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I have a phone that was flashed with a bad ROM. It no longer has a system, so actually getting into the phone is a no-go. It can, however, boot into recovery and download mode. I planned on flashing to a stock ROM, but I can no longer connect via USB: Windows simply cannot recognize the device.

I've gone through various driver installations, but to no avail. I figured I'd give up on the USB and just put a stock ROM on an SDcard and install it through recovery. Would this work, or do I need to do it through USB?

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  • You can flash a ROM through recovery from the SD card, but you can't (usually, depends on the device) go back to full stock as the full stock image (usually) includes recovery etc. Should be no issue to flash a ROM at least, then worry about going back to stock from there.
    – RossC
    Sep 9 '14 at 11:07
  • @RossC Awesome, that's what I wanted to hear. So I'd flash the stock ROM, get USB working again, and then flash again to ensure that the phone as both a stock ROM and stock recovery.
    – Liffer
    Sep 9 '14 at 11:10
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    @Izzy done now, Liffer nope, flash a custom ROM to get it booting, then worry about getting back to stock.
    – RossC
    Sep 9 '14 at 13:25
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With these things there are always exceptions and a few clever work-arounds, the below is general advice.

Only flash a ROM for your exact device model

You can't flash something not 'stock' through the stock recovery, attempting to do so will cause signature errors. The opposite; flashing stock ROM through a custom will also error. So you will not be able to restore to stock first (more than likely anyway.)

However, since you don't immediately need the phone on stock, then you can copy any ROM compatible with your device onto the SD card and flash that through recovery. At least then you will be have a booting device, and can deal with the USB drivers issue.

Installing in recovery would usually involve the 2 main steps below:

Wipe the device
Install from zip

And then install any other zips you may need (e.g. ).

You could attempt to mount the SD card in your recovery but I'd guess you've tried all those options.

Also as Izzy has pointed out you may need a new flashed on the device to allow "low level interface" connection, so the kernel has nothing to connect to.

Once again ONLY flash something for your EXACT device or you will have a shiny paper weight!

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  • I was able to install this custom ROM, but I still cannot connect via USB. Here is a screenshot of the device info. I think this issue is at the kernel level, as the phone simply cannot supply information to the computer. Perhaps you can point me to some compatible kernel?
    – Liffer
    Sep 10 '14 at 5:28
  • You could try this one (at your own risk of course): forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2217686 Have you tried a different cable, USB port, computer etc first? Worth a try.
    – RossC
    Sep 10 '14 at 7:10
  • I gave it a try, but no go. I've tried a couple of different ROMS, but nothing is getting the computer to recognize the phone. I've tried Kies and various other drivers, as well as different USB port and cables. At this point, I don't think it's worth the frustration. I may consider selling it for parts, which would be a shame since it's in like-new condition. I'll take this as a lesson.
    – Liffer
    Sep 10 '14 at 9:22
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    "flashed with a bad ROM" (from your question) might have included a bad radio-firmware – which would explain why it doesn't work with "any ROM tried": if the (wrong) radio doesn't supply the "low-level interface", there's nothing kernel or driver can plug in to. In this case, it might help finding a working (and up-to-date) radio image for your device, and flash that.
    – Izzy ♦
    Sep 10 '14 at 13:15
  • @Izzy great point, I've added a note to the and of the answer (crediting you).
    – RossC
    Sep 10 '14 at 13:37

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