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[N00BS GUIDE][Beginner]What is Root, Recovery, Brick ETC[EASY TO UNDERSTAND] [WIP]

Hello everyone on xda
This is a guide for all those who are absolute noobs, who don't know what Root is, but have heard of it. Let's get into it.
This guide is a WORK IN PROGRESS. Will be continuously adding things
BASICS:
"Stock" is the unrooted, unmodified state of your device running on the original OS.
Your device may get "bricked" while rooting, which means that your device will not boot back.
There are many ways to unbrick a device.
Flash means installing a new firmware via recovery
Root:
Whenever you buy a new Android device, the manufacturer makes sure that you, the buyer cannot access system files. By rooting an android device, you get access to the system files, tweak them and can manage them with many applications. Rooting can make your Android device much cooler than it was before. There are many modifications you can do, and you can even put a totally new operating system. You can add multi window, gravity box (which allows lot more tweaks) etc. (No limit exists in the Android world.
Superuser is when you grant access to the system files to an app
Pros:
1) Ability to upgrade Android version and have a billion more features
2) (Well... It's a never ending list )
Cons:
1)Bricking
2) In some cases, losing all oem apps
How to Root:
Search for the method on internet.
YOU WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY, WHICH DOES NOT COME BACK ON UNROOTING
Recovery
This is the most important tool for any android device. It comes on many android phones even without rooting, but the
"stock" recovery is not so useful. Custom recoveries like TWRP or CWM are the ones I'm talking about. These recoveries can back up, restore, or /and replace the whole system. In most cases, if your OS just blows off your device, you can still boot into recovery and flash a rom.
Pros:
1)Nice and easy way of making an android device
2)Nice way of bringing a device back to life.
Cons:
None I guess
Bootloader:
When you boot up your Android device, you see the device name or manufacturer name for a few seconds, when there is no animation. This part is the bootloader, which is the initial few seconds of fastboot. Here, you can retain fastboot and flash/update recovery. The bootloader is the toughest thing to delete. This bootloader is the software that interacts with the kernel to boot the device up. This is also responsible for booting into recovery .
Brick:
A brick in the toughest terms means a totally unresponsive.device, one that had no life.
Soft Brick: This means that your OS somehow got wiped off, But you still have the recovery to flash a rom. 90%of the bricks are soft bricks. To recover from it, perform a full wipe and then install a rom for your device.
Hard Brick: This means that your device does not have an OS, recovery. You can recover by entering fastboot(bootloader) and flashing a recovery and then a rom.
Bootloop:
This is a kind of soft brick in which, the OS starts booting but never finishes. Just perform a wipe, and if that does not help, Reflash.
Next Chapter ill be posted by 18th January

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Removed OS, How do i reinstall the stock ROM?

Hello
First of all, let me explain the situation:
My phone is the Oneplus One, currently with no OS, the reason being - because i wanted to re-root my phone after the Oneplus updated (this update was a while ago) either way many problems occurred and i figured the easiest way to re-root my device is to simply wipe it, and try again on a clean slate.
I attempted to wipe my phone, but did it the complete wrong way. Instead of using the OS's wiping strategy, i may of used the recovery's one instead, doing so i clean swooped the OS right off my phone.
At the moment, the phone has no OS installed - nor is the phone rooted. The phone isn't capable of passing files over through usb debugging because the computer doesn't recognise it no more. (It did have usb debugging turn't on). Of course i need to reinstall an OS on the phone. The TWRP recovery is working fine. But i do not know how to do it. I looked up things such as mounting, didn't really understand the vague explanations given by the helpers of this forum (i am slow haha ). If someone is able to point me in the right direction in how to simply put an OS back into the phone some how i would be grateful.
I did read up on one post that suggested making a system.img placing the OS inside and flashing it over using fastboot mode. Which brings me to the question. Is it possible to use command to install an OS on my Oneplus whilst in fastboot mode?

RazorCJ123 said:
Hello
First of all, let me explain the situation:
My phone is the Oneplus One, currently with no OS, the reason being - because i wanted to re-root my phone after the Oneplus updated (this update was a while ago) either way many problems occurred and i figured the easiest way to re-root my device is to simply wipe it, and try again on a clean slate.
I attempted to wipe my phone, but did it the complete wrong way. Instead of using the OS's wiping strategy, i may of used the recovery's one instead, doing so i clean swooped the OS right off my phone.
At the moment, the phone has no OS installed - nor is the phone rooted. The phone isn't capable of passing files over through usb debugging because the computer doesn't recognise it no more. (It did have usb debugging turn't on). Of course i need to reinstall an OS on the phone. The TWRP recovery is working fine. But i do not know how to do it. I looked up things such as mounting, didn't really understand the vague explanations given by the helpers of this forum (i am slow haha ). If someone is able to point me in the right direction in how to simply put an OS back into the phone some how i would be grateful.
I did read up on one post that suggested making a system.img placing the OS inside and flashing it over using fastboot mode. Which brings me to the question. Is it possible to use command to install an OS on my Oneplus whilst in fastboot mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See section 8 of my guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2839471

