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[Q] Botched rootkeeping on 2.3.6 update

I've found only one instance of this so far in the development forum by user malickie but they seem to have just returned the phone and I don't believe it's unfixable.
It all started by my trying to update while retaining root without flashing a stock 2.3.5. I tried the "three lines of code method", editing from within the phone using either FX or ES explorer (one initially wouldn't paste back into /system/bin after I made a backup on the sd card).
When I tried to update it got as far as the recovery image, the android with the folder and arrow, and eventually crashed telling me I had invalid this and that; CDROM, SYSTEM, WEBTOP. Sorry, I don't remember the specifics. I shut it down and it bootlooped as far as the AT&T logo droplet thing.
I launched into forum scrounging mode, got RSD Lite 5.6, the FXZ, the update.zip, and flashed back to 2.3.5. The first time I shut down after this it bootlooped again. So I flashed it again, so far so good, so I figured I'd go ahead and update to 2.3.6. More bad luck as it tells me "insufficient memory please factory reset". I try this, and it goes into fastboot telling me "Invalid CG (cg: recovery)".
So, I've been scrounging all day trying to figure out if this issue has been solved to no avail Does anyone have any suggestions?

ri4naire said:
I've found only one instance of this so far in the development forum by user malickie but they seem to have just returned the phone and I don't believe it's unfixable.
It all started by my trying to update while retaining root without flashing a stock 2.3.5. I tried the "three lines of code method", editing from within the phone using either FX or ES explorer (one initially wouldn't paste back into /system/bin after I made a backup on the sd card).
When I tried to update it got as far as the recovery image, the android with the folder and arrow, and eventually crashed telling me I had invalid this and that; CDROM, SYSTEM, WEBTOP. Sorry, I don't remember the specifics. I shut it down and it bootlooped as far as the AT&T logo droplet thing.
I launched into forum scrounging mode, got RSD Lite 5.6, the FXZ, the update.zip, and flashed back to 2.3.5. The first time I shut down after this it bootlooped again. So I flashed it again, so far so good, so I figured I'd go ahead and update to 2.3.6. More bad luck as it tells me "insufficient memory please factory reset". I try this, and it goes into fastboot telling me "Invalid CG (cg: recovery)".
So, I've been scrounging all day trying to figure out if this issue has been solved to no avail Does anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to say it, but it sounds like you might have a bad phone.
But you can try using the beginner thread and use the directions there to flash the fxz, but try unzipping the fxz and then go into RSD lite and click on the "..." button, and then select the xml file and start flashing.
If that does not work, there is another way, but you have to be VERY careful, because this can hard-brick your phone.
Last ditch, but ONLY if the others don't work, do this:
Make sure your have the android sdk installed:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
Then go grab this, and put in the same directory as the SDK installed to, under platform-tools:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=890596
Then open a command line in the directory that you saved and unzipped the fxz in, then;
put your phone in fastboot mode, connect the USB cable, and:
Code:
[FONT=monospace]
[/FONT]fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase cache
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash preinstall preinstall.img
fastboot reboot
No guarantees this will work

The first two work fine, returning "OKAY". However, if I try any type of flashing from the cmd prompt I get a "FAILED".
Code:
C:\*\InlineFlashing_etc>fastboot erase userdata
erasing 'userdata'...
OKAY [ 0.355s]
finished. total time: 0.356s
C:***>fastboot erase cache
erasing 'cache'...
OKAY [ 0.017s]
finished. total time: 0.020s
C:***>fastboot flash system system.img
sending 'system' (491264 KB)...
OKAY [ 17.982s]
writing 'system'...
(bootloader) Preflash validation failure
FAILED (remote: )
finished. total time: 18.212s
I realize we have a locked bootloader so is there a step I might have missed? I flashed back the updated fxz (that's now 18 steps instead of 20, and PS. this renders me with a functional phone, just not one that can update) and luckily I can seem to get back to at least this state consistently.

Ok, so I tried rooting in this state and used the ADB method from the Beginners' Guide to attempt to retain root through the update. This time there was nothing about insufficient memory, it just downloaded the update and then tried to reboot for the install but instead of going to unzip the package it goes straight back to fastboot flash mode with another failure.
Code:
AP Fastboot Flash Mode (S) (Flash Failure)
0A.65
Battery OK
OK to Program
Connect USB
Data Cable
On the bright side it's not taunting me with invalid partitions but then again it won't boot normally either. I'm stuck on this screen.

