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[Q] Flashable ZIPs for stock or GPE ?

Are there not any CWM/TWRP Flashable ZIPs for stock or GPE ?
I've just spent frustrating hours trying to get stock or GPE running, on my GSM device that's been happily running CM11 for a while. This in part because I'm running Linux and there's no way to get mfastboot running I guess. Tried under Linux Wine but no luck.
Only after grabbing a windows PC and messing around a bunch have I been able to get CWM re-loaded after a partial install of GPE; The GPE recovery flashed OK but /system failed.
On other popular phones, there have always been flashable ZIPs of stock derived, and GPE derived ROMs. So I could keep custom recovery and easily switch ROMs, in order to test my apps.
If there are no such solutions for MotoG, I'll just have to stick with AOSP ROMs I guess. Is there some technical reason, or just not enough dev interest in ZIP flashable versions of stock and GPE ?
Thanks for any thoughts !

Yeah, I always get nervous with fastboot flashing cause anything can go wrong. Would really love some flashable stock roms. Or atleast a tutorial on how to make one. I have the dual sim version and I am running a GB firmware with cm11 (single working sim). I am guessing that would make things even harder to make a flashable rom to revert to the dualsim firmware (or impossible). Will a simple twrp backup suffice for restoring stock?
Edit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2605824
This might be what you are looking for. Not for dualsim though.

This would be a nice thing to have. Flashing through fastboot is straightforward, but a pain...

divergens said:
This would be a nice thing to have. Flashing through fastboot is straightforward, but a pain...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not straightforward when it's a proprietary Mfastboot from Motorola.
And Mfastboot is only for Windows and we can't run it from Linux, even with Wine.
Since a lot of Android devs, such as myself, run Linux exclusively, this is a pain. At least the popularity of Samsung has resulted in MobileOdin, to flash firmware on phone, as well as Heimdall to flash from Linux PC.
I gave up on Motorola some time ago. I hoped the new "Google Moto" would be different. With the Moto G and Moto X it looked like the "Google Moto" was finally here. Now the sale to Lenovo... I'm not so happy with "Lenovo Moto".
And since I'm ranting, LOL, what's with the phone date being reset to 1970 (!!!!) ?? I guess they saved a penny or two in hardware with this trick...

hemanthmahesh said:
Will a simple twrp backup suffice for restoring stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure...
hemanthmahesh said:
Edit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2605824
This might be what you are looking for. Not for dualsim though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. In theory it should work.
In practice it wrote over my custom recovery, then it tried, and failed, to write the system partition. I have no idea why.
This left my MotoG in a state where I had to mess with a Windows PC again, and waste another 30 minutes of my life.
So, AOSP only for me I guess...
(Must. Resist. Temptation to flash non-AOSP. Forever. Or be doomed to waste more time.)
(I have 20 app test phones I've flashed with MANY ROMs each over 3 years. Every stinkin' phone is different, pretty much, and requires different tricks and poses different problems. Each seems to require a minimum of 20 hours of reading and messing about to unlock, root, add recovery, backup, save EFS, avoid corruption bugs, etc. Buying a new test phone is just the START of the "investment" in it. What a pain, LOL.)

Some stock ROM downloads contain motorola fastboot for Linux.
1970 is Unix epoch. Google for it if you want to know more. I'd thought a dev working on Linux would know that already

scott_doyland said:
Some stock ROM downloads contain motorola fastboot for Linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really ?? Can you or anyone clue me in to which downloads have a Linux version ? Thanks !
scott_doyland said:
1970 is Unix epoch. Google for it if you want to know more. I'd thought a dev working on Linux would know that already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I've known that since the 80's, along with obscure experience with real ASR33 110 baud TTYs with punch and reader in my basement. Then there were "television TTYs" with 24 lines and 40 columns or less, LOL.
I'm just griping that the clock isn't automatically set. AFAIK some phones went cheap and can't set it automatically, while others do. (?)
Anyway, even decades old PCs have BIOSes that start in the 80's or 90's or 00's, instead of the 70's. Just seems ridiculous to have to scroll through 3+ decades when setting time.

