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[Q] Unlocking problems for the bootloader

I am trying to unlock my photons Q bootloader on the Motosite which is well known. I check it now a million times if I have a typo and I Dont.
The button with the "request unlock key " comes up, I hit it, and didnt recieve any mail. And I started last week doing it.
The Photon q has a GSM mod done by the almighty CornholioGSM, and I am using a connection from Germany. Since it is a Sprint photon, I thought that it might be discarded, because the ip it comes from is german ?..
Would be great to have someone telling me if there is another solution to this ..
I tried to flash with the locked bootloader the recovery, but get the message "invalid image size" on CWM or TWR.
I hope this Q is not too noob for all of you.

I would try motochopper or whatever the exploit was to unlock without Moto's assistance.
It may have been unlocked previously, (relocked for warranty swap) in which case I'm not sure you can use the site to re-unlock the device...

arrrghhh said:
I would try motochopper or whatever the exploit was to unlock without Moto's assistance.
It may have been unlocked previously, (relocked for warranty swap) in which case I'm not sure you can use the site to re-unlock the device...
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Click to collapse
First of all thank your for your answer ! Most likely you are right. Now my Q, I did read Motochopper just install SU and also gives root, but without touching the bootloader. Dont I need to unlock the bootloader if I want to install Cyanogen or any other Mod ? Maybe I understood that wrong.

x11-nice said:
First of all thank your for your answer ! Most likely you are right. Now my Q, I did read Motochopper just install SU and also gives root, but without touching the bootloader. Dont I need to unlock the bootloader if I want to install Cyanogen or any other Mod ? Maybe I understood that wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, motochopper did its job. Thank you for that ! ! ! I guess now I have to go on with Goomanager. :good:

x11-nice said:
Ok, motochopper did its job. Thank you for that ! ! ! I guess now I have to go on with Goomanager. :good:
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Click to collapse
If you're wanting to install TWRP, I think they have a new app now... TWRP Manager?
I've always installed recovery using fastboot on the Q, so I'm not very familiar with the apps .

arrrghhh said:
If you're wanting to install TWRP, I think they have a new app now... TWRP Manager?
I've always installed recovery using fastboot on the Q, so I'm not very familiar with the apps .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the TWRP Manager, the manager shows me success for installing the TWRP recovery, but I cant access it. It switches back into Fastboot telling me flash failure. Actually I would like to install CM11. Well I will try to install the latest nightly and see whats happening. Hopefully it doesnt brick. :silly: Thanks for your help, I will let you know about success or fail.

x11-nice said:
I tried the TWRP Manager, the manager shows me success for installing the TWRP recovery, but I cant access it. It switches back into Fastboot telling me flash failure. Actually I would like to install CM11. Well I will try to install the latest nightly and see whats happening. Hopefully it doesnt brick. :silly: Thanks for your help, I will let you know about success or fail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to install some sort of custom recovery in order to flash a custom ROM.
Open Recovery or TWRP are both fine. CWM is really old for our device, I can't recommend it.

arrrghhh said:
You need to install some sort of custom recovery in order to flash a custom ROM.
Open Recovery or TWRP are both fine. CWM is really old for our device, I can't recommend it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So yesterday Motorola send me the messages with the codes which I apllied for almost 2 weeks ago... I guess the next days will arrive more.
Ofc I tried to unlock and it worked as expected. Now with fastboot flashing tto recovery 2.8.0.1 of TWRP went flawless. Actually I am really impressed how easy it worked, unlike using all the other tools like motochopper and TWRP Manager, which actually didnt solve the problem at all not having a unlocked bootloader.
Now my last Q: Which CM11 is the preferable choice for using it with the Photon. I dont care so much about Nightly or not. What I need is stable VPN and WIFI, and working mail and messenger like Cypher.
And! Thank you so much arrrghhh for all your advice and help. This forum and its users are really a great help to the community of android !

