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[GUIDE] T-Mobile US One S - How to ROOT and flash ROMs

So I know there's been some controversy and scares going around about the US version, since it JUST came out. I'm here to calm you guys down. I have now rooted mine, flashed an interim CWM touch version (not permanent) and have flashed a ROM......ALL successfully.
Here's what I did:
UNLOCKING:
Unlock your bootloader by registering at HTCdev.com and following the unlock instructions. Under device, choose "All other devices", as the One S is not yet listed. It'll walk you through getting your unlock token and flashing it.
ROOTING
Follow Paul O Brien's instructions on rooting your phone. I flashed the r3 superboot file he had. The first time it didnt take and just booted the phone back up. Second time it took, and seems to have stuck, at least for apps. Please note that my phone says *TAMPERED* along with the *UNLOCKED* notification. I have no idea what that means exactly, but everything works great for me.
This means if you dont want to leave Sense but want to get the tons of useless and annoying T-Mobile and other bloatware apps out, you can. T-Mo are dicks and make almost 100% of the apps on it by default SYSTEM apps, therefore unremovable. So you'll need root and Titanium Backup to freeze or delete them. I'd recommend freezing the non-TMo one's just in case.
FLASHING ROMS
1. Flash Paul O Brien's intermin CWM touch version. You MUST use this interim CWM version for the moment, as the others do not work properly. Some things like USB mount dont work in this interim version, but the important functions like wipe and flash, backup and restore, and restart do work. The CWM recovery seems permanent, based on my initial trials, so no worries about reflashing it each restart.
2. Flash your ROM of choice from Clockworkmod Recovery. I'm using Black Dragon right now, but there are others out there as well. I'm personally looking forward to CM9, but its a little ways away, usability-wise.
So there you have it, all you US guys. Don't be afraid to mod your phone. Remember all the warranty void disclaimers as always. I'm not responsible for you bricking your phone. This is just my experience in just under 24hrs of use. Things are looking good for the One S.

bump... i see US users still asking.
Mods, can we perhaps sticky this post of mine? I don't want to take credit for the actual methods of rooting, since Paul O Brien and others deserve that credit, but I think it'd be helpful for US users, since many don't know whether or not the international method works.
That, or perhaps editing the Intl guides to make it clear that the US version accepts the same methods and ROMs.

Worked great for me
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

So if we root and flash a custom ROM is there any way to get the phone back to factory state, and get rid of the *TAMPERED* and *UNLOCKED* notification??

Did anyone else get a bit of a sad chuckle out of the first step in the instructions being "remove and reinsert battery"?

cyberchuck9000 said:
Did anyone else get a bit of a sad chuckle out of the first step in the instructions being "remove and reinsert battery"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, now my blisters on my fingers will heal.
But still.... I cannot imagine not needing a batt pull.

nickmv said:
Mods, can we perhaps sticky this post of mine? I don't want to take credit for the actual methods of rooting, since Paul O Brien and others deserve that credit, but I think it'd be helpful for US users, since many don't know whether or not the international method works.
That, or perhaps editing the Intl guides to make it clear that the US version accepts the same methods and ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

androidcues said:
Great, now my blisters on my fingers will heal.
But still.... I cannot imagine not needing a batt pull.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you need to perform a hard reset on the One S, you hold down the power button for about 7-10 secs.

First of all, thanks for this thread...I used the HTC One S All in one tool kit to unlock my phone, unfortunately I miss understood one of the directions(#5) and stopped using the tool kit and followed another thread, much to my surprise, my bootloader is unlocked, hooray My question is, how do I get back to the original state if that is possible? The reason I ask, is I would like to go back and do it correctly...I used better terminal emulator to see if I had root, but all I got was the $ sign instead of the # sign So I would like to start over...
Thanks in advance for the help

I'm honestly not sure what the procedure is for relocking an HTC bootloader. Perhaps do some Google research on some of the latest models, and I bet you'll find something.
That being said, once you unlock the bootloader a single time, the best you can do is go to **RELOCKED** state. You'll never get back **LOCKED**. Once it's gone it's gone. I'm curious about the **TAMPERED** message though. That's an ugly word.

not sure what exactly went wrong.
somehow flashed CWM and now thats the only thing my phone will boot to, even after re-flashing the stock recovery.
can't get the phone to turn on, only CWM every single time.

suhailtheboss said:
not sure what exactly went wrong.
somehow flashed CWM and now thats the only thing my phone will boot to, even after re-flashing the stock recovery.
can't get the phone to turn on, only CWM every single time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh oh that doesn't sound good
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

yeah, tried reflashing both CWM & stock recovery. phone still boots to CWM everytime.
Luckily i can still access the phone via ADB, (while in recovery) so i'm sure i'll be able to sort it out. just need to take a fresh crack at it tomorrow. gonna switch back to my galaxy nexus tonight. (oh wait, i dont have any other phones that use microsim)
haha.

Hmm, interesting. Did you flash the interim recovery that Paul O Brien posted, and not another version? Just wanna make sure. I've heard of this happening in my past experience with the Nexus S, but I can't recall what the deal was. Regardless, I don't think you're in trouble. As with your GNex, it's very hard to completely brick the device unless you flash perhaps a bad hboot file, however I'm not really familiar with HTC devices.
This is my first HTC so I'm still trying to learn how the hboot and other processes work together. Sry to hear you had bad luck.
UPDATE: You should try the root install script. It tells the phone to boot after install. That might get you booted atleast.
Some thoughts:
1. Flash the stock recovery back and reflash CWM
2. Clear cache and dalvik within CWM, and make sure to use the 'Reboot System' option if you aren't already.
From what I can tell, your "boot-to-recovery" flag is set on the phone, and isn't getting cleared.

nickmv said:
So I know there's been some controversy and scares going around about the US version, since it JUST came out. I'm here to calm you guys down. I have now rooted mine, flashed an interim CWM touch version (not permanent) and have flashed a ROM......ALL successfully.
Here's what I did:
UNLOCKING:
Unlock your bootloader by registering at HTCdev.com and following the unlock instructions. Under device, choose "All other devices", as the One S is not yet listed. It'll walk you through getting your unlock token and flashing it.
ROOTING
Follow Paul O Brien's instructions on rooting your phone. I flashed the r3 superboot file he had. The first time it didnt take and just booted the phone back up. Second time it took, and seems to have stuck, at least for apps. Please note that my phone says *TAMPERED* along with the *UNLOCKED* notification. I have no idea what that means exactly, but everything works great for me.
This means if you dont want to leave Sense but want to get the tons of useless and annoying T-Mobile and other bloatware apps out, you can. T-Mo are dicks and make almost 100% of the apps on it by default SYSTEM apps, therefore unremovable. So you'll need root and Titanium Backup to freeze or delete them. I'd recommend freezing the non-TMo one's just in case.
FLASHING ROMS
1. Flash Paul O Brien's intermin CWM touch version. Some things like USB mount dont work, but the important functions like wipe and flash and restart do. The CWM recovery seems permanent, based on my initial trials, so no worries about reflashing it each restart. I cant speak for the non-interim solutions, but from what I can gather, they are problematic, so avoid them for now.
2. Flash your ROM of choice from Clockworkmod Recovery. I'm using Black Dragon right now, but there are others out there as well. I'm personally looking forward to CM9, but its a little ways away, usability-wise.
So there you have it, all you US guys. Don't be afraid to mod your phone. Remember all the warranty void disclaimers as always. I'm not responsible for you bricking your phone. This is just my experience in just under 24hrs of use. Things are looking good for the One S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this part a must? Would you mind PM'ing me with how to do this part if it's a must? I have Unlocked and rooted my phone, just waiting for a good ROM to come by.

