Related
Instead of having instructions all over the place inside various threads I felt a clear guide should be available as it's own thread. Now since Google implemented this great feature (all hail google) where normal OTA's no longer work on Nexus devices with Android 5.0 that isn't 100% stock i.e. rooted with or without custom recovery a lot of people don't know how to update their devices.
IMO opinion the easiest way without losing any data is to use Fastboot and this is an attempt of a how-to-guide. This is made on a windows PC, probably works with other OS's too.
What you need:
1. You need ADB.exe and fastboot.exe inside an easy accessed folder i.e. put in c:\ADB.
The easiest way to get these are with this tool: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790
You can also get this by installing the whole Android SDK but that is just a waste of bandwidth and time.
2. You also need to download the latest factory image for Nexus 5. Do this here: https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/hammerhead-lrx22c-factory-0f9eda1b.tgz
3. You might need adb drivers but you'll have to find instructions for this by yourself.
The procedure:
1. Extract necessary files. The factory image you'll download is named hammerhead-lrx22c-factory-0f9eda1b.tgz
This is an archive which can be opened with an extractor of your choice e.g. 7-zip
Inside this archive is another file with no file type extension. Extract this file and rename it to whatyouwant.zip since it's a regular zip file. Then extract all files within this file (very meta with zips inside zips inside zips etc).
The files you need for updating with fastboot are:
system.img
boot.img
radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.2.22.img (rename this to radio.img for more convenience)
put all these files in the ADB folder (it will make things easier).
2. plug your phone to your PC. You need to have USB debugging activated in developer mode.
3. open a command prompt and orient yourself to the adb folder (c:\ADB)
4. type adb reboot bootloader and wait until your phone is in bootloader mode.
5. type fastboot flash system system.img and wait until it's finished.
6. type fastboot flash radio radio.img
7. type fastboot flash boot boot.img
8. reboot your device (type fastboot reboot).
Hopefully this will work and you will update without loosing any data. Then you can proceed with rooting, flashing custom recovery etc. This is easiest done with WUG nexus root toolkit (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2389107)
I couldn't find any other guide's but if there's already one please remove this.
Just a note, you don't need adb.exe at all, and the drivers are actually USB drivers.
Its also worth noting that 95% of us prefer to recommend users not use toolkits.
Also, you could simply say:
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash radio radio.img
...then point them to the existing adb and fastboot thread which would have saved you writing all the installation stuff out.
Thanks for the guide @mertzi. I've just used to upgrade my Nexus 5 to 5.0.1 without any loss of data. I appreciate the help!
rootSU said:
Just a note, you don't need adb.exe at all, and the drivers are actually USB drivers.
Its also worth noting that 95% of us prefer to recommend users not use toolkits.
Also, you could simply say:
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash radio radio.img
...then point them to the existing adb and fastboot thread which would have saved you writing all the installation stuff out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do I still use "fastboot flash radio radio.img" even though the radio image from the tgz file is "radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.2.22.img"?
optoisolator said:
Do I still use "fastboot flash radio radio.img" even though the radio image from the tgz file is "radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.2.22.img"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. The 4th section is the file path and location.
So this keeps user data? Just updated the system to 5.0.1?
Maintains root and all?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
Keeps user data but you will have to re-root.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I've spent last couple days trying to make heads or tails out of other "tutorials". Some of them linked the OTA update and gave instructions for full image, others gave instructions but lacked the links to the image. I am surprised that none of my searches took me here until today.
Thanks a lot for this guide I was ale to update to 5.0.1 thanks to this guide.
Can I use this method to update from 4.4.4 to 5.0.0 ?
... Not aire if you can jump from 4.4.4 to 5.0 this way...
I actually jumped flashing radio and baseband and THEN flashing CM12.1
Bear with me: Right now my nexus is stuck in a bootloop. My nexus had been partially rooted, everytime i went to download the OTA 5.0.1. update it would just take me to TWRP, and i didn't know what to do with that. So I finally tried to fully root the phone, and also use TWRP to install the OTA update. Now I'm stuck, I've tried wiping the cache/factory reset. How do I got about flashing it back to stock without losing all my data?
(apologies for the title, I thought originally that I had killed mtp and adb, but I figured out how to get them back just after posting)
Thanks!
