How To Fix A Hard Bricked MOTO G

The Ultimate Ways To Repair A Dead MOT G Part 2 

By bricked phone, I mean a hardbrick. SO hardbrick means dead phone. You cannot get to bootloader or recovery let alone startup. The phone's screen doesn't even light up, at least that's what happens in a hardbricked MOTO G.

Sign of a hard bricked phone:

When you connect your MOTO G to a computer, then your PC will detect the phone as "qhsusb_bulk" which can be viewed on device manager. If it doesn't but notifications like "unknown device" or "USB corrupt" pops up then you could try installing the Motorola driver, re-plugging the phone 3-4 times or trying on different operating system or computer. I had the similar problem and plugging the phone into a PC running Windows 7 worked.

So the process of unbricking a hard bricked phone is relatively more difficult than softbrick as your current bootloader might have gone corrupt and several vital data like IMEI numbers are gone as well. But the good news is you can fix it.

Also, see the previous part of this article:

The Ultimate Ways To Fix A Dead MOTO G - Part 1

UNROOTING:

Things you need to download:

• Riffbox JTag drivers + Driver signature enforcement override
• Motorola USB driver(Basically, Motorola device manager)
• Mini SDK(this includes both ADB and fastboot)
• Mfastboot(optional)

Fastboot files/Motorola qboot utility:

If you're confused, or one file doesn't work, then you can try both as only correct one will flash successfully. Mind you it is for stock firmware so if you had lollipop and you put CM 13 MM then also you need to use lollipop fastboot.

• BlankFlash for Kitkat/Jellybean
• BlankFlash for Lollipop

Firmware:

• -XT1033_FALCON_RETBR_DS_5.1_LPBS23.13-56-2_cid12_CFC.xml

This firmware is the solution for those people who can reach bootloader but get errors like:

-pre-flash validation fail

-partition error, etc

Process:

i) The first step is to plug in the phone to a PC via a USB cable. The device is detected as "qhsusb_bulk" in unknown devices category at device manager.

ii) Recognition by Computer:

1.  Extract Riff BOX JTAG Drivers+DSEO.
2.  Open "dseo13b.exe" and then choose "sign a system file."
3.  Put the path of the driver. Here choose the file according to the according to the architecture of your current computer OS i.e. 32-bit or 64-bit. The driver is "Qualcomm_QDLoader_64bit_Driver.ini", not the other one. Here I have extracted the files in a folder "a" in desktop so my complete path with file name is: "C:\Users\Manu\Desktop\a\64Bit\Qualcomm_QDLoader_64bit_Driver.ini".
   
   After you put the correct path, you'll get confirmation.
   
4. Possible your computer doesn't have "Driver Signature Enforcement" disabled. To disable it just reboot your PC, and press F8 repeatedly after you pass BIOS. You'll get to a menu. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" and your computer will start.
5. Now go to device manager or just run "devmgmt.msc" command.
6. Right click on "qhsusb_bulk" >> Update Driver Software >> Browse my computer.. >> Let me pick from a list.. >> Have Disk.. >> Browse.. >> Then choose the file you signed...
   
7. Now the phone will be detected as "Qualcomm HS-USB QLoader 9008" under Ports (COM & LPT).

iii) Now extract "blankflash_lollipop.zip" or "blankflash_kkjb.zip".

iv) With your phone plugged in run "blank-flash.bat." If it fails, then you've probably chosen the wrong file, download the other one and do the same.

v) Now if it's successful then you'll be able to get into fastboot now via "vol down + power button."

Flashing the firmware:

IMPORTANT: If your phone has low battery then just plug it into the USB port and let it charge until "Battery_Ok" appears. I have posted the link of a CFC firmware above so that even if the phone's bootloader is badly corrupted then also it can be unbricked without any problem.

i) Extract the "mini-sdk.zip" and extract the firmware files in the same location.

ii) Bring the phone to fastboot and then connect it to the PC.

iii) Run the command prompt on the folder with the files or directly do "Shift + right mouse click" then select "Open command prompt here."

iv) Now type the following commands line by line.

fastboot flash partition gpt.bin

fastboot flash motoboot motoboot.img

fastboot flash logo logo.bin

fastboot flash boot boot.img

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

fastbot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.0

fastbot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.1

fastbot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.2

fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin

fastboot erase modemst1

fastboot erase modemst2

fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn

fastboot erase cache

fastboot erase userdata

fastboot reboot

Now the first boot will take time, don't worry.

Congratulation, your MOTO G is up and running now. If you think your phone isn't bricked but has Motorola battery bug, then please see this post for possible solutions:

http://www.cyberming.com/2016/09/1-dead-moto-g.html

UPDATE(Time Saver):

If you already have a non-cfc firmware then you can just download the gpt.bin from the link below and flash it first(fastboot flash partition gpt.bin) then flash other files from the firmware you have.

Download: gpt.bin

Updated: 22/05/2017