Root Basic technical question - how can rooting brick a phone?

[basalt]

I'll get round to rooting my phone before long but there's something I'm wondering about - technical curiosity more than anything -the naysayers say it's possible to irretrievably wreck the phone - how? ( I don't mean how do I do it! )
My limited understanding is that the phone is like a PC, rooting it gives you top level access and flashing a new Rom is like replacing the op system.

If you mess up the op system on a PC - big deal, you just reformat the drive and start again, worst case you need an outside agent such as another pc to carry out the formatting.

So if I bugger up the phone, how can it go so badly wrong that I can't reformat it and start afresh?

 

[snapper.fishes]

short answer: it can't

I have yet to see a legitimate case where someone bricked their phone simply by rooting it. The most common reason for bricking is attempting to use OCLF, which is completely obsolete by now. The second most common reason is attempting to flash another firmware without removing lagfix first.

What you said about installing a new OS on a HDD is correct. In most cases you cannot permanently brick the I9000. However, if you mess up the bootloader, which is analogus to the firmware of the HDD it is possible to permanently brick it. On a HDD, if the firmware becomes corrupted, you will lose the ability to write to disc, leaving you with a heavy paper weight. The same goes for the phone. If you somehow manage to destroy the bootloader, you are done for.

 

[basalt]

Cheers, that makes sense