Revive Soft Bricked Device through Identical 2nd? (LG l21g Destiny Tracfone)

Long story short:
How do i get my current working android device to revive an identical soft-bricked device. More challenging than you think: there is no boot menu accessible in the devices. Which means the only other choice is to use a usb connection to a PC to perform all tasks, i.e. create a rom system image backup of the working device, then use that to restore the system onto the soft-bricked one.
So is there a way to revive the s/bricked device with a rom image of the working twin?
The long story:
After using the super-sume app, my device got softbricked. Phones of my type are uncommon and are therefore not worked on by the android hacker community as much as flagship devices are. And little is known or discovered about them. So after doing more research, i've sadly come to know that there are other users here and there, having suffered the same problem as I. But enough about that.
As far as i've read and come to understand, i would need to re-flash the firmware to bring it back from it's softbrick issue easiest/safest way.
Though am not sure how the android platform would work. With PCs, i could restore a messed up system from a cloned image. What i need to confirm is if the firmware is separate from the OS (roms i believe) the same way device drivers are separate from the windows OS on PCs.
So am not sure if flashing firmware is enough and would need to stock rom too. Or is the rom considered both firmware and OS all in one?
I mentioned "restore from a clone image backup" because I have another, exact same model of my softbricked device, that functions still properly.
So i wonder if there is a way that i could use my working device to revive the soft-bricked one. In the sense that i would need to make a system image copy of my working one, to restore onto the s/bricked one.
What the problem looks like when starting the phone:
As for the softbrick appearance, the phone boots into the LG logo screen and is frozen there. It doesn't quite look like it's boot looping since the screen Never fades to black quickly just to come right back. It's just frozen there. This recovery mode screen is the only other thing i can get to besides the frozen LG screen: https://wcrates.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/lg-g3-recover-mode.jpg
I've come to learn (but may need correction on) that Tracfone devices are deliberately handicapped in a way i've never seen before. That is, their devices have no other boot type of menu besides the Recovery Menu (found before os begins boot) that is basically a factory reset. It just deletes all user data and resets system settings so that the phone works like it would at first when right out of the box. For the s/bricked device, that screen can be accessed, though executing that just resorts to the frozen boot screen again. If there is a boot menu to backup/restore from, clear cache, install from zip and what not, then please enlighten me. Because as i've tried everything, the tracfone-devices have nothing compared to non-tracfone-devices
So in order to install an updated rom, i may need to get into a type of system boot menu from where i would be able to select the option to install a rom or update it and what not. To some degree i assume that connecting the device through USB to a computer, one may do the same rom installation action through the PC, but it's in cases like these where i would need the help of and expert's first hand experience with such things or ways.
I don't mind if you want to leave a link to some tutorial some other guy has made that may closely related to (if not exactly) to help solve this issue. But i do prefer to get into contact with someone who i can report to with how the solution process is progressing. Mostly because me being a noob at this point of my android experience, but am confident since i've done this with pc's a lot.
I'm still trying to figure out what most of the android community speaks of when it comes to methods of backing up their stock roms and what kinds of software on PC or apps on the device are needed to accomplish a worthy backup. I do realize i'd need ADB and what other LG device compatible PC software out there. Here is a link where i think firmware files can be found, but since it's all in Chinese, i'm not sure how reliable the site is/can be. It's been about a month since i contacted some of their users. At this point it seems like they're no hope:
http://mobile.gaodi.net/Firmware-669539-1-1.html
I hope that i can find success so that i can post it up to help others who are in the same situation as me, and also for the many more who may yet fall into this situation.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Device: LG l21g (aka lgl21g) Destiny (model) by TracFone
Android: 5.0.1

QS5509A (Axia from AT&T) Boot Help

Hello, I just got a new phone. It's probably my first actual phone in many years, as I'm mostly a PC kind of guy. I have been having trouble getting it booted for a while now. Someone informed me that it might be an Axia phone from AT&T, but I don't know the validity of that. It says Q-Innovations every time I use it on Google stuff. Does anyone here know of the phone or know how to boot one?
Thanks a lot in advance!

