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Getting root on the BNTV460 is a pain....

Just picked this up for the significant other's bday. Bootloader unlocked it with the instructions from @ipdev, and can report that method works. Can't get root.
Does anyone have this device and have achieved root? I'm a bit perplexed, even flashing a patched boot img isn't getting Magisk on there the way that it should.
Thanks!
Important to Note that the 460 has the exact same EVERYTHING as the 450, including build #s. They just gave it double the internal space is the only difference I've seen.
UPDATE: Just bricked the lil' guy. Since the device is encrypted with every system file having a -sign behind it, I went and frolicked around trying to get Magisk on there via ADB. The only way to do that was to patch the boot-sign .img and since I got the new Magisk, I let it patch, flashed, and now voila, nothing but a bootloop. Off to DM Verity my way out of it lol.

Articul8Madness said:
Just picked this up for the significant other's bday. Bootloader unlocked it with the instructions from @ipdev, and can report that method works. Can't get root.
Does anyone have this device and have achieved root? I'm a bit perplexed, even flashing a patched boot img isn't getting Magisk on there the way that it should.
Thanks!
Important to Note that the 460 has the exact same EVERYTHING as the 450, including build #s. They just gave it double the internal space is the only difference I've seen.
UPDATE: Just bricked the lil' guy. Since the device is encrypted with every system file having a -sign behind it, I went and frolicked around trying to get Magisk on there via ADB. The only way to do that was to patch the boot-sign .img and since I got the new Magisk, I let it patch, flashed, and now voila, nothing but a bootloop. Off to DM Verity my way out of it lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it is close enough to 450, and you can get into fastboot, you can try and boot the linked boot.img
fastboot boot m19_ST16C7BNv205.img
Same modifications I had to use to get the first boot image I found to work with BNTV450.
avb, mtk type and signature removed.
Also patched with Magisk 19 (canary release)
For good measure.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LgtB2JKCKwLJ64mUlij5Cb_cJrBi8Av1
PS.
Tested above modified v2.0.5 boot.img on BNTV450 running v1.0.2, so it should work on BN v1.0.2 and up.
Good Luck.
Cheers.
PPS.
Just ordered one. (Should show up in 2-3 days.)

Hey @ipdev make sure you get the insurance for 2 years. Shouldn't be more than 6-8 bucks. You're going to need it.
I went ahead and tried all the versions that you posted on your OP for flashing; only one was successful - the rest softbricked on the flash. When I went back and flashed the 460 stock on it, it was a different stock and never did run back right - kept getting the blinking red border ring and unfortunately lost the serial #, flash, and every possible entry on the "About Nook" tab - essentially glitching it out. Since I''d only had it for 12 hours, I took it back and swapped it out for a fresh one
So the issues I'm seeing so far are:
1. It's encrypted and says as such - this is what is causing the probs later in flashing and you can't deactivate it from what I see so far without a custom recovery.
2. Patching the boo img via MagiskManager will softbrick it, and I tried with both 18 & 19 inase there were issues with one over another.
3. The device will try to auto update ASAP OTA so make sure you don't connect it to the internet before you disable that function.
4. There is no "official firmware" you can download - B&N will only let you direct download the firmware through notifications. Granted, if you want the only one I was able to find I can post it (it says its Oreo 8.1.0 but it looks different than what comes on the device and its running a crappy Android Go)
5. Its easy to unlock the bootloader per your instructions but after you get the Orange State it takes an awful long time for basic boot (which is more of a personal irritant than a problem, lol)
6. If you patch and flash the boot img with Magisk, you will completely lose the screen. Keep in mind though, if you plug it into the computer you will keep hearing the connect/disconnect chimes. It will keep doing that and neither adb or fastboot will function (even though you can fastboot devices command and it will show a Daemon output).
7. Booting into recovery becomes harder and harder from adb and fastboot once you unlock the bootloader - pressing volume rocker and power does not do it at all.
I'll try your new files and see what happens...I think the guy got a hell of a lot of potential and needs a nice streamlined rom or at the very least root to get the bloat off so its faster. But I think it says something on its crippled nature when the guys at B&N say it ain't worth it in the long run - apparently they aren't as great as even the nook HD line.