Try pulling the battery and then booting into boot selection mode. (Press+hold volume buttons, then power button) and select "normal boot".
If that doesn't work then flash the fxz... again.
Did you do manual or one-click root?
Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk

Ok, I had to plug it in overnight, making sure not to press the power button because it would go into "AP Fastboot", because my battery ran low. I'm flashing the updated FXZ again right now.
I've only ever done the One-Click Root. The first time I tried to retain root, what started all this, was using only the phone. This last time I used the ADB method and it didn't demand I factory reset.
Interestingly, when I tried that factory reset that's when it told me my recovery image wasn't good. I've noticed that the FXZ doesn't flash recovery.img but it does flash system, boot, and preinstall. So, is it possible I could manipulate that file to perform the steps you, Jim, suggested? I should just need to create an MD5 sum and follow the template of the rest of the time, right?

[Q] [solved] Reverted from EOS to stock, now unable to update to 3.1 (green bot of !)

Hello,
I have the MZ601 (Xoom UK 3G) and had EOS Everest JB stable on it.
Now I wanted to go back to stock. I downloaded the original firmware from Motorola, flashed the img files with adb and everything was fine (I did not relock the bootloader). The first OTA went fine too, now I am on Android 3.0.1 (H.6.1.-38-1).
It now detects the next OTA (about 44 MB, 63.5.25.en.EU), downloads it, tries to install it but at about 1/3 of progress the green bot of ! appears. I reflashed the stock firmware several times now, same result.
Then I googled, flashed Tiamat CWM recovery, rooted the device and then did:
adb remount (got message: succeeded)
adb shell rm /system/recovery-from-boot.p (message: no such file or directory)
adb shell rm /system/etc/install-recovery.sh (no message, so guess it worked)
Now I have no idea what else to try. I'd like to get back to stock ICS.
edit: reflashed back to stock once more. This time I entered recovery mode before I applied the very first OTA and the green bot of ! already appears, what's wrong here?

Hi,
It looks like your problem is not big deal. Just try flashing again all the files and principally DON'T FORGET TO FLASH RECOVERY! And I don't see why wouldn't you lock bootloader , if you really wants it unlocked and go to stock ICS I'd recommend you to flash stock, lock bootloader and then you update, after you get to the version you want unlock again :thumbup:
Wish you the best luck
Any problems please give me an up!

​Thanks for your reply!
I think I flashed recovery with the specific adb command (see below), not sure, not really an expert. :/ I even wiped dalvik cache and factory reset in cwm recovery before flashing back to stock.
Here's what I did in detail when reverting to stock:
I downloaded MZ601_H.6.1-38-1_Retail_Europe.zip from the official Motorola website, extracted all files and used these commands in adb:
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot erase cache
Also, I noticed the green bot of ! appears after reboot when I enter recovery mode even before I flash the very first OTA (so just after flashing the stock files and reboot). Looks like recovery is somewhat broken or so?
I didn't want to relock the bootloader simply because I might want to root the device once I am back on stock ICS. Basically, I just wanted to get away from a custom ROM (Team EOS).
Would locking the bootloader make a difference for my success? According to google it doesn't but I am no expert to judge it right.

Yea, it looks like something is going wrong there...
Try downloading the files again, and then flash recovery. If you have no success try locking your BL, maybe it can works. The two times I went back to Stock I relocked my BL and had no problems to update via OTA. Then you relock your BL and use LordAIOTool to root again, which can easy your work...
Also you should try erasing system, recovery, cache and data before flashing, but it looks like what you did is fine.
Good luck

Thanks! I will give that a shot and post the result here.
By the way, that is one thing I read about and didn't dare to try yet: formatting system.
From what I read, after formatting /system the tablet will no longer be able to boot into android. In that case, how can I perform adb commands still? Afaik USB debugging has to be on but I will not be able to get into settings (due to lack of boot) and turn it on (and it will be off after reflashing afaik).

When you format system you can't boot in Android, but you can still flash things via fastboot, which uses a different protocol from adb. There was one time I had to format system to fix a cellphone, but if you don't want to try that, no worries , it may turn out without risking

I believe in order to upgrade you need to lock the BL. Once you update you can unlock it again.

