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
Related
Hi!
I'm surprised, nobody asked this already, at least I haven't found it:
Is there a way of flashing/upgrading my GT-S8500 phone a custom firmware/newer stock firmware using linux?
I know, s1 have to use multiloader for flashing, and it's windows only, but maybe some expert can tell me, if there's some alternative, even if it's harder/longer, way of reproducing what multiloader is doing, in linux. Thx in advance!
konrad.lorenz said:
Hi!
I'm surprised, nobody asked this already, at least I haven't found it:
Is there a way of flashing/upgrading my GT-S8500 phone a custom firmware/newer stock firmware using linux?
I know, s1 have to use multiloader for flashing, and it's windows only, but maybe some expert can tell me, if there's some alternative, even if it's harder/longer, way of reproducing what multiloader is doing, in linux. Thx in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly are you trying to do. I'm not familiar with the s1 and it's 'multiloader'. Are you referring to dual booting? Sorry if i'm missing your question completely. Some of us at ArcDatum do embedded systems research with ARM boards and have various multibooting devices booting anything from basic stock android stuff to gentoo/arch linux distros both separately and in dual booting environments. We use dev boards like the BeagleBoard and Pandaboards.
If you're trying to flash something weird onto ur phone though, chances are you can't or shouldn't. The only reason why it's safe for us to do it with the dev boards is because the System on a Chip is configured (by pulling specific pins high or low) to boot from the SD card and read the bootloader from there. In the case of most phones, you have locked bootloaders and no way to change that without risking destroying your boot process.
I'm trying to upgrade the factory system of my phone to a newer factory one, or to turkocfw (at first try, i'd be happy with the factory one).
Basically this is done through Kies -but thats windows only- or Multiloader -which is also windows only-, but my laptop has linux on it. I want to know, if there is a way, if I can manually do on linux, what kies and multiloader does on windows.
ArcDatum said:
What exactly are you trying to do. I'm not familiar with the s1 and it's 'multiloader'. Are you referring to dual booting? Sorry if i'm missing your question completely. Some of us at ArcDatum do embedded systems research with ARM boards and have various multibooting devices booting anything from basic stock android stuff to gentoo/arch linux distros both separately and in dual booting environments. We use dev boards like the BeagleBoard and Pandaboards.
If you're trying to flash something weird onto ur phone though, chances are you can't or shouldn't. The only reason why it's safe for us to do it with the dev boards is because the System on a Chip is configured (by pulling specific pins high or low) to boot from the SD card and read the bootloader from there. In the case of most phones, you have locked bootloaders and no way to change that without risking destroying your boot process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone?
That sounds a bit odd..I still dont quite understand how linux comes into play here. All the phones I've had deliver official Samsung updates over the air. Have you tried upgrading directly from ur phone?
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
It should work under Wine or in a Virtual Machine. If you don't know what these are, you can easily Google them up. A basic concept
Also, for S8500 I would like to recommend http://darkforestgroup.com/forum/ a decent forum for all those older Samsung handsets.
Thats a good point. I havent used wine In a while. Although Id be careful of that, u kno, with the magic wine stuff that they pull off. Might cause some issues and risk ur phone
Edit: vm on the other hand id be more comfortable with
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
ArcDatum said:
I still dont quite understand how linux comes into play here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the operating system of my notebook. I want to use that computer for upgrading/flashing my phone.
ArcDatum said:
All the phones I've had deliver official Samsung updates over the air. Have you tried upgrading directly from ur phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but the function is 'defect by design', it is FUBAR, that function doesn't work (not only for me, it doesn't work for anyone using the same system on their phone (bada1.2)). I don't know, if it is working on bada 2.0, because I can't upgrade it.
Eddie^^ said:
It should work under Wine or in a Virtual Machine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should, but looks like it doesn't. Wherever I've looked (looks like I cannot post outside links to prove my point, sorry :S), I've found the same advice: "Don't use Kies in a VM!"
Eddie^^ said:
Also, for S8500 I would like to recommend darkforestgroup.com/forum/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx, I had a look at there, but didn't see anything related
So, the question remains the same, if anyone knows, how (exactly) multiloader works, and that working can be reproduced on linux (without multiloader)...