Articul8Madness said:
Hey @ipdev make sure you get the insurance for 2 years. Shouldn't be more than 6-8 bucks. You're going to need it.
I went ahead and tried all the versions that you posted on your OP for flashing; only one was successful - the rest softbricked on the flash. When I went back and flashed the 460 stock on it, it was a different stock and never did run back right - kept getting the blinking red border ring and unfortunately lost the serial #, flash, and every possible entry on the "About Nook" tab - essentially glitching it out. Since I''d only had it for 12 hours, I took it back and swapped it out for a fresh one
So the issues I'm seeing so far are:
1. It's encrypted and says as such - this is what is causing the probs later in flashing and you can't deactivate it from what I see so far without a custom recovery.
2. Patching the boo img via MagiskManager will softbrick it, and I tried with both 18 & 19 inase there were issues with one over another.
3. The device will try to auto update ASAP OTA so make sure you don't connect it to the internet before you disable that function.
4. There is no "official firmware" you can download - B&N will only let you direct download the firmware through notifications. Granted, if you want the only one I was able to find I can post it (it says its Oreo 8.1.0 but it looks different than what comes on the device and its running a crappy Android Go)
5. Its easy to unlock the bootloader per your instructions but after you get the Orange State it takes an awful long time for basic boot (which is more of a personal irritant than a problem, lol)
6. If you patch and flash the boot img with Magisk, you will completely lose the screen. Keep in mind though, if you plug it into the computer you will keep hearing the connect/disconnect chimes. It will keep doing that and neither adb or fastboot will function (even though you can fastboot devices command and it will show a Daemon output).
7. Booting into recovery becomes harder and harder from adb and fastboot once you unlock the bootloader - pressing volume rocker and power does not do it at all.
I'll try your new files and see what happens...I think the guy got a hell of a lot of potential and needs a nice streamlined rom or at the very least root to get the bloat off so its faster. But I think it says something on its crippled nature when the guys at B&N say it ain't worth it in the long run - apparently they aren't as great as even the nook HD line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you just need a temporary root, I put up this guide a few minutes ago since there was no definite resource about rooting this device. https://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-7/how-to/how-to-temporary-root-bntv460-t3963304

turtleletortue said:
If you just need a temporary root, I put up this guide a few minutes ago since there was no definite resource about rooting this device. https://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-7/how-to/how-to-temporary-root-bntv460-t3963304
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate it, but I've since taken it back. Tell you what though, maybe I'll pick up a used one on ebay and try it

Bootloader Unlocking through Downgrade possible?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AT&T Radiant Core (Tinno U304AA) - Modding Discussion

Picked up an AT&T Radiant Core for cheap at a store around me. I don't intend to use it with AT&T, it was just such a low price that I figured I'd get it and see if I can break into it just for fun. It's an MTK6739 chipset phone, so in theory it should be easy to pull partitions from this thing with something like SPFT (or Miracle Box, if you paid for it) and do a dirty port of TWRP to get root privileges on it. But this is harder than it seems.
I need an auth file to do anything with SPFT. Apparently this has to do with some kind of "secure boot" mechanism that MediaTeks sometimes have now. There's no stock firmware for this device online from what I can find, nor for the generic version of the device, the Tinno U304AA (AT&T just rebranded it). If I had a stock firmware image, maybe I could risk wiping the partitions and reflashing the stock firmware to get rid of the secure boot stuff.
I saw a guide for how to access the bootloader on the Tinno U304AA generic version, but on the AT&T version of the phone there's no option in the boot select menu (Vol. UP + Power) to get to the bootloader to run a fastboot oem unlock. All the AT&T version has is recovery and normal boot. I'm not sure what I can do to maybe reset this to get the other options. Maybe if I had the stock firmware for the generic version of the phone I could overwrite it and get access to those other options.
Either way, just posting this up for anyone else that got one of these and wants to collaborate/contribute. Maybe with enough collective brainpower we can make something happen.

UPDATE: found a stock system image dump, thank you to @lopestom for directing me to this. This guy's been the MediaTek king for as long as I can remember.
It appears to be a dtbo and system partition dump. It also has the vendor partition and a (partial?) boot image dump. Not sure if things like the full boot and recovery images are stored somewhere in here, I didn't look too deeply into it yet. I have no idea how whoever this is managed to pull these partitions... they either got root access somehow, or they found a proper Download Agent and Auth file to pull it all. Either one of these would be awesome. I reached out to the user to ask them how they did it, we will see what they say if they want to share how they did it.
https://git.rip/dumps/att/u304aa