All DONE
Ok used TWRP 2.8.0.1 to install cm-11-20141012-NIGHTLY-moto_msm8960_jbbl and the PA-Gapps-Modular for 4.4.x. Great work on everyone who participated making this possible and developing the necessary tools.
Thanks again to Arrrghhh and Cornholio !

Can i go back to cm11s this way?

Hi! My question is lame, i know.. But here it goes anyway, i couldn't find a simple and direct answer..
Is less than a week that i have this phone, and i've been reading a lot of guides of how to rollback to cm11s.. the thing is i've flashed the latest CM12S signed zip ota through CM Recovery, everything is fine as i'm testing it right now..
My question is: if i want to go back to CM11S (in the case that i don't like CM12S or have some bugs), can i just wipe data / factory reset and cache in CM Recovery, and then flash the cm11s signed zip?
I haven't rooted or unlocked bootloader, is it relatively easy from what i read around here.. but i wondered if i had to go through all those steps (unlock bootloader, custom recovery, and then flash) or just doing the steps mentioned before will work just fine..
Is it better to fastboot flash or through custom recovery is fine also?
Thanks in advance!
PD: I'm also asking what do you think about some other 5.1.1 Lollipop ROM, custom kernel, etc.. I'm kind of a flashaholic and i would be able to install the custom recovery if would be really worth it
PD2: sorry for the bad english, i'm from argentina

cesarp3791 said:
Hi! My question is lame, i know.. But here it goes anyway, i couldn't find a simple and direct answer..
Is less than a week that i have this phone, and i've been reading a lot of guides of how to rollback to cm11s.. the thing is i've flashed the latest CM12S signed zip ota through CM Recovery, everything is fine as i'm testing it right now..
My question is: if i want to go back to CM11S (in the case that i don't like CM12S or have some bugs), can i just wipe data / factory reset and cache in CM Recovery, and then flash the cm11s signed zip?
I haven't rooted or unlocked bootloader, is it relatively easy from what i read around here.. but i wondered if i had to go through all those steps (unlock bootloader, custom recovery, and then flash) or just doing the steps mentioned before will work just fine..
Is it better to fastboot flash or through custom recovery is fine also?
Thanks in advance!
PD: I'm also asking what do you think about some other 5.1.1 Lollipop ROM, custom kernel, etc.. I'm kind of a flashaholic and i would be able to install the custom recovery if would be really worth it
PD2: sorry for the bad english, i'm from argentina
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just unlock your bootloader now, the longer you leave it the more difficult it'll be to backup your internal storage beforehand. You should really have it unlocked anyway as insurance against anything going wrong with your phone. Once you have unlocked it you can flash TWRP recovery, then the correct procedure to go back to CM11S would be to perform a full wipe (system, data, cache, dalvik cache) and then just flash the zip. As far as custom ROMs for this device go, there are many excellent options to choose from that offer extra customisation that you won't find on the stock ROM.

Don't we have to flash the firmware prior to flashing back to CM11s to prevent a hardbrick? I'm looking into doing this as well, so I'm just asking for my own clarity.

uansari1 said:
Don't we have to flash the firmware prior to flashing back to CM11s to prevent a hardbrick? I'm looking into doing this as well, so I'm just asking for my own clarity.
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Click to collapse
The firmware is contained in the official zip.

Heisenberg said:
The firmware is contained in the official zip.
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Click to collapse
Thanks! Stupid question, but can you please link me to the official zip? I already have TWRP installed, so it would be nice to revert sooner than later.

uansari1 said:
Thanks! Stupid question, but can you please link me to the official zip? I already have TWRP installed, so it would be nice to revert sooner than later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll find them all here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2906746

Thanks!
Thank you both, i believe that this week i'll have some time and unlock the bootloader and flashing the TWRP recovery right away.. Then i'll see which ROM suits my use (i'm looking to battery friendly and high screen on time, will see the forums accordingly) and start the journey on this beautiful and well supported device
Also, thanks for the clarification of the modems.. Will be looking after that and make sure not to miss that step if required :good:

cesarp3791 said:
Thank you both, i believe that this week i'll have some time and unlock the bootloader and flashing the TWRP recovery right away.. Then i'll see which ROM suits my use (i'm looking to battery friendly and high screen on time, will see the forums accordingly) and start the journey on this beautiful and well supported device
Also, thanks for the clarification of the modems.. Will be looking after that and make sure not to miss that step if required :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you've flashed the ROM, please do share your results. I am still unsure if reverting from a Lollipop ROM to CM11S will cause issues with the radio and/or a softbrick of the device, as I've read that this "can" happen.