Thongvilay said:
Is this part a must? Would you mind PM'ing me with how to do this part if it's a must? I have Unlocked and rooted my phone, just waiting for a good ROM to come by.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That step is only if you want to flash ROMs, or need to wipe cache, dalvik, etc. CWM is used for flashing and recovery/backup purposes. If you're not using ROMs yet, then you have no need for it.

nickmv said:
Hmm, interesting. Did you flash the interim recovery that Paul O Brien posted, and not another version? Just wanna make sure. I've heard of this happening in my past experience with the Nexus S, but I can't recall what the deal was. Regardless, I don't think you're in trouble. As with your GNex, it's very hard to completely brick the device unless you flash perhaps a bad hboot file, however I'm not really familiar with HTC devices.
This is my first HTC so I'm still trying to learn how the hboot and other processes work together. Sry to hear you had bad luck.
UPDATE: You should try the root install script. It tells the phone to boot after install. That might get you booted atleast.
Some thoughts:
1. Flash the stock recovery back and reflash CWM
2. Clear cache and dalvik within CWM, and make sure to use the 'Reboot System' option if you aren't already.
From what I can tell, your "boot-to-recovery" flag is set on the phone, and isn't getting cleared.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the tips, i had tried clearing cache/dalvik within CWM and it still would not work. and yes i did flas the interim CWM from paulobrien
luckily the phone would work via ADB while in CWM. So i pushed three different ROMS to the phone, at first each oen would lock up and reboot within 20 seconds of doing anything. I then went back into recovery & wiped data/cache/dalvik maybe 10 times out of sheer frustration. Then re-flashed a fresh copy of black_dragon_v4.0, didnt do anything after boot. just let it sit there till this morning.
now the phone seems to be working perfectly...
so hopefully if anyone encounters this problem my last couple posts will help them out!

suhailtheboss said:
thanks for the tips, i had tried clearing cache/dalvik within CWM and it still would not work. and yes i did flas the interim CWM from paulobrien
luckily the phone would work via ADB while in CWM. So i pushed three different ROMS to the phone, at first each oen would lock up and reboot within 20 seconds of doing anything. I then went back into recovery & wiped data/cache/dalvik maybe 10 times out of sheer frustration. Then re-flashed a fresh copy of black_dragon_v4.0, didnt do anything after boot. just let it sit there till this morning.
now the phone seems to be working perfectly...
so hopefully if anyone encounters this problem my last couple posts will help them out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I have no idea dude. That sounds kinda crazy. Hopefully all will be well in the future and you won't come across it again.

the only variable i can think of is that i did have the phone about a week before launch. HTC mailed it to me directly.
I thought maybe that had somethign to do with it, but as far as i can tell the phone was the final shipping version.

I sent you a PM, trying to find a solution.

New OnePlus One Came Rooted With Adware

Brand New OnePlus One rooted and with adware etc
I am a very newbie to not all but many of the particular issues in this post so would be grateful of any newbie taylored advice.
Background:
==============
I purchased a Oneplus one recently, stocked and fulfilled by amazon with amazon returns policy but seller was a chineese company.
It was advertised as 100% Original Oneplus One New Cell Phone
The phone arraived and appeared to already be rooted
evidence:
Barclays App says it is rooted and won't run. It ran fine on my Nexus 4
I can connect via adb and set to su straight away
The phone appeared to have arrived with significant malware / adware with popups and auto launch ad in browser pages and bloteware / PUPS(?), and other issues. After a great deal of research checking notifications and trial and error I disabled the following, some via settings\apps some via adb, pm ... disable ...
2048 (com.digiplex.game)
App Manager (com.shyz.steward)
Browser (com.android.browser)
Caller ID (com.android.tools.callassistant)
Clean Master (com.cleanmaster.mguard)
Cool Browser (com.cool.coolbrowser)
DU Speed Booster (com.dianxinos.optimizer.duplay)
Magic Photo (cn.dotui.magicphoto)
Videos (com.haolianluo.video)
and disabled gestures due to torch issues
The phone now seems quite stable.
I installed MalwareBytes, however None of the items it identifies is it able to disable/uninstall I set it not to scan automatically but it continues to tell me I have not responded to its list of issues, but I have responded by selected them, but on selection it tries to uninstall them but fails.
I was able to disable one of them via adb because it provided the package name for that one but:
CallerID.apk (disabled in settings\apps)
coolbrowser.apk (disabled in settings\apps)
201507140923731g.apk
AppStore.apk
I do not know how to uninstall (or disable at least on 2 of them) and I do not know how to refer to them from package manager because I don't have the package name.
Key Questions:
================
I am familiar with much of software engineering and programming but not with mobile phone OS / disk / memory / file system, etc. I am having a lot of difficulty getting to grips with the vocabulary, definitions and terminology depending what you read.
- Some say OnePlus from factory comes with cyanogenmod but is not rooted
- So one wonders how my phone go to be rooted if the seller is a retailer
- Some say if the phone is rooted the warentee is invalidated. What do you think?
- WhatsApp says the phone has a custom rom and watsapp may not work properly with a custom rom
It is very difficult to get to the bottom of exactly what the difference is between a stock rom
and a custom rom. Some seem to be saying cyanogenmod is a custom rom, but then others say what
comes on the phone from the mobile manufacturer is a stock rom, eg HT Sense or in the case of
OnePlus, cyanogenmod! Is it only a custom rom if it is somehow NOT proven to be a
custom rom validated by the mobile manufacturer in factory (i.e. stock rom)?
- Some say having a custom rom invalidates warrantee, is this right?
- How do i prove that the rooting and the custom rom were not introduced by me?
- I have thought about factory reset, but I cannot manage to find anything that tells
me what this actually means and does, only how to do it.
- does a factory reset actually do what it suggests. I have read that factory reset does
not involve going to the manufacturers site and obtaining an appropriate image and flashing
it to the phone so I do not quite understand how else it could guarantee it
- If a factory reset will just make it like it was when I received it then that I do not want.
- Can I and ought I to flash a fresh image on the phone to get it like it WOULD HAVE been
had I bought it from OnePlus factory on invite and not through a mediator
- Finally. There is a notification "System Update is ready" . When I select this it appears
to download something (next version of cyanogenmod I guess though I don't recognise the version
number against any cyanogenmod versions) then it restarts and goes to a recovery app.
At this stage it is not completely intuitive what one should do and it seems to want you
to navigate to a location.
Now, I think I could probably figure this out with some reading but two things come to mind:
1) Presumably for a from factory OnePlus phone this kind of ambiguous unintuitive update
process would not be going on for people who just bought their phone and knew nothing
so it suggests the phone is in a different state to that. I also read you need root
already to install a (good) recovery app.
2) I am loath to do this update since it is not clear whether the update is this retailers
system update and will reintroduce all that I have disabled to create stability. Therefore
up to now I have always selected just do nothing and reboot. I favor stability over
features.
I am kind of inclined now I have managed to get it stable to just stick with it as it is and just use it without any further updates / resets / flashes and without returning it, but...
Sorry to ask all these questions. I would be grateful of any advice. Can be given with the assumption that I understand foundational general stuff ram, rom (though this word seems to be used differently to what I'm used to), flash, image, partition etc, but not that I actually know all about how the android/cyanogenmod platform is laid out and behaves as an installation.
Thank you.

