Today, you will not surprise anyone with a smartphone with the capabilities of a computer. Powerful and "heavy" graphic games, movies in HD quality, VoIP telephony via GPRS and Wi-Fi protocols … The top models of mobile devices are no longer able to cope with all this perfectly. The design of the phone is gradually becoming more complicated; special firmwares appear, which are responsible for the efficient operation of the entire device. The problem is that when such a firmware flies, the phone turns into a "brick".
RAM, keyboard and display, flash memory, processor, video accelerator. This is not a listing of the working parts of the computer. It is from such details that a modern smartphone consists today, in fact, standing on the ladder of technical progress is much closer to a full-fledged computer than to just a phone. It should be noted that it is flash memory that is very important for a modern telephone, it is a chip in which hardware settings and software are imprinted in a special way. Popularly, these settings are called firmware, and the software update is, respectively, flashing.
Hanging the device, shutting down, spontaneous rebooting, disconnecting Bluetooth or Wi-Fi ports are some of the most common symptoms of impending problems with smartphone firmware that require your attention. By themselves, these problems will not go away, on the contrary, they will only increase. It is very rare when the firmware flies just like that, without warning. The reasons may vary. A new, just released device may have a so-called "raw" firmware, which the manufacturer is going to refine in the future. A smartphone can also break down as a result of the actions of its owner, for example, due to the installation of custom firmware that was collected by users on the basis of the factory one and is purely experimental.
A smartphone with a flashed firmware can be referred to a specialist service. Moreover, it is better to do this if the device is still under warranty. For those who have expired the warranty period, there is an opportunity to deal with the problem on their own. It must be said that manufacturers have different attitudes towards self-repair of their products. For example, Sony Ericsson and until recently Nokia even encouraged experiments on phones, posted new firmware directly on the official website, provided users with special software for connecting a smartphone and a computer. And HTC and Apple blocked access to the system files of their phones, forbidding users to change their structure.
To reflash the phone yourself, search the Internet for sites and forums of fans of your phone brand. Usually these sites have experienced people who will always help a newbie.
To restore the firmware, you will need a USB cable, a new version of the software downloaded from the manufacturer's official website and a special program that allows you to replace the old software with a new one. Please note that when the firmware is changed, all data on the internal memory of the phone will be erased, including the notebook, photos and other media content. Data on an external memory card, if there is one in your smartphone, will remain intact.
Firmware recovery may take a long time. Follow the manufacturer's directions for your brand of phone, take your time and don't be afraid to make a mistake. After all, you will not be able to "kill" the phone with an unsuccessful flashing. But the unfinished process of flashing can easily send you to the service, turning your smartphone into a "brick". To prevent this from happening, it is enough to provide the phone with uninterrupted power supply from the mains.
