Database Info

New OnePlus One Came Rooted With Adware

Brand New OnePlus One rooted and with adware etc
I am a very newbie to not all but many of the particular issues in this post so would be grateful of any newbie taylored advice.
Background:
==============
I purchased a Oneplus one recently, stocked and fulfilled by amazon with amazon returns policy but seller was a chineese company.
It was advertised as 100% Original Oneplus One New Cell Phone
The phone arraived and appeared to already be rooted
evidence:
Barclays App says it is rooted and won't run. It ran fine on my Nexus 4
I can connect via adb and set to su straight away
The phone appeared to have arrived with significant malware / adware with popups and auto launch ad in browser pages and bloteware / PUPS(?), and other issues. After a great deal of research checking notifications and trial and error I disabled the following, some via settings\apps some via adb, pm ... disable ...
2048 (com.digiplex.game)
App Manager (com.shyz.steward)
Browser (com.android.browser)
Caller ID (com.android.tools.callassistant)
Clean Master (com.cleanmaster.mguard)
Cool Browser (com.cool.coolbrowser)
DU Speed Booster (com.dianxinos.optimizer.duplay)
Magic Photo (cn.dotui.magicphoto)
Videos (com.haolianluo.video)
and disabled gestures due to torch issues
The phone now seems quite stable.
I installed MalwareBytes, however None of the items it identifies is it able to disable/uninstall I set it not to scan automatically but it continues to tell me I have not responded to its list of issues, but I have responded by selected them, but on selection it tries to uninstall them but fails.
I was able to disable one of them via adb because it provided the package name for that one but:
CallerID.apk (disabled in settings\apps)
coolbrowser.apk (disabled in settings\apps)
201507140923731g.apk
AppStore.apk
I do not know how to uninstall (or disable at least on 2 of them) and I do not know how to refer to them from package manager because I don't have the package name.
Key Questions:
================
I am familiar with much of software engineering and programming but not with mobile phone OS / disk / memory / file system, etc. I am having a lot of difficulty getting to grips with the vocabulary, definitions and terminology depending what you read.
- Some say OnePlus from factory comes with cyanogenmod but is not rooted
- So one wonders how my phone go to be rooted if the seller is a retailer
- Some say if the phone is rooted the warentee is invalidated. What do you think?
- WhatsApp says the phone has a custom rom and watsapp may not work properly with a custom rom
It is very difficult to get to the bottom of exactly what the difference is between a stock rom
and a custom rom. Some seem to be saying cyanogenmod is a custom rom, but then others say what
comes on the phone from the mobile manufacturer is a stock rom, eg HT Sense or in the case of
OnePlus, cyanogenmod! Is it only a custom rom if it is somehow NOT proven to be a
custom rom validated by the mobile manufacturer in factory (i.e. stock rom)?
- Some say having a custom rom invalidates warrantee, is this right?
- How do i prove that the rooting and the custom rom were not introduced by me?
- I have thought about factory reset, but I cannot manage to find anything that tells
me what this actually means and does, only how to do it.
- does a factory reset actually do what it suggests. I have read that factory reset does
not involve going to the manufacturers site and obtaining an appropriate image and flashing
it to the phone so I do not quite understand how else it could guarantee it
- If a factory reset will just make it like it was when I received it then that I do not want.
- Can I and ought I to flash a fresh image on the phone to get it like it WOULD HAVE been
had I bought it from OnePlus factory on invite and not through a mediator
- Finally. There is a notification "System Update is ready" . When I select this it appears
to download something (next version of cyanogenmod I guess though I don't recognise the version
number against any cyanogenmod versions) then it restarts and goes to a recovery app.
At this stage it is not completely intuitive what one should do and it seems to want you
to navigate to a location.
Now, I think I could probably figure this out with some reading but two things come to mind:
1) Presumably for a from factory OnePlus phone this kind of ambiguous unintuitive update
process would not be going on for people who just bought their phone and knew nothing
so it suggests the phone is in a different state to that. I also read you need root
already to install a (good) recovery app.
2) I am loath to do this update since it is not clear whether the update is this retailers
system update and will reintroduce all that I have disabled to create stability. Therefore
up to now I have always selected just do nothing and reboot. I favor stability over
features.
I am kind of inclined now I have managed to get it stable to just stick with it as it is and just use it without any further updates / resets / flashes and without returning it, but...
Sorry to ask all these questions. I would be grateful of any advice. Can be given with the assumption that I understand foundational general stuff ram, rom (though this word seems to be used differently to what I'm used to), flash, image, partition etc, but not that I actually know all about how the android/cyanogenmod platform is laid out and behaves as an installation.
Thank you.

