Can't flash anything by any method anymore - running out of ideas... - HTC One E8

Hi guys
I must have been spending 10+ hours on this issue, now I'm close to giving up. I wanted to send my E8 (EU, SingleSIM) in for repairs under warranty, because the battery is bloated (got a curved screen already...). Before that, I just wanted to make sure everything looks as stock as possible (even though I know I cannot reverse everything completely without this "S-Off" thing - just wanted to avoid them blaming the broken battery on modifications... sounds absurd but who knows).
The problem is that I'm now stuck with a phone without any OS at all, and it doesn't accept any method of flashing anymore.
First I tried flashing stock RUUs (always tried various, redownloaded, tried different cards) via SD card. This always lead to the error: "Device halted due to large image update fail"
Next I tried flashing stock RUU.zips via fastboot. This always ends with a "header error 32" (can't remember exactly after so many attempts).
Then I tried RUU.exe (again various) from HTC official updates - those always end (don't really start) with "signature error".
Finally, I tried my luck with several TRWPs. Result is always: "Could not find 'META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary" in the zip file. Error installing..."
All these things sound like failed integrity checks to me, but I cannot believe that every single RUU, RUU.exe or TWRP I downloaded was really corrupt.
To add to the excitement, the battery seems to get more and more bloated, the longer I experiment, and I'd really like to avoid a "Samsung experience"...
Is there anything left I could try before giving up?
EDIT: Ok, I fixed it myself thanks to these posts:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/on...single-sim-t2885715/post68891314#post68891314
https://forum.xda-developers.com/on...u-ota-twrp-t2903210/post68891239#post68891239
I have no idea why I didn't stumble across them earlier, but fact is that the ROM from androidfilehost works, while the one with exactly the same version numbers I had tried initially was corrupted (not by download, but put like that on server). And all the other stuff I tried was probably somehow incompatible. Anyway, now I have clean Lollipop and the battery didn't explode either, so I can send the phone to HTC.

Related

[Q] Won't install ROM/Won't install apps/Constant crashes/Reboots/Switch offs

In an attempt to deal with massive instability I was able to upgrade from Samsung Stock to SlimKat 4.4.4r1. The instability problems remain but now I can't install apps. I have tried to flash to Carbon ROM but that doesn't take.
Curiously, all of the indications are that the apps and ROMs are installing but they in fact they actually don't.
The device doesn't even stay on long enough for me to alter a Setting, it trips over in a matter of seconds and reboots. Each time, I get the error message “Unfortunately, The process android.process.media has stopped”.
Could this be the Brick Bug manifesting itself? Perhaps if I repair the PIT that would fix it? Luckily I can access TWRP 2.7.0.0 recovery, I have tried to upgrade to TWRP 2.8.0.0 but that has failed also.
Any suggestions would be welcome
Hi, I would like to thank all those who took the time to read my description. Clearly it has you flummoxed too.:laugh:
In the meantime, I tried flashing Stock ROM but no joy and then I tried repairing the PIT, no joy there also.
My options now are either to ask Samsung to take a look or else wait for a functioning Tab with a broken screen to come along. My Tab is in superb condition and it would be a shame to let it go without at least making another attempt at rescue.

