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iPod touch How Can I Intentionally Brick My iPod Touch
- Thread starter biff6789
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One of the things apple tells you not to do is this... when you are updating the firmware let it finish. Do not turn the power off or remove the cable from the iPod before it has finished with updating the firmware. What would happen if you were to pull out the cable half way through... I don't know. It would be an easy thing to try to see if you could brick it this way.
Still curious as to why a judge would order you to brick an iPod Touch... the ruling makes no sense.
Attach it to a lanyard and swing it around and around very very fast. The centrifugal force will cause all the electrons to fall out of the bottom of the iPod causing it to become bricked.
What if you updated the iPod with your own firmware. The new firmware sets the firmware version to 999 and the date to 2029 so if you tried to update it wouldn't because you already have a newer version in there. This version also wipes out the code to do a factory reset, and wipes out the code that controls all external button pushing, wipes, inserting the power cord... none of that now registers.
Still curious as to why a judge would order you to brick an iPod Touch... the ruling makes no sense.
Attach it to a lanyard and swing it around and around very very fast. The centrifugal force will cause all the electrons to fall out of the bottom of the iPod causing it to become bricked.
What if you updated the iPod with your own firmware. The new firmware sets the firmware version to 999 and the date to 2029 so if you tried to update it wouldn't because you already have a newer version in there. This version also wipes out the code to do a factory reset, and wipes out the code that controls all external button pushing, wipes, inserting the power cord... none of that now registers.
I'm sorry, but that is HILARIOUS! If all these people think your "legitimate issue" is ridiculous, well, maybe it is! Ever consider that?
well its really quite hard actually. you need to ssh and delete the files that boot it into recovery/dfu mode, and the files that boot it normally. so that would be quite hard removing the iboot.
That will not work as all you will have to do is restore it and download the software again.All that will happen is that you will lose all your data.
It is not possible to brick an iPod Touch without causing physical damage to it. Nothing you can do to your Touch will prevent it from being put into DFU mode and restored.
If the OP has the coin to be litigating a claim in US Federal court, he should be in the position to hire an expert to accomplish compliance with the Court's order. Should it become necessary to testify concerning the bricking process, a litigant's attorney should never put him/her self in the position of having to testify in his/her client's case and have the their credibility called into question. In Calif., this is a big no no, so I would not want to put myself in that position. Better to hire someone with the necessary chops to accomplish the goal.
Shame on you apple fanboys and girls for treating the OP and counselor so harshly..................
Shame on you apple fanboys and girls for treating the OP and counselor so harshly..................
wait and isnt this perjury? u must have been sued for something....oh say pirating apps? and u want to brick it therefore saying that u never did pirate apps therefore committing another crime? youd be lieing to the judge and the court. that can get u in more trouble.
I always thought this too, but I now know that at least an iPhone 3GS CAN be bricked to the point that even DFU mode cannot restore it, so I would assume that an iPod Touch could as well. Too bad I have really no idea how I got mine to this point, as it was done after a Cydia required a reboot. Upon restart, the phone was stuck at the "Apple" boot screen for over 4 hours before I put it back in the standard Recovery mode and tried a fresh restore. Phone gets to the "Waiting for iPhone..." part of the restore, and fails every time (error 9). It will literally stay at "Waiting for iPhone..." for 24 hours if you let it. Does this even trying a restore from DFU mode. I've attempted both of these types of restores on both my MBP and Macbook Air, and 2 of the Windows machines at work. I've tried all the programs out there to kick it out of this (iRecovery, iREB, etc), and it's not going to proceed with a restore. It is officially bricked. If you search the internet for "stuck at 'Waiting for iPhone", you can read that in almost every case of this occurring, the only solution was a warranty replacement (if applicable).
I'd love to get my hands on one of these so-called bricked phones, just to see if this is true/I can manage to do a successful restore. There's got to be a logical explanation for what people are experiencing, and a way around it that doesn't require that the phone be replaced.
There's really no reason why a phone can be completely "bricked." You CAN brick the baseband if you're not careful, but the phone should still boot and be usable (although not as a phone) if that happens. For the main OS itself, DFU exists for the express purpose of preventing a state of permanent brick-ness.
