Database Info

Motorola Photon q, no wifi nor bluetooth engaged

Good day everybody,
I am a proud owner of a modified Motorola Photon Q. It is my replacement of my well beloved Xperia Pro (in which the flex-cable between screen and board was too fragile).
I recieved the phone, and it had Cyanogenmod 12.1 on it, with working wifi etc. So it was good and well. Except, I like to start from completely 0 myself and choose my own most stable Cyanogenmod possible.
So I flashed a new recovery (twrp 2.7.1.2) and put the zip file of a snapshot from Cyanogenmod (12.1) on my SD.
No trouble on the recovery flash through fastboot, no trouble on formatting everything wih recovery and no trouble installing the .zip package. 0 errors during the entire process.
However, after the installation the wifi nor bluetooth go on. I tried flashing other stable/snapshot versions from Cyanogenmod but none seems to make my wifi actually work the way it should.
I am getting stuck here, does anybody have any idea's for me? This issue is happening on 10.2, stable and 12.1 both snapshot versions.
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Flash stock with RSD Lite. Make sure everything works on stock before moving to anything custom.
Good luck.

arrrghhh said:
Flash stock with RSD Lite. Make sure everything works on stock before moving to anything custom.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for these tips.
I will give this a try, though it is my first time ever with RSD.
What if it does work with RSD? Will this change behaviour towards Cyanogenmod?

M_w_B said:
Thank you for these tips.
I will give this a try, though it is my first time ever with RSD.
What if it does work with RSD? Will this change behaviour towards Cyanogenmod?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly. You should always start with stock, and know how to get back to stock on any device you are going to flash with aftermarket firmwares. You need to ensure there are no hardware issue with the device before proceeding with anything aftermarket.

arrrghhh said:
Possibly. You should always start with stock, and know how to get back to stock on any device you are going to flash with aftermarket firmwares. You need to ensure there are no hardware issue with the device before proceeding with anything aftermarket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I am sure there are no hardware issues.
When I recieved the phone, it had Cyanogenmod 12.1 with wifi and bluetooth working. I, myself, like to start from 0 So I emptied the entire thing and re-flashed twrp and cyanogenmod 12.1 (snapshot).
From then on it did not work anymore, no matter which recovery or Cyanogenmod (only snapshot or stable) I try.
RSD is new to me, I am used to my Xperia Pro whoes stock kernel was an img on an XDA main ROM/stock list.
I do not have the stock ROM/kernel, since the phone was already modified at its receive.

arrrghhh said:
Possibly. You should always start with stock, and know how to get back to stock on any device you are going to flash with aftermarket firmwares. You need to ensure there are no hardware issue with the device before proceeding with anything aftermarket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From most stock files the link is dead towards its download. Do you have any suggestions perhaps?

M_w_B said:
...
I recieved the phone, and it had Cyanogenmod 12.1 on it, with working wifi etc.
...
no trouble on formatting everything wih recovery
...
after the installation the wifi nor bluetooth go on
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure that the issue is in the "no trouble on formatting everything" bit.
In recovery, you've erased your /persist partition.
As its content is unique for each device, it won't get restored by flashing a stock firmware via RSD Lite. That partition is not included in FXZs.
Specifically, you've lost your /persist/WCNSS_qcom_wlan_nv.bin and /persit/.bt_nv.bin files which are essential for working WIFI and BT. Among other stuff, they contain your device's unique MAC addresses for WIFI and BT.
You can check the content of your /persist folder. If it's empty, it confirms my suspicion.
To fix it, you will need to restore your /persist partition from your backup. If you haven't made a backup before erasing, you will need someone to provide you with his own personal backup of /persist. Then your and his device will use the same, no longer unique MACs...

kabaldan said:
I'm pretty sure that the issue is in the "no trouble on formatting everything" bit.
In recovery, you've erased your /persist partition.
As its content is unique for each device, it won't get restored by flashing a stock firmware via RSD Lite. That partition is not included in FXZs.
Specifically, you've lost your /persist/WCNSS_qcom_wlan_nv.bin and /persit/.bt_nv.bin files which are essential for working WIFI and BT. Among other stuff, they contain your device's unique MAC addresses for WIFI and BT.
You can check the content of your /persist folder. If it's empty, it confirms my suspicion.
To fix it, you will need to restore your /persist partition from your backup. If you haven't made a backup before erasing, you will need someone to provide you with his own personal backup of /persist. Then your and his device will use the same, no longer unique MACs...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you have made my issue clear, I am very thankfull for that!
I can't find my /persist folder in Cyanogenmod 12.1 Snapshot which I am currently running.

kabaldan said:
To fix it, you will need to restore your /persist partition from your backup. If you haven't made a backup before erasing, you will need someone to provide you with his own personal backup of /persist. Then your and his device will use the same, no longer unique MACs...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are obviously more data there. Do you know what data it is?