The interesting story of how an OTA rendered my Z almost-useless

Just for background info, at the time it happened, my Z was running NPL25.86-30 from the following thread;
https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-z/development/android-nougat-moto-z-versions-t3506342
It was running perfectly fine, then an OTA thing appeared. Well, I made the single big mistake of accepting it, and thus, it encountered an error and while the phone booted fine and even displayed the new build "NPLS-25.86-30-5", it started to randomly reboot when the phone either goes to sleep or when CPU loads are very low.
Well, I was distraught. The phone which was working perfectly fine just a few minutes ago was rendered almost useless as I had to keep turning it off after I used it to avoid it going into a reboot loop. So making calls was difficult enough as the phone would never receive a call as it would be endlessly rebooting anyway.
So, when I returned home, I fired up ADB, connected the Z in Fastboot mode and reflashed the NPL25.86-30 firmware from that link. For a while, it seemed to be fine, but then it started doing it again. I tried again and it still does so.
I was at a loss as I wasn't sure what else to do. Since the OTA update was there, I was afraid that the bootloader may have upgraded and causing me to lose my downgrade. However, when I used the command "fastboot boot xxx", I noticed the Marshmallow boot screen, indicating that the old bootloader was indeed intact and it hasn't changed.
It also happens that I kept the original firmware file which my phone came out of the box with. So I fired up RSDLite, put the entire .zip file in it (including GPT and bootloader) and flashed it right away. After it was done and I did a hasty setup, I left the phone alone to see if it would do so. Over an hour passed, and the phone never rebooted by itself, and would only do so if I was the one doing it.
So, there was light at the end of this very dark tunnel. Fired up ADB yet again and flashed the NPL25.86-30 firmware using the method that does not upgrade the bootloader. I also flashed TWRP and erfanoabdi's TurboZ kernel to disable forced-encryption and dm-verity, along with phh's Superuser for root access as SuperSU somehow does not install right even though the recovery says otherwise.
Booted up and it hasn't rebooted by itself until now. The only time it has rebooted is when I did it. It did necessitate a full data reset, but so far, it has been running well, with the OTA service fully disabled and the processor clocked to its Droid Edition levels.
Only issue I had with it is that the battery drain is a wee-bit high. Though this may be due to the process of installing and optimizing apps over time. If it all goes well, the battery drain should calm itself soon. As of right now, I've downclocked the processor and changed the governor to be as efficient as possible to reduce that battery drain until the phone is fully-set up. The other issue is that after a while, CPU-Z and AIDA64 fails to find the big cores, saying that they're either inactive or "sleeping", but Kernel Adiutor said otherwise. Other than that, I am enjoying it.
Also goes to show that if you have the MM bootloader, you should definitely keep it as it provides a very safe method of returning to a previous build with all your system files intact if anything breaks. It has proved to be extremely useful in this case.
As to the why it all happened,
Did you run the OTA with twrp installed, and/or any other system partition alterations?
Just curious, so others know why this happened to you and Van avoid it themselves. And with either of those things above, the OTA will fail, or worse like in your case.
OTA's are for stock systems, with stock recovery only.
Glad you got it sorted out though! :good:
Darth said:
As to the why it all happened,
Did you run the OTA with twrp installed, and/or any other system partition alterations?
Just curious, so others know why this happened to you and Van avoid it themselves. And with either of those things above, the OTA will fail, or worse like in your case.
OTA's are for stock systems, with stock recovery only.
Glad you got it sorted out though! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock recovery.
I presume it's either because the build I ran was designed for a different region (same model code, though) or that the Marshmallow bootloader was incompatible with the OTA.
Regardless, it's been working fine for a bit, although one Busybox installer gave me a small scare when it said it was cleaning system/bin, although a later check found that it didn't actually do anything.
Just wanted to share my predicament.

Need, my device keeps encrypting itself!