As I saw your post before the edit.... Stop using toolkits and read about adb. If it's bootlooping then it's 95% not bricked so don't panic and read the guides
Just download system.img you want and fastboot it
Edit -
Don't see this as me being mean or a ****. This is stuff everyone needs to know, it's really not hard at all so don't worry. Once you've used it a few times you'll wonder why you ever used toolkits
Ben36 said:
As I saw your post before the edit.... Stop using toolkits and read about adb. If it's bootlooping then it's 95% not bricked so don't panic and read the guides
Just download system.img you want and fastboot it
Edit -
Don't see this as me being mean or a ****. This is stuff everyone needs to know, it's really not hard at all so don't worry. Once you've used it a few times you'll wonder why you ever used toolkits
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you're being a ****. I'm very grateful for your input. I used to be very into jailbreaking when I had an iPhone, but i haven't been able to put the same time towards getting the hang of rooting (which I think has a steeper learning curve to begin with|). I sort of understand adb but I obviously need to learn more. I've been using the toolkit because it was simpler. I remember from trying to use adb before that I need to place the files I want to transfer in the same folder as adb (i think?) but I could never get that to work.
I also don't understand system.img.'s relevance here. I'm not getting the "Error: Update package missing system.img" error.
The reason I say read the guides is simply it saves me or anyone else typing out a massive guide that already exists in many places.
If you're looping then something is more than likely wrong with the system not the data. So flashing just the system will keep your data safe (as long as you flash the same android version as you previously had, lollipop or kitkat)
You need to be in the bootloader not recovery and use the command fastboot flash system system.img
Google img's are here - https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
(just keep unzipping until you find the individual img files)
photobumm said:
I don't think you're being a ****. I'm very grateful for your input. I used to be very into jailbreaking when I had an iPhone, but i haven't been able to put the same time towards getting the hang of rooting (which I think has a steeper learning curve to begin with|). I sort of understand adb but I obviously need to learn more. I've been using the toolkit because it was simpler. I remember from trying to use adb before that I need to place the files I want to transfer in the same folder as adb (i think?) but I could never get that to work.
I also don't understand system.img.'s relevance here. I'm not getting the "Error: Update package missing system.img" error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's saying to flash a system image to get you up and running again, and I agree that that is what you should do. As far as placing the files in the same folder as adb and fastboot is concerned (you'll use fastboot to flash the image), you need to do just that. I created a folder on my desktop called "ADB" and that's where both adb and fastboot are, as well as all the files that I flash with fastboot ie. system images, recoveries, etc... Here's a great guide to get you going with adb and fastboot- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2277112
Now when you go to flash it, if you decide to use the flash-all.bat to flash everything (the full factory image) and bring you back to stock, you'll have to open the .bat file with a text editor and remove the "-w" from the script and that way it won't wipe your phone. If you want to just reinstall the OS without everything else (worth a shot), just flash the system with the command
Code:
fastboot flash system system.img
and that should get you running again. If what I just said is confusing, read the guide I posted and it should become clear.
Here is where you'll download the factory image from- https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Just unzip it, pull the system.img out and place it in the same folder that fastboot is in and flash away.
And one final thing- definitely avoid toolkits at all costs. You spent a good chunk of change on your phone, take the time to learn how to mod it the correct way.
Good luck!
_MetalHead_ said:
He's saying to flash a system image to get you up and running again, and I agree that that is what you should do. As far as placing the files in the same folder as adb and fastboot is concerned (you'll use fastboot to flash the image), you need to do just that. I created a folder on my desktop called "ADB" and that's where both adb and fastboot are, as well as all the files that I flash with fastboot ie. system images, recoveries, etc... Here's a great guide to get you going with adb and fastboot- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2277112
Now when you go to flash it, if you decide to use the flash-all.bat to flash everything (the full factory image) and bring you back to stock, you'll have to open the .bat file with a text editor and remove the "-w" from the script and that way it won't wipe your phone. If you want to just reinstall the OS without everything else (worth a shot), just flash the system with the command
Code:
fastboot flash system system.img
and that should get you running again. If what I just said is confusing, read the guide I posted and it should become clear.
Here is where you'll download the factory image from- https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Just unzip it, pull the system.img out and place it in the same folder that fastboot is in and flash away.