Hi, All Oneplus One phones comes with CyanogenMod without rooted. One must Unlock bootloader and Flash custom recovery and Flash SuperSu to get root access.
Yours already says rooted means either you bought the used phone or refurbished. However even when a phone is refurbished OnePlus company locks it and make it unrooted.
OnePlus Phones warranty doesn't get over bu rooting. OnePlus actually supports rooting. Warranty becomes void when you do something blunder while flashing and your devices becomes dead aka bricked.
What I am suspecting is the chinese seller bought new OnePlus and Installed different ROM as the chinese OPO comes with ColorOS which doesn't have PlayStore. Now in the procedure they introduced unwanted Adwares which may be Intentional or Unintentional.
Now you have 2 options.
Either ask Amazon for a refund.
Or if the time is passed then I suggest you to start fresh. If you have already custom recovery installed then go ahead and install fresh stock CyanogenMod ROM from xda.
sent from Bacon (OnePlus One)

Hi Abhinav_Rakesh,
Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate your advice. I think I understood most of what you said, generally but I am still a bit unclear on some points:
Is there any way to tell if the phone is refurbished. I would rather it were new even if they have installed a different rom.
What do you mean by "time is passed" I have only had the phone a few days. I am in a quandary whether to return it or not, whether amazon will believe it was not me who rooted it and whether I will be able to get another one that is not just the same as this one anyway since you cannot get them direct from OnePlus any more.
I saw some kind of recovery screen over one reboot but did not do the install. How do I know if this is the "custom recovery" you describe, if it is not how do I obtain / get to "custom recover"?
Can you direct me to a script that shows me how to "install fresh stock CyanogenMod ROM from xda"? Will that completely blank out everything that the chineese company may have done on the phone, or might some stuff still be left behind? Is there a risk to that process, given that I at least have a fairly stable phone now? Will it include or do I have to get separately "PlayStore" so I can download my usual apps?
Thank you again, I really appreciate it?

i suggest you to start from fresh, since obviously your OPO is not in stock state and has been tampered with..
the (general) steps to make the OPO like new are as follows..
(1) connect it to a pc via usb cable
(2) in command prompt, issue "adb reboot bootloader" (and wait for it to boot into bootloader/fastboot mode)
(3) issue "fastboot oem unlock" (to unlock the bootloader.. all data will be wiped but the warranty is not voided)
(4) issue "fastboot flash recovery custom_recovery.img" (replace "custom_recovery.img" with the actual recovery file name)
(5) power off mobile and disconnect from pc
(6) press power button together with volume down button (to boot into custom recovery we just flashed)
(7) while in recovery, install rom image (which should be put in the internal storage beforehand)
(8) reboot to enjoy the reborn mobile
to be able the complete the above steps, you need to get some files in advance:
- adb.exe/fastboot.exe (which you should already have since you could do adb)
- custom recovery (TWRP suggested.. get the image for OPO, whose codename is bacon, at http://twrp.me/ ), and put it in your pc..
- stock or custom rom (the stock for OPO is cyanogenmod, and there is also a OnePlus provided OxygenOS rom.. go to respective sites to get a copy), and put it into the mobile's internal storage..
mind you that by doing so (the fastboot oem unlock step) all your mobile's data will be wiped..

@hardya Hi .. You can follow this link to restore your phone according to OnePlus Standards. This will remove all that chinese ads and all and will make it fresh.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2970390
sent from Bacon (OnePlus One)