I've only had this phone for a few weeks, bought new from Target. It is a US BLN-L24. It originally was running Marshmallow but I updated it to Nougat via the official updater (BLN-L24C567B360).
The first time I got this issue was when I rooted the stock ROM with Magisk. I later installed Apps2SD Pro (for linking apps to 2nd partition on SD card). It mounted this partition, I rebooted, the device then asks for a PIN# which I didnt have and never set. Afterwards I rebooted to @OldDroid's TWRP, it couldnt mount data partition, some error about not being able to find the crypto footer. I then used the dload method to rollback to MM, then updated to Nougat again, and rerooted, this time with systemless SuperSU instead..
Then eventually everything went fine for awhile, but it happened again. So I decided to try a custom Nougat ROM. I went with Resurrection Remix 7.1.2. And then.....it happened again. This time I had rooted with Magisk. I tried yet again, but with SuperSU. And yet again with Phh's Superuser.
I've also tried AOKP, AOSPA, LineageOS, OctN, all Nougat, the issue returns with all of them.
So, no matter what root solution I use, the encryption issue eventually returns. Magisk, SuperSU, and Phh are all supposed to disable data partition encryption. But it seems they aren't.
What I've tried so far:
1. 3 different root solutions, same results
2. Formatting data and wiping all partitions in TWRP immediately before installing a ROM zip, which is supposed to remove the encryption
3. A custom kernel (CycloX)
4. Formatting my MicroSD, as exFAT, every time I check it for errors in Windows 10 corruption is found and repaired, but it always returns. I had initially thought that the encryption might be related to the SD
It has happened numerous times, on different ROMs including stock, and MM/Nougat, and with different root solutions. I know when it happens, I get stuck on the boot logo forever. TWRP reports that data can't be mounted. At one point my phone randomly rebooted into eRecovery and I was shown a message stating that data partition was corrupted. Sometimes it happens as little as 15 mins after booting into a freshly installed ROM, sometimes it takes a few days, but it always comes back no matter what. So far several dozen times.
I'm at a loss as to what is the cause. It could be a hardware defect, a firmware defect/bug, or something I'm doing wrong/missing. So I really have to ask if others are experiencing this too, and what you did to resolve it, I'm sure I'm not the only one. Please provided detailed steps. This is driving me crazy. I bought the 6X to replace my Samsung Note 4 which recently died after 3 years of loyal service. I'm liking this phone alot, it's very powerful, but this is killing me.
If anyone can help then I would greatly appreciate it. If I can't get this resolved then I'll just sell the phone on Craigslist after returning it to stock.
Thanks!
C'mon guys, really need some help here. I know I can't be the only one with the encryption issue, since the 6X is encrypted by default.
AnonVendetta said:
C'mon guys, really need some help here. I know I can't be the only one with the encryption issue, since the 6X is encrypted by default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I think you are the only one with this issue. Flashing Magisk alone will remove auto-encryption. But then you already flashed custom roms.
After 4 more days of testing, I still haven't been able to find a solution. The issue has been less frequent ever since I started using the stock charging brick that came with the phone, before I was using a slightly larger LG brick, I thought it would charge faster. But maybe it was supplying too much power, which partly explains why the phone would sometimes act erratically on the battery charging screen while turned off.
But it's not solved, sometimes I still can't boot, it just gets stuck on the ROM boot logo, makes no difference whether it's stock or custom ROM. I can get past the "your device is unlocked" part though.
I no longer think encryption is the biggest part of the issue, I think the /data partition is getting corrupted. This partition uses the F2FS filesystem by default. The last few times I got stuck I booted into TWRP. But instead of doing a factory reset, I used the repair filesystem option on /data, TWRP says it repaired, then the ROM boots fine. But the problem always comes back. It seems to happen most frequently when I completely power off the device then turn it back on, but not every time.
Today I called Huawei customer service and explained, though I didn't mention TWRP, root, etc. They want me to follow up on an email by sending pics of the phone, then mail it to them so they can diagnose and fix the issue. I just restored the stock MM firmware and made sure the bootloader was locked. It was just placed it in the mail, so I'll wait until I get it back then test further to see if this happens again.
AnonVendetta said:
After 4 more days of testing, I still haven't been able to find a solution. The issue has been less frequent ever since I started using the stock charging brick that came with the phone, before I was using a slightly larger LG brick, I thought it would charge faster. But maybe it was supplying too much power, which partly explains why the phone would sometimes act erratically on the battery charging screen while turned off.
But it's not solved, sometimes I still can't boot, it just gets stuck on the ROM boot logo, makes no difference whether it's stock or custom ROM. I can get past the "your device is unlocked" part though.
I no longer think encryption is the biggest part of the issue, I think the /data partition is getting corrupted. This partition uses the F2FS filesystem by default. The last few times I got stuck I booted into TWRP. But instead of doing a factory reset, I used the repair filesystem option on /data, TWRP says it repaired, then the ROM boots fine. But the problem always comes back. It seems to happen most frequently when I completely power off the device then turn it back on, but not every time.
