Oregon 650 flashed with Oregon 750 firmware is BRICKED

**andna** · 24th May 2022, 06:08 PM

Hello all,

1) Bricked device MODEL, Firmware version, HWID.
Garmin Oregon 650, firmware version 5.6, HWID 1651.

2) Why and how the device got bricked.
Accidentally flashed the Oregon 750 recovery firmware posted on one of the forums (I post it here).

3) Symptoms: what's wrong in your device?
It stays in the logo screen forever.

4) Does your pc sees your device?
Updater finds it (preboot) and shows its Oregon 750t (Unit ID 0).Windows shown in the device manager but not as a Mass Storage.

5) List all the procedures you already tried to unbrick it and their results and errors messages obtained.
I flashed both the original Oregon 650 firmware and the ones made by GarminCure3. Updater.exe writes successfully, but after the firmware does not load, and does not switch to mass storage mode. The screen freezes on the Garmin screensaver or blinks white. When reconnecting Updater.exe again defines as Oregon 750t (Unit ID 0).

6) Do you have Garmin USB Drivers installed ? Yes, the 2.3.12 version

7) If you don't know HWID get it by Use program G7ToWin to retrieve your HWID
ID: 0, UNIT ID: 0; USB Comm via Bulk Pipe.

8) Write down if you already read or tried GarminCure3 tool - the new way to create cure firmwares for Garmin devices.
Yes.

9) Can you reach preboot mode? Yes, by pressing power button. It stays in preboot while I press the button.

10) Probably no , but do you have NV backup?
I have a backup of the internal memory.

Many thanks.

Spoiler: images

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

**Butters** · 27th May 2022, 03:24 AM

@andna
Losing both the Unit ID and HWID (both showing as '0') are very bad signs, as is the fact it's being alternately reported in Updater GUI as Oregon 750t and Oregon 600.

Comparing usual 6x0 fw with the rgn file you flashed, not only did you leave the HWID of 2512 internally which is for 750 but also safe-named the file for 6x0's HWID of 1651 (i.e. 165101000520.rgn) so Updater.exe then flashed the device without further prompt. As the boot.bin for 2512 is around twice the size of that of 1651 and fw_all.bin is also considerably larger, it's highly unlikely the relevant regions of the 650 are large enough to accommodate the 750's firmware BINs. Additionally it seems you've also flashed the 750's logo to region 16 (hex 10):

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

The resultant mayhem in your device's fw regions has rendered it inoperable and likely unrecoverable. Despite your statement that it seems to update successfully, it certainly does seem it's not actually accepting a flash via Updater.exe at all as that program directly flashes regions. I'm even a little surprised that in its present state that it still has preboot available to be honest.

Probably it's too damaged to do so, but does it read from and write to an inserted media card? Try backing up it's NV memory: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. You might have to experiment by using HWID folder with either of the Oregons' HWIDs, as well as 0. Also it's hard to know which ramloader to use for Ldr.bin, either Oregon boot.bin could be applicable depending on which was flashed successfully in your previous attempts although.

**andna** · 30th May 2022, 05:07 PM

Hello. I tried to make a backup of his NV memory. Named folders are 1651, 2512, 0, and 0000.
Wrote commands

rrrgn,41,1:/41.bin
reboot

and

rrgn,41,2:/41.bin
reboot

I tried the bootloaders and 1651 and 2512. Unsuccessfully.
Help, is there anything else you can do?

**Butters** · 31st May 2022, 12:39 AM

Not reading a media card limits you to using Updater.exe only. Try flashing just the Oregon 6x0's boot.bin as an RGN file. Open the O6x0 firmware in RGN_Tool and uncheck the second section. Save the file named only as OUT.rgn:

Spoiler: Image

Flash OUT.rgn in preboot.

If it works the ramloader in virtual region 12 will be updated and device should boot to a screen showing "System Software Missing" or freeze on the logo splash screen/bootloop. We may be able to recover if any of that happens.

If nothing changes i'm out of suggestions other than to strip it for useable/saleable parts, the PCB is only good for waste if nothing can be flashed to regions.

**andna** · 1st June 2022, 03:33 PM

Originally Posted by Butters

Not reading a media card limits you to using Updater.exe only. Try flashing just the Oregon 600's boot.bin as an RGN file. Open the O600 firmware in RGN_Tool and uncheck the second section....
...
If nothing changes i'm out of suggestions other than to strip it for useable/saleable parts, the PCB is only good for waste if nothing can be flashed to regions.

I made and flashed OUT.rgn. UPDATER.exe after flashing, writes OK. Defines it as Oregon 600 (Unit id 0). Oregon freezes on the FIRMWARE LOADING splash screen... After reconnecting, the Garmin logo again. The updater defines it as Oregon 750 (Unit id 0).

Spoiler: images

**Butters** · 2nd June 2022, 01:14 AM

Something is trying to flash on a device, but incompletely, when the boot-cycle freezes with "Software Loading" message. It seems there may be a gupdate.gcd file on-board the device for that to keep happening after exiting preboot and re-starting. The 650 boot.bin as an RGN has been flashed it seems, but whether or not that new data in region 12 is then permanently transferred to (or retained in) regions 5 and 43 is what's uncertain. It does seem clear that the device identifying alternately as 600 and 750t is not arbitrary but dependent on flash attempts. When flashed with full or partial 6x0 fw in Updater it shows Oregon 600 and then after subsequent reboot attempt it shows Oregon 750t.

Was a GCD file for 750t manually placed in the 650's internal file system previously before Mass Storage Mode was lost?

**andna** · 3rd June 2022, 09:35 AM

The gupdate.gcd file may be in the device's internal memory. But this is a file for 650. It was on the micro SD card before the crash.

**Butters** · 3rd June 2022, 11:59 AM

In that case i'm unsure what the implication is. It seems from the info you gave previously that Updater consistently identifies the device alternately as O600 and O750t, the former when flashed with 6x0 fw and the latter after a failed boot. Perhaps because the device has lost it's HWID (showing '0') is will not read the ID data in the GCD file before initiating the file to try flashing the device. If there is a corrupt GCD file on-board the flash will fail and soft-brick the device. Usually an inappropriate GCD is not flashed because the device first checks the file's HWID against the device's own and if they don't match nothing further is done.

All i can suggest is to try again to flash Cure fw made from O6x0 fw. Your only chance may be to re-enable Mass Storage Mode so you can remove any GCD from the internal memory. Re-make the Cure from scratch and be persistent if the flash fails, try over and over, reloading the cure RGN into Updater and shutting down the device between attempts.

**andna** · 3rd June 2022, 06:50 PM

After trying to flash the cure, the mass storage mode did not appear. But after the firmware cure from O750 (here [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]) the device began to see the sd card and react to the power button (before it was necessary to get the batteries) . Sees GUPDATE.gcd from 650 but there is a cyclic loading. If you take out the sd card, the screen turns pink. Created an update folder, entered the command
rrgn,41,1:/41.bin
reboot
The backup.bin file did not appear, but the last_id file appeared in folder 2512 ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ]) and a text file with content

Oregon 750t Software Version 5.20, UID: 4294967295, HWID: 4294967295
-------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
Parsing "rrgn,41,1:/41.bin"
error
Parsing "reboot"
success

Can it still be saved? Thank you.