probably going to brick you device, you most likely haven't read anything, and don't know all the pros and cons
ONLY FLASH THINGS MEANT FOR YOUR TF300T OR OTHER SPECIFIC DEVICE - Only flash things that specifically says tf300 rom, tf300 mod, tf300 recovery. DO NOT, I MEAN DO NOT flash anything under transformer prime or 101. Seriously DO NOT. In less the OP (Original Poster) said its ok and people who know what there doing, confirmed it works in the comments (and not just one person, like a whole conversation full of people) Just be in the habit to not flash anything that's not meant for the device your holding
Common Mistake - I've read of people trying to do a bunch of things with more than one device at a time. (Even people who are experienced with all this) and they go to fast or just not thinking. and start doing a process for one device on the other one, and next thing they no, there bricked.
Stick to one device at a time. especially if your new at all this.
I'm new to all of this myself, So i'm sure there is alot more ways to brick your device. If anyone cares to add to any of this, please do, I want to know myself too.
I could be wrong, it just seems like whenever someone is bricked, it because of something called OPERATOR ERROR, So please read every single post if you have too, inless your the kind of person who love massive head aches or like to use a $400 paper weight as there knew door stopper lol

Undoubtingly the best way to make sure you don't brick your device is not to mess with it, but yes, familiarizing yourself with the instructions first, making notes of what makes sense and what does not so you can further read to educate yourself before taking the leap to modify anything on your tablet.
The first time I messed with my GTab I thought I bricked it. It would not load or even get into recovery, but then I found a way with many steps via command line to re-install the original image. I was sweating bullets for a few days as it was past the 30 days I could take it back to Sears.
Other than that, some device manufacturers (samsung for example) make it almost impossible to brick their devices with the worst case scenario using a JTAG plug to get into download mode.

Be careful with build props. Its one of the easiest, and hardest to fix ways to brick.

Don't be cheap
I'd also recommend to those who have the option BUY THE REPLACEMENT PLAN! I paid $90 when I bought my first transformer. I bricked it, took it back and got a new one, paid $90 and got the replacement plan. I then heard they weren't selling the transformer anymore (if you try to replace your device and they no longer sell it, they give you a comparable model or an upgrade). I "dropped" it and I took it back the day the Transformer PAD came out, one day earlier I would have been given the prime (the salesman chuckled at me as he swapped it out).
If you're planning on tinkering with your device and don't know what you're doing, it could be the best $90 you ever spent. I know have an upgraded tab after replacing two devices (granted I could have put the money towards a prime from the door but in case one, I may have bricked that, and been screwed).

Related

Root Now or Later?