uansari1 said:
Once you've flashed the ROM, please do share your results. I am still unsure if reverting from a Lollipop ROM to CM11S will cause issues with the radio and/or a softbrick of the device, as I've read that this "can" happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reverting from Lollipop to KitKat won't brick your device, whoever said that is wrong, and would have caused a brick because they didn't know what they were doing. You do need to make sure you flash a KitKat modem though, otherwise you'll have issues with the prox sensor.

Heisenberg said:
Reverting from Lollipop to KitKat won't brick your device, whoever said that is wrong, and would have caused a brick because they didn't know what they were doing. You do need to make sure you flash a KitKat modem though, otherwise you'll have issues with the prox sensor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Timaaa...last question, I'm downloading the latest modem from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/rom-stock-rooted-xnph05q-t3027033.
Is this the correct flashable modem file to use, or do you recommend another for XNPH05Q?

uansari1 said:
Thanks Timaaa...last question, I'm downloading the latest modem from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/rom-stock-rooted-xnph05q-t3027033.
Is this the correct flashable modem file to use, or do you recommend another for XNPH05Q?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That modem should be fine.

custom recovery not showing on apps

Hi guys I am new here and here is my problem. After using twrp for some days I just installed cwm via fastboot but I don't know why In some app(flashify, rom manager) it's not showing that I have cwm installed though when I go to recovery it starts cwm everytime........... ?

riley jes said:
Hi guys I am new here and here is my problem. After using twrp for some days I just installed cwm via fastboot but I don't know why In some app(flashify, rom manager) it's not showing that I have cwm installed though when I go to recovery it starts cwm everytime........... ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The apps aren't perfect, they are made to work on all devices, they won't behave the same on every device.
By the way, I suggest you forget all about ROM Manager, it is well known for bricking devices.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Custom recovery will not go whereas supersu will go.
The only possible way where your custom recovery is gone is when you brick your device. Either it may be soft or hard.

Thanks to all
riley jes said:
Hi guys I am new here and here is my problem. After using twrp for some days I just installed cwm via fastboot but I don't know why In some app(flashify, rom manager) it's not showing that I have cwm installed though when I go to recovery it starts cwm everytime...........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think my device get brick. Anyway, thanks to all for replies. I just got to know that some cwm recovery not show on apps. My phone working fine and the recovery too. Thanks for the help.?

alex930492012 said:
Custom recovery will not go whereas supersu will go.
The only possible way where your custom recovery is gone is when you brick your device. Either it may be soft or hard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true, custom recovery can and does get wiped out accidentally sometimes, it's usually due to user error though.
It just didn't get wiped in this member's case.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Thought I was doing so well; tablet won't boot to OS

Hey folks; I'm hoping I can get some advice or pointers, or maybe just a slap upside the head with something I've missed.
I have one of the original Shield tablets, and played around with it quite a lot, installing various custom ROMs from the marvelous directions I've found here. When the battery thing happened, I submitted the required info and happily received my new tablet. The original was rooted and customised still, kill-switch averted, and I had two working tablets. I gave the new stock one to my wife.
But then, about three months ago, I was playing with mine again installing a newer ROM than the one I was using (I *think* I was going from an older Bliss rom to one of the Cyanogen), and ... Something Happened (tm). The tablet rebooted in the middle of everything, and now won't boot to an image.
I'm on Windows 10 now, and had some fun getting the drivers working, but they seem to. I can communicate with the tablet through Fastboot, but ADB doesn't see it. I've flashed several versions of TWRP to the tablet, and can boot into that recovery - both through Fastboot and the tablet's power+vol-dn buttons. I've used TWRP to flash several different ROMs, and it *appears* to work (there are no errors), but when I reboot the tablet .... nada. Nothing but the Nvidia boot screen for days.
So now... what have I missed? I'm a little reluctant to flash a stock ROM, but I'm at a loss. I used to have more time to fiddle and figure, and I'm afraid that my impatience is going to kill the thing.