Hi, All Oneplus One phones comes with CyanogenMod without rooted. One must Unlock bootloader and Flash custom recovery and Flash SuperSu to get root access.
Yours already says rooted means either you bought the used phone or refurbished. However even when a phone is refurbished OnePlus company locks it and make it unrooted.
OnePlus Phones warranty doesn't get over bu rooting. OnePlus actually supports rooting. Warranty becomes void when you do something blunder while flashing and your devices becomes dead aka bricked.
What I am suspecting is the chinese seller bought new OnePlus and Installed different ROM as the chinese OPO comes with ColorOS which doesn't have PlayStore. Now in the procedure they introduced unwanted Adwares which may be Intentional or Unintentional.
Now you have 2 options.
Either ask Amazon for a refund.
Or if the time is passed then I suggest you to start fresh. If you have already custom recovery installed then go ahead and install fresh stock CyanogenMod ROM from xda.
sent from Bacon (OnePlus One)

Hi Abhinav_Rakesh,
Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate your advice. I think I understood most of what you said, generally but I am still a bit unclear on some points:
Is there any way to tell if the phone is refurbished. I would rather it were new even if they have installed a different rom.
What do you mean by "time is passed" I have only had the phone a few days. I am in a quandary whether to return it or not, whether amazon will believe it was not me who rooted it and whether I will be able to get another one that is not just the same as this one anyway since you cannot get them direct from OnePlus any more.
I saw some kind of recovery screen over one reboot but did not do the install. How do I know if this is the "custom recovery" you describe, if it is not how do I obtain / get to "custom recover"?
Can you direct me to a script that shows me how to "install fresh stock CyanogenMod ROM from xda"? Will that completely blank out everything that the chineese company may have done on the phone, or might some stuff still be left behind? Is there a risk to that process, given that I at least have a fairly stable phone now? Will it include or do I have to get separately "PlayStore" so I can download my usual apps?
Thank you again, I really appreciate it?

i suggest you to start from fresh, since obviously your OPO is not in stock state and has been tampered with..
the (general) steps to make the OPO like new are as follows..
(1) connect it to a pc via usb cable
(2) in command prompt, issue "adb reboot bootloader" (and wait for it to boot into bootloader/fastboot mode)
(3) issue "fastboot oem unlock" (to unlock the bootloader.. all data will be wiped but the warranty is not voided)
(4) issue "fastboot flash recovery custom_recovery.img" (replace "custom_recovery.img" with the actual recovery file name)
(5) power off mobile and disconnect from pc
(6) press power button together with volume down button (to boot into custom recovery we just flashed)
(7) while in recovery, install rom image (which should be put in the internal storage beforehand)
(8) reboot to enjoy the reborn mobile
to be able the complete the above steps, you need to get some files in advance:
- adb.exe/fastboot.exe (which you should already have since you could do adb)
- custom recovery (TWRP suggested.. get the image for OPO, whose codename is bacon, at http://twrp.me/ ), and put it in your pc..
- stock or custom rom (the stock for OPO is cyanogenmod, and there is also a OnePlus provided OxygenOS rom.. go to respective sites to get a copy), and put it into the mobile's internal storage..
mind you that by doing so (the fastboot oem unlock step) all your mobile's data will be wiped..

@hardya Hi .. You can follow this link to restore your phone according to OnePlus Standards. This will remove all that chinese ads and all and will make it fresh.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2970390
sent from Bacon (OnePlus One)

I feel like i need to reanswer a some of your question even though some already have answered them. You seem very interested and it seems fair to clear up some things.
hardya said:
- Some say OnePlus from factory comes with cyanogenmod but is not rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a little misconception about what cyanogenmod is.
The offical Oneplus One comes preinstalled with CyanogenOS (or CM12S), which is derived from Cyanogenmod. It get's a bit complicated. Cyanogen is a company founded by the lead programmer of Cyanogenmod. CyanogenOS is a commercial product, that is licensed to phone manufactures.
Cyanogenmod is the codebase for CyanogenOS. CyanogenOS adds some functionalities that are not present in the community maintained Cyanogenmod. (e.g. a alternate dialing app, theme store, etc.)
The offical Oneplus One comes NON-rooted. You need to manually enable root.
Please keep in mind that it gets REALLY complicated from this point!
The Oneplus One debuted with CM11S (CyanogenOS, the commercial version of Cyanogenmod). Cyanogen (the company) promised users 2 years of support and updates for the owners on the Oneplus One. But Oneplus and Cyanogen had some major issues that resulted in ending the partnership.
Oneplus had to offer an alternative Android Firmware for their upcoming phone Oneplus Two. So they did another android version called OxygenOS. This was installed onto all Oneplus One phones from a certain date onward!
THIS is the OFFICAL Android Software Version for your Oneplus One!!!
See: https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/how-can-i-download-oxygen-os
I would strongly recommend to install OxygenOS, as it is the easiest way of experience the phone as Oneplus intended it to be.
Most tutorials on here are a little bit older so they are offering guides which mention either CM11S, CM12S, Cyanogenmod or OxygenOS. (or if you are more familiar with other customroms, whatever you'd like to install! But this is something you should look into, when you are more familiar with what costumroms are and what they do! There are so many excellent guides on here, which i'd recommend you to read sometime!)
- So one wonders how my phone go to be rooted if the seller is a retailer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He rooted it either manually or used an android version (e.g. something downloaded off XDA or got one from some developer). Such versions are often called Customroms.
Also note, that there are no official retailers of Oneplus phones. They are officially offered from the website only. However, there are some shops in China, that offer Oneplus phones.
- Some say if the phone is rooted the warentee is invalidated. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most phone manufactures actually tell you that your warranty is void when rooting your phone.
Oneplus however is very, very supportive when it comes to rooting!
And of course installing other Android Versions and Roms!
See: https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/will-rooting-or-unlocking-the-bootloader-void-my-warranty
- WhatsApp says the phone has a custom rom and watsapp may not work properly with a custom rom
It is very difficult to get to the bottom of exactly what the difference is between a stock rom
and a custom rom. Some seem to be saying cyanogenmod is a custom rom, but then others say what
comes on the phone from the mobile manufacturer is a stock rom, eg HT Sense or in the case of
OnePlus, cyanogenmod! Is it only a custom rom if it is somehow NOT proven to be a
custom rom validated by the mobile manufacturer in factory (i.e. stock rom)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cyanogenmod is indeed a custom rom. (or sometimes aftermarket firmware)
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyanogenMod
A stock rom is the firmware that is installed by the manufacturer. (in your case: CyanogenOS, called CM12S. the 12 stands for the version number of Cyanogenmod. 12 = Android 5, 13 will be Android 6. There was a CM11S version, when the phone debuted last year.). The S marks it as CyanogenOS, the commercial product. So CM12 would be the community maintained Cyanogenmod. CM12S the product by the company Cyanogen. As said before, it's a bit complicated, as the current OFFICIAL rom is OxygenOS
Your findings of software not present in the official stock Oneplus One rom (which is either CM12S or OxygenOS), suggests your software on the phone is actually a unofficial costum rom.
- Some say having a custom rom invalidates warrantee, is this right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the answer to the rooting question. Almost all major phone manufactures void your warranty if you flash a custom rom. As it involves tampering with system files and most people are not very knowledgeable when it comes to "computery things". It's just a security measure, so that people won't sue the company when something bad happens (most likely deleting precious pictures, etc.)
Oneplus actually encourages people to try other roms. This made the Oneplus One a very popular phone for tinkerers and as you can see on this forum there are a lot of custom roms you can choose from.
- How do i prove that the rooting and the custom rom were not introduced by me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the seller was not so careful, there will be a notice, which can be read by software programs available here on XDA, that say how many times a custom rom was installed.
However, i think your main concern is, that you wouldn't be able to get support form Oneplus, because you think your warranty is not valid anymore. As said above, your concerns are not that problematic. Especially as you seem to be knowledgeable enough to actually fix things on your own!
- I have thought about factory reset, but I cannot manage to find anything that tells
me what this actually means and does, only how to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A factory reset will delete all your apps and reset the system to the state"it came out of the factory". So when you start up your phone, you need to set it up again. Enter your name, configure your WiFi settings, install your favorite apps.
However. Your photos and your music files will not be deleted! Be careful though. Resetting your system will delete your app settings. I just want to point that out, because the first time a did a factory reset and reinstalled everything i thought i lost all my Whatsapp photos. They were there in the Picture folder, but weren't linked to the images in my chat window! This is a bit complicated, but can be solved quite easily, if you know what your doing (backing up your apps with certain programs, e.g. Titanium Backup).
- does a factory reset actually do what it suggests. I have read that factory reset does
not involve going to the manufacturers site and obtaining an appropriate image and flashing
it to the phone so I do not quite understand how else it could guarantee it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset is a internal function of your phone (to be precise of your phones recovery!)
However, as most people said and your suspected is: Your phone does not run the official factory image, provided by Oneplus (or Cynaogen).
The official software can be obtained from
https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/how-can-i-download-oxygen-os
- If a factory reset will just make it like it was when I received it then that I do not want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it will most likely to what you fear. It depends on what the retailer did. Most costum roms include software in their phones, that will be installed again with a factory reset. If your seller did install the programs AFTER the phones original state (e.g installing it from an appstore or from the APK's (Androids Software Packages)) they won't be present!
- Can I and ought I to flash a fresh image on the phone to get it like it WOULD HAVE been
had I bought it from OnePlus factory on invite and not through a mediator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely! I'd recommend you to flash a new image to your phone!
There are a lot of great programs here on XDA that offer easy and intuitive options of doing that, without even knowing anything about flashing programs! Try to take a look around and see what you can make of it.
I personally think they are great, but can be dangerous if you didn't read the proper instructions. I'm just saying, as they often delete EVERYTHING on your phone. So whatever you do to your phone, backup everything before!!!
But these simple programs are what you are looking for. They will install the firmware (Cyanogenmod or OxygenOS) that are bloatfree and as the Oneplus intended them to be.
- Finally. There is a notification "System Update is ready" . When I select this it appears
to download something (next version of cyanogenmod I guess though I don't recognise the version
number against any cyanogenmod versions) then it restarts and goes to a recovery app.
At this stage it is not completely intuitive what one should do and it seems to want you
to navigate to a location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This further suggests, that your are not running an official version. The official update process is fully automated and doesn't need any user intervention! From your description it doesn't do anything and you are stuck in recovery, that is waiting for user input. This is not the case with proper official roms!
Now, I think I could probably figure this out with some reading but two things come to mind:
1) Presumably for a from factory OnePlus phone this kind of ambiguous unintuitive update
process would not be going on for people who just bought their phone and knew nothing
so it suggests the phone is in a different state to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely correct! See above.
I also read you need root
already to install a (good) recovery app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do not need root to install a recovery. This is a bit complicated, as there are some misconceptions about what is what. You need to "unlock" your phone to install another recovery. This is not rooting, but is also restricted by many manufacturers. But as with rooting, Oneplus is offering support on unlocking your phone and there are lots of guides on how to do it.
2) I am loath to do this update since it is not clear whether the update is this retailers
system update and will reintroduce all that I have disabled to create stability. Therefore
up to now I have always selected just do nothing and reboot. I favor stability over
features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wise decision.
I am kind of inclined now I have managed to get it stable to just stick with it as it is and just use it without any further updates / resets / flashes and without returning it, but...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would strongly recommend to NOT leave it this way! As you yourself found out, there are chances that there are programs on the phone, that are not to be supposed to be there. I'm not saying that there is spyware on your phone, but it is most likely that there could be malicious code running in the background of your phone. I would strongly recommend NOT to use apps, that need sensitive information of yourself!
Try to look for guides and tutorials here on XDA and just install CM12S, Cyanogenmod or even better OxygenOS, the official ROM from Oneplus! OxygenOS is not everyone's favorite choice, but that way you can be sure, that NOTHING fishy is going on on your phone!
There is an easy app available from the offical oneplus site!
https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/how-can-i-download-oxygen-os
Or use the app that is mentioned in the post above! Will to the same thing!
Use the instructions on there and you are much safer on using your phone than you are in the present state!
BUT PLEASE, PLEASE DO A BACKUP OF YOUR DATA! I mean, your photos, contacts and everything important before doing anything to your phone. I'm just stressing that out, as so many people complain afterwards that they lost everything, etc.! Not just because the process they did was unsafe, but becaus the didn't properly read the instructions that tell people that they should make a backup, BEFORE tampering the system. It says factory RESET, so it should be clear, that everything will be reset!