Okay, downloaded the image again, this time via XDA. Suprisingly, all files were flashed in less than a min each (sometimes flasing system.img took half an hour or longer). Same result though. Since I forgot to lock the bootloader I flashed everything again after reboot:
Code:
>adb reboot bootloader
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
>fastboot flash boot boot.img
sending 'boot' (8192 KB)... OKAY [ 49.293s]
writing 'boot'... OKAY [ 2.155s]
finished. total time: 51.477s
>fastboot flash system system.img
sending 'system' (262144 KB)... FAILED (remote: (00120003))
finished. total time: 1196.176s
Not sure why it failed here, worked dozens of times. So I simply decided to reflash system.img once more in the same run:
Code:
>fastboot flash system system.img
sending 'system' (262144 KB)... OKAY [ 25.391s]
writing 'system'... OKAY [ 14.744s]
finished. total time: 40.136s
Worked fine apparently, then continued from there as normal:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot erase cache
fastboot oem lock
All went well this time, no error messages on the latest full reflash or locking bootloader. Then rebooted, and now it is stuck at the Motorola boot screen:
Code:
Failed to boot LNX 0x0004
Starting RSD mode 2
(charger information bla bla here)
Not sure why this happened and what this actually means? It won't boot up and since the bootloader is locked I can't enter recovery or anything. What do I need to do now?

Man... You forgot to flash the kernel (boot.img)!!! And it's probably appearing because of this small mistake!!! Now that you're on RSD Mode 2 you have to fix it another way... I never went to it (only went twice to mode 3), so sorry, I can't help you this time , I will search a little and see what I can do for you.

My mistake on posting, I did flash boot.img before that, corrected my previous posting.
Now I am stranded. And I can't even turn off the device on boot screen.
edit: rescued it, thanks to this posting:
Pushed power + vol up for reboot, waited 5 sec, then held vol down until fastboot appeared (kept pressing the button for about 17 sec until fastboot showed up).
Once there, I unlocked bootloader successfully again to flash all stock files. Xoom booted up bravely afterwards, phew.

Another good news. This time it also applied the 2nd OTA successfully finally! I don't know why it worked this time. Either it's because I (somehow badly) locked the bootloader and unlocked it again OR because I did the flashing this time from my laptop. On the previous attempts I had the Xoom connected via front USB on my desktop computer, maybe that wasn't a good idea after all (flashing on the laptop connection went even faster, too, about 20 sec the most for each file). In the past I used to flash from my laptop as well and never ran into issues either - should have sticked to it maybe.
I guess I won't go for custom ROMs again anytime soon, I've really had it, especially not the one I used to use. Simply not worth the hassle, considering the Xoom wasn't even faster and didn't work with virtual phone providers anymore.

Landorin said:
Another good news. This time it also applied the 2nd OTA successfully finally! I don't know why it worked this time. Either it's because I (somehow badly) locked the bootloader and unlocked it again OR because I did the flashing this time from my laptop. On the previous attempts I had the Xoom connected via front USB on my desktop computer, maybe that wasn't a good idea after all (flashing on the laptop connection went even faster, too, about 20 sec the most for each file). In the past I used to flash from my laptop as well and never ran into issues either - should have sticked to it maybe.
I guess I won't go for custom ROMs again anytime soon, I've really had it, especially not the one I used to use. Simply not worth the hassle, considering the Xoom wasn't even faster and didn't work with virtual phone providers anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you made it
Congrats!!

Phone bootlooping on Mi logo after updating firmware, unable to go into recovery

I was using official Lineage 14.1 on Lollipop bootloader with firmware libra_miui_v8120_fw_patch, then today stupidly decided to update firmware with libra-firmware_miui9-7.8.21_7.0.zip which is probably for Nougat bootloader. Now I am unable to go into recovery and also when trying to flash recovery through fastboot I end up with this:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'recovery' (40704 KB)...
OKAY [ 1.343s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: Partition flashing is not allowed)
finished. total time: 1.362s
So can't even flash recovery. Fastboot oem unlock ends up with this:
Code:
FAILED (remote: Token verification failed, reboot the device)
finished. total time: 0.031s
tried also flashing logo.bin into bk2 just to verify if partition is logged and end up with same issue as with recovery, apparently bootloader locked:
Code:
fastboot flash bk2 logo.bin
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'bk2' (9591 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.329s]
writing 'bk2'...
FAILED (remote: Partition flashing is not allowed)
finished. total time: 0.341s
Is there any way to flash through fastboot just firmware and get back to where I was before screwed update so I don't need to go through flashing fastboot MIUI ROM, losing all my data in phone and setting up phone from scratch? At least in worst case I hope that's an option and it would work just to flash old libra_images_6.1.7_20151221.0000.11_5.1_cn_b09dac70a0, then do oem unlock flash TWRP and the go to lineage, as i did without official unlocking before, but I would rather avoid this since I have still some data not backed up in the phone (luckily i backed up photos just before flashing).
EDIT: Or is there a way to at least back up my data out of phone through fastboot?
EDIT 2: according google results not possible to do backup through fastboot and according fastboot oem device-info it's locked bootloader, so back to square one, losing files, grr and start from scratch

https://www.google.ro/amp/s/forum.x...-unlocking-mi4c-bl-verification-t3336779/amp/
Steps 2 to 9. It should work.
Might be another way to save your data but I didn't found one. Maybe your pc will se your folders in fastboot so you can save the data.
Sent from my Mi-4c using Tapatalk

