If you've just arrived on the phone modding scene, or are coming from another phone that uses traditional approaches to flashing, you've likely come across people talking about the "A/B partitions." If you don't have any experience with this arrangement, it can be intimidating, because it fundamentally changes a lot of things related to flashing and updates.
What is a Partition?
Let's start with the basics. A partition is a discrete, contiguous, but non-overlapping section within the phone's storage where data is stored. There are partitions for bootloaders, various firmware, user data, OS files, and so on. For the most part, these files live in their own partitions, and you can wipe, format, and edit them without affecting files on other partitions.
There are 72 different partitions on the OP6. If you've worked with partitions on previous phones, you're probably thinking, "That's a lot," and it is. But there's a reason why there are so many: Many of them are duplicated, and that brings us to A/B partitions. Google moved to A/B partitioning for a specific reason: It allows for what are known as "seamless" updates. The following is from Google's explainer for devs, but it's fairly straightforward:
A/B system updates use two sets of partitions referred to as slots (normally slot A and slot B). The system runs from the current slot while the partitions in the unused slot are not accessed by the running system during normal operation. This approach makes updates fault resistant by keeping the unused slot as a fallback: If an error occurs during or immediately after an update, the system can rollback to the old slot and continue to have a working system. To achieve this goal, no partition used by the current slot should be updated as part of the OTA update (including partitions for which there is only one copy).
Each slot has a bootable attribute that states whether the slot contains a correct system from which the device can boot. The current slot is bootable when the system is running, but the other slot may have an old (still correct) version of the system, a newer version, or invalid data. Regardless of what the current slot is, there is one slot that is the active slot (the one the bootloader will boot form on the next boot) or the preferred slot.
Each slot also has a successful attribute set by the user space, which is relevant only if the slot is also bootable. A successful slot should be able to boot, run, and update itself. A bootable slot that was not marked as successful (after several attempts were made to boot from it) should be marked as unbootable by the bootloader, including changing the active slot to another bootable slot (normally to the slot running immediately before the attempt to boot into the new, active one).
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Click to collapse
What does all this mean? Well, one thing (the main thing, really) that it allows you to do is take an OTA while you are booted up and using your phone. (Even if you're rooted? Yes, but more on that in a moment.) The system update engine will download and install the update to the inactive slot in the background, then ask you to reboot. When you reboot, you'll be fully updated without the need to boot to bootloader and wait for it to install. This approach makes updating a lot safer: If the update breaks something, the system won't boot to that slot. It will return to the old slot and let you know the update failed. The days of having an OTA bork your phone out of the blue are mostly over. That's good!
But What About My Data?
Though there are two versions of many partitions (boot_a, boot_b, system_a, system_b, and so on) there's only one userdata partition. So your data isn't affected by the update.
You may need to log back into certain apps as if using them for the first time, but your data and settings will all still be where they were before the OTA.
What A/B Means for Rooting
The wrinkles, however, start coming when you unlock and root your phone. To understand why, we need to talk about something called the kernel. The kernel is a key part of any computer operating system. It is the tool that applications use to talk to the hardware and vice versa, and it governs how the CPU operates, how memory is used, and on smartphones how things like the screen, radio, speakers, and so on function. Without the kernel, or with a broken kernel, applications have no way to function. If you've heard the term "kernel panic," it's a situation in which the kernel stops the system either because of a hardware fault or a software problem that's taken the system into a state that the kernel can't get it out of.
Non-A/B Android phones actually had two kernel images. One lived in the recovery partition, while the other lived in the boot partition. This allowed the phone to boot into recovery and make major changes to the rest of the system. But the A/B approach gets rid of the separate recovery partition and integrates it into the boot partition. Why? Probably because on stock phones, the recovery is only used for system updates, and with the A/B arrangement, it's no longer necessary to have a separate dedicated recovery since updates happen directly to the inactive partition.
This creates a challenge for phone modding, however. Without a separate recovery partition, the stock recovery has to be replaced with a custom recovery, inside the boot partition where the kernel lives. But on Android, you cannot modify partitions through fastboot – you can only flash over them. So installing a custom recovery like twrp for the first time requires you to fastboot boot into twrp from your computer, then flash an installer once you are booted. .
There's another problem: Rooting via magisk makes modifications to the boot sector. So does flashing xposed or (obviously) a custom kernel. With recovery and these other custom mods now all living together in the same partition, it is possible for one of them to overwrite files used by another mod. This is why you may need to reflash magisk after updating a custom kernel or custom recovery, and why not doing so can result in a bootloop. You've overwritten files magisks uses for root, so your phone can no longer boot (this isn't the case with all mods; many are now coded to avoid this problem).