jasonmerc said:
Picked up an AT&T Radiant Core for cheap at a store around me. I don't intend to use it with AT&T, it was just such a low price that I figured I'd get it and see if I can break into it just for fun. It's an MTK6739 chipset phone, so in theory it should be easy to pull partitions from this thing with something like SPFT (or Miracle Box, if you paid for it) and do a dirty port of TWRP to get root privileges on it. But this is harder than it seems.
I need an auth file to do anything with SPFT. Apparently this has to do with some kind of "secure boot" mechanism that MediaTeks sometimes have now. There's no stock firmware for this device online from what I can find, nor for the generic version of the device, the Tinno U304AA (AT&T just rebranded it). If I had a stock firmware image, maybe I could risk wiping the partitions and reflashing the stock firmware to get rid of the secure boot stuff.
I saw a guide for how to access the bootloader on the Tinno U304AA generic version, but on the AT&T version of the phone there's no option in the boot select menu (Vol. UP + Power) to get to the bootloader to run a fastboot oem unlock. All the AT&T version has is recovery and normal boot. I'm not sure what I can do to maybe reset this to get the other options. Maybe if I had the stock firmware for the generic version of the phone I could overwrite it and get access to those other options.
Either way, just posting this up for anyone else that got one of these and wants to collaborate/contribute. Maybe with enough collective brainpower we can make something happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG! So excited to see this here! My Mom gave my nephew this phone and niece has one. So I've been trying my best to get the thing to at least be a decent phone! I installed a launcher on it, changed the icons and wallpaper and made it look good at least. It will be nice to have someone to talk to about this. The thing has been beyond frustrating! First off though how did you get the computer to recognize it? I can't get Windows or Linux to recognize it and couldn't find any drivers. If you managed that much you got further than I did. I haven't tried with my nieces though. It might just be his phone. She's 13 so it took awhile to pry it from her long enough to find out what kind it was, but I'm willing to try to get it from her once again if the phone can be improved.

sjjtnj said:
OMG! So excited to see this here! My Mom gave my nephew this phone and niece has one. So I've been trying my best to get the thing to at least be a decent phone! I installed a launcher on it, changed the icons and wallpaper and made it look good at least. It will be nice to have someone to talk to about this. The thing has been beyond frustrating! First off though how did you get the computer to recognize it? I can't get Windows or Linux to recognize it and couldn't find any drivers. If you managed that much you got further than I did. I haven't tried with my nieces though. It might just be his phone. She's 13 so it took awhile to pry it from her long enough to find out what kind it was, but I'm willing to try to get it from her once again if the phone can be improved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Linux should just work, plug in the thing and the "drivers" if you will should be there already. Check the phone's settings for USB Debugging in the Developer Options if there's further trouble.
Don't get me wrong too, this phone is, was, and will always be a piece of junk. There's no getting around a screen this bad and 1GB of RAM. I'm actively trying to find a Download Agent and Auth File combo to get this thing to work with SPFT so I can try to port a custom recovery to get us Magisk root permissions at least. Root will make the phone slightly better, but it will still be junk. Unless we can get kernel source for it as well to mess with things like clock speeds and CPU governors (which LEGALLY we are supposed to be guaranteed, but good luck convincing a Chinese company to give it to you) everything we do, if we CAN do anything, will be like deodorant on a turd. It'll smell a little better, but it's still a turd.

jasonmerc said:
Linux should just work, plug in the thing and the "drivers" if you will should be there already. Check the phone's settings for USB Debugging in the Developer Options if there's further trouble.
Don't get me wrong too, this phone is, was, and will always be a piece of junk. There's no getting around a screen this bad and 1GB of RAM. I'm actively trying to find a Download Agent and Auth File combo to get this thing to work with SPFT so I can try to port a custom recovery to get us Magisk root permissions at least. Root will make the phone slightly better, but it will still be junk. Unless we can get kernel source for it as well to mess with things like clock speeds and CPU governors (which LEGALLY we are supposed to be guaranteed, but good luck convincing a Chinese company to give it to you) everything we do, if we CAN do anything, will be like deodorant on a turd. It'll smell a little better, but it's still a turd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, I'm considering giving him my current phone when I get a new one. It doesn't seem like I'm going to be able to unlock and root it so I want a phone I can. Mainly for space personally. He's young so he doesn't need it rooted, but I'm thinking if I can root it then I might be able to use it to root my phone. Speaking of rooting I think I found a way to root this phone. It took me a couple days to get the phone since he said he couldn't find it, but I have it now. It just needs to charge, but the battery sucks so it takes forever. I did find out that it does have a decent recovery. I had booted it into recovery and then I was messing around with the keys after the little passed out green guy popped up and suddenly it loaded stock recovery. It had an option to mount the system and flash with adb and everything. The only problem is I kept booting it by messing with keys. So I honestly don't know which ones worked. I kept booting into it last night by messing with them, but now I can't seem to get it to boot into the right recovery now that I'm trying to figure out the right key combination. I will figure it out though (eventually) and let you know what you have to click, but if you get the chance just mess with it and hopefully you'll find it like I did.
Also I was looking up the phones variants and downloaded a couple stock roms that I felt had all the right specs I'm going to try to flash one if I can get it plugged in. I downloaded custom twrp image's for them as well, and even found one twrp that I was able to download in the app. If you used it then you know that it takes you to a download page if you are downloading the wrong twrp.img. So the fact it let me download it in the app meant it tricked twrp into thinking it was that phone. So I'm going to try that stock rom first. Maybe we'll be able to change it to another model. It really needs something flashed, because it's a mess. I thought he messed it up, but after reading what you said maybe it's just the phone. He's young so it doesn't matter as much to him, but I feel bad for my niece. I really need to look into at least getting her another phone. I'm going to work on it later today and see what I can do. First I got to get it to work on the computer, but I may be able to root it without the computer. I'll keep you updated with my progress.

