Disclaimer: I know this could be a bit OT here, but these experiences could help my Z friends to avoid to brick their phones... so MODs, be patient... and read!
Yesterday afternoon I made my first "soft brick" of my "long" career... on an Oukitel C4!
(...*great* phone for the price! )
I after fixed it in less than an hour (including download time... ), BUT the interesting is *how* this happened.
I haven't done anything wrong BUT trust my TWRP... or, better, my twrp...
When I first time tested my new Moto Z I liked a lot the TWRP officially realized for it... now I'll explain better why.
There are some wide spreaded statements about TWRP (and recovery in general...):
- TWRP/recovery is not involved with normal system booting (e.g.: a not working one for-whatever-reason can't interfere with standard system boot);
- Kernel (boot.img) & system are not involved with TWRP (e.g.: you can even have formatted boot/system partitions and you can still boot to TWRP;
- boot.img & recovery.img are two partition where boot from in indipendent way. Normally of the same size. In some emergency cases, it is even possible to (with intention...) flash a recovery on boot.img to try to fix some soft bricks...
- more...
All these statement are often true *but* not ever, as I teach myself... the hard way! :silly:
If I should base my knowledge on what I've directly experienced on some LG (p880, d802...), Sony (X10 mini, Xperia U) and, *probably* on Moto Z, I will say they are right. Ever.
BUT then I've had some opposite experiences with other devices that I'll list with no comment for now:
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G: CWM recovery "hardly flicker" with some ROM versions become unusable. Fixed with successive update anyway...
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.1 4G: both stock & TWRP recovery suffer of "black screen bug until timeout" only with Lollipop+ installed ROMs...
- Oneplus X: first version of TWRP available is able to boot and/or can be flashed only to phones with Lollipop until a xx release. After that release a new TWRP version is mandatory, otherwise it doesn't boot (and will be substituted by stock one if just flashed at first system boot) and system is booted instead...
- and now yesterday, Oukitel C4: double!
1. flashing TWRP interferes with normal system boot, giving a continuous bootloop. Only way to fix it is by flashing SuperSU, then the system boots up fine again!
This weird behaviour is reported/confirmed on a thread on 4pda forum too (if you know russian... )
2. flashing Magisk v.9 (that, as developer says "it modifies only boot.img"...) produces a bootloop too (different from the above). Ok, this can happens...
No problem I said "...I've my stock TWRP full backup just in case... ". Yes.... problem is that this time bootloop affects TWRP too!
Only way to fix: flash again stock boot.img by PC... (recovery don't even needed..!)
This last one is the one which worried me most, since this could be happen on Moto Z too, during my "hacking experiences"...
How all this could happen?
I don't know for sure... but I've some theories...
One is that while some TWRPs are developed to be "fully indipendent" from boot/system firmware (LG d802, Moto Z??) other (let's call them twrps...) are developed not only "based" on a specific system software version (and this is often "declared" too, but it wouldn't be a problem...) but probably "call" some boot.img parts too, becoming "system (kernel) dependent" to work...
My knowledge is not so deep to give a "certain" answer (and if somebody with the needed knowledge wants to correct me/explaim better is the welcome!), BUT on the meanwhile, try to use needed cautions... :fingers-crossed:
@erfanoabdi, @janjan, any thoughts on this?
I know what you meant. In my moto X I flashed a boot of a Chinese version that was completely incompatible with the American model. And I have to wait until the boot of the Moto X pure version was updated. I think that the problem is when you mess with a "newer" bootloader that makes the system incompatible with older versions. In my experience by itself the TWRP doesn't mess with the boot unless you request it.
That's the reason when you make a full backup you include boot and system, to avoid incompatible things.
What are your thoughts?
Sent from my XT1650 using XDA-Developers mobile app
juliospinoza said:
I know what you meant. In my moto X I flashed a boot of a Chinese version that was completely incompatible with the American model. And I have to wait until the boot of the Moto X pure version was updated. I think that the problem is when you mess with a "newer" bootloader that makes the system incompatible with older versions. In my experience by itself the TWRP doesn't mess with the boot unless you request it.
That's the reason when you make a full backup you include boot and system, to avoid incompatible things.
What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This (probably true anyway...), would explain only a minimal part of the above issues...
Even I, in my "previous experiences", would have said for sure that "twrp doesn't mess with boot" too, BUT after what happened on C4 to me (AND confirmed on 4pda by another user too!), this is not true anymore too.
