Quote Originally Posted by hancock View Post
Tried 2 different ways to build and flash a 109101000781.rgn file:
......
In both cases everything behaved the same as it always has (ding dong and drop the connection as soon as the 100% message pops up) except that I did not get the usual pop-up message asking "Do you want to replace the current software version with the same software version?". That's understandable since the rgn file has been changed to 781, but does that mean that there was enough of a connection that Updater was able to read the unit and determine that 7.80 was already loaded? Is that something that Updater does?
Yes and yes.

Updater.exe checks the current fw version on the device. By 'fooling' it with a faked higher version fw it saves having to click thru' that message, the reasoning being that then you may gain a little more time get the flash well-enough established to stop the problem you've been having. Usually when the flash is already established however the device won't exit preboot nor will updater.exe time out. The problem is elsewhere I think.

What is the visual symptom of the bricking? Is it stuck on splash screen with or without text like 'loading maps' at the bottom of the screen, or is it boot-looping (as examples)?