I'd suggest you return it and get one through official channels. Official OnePlus devices can only be purchased through the OnePlus store.

I'd suggest you to read this story:
https://medium.com/@tuesdev/as-many...ve-a-oneplus-2-invite-ba20ac8606ae#.qgq3fhmn7

Ctuiku,
Sorry I wasn't able to respond sooner. I really do appreciate your very clear and detailed response and it's care to address each point very clearly and to make clear distinctions between similar things gives me significant confidence in its accuracy.
I must say I appreciate the significant amount of time you have taken and I do hope that at least some of your responses were cut and pasted from text you had already written else where.
I think I may have a number of minor follow up questions, but for now I shall digest your advice and decide on my plan of action.
Thank you again for being so helpful and understanding.
Andrew

I actually didn't read much of it and the comments, but I'd suggest you to unlock the bootloader, flash TWRP, take a backup, wipe everything(not the internal storage of course) , and perform a clean flash of CM13.0 by sultanxda. It's the smoothest and the most stable ROM out there.
Well, that was all in brief. You gotta read(and understand) and perform. It's fun, just like programming. Keep flashing!
~noob (you gotta start from somewhere)

Ctuiku
Thank you again for all your help. Sorry for the delay in responding been busy with other things and also since had some time to digest...
THIS is the OFFICAL Android Software Version for your Oneplus One!!!
See: <I am not allowed to include this link in quote>
I would strongly recommend to install OxygenOS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This link appears to be out of date
or even better OxygenOS, the official ROM from Oneplus! OxygenOS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My search and his post
_forums_oneplus_net_threads_mirrors-for-official-oxygen-os-roms-and-ota-updates.387615
suggests you cannot get the official OxygenOS ROM from Oneplus, doesn't this pose some risks using TP apps to download and flash OS ROM?
There is an easy app available from the offical oneplus site!
<I am not allowed to include this link in quote>
Or use the app that is mentioned in the post above! Will to the same thing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't this pose some risks using TP apps to download and flash OS ROM?
Also the official link
_account_onepluscontent_com_downloads_tools_oneplus-one-reflash_zip
appears to be out of date
I cannot seem to find a way to find an official location or to identify the genuineness of CM12S image or OxyGenOS image. Is there some kind of published standard hash of the file or something? How does it work?
a lot of what I read, like on the oneplus site or the way links are named seems to suggest that OxygenOS is just for OnePlus Two. I believe that OnePlus One moved to OxygenOS at some point, but I don't want to apply an OS version to a device that is under resourced. Is there a version of OxygenOS that the OnePlus One should not go beyond.
P.S. How do I get your XDA user name to appear as a link?

iamelton
Thank you so much for your advice I really do appreciate the time you took to help me. Sorry for the delay in responding. Difficult circumstances.
regarding your point (7)
(7) while in recovery, install rom image (which should be put in the internal storage beforehand)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- I wonder if you would mind indicating where beforehand in this list putting the rom image in the internal storage ought to occurr?
- Also, so sorry, but I wonder would you mind elaberating just a little on how to put the rom image in the internal storage?
Regarding the files, I am happy with adb.exe, fastboot.exe, TWRP.
However I understand that the genuineness of OxygenOS images are not provided by OnePlus, is this right?
_forums_oneplus_net_threads_mirrors-for-official-oxygen-os-roms-and-ota-updates_387615
How do confirm the genuineness of OxygenOS images?
Is it a kind of hierarchy of trust, i.e. n users use and recommend this location for the images.
Or is there some kind of standard hash for the images that is published on secure OnePlus site?
I have similar issue / understanding issue with CM12S
It would appear after roaming around forums etc that the official Cyanogen OS (not mod/custom) are located below here _builds_cyngn_com_ but the site itself seems to have no web pages I visit cyngn.com_get-cyanogen-os but can find no page with a list of rom images and their corresponding dates, attributes and inclusions etc.
I hear that some versions of CM12S do not support 64GB (as per my OPO) but I seem to have no clear certified single source way to know exactly the name/url of the CM12S I should get.
I am probably misunderstanding the philosophy behind things, but it seems if anyone can do anything with the source you would think that OnePlus would into the bargin also provide users (of which there will be a variety) a "sure fire" way to get their (grey market?) phone to (original) factory standard. They still apparently cover it for warentee, so...
Many thanks
P.S. How do I get your XDA user name to appear as a link?

