HowTo: Unbrick the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8
Recovering the Xperia X8 from a soft-brick situation is actually not that
hard...
"Soft-brick" means that your phone isn't fully dead. For as long as it shows
some sign of life, for example the white "Sony Ericsson" boot logo or the
charging graphics when you plug the USB cable into the charger, you can use
the method below to restore the default Sony Ericsson Android OS (also called
"ROM") on your phone.
Restoring the default ROM may also solve some other problems. For example, if
you flashed a custom ROM and you suddenly have severe issues with your WiFi
functionality you can't resolve flashing back the genuine ROM can bring things
back into order.
Note that if your phone doesn't turn on anymore (the green LED does not light
up) you can't restore the device this way. This is a hard-brick situation
where only Sony Ericsson or a repair shop having a JTAG RIFF Box are able to
breath new life into your phone.
Requirements:
Oracle Java Runtime Environment
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
If you're on a 64-Bit Windows Edition you NEED to have the 32-Bit JRE
installed!
Android Device Drivers
Should already be installed in case PC Companion got installed on your system.
If not, you need to install 'Gordon's Gate' which comes with Flashtool (see
below).
Starting the process...
* Download Flashtool 0.2.9.1
http://www.mediafire.com/?123ial2dza5u5hu
Extract to C:\Flashtool
NOTE: I don't use Flashtool 0.5 intentionally. Flashtool version 0.5.0.0
through 0.5.2.0 failed to recognize the phone.
If you don't have the Android drivers installed on your system it's the
right moment now to install Gordon's Gate. Simply run ggsetup-2.2.0.10.exe
in C:\Flashtool\drivers and follow instructions.
* Download Android 2.1.1.C.0.0
http://www.mediafire.com/?eca0sualnao4c4c
Copy the "X8_2.1.1.C.0.0_generic.ftf" you just downloaded INTO the firmwares
directory inside the Flashtool directory.
* Make sure your phone is DISCONNECTED from the computer and turned OFF!
* Now start the X10FlashTool.exe in C:\Flashtool
* Plug the USB cable into JUST your phone (NOT into the computer!)
* Click the "Flash" button and select "X8_2.1.1.C.0.0_generic.ftf" you just
copied into the C:\Flashtool\firmwares directory
* In the next window don't do anything, just click "OK"
* Flashtool will show you a window about what you have to do:
- PRESS and HOLD the BACK button of your phone
- Connect the USB cable to your computer. Keep the button PRESSED!
- If Windows is about to install the "SEMC Flash Device" driver - let it
do its job. Keep the button PRESSED!
- Once you see that Flashtool started to flash (the progressbar on bottom
of Flashtool's window started to move) you can release the back button
of the phone
* Patiently wait until flashing finished
* Now, as Flashtool will tell you... disconnect the phone and turn it on.
BE PATIENT - the first boot can take a few minutes!
Once the phone booted up...
* Enable "Unknown Sources" and "USB-Debugging" in your phone's settings
* Connect the phone back to the computer
* Press the "Root" button and let Flashtool root the Droid
A automatic reboot will follow!
Once the phone finished rebooting...
* Press the "Ask root perm" button and look at your phone.
You will get a popup from Superuser to grant su permissions.
Confirm the request!
* Now click the "xRecovery" button to inject xRecovery into your phone.
* Done.
If you don't want to stick to the original ROM you can now continue with
flashing a custom ROM of your choice. While there's a bunch of custom ROMs
available I'll provide how to flash FroyoPro or GingerDX as an example below.
Flashing FroyoPro (Android 2.2)...
* Download the latest version of FroyoPro
* Copy the ZIP file onto your phone's SD card
* Reboot your phone into xRecovery
Either reboot to xRecovery from Flashtool OR reboot your phone normally and
keep on pressing the BACK button once the Sony Ericsson logo appears to get
into the recovery
* Flash FroyoPro
* Full-Wipe ("Factory Reset")
* Reboot into FroyoPro
NOTE: If you get a boot-loop (the phone resets and starts to boot-up anew)
while the animated FroyoPro logo is being displayed you forgot to Full-Wipe
your phone in CWM before the reboot.
Flashing GingerDX (Android 2.3)...
* Download GingerDX v013
http://www.mediafire.com/?8qag7k8h1hc4z2u
* Download the latest version of GingerDX AND
download the 'Modules for Stock Kernel' addon
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1188486
* Copy ALL THREE ZIP files onto your phone's SD card
* Reboot your phone into xRecovery
Either reboot to xRecovery from Flashtool OR reboot your phone normally and
keep on pressing the BACK button once the Sony Ericsson logo appears to get
into the recovery
* Flash GingerDX v013 in xRecovery
* Reboot
* Keep on tapping onto the screen once the Sony Ericsson logo appears to get
into ClockworkMod recovery
* Flash the latest version of GingerDX in CWM
* Flash the Modules for Stock Kernel addon in CWM
* Full-Wipe ("Factory Reset")
* Reboot into GingerDX
NOTE: If you get a boot-loop (the phone resets and starts to boot-up anew)
while the animated GingerDX logo is being displayed you forgot to Full-Wipe
your phone in CWM before the reboot.
