Bricked pre?

[Austexan]

Yesterday I took my pre into sprint hoping they could fix the broken proximity sensor on my pre or replace my pre (I had already used webOS doctor and tried other "solutions" to no avail.) They used webOS doctor again just to be sure. Like before this did not fix the problem so they are sending me a new pre Wednesday.
When I get home I discover sprint did not use to most current webOS doctor (1.3.5.1) so when i got home i downloaded the update and began to install it. To my horror the phone resets in the middle of the update, and gives me the "!" error upon rebooting. No biggie I thought to myself I'll just use WebOS doctor and fix it (I had to fix it, because this pre although with a broken proximity sensor is still my only cellphone)
Four hours later and after countless versions of webOS doctor, 15 different tries, and scouring forums looking for a possible solution webOS doctor displays the same message ("We are unable to reset your phone") it always happens after 66%. Back tracking here, after the 3rd or 4th try I read on these forums once webOS doctor is at 66% it's just doing checksums (I'm still not sure if this information is right) But i should still be able to boot the phone, I hadn't yet thought of booting the phone by this point. So i boot the phone and I get the puffy clouds and a spinning circle I was sorta relieved at this point, but alas I was to be let down again. After 15 minutes of spinning, i'm given "phone error" and that i would need to contact palm for help.
At this point i'm thinking it's a hardware issue (corrupted memory?) Does anyone have any ideas on how i can fix this? Or will I just be without a cellphone until next Wednesday (not the end of the world just not ideal)


edit: I Hope this is the right forum for this....

[Austexan]

Can anyone at least confirm my suspicion that it's a hardware problem and not software?

[Mirrormmo]

Try taking out your battery. If this does not work please repost I may have a solution.

[063_xobx]

its most likely hardware if a doctor cant complete were you running any cpu scaling patches because they can make your processor die

[Austexan]

Originally Posted by Mirrormmo

Try taking out your battery. If this does not work please repost I may have a solution.

I've done this and still no luck.

Originally Posted by 063_xobx

its most likely hardware if a doctor cant complete were you running any cpu scaling patches because they can make your processor die

I never installed any of the CPU scaling patches (I was too afraid of this happening if i did.)

I've tried every method i can think of and every method I've found on these and other forums, anything that might be a possible solution. From updating my java, to downloading different webOS version, to trying different ways of plugging my pre into my computer (I.E. holding the volume-up, putting the battery in then plugging it into an AC adapter, then plugging it into my computer...) then after maybe 15 minutes of waiting and staring at the circle I will get the message "Phone Error" followed by "Your Phone is experiencing an error that cannot be resolved"

To clarify:
Right now when I turn my pre on, it'll show a background of clouds with what i'd describe as a "spinning circle" (not sure the real name), there is no network connection detected and the label of this "card" (the one with the clouds and spinning circle) is that of "phone offline". Has anyone seen this before, if so how did you fix it?

[skyheli]

I had the same problem and tried all of the above. I took it in to a sprint corporate store. they could not fix it either. I ended up with another PRE.

[Mirrormmo]

I can answer your question I believe, check your battery, are there scratches on the bottom where the 3 BRASS/GOLDISH rectangles are, if not, are they bent in any odd way etc?

[Austexan]

Originally Posted by Mirrormmo

I can answer your question I believe, check your battery, are there scratches on the bottom where the 3 BRASS/GOLDISH rectangles are, if not, are they bent in any odd way etc?

Yeah there are. What does this mean?

[tdps2]

My best guess:

It sounds like your Pre restarted while doing the modem firmware update. Your pre's modem is now in an unknown state (it happened to one of mine, too). At 66%, WebOS Doctor is flashing the latest CDMA firmware to the phone. You'll have to find a version of WebOS Doctor that either completely bypasses the First-Use app, or one that has been modified to ignore modem errors. That should at least allow you to use the Pre again, but fixing the modem/phone may be very difficult.

[Mirrormmo]

Originally Posted by Austexan

Yeah there are. What does this mean?

I would suggest buying a new battery, if this does not work, you will have to go to a sprint store.

[Austexan]

Well I am getting a new pre Wednesday, so it's not the end of the world. All though as I said I still need to fix this one before the new one arrives, because it's my only phone.

Originally Posted by tdps2

My best guess:

It sounds like your Pre restarted while doing the modem firmware update. Your pre's modem is now in an unknown state (it happened to one of mine, too). At 66%, WebOS Doctor is flashing the latest CDMA firmware to the phone. You'll have to find a version of WebOS Doctor that either completely bypasses the First-Use app, or one that has been modified to ignore modem errors. That should at least allow you to use the Pre again, but fixing the modem/phone may be very difficult.

Where could i find a webOS doctor like this?

[Austexan]

Even webOS the oldest webOS doctor on webOS internals (1.2.1) doesn't work, so i can't even log into my profile,to do a hard-reset because WebOS doctor stops at 66%....

I'm gonna try to use webOS doctor on my friends computer with Vista. All though I've never had a problem with WebOS doctor on my Windows 7 computer(s). I still figure it's worth a shot.

Update: still no luck, well I guess at this point i'm just gonna give up and wait until Wednesday.

[drferegrino]

i have the same problem, always stops at 66%, no other webos doctor versions work... what´s next? another battery?

[Abyssul]

http://discussion.treocentral.com/pa...ailing-me.html

Useful link*

Try downloading WebOS Doctor 1.2.1 and updating to 1.4.1.1
If you can't find the doctor for 1.2.1 after some Google searching, then I'll tell you how. It will probably just be best to wait for your new phone.

[drferegrino]

version 1.2 no longer available... i´m not buying another phone, the other guy with the same problem was, a year ago...

can you help me? being always stuck at 66% sucks man!