Bootloop 2013 Moto G Boost Mobile XT1031 8GB

Hey guys!
To start, I want to say what an amazing place XDA is and how much information and knowledge you can get from here and how awesome the moderators are. I don't think I could ever find another amazing and/or helpful community such as those found here! Thanks to all who have helped me out with my Android issues!
Now to my issue and I apologize ahead of time if there is another thread (or related thread) found in the forum.
As the title states, I have a 2013 Motorola Moto G XT1031 Boost Mobile device. I had upgraded it to Lollipop 5.0.2 or 5.1 when it came out (I can't remember which one it was) and I had then decided to root it. I can say that I believe I was successful in rooting the device because I was able to install Supersu and use RootChecker to verify the install. Everything was going okay until i decided to research and eventually install a custom recovery and attempt to install a custom ROM. Well, let's just say that the recovery install was a bust...
In doing my research for a custom recovery, I found that TWRP had a custom recovery for my phone and apparently for my firmware via TWRP's app on the Play Store. So, I searched for my device in their in-app search for a custom recovery, downloaded it and installed it from the app. Now, my gut told me that this probably wouldn't work and that I should probably be installing a custom recovery via CLI. Nope. I didn't do this. Instead, like I said, I installed a custom recovery from the app itself. That screwed things up for me. I have no idea if it was the install, but my phone began to act incredibly strange. When in the TWRP recovery, my screen had this line that would continuously scroll from top to bottom. It wasn't a completely solid line, but it was transparent, almost like an empty thermometer glass stick was going down the screen. It was weird and not normal. I figured the phone's software was partially broken. It only did this in the TWRP recovery. Nowhere else did this happen. It was slightly annoying.
Later on I decided to install a custom ROM. Again, I did the necessary research to find out if there were any ROMs available for my phone (using XDA of course and others) and found that there were a few out there. So, I downloaded one (wish I could remember which one) and attempted to install it...keyword there. After attempting the install, my phone would not boot. Like at all. Dead. So back to the drawing board I went to try and reverse the damage. Using XDA (ironically) and a plethora of other sites, I tried to resurrect my phone and bring it back to life. After countless hours of trying and trying and trying and more and more research, I just gave up. The phone is dead. Great. $170 spent on a phone to break it a year later.
It's been roughly 4-5 months since I have attempted to redo the process and after another minor attempt, somehow I was able to remove the root completely, including the custom recovery and ROM. I don't know what the heck I did, but it worked....sort of. The phone is now stuck in a bootloop on the logo and sometimes the "bootloader has been unlocked" screen when try and factory reset the phone from the default recovery. When trying to reinstall the stock firmware, I read everywhere that I need the phone to have USB-debugging set and to have this and that. I have this and that installed on my PC, but obviously cannot enable USB-debugging which is needed for ADB and fastboot to recognize my device.
So, my question for anyone who would like to help me out is this: what are my options? Is the phone recoverable? Is there any way I can get ADB/fastboot to see my device and finally install the stock firmware on the phone? I have the proper drivers installed and ADB/fastboot are on my PC. Any help would be amazing, even if you have to tell me to junk it.

blckdragn22 said:
When trying to reinstall the stock firmware, I read everywhere that I need the phone to have USB-debugging set
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is incorrect, where did you read that? To reinstall the stock firmware using fastboot, you must be able to boot to the bootloader menu only.

I heard this from a few websites actually, although I could never find a situational fix for my phone. I am trying to restore back to Lollipop without a custom recovery, because within the past hour I found out TWRP was never fully removed when I tried booting into recovery from the AP Fastboot menu when doing to power+vol down option. The TWRP logo shows for about 10 seconds and then the phone tries booting normally, showing the unlocked bootloader warning.
So, yes I can boot into the bootloader menu all day long with no problems. It's just an selection I make doesn't get me anywhere. My question I guess now is: how do I go about reinstalling stock firmware via the bootloader menu. I have Minimal ADB and Fastboot installed on my PC. If I need the full ADB, I can download that. And of course I'd need the firmware, too.

You can find stock firmware images in this thread, there's also a link to an installation guide there:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g/general/index-moto-g-falcon-factory-firmware-t3110795

_that said:
You can find stock firmware images in this thread, there's also a link to an installation guide there:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g/general/index-moto-g-falcon-factory-firmware-t3110795
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread had the firmware I was looking for thank you. I believe I have the flashing stock firmware process down, I hope. I'l refer to the guide if I need help. Thank you so much!

_that said:
You can find stock firmware images in this thread, there's also a link to an installation guide there:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g/general/index-moto-g-falcon-factory-firmware-t3110795
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying to follow the steps listed here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2542219&page=35 and for some reason I cannot run any of the commands pertaining to the sparsechunks. This is what I get:
Is there anything you could tell me about that?
Edit: I was able to figure what the issue was when trying to write the sparsechunks. I had to insert a "." after 'sparsechunk' because that is how the file is named in the folder. However, now I am getting a new error, but it takes place on the phone screen. Every time I attempt to write a sparsechunk, it will initiate the process of doing so, but on the phone I'll get what appears to be an error saying, "Image is too large" in pink lettering. Why does this happen? Each sparsechunk file is at least 4MB less than the max-sparse-size according to the ADB and my phone, which is set to 256MB. Is there any way to change that?

blckdragn22 said:
However, now I am getting a new error, but it takes place on the phone screen. Every time I attempt to write a sparsechunk, it will initiate the process of doing so, but on the phone I'll get what appears to be an error saying, "Image is too large" in pink lettering. Why does this happen? Each sparsechunk file is at least 4MB less than the max-sparse-size according to the ADB and my phone, which is set to 256MB. Is there any way to change that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check which sparsechunk files you have and make sure you flash all of them in ascending order. If it still fails, copy/paste the contents of your command prompt window (no screenshots please).

_that said:
Check which sparsechunk files you have and make sure you flash all of them in ascending order. If it still fails, copy/paste the contents of your command prompt window (no screenshots please).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try that. There was a ...sparsechunks.0 as well apart from sparsechunks.1, sparsechunks.2 and sparsechunks.3. Shall I include that, too?
And adding the screenshot was an amateur mistake. My bad.

@_that this worked like a charm. Phone is 100% working ans usable now. Incredibly helpful. Thank you so much!

Kyocera Brigadier screen black with back light.

I bought a new Brigadier off ebay. Phone is new and never used. The build date was July 2014 and KK 4.4.2. I should have paid more attention to the numbers. After the KK update my phone boots up but does not show anything after the Kyocera screen. It is black with the back light.
This is what I did. I put my SIM card in the phone to check that I can activate it. Then while I was testing out the phone. It downloaded the first update. I do not remember what the number is. The phone had never been used. It was new. I might be able to look it up for update history on big reds site. I did not do the do the update. After seeing it was done. I turned it off and put the SIM card backing the Turbo. After doing some research on rooting. I found that Kingroot (5.0.4) is best, then found this app I can use to remove Kingroot. Last night I was playing more with the phone and then rooted it too. I rebooted it, hotspot my turbo, downloaded root checker, confirmed root, then undated. Phone is at 80% life. Phone shut off and then I let it do its thing. When I came back, the screen is black with the back light on only. I can touch the screen and feel/hear the vibration. I can soft boot, hard boot, and reboot into stock recovery. I did a factory wipe after I read in how to boot stock recovery. Yes, did nothing. I do know that KK updates can kill your phone. My Droid HD maxx is dead. On that phone, the led light lights green up and the computer does make a sound when connected but does not show it. I have no idea if this has a rsd lite and file to flash. I did not change anything in the system at all. I did not think that Kingroot would mess with my phone if I did the ota. I would then buy this app and remove it. I was waiting for internet to be installed today to further mess with my phone before using it. I do not know how to pull info off my phone.

