Etymology: "bricked" (to render an electronic device inoperable)

I remember bricked from the early to mid-2000s, when programming mobile phone involved plugging it into a special jig and flashing new firmware into the EEPROM.

If something went wrong, the phone would not boot at all and could not be recovered, rendering it no more useful than a brick on your desk.

I found some similar uses from the 1990s in Usenet.

From: Hank Gupton Subject: Re: HP 4020I Frimware 1.2?? Date: 1996/01/11

newsgroups: comp.publish.cdrom.hardware

The firmware upgrade is being released in new drives. But, the delivery system for firmware upgrades is still being worked on.

To this I say, "Good job, guys!" But, what is wrong with a Beta release of the software with the following statement?

Warning:  This upgrade is a fast way of turning your 
          thousand dollar investment into a brick.
          Use at your own risk.

https://groups.google.com/d/original/comp.publish.cdrom.hardware/O4jwtQXxVyQ/FIb4m-dTLJQJ

From: "Robert Holloman, Jr." Subject: Re: V.90 Date: 1998/02/28

Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems

Plus there's always the small possibility of "bricking" the modem due to a failed flash. That happened recently with one Sportster model. I was flashing my Courier recently only to have the power brownout a couple minutes after it finished. Was I breathing a sigh of relief! That was the incentive for me to finally get a UPS. :)

https://groups.google.com/d/original/comp.dcom.modems/ozv7zZUYzR8/8YAImlKcU8kJ

The best I found is April 16th 2002:

Enginer88..help! they bricked my modem! :(

i jsut got home, and my modem didnt work. I called them up, and they said it was disabled, but no reason why...

Could you please find out whats up?

my mac addy is 0004bd02cb52

If you can please unbrick it...i need to get some work done tonite..and this dialup is killing me

I first heard this ca 1975, used in reference to a computer disk drive. A disk drive of the time was a device maybe 6"x8"x3" (a lot of variations), rectangular, solid, and dark colored (save for an aluminum cover on one side).

If something happened to damage the drive (either electrical damage or mechanical damage) it was often not repairable. It was common to say it was "good for a door-stop", but then the verb "bricked" became popular.

Likely the popularity of the term was encouraged by the appearance of stacks of the dead devices in the corners of computer rooms, stacked like bricks.

Incidentally: At one point (I'm thinking about 1985) the most common cause for "bricking" a disk drive in our labs was simply plugging it into the computer rack. Apparently the mechanical shock of the drive snapping into its mount was enough to damage it. We learned to be very careful when inserting and removing drives.

Hard as I searched, I could not find any official sources (from English language perspective) but this term most likely originated from the original mobile phone model which was nicknamed the brick due to its size & weight (especially after newer lighter models replaced it thus making it as good as a brick due to it's bulk/weight).

Here are some sources:
https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/classics-rock/morphing-a-1983-motorola-dynatac-into-an-iphone/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC
https://neologisms.rice.edu/index.php?a=term&d=1&t=21175