Hey all,
I'm going to ordering a Nexus One is the next few days and was wondering whether I should root the device now or wait.
What I'm really wanting is to update the phone once a European flavour of the ROM is available to get multi touch support in Google Maps and the browser, as a UK version of Google Navigation (if it becomes available).
I'm a real newbie, so I may be missing something, e.g. Google Navigation for the UK could be an app on the Android Market if it becomes available.
What I really don't want to do is loose text messages, etc. By rooting the device later on. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
There's no real instant-gratification reason to root now, IMO.
The problem with not rooting now, knowing you will root later, is that you'll wipe your phone (reinstall apps, readjust settings, lose messages, lose call logs). You're going to have to start fresh after you root.
IMO, if you know you're going to root at some point down the road, do it earlier rather than later.
I rooted my G1, but only to get A2SD. There's enough space in this phone that I don't foresee it being an issue in the near future. Plus, after a few months, my SD card kept wiping itself; I assume that's due to too much use of it. I don't expect to root my N1, but who knows, Cyanogen could come out with a superfast ROM, but the phone is so fast as it is that it seems unnecessary.
If you're a true nerd (which I am ironically ashamed to admit that I must not be) you want to root your phone ASAP, otherwise I think you can wait.
There's probably an app out there somewhere that lets you backup your texts. I know there's a Backup program for Rooted phones (Backup for root users) that is a lifesaver, but only if you have a rooted phone.
As of now, I don't think there are enough pro's to warrant rooting, but that's based on my usage -- others really want/need tethering, but that's about all you can get from rooting as of now.
SMS Backup on the Marketplace.
Done.
Just get it over with! However, if you're worried about hardware infant mortality, then, maybe wait 30-60 days. But, remember, when you flash the image to root, you'll have to wipe everything.
Thanks for the advice on the backup software.
Does anyone know if there's any chance that Google Navigation for the UK will be an app or will it be a ROM update for that as well?
The only way I think I will root my phone is if they figure out how to relock it. Im not gonna risk rooting it and then something happening and having a $560 paper weight. I paid wayyy to much for this phone to risk breaking it. If I could "un-root" the phone like you could on the G1/MT, then I would have rooted it right away.
Hold off the on rooting IMO. There aren't any real big reasons why you should want to root quite yet. No super-awesome ROMs or programs out for the N1 ATM. Give it a month and then it'll prolly be a lot more desirable.
I was an avid flasher on the g1! I paid full price on this puppy so I'm holding off. Mainly because I don't want to lose functionality.because we all know with flashing something gets broken! I don't want to lose camera or proximity sensor for a couple of seconds of speed. No offense out there to any of the great devs! I loved all the new roms but I'm gonna play safe for a while!
Nothing worth it right now.
Going to be awhile before it gets to the same point of G1 where so many good roms are out and pluses are clear.
I rooted mine as soon as I got home. Mainly because I wanted to have a poke about and have a look around.
SC
The only way I think I will root my phone is if they figure out how to relock it. Im not gonna risk rooting it and then something happening and having a $560 paper weight. I paid wayyy to much for this phone to risk breaking it. If I could "un-root" the phone like you could on the G1/MT, then I would have rooted it right away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was gonna make a new post, but this seems more appropriate since it's on the same subject.
Is anyone working on the process of relocking / unrooting it? I know from the "How to Root Nexus One" sticky at the beginning of this area they started talking about it like they were in process, but I didn't see much else come of it before the thread got locked.
I'm very likely buying the Nexus when it hits Verizon, unless this whole Bravo / Incredible mystery unfolds and a better or more appealing option exists at or around the same time. I didn't know anything about the whole rooting business until I started looking into the Nexus and Android, so I did enough research just to sort of understand the benefits of it and kind of get what it is.
I also agree that right now it probably isn't of much use, other than obviously not wanting to have to wipe out all your stuff later on. However, I do see the benefit later on once some really good ROMs are out that cover all bases to keep original functionality and add full multi-touch, more precision to the bottom buttons sensors, maybe even more speed, etc.... I'm with who I quoted though on the fact that I'd like it to be possible to definitely put it back to original factory settings (un-rooted), incase you need warranty work done. That would be the main thing stopping me.
I hate the way stock android looks. I rooted mine so I could theme it to how I want it to look. Mine was rooted about an hour after getting it. 30 minutes longer then I was going to wait because I had a phone call.
WaveSecure is my fav app at the moment- let's you back up messages and call logs - and best of all - let's you remote wipe or kill your phone if it's stolen
Mybackup is a good one for everything including sms and bookmarks.
Astro File Manager let's you back up apps but you have to pay for the full version
I guess the biggest thing is - whether they are trusted or just pirates stealing your info ... like the Banking app scam a few weeks ago ...
I just don't know anymore...

