Related
For my fellow Stingray users (and possibly Everest users as well, if they're having similar issues), I was one of the group of people who couldn't get data on any 4.4 roms after going through the BigPart process. After a bunch of trial and error (and some excellent suggestions from fellow community members, I was able to get data working again and I'm happily enjoying KitKat on my three-year-old Xoom. If you've got a bit of patience and an hour or so, I believe I've got the solution to help you restore your data as well.
IMPORTANT: This entire process should be completely harmless to your Xoom, and the goal here is to help the group of Stingray users who lost all data functionality to repair that issue so that they can enjoy the full benefits of Android 4.4 (and potential future updates). That said, you do this at your own risk, and in doing so, you agree not to hold me accountable if you brick your Xoom, or if it dies, loses data (you’re going to lose everything but what’s on your SD Card, so think about that before you start the process), or any other unforeseen circumstances.
STAGE 1: Reverting to Stock Partitions
1.) DISCLAIMER: Any and all data on anything but your external SD Card will be completely wiped. If there are any back-ups you value, move them to your SD Card, your computer, or a cloud storage account. There’s no getting them back once you start this process.
2.) First off, you need to make sure you have everything you need downloaded and ready. You will need the following on your SD Card:
-TWRP 2.6.3.0 touch recovery from @runandhide05
-TWRP 2.6.3.0 BigPart touch recovery from @runandhide05
-a standard partition Stingray rom (I used CM 10.1 from @Steady Hawkin, 10/28 build, which you can find here)
-(optional) GApps package for standard partition rom (I used the 02.20.2013 Unified GApps found here, but you seriously don’t need them for anything.
-your BigPart rom of choice (I went with CM 11, which you can find in this thread, but there’s also OmniRom, which you can find in this thread, both of which were kindly ported by @Schischu. If you opt for Omni, you’ll also need a flashable zip file of the Superuser app of your choice.)
-your 4.4 GApps of choice (I use the PA Modular Full GApps, but any 4.4 GApps will be fine once you’ve repartitioned)
-Universal Xoom root .zip file, created by @solarnz (which you can find here)
As well as the following on your computer:
-The Android SDK, specifically ADB and Fastboot (if you don’t have this set up yet, start at the very beginning: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html)
-a stock android rom for the Stingray (I used HRI66, which you can find here)
-TWRP 2.6.3.0 touch recovery from @runandhide05
And one last thing:
-A good wifi connection (either through a wireless router or using your phone or other device with a data plan)
3.) Reboot your tablet into recovery and flash the non-BigPart TWRP 2.6.3.0 touch recovery. DO NOT REBOOT YET!
4.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Wipe tab, tap the Advanced Wipe tab, and wipe everything but sdcard (that means Dalvik Cache, System, Cache, Data, and Internal Storage)
5.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Reboot tab, tap the Recovery tab. You will get a “No OS” warning, tap “Reboot Anyway”. You will be prompted to install SuperSU – ignore this and reboot into recovery.
6.) Once you’re back into recovery (CAUTION: THIS MAY TAKE SOME TIME. BE PATIENT AND LET YOUR TABLET DO ITS THING!) You may get a warning about data being encrypted, but just tap the Home icon, then tap the Wipe tab. Tap the Format Data tab, type “yes” when prompted, and wait for your data to format. Go back to the main wipe menu, tap the Advanced Wipe tab, and select System and Cache and proceed to wipe them.
7.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Reboot tab, tap the Recovery tab. Again, you will get the “No OS” warning and the prompt to install SuperSU – ignore both of them and allow your tablet to reboot into recovery, which, again, may take some time. (I’ve done this process multiple times and each time, the amount of time that it needed on various reboots was different, so be patient if you don’t want to brick your Xoom.)
8.) Tap the Mount tab. Sdcard, Cache, and Data should be checked; System should be unchecked. Tap the box next to System, make sure that it mounts without any errors, and then uncheck it again. If you’ve made it this far, you’re back to the standard partitions.
9.) Tap the Install tab. Your external sdcard should be showing by default. Flash your standard partition rom (in my case, CM 10.1) and your GApps, if you so choose (though again, they serve no purpose).
10.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Reboot tab, and tap the System tab to reboot into your chosen standard partition rom. Ensure that everything loads (again: this may take some time) and go through the setup process.
11.) Go into Settings and enable developer options (Settings --->About Tablet--->tap Build Number several times until Developer options are enabled.
12.) Go into Developer options and make sure that Android debugging is checked. Now you’re ready for Stage 2.
STAGE 2: Returning to stock Honeycomb
1.) Find your stock Honeycomb rom (as mentioned earlier, I used HRI66) and unzip it into a folder of its own.
2.) Inside the folder you unzipped, you may find another folder designated MZ600_HRI66. Inside that folder, there will be four files, boot.img, recovery.img, system.img, and userdata.img
3.) Copy those files into the folder that has adb.exe and fastboot.exe (if you simply installed the Android SDK as instructed, it’ll be inside the platform-tools folder, which is itself inside the sdk folder).
4.) Connect your Xoom to your computer using a USB data cable (preferably a Motorola one if you have one available) and ensure that there is a notification that says “Android debugging enabled” (if you don’t see this notification, go back into Settings --> Developer options, and make sure that “USB debugging notify” has a check in the box next to it).
5.) Open a command prompt in the directory that contains adb.exe and fastboot.exe (Windows 7 and up, click the File tab and choose “Open Command Prompt”; if you’re on Vista or older, I can’t help you, but I’m sure Google can).
6.) Enter the following command:
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
7.) Your tablet will reboot to the red “M” logo and it should say “Fastboot protocol initiated” at the top in white letters. If so, proceed to step 8; if not, and assuming your tablet has rebooted normally, try step 6 again.
8.) Enter the following commands into your command prompt, one at a time, and let each one compete. You’ll get a series of status updates in both your command window and on your tablet as each process completes. Wait for it to say “Done!” before entering the next command.
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
Code:
fastboot flash system system.img
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Code:
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
Code:
fastboot erase cache
9.) Once all those steps have completed, enter one last Fastboot command:
Code:
fastboot reboot
10.) Your tablet should now reboot into factory Honeycomb and you can disconnect from the USB cable. As mentioned before, this is one of those reboots that could take a few seconds up to several minutes, so just be patient!
NOTE: These next several steps are much easier to complete if you have a high-speed wifi connection. At this point, if you don’t have a data connection, don’t panic, at least not yet. I tried multiple times to activate my device on the Verizon network, and while it said it was successful each time, I never managed to get a 3G connection back. Your best bet is to connect to Wifi and continue the process.
11.) On your tablet, go to Settings --> About tablet --> System Updates. More than likely, your tablet has already started downloading the next update, so you can just sit back and wait for it to download. You’ll get a notification when the download is complete. While you’re waiting, on your computer, move boot.img, system.img, recovery.img, and userdata.img from your ADB folder back into a folder where you’ll have them on-hand if you need them again.
12.) Once you get the notification that the update is downloaded, you’ll have the option to reboot and install or install later. Choose to reboot and install. Your tablet will reboot into the stock Android recovery and install the update, then go to the “M” logo screen and more white text will appear. Wait for this to complete and your tablet to reboot again.
13.) Repeats steps 11 and 12 until you receive and install the IMM76L build (I believe that’s the one) – it’ll be Ice Cream Sandwich and your data should be working. If it’s not, then I’m not sure what to suggest. Your tablet will attempt to download the stock 4.1.2 build (JZO45M) and if it completes, it’s not a big deal, but MAKE SURE YOU DON’T INSTALL IT!
14.) Go to Settings --> Developer options and turn on USB debugging again. (If everything is grayed out, tap the On/Off slider in the upper righthand corner to make the checkbox clickable). At this point, you’re ready for Stage 3.
STAGE 3: Re-rooting
1.) On your computer, find the copy of TWRP 2.6.3.0 touch recovery from @runandhide05 (the standard one, not the BigPart one, yet), and unzip it into its own folder. Copy the recovery.img file from the unzipped folder into the same directory that contains adb.exe and fastboot.exe. IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU REMOVED THE RECOVERY.IMG FILE THAT YOU USED TO GET BACK TO STOCK EARLIER!
2.) Connect your Xoom to your computer via USB data cable and ensure that the USB debugging notification appears and that your computer recognizes your Xoom.
3.) Open a command prompt in the directory with adb.exe and fastboot.exe and enter the following command:
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
4.) Your tablet will reboot to the “M” logo screen and it will again say “Fastboot protocol initiated”. When it’s ready, enter the following command into your command prompt:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
5.) Once you get the “Done” notification in the command prompt and on your tablet, enter the following command:
Code:
fastboot reboot
6.) Your tablet will reboot, and when you see the “M” logo screen, wait three seconds and press the Volume Down key. “Android recovery” will appear, press the Volume Up key.
