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HTC Desire A8183 (Bravo) - Boots directly to Fastboot :(

Sobodad

Newbie
Hey guys, I dug out my old HTC Desire today, with the intention of passing it on to a friend that needs a phone.

The only problem is that it boots directly to the Fastboot screen.
From there I can go to Bootloader, then to Recovery, but nothing else.
I thought about re-flashing the stock RUU, however all the drivers I have tried for the phone do not work.

On the Bootloader screen, I get the error in the image.

Desire.png


I have searched high and low for a solution, but nothing works for me :(

Can anyone help ?
 
Never .. It was working right up to when I stopped using it about 18 months ago.
Since then it's been stored in the drawer of my computer desk.
 
If you can find the attachment old HTC Sync app somewhere (not HTC Sync Manager, which is newer) installing that should give you the drivers.

There's also a trick for extracting the update zip from the ruu by running it up to a point. If it will do that you can rename it (from your screenshot I'd say to PB99IMG.zip), copy to SD (card reader is your friend) and then boot to bootloader and it will try to install it. Haven't more details with me but hopefully that's enough to find the recipe.
 
I did try the file on SD card, but it did nothing.

I also tried Sync Manager, but not the older one. Will try to find it and see what happens.
 
Yeah I found a link via the XDA forums where I got the exact file it wants.
My phone did not recognize it :(
 
Found the old HTC Sync 2.0.4 program and installed it, unfortunately it does not come with drivers for Windows 10 so no go :(

I might setup a VM with Win XP or something to test that way ..

Any other suggestions ?
 
Update:

I have managed to get drivers that work on Win10 when the phone is in Recovery Mode, but still nothing for Fastboot / Bootloader modes ..

Is there a way to copy / re-install the whole OS via ADB ? .. (Fastboot is not working still)

Also, I tried the VM WinXP thing and have the exact same problem ..

So still not joy with this phone :(

Unless anyone else has some suggestions, I feel it is time to bin it and simply move on ..
 
I'm surprised you couldn't get fastboot working with it in XP - that certainly used to work with the that model.

One really obvious question, which I should have asked 10 days ago (but that was just before Christmas, so brain wasn't working properly!): what recovery do you have? That phone has been S-Offed using Revolutionary, so I'd expect you put a custom recovery on it. If so then we can probably still find a custom ROM that you can install using that - the Desire Android Development forum at XDA-developers would be a good place to look. The A8183 is a Telstra model, which as a Brit I'm not familiar with, but I believe it's a GSM model which just has different 3G bands from the European ones, so I'd expect most of the ROMs there to work (it's the US CDMA models which need to be more careful, as they generally required different ROMs).
 
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It was like this when I got it.

When I put it into 'Recovery' mode, it displays the ClockworkMod Recovery v5.0.2.0 menu/logo.

I have tried using CWM to flash a ROM to the phone, but so far every ROM I have tried returns an error saying it's either corrupted or wrong version.
 
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Did you try manually updating the driver? With the phone in fastboot mode, plug it in to the computer and go to device manager. See if you find anything Android related with a yellow triangle. Right click that and browse for the driver you have extracted on your PC.
 
Yep tried that as well ..

It does show in Device Manager in both Fastboot / Recovery modes.

In Recovery mode the ADB commands work, but I am unable to flash / update in Recovery mode.

In Fastboot mode the drivers say it is installed, but there is a problem and it doesn't accept commands via Fastboot.
Trying to update drivers it says the best drivers are already installed.
Manually updating the drivers will change them to the correct ones, but still get the error saying something is not working properly.

Same result on both Windows 10 and Windows XP ..

For some reason every ROM I have tried via CWM Recovery is incompatible or returns a File Corrupted error.
 
Are you using a USB hub or a USB 3.0 port? Fastboot can be very picky about windows version and usb ports.

Obviously, you know what you are doing and it's just a driver issue...

If at all possible, do you have access to a windows 7 PC, either via a friend or family member?
 
I am using USB3 port ..
Haven't had trouble with any other phones in USB3, but yeah I will try the normal USB ports as well just to rule that out ..

I do not have a Win7 PC, but I can make a VM with Win7 and test that way ..
 
Okay, let me know how USB 2.0 works out. I've seen many people have problems with it using older devices.

Also, as a last resort, some people that just absolutely can't get it working via windows have had luck by booting Ubuntu on their PC and doing it that way.

You seem savvy enough to consider that option so figured I'd just throw it out there.
 
what recovery do you have? That phone has been S-Offed using Revolutionary, so I'd expect you put a custom recovery on it. If so then we can probably still find a custom ROM that you can install using that - the Desire Android Development forum at XDA-developers would be a good place to look.

You are a legend my friend ..
I went to the link you provided and found what I hoped was a compatible ROM ..
Copied it to the SD card and tried to install it via CWM ..
It sat there for about 20 minutes with nothing but a progress bar at 0% .. So I wasn't very excited ..

Then POW .. 100% .. Rebooted and it WORKED !!!

Thank you so much folks for the assist :)

What a great start to 2018 .. Success

Happy New Years guys :)
 
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