After a single TWRP flash C4 goes to bootloop on normal boot and only flashing SuperSU is able to fix it (how is still a mistery!). So recovery and boot are connected and not indipendent.
More, bootloop created by Magisk (that by what developer says, it touches only boot.img), affected TWRP too and remains even after reflashing it! Only a flash of boot.img is able to fix it!
So, again, recovery and boot are (both ways...) connected and not indipendent.
At least on that device/recovery combination...
On Moto Z I don't know, but some bricks occurred on Nougat are a bit suspect in that way too...
Just found that on C4 SuperSU v.2.78 installs in systemless (on boot.img) mode...
So, what flashing TWRP apparently breaks, SuperSU is then able to fix...
Definitely they are connected on (at least...) that device!
Strange is that SuperSU fixes it and instead Magisk breaks it totally (neither TWRP is still able to boot after flashing it!!)
Quite the opposite than on Moto Z where Magisk seems to have "good influence" even on SuperSU (in system mode!) installation too
I've basically been trying to root this phone for over a week now - first of all I had problems with the ADB drivers and such, but now I can actually flash stuff onto the phone.
I then also managed to flash SuperSU and XPosed and now herein lies the problem. I want to play PokémonGO.
Now, after doing a lot of reading up on the subject, it seems P-GO now uses Google's SafetyNet API in order to block Root, Xposed, etc users from playing the game.
So, I did a complete reset and tried flashing a different rom. I used the ''Stock Android 6.0 ROM'' from this thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/leagoo-shark-1-development-support-t3415599
HOWEVER, flashing that ROM seems to wipe the recovery partition (even if you untick recovery in sp flash tool) and you end up with some chinese 4G logo banner, before it boots into the OS.
So, back to square 1. I found and re-flashed the stock Leagoo OS ROM and then tried using Magisk (because supposedly Magisk can hide itself and allow me to play P-GO).
No digs...
So, after many hours of flashing many different ROMs, performing countless resets and wipes on my phone, I think I may have found the issue.
After reading through the support forum of Magisk, it was recommended trying to go back to 0 (un-rooting, re-wiping partitions, re-flashing stock rom, etc) and seeing if my phone would then pass SafetyNet Check - It doesn't.
Purely stock ROM, does not pass SafetyNET, which I reckon is because the phone's bootloader is unlocked from the get-go.
Now, weirdly, the stock rom CAN play PokémonGo without a hitch, but installing root then mucks it up.
Seeing as Leagoo isn't exactly a common brand, I cannot install LineageOS with it's custom kernel which hides the bootloader settings....
what can I do if I want to have a rooted phone, but also want to play PokemonGo?
Does anyone know what changed regarding wifi in Android 8 or MIUI 10?
I was happily using LOS 14 for a while (after having officially unlocked my bootloader at some point in the past, but became curios and wanted to try out the new MIUI 10. While I could not find anything official, I did find this chinese dev ROM (I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU FLASH THIS). I flashed it, wasn't that impressed and then decided to try LOS 15 based on Android 8.
That was a bit too unstable for me, so I tried reverting back to LOS 14.
I did so using a backup I made to my pc (I did `adb backup` while in TWRP and selected every partition I think). After booting into LOS14, things seemed to crash an awful lot.
At this point I realized wifi wasn't working. It showed a MAC Address of 02:00:00 I think, but no networks were found. I tried restoring my phone using MiFlash normally. I then tried restoring it using Qualcomm's download mode. Older MIUI versions would not boot anymore (although I did manage to boot an old version of TWRP made for the pre-Nougat bootloader). I tried LOS14 again, and attempted using fastboot to erase various partitions (such as the bluetooth and modem partition, and then manually flashed the image again. Still no wifi.
Does anyone know what could have happened? My bootloader is still unlocked, and even downgrading the device to an old version of MIUI using Qualcomm mode did not make it work again? How come LOS15 and MIUI 10 are able to use wifi without problems?
tl;dr WiFi stopped working on any rom other then Lineage OS 15 or MIUI 10.
Hello everyone. Long time since I had an android device and I'm cutting the chains of my iPhone wanting to be de-Googled and de-Appled. I was running Lineage 17.1 from Microg and thought I had everything working on it until I started updating some software on my phone over the air. I rebooted and it went to bootloop. Since then I re-installed 17.1 and got things working again. I just upgraded to 18.1 and want to make sure it's all set up properly and won't have any errors.