Updates on a Rooted OP6 with A/B Partitions
If you've been following along so far, you're probably now seeing another issue: Isn't a seamless update going to overwrite all of my mods? The answer is yes, it will (more accurately, it won't copy them over to the new slot). If you're cringing now, have faith. This isn't as big a deal as it sounds, and it's actually a good thing once you see how it all works.
Here's what happens when your OP6 gets an update notification. The update engine detects root and downloads the full update instead of the incremental update. This is very important and you should not try to frustrate or block it from doing so (unless you want to update manually via twrp, see below). Taking the incremental update on a rooted phone could result in a brick, or more likely, an unbootable slot. Like it says in that Google quote above, the updater installs the new version in the inactive slot. The key thing here is that it installs a fresh, fully stock version. Your data gets pulled over, but none of your mods go with it. To get them back, you have to install them all again. There are various ways of doing this, and this isn't the place to repeat the guides that are already posted on how. Just understand that you have to do it to keep root, twrp, and your other mods.
It works more or less the same way if you download the full update manually and flash in twrp. You'll get a fully stock installation on the other slot, and you'll boot into it unrooted unless you reinstall your mods first. You also should note that this makes for an easy way to go back to stock if that's what you want, and I recommend keeping a zip of the stock OS on your phone just in case you need to do it.
Note that you can manually switch the active slot in twrp, but I don't recommend doing so until you know what you're doing. After a couple of updates and flashes, what remains on the inactive slot is not necessarily going to be bootable, or it may boot with things like wifi broken. And if you've never updated at all, there may be nothing on the inactive slot, which means your phone will reboot into the void of a black screen. (But don't worry – there's a tool to fix this here.)
Here are a couple of guides that I recommend for further reading on the specifics:
[RECOVERY] HOW TO INSTALL OFFICIAL TWRP & MAGISK OOS 5.1.5 to 5.1.8
[OFFICIAL] OxygenOS 5.1.8 OTA for the OnePlus 6
If all this seems like some extra work, it is. But remember it ensures you're getting a clean and fully functional updated system. Once you get the hang of doing it this way, you'll appreciate the advantages.
Some Other Things to Be Aware of
In addition to the other changes, the cache partition has been removed. It now resides in the data partition and is no longer used for anything related to updates. One result is that wiping cache in twrp no longer does anything. If you want to clear cached data go into Settings>Storage & memory, then tap Cached data at the bottom and then tap OK.
Otherwise, you don't need to worry much about it. (Why did Google do this? Apparently to save space that was taken up by having to duplicate many other partitions. They also halved the system partitions by playing some clever games with app odexing, but that's beyond the scope of this guide – the only user effect is a slower first boot after factory reset.)
That's Cool! I Want to Know More!
This article on the XDA portal covers everything you could possibly want to know about A/B partitions and what they do.
Good luck and happy modding.
(Note: Devs and experienced users are encouraged to submit corrections if any of this is a bit off.)
Thanks to @jisoo for a guide in the Pixel forums I adapted some of this from.
Very informative and I'd even recommend this read for users who already know a bit about the partitions!
Excellent guide. Can I link it?
lollyjay said:
Excellent guide. Can I link it?
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Of course, your guide is linked here too. :highfive:
A quick read over this and I can't find anything glaringly wrong with it. Nice write up. Considering adapting it for the Portal if you're okay with that, OP.
MishaalRahman said:
A quick read over this and I can't find anything glaringly wrong with it. Nice write up. Considering adapting it for the Portal if you're okay with that, OP.
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Feel free!
iElvis said:
Of course, your guide is linked here too. :highfive:
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Done! And thank you.
Still little confused here.so if I flashed full ROM zip(not ota zip) from twrp then I have updated system or my phone will soft brick?
vikasb32 said:
Still little confused here.so if I flashed full ROM zip(not ota zip) from twrp then I have updated system or my phone will soft brick?
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Flashing the full rom zip will give you an updated system, but stock unless you follow by reinstalling twrp, etc.
No other words than THANK YOU! You've clarified our minds!
Nice write up. I did have a question though. If I flash the full stock rom in TWRP does it automatically flash to the non-active partition? I've had a couple of unexpected issues when flashing.
Man that's something
Any way Thank you
I was lazy to search and read about the whole thing , but you help to provide what I need to know .
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
texasaggie1 said:
Nice write up. I did have a question though. If I flash the full stock rom in TWRP does it automatically flash to the non-active partition? I've had a couple of unexpected issues when flashing.