CamShirayuki said:
Hello, I just got a new phone. It's probably my first actual phone in many years, as I'm mostly a PC kind of guy. I have been having trouble getting it booted for a while now. Someone informed me that it might be an Axia phone from AT&T, but I don't know the validity of that. It says Q-Innovations every time I use it on Google stuff. Does anyone here know of the phone or know how to boot one?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The model number seems to be the AT&T version of that phone.
When you say that you can't get it booted, what do you mean exactly? What is the device doing when you try to boot it?
Have you tried holding volume up+power(let go when you see the splash screen) to boot into recovery, then factory reset and wipe cache partition?
Some devices have to hold volume down+power, then at the bootloader menu, choose the recovery option.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

What do you mean? I didn't think it was that easy to boot a phone? I wanted to put Linux on my phone instead of the current android version or even put them both on there.

CamShirayuki said:
What do you mean? I didn't think it was that easy to boot a phone? I wanted to put Linux on my phone instead of the current android version or even put them both on there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need to do some research to get familiar with how android devices actually work. Android devices are not like PC, you can't just install whatever OS you want, android devices are not "generic" like that. Operating systems for android devices have to be built specifically based on the hardware in the device, down to the kernel level, the kernel has to be specific to the device. You need to do some reading about how android stock recovery and custom recovery actually work , you also need to research how android stock firmware and custom operating systems are flashed on android devices.
It is "possible" to remove android and install Linux on an android device, but only certain devices can do it, depending on the security built-in to the bootloader that is installed on the device. There isn't a universal way to install Linux on android.
It is also possible to install Linux on top of android in a sort of emulator/VM then use a VNC to .
There are some apps to install linux on top of android, such as:
1) Linux Deploy
2) Complete Linux installer
3) UserLAnd
I installed and tested UserLAnd last night. Try this and see what you think.
https://github.com/CypherpunkArmory/UserLAnd
View the README.md for instuctions to set it up.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

Brick. Stuck at "Qualcomm Crashdump"

Hi all,
My op6 is stuck, unable to reboot normally with the famous Qualcomm Crashdump mode message.
The phone has the bootloader unlocked, with TWRP recovery.
1 day ago I could access the recovery even reboot with the power+volume buttons, but it got to a point where it crashes all the time, unable to do anything.
Currently is only able to enter fastboot mode.
I have heard about the MSMDownload Tool.
- Does this tool keep the files/data in the internal memory?
For me the most important thing is to be able to recover the data.
The qualcom dumpcrash mode returns several different messages like:
- stack-protector kernel stack is corrupted in:--schedule*0xB90/OXOd0 (not exact numbers)
- fatal exceptinforece_signalinject.isra.8
Is there any chance of trying something?
I am extremely anxious and worried about the situation
Please help.

Ganapatya said:
Hi all,
My op6 is stuck, unable to reboot normally with the famous Qualcomm Crashdump mode message.
The phone has the bootloader unlocked, with TWRP recovery.
1 day ago I could access the recovery even reboot with the power+volume buttons, but it got to a point where it crashes all the time, unable to do anything.
Currently is only able to enter fastboot mode.
I have heard about the MSMDownload Tool.
- Does this tool keep the files/data in the internal memory?
For me the most important thing is to be able to recover the data.
The qualcom dumpcrash mode returns several different messages like:
- stack-protector kernel stack is corrupted in:--schedule*0xB90/OXOd0 (not exact numbers)
- fatal exceptinforece_signalinject.isra.8
Is there any chance of trying something?
I am extremely anxious and worried about the situation
Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to start: it's good thing that you can get into fastboot mode. From there you should be able to do a complete re-install of your device, e.g. using the official LineageOS instructions.
Now to your situation: unfortunately you don't write too much about it like, is your phone running stock OOS or some custom ROM? If it's a custom ROM I'd say you open a topic in the according thread. Then: how much do you know about flashing recoveries, ROMs etc.
Regarding your data: in your current situation it may be extremely difficult if not impossible to secure any personal data now. How I understand it you cannot access the crucial partitions from the bootloader, at least I never heard of methods to get there. Although, people more knowledgeable than me may know of ways. So I do hope you are having recent backups at hand, on your PC or where-ever.
In that case I would start all over (and that's how I got out of a similar situation several months ago): flash recovery, flash latest OOS to both slots, factory reset / wipe everything (to remove any encrypted data you won't be able to access anyways), flash you ROM of choice incl. other part like GAPPS, if needed, do basic setup and then finally try to recover anything that is in you backups.
I wish you a lot of patience and good luck, you'll need it, I'm afraid.