Or can this be achieved using Heimdall?
Bump?
konrad.lorenz said:
Bump?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to know if it is possible as well. Otherwise I might test it, but I'm afraid to break my phone
working on Virtualbox
autra said:
I would like to know if it is possible as well. Otherwise I might test it, but I'm afraid to break my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I can confirm it works using VirtualBox and Win7... No particular things to know, just follow the step as you would do on Windows !
Is it possible to do a bare device install of the android OS? Something similar to doing bare hard drive install of an OS to a computer?
Thanks.
caffewmilk said:
Is it possible to do a bare device install of the android OS? Something similar to doing bare hard drive install of an OS to a computer?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you trying to do? flash Android on a blank emmc?
arm devices don't have BIOS or UEFI. Most of the bootloaders on production runs of phones are very locked down. Samsung phones need either download mode or a recovery to flash a os. If you don't have either you would need to use the JTAG to flash everything on the emmc but that's a lot of work and there's not really any publicly accessible tools for the full processes.
caffewmilk said:
Is it possible to do a bare device install of the android OS? Something similar to doing bare hard drive install of an OS to a computer?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lart2150 said:
What are you trying to do? flash Android on a blank emmc?
arm devices don't have BIOS or UEFI. Most of the bootloaders on production runs of phones are very locked down. Samsung phones need either download mode or a recovery to flash a os. If you don't have either you would need to use the JTAG to flash everything on the emmc but that's a lot of work and there's not really any publicly accessible tools for the full processes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he wants a stripped down os, no extra apps/bloatware and just enough to boot the phone, idk, a few users asked if I could make a real lite version just for playing music but never got around to it
:good:
I was just curious about it. I was thinking maybe there was something out there for android phones like Linux From Scratch.
I've already tried vincom's SuperLite and other ROMs, though. :good:
Thanks guys.
If i have a rooted phone and install say ubuntu would i still be able to use it as a phone? i have been considering installing a different flavor of linux on my phone for a long time but that question has always stopped me. Now why i haven't asked till now is beyond me honestly but i would really like to hear input from someone that has install a new OS on there phone.
Hi, it depends on which model your phone is, and what custom OS you want to install.. for Ubuntu Phone, for example, you can check the development status for various device at this page.. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Devices
If your device is listed there, click on the status link and there you can see which parts of the OS work and which don't , there is also a Phone/cellular section.
If your device is not listed, it means tha Ubuntu Phone cannot be installed at all.
I'm kind of expert in the PC/laptop world, but a little rookie in Android and smartphones world. I don't get how a phone can get bricked.
As far as I know, an Android device has internal memory, and a portion of this internal memory is ROM (read-only memory), where the OS/firmware is installed. It's ROM because you don't want to mess around changing things of the OS, because you're not supposed to change things of the OS for the sake of a correct behavior of the phone.
The thing is that if you accidentally mess up something in the OS/firmware, you can, or should be always able to, re-install the OS again and start all over again. I mean, if I delete some Windows files in my PC and completely mess Windows up, I can always turn off the PC, turn it on, go to BIOS menu, boot from a Windows CD and re-install it. No problems at all.
1. So... where's the BIOS in Android? The recovery menu in Android is like the BIOS in Windows?
2. Bricking a phone is like damage the software of the hard disk drive (windows) or is it like mess up the BIOS?
3. Is there any difference between Operative System (android), firmware and ROM?
Well, ROM is memory, a physical drive/electronic device, completely different to a program/software/OS, but I'm referring to the conception you guys usually use (wrong I must say).
4. Why is it said that you flash a firmware, and not you install a firmware? Is it because it's done in a ROM, so it's called then flash?
Thanks!
rambomhtri said:
I'm kind of expert in the PC/laptop world, but a little rookie in Android and smartphones world. I don't get how a phone can get bricked.
As far as I know, an Android device has internal memory, and a portion of this internal memory is ROM (read-only memory), where the OS/firmware is installed. It's ROM because you don't want to mess around changing things of the OS, because you're not supposed to change things of the OS for the sake of a correct behavior of the phone.