7.) Your tablet will now boot into TWRP 2.6.3.0 and it may “hang” at the TWRP splash screen for some time – that’s normal, wait it out, and when TWRP loads, tap the Install tab. Navigate to the root of your external sdcard (if it’s not showing by default), choose the Xoom Universal root.zip file, and install it.
8.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Reboot tab, and tap System from the reboot menu. Your tablet should boot back into ICS, but you should now have a superuser app installed (ChainsDD’s, I believe). If that’s the case, and you’ve still got data functionality, then it’s time to move to Stage 4.
STAGE 4: BigPart and KitKat
1.) Reboot your tablet into recovery (you have two options – either shut down your tablet, power it back on, wait three seconds at the “M” logo screen and then press Volume Down, followed by Volume Up when it says “Android Recovery”, or reconnect your tablet to your computer with a USB data cable, open a command prompt in your adb directory, and enter the following command: adb reboot bootloader)
2.) Reboot your tablet into recovery and flash the TWRP 2.6.3.0 BigPart touch recovery. DO NOT REBOOT YET!
3.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Wipe tab, tap the Advanced Wipe tab, and wipe everything but sdcard (that means Dalvik Cache, System, Cache, Data, and Internal Storage)
4.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Reboot tab, tap the Recovery tab. You will get a “No OS” warning, tap “Reboot Anyway”. You will be prompted to install SuperSU – ignore this and reboot into recovery.
5.) Once you’re back into recovery (CAUTION: THIS MAY TAKE SOME TIME. BE PATIENT AND LET YOUR TABLET DO ITS THING!) You may get a warning about data being encrypted, but just tap the Home icon, then tap the Wipe tab. Tap the Format Data tab, type “yes” when prompted, and wait for your data to format. Go back to the main wipe menu, tap the Advanced Wipe tab, and select System and Cache and proceed to wipe them.
6.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Reboot tab, tap the Recovery tab. Again, you will get the “No OS” warning and the prompt to install SuperSU – ignore both of them and allow your tablet to reboot into recovery, which, again, may take some time.
7.) Tap the Mount tab. Sdcard, Cache, and Data should be checked; System should be unchecked. Tap the box next to System, make sure that it mounts without any errors, and then uncheck it again. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve successfully repartitioned your tablet back to BigPart.
8.) Tap the Install tab. Your external sdcard should be showing by default. Flash your BigPart rom (and, if you’re installing Omni, your superuser zip file, or, if you’re not flashing one of Schischu’s KitKat roms, the corresponding BigPart boot img or the ElementalX kernel). NOTE: BECAUSE THIS WASN'T SUCCESSFUL FOR EVERYONE, FOR THIS STEP, PLEASE FLASH SCHISCHU'S JANUARY 4TH VERSION OF CM 11 FOR THE STINGRAY, WHICH YOU CAN FIND HERE.
NOTE: You probably can flash your GApps at this point as well; however, I’m detailing the process as I had success with it.
9.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Reboot tab, and tap the System tab to reboot into your chosen BigPart rom. Go through the setup process, ensure you have data, and if you do (and you didn’t do so already), reboot and install your GApps.
NOTE: You may get com.android.phone force close errors when going through setup – if this happens, it’s a good thing – pull your SIM card and reboot, complete setup, re-insert SIM card and reboot again.
If this post helped you, then give thanks to the following people (because they did all the hard work):
@bigrushdog (for the hard work on BigPart) @realjumy (for the hard work on BigPart)
@Schischu (for the excellent KitKat roms)
@xyrcncp (for clarifications that led to a minor breakthrough) @rapson2000 (for thinking outside the box and leading to my breakthrough)
There are probably a bunch of other people who contributed that I missed, but I wanted to get this up there in case other people were still having issues.
Reserved to answer any questions that may arise.
LTE data still not working
All your instructions were good and working, up until I reinstalled Cyanogenmod 11 (cm-11-20140203-UNOFFICIAL-2235+0100-stingray.zip). Then I lost data again. I'm guessing from your instructions and how things stopped working that there's something about the re-partitioning process that makes the LTE APKs just stop working.
The Xoom is detecting the LTE network, just as before, there are no bars and no data connection. Looks like I'll have to repartition again and use a ROM that sticks with the old partitions and wait for a possible fix to this issue.
variatbg said:
All your instructions were good and working, up until I reinstalled Cyanogenmod 11 (cm-11-20140203-UNOFFICIAL-2235+0100-stingray.zip). Then I lost data again. I'm guessing from your instructions and how things stopped working that there's something about the re-partitioning process that makes the LTE APKs just stop working.
The Xoom is detecting the LTE network, just as before, there are no bars and no data connection. Looks like I'll have to repartition again and use a ROM that sticks with the old partitions and wait for a possible fix to this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've repartitioned multiple times now - once from stock, rooted Jelly Bean, and got no data, then back to standard partition and CM 10.1 with only 3G, back to BigPart with no data, then I followed the steps that I wrote up here and now I'm BigParted on CM 11 with data. So it's not the repartitioning process. I'm a testament to that. What were you on when you did the BigPart process for the first time?
Edit: if you're willing to do the whole process again, would you try installing the very first CM 11 that Schischu released? I should've specified that that's the rom I installed first after repartitioning this time. One I had working data, I updated to the latest version.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
Help with MZ605 (Everest) stock (step 10 of stage 2)
Thank you very much for your work on the data problem.
I have a Brazilian MZ605 (WIFI + 3G) and the problem I'm facing is that after flashing the stock rom it don't allow me to proceed to the configuration menu if I don't put a valid SIM card, and that is my dead end, it isn't recognizing my SIM card so I cannot follow the rest of your guide...
Do you have any idea on how I could force the stock to ignore the first SIM verification?
Thank you in advance!
LTE data still not working
webeougher said:
What were you on when you did the BigPart process for the first time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was first using OmniROM of January 12, though I can't quite recall. Then I also tried CM 11 and no dice there. Following your process, when I first reverted to CM 10.1 on original partitions, data was immediately present again.
It was there through all the reversions to stock 3.2.2, and through every OTA update Motorola sent to the device. In fact, some of the updates wouldn't even show up except over Mobile Data.
One thing that might make a difference is that this Xoom is on a business account through Verizon. It's not part of a shared data plan, but there might be a different categorization perhaps?
Anyways, I'm not going through all that partitioning and flashing again just now. I will though, eventually do a Nandroid backup and try again, once I see here or elsewhere that something might have changed for me. I have spent just too much time on this, and data is more important in this case than KitKat.
Thiago Delatorre said:
Thank you very much for your work on the data problem.
I have a Brazilian MZ605 (WIFI + 3G) and the problem I'm facing is that after flashing the stock rom it don't allow me to proceed to the configuration menu if I don't put a valid SIM card, and that is my dead end, it isn't recognizing my SIM card so I cannot follow the rest of your guide...
Do you have any idea on how I could force the stock to ignore the first SIM verification?
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a stupid question, but did you flash the stock rom I linked in this thread, or a stock Everest rom?
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
webeougher said:
This is a stupid question, but did you flash the stock rom I linked in this thread, or a stock Everest rom?
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not stupid at all, it could make all the difference!
I flashed the MZ605 Brazilian, MZ601 International and the one you linked. The formers booted and asked for the SIM card and the last just didn't boot. I put two different SIM cards and it didn't work, I was wondering it there were a way to circumvent the first check. I also read somewhere that the MZ601/MZ605 US Retail version didn't check for a SIM card on the first boot, but I didn't find an official stock rom for such a device (I don't even know if these devices exist).
The next trial would be with the MZ600 Verizon 3G, but I'm not that confident that it is gonna work...
Another problem is that I stopped using the 3G data on Xoom for more than one year, so I can't even tell if the SIM card would be recognized nowadays...
Beside that, what choices do we have? Is it possible to avoid the first boot SIM card verification? Is it possible to extract the baseband files from another MZ605 and put them in mine?
Do you know what kind of file/library is the baseband?
Another thing, how the modem stays working if we completely clean the internal storage of Xoom going from the official to the CM11 (on your procedure)? What I'm missing...?
Thank you very much for your guide, I didn't know how to revert the bigPart
Regards,
Thiago
So @webeougher ...I FINALLY had some time to sit down with my Xoom and try this. In the interest of verifying that this process works, I went through your guide step by step without deviation and... SUCCESS! I'm back to BigPart CM11 w/ full 4G LTE!!! Thanks for taking the time to write out such a detailed guide! It was just about perfect.
I have just two things to mention... First, the link to the stock image HRI66 didn't work. I had to look elsewhere (http://rootzwiki.com/topic/1586-stock-images/). Also, in step one of stage 4, the adb command should be "adb reboot recovery", not "adb reboot bootloader"... correct?
One last thing, at this point should we start recommending people not attempt BigPart / CM11 if they start from stock Jelly Bean?
