I'll get right to the point. My bricked i68 has 64mb firmware that was read when the phone was it good working condition. I mistakenly flashed the phone with 32mb firmware. Now it won't accept anything larger than 32mb (aka 02000000). It gives me an "invalid range" error saying "invalid begin address or end address exceeds target flash size." I'm using the begin address as 00000000 and the end as 04000000.

I can read a full 64mb from the phone just fine and it shows up in MTK flash tools as 64mb. But I've tried adding the original back to it and also reformatting it with a full 64mb range. Still the error. If I try to do anything 1 byte over 32mb I get this error. Any ideas? Testing, I know you've done a lot of research on this. I'd be curious to get your thoughts. Thanks guys.

PS.

I did a memory test and it claims the following:

======= Memory Detection Report ===============

Internal RAM:

Size = 0x0000C000 (48KB)

External RAM:

Type = SRAM

Size = 0x00800000 (8MB/64Mb)

NOR Flash:

Device ID = "[ST] M58PPR256J" (105)
Size = 0x02000000 (32MB/256Mb)




This is curious to me because I thought the original firmware was 64mb. That's what I read from the phone initially. I tried chopping off the last 32mb of my read file so it would fit on the phone. It copied but the phone wouldn't turn on. At this point I don't know what to do. I've tried so many things. Maybe someone has a newer 32mb firmware I could try? This phone is only a month old with java and a 6 page menu. Thanks again.

Ok, let's see. I have two theories.

1. The phone your using doesn't have a 64mb memory.
I actually know next to nothing about the i68 so I'm not saying your wrong about your own phone. All I know is with my phone, if I readback past the end of the rom, it just loops back to the beginning instead of throwing an error. Don't accept the fact that the readback sequence worked at 64mb to mean that the phone has 64mb. (This is with Flash Tools 4.10) In this theory, a possible reason it still won't turn on after you flashed the file chopped to 32mb could be because certain phone models implement a security feature that bricks it after a full flash. The second link in my sig about installing firmware shows how to circumvent this by reading-back and comparing.

2. The program you are using is incompatible with writing 64mb flashes.
What program are you using? I personally have never flashed a phone with larger than 16mb, but I know for a fact that 32mb works too. However, I've been out of the loop with the more recent Chinese phones and have never experimented with anything larger than 32mb. It's entirely posible the program has a 32mb limit. I always used Flash Tools for my own phone and show it in my videos, but there is also a program called Spiderman floating around. If the problem happened while using Spiderman, try using Flash Tools. If it failed using Flash Tools, try using Spiderman. You can also try to find a newer version of Flash Tools.

Also, if you dont' mind, could you post up a copy of your original 64mb backup so I can look at it?

Thanks very much for taking the time to chime in. I used flash tools to do the readback. I'm pretty sure it was the same version you used in the videos. I later upgraded to 6.1.8 and have been working with that since. I couldn't get spiderman to work for me. I sure didn't see anything about a 32mb limit in flash tools, but I suppose it's possible. And I really don't know what size my original firmware was. When I chopped the file down to 32mb I did follow your readback and comparing instructions too. As soon as I get it uploaded I will post a link to my original 64mb readback. I started this process because I wanted a more responsive/faster moving firmware, but I'll settle for anything that works at this point.

I wish I could have just bought a phone pre-loaded with the JavaQui firmware.

Here it is:

http://www.filefront.com/14769453/xphone.bin

The hosting site is iffy and sometimes won't work. But you should be able to get it eventually. If not let me know. And thanks again for the help.

I looked at the 64mb file in a hex editor and found that it does repeat back to the beginning at x2000000, so your phone does use a 32mb firmware.

http://rapidshare.com/files/296469204/i68_Firmware.zip
In this zip file are two .bin's for you to try. I figured I'd give it a shot before you give up. I trimmed the file down to 32mb at the appropriate spot and I also made a second file which is a formatted version. That basically means that it's a factory fresh install with all your user data deleted and reset to defaults. It should boot directly into pen calibration the first time you turn it on. If neither of these work even with readback/compare, then it's likely that the phone uses some type of encryption and you should try to find a forum dedicated to the i68.

Also, so I know what to label this firmware in my collection, is it a i68 or a i68+ ?

Sweet THANKS. It's an i68+ I believe.

Well I did a download and compare with both of the files you sent me. No luck. Phone wouldn't turn on with either. Thanks for trying though. There must be some kind of lock as you say, that keeps me from changing firmware on the phone.

I'll take this one over to mysciphone.com and see if I get any help there. Thanks again.

For anyone interested I've taken this discussion over here: http://www.mysciphone.com/English_Sciphone_Forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=9109&p=34112#p34112

I made an interesting discovery today. After flashing the phone with the correct firmware, I did a readback and noticed that one small part had changed. So compared it to the original and flashed the appropriate spot with the correct data. But when it didn't work again, I decided to do a third readback just to see. When I compared that readback to the original firmware file, there were differences in three places now. I tried to correct them by flashing the phone again with the correct changes, but it only worked for the first and third sections. The second one would load 100% but then pop up an error box.

So basically every time I load firmware onto the phone it gets changed in the process. Weird.