The interesting story of how an OTA rendered my Z almost-useless - Moto Z Guides, News, & Discussion

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

As to the why it all happened,
Did you run the OTA with twrp installed, and/or any other system partition alterations?
Just curious, so others know why this happened to you and Van avoid it themselves. And with either of those things above, the OTA will fail, or worse like in your case.
OTA's are for stock systems, with stock recovery only.
Glad you got it sorted out though! :good:

Darth said:
As to the why it all happened,
Did you run the OTA with twrp installed, and/or any other system partition alterations?
Just curious, so others know why this happened to you and Van avoid it themselves. And with either of those things above, the OTA will fail, or worse like in your case.
OTA's are for stock systems, with stock recovery only.
Glad you got it sorted out though! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock recovery.
I presume it's either because the build I ran was designed for a different region (same model code, though) or that the Marshmallow bootloader was incompatible with the OTA.
Regardless, it's been working fine for a bit, although one Busybox installer gave me a small scare when it said it was cleaning system/bin, although a later check found that it didn't actually do anything.
Just wanted to share my predicament.

Related

Tab 2 10.1 GT-P5113 WIFI OTA Rooted.....

So it look like the JB OTA update is here for the USA. Mine is rooted, and has already download the update, but I haven't applied it yet, as I'm rooted and I don't know if I have to do something special first.....
Any one have any info on this?
Same Boat !!
Me too in same boat with P3113.See the post below yours :crying: Hope experts replies soon.
I went ahead and installed it on my daughters tab. CWM protected itself, and root. I'm still poking around, but thus far no issues beyond it says "update failed" but clearly didn't.
I'm wondering if I should remove CWM and unroot it first...
Run a nandroid real quick, back it up to your computer, and let 'er rip. Like I said, it's working perfectly for me. Then again my daughter is 7, so losing all her data isn't really a problem.
Updated with Root ?
sheepdog elite said:
Run a nandroid real quick, back it up to your computer, and let 'er rip. Like I said, it's working perfectly for me. Then again my daughter is 7, so losing all her data isn't really a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if i understand correctly , you allowed the OTA with root and it wiped data ? I am suprised it installed with Custom recovery !!!
I have over 200 user apps. Will i retain those Apps (dont mind data being wiped)
No, it didn't wipe data. I wasn't worried about it "if" it did, because it's my daughters, and I have TIBU for all her games from like last week.
Just to be perfectly clear. NOTHING went wrong. It installed the new O.S., booted fine, said the update failed, but the update didn't fail. Probably because CWM preserved root, and bootloader, so verification failed.
I ran it..... It updated thru CWM... Once done said update failed, but I had a new agreement to agree too. Sys info says its running 4.1.1.
If I have and issue, ill update here.
Failed for P3113
Based on your experience thought I would try too... Unfortunately failed miserably... I have Cwm 6.0.2.3 and attached is the crash log... Maybe some experts can give their views..
I guess I'll post my successful config just for the sake of comparison.
I'm currently running CWM 6.0.1.1. The tab was rooted with a file called gtab2_jellybean_rooter (think I got it from XDA, but i'm not positive) and had no other modifications/roms/etc.
If you're running any sort of ROM you're definitely boned, gotta wait for a ROM update. Beyond that, I'm not really sure what to say
To do the proper update, you should un-root and then re-root once done. That way you get the full support with your update if needed.
I am rooted, running CWM 6.0.2.3. I accepted the update and hit the install thinking that it would fail just as it does on a rooted SIII. The notification said the install had failed, but as others here have indicated, it appears as though the install was successful. I retained root and all seems to be normal; with one exception: It appears that the Tab no longer "sleeps" but shuts down completely. Regardless of whether I turn it off with the power button (short press) or if the screen simply goes to sleep, I have to long press the power button and it goes through a full boot.
Is anyone else experiencing this? Is there a setting I am missing? I am not a noob at rooting, etc. as I have been doing it since my OG Droid on Verizon, but it surprised me when the update seemed to install (even Google Now is working), and I am stumped about this "shut down" that seems to happen.
I experienced the same thing. I was rooted and had installed CM10, went back to original backup, using latest CWM. I hit system update and it downloaded the update, asked me to continue. CWM asked me if I wanted to install unsigned zip, I accepted, and it went through. At first boot it said update failed, but like everyone else, it went through. I have had no issues at all. My tab goes to sleep correctly.
Have peace in mind.
I finished updating (unfortunately, the battery was 9%, so I had to wait for an hour to charge before doing anything) and I got "failed" error like everybody got, but the system shows 4.1.1 and the performance is improved, and I applied root again.