mikereidis said:
Really ?? Can you or anyone clue me in to which downloads have a Linux version ? Thanks !
Oh, I've known that since the 80's, along with obscure experience with real ASR33 110 baud TTYs with punch and reader in my basement. Then there were "television TTYs" with 24 lines and 40 columns or less, LOL.
I'm just griping that the clock isn't automatically set. AFAIK some phones went cheap and can't set it automatically, while others do. (?)
Anyway, even decades old PCs have BIOSes that start in the 80's or 90's or 00's, instead of the 70's. Just seems ridiculous to have to scroll through 3+ decades when setting time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's the 4.3 version (UK retail I used) from sbf-droid that has the moto fastboot. Its just called 'fastboot' though. Worked fine for me flashing stock 4.3 and 4.4.2.
4.4.2 version from.sbf-droid doesn't have it included.
Also one of the official moto x stock downloads from Motorola site has a Linux version.
If you can't find it let me know and I will attach to this thread when I get home.
1970 - fair enough I see your point. I work with IBM pSeries AIX servers and if you remove power AND the internal clock battery dies they revert to 1970 on boot up as well - and they cost tens of thousands of pounds/dollars.

[Completed] [Q] Re-installing stock android

Hi guys, I'm pretty new to rooting so tell me if i need to give more info etc cause I know i can be a bit vague.
So I rooted my phone no problem via the all in one kit thing and installed cyanogen, but this was right before the big android update so I wanted to switch back and update to that, but somewhere along the line i got rid of all the Roms (I think)
The stage it's at now: I can boot normally but the startup wizard fails, I assume this is because the stock operating system isnt hooked up to run, regardless I can't find a copy or figure out how to run it. (before my TWRP seemed to stop running on startup)
Bootloader: I don't know how it ended up relocked after I'd unlocked it but am guessing that is why i cant access the custom recovery at the moment (twrp)
If anyone is able could you walk me through, or point me to a guide to show:
How to unlock a relocked phone,
How to get a Stock version of Android (anything after 4.0 I guess because it will auto update?) running on there
Tell me if I'm being dumb in any part of this (apart from pissing about with things I don't understand, haha)

OK, So i'm unlocked and back onto TWRP, that was easy though, What I do need help with is working out how to install the factory Operating system again, last time I tried that is what caused the relocking etc so any help would be amazing.
Thanks, Simon

Redijedeye said:
OK, So i'm unlocked and back onto TWRP, that was easy though, What I do need help with is working out how to install the factory Operating system again, last time I tried that is what caused the relocking etc so any help would be amazing.
Thanks, Simon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this the same device as the one you are asking about in? [Q] How do I know what RUU to use, and more by Redijedeye

sd_shadow said:
Is this the same device as the one you are asking about in? [Q] How do I know what RUU to use, and more by Redijedeye
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry yes, meant to close this post now that this particular problem was kinda sorted but didnt get round to it last night. Unless you know a way to get the correct firmware for the wifi? Just seems strange it'd update wrong.

Redijedeye said:
Sorry yes, meant to close this post now that this particular problem was kinda sorted but didnt get round to it last night. Unless you know a way to get the correct firmware for the wifi? Just seems strange it'd update wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't.
I consider this [Completed] and have thread closed.

QS5509A (Axia from AT&T) Boot Help

Hello, I just got a new phone. It's probably my first actual phone in many years, as I'm mostly a PC kind of guy. I have been having trouble getting it booted for a while now. Someone informed me that it might be an Axia phone from AT&T, but I don't know the validity of that. It says Q-Innovations every time I use it on Google stuff. Does anyone here know of the phone or know how to boot one?
Thanks a lot in advance!

CamShirayuki said:
Hello, I just got a new phone. It's probably my first actual phone in many years, as I'm mostly a PC kind of guy. I have been having trouble getting it booted for a while now. Someone informed me that it might be an Axia phone from AT&T, but I don't know the validity of that. It says Q-Innovations every time I use it on Google stuff. Does anyone here know of the phone or know how to boot one?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The model number seems to be the AT&T version of that phone.
When you say that you can't get it booted, what do you mean exactly? What is the device doing when you try to boot it?
Have you tried holding volume up+power(let go when you see the splash screen) to boot into recovery, then factory reset and wipe cache partition?
Some devices have to hold volume down+power, then at the bootloader menu, choose the recovery option.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

What do you mean? I didn't think it was that easy to boot a phone? I wanted to put Linux on my phone instead of the current android version or even put them both on there.