any luck with this?

Yeh, is there a status update?

Sorry, I got a concussion and haven't been able to do much, but really I'm stuck because I can't get it to connect to the computer at all. Not in Windows or Linux. I think he's messed it up beyond repair at this point. The offline root gave me an error around the mounting of the system, but that can be done if you can get the recovery to show up. It's one of the options. I was trying this method. HERE see if you can get it plugged in and to work. Also, Kingoroot gets to 90% on the apk alone. So the computer app might do the trick. Then you can switch it to su. Really a rooted phone can get a lot done with apps like flashify and flashfire that we can't do right now. If you can get even a temp root let me know and I'll tell you what I found out about the apps to unlock the bootloader, flash TWRP, Flash Magisk, then flash ROMs. If you want to try the variant route I was trying then just do a search on google. Some sound just as bad, but other similar phones seem better. You can pick which one you want to try. The phone I have got to a point that it kept deleting applications and stuff on the phone and has trouble with the sd card. So I don't have the stuff I had saved on it anymore. I'm giving him my current phone when I get a new one. It's too messed up to salvage. I hope you have more luck.

sjjtnj said:
Sorry, I got a concussion and haven't been able to do much, but really I'm stuck because I can't get it to connect to the computer at all. Not in Windows or Linux. I think he's messed it up beyond repair at this point. The offline root gave me an error around the mounting of the system, but that can be done if you can get the recovery to show up. It's one of the options. I was trying this method. HERE see if you can get it plugged in and to work. Also, Kingoroot gets to 90% on the apk alone. So the computer app might do the trick. Then you can switch it to su. Really a rooted phone can get a lot done with apps like flashify and flashfire that we can't do right now. If you can get even a temp root let me know and I'll tell you what I found out about the apps to unlock the bootloader, flash TWRP, Flash Magisk, then flash ROMs. If you want to try the variant route I was trying then just do a search on google. Some sound just as bad, but other similar phones seem better. You can pick which one you want to try. The phone I have got to a point that it kept deleting applications and stuff on the phone and has trouble with the sd card. So I don't have the stuff I had saved on it anymore. I'm giving him my current phone when I get a new one. It's too messed up to salvage. I hope you have more luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to unlock my phone U304AA

Ok boys and girls, in case anyone is still wondering here is how to root this sucker.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1--Ul1ae73zcejNuJ1a7ftq5sTo2VP8Ya/view?usp=drivesdk
Comes with two files. Mtksu amd magisk be sure to use the magisk version included in the zip. Install mtksu then wmagisk, open mtksu and install the top magisk option. Reboot then open magisk hit install when it asks. Now open mtksu scroll to the bottom and hit activate and reboot again. Should be good too go at this point. Oh yeah be sure to click apply at boot in mtksu. Not sure if this had been posted before or not. Now, to find a way to unlock bootloader and install twrp.

Thank you, I tried Mtksu on mine and it didn't work, but it might've been the phone. I don't have one of these anymore, but I hope you all the best of luck. For the bootloader and Twrp try Flashfire or flashify.

MTK bypass method released by some smart dudes out there. I will test if we can use SPFT on this phone now. Stay tuned. This could mean root & recovery in a matter of minutes.
EDIT: It ALMOST works. Technically it bypassed the auth file as advertised. The only thing left now is finding a compatible preloader/scatter file to use.