The thing is that if you accidentally mess up something in the OS/firmware, you can, or should be always able to, re-install the OS again and start all over again. I mean, if I delete some Windows files in my PC and completely mess Windows up, I can always turn off the PC, turn it on, go to BIOS menu, boot from a Windows CD and re-install it. No problems at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm neither an expert in PCs or Android, so I might just be blowing hot air. I think the difference is that with a PC, it's designed to run Windows, thus Windows (obviously) will work on it (depending on version and processor compatibility). Linux runs because it's designed to run on that hardware. With Android however, everything is manufacturer-specific, and device-specific beyond that. If the firmware and kernel isn't written for that specific device, you'll brick your phone.
1. So... where's the BIOS in Android? The recovery menu in Android is like the BIOS in Windows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kinda? Maybe? I don't know.
2. Bricking a phone is like damage the software of the hard disk drive (windows) or is it like mess up the BIOS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could come from either. Flashing the wrong recovery (like TWRP for a Galaxy S3 Exynos instead of a Snapdragon model) would brick, and flashing the wrong ROM would brick as well.
3. Is there any difference between Operative System (android), firmware and ROM?
Well, ROM is memory, a physical drive/electronic device, completely different to a program/software/OS, but I'm referring to the conception you guys usually use (wrong I must say).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"ROM", in Android parlance, is indeed the OS. Sometimes also referred to as the firmware. Yes, both are misnomers. The use of "ROM" to refer to the OS I think comes from ROM image, when referring to gaming console emulation, but I could be mistake. "Firmware" typically refers to the programming in an electronic device that doesn't have a proper OS, per se. Like a basic mp3 player, VCR, cable modem, microwave oven, etc. It could be argued that Android is indeed a "firmware", by definition, even though "operating system" is more appropriate. Regardless, "ROM", and "firmware", in the Android world, both mean the OS.
4. Why is it said that you flash a firmware, and not you install a firmware? Is it because it's done in a ROM, so it's called then flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing installs, but installing isn't necessarily flashing. "Flashing" is typically done at the recovery level (or through ADB), in the form of zips, tars, and other formats. It isn't incorrect to say that you installed a Gapps package through recovery, or you installed a newer version of TWRP, even though such actions are commonly known as "flashing". However, one wouldn't say that you flashed Clash of Clans through the Play Store, because that's not what you're doing. Flashing can refer to both firmware and software. For example, you can flash apps (like a Gapps package) TWRP batch back-ups, or even individual apps, and these are all software. You can flash nandroid backups or ROMs, and these are operating systems (and software/data). You can also flash proper firmware, such as radios/modems. You can flash kernels. Again, it's not wrong to say you "installed" it, but saying "flashed" is a more appropriate (in the Android community) and specific term.
rambomhtri said:
I'm kind of expert in the PC/laptop world, but a little rookie in Android and smartphones world. I don't get how a phone can get bricked.
As far as I know, an Android device has internal memory, and a portion of this internal memory is ROM (read-only memory), where the OS/firmware is installed. It's ROM because you don't want to mess around changing things of the OS, because you're not supposed to change things of the OS for the sake of a correct behavior of the phone.
The thing is that if you accidentally mess up something in the OS/firmware, you can, or should be always able to, re-install the OS again and start all over again. I mean, if I delete some Windows files in my PC and completely mess Windows up, I can always turn off the PC, turn it on, go to BIOS menu, boot from a Windows CD and re-install it. No problems at all.
1. So... where's the BIOS in Android? The recovery menu in Android is like the BIOS in Windows?
2. Bricking a phone is like damage the software of the hard disk drive (windows) or is it like mess up the BIOS?
3. Is there any difference between Operative System (android), firmware and ROM?
Well, ROM is memory, a physical drive/electronic device, completely different to a program/software/OS, but I'm referring to the conception you guys usually use (wrong I must say).