Today I called Huawei customer service and explained, though I didn't mention TWRP, root, etc. They want me to follow up on an email by sending pics of the phone, then mail it to them so they can diagnose and fix the issue. I just restored the stock MM firmware and made sure the bootloader was locked. It was just placed it in the mail, so I'll wait until I get it back then test further to see if this happens again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, can you help me? I have the same model BLN-L24C567B360. I got this phone today and updated today as well right out of the box. My problem is that I installed TWRP 3.1.1.0 Berlin version for this phone and it doesn't work at all. Now I have my phone working ROM but with no recovery option. Can you give me a link with the files I need? I was thinking on putting back the original recovery.img file back but unfortunately I never thought on doing a backup of it. I read on the top that you have all original stock files. Thanks
@jaimejdv: Are you having the same encryption/corruption of the data partition that I'm getting? Because if not then you should start your own topic.
If you have installed the correct TWRP by OldDroid, via fastboot, then there is no reason it shouldn't be working. Instructions are available in other topics, I won't list them here.
There are some Marshmallow downgrade files on Huawei's website, go search for them and follow the instructions in the PDF they provide.
And BTW, I really don't appreciate you trying to hijack my topic. I understand you need help, but I posted this topic because I'm specifically having trouble with encryption/corruption. This isn't meant to be a generalized help thread.
Right now Huawei has my phone, I'm waiting on them to fix and return it so I can do more testing. If it doesn't work as expected, I'll be selling it on Craigslist.
AnonVendetta said:
@jaimejdv: Are you having the same encryption/corruption of the data partition that I'm getting? Because if not then you should start your own topic.
If you have installed the correct TWRP by OldDroid, via fastboot, then there is no reason it shouldn't be working. Instructions are available in other topics, I won't list them here.
There are some Marshmallow downgrade files on Huawei's website, go search for them and follow the instructions in the PDF they provide.
And BTW, I really don't appreciate you trying to hijack my topic. I understand you need help, but I posted this topic because I'm specifically having trouble with encryption/corruption. This isn't meant to be a generalized help thread.
Right now Huawei has my phone, I'm waiting on them to fix and return it so I can do more testing. If it doesn't work as expected, I'll be selling it on Craigslist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can stop crying now, I won't be using your "topic" anymore. I just replied to you asking for files that you already have.
And BTW, I don't need them anymore but thanks anyways.
Yoooooo did Huawei do anything yet?
I just got the phone back in the mail this morning from Huawei, after waiting about 3 weeks. And.....THEY DIDN'T EVEN FIX IT!!! They sent it back unrepaired, with a note saying it wouldn't be fixed because their technician found water damage. But I'd say that's just a generic canned excuse to not fix it. I bought this phone very recently from Target, I never exposed it to liquids at all. I'm very careful with my phones, I have 3 old ones for over 5 years and they still look good and work fine. I don't do stupid crap like using my phone in the rain, dropping in sink, etc.
So, I unlocked the bootloader, flashed TWRP, then installed Resurrection Remix and Magisk. I did no other changes whatsoever. And sure enough, within 6 hours it was just hanging up forever on the boot logo. I went back into TWRP and got the same error about the data partition not having a crypto footer. I can repair the partition in TWRP without factory resetting, and the issue goes away for awhile, but eventually returns.
At this point I'm really angry, having spent around $230 for this phone. So I'm just going to reflash it to stock firmware and sell it on Craigslist at a loss. I don't think I'll ever buy a Huawei phone again, not just because of this phone, but also because their customer service is crap and can barely speak English, as well as their failure to honor the warranty.
I don't know what phone I'll get next, I'll probably shell out for a new ZTE Axon 7 on Amazon, with a warranty. Which also has the added advantage of having better specs than the 6X.
Oh well, life moves on.....
AnonVendetta said:
I just got the phone back in the mail this morning from Huawei, after waiting about 3 weeks. And.....THEY DIDN'T EVEN FIX IT!!! They sent it back unrepaired, with a note saying it wouldn't be fixed because their technician found water damage. But I'd say that's just a generic canned excuse to not fix it. I bought this phone very recently from Target, I never exposed it to liquids at all. I'm very careful with my phones, I have 3 old ones for over 5 years and they still look good and work fine. I don't do stupid crap like using my phone in the rain, dropping in sink, etc.
So, I unlocked the bootloader, flashed TWRP, then installed Resurrection Remix and Magisk. I did no other changes whatsoever. And sure enough, within 6 hours it was just hanging up forever on the boot logo. I went back into TWRP and got the same error about the data partition not having a crypto footer. I can repair the partition in TWRP without factory resetting, and the issue goes away for awhile, but eventually returns.
At this point I'm really angry, having spent around $230 for this phone. So I'm just going to reflash it to stock firmware and sell it on Craigslist at a loss. I don't think I'll ever buy a Huawei phone again, not just because of this phone, but also because their customer service is crap and can barely speak English, as well as their failure to honor the warranty.
I don't know what phone I'll get next, I'll probably shell out for a new ZTE Axon 7 on Amazon, with a warranty. Which also has the added advantage of having better specs than the 6X.
Oh well, life moves on.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with them. Pretty crappy that they used a lame excuse like water damage to deny responsibility in fixing the issue.
I agree with you, I will never buy Huawei again. The phone itself is great but the audio is so so bad Im trying to sell mine at a loss as well but no ones calling so Im tinkering with it again. I would be absolutely livid if I spent the money on one of the flagship Huawei phones. Oh well live and learn I guess, at least the 5T comes out sometime next month.

