Phone modes

What is it?
Normal phone mode is the mode, when phone is powered on with or without SIM card just like you power it on to speak with your friend. This mode is used for normal work with phone. In this mode phone is controlled by firmware, that is inside the phone. Sometimes normal mode is also referred as Test (command interface) Mode.

How to switch on?
To put the phone in this mode just power it on with or without SIM. It should start up and show Insert SIM message, ask for SIM PIN or seaching for network.

E2/E6/A1200 specifics:
Please ensure, that Menu ⇒ Modem ⇒ Auto Launch checkbox is checked. If it is not, check it, power the phone off and then on again.

Detected by PC as…
In this mode phone is usually detected as Motorola USB Modem on your PC

What is it?
This mode is usually used to work with phone, that cannot startup normally. In this mode phone is starting up with no information on screen, or with showing software/bootloader version and some other data on black backround. This mode is sometimes called AP or BP mode for some phones. In this mode phone's bootloader controls all communication. Phone's firmware does not receive control.

How to switch on?
To put this phone into this mode you need to power it off and press together/consecutively “*”, ”#”, and Power button. Some phones with damaged software can be forced sometimes into this mode with the so-called “Force Boot” method. Power off the phone, remove battery from it, connect USB cable to phone, press and hold together “*”, ”#”, and Power buttons and then put battery back while holding the buttons. Phones with p2k interface can also be used with repair cable to force flash mode.

E2/E6/A1200 specifics:
Cable without power (1st (Vcc) and 4th (“not used”/“free”) pins are not shortened):

1. Disconnect the battery, insert the battery (phone powered off).
2. Hold the camera (E6) / voice dial (E2) / voice dial (A1200) button (the top button on the right side of the phone (except A1200, which is second from the top), while holding this button press power on button. You will see red screen with “MBM flash mode” (this mode is called AP flash mode) message.
3. Push the same button once again and you will see “USB BP Pass Through Mode” (this mode is called BP flash mode). BP mode is same like “Flash” mode on all Motorola phones. To perform dump/flash operations phone must be in BP (flash mode). That's all!

Cable with power (1st (Vcc) and 4th (“not used”/“free”) pins are shortened):

1. Disconnect battery
2. Hold the camera (E6) / voice dial (E2) / voice dial (A1200) button
3. Connect cable to phone
4. Release button
5. Press the camera (E6) / voice dial (E2) / voice dial (A1200) button again once
6. You will see “USB BP Pass Through Mode” on LCD. That's all.

A1000 specifics:
Use repair cable or hold A and B (game buttons) on the phone and power phone on.

E680 specifics:
Hold the top-right and bottom-left SIDE buttons while switching the phone ON. It should show a blue screen and load the bootloader.

A780 specifics:
Press camera and jogdial (scrollwheel) button while power on. (Blue bootloader screen). Then press camera button.

E680(i) specifics:
Press camera and volume down button while power on. (Blue bootloader screen). Then press camera button.

A910 specifics:
Press voicedial button while power on. (Red bootloader screen). Then press voicedial button again.

V8 specifics:
Press '*' and '#' buttons while power on. (Black bootloader screen)

Detected by PC as…
Phones in this mode are usually detected as XXX Flash XXX by your PC.

What is it?
This is the mode, in which only service operations (bootloader installation, unlock etc.) and flashing IMAGE files are supported (on some phones flashing IMAGE files is supported only if bootloader is damaged/erased). In this mode neither bootloader nor firmware of phone are executed. Phone is controlled by secondary bootloader, that is stored inside phone's CPU.

How to switch on?
This phone mode can be enabled either by software during some operation, or by connecting phone's testpoint to ground and releasing it. On some phones where there are two testpoints, you need to shortcut them instead of grounding. For testpoint locations please check MSSBox II support area.

Testpoint procedure

1. Start MSS
2. Connect cable when phone is off
3. While phone is powered off, connect the testpoint to GND (or shortcut them, if there are two testpoints at testpoint picture) and connect battery or external power
4. Wait until the phone is connected in Blank mode, then remove testpoint
5. Start desired service operation that requires Blank mode

Please note, that ROM4 and Argon phones must be unlocked using instructions at this link.

E2/E6/A1200 specifics:
For this operation cable with power should be used (regular mini-USB cable, but with 1st (Vcc) and 4th (“not used”/“free”) pins shortened)

1. Disassemble phone, take only phone half where testpoint is located. You don't need LCD or another part. Find testpoint.
2. Close MSS software
3. Hold the camera (E6) / voice dial (E2) / voice dial (A1200) button
4. Connect cable to phone
5. Wait 5 seconds and release button.
6. Connect testpoint connector (needle) to testpoint and hold it there.
7. Press camera (E6) / voice dial (E2) / voice dial (A1200) button several times to ensure phone will enter blank mode (5-7 times with 1-2 seconds interval. After some practice you will be able to put phone to blank mode by 1 button hit Wink).
8. Release testpoint.
9. Start MSS software. It will detect box and after several seconds - phone connected in blank mode.
10. If MSS will not detect your box on this step (if you see only Detecting in lower right corner of software window) or box is detected ok, but no phone is detected at all, probably you didn't hold testpoint or you touched something else except testpoint on phone. In this case you will need to disconnect phone from box, reconnect box to USB (or refresh device list from Device manager) and try all from the beginning.

Detected by PC as…
Phones in this mode are usually detected as XXX Blank XXX by your PC.