E-Fuse - Self Destruct

[reigndropz]

Man...I don't even know if I believe this but who knows.....supposedly there is some kind of fuse inside the Droid X that will brick your phone if you try to mod it at all. Below is a copy of the article and the source. This really will stop me from going to the Droid X.....unless some of the brilliant minds here figure out how to bypass this.....which I'm sure is inevitable!


Thing that the Android platform is all about freedom and the ability to do whatever you want with your device once you’ve bought it? Think again! Motorola’s Droid X contains a feature that bricks the handset if you try to modify the bootloader.
This is pretty scary stuff, and goes counter to what the Android platform is all about:

The eFuse is coded with information that it either looks for or is passed to it from the bootloader. The bootloader is loaded with information it looks for when it begins the boot-up process. (I have seen the sbf file look for a certain bootloader when it begins so its safe to assume that this is the process).
Once the the eFuse verifies that the information it is looking for or that has been passed through to it by the bootloader is correct then the boot process continues. What type of information is written to the bootloader? So far i’ve been able to verify that the firmware information (what we call ROMS), the kernel information, and the bootloader version.
If the eFuse failes to verify this information then the eFuse receives a command to “blow the fuse” or “trip the fuse”. This results in the booting process becoming corrupted and resulting in a permanent bricking of the Phone. This FailSafe is activated anytime the bootloader is tampered with or any of the above three parts of the phone has been tampered with.

The eFuse can be repaired, but only by Motorola, so if you trip it, it’s a case of sending your handset back for repair.
Bottom line, the freedoms offered by Android go counter to the locked handsets that service providers are happy with. Based on this, the Droid X just became a no-buy for those who like to tinker with their handsets.




Source:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/m...-destruct/8906

[lightninjay]

I was quite literally just about to post this citing this article

http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/07/...try-to-mod-it/

Basically from what I've read, it does a bootloader check, and if the software notices that the bootloader has been tampered with, it throws the phone into an eternal booting loop, essentially perma-bricking the phone.

This has the potential to severely deter developers and hackers from cracking this phone due to the sheer fact that it would require permanently destroying multiple phones before coming up with a viable solution for unlocking/rooting.

I don't know about you folks, but I think I'll be pretty happy with my rooted Droid Incredible once it arrives tomorrow and I have a bit of time to tinker with it.

[brownhornet]

Owned

[brandogg]

This is what Microsoft does with the Xbox 360 to close exploits - they don't brick consoles (that's just wrong), but it's how they closed the JTAG exploit (and a couple others in the past, IIRC) last year.

[Laos101]

There will always be a way around it folks

[blazingwolf]

People are already starting to debunk this theory. Seems there is an eFuse on the Droid also. Last time I checked I am able to change everything on it with out "blowing" it up.

[darren.wlsn1]

Originally Posted by Laos101

There will always be a way around it folks

+1, week tops. lol

[Laos101]

Android is an open source, they can't stop us from ROOTing it, period. It's physically impossible. That's designed probably to protect Motorola's content

[ronaldheld]

The phone still may be rooted, but with no capacities for custom ROMs. time will tell.

[gTen]

I think the reason why motorola is doing it is for the revenue.. remember how google is paying % of the money for the adwords and the market purchases...well if it wasn't locked down and you can flash custom roms...they would most likely loose commission :/...

Getting past the eFuse may not be hard (probably by sending fake information about the rom version and etc)...but breaking the encryption on the other hand will prove a challenge as it is similar to the milestone I read..which has yet to be broken for custom roms.