Desperately need help w/issue After 8.0 Update...

S8+ /S8 Global Unlocked Variants, (ie: G955FD, etc) Desperately need help w/issue After 8.0 Update...
Hi, I have a G955FD & have family members with this same model, as well as the Global unlocked regular S8-dual sim. We all have the same issue after the Samsung 8.0.0 update. The phone is no longer reliable. Randomly, these devices will not have any ring on incoming calls. If they don't leave a VM, then you have no indication of a missed phone call. In addition, random periods where text messages will also just not come thru. Difference on the texts is, when you reboot, they all populate in the message app and notifications. But the incoming calls are not known and lost forever w/o a VM left for you by caller.
I have been in contact with Samsung, although they indicate right off that I have no warranty because I didn't buy a carrier device from an authorized vendor for my local use, they were open & helpful to reveal that they are aware of '8.0 ringer issues' on the unlocked global devices. BTW, this must be a huge number of people across the world with this problem, but like my friends/family, originally think they have signal/carrier issues etc. Samsung says that it should be addressed in a patch or update..... but, WHEN? I have had a messed up phone for over 3months and counting.
The only thing that can be done to attempt having the phone work 'more often' is to do a restart every hour all day long and hope that your phone will ring when someone is calling.
I, personally, being the family tech guy, am the one working on the issue so I'm here to ask for help/input.
Been dealing with this issue for over 3 months now, here's some of what I have done and what I'd like help with please...
I have attempted 5x to install a custom ROM from XDA to alleviate this issue completely, but as of now, still unsuccessful. I've been rooting/hacking my android devices since my 1st but somehow can't get the process to work thru. At this point, using Odin, I have no issue to get my phone running TWRP and rooted. Somehow, after that point something isn't going right and my phone has to be re-odin flashed with OEM ROM and then wait 1 week for OEM unlock to re-appear to try again. So, If I could complete this process next time the OEM-unlock is back up, my problem would be over.
Now, since I am having issue with completing a custom ROM install... I thought, why not flash a previous OEM ROM (7.0 NOUGAT) and again, my problem should be over and I could wait until a 9.0 update to see how that goes. So far, any 7.0 stock ROMS I have been able to find/download, have 'failed' install in Odin. (I have standard Odin, patched and Prince Comsey) so I always try them all before I say it's a true fail.
Can anyone help me to understand why, with all the root/roms Ive done, cannot get custom ROM to complete install. I was trying for the CarHD or Batman. after rom flash, something goes wrong and the phone either goes bootloop or failed verify. (BTW, couple X I did flash the no-verify to alleviate that issue but still get bootloop or no new rom boot up)
The other thing I'd love to be able to do right now that 'should' be a piece of cake, (but hasn't been) until I figure out the custom rom install issue, is to ask for anyone that can post a link to a valid ODIN-flashable Stock 7.0 NOUGAT ROM for my S8+ G955F/FD. That would solve everything for now and I'd just disable updates for the interim. As previously mentioned, the couple I have found would only FAIL on Odin flash attempts. Seeing that this is a global, unlocked device, is it possible to flash a stock rom or flash a diff CSC that can get me North America Tmobile setup (my USA provider) I noticed that the global phone has no options to disable LTE or turn wifi calling on/off etc.
I apologize if I have jumped around in my post, not provided enough details or not written very eloquently, but I am happy to provide any other needed info to move forward if any of you have ideas here. I'm just at the end of my rope with this right now.
Any help, input here is much appreciated! TIA! mark~
Trying to be helpful here.
For some folks flashing with Odin the first run through errors/fails. That issue was a PITA. I found a post somewhere which said when you hook up the phone to flash with Odin, the first attempt will fail, but to leave the phone connected, go back into download mode, and flash again. Do not unplug the phone when you do this.
For some reason there's a kink in Odin with some folks.
That info, wish I could recall who by - they deserve the recognition, anyway it solved all my Odin errors.
JeffDC said:
Trying to be helpful here.
For some folks flashing with Odin the first run through errors/fails. That issue was a PITA. I found a post somewhere which said when you hook up the phone to flash with Odin, the first attempt will fail, but to leave the phone connected, go back into download mode, and flash again. Do not unplug the phone when you do this.
For some reason there's a kink in Odin with some folks.
That info, wish I could recall who by - they deserve the recognition, anyway it solved all my Odin errors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey jeff, thanks for checking in when the OEM unlock button returns again tomorrow, I'll keep this in mind on my next attempt. i did encounter that fail several times with some OEM firmware flashes (trying to go back to 7.0) and this should resolve that problem. overall though, my real issue seems to be when attempting a root/custom rom instead of a stock replacement... and 'after' i get TWRP completed. I'm doing something wrong with a button hold sequence or something else. maybe need flash 'do not verify' right off too. I'm gonna go extra slow/careful following each step from a great, detailed post for TWRP/ROOT/ROM procedure that i found here over weekend written by 'jesec' what i hate the most is, i only have 1 shot doing this with the oem unlock button, if messed up, have to re-flash a stock rom and wait another 7 days to try this all again.
i still cannot believe its been about 13wks and samsung says they are aware, yet still has not patched this problem. i love my samsungs but im so fed up, i almost ordered a oneplus 6 this weekend just because of this random no ring issue.
thanks much!