-- Nathan
I'd love to get my hands on one of these so-called bricked phones, just to see if this is true/I can manage to do a successful restore. There's got to be a logical explanation for what people are experiencing, and a way around it that doesn't require that the phone be replaced.
There's really no reason why a phone can be completely "bricked." You CAN brick the baseband if you're not careful, but the phone should still boot and be usable (although not as a phone) if that happens. For the main OS itself, DFU exists for the express purpose of preventing a state of permanent brick-ness.
-- Nathan
I've kept it for over a week trying to fix it myself, as I like challenges and tinkering with computers. But I've never seen anything like this from an iDevice. I've got a Genius Bar appointment later today to see what they say, but if you have any suggestions to try in the meantime, I'll give them a shot.
Of course it "could" be legitimate, but this is the internet. What are the odds? On the internet everyone's a lawyer/engineer/insider who "knows" what the real deal is and why everyone should give what they're saying more weight than anyone else. There's no way to authenticate the veracity of anyone's statements. Someone made a perfectly good point; if a judge wanted a bricked iPod touch from Apple for a legal case, they could (and should) just ask Apple. If I'm a lawyer working on an important case that involves a bricked iPod, I'm not going to bother trawling macrumors.
/irony
Because illegal activity isn't a zero-sum game. It affects (or has the potential to affect) more than just the person performing the act. Plus it's just not the sort of attitude this community tries to foster, as you eluded to.
I call the police and tell them to remove the vagrant.
Perhaps this guy wants to return it to Costco? You can only return it within 90 days, but I've read here that someone returned an item after 1 year after talking to his friend at the customer service desk. So, maybe this guy is trying to find an excuse.
I am guessing that in all these cases the problem is hardware failure. It can't really be anything else, since DFU mode is stored in ROM and there is no way for software to change it at all. The only other thing I can think is that the users have their phone in a boot loop and really suck at putting it in DFU mode.
+1
Lets give the guy the benefit of the doubt and say he is what he claims to be. Even so, why would we post something unethical up here? It is a public message board. The next person to read the "how-to" post might not have the purest intentions. No thanks...
Well, I for one believe the OP. It seems completely normal for a judge to ask this in a case where perhaps iPhone/iTouch based evidence was "magically" deleted due to a bricked phone. By proving that it COULD be done then in the jury's eyes that could cast a negative shadow on the defendant if he is being accused of getting rid of evidence (an additional charge I might add if this is a criminal case, additional damages in teh case of civil).
As for simply "asking" Apple on how to do it, there is no way in H E Double Hockey Sticks that they would do that, even if they were subpoenaed (which they would fight). In the long run it would be an open record, PER APPLE, with instructions on "How to Brick Your iTouch 101." This would encroach on trade secrets as well as open Apple to liability claims it wouldn't be able to fight. How would Apple know if the device REALLY bricked on its own, or someone read Plaintiff vs. Defendant on some online law search. This would undoubtably open Apple to new small claims litigations from people fighting them over "manufacturer flaws vs. user error/negligence."
In both of these instances, it would be prudent to prove that a simple, average person, would be able to do the bricking. Sure, an engineer at Apple can, but why go through the month it would take to get Apple to cave to the subpoena, only to have the opposing side it was an engineer who came up with the process. Ergo, run to a forum where people just throw out the correct response. In court, who is going to believe that someone can't navigate a website?
Hire someone you say? Why PAY someone when you can bill two hours on a forum site and pocket that money? Not saying its ethical, but that is the reality of it all.
Lastly, I never read where the judge told him to DO IT, he just needs to know how it can be done.
If the OP is a liar, he is a very good one from an overall logic standpoint.
PS. Follow the Cydia/OpenSSH route, that should get you what you need.
As for simply "asking" Apple on how to do it, there is no way in H E Double Hockey Sticks that they would do that, even if they were subpoenaed (which they would fight). In the long run it would be an open record, PER APPLE, with instructions on "How to Brick Your iTouch 101." This would encroach on trade secrets as well as open Apple to liability claims it wouldn't be able to fight. How would Apple know if the device REALLY bricked on its own, or someone read Plaintiff vs. Defendant on some online law search. This would undoubtably open Apple to new small claims litigations from people fighting them over "manufacturer flaws vs. user error/negligence."