Again, I can't tell you how stoked I am to be back up and running. This... all of it... BigPart, CM11 for Xoom, and the fix for the no data situation... it's all awesome.
Awesome! It's amazing that somebody was able to figure out the process with all of
it's steps, and have it actually work.
I am back on my feet now, have my CM 11 Bigpart, as well as 4G LTE. Woo!
Thank you!
About the only thing I did differently was to do the "fastboot oem lock" after reflashing the
baseline honeycomb partition images. I always thought you had to have the thing locked before
it would allow you to do OTA updates. Whatever.
I then let the OTA updates go by(except for that final one), then did a "fastboot oem unlock"
before applying the universal root. Other than the locking & unlocking, I followed your instructions
exactly. Perfecto!
rmkenney12 said:
Awesome! It's amazing that somebody was able to figure out the process with all of
it's steps, and have it actually work.
I am back on my feet now, have my CM 11 Bigpart, as well as 4G LTE. Woo!
Thank you!
About the only thing I did differently was to do the "fastboot oem lock" after reflashing the
baseline honeycomb partition images. I always thought you had to have the thing locked before
it would allow you to do OTA updates. Whatever.
I then let the OTA updates go by(except for that final one), then did a "fastboot oem unlock"
before applying the universal root. Other than the locking & unlocking, I followed your instructions
exactly. Perfecto!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not necessary to relock to get OTAs, so long as you're running a pure stock rom.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
webeougher said:
4.) Tap the Home icon, tap the Wipe tab, tap the Advanced Wipe tab, and wipe everything but sdcard (that means Dalvik Cache, System, Cache, Data, and Internal Storage)
...
8.) Tap the Mount tab. Sdcard, Cache, and Data should be checked;
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was aleady a problem with Step 4... unable to mont /cache - therefore Failed to wipe /data and /cache.
Step 8 also showed NO /data-partition.
I downloaded the original Xoom stock boot,system,recovery (MZ601) MZ601_H.6.1-38-5_TMO_Germany...
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
Code:
fastboot flash system system.img
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Code:
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
Code:
fastboot erase cache
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
boot status - done!
system status - done!
recovery status - done!
userdata status | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - done! (there have been such weird lines)
formatting cache: CAC status: -done!
Rebooting - after 60 min of M-logo I quit.
Is there a way to TOTALLY MANUALLY repartition the xoom and recover everything from scratch?
EDIT: New development: not even in fastboot mode I'm able to flash anything anymore... CWM recovery (recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.3.2-everest.img and recovery-Tiamat-R4c-100611-1150-cwm.img) for example: status done! Still TWRP
Thank you and Question
First off thank you this worked perfectly for me, everything worked like it was supposed to! Now the question is; After I have followed these steps, can I update to the newer version of CM 11, because there are a couple things that are buggy in the first couple version?
semp3rfi said:
First off thank you this worked perfectly for me, everything worked like it was supposed to! Now the question is; After I have followed these steps, can I update to the newer version of CM 11, because there are a couple things that are buggy in the first couple version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. I flashed to whatever the latest nightly was when I completed the process, and I've updated several times through the CM updater as well and data still works as intended.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
Thank you
webeougher said:
Absolutely. I flashed to whatever the latest nightly was when I completed the process, and I've updated several times through the CM updater as well and data still works as intended.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks for the reply!
What does this whole sequence actually accomplish? Is the problem that we have the wrong radios installed, and this is a way to get the right ones installed? If so is there a way to extract the new radios so that they can be installed directly?
I am just trying to understand the process, and see if it can be simplified.
Thanks much for coming up with a solution. I will try it soon.
I'm no developer, but my best theory is that these BigPart roms and kernels use proprietary files from ICS. By taking the OTA to JB, something changed. I tried flashing other radio files and nothing worked, so when it was suggested that only people who had taken the OTA were losing data, I went through this process just on a whim to see if it worked. When it did, I didn't really think much else about it.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
thx
The for this topic really informative
Wow
Talk about a long process but it worked for me! Thank you so very much!
I did have an issue with the google keyboard fc on me after going through the whole process but I ended up downloading the go keyboard (not selecting it) and for some reason that took care of the Google keyboard fcing.
I also used the omnirom instead of cm.
Again, thanks for your hard work!
Wanted to thank you. I pulled out the ole Xoom and flashed Omni and the data wasn't working... But you're instructions got me back on track. Thanks again bro! :good:
Hi Guys,
Just thought I'd provide a warning and a fix to a half day ordeal recovering from a soft-brick after wanting to make the switch from TW to WWE.
What made this all go wrong?
I have a Padfone 2 which had the latest TW_A68-10.4.17.15
I have a accidentally turned off adb USB debugging mode
The process:
I unlocked my bootloader using the ASUS official unlocker.
I had then install 2.7.0.1 twrp which didn’t work
Install 2.5.0.0 twrp which did.
Forgot to do a backup which I usually did, but guess I thought that I have done this so many times, nothing would go wrong.
DON’T GET COCKY BACKUP FIRST.
Opted for the easy way out and write to system VIA twrp using zip, which was reported to work.
This installed and didn’t report any error.
After reboot, app.phone and another OS programs crashed constantly and rebooted.
I removed my sim and this stopped the crashed apps, but not the reboots.
I realised I was in a whole world of trouble and it was only at this moment did I realise that I didn’t have USB Debugging turned on. Frantically tried to enable it in between reboots, but failed and was now presented with only a ASUS spinning circle of death, or even better later, only the which ASUS logo before it reached it.
All I had available was fastboot and twrp.
You’d think this was an easy fix, but I didn’t have a usable/original rom on the /data/media a.k.a /sdcard partition.
Note: have a handful of roms including your original rom saved on the phone before trying anything, as this phone has no access to external storage when all goes pear shaped.
I wiped caches, didn’t work.
I then wiped data, which then deleted the only rom I had access to. So I couldn’t even now retry installing from zip.
ADB didn’t work from any recovery including CWM 6.0.4.4
I was at a loss and didn’t know what to do.
The recovery:
Installed twrp 2.6.3.0 was persistent with ADB sideload, even though I didn’t have USB Debugging enabled.
Note: ADB sideload will still work even if you don’t have USB Debugging enabled. It’ll either take a min or two to register on your computer, but if not reboot and reboot again to get it to register.
Sideloaded the wrong firmware file again.
Note: If you are trying to sideload the original firmware, extract the zip “TW_PadFone2_user_10_4_17_15_UpdateLauncher.zip” and sideload the zip hiding within “ASUS” -> “Update” -> “TW_A68-10.4.17.15-0-ota-user.zip”
After another long time trying to get the ADB device to register, finally got a second chance and got back to the original firmware.
Did this deter me from the switch from TW to WWE. HELL NO!!
Enable ADB USB Debugging
Make sure you push the rom WWE to your /sdcard partition
How to do it right.
Load the original recovery attached recovery.stock.img
Reboot into recovery and select "apply update from external storage" and choose the zip file to flash.
This will fail! It's what it's meant to do
At this point the recovery changes the partition table and then restarts.
On reboot we will have a nice "Installation aborted", this because, being changed the partition table, the recovery can not find the file to flash as it the partition containing the data has been reformed losing its contents. So you will need to copy the file again via adb.
Select "wipe data / factory reset"
You need to do a wipe, because it formats the partition where we will send the file. Having just changed, the partition has not a file system and so it must be formatted to save something on it.
Upon rebooting to ADB stopped working under the stock recovery. It registered with my computer but the command to repush the WWE rom to /data/media kept failing.
Rebooted into fastboot and install twrp 2.6.3.0. At this stage as I knew that the partition table had been updated, I sideloaded the WWE rom, which works more reliably when it's originally enabled
Did a Wiped cache for safe measure
Reboot and welcome to another 2GBs of space and WWE firmware.
NOTE: Always flash the inner zip “TW_A68-10.4.17.15-0-ota-user.zip” not the outer zip “TW_PadFone2_user_10_4_17_15_UpdateLauncher.zip”
freak4916 said:
Load the original recovery attached recovery.stock.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where can I find this?
I recently bought a second hand TF700T that has been rooted with Katkiss 6.0 but it has numerous problems that I need to know which is the best way to resolve. This is what I have:
Model: TF700T
Android Version: 6.0.1
Kernel Version: 3.1.10 katkernel-tf700
Build: Katkiss-024.6.0.1
ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.4.7
The problems I have are:-
1. It has no Play Store and I am able to download the apk file but 'can't read/open' so it won't install from download (yes I have allowed apps from unknown sources). I managed to pull the apk file using ADB but the Play Store simply opens and closes a white page.
2. If I go to settings there is a SuperSU – clicking on it I get 'Unfortunately, settings has stopped'. I don't think this should happen. I don't know how to check if Super SU Beta 2.52 is installed.
3. If I go to Accounts I have Personal (IMAP) and + Add Account where I only have Exchange and Personal (IMAP). So I can't seem to be able to select a Google Account.