Screwed Shield Up!

I'm completely overwhelmed with this Shield at the moment. Can't even think straight, because it's frustrating me so much. I rooted it and unlocked the bootloader. Now, I tried to update to 99, but it won't let me. So, finally, I decided to change it back to stock. After several attempts at this, now when it loads it just sits at a black screen. Before I got it to work, but it wouldn't check for updates and oddly enough the Play Store was acting weird (downloading slow, operating slow). Not sure if that's relevant, but I get 1.8 MB/s download speed, so I know it's not me. Everything else downloads just fine.
I'm using this thing called Shield Ram which includes adb, cwm recovery, fastboot, and the likes.
***Update***
While typing this, I was able to get the Shield back up after trying to flash the stock rom, but I still have the issue where I can't update.
I go to About Shield/System updates/ and it says "Your system is up to date. Last checked for update at 3:46PM." With a Check now button that doesn't work.
I know that there's update 99 out, but it's on 68 refusing to update or even check for it. I fear that rooting and unlocking it screwed everything up!
Any help would be much appreciated.
Screwed Shield Up! (Solved - I think)
So, just in case anyone is having the same problems as me. I followed this thread to a T and so far it seems to be working. I didn't install the root, though, because it seems like that is what got me in trouble in the first place. Not sure if that was bad or if now it's not rooted and that's the end of it. Hopefully I can just update normally, but if all else fails, then I'll have to reflash or reroot. Again, hopefully it doesn't come down to that.
:good:
[Firmware] Nvidia Root-Friendly Updates [No Wipe]
How do you get root after the latest patch? The one shown in here not working for me currently. :\

Nothing will flash anymore...

It's been a long night and I'm at a complete loss as to what to look for next...
Around 9PM last night, my phone randomly rebooted... it's done this a few times before, and i thought nothing of it. When it finally booted back up, I was at the "choose your language" setup screen. WTF.
I lost literally EVERYTHING.
FYI, this was on stock rom, and I didn't even have the OTA(s) because I was rooted and was content with 4.4.2
Well, since all my data was gone, I figured it was about time to see what I could get with a custom ROM. The phone's been sluggish lately, so I figured a bloat-less upgrade would help.
Long story short, I loaded the 5.1 firmwares for VZW, and the HBOOT as well, and flashed GPE_5.1 on it. It took it like a champ, but refused to boot. I tried changing the kernels during the GPE install, but none of them worked. Some would loop, some would kick me into recovery, and one would just stall and the animation would run forever. No worries, I'm sure I can go to a stock 5.x rom! But that's a big NOPE. I just get "installation aborted" with no reasoning or errors in CWM (I had TWRP at one point as well, and it didn't get me anywhere either) Or I get "symlink: some symlinks failed" ... it depends what rom i'm flashing.
I've tried stock and custom, rooted and not... literally nothing will take.
ALSO, in my attempts to remedy the problem, I tried to reflash the firmware, but fastboot starts that there's not enough space. A quick google search pointed to "not enough ram in the PC" which is BS because it's done it on 2 different systems, both with 16GB ram, one running Win8.1 and the other Win7.
To top it all off, somehow I relocked the phone (but i still have S-OFF) and without being able to boot into the OS, I can't unlock it with SunShine/Firewater.
Hopefully, someone can point me in the right direction...
Welp... It's working now...
Not 100% sure what I ended up doing that worked, but I was able to run the unlocker via creating a new unlock_code.bin from htcdev and ran that with the all in one toolkit.
From there, I was able to use the toolkit to flash a stock ruu rom (I flashed the 5.0.1 RUU, but when it booted, I was still in 4.4.2)
It apparently didn't like somwething in the boot order other than the ROM itself.
I'm now running S-OFF, relocked but rooted 5.0.1 after it took several OTAs. Not sure how many more OTA's are pending, but it just keeps prompting me lol...
At this point, I'm just happy it's booting, stock or not. I don't even know what recovery I'm running at this point...
Did you update your recovery??? To the latest one
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Need, my device keeps encrypting itself!

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

(FIXED) Bootloader Locked but Device Won't Boot

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

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