Used a modified Moto E6 Play scatter file to pull images from the device. Tried flashing over stuff and got an error. Long story short my U304AA is now permanently bricked, so I'm tapping out of this project here
I do have recovery and boot images that (supposedly) work if anyone else wants to try and take over Keep in mind these were pulled with a scatter file from a DIFFERENT phone that's of the same chipset, so not everything is guaranteed to work. For example, the preloader was pulled with the specified parameters but I do NOT know if it's functional
Because I'm tapping out, and because nobody else seems to have anything on this, I'm uploading everything I can. Some pulls are too big to upload and some just won't work for some reason, but use whatever you'd like for anything you can. Hope I did something helpful

I have searched in Google Search and the tutorials forum but not found a tutorial
_____________
Sent from my website: https://topsanphamhay.com/kem-chong-nang-danh-cho-da-dau-mun.html - https://topsanphamhay.com/kem-chong-nang-innisfree-perfect-uv-protection-cream-co-tot-khong.html - https://topsanphamhay.com/kem-chong...ifying-face-fluid-dry-touch-co-tot-khong.html using Iphone X

Well AT&T is giving away lots of Radiant Core devices because of their 3G shutdown: https://www.xda-developers.com/att-3g-shutdown-free-phone/
My wife and I just got one, so now I have two of these but I'm not sure I trust AT&T enough to use the "free" phone that they sent.
It would be great if someone can pickup this project, especially since so many phones are now flooding the market.

I just got 3 of these "free" from AT&T. In fact I don't really need them, I just happen to have phones with an IMEI number that AT&T cannot decipher, so they sent me new phones just in case I can't use 4G.
Anyway, I'm trying to use mine as spare Google assistants scattered around the house, but because they run that crappy Android Go, the Go version of Assistant won't listen to me until I long-press the home button. I would also like to use them when I travel as a spare.
These things are essentially throw-away, so I'm OK to risk bricking one of them.
What I really want to do is install a real version of Android on here, has anyone managed to crack this yet?

I personally have been writing and reading using this tool https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient, which is much simpler than the others
Its a little rough around the edges, but it certainly works
My final problem is disabling secure boot (I already have a boot.img patched with magisk)
It appears that fastboot is simply not a mode for booting on this model, so I was wondering if anyone knows how to disable AVB by hand with just partition images

kayshinonome said:
I personally have been writing and reading using this tool https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient, which is much simpler than the others
Its a little rough around the edges, but it certainly works
My final problem is disabling secure boot (I already have a boot.img patched with magisk)
It appears that fastboot is simply not a mode for booting on this model, so I was wondering if anyone knows how to disable AVB by hand with just partition images
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it's possible to downgrade the firmware to before the october 2019 patch, it might be possible to mtk-su the device: https://www.att.com/device-support/article/wireless/KM1376142/ATT/ATTU304AA
might be another alternative to trying to disable avb on a locked bootloader

luridphantom said:
if it's possible to downgrade the firmware to before the october 2019 patch, it might be possible to mtk-su the device: https://www.att.com/device-support/article/wireless/KM1376142/ATT/ATTU304AA
might be another alternative to trying to disable avb on a locked bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not possible to do, already tried before when I didn't brick it

KJ7LNW said:
Well AT&T is giving away lots of Radiant Core devices because of their 3G shutdown: https://www.xda-developers.com/att-3g-shutdown-free-phone/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just got mine from this. I'd like to install something like NixOS mobile, but I've never used an android phone before. Will that be possible on this phone? If so, is there a good guide for newbs like myself?

Accidentally locked bootloader -- System destroyed

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

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

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

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

Umidigi A7 Pro 128GB Global [Magisk Root Help?]