And one final thing- definitely avoid toolkits at all costs. You spent a good chunk of change on your phone, take the time to learn how to mod it the correct way.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have adb and fastboot running. And I changed the flash-all.bat file. However, I don't understand what I do now? I downloaded the Hammerhead zip and it has a bunch of things in it. Which files do I put into the adb/fastboot folder and how do I then flash them?
In the hammerhead file it lists the bootloader, flash-all, radio and then a zip file "image-hammerhead...". What files am I using and what is the code that I input? Is this the same sa flashing a rom?
I also tried placing the system.img in the adb folder, and then using the
Code:
fastboot flash system system.img
but it gives me an error "cannot load 'system.img'
So now my issue is I get a "error: could not load 'system.img'. after running
Code:
fastboot flash system system.img [code/] . I also tried with boot.img. Same error.
I ran the "flash all" script, by accident, a screenshot of the terminal is attached.. I'm still stuck in a the boot loop, however, and if try to enter recovery mode an android lying down with a red triangle is present. The above "error: could not load..." is still present.
Create a folder and put fastboot in it.
So you unzipped the stock image. You said you have some images in the folder and a zip image.
Unzip that second zip.
There you will find the rest of the images you need.
Now take the recovery, bootloader, system, userdata, cache, and radio images and move them into the folder which you created for fastboot.
Rename the bootloader image to bootloader. img
Now when looking at that open folder containing all the images and fastboot hold down shift and left click and select "open command promt from window"
Type
/fastboot erase bootloader
/fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
/fastboot reboot-bootloader
/fastboot erase recovery
/fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
/fastboot erase radio
/fastboot flash radio radio.img
Repeat for the rest of the image files
Finally type /fastboot reboot
Profit.
---------- Post added at 10:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------
P. S. Make sure your phone is booted in fastboot mode first.
Oh and that android is stock recovery
U fixed it?
So for some reason I still kept getting that error. I ended up restoring to stock using the nexus root toolkit. So it all worked out in the end.
pretty much says it all, its been a long long time since ive flashed anything ( and the last time i did something it didnt exactly go to plan )
Ive got a Nexus 5 (32GB) its rooted with team win recovery and i would like to update it to the latest version, preferably without losing any data
ive tried searching but there doesn't appear to be a simple guide on how to do this
any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.
There's a whole thread on ota's in the general forum. Start there. You have a number of different options. It would also help to know what android version you're on now.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
Your Nexus 5 is rotted?
Its not rotted yet, however my typing skills probably have.
Android version 5.0.1
just tried downloading the OTTA update and renaming it as update.zip
then adb sideload with adb sideload update.zip
then error : closed
and thats that.
the guides says this:
Scenario #2
You are stock, with root. Custom Recovery without any modifications or deletions.
Continue to Section B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so on to section B as advised
Section B says
Section B: Flashing in a Custom Recovery (TWRP- CWM)
(For Flashing 4.4.4 OTAs and Below ONLY!)
1) Download the OTA.zip and copy to your phone.
2) Boot into recovery.
3) Flash the OTA just like you would a ROM.
4) Reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im on 5.0.1 so thats that out of the window
Download the latest Factory image.
Download the Android SDK.
Boot into bootloader (Vol- & Power). Connect the phone to your Computer. Check for exclamation marks in device manager.
If there are some install the drivers. If there are none extract the contents of the SDK. Copy the contents of the extracted factory image into the same folder (into platform-tools).
Open up the command prompt, by typing "cmd" into the search in the start menu. Once you are in cmd you can change the current folder with "cd" (cd .. gets you out of the current folder and into the above one, path wise / cd foldername enters a folder). "dir" lists the contents of the current folder.
Navigate to your SDK, into the platform tools folder.
Open the flash_all.bat (DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK, do a right click select edit). Type these commands one after the other (just the stuff starting with fastboot). So you flash the new bootloader, reboot, flash radio etc.
The latest fastboot has a "-w" in it. Leave that "-w" out, otherwise you will wipe your device.
Congrats, you flashed a factory image.
If you only want to flash parts of the "image-hammerhead.zip", extract it. It will have several .img files. You can flash these with "fastboot flash "image Type (system/recovery/data)" "filename.img" (without "" of course).