4. Why is it said that you flash a firmware, and not you install a firmware? Is it because it's done in a ROM, so it's called then flash?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A BRICKED phone is a phone that can't be fixed,no matter how hard you try.In other words,bricking your phone is altering the OS of your device in a way that causes it to become unusable/inoperable.
A BRICKED phone will not be able to Boot/Display any information/Boot into Recovery Mode.And thus your device turns into a very costly BRICK or Paperweight.
I have never seen any BRICKED device but heard about 2-3 cases here on XDA.I guess there are slight chances of getting your phone bricked until you do something HORRIBLY wrong or you do something,you don't have any idea about.
AFAIU,following factors can lead your device to BRICKING.
1.Overwriting the Firmware of the device or System softwares.
2.Interrupting Firmware update process (Half-written firmware ).E.g. Your device loses power during the process/data cable is pulled out during adb or rooting (That's the reason you get notifications or warnings as “Do not power the device off” when performing firmware updates and "Make sure your Battery is charged")
3.Flashing a ROM/MOD/Kernel that's not compatible to specific Device and Carrier.
Hope this helps!!
Regards
Do tell...
optimusodd said:
A BRICKED phone is a phone that can't be fixed,no matter how hard you try.In other words,bricking your phone is altering the OS of your device in a way that causes it to become unusable/inoperable.
A BRICKED phone will not be able to Boot/Display any information/Boot into Recovery Mode.And thus your device turns into a very costly BRICK or Paperweight.
I have never seen any BRICKED device but heard about 2-3 cases here on XDA.I guess there are slight chances of getting your phone bricked until you do something HORRIBLY wrong or you do something,you don't have any idea about.
AFAIU,following factors can lead your device to BRICKING.
1.Overwriting the Firmware of the device or System softwares.
2.Interrupting Firmware update process (Half-written firmware ).E.g. Your device loses power during the process/data cable is pulled out during adb or rooting (That's the reason you get notifications or warnings as “Do not power the device off” when performing firmware updates and "Make sure your Battery is charged")
3.Flashing a ROM/MOD/Kernel that's not compatible to specific Device and Carrier.
Hope this helps!!
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That being said,
To my understanding so long as you flash your phones specific Kernel after flashing a carrier-incompatible ROM you will not BRICK. That is the only time I've bricked a device. It was an S3 and after 3 days of research I learned an SD card can be used to bring it back to life by basically flashing your .img onto it, albeit I could never boot the device without it again, though I could take it out afterward.
It was strange... but since using that device as a learning toy I believe that is something I learned from the experience, but correct me if I'm fatally wrong please before I get someone in trouble.
trinathaniel said:
That being said, To my understanding so long as you flash your phones specific Kernel after flashing a carrier-incompatible ROM you will not BRICK. That is the only time I've bricked a device. It was an S3 and after 3 days of research I learned an SD card can be used to bring it back to life by basically flashing your .img onto it, albeit I could never boot the device without it again, though I could take it out afterward. It was strange... but since using that device as a learning toy I believe that is something I learned from the experience, but correct me if I'm fatally wrong please before I get someone in trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Short answer: If you can boot into Fastboot Or Recovery mode,you are not Hard bricked and there is still some hope
The scenerio you are talking about is Soft Brick.In this case your device don't boot but you can still get into Recovery.To fix it you boot into Recovery and restore the backup / flash the system image.You don't need to flash a kernel to make it working.
A hard bricked device won't show any sign of life,you won't be able to boot into Fastboot or Recovery to run Fastboot commands / ADB shell commands / Flash any image or zip.
Hope this helps!!
Plug out your Phone on flash Befor he finish boting
optimusodd said:
Short answer: If you can boot into Fastboot Or Recovery mode,you are not Hard bricked and there is still some hope
The scenerio you are talking about is Soft Brick.In this case your device don't boot but you can still get into Recovery.To fix it you boot into Recovery and restore the backup / flash the system image.You don't need to flash a kernel to make it working.
A hard bricked device won't show any sign of life,you won't be able to boot into Fastboot or Recovery to run Fastboot commands / ADB shell commands / Flash any image or zip.
