A device is said to be bricked when it is unable to even access the desktop, gets stuck in an endless boot loop, or just won’t turn on . That is to say, we are faced with a precious brick. An expensive paperweight. However, although a brick means that the phone or tablet is completely unusable , it does not mean that it cannot be repaired or fixed with a little skill.
In today’s post we are going to review 14 tips or guidelines to try to fix a bricked Android device . That is, with an unrecoverable software failure . « How to revive an LG that does not turn on? » and answers to other similar questions below.
Tips to fix a bricked or unusable phone
What I want to achieve with this article is not to sit down, far from it. Each terminal is a world and what works for one device may not work for another. What I would like is to embed these 14 ideas in your brains , since they can practically be considered universal truths.
“I’m not going to tell you how to fix your bricked phone, but I’ll give you a couple of tips that will help you fix it yourself.”
Tip #1: Haz un «Hard reset»
When a phone isn’t working right, the first thing we think of is doing a factory wipe. Although we cannot access the Android settings, we can always try a “hard reset” from the device recovery . Of course, if you can still boot the phone somehow, do not forget to make a good backup before .
The difference between a hard reset and a normal factory reset is that the hard reset can be done without loading the operating system -important if the mobile is bricked-. You can see more details on how to do a good factory reset from recovery in this POST .
Tip #2: A bricked phone is (almost) never software cracked: it can always be connected to a PC via USB
Even if the phone restarts in an eternal loop, does not load the recovery menu or even turn on: there is still a solution. Except for a short circuit or failure of any of its hardware components, it can always be connected to a PC via USB .
If we install the device drivers on a PC and connect it via a USB cable, our team is able to identify it and communicate with it. Even if the phone is off and without battery .
In case your phone still turns on but the PC still doesn’t detect it, take a look at the post « Windows 10 not recognizing your Android phone? Solution! «
Tip #3: ADB and Fastboot commands for your bricked phone
The ADB and Fastboot commands allow us to communicate with our Android directly from the PC . For this it is necessary that we have the ADB and Fastboot packages installed .
This is very useful if we can’t get into recovery to do a factory reset. For example, using the command ” adb reboot-recovery ” we can restart the phone and directly load the recovery mode -from where we can do the hard reset-.
We can also use the command « adb reboot-bootloader » to restart the mobile and load the bootloader menu of the device.
Related: Basic guide to ADB commands for Android
Note: If we are advanced users and we are not afraid of “getting our hands dirty” we can also use fastboot. A more powerful tool than ADB that allows us to flash partitions, recoveries, boot and other important actions.
Tip #4: Smart Phone Flash Tool + ROM de tu terminal
If the problem is really serious and it is not solved with a hard reset, then it is recommended to flash the terminal. This is something that can be done using fastboot commands. Luckily, there are also flashing tools that take care of doing this job for us.
It is what is known as a Smart Phone Flash Tool, and each device has its corresponding flashing program for PC. For example, Xiaomi phones use the Mi Flash Tool , Samsung phones use Odin , terminals with Mediatek processors use SP Flash Tool , Google Pixel uses Android Flash Tool , etc.
Once we have the corresponding flashing application, we only need to find a stock ROM , an image of the operating system of our Android terminal.
Once we have the ROM, we will use the flashing program to copy the ROM in our terminal and thus have a completely clean and 100% operational device. Like the first day.
This is the standard procedure to recover any phone no matter how bricked it is.
Here are a few links that explain how the most common flashing tools work.
- Mobile phones with Mediatek chip: Tutorial SP Flash Tool
- Xiaomi: Tutorial Mi Flash Tool
- Google Pixel: Tutorial Android Flash Tool
- Samsung Galaxy: Tutorial Odin
- OnePlus: Tutorial MSMDownload Tool
Tip #5: Flash a new ROM with ADB Sideload
If we have a custom recovery installed on our Android, we can take advantage of it in our favor. Custom recoveries like TWRP allow us to flash ROMs or factory images of our Android.
With ADB Sideload, we can flash a ROM from the PC by entering a single command in MS-DOS. You can see all the steps in detail in this tutorial on how to install an Android ROM with ADB Sideload .
Tip #6: Let the battery completely discharge
When a terminal has an irreparable software fault, many times we won’t even get the flashing tool to detect or work correctly with our terminal.
To solve this, it is best to let the battery discharge completely .
With a fully depleted battery our Flash tool is more likely to be able to do its job.
Beware, sometimes a device can take days to fully download.
