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[Q] Recoveries, and the different levels of recovery

Hi all,
i'm stressing out a little, mainly due to what I think is a lack of understanding on my part. I have a B70 Transformer with SBKv2, which basically means flashing stock via NVFlash is right out. Now, i'm slightly OCD when it comes to my devices, and I like to know exactly how certain procedures and processes work. So, i'll detail how I think it works, and if someone could correct me, that'd be great. From what I can tell in android, their are 3 levels of factory restoring/recovery.
1) The Factory Reset
So, from what I can tell, the factory reset boots into a special recovery mode, calls upon a hidden recovery partition and simply overwrites all FILES (not partitions) in the system partitions.
2) The Firmware flash
The firmware flash (this calls from experience with samsung devices) boots into a lower level recovery mode (or the same from what I can tell on the transformer), wipes all data of all partitions and restores all files from a firmware zip file.
3) The repartition
(Again, mainly experience from samsung devices). From what I can tell with special situations like this, the OS relies on a seperate entity (IE: Odin, Heimdall) to blank out the flash memory, re-lay a new partition layout and then restore the data.
Now, to my actual question. I like to keep my devices stock, but with a B70 and SBKv2 I am basically limited to option 1 unless I root. If the system itself crashes (IE, lockups, reboots etc) is it likely to alter or damage the recovery partition in any way? I'd like to know that barring a catastrophic incident/my own stupid tinkering that I have a way to bring back a completely clean and stock system. Will the factory reset achieve this? Is there any way to flash/downgrade new/old firmware on the B70s without rooting? I have tried the ASUS methods on honeycomb and ICS zip files from their website and beyond, but it doesn't seem to work. Do ASUS tablets have a PC based reflash package similar to Odin for samsung?
Excuse the blathering, I just want to be absolutely sure I can get a completely clean, stock experience if I need to, and ASUS devices seem a little more complex then Samsung devices to achieve that goal.
Thanks for reading and answering if you do

1.Facory reset deletes system data (Not apps or anything just stuff you put in) as well as wiping other installed apps but does not touch the data on your sd card
2. all firmware flash does is whatever the dev writes in the script which is most times mounting system and framework formatting them and rewriting the new files as well as writing in a new kernel
3. Only way to do this is NVFlash which requires sbk1 so you cant do this
Factory resetting will likley solve your problems
Rooting will not mess with recovery
Only way to downgrade is through root although most times downgrading takes the root away
The Odin equivalent is NVFlash which as i said before will not work for you

You are confusing some things, and overcomplicating others.
You have three boot modes- recovery, system, and APX. APX would be similar to the download mode on a Samsung phone, where it does nothing but wait to receive instructions and data to flash over both recovery and system partitions. As you have a SBK2, this mode is practically useless because before flashing, the bootloader needs to be unlocked with the SBK, and then can restore the device- as SBK2 is a mystery, APX mode on an SBK2 device is only useful to Asus at the moment.
Recovery mode can flash itself, and system partitions, and it can also wipe and backup data, install updates, etc. Think of any CWM recovery, these functions are contained in the recovery, although in the stock recovery they are hidden from view with an animation and no UI to interact with.
You can flash both ROM (system) and recovery partitions independently of one-another, well, in a way- you can install recovery from within the OS (does require a reboot and actually uses recovery to install, but nonetheless, if you botch your recovery mode you can reflash this way IIRC). You can also flash ONLY the ROM if you wish via recovery mode, if you have CWM installed. You can flash entire packages, containing both ROM and recovery, as well in CWM, and stock packages released by Asus can be flashed via the stock recovery partition.
In order to get a better understanding though, I suggest you read my noob guide linked in my sig

WOW, thankyou so much for the prompt replies! You people are geniuses, gentlemen (gentlepeople?) and scholars. Also, reading the guide recommended by luna now. Thankyou for the clarification

Here's my understanding:
1) the factory reset- this wipes data and maybe cache. The factory reset assumes that your device is not rooted, so there are no changes to the system partition. All non-root changes are to the data partition.
2) The firmware flash- this uses the recovery to write the system partition. The OTAs are applied this way with the stock recovery. Custom recoveries also use this. There is also a staging partition that can be used to write the kernel (boot.img on other devices) and the EBT partition (bootloader on other devices).
3) the repartition- this is nvflash and can be used (if accessible) to repartition, backup, and/or flash all partitions on the device. I think this is the counterpart to Odin/Heimdall since it can be used to recover an otherwise bricked device. This is analogous to fastboot on HTC devices, although it is possible to erase the fastboot bootloader and really brick the device. As far as I know, this type of brick is not possible with nvflash or Odin/Heimdall since the bootloader is built into the device.
Now, to your question, the system and recovery are seperate systems. You can bork your system and still be able to boot into recovery, so there is a way to restore. That being said, there are a few limitations since all of the tf101 recoveries I have come across don't back up the kernel/boot.img. This can be a problem if incompatible bootloaders or kernels are flashed together. To compound the problem, some roms have kernels/boot.img's included and some do not, so it's quite possible to get into a bad situation just by flashing something and then trying to restore a backup. This seems to be a common problem here on XDA in the transformer section- flashatosis.
After all that, it is possible to go completely stock without nvflash, but you have to use the staging partition to do it.

