[TouchPad General] HP_TOUCHPAD:
How To Brick and Debrick

I have an original TP from the 2011 fire sale, never had any issues. Installed Android with WebOS and also LuneOS.

Back in 2017, I became aware how the Tablets were turning back on after gotten "brick" somehow, and the TP Debrick process by jcsullins was used to make them come alive. So I decided to try the Magic and see how an old abandon and neglected device could be useful again.

I started the hunt to get non-working Tablets. I end up with 16 Tablets but all of them turned back on after been place on a charger for quite some time.

All Tablets worked and there was no need to de-brick, so I moved on to get the most out of it. It was a long self-learning experience but worth it.

I recently became aware of others users having the problem that I always wanted to experience a " totally dead ( brick )" TP.

From all the searching and learning, I came across this web page, how to de-brick a WebOS device:

Click HERE for Last Resort Emergency BootLoader Recovery

The Pre (also applies to the HP_TP) is still not "bricked" as the OMAP3430 processor in the Pre provides for a mechanism to boot code from its USB interface.

This is what jcsullins ( The Godfather of the HP_TP ) used to create the process that re-flash the bootie.

I followed all the steps from jcsullins on how to make the Ubuntu LIVE CD to properly re-flash the bootie. After testing I found out that it works and decided to create the LIVE CD with all the proper settings for others to just click and debrick.

Before doing the debrick process , read this post about unboxing a brand new Tablet after 9 years of been off and how it came back on.

Click HERE for HP TouchPad won't turn on, Brand New Never Opened

How to BRICK a working HP Touchpad.

The process was created to be run on Ubuntu 11 or 12 any other version could experience problems, preventing the complete flash and have a brick Tablet.

No matter how the process end it, the Tablet's bootie can always get re-flash meaning is ( UN_BRICK_ABLE )

I tried flashing the 32_GB and 64_GB to a 16_GB Tablet and all worked the same. There maybe something different but all boot.

Flashing the wrong model version does not brick the Tablet.

The following screenshot shows the process aborted. ( Intentionally I unplug the USB cable from PC to brick the Tablet and got brick )

View attachment 5134907

When the Tablet is BRICK it will not charge, either on wireless or USB.

The process on the same previously bricked Tablet, this time the wire connection is successful and loads the bootie (bin) file to the tablet.

View attachment 5134909

The re-flash of the bootie ( DEBRICK ) will not delete any DATA or make any changes to the internal storage card.

The following code shows a Tablet with a dead battery that was re-flash (debrick ).

Updating bootloader emmc_appsboot...
89+1 records in
89+1 records out
45720 bytes (44.6KB) copied, 0.325670 seconds, 137.1KB/s

Updating bootloader bootie...
225+1 records in
225+1 records out
115496 bytes (112.8KB) copied, 0.045274 seconds, 2.4MB/s

Checking battery voltage/percent...
Battery Voltage=3020720 Percent=0

Waiting 1 min before checking voltage/percent again (1/2) ...
Battery Voltage=3020720 Percent=0

Waiting 1 min before checking voltage/percent again (2/2) ...
Battery Voltage=3020720 Percent=0
Rebooting Touchpad ...
Connect Touchpad to stock HP AC charger now
and allow it to charge for several hours
ALL DONE.