This is a great guide by Softpedia if you end up somehow with a bricked device...

The following guide has been tested and if you follow the steps by the book you won't have troubles unbricking your Pocket PC. Still, you won't be able to recover any data that you had prior to the bricking process.

There are multiple ways that you can brick your Pocket PC: trying to overclock it (like I did) or simply trying to switch to a new unofficial ROM. Here are a few tips that might help you unbrick it. I have tried the following on an HTC Hermes (TyTN) and everything worked smoothly. In case you have another HTC device, the procedure is almost similar, only the necessary software tool will differ.

First of all, in case your device freezes and doesn't boot the Windows Mobile OS, you'll need to connect it to your PC. Make sure you have the latest Microsoft .net framework installed on your computer, otherwise the ROM files won't run.

If you don't want to install a new updated version of the ROM and intend to use the same version that was previously installed, you won't need to check the SPL. But if you do, checking the SPL version requires a hard reset of the device.

The SPL version will be displayed on the screen as soon as you click all the above-mentioned keys at once. To simply replace the ROM with the same that you had before you don't need to flash the SPL. Just run from your PC the .RUU file that you will most likely find on HTC's official website and everything will take less than 10 minutes. For those using devices delivered by various network carriers, check out their official websites for different ROM versions.

In the end I would suggest using the same ROM that has been previously loaded into your device and updating afterwards to avoid any problems. You can update to the latest ROM afterwards, as the updating process will require an ActiveSync synchronization and over 50% battery life.

Depending on the reason your device is bricked this not necessarily going to work, especially if you have issues with unnofficial ROMs. If you are flashing an unnofficial ROM then you should have installed hardspl, and then you can flash from the bootloader. Also, I think the Hard reset procedure is device specific isn't it?

Dave Parker MVP:

the Hard reset procedure is device specific

Yes - it is , and I believe the procedure he referred to is applicable to fairly old devices. So I removed this info just in case it confused anyone.

Hi, I am having a problem with my iPaq H3955. I was trying to upgrade from WM2002 to WM2003SE using the disc from HP. But, me being new, I tried this while the hotsync cable was connected to my USB hub. It failed (without even beginning to flash). So I plugged it in directly to my PC EXCEPT the iPaq remains in Engineering mode (it hink), it says 0.48 on the bottom and USB on the top. In order for me to see that screen I have to hard reset it and place it in the craddle. Otherwise it doesn't turn on. Also the backlight does not go on so its hard to see. I am very frustrated and can use any help you guys can offer! I've been searching the net for hours on end, and have tried re-flashing it. The iPaq is detected in Windows Vista but will not sync with WMDC (because its in that engineering mode, which I can't get out of.)

 Thank you!

Joe

Welcome to The Connection, Joe.

Yes, not a good idea connecting to a USB hub.

The iPaq 3955 can only be updgraded to PPC2003FE and not PPC2003SE , so I am not sure what you are trying here.

Here is another guide from Mobilitysite that describes how to recover from a botched ROM update.

Yes, I have tried this guide. As of now my problem is that I follow the directions and receive an error 101 connection error. I run Vista SP1 Ultimate. In Device Mgr it shows the iPaq under Mobile Devices and I make sure I have WMDC not running. I even tried it when I killed the Windows Device Manager service, and the WMDC service to support WM2003 devices. RapiMgr and WcesComm. I am about to try this on a Windows XP virtual machine... getting desperate =)

I think you need to do this from an XP machine.

JoeThomas2009:

I run Vista SP1 Ultimate. In Device Mgr it shows the iPaq under Mobile Devices and I make sure I have WMDC not running.

Laura is correct it WILL NOT work with Vista...it must be Win XP. I  have tried many many times to get Vista to work and it just wont work....also make sure in active sync you uncheck connect via USB so when you connect your device active sync will not start up
automatically.

Is there an update "boot mode" for the ipaq ? I know the HTC Diamond can boot using special keys in "update mode". This way you can run the update tool even if the device is "dead". The active sync connection is just needed for testing battery and device model (not sure for device model). Some guys made some tweak on RUU tools to remove many checks so it's more "low level" for reparing the device but more dangerous of course (running out of battery during update is really bad).

Will have a look for the iPaq if there are special tools out there...

DarkAngel:

Is there an update "boot mode" for the ipaq

There used to be something called parrot mode - but I do not know if current IPAQs have this.

 Spb Pocket Plus has a "safe mode". This is more to help with apps that are corrupt but it may help sometimes in these situations.

plis help

i was unlocking my phone (the HTC Touch Pro 2 <sprint>) and I was using a Diamond unlocker , but during the process there was a connection error and now my phone seems to be bricked. I can't get it to even turn on, get to a bootloader screen, or anything even remotely close.
The one odd thing that it does though, is when I connect it to my computer, it pops up and my computer recognizes there is a device there. In my Device Manager there is an unknown device called: Qualcomm CDMA Technologies MSM. I have tried every combination of two buttons, including holding down the reset button with all of them, but nothing gets me anywhere.
If anyone could help, I would really appreciate it. there's eny way to save it??? :( 

shade02:

i was unlocking my phone (the HTC Touch Pro 2 <sprint>) and I was using a Diamond unlocker , but during the process there was a connection error and now my phone seems to be bricked.

Sorry to hear about your Touch Pro 2, shade02! Unfortunately, we don't really provide help or advice about unlocking here, since we're an official MSFT site, but there are other forum sites out there that may help you get your phone working again.

(There are two forms of unlocking - one allows you to use a GSM phone on another carrier's network, and the other helps you alter the ROM that powers the phone itself. I'm assuming you're talking about the second.)

As for your computer still recognizing the device -  I'm sure others here can tell you more, but my guess is that your phone's motherboard is still getting power, even though it's not starting up. Qualcomm etc. refers to the specific motherboard and chipset in the phone, I believe.