For background, I have Verizon pixel 2 and am using a Mac.
I went down a massive rabbit hole last night reading through these forums and all the posts and was able to unlock bootloader, flash the January OTA and then root by doing the modified boot file with magisk. (interestingly enough the booting into recovery gives me red ! Over a dead Android and I could not load the OTA that way, nor did the adb sideload OTA comand work either, I had to push the extracted walleye img and then the zip file as discussed in one of the steps in some other thread here)
So anywho, in the end I now have a phone that gives me 2 errors when it reboots, one for unlocked bootloader and another for root telling me something is wrong with my phone and i should contact the manufacturer (which I read on here is normal), but my biggest issue is that my ADT alarm app doesn't work anymore (even if i check it off for hide in magisk). I feel like the root is just not worth it for me and I want to revert to completely stock image, even if it resets my phone and I have to re back everything up all over again like did when i had to do the unlocking of the boot loader.
So -- What are the steps I should take?
1)uninstall magisk from magisk manager?
2)delete magisk manager?
The above will unroot me, correct?
3)Do I push the stock boot image file onto the phone?
4) do I have to repush the latest OTA walleye image and zip file onto the phone again?
5) do I then do the adb reboot and do the flashing lock command (same command i did to unlock the boot loader) to lock up the bootloader and reset to stock?
If someone could be as explicit as possible in correctiong or validating my steps above it would be much, much appreciated.
I don't want to do any more unnecessary steps in flashing things than is needed so if I have extra steps above (perhaps 4 is not needed?) Let me know.
Thanks
Proceed with Caution
I am not an expert by any means, but can speak from personal experience. I was in the exact same situation as you. I followed the detailed steps to unlock the bootloader on my pixel 2, received similar issues, and the same prompt when the phone rebooted. All that to say proceed with caution.
My thoughts on questions 1 & 2: I personally wouldn't recommend you remove or delete magisk from the manager. When I did i had to reinstall it via twrp. My phone functioned fine, apart from the error at reboot.
My thoughts on questions 3 -5: When I followed the steps on XDA for your questions here I ended up bricking my Pixel 2 with locked bootloader from Verizon. Probably an error on my part, but wouldn't want someone else to go through the headache, hours of issues, and then an expensive paper weight.
My suggestion would be to:
1. Leave your phone as is and attempt to trouble shoot the app or apps you are having issue with
2. contact Google support on your phone and see if they would replace it
3. wait for an established method to unroot the pixel 2 here
Thankfully Google replaced my phone due to the error after rebooting, prior to me bricking it. I knew I had a replacement phone coming. So I attempted to go back to stock and that is when I messed it up.
Note sure this is exactly what you were looking for, but hope this helps you.
Dozens of posts with hundreds of pages on how to root but no advice on how to go back to stock cleanly?
iridium7777 said:
Dozens of posts with hundreds of pages on how to root but no advice on how to go back to stock cleanly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your version is Verizon which is making things more complicated. Generally when the bootloader is unlocked, you just hit flash-all.bat and then relock the phone. Given that the Verizon I'm not sure.
So you are on stock ROM with all these apks loaded ? If you go to settings, then do a factory data reset, you'll reset the phone back to stock and completely wipe the phone and return it to stock, at that point you can go into bootloader mode and relock.
Again your bootloader is unlocked, so the flash-all is your best option. If you see the red exclamation point with the error android laying on his back, you press power and up volume and toggle that and it will bring in the stock recovery which you can sideload the OTA however it may fail since you have magisk.
I bought my phone stock last year and have not rooted it or modified it in anyway. Too many problems and it only gets harder and harder as Google releases a new phone.
@mikeprius -- thank you for replying. after reading more on here, it seems like that's the way to go -- flash-all script, seems like i don't really need to do 1&2 that i wrote above as the flash-all will wipe that out by itself.
at that point i should be running the latest stock 8.1 but with an unlocked bootloader (and according boot up message screen) and i should be able to re-do the fastbook unlocking command to lock the phone back up.
(and yes, after reading even more now -- and i tried this yesterday -- i completely missed the portion about PWR + Vol Up button, that's why i think i had that issue, but still, i was able to push the update by pushing img and then the zip through).
iridium7777 said:
@mikeprius -- thank you for replying. after reading more on here, it seems like that's the way to go -- flash-all script, seems like i don't really need to do 1&2 that i wrote above as the flash-all will wipe that out by itself.
at that point i should be running the latest stock 8.1 but with an unlocked bootloader (and according boot up message screen) and i should be able to re-do the fastbook unlocking command to lock the phone back up.
