Bold 9900, is it bricked, technical help please

Hi,

I bought a "for parts not working" Bold 9900 from ebay. It would not switch on.

I downloaded latest OS and tried to upload it but apploader didn't recognise that the phone was connected via USB. I put this down to a flat battery, or a faulty USB connection on the phone.

However.

I have plugged in the phone to a mains charger and with a voltmeter I am getting around 4- 5v at the two outer battery terminal (+ & -) pins with the battery in place and without.

So I can assume that the USB connection on the phone is working. ( I read the the two outer are power and the two inner are data) But after 3 hours of charging, using the voltmeter, the battery is showing zero volts. Is the battery completely dead, or is it a phone problem?

I ask because I don't want to spend money on new components if the phone is a lost cause.

I've read that when released a lot of them were bricked because of a voltage overload when charging fried the insides.

Would I be right in assuming that a new battery and reinstalling the OS would un-brick the phone?

Thanks

Jonathan.

It would be an inexpensive enough solution to try. Other than that, you would need someone else to give their opinion on what else to do.

That was my initial thought, new battery needed.

Does the phone have to be switched on for the data cable (desktop manager) to function, or just have charge in the battery?