Presently I have nothing on the tablet I need (i.e. no data I need to keep) so if I have to start again I am happy to do that but I'm just learning so saying 'flash the rom' or such is too vague for me at this stage. I'm also not sure what or how to get 'data as f2fs' if that is important.
If someone could assist with a clear step by step of how I might resolve these issues I'd be very grateful. Happy to provide any other info sought. Not sure if this was caused when the seller wiped his personal data before selling or what, he says Play Store was working, so don't know if he bungled the rooting or what.
I got your PM and first of all, congrats you did a good amount of reading and you are on the right track.
Your problems with Google account and Play Store are probably due to either the wrong gapps (Google apps) version or the previous owner did a wipe of /data and did not reflash properly. Yep, arm 6.0 is right, but it has to be the pico edition. Since you did buy the tablet used, it probably would be a good idea to start from scratch. At least you would then know that if something won't work, it's because of something you did.
And yes, I agree with the advice to flash the Kang TWRP recovery. I have no idea if CWM supports f2fs but I don't think so. Most people use TWRP as recovery - it's the right way to go.
So let's get you prepped:
Download the rom, gapps and SuperSU from the links in Tim's thread (first post) and put them on a microSD. http://forum.xda-developers.com/transformer-tf700/development/rom-t3282166
Then head here and download the flashable zip of the Kang TWRP recovery: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=59299365&postcount=2
Also copy that to the microSD
Boot into CWM recovery, go to Install and navigate to the Kang TWRP zip.
To tell the truth I can't even remember if CWM supports the microSD but I think it does. If it doesn't you have to use adb to push the zip to internal memory and then flash it from there.
Anyway, flash the Kang TWRP and then reboot. Let it boot up, then turn the tablet off and boot via buttons (Power and Vol Down to get into bootloader, VolUp on flashing RCK) into recovery which should be TWRP at this time.
Go to Wipe > Format data > type "Yes" and go have a beer (did I mention the battery needs to be full before you start?). This will take 60 minutes plus and may look as if nothing happens but it does, don't mess with it!
Once that is done follow this guide to convert internal data to f2fs: http://forum.xda-developers.com/tra.../guide-convert-data-to-f2fs-twrp-2-8-t3073471
Start at step 4 and ignore any instructions related to data2sd/rom2sd.
Alright, now you got a squeaky clean tablet itching for a rom.
In TWRP go to Install > navigate to the microSD and select the rom zip. If you like, you can line up the other two files to be flashed right after the rom zip:
Touch: Add another zip, and repeat this for both the gapps and the supersu zips.
Or you flash them one by one - doesn't matter. But all 3 have to be flashed without rebooting in between and the rom has to be first!
Make sure "verify zip signature" is not checked, then swipe the button.
Have another beer
Once it's done, reboot to system and set up your new rom.
You definitely want to install the SuperSU app from the Play Store. You gain root by flashing the SuperSU zip, but you need the app to manage root.
If anything is unclear: Ask!
Have fun!
I'm up to the part where I get to have a beer...haaa. Wasn't all plain sailing. Having TWRP as an img file wasn't recognised on the sd card so I was unable to flash twrp that way. I managed to push twrp using ADB. (The small issue I had here originally was when I renamed the img file from say twrp-2.8.x.x-xxx.img to twrp.img (for ease of typing in adb) it was really twrp.img.img as it appears with a zip icon on my XP. After realising this it was straightforward after putting twrp.img into the adb folder and connecting the device and accessing the command prompt:
C:\adb>adb devices (to check I'm connected)
response:
List of devices attached
(numbers&letters here) device
C:/adb>adb reboot bootloader
This reboots the device into the bootloader and you hear the device buzz
C:/adb>fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
response
sending 'recovery' (7038kb)
Okay
writing 'recovery'
Okay
finished total time etc
then
c:/adb>fastboot reboot
rebooting....
I then used the power vol down buttons and yahoo I'm in TWRP and currently at the wipe data phase.
Can't tell you how much I appreciate this help and I'll repost a report after I get further along. Hope this helps others also.
Unexpected Clean Android waiting for a ROM
Beers were great. I finished the bit of 'convert internal data to f2fs' and thought when I rebooted, well don't know what I expected but 'squeaky clean tablet itching for a rom' wasn't a still present KatKiss rom logo start but that's what happened. Then I went to 'Install > navigate to the microSD and select the rom zip' and nothing on the SD card seemed to be recognised other than a self created 'LOST.DIR' directory so I copied the files into this directory ( Heh, at least it can see this directory). So I'm now in the process of installing KatKiss, Gapp 6 pico and SU User Beta.
If I'm on the wrong track here please let me know. Cheers
Paul;
No, you're doing good. You formatted /data, so did not touch /system where the rom lives. That's why your old room still boots. /system gets formatted during installation of the new rom = squeaky clean.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
berndblb said:
No, you're doing good. You formatted /data, so did not touch /system where the rom lives. That's why your old room still boots. /system gets formatted during installation of the new rom = squeaky clean.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've completed all the instructions - changed data to f2fs and then starting with the Katkiss, then Gapp pico and SuperSU (adding one zip after the other) and rebooted. Rebooted and device installed 73 apps and took me to a welcome screen with a language dropdown and a swipe button. I can access and change the language but the swipe button won't work so I'm locked on this screen. I went back to TWRP and pressed 'reboot' but what happened was the reboot button(located bottom right), settings button above it and the two bottom buttons on the left disappeared... so from there it wouldn't reboot. I had to hold the power button down to reboot and back in the flash screen but still can't get past that.
plato2 said:
I've completed all the instructions - changed data to f2fs and then starting with the Katkiss, then Gapp pico and SuperSU (adding one zip after the other) and rebooted. Rebooted and device installed 73 apps and took me to a welcome screen with a language dropdown and a swipe button. I can access and change the language but the swipe button won't work so I'm locked on this screen. I went back to TWRP and pressed 'reboot' but what happened was the reboot button(located bottom right), settings button above it and the two bottom buttons on the left disappeared... so from there it wouldn't reboot. I had to hold the power button down to reboot and back in the flash screen but still can't get past that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heck! I did not think we needed to check your bootloader if it had Katkiss on it, but now I think we do:
Boot into fastboot and read the tiny text top left. The part with 10.6.1...... is what we need
Bootloader problem now! More beer required....
berndblb said:
Heck! I did not think we needed to check your bootloader if it had Katkiss on it, but now I think we do:
Boot into fastboot and read the tiny text top left. The part with 10.6.1...... is what we need
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I went back to the wipe data bit and did it all again.... I noted that when installing the Katkiss, Gapps and SuperU zips I saw 2 lines:
checking for md5 file
skipping md5 check: No md5 file found
Have no idea if it matters or not....
OK the tiny writing at top on fastboot (why does this have to be so small....really).
Anyway it says:
Key Driver not found.. booting as
Android CardHU-User Bootloader <2.0 e> released by "ww_epad-10.6.1.14.10-2013601" A?3
It is hard to be exact with it that small so hope that helps, but the 10.6.1.14.10 is correct can't be as sure with the last numbers though.
Thinking about a solution
plato2 said:
OK, I went back to the wipe data bit and did it all again.... I noted that when installing the Katkiss, Gapps and SuperU zips I saw 2 lines:
checking for md5 file
skipping md5 check: No md5 file found
Have no idea if it matters or not....
OK the tiny writing at top on fastboot (why does this have to be so small....really).
Anyway it says:
Key Driver not found.. booting as
Android CardHU-User Bootloader <2.0 e> released by "ww_epad-10.6.1.14.10-2013601" A?3
It is hard to be exact with it that small so hope that helps, but the 10.6.1.14.10 is correct can't be as sure with the last numbers though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done a bit of reading and I'm currently downloading ww_10_6_1_18_SDupdate.zip
I think my next step will be to unzip this file and find the T4_SDupdate file and put it on the sdmicro in root and boot into recovery. I'm guessing it will be located and the update begin. After that I'm not sure of what to expect. Will I have to go and flash twrp, wipe date, change to f2fs and install Katkiss,Gapps and SuperSU again? Will it matter if other files (TWRP, Katkiss, Gapps,SuperSU) are also on the microsd while this happens. If you could let me know if I'm on the right track that would be great.
plato2 said:
I've done a bit of reading and I'm currently downloading ww_10_6_1_18_SDupdate.zip
I think my next step will be to unzip this file and find the T4_SDupdate file and put it on the sdmicro in root and boot into recovery. I'm guessing it will be located and the update begin. After that I'm not sure of what to expect. Will I have to go and flash twrp, wipe date, change to f2fs and install Katkiss,Gapps and SuperSU again? Will it matter if other files (TWRP, Katkiss, Gapps,SuperSU) are also on the microsd while this happens. If you could let me know if I'm on the right track that would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, that should be 22_10_26_1_18_SDupdate.zip
plato2 said:
Sorry, that should be 22_10_26_1_18_SDupdate.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Third time luck...(should be) ww_10_26_1_18_SDupdate.zip
plato2 said:
Third time luck...(should be) ww_10_26_1_18_SDupdate.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't do that!!
