I walked into the Verizon store and told the guy that I needed the phone flashed back to its original state. I explained the update problem and that I had found a solution online but thought it was better that Verizon do it in case I messed something up. I did not want to void the warranty if things went wrong. He walked (verbally) through the steps I had explained and took the phone. He immediately started the update, as though I had not just explained that I had been down this road and it comes to a sudden dead end. So, he downloads the update and begins the install. I protest repeatedly, but to avail. He is determined that when HE does it, it will work. I realize he has no idea that I have a bit of technical knowledge, but I did my best to explain to him everything I had done and how his attempt to update will end in failure given he is doing EXACTLY what I did (even pulling the battery etc).
After about 45 minutes or so of watching the install sit frozen at the "updating modem..." screen, he tries to restart the phone in "factory reset" mode - which is what I wanted in the first place, remember. No go. The phone reboots and immediately begins the update installation. this, of course, freezes at the "updating modem..." stage. Rinse, repeat. Seriously. I think he rebooted 3 or 4 more times, trying to get it into factory mode. Nope. He pulls up our account to see about getting a new phone, but he can't touch our account because it is a government account. Lovely. He hands me the now BRICKED phone and tells me to call my rep for a new phone. Ummm, this is FRIDAY and this is my boss' phone. You want me to tell my boss that you just killed her phone and that she will be without for the weekend!? Nice.
Well, since the phone was hosed anyway, I figured I would give the steps I found online a whirl. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to get the phone in a "Downloading" mode (note image was found online at Android Forums and is property of its original owner):
In this mode, the phone is ready to accept image updates transferred from a computer. Before I go further, I want to say that there is a factory reset option. But, because the phone was bricked, it only showed a phone icon with a computer next to it and maybe an X or something. Basically, it was saying it couldn't be factory reset (because of the hosed update).
So, I put the phone into this update mode (sorry, you will have to Google that yourself. I am not responsible for what you do to your phone!), downloaded the necessary software and ROM image to get the phone back to out-of-the-box fresh, and held my breath.
After the install (which took about 10-15 minutes, I would guess), the phone rebooted and was as if I had just taken it out of the box, though it was also activated! Note: this wiped EVERYTHING off the phone (though not what was stored on the MicroSD card). So, you should backup your data apps before you try anything on your phone. Heck, you should back it up anyway. We use MyBackupPro. Others use Titanium Backup (or whatever it is called). In any case, the phone performed the first update (a minor one pushed out to all Fascinate users) and then I downloaded and installed the Froyo update. That is a LONG download. UGH. Anyway, it worked! Once that was done and installed, I reinstalled the apps from the MyBackupPro and set up the email and my boss was back in business. We "celebrated" by hitting the local Mexican place for lunch.
After lunch, I headed to Prescott to install the new TAM unit sent by Tandberg. We thought we were just getting the control unit. Instead, they sent a new codec AND control unit, already connected and ready to go. We swapped out the corresponding parts, set the IP info, and fired it up for a test call. It worked perfectly. Since the touch panel had been disconnected during the swap, I reprogrammed the audio/video settings and it all ran smoothly!
By the time we cleaned up, it was quitting time.
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