[Techtalk] what is bricking?

[Cynthia Kiser]

Quoting Carla Schroder <carla at bratgrrl.com>:
> O gurus, what does it mean to brick a device like a wireless router? Is it 
> correct to say it's corrupting the OS to the point where it cannot boot, and 
> you cannot re-flash the EEPROM? But if you had a nifty little EEPROM programmer 
> device thingy, and could safely pull the chip out of the router, you could 
> restore it?

That sounds like you are trying to figure out a technical definition
for bricking. But bricking seems to me to be a looser term. I would
use it to describe any time you have messed up the item to the point
you can no longer boot it. Depending on how McGuyver-like "you" are,
that may or may not include the case where the EEPROM could be
replaced or reflashed - if you knew how.

-- 
Cynthia N. Kiser
cnk at ugcs.caltech.edu