Hope this helps!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally understand what you're conveying and trust and believe when I say I've had my fair share of both types of Brick. What I mean is.... essentially the Kernel is going to be the defining difference between Hard Bricking vs Soft. For instance, I'm using a Note 5 Sprint (SM-N920P). If I were to flash BlahRom_N920T.zip then try and boot to system it'd definitely Hard Brick me, but if I were to flash an N920P Kernel immediately afterwards THEN boot to system out wouldn't. It might be kind of jacked up and buggy, but that's the determining factor as far as I understand.
Long story short:
How do i get my current working android device to revive an identical soft-bricked device. More challenging than you think: there is no boot menu accessible in the devices. Which means the only other choice is to use a usb connection to a PC to perform all tasks, i.e. create a rom system image backup of the working device, then use that to restore the system onto the soft-bricked one.
So is there a way to revive the s/bricked device with a rom image of the working twin?
The long story:
After using the super-sume app, my device got softbricked. Phones of my type are uncommon and are therefore not worked on by the android hacker community as much as flagship devices are. And little is known or discovered about them. So after doing more research, i've sadly come to know that there are other users here and there, having suffered the same problem as I. But enough about that.
As far as i've read and come to understand, i would need to re-flash the firmware to bring it back from it's softbrick issue easiest/safest way.
Though am not sure how the android platform would work. With PCs, i could restore a messed up system from a cloned image. What i need to confirm is if the firmware is separate from the OS (roms i believe) the same way device drivers are separate from the windows OS on PCs.
So am not sure if flashing firmware is enough and would need to stock rom too. Or is the rom considered both firmware and OS all in one?
I mentioned "restore from a clone image backup" because I have another, exact same model of my softbricked device, that functions still properly.
So i wonder if there is a way that i could use my working device to revive the soft-bricked one. In the sense that i would need to make a system image copy of my working one, to restore onto the s/bricked one.
What the problem looks like when starting the phone:
As for the softbrick appearance, the phone boots into the LG logo screen and is frozen there. It doesn't quite look like it's boot looping since the screen Never fades to black quickly just to come right back. It's just frozen there. This recovery mode screen is the only other thing i can get to besides the frozen LG screen: https://wcrates.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/lg-g3-recover-mode.jpg
I've come to learn (but may need correction on) that Tracfone devices are deliberately handicapped in a way i've never seen before. That is, their devices have no other boot type of menu besides the Recovery Menu (found before os begins boot) that is basically a factory reset. It just deletes all user data and resets system settings so that the phone works like it would at first when right out of the box. For the s/bricked device, that screen can be accessed, though executing that just resorts to the frozen boot screen again. If there is a boot menu to backup/restore from, clear cache, install from zip and what not, then please enlighten me. Because as i've tried everything, the tracfone-devices have nothing compared to non-tracfone-devices
So in order to install an updated rom, i may need to get into a type of system boot menu from where i would be able to select the option to install a rom or update it and what not. To some degree i assume that connecting the device through USB to a computer, one may do the same rom installation action through the PC, but it's in cases like these where i would need the help of and expert's first hand experience with such things or ways.
I don't mind if you want to leave a link to some tutorial some other guy has made that may closely related to (if not exactly) to help solve this issue. But i do prefer to get into contact with someone who i can report to with how the solution process is progressing. Mostly because me being a noob at this point of my android experience, but am confident since i've done this with pc's a lot.
I'm still trying to figure out what most of the android community speaks of when it comes to methods of backing up their stock roms and what kinds of software on PC or apps on the device are needed to accomplish a worthy backup. I do realize i'd need ADB and what other LG device compatible PC software out there. Here is a link where i think firmware files can be found, but since it's all in Chinese, i'm not sure how reliable the site is/can be. It's been about a month since i contacted some of their users. At this point it seems like they're no hope:
http://mobile.gaodi.net/Firmware-669539-1-1.html
I hope that i can find success so that i can post it up to help others who are in the same situation as me, and also for the many more who may yet fall into this situation.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Device: LG l21g (aka lgl21g) Destiny (model) by TracFone
Android: 5.0.1