Why doesn't my BlackBerry Key2 LE open at all?

I have a key2 le with unlocked bootloader..
i tried to open to recovery mode to flash the latest software as it hadn't received a single update since August 2018.. but instead of pressing the power button + volume down..
I pressed the power button + volume up.. what happened next was the logo appeared quickly like a flash and since then the phone doesn't respond at all and the screen is off..
tried pressing power for more than 10 seconds to reboot, also tried to press power + volume down.. no response here too..
what could be the issue and solution?

Originally Posted by NFSHesh

I have a key2 le with unlocked bootloader..
i tried to open to recovery mode to flash the latest software as it hadn't received a single update since August 2018.. but instead of pressing the power button + volume down..
I pressed the power button + volume up.. what happened next was the logo appeared quickly like a flash and since then the phone doesn't respond at all and the screen is off..
tried pressing power for more than 10 seconds to reboot, also tried to press power + volume down.. no response here too..
what could be the issue and solution?

If it's truly a test unit from the manufacturer, then it would be almost impossible to diagnose and suggest a course of action.

One can only hope that continued holding down of the power button will bring it back to life.

Originally Posted by conite

If it's truly a test unit from the manufacturer, then it would be almost impossible to diagnose and suggest a course of action.

One can only hope that continued holding down of the power button will bring it back to life.

it appears to be a test unit indeed

My guess is the bootloader isn't unlocked, but even more locked.

But phone doesn't look to be in good shape. Open it up and pull the battery....

how can i do that?

how can i do this?

Originally Posted by NFSHesh

how can i do this?

Use a guitar pic to remove the back cover carefully. It will snap or pop off. You will need a small philips head screw driver to remove some screws once you get the back cover off. From there it is pretty self explanatory.

Hi, just thought I'd update this thread with some information on what the issue was & how we solved it.

Internal Key2 LE units are programmed to go into EDL mode (emergency download) when you press power + volume up on them. For some reason - possibly an oversight, possibly an internal development shortcut - these units have a tendency to get stuck inside EDL mode whenever that happens, and there is no user-facing way to exit this mode. They practically become a brick.

This happened to my unit within less than 24 hours of receiving it. Removing the battery did not help, and in fact, during the process of removing the battery I managed to somehow damage the motherboard connection to the display.

The reason these units get stuck in EDL mode is because there is a special partition on BlackBerry Android devices called "blog" (probably short for "boot log") which stores information about past boots, as well as a flag called "altboot" that defines how the device should boot. Since these units are unlocked, you can "easily" use an unsigned firehose (edl.py contains one) to extract the blog partition from the device, modify it locally to remove the altboot file, and then flash it back to the device. Once you do that, the device will boot to the BlackBerry logo, but it may get stuck there. If that happens, holding down power + volume up will bring up a bootloader screen that allows you to reset the alternate boot flag and continue starting up the device.

Once I guided OP through these steps, his device was brought back to life and it is now perfectly usable again.

If anyone stumbles upon this thread in the future and they need help fixing their device, feel free to PM me here or email me and I will offer my assistance to get the device working again.

Originally Posted by Gran PC

Hi, just thought I'd update this thread with some information on what the issue was & how we solved it.

Internal Key2 LE units are programmed to go into EDL mode (emergency download) when you press power + volume up on them. For some reason - possibly an oversight, possibly an internal development shortcut - these units have a tendency to get stuck inside EDL mode whenever that happens, and there is no user-facing way to exit this mode. They practically become a brick.

This happened to my unit within less than 24 hours of receiving it. Removing the battery did not help, and in fact, during the process of removing the battery I managed to somehow damage the motherboard connection to the display.

The reason these units get stuck in EDL mode is because there is a special partition on BlackBerry Android devices called "blog" (probably short for "boot log") which stores information about past boots, as well as a flag called "altboot" that defines how the device should boot. Since these units are unlocked, you can "easily" use an unsigned firehose (edl.py contains one) to extract the blog partition from the device, modify it locally to remove the altboot file, and then flash it back to the device. Once you do that, the device will boot to the BlackBerry logo, but it may get stuck there. If that happens, holding down power + volume up will bring up a bootloader screen that allows you to reset the alternate boot flag and continue starting up the device.

Once I guided OP through these steps, his device was brought back to life and it is now perfectly usable again.

If anyone stumbles upon this thread in the future and they need help fixing their device, feel free to PM me here or email me and I will offer my assistance to get the device working again.

Can these Internal units be updated?

Originally Posted by Dunt Dunt Dunt

Can these Internal units be updated?

Yes - you can do anything with these units. Just takes some patience and tech savviness, and it's not for the faint of heart. I haven't updated mine because I want to ensure the bootloader will remain unlocked after the update, and I'm also running a custom kernel based on the ACE748 kernel: https://github.com/granpc/android-li...ce748-insecure

I will definitely figure out a safe upgrade path though, and once my device is updated I will also guide OP (and anyone else who wants) through that.

Originally Posted by Gran PC

Yes - you can do anything with these units. Just takes some patience and tech savviness, and it's not for the faint of heart. I haven't updated mine because I want to ensure the bootloader will remain unlocked after the update, and I'm also running a custom kernel based on the ACE748 kernel: https://github.com/granpc/android-li...ce748-insecure

I will definitely figure out a safe upgrade path though, and once my device is updated I will also guide OP (and anyone else who wants) through that.

The issue is that there is no consistency between the devices. What might work for one, may not work for all.

Originally Posted by conite

The issue is that there is no consistency between the devices. What might work for one, may not work for all.

All internal devices I have seen are PVT units, with identical hardware to the retail units, and running retail software. Sure, I'm not about to start writing guides on how to modify the lower level bootloaders (xbl and abl) because if there are any software differences between retail and prototypes, that's where they are - but upgrading the kernel, userspace and baseband is probably just fine.

At the end of the day you shouldn't be following some Internet rando's steps to tinker with a precious prototype unit if you don't know what you're doing, and you should always make a backup of your entire device's eMMC before doing anything at all. :)