I know more about Motorola Droid phones. This is phone is new to me. I did do a lot of research out there and mainly on XDA. I have the option to return the phone for a full refund. I would like to see if I can fix the phone before hand. I have till this weekend to send it back.

Claps1775 said:
I bought a new Brigadier off ebay. Phone is new and never used. The build date was July 2014 and KK 4.4.2. I should have paid more attention to the numbers. After the KK update my phone boots up but does not show anything after the Kyocera screen. It is black with the back light.
This is what I did. I put my SIM card in the phone to check that I can activate it. Then while I was testing out the phone. It downloaded the first update. I do not remember what the number is. The phone had never been used. It was new. I might be able to look it up for update history on big reds site. I did not do the do the update. After seeing it was done. I turned it off and put the SIM card backing the Turbo. After doing some research on rooting. I found that Kingroot (5.0.4) is best, then found this app I can use to remove Kingroot. Last night I was playing more with the phone and then rooted it too. I rebooted it, hotspot my turbo, downloaded root checker, confirmed root, then undated. Phone is at 80% life. Phone shut off and then I let it do its thing. When I came back, the screen is black with the back light on only. I can touch the screen and feel/hear the vibration. I can soft boot, hard boot, and reboot into stock recovery. I did a factory wipe after I read in how to boot stock recovery. Yes, did nothing. I do know that KK updates can kill your phone. My Droid HD maxx is dead. On that phone, the led light lights green up and the computer does make a sound when connected but does not show it. I have no idea if this has a rsd lite and file to flash. I did not change anything in the system at all. I did not think that Kingroot would mess with my phone if I did the ota. I would then buy this app and remove it. I was waiting for internet to be installed today to further mess with my phone before using it. I do not know how to pull info off my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The update you did was a stock update, correct?
You said the device was rooted and then you did the update, correct?
That's where you screwed up, you can't do stock updates on a rooted device, you have to remove root, have stock recovery and have an unmodified system partition before doing the update.
You should have done the update and THEN rooted the device.
Now just do a Google search for:
"How to unbrick (your model number)"
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
The update you did was a stock update, correct?
You said the device was rooted and then you did the update, correct?
That's where you screwed up, you can't do stock updates on a rooted device, you have to remove root, have stock recovery and have an unmodified system partition before doing the update.
You should have done the update and THEN rooted the device.
Now just do a Google search for:
"How to unbrick (your model number)"
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes. Okay. I know with droids when I was bootloader locked and rooted. I was fine updating. There was a change on loosing root. It's all about learning. I will try to find out how to unblock my phone. Thank you for the response.

Have you came across the ota .IMG file?

I was able to power my phone off. I connected the phone to my computer, installed the software, and tried the repair part. Failed on downloading. Version on my phone is 1.102VZ.

I found more info on xda refuring to the http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=597313&st=3680 site. I am not able to do anything with my phone now. Cannot get it to boot in recovery or even have my pc see it. The verizon apk sees it where I can still try to repair or update. That is it. I am going to send it back for a full refund and be done with this phone. Cannot spend weeks trying to fix this right now. Thanks all for the help.

Update. I got my phone into Fastboot. I was able to get phone into twrp recovery. How ever, I am not able to find a img I can flash to my phone then I will be able to use my phone. Ones I have found are twrp back ups that I have no clue how to flash. I downloaded Rom_5.1.1_3153LR_Modem_3153LR_E6782 and I hope to see if I can flash it or not in twrp. I still do not understand Android_SDK and how to use it. I am not sure if I can use twrp recovery from the Kyocera Brigadier E6782 Toolkit v1.2 I downloaded from the http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=597313&st=620#entry35662165 or not. All I am doing now is trying and seeing what happens. If anyone knows more please share.

I was able to flash the Rom_5.1.1_3153LR_Modem_3153LR_E6782 and my phone booted up and went into the optimizing but it is in Russian. I am further than I was. Need to find out if this is changeable to English and it all works. Yes, I do know that I will not flash anything than 5.0 now since the bootloader is locked or it can be unlocked with a code. Phone is up and running. I need a 5.1.1 US now.
It is not in Russian. It is in vietnamese. But I still need a clean 5.0 full rom.

Claps1775 said:
Update. I got my phone into Fastboot. I was able to get phone into twrp recovery. How ever, I am not able to find a img I can flash to my phone then I will be able to use my phone. Ones I have found are twrp back ups that I have no clue how to flash. I downloaded Rom_5.1.1_3153LR_Modem_3153LR_E6782 and I hope to see if I can flash it or not in twrp. I still do not understand Android_SDK and how to use it. I am not sure if I can use twrp recovery from the Kyocera Brigadier E6782 Toolkit v1.2 I downloaded from the http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=597313&st=620#entry35662165 or not. All I am doing now is trying and seeing what happens. If anyone knows more please share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use the TWRP backups by choosing the restore option in TWRP then selecting the backup file and it will restore the data in the file to your device.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
You can use the TWRP backups by choosing the restore option in TWRP then selecting the backup file and it will restore the data in the file to your device.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try that. I have to get it into fastboot and that can take a few tries. The firmware I have on it has no verizon apps. It is a mod by someone. I am going to try original firmware 5.1.1 firmware. Downloading right now. it is a .rar file. Making head way witch is good. I am learning for sure.

I got into fastboot mode. I tried to go into twrp using the Kyocera Brigadier E6782 Toolkit v1.2 as I did before. Now, I am stuck at the Android screen and it will not go into twrp. Ahh.

Claps1775 said:
I got into fastboot mode. I tried to go into twrp using the Kyocera Brigadier E6782 Toolkit v1.2 as I did before. Now, I am stuck at the Android screen and it will not go into twrp. Ahh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because of your now locked bootloader, can't use TWRP with locked bootloader.
It's a little late now, you need to slow down, if you had done some searching to see how to use TWRP backups(the information is literally everywhere in every device forum here, it works the same for all devices), you would have been able to restore one of those backups, you'd have the device fixed and you wouldn't have a locked bootloader, that bootloader limits your options now, it leaves you only the option of finding the correct stock firmware.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
That's because of your now locked bootloader, can't use TWRP with locked bootloader.
It's a little late now, you need to slow down, if you had done some searching to see how to use TWRP backups(the information is literally everywhere in every device forum here, it works the same for all devices), you would have been able to restore one of those backups, you'd have the device fixed and you wouldn't have a locked bootloader, that bootloader limits your options now, it leaves you only the option of finding the correct stock firmware.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never knew it was unlock. On the Android screen it had a 1 at the top left corner and it is still there. I am trying to find the correct firmware and flash it. I am able to see my phone in the adb file I used to flash twrp on my Droids. I have done a lot of research and and the 4pda.ru site. I am sent a lot of pms out to XDA memebers and got nothing back. I have posted a lot and hope someone would replay. I am trying trust me. I flash the wrong one. If I brink the phone, O well. All I can say is I am not trying to give up. Not sure if I can flash a rom or a twrp back up in adb or not. I would like to sit and read up on all of this. Then I could have a better understanding and then may play more.
How can flashing the Rom_5.1.1_3153LR_Modem_3153LR_E6782 even lock the bootloader? Eventhing I read talked about it being locked. It says in the box, Failed (remote: bootimage: incomplete or not signed) when I try to boot it into twrp.