Magisk says SafetyNet has an "SafetyNet API Error." "Basicintegrity, ctsProfile, evalType N/A." all in red when I check if it's working. I've done some digging, but want to make sure I do this right. I need to get the boot.img file from the original firmware. Should I get this from the oneplus website, or should I be looking for something else since I have Lineage? Can anyone provide the raw boot.img file for the OnePlus 7 Pro that I should use? I'm a little overwhelmed with all of the steps to extract it from the original firmware. Please and thanks for any help getting this phone set up the way I need it to work!
That error show when safety net API download was incomplete/corrupt, you can try to erase data from magisk manager and check safetynet again but with a better internet connection or use another magisk version like canary
And if you end in a bootloop for any magisk module just turn off your device and in your computer in a CMD/powershell/terminal window enter this command
adb wait-for-device shell magisk --remove-modules
Then connect and turn on your phone and automatically your phone will reboot with all your magisk modules disabled
Use magisk canary bro,,,
I sideloaded Canary and still get the red SafetyNet API error screen after opening it. Can someone direct me to a full tutorial on how Magisk works and what the modules do? I'm thinking I might need to do a full uninstall of Magisk and start over. If I do this will I lose all the data on the phone and have to start from scratch? Thanks for your help so far!
Well I've spent several hours researching tutorials and typing in codes via Terminal on my Mac and have gotten the phone restocked twice and working normal on stock OS, but after putting TWRP on it and then installing Lineage 18.1 it goes into a Lineage logo boot loop. What am I missing here?
It seems to me that TWRP is not compatible with Lineage. Sometimes when I rebooted the phone and was playing with the Recovery.IMG I saw the Lineage Recovery, then other times the TWRP would flash on and off in a boot loop. I have been careful about using the command " ./fastboot boot TWRP.img " and not "flash" TWRP, as would be the case for non a/b storage devices. On a couple occasions I could reboot with the Lineage Recovery.IMG and it would boot to startup, but if I rebooted to Recovery from the home screen, it would get stuck on TWRP.
I'm probably just missing something simple, but what might I be doing wrong? Is it the timing of installing TWRP and then installing Lineage in the same TWRP session?
This all stemmed from me wanting to get TWRP with Lineage 18.1 and getting Magisk and Microg working correctly for a "de-googled" phone with working apps. I'm frustrated, but will keep trying if I can get some direction. Thanks for your input.
-L
Lear31pilot said:
Well I've spent several hours researching tutorials and typing in codes via Terminal on my Mac and have gotten the phone restocked twice and working normal on stock OS, but after putting TWRP on it and then installing Lineage 18.1 it goes into a Lineage logo boot loop. What am I missing here?
It seems to me that TWRP is not compatible with Lineage. Sometimes when I rebooted the phone and was playing with the Recovery.IMG I saw the Lineage Recovery, then other times the TWRP would flash on and off in a boot loop. I have been careful about using the command " ./fastboot boot TWRP.img " and not "flash" TWRP, as would be the case for non a/b storage devices. On a couple occasions I could reboot with the Lineage Recovery.IMG and it would boot to startup, but if I rebooted to Recovery from the home screen, it would get stuck on TWRP.
I'm probably just missing something simple, but what might I be doing wrong? Is it the timing of installing TWRP and then installing Lineage in the same TWRP session?
This all stemmed from me wanting to get TWRP with Lineage 18.1 and getting Magisk and Microg working correctly for a "de-googled" phone with working apps. I'm frustrated, but will keep trying if I can get some direction. Thanks for your input.
-L
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP is not working for OOS11 or A11 ROMs using Oos11 blobs.
Lossyx said:
TWRP is not working for OOS11 or A11 ROMs using Oos11 blobs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it! I'll go back to 17.1 Thanks!
Bump
Still trying to find a solution. I get fairly far into flashing the ROM, getting TWRP working and then end up stuck at Microg not letting me open the location menu. If only there were a guide with start to finish Lineage 17.1 or 18.1 with Microg and Magisk for my OnePlus 7 Pro. I find some guides, but there isn't one that encompasses everything that actually works. I'm going to try Lineage 18.1 with Microg built in and then flash Magisk.