I feel like i need to reanswer a some of your question even though some already have answered them. You seem very interested and it seems fair to clear up some things.
hardya said:
- Some say OnePlus from factory comes with cyanogenmod but is not rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a little misconception about what cyanogenmod is.
The offical Oneplus One comes preinstalled with CyanogenOS (or CM12S), which is derived from Cyanogenmod. It get's a bit complicated. Cyanogen is a company founded by the lead programmer of Cyanogenmod. CyanogenOS is a commercial product, that is licensed to phone manufactures.
Cyanogenmod is the codebase for CyanogenOS. CyanogenOS adds some functionalities that are not present in the community maintained Cyanogenmod. (e.g. a alternate dialing app, theme store, etc.)
The offical Oneplus One comes NON-rooted. You need to manually enable root.
Please keep in mind that it gets REALLY complicated from this point!
The Oneplus One debuted with CM11S (CyanogenOS, the commercial version of Cyanogenmod). Cyanogen (the company) promised users 2 years of support and updates for the owners on the Oneplus One. But Oneplus and Cyanogen had some major issues that resulted in ending the partnership.
Oneplus had to offer an alternative Android Firmware for their upcoming phone Oneplus Two. So they did another android version called OxygenOS. This was installed onto all Oneplus One phones from a certain date onward!
THIS is the OFFICAL Android Software Version for your Oneplus One!!!
See: https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/how-can-i-download-oxygen-os
I would strongly recommend to install OxygenOS, as it is the easiest way of experience the phone as Oneplus intended it to be.
Most tutorials on here are a little bit older so they are offering guides which mention either CM11S, CM12S, Cyanogenmod or OxygenOS. (or if you are more familiar with other customroms, whatever you'd like to install! But this is something you should look into, when you are more familiar with what costumroms are and what they do! There are so many excellent guides on here, which i'd recommend you to read sometime!)
- So one wonders how my phone go to be rooted if the seller is a retailer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He rooted it either manually or used an android version (e.g. something downloaded off XDA or got one from some developer). Such versions are often called Customroms.
Also note, that there are no official retailers of Oneplus phones. They are officially offered from the website only. However, there are some shops in China, that offer Oneplus phones.
- Some say if the phone is rooted the warentee is invalidated. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most phone manufactures actually tell you that your warranty is void when rooting your phone.
Oneplus however is very, very supportive when it comes to rooting!
And of course installing other Android Versions and Roms!
See: https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/will-rooting-or-unlocking-the-bootloader-void-my-warranty
- WhatsApp says the phone has a custom rom and watsapp may not work properly with a custom rom
It is very difficult to get to the bottom of exactly what the difference is between a stock rom
and a custom rom. Some seem to be saying cyanogenmod is a custom rom, but then others say what
comes on the phone from the mobile manufacturer is a stock rom, eg HT Sense or in the case of
OnePlus, cyanogenmod! Is it only a custom rom if it is somehow NOT proven to be a
custom rom validated by the mobile manufacturer in factory (i.e. stock rom)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cyanogenmod is indeed a custom rom. (or sometimes aftermarket firmware)
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyanogenMod
A stock rom is the firmware that is installed by the manufacturer. (in your case: CyanogenOS, called CM12S. the 12 stands for the version number of Cyanogenmod. 12 = Android 5, 13 will be Android 6. There was a CM11S version, when the phone debuted last year.). The S marks it as CyanogenOS, the commercial product. So CM12 would be the community maintained Cyanogenmod. CM12S the product by the company Cyanogen. As said before, it's a bit complicated, as the current OFFICIAL rom is OxygenOS
Your findings of software not present in the official stock Oneplus One rom (which is either CM12S or OxygenOS), suggests your software on the phone is actually a unofficial costum rom.
- Some say having a custom rom invalidates warrantee, is this right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the answer to the rooting question. Almost all major phone manufactures void your warranty if you flash a custom rom. As it involves tampering with system files and most people are not very knowledgeable when it comes to "computery things". It's just a security measure, so that people won't sue the company when something bad happens (most likely deleting precious pictures, etc.)
Oneplus actually encourages people to try other roms. This made the Oneplus One a very popular phone for tinkerers and as you can see on this forum there are a lot of custom roms you can choose from.
- How do i prove that the rooting and the custom rom were not introduced by me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the seller was not so careful, there will be a notice, which can be read by software programs available here on XDA, that say how many times a custom rom was installed.
However, i think your main concern is, that you wouldn't be able to get support form Oneplus, because you think your warranty is not valid anymore. As said above, your concerns are not that problematic. Especially as you seem to be knowledgeable enough to actually fix things on your own!
- I have thought about factory reset, but I cannot manage to find anything that tells
me what this actually means and does, only how to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A factory reset will delete all your apps and reset the system to the state"it came out of the factory". So when you start up your phone, you need to set it up again. Enter your name, configure your WiFi settings, install your favorite apps.
However. Your photos and your music files will not be deleted! Be careful though. Resetting your system will delete your app settings. I just want to point that out, because the first time a did a factory reset and reinstalled everything i thought i lost all my Whatsapp photos. They were there in the Picture folder, but weren't linked to the images in my chat window! This is a bit complicated, but can be solved quite easily, if you know what your doing (backing up your apps with certain programs, e.g. Titanium Backup).
- does a factory reset actually do what it suggests. I have read that factory reset does
not involve going to the manufacturers site and obtaining an appropriate image and flashing
it to the phone so I do not quite understand how else it could guarantee it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset is a internal function of your phone (to be precise of your phones recovery!)
However, as most people said and your suspected is: Your phone does not run the official factory image, provided by Oneplus (or Cynaogen).
The official software can be obtained from
https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/how-can-i-download-oxygen-os
- If a factory reset will just make it like it was when I received it then that I do not want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it will most likely to what you fear. It depends on what the retailer did. Most costum roms include software in their phones, that will be installed again with a factory reset. If your seller did install the programs AFTER the phones original state (e.g installing it from an appstore or from the APK's (Androids Software Packages)) they won't be present!
- Can I and ought I to flash a fresh image on the phone to get it like it WOULD HAVE been
had I bought it from OnePlus factory on invite and not through a mediator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely! I'd recommend you to flash a new image to your phone!
There are a lot of great programs here on XDA that offer easy and intuitive options of doing that, without even knowing anything about flashing programs! Try to take a look around and see what you can make of it.
I personally think they are great, but can be dangerous if you didn't read the proper instructions. I'm just saying, as they often delete EVERYTHING on your phone. So whatever you do to your phone, backup everything before!!!
But these simple programs are what you are looking for. They will install the firmware (Cyanogenmod or OxygenOS) that are bloatfree and as the Oneplus intended them to be.
- Finally. There is a notification "System Update is ready" . When I select this it appears
to download something (next version of cyanogenmod I guess though I don't recognise the version
number against any cyanogenmod versions) then it restarts and goes to a recovery app.
At this stage it is not completely intuitive what one should do and it seems to want you
to navigate to a location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This further suggests, that your are not running an official version. The official update process is fully automated and doesn't need any user intervention! From your description it doesn't do anything and you are stuck in recovery, that is waiting for user input. This is not the case with proper official roms!
Now, I think I could probably figure this out with some reading but two things come to mind:
1) Presumably for a from factory OnePlus phone this kind of ambiguous unintuitive update
process would not be going on for people who just bought their phone and knew nothing
so it suggests the phone is in a different state to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely correct! See above.
I also read you need root
already to install a (good) recovery app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do not need root to install a recovery. This is a bit complicated, as there are some misconceptions about what is what. You need to "unlock" your phone to install another recovery. This is not rooting, but is also restricted by many manufacturers. But as with rooting, Oneplus is offering support on unlocking your phone and there are lots of guides on how to do it.
2) I am loath to do this update since it is not clear whether the update is this retailers
system update and will reintroduce all that I have disabled to create stability. Therefore
up to now I have always selected just do nothing and reboot. I favor stability over
features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wise decision.
I am kind of inclined now I have managed to get it stable to just stick with it as it is and just use it without any further updates / resets / flashes and without returning it, but...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would strongly recommend to NOT leave it this way! As you yourself found out, there are chances that there are programs on the phone, that are not to be supposed to be there. I'm not saying that there is spyware on your phone, but it is most likely that there could be malicious code running in the background of your phone. I would strongly recommend NOT to use apps, that need sensitive information of yourself!
Try to look for guides and tutorials here on XDA and just install CM12S, Cyanogenmod or even better OxygenOS, the official ROM from Oneplus! OxygenOS is not everyone's favorite choice, but that way you can be sure, that NOTHING fishy is going on on your phone!
There is an easy app available from the offical oneplus site!
https://oneplus.net/de/support/answer/how-can-i-download-oxygen-os
Or use the app that is mentioned in the post above! Will to the same thing!
Use the instructions on there and you are much safer on using your phone than you are in the present state!
BUT PLEASE, PLEASE DO A BACKUP OF YOUR DATA! I mean, your photos, contacts and everything important before doing anything to your phone. I'm just stressing that out, as so many people complain afterwards that they lost everything, etc.! Not just because the process they did was unsafe, but becaus the didn't properly read the instructions that tell people that they should make a backup, BEFORE tampering the system. It says factory RESET, so it should be clear, that everything will be reset!