Claps1775 said:
I never knew it was unlock. On the Android screen it had a 1 at the top left corner and it is still there. I am trying to find the correct firmware and flash it. I am able to see my phone in the adb file I used to flash twrp on my Droids. I have done a lot of research and and the 4pda.ru site. I am sent a lot of pms out to XDA memebers and got nothing back. I have posted a lot and hope someone would replay. I am trying trust me. I flash the wrong one. If I brink the phone, O well. All I can say is I am not trying to give up. Not sure if I can flash a rom or a twrp back up in adb or not. I would like to sit and read up on all of this. Then I could have a better understanding and then may play more.
How can flashing the Rom_5.1.1_3153LR_Modem_3153LR_E6782 even lock the bootloader? Eventhing I read talked about it being locked. It says in the box, Failed (remote: bootimage: incomplete or not signed) when I try to boot it into twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It locks the bootloader because when you flash the Firmware it upgrades to a different bootloader, one that is locked, it's coded into the firmware, it is intended to verify software signatures at boot, if the signature isn't what it's looking for it won't allow the software to load. Your TWRP, for example won't boot because it doesn't have the right signature, only your stock firmware has the right signature and there isn't a way to fake it. Your only chance of using TWRP is if your bootloader can be unlocked, not all bootloaders can be unlocked. It's a security measure installed by the manufacturer or your carrier to prevent flashing and modding the device, it's pretty effective and has become very common on a lot of devices since KitKat. It was implemented because they got tired of replacing devices due to the user modifying them and screwing them up, modified devices technically void the warranty but if screwed up enough they can't tell it has been modified, thus, they've been replacing devices that they weren't obligated to replace, they know this and are trying to put a stop to it.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
It locks the bootloader because when you flash the Firmware it upgrades to a different bootloader, one that is locked, it's coded into the firmware, it is intended to verify software signatures at boot, if the signature isn't what it's looking for it won't allow the software to load. Your TWRP, for example won't boot because it doesn't have the right signature, only your stock firmware has the right signature and there isn't a way to fake it. Your only chance of using TWRP is if your bootloader can be unlocked, not all bootloaders can be unlocked. It's a security measure installed by the manufacturer or your carrier to prevent flashing and modding the device, it's pretty effective and has become very common on a lot of devices since KitKat. It was implemented because they got tired of replacing devices due to the user modifying them and screwing them up, modified devices technically void the warranty but if screwed up enough they can't tell it has been modified, thus, they've been replacing devices that they weren't obligated to replace, they know this and are trying to put a stop to it.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I messed up a great phone I was looking forward of using. I thought I had it all lined up. I read a lot and thought I understood things. Can it befixed? By Kyocera only I say. I wanted on 5.0 is while I flashed that rom. I did not know it was a custom one. I truly feel bad that I messed up a great phone. I am going to stick with Motorola Droids and HTC for me wife. I am up very late trying to figure this all out. I am going to stick with things I know even though I love a challenge and learning. Thank you for the help, yes, I should have slowed down but everything was going great. Live and learn.

Claps1775 said:
I messed up a great phone I was looking forward of using. I thought I had it all lined up. I read a lot and thought I understood things. Can it befixed? By Kyocera only I say. I wanted on 5.0 is while I flashed that rom. I did not know it was a custom one. I truly feel bad that I messed up a great phone. I am going to stick with Motorola Droids and HTC for me wife. I am up very late trying to figure this all out. I am going to stick with things I know even though I love a challenge and learning. Thank you for the help, yes, I should have slowed down but everything was going great. Live and learn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When some, lose some.
For future reference, when you want to update or modify a device, try doing some research into what NOT to do or what can go wrong with that particular device and how to fix it if it does BEFORE you focus on what CAN be done on that device and before you actually do anything to the device. Cover the bases, ask questions, search for issues others might have had when they modified their device.
Remember, just because something is available for that device, doesn't mean you can use it. Things change from android version to android version and this stock firmware to that stock firmware for a device, such as whether the bootloader is locked or unlocked, among other possible differences that can turn things into a train wreck.
Android devices are all different and are not all done the same. What and how it is done on "this" device is not the same on "that" device.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

Bootloader Unlocking through Downgrade possible?

Hello Guys,
i had bought an Huawei P20 about an year ago. Now you know with all of this "USA-Huawei" Trouble going on, the thought came to my mind that i better start unlocking bootloader and be prepared to flash custom rom if worst come to worst. so far, so good.
now i started looking around if there is an easy method of getting the bootloader unlocked. but oh my, the huawei company is very friendly to us users and say "no, you wont get any unlock code from us anymore". so screw that.
now i want to try some experimental stuff. it looks like this:
my Smartphone has currently the version EML-L29 8.1.0.168(C432). I bought some Credits (i think it is that thing for $4) from DC-Unlocker. Yeah yeah i know, there they say "no support for Huawei P20!!!". But i still want to try. Well i tried, but it doesnt work - what you should expect.
now i read from some other website that there is another way of unlocking it. i only read it diagonal but the one thing i read was the information "unlocking bootloader is only possible till firmware version june 2018". so i jumped to an maaybe interesting conclusion about unlocking the phone with DC-Unlocker or HCU (whatever, i guess maybe both use the same method anyway).
if i do an rollback to the old firmware version *before* June 2018 on the device, wouldnt it be possible to do the unlock? Because the security patches that preventing it unlocked arent on the device then.
So what i have done so far is loading the old firmware version 8.1.0.128(C432). But the source is saying that it is coming from "Asia" but in the next line it reads "Asia, Europe" etc. - do they mean that this version is universal or do i run in trouble if i install one that is having the wrong area?
the next thing that kinda baffles me... all guides are sayin "copy the extracted dload folder to your sd-card". even the p20 guides do that. but.. well you know, the p20 device doesnt even have sd-card support. so how are you intended to use it then? i wonder about that a bit.
i dont think that without unlocked bootloader, flashing an original OTA full update would be impossible. but im not really sure how. there is this shady menu you can reach if you call this strange numbercode. but im very unsure if that will really work out. the phone (it is still a phone without SD-Card-Support) even has the option "apply update from sd-card". so im wondering how this feature they implemented in the original software is intended to use at all. maybe i should push the dload folder on the internal storage? i dunno.
i read about another possibilty of flashing stock roms. they say you can do it per adb command. so no problems would be here, i have adb and the hisuite and all already set. but i have absolutely no idea if that is possible without unlocked bootloader. so the questions arose from my mind are those:
- does an stock rom image from possibly/maybe asia would do any harm to my device like it is getting unbootable or anything like that?
- is it possible to flash an image older android stock rom with methods like this special menu on the device or the adb load?
- do you all think that my plan of downgrading the phone in order to get the bootloader code would work?
i'm looking very forward to your answers )

no_monday said:
Bootloader Unlocking through Downgrade possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Sorry. There's no solution. Reason: It would appear in this forum within minutes and thousands of people would be happy to unlock their bootloaders. Many Huawei-Owners here on XDA invested a lot of brain power to find a way. Noone succeeded. No bootloader code, no unlock.
If you still want to play around with firmwares, please inform us about any progress.