lm089 said:
to start: it's good thing that you can get into fastboot mode. From there you should be able to do a complete re-install of your device, e.g. using the official LineageOS instructions.
Now to your situation: unfortunately you don't write too much about it like, is your phone running stock OOS or some custom ROM? If it's a custom ROM I'd say you open a topic in the according thread. Then: how much do you know about flashing recoveries, ROMs etc.
Regarding your data: in your current situation it may be extremely difficult if not impossible to secure any personal data now. How I understand it you cannot access the crucial partitions from the bootloader, at least I never heard of methods to get there. Although, people more knowledgeable than me may know of ways. So I do hope you are having recent backups at hand, on your PC or where-ever.
In that case I would start all over (and that's how I got out of a similar situation several months ago): flash recovery, flash latest OOS to both slots, factory reset / wipe everything (to remove any encrypted data you won't be able to access anyways), flash you ROM of choice incl. other part like GAPPS, if needed, do basic setup and then finally try to recover anything that is in you backups.
I wish you a lot of patience and good luck, you'll need it, I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply.
is your phone running stock OOS or some custom ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock OOS, android 10, last release.
Then: how much do you know about flashing recoveries, ROMs etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have basic experience installing customs roms, rooting, twrp, unlock fastboot...following tutorials, of course.
Regarding your data: in your current situation it may be extremely difficult if not impossible to secure any personal data now. How I understand it you cannot access the crucial partitions from the bootloader, at least I never heard of methods to get there. Although, people more knowledgeable than me may know of ways. So I do hope you are having recent backups at hand, on your PC or where-ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here someone says that in theory it would be possible if you have the usb debugging enable, but silly me I had it open but I deactivated it I think, so I'm not sure if I have access or not.
OnePlus 6 Stuck At "Qualcomm Crashdump" Screen All A Sudden | Data Retrieval Critical
Hi good people at XDA. This is my first post on this website and I am absolutely hoping to receive help from you all to find a way out of the depressing and extremely anxious situation I'm in. I was using my OP6 normally today and while I was...
forum.xda-developers.com
Code:
adb devices
mkdir "C:\RECOVERED_DATA"
adb pull /sdcard C:\RECOVERED_DATA
and then finally try to recover anything that is in you backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but if I do all that flashing process any backups that are in the internal memory will be erased, right?
I had photos, files, whatsapp chat history, documents...etc and they were all in the internal memory. It is not a great loss but it is important for me to be able to recover it.
in your current situation it may be extremely difficult if not impossible to secure any personal data now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for me it is more important to recover the files than to recover the phone. your words are discouraging
I have read other posts and maybe being able to install on top (dirty install) the same rom I have, would leave the system as it, is being able to access my files. Not even installing the whole rom but extracting the boot image from the rom and then installing it. but I don't know if I can install a rom or boot image from fastboot, or if I need to have a working TWRP first.
It is said here:
- https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...over-without-data-loss.4080725/#post-82257413
- https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...over-without-data-loss.4080725/#post-82261087

Ganapatya said:
your words are discouraging
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
of course that is not my intention. I just try to be realistic
As I wrote in my post, my knowledge is quite basic. I know what I read , and what I experienced with my different devices. So again: you may find instructions and real-life stories showing you ways out of there.
My experience is that you cannot connect your OP6 phone to your PC via ADB while in bootloader / fastboot mode.
a) It's either one or the other: bootloader <=> fastboot or recovery / system <=> adb. Other devices may have different options but we're not talking about Samsung but about OP.
b) I did some additional research last night but I couldn't find a single source talking about *read* access to user data from fastboot. All you can do there is flash i.e. overwrite partitions
c) keep in mind that most probably your personal data are encrypted. So even if you find a way to access your personal data from bootloader / fastboot you may not be able to read it
d) I never used MSMtool, never had to. But I did some more research about it. It looks as if you could re-flash stock ROM using that tool but to the cost of wiping everything. At least that is what the tutorials I found are saying
That said I'd say you don't have much to lose and can go trying out some things.
From my experience the qualcomm crashdump error can have it's source in a malfunctioning recovery solution; I had that when flashing a wrong TWRP version that would not be in harmony with the previously flashed OOS firmware.
From what I read our devices don't have a separate recovery partition, instead it somehow lives somewhere/somehow in the boot partition (experts: please don't crucify me if that is wrong ). So if that is the case one idea would be to extract the boot image from the stock ROM image then flash that to /boot/ from fastboot. Don't know whether that really works and helps, but in theory you would have a default boot partition and kernel *without* a conflicting recovery solution.
In case you're successful you may be able to boot into system and make backups of everything that's valuable to you.
Again: this is extremely wild guessing here, and you'll have to read in a bit on how to properly extract parts of the ROM image.
I also would *strongly* recommend that you continue asking for help in a more technical thread like the LOS19.1 one or Funk Wizard's thread about unlocking and flashing our OP6.
I wish you all luck you need!

I think your best bet it a HW solution, get someone to:
1. replace the modem IC, it's the possible cause of the qualcomm crash
2. solder a direct connection to the internal memory so you can recover your data