Bricked my OP7P - Can't decrypt data partition anymore

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.
Click to expand...
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 -.-)

Flashing full ROM to reset EFS

Hello
Currently on 10.3.4 stable, TWRP and Magisk
EFS connectivity is working fine except for VOLTE, all the parameters indicate that it should be working but can't seem to get it to register.
I want to rest EFS and in the process return to BETA, (not liking stable features). I tried to reinstall EFS partition from TWRP EFS backup, but looking through the settings and files in the EFS nothing changed.
Questions is - if i flash or install zip Beta 18 firmware will it reset the EFS to stock based on that firmware version?
Can I do the twrp retention/ magisk swap method or do I need to completely wipe the device and re-root?
I have been reading various threads on doing a factory rest, then reinstalling magisk manager but I do not believe this will reset the EFS to 10.3.4 stock
Please correct me if any of my assumptions are incorrect or if you have a better suggestion to achieve EFS reset or both (update to Beta 18)
Thank you

pxer said:
Hello
Currently on 10.3.4 stable, TWRP and Magisk
EFS connectivity is working fine except for VOLTE, all the parameters indicate that it should be working but can't seem to get it to register.
I want to rest EFS and in the process return to BETA, (not liking stable features). I tried to reinstall EFS partition from TWRP EFS backup, but looking through the settings and files in the EFS nothing changed.
Questions is - if i flash or install zip Beta 18 firmware will it reset the EFS to stock based on that firmware version?
Can I do the twrp retention/ magisk swap method or do I need to completely wipe the device and re-root?
I have been reading various threads on doing a factory rest, then reinstalling magisk manager but I do not believe this will reset the EFS to 10.3.4 stock
Please correct me if any of my assumptions are incorrect or if you have a better suggestion to achieve EFS reset or both (update to Beta 18)
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You enabled VoLTE manually? Or should be enabled out the box?
There's 2 threads about how to enable VoLTE manually but this is explained better
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-7-pro/how-to/guide-activate-volte-vowifi-t4116051
Follow the steps and maybe you'll get VoLTE working
Sent from my OnePlus7Pro using XDA Labs

RokCruz said:
You enabled VoLTE manually? Or should be enabled out the box?
There's 2 threads about how to enable VoLTE manually but this is explained better
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-7-pro/how-to/guide-activate-volte-vowifi-t4116051
Follow the steps and maybe you'll get VoLTE working
Sent from my OnePlus7Pro using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not had success getting IMS to register and as such get VOLTE working. I have read and followed all the threads I could find, including using PDC and EFS tools. I have ripped open firmware from multiple devices and finally found an MBN (PIxel 4a) for my carrier (Koodo) with the proper VOLTE label and settings.
I updated from Beta 14 to Stable as another XDA member with the same carrier stated they had success, the only difference they were non-root.
I am not liking the stable version and will be returning to Beta but VOLTE is the thorn in my neck right now.
As I have tried so many things, I am thinking my EFS has alot of garbage files left over from all the attempts, so I want to flush and start fresh or stock, just not sure how to get it done. I thought reinstalling the EFS backup from TWRp would have done the trick but I still see the files from my attempts to get VOLTE working. I know something was reinstalled from the back up as the PDC config was reset back to Oversea_commercial. Same time I do not want to brick the device.

Nandroid/complete phone backup or similar without TWRP?

Is there a way to perform a nandroid or similar complete backup without a custom recovery like TWRP (which there is none for Android 11 or the Oneplus 8T right now).
I know I could use DD to dump and restore all the partitions, but I am unsure if this would work for the data partition cause it is encrypted. Cause I think the encryption keys are stored in the trustzone and can't be backuped or restored?
Do anyone know of a solution? Would be nice to have a good working backup to fall back to in case I break something when I start modifying the device more.