Jan Philipp said:
No. Sorry. There's no solution. Reason: It would appear in this forum within minutes and thousands of people would be happy to unlock their bootloaders. Many Huawei-Owners here on XDA invested a lot of brain power to find a way. Noone succeeded. No bootloader code, no unlock.
If you still want to play around with firmwares, please inform us about any progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay so there are basically no real information. look, i dont expect anyone to say like "oh there is an easy method xy" because i know it doesnt exist on this moment in time.
however i made an percent of an progress, it is more a thing for other interested custom rom modders out there.
i downloaded this update.zip and there are all kinds of howtos on the internet about it. the one thing i did is basically create the dload folder. then i put the extracted update.app in there. i rebooted the phone with power, vol down + vol up. i released the power button after the vibrating. the flashing screen indeed appeared! but something very strange has happened and i have no explanation what have happend.
so the emui updater appeared. there was this emui logo in the middle, the circle building up around it. but then it stopped at 5%. i really got panicked that im about to brick my device. so in an mad attempt i wanted to stop the update and power off the phone. glad i didnt do it. the phone always said if i tried to press the power button long enough "the system will crash if it is powered down". i stopped - but i tried it serveral times to stop.
now the strange thing is.. it stuck relatively long on this screen. but after a while (i guess it was 5-6 minutes) it suddenly got dark. and the battery was at 100%, so it wasnt a faulty battery. i just wondered. the phone - other than i would expect - rebooted. after a short while of the logo flashing (for about an half minute) it finally started. first i didnt have any connect to GSM Network. but after a short while that was okay too. all apps are still there. i looked at "about" and the version is still the same as before.
do someone have any imagination what has happened there? so apparently the phone *does* try to install something on this method, but the method seemed to fail. or is there any knowledge out yet for update logs that are getting generated by this process? i try to find any hint in order to tackle this problem atm.
and one thing is still on my mind.. could it be that the update is already through and i just didnt realized it yet because these other custom files werent changed? i mean that could be an possibility to say the least. anyway, i will try to use hcu now if maybe sth has changed. and i give kingoroot as well a shot if this buddy finds everything about rooting the device. maybe with root rights through exploit i can get further.

no_monday said:
okay so there are basically no real information. look, i dont expect anyone to say like "oh there is an easy method xy" because i know it doesnt exist on this moment in time.
however i made an percent of an progress, it is more a thing for other interested custom rom modders out there.
i downloaded this update.zip and there are all kinds of howtos on the internet about it. the one thing i did is basically create the dload folder. then i put the extracted update.app in there. i rebooted the phone with power, vol down + vol up. i released the power button after the vibrating. the flashing screen indeed appeared! but something very strange has happened and i have no explanation what have happend.
so the emui updater appeared. there was this emui logo in the middle, the circle building up around it. but then it stopped at 5%. i really got panicked that im about to brick my device. so in an mad attempt i wanted to stop the update and power off the phone. glad i didnt do it. the phone always said if i tried to press the power button long enough "the system will crash if it is powered down". i stopped - but i tried it serveral times to stop.
now the strange thing is.. it stuck relatively long on this screen. but after a while (i guess it was 5-6 minutes) it suddenly got dark. and the battery was at 100%, so it wasnt a faulty battery. i just wondered. the phone - other than i would expect - rebooted. after a short while of the logo flashing (for about an half minute) it finally started. first i didnt have any connect to GSM Network. but after a short while that was okay too. all apps are still there. i looked at "about" and the version is still the same as before.
do someone have any imagination what has happened there? so apparently the phone *does* try to install something on this method, but the method seemed to fail. or is there any knowledge out yet for update logs that are getting generated by this process? i try to find any hint in order to tackle this problem atm.
and one thing is still on my mind.. could it be that the update is already through and i just didnt realized it yet because these other custom files werent changed? i mean that could be an possibility to say the least. anyway, i will try to use hcu now if maybe sth has changed. and i give kingoroot as well a shot if this buddy finds everything about rooting the device. maybe with root rights through exploit i can get further.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems you have a couple of questions, pal, I answered to the first one (Bootloader Unlocking through Downgrade possible?). All I said is that it's impossible to unlock the bootloader through a downgrade. If you read all the how-to's you should have noticed that FirmwareFinder doesn'st work anymore since EMUI 9.0. This Information simply means Huawei doesn't allow us to flash updates on our own anymore like we did before. For sure there are some guides how to rollback to Android 8 but even this changes nothing to the bootloader.
Sadly I have no answer to the other questions about the strange behavior, it sounds pretty odd. Never heared something like this. But good luck fixing your phone anyway.

well i found out a couple of things now.
first thing: you know the service menu when you try to apply a zip archive from sd card? well you wont be able to use it UNTIL you use an usb-otg cable and an exFat formatted USB-Stick. Next thing to know is, you have to use the right images. there seem to be an kind of rule how this images are supposed to be and the image i found was from an russian firmware download site it was linked here in the forum in a thread. so i did choose "apply zip from sdcard" and .. IT DOES! the device rebooted, the stick flashed and the flashing process occured! and guys, im back to Version EML-L29 8.1.0.128(C432)! it is clearly stated in the build version view in settings. so.. i guess you *can* roll back even without firmware updater.
so far so good. but lets get back to the problem with the Bootloader. sadly Jan Philipp was totally right.. the bootloader cant be unlocked even in this version with the security patch of 5. may 2018. that is kinda sad. even kingoroot is still no different from before. i guess i have to search now for an way to get the system rooted. however, it must be easier on an earlier security update stage like now instead of the future versions of emui 8.1.
edit: another strange thing i discovered so far is that after this restore.. the play store wasnt able to connect to the google server until i gave permission to a few google processes to calendar and file access (i wonder what that is all about). maybe it has something to do with incompatibilities in the rom versions but now it works just fine as it should).

"unlocking bootloader with exploit is only possible till firmware version june/july 2018" does not apply to 2018's devices with kirin970, kirin980 & kirin710.
You are with kirin970.
So to unlock your kirin970, the only way for now is to wait for 3rd party seller to hypotheticaly start back their dervice:
- In the last 6 months there was only 2 'windows' which lasted 3 or 4 days where you could order your bootloader's unlock code by imei (from 5 to 124 us$).

GuestD0711 said:
another strange thing i discovered so far is that after this restore.. the play store wasnt able to connect to the google server until i gave permission to a few google processes to calendar and file access (i wonder what that is all about). maybe it has something to do with incompatibilities in the rom versions but now it works just fine as it should).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Play services require all permissions, otherwise won't work.
I also been searching on how to unlock the bootloader and found no solution or hope. I guess we are stuck with EMUI forever.

Reply from Huawei:
You can roll back to earlier versions of EMUI software, but you have to roll back one version at a time. However, our earlier phones operate exclusively on Google Mobile Services so removing it would limit the functionality extremely, however, we do have a range of new devices that no longer rely on Google Mobile Services and use Huawei Mobile Services instead - such as our P40 series.
Here are the instructions for rolling back software:
[Rollback Guideline] EMUI 9.1 (Android 9) Rollback to EMUI 9.0 (Android 9) Operation Instruction
EMUI 9.1 (Android 9) can now be rolled back to the official version of EMUI 9.0 (Android 9) using HiSuite, without downloading any intermediate packages. To ensure that the rollback succeeds, read the instructions carefully and perform the steps as instructed.
1. The following are precautions for roll-back.
a. Rolling back to an earlier version will erase all data on your device. Use an SD card, computer, or Cloud storage to back up all important data before rolling back your phone, and make sure all backed up content is complete and effective.
b. Use a computer running a Windows operating system to visit http://consumer.huawei.com/minisite/HiSuite_en/index.html and download the latest version of HiSuite. If HiSuite is installed on your computer, click the version number in the lower left corner of the page to check if it is the latest version. Make sure HiSuite version is 9.1.0.303 _OVE or above.
c. Before rolling back the phone, make sure your phone has not been upgraded using non-official updates. Otherwise, the roll-back may fail and unknown issues may be introduced. If you have used non-official packages to upgrade your phone, it is recommended that you go to an after-sales service center to roll back your phone.
d. Before rolling back your phone, make sure that your phone system has not been unlocked or rooted. If the system has been unlocked or rooted, it is recommended that you go to an after-sales service center to roll back your phone.
e. Before the roll-back, restore the phone to factory settings to make sure there is enough storage space.
f. Make sure the battery level is more than 50%.

Hi All,
I need assistance to update my EML L29 Huawei P20 phone.
The phone is Locked and FRP Lock
Issue the phone is always booting into recovery mode and not into the main screen.
I tired flashing via CMD using twrp.img file but its not writing.
Need help