Tip #7: Emergency start by combination of buttons
Oddly enough, many terminals usually have an emergency ignition. That is, a combination of buttons that, if executed correctly, can allow us to turn on the phone.
What is that button combination?
The exact combination depends on each manufacturer and terminal, so I can’t help you here much. What I can tell you is that in my case, in a situation in which the terminal was completely dead, I managed to turn it on by pressing all the buttons simultaneously for about 5 seconds.
Other possible combinations can be:
- Volume up + Power
- Volume down button + Power
- Volume Up + Power + Home Button
Tip #8: Hardware failure?
As I mentioned at the beginning, these are solutions for terminals with a software fault, if the terminal has suffered a severe blow or short circuit, it is best that you take it to the technical service.
In case of damage due to falling into the water, my recommendation is to put it in a bag with a little rice for a few hours/days so that it absorbs moisture . Although it does not always work, many times we can turn on the terminal at least to try to recover the data stored in it.
If you want more details on how to dry a mobile or any other electronic device with rice, take a look at the post « How to recover a mobile phone damaged by water in 10 steps «.
Tip #9: USB Jig para hard bricks
One of the last recovery options, especially if we are faced with what is known as a « hard brick » or unrecoverable failure in which the phone does not even turn on, is to buy a USB Jig.
The USB Jig is a device that connects to the USB input and activates the download mode of the terminal. This allows us to reinstall the stock firmware of the device.
It is a gadget that can be found at a very good price in stores such as Amazon or Ebay. The bad news is that it does not work on all devices and does not offer any guarantee of use, so normally, in these cases it is usually best to take it to the store for repair.
Tip #10: Recalibrate the screen again
Sometimes we think that the smartphone has broken, either because the screen does “strange” things or because it does not respond to our commands. Many times the real problem is that the display’s touch panel is not calibrated correctly .
To solve this, it is recommended to carry out a screen test and then calibrate the panel with an app such as «Touchscreen calibration». You can see in detail how to carry out this process in the post « How to calibrate the touch screen of an Android device «.
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Touch screen calibration
Developer: RedPi Apps
Price: Free
Tip #11: Cracked screen?
If the problem is that the screen of our phone or tablet is broken, we must assess whether it is worth repairing or not. If the corner store is going to charge us 70 or 80 euros, it may be more worthwhile to buy a new mobile.
Personally, I do not recommend doing the repair ourselves, as it is a very delicate process. In this interesting video we can see how the repair of a broken screen is carried out step by step by a true professional:
Tip #12: Battery problem?
Finally, if you think that your smartphone does not turn on and that the problem may be in the battery , do not hesitate to take a look at this interesting post with 4 practical tricks to revive a broken smartphone battery .
Tip #13: Problems with any of your Android’s sensors?
As we have said before, sometimes we believe that the mobile has stopped working correctly, when what really happens to us is that one of the phone’s sensors is poorly calibrated .
In this case, it is necessary to test all the phone’s sensors. This is something that we can easily do by installing an app like “Multitool Sensors”.
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Sensors Multitool
Developer: Wered Software
Price: Free
From here, once we know which sensor is giving errors, it’s all a matter of re-calibrating it with a specific app. You can see more details on how to carry out the recalibration in the post « How to calibrate all the sensors of an Android mobile «
Tip #14: Is the power button broken?
If the power button is damaged or has been broken due to a blow and we cannot turn on the terminal, there are several options that we can try. The idea is to turn on the Android phone and once this has been achieved, change the power function to another physical button (such as one of the volume buttons).
- Turn on the phone: To start up the terminal we can do it either through ADB commands (connecting the terminal to a PC and launching the «adb reboot» command) or connecting the terminal to the battery (some mobiles start automatically when connecting the charger to the USB port).
- Assign the on and off function to another button: For this we can use an app like Power Button to Volume Button (which does exactly that, assign the power button to the volume button) or Gravity Screen , another app that allows us to turn on and turn off the screen by using gestures.
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Power Button to Volume Button
Developer: TeliApp
Price: Free
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Gravity Screen – On/Off
Developer: Plexnor
Price: Free
If the power button fails, we can also use the Shutdown application, which allows us to restart the phone without using the physical power button. Perfect for those moments when the phone starts to slow down because it has been on for too many days without restarting.
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Shutdown (no Root)
Developer: samiadom
Price: Free
To finish, I also leave you the corresponding video that I uploaded to YouTube, commenting on these same tips:
And what do you think? Do you know any other method to recover from a brick?