Whatever it is that is not firmware for the TF700!
You are on the latest bootloader, no reason to mess with it!!
---------- Post added at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 AM ----------
Give me some time, I'll get back to you
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
That was TF701 firmware you were thinking to flash. It is totally incompatible with your tablet and the T4 SD Update method works only with stock recovery. But all that aside....
Ok, what you experience is quite weird and I have no idea what caused it. Maybe a bad download maybe something went wrong during the flash - I have no idea...
So what is your situation now? Can you reboot from TWRP? Does the recovery work normally?
Because if not, that is the first thing you need to fix.
You may want to reflash TWRP anyway - just to be sure it did not get corrupted. You know how to flash in fastboot - excellent! Then let's do it that way.
Download from the first link for Kang TWRP 2.8.7.4. https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24352994023705509
Look at the info under "Download information" on that page: You'll see the md5 checksum for that file. That is control value to make sure the file you downloaded is complete and not corrupted.
You'll need a small program like Hashtab on your PC to check the md5. Install it, then right click on a zip, go to Properties and there you'll see a new tab: FileHashes. Copy the string from the download page into the "Compare" box and it instantly tells you if the file you have on your PC matches the one on the server. TWRP has a feature that it will compare the md5 if you have it along with the zip in form of a small text file on your microSD. If it doesn't find a md5 it just skips the integrity check.
Your microSD - something else to check. That TWRP doesn't see the downloaded files unless they are in the LOST directory is totally crazy. How is that microSD formatted? You got another one you can use? One that actually works and does not add another question mark to this situation? If not, at least format the microSD to fat32 on your PC, load your files and then check if TWRP sees them. Also check the md5 AFTER copying the files to the card.....
Do that with all the files you downloaded.
So, first thing is to flash TWRP again. Then make sure it works, you can reboot from it etc.
Then just perform a quick wipe in TWRP. From Home select Wipe > swipe the button > done
Then reflash the rom zip, gapps and supersu on which you checked the md5.
Let me know how that goes.....
Thanks for that info. No I wasn't going to do anything stupid without you OKing it first.
I redownloaded Kang TWRP 2.8.7.4 and pushed it again successfully with adb no problem. I am still unable to reboot from bootloader using adb or pressing reboot... these problems weren't present prior to installing Katkiss, Gapps and SuperSU. Still frozen on front screen of rom. I put the twrp.img file onto the micro SD Card and tried to flash. It gives me an option to select staging which I didn't tick so it tells me no partitions selected for flashing. Didn't want to tick something and stuff it up. I think TWRP is OK as it did work fine before I installed the other 3 programs.
The micro SD is fine it's FAT32 formatted. The issue with the recovery program not seeing the zip files in the root dir was when I was using CWM - no longer a problem.
plato2 said:
Thanks for that info. No I wasn't going to do anything stupid without you OKing it first.
I redownloaded Kang TWRP 2.8.7.4 and pushed it again successfully with adb no problem. I am still unable to reboot from bootloader using adb or pressing reboot... these problems weren't present prior to installing Katkiss, Gapps and SuperSU. Still frozen on front screen of rom. I put the twrp.img file onto the micro SD Card and tried to flash. It gives me an option to select staging which I didn't tick so it tells me no partitions selected for flashing. Didn't want to tick something and stuff it up. I think TWRP is OK as it did work fine before I installed the other 3 programs.
The micro SD is fine it's FAT32 formatted. The issue with the recovery program not seeing the zip files in the root dir was when I was using CWM - no longer a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's some fundamental flaw in your thinking: You cannot flash the .img file in TWRP.
twrp_tf700t_kang_2.8.7.4.img - this file you have to flash in fastboot (fastboot flash recovery twrp_tf700t_kang_2.8.7.4.img)
twrp_tf700t_kang_2.8.7.4-signed.zip - this is the same recovery packaged into a flashable zip. This you can flash in recovery
I am still unable to reboot from bootloader using adb or pressing reboot... these problems weren't present prior to installing Katkiss, Gapps and SuperSU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean rebooting from recovery??? That sentence does not make sense. And something else is going on. Flashing a rom, gapps, supersu cannot have anything to do with your recovery not working properly. The recovery lives on it's own partition and boots from there.
Maybe time to take a break and retrace your steps. I cannot put my finger on it but somewhere you are doing something wrong.
Edit: Ha! Interesting! Just remembered that something changed in TWRP and yes, this latest version lets you flash an .img file to staging (from where it will get installed to it's proper partition during the next boot). I have no idea how solid this new feature is, so I'd still recommend falshing TWRP in fastboot.
But 2.8.7.4 works fine flashing Katkiss and associated files. Tried it myself this afternoon. All the components work. So the problem is most likely in the "how", not the "what".....
Sorry for the confusion. Really can't see what I may be doing wrong here. I followed exactly the same procedure as I did when I installed TWRP over CWM initially. I re-downloaded twrp_tf700t_kang_2.8.7.4.img , placed it in the adb folder and renamed it twrp.img. I then followed the same procedure I did originally:
C:\adb>adb devices (to check I'm connected)
response:
List of devices attached
(numbers&letters here) device
C:/adb>adb reboot bootloader
This reboots the device into the bootloader and you hear the device buzz
C:/adb>fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
response
sending 'recovery' (7038kb)
Okay
writing 'recovery'
Okay
finished total time etc
then
c:/adb>fastboot reboot
rebooting....
However, this time the response to the last command:
c:/adb>fastboot reboot
(waiting for device) and it hangs and the device doesn't reboot from recovery. However, all the other stuff before it is the same. Not sure what to try next.
plato2 said:
However, this time the response to the last command:
c:/adb>fastboot reboot
(waiting for device) and it hangs and the device doesn't reboot from recovery. However, all the other stuff before it is the same. Not sure what to try next.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Elaborate on this please.
You are in fastboot.
The command fastboot reboot does nothing?
Then what? Did you reboot manually?
You are not in recovery here, so i do not understand "the device does not reboot from recovery".....
Sorry, my lack of understanding. I suppose I mean I am in the bootloader which is where adb>reboot>bootloader puts me so that I can flash twrp.img. Then to get out of there and go back to the rom fastboot>reboot would put me back into the rom and I would get the response >rebooting. Now that doesn't happen it simply says (waiting for device)....So I have to reboot manually.
Just got home and playing around with it. I went into the bootloader and installed just the katkiss rom. It installed fine and then I clicked reboot and it rebooted no problem. But of course that doesn't give me any Play Store or SuperSU.... so there's still hope. So now I'm back in the bootloader and going to try the 3 together again and see what happens.Let you know shortly
Setup wizerd stopped - google play services stopped
plato2 said:
Just got home and playing around with it. I went into the bootloader and installed just the katkiss rom. It installed fine and then I clicked reboot and it rebooted no problem. But of course that doesn't give me any Play Store or SuperSU.... so there's still hope. So now I'm back in the bootloader and going to try the 3 together again and see what happens.Let you know shortly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So now when I install the katkiss, Gapps and SuperSU from TWRP and reboot I get 2 repeating messages Setup wizerd has stopped' and Google Play Services has stopped. It just goes from one to the other when I press OK....
I was trying to apply the installation of the eXistenZ (https://forum.xda-developers.com/xz...om-existenz-pie-v3-5-0-beta-31-01-19-t3895452)
But aside from that I found the following problem:
Following the instructions I downloaded the last ROM, I specifically downloaded the G8141_Customized UK_1308-5320_47.2.A.10.62_R3C
First of all I made a clean flash and restart, then I installed the TWRP v.3.3.1 via ADB, next the Magisk 19.3, later reboot the system normally and finally a tried to do the part of rebooting in the recovery and wiping data, cache, dalvic, etc.
However I noted that when the system started up the first time (after flashing) it appears a legend describing a process of encryption, it said the cel phone was going to be encrypted and it restarted once again.
When I start in the recovery mode and slide the bar to authorize to modify system partition nothing happens.
The first try I stored the Magisk.apk file in the internal memory but in TWRP interface the system partition is not mounted, the storage space says is 0 GM (or mb).
I started up the system one more time, trying to disable the encrypted function but is not possible, I disable Find my Device function as administrator maybe thinking it was the reason deactivating encryption was blocked but nothing.
I have to mention that when I enter recovery mode is not asking me to enter any pass or pin as it does when there is a pin protected phone.