(FIXED) Bootloader Locked but Device Won't Boot

I recently ran into the issue during custom rom work. I reflash the stock android ZIP, it starts booting, then I hard reset it with the power button and try to reach bootloader again. This, as it turns out, is terrible to do if you want a fast setup. The moment it starts and you reboot it, the boot image is corrupted (that's my guess) because escaping the boot screen during a clean flash bricks your phone. If you're reading this, it happened to you as well.
The answer is so flipping obvious and it took me an hour to figure it out - nowhere on the internet is there a "solution" for this problem, no matter how frequent it is. But there are lots of people who deal with this, whether still on their factory images (like the Pixel 3 EDL issue) or like me bouncing from custom to stock. So here's the answer:
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SIDELOAD THE CURRENT SOFTWARE OTA OR A BETA OTA FROM ANOTHER FUTURE VERSION.
It doesn't recognize timestamps before your current software, so you'll need to assume you're on the latest of whatever you're on and do that. Future versions work as well, so if you wanted to reach 12 in one shot, your phone's bootloader would fully accept it as long as the file isn't corrupted. If you need a sideloading or flashing guide, here you go.
For me, I flashed the latest build of Android 11 (August patch) and rebooted during the boot up. What I did was download the OTA of the same exact file to my laptop, and entered adb sideload coral.xxx.x.zip. (The name of the file) It ran all the way through and it started up perfectly normal.
I hope this helps someone!
P.S. I don't have any pictures or tutorials, I only wrote this to help others understand what happened and how to fix it. Probably wouldn't have needed to say it if the forum for it existed.

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