[Q] Installing HC and restoring back

Team,
I have whats probably a very basic question, but since I have 3 other tablets its hard to keep them all straight.
I bought the wife an NC, she sees the things I do in Android HC and likes what she sees, so I found the instructions for putting it on the card and bootnig.
SO FAR everything seems good, BUT she doesnt like having to swap out the card all the time (go figure)
I know that HC can be installed as the primary boot OS on the internal "drive"
I also believe that even after that, if she wanted to we could probably restore her back to out if the box, but my question is , can anyone point me to one or 2 places that might have a step by step walk through on those processes?
On my GTAB one of our devs has actually made a gtab for dummies site that walks you through several different FW functions, is there anything like that in the NC?
Even if the instructions are buried in a threaad I can do that, unfortunatly my work has picked up so much I dont have the time to read all the threads.
Personally I think the NC is probably the best value in the 7" market, and have referred many folks to them. My wife even wants to buy the boy one for thr 'book reading' function, I just have to figure out how to manipulate them 1st''any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
J
My suggestion: Drop HC. It is buggy, and slow. If you really want to have HC, flash this using ClockworkMod:
http://www.multiupload.com/71K84XF6BF
And then push this to /boot:
http://www.multiupload.com/3D9WSPUAUZ
Iking,
Thanks for that.
Now the other side of the question.
If she hates this, is there a documented method to restore it to out of the box?
I ask because on 2 of mine I know once I update past a certain point there is no going back.
Thanks
J

[Q] Is this Trophy salvageable?

So, I'm looking for a Windows Phone 7 device to have a play around with, not looking to spend too much as it's just going to be a toy really, and I came across this Trophy going cheap on ebay.
The phone doesn't boot at the moment, and the seller says "It either will turn on to the white screen with the htc logo on and wont go any further or you can turn it on to the bootloader and connect it to the pc, but thats it".
Does anyone know if it can be resurrected? I'm quite techy but I'm not a dev, as long as I have instructions I'm quite comfortable flashing roms and such, I used to have a HTC Hero that I rooted and flashed custom roms etc to, so I'm used to all that stuff. I've attached some pictures of the screen, if anyone can tell me whether it's bricked or not, and if it can be fixed (and possibly point me toward some instructions on what to do!) I would appreciate it.
I personally wouldn't buy it since you don't know exactly what happened with it. But it looks to me like maybe the GoldCard method would work...
...even though you might not have enough information to retrieve from the phone to create an actual GoldCard, you might be able to flash it with the original ROM using an Y-cable and an external card reader.
What is his asking price?
It's on an auction ending in 2 days, no bids yet so its still on the opening price of £20. I reckon it's worth a go as long as it doesn't go above £30
Of course, as long as it hasn't been opened I could just send it to HTC for a warranty repair, but where's the fun in that?
You could ask ansar on our forums if he helps you

