* Solved * MT65xx Unpack, Repack Boot.img success but cannot boot - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi Guys,
I have successfully unpack, edit init.rc & repack but it doesn't boot !
The way to unpack MTK series was actually found by the guys at mobileuncle over a year ago ! I've subscribe to their forum but no reply...
Below is the translated version.
PHP:
MTK boot is different from the other android system. To extract, delete the
first 512 bytes of data, using Winhex. Find the location 800 to 9F0, delete it
& save it. Then you can unpack using the command below.
split_bootimg.pl boot.img
split_bootimg.pl boot.img
Page size: 2048 (0x00000800)
Kernel size: 1388548 (0x00153004)
Ramdisk size: 141518 (0x000228ce)
Second size: 0 (0x00000000)
Board the name:
Command line: no_console_suspend = 1
Writing as boot.img, the kernel ... the complete.
Writing as boot.img, ramdisk.gz ... the complete.
Unpack the ramdisk command as follows:
mkdir ramdisk
% cd ramdisk
% gzip -dc ../boot.img-ramdisk.gz | cpio -i
% cd ..
Any help is greatly appreciated !
--------------------------------------
Added on Oct 17, 2012 WARNING : MEDIATEK SMART PHONE FLASH TOOL
i've seen far too many times that fellow xda member make this same mistake over & over again, including myself...
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
So pls pls people, don't use SP Flash Tool & download ROM not meant for your phone, it will brick it & there is no way to revive it back ! After you have download wrong PRELOADER, your phone will be completely dead, cannot power on, no charging, no recovery, no USB vcom detection & you can say
to it...
Here is the WARNING again :
NEVER DOWNLOAD ROM NOT MEANT FOR YOUR PHONE. IT WILL BRICK IT !

---

yuweng said:
Hi Guys,
I have successfully unpack, edit init.rc & repack but it doesn't boot !
The way to unpack MTK series was actually found by the guys at mobileuncle over a year ago ! I've subscribe to their forum but no reply...
Below is the translated version.
PHP:
MTK boot is different from the other android system. To extract, delete the
first 512 bytes of data, using Winhex. Find the location 800 to 9F0, delete it
& save it. Then you can unpack using the command below.
split_bootimg.pl boot.img
split_bootimg.pl boot.img
Page size: 2048 (0x00000800)
Kernel size: 1388548 (0x00153004)
Ramdisk size: 141518 (0x000228ce)
Second size: 0 (0x00000000)
Board the name:
Command line: no_console_suspend = 1
Writing as boot.img, the kernel ... the complete.
Writing as boot.img, ramdisk.gz ... the complete.
Unpack the ramdisk command as follows:
mkdir ramdisk
% cd ramdisk
% gzip -dc ../boot.img-ramdisk.gz | cpio -i
% cd ..
Any help is greatly appreciated !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey yuweng thanks a lot !! you have given me a clue on how to unpack boot.img on MTK65xx.........can you post that mobile uncle website link for extracting boot.img for our phones ?? Thanks in advance !!
I'll be with you all the way it we reach success of flashing the modified boot.img !!!
Please reply !!

---

Hello balamu96m,
You can download the tools from Dark Tremor's site & refer to the How-to. There is no tools listed at mobileuncle thread there however all tools can be found here at XDA & one of them is this
In fact, there are quite alot of how-to posted here at XDA, all you have to do is search for the correct key word.
Update, been trying for about a month now & it turns out MT65xx doesn't support ext2 partition; thats why my phone went into boot loop ! Bruno Martins has given me some tips, so have to learn how to port ext2.ko
What platform are you using, Windows (Cygwin) / Linux / Mac OS X ? Another great way to start is using this tool
Ciao...

---

Hey yuweng,
thanks for the reply !! But first of all, what is the size of the 'boot.img' of your MTK mobile and also what is the normal size of a boot.img ?
I'm asking this because my 'boot.img' is 6.00 MB !! I removed the header and also completed splitting the 'no_header' file into kernel and ramdisk.gz. After splitting, the size of ramdisk.gz is around 2.9 MB. When i g-unzip ramdisk.gz, it says that unzip is complete and also says that it removed some bad sectors of that file. The remaining that i get is only 590 K.
So when i complete repacking into boot.img, its size becomes 2.9 MB.
Did i commit any mistake ??
Please help me !!
Did you successfully unpack and repack it ??
I mainly use Cygwin and also have Ubuntu.
Please reply !!

---

Hi bala,
Opps, i didn't select 'receive email notification of new replies'; sorry for the late response...
As for your question, that is normal. If you open up your Hex Editor, you will notice whole lot of FF after the offset 002937F0; that is what taking up the spaces.
7-zip your boot.img & upload so that i can compare it & see what are the differences with mine !
Rgds,

---

Same problem here dude!! Didn't use email notifications!
okay......here is link 4 my 'boot.img' : http://www.mediafire.com/?giq9c384eshvhq7
hope get a solution soon !
thanks in advance !!!!!

