Brick (electronics)
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When used in reference to consumer electronics, "brick" describes a device that cannot function in any capacity (such as a device with damaged firmware). This usage derives from the fact that some electronic devices (and their detachable power supplies) are vaguely brick-shaped, and so those which do not function are useful only as actual bricks. The term can also be used as a verb. For example, "I bricked my MP3 player when I tried to modify its firmware."[1]
In the strictest sense of the term, bricking must imply that software error has rendered the device completely unrecoverable without some hardware replacement. However, it is common to use the term for a problem which can be rectified but only by a complex and difficult procedure, often requiring additional software.
Cause
Many devices rely upon firmware to start and operate. Applying a firmware update requires the device to be working, at least to some extent. If the firmware becomes corrupt to a degree which doesn't allow an update, then the device can be neither used nor updated and is effectively dead.
Prevention
Bricking a device is usually an unwanted consequence of an attempt to update the device. Many devices have an update procedure which must not be interrupted; if interrupted by a power failure, user intervention, or any other reason the firmware may be part-updated and unusable. The risk of corruption can be minimized by taking all possible precautions against interruption.
Installing incorrect firmware can also brick a device, e.g., installing firmware for a different revision of the hardware, or installing firmware incompetently patched by third parties to get around restrictions imposed by official firmware, such as DVD firmware which only plays DVDs sold in a particular region. Much updating software makes all possible checks that firmware is valid for the device, but this cannot be relied upon.
Devices can also be bricked by malware (malicious software), and sometimes by running software not intentionally harmful but with errors which cause damage.
Some devices include two copies of firmware, one active and the other stored in fixed ROM or writable non-volatile memory and not normally accessible to processes that could corrupt it, and a way to copy the stored firmware over the active version even if corrupt, so that if the active firmware is damaged it can be replaced by the copy and the device will not be bricked. Other devices have minimal "bootloader" firmware, enabled usually by operating a switch or jumper, which does not enable the device to work normally but can reload the main firmware.
History
In late 1989 hard disk drive manufacturer MiniScribe boxed and shipped actual masonry bricks to falsify end-of-year accounts. The term came to be used to describe any non-functional hard drive, and was later generalized as described above.
Unbricking
Some devices which are "bricked" because the contents of their nonvolatile memory are incorrect can be "unbricked" using a separate hardware (debug board) that accesses this memory directly.[2] This is similar to the procedure for loading firmware into a new device when the memory is still empty. This kind of "bricking" and "unbricking" occasionally happens during firmware testing and development. In other cases software and hardware procedures, often complex, have been developed that have a good chance of unbricking the device. There is no general method; each device is different.
On the PlayStation Portable, it was discovered a bricked device could be unbricked using a modified battery known as a Pandora battery.[3]
Systems
In principle any device with rewriteable firmware can be bricked. Many, but not all, devices with user-updateable firmware have protection against bricking; devices intended to be updated only by official service personnel generally do not.
Amongst devices know to have bricking issues are: older computers (more recent models often have dual BIOSes and other protection), Apple iPhone, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, many mobile telephones, many SCSI devices, some lines of hard drives, and routers.
Online and mobile services
Many newer systems capable of accessing online services (such as the Xbox, Playstation 3, and iPhone) have internal hardware-based unique identifiers, allowing individual systems to be tracked over a network and banned from accessing certain online services. Such systems usually continue to operate for purposes unrelated to the online service, but they are often considered "bricked" by users of the online service.
Mobile telephones have a fixed identification code, the IMEI; a telephone reported stolen can have its IMEI blocked by networks—effectively bricked—although anyone with the necessary expertise and equipment can change the IMEI.[dubious – discuss]