[Q] How to identify a "clean" HD2

Hello HD2 forum
I am planning on purchasing a HD2 second hand, to ultimately dual boot windows phone 7 and ICS.
I am buying it from a local trade in store for good prices and warranty, ideally i would like to power it on in store before the purchase to check its clean and ready for me to follow the tutorials available.
Other than identifying that the phone is still running windows mobile, is there any other way for me to check that the phone has not previously been messed with? Something in the settings? Maybe i should check for a secondary mode with certain key combination on boot?
Thanks a lot!
You kinda need to define what you mean by "clean"...I assume you mean stock (and never been modded, but these are 2 different things totally unrelated to each other, more to that in a minute).
IMO the best thing you could do would be to read up on the flashing process. This will tell you what to look for, if you're looking for a stock never-been-modded phone.
But back to your question...the first major sign I'd look for would be HSPL. I'm not going to go into detail about how to find out if it's installed. You'll have to do your own homework. Read every 'how to' and 'newb' (or noob) guide on xda. XDA is an awesome site and the dev's here write awesome documentation. Do them the favor of reading it. I mean, I don't know what you're an expert on but it might get on your nerves if I ask you simple questions about that topic cause I'm too lazy to do the research myself. The research is easy, the reference material is all contained here in various forums, depending on what you want to do. I show my appreciation for that by taking advantage of it, and don't forget to thank the dev's if something is especially helpful...they like that.
As far as checking to ensure that it's still running WinMo...that's gonna be about as effective and informative (about the phone being virgin-stock) as whether or not it's raining that day or not. What's that got to do with anything? Exactly. Nothing. My HD2 is running (at the moment) a WinMo 6.5 build. But it's been flashed more than a hundred times. My daily software is an SD Android build. Before I flashed my HD2 for the first time, I probably spent about 30 hours just reading about the process and trying to understand the process of what I was going to be doing (while reading, I usually had video tutorials playing on my 2nd monitor...I'd give up the reading when it got interesting). So that's it, really...read read read. It's not fail safe. I can't tell you how many times I waited on pins and needles to find out if I had ****-canned my new €400 phone. If you have a heart condition, you just shouldn't ride this ride. ;-)
I just got a SGS2, cause I prefer Android to WinMo. WinMo's a full time job, as is flashing. Something was always not performing the way I wanted it to (efficiency or performance etc), which was why I started flashing, but it gets to be like a drug. Nothing's ever good enough, cause you wind up wanting the best. I'd flash a ROM and install all my **** (manually, one cad file at a time) and then flash a different one and have to reinstall everything again. It was even worse if I had set up my homescreens, and folders the way I wanted them...to that end, I'd highly recommend that you also research mass-installer programs. I can't think of the name of it right now, but you pack all of your cad's in one folder and this program installs all of them (which means like 65% typically, cause invariably about 1/3 will fail for one reason or another).
Even still, looking for HSPL (which is required to flash anything on the HD2) is not very indicative as to whether or not it's been previously modded. When I got my phone it was virgin/stock, of that I'm sure. I bought it from a person, and the person was not capable of performing such tasks (he wasn't so technically inclined). But in your case, you're going to have no idea. It is not only possible but also very easy to return the phone to stock by removing HSPL leaving virtually no trace of it having ever been modded (I say virtually, cause I don't THINK that it can be traced when HSPL has been removed, but I'm not a dev and not a guru). So even the absence of HSPL doesn't even really tell you that it's never been modded, it only says that if it was- then the modder was smart enough to cover his tracks.
Basically, I don't think there's an answer to your question. There are clues that say YES THIS PHONE HAS BEEN MODDED. But there's no definitive sign to look for that say THIS PHONE HAS NEVER BEEN MODDED, and you dunno if someone's gonna lie to you. But I am inviting you to prove me wrong, read the documentation and get back to me.
Good luck flashing, don't **** it up though. You'll be pissed if you brick your ****, which is easy to do. Hell, it's probably a thousand times safer to buy a phone with HSPL installed, then you can flash all you want with no risk. The main risk, is ****ing something up in the HSPL installation process, but there are ways to minimize the risk...which all amount to: read, read, read.
And if you decide you'd be interested in previously modded HD2 (with HSPL already installed), let me know, make me an offer. Mine's just a wifi media device at the moment and I'll probably be marketing it in the near future regardless. It currently has HSPL, and I haven't decided to remove it before sale or not. I saw one on Amazon last week that was at a premium price, cause the seller had Android running on it. It's a great phone if you like WinMo, but I find Android to be much less 'high maintenance' and I used to be a huge WinMo fan (I'm a 10 year WinMo user, if you can believe that!).
Regardless, this is getting long. Those are my 2pence. Be easy.
[EDIT] Hell, if you were closer I'd let you borrow mine for a few weeks to see if you like the phone. I'm a nice guy like that.
There is no way of knowning to be honest, unless you go into bootloader and you see the firmare on it has been tinkered, ( i.e. Hspl, radio, rom ) and depending if it is a eu or tmous version. good luck tho!

Need Advice please, i'm a Beginner.