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Correct. When you flash the full stock rom, it will install to the inactive slot, and it will mark that slot as the new active slot, which means that if you reboot right after flashing, you will boot onto a fully stock slot without twrp. This is why you need to immediately flash the twrp installer (which always flashes to both slots), then reboot to recovery, which will get you onto the new slot, with twrp, from which you can reflash magisk, etc.
Ah ok. I just ended up flashing the stock ROM twice, once to each partition. Then I ran the Twrp installer. Then I flashed magisk twice, once to each partition and that fixed my issues
iElvis said:
Correct. When you flash the full stock rom, it will install to the inactive slot, and it will mark that slot as the new active slot, which means that if you reboot right after flashing, you will boot onto a fully stock slot without twrp. This is why you need to immediately flash the twrp installer (which always flashes to both slots), then reboot to recovery, which will get you onto the new slot, with twrp, from which you can reflash magisk, etc.
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Excellent write up :good:
iElvis said:
Correct. When you flash the full stock rom, it will install to the inactive slot, and it will mark that slot as the new active slot, which means that if you reboot right after flashing, you will boot onto a fully stock slot without twrp. This is why you need to immediately flash the twrp installer (which always flashes to both slots), then reboot to recovery, which will get you onto the new slot, with twrp, from which you can reflash magisk, etc.
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Awesome writeup!!! this needs an sticky big time.
One question, why does TWRP flash stuff on current slot but full roms on the other slot (and changes slot then?). It is because it replicates the Update Engine protocol or something with entire stock roms only?
PS: I wish there was a more detailed version after the initial setup, like when **** happens and slots get disabled by the bootloader and such. I wonder if when an slot is disabled you can twrp enable/change into it or only flashing stock image works? There's a lot of stuff like this, like what happens if you manage to make both slots unusable (even if bootloader partition works, fastboot wouldn't be reachable right? :S).
This seems like just a hell of an environtment to control compared to the simple old partition scheme.. yeah, here you can have 2 systems set up incase something breaks, great, but you do not control the boot process, the bootloader does, and this is not good for us. Something that affects both slots at the same time like TWRP can go wrong (for example a bugged release of TWRP) and derp you both systems and let you without an unusable phone without even fasboot?... yeah qualcomm protocol but come on..
You'd add on the guide that you can disable seamless updates on developer options. This is very important!! I think that the manual OTA flashing is the way to go if we want to not get into ****..
And you're right, this is ultra intimidating, I've never ever had any problems rooting and such my first android phone.. it was an easy read explaining that bootloader->kernel->system->user, 1) unlock 2) twrp 3) flash root and mods and do nandroids... and if something goes wrong, if you never touched the bootloader partition you could always go into fastboot and fix, or into TWRP and fix even if system bootloops. Here if system bootlops you can't even use TWRP or fastboot on that slot???? wtf... super intimidating.
You added most of the good stuff on the first post.. how about a new section "the bad side" or something like that with all the stuff im saying and more bad stuff that I don't even know yet? You will evade most people getting onto those situations and post here asking about that stuff.
Thanks!
RusherDude said:
One question, why does TWRP flash stuff on current slot but full roms on the other slot (and changes slot then?). It is because it replicates the Update Engine protocol or something with entire stock roms only?
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I assume because it's coded to flash to both slots. The stock rom updates are set up to use Google's A/B approach, which sets out a specific process for flashing updates.
PS: I wish there was a more detailed version after the initial setup, like when **** happens and slots get disabled by the bootloader and such. I wonder if when an slot is disabled you can twrp enable/change into it or only flashing stock image works? There's a lot of stuff like this, like what happens if you manage to make both slots unusable (even if bootloader partition works, fastboot wouldn't be reachable right? :S).
Click to expand...
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The A/B info page I linked explains exactly what happens:
The current slot (or "source slot") is marked as successful (if not already marked) with markBootSuccessful().
The unused slot (or "target slot") is marked as unbootable by calling the function setSlotAsUnbootable(). The current slot is always marked as successful at the beginning of the update to prevent the bootloader from falling back to the unused slot, which will soon have invalid data. If the system has reached the point where it can start applying an update, the current slot is marked as successful even if other major components are broken (such as the UI in a crash loop) as it is possible to push new software to fix these problems.
The update payload is an opaque blob with the instructions to update to the new version. The update payload consists of the following:
Metadata. A relatively small portion of the update payload, the metadata contains a list of operations to produce and verify the new version on the target slot. For example, an operation could decompress a certain blob and write it to specific blocks in a target partition, or read from a source partition, apply a binary patch, and write to certain blocks in a target partition.
