[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Epicenter714:
Blasz- I was just about to start a thread when I found yours, and it very accurately describes the issues I've been having. Here's my progress so far.

I got my Photon Q with Sprint and used it for a few months before Sprint started finding creative ways to take my "$79.99" bill and make it more like $140 a month. Naturally, I refused to pay. So I had a Photon Q with no cell service. This is fine, as I only need it to work on WiFi, not 2G/3G and there is no 4G in the area. Anyway.

At the time, I had Ice Cream Sandwich on it, using the (latest?) ICS firmware from Motorola. This worked very well, but I later tried to use a newer firmware, and all the custom ROMs had shown up while I hadn't been looking. All of these seemed to be based on JellyBean. First off, I tried CyanogenMod 10.2. Worked amazing well! I had literally no problems at all. However, while I was experimenting with different software for the phone, and wanted to see if "Arrrgghh"(sp?)'s kernels would give me some decent overclocking capability. Turns out, the kernel I picked wasn't compatible with the JB firmwares (I probably picked an older one by mistake.) Needless to say, it now wouldn't boot. It'd go to the "Unlocked bootloader" screen and stay there all night (literally, I tried that.)

So, I went back into CWM, which is the recovery I have installed. I erased /data, /cache and /system, and also the dalvik cache and battery stats for good measure. I also formatted /pds and /modem, I believe, which was probably dumb of me since I'm not sure what those do. Then I tried re-installing CM 10.2 from CWM. The installation went fine, and it works gorgeously. However, there's two weird issues:

1) WiFi and Bluetooth don't even BEGIN to work! Neither does Cell, as far as I can tell, because where CM used to be unable to make calls or access the internet (of course, I've not been paying my bill), it now shows an empty signal bar or "No Signal" (the little red X) in the notification bar ... When I try to turn on WiFi using the slider in Settings, it moves to "ON" (stays gray) and pauses for a few secs, then goes back to OFF. Same thing for BT. If I open the WiFi menu where you select an AP, it tells me to turn on WiFi. I do, using the slider up top, and the same thing happens. WiFi and BT simply won't turn on. Tried fiddling with every setting I can find.

Before this misadventure with the kernel/reinstall, WiFi worked great. I connected to a local AP and was surfing the net and downloading apps.

2) The system takes a VERY long time to boot up. It sits at the "Unlocked Bootloader" screen for up to a whole minute. Then it goes to the Cyanogen screen for about 30 seconds. Then it gets to the homescreen. It's fine so long as you let it boot up, but this doesn't seem normal.

Next I tried other ROMs thinking that might help. I installed AOKP, PacMan, CM1.0, Carbon, SlimBean, and I think a few others without results-- they all work but WiFi and BlueTooth are dead. PacMan is the only exception-- it boots up and then endlessly gives me "Blame Tyler" errors until I force the machine to shut off.

I also tried an older ROM, since these are all JellyBean ROMs and I wanted to get back to ICS (I'm not that fond of JB's interface) anyway. I was unable to find any ZIPs I could install through CWM of the stock firmware. I found some IMGs that it looks like I could install via Fastboot, but I don't currently have a PC with admin priveleges (it's not mine) so I can't install the drivers to use Fastboot or any part of the SDK. (I can, however, put files on my SD card, that doesn't require privleges.) The closest ROM I found to stock was "TwistedAsanti" beta-1 or whatever it's called. That installs fine, but again, it takes about 2 straight minutes to boot and it's useless after that:

It gets stuck at "Starting Services..." and will sit there forever, even left there all night. Behind this, a dialog pops up saying no cell networks were found and asking if I want to switch to GSM. (i've been trying GSM and CDMA ROMs all this time, I don't need cell access so I doubt it matters which I use. I'm in the USA.) You can pull down the notification bar and get into the Settings, and even launch a couple programs, but I can't find ANY way to get to a homescreen. Task manager shows Circles is running, which is a widget on the homescreen, so where the heck is that screen? .. I try, again, to turn on WiFi or BT without success. The friggin thing just won't turn on.

Did I eff it up by erasing the "PDS" or "modem" partition? Am I missing something obvious or is my phone just possessed?

In a few days I should have access to a computer where I can hopefully use Fastboot and see about installing a stock firmware (wish me luck). Until then, does anyone have a ZIP file I can flash from CWM to get back to an ICS firmware? I managed to find a copy of the stock firmware, in the form of a dump done from TWRP (in .win files). But as far as I know the only way to install TWRP is using Fastboot, and I've explained why I can't do that. I don't know a way to install TWRP from CWM. Maybe I can do it from CM10.2, if I can put APKs or something on my SD card. I can't get it on the network, so I have to copy all the files manually. Needless to say, it's a pain.

After my frenzy of ROM installing, I got frustrated and decided to see if TwistedAsanti would do SOMETHING if I let it sit at "Starting Services" overnight. To my mistake, I left it under my pillow and the system was quite toasty, and the battery had run dead. Plugging it back into the charger, it made a few worrying clicking noises from the speaker, then the green LED came on. This LED seems to mean "I'm charging, but the battery is too dead to turn on for a while." After it sits there a while, the green LED turns off and it just goes black. Or it goes to BOOTLOADER UNLOCKED and bootloops, or goes to black untilyou fiddle with the power button some more. I can once in a blue moon get to CWM. Sometimes it gets to the homescreen. It will charge up to about 4-7% and no further (battery got damaged by the heat?) It doesn't reliably work when plugged in, it likes to shut off at random anyway.

So now I'm stuck with a phone I can't seem to charge, or turn on reliably, and if I *do* get it to boot up, there's no way to connect it to a network.

Needless to say I'm pretty darn frustrated..

Thanks for any advice. :(