(and yes, after reading even more now -- and i tried this yesterday -- i completely missed the portion about PWR + Vol Up button, that's why i think i had that issue, but still, i was able to push the update by pushing img and then the zip through).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I were in your situation and the bootloader is unlocked, just use flash-all which has a wipe script then call it a day. I think trying to screw around even more is just a waste of time and I wouldn't even bother with the OTA, just erase and flash stock. You don't have to relock your bootloader if you don't want to, if you stay fully stock you may still be able to get OTA updates. I'm not sure if a bootloader locked is required someone can chime in as it has been awhile since I've done this, but over 1 yr ago, I just kept the bootloader unlocked, kept things stock and everything was good to go. Obviously there are security issues with an unlocked bootloader, but I'm sure you know this already
@mikeprius you keep saying reset/erase, do you suggest i re-set the phone and then flash the stock image?
i was just going to flash the stock image, i figured it already wipes the phone, and locking the bootloader would wipe it again, so what's the point of erasing all data prior?
Not to hijack this thread, but a question to add... I thought that there were kernels that would mask certain things to allow all of those apps to work, and get rid of the "problem with device" message.
Is that correct?
iridium7777 said:
@mikeprius you keep saying reset/erase, do you suggest i re-set the phone and then flash the stock image?
i was just going to flash the stock image, i figured it already wipes the phone, and locking the bootloader would wipe it again, so what's the point of erasing all data prior?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just flash the stock images. It will auto reset.
Again, don't mess with anything just flash stock images, then go from there.
Also flash the newest version of the stock images out there. The pixel 2 will error if you try to downgrade any version.
here are all the steps to UNROOT and LOCK the boot loader on your Pixel 2 on a Mac (windblows users simply ignore all the "./" references).
1) download the latest ADB tools from google
2) download the latest factory Walleye image
3) unzip files from 1&2 into a common directory
4) edit flash-all.sh file and add "./" infront of every instance of "fastboot" in the script [windows users ignore this step]
5)hook up your phone to your computer in debug and file transfer mode. check that "./adb devices" loads your devide
6)type " ./adb reboot bootloader"
7) check that your device is still connected by typing "./fastboot devices"
8) type "./flash-all.sh"
===the script will run and your phone will be restored to stock, and UNROOTED. upon boot up skip through all of the setup steps and get to the phone settings as fast as you can. enable developer option, enable debug mode, set phone to data transfer ====
9) check that your phone is connect to your computer by "./adb devices"
10) type "./adb reboot bootloader"
11) check your devices is still connected by "./fastboot devices"
12) type "./fastboot flashing lock"
===== this will re-wipe your device again, you'll see the circle of death, and this will LOCK your boot loader back up again======
side note, feel free to skip over the steps where you check that your phone is still connected to the computer (./fastboot devices) if you're less paranoid and comfortable.
iridium7777 said:
here are all the steps to UNROOT and LOCK the boot loader on your Pixel 2 on a Mac (windblows users simply ignore all the "./" references).
1) download the latest ADB tools from google
2) download the latest factory Walleye image
3) unzip files from 1&2 into a common directory
4) edit flash-all.sh file and add "./" infront of every instance of "fastboot" in the script [windows users ignore this step]
5)hook up your phone to your computer in debug and file transfer mode. check that "./adb devices" loads your devide
6)type " ./adb reboot bootloader"
7) check that your device is still connected by typing "./fastboot devices"
8) type "./flash-all.sh"
===the script will run and your phone will be restored to stock, and UNROOTED. upon boot up skip through all of the setup steps and get to the phone settings as fast as you can. enable developer option, enable debug mode, set phone to data transfer ====
9) check that your phone is connect to your computer by "./adb devices"
10) type "./adb reboot bootloader"
11) check your devices is still connected by "./fastboot devices"
12) type "./fastboot flashing lock"
===== this will re-wipe your device again, you'll see the circle of death, and this will LOCK your boot loader back up again======
side note, feel free to skip over the steps where you check that your phone is still connected to the computer (./fastboot devices) if you're less paranoid and comfortable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey there. what is the command suppose to look like? every combination I try gives me an error:
first, I don't even enter the Fastboot command the same wayit given me an error:
Asads-MacBook:~ asad$ ./fastboot devices
-bash: ./fastboot: No such file or directory
so I try this: Asads-MacBook:~ asad$ fastboot devices
[serial #] fastboot
these are all the errors I get:
Asads-MacBook:~ asad$ cd /Users/asad/Desktop/walleye-opm1.171019.021
Asads-MacBook:walleye-opm1.171019.021 asad$ ./flash-all.sh
./flash-all.sh: line 21: fastboot./: No such file or directory
...