Please can anyone help me to find the solution to this problem
Zur75 said:
I was trying to apply the installation of the eXistenZ (https://forum.xda-developers.com/xz...om-existenz-pie-v3-5-0-beta-31-01-19-t3895452)
But aside from that I found the following problem:
Following the instructions I downloaded the last ROM, I specifically downloaded the G8141_Customized UK_1308-5320_47.2.A.10.62_R3C
First of all I made a clean flash and restart, then I installed the TWRP v.3.3.1 via ADB, next the Magisk 19.3, later reboot the system normally and finally a tried to do the part of rebooting in the recovery and wiping data, cache, dalvic, etc.
However I noted that when the system started up the first time (after flashing) it appears a legend describing a process of encryption, it said the cel phone was going to be encrypted and it restarted once again.
When I start in the recovery mode and slide the bar to authorize to modify system partition nothing happens.
The first try I stored the Magisk.apk file in the internal memory but in TWRP interface the system partition is not mounted, the storage space says is 0 GM (or mb).
I started up the system one more time, trying to disable the encrypted function but is not possible, I disable Find my Device function as administrator maybe thinking it was the reason deactivating encryption was blocked but nothing.
I have to mention that when I enter recovery mode is not asking me to enter any pass or pin as it does when there is a pin protected phone.
Please can anyone help me to find the solution to this problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wipe cache and data
To factory reset and then boot your system
Turn off / flash twrp/ restart/turn off / enter twrp/ magisk / restart to twrp/flash existenz/ reboot
You will loose all data
Yes i have same problem. When use TWP Swipe but always failed
I try use flashtools, flash .ftf firmware .62 and choose all swipe in box Flashtools.
Now, folder is working.
You can try.
ngocthang26 said:
Yes i have same problem. When use TWP Swipe but always failed
I try use flashtools, flash .ftf firmware .62 and choose all swipe in box Flashtools.
Now, folder is working.
You can try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, didn't understand you, did you fallow the sequence karrouma gave me in the first answer?
Disclaimer: This guide and the tools included are provided as-is. Testing has been limited and nothing is guaranteed to work. I take no responsibility for lost data, bricked devices, etc. Continue at your own risk, and please read carefully. THIS GUIDE WAS WRITTEN FOR PHONES ON ANDROID 8.1 - MAY NOT WORK ON DEVICES WITH THE PIE UPDATE.
Note that Magisk and TWRP can interfere with downloading and installing OTA updates. At this time the only updates are security patches, so it would be best to make sure all OTAs are installed before starting.
Mounting and decrypting the data partition is still hit-or-miss. If you haven't set up a passcode or password, TWRP should be able to mount it, and you still might be able to even if you have. Magisk will corrupt encrypted partitions and force a factory reset, and TWRP will not be able to help you back things up if Magisk has been installed before disabling encryption. You've been warned.
Guide: Installing TWRP and Magisk on the Visible R2
Tools:
prog_emmc_firehose_8917.mbn - firehose for flashing system partitions
Latest available TWRP zip - contains TWRP recovery image and the necessary files for flashing
fstab.qcom - for removing forced encryption
Patched boot image - for installing versions of Magisk newer than v16.7
Stock firmware - optional, but handy to have in case something goes wrong.
Windows users: QPST/QFIL and the QDLoad drivers (possibly the first set of ZTE drivers as well, but likely not necessary). Installing drivers in compatibility mode for XP or Windows 7 might help resolve issues.
Install adb if you don't already have it set up.
Linux users: qdl source code; the guide will cover compiling and installing it. You'll also want to install adb from your distro's repositories. There is a snap package for qdl, but it doesn't work for the purposes of this guide, so please don't use it.
Part 1: Installing TWRP
TWRP is an easy-to-use, touch-based custom recovery for Android devices, designed to make backups and installs simple and painless. Unfortunately, the installation of TWRP on the R2 is going to be a little less simple and painless; the device's bootloader isn't locked down, but it doesn't support fastboot commands, meaning we'll need to get our hands dirty to flash partitions.
Before starting, it's also worth noting that the current TWRP build cannot always decrypt encrypted data partitions, and the device is encrypted by default. This means that TWRP may not be able to mount or back up your data partition unless it's formatted and forced encryption is removed (see part 2).
To flash TWRP, we need to put the device into EDL mode and forcibly overwrite the existing partitions using an EDL tool and the firehose linked above, which unfortunately requires a PC of some sort. Enable USB debugging on your phone, then follow the steps for your operating system below.
For Windows:
1. Install the Qualcomm driver package. Before continuing, you will need to make sure Driver Signature Enforcement is disabled on your PC; QFIL may have issues communicating with the device if Windows blocks the driver.
2. Install the QPST package, then open QFIL from the Start menu.
3. Select 'Flat Build' under Select Build Type.
4. Extract the TWRP zip to an accessible directory (something like C:\TWRP works fine). Place the firehose.mbn in the same directory.
5. Press 'Browse' under Select Programmer, then navigate to the TWRP directory and select the firehose file.
6. Press 'Load XML'. Select rawprogram_recovery.xml, then patch0.xml
7. Connect the phone to your PC and make sure USB debugging is enabled. Make sure your PC is trusted by the phone for ADB commands, then send 'adb reboot edl'.
8. If everything went well, the phone should have rebooted with a blank screen, and QFIL should be asking you to select a port. Press Select Port, and then choose (hopefully) the only item available).
9. The 'Select a port' message should now read something like Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008 (COM#). IF it does, simply press download.
10. There should be some output in the status window, ending a few seconds later with a blue Download Succeeded message. If so, you're done, and can restart your phone. If there's a red error message, or the status window seems to be stuck on sending, double-check that your device is registered properly in Device Manager.
11. Once you're done flashing, you can reboot into TWRP by holding down the Vol Up button as the phone reboots.
For Linux:
1. Unzip the qdl zip into its own directory, then enter the directory.
2. Compiling qdl requires libraries that may not be installed. For Ubuntu users, you simply need to run ' sudo apt install libudev-dev libxml2-dev' to install them; people with other distros should know how to use their package manager and may have to find the packages under a similar name. If any other packages are required (errors compiling, etc.), let me know so I can update this.
3. Actually compiling should be as simple as opening a terminal in the working directory and running 'make && sudo make install'. If you get no errors, qdl should be installed and able to run from any location, and the compile process shouldn't take much time at all.
4. Before running qdl, ModemManager needs to be disabled, as it can interfere with accessing the phone in EDL mode. In Ubuntu (and most systemd-based distros) you can ensure that it's stopped by running ' sudo systemctl stop ModemMangager'. If you need the ModemManager service, make sure to restart it when you're done.
5. Extract the TWRP zip to an easily-accessed folder, like ~/twrp, and place the firehose mbn in the same folder.
6. Navigate to the TWRP folder and open a terminal there. Now would be a good time to plug in your phone and enter EDL with 'adb reboot edl'.
6a. If your phone was already connected in EDL mode before stopping ModemManager, you might need to reboot it and enter EDL again.
7. If you're in the same directory as the TWRP files, you should be able to start flashing by running 'sudo qdl prog_emmc_firehose_8917.mbn rawprogram_recovery.xml patch0.xml'.
8. If everything's good, you should see some output on your screen, and the phone should reboot momentarily. If the command finishes without output, ModemManager or something similar may have interfered. Make sure ModemManager is stopped, reboot your phone into EDL mode again, and try again. If it hangs at Waiting for EDL device, you're not running the program with admin privileges or your phone isn't in EDL mode.
9. Once the process has finished and your phone has rebooted, you should have TWRP installed. Boot into it by holding Vol Up while rebooting.
That's it! Verify that TWRP is working as expected by doing some test backups and restores, etc. Note that TWRP builds for this device are still sort of experimental; decrypting the data partition may not work for some users, and keeping data encrypted while trying to flash Magisk will not work - you will need to wipe and decrypt the device. If you're satisfied just with TWRP, there's not much else you need to do. If you want to run Magisk or decrypt your device for other reasons, keep reading.
Part 2: Removing Forced Encryption
By default, the device encrypts the data partition without input from the user. This is not ideal, and even if TWRP can decrypt and mount your data partition, from my experience Magisk's init process apparently gets things wrong and tries to write to data before its decrypted - whether that's actually the case or not, the fact of the matter is that Magisk has corrupted my data partition every time I've tried to install it while data was encrypted.
DO NOT flash any zip that removes dm-verity and force encryption - these modify the boot and recovery partitions, and the stock kernel doesn't like the way they do it. If you've flashed the patched boot.img first then you'll at least be able to boot to your system partition afterwards, but it'll still nuke recovery even with a custom kernel installed on it. If you're still using the stock boot.img, you'll get boot loops and won't be able to access recovery; your only choice is to enter diagnostic mode, and reflashing anything from that point is a gigantic pain in the ass, so please, just don't. If you feel the need to do it regardless, please please please reflash your boot and recovery images before rebooting.