---

Hey guys, I have decided to make my MT65xx unpack / repack scripts public. You can find the thread here.
Any question, feel free to ask, but please use that thread.

---

Dear Bruno,
Thank you so much for sharing your unpack/ repack scripts. You have open up a whole new world of possibility for our MT65xx android smartphone
Particularly for MT6573, with casacristo's ext2.ko, we can now port DT_a2sd, Ad2sdx, Data2ext & much much more...
Once again, thank you, Master ShiFu Bruno & Master ShiFu casacristo ...
As mention by Bruno, please use his newly started thread for questions & answers on how to use it...

---

Did u try ur hands on other scripts?
Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2

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Hello ckethan,
Can you be more specific ?
Anyway, talking about scripts, i've tried DT_a2sd, its amazing ! i've just push it to the max with over 200 games + apps; on a max of 2GB ext2 partition !
There is another amazing scripts, the Super Charger V6
Go ahead & tried it...
Kudos to the developers...
Ciao...

---

Wow can u help me set this script ?
And how is the speed of dt_a2sd compared to ad2sdx?
Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2

---

i've only tried DT_a2sd so far, it worked the first time upon setup ! As for the others, i'm having trouble with it...so i can't comment on the speed...
However, one thing i can confirm is to use the fastest possible micro sd. i'm using sandisk mobile ultra & its superb compare to my old 16GB Class 2. Can't wait for the new samsung UHS-1 which claim 80MB/s transfer rate...
As for maximum space saving, DT_a2sd is still the best, it moves everything to the sd-ext with the command 'a2sd cachesd' & your internal memory will increase back to default, like no apps has been installed to your phone !
Upload your boot.img & i'll take a look at it, pls make sure it is MT6573 with kernel 2.6.35.7 or else i can't help you much...

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I have the boot.img edited for ext2 and all .. what class n card do u recommend?
Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2

---

i have attached mine boot.img,recovery.img
mine kernel is 2.6.35.7
and board is mtk6573

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hello bindassdost,
Pls check ur pm & reply...

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yuweng said:
Upload your boot.img & i'll take a look at it, pls make sure it is MT6573 with kernel 2.6.35.7 or else i can't help you much...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yuweng bro,
For mtk6516 running 2.2, we don't need to make any changes in the boot.img also don't need ext2.ko.....is this true??
I am asking because, only in gingerbread, init.rc must be modded to run init.d scripts at boot (i believe!!).....
Thanks in advance!!

---

yeoh macha bala bro...,
been busy with field work; AFAIK, DT_a2sd uses ext2,3 or 4 to 'trick' android thinking that the ext partition is internal memory...
branded froyo android phone, most do support ext partition, thats why they can use DT_a2sd...on top of that, they don't need to mod init.rc because its already there...they also have native android apps2sd on later build...
As for MT6516, AFAIK, there is no ext2,3,4.ko exist so DT_a2sd will not work on it and its CPU is slow...but you can always try with casacristo's ext2.ko & see if it works... ( i don't have a MT6516 phone so i can't test it out )
Ciao...

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yuweng said:
yeoh macha bala bro...,
been busy with field work; AFAIK, DT_a2sd uses ext2,3 or 4 to 'trick' android thinking that the ext partition is internal memory...
branded froyo android phone, most do support ext partition, thats why they can use DT_a2sd...on top of that, they don't need to mod init.rc because its already there...they also have native android apps2sd on later build...
As for MT6516, AFAIK, there is no ext2,3,4.ko exist so DT_a2sd will not work on it and its CPU is slow...but you can always try with casacristo's ext2.ko & see if it works... ( i don't have a MT6516 phone so i can't test it out )
Ciao...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply bro!! I'll try it and tell you!!!

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yuweng said:
Hi Guys,
I have successfully unpack, edit init.rc & repack but it doesn't boot !
The way to unpack MTK series was actually found by the guys at mobileuncle over a year ago ! I've subscribe to their forum but no reply...
Below is the translated version.
PHP:
MTK boot is different from the other android system. To extract, delete the
first 512 bytes of data, using Winhex. Find the location 800 to 9F0, delete it
& save it. Then you can unpack using the command below.
split_bootimg.pl boot.img
split_bootimg.pl boot.img
Page size: 2048 (0x00000800)
Kernel size: 1388548 (0x00153004)
Ramdisk size: 141518 (0x000228ce)
Second size: 0 (0x00000000)
Board the name:
Command line: no_console_suspend = 1
Writing as boot.img, the kernel ... the