Stuck at Logo

Hello guys,
I have a problem, I hope you can help me with.
I used to have an EOS ROM. I decided to do factory reset and thats when my problems started. It didn't boot up anymore. After entering recovery I noticed it couldn't mount System partition. I tried reinstalling the ROM, but no success. Everytime I entered recovery, the System checkbox wasnt marked. So I decided to go back to stock, using http://androidforums.com/threads/return-your-xoom-to-stock.653230/. Now it is stuck at Logo screen and can't enter Recovery. (Goes to Reading ODM fuse, but not any further). I can still enter Fastboot and my laptop detects the tablet, when hooked up to it.
Please help me push the Recovery, cuz I'm getting "device not found" from ADB. I'm kinda lost here... Any help would be appreciated!

Update
I managed to install TWRP, but still can't mount System Partition. On wipe I get "Failed"when trying to clean the system part. I have tried Clockwork, it didn't help either.

Cmon guys! I don't want to JTAG it yet.

HexBox said:
Cmon guys! I don't want to JTAG it yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not very knowledgable about flashing, but one suggestion has come to my mind: if you can now get into TWRP (it wasn't clear whether you could based on your last post), try flashing a ROM without trying to clean the system partition. Just make sure the ROM matches the TWRP (i.e., big part ROM with big part TWRP).
Oh - another thought - folks in a number of threads have stated you need to explicitly follow both the recovery and ROM instructions for the XOOM. If you miss a step, people have had issues.

[Q] Hard bricked or what?

Hello, everyone.
So basically this is my issue. One day at work my Moto G restarted randomly and has been stuck in a bootloop ( boot animation cycles infinitely ).
I can access fastboot, booting to recovery freezes on TWRP logo.
My phone is rooted, unlocked and etc. I have tried flashing stock firmware, no changes, not even my custom boot logo and animation don't change.
I have tried using fastboot to erase everything and format but formatting fails saying this filesystem cannot be formatted.
I can access my files by booting into another recovery using fastboot boot recovery.img ( tried with PhilZ ) although it shows everything as it was before this all this ( all files gone, only directories left ).
I noticed that I could use ADB while stuck at TWRP logo. I tried pushing roms and using booted PhilZ to find them but they never appear, I can only push to /tmp, anything else doesn't exists although is shown through booted PhilZ.
I have tried using mkfs.ext4 to format my filesystem, everything went as it should but nothing changed.
TL;DR Bootloop, recovery does not open, fastboot flashing does nothing, adb push doesn't push anything
What the hell is going on with my phone? Any ideas people?

Somehow, your file system can't be accessed....was your phone encrypted?

itouchables said:
Somehow, your file system can't be accessed....was your phone encrypted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wasn't, I never encrypted it.
Also fastboot getvar all shows that my partition type is RAW.
Shouldn't it be F2FS or EXT4?
Maybe anyone has a proper partition mount point list for the Moto G?
I would try mkfs.ext4 formatting every possible mount point (cache,data,system and etc)
For example dev/block/mmcblk0p38
I found a Moto X mount point list but I have no clue if it's the same or not

Aequus.Mihi said:
Hello, everyone.
So basically this is my issue. One day at work my Moto G restarted randomly and has been stuck in a bootloop ( boot animation cycles infinitely ).
I can access fastboot, booting to recovery freezes on TWRP logo.
My phone is rooted, unlocked and etc. I have tried flashing stock firmware, no changes, not even my custom boot logo and animation don't change.
I have tried using fastboot to erase everything and format but formatting fails saying this filesystem cannot be formatted.
I can access my files by booting into another recovery using fastboot boot recovery.img ( tried with PhilZ ) although it shows everything as it was before this all this ( all files gone, only directories left ).
I noticed that I could use ADB while stuck at TWRP logo. I tried pushing roms and using booted PhilZ to find them but they never appear, I can only push to /tmp, anything else doesn't exists although is shown through booted PhilZ.
I have tried using mkfs.ext4 to format my filesystem, everything went as it should but nothing changed.
TL;DR Bootloop, recovery does not open, fastboot flashing does nothing, adb push doesn't push anything
What the hell is going on with my phone? Any ideas people?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi! did you find a solution?!

