[Dash 3G, Snap ROM Development] ookba:
Welcome! Almost everyone has done it. Bad flash and suddenly your $400 device is a paper weight! Woaaaaaah! Even I have to admit I have done it, many times. :) But there is hope! Read on.

It is not easy to brick a device if you actually read and follow all of the steps and guidelines before a flash. In fact, not many things can go wrong unless a USB cables disconnects during a flash, your PC crashes in the middle of a flash, or you flash a corrupt image file to your device. Statistically, most of the time people only think their device is "bricked" when actually it's not.

There are currently three methods you can use depending of the severity of the "bricking". The first method will unbrick 50% of all Maples that have simply "locked up" and won't reboot properly. The second method will unbrick 95% of all Maples that encountered flashing problems or flash failures.

** Please perform these steps and methods at your own risk. I am not responsible for any damage you cause your device using this guide.

If you're new to the Maple or SmartPhones in general, please take the time to read the the forums for valuable info before you post or try any of these steps.

But, before I even get into unbricking, if your phone is in fact working right now, I highly recommend you flash HardSPL by JockyW to avoid even having to follow these steps anytime in the future. The steps and info for HardSPL and JumpSPL can be found in this thread by jockyw2001.

HardSPL basically flashes your phone with an "unlocked" security partition so all security checks are bypassed when you try to flash a cooked ROM or a ROM designed for another variation of the Maple such as HTC (SNAP), TMO Dash3G, etc. Makes life much easier when trying different ROMS or cooking and testing your own! Thanks to jockyw2001!!

Ok, so onto the fun stuff...

Flashing:

First a bit of background and info on the different types of ROM images. There are a few different types of ROMS. Carrier released "signed" ROMS, carrier "signed" TEST ROMS, and custom "unsigned" cooked ROMS. The first two are usually released by the carrier (HTC, TMO, AT&T, VOD, etc.). These carrier "signed" ROMS can be flashed anytime without any modifications to the bootloader, SPL, or the device itself. The device already has security checks and certificates in place to check the ROM you are trying to flash to make sure it is official. They do this to avoid users from sending back their "bricked" devices after a failed flash or just user error. This applies to TEST ROMS as well however, TEST ROMS are for just that, TESTING. They usually have an expiration date or "timebomb" applied when the testing period has expired. Cooked ROMS, on the other hand, require unlocking the security checks of the bootloader (SPL) in order to flash successfully. This clarify, this method has several names and is also called CID unlocking, JumpSPL/SSPL (temporarily bypass security checks), HardSPL (permanently bypass security checks), and CID bypassing. Here are the steps to a happy user and a successful flash:

Remove your SD Card

If your device is already hardSPL, proceed to step 10

If using JumpSPL, boot your device up to your homescreen

Download and unzip the ROM package file

If flashing a custom cooked ROM, run auto.bat, or auto_1.17.bat, or auto_1.19.bat (depending on your SPL version)

Follow the prompts in the DOS window

Hit "continue" (trackball button) on your phone, screen will turn black

Run RomUpdateUtility.exe (if it doesn't run via the script)

The flash will take about 5 minutes

If your device is already HardSPL, simply run RomUpdateUtility.exe and follow the prompts

Upon first boot, it will seem frozen for a few minutes, maybe even go black. This is NORMAL!

Enjoy!

Unbricking:

Your phone won't boot... Either it's locked up and simply stopped booting or you flashed your phone and it won't boot. What do you do??

Method 1: Assuming you didn't get "bricked" from a flash problem, the first and easiest method for "unbricking" your device is (this will erase ALL data on your device):

(This method works for 50% of supposedly "bricked" devices)

Remove your SIM and SD card

Remove and reinsert your battery

While holding the volume UP key, press the power button

Continue holding the volume UP key until a black screen appears saying "This operation will delete all your..."

Press "'send"' to restore to hard reset your phone

Let the phone cold boot and restore

That didn't work!! :confused:. This next method will reflash your phone to the factory ROM.

