[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] John.W:
RE: Backflip dead. Help :(

Hey there jvdelacruz,

I faced a situation similar in some ways where I thought I bricked my Motorola Backflip MB300 (in Australia).

Please read below and follow the steps as best you can. I hope this helps you.

How to Restore Your Motorola Backflip to Original Firmware/State Using RSD Lite

If you are having problems when experimenting (and failing) to put a new ROM onto your Backflip which makes your phone not work (you think it may be "Bricked") then this may be the one thing that get's you out of the fire.

This proceedure below may restore your phone to a state similar to when you bought it.

If you follow the proceedure in this document you will loose all data on your phone.

If you are in a state where your phone can back up data, I would suggest you do this before following this proceedure.

If you are at a point where you end up on the dreaded "Triangle and Exclamation Mark" screen or your phone keeps starting over and over, then this guide might save you.

In my case, I deleted an importanat file (recovery) on my Backflip, and this did not allow me to use recovery to re-flash my Backflip. It just went into a reboot cycle that would not stop unless I removed the battery.

Step 1:

Download original OEM Firmware (otherwise known as a ROM) for your Backflip according to your country/phone provider. These files will either be in Zip format or, if unzipped ".SHX" or ".SBF" file types. If in Zip, you will need to unzip it using 7-zip or any other unzipping program.

I found the ROM for my OPTUS (Australian) phone along with many other countries on the ModMyMobile.com look under "Motorola Backflip" in the forums (I have the URL, but cannot give it here as I am a new member).

Download the Backflips original ROM according to your country and provider from the above link.

Note: you will need to join the forum to download files, so the registration process is necessary before downloading the ROM:

Note: If your phone can boot up to the blue bootloader, you can still flash it with RSD Lite (in case your recovery is screwed too).

Note: You cannot downgrade from firmware with greater secure version to one with lower secure version. Flashing a SBF sets the required secure version for future flashes to it's own secure version (if the flash suceeds)

Step 2.

Download Motorola Backflip USB drivers for 32bit/x86*or 64bit/x64*and install.

Step 3:

Download RSD Lite program (which will do the flashing of the Firmware/ROM). Simply do a search on Google for RSD Lite with the version number eg: search for "RSD Lite 4.5.7". Once found, simply download and install on your Windows machine. Note well, I used windows XP as it seems windows 7 has issues with running RSD Lite. There are however forums discussing work-arounds on the Win 7 issue. If you have Win 7, I suggest searching for help on this.

Warning: Version of RSD Lite MUST be equal to (or possibly greater than) that as listed in the ROM download page of your provider/country that you used above in step one. The little box in the left bottom of the screen will tell you the RSD Lite version that is required.

In my case, the version of RSD Lite used was 4.5.7

Once downloaded, Install RSD Lite.

Step 4:

Run RSD Lite.

For a guide that includes pictures on how to use RSD Lite, go to the wiki site called "howardforums" and search "How_to_flash_with_RSD_lite"

Now you will have one screen come up which displays a few mostly empty windows. Connect your Motorola Backflip to the PC with a USB cable.

The Motorola should now show up in one of the lower boxes as a device (one line). If you click on the line which has the newly discoverd device, it will then bring information up to the top left box.

Now go to the top right box and load the original OEM ROM/Firmware you downloaded off the ModMyMobile forum. Locate the ROM that you saved (wherever you saved it).

Your phone should automatically go into Bootload mode (blue screen with "Bootloader" text in small font down the bottom of the screen).

If this does not happen and your phone is not playing nice, take battery out of your phone (at any time) and then ensure the USB is connected to the PC and phone. Reinsert the battery, whilst at the same time, holding down the "D" and "J" keys on the keyboard of your backflip.

The phone should hopefully start up and go to the blue "Bootloader" screen.

From there, run the RSD Lite program to flash the old Firmware/ROM of your Motoblur and it will slowly (maybe 15 minutes) reflash your phone to it's "As purchased state".

Step 5:

The program will finish (and will let you know if it has been successful or not). You may then shut down RSD Lite, and then disconnect the phone from the PC (always use the "Eject" command from the USB device menu on XP or Win 7 where possible).

Restart your phone, and you should now have a functioning phone that should allow you to try re-flashing a new ROM onto your backflip (like CyanogenMod for example).

My thanks goes to Rashav (techGeekGuy) for his patience and tips in the Tech Geek Guy Forum and his guides on how to flash the Backflip (a wealth of information). I went crying to him for help, but thought it better for me to just work it out on the net. After a day or two, I am now usuing CyanogenMod, and it has made my Backflip a real pleasure to use.

The site where I got a lot of information on the Moto Backflip (how to root it and upgrade to 2.2 is here): techgeekguy dot com

I did find with the ROM file for CyanogenMod on the Tech Geek Guy site disfunctional, coming up with a "(Bad)" read after trying to flash onto the Backflip from Recovery Mode".

I instead used the ROM file the Mod My Mobile forum and was successful.

This concludes the process.

Good luck!

John. :)