Lear31pilot said:
Bump
Still trying to find a solution. I get fairly far into flashing the ROM, getting TWRP working and then end up stuck at Microg not letting me open the location menu. If only there were a guide with start to finish Lineage 17.1 or 18.1 with Microg and Magisk for my OnePlus 7 Pro. I find some guides, but there isn't one that encompasses everything that actually works. I'm going to try Lineage 18.1 with Microg built in and then flash Magisk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never installed lineage but i guess you can flash the ROM, change slots, then format data(this will erase all your stuff) and flash magisk then reboot into system
And for the safety net error yesterday was released a "fix" for that so try again
RokCruz said:
I never installed lineage but i guess you can flash the ROM, change slots, then format data(this will erase all your stuff) and flash magisk then reboot into system
And for the safety net error yesterday was released a "fix" for that so try again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I'll have to address this at some point. I got the phone restocked, and flashed 18.1 Lineage on it again. Got all my apps and accounts back up on it. I'm just debating running Magisk again knowing that I'll likely have to start from scratch again. I wasn't able to get TWRP working correctly, so I left Lineage Recovery on, so it will be some time before I try going through this again. I'm going to do some research on what exactly is happening when I put recoveries and ROMs on different slots. Same goes for the Magisk. It's all quite new to me with the "slots" and what information has to go on which slot. I also need to find out how to backup my apps so if I re-flash a ROM, it's not so painful to get my data back on the phone.
At least I have a working phone without a Google login and most of the apps I want work. I'm only missing Lyft and my bank app. Again, thanks for the reply, and I'll look into this when I have some time to play with the phone again.
Lear31pilot said:
Thank you. I'll have to address this at some point. I got the phone restocked, and flashed 18.1 Lineage on it again. Got all my apps and accounts back up on it. I'm just debating running Magisk again knowing that I'll likely have to start from scratch again. I wasn't able to get TWRP working correctly, so I left Lineage Recovery on, so it will be some time before I try going through this again. I'm going to do some research on what exactly is happening when I put recoveries and ROMs on different slots. Same goes for the Magisk. It's all quite new to me with the "slots" and what information has to go on which slot. I also need to find out how to backup my apps so if I re-flash a ROM, it's not so painful to get my data back on the phone.
At least I have a working phone without a Google login and most of the apps I want work. I'm only missing Lyft and my bank app. Again, thanks for the reply, and I'll look into this when I have some time to play with the phone again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP can't boot in devices with OOS 11 blobs and encrypted data, for Magisk the only way I can imagine is using a patched boot.img.
Make a backup of your current boot.img(lineage) with apps like Franco kernel, then Patch it with magisk, then flash it in fastboot (fastboot flash boot boot.img)
if something woes wrong you can restore the backup from Franco kernel
RokCruz said:
TWRP can't boot in devices with OOS 11 blobs and encrypted data, for Magisk the only way I can imagine is using a patched boot.img.
Make a backup of your current boot.img(lineage) with apps like Franco kernel, then Patch it with magisk, then flash it in fastboot (fastboot flash boot boot.img)
if something woes wrong you can restore the backup from Franco kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks RokCruz,
I'm going to get 18.1 back on with the LOS Recovery again. I'll try the boot patch method with the LOS boot.img from 18.1 for Magisk. I haven't tried the Franco kernel as I just now found out about it. I don't really need to do anything else fancy with the phone in terms of overclocking or underclocking. Does that kernel facilitate easier backups? I'm still learning a LOT about how Android works. It's been a steep learning curve. Fortunately, I can get myself out of any binds with a restock and fastboot!
Lear31pilot said:
Thanks RokCruz,
I'm going to get 18.1 back on with the LOS Recovery again. I'll try the boot patch method with the LOS boot.img from 18.1 for Magisk. I haven't tried the Franco kernel as I just now found out about it. I don't really need to do anything else fancy with the phone in terms of overclocking or underclocking. Does that kernel facilitate easier backups? I'm still learning a LOT about how Android works. It's been a steep learning curve. Fortunately, I can get myself out of any binds with a restock and fastboot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes only for boot backups, I always made a backup of my boot.img of every OB just in case something goes wrong but i have never experienced that.
I personally prefer OOS, just install custom kernel and some mods like Cyberpunk 2077 theme, Riru Lsposed and a adbloker and that's all I need
RokCruz said:
Yes only for boot backups, I always made a backup of my boot.img of every OB just in case something goes wrong but i have never experienced that.
I personally prefer OOS, just install custom kernel and some mods like Cyberpunk 2077 theme, Riru Lsposed and a adbloker and that's all I need
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying to de-google. Can I de-google on OOS? Most stock ROMs require a google login.
Lear31pilot said:
I'm trying to de-google. Can I de-google on OOS? Most stock ROMs require a google login.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you can, just use a debloater
But it's better to install HydrogenOS just disable Chinese apps, install micro g and it's complements and you can run any Google dependant app, safety net passes without problems too.
