[SOLVED][$300][BOUNTY] Making your own PG05IMG, Flashing Roms with ADB - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

** ADMINS/MODS, if your going to delete this thread, if you dont' mind please advising me on the correct way to post this or correct place, Thanks **
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QUESTION: How can I create a update.zip (i.e., PG05IMG.zip) for the thunderbolt and then flash it with fastboot or in bootloader.
ANSWER: Flash a rom on your phone and then using adb
adb shell dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p25 of=/sdcard/system.img
Make a zip folder and put in it system.img along with boot.img from the
rom zip and whatever other partitions you want, perhaps a radio
mdm9k.img and radio.img along with a recovery.img and you can
make your own little custom rom to be flashed with fastboot or as an
update, then you can either put it on the sd card as an PG05IMG.zip and do
a bootloader update (s-off only) or fastboot flash zip (zipname.zip)
for eng-hboot only... really cool.
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1. Ok I've been trying dilligently in the past to do 2 things. I want to create my own SYSTEM.img from the roms i'm making so I can create PG05IMG's instead of .zips to flash, that way i can include the radio etc., this is for learning purposes (PLEASE DO NOT SUGGEST WELL KNOWN METHODS OR SIMPLY QUESTION WHY IM DOING THIS UNLESS ITS INVOLVED IN THE SOLUTION PROCESS.)
I have tried several different methods for backing up my system.img etc., I need someone to help me with this, and I'm willing to donate to get this done.
2. Secondly, I need to figure out a way to flash roms from command line using adb while the phone is in recovery, I don't have any problem flashing roms with fastboot if someone can show me or explain how to make the system.img actually work.
Already tried this:
Code:
adb push C:\ROM.zip /data/
adb shell
recovery --update_package=DATA:ROM.zip
This would simply make the thunderbolt go to an exclamation point and do nothing.
I was however able to get this to work on the same version of recovery 5.0.2.1 on a Nexus S I9020T, but not on the Thunderbolt ADR6400L.
Simple anlysis of questions
1. How can I turn a rom.zip (system folder) into a (system.img) "fastboot flashable"
2. How can I take a rom.zip and flash it in recovery using adb
Donation negotiable, and I appreciate any time/clues/answers/suggestions, but I really need to figure this out.

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Hi there,
I have a plan in the works already since the beginning of last month. I call it CASUAL. Cross-platform Adb Scripting, Unified Android Loader. Its purpose is to do exactly what you wish. This is a project I intend to begin work on next month. I've set up a repository for the work and I will begin soon. Basically, it will do exactly what you want.
Edit: I do not intend on rushing for the bounty. My goal is to do it right. If someone wishes to rush it, go ahead and collect the bounty. My goal is to provide something which will create an infrastructure contained within a single cross-platform java file. I've got most of the heavy lifting already done from my Heimdall one-click project. However, in order to complete the job, it seems that I must reformat my desktop because my IDEs are acting wonkey.

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AdamOutler said:
Hi there,
I have a plan in the works already since the beginning of last month. I call it CASUAL. Cross-platform Adb Scripting, Unified Android Loader. Its purpose is to do exactly what you wish. This is a project I intend to begin work on next month. I've set up a repository for the work and I will begin soon. Basically, it will do exactly what you want.
Edit: I do not intend on rushing for the bounty. My goal is to do it right. If someone wishes to rush it, go ahead and collect the bounty. My goal is to provide something which will create an infrastructure contained within a single cross-platform java file. I've got most of the heavy lifting already done from my Heimdall one-click project. However, in order to complete the job, it seems that I must reformat my desktop because my IDEs are acting wonkey.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adam thanks for your response, really great to hear and the fact that your not rushing for money is great too I understand. But hey, without regard to the cross platform ADB rom flasher, can you just point me in the right direction as far as where to go to learn how to say, "make a system.img of a rom" so I can fastboot flash it..
Like so I can take a rom zip and be able to turn it into a system image that is fastboot flashable on the thunderbolt... at that point i can just manually flash the boot.img and radio and i'm good to go.
So if i can just figure out how to do that one little thing that would be huge and much appreciated... thanks so much man. I will gladly donate for an answer to this question.