UPDATE: You can now get root on the Android 10 Umidigi A7 Pro using magisk.zip v25.2 (25200).
See post 10 for more info
----------
to cut to the chase, i have this Umidigi A7 Pro [128gb, global, non-eea rom] that im trying to root. ive hit a snag with Magisk patching.
at this point, and after much tribulation finding correct drivers, i have managed to get the bootloader unlocked [orange state notice at boot] via fastboot commands on the windows 10 box. device successfully boots to stock, un-rooted rom
then...
ive installed the latest Magisk Manager,
copied the original boot image from the stock rom over to the device,
ran the patch operation on magisk
copied patched boot file back over to pc.
load up smart phone flash tool and the stock rom,
selected the patched boot file in the flash tool > boot
pushed to device
ENDS with error notice on flash tool. device goes into bootloop.
resolve by flashing back all of the unmodified stock rom.
multiple attempts, same results
from what ive gathered, there may be an issue with the later versions of Magisk that have a problem patching the file correctly. word is that v20.2 and lower have worked with this device.
so at this point, im trying to install a downgraded version of Magisk. when i install an older version of magisk manager, it want to update the manager, and install magisk newest version. in settings, ive seen a custom update channel option, but i cant find the right input to make that point to an older version. IF thats even the right path to take?
ive been rooting devices for over ten years, but in the past few, i kinda fell out of the game since the newer devices have most of the features i used to have to root/rom to have. but now, im wanting to focus more on secuity and privacy, so im back at it. only to find things have changed substantially. so im well versed in the field, just rusty, and needing a crash course on magisk in general, and specific advice on this umidigi.
for picking it up on sale for $70 brand new from the manufacturer (summer 2021), its a solid device. on par with with same-year samsung A series, but half the cost and twice the storage. the Umi doesnt have an oled screen like the samsungs, but it does have a metal frame and glass back. also came with a decent phone case and preinstalled screen cover. 4g unlocked dual sim slots work with t-mobile over old sprint tower nearby, and their gsm towers in other areas. handles a 128gb sd card without problems. cameras are very similar to a samsung a20, but the umidigi includes an added marco lens, which is nice.
once i get this thing hammered out, ill try to compose a concise how-to and upload the files. looking around online, theres a lot of bad or outdated info for this device. ive had to hodge-podge the bootloader unlock from various guides for this and other umidigi models.
thanks in advance everyone!

[reserved]

earlier today i managed to find a link for magisk canary. i dont have the device near me atm, but i believe the manager is v7.5 and magisk itself is v19.X. the output patch file comes out named differently with the older version (newer version appends a unique string behind the name). however, same results as before. boot loop.
one positive note tho: the patched boot file completes with a big green check rather than the runtime error, or whatever it was previously.
i tried pushing the patched boot file over fastboot and via the flash tool. same results regardless.
re-flashed the stock boot image and phone is back up and running. still no root though.
still leaning strongly toward it being a magisk problem, but ive seen mention of disabling some security features dealing with individual partitions, but that was on other umidigi models, so ill have to research further if nothing else pans out

found this tut mentioning vbmeta. otherwise, same process that ive been using with no success. figure its worth a shot. ill post back with results
rooting the umidigi a7 pro (magisk)
rooting the umidigi a7 pro (magisk). GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
gist.github.com
This guide is for advince users only! better guide comming soon on XDA (I have test this on my own umidigi a7 pro )In order to root your umidigi a7 pro you need to: 1) download device FW --> https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=forumdisplay&fid=235 (DO NOT download the EEA verison if you are not in Europe!) 2) download sp flash tool in case you brick you phone. --> https://spflashtool.com/ 3) unlock your bootloader --> https://www.getdroidtips.com/unlock-bootloader-umidigi-a5-pro-2/ 2) flash this vbmeta.img file with fastboot in bootloader mode. --> https://mega.nz/file/dnAS3AhD#g5PnSg-0UKFvyhZSZ8Em6gKO2Do7avaUepPmsH75-Bg cmd: fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img 3) extract the boot.img from fw.7z file and patch it with magisk 4) flash your patched_boot.img in bootloader mode cmd: fastboot flash boot boot.img enjoy your rooted phone!!!

nope, the vbmeta thing didnt help. bootloop. i tried using the patch from the latest magisk, and the patch from the older version of magisk. same across the board.