I'd suggest you return it and get one through official channels. Official OnePlus devices can only be purchased through the OnePlus store.

I'd suggest you to read this story:
https://medium.com/@tuesdev/as-many...ve-a-oneplus-2-invite-ba20ac8606ae#.qgq3fhmn7

Ctuiku,
Sorry I wasn't able to respond sooner. I really do appreciate your very clear and detailed response and it's care to address each point very clearly and to make clear distinctions between similar things gives me significant confidence in its accuracy.
I must say I appreciate the significant amount of time you have taken and I do hope that at least some of your responses were cut and pasted from text you had already written else where.
I think I may have a number of minor follow up questions, but for now I shall digest your advice and decide on my plan of action.
Thank you again for being so helpful and understanding.
Andrew

I actually didn't read much of it and the comments, but I'd suggest you to unlock the bootloader, flash TWRP, take a backup, wipe everything(not the internal storage of course) , and perform a clean flash of CM13.0 by sultanxda. It's the smoothest and the most stable ROM out there.
Well, that was all in brief. You gotta read(and understand) and perform. It's fun, just like programming. Keep flashing!
~noob (you gotta start from somewhere)

Ctuiku
Thank you again for all your help. Sorry for the delay in responding been busy with other things and also since had some time to digest...
THIS is the OFFICAL Android Software Version for your Oneplus One!!!
See: <I am not allowed to include this link in quote>
I would strongly recommend to install OxygenOS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This link appears to be out of date
or even better OxygenOS, the official ROM from Oneplus! OxygenOS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My search and his post
_forums_oneplus_net_threads_mirrors-for-official-oxygen-os-roms-and-ota-updates.387615
suggests you cannot get the official OxygenOS ROM from Oneplus, doesn't this pose some risks using TP apps to download and flash OS ROM?
There is an easy app available from the offical oneplus site!
<I am not allowed to include this link in quote>
Or use the app that is mentioned in the post above! Will to the same thing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't this pose some risks using TP apps to download and flash OS ROM?
Also the official link
_account_onepluscontent_com_downloads_tools_oneplus-one-reflash_zip
appears to be out of date
I cannot seem to find a way to find an official location or to identify the genuineness of CM12S image or OxyGenOS image. Is there some kind of published standard hash of the file or something? How does it work?
a lot of what I read, like on the oneplus site or the way links are named seems to suggest that OxygenOS is just for OnePlus Two. I believe that OnePlus One moved to OxygenOS at some point, but I don't want to apply an OS version to a device that is under resourced. Is there a version of OxygenOS that the OnePlus One should not go beyond.
P.S. How do I get your XDA user name to appear as a link?

iamelton
Thank you so much for your advice I really do appreciate the time you took to help me. Sorry for the delay in responding. Difficult circumstances.
regarding your point (7)
(7) while in recovery, install rom image (which should be put in the internal storage beforehand)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- I wonder if you would mind indicating where beforehand in this list putting the rom image in the internal storage ought to occurr?
- Also, so sorry, but I wonder would you mind elaberating just a little on how to put the rom image in the internal storage?
Regarding the files, I am happy with adb.exe, fastboot.exe, TWRP.
However I understand that the genuineness of OxygenOS images are not provided by OnePlus, is this right?
_forums_oneplus_net_threads_mirrors-for-official-oxygen-os-roms-and-ota-updates_387615
How do confirm the genuineness of OxygenOS images?
Is it a kind of hierarchy of trust, i.e. n users use and recommend this location for the images.
Or is there some kind of standard hash for the images that is published on secure OnePlus site?
I have similar issue / understanding issue with CM12S
It would appear after roaming around forums etc that the official Cyanogen OS (not mod/custom) are located below here _builds_cyngn_com_ but the site itself seems to have no web pages I visit cyngn.com_get-cyanogen-os but can find no page with a list of rom images and their corresponding dates, attributes and inclusions etc.
I hear that some versions of CM12S do not support 64GB (as per my OPO) but I seem to have no clear certified single source way to know exactly the name/url of the CM12S I should get.
I am probably misunderstanding the philosophy behind things, but it seems if anyone can do anything with the source you would think that OnePlus would into the bargin also provide users (of which there will be a variety) a "sure fire" way to get their (grey market?) phone to (original) factory standard. They still apparently cover it for warentee, so...
Many thanks
P.S. How do I get your XDA user name to appear as a link?

