[Huawei Ideos X5 U8800] badiyee:
Hi, this is just a recompilation so that people don't have to get confused and scared.

Before your read this, please understand that this happened because of my own stupidity at somehow managing to delete the /boot from recovery 5.5.0.4, and caused a BLUESCREEN. When I tried to go to recovery, it went back to a pink screen. There were also other issues, such as a corrupted internal sd partitioning (warning, please be careful about doing partition, i highly recommend a proper partitioning zip which i'll link later in the post). In the end I was able to revive from the soft brick, and continued on to reinstall CM10.1 (it was version 7 at the time of the crash)

OKAY, let me repeat. Probably at this point you have a phone that has bricked. But if you can access PINK SCREEN, you're in luck (EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE USB connection, its fine, as long as your EXTERNAL SD CARD is still accessible, physically.)

I'll put the stages in below:

WARNING

I am not responsible for any loss, damage, or earthquakes or whatever crap that happens. Do this at your risk. Before you proceed, PLEASE OPEN THE BATTERY AND LOOK INTO THE BACK OF THE PHONE AND MAKE SURE IT SAYS MODEL: U8800 NOT U8800H, NOT U8800PRO. THIS IS FOR U8800 (okay, I admit i'm using U8800H but this is just an exception, probably)

PREPARATION:

STAGE 1: Getting the PINK SCREEN and booting into 2.2 Froyo / 2.3 Gingerbread

STAGE 2: Getting the TOUCH RECOVERY / CLOCKWORK RECOVERY, ROOT and SUPERUSER into the phone.

STAGE 3: Flashing the recovery, the partition, and the firmware

STAGE 4: Miscellaneous

There are a few things that you need to prepare before hand.

1. A working computer (in this case i use windows)

2. Huawei USB drivers for windows. http://www.mediafire.com/?5z6i5cv8l6br292

3. Huawei Gingerbread base 528 ROM (this is BOOTLOCKED but don't worry, we can fix it just read up)

http://www.huaweidevice.com/cn/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=NDEyNTU=

4. BLEFISH's "get back your pinkscreen" zip file (to be used with item 3, listen!) http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1457490

5. Super One Click http://www.multiupload.com/9AJDSU1Q11

6. Blefish's recovery.img for the CLOCKWORKMOD recovery

7. Forumber's PARTITION.ZIP (the better option thus far) http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2145187&page=124

8.. A ROM OF YOUR CHOICE (http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2166353) as for me i'll just wait for Blefish to release his version of JB / CM re-write.

Now we're done, let's proceed

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

*credits to forumber2*

Forumber2 wrote in one of the responses (not in this thread) that caught my attention. Apparently, if you're using a B158 bootloader, you can still access the STORAGE if you remove the battery and plug in USB for 1 minute.

I am not sure what steps to take this (it is a new information for me) but I presume you can immediately restore the TCRW from there. Have to ask forumber2 though.

STAGE 1: Getting the PINK SCREEN and booting into 2.2 Froyo / 2.3 Gingerbread

Here are the steps.

1. Install the HUAWEI drivers for the phone, and also SUPER ONE CLICK for windows.

2. Take out the U8800's EXTERNAL SD CARD, and plug it into computer. (use a card reader if you don't have)

3. open (UNZIP) the downloaded OFFICIAL GINGERBREAD ROM. Inside it should be a manualand a folder called "STEP 1", and inside folder "STEP 1", another folder called "DLOAD".

3a) COPY the "DLOAD" folder (and its content) and place it into the ROOT of your EXTERNAL SD CARD. that means from your computer it should read like this: (when you navigate)

X:/EXTERNAL SD CARD/DLOAD/UPDATE.APP

(X is the name of the drive)

4. Unmount the EXTERNAL SD CARD, and then slot it back into the U8800 phone.

5. Pull out battery.

6. Stick USB into the port, and into computer. (WITHOUT THE BATTERY)

7. PRESS VOL+,VOL- and POWER together (Reboot into pink screen)

FIRMWARE UPDATE PROGRESS. it should be 1/2 then 2/2.

"Do Not turn off the device".

AFTER finishing step 4 (it takes some time)

there will be a "TICK" and it will say "RESTARTING".

QUESTION

What if I can't? It doesn't work?

