Rooted, “Bricked”, and Unbricked, a photo by Koalajoe / PJ on Flickr.
This LG Optimus One is my first Android phone and I love it. I rooted it with Cyanogenmod and it had been working fine.
Then one day.
I forgot to charge it and it discharged to 0%*. I plugged the charger in, the battery got really hot. Then the Cyanogenmod logo came up. Over and over and over again. And then the phone rebooted. Over and over and over again.
(*Seems like it is a common problem for this phone. People suggest you should NOT let it discharge to 0%. When it gets low on battery, it’s better to turn it off then leaving it to drain down to nothing)
So sad.
I googled and read millions of advises, and of course I picked the wrong one. I downloaded a file and flashed it. This time, only the LG logo came up, and stayed on the screen forever, until I unplugged the power. And I couldn’t get into recovery (Home + Vol Down + Power).
*smacks forehead*
I was about to put the brick away. And then I thought, jeez, it can’t be that bad can it? How about… just google it one more time???
And BOOM! I found the solution! *confetti*
Here’s what I did:
1. Download the firmware of your device. You have to get the correct version (e.g. mine is v10v). Be very patient, it is quite tricky.
2. Download KDZ_FW_UPD_EN.zip here
3. Unzip and install msxml.msi
4. Enter Emergency Mode (Back + Vol Up + Power)
5. Connect your device to PC with USB cable
6. Run KDZ_FW_UPD.exe (as administrator)
7. Select Type : 3GQCT
8. Select PhoneMode : DIAG
9. In KDZ file : Choose the ROM file you downloaded
10 Launch software update and wait until it reboots.
11. Celebrate!!!
Now here’s the tricky part. When you launch software update, you might get the “Phone not found!” error. You will need to try different things: Go into control panel -> device manager, and disable LG modem if it’s there; or take the battery out; or run KDZ before/after you plug the phone in, etc.
For me, because my phone kept rebooting, I could not plug the phone in before I ran KDZ. Because by the time KDZ was up, the phone rebooted, so KDZ could not find it. I ran KDZ first, and then turned on the phone, went into emergency mode, plugged in USB cable, and hit launch over and over, and finally it hit the right spot at the right time, and started to upload the firmware.
When it’s up and running, of course you want to root it again. I used to do it the difficult way (lots of codes entering), which is very easy to make a mistake.
(I learned it the hard way with my Samsung Gio. I entered “unmount” instead of “umount”. But that’s another story)
Here is a really good walkthrough. I couldn’t use Z4Root (here’s the good thing about it: even if it can’t root your phone, it won’t brick it), so I used Gingerbreak. Works like a charm, and super easy.
Now, go unbrick your phone. Good luck!