Asads-MacBook:walleye-opm1.171019.021 asad$ ./flash-all.sh
./flash-all.sh: line 21: ./fastboot: No such file or directory
...
Asads-MacBook:walleye-opm1.171019.021 asad$ ./flash-all.sh
fastboot: usage: unknown command ./flash
...
Asads-MacBook:walleye-opm1.171019.021 asad$ ./flash-all.sh
./flash-all.sh: line 21: fastboot./: No such file or directory
...
how is the command suppose to look that I can edit it the right way?
"fastboot: No such file or directory" means that you didn't do step 1, step 3 on the file you didn't download, and there should probably be a "cd /<whatever the 'common directory'>" is. (I just created a directory named adb. That's good enough for me to know what it's for.)
You have to download adb and fastboot (which come in the adb tools file), unzip them to whatever directory you're going to use for flashing the phone, and cd to that directory.
Then, since you're evidently on MacOS, each command has to have ./ in front of it (that says "the current directory"). Try all that, then see what happens.
Rukbat said:
"fastboot: No such file or directory" means that you didn't do step 1, step 3 on the file you didn't download, and there should probably be a "cd /<whatever the 'common directory'>" is. (I just created a directory named adb. That's good enough for me to know what it's for.)
You have to download adb and fastboot (which come in the adb tools file), unzip them to whatever directory you're going to use for flashing the phone, and cd to that directory.
Then, since you're evidently on MacOS, each command has to have ./ in front of it (that says "the current directory"). Try all that, then see what happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yayy! that worked!
so i had adb and fastboot in a folder (platform-tools) and i had the factory image in its own seperate folder (walleye-files). i was making the cd; walleye folder and trying to flash-all.sh there.
so i had to put the files from the walleye folder into the platform-tools folder. Then I made platform-tools the cd. now when . i could now follow all the steps from 4-12 and got the pixel 2 the way it was OTB.
thanks!
Great! I'm not a Mac expert (last time I used one was the 128K Mac in 1985), so I'm not sure how to export a path in MacOs, so I gave you the complicated way, but you got it done anyway. (If you ever find out how to add the platform-tools folder to your path, you can leave adb and fastboot in there and keep the ROMs [walleye] in their own folder, cd to it and adb and fastboot will still work.)
Soft-Bricked my phone this morning flashing a Substratum Theme. Don't ask, I don't know why but it did.
Did a factory reset, Pixel Flasher, set up Magisk, rebooted - got Pixel is Starting. - couldn't get out of it and this was AFTER I recopied all my stuff back over form the last update I had on my Computer and Swift/Google Backups.
Factory reset, same thing happened while doing a reboot at some point int he process.
THIRD Factory reset, got everything done, restored, up and running, just did a reboot and it's back.WTF?? And how do I get out if this?
How are you factory resetting the device?
Also, perhaps something that you are restoring is causing the boot issue. You shouldn't restore data from Swift Backup immediately after fully re-imaging your phone - if that is part of what you are doing.
NippleSauce said:
How are you factory resetting the device?
Also, perhaps something that you are restoring is causing the boot issue. You shouldn't restore data from Swift Backup immediately after fully re-imaging your phone - if that is part of what you are doing.
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No, I’m doing the factory reset in recovery. Then when the phone booths up just going through the bare minimum of settings to get to the home screen so I can flash the newest update and get routed. Since it’s a factory update and I need to disable verity and verification I have to wipe again anyway and then I go through the whole set up process, let google restore all my apps and stuff and then I use swift back up to restore my apps and data.