Extra data. As the bulk of the update payload, the extra data associated with the operations consists of the compressed blob or binary patch in these examples.
The payload metadata is downloaded.
For each operation defined in the metadata, in order, the associated data (if any) is downloaded to memory, the operation is applied, and the associated memory is discarded.
The whole partitions are re-read and verified against the expected hash.
The post-install step (if any) is run. In the case of an error during the execution of any step, the update fails and is re-attempted with possibly a different payload. If all the steps so far have succeeded, the update succeeds and the last step is executed.
The unused slot is marked as active by calling setActiveBootSlot(). Marking the unused slot as active doesn't mean it will finish booting. The bootloader (or system itself) can switch the active slot back if it doesn't read a successful state.
Post-installation (described below) involves running a program from the "new update" version while still running in the old version. If defined in the OTA package, this step is mandatory and the program must return with exit code 0; otherwise, the update fails.
After the system successfully boots far enough into the new slot and finishes the post-reboot checks, the now current slot (formerly the "target slot") is marked as successful by calling markBootSuccessful().
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You can see there are multiple stages here, and if the bootloader can't even load, that slot won't be marked as active.
There's an even more detailed version here: https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/ab/ab_implement
As I understand it, twrp can change active slots, but if the slot has been marked unbootable (because it's not bootable), then it probably has to fixed with a clean reflash.
Unless the slot is completely empty, you should still be able to get to bootloader. Obviously, if the bootloaders are corrupted on both slots, you have a brick, but you can do that on non-A/B phones too.
This seems like just a hell of an environtment to control compared to the simple old partition scheme.. yeah, here you can have 2 systems set up incase something breaks, great, but you do not control the boot process, the bootloader does, and this is not good for us. Something that affects both slots at the same time like TWRP can go wrong (for example a bugged release of TWRP) and derp you both systems and let you without an unusable phone without even fasboot?... yeah qualcomm protocol but come on.
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure the situation is that dire. A bad release of twrp could bork a non-A/B phone the same way? Here you've got two slots instead of one.
You'd add on the guide that you can disable seamless updates on developer options. This is very important!! I think that the manual OTA flashing is the way to go if we want to not get into ****..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not seeing an option to disable A/B updates anywhere.
And you're right, this is ultra intimidating, I've never ever had any problems rooting and such my first android phone.. it was an easy read explaining that bootloader->kernel->system->user, 1) unlock 2) twrp 3) flash root and mods and do nandroids... and if something goes wrong, if you never touched the bootloader partition you could always go into fastboot and fix, or into TWRP and fix even if system bootloops. Here if system bootlops you can't even use TWRP or fastboot on that slot???? wtf... super intimidating.
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I don't think this is true. If you're simply in a system bootloop, you can still get into bootloader.
Thanks
iElvis said:
The A/B info page I linked explains exactly what happens:
You can see there are multiple stages here, and if the bootloader can't even load, that slot won't be marked as active.
There's an even more detailed version here: https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/ab/ab_implement
As I understand it, twrp can change active slots, but if the slot has been marked unbootable (because it's not bootable), then it probably has to fixed with a clean reflash.
Unless the slot is completely empty, you should still be able to get to bootloader. Obviously, if the bootloaders are corrupted on both slots, you have a brick, but you can do that on non-A/B phones too.
I'm not sure the situation is that dire. A bad release of twrp could bork a non-A/B phone the same way? Here you've got two slots instead of one.
I don't think this is true. If you're simply in a system bootloop, you can still get into bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All this is related to the same doubt. On the flow on the page you linked, it tries to boot, if it fails N times it sets the slot as unbootable and changes to the other. You cannot just change to the previous slot and enter fasboot there since the bootloader won't boot that already unbootable boot. It is considered unbootable even if its a system issue with bootloader/kernel working.. or I'm getting that wrong? On a normal partitions phone, you won't ever get locked to enter fasboot because system won't boot, here it will happen per the flow diagram on the site...
iElvis said:
I'm not seeing an option to disable A/B updates anywhere.
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Click to collapse
Not A/B updates, but automatic updates. I don't have the phone, but I've been told in this sub that there's an option to disable automatic updates there.
RusherDude said:
All this is related to the same doubt. On the flow on the page you linked, it tries to boot, if it fails N times it sets the slot as unbootable and changes to the other. You cannot just change to the previous slot and enter fasboot there since the bootloader won't boot that already unbootable boot. It is considered unbootable even if its a system issue with bootloader/kernel working.. or I'm getting that wrong? On a normal partitions phone, you won't ever get locked to enter fasboot because system won't boot, here it will happen per the flow diagram on the site...