CamShirayuki said:
What do you mean? I didn't think it was that easy to boot a phone? I wanted to put Linux on my phone instead of the current android version or even put them both on there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need to do some research to get familiar with how android devices actually work. Android devices are not like PC, you can't just install whatever OS you want, android devices are not "generic" like that. Operating systems for android devices have to be built specifically based on the hardware in the device, down to the kernel level, the kernel has to be specific to the device. You need to do some reading about how android stock recovery and custom recovery actually work , you also need to research how android stock firmware and custom operating systems are flashed on android devices.
It is "possible" to remove android and install Linux on an android device, but only certain devices can do it, depending on the security built-in to the bootloader that is installed on the device. There isn't a universal way to install Linux on android.
It is also possible to install Linux on top of android in a sort of emulator/VM then use a VNC to .
There are some apps to install linux on top of android, such as:
1) Linux Deploy
2) Complete Linux installer
3) UserLAnd
I installed and tested UserLAnd last night. Try this and see what you think.
https://github.com/CypherpunkArmory/UserLAnd
View the README.md for instuctions to set it up.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

[solved] Android 10 - BL unlocked bu now the usual DL mode is missing?

Hey all. I am currently trying to get my Galaxy Tab 8.0 2019 (sm-t290) unlocked. I have the bootloader unlocked. But since I did this, I cant get download mode in the usual fashion. I can still technicallly get there, but via a different route. When I try booting to DL mode, I get the screen that warns you not to save data on your device because it is "unsafe." If I do nothing here, I get booted into the OS. If I hit 'volume up' within the first few seconds, I get recovery mode, but not the usual one. The warning screen stays, but a few recovery options are displayed at the top of the screen. One let's me go to the regular recovery mode. From there, I can get the other download mode. Is this normal on Android 10, or have I f***ed something up? BTW, I haven't flashed anything yet. Haven't even plugged into Odin or ADB. As I said, I can get download mode, I am just a bit nervous to flash anything until I figure out what is going on. Thanks
edit: nvm i got it. I tried i for like the 10th time and it worked...

This all has NOTHING to do with Android OS itself, but with device's bootloader: Don't confuse things.
Hint: Add SOLVED to this thread's title.

nvm I got i
jwoegerbauer said:
This all has NOTHING to do with Android OS itself, but with device's bootloader: Don't confuse things.
Hint: Add SOLVED to this thread's title.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx. Although now I am confused. If the bootloader isn't getting swapped out with new os versions, then why are people having to patch their files before flashing on version 10? I thought it was to include the version 9 bootloader. Wouldn't this suggest that the bootloader is getting replaced with, at the very least, each major update?

lifeModder19135 said:
nvm I got i
thanx. Although now I am confused. If the bootloader isn't getting swapped out with new os versions, then why are people having to patch their files before flashing on version 10? I thought it was to include the version 9 bootloader. Wouldn't this suggest that the bootloader is getting replaced with, at the very least, each major update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or is it the actual boot partition that is getting swapped out?

lifeModder19135 said:
or is it the actual boot partition that is getting swapped out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bootloader starts up the Android OS when you turn on the phone. This is a pretty important job, so it’s very important that nothing goes wrong with it. That’s why phones keep their bootloaders stored in special stable memory.
Some ( if not even almost all ) bootloaders, however, contain an extra layer of security that checks to make sure that it only loads an OS that passes its approval process - what is intended by OEM. That's the main reason why people try to hack the bootloader.
I personally can't see any reasonable reason to modify the bootloader.
Bootloader is comparable to UEFI/BIOS.

What is the most recent version of OOS that TWRP works (well) with?

I am reading conflicting things trying to figure this out. Can someone who is absolutely sure please let me know? I can't afford to waste another entire day making educated guesses.
It doesn't seem like the TWRP version numbers correspond to the Android builds, but if they do please correct me.
Thank you

You don't need to figure it out, there's only 2 threads about working TWRP, One for Android 9 & 10 and One for 11 and in the OP of each thread are specified what are working and what doesn't and how to install/boot it properly.