ANSWER

There's another trick. Pull out the battery, plug the USB wire in (YES, just plug in without battery) and then boot into recovery. This should work. Assuming it does not, get another USB cable with data capabilities, and USB 2.0 ready port on the computer. This should provide MORE POWER to the phone (the phone has a weird failsafe system where it would not proceed with upgrade if the power is too low)

REASON: HUAWEI wanted the customers to have a simple update process, so they created the entire thing to just be unzip, plug in, and wait. Yeah. I know, you'll feel weird especially when other phones seem to be super sophisticated at this part and Huawei made it so easy. Even the remove the battery part. Yes.

QUESTION:

But what if i'm stuck at 1/2? goddamnit?

ANSWER

This did not happen to me with the file. Like I said, again, it depends on the firmware. What I've read and understood is that there is a possibility of 1) bad firmware (need to download another firmware) or 2) EXTERNAL SD CARD is badly formatted (please use an Android phone / tablet to format just to be sure) There's a thread with specific discussion about this but it was lost on my notes, but that's the gist about it. What I'll suggest you to do is download the 2.2 Froyo then upgrade back to 2.3 Gingerbread. Some people have made it through this stage by doing everything from 2.2 Froyo itself.

Reason: I'm not so sure what is wrong, but this is one of the irregularities that posters have asked when unbricking the phone.

NOTE:

After the installation part,

it should restart itself a few times

. Basically, after the big "TICK" and "RESTARTING", it will continue to restart again, and again, and again, and again. Then finally it should boot up properly, and then the HUAWEI logo, then the flying dust animation, then the Huawei lotus flower glowing animation, and then boot up into 2.2 Froyo or 2.3 Gingerbread (depending on your firmware)

QUESTION:

Okay, I see the boot looping. However, it just boot loops, and does nothing. At times i see the animation stop. Something must be WRONG!

ANSWER

This happened exactly to me. The answer was that for some reason the pinkscreen update DID not format cache and data, as well as dalvik, etc. This is a recovery issue. The way i solved this was, that I re-did the update (making sure that it really did update properly into the official stock rom), then wait for the boot animation loop, (which happened) Then, the next step was like this:

1. TURN off the phone.

2. Plug in battery (or remove it)

3. Plug in USB (yes, again!)

4. Hold POWER button and VOLUME UP button.

If you can somehow boot into a blue colored Android system recovery *3E* screen. This one is the recovery with menu, but it is HUAWEI's recovery.

5. FORMAT CACHE, FORMAT DATA

6. REINSTALL THE official ROM, (YES wait again for the "TICK" and "RESTARTING", then it should restart a few times, then boot up. Have patience and faith!

*note: apparently as noted by aashi02 when the said user was unbricking the u8800, the 3E recovery has a factory data reset which somehow clears up the entire phone and enables the phone to properly work with the stock factory-default firmware (instead of crashing again and again and again in 2nd boot onwards). So I would presume that after first boot, one would have to again boot into recovery and do a factory reset (or do it while in the settings in first boot). Not sure if there are any users to encounter "2nd boot force close syndrome" after this. (if there are, please tell me)

The phone should have booted. If it doesn't, please tell me. I can't help much but I'll try to record as many possible errors and steps to overcome it, if i see responses from others and proven to work.

STAGE 2: Getting the TOUCH RECOVERY / CLOCKWORK RECOVERY, ROOT and SUPERUSER into the phone.

Once you've got into the GINGERBREAD / FROYO, follow this thread

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1420728

Or I'll record the instructions here

The next step immediately after this is NOT TO RESTART the phone, but to install the CWM

QUESTION:

Okay, somehow somewhere when i boot the phone for the first time, its okay. Second time, everything goes to hell (Force Closure, errors, etc, i can't press anything!) Something must be wrong again! You suck!

ANSWER

Well, yes, this happened to me. Again, please read the guide. I said, no reset. Just do everything in one GO. That's how i fixed the problem.

NOTE: by now you should be able to boot into CLOCKWORKMOD recovery.

STAGE 3: Flashing the recovery, the partition, and the firmware

This is where we want to go to, and this is where you want to fix all the problems. I should not need to elaborate here, but if you're reading this part, you can now close this thread and go to the ROM of your choice and install as per THEIR INSTRUCTIONS:

QUESTION:

Wait a minute. Something's fishy. THAT EASY? You screwin' with me, noob?