Format system and data see if that works

You need to have the latest bootloader to run the latest roms.
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

skooter32 said:
Format system and data see if that works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have done, but I'll try it again. Thanks

lafester said:
You need to have the latest bootloader to run the latest roms.
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried the latest and the not-so-latest, all with similar results.

Hnefatafl said:
I've tried the latest and the not-so-latest, all with similar results.
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Click to collapse
so you wan t your "burning" tablet set again stock?
Did you read about "recovery images" for shield tablet?
If fastboot is working you can flash the recovery image and all will update to the latest(blob,system,boot, etc)
flash latest twrp for shieldtablet.
after that use the nomoreota.zip to prevent the software brick from nvidida

Hnefatafl said:
Have done, but I'll try it again. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also format data system to something other than ext4 then re format it back

skooter32 said:
Also format data system to something other than ext4 then re format it back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can I ask what that should bring?

wiQbold said:
so you wan t your "burning" tablet set again stock?
Did you read about "recovery images" for shield tablet?
If fastboot is working you can flash the recovery image and all will update to the latest(blob,system,boot, etc)
flash latest twrp for shieldtablet.
after that use the nomoreota.zip to prevent the software brick from nvidida
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't want it stock at all, I was just worried that was my only option to get this thing to respond again. I was running BlissPop v.somethingorother, but wanted to update. That's when things went awry.

Right, well it looks like I've got this thing going. I could flash TWRP 3.1.0-0, but not any 3.1.1. Cyanogenmod 12 worked. Reading up a little more (it got slow at work for a couple of days...) I flashed the firmware to 5.0, and could now install TWRP 3.1.1-1! Then I could install (in this case) Lineage 14.1, which *almost* worked. It booted, but there's no wifi.
Then I found a suggestion - I think it was on these forums somewhere - and restarted. Wiped all data again, flashed Cyanogenmod 12, no gapps. Restarted, checked everything including wifi, and is good. Rebooted back into recovery, performed a factory reset, then installed Lineage 14.1 and gapps. When it rebooted, everything is working!
So. Firmware. Huh.
Thanks all.

Hnefatafl said:
No, I don't want it stock at all, I was just worried that was my only option to get this thing to respond again. I was running BlissPop v.somethingorother, but wanted to update. That's when things went awry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do not know if you need the bootloader(blob) from nougat to boot up, that lafester told you. but that sounds plausible. skooter says something from re-formating. so if you tried that all and nothing changes? cache and data partition you wiped also, so it has to be work for my understanding.
went always stock, so can t help you..
but you can use recovery images > twrp > bliss/linage. no need to boot up stock?

wiQbold said:
can I ask what that should bring?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had similar issues and I tried everything even this plus what harm is it going to be and as the fellow below said if ur in fastboot and recovery with no issues then surely u should be flashing stick to fix Ur problem ?

[SOLVED] Need help, recovery flash failed (Newb)

Hey Guys,
I got a new OP8T and wanted to install LineageOS 19.1 (First time doing something like this, so this might be a dumb question).
before doing anything, I updated OOS to the latest version using the internal update. I then unlocked the bootloader and flashed the latest LOS recovery. After flashing the LOS recovery, my phone goes into a boot loop whenever I try to boot it, after 4-5 loops, it boots into the stock recovery.
I can access fastboot mode though. Does anyone have an idea how I can fix this or what I might have done wrong?
In the recovery I have the option "format data". Might that do a factory reset?
Or should I go into fastboot and try flashing the recovery again?
I also thought about flashing Android 12 OOS from: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-official-kebab-12-lineageos-19.4484387/page-2#post-87339737
I'm a little afraid to completely bricking the phone now by doing something stupid.
Edit: Tried to "format data". No real changes. Can still boot into recovery and fastboot.
Another thought I had, was that now, after factory resetting, the phone might be back to Android 11, so maybe I could try to flash TWRP for Android 11 and then LineageOS 18.1?
What are your thoughts?
Edit: Forgot to flash the vbmeta.img and dtbo.img partitions.
Flashing them and then flash the recovery again resolved the issue