l
I cannot tell you anything specifically to your phone but I can tell you some things in general.
Some people will probably tell you that it's not worth to root your phone in 2021 but I wouldn't agree. I rooted my first phone in 2013 and I've changed tons of phones from that time never being able to go more than seven days without root. It's a kind of addiction so you will get used to feeling that phone is totally yours due to the fact you can do whatever you want with it.
It doesn't mean that it's totally safe and people who don't know what they are doing can **** the things up. It's not because of the root but it's because of the people. Some people just play with the things they shouldn't play with.
Everything considering your phone and its futures depends on the custom ROM.
You may get a totally different custom ROM which doesn't have to do anything with your current phone or you can make it literally the same one which will be rooted.
"OS" is "ROM".
Everything depends on what you can find. I don't know about every phone on this world so browse the forum and you will see.
I haven't used my phone for anything else other than entertainment so I can't really tell you anything about your work but considering that you work, depending on where you work, it may be a little bit unsafe.
dedq said:
I cannot tell you anything specifically to your phone but I can tell you some things in general.
Some people will probably tell you that it's not worth to root your phone in 2021 but I wouldn't agree. I rooted my first phone in 2013 and I've changed tons of phones from that time never being able to go more than seven days without root. It's a kind of addiction so you will get used to feeling that phone is totally yours due to the fact you can do whatever you want with it.
It doesn't mean that it's totally safe and people who don't know what they are doing can **** the things up. It's not because of the root but it's because of the people. Some people just play with the things they shouldn't play with.
Everything considering your phone and its futures depends on the custom ROM.
You may get a totally different custom ROM which doesn't have to do anything with your current phone or you can make it literally the same one which will be rooted.
"OS" is "ROM".
Everything depends on what you can find. I don't know about every phone on this world so browse the forum and you will see.
I haven't used my phone for anything else other than entertainment so I can't really tell you anything about your work but considering that you work, depending on where you work, it may be a little bit unsafe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you very much for your detailed answer @dedq
so a ROM can be replaced after rooting with something else rather than default "Android" right?
i'm a really cautious person so i wouldn't play with some setting until i know what i'm doing with it first
another thing please, do you mean by unsafe that the ROM could have vulnerability for attackers to acces my phone?
or things may get lost?
Jonsnoww said:
thank you very much for your detailed answer @dedq
so a ROM can be replaced after rooting with something else rather than default "Android" right?
i'm a really cautious person so i wouldn't play with some setting until i know what i'm doing with it first
another thing please, do you mean by unsafe that the ROM could have vulnerability for attackers to acces my phone?
or things may get lost?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Default Android" is your current ROM. You have ROM now as well. We have all been very cautious in the beginning with these kinds of things like flashing U systems and those kinds of things but the thing is chances are high that you will **** something up. Everyone did that and you can count on yourself probably going to third-party technician at least two or three times. We have never made those mistakes on purpose but it's very slippery to play with these kinds of things. I suggest you don't change anything if you really need your phone on daily basis because you may lose it for a couple of days. I'm talking from my experience but I hope you won't have negative experiences if you want to try rooting and doing something more.
It is always assumed that your phone is the safest when it's default. That means no root and no flashing anything. Rooting your phone is basically opening it to tons of vulnerabilities.
Don't play with those kinds of things if you work some kind of job where your phone is under constant surveillance.
Jonsnoww said:
Hello,
so i have a Redmi note 7 - Global Version (Lavender) phone, and i have so many questions that concerns me about..
first of all i don't like how things getting very slow with my MIUI and the android 10
i thought of rooting the phone but I'm not sure if it's worth it.. there's so many confusing things on the web and tutorials to choose from.
i don't like how companies collect data and peek on my privacy silently in the background that's why i would like to root if it's going to solve this problem. I'm afraid that i won't be able to find the features i have now if i rooted my phone and installed a new ROM for example, will my phone work properly with all of the existing features in it? what's the downside to voting or choosing a wrong ROM?
and if finally found the best ROM for me, am i obligated to do updates to it manually every time a security patch comes on for example?
i mean the work is not over by just successfully installing a new ROM and rooting?
second what is the best ROM out there? IS OS same as ROM? or the ROM is just representing the UI "for example MIUI" ? or is it replacing " Android"?
any privacy concerns? or attacks? i'll be using my phone for work and very important stuff.. that i can't lose..
please someone enlighten me
and i'm so sorry for very basic questions but i got lost in so much reading articles
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I’m also of the opinion that rooting is worth the eventual hassle. Except that it’s not that big a hassle on this phone if you use Orangefox and the build in root solution. If you choose not to root but care about privacy take a look at Netguard (Github version).

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