In both of these instances, it would be prudent to prove that a simple, average person, would be able to do the bricking. Sure, an engineer at Apple can, but why go through the month it would take to get Apple to cave to the subpoena, only to have the opposing side it was an engineer who came up with the process. Ergo, run to a forum where people just throw out the correct response. In court, who is going to believe that someone can't navigate a website?
Hire someone you say? Why PAY someone when you can bill two hours on a forum site and pocket that money? Not saying its ethical, but that is the reality of it all.
Lastly, I never read where the judge told him to DO IT, he just needs to know how it can be done.
If the OP is a liar, he is a very good one from an overall logic standpoint.
PS. Follow the Cydia/OpenSSH route, that should get you what you need.
So what would everyone had done/said if he had asked:
"I have a legal case that requires me to present information in court on what actions might "brick" an iPod Touch without causing physical harm to it. Is there truly a sequence of steps that would cause this?
If you aren't comfortable outlining them here, please feel free to contact me at freeemailaddy at yourchoice dot com.
Thank you for any help in this matter from myself and my client."
Would the approach have made a difference??
I'm not a lawyer.... just paying one in a nasty divorce, and the other side has some wonky ideas on technology.
"I have a legal case that requires me to present information in court on what actions might "brick" an iPod Touch without causing physical harm to it. Is there truly a sequence of steps that would cause this?
If you aren't comfortable outlining them here, please feel free to contact me at freeemailaddy at yourchoice dot com.
Thank you for any help in this matter from myself and my client."
Would the approach have made a difference??
I'm not a lawyer.... just paying one in a nasty divorce, and the other side has some wonky ideas on technology.
Just to get this out of the way but a ipod touch can be bricked.
I know this from personal experience.It would not even show up in itunes and would just give an error.Fortunately it got replaced.
I know this from personal experience.It would not even show up in itunes and would just give an error.Fortunately it got replaced.
Well, it still sounds fishy. He says it's for a court case of some kind and a judge wants it.
Since what I recall about courts, they want evidence preserved, not destroyed. The OP wants the device bricked with no physical damage. It sounds like (and this is my wild guess):
The OP is expecting a subpoena to ascertain the contents of this device. He also does not want the device to be "accidentally" stolen or destroyed and risk pissing off the judge.
From my experience, just about anything you can brick can be done with no damage. Any botched firmware update will do the trick.
do you mean you want to throw a brick (an actual brick, like a cement brick, that's the color red) to your ipod touch? and tell apple, that under my warrenty, i am covered for this damage, and now give me a new one?
As mentioned earlier, I, too, am willing to give the OP the benefit of the doubt.
I worked on a case a few years ago as an attorney where the judge ordered the defendant's PDA to be wiped clean since it contained incredibly sensitive data. But the device had to remain intact (i.e. couldn't just be smashed to bits) since it needed to be used as evidence in a future case. But since the data needed to be wiped immediately, we had to find a software geek that knew how to do it since the courthouse couldn't immediately provide one. It's kind of a long story... So there is a whole host of scenarios out there that lead me to believe the OP's post is legit. If he's not sharing the exact details, it's probably because he legally can't
Others here are suggesting he is lying and is just trying to get a new ipod, but the OP said the ipod was the latest version with the latest firmware, so why would he need a newer one? Others suggested he stole it from someone and wants to wipe it clean and return it. But how would he do this without a receipt or without his name or itunes account matching the ipod's serial number?
That's why I believe it could be legitimate... but that's just me
I worked on a case a few years ago as an attorney where the judge ordered the defendant's PDA to be wiped clean since it contained incredibly sensitive data. But the device had to remain intact (i.e. couldn't just be smashed to bits) since it needed to be used as evidence in a future case. But since the data needed to be wiped immediately, we had to find a software geek that knew how to do it since the courthouse couldn't immediately provide one. It's kind of a long story... So there is a whole host of scenarios out there that lead me to believe the OP's post is legit. If he's not sharing the exact details, it's probably because he legally can't
Others here are suggesting he is lying and is just trying to get a new ipod, but the OP said the ipod was the latest version with the latest firmware, so why would he need a newer one? Others suggested he stole it from someone and wants to wipe it clean and return it. But how would he do this without a receipt or without his name or itunes account matching the ipod's serial number?
That's why I believe it could be legitimate... but that's just me