Revive Soft Bricked Device through Identical 2nd? (LG l21g Destiny Tracfone)

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

Bootloader Unlocking through Downgrade possible?

Hello Guys,
i had bought an Huawei P20 about an year ago. Now you know with all of this "USA-Huawei" Trouble going on, the thought came to my mind that i better start unlocking bootloader and be prepared to flash custom rom if worst come to worst. so far, so good.
now i started looking around if there is an easy method of getting the bootloader unlocked. but oh my, the huawei company is very friendly to us users and say "no, you wont get any unlock code from us anymore". so screw that.
now i want to try some experimental stuff. it looks like this:
my Smartphone has currently the version EML-L29 8.1.0.168(C432). I bought some Credits (i think it is that thing for $4) from DC-Unlocker. Yeah yeah i know, there they say "no support for Huawei P20!!!". But i still want to try. Well i tried, but it doesnt work - what you should expect.
now i read from some other website that there is another way of unlocking it. i only read it diagonal but the one thing i read was the information "unlocking bootloader is only possible till firmware version june 2018". so i jumped to an maaybe interesting conclusion about unlocking the phone with DC-Unlocker or HCU (whatever, i guess maybe both use the same method anyway).
if i do an rollback to the old firmware version *before* June 2018 on the device, wouldnt it be possible to do the unlock? Because the security patches that preventing it unlocked arent on the device then.
So what i have done so far is loading the old firmware version 8.1.0.128(C432). But the source is saying that it is coming from "Asia" but in the next line it reads "Asia, Europe" etc. - do they mean that this version is universal or do i run in trouble if i install one that is having the wrong area?
the next thing that kinda baffles me... all guides are sayin "copy the extracted dload folder to your sd-card". even the p20 guides do that. but.. well you know, the p20 device doesnt even have sd-card support. so how are you intended to use it then? i wonder about that a bit.
i dont think that without unlocked bootloader, flashing an original OTA full update would be impossible. but im not really sure how. there is this shady menu you can reach if you call this strange numbercode. but im very unsure if that will really work out. the phone (it is still a phone without SD-Card-Support) even has the option "apply update from sd-card". so im wondering how this feature they implemented in the original software is intended to use at all. maybe i should push the dload folder on the internal storage? i dunno.
i read about another possibilty of flashing stock roms. they say you can do it per adb command. so no problems would be here, i have adb and the hisuite and all already set. but i have absolutely no idea if that is possible without unlocked bootloader. so the questions arose from my mind are those:
- does an stock rom image from possibly/maybe asia would do any harm to my device like it is getting unbootable or anything like that?
- is it possible to flash an image older android stock rom with methods like this special menu on the device or the adb load?
- do you all think that my plan of downgrading the phone in order to get the bootloader code would work?
i'm looking very forward to your answers )

no_monday said:
Bootloader Unlocking through Downgrade possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Sorry. There's no solution. Reason: It would appear in this forum within minutes and thousands of people would be happy to unlock their bootloaders. Many Huawei-Owners here on XDA invested a lot of brain power to find a way. Noone succeeded. No bootloader code, no unlock.
If you still want to play around with firmwares, please inform us about any progress.

Jan Philipp said:
No. Sorry. There's no solution. Reason: It would appear in this forum within minutes and thousands of people would be happy to unlock their bootloaders. Many Huawei-Owners here on XDA invested a lot of brain power to find a way. Noone succeeded. No bootloader code, no unlock.
If you still want to play around with firmwares, please inform us about any progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay so there are basically no real information. look, i dont expect anyone to say like "oh there is an easy method xy" because i know it doesnt exist on this moment in time.
however i made an percent of an progress, it is more a thing for other interested custom rom modders out there.
i downloaded this update.zip and there are all kinds of howtos on the internet about it. the one thing i did is basically create the dload folder. then i put the extracted update.app in there. i rebooted the phone with power, vol down + vol up. i released the power button after the vibrating. the flashing screen indeed appeared! but something very strange has happened and i have no explanation what have happend.
so the emui updater appeared. there was this emui logo in the middle, the circle building up around it. but then it stopped at 5%. i really got panicked that im about to brick my device. so in an mad attempt i wanted to stop the update and power off the phone. glad i didnt do it. the phone always said if i tried to press the power button long enough "the system will crash if it is powered down". i stopped - but i tried it serveral times to stop.
now the strange thing is.. it stuck relatively long on this screen. but after a while (i guess it was 5-6 minutes) it suddenly got dark. and the battery was at 100%, so it wasnt a faulty battery. i just wondered. the phone - other than i would expect - rebooted. after a short while of the logo flashing (for about an half minute) it finally started. first i didnt have any connect to GSM Network. but after a short while that was okay too. all apps are still there. i looked at "about" and the version is still the same as before.
do someone have any imagination what has happened there? so apparently the phone *does* try to install something on this method, but the method seemed to fail. or is there any knowledge out yet for update logs that are getting generated by this process? i try to find any hint in order to tackle this problem atm.
and one thing is still on my mind.. could it be that the update is already through and i just didnt realized it yet because these other custom files werent changed? i mean that could be an possibility to say the least. anyway, i will try to use hcu now if maybe sth has changed. and i give kingoroot as well a shot if this buddy finds everything about rooting the device. maybe with root rights through exploit i can get further.