Counter-intuitively, the quickest and most painless way to stop the device from force-encrypting itself is to modify the fstab on the vendor partition - the boot partition has no fstab files, and the ones in the TWRP recovery image are already set to make encryption optional. Place the fstab.qcom on the phone's microSD card (internal storage will work if you don't have one, as long as TWRP can access your internal storage; if not, use adb push/pull rather than the below commands), boot into TWRP, and adb shell into your device by USB; if done while in TWRP, you should have root permissions. If your PC doesn't see your phone as an ADB-ready device, go to Mount settings in TWRP and tap on the option to disable MTP; after confirming that ADB works, feel free to re-enable MTP. Once ADB is working, run the following commands:
Code:
mount /vendor
cp /vendor/etc/fstab.qcom /external_sd/fstab.qcom.bak
cp /external_sd/fstab.qcom /vendor/etc/fstab.qcom
chmod 644 /vendor/etc/fstab.qcom
umount vendor
.
That's the simple part - you've replaced the fstab on the vendor partition with one that tells the device that encryption is optional, and backed up the original to your microSD as fstab.qcom.bak, just in case. Now you need to actually remove the existing encryption, which will wipe all the user data from the device. If that hasn't scared you out of continuing, read on.
While we're still in TWRP, we need to go to the Wipe menu. From there, we need to Format Data. It'll give you warnings in a scarier color than I did, but you'll have to type yes and continue regardless. Once that's done, hit the back button a couple times before rebooting. Do a standard factory reset, then reboot.
From there, it may take a couple tries for the device to boot normally as it reformats and repopulates the data partition. If you find yourself stuck on a black screen, reboot again, and if it keeps happening, boot into TWRP and then reboot to System from the reboot menu. Eventually, you should be able to get back to the device setup screen, and depending on your security settings beforehand, you may be prompted to enter your PIN, password, or Google account information.
From here, you should be able to mount, backup, and restore your data partition in TWRP without any issues. If you want to go further and root your device, keep reading for the Magisk guide.
Part 3: Any Magisk You'd Like
Note: Magisk and encrypted data partitions do not play nicely together. Follow through Part 2 first, or you'll have headaches.
ZTE's kernel has a custom SELinux plugin called policyproc, which in short doesn't play nice with a lot of things that modify what happens during the kernel's startup sequence. Unfortunately, modifying the startup sequence is what Magisk does best, and versions of Magisk past v16.7 don't play well with the stock kernel.
If you're fine with v16.7, you can download the zip from its Github release page and flash it through TWRP. However, it doesn't support current versions of Magisk Manager or the uninstaller zip, and naturally it doesn't have all the features of newer versions.
This is where the patched boot image comes in. Basically, it's the stock kernel, rebuilt with policyproc disabled, stuffed into the stock boot.img and replacing the original kernel. It's not entirely perfect as ZTE deliberately left out bits of the source, but even working around that, the kernel seems to run fine after nearly a week of testing on my own device. Still, if you run into any issues that don't show up with the stock kernel, please let me know.
So. you can take that patched boot image and install newer versions of Magisk whichever way you'd like. The default method would be to use TWRP to flash the patched boot image, then flash the latest Magisk zip (v20.1 at the time of writing). Alternatively, you could put the patched boot.img on your microSD or internal storage, install the Magisk Manager app, use it to patch Magisk into the patched boot image, then use TWRP to flash the patched-patched-image to the boot partition. Either way should work fine, and honestly I'm hoping if you've made it this far you don't need further instruction on how to get Magisk installed.
Note that on the first reboot after installing Magisk, the phone may reboot again before loading the system normally. I assume this is standard practice for initializing Magisk, but honestly I have no idea.
With that, you've done just about everything you came here to do. If you still feel like tweaking and possibly bricking your phone, however, scroll on down to Part 4.
Part 3.5: Updating Your Magisk Install
When a Magisk update is available, the Magisk Manager app will generally push a notification to you. Letting the manager handle the upgrade is a good way to get bootloops, unfortunately; upgrading requires re-patching and re-flashing the boot image, and most apps running in system mode seem to handle the task poorly on the R2. If you want to update to a newer version of Magisk, it'd be best to reboot into TWRP, flash the 'clean' Magisk-ready boot image, then install the zip for the version of Magisk you want to update to. You don't need to uninstall previous versions of Magisk to do this, and it should be doable even if a previous Magisk upgrade left you stuck in a boot loop. Note that if you previously told the Manager to 'hide' itself, you may end up with two Manager apps after the update; it should be safe to remove either of them, although the one with the Magisk Manager name will need to be re-hidden if you choose to keep it.
Part 4: Going Even Further Beyond - Project Treble and You
Google requires that all Android phones releasing with Android Oreo or newer must support the Treble framework: generally speaking, anything that's 'stock' Android lives on the system partition, and anything manufacturer or carrier specific exists on the vendor partition. This has allowed for developers to create generic system images, or GSI, consisting of particular Android system partitions that should run on a variety of Treble-enabled devices. And wouldn't you know it, the R2 launched with Oreo, and you've got a couple handy methods of writing system images to your device, through TWRP and EDL flashers.
So, does that mean the R2 supports these GSIs? Not really! Honestly, it's more that it's up to curious people to find out. I've been able to get phhussons's Oreo image working, but that's a bit boring on a device that supports Oreo out of the box. A couple more highly modified Pie builds failed to boot properly, either hanging on their splash screen or crashing the display manager before getting through setup.
There's also the fact that they're generally only distributed as sparse system.img files, something I had trouble flashing with QFIL, and up until about 18 hours before this guide went live, the only TWRP build I had for the R2 could only write images to the boot and recovery partitions, not system, so writing them meant I had to decompress them to a standard EXT4 image and then flash them with QFIL, which wasn't a lot of fun to mess with. In short, testing's been pretty limited, but this build of TWRP should make it much easier for anyone to flash whatever image they'd like. If you feel like being a guinea pig, we'd all love to hear the results! If you want to test, you should look for A-only, ARM64 images.
Questions and Issues
My phone is bootlooping after leaving recovery!
If you haven't messed with system partitions in a way that might cause a bootloop, reboot to recovery and try to boot to system from there. If it continues, reflash your boot image (and Magisk afterwards, if necessary, removing the extra Manager app that might pop up in your app tray if you've got Manager disguised in its settings).
I can't access ADB or MTP from recovery.
It happens sometimes, especially in Windows; just toggle MTP on/off from inside TWRP, or unplug and replug your USB cable.
My phone says I need a factory reset, but TWRP just reboots.
This generally happens if something messed with the encrypted data partition. Do not tap the factory reset button on your phone; instead, power off entirely and manually reboot into TWRP by hilding Vol Up while booting. Perform a factory reset (and format data if necessary) from there, then reboot.
(to be populated)
Credits
@deadman96385 - for uploading the tools that made this possible and the stock ROMs that saved my ass more than a few times
@famewolf - for feedback on what did/didn't work in the last guide
@asderdd - for his Axon 7 kernel work which I shamelessly copied to get Magisk working
Anyone who's contributed to Magisk or TWRP over the years, and the maintainers of the moto e5+ device tree for TWRP since I used most of their branch.
Sources
Kernel source, specifically the tree used for the Magisk patch
TWRP device tree
@FEGuy
Attempted to flash the new twrp via zip....acted like it worked but when I when to install section only boot and recovery were options....so I installed the twrp image itself to recovery....rebooted back into recovery and got a black screen. Additional attempts to go into recovery did same thing. I'll attempt to use the flashify app under factory rom to restore previous copy of twrp. It should work as I had magisk going...I think.
That is... not really reassuring. I've suspected the zip flash might not actually work, but I double-checked that TWRP build on my device first.
What's weird is that that's also the only TWRP image I've gotten to boot without dragging it through an AVB signing process. Let me sign that image and reupload it, see if it works any better.
FEGuy said:
That is... not really reassuring. I've suspected the zip flash might not actually work, but I double-checked that TWRP build on my device first.
What's weird is that that's also the only TWRP image I've gotten to boot without dragging it through an AVB signing process. Let me sign that image and reupload it, see if it works any better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Always possible I hosed something....I grabbed the img of the previously good twrp and flashed it via flashify app...said it worked but when booted to recovery got same black screen. I'm about to experiment with the usb drivers you mentioned vs the ZTE USB ones in the op...they conflict with each other so uninstalling old ones.
If the ZTE and QDLoad drivers conflict, I'd probably say keep the QDLoad. I honestly don't remember if I ever installed any ZTE drivers other than the ones that can be served from the phone by USB.
Pretty sure flashify is just broken; I tried it the other day with the same results after flashing a test build that didn't work at all.
I just redownloaded the TWRP from the original link and it worked fine, and there shouldn't be any files or signature tied to my own device, so I don't really know why it wouldn't work on other phones. I've got another one coming in the mail for actual use on Visible, but it won't be here to test on until tomorrow.