double b26 said:
to cut to the chase, i have this Umidigi A7 Pro [128gb, global, non-eea rom] that im trying to root. ive hit a snag with Magisk patching.
at this point, and after much tribulation finding correct drivers, i have managed to get the bootloader unlocked [orange state notice at boot] via fastboot commands on the windows 10 box. device successfully boots to stock, un-rooted rom
then...
ive installed the latest Magisk Manager,
copied the original boot image from the stock rom over to the device,
ran the patch operation on magisk
copied patched boot file back over to pc.
load up smart phone flash tool and the stock rom,
selected the patched boot file in the flash tool > boot
pushed to device
ENDS with error notice on flash tool. device goes into bootloop.
resolve by flashing back all of the unmodified stock rom.
multiple attempts, same results
from what ive gathered, there may be an issue with the later versions of Magisk that have a problem patching the file correctly. word is that v20.2 and lower have worked with this device.
so at this point, im trying to install a downgraded version of Magisk. when i install an older version of magisk manager, it want to update the manager, and install magisk newest version. in settings, ive seen a custom update channel option, but i cant find the right input to make that point to an older version. IF thats even the right path to take?
ive been rooting devices for over ten years, but in the past few, i kinda fell out of the game since the newer devices have most of the features i used to have to root/rom to have. but now, im wanting to focus more on secuity and privacy, so im back at it. only to find things have changed substantially. so im well versed in the field, just rusty, and needing a crash course on magisk in general, and specific advice on this umidigi.
for picking it up on sale for $70 brand new from the manufacturer (summer 2021), its a solid device. on par with with same-year samsung A series, but half the cost and twice the storage. the Umi doesnt have an oled screen like the samsungs, but it does have a metal frame and glass back. also came with a decent phone case and preinstalled screen cover. 4g unlocked dual sim slots work with t-mobile over old sprint tower nearby, and their gsm towers in other areas. handles a 128gb sd card without problems. cameras are very similar to a samsung a20, but the umidigi includes an added marco lens, which is nice.
once i get this thing hammered out, ill try to compose a concise how-to and upload the files. looking around online, theres a lot of bad or outdated info for this device. ive had to hodge-podge the bootloader unlock from various guides for this and other umidigi models.
thanks in advance everyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see I'm not the only one seriously interested in modding this phone. Although, now it belongs to my partner because her Huawei was not playing well with what she was using it for - playing a couple of games and messaging. It had started to slow down. Anyways, to get back to the Umidigi. I had looked at modding it and to be honest it seemed to be more hassle than it was worth and I think I couldn't get the thing rooted. I could connect to my laptop (it's honeslty much easier using Linux and installing ADB and Fastboot there) as Linux does not have the same issues with drivers that Windows has. Everything I do is through Linux...
So, in the end and because I now don't have the phone, whenever I need added peace of mind with a phone I try very hard to not install my Google account on the phone. I can install apks using APKPure for the few additional apps that may not be on the Stock ROM or not initialized through Play Store.
I'm afraid I can't help with Magisk though. The couple of times I've tried to work with it has not worked and I simply do all work through Linux and either push or sideload stuff or use a microSD. Often using TWRP but not always.
Cheers... hope you have some luck with what you are trying to achieve.

[RESOURCES]
magisk download archive
Download Latest Magisk zip v23.0 and Magisk Manager 8.0.7 and Root your phone
On this page, we will share the full instructions to download and install Magisk zip on your Android Phone. This tutorial is also for the newbies/noobs
www.getdroidtips.com

19deke55 said:
Glad to see I'm not the only one seriously interested in modding this phone. Although, now it belongs to my partner because her Huawei was not playing well with what she was using it for - playing a couple of games and messaging. It had started to slow down. Anyways, to get back to the Umidigi. I had looked at modding it and to be honest it seemed to be more hassle than it was worth and I think I couldn't get the thing rooted. I could connect to my laptop (it's honeslty much easier using Linux and installing ADB and Fastboot there) as Linux does not have the same issues with drivers that Windows has. Everything I do is through Linux...
So, in the end and because I now don't have the phone, whenever I need added peace of mind with a phone I try very hard to not install my Google account on the phone. I can install apks using APKPure for the few additional apps that may not be on the Stock ROM or not initialized through Play Store.
I'm afraid I can't help with Magisk though. The couple of times I've tried to work with it has not worked and I simply do all work through Linux and either push or sideload stuff or use a microSD. Often using TWRP but not always.
Cheers... hope you have some luck with what you are trying to achieve.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the driver issue was a bit of a hassle to sort out, but partially due to my sub-standard hughesnet satellite connection being sooo sloooooow. everything takes ridiculously long time.
> thus far, ive managed to get drivers and all that to mesh.
> bootloader unlock was straightforward... a few command lines
> from there, it should be a simple process of sideloading the magisk manager apk. within the manager, select [install] magisk zip, select [patch file] option from popup, point it to the [boot file] u pull from the stock rom image (now on your device storage)
> move the magisk patched boot file to the computer, run the flash tool, flash the patched boot, reboot and verify root <<OR>> push via fastboot
rather than reboot, i get boot loop. LOL
everything goes thru successfully, but just not working out. ive read around and seen talk of there being issues with magisk itself, and the patch file it outputs. something about using an older version, perhaps it has to be a specific one, will allow successful root. i gotta see if i can find that, and go from there.
magisk, from my understanding, serves the same purpose as super user or superSU. but also has some added benefits that are needed with modern system security, and the ability to install 'modules' from the magisk zip. sounds like it may be similar to xposed framework, if you know that. anyway, check the link i posted in previous post if you want to know more. apparently its the new big thing in root.
also, i guess TWRP is only partially functional on the Umidigi A7 Pro. im not sure exactly how or what. i just decided i would try the newer method since it seems like the way things are headed
if i can get this thing sorted out, ill bundle up the files and post up a package for people to grab. the way people talk, the same process can be used for several umidigi devices, and basically the same process for all (most?) mediatek chipped devices. MTK chipsets
also worth mentioning there is a pre rooted rom floating around, here on xda, i believe. cant recall the name of it off hand tho. however its a GSI rom (i think theyre called). my understanding is that GSI is like a one-sized-fits-all build method, where as long as the device meet preset criteria, the rom will run. that doesnt mean it will run well on every device tho, from what ive read. but, worst case scenario, its another avenue to consider.