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Click to collapse
I think I see what you may be missing here. One slot being unbootable doesn't lock you out of fastboot. You can get into fastboot on the other slot, where you can flash anything you want to either slot. So you're not locked out of it if it fails to boot, you just can't boot up on that slot and the system will boot on the other slot.
Not A/B updates, but automatic updates. I don't have the phone, but I've been told in this sub that there's an option to disable automatic updates there.
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Ah, yes, you can indeed disable automatic upgrades. You can also just download the OTA and not reboot, which I've done several times. Download, stop the process, reboot to recovery before the slot switches over.
iElvis said:
I think I see what you may be missing here. One slot being unbootable doesn't lock you out of fastboot. You can get into fastboot on the other slot, where you can flash anything you want to either slot. So you're not locked out of it if it fails to boot, you just can't boot up on that slot and the system will boot on the other slot.
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In that scenario, yes you could reflash from slot B, but if you manage to then also bootloop on slot B, you end up with 2 slots with bootloader & kernel partitions working properly, system not booting and unable to enter fastboot or twrp on any of those? My doubt here is if bootloader/fastboot is "always there" even if you derp on both slots or not. If there isn't and you're reduced to qualcomm protocol having 2 correct aboot/fastboot partitions it is the most idiotic measure I have seen done by Google in a long time.
iElvis said:
Ah, yes, you can indeed disable automatic upgrades. You can also just download the OTA and not reboot, which I've done several times. Download, stop the process, reboot to recovery before the slot switches over.
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I'm interested in that. Which process do you kill? And after rebooting to recovery, you just reboot normal and the slot change and such is ignored and system ignores the download ota and such? or from now on you can't reboot normally again?
So here is situation.
Phone been running 8.x version of havocos for months, however I was never fully happy due to broken usb tethering and random lockups (blue light freeze).
I decided to work on the phone 2-3 days ago, this involved doing a manual backup of all of data/media, and a nandroid backup. As well as some exports of configs in tasker etc.
I then flashed OOS stock, and nolimits, discovered tethering was still broken (yet it works with same sim in samsung galaxy s7 and hauwei).
This was the only issue tho, everything else was functioning as expected, phone was still fast.
Then I needed quick access to something that was on my phone from havocos, so decided to do a nandroid restore, this nandroid backup had all partitions ticked. The restore I also had all ticked.
The restore failed with an error 255 during data restore, I googled and found out is a nasty known bug for 2 years on TWRP, this backup was done on 3.2.3, I know now is a newer 3.3.x where this particular bug with corrupt backups might possibly be fixed.
I decided to try and boot havoc anyway but it boot looped, so I then went back into TWRP, and restored the vendor partition which was skipped. As it stopped on data, still boot looped, but also now this created a device is corrupt error on every rom boot even on stock OOS.
I spent ages trying to fix this error and during the process, discovered my phone no longer can be detected in flash boot as a com device in windows so currently the phone cannot be used with the MSM tool.
Eventually I reflashed stock using a flash-all script from here, and also put back on twrp using that script, and noticed even more issues that were not there before.
1 - phone is now much slower, stock before booted in one second after first boot, now its way way slower. Over 10 seconds so 10x as slow.
2 - I think before was a cache partition but is now gone. Supposedly these arent a thing anymore tho.
3 - nolimits zip will no longer flash with an error 1, I did exact same process as before but simply doesnt work now, the twrp detailed log right before the error 1 says "Please install the latest Magisk!" which suggests its failing to detect magisk.
4 - camera app is way slower, and OOS feels slower, laggier in general than before the problem.
5 - MTP no longer works when phone is booted up, again this is stock OOS and even if phone isnt rooted no magisk etc. But still works in TWRP. Basically the device pops up, I can see internal storage, but the size information is missing, and is no visible files/folders.
From what I can see I think my EFS is fine, I see an imei number.
I did fix the corrupted device error using a reboot command someone posted in that thread, so that error is gone now at least.
Try to flash oxygen os beta version from the official download links, let it install the stock recovery, then boot into rom, finish the installation progress by just skipping it and then factory reset it twice from recovery mode.
after doing that and finishing the setup , try to take picture and see if its saves it to gallery ( if the picture delete it self try to factory reset it through recovery for 1 more time)
I think you have figured out whats wrong, it just clicked, and I went to post and found your post so sorry no reply yet.
Indeed the problem seems to be a lack of /data/media/0
I have multiple times wiped data, and twrp has been putting files directly in /data/media, I just discovered I Cannot even take screenshots, magisk cannot download modules as well.