In the meantime, try this TWRP. No different other than letting AIK give it an AVB signature, but some of my test images wouldn't boot otherwise. If it works I'll update the zip in the first post.
FEGuy said:
If the ZTE and QDLoad drivers conflict, I'd probably say keep the QDLoad. I honestly don't remember if I ever installed any ZTE drivers other than the ones that can be served from the phone by USB.
Pretty sure flashify is just broken; I tried it the other day with the same results after flashing a test build that didn't work at all.
I just redownloaded the TWRP from the original link and it worked fine, and there shouldn't be any files or signature tied to my own device, so I don't really know why it wouldn't work on other phones. I've got another one coming in the mail for actual use on Visible, but it won't be here to test on until tomorrow.
In the meantime, try this TWRP. No different other than letting AIK give it an AVB signature, but some of my test images wouldn't boot otherwise. If it works I'll update the zip in the first post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I su from adb and do a dd if=twrp-signed.img of=xxxxxxxxxxx can I overwrite it manually from shell and if so do you know the path I should use to get it to our recovery?
If flashify is broken, twrp is broken and I'm unable to use qdl nor qfil I'm kinda screwed (for the moment). The qdload drivers did not show the device on a com port when in edl mode...the zte ones do but then again I can't write anything. Any ideas what the heck is up with the linux qdl? Even with --debug it says nothing.
---------- Post added at 02:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 AM ----------
famewolf said:
If I su from adb and do a dd if=twrp-signed.img of=xxxxxxxxxxx can I overwrite it manually from shell and if so do you know the path I should use to get it to our recovery?
If flashify is broken, twrp is broken and I'm unable to use qdl nor qfil I'm kinda screwed (for the moment). The qdload drivers did not show the device on a com port when in edl mode...the zte ones do but then again I can't write anything. Any ideas what the heck is up with the linux qdl? Even with --debug it says nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried dd if=twrp-3.3.1-1-z5151v.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/recovery and did same with new signed one. I still get black screen when recovery "loads". At this point I'm going to have to get something figured out with qdl or qfil.
Yeah, I wasn't sure if dd was going to work or not.
Try the QDLoad drivers again in Windows, make sure that the device is using them. If it's not showing up as a COM port in device manager, force it to use the proper Qualcomm driver, which on my system installed to C:\Windows\system32\qcusbcer.sys - I don't know if that installed with the QDLoad drivers or with QPST/QFIL itself.
As for qdl, I don't know; it's been hassle-free for me, for the most part. If you're sure you're in EDL mode and not diagnostics or something, an output from lsusb might help diagnose the issue. If the debug flag isn't providing useful info, might as well try it without. I don't know if there's services other than modemmanager that might interfere with qdl, it could depend on distro.
EDIT: I'll also preemptively warn against trying the TWRP app to flash; it'll do about as much good as flashify.
Will tackle it "later" in the morning. Thanks for the quick followup. I might see more clearly in morning when not so frustrated with it. I swear I haven't had this many issues with getting twrp installed in a long time.
*update* Ok so I lied....I completely recompiled qdl from https://github.com/andersson/qdl and it's working as expected..I used it to flash the original twrp. I then used that twrp to flash the twrp-signed.img and rebooted back into it with no issues.
I also flashed your patched boot and it got as far as the blue visible screen after the zte one then hung. I reverted to my nandroid copy of boot.
The Treble pie loaded ok...I did do a factory reset so data would not conflict..it did do one reboot before loading normally. See screenshots.
The First 4 are from when it was initially installed. The later photo's I had added gapps, a few apps, snapped a picture to use as wallpaper and various other minor things. I found it to be faster under treble pie than it was with factory oreo. I haven't found anything that didn't work yet on it.
Launcher: Evie Launcher
famewolf said:
I also flashed your patched boot and it got as far as the blue visible screen after the zte one then hung. I reverted to my nandroid copy of boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you still have Magisk installed at the time? I'd have recommended uninstalling Magisk using the uninstaller zip from the 16.7 release before replacing the boot image; if there's still Magisk data in /data then booting with a non-Magisk boot image is probably going to cause issues.
In the meantime, I guess I'll update the TWRP zip with the signed recovery image, just in case.
FEGuy said:
Did you still have Magisk installed at the time? I'd have recommended uninstalling Magisk using the uninstaller zip from the 16.7 release before replacing the boot image; if there's still Magisk data in /data then booting with a non-Magisk boot image is probably going to cause issues.
In the meantime, I guess I'll update the TWRP zip with the signed recovery image, just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the current installer which failed. I didn't locate the 16.7 uninstaller.
*update* I did finally locate the 16.7 Magisk Uninstaller.
FEGuy said:
Did you still have Magisk installed at the time? I'd have recommended uninstalling Magisk using the uninstaller zip from the 16.7 release before replacing the boot image; if there's still Magisk data in /data then booting with a non-Magisk boot image is probably going to cause issues.
In the meantime, I guess I'll update the TWRP zip with the signed recovery image, just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also installed open gapps pico pie amd64 version on top of the pie rom without issue. I have magisk 16.7 working with treble without issue so maybe it was just the newer versions that had issues?
My 2nd R2 (You are a bad influence) arrived today. Anything you need tested on a stock model? Here's hoping qdl/qfil cooperates 1 last time.
When you were patching the kernel did you see anything that was keeping the phone in LTE only mode for calls? When I get a minute I'm going to put my t-mobile sim into the R2 and see what it will do under the pie rom but since it's still using same kernel I wondered if that would be an issue. We know on the stock rom all calls have to use VOLTE.
I haven't figured that much out yet, unfortunately. I don't know if it's due to the way the kernel is built, or custom libraries distributed on the vendor partition, or what. From what I can tell, the bands are properly unlocked in the NVRAM, and I don't really know enough about modem firmware to make heads or tails of those files.
I will note that for people using the phone on Visible, using a non-stock ROM works for getting around the one-connected-device-per-hotspot limit.
FEGuy said:
I haven't figured that much out yet, unfortunately. I don't know if it's due to the way the kernel is built, or custom libraries distributed on the vendor partition, or what. From what I can tell, the bands are properly unlocked in the NVRAM, and I don't really know enough about modem firmware to make heads or tails of those files.
I will note that for people using the phone on Visible, using a non-stock ROM works for getting around the one-connected-device-per-hotspot limit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had a couple of thoughts...a quick and dirty method to provide "flash and go" rom's might be to do a nandroid of just system or maybe system and boot for whatever rom and make that available for download. I also know there are methods to convert a nandroid into a flashable zip although I haven't done it before. This was more a thought for folks wanting to go to b12 that already had twrp...simple enough for an existing b12 user to back up system. I have verified swapping between nandroid pie vs stock oreo works ok (assuming you are restoring the right data for each). Also the fingerprint "images" continued to work fine after a restore.....on a previous device when we did a nandroid restore we would have to delete the file storing pin/fingerprints as they wouldn't let you into the phone until re-recorded. It also worked if you remember to turn those OFF before doing the backup....wasn't an issue with the R2. The phone is noticeably more responsive on pie than it was with stock oreo. I'm curious whether you found that to be the case with treble oreo?
Oh minor annoyance....I changed the device id to z5151 which is what it showed under stock but when doing an adb shell the command line is "phhgsi_arm64_a:/" Do you know how to change that? This will change it temporarily till next login: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33069161/how-to-change-adb-shell-prompt-name-before-the-mark
You could try using setprop as root to set ro.build.product or ro.product.device back to Z5151, or manually edit the build.prop; beyond that, I don't know of a simpler way.
I'm having trouble getting the mobile data working on pie,
I can search for networks and it finds visible but it wont connect.
thanks!!!!!!!!
rangolizardy said:
I'm having trouble getting the mobile data working on pie,
I can search for networks and it finds visible but it wont connect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The visible apn was missing from my pie,
If you're an idiot like me and flashed to pie before backing up "apns-config.xml" then here is the stock one with the visible apn settings: mega(.)nz/#!t5o2mKDL!qVHZijM-MhfLyZwmkrkQ7OddepV7xQVBsRbQr1AhCLY
Remove the () Someone else can maybe post the intact link as i seem to be unable to.
After this 4G works like a charm.
rangolizardy said:
The visible apn was missing from my pie,
If you're an idiot like me and flashed to pie before backing up "apns-config.xml" then here is the stock one with the visible apn settings: mega(.)nz/#!t5o2mKDL!qVHZijM-MhfLyZwmkrkQ7OddepV7xQVBsRbQr1AhCLY
Remove the () Someone else can maybe post the intact link as i seem to be unable to.
After this 4G works like a charm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Posted for rangolizardy: http://mega.nz/#!t5o2mKDL!qVHZijM-MhfLyZwmkrkQ7OddepV7xQVBsRbQr1AhCLY
Any other important tweaks anyone has made to the treble pie image?
Factory Wallpapers are here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=79011562&postcount=2