You can also try to unlock the bootloader the official way, then install TWRP and flash a lollipop firmware zip with the lollipop bootloader and try to boot your ROM that way. The zip floats around in one of the ROM threads.

cezarmed2 said:
https://www.google.ro/amp/s/forum.x...-unlocking-mi4c-bl-verification-t3336779/amp/
Steps 2 to 9. It should work.
Might be another way to save your data but I didn't found one. Maybe your pc will se your folders in fastboot so you can save the data.
Sent from my Mi-4c using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, I did that as usual when unlocking unofficially, but there is no way to see your data, though in miflash it says in bottom "save user data" but nothing was saved, I looked through all phone, can't find it anywhere

OK, I noticed another issue, my available space significantly shrank. I guess it's because during fastboot oem edl flashing fastboot MIUI dev ROM through miflash I left "keep user data" checked instead erase, hoping I can recover them somehow.
Now Settings/Storage shows me that my System takes 21GB out of all 29GB, which is nonsense, since it's pretty much fresh system with few apps and little data used.
So my question is, can I somewhere find my original user data taking all this space and manage them? Or is user data partition (internal storage) somehow corrupted and I should just format it and this should hopefully fix problem with lack of free space (although Settings are showing System is taking all the 21GB)? In Mixplorer Internal storage is showing capacity 7.75GB and Root 1.82GB, so I would think it's corrupted internal storage which should be formatted, although best would be if original data would be somewhere hidden and I could just delete them manually.
EDIT: SOLVED - go to TWRP / Wipe / select Data / Repair button / Resize / and partition was properly resized from 7900MB back to 26136MB without loss of current data, of course original data from before are gone, but I am already over it.

[Q] HELP! -> Boot loop / No USB Debug / Encrypted / No Root / Can't Flash or Reset

Hi all,
I have got a N5 that is not booting (infinite boot animation loop). It's bootloader is unlocked and I can push stuff via ADB so I am assuming eMMC is good.
Also, USB debugging is OFF, phone is ENCRYPTED and NOT rooted.
I can't mount or modify /data and /persist partitions.
I tried reformating with ext2 to destroy encryption but it is not working. I also tried dd method but was unsuccessful.
I am not interested in recovering or rescuing anything from the phone.
Currently trying to figure out how to activate download mode so I can reflash everything using LG Flash tool.
Thanks in advance
EDIT: Bootloader is unlocked but I can't root the phone with wugfresh's nexus root toolkit.

The encyption can disable only with command fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
The userdata.img you can find in the Google OEM ROM Google M4B30Z
It requires the SDK Platform Tools is installed SDK Platform Tools
You may give a chance and with this http://www.wugfresh.com/

Hi Sant514,
'fastboot flash userdata userdata.img' returns this error:
target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
erasing 'userdata'...
OKAY [ 0.460s]
sending 'userdata' (137318 KB)...
OKAY [ 4.511s]
writing 'userdata'...
FAILED (remote: flash write failure)
finished. total time: 5.151s
also tried to format userdata:
fastboot format userdata
Couldn't parse erase-block-size '0x'.
Couldn't parse logical-block-size '0x'.
mke2fs 1.45.5 (07-Jan-2020)
/tmp/TemporaryFile-GqLE95: Unimplemented ext2 library function while setting up superblock
/usr/lib/android-sdk/platform-tools/mke2fs failed with status 1
mke2fs failed: 1
error: Cannot generate image for userdata

This reformating with ext2, I don't think this helped the situation,
so can you give a chance with tool http://www.wugfresh.com/?
No you do not need to root your device with wugfresh. It has a choice about unbrick... unroot and resτore
in factory condition...
The menu-choice is "Back to Stock / Flash Stock and Unroot" and you will select "Current Status=Soft Bricked/Bootloop"

Nexus Root Toolkit is giving me multiple flash write failures so I think the eMMC is dead.
Thanks for the help...

