Thread: Garmin Fenix 6X PRO Bricked :(

You've already tried the common methods so recovery is now less unlikely, and whether it's at all recoverable depends very much on what you've mistakenly flashed to it. I think fenix watches install the main bootloader in region 5 differently to most 'conventional' garmin devices.

Please post info of what foreign fw was flashed and supply links both to it and the originally native version previously loaded. Also say in exact detail how the wrong fw was loaded. i.e. what method? Because you've stated MSM was not available when you received the watch it's likely you loaded an RGN file in preboot. If so, was a wrong bootloader BIN file (fw_0505.bin) flashed to region 5 along with the wrong fw_all.bin to region 14 (0x0E)?

Thanks for the detailed reply —
Here is the exact sequence of what I did, as accurately as I can reconstruct it:

*With all of my attempts GarminCure3 could never produce a RGN file, always got this warning:
"Processing F:\GarminCure3\329101000280.rgn
This is a RGN file.
got an exception:
XRgn::DetectHWIDandSWVER(): ramloader has invalid format

Processing FAILED "
So all of the firmware I flashed were always straight from RGN_Tool.

Spoiler: Click for images etc.

First (incorrect) flash

I downloaded firmware from this link (believe to be fenix 6X Pro):
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

From that drive I used GUPDATE.GCD (v28.00).
I ran the GCD through RGN_Tool without manually overriding the HWID.
RGN_Tool did not recognize the HWID and produced a warning (screenshot attached).

I then flashed the generated RGN using Updater.exe in pre-boot mode, without renaming the RGN manually.
After this flash, the device entered the update screen and became stuck in the state previously described.

Second flash attempt (still wrong HWID)

Believing the HWID to be 3368, I repeated the process:

Same firmware version (v28.00)
RGN_Tool with HWID override set to 3368
Resulting file named 336801000280.rgn
Flashed again using Updater.exe in pre-boot

Discovery of correct HWID and later attempts

Afterwards, using G7ToWin, I confirmed the device’s actual HWID is 3291 (screenshot attached).


I then attempted to reflash:
Firmware v28.00
Firmware v9.xx

Both override in RGN_Tool for HWID 3291
All were flashed via Updater.exe in pre-boot, but the device behavior did not change.


Current state:

Pre-boot mode is reachable
Device enters update screen
Update freezes part-way
No Garmin logo
MSM still unavailable
In Pre-boot the watch can be seen by WebUpdater, and GarminExpress.

Regarding Region 5
Because all flashes were done using Updater.exe with RGN files in pre-boot, I understand that Region 5 (fw_0505.bin) may have been overwritten during the initial incorrect flashes.

I do not have a way to confirm whether: an incorrect fw_0505.bin was written, or Region 5 is partially intact.

If there is any way to infer the state of Region 5 from these symptoms , I would greatly appreciate guidance.
Thanks again for taking the time to look into this.
*A link to my google drive with all of the screenshots firmware and tools i used: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
We cannot see the pictures on your GDrive if they are not publicly shared

Fixed Thank you for pointing out!

The reason GarminCure3/QuickCure3 cannot process the fw is because of what i mentioned previously regarding the bootloader. To expand, the cure program deals with a fw's "boot.bin", misleading-named because it's actually the ramloader. Regardless, the SOLE purpose of cure fw is to interrupt the boot process at the point of loading the Garmin logo splash screen and so then not load any potentially corrupt files, thus re-enabling MSM. Anyway, in your case the device hasn't been 'soft-bricked' by a corrupt file which needs to be removed. The reason it's not booting is almost certainly because an incorrect fw has been loaded to it.

So in VERY simplistic terms, the ramloader ("boot.bin") is loaded to a virtual region (region 12) in "conventional" devices and then from 12 components are loaded by the device itself to 5 (the bootloader). Your fenix entirely skips that first step with region 12 and loads the bootloader DIRECTLY to region 5. The bootloader (kind of like a computer BIOS/UEFI software - but not really) is responsible for executing the main system software (it's a bit like the kernel of a PC's OS). So, the boot cycle will fail if region 5 has the wrong bootloader which then can't start region 14. Alternatively, even if 5 has the correct bootloader but there's the wrong main system software in 14 which the bootloader can't deal with, it'll still fail. It may even be that both regions have foreign data in them but the physical hardware is incompatible with the fw. Also, regardless that G7ToWin reports the HWID as still being 3291 there may be corrupt data somewhere such as in the non-volatile memory region.

I think from the above you'll now understand how the boot cycle works basically and how flashing an incompatible fw may adversely affect the device in several possible ways.

BTW, GarminExpress only sees devices in MSM whereas Updater only uses preboot and WebUpdater can utilise both modes.

I don't know from where those firmwares in the HiDrive link originated but i suspect they're all unofficial versions which have been modified by somebody for whatever reason.

Now some more questions:

• Did Updater.exe at any time report an error or did it always show a flash as successful?
• Did you at any time attempt to load the OFFICIAL latest Garmin fw which is V20.50?

Info:

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

It's available here as a GCD file:

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

If you haven't tried it then please do so now. You'll need to convert it to an RGN file of course to flash with Updater.exe. Here's the thing though, RGN_Tool may not be able to deal properly with the odd layout of the fenix fw because it's expecting to see a ramloader for region 12 (0x0C) not a bootloader for region 5. You might be better trying kunix's [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] to unpack the GCD to BIN files and then re-pack them as an RGN.

Regarding checking the current contents of region 5, in most Garmin devices the bootloader region is protected but in the fenix's case it's maybe not. Try dumping both rgn5 and rgn14 with [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (skip to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]).

Hey so I tried to use the Garmin WebUpdater tool to flash the firmware, got this error:

Spoiler: Image

Using kunix's gfw.exe to unpack the GCD did give me the bin files (02BD--0CDB-0802.bin and 0505--0CDB-0802.bin) but i was unable to repack them to a RGN file.

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

I even tried to dump rgn 5 and 14 but got an error saying they dont exist...

Spoiler: Image

Your image links are still unavailable
Please follow the instructions in post I gave you