I wonder if when I do my back up from Swift I should just do data instead of letting the apps overwrite them selves
Searching online it looks like I can still connect with ADB. I’ll see if I can use the flashing tool and maybe re-flash without wiping
Ahh, gotcha. You can try what you said but I would also suggest re-imaging your phone with the matching factory image that you are currently running. You can do a proper, full re-image through recovery without wiping your phone.
NippleSauce said:
Ahh, gotcha. You can try what you said but I would also suggest re-imaging your phone with the matching factory image that you are currently running. You can do a proper, full re-image through recovery without wiping your phone.
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Click to collapse
How do I do that?
HipKat said:
How do I do that?
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Click to collapse
A lot of commands lol. I will update this comment in just a moment once I head over to my desktop. Typing this out on my phone would be a real disaster, haha.
Alrighty! Here is that update:
1. Ensure that you have the latest version of platform-tools somewhere on your hard drive. Also ensure that your phone has ADB enabled - which you said yours has enabled already - so you should be all good there.
2. Download the correct, most updated factory image here:
--> https://developers.google.com/android/images
3. Extract the contents of the factory image into your platform-tools folder. If you want to root, also be sure to extract the init_boot.img from image.zip file that is inside of the main factory image zip file.
4. Right-click and edit the flash-all.bat file and remove the "-w" near the bottom of the document. "-w" means "wipe". Make sure to save the document after making this change.
5. Copy the directory of your platform-tools folder.
6. Open CMD as an administrator.
7. In CMD, change directories to your platform-tools folder. The command is:
cd DirectoryLocationYouCopiedGoesHere
8. Connect your phone to your PC over USB.
9. In CMD once it is navigated to the platform-tools folder (which should also contain the extracted factory image files at this point), type the following commands:
adb reboot-bootloader
**This will reboot your phone into the bootloader**
flash-all
**This will run the flash-all.bat script which will re-image your phone with the downloaded factory image. It will not wipe your phone if you remembered to remove the "-w" line as mentioned above. Also, DO NOT interact with your phone while this command is running. It will automatically boot itself once it is done - which can take up to 5-10 minutes.
10. You can probably do the rest on your own from this point. But the basis of what comes next would be installing Magisk, copying the init_boot.img over to your phone, patching it in Magisk, copying the patched init_boot.img back over to your computer, booting your phone into recovery mode once again (via CMD) and then running the following command in CMD as admin:
fastboot flash init_boot MagiskPatchedInitBootFileNameGoesHere.img
**This will flash the patched init_boot.img file**
Then use this command:
fastboot reboot
**That will take your phone out of recovery and cause it to boot normally**.
I actually have to run to a birthday party right now so I can't write any more specific details. If you don't feel comfortable doing this all, please let me know. If that's the case, I'll make a video showing how to do this tomorrow or something, haha.
NippleSauce said:
A lot of commands lol. I will update this comment in just a moment once I head over to my desktop. Typing this out on my phone would be a real disaster, haha.
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Click to collapse
Lol,I’m hip
NippleSauce said:
A lot of commands lol. I will update this comment in just a moment once I head over to my desktop. Typing this out on my phone would be a real disaster, haha.
Alrighty! Here is that update:
1. Ensure that you have the latest version of platform-tools somewhere on your hard drive. Also ensure that your phone has ADB enabled - which you said yours has enabled already - so you should be all good there.
2. Download the correct, most updated factory image here:
--> https://developers.google.com/android/images
3. Extract the contents of the factory image into your platform-tools folder. If you want to root, also be sure to extract the init_boot.img from image.zip file that is inside of the main factory image zip file.
4. Right-click and edit the flash-all.bat file and remove the "-w" near the bottom of the document. "-w" means "wipe". Make sure to save the document after making this change.
5. Copy the directory of your platform-tools folder.
6. Open CMD as an administrator.
7. In CMD, change directories to your platform-tools folder. The command is:
cd DirectoryLocationYouCopiedGoesHere
8. Connect your phone to your PC over USB.
9. In CMD once it is navigated to the platform-tools folder (which should also contain the extracted factory image files at this point), type the following commands:
adb reboot-bootloader
**This will reboot your phone into the bootloader**
flash-all
**This will run the flash-all.bat script which will re-image your phone with the downloaded factory image. It will not wipe your phone if you remembered to remove the "-w" line as mentioned above. Also, DO NOT interact with your phone while this command is running. It will automatically boot itself once it is done - which can take up to 5-10 minutes.