Method 2: Second way to the path of unbricking is:

(This method will unbrick 95% of all Maples)

Get a hold of your Shipped ROM. You can find these ROMS either on HTC's site (with a valid serial #), TMO's site (http://www.t-mobile.com/wmupgrade/ with a valid IMEI), or right here at XDA Developers (search for it).

Download one of the factory ROMS and unpack it. **Remember, if your phone is a TMO Dash3G, you MUST use a TMO Dash3G ROM. If your phone is HTC Branded, you MUST use an HTC ROM, etc., etc., etc...

Remove the SD card if one is inserted in the phone

Remove the battery from your phone for a few seconds. I found this step to be essential to reset the device. Put the battery back in.

While holding volume DOWN button, press the power button. The phone will enter "bootloader" mode and you will see a tricolor bootscreen.

While in this mode, plug in your USB cable and you will hear the "ba-bing" USB sounds as the device connects

Unpack the ROM package you just downloaded and run RomUpdateUtility.exe. Follow the steps, check the appropriate boxes, and start the flash

Assuming all goes well, your phone will flash to the factory ROM and you can then troubleshoot what went wrong the first time that bricked your phone.

Method 3: The "goldcard" final method is a bit more intensive so follow closely:

(This method will unbrick 99% of all Maples regardless of branding)

Get a cup of coffee or tea

You will need a working Donor HTC device with a microSD slot and a microSD card that is smaller than 1GB (will be formatted) to create "goldcard" image using QMAT tools as described below

You will need QMAT. Get it from http://revskills.de/index.html.

Go to the Download Link and download the latest version and unpack QMAT

Have some coffee :)

Use a SD card reader in your PC to access the SD card through Windows. Format the SD card with FAT32.

*

Insert the SD card into the donor HTC device

and connect the USB cable. If you unchecked "Allow USB Connections" in Activesync in an earlier step, make sure you recheck it so that you can establish a full USB sync connection to the HTC device.

Open QMAT and go to the "Hardware Forecsics" (version 5.04 and below) or "Calculators/Generators" (version 5.05 and up) menu and select "Generate HTC Goldcard"

In "Select device key:" select the Maple

You will need the serial number from the SD card so click the "Get SD Card Serial from WINCE Device" button

Once the Serial number appears in the box, click the "Save Goldcard Image to WINCE SD" button below

If no errors pop up and all goes well, proceed to these next steps

If you get an error or a popup saying "

Goldcard for newer devices isn't implemented in newer devices

", you must buy and register the software. Believe me, it's worth the small amount of $ you will spend to bring your expensive device back to life!

Now remove the SD card with the newly written Goldcard image from the Donor HTC device

Insert the SD card back into your PC using the microSD card reader adapter. Browse to the drive letter assigned to it. You will see no files on the SD card, this is normal.

(If, for some reason your PC sees the SD card as unformatted, something went wrong. Remove it and reinsert it into the Donor HTC device. The device should see the card as unformatted and ask you to format it, say yes. Now go back to the "*

Insert the SD card into the donor HTC device

" step above and repeat the steps)

Unpack your HTC, T-Mobile, or other factory ROM and copy RUU_Signed.nbh to the SD card. Once it had finished copying, rename the file to MAPLIMG.nbh. Remove the SD card from the PC.

Make sure the Maple is off and insert the SD card

Enter bootloader mode as mentioned earlier (hold the volume down button while pressing the power button)

You will see a gray screen that says "loading". It will then find the MAPLIMG.nbh file and ask if you would like to start the update process. Follow the instructions and let the phone flash.

You can also do the update using the Rom Update Utility with the USB cable if you like

It will take 10 mins but your phone should boot fine and be back in action!

QMAT is a VERY powerful tool written by viperbjk that allows for full low level manipulation of HTC and WINCE tasks. Read all about it here http://revskills.de/index.html.

Many thanks to jockyw2001 for his amazing HTC device knowledge! Also thanks to all who contributed to this post.

Hope this tutorial helps!