Qnorsten said:
Is there a way to perform a nandroid or similar complete backup without a custom recovery like TWRP (which there is none for Android 11 or the Oneplus 8T right now).
I know I could use DD to dump and restore all the partitions, but I am unsure if this would work for the data partition cause it is encrypted. Cause I think the encryption keys are stored in the trustzone and can't be backuped or restored?
Do anyone know of a solution? Would be nice to have a good working backup to fall back to in case I break something when I start modifying the device more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Qnorsten,
I´m new to OnePlus devices (using a 8T model) and searched also for a backup method just to be shure that I can restore my data after a soft brick throgh a bad magisk mod.
On OnePlus 6T forum I found the magisk module ´migrator´ which can be used for backup and restore data and system data. I will test it the next days if it works for me.
Do you know more about migrator? https://github.com/VR-25/migrator

Flashing Kernel Patch for RMM on unsupported Note 9 caused it to stop booting

Hello,
I've been trying to root my Note 9 using the "N960F_DS_N_Oreo_Root_for_OEM_issue_devices_V5" which I've found online and i believe it is based on what was developed by Dr. Ketan.
While flashing this setup, I selected "Proceed with ROM Flash and Multi tool", "Patch for OEM issue", "Flash Kernel Patch for RMM" and then "Root with Magisk". Once the installation is done and the device is rebooted, the phone no longer boots. It shows the logo Galaxy Note 9 powered by Android then black screen then loop again to Galaxy Note 9 logo and it stays in this loop. I can only break the loop by entering to the Download Mode and loading TWRP and staying there.
I'm suspecting that the "Flash Kernel Patch for RMM" that I've selected is not supported on my Note 9 Model.
Is there a way to revert back this change? or may be install back the default kernel?
Appreciate your help!
Regards,
Elias

As I can see you are proud owner of a softbricked phone.
My recommendation: re-flash phone's Stock ROM to get rid off of all mods you applied to the phone.

jwoegerbauer said:
As I can see you are proud owner of a softbricked phone.
My recommendation: re-flash phone's Stock ROM to get rid off of all mods you applied to the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help.
I've downloaded this: https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=4349826312261705548
It's around 4.8GB. Is this what you're referring to?
Just to give some background, the phone got an accidental factory reset (which I still don't understand how) and i'm trying to retrieve at least some of the deleted data (mainly pictures/videos). All the recovery tools requested to have the phone rooted in order to do a deep scan. So I started this learning journey myself since no phone repair store was off help.
Would reflashing the phone stock ROM affect my chances of retrieving my data?
Thanks!

The Factory Reset performed erased all your user data: though they are still physically present on device, their entry in Android's MTF got removed. IMO it requires a forensic tool to recover them.
As soon as you re-flash the phone with Stock ROM the disk space utilised by user data again gets wiped ( means a new MFT gets created), so the chance to recover user data previously stored there is NULL.

jwoegerbauer said:
The Factory Reset performed erased all your user data: though they are still physically present on device, their entry in Android's MTF got removed. IMO it requires a forensic tool to recover them.
As soon as you re-flash the phone with Stock ROM the disk space utilised by user data again gets wiped ( means a new MFT gets created), so the chance to recover user data previously stored there is NULL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was checking this thread on this form: https://4pda.to/forum/index.php?showtopic=915992&st=520
it seems that it's the same problem as mine and he was able to resolve it by flashing the original kernel. Not sure how i can do the same.

EN90 said:
I was checking this thread on this form: https://4pda.to/forum/index.php?showtopic=915992&st=520
it seems that it's the same problem as mine and he was able to resolve it by flashing the original kernel. Not sure how i can do the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With regards to recovering wiped user data: As I can see you didn't get it.

jwoegerbauer said:
With regards to recovering wiped user data: As I can see you didn't get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm, what i understood is that if I go and flash the phone with Stock ROM (to make it boot again) I'll lose any chance of getting my data back even with a forensic tool. Is that what you meant?
So I was trying to say that what if I just flash back the original kernel to solve my booting issue, would it also affect the possibility of retrieving the lost data?
Unless I'm confused with the terminologies and flashing kernel is the same as flashing the Stock ROM. I'm quite new to this .
I appreciate your help!

@EN90
As with Android
Kernel is the core part of Android OS and is based on Linux. It is the system which initializes, configures and sets all hardware components for use. It prepares the complete system for functioning. It consits of several sub-systems and services.
Stock ROM is a read only memory chip on the phone's motherboard that contains the Android OS image that boots every time you turn on your phone. A ROM contains full Android OS system and a few system apps that comes pre installed with the device.