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halfcab123 said:
Adam thanks for your response, really great to hear and the fact that your not rushing for money is great too I understand. But hey, without regard to the cross platform ADB rom flasher, can you just point me in the right direction as far as where to go to learn how to say, "make a system.img of a rom" so I can fastboot flash it..
Like so I can take a rom zip and be able to turn it into a system image that is fastboot flashable on the thunderbolt... at that point i can just manually flash the boot.img and radio and i'm good to go.
So if i can just figure out how to do that one little thing that would be huge and much appreciated... thanks so much man. I will gladly donate for an answer to this question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally, to flash a ROM, you type:
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
then on your desktop you use fastboot and type
Code:
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash your partition your file...
I'd follow this guide to get S-OFF: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1310014 then find your neato-bandito rom from this forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=943 and flash it.

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AdamOutler said:
Generally, to flash a ROM, you type:
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
then on your desktop you use fastboot and type
Code:
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash your partition your file...
I'd follow this guide to get S-OFF: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1310014 then find your neato-bandito rom from this forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=943 and flash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Adam, but, I already know how to flash partitions in fastboot, but what i need to know is how to "make" partitions. as in like, take a system folder and turn it in to a system.img so i can fastboot flash system system.img
Please please need to know thanks

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halfcab123 said:
Thanks Adam, but, I already know how to flash partitions in fastboot, but what i need to know is how to "make" partitions. as in like, take a system folder and turn it in to a system.img so i can fastboot flash system system.img
Please please need to know thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not overly hard to do. There's a guide I think on the cyanogen website for how to do it. Basically you use the "dd" tool in linux.

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yareally said:
That's not overly hard to do. There's a guide I think on the cyanogen website for how to do it. Basically you use the "dd" tool in linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude please, can you walk me through it, like I said I'll donate. Or alteast give me a link to where its at, then i'll turn this post into a how to for noobs. I learn at 300,000,000 m/s^2

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halfcab123 said:
Dude please, can you walk me through it, like I said I'll donate. Or alteast give me a link to where its at, then i'll turn this post into a how to for noobs. I learn at 300,000,000 m/s^2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like there's a stupidly large amount of partitions on the Thunderbolt. if you can do this:
Code:
adb shell mount
and get the partition information, I can tell you how to do a backup and restore.
it will be something like this.. this gets run once to get a temporary storage area on the /sdcard
Code:
adb shell mkdir /sdcard/mybackup
Code:
mkdir /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup
adb shell dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p25 of=/sdcard/mybackup/system.img
adb pull /sdcard/mybackup/system.img /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup/system.img
These commands do: make a new folder for working on your desktop. direct disk backup of mmcblk0p25 (SYSTEM partition). Pull the system.img to your working folder on your desktop.
If you have your image on a Linux or Mac desktop, you can mount it like this..
Code:
cd /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup
mkdir MountFolder
sudo mount ./system.img ./MountFolder
#if this doesnt work, then do this
sudo mont -o loop -t ext3 ./system.img ./MountFolder
you can make changes to the system which has been mounted onto your computer. Then unmount it and push it back to your device.
to unmount and flash it back you do this:
Code:
sudo umount ./MountFolder
adb push /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup/system.img /sdcard/mybackup/system.img
adb shell dd if=/sdcard/mybackup/system.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p25
This pushes your backup to your device, then does a direct disk write of the image file to the disk partition

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↑ last poster pretty much sums it up in detail