A factory reset does not downgrade your OS version. Did you flash the dtbo and vbmeta partitions before flashing LOS recovery?

henschn3435 said:
Hey Guys,
I got a new OP8T and wanted to install LineageOS 19.1 (First time doing something like this, so this might be a dumb question).
before doing anything, I updated OOS to the latest version using the internal update. I then unlocked the bootloader and flashed the latest LOS recovery. After flashing the LOS recovery, my phone goes into a boot loop whenever I try to boot it, after 4-5 loops, it boots into the stock recovery.
I can access fastboot mode though. Does anyone have an idea how I can fix this or what I might have done wrong?
In the recovery I have the option "format data". Might that do a factory reset?
Or should I go into fastboot and try flashing the recovery again?
I also thought about flashing Android 12 OOS from: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-official-kebab-12-lineageos-19.4484387/page-2#post-87339737
I'm a little afraid to completely bricking the phone now by doing something stupid.
Edit: Tried to "format data". No real changes. Can still boot into recovery and fastboot.
Another thought I had, was that now, after factory resetting, the phone might be back to Android 11, so maybe I could try to flash TWRP for Android 11 and then LineageOS 18.1?
What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a good thing to look through the official thread before flashing anything.
[ROM][OFFICIAL][kebab][12] LineageOS 19
LineageOS is a free, community built, aftermarket firmware distribution of Android 12, which is designed to increase performance and reliability over stock Android for your device. LineageOS is based on the Android Open Source Project with extra...
forum.xda-developers.com

TheNewHEROBRINE said:
A factory reset does not downgrade your OS version. Did you flash the dtbo and vbmeta partitions before flashing LOS recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I didn't. That was definitely the mistake! I feel pretty stupid right now.... Oh well...
Can I do that now and then flash the recovery again? Thank you!

henschn3435 said:
No, I didn't. That was definitely the mistake! I feel pretty stupid right now.... Oh well...
Can I do that now and then flash the recovery again? Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try but I can't assure that it will work.

TheNewHEROBRINE said:
You can try but I can't assure that it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any other idea what I could do?
I thought about using the msm tool to reset the device completely, but that seems kinda drastic...

henschn3435 said:
Do you have any other idea what I could do?
I thought about using the msm tool to reset the device completely, but that seems kinda drastic...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I would do is go into fastboot and flash dtbo, vbmeta and recovery downloaded from here, then reboot into recovery directly from the bootloader menu.

TheNewHEROBRINE said:
What I would do is go into fastboot and flash dtbo, vbmeta and recovery downloaded from here, then reboot into recovery directly from the bootloader menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that the same as the most recent recovery and LOS from LOS official download page?
Anyway you're a huge help! Thank you so much!

The file name is identical so I suppose they are the same. I found the link in the official guide.

TheNewHEROBRINE said:
The file name is identical so I suppose they are the same. I found the link in the official guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll go ahead and try it first thing tomorrow morning

Don't be too anxious about "completely bricking" your phone if you're just trying to upgrade and then flash Lineage. Don't rush, try some things that make sense based on your understanding of the correct procedure, and make a brief note of each step you took to help you later on if things don't work as expected. I've made lots of mistakes ending in boot loops and crash dumps, sometimes by accident and sometimes intentionally, and there's always a way to get out of it unless you do something really out of the ordinary. Keep your mind engaged and you'll have many "Ah-ha!" moments along the way. Don't give up and ask carefully worded questions when you get stuck. It may take a bit longer to get the job done than you expected but it will all work out in the end.

Flashing the partitions and the reflashing the recovery worked! Thank you all for the help!