So I guess the stock recovery creates this structure?
Pretty shocking that twrp doesnt fix this or even have an option to. I will report back and let you know how things go, thanks.
Issue still there after stock recovery reset, wow these phones are damn hard to work with.
Also it seemed to do nothing, no settings were lost etc.
So basically stock recovery even if I choose full wipe does nothing, there seems to be some kind of lock on the internal storage that anything made by one plus is refusing to write.
I wonder if this is due to the device is corrupt message I had before where it said the device can no longer be trusted.
I can confirm that files that are on there are now visible in file manager and root explorer. But file manager can do no writes. root explorer can create new stuff but cannot delete or overwrite anything there, gets access denied.
I propose to start over again following this guide, option flash-all-partitions.bat. Helped for me.
I already stated thats already been done.
I eventually got msm working. and that luckily worked.
@chrcol ..., but you've issues
chrcol said:
I already stated thats already been done.
I eventually got msm working. and that luckily worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In recovery, format data. Problem fixed. Wipe will never fix your problem but format will.
Hyoretsu said:
I don't know, but I tried to install AEX as soon as I unlocked bootloader, and I wasn't successful after that. Also wasn't successful with that method for some freaking reason, I think 20 minutes of waiting at first boot should be more than enough.
1. Turned USB debugging on
2. Took out the whole SIM/microSD tray
3. flashed RETUS using erase bat and rebooted to bootloader
4. I booted the wrong twrp image (unofficial) but rebooted to bootloader right after and booted on normal one, formatting System, Data, Cache and Internal Storage and using Format Data option
5. Flashed copy-partitions-AB.zip using sideload and rebooted to bootloader to come back in
6. Wiped System, Data, Cache and Internal Storage, went to bootloader to fastboot erase userdata and booted back to TWRP
7. Flashed ROM and TWRP-installer in this order using sideload
8. Wiped System, Data, Cache and Internal Storage, went to bootloader to fastboot erase userdata and booted back to TWRP
9. Flashed Magisk also using sideload
10. Changed to SLOT B and rebooted to system while the tray was still out
It's since been 20 minutes and 1 restart (only after the 20 minutes to see if it'd change anything)
For some freakish reason I followed #138's instructions to a T and it worked, booted in around 4 minutes (Though I also did it with SIM tray off, and after rebooting to install Gapps and Magisk it booted in less than a minute, looking great for this ROM)
EDIT: It couldn't recognize SIM for some reason, so I'll try reflashing without Gapps or something. Also didn't work, will try my brother's SIM tomorrow (Also the home button doesn't quite work? At least without gapps, for some reason) and the borders are messy, clock and battery circle are way too much to the side. Notifications don't work too, and I don't quite have a Quick Settings. (If it changes anything I was RETBR before)
Apparently my SIM died, yeah... Also doesn't work on stock Or not since it still works on other phones, but I can't get SIM cards to work, at least on stock... (This is also from RETBR img, so that wasn't the problem)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So yeah, after many tries of installing Custom ROM my device doesn't recognize SIM cards anymore... It can still recognize microSD and they still work on other phones, I have no idea if this is a software or hardware problem (They worked every time I had to go back to stock while doing it, up until my last successful attempt at installing CrDroid official by @Rondeau79, sry for the tag)
EDIT: I only saw this thread afterwards, but unless I'm dumb it didn't work
(Already tested both slots after running those commands, none of them works)
Hyoretsu said:
So yeah, after many tries of installing Custom ROM my device doesn't recognize SIM cards anymore... It can still recognize microSD and they still work on other phones, I have no idea if this is a software or hardware problem (They worked every time I had to go back to stock while doing it, up until my last successful attempt at installing CrDroid official by @Rondeau79, sry for the tag)
EDIT: I only saw this thread afterwards, but unless I'm dumb it didn't work
(Already tested both slots after running those commands, none of them works)
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Click to collapse
Take sim out then factory reset then put sim back in reboot phone. worked for me.
infinyte said:
Take sim out then factory reset then put sim back in reboot phone. worked for me.
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Click to collapse
After the whole custom ROM fiasco I went back to stock, and if reflashing stock on fastboot works I did that many times with the SIM on another phone, still nothing
Okay, maybe this is some insight. I can't check any IMEIs on it at all, though on my old phone I can even check IMEI2 when I only have one card. If it was a number ban it shouldn't work on my G5 with Custom ROM, but on the other hand if it was an IMEI ban it should still work on a fully stock G7 Play I have. And there's "Baseband: (not found)" on fastboot. Any way I can fix IMEI or something?