I installed hydrogen and it runs smoothly but Cyberpunk isn't available for it so I reinstalled OOS
RokCruz said:
I guess you can, just use a debloater
But it's better to install HydrogenOS just disable Chinese apps, install micro g and it's complements and you can run any Google dependant app, safety net passes without problems too.
I installed hydrogen and it runs smoothly but Cyberpunk isn't available for it so I reinstalled OOS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip about Hydrogen. I'll do some research on that. And thanks for getting back so quickly. The Android community really has some great people. Happy to be apart of it!
So
Lear31pilot said:
Thanks for the tip about Hydrogen. I'll do some research on that. And thanks for getting back so quickly. The Android community really has some great people. Happy to be apart of it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So at the end of the day, I ended up with HydrogenOS 11 and have F-Droid and Aurora Store installed and working fine. I didn't/don't need Magisk or MicroG since HOS apparently is OK'd by google and all of my apps work.
So this worked perfectly for me. I have a fully functional OS and no Google sign-in needed. I did as you said and just deleted the Chinese bloat apps. I can't manage to get rid of the "Market" app though.
Lyft works and all of my location requiring apps like Waze work as well. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Question: Will OxygenOS work the same without a google login? If so, what would be the advantage of HOS vs OOS? HOS 11 has an entire section devoted to a Google login for different services. I left it blank, but just wondering what the difference would be on OOS.
Lear31pilot said:
So
So at the end of the day, I ended up with HydrogenOS 11 and have F-Droid and Aurora Store installed and working fine. I didn't/don't need Magisk or MicroG since HOS apparently is OK'd by google and all of my apps work.
So this worked perfectly for me. I have a fully functional OS and no Google sign-in needed. I did as you said and just deleted the Chinese bloat apps. I can't manage to get rid of the "Market" app though.
Lyft works and all of my location requiring apps like Waze work as well. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Question: Will OxygenOS work the same without a google login? If so, what would be the advantage of HOS vs OOS? HOS 11 has an entire section devoted to a Google login for different services. I left it blank, but just wondering what the difference would be on OOS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Market can be disabled if my mind serve me right, OOS could end in a bootloop if we remove all Google apps so it's better not to do that.
I never see that section, I only installed OB1 and OB2 and never see that.
And remember you need to install magisk in order to pass safetynet.
RokCruz said:
Market can be disabled if my mind serve me right, OOS could end in a bootloop if we remove all Google apps so it's better not to do that.
I never see that section, I only installed OB1 and OB2 and never see that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like I'm denied the ability to disable the Market App.
Photo's attached for the Google settings I have available on HOS 11.
Also unable to make the microphone work in the keyboard for voice to text, but I have a feeling I won't be able to make that work without logging in to Google. Currently looking for some workarounds.
What will passing Safetynet allow me to do that I'm not already able to do now? Use banking apps and "tap to pay" type apps? I haven't found my bank app on the Aurora Store just yet. "US Bank" if it makes a difference.
I'll continue to play with this OS, but so far, it seems the easiest to get working right from the get-go.
Hi all,
Installing a custom rom on an XZ Premium; it's my first time dealing with this so its possible I missed something. I successfully installed TWRP and adb sideloaded the most recent Cherish OS rom. I was able to set up the phone with no issue, but upon rebooting for the first time back into system, it hits the boot logo, which animates correctly, but then hangs there indefinitely. I have wiped system memory, reformatted, and reinstalled, and the issue persists. I have also tried other ROMs. Arrow had the same issue, as did the Pixel experience, which leads me to believe that it's not an issue with the rom, but something with how I have configured the set-up.
I looked around for solution, but wasn't able to find much on the specific issue of only having issues on second boot, rather than initial. Any help would be appreciated.
I think your TWRP version is the Problem... (I think there were a lot of complaints about 3.3.?.? and higher) I had a similar Problem; TWRP wanted to use /data and if i formated the device, it would endless bootloop (I think because of the encryption the OS uses by default) So i decided to flash a older version (were this wasn't a problem) and I picked twrp-3.2.2-0-maple.img (maple because i have single SIM variant) and I didn't even needed to format the device and it still works (after i flashed Magisk and some other stuff/ "enhancements", that don't impact he OS) and everything still works smootly.
Maybe you should just flash a older version of TWRP (like 3.2.2-0) But i can't guarrantee, that it'll work on Pie(since i don't have it).