Oliverrlh said:
Hi! did you find a solution?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Turns out my phone memory chip was corrupted due to flashing

Aequus.Mihi said:
No. Turns out my phone memory chip was corrupted due to flashing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I might have a similar situation. Can you give me an advice on how to confirm this?
The only difference in the circumstances is that my fiance's moto g has a custom recovery on it then she tired to install the 5.1 update. Then it would boot into the OS and after while would shut down then go to the recovery. I thought I had solved the issue by doing a factory reset. Everything was going fine until I turn it off. Now I get the boot animation and then a black screen. I can get the load screen on the custom recovery but that is it The computer can still recognize the phone.
Does this sound like your situation?

Icon000 said:
I think I might have a similar situation. Can you give me an advice on how to confirm this?
The only difference in the circumstances is that my fiance's moto g has a custom recovery on it then she tired to install the 5.1 update. Then it would boot into the OS and after while would shut down then go to the recovery. I thought I had solved the issue by doing a factory reset. Everything was going fine until I turn it off. Now I get the boot animation and then a black screen. I can get the load screen on the custom recovery but that is it The computer can still recognize the phone.
Does this sound like your situation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the same situation I was in.
Even if you try to flash another ROM, it will never install.
You can't modify any files because the memory is ****ed.
I sold the phone for parts and bought a S4

G930F, LineageOS Install Fail, TWRP Frozen (Help?)

Hey all,
I'm not a total noob, but I do this so infrequently that I can't commit it to memory. Would really appreciate some help here.
I followed the official LineageOS Guide for Herolte, over here.
I had done this previously on my Nexus 7 so I was fairly confident.
Everything worked well, I got TWRP installed using Heimdall from Linux, and successfully pushed the latest LineageOS and open_Gapps images to the phone.
Rebooted into TWRP, and followed the recommendation to wipe System, Cache and data partitions. This failed with red text stating that ti was unable to mount data.
I googled some, and found a suggestion to reformat the partitions, first to a different file system and then back to their original file systems again. I tried formatting /data to exFat, and it took forever, eventually erroring out with an error message. After this I can't get into TWRP anymore. When I try the phone boots to the TWRP startup screen, and just freezes there.
I have tried reflashing TWRP using Heimdall and this does nothing. Flash succeeds, nut still freezes at TWRP splash screen.
I googled some more and found a suggestion to flash stock Samsung firmware, and then try again, this time formatting data system and cache without trying to first wipe them. Problem is I can't successfully flash stock firmware.
I tried using this method in Heimdall, but it complains "Local and device PIT files don't match and repartition wasn't specified!" and fails.
I've also tried booting into Windows and using Odin, but it never works. The screen turns grey, and no progress indicators ever start. I assumed this was because I had the incorrect drivers for the phone, and tried using zadiag.exe to replace them, but the driver install fails.
I'd greatly appreciate any help. I can't seem to force the phone to shut off, it just keeps rebooting and getting stuck on either the TWRP spash screen or on the download mode screen. I know this is solveable, but unless I figure it out fast, I'm worried I am going to burn in the screen.
Any suggestions appreciated!

Never mind. I must just have had a bad stock image.
I downloaded a different one, and retried heimdall and it flashed properly.
I am now able to re-flash and boot into TWRP again.
Hopefully I won't have the same problem again when I try to wipe the partitions...

Alright,
So I solved this issue by (once I reflashed stock, and then reflashed TWRP again) formatting the data partition twice, first to ext3, and then back to ext4. This looks to have cleared the encryption issues that were causing thsi problem ,and allowed everything to continue working as expected.

Fastboot loop in already rooted OnePlus 7 Pro

I've done a bit of digging but I'm on a time crunch, and frankly I don't want to dig myself in a deeper hole.
I was attempting to make a backup of my OnePlus 7 Pro prior to doing an OTA update while preserving root.
I was getting a "failed to mount" and "0mb storage" so I looked into fixes and found this:
How to Fix TWRP Unable to Mount Storage, Internal Storage 0MB - Appuals.com
Some TWRP users, especially those who install custom ROMs, sometimes run into an issue where TWRP will an error that reads “Unable to mount storage”. The
appuals.com
.
I followed this and got to the point where I attempted to change file system from ext4 to ext2 and back again.
After doing this however I got stuck in a bootloop.
I entered TWRP recovery and tried to mount and boot? to system, and now I'm totally stuck on a fastboot loop -- unable to access TWRP.
I have several tools on my laptop saved from the initial root process such as the Tool All In One and the MSM download tool.
I would just like some clear direction to proceed. I'd rather not have to essentially reset my device, as I'm pretty sure all my data is in the device but I think I'm in the wrong partition. I'm just not savvy enough to know how to get it without causing further issues.
Any help would be great. I'm leaving for a 12 hour shift now, so I can't do any more digging on my own.
Thanks in advance.

Lower TWRP version.. is the fix, but.. i dont known anything about the OnePlus serie