EDIT: If I run fastboot getvar all I can still see IMEI though, so maybe they just changed it on newer phones ;-;
Hey Guys,
this could propably be posted in r/TIFU as well since I think I screwed up big time today -.-
I basically just wanted to update my rooted OP7P to 10.0.5 (EU) using the latest OTA - so I followed the usual steps as always:
Uninstall Magisk
Install OTA - No Reboot
Install TWRP retention script in Magisk
Re-Install Magisk
Reboot
This procedure worked fine the last 2 times an OTA was released but this time I'm not able to boot into the system anymore. TWRP is still in places but won't read the data partition anymore - it also doesn't ask for my pattern to decrypt it. Problem is that idiot-me of course didn't do a backup before (yea, I know -.-) and obviously doesn't want to loose the data on it.
I of course checked the forum and googled my ass of trying to find a non-destructive way to access the system but couldn't find anything fitting my scenario. So my last resort is to ask you guys directly: Did anybody ever encounter such a situation and if yes, how did you resolve it? Right now any support would be much appreciated
//Edit: Symptoms and current behaviour:
Boot into system (partition A) ends in the OP logo cirling endlessly
Boot into system (partition B) sends me directly to TWRP
TWRP doesn't ask for encryption pattern
The answer to TWRP's initial question (Keep System r/o) is not persisted
Fastboot/ADB are working (but obviously w/o access to /data)
I'm technically running a stock OxygenOS with Renovate ICE. I know technically its instuctions say to install the OTA directly from within TWRP and and then re-flash TWRP and Magisk but that wasn't neccessary the last times... one idea of mine is to just do that now and see where it leads me but I really don't wanna risk my data.
the.cybertronic said:
Hey Guys,
this could propably be posted in r/TIFU as well since I think I screwed up big time today -.-
I basically just wanted to update my rooted OP7P to 10.0.5 (EU) using the latest OTA - so I followed the usual steps as always:
Uninstall Magisk
Install OTA - No Reboot
Install TWRP retention script in Magisk
Re-Install Magisk
Reboot
This procedure worked fine the last 2 times an OTA was released but this time I'm not able to boot into the system anymore. TWRP is still in places but won't read the data partition anymore - it also doesn't ask for my pattern to decrypt it. Problem is that idiot-me of course didn't do a backup before (yea, I know -.-) and obviously doesn't want to loose the data on it.
I of course checked the forum and googled my ass of trying to find a non-destructive way to access the system but couldn't find anything fitting my scenario. So my last resort is to ask you guys directly: Did anybody ever encounter such a situation and if yes, how did you resolve it? Right now any support would be much appreciated
//Edit: Symptoms and current behaviour:
Boot into system (partition A) ends in the OP logo cirling endlessly
Boot into system (partition B) sends me directly to TWRP
TWRP doesn't ask for encryption pattern
The answer to TWRP's initial question (Keep System r/o) is not persisted
Fastboot/ADB are working (but obviously w/o access to /data)
I'm technically running a stock OxygenOS with Renovate ICE. I know technically its instuctions say to install the OTA directly from within TWRP and and then re-flash TWRP and Magisk but that wasn't neccessary the last times... one idea of mine is to just do that now and see where it leads me but I really don't wanna risk my data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bad news is once twrp loses access to data. The only fix is to format data and everything will be fixed.
So... you're basically telling me I ****ed up completely and my data is gone? Never was a profile picture more fitting than yours right now :/
What I'm wondering is that, from a technical perspective and on a working phone, the decryption takes place not during the boot but only after you've entered your code/passphrase/pattern on OS level. Meaning the system should theoretically be able to boot up to there without /data access. TThat's why I had the idea to flash a clean stock Oxygen from TWRP (no root), boot the system and hopefully be able to access the data this way. Respectively any encryption can be broken somehow, can't it? Even if it might take quite some time to do so this should theoretically be possible...
I mean... I definetly don't know enough about Android internals to understand its encryption mechanics completely but from a technical perspective it should be possible.... like the saying "there is no such thing as 100% security"
the.cybertronic said:
So... you're basically telling me I ****ed up completely and my data is gone? Never was a profile picture more fitting than yours right now :/
What I'm wondering is that, from a technical perspective and on a working phone, the decryption takes place not during the boot but only after you've entered your code/passphrase/pattern on OS level. Meaning the system should theoretically be able to boot up to there without /data access. TThat's why I had the idea to flash a clean stock Oxygen from TWRP (no root), boot the system and hopefully be able to access the data this way. Respectively any encryption can be broken somehow, can't it? Even if it might take quite some time to do so this should theoretically be possible...