RokCruz said:
You don't need to figure it out, there's only 2 threads about working TWRP, One for Android 9 & 10 and One for 11 and in the OP of each thread are specified what are working and what doesn't and how to install/boot it properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh ****, thank you! I totally missed these searching. Believe it or not I really did look, quite a bit. Anyway, thanks again.
Edit: That 9&10 thread I've read, but I didn't know it was for "9 & 10" exactly. I just kinda assumed since it doesnt work with 11 which I had to figure out the hard way. That 11 thread though is super helpful.

didymus said:
Oh ****, thank you! I totally missed these searching. Believe it or not I really did look, quite a bit. Anyway, thanks again.
Edit: That 9&10 thread I've read, but I didn't know it was for "9 & 10" exactly. I just kinda assumed since it doesnt work with 11 which I had to figure out the hard way. That 11 thread though is super helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's specified in the name of the twrp
And another thing, this type of question should go in the section Questions and answers

RokCruz said:
It's specified in the name of the twrp
And another thing, this type of question should go in the section Questions and answers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I wasn't sure about where to post it since it was directly about recovery. Sorry about that. I won't make the same mistake again.
Also, I'm just now figuring out what is what, but I don't see how any of those files designate they are for 11 in that screenshot you posted. I've seen all those files actually. I've also spent time on the TWRP website and read mostly everything. The only thing I could find was a post that said it (11 support) was coming, but I tried the newest one there and it bricked the phone. I also read in an article that the lad(s) who wrote those is working officially with TWRP, so I thought the TWRP website would be "the horse's mouth".
I know I installed it correctly too because in the past week I've installed TWRP so many times I could practically do it blindfolded now.
I don't mean to take a bunch of your time, but where in that screenshot does it designate "11"? I know `Pie` is an older Android, but I thought `Q` was too. Maybe I'm just wrong and it's 11. I was just getting confused because the OOS version numbers are right there in the boot image file name for Magisk, so when I saw those numbers on the TWRP files I just thought they were all for much older Android years ago.
Anyway, thank you, sorry for the n00b post, but I definitely am reading and searching and not just posting immediately when I encounter a problem. I've actually learned a ****load in the past week struggling with all of this though so I can't really complain. Eventually I will get up to speed and be able to write some things. I just hope yall don't ban me before then, lol.

didymus said:
Yeah, I wasn't sure about where to post it since it was directly about recovery. Sorry about that. I won't make the same mistake again.
Also, I'm just now figuring out what is what, but I don't see how any of those files designate they are for 11 in that screenshot you posted. I've seen all those files actually. I've also spent time on the TWRP website and read mostly everything. The only thing I could find was a post that said it (11 support) was coming, but I tried the newest one there and it bricked the phone. I also read in an article that the lad(s) who wrote those is working officially with TWRP, so I thought the TWRP website would be "the horse's mouth".
I don't mean to take a bunch of your time, but where in that screenshot does it designate "11"? I know `Pie` is an older Android, but I thought `Q` was too. Maybe I'm just wrong and it's 11. I was just getting confused because the OOS version numbers are right there in the boot image file name for Magisk, so when I saw those numbers on the TWRP files I just thought they were all for much older Android years ago.
Anyway, thank you, sorry for the n00b post, but I definitely am reading and searching and not just posting immediately when I encounter a problem. I've actually learned a ****load in the past week struggling with all of this though so I can't really complain. Eventually I will get up to speed and be able to write some things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That screenshot was for this
didymus said:
Edit: That 9&10 thread I've read, but I didn't know it was for "9 & 10" exactly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're in android 11 forget the thread about android 9 & 10

RokCruz said:
That screenshot was for this
If you're in android 11 forget the thread about android 9 & 10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, so, this one for 11 I've tried before. Once I install it how the thread says then I can only boot into TWRP. I'm just unsure what to do now because all the threads just say "flash rom, flash magisk". I didn't even know you could flash Magisk via TWRP.
I have the OTA of the new update downloaded. I have the boot.img extracted. I just have no idea how to fix this. I've done this before and I thought I bricked it and that's why I thought this wasn't for 11. :/
Edit: I'm guessing that I `adb push` the OTA to the device and see if I can flash that in TWRP?? Then once I am in the OS use Magisk to patch the boot? I'm unsure because places use the term "Magisk Manager" like its different from Magisk and I've never seen an app called exactly "Magisk Manager". I'm just assuming that was like... the old name of the app, but I don't know that could just be me filling in the blanks incorrectly.
Edit:Edit: I'm attempting to sideload the OTA. I think I've read of people doing this. *crosses fingers*

didymus said:
Yeah, so, this one for 11 I've tried before. Once I install it how the thread says then I can only boot into TWRP. I'm just unsure what to do now because all the threads just say "flash rom, flash magisk". I didn't even know you could flash Magisk via TWRP.
I have the OTA of the new update downloaded. I have the boot.img extracted. I just have no idea how to fix this. I've done this before and I thought I bricked it and that's why I thought this wasn't for 11. :/
Edit: I'm guessing that I `adb push` the OTA to the device and see if I can flash that in TWRP?? Then once I am in the OS use Magisk to patch the boot? I'm unsure because places use the term "Magisk Manager" like its different from Magisk and I've never seen an app called exactly "Magisk Manager". I'm just assuming that was like... the old name of the app, but I don't know that could just be me filling in the blanks incorrectly.
Edit:Edit: I'm attempting to sideload the OTA. I think I've read of people doing this. *crosses fingers*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, what? Im not sure what are you trying to do.
I guess you're new in all of this right?
My work here was the twrp thing.