ANSWER

Technically it should. There should not be any other problems UNLESS you somehow again delete the /boot. NEVER EVER DELETE /BOOT. If you have installed any firmware higher than 518 (B522 and above) firmware, then you need to do the next step:

NOTE: HOW TO INDENTIFY your firmware base

This is from my own Android "about" screen:

Notice the 526 in there? it means i installed base 526

QUESTION:

Wait a minute. You asked me to download that frickin' partition.zip and what do you expect me to do?

ANSWER

Read the answer to the next question.

QUESTION:

Help! I haz problemz! i cannot install ROM! it haz fail / not enough space on my internal SD! helpz!

ANSWER

IF, and I repeat IF, you're reading this, then you're probably installing something way bigger than the original partition's system partition. To help you imagine, think of it as a 10-car train. The basic idea is instead of 1 engine, you now put 2 engine, and sacrifice 1 compartment car (that means from "1engine-9car train" into a "2engine-8car train". This is where you'll find the partition.zip helpful.

BUT BEFORE YOU DEAL WITH PARTITION.ZIP, do install "GET YOUR PINKSCREEN" by Blefish, read it here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1457490

I quote Blefish:

Now that you've fixed the locked bootloader on 522/526/528, now its time to do the partition. zip

Follow this thread:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2145187&page=124

I quote NERDO

The

KEY IDEA

here is that you need to flash the partition 2 times.

B]

QUESTION:

[/B] Now what?

ANSWER

Install your custom ROM as per your custom ROM's instruction.

B]

QUESTION:

[/B] No, really. Now what? I want to double make sure, because i don't trust you, noob.

ANSWER

Okay, you need to format and clear, not everything. Follow these steps.

ROM Installation:

Use only Forumember partition.zip.

1. Copy package to SD card

2. Boot to recovery

3. Full wipe (data, cache, dalvik,) <--- This one is in main menu

4. Format /system, /data, /cache <--- This one is in ADVANCED MENU. NO NEED TO MOUNT and DISMOUNT, and DO NOT FORMAT BOOT

5. Reboot recovery

6. Install the custom ROM (and gapps if needed.)

7. Reboot. Take a deep breath.

The phone should now boot into your new custom ROM.

As per writing, i booted into CM10.1 v7 by ilyaa299. Still waiting for a better JellyBean ROM though.

Congratulations, enjoy your unbricked phone!

STAGE 4: Miscellaneous

Not all ROMs are created equal. And none stand peer to peer. No matter how many seasons have come and go, please remember the ROM is only alive as long as its developer remains commited to its releases and updates. Please thank them. They will appreciate it.

For most usage, I have no issues, except the piss poor memory of 300++MB. I have not found a way to solve this. There are APPS that claim to create a virtual RAM, but if you don't have class 6, or class 10 External SD card, don't bother, and from what I read it'll shorten your EXTERNAL SD CARD's life A LOT. use it at your own risk.

To help alleviate the situation, i installed "auto memory manager" and also "greenify". This has helped me a lot. Auto memory manager deals with current usage, but "greenify" deals with the apps that are inactive, but greedily and stealthily use RAM and hog it (as if they're some royalty of some sort)

One of the greatest points of this phone is that it has a SUPERIOR camera (even if its only 5.0mp) and it has superior HD viewing (watch movies, youtube, etc, in FULL HD, where other phones, even the MORE expensive ones cannot do)

Try to avoid apps that uses 'download as a process" like mangawatcher, because i somehow managed to fry my EXTERNAL SD card (total death) because i left it overnight to download some manga, and then it froze. Then again it probaby may be a ROM issue (its a custom ROM) but just be careful! I lost a 16GB class 4 SD card.

CREDITS:

Thanks to all that have posted to help me, big thanks to (by alphabetical order)

bdgraue

forumber2

kilroystyx

rqmok

reserved thanks to people named in the process written, especially forumber2 for his help in his post and his partition.zip. Without his post, he would not have triggered my thought process in thinking out of the box to unbrick my phone.

and a big thank you to YOU for reading, and (IF) responding to this thread to help make this thread better.