10. You can probably do the rest on your own from this point. But the basis of what comes next would be installing Magisk, copying the init_boot.img over to your phone, patching it in Magisk, copying the patched init_boot.img back over to your computer, booting your phone into recovery mode once again (via CMD) and then running the following command in CMD as admin:
fastboot flash init_boot MagiskPatchedInitBootFileNameGoesHere.img
**This will flash the patched init_boot.img file**
Then use this command:
fastboot reboot
**That will take your phone out of recovery and cause it to boot normally**.
I actually have to run to a birthday party right now so I can't write any more specific details. If you don't feel comfortable doing this all, please let me know. If that's the case, I'll make a video showing how to do this tomorrow or something, haha.
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Click to collapse
Flashing now. For future reference, in CMD, you need to run adb kill-server, then adb-devices before rebooting to bootloader (I'm not a TOTAL ADB noob lol). In my case, none were found so I just disconnected and reconnected the USB from the phone and it found it.
Also, Pixel Flasher was not able to work in Recovery or in the Pixel Is Starting state, which shows up on the tool as ADB - probably not rooted.
I'll update when it's done
Grrrr, no luck. Right back to Pixel is Starting.
Back to the hard way
HipKat said:
Grrrr, no luck. Right back to Pixel is Starting.
Back to the hard way
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Click to collapse
When you're on this screen, normally it's a launcher thing. Have you flashed any mods for launchers?
If you're still able to access your settings through the notification bar, you should be able to go to apps in your settings and open the Play Store to temporarily download another launcher. This will at least allow you to get some usage from your phone.
Curiousn00b said:
When you're on this screen, normally it's a launcher thing. Have you flashed any mods for launchers?
If you're still able to access your settings through the notification bar, you should be able to go to apps in your settings and open the Play Store to temporarily download another launcher. This will at least allow you to get some usage from your phone.
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Click to collapse
It's an encryption thing with the unlock method, pin, fingerprint, etc form everything I've read, and I read a lot and no one has been able to get past it without a wipe. I've used Nova Pro with the same settings over many devices
You can't get to apps. You can get to settings but if you select Apps and try to open an app, the only options are Uninstall and Force Stop
It's in the data on the Swift Restore. Everything is good after restoring Google Backup, and Swift missing Apps. I restored only data on system apps and user apps and the next reboot gave me this error. I wonder if I should NOT restore system data... I almost didn't just to see what happened, but I would have anyway
Confirmed, not restoring System Data was the fix. Funny, I have restored Sys Data Twice before today....
HipKat said:
Flashing now. For future reference, in CMD, you need to run adb kill-server, then adb-devices before rebooting to bootloader (I'm not a TOTAL ADB noob lol). In my case, none were found so I just disconnected and reconnected the USB from the phone and it found it.
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Click to collapse
In adb you do not have to run those commands. Adb devices would just let you check if an adb enabled device is connected. Adb kill-server only needs to be run if you had already used adb commands with your connected device, disconnected it and then reconnected it. That would kill the originally established and utilized adb connection which would then allow you to establish another one - which I suppose I should have mentioned considering you had tried things over adb prior to my comment, haha. My apologies.
But regardless, I'm glad that you got it working again! So it was that Swift Backup restore after all? That is good to know. Awesome stuff.
NippleSauce said:
In adb you do not have to run those commands. Adb devices would just let you check if an adb enabled device is connected. Adb kill-server only needs to be run if you had already used adb commands with your connected device, disconnected it and then reconnected it. That would kill the originally established and utilized adb connection which would then allow you to establish another one - which I suppose I should have mentioned considering you had tried things over adb prior to my comment, haha. My apologies.
But regardless, I'm glad that you got it working again! So it was that Swift Backup restore after all? That is good to know. Awesome stuff.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I should know better than to restore old System Data. It used to be a no-no, but the first 2 times I did a restore after first rooting and then a wipe a few weeks ago, I hadn't even thought of it. That's what 78 years away from the Rooting game does to you.
As for those commands, ADB-Devices came back with nothing till I did kill-server. Probably just something on my end