BLU Studio 5.5 De-Brick / General Flashing

Intro

Recently I had an issue where a friend got a virus on his phone. Usual thing – saw some post about increasing his followers online on some social media thing, couldn’t resist, got the virus on his phone. Originally he took the device to a phone store and paid to get it sorted out – they didn’t do a good job. Virus was still on his phone. And so began the hunt.

Getting In

There are a lot of sites and threads online about fixing this issue. Basically, this phone uses a MediaTek chipset which can be flashed or firmware updated using Smart Phone Flash Tool (SP Flash Tool). There are different versions of this tool out with the most popular ones being version 3.X and 5.X depending on your needs / phone. So let’s go a bit further into what needed to be done and how I got it sorted.

Sites & Theory

So I found a number of sites as I said. One of the more popular ones would be XDA.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/blu-studio-5-5-d610a-unbrick-help-t3090885

In that thread persons wanted a solution but none were confirmed. The one provided was helpful, but nobody confirmed it. Next I found a Google Plus post.

https://plus.google.com/111407788156930060467/posts/UmEHWGK2jXv

This seemed more promising, and the person seemed very helpful. Many persons thanked him, but it still didn’t work for me. Why?

My theory is that various phone manufacturers use the same chipset, and in the case of BLU, they release different versions of the phone with slight differences. Either you have to find a BASE ROM or one that works SPECIFICALLY with your model.

The Fix (Part 1)

Now this is what you probably came here for. I’m not going to go into too much detail as I expect you to have some knowledge on the subject. So………..

  1. Obtain correct firmware for your phone.
  2. Connect bricked (or working) phone.
  3. Install appropriate drivers to flash the device.
  4. Place phone in “download mode” if applicable.
  5. Run SP Flash Tool.
  6. Connect phone.

That about covers it. Files that I used specifically for the D610A that I fixed are available in the MEGA link below.

https://mega.nz/#F!pNUTkZIb!9B8bPn8PxWGfkmIMe8PnvQ

Below is also another link with instructions on how to use SP Flash Tool on just about any device.

http://www.blogtechtips.com/2015/03/30/how-to-use-smart-phone-flash-tool-to-flash-any-blu-smartphone/

The Fix (Part 2)

In my case a second part was required. This is in case you find after flashing that you have no signal on your SIM or have checked and have no IMEI. So. Here’s that set of instructions.

  1. Check IMEI status in settings or by dialing *#06# (GSM code doesn’t work on all phones).
    • If IMEI is invalid proceed. If it shows your IMEI then do nothing further.
  2. If your IMEI is invalid or blank, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnJr7RQa2Kk
    • This will involve accessing the engineering screen for your phone.
    • GSM code is *#*#3646633#*#* (doesn’t work on all phones).
    • Download the appropriate tool for your phone if the GSM code doesn’t work.
    • Location from engineering mode is “Connectivity – CDS Information – Radio Information”. From there go to either Phone 1 or Phone 2″
    • The commands are below, but ensure you reboot after sending each and check back the IMEI.
    • The command to send is “AT +EGMR=1,7,”new-imei”” for SIM1 and “AT +EGMR=1,10,”new-imei”” for SIM2.
  3. Once the IMEI is confirmed you may use the phone normally.

And that ends the method used to fix the BLU Studio 5.5 (D610A). The files I used may or may not work for your phone. If you find that it worked then GREAT! If it doesn’t work, try one of the other firmware files that may be found online. Another site to try for firmware files would be GSMHOSTING.

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f606/all-blu-mobile-flash-files-firmwares-tools-1874408/

These instructions may work for other phones with similar problems. Hopefully this information helps you to get your phone (or your friend/family/customer) back up and running.

Please note that I did not use the “BLU Phone Driver.exe” which was packaged in the “Blu Studio 5.5 Stock ROM.rar” file.