I mean... I definetly don't know enough about Android internals to understand its encryption mechanics completely but from a technical perspective it should be possible.... like the saying "there is no such thing as 100% security"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude try flashing the stock rom from twrp onto both slots by mounting an otg drive..or adb sideload(very slow I think..still worth a try if you don't wanna lose data)..stock rom can manage the encryption I suppose.
Encryption is an issue when you flash different roms(I think so..I am no expert,just my experience so far).
Breaking encryption is not like what you think..it might take ages to break using brute force (again from what I heard..I lost my data a lot of time flashing roms without twrp backup..nowadays I just backup my apps using tb coz restorings the apps is really a pain in the ass process)
the.cybertronic said:
So... you're basically telling me I ****ed up completely and my data is gone? Never was a profile picture more fitting than yours right now :/
What I'm wondering is that, from a technical perspective and on a working phone, the decryption takes place not during the boot but only after you've entered your code/passphrase/pattern on OS level. Meaning the system should theoretically be able to boot up to there without /data access. TThat's why I had the idea to flash a clean stock Oxygen from TWRP (no root), boot the system and hopefully be able to access the data this way. Respectively any encryption can be broken somehow, can't it? Even if it might take quite some time to do so this should theoretically be possible...
I mean... I definetly don't know enough about Android internals to understand its encryption mechanics completely but from a technical perspective it should be possible.... like the saying "there is no such thing as 100% security"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason that format is the only answer is because when twrp does not ask for password. It believes you are unencrypted. What has happened is the file that store your password and encryption key is corrupted so any answer you give is wrong.
There's nothing you can do but format data. I've encountered this issue already.
You can try to salvage personal photos and videos using an otg drive (external ssd, hdd, sd card reader...), also back in 6t days I had this encryption problem twice, I remember that one time flashing the stock rom from the otg fixed it but I don't remember if I rebooted to recovery of the other slot.
Anyway, for the others, if he used DM verity removal and so decrypted data, he would have never face this problem again?
Joker123## said:
Dude try flashing the stock rom from twrp onto both slots by mounting an otg drive..or adb sideload(very slow I think..still worth a try if you don't wanna lose data)..stock rom can manage the encryption I suppose.
Encryption is an issue when you flash different roms(I think so..I am no expert,just my experience so far).
Breaking encryption is not like what you think..it might take ages to break using brute force (again from what I heard..I lost my data a lot of time flashing roms without twrp backup..nowadays I just backup my apps using tb coz restorings the apps is really a pain in the ass process)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vegetaleb said:
You can try to salvage personal photos and videos using an otg drive (external ssd, hdd, sd card reader...), also back in 6t days I had this encryption problem twice, I remember that one time flashing the stock rom from the otg fixed it but I don't remember if I rebooted to recovery of the other slot.
Anyway, for the others, if he used DM verity removal and so decrypted data, he would have never face this problem again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried flashing the stock Oxygen yesterday but to no satisfying result... afterwards it just showed a clean default-structure on the SD. Long story short: I accepted the fate that my data is gone and learned a valuable lesson... first thing I installed after rooting was Titanium^^
Zhuang zhuang said:
There's nothing you can do but format data. I've encountered this issue already.
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Click to collapse
As hard as it is to admit, you were completely right... I just lost 6 months worth of photos incl. my last vacation in Vietnam - fml.
the.cybertronic said:
I just tried flashing the stock Oxygen yesterday but to no satisfying result... afterwards it just showed a clean default-structure on the SD. Long story short: I accepted the fate that my data is gone and learned a valuable lesson... first thing I installed after rooting was Titanium^^
As hard as it is to admit, you were completely right... I just lost 6 months worth of photos incl. my last vacation in Vietnam - fml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For future reference, brick means a brick. Like, can't boot to fastboot/twrp/or use msmtool
the.cybertronic said:
As hard as it is to admit, you were completely right... I just lost 6 months worth of photos incl. my last vacation in Vietnam - fml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the recent OS (10.0.5 & beta 13) I think Oneplus they add something that prevent user from using the TWRP retention script. I always use this solution for lower version and have no issue but with both 10.0.5 and beta 13 have the same issue
Zhuang zhuang said:
In the recent OS (10.0.5 & beta 13) I think Oneplus they add something that prevent user from using the TWRP retention script. I always use this solution for lower version and have no issue but with both 10.0.5 and beta 13 have the same issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
damn, good to know if I ever install OOS again - I now switched to Havoc... even though I had to skip rooting it all together after I couldn't get Magisk running with the latest safety net changes (thanks Google -.-)