I had a similar major crash with my D820 (Nexus 5, US version) last month after trying wireless charging with an aftermarket back cover (overheated followed by kernel panic green screen of death). Infinite reboots. Couldn't get past Google logo. Flashed the factory image without the "-w" option which wipes user data, no joy. I figured I was screwed.
So flashed factory image 4.4.4 totally (-w left in the flash-all.bat script). Then flashed the last 2016 factory image (M4B30Z), and it came back. I hate having to reinstall apps (including discontinued ones via the APK borrowed from my other Nexus device), but it's actually good to clean out old cruft.
https://developers.google.com/android/images#hammerhead
As you probably know, you only need to install the Android SDK, Platform-tools (fastboot, adb, etc), boot into bootloader (run "fastboot devices" to see the phone is connected), and the flash-all.bat file will do the rest. Don't interrupt it, the "warning: ... .sig not found" and "sending System.img" steps will take a while. On my phone, the whole script can take 2 mins.
I've never relocked the bootloader after unlocking, but that could resolve the encryption issue .. but IDK, I've never done it.
Good luck.

fastboot flashing stock image - odd error

I'm trying to downgrade my Pixel back to 9. Few reasons - unimportant.
I have the latest platform tools, adb and fastboot both find the phone fine.
I've downloaded the latest stock image from the Google site.
But I get a very odd error
Sending 'bootloader' (8493 KB) OKAY [ 0.199s]
Writing 'bootloader' FAILED (remote: 'No such file or directory')
fastboot: error: Command failed
Everything is in the same folder, I've tried using the full path and not relative paths. Tried different cables and even different stock images. I've also got older versions of platform tools so tried earlier versions of fastboot.
I'm lost. What else is there to try/do?!

teapea said:
I'm trying to downgrade my Pixel back to 9. Few reasons - unimportant.
I have the latest platform tools, adb and fastboot both find the phone fine.
I've downloaded the latest stock image from the Google site.
But I get a very odd error
Sending 'bootloader' (8493 KB) OKAY [ 0.199s]
Writing 'bootloader' FAILED (remote: 'No such file or directory')
fastboot: error: Command failed
Everything is in the same folder, I've tried using the full path and not relative paths. Tried different cables and even different stock images. I've also got older versions of platform tools so tried earlier versions of fastboot.
I'm lost. What else is there to try/do?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity, which variant is this? Vzw? Google? Have you done updates in this way before? Or maybe only OTA updates?
cheers

Google stock image, using Google drivers, platform tools from full SDK. Done many many flashes this way - although never "downgraded" before. I stupidly hit update on my Pie stock image and it went to 10 so trying to go back.
I did read it needed have no "pending installs" in order to flash - but that doesn't make much sense, but currently OTAing to latest 11 version.
I did have Magisk root on my original 9, and the OTA to 10 obviously killed this.
Happy to kill all data and start again, I just need 9 back on this phone!
Only thing I've not tried is a different computer - will need to wait until I get back from the office to try another one though, but I've used my own laptop many times before which is why it's so confusing!

And to confirm - another laptop, totally fresh image - same problem...

teapea said:
And to confirm - another laptop, totally fresh image - same problem...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it seems simple but bootloader is unlocked and usb debugging is enabled? Also, are file extensions visible? That could cause problems too
Here's how I downgrade once in fastboot:
fastboot --slot=all flash bootloader bootloader.img(or drag and drop to cmd window)
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot --slot=all flash radio radio.img(or drag and drop to cmd window)
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot --slot=(current slot) --skip-reboot update image.zip(or drag and drop to cmd window)
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot --slot=(other slot) --skip-reboot update image.zip(or drag and drop to cmd window)
Then you enter recovery and wipe/format data and reboot to system after

Yeah - well I found the problem.
I was launching fastboot via "adb reboot fastboot" - which then put the phone in a screen which said "fastbootd" in red at the top. I'd never seen it before, but said fastboot so thought it was OK.
As soon as I remembered to reboot into fastboot with the volume down key - we're all good!
Never seen the fastbootd screen before - no idea what that was all about - I assume after installing Android 10/11 this was the new fastboot screen but clearly not!
Either way - I'm back on 9 and getting things back to normal. Systemless hosts is causing my grief with adblocker at the moment, but not investigated that too much.
So I guess the error message wasn't the right one, but just a generic one based on me not being in the right fastboot mode!
Thanks all for looking and offering advice, appreciate it - but I guess you'd never guess the issue with that error message!

the adb command is adb reboot bootloader. There may be others not sure, but that's the one I've used if the phone was on and booted.