double b26 said:
the driver issue was a bit of a hassle to sort out, but partially due to my sub-standard hughesnet satellite connection being sooo sloooooow. everything takes ridiculously long time.
> thus far, ive managed to get drivers and all that to mesh.
> bootloader unlock was straightforward... a few command lines
> from there, it should be a simple process of sideloading the magisk manager apk. within the manager, select [install] magisk zip, select [patch file] option from popup, point it to the [boot file] u pull from the stock rom image (now on your device storage)
> move the magisk patched boot file to the computer, run the flash tool, flash the patched boot, reboot and verify root <<OR>> push via fastboot
rather than reboot, i get boot loop. LOL
everything goes thru successfully, but just not working out. ive read around and seen talk of there being issues with magisk itself, and the patch file it outputs. something about using an older version, perhaps it has to be a specific one, will allow successful root. i gotta see if i can find that, and go from there.
magisk, from my understanding, serves the same purpose as super user or superSU. but also has some added benefits that are needed with modern system security, and the ability to install 'modules' from the magisk zip. sounds like it may be similar to xposed framework, if you know that. anyway, check the link i posted in previous post if you want to know more. apparently its the new big thing in root.
also, i guess TWRP is only partially functional on the Umidigi A7 Pro. im not sure exactly how or what. i just decided i would try the newer method since it seems like the way things are headed
if i can get this thing sorted out, ill bundle up the files and post up a package for people to grab. the way people talk, the same process can be used for several umidigi devices, and basically the same process for all (most?) mediatek chipped devices. MTK chipsets
also worth mentioning there is a pre rooted rom floating around, here on xda, i believe. cant recall the name of it off hand tho. however its a GSI rom (i think theyre called). my understanding is that GSI is like a one-sized-fits-all build method, where as long as the device meet preset criteria, the rom will run. that doesnt mean it will run well on every device tho, from what ive read. but, worst case scenario, its another avenue to consider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. The Mediatek side of things is interesting as I have at least one Lenovo tablet that uses them and the Kindle Fire tablet I have also. Such a pain that manufacturers have went down the road of locking bootloaders the way they have. It used to be so easy to install ROMs. Oh well. C'est la vie.
Thanks for the info. I can't see me touching the Umidigi now for a couple of years. It would be more than my life's worth, lol. I'll copy the contents of your post for future reference.
Have a nice day. Hope you have success with your efforts and that your satellite connection improves.

I GOT ROOT !!
Sorry, I forgot to update this thread...
Bottom line is that there was a bug in magisk. It has since been repaired, and root procedure works 'as advertised' using magisk.zip v25.2 (25200)
After having no luck, I gave up. A few months later I tried again after reading about how magisk had a recent bug fix that sounded like it might have been the problem for this Umidigi. So, I grabbed a new build of magisk .zip, followed the tutorial, and it worked as expected. Pretty simple, once you have the resources ready. Not to mention, a windows 10 pc is all you need to get it done.
---------
My Metro by T-Mobile plan is no-cap-LTE, but doesn't have a hotspot allotment. I'm using a 'hotspot unlocker' magisk module to give me access to the hotspot. I believe it stops reporting hotspot activity back to the ISP, but I'm not sure. Regardless, I use a lot of hotspot data every month, but not a peep from the provider.
In conjunction with that, I'm running "VPN Hotspot" to tunnel hotspot traffic thru my phone's VPN connection. Otherwise, tethered data bypasses the VPN. The app is on play store and requires root.
I'm using the phones hotspot to serve data across to an old dd wrt router I have set as a repeater bridge. It runs a virtual wifi network, and other devices sign into that network. From there, behind the router, it operates as a normal home wifi network. Smart TVs, Chromecast, and all your tablet apps work as expected.
----------
I'm also running a few other modules, like viper audio. So far, so good. Really can't complain for a cheap device. It even gets decent battery life when serving data. About 10% per hour, avg running, but can go further if not running a VPN and close background apps .
---------
I'll look on the PC and see if I can compile a list of software, drivers, etc that were needed.