RokCruz said:
Wait, what? Im not sure what are you trying to do.
I guess you're new in all of this right?
My work here was the twrp thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im trying to install TWRP. I do it exactly how the thread says and then system never boots into OOS again and I just have fastboot and TWRP. Basically bricked. Then when I try to reboot to recovery which should be TWRP (right?) it just boots me into the regular "recovery".
Thats why I think this is broken and I resigned to just not updating into 11.
I've never had this much trouble doing this. Ever. Not even close.
Edit: Yeah, so I patched the 11 boot.img and now I have root again, but no TWRP. I don't know how to keep both in 11. When I was 9.5.3 I used the Magisk A/B retention script and kept it, but once it became 11 it bricked the phone and the TWRP logo just flashed. I had to reflash the OTA to boot again. Thats another reason why I thought it didn't work for OOS11.

Starting to think I have a learning disability, lmao. Wish I was joking.

I just try.
When I flashed official TWRP and used it to flash any ROM(including OOS), it will lose or replace it by ROM's recovery...

caca12357 said:
I just try.
When I flashed official TWRP and used it to flash any ROM(including OOS), it will lose or replace it by ROM's recovery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, exactly what is happening with me. The closest I ever had it working was with using the A/B Retention script within Magisk Modules, but the second I hit OOS11 it **** the bed. I think "official TWRP" is different than what he linked up there for 11. I mean, I know they are, as it says "unofficial", but that's kind of why I'm confused because the images on TWRP.me use the similar numbering nomenclature and imply there are newer version for my device, so why would a newer version not work, but an older version work?
And if this particular TWRP does actually support 11 then why hasn't TWRP Official incorporated it into their releases? It's just little things like that which led me to believe it's not working. Also, I read a bunch of articles saying it wasn't working, but they could have been old. However, one of them was on Reddit and a few months old, but maybe they were wrong.
I feel like I went on a wild goose chase today, but I really hope didn't.
@RokCruz Just out of curiousity, do you actually have a OnePlus 7 Pro right now with OOS11 and working TWRP/root? I'm not saying you're just making this up or anything, but maybe something has changed since the last time you tried? If you currently have an OOS 11.0.11 device with TWRP/root atleast I'll know it's possible.

@caca12357 I'm going to try to do a local OTA upgrade then before I reboot run the A/B retention script and then Magisks option for OTA and see if that does anything. If TWRP works for 11 something like that should make it work, but who knows. Have you messed with A/B Retention at all?
If you want to PM me we can figure it out together.

Thread moved to proper section

didymus said:
Yeah, exactly what is happening with me. The closest I ever had it working was with using the A/B Retention script within Magisk Modules, but the second I hit OOS11 it **** the bed. I think "official TWRP" is different than what he linked up there for 11. I mean, I know they are, as it says "unofficial", but that's kind of why I'm confused because the images on TWRP.me use the similar numbering nomenclature and imply there are newer version for my device, so why would a newer version not work, but an older version work?
And if this particular TWRP does actually support 11 then why hasn't TWRP Official incorporated it into their releases? It's just little things like that which led me to believe it's not working. Also, I read a bunch of articles saying it wasn't working, but they could have been old. However, one of them was on Reddit and a few months old, but maybe they were wrong.
I feel like I went on a wild goose chase today, but I really hope didn't.
@RokCruz Just out of curiousity, do you actually have a OnePlus 7 Pro right now with OOS11 and working TWRP/root? I'm not saying you're just making this up or anything, but maybe something has changed since the last time you tried? If you currently have an OOS 11.0.11 device with TWRP/root atleast I'll know it's possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and do you know how I flash TWRP to my OP7P? First, I flashed Pixel Experience recovery by fastboot, and I used Pixel Experience recovery to sideload the official TWRP. (In other words, I never can temporarily or permanently flash TWRP directly). If I did not want to convert my /data to the f2fs file system I will not do this meaningless work...