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AdamOutler said:
It looks like there's a stupidly large amount of partitions on the Thunderbolt. if you can do this:
Code:
adb shell mount
and get the partition information, I can tell you how to do a backup and restore.
it will be something like this.. this gets run once to get a temporary storage area on the /sdcard
Code:
adb shell mkdir /sdcard/mybackup
Code:
mkdir /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup
adb shell dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p25 of=/sdcard/mybackup/system.img
adb pull /sdcard/mybackup/system.img /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup/system.img
These commands do: make a new folder for working on your desktop. direct disk backup of mmcblk0p25 (SYSTEM partition). Pull the system.img to your working folder on your desktop.
If you have your image on a Linux or Mac desktop, you can mount it like this..
Code:
cd /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup
mkdir MountFolder
sudo mount ./system.img ./MountFolder
#if this doesnt work, then do this
sudo mont -o loop -t ext3 ./system.img ./MountFolder
you can make changes to the system which has been mounted onto your computer. Then unmount it and push it back to your device.
to unmount and flash it back you do this:
Code:
sudo umount ./MountFolder
adb push /PATH/TO/YOUR/DESKTOP/backup/system.img /sdcard/mybackup/system.img
adb shell dd if=/sdcard/mybackup/system.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p25
This pushes your backup to your device, then does a direct disk write of the image file to the disk partition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is very informative and I actually realized something that I think will definitely help me, however its kinda not really the answer to my question.. and at the same time it is kind of another solution to the question that I asked.
What I asked was how to turn the system folder from a *.zip "rom" into a system.img that was fastboot flashable
You basically told me how to make a backup of the system, modify, and flash back to my phone.... which is interesting...
Basically what I take from this, please let me know if i'm on the right track here:
If the goal is to flash a rom on an htcdev unlocked phone one would:
(assuming system.img already created from backup, flashing to another phone)
Code:
adb reboot recovery
adb shell dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 (data wipe)
adb shell mount /sdcard/
adb shell dd if=/sdcard/system.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p25
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot erase cache
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot reboot
After trying this, I was both unable to mount sd card for some odd reason
using adb shell mount /sdcard/ and I was also unable to wipe data
at partition mmcblk0p6 with /dev/zero it just hung for 4 minutes.. does it take longer ? I ended it.
My only other option that I can think of is to downgrade the thunderbolt and run revo to get s-off and then make a PG05IMG.zip with a custom system.img and boot.img and flash it as a PG05IMG.zip in bootloader... so coming from this direction which seems to be much much easier, if I say took a PG05IMG for the MR4 (2.11.605.9) replaced the hboot with an eng-hboot, replaced the system.img and the boot.img would it work ??? I'm going to try it lol, probably going to be an epic fail.. any comments appreciated.
UPDATE: after posting this I realized that with a revolutionary s-off, the hboot is protected from being updated with an RUU, in bootloader so I would not have to worry about replacing the HBOOT, the only reason I even mentioned it was because I know that the hboot in the official MR4 RUU is the dev method supported hboot and would probably throw a security warning after flashing... etc., once again any help is great.

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There is no direct 1:1 way to convert. However, you can use the update script in the Meta folder as a guide. It will have information to copy files into the system folder and applysymlinks. The commands used by recovery all have a Linux equal.
Delete = rm
Delete recursive = rm -rf
symlink = ln -s
copy = cp
These are android recovery commands which must be translated to their Linux shell equivalants.

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AdamOutler said:
There is no direct 1:1 way to convert. However, you can use the update script in the Meta folder as a guide. It will have information to copy files into the system folder and applysymlinks. The commands used by recovery all have a Linux equal.
Delete = rm
Delete recursive = rm -rf
symlink = ln -s
copy = cp
These are android recovery commands which must be translated to their Linux shell equivalants.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what if i just straight take the system.img and boot.img and throw them in a PG05IMG.zip and use bootloader to update, will that work ?

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halfcab123 said:
what if i just straight take the system.img and boot.img and throw them in a PG05IMG.zip and use bootloader to update, will that work ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what a pg05img is. However, with samsung devices, we use dd'd system images to flash with Odin. Odin works sorta like fastboot. I don't know if that will help you because I generally use Samsung devices and Samsung does things differently than the rest of Android. From what I understand, fastboot flashing is similar, but I don't know if you can DD an image from a device and just fastboot flash it back onto a device. You can do this with Odin. I don't think there are provisions for flashing images in recovery directly. They DO have executables encorperated within zip files for flashing modems and bootloaders. Before trying a non-standard flashing method, you need to do some reading. It can be risky.

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AdamOutler said:
I don't know what a pg05img is. However, with samsung devices, we use dd'd system images to flash with Odin. Odin works sorta like fastboot. I don't know if that will help you because I generally use Samsung devices and Samsung does things differently than the rest of Android. From what I understand, fastboot flashing is similar, but I don't know if you can DD an image from a device and just fastboot flash it back onto a device. You can do this with Odin. I don't think there are provisions for flashing images in recovery directly. They DO have executables encorperated within zip files for flashing modems and bootloaders. Before trying a non-standard flashing method, you need to do some reading. It can be risky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just made my own PG05IMG.zip and updated in bootloader and it booted into a custom rom, and this is after i erased userdata, cache, system, so i know it works, i even
fastboot oem rebootRUU
fastboot flash zip "customzip.zip"
and that worked too, so stoked man, I can't believe I finally figured it out.
As soon as you told me the mmcblk0p25 could be backed up, it clicked, funny thing is I knew that but I guess I just didn't think it was that simple.