no_monday said:
okay so there are basically no real information. look, i dont expect anyone to say like "oh there is an easy method xy" because i know it doesnt exist on this moment in time.
however i made an percent of an progress, it is more a thing for other interested custom rom modders out there.
i downloaded this update.zip and there are all kinds of howtos on the internet about it. the one thing i did is basically create the dload folder. then i put the extracted update.app in there. i rebooted the phone with power, vol down + vol up. i released the power button after the vibrating. the flashing screen indeed appeared! but something very strange has happened and i have no explanation what have happend.
so the emui updater appeared. there was this emui logo in the middle, the circle building up around it. but then it stopped at 5%. i really got panicked that im about to brick my device. so in an mad attempt i wanted to stop the update and power off the phone. glad i didnt do it. the phone always said if i tried to press the power button long enough "the system will crash if it is powered down". i stopped - but i tried it serveral times to stop.
now the strange thing is.. it stuck relatively long on this screen. but after a while (i guess it was 5-6 minutes) it suddenly got dark. and the battery was at 100%, so it wasnt a faulty battery. i just wondered. the phone - other than i would expect - rebooted. after a short while of the logo flashing (for about an half minute) it finally started. first i didnt have any connect to GSM Network. but after a short while that was okay too. all apps are still there. i looked at "about" and the version is still the same as before.
do someone have any imagination what has happened there? so apparently the phone *does* try to install something on this method, but the method seemed to fail. or is there any knowledge out yet for update logs that are getting generated by this process? i try to find any hint in order to tackle this problem atm.
and one thing is still on my mind.. could it be that the update is already through and i just didnt realized it yet because these other custom files werent changed? i mean that could be an possibility to say the least. anyway, i will try to use hcu now if maybe sth has changed. and i give kingoroot as well a shot if this buddy finds everything about rooting the device. maybe with root rights through exploit i can get further.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems you have a couple of questions, pal, I answered to the first one (Bootloader Unlocking through Downgrade possible?). All I said is that it's impossible to unlock the bootloader through a downgrade. If you read all the how-to's you should have noticed that FirmwareFinder doesn'st work anymore since EMUI 9.0. This Information simply means Huawei doesn't allow us to flash updates on our own anymore like we did before. For sure there are some guides how to rollback to Android 8 but even this changes nothing to the bootloader.
Sadly I have no answer to the other questions about the strange behavior, it sounds pretty odd. Never heared something like this. But good luck fixing your phone anyway.

well i found out a couple of things now.
first thing: you know the service menu when you try to apply a zip archive from sd card? well you wont be able to use it UNTIL you use an usb-otg cable and an exFat formatted USB-Stick. Next thing to know is, you have to use the right images. there seem to be an kind of rule how this images are supposed to be and the image i found was from an russian firmware download site it was linked here in the forum in a thread. so i did choose "apply zip from sdcard" and .. IT DOES! the device rebooted, the stick flashed and the flashing process occured! and guys, im back to Version EML-L29 8.1.0.128(C432)! it is clearly stated in the build version view in settings. so.. i guess you *can* roll back even without firmware updater.
so far so good. but lets get back to the problem with the Bootloader. sadly Jan Philipp was totally right.. the bootloader cant be unlocked even in this version with the security patch of 5. may 2018. that is kinda sad. even kingoroot is still no different from before. i guess i have to search now for an way to get the system rooted. however, it must be easier on an earlier security update stage like now instead of the future versions of emui 8.1.
edit: another strange thing i discovered so far is that after this restore.. the play store wasnt able to connect to the google server until i gave permission to a few google processes to calendar and file access (i wonder what that is all about). maybe it has something to do with incompatibilities in the rom versions but now it works just fine as it should).

"unlocking bootloader with exploit is only possible till firmware version june/july 2018" does not apply to 2018's devices with kirin970, kirin980 & kirin710.
You are with kirin970.
So to unlock your kirin970, the only way for now is to wait for 3rd party seller to hypotheticaly start back their dervice:
- In the last 6 months there was only 2 'windows' which lasted 3 or 4 days where you could order your bootloader's unlock code by imei (from 5 to 124 us$).

GuestD0711 said:
another strange thing i discovered so far is that after this restore.. the play store wasnt able to connect to the google server until i gave permission to a few google processes to calendar and file access (i wonder what that is all about). maybe it has something to do with incompatibilities in the rom versions but now it works just fine as it should).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Play services require all permissions, otherwise won't work.
I also been searching on how to unlock the bootloader and found no solution or hope. I guess we are stuck with EMUI forever.

Reply from Huawei:
You can roll back to earlier versions of EMUI software, but you have to roll back one version at a time. However, our earlier phones operate exclusively on Google Mobile Services so removing it would limit the functionality extremely, however, we do have a range of new devices that no longer rely on Google Mobile Services and use Huawei Mobile Services instead - such as our P40 series.
Here are the instructions for rolling back software:
[Rollback Guideline] EMUI 9.1 (Android 9) Rollback to EMUI 9.0 (Android 9) Operation Instruction
EMUI 9.1 (Android 9) can now be rolled back to the official version of EMUI 9.0 (Android 9) using HiSuite, without downloading any intermediate packages. To ensure that the rollback succeeds, read the instructions carefully and perform the steps as instructed.
1. The following are precautions for roll-back.
a. Rolling back to an earlier version will erase all data on your device. Use an SD card, computer, or Cloud storage to back up all important data before rolling back your phone, and make sure all backed up content is complete and effective.
b. Use a computer running a Windows operating system to visit http://consumer.huawei.com/minisite/HiSuite_en/index.html and download the latest version of HiSuite. If HiSuite is installed on your computer, click the version number in the lower left corner of the page to check if it is the latest version. Make sure HiSuite version is 9.1.0.303 _OVE or above.
c. Before rolling back the phone, make sure your phone has not been upgraded using non-official updates. Otherwise, the roll-back may fail and unknown issues may be introduced. If you have used non-official packages to upgrade your phone, it is recommended that you go to an after-sales service center to roll back your phone.
d. Before rolling back your phone, make sure that your phone system has not been unlocked or rooted. If the system has been unlocked or rooted, it is recommended that you go to an after-sales service center to roll back your phone.
e. Before the roll-back, restore the phone to factory settings to make sure there is enough storage space.
f. Make sure the battery level is more than 50%.

Hi All,
I need assistance to update my EML L29 Huawei P20 phone.
The phone is Locked and FRP Lock
Issue the phone is always booting into recovery mode and not into the main screen.
I tired flashing via CMD using twrp.img file but its not writing.
Need help

[DISCUSSION] Bypassing Authorization of MSM Download tool of Realme/Oppo

Hello everyone!
So today something that could potentially let users flash/unbrick their phones using the current MSM Download tool came to my mind.
I'm also very sorry if this is the wrong place for this, i'm new to xda.
So as you might know for Realme phones there are people who have authorized account out there and once you pay them they will connect to yoprur computer and then start flashing ocess, online with no verification. I even tried getting my phone flashed but due to them not flashing twice if one package doesn't work my device was bricked (I have A.xx variant and i tried getting B.xx flashed) and i had to send to service center to wait for unbricking process which took over a month, yes you heard it right! They couldn't even repair it with software flashing so they had to replace the whole motherboard.... At least i'm grateful i didn't have to pay for motherboard replacement and it was considered in-warranty.
So yes, again let's go back to our topic and my idea.
What came to my mind is, what happens if i create a virtual machine using VMWare, get an authorized account to login to the application then cut connection of that TeamViewer connection and immediately "Save current state of VM" after someone logs in. Would that account be still logged in? This VM can also be shared with it's own folder as far as I know too! Is there a verification after you login to the app? As far as i know there's only a verification while you login to the app and there isn't anything afterwards which i think is also illogical to do so.
I know and i'm aware Realme can patch this possible "vulnerability" overnight because on the server side, literally everything depends on them (I really hope they don't) but thanks to their habit of not caring about development, releasing broken kernel sources and not even providing official bootloader unlock (even after nearly a year in my case) has come to a point where it's irresistably annoying for me so i decided to think of possible ways to maybe bypass the verification part of the application so that they can flash a firmware as their liking.
It's Android! It had to be free! It had to be allowed to do these type of stuffs to your Android phone! Why? Why? Why Realme?!

daeMysterious said:
Hello everyone!
So today something that could potentially let users flash/unbrick their phones using the current MSM Download tool came to my mind.
I'm also very sorry if this is the wrong place for this, i'm new to xda.
So as you might know for Realme phones there are people who have authorized account out there and once you pay them they will connect to yoprur computer and then start flashing ocess, online with no verification. I even tried getting my phone flashed but due to them not flashing twice if one package doesn't work my device was bricked (I have A.xx variant and i tried getting B.xx flashed) and i had to send to service center to wait for unbricking process which took over a month, yes you heard it right! They couldn't even repair it with software flashing so they had to replace the whole motherboard.... At least i'm grateful i didn't have to pay for motherboard replacement and it was considered in-warranty.
So yes, again let's go back to our topic and my idea.
What came to my mind is, what happens if i create a virtual machine using VMWare, get an authorized account to login to the application then cut connection of that TeamViewer connection and immediately "Save current state of VM" after someone logs in. Would that account be still logged in? This VM can also be shared with it's own folder as far as I know too! Is there a verification after you login to the app? As far as i know there's only a verification while you login to the app and there isn't anything afterwards which i think is also illogical to do so.
I know and i'm aware Realme can patch this possible "vulnerability" overnight because on the server side, literally everything depends on them (I really hope they don't) but thanks to their habit of not caring about development, releasing broken kernel sources and not even providing official bootloader unlock (even after nearly a year in my case) has come to a point where it's irresistably annoying for me so i decided to think of possible ways to maybe bypass the verification part of the application so that they can flash a firmware as their liking.
It's Android! It had to be free! It had to be allowed to do these type of stuffs to your Android phone! Why? Why? Why Realme?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed the stock recovery n stock rom on a RMX1993 Realme X2 that I had rooted already with TWRP.
Everything was fine, till I got the great idea on relocking the bootloader.
As soon as I put the command the device reboot and showed that message with chinese letters n "recovery/boot has been destroyed" etc.
Got no fastboot either, only com port EDL mode works. The next and main problem is I am not authorized to flash roms due to that user/pw in msm tool. I just found this out after bricking the device. Why the hell did I lock the bootloader....
I heard there are websites that offer user/password for msm tool flashing n you need to buy credits for it. I'm not gonna bother nor paying for something that I own and should have the right to fix by myself. Amaz0n will take care from it this time, they'll probably refund.
Tip: Do not relock bootloaders,
and a better one: do not buy realme devices.

Morphine1 said:
I flashed the stock recovery n stock rom on a RMX1993 Realme X2 that I had rooted already with TWRP.
Everything was fine, till I got the great idea on relocking the bootloader.
As soon as I put the command the device reboot and showed that message with chinese letters n "recovery/boot has been destroyed" etc.
Got no fastboot either, only com port EDL mode works. The next and main problem is I am not authorized to flash roms due to that user/pw in msm tool. I just found this out after bricking the device. Why the hell did I lock the bootloader....
I heard there are websites that offer user/password for msm tool flashing n you need to buy credits for it. I'm not gonna bother nor paying for something that I own and should have the right to fix by myself. Amaz0n will take care from it this time, they'll probably refund.
Tip: Do not relock bootloaders,
and a better one: do not buy realme devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same mistake as yours, Did you found any fix/bought new phone? Regretting now.

PrateekPanwar64X said:
Same mistake as yours, Did you found any fix/bought new phone? Regretting now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you find any solution stuck with the same problem

ZUESHACKED said:
did you find any solution stuck with the same problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I wrote later in a forum: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...tloader-and-no-recovery.4316853/post-86998293

Accidentally locked bootloader -- System destroyed

Hey there! I'm new around here and I'm not sure if this has been asked before... I found this thread but there are a couple differences between our cases and none of the solutions given in the comments seem to work:
"The system has been destroyed" Poco X3 NFC
So here's the thing -- I've been using this phone for a few months as a replacement for an iPhone. I used to be in the custom ROM scene back in 2015-2016 with an old Huawei I had, so I more or less know how all of this works. Since MIUI is visually horrible (in my opinion) I decided to try my luck at installing PixelExperience (great ROM, btw!). Since I've recovered my previous phone, this one has been sitting in a drawer for a couple months already, so I wanted to restore it to factory settings and sell it.
Aaaaand this is where **** happened. I had this weird intrusive thought of using "fastboot oem lock" before doing anything else just to see what would happen. The result? The phone is now bricked. I can access fastbook but that's about it, trying to boot into the system or recovery just gives me a "The system had been destroyed - Press power button to shutdown".
I know you can fix this by unlocking it again, but every tool I find online is meant for Windows and there are barely any solutions for macOS. I have found two of them: XiaoMiTool V2 (but needs adb to be enabled) and XiaomiADBFastbootTools, which seems to kind of work.
It detects the device when put in fastboot mode, but when clicking on "OEM Unlock" it just says "Token Verify Failed, reboot the device" (screenshot attached).
Trying to unlock it from the Terminal does pretty much the same thing (obviously).
Before you ask - Yes, I have all the required drivers installed as this is the exact same computer that I used to unlock the bootloader and flash OFRP. Everything works normally, it's just that I don't have access to the OEM unlock tokens to do it directly from the Terminal the same way I used to do it with previous phones.
So uhh... What can I do? Is it going to stay this way forever? Are there any solutions for macOS users that don't require having to use BootCamp or VM? I don't mind doing it but I'd rather have it as the very last resort, since it's too much of a hassle to do it. I have Xubuntu installed on my secondary drive, so if there is anything that could work on Linux, I'll take it too.
Thank you all for your help!
Edit 1: By the way! If this gets solved, could anyone be kind enough to guide me through the steps on how to mark it as [SOLVED] and close the thread? I'm really really bad at forums.

To the best of my knowledge, MIUI tools check online if the device is currently associated with a MI account -- and in case it isn't, nothing else goes...
My guess would be to try to run MiFlash with its last fastboot stock ROM in a Windows VM.
In case that doesn't work, taking it to Xiaomi tech support would be the best bet...

pnin said:
To the best of my knowledge, MIUI tools check online if the device is currently associated with a MI account -- and in case it isn't, nothing else goes...
My guess would be to try to run MiFlash with its last fastboot stock ROM in a Windows VM.
In case that doesn't work, taking it to Xiaomi tech support would be the best bet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking your time to answer! I'll just have to install Windows in an external disk and see how it goes
I'm guessing MiFlash works offline, without checking anything about the phone on their servers, right?

kakuluva said:
I'm guessing MiFlash works offline, without checking anything about the phone on their servers, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really sure about that (haven't done it myself), but it has been the general recommendation here when faced with serious trouble so I would expect so. YMMV, though.