How to prevent your modem from getting 'bricked'

[cj47]

I have yet to see any 'sticky' on this so here are my questions;

1. Why are these so susceptible to getting 'bricked'?? Why would a couple of short cycle power interruptions 'brick' one of these?
2. Is one hacked firmware more prone than another and if so which is the least likely?

Tnaks.

[drewmerc]

i have yet to see a true brick (well 1 but it was a broken tuner)

even if i do partial brick (firmware fuck up) a reflash takes nothing more than a few minutes with usb jtag/spi flasher
i avoid modems with out these as tsop flashing takes longer and removing tsop's is a ball ache (these are rare anyways, thompson/rca crap)

the times i have bricked it has always been user error (yes me) normally not setting a static ip, or when the modems in a reboot loop (it can happen at other times i'm sure just never happened to me in normal day to day usage)

[cj47]

For someone that never has done a JTAG, it's not that easy.
Problem is, all these 'advanced' members think all of this 'stuff' is easy, but for 'newbies' it is not, especially when the fear of 'trashing' another device looms.

Setting a staic IP where? Your NIC, or within the modem? Why would a couple of power cycles 'brick' one of these? Specifically, a SB5100.

[drewmerc]

i understand your problem as a noob, and yes i forget what it was like back when i started (the fear)
but understand it's very hard to do a true brick (there's debrick commands for jtags that can bit-bang when you really do a fuck up job on the, bit-banging normaly means you need a usb based jtag)
as long as you got a good modem (moto/webby) so you can have both jtag and serial (this does help alot for trouble shooting)
a well built set of wires (jtag and serial) and a multimeter (cheap shit will do as long as it beeps) to test the connections
this is every thing you need

static ip (yes in windows)
power cycles (just like how you never pull the plug from a computer off when its writing to the hard disk, writing to the memory at the same time as rebooting is never good)

[cj47]

Removing power from a modem during to 'boot', then restoring it, even just once would/could 'brick' one of these no matter what firmware (hacked or otherwise) was used?
Just to understand, I have no fear or problem wandering thru the Windows registry, but these things have gotten me gun shy.

[drewmerc]

Removing power from a modem during to 'boot', then restoring it, even just once would/could 'brick' one of these no matter what firmware (hacked or otherwise) was used?

no not during boot, only while writing to flash even then it's rare or unlucky (i say it happen's to me because i play around with my modem alot, sometimes just to brick it, take today for example i have a spi based modem and my test clip is broken now i could just solder wires to it but instead i'm thinking i'll remove the spi chip and try using an sd card why you may ask, why not sd card can be accessed by spi so in my head this means it will work, anyways it'll pass the time and if it does work it'll be cool)

Just to understand, I have no fear or problem wandering thru the Windows registry, but these things have gotten me gun shy.

who mentioned the registry, setting a static ip is a normal part of windows networking (in your network adaptor settings)

[cj47]

I only mentioned the registry to use as an example. I'm fairly at home there, here I'm gun shy.

Three consecutive rapid power cycles bricked a 5100 w/ Sigma due to a faulty power strip switch. It was powered up, lost power, powered up again, lost power and a final power up within 5-7 seconds bricked the thing.

[drewmerc]

soft-brick or hard-bricked? (someone needs to redefine the word bricked)
hard bricks can only happen due to hardware failure
soft bricks can always be reflashed

[cj47]

Ok, good point. I haven't seen any reference between either. Only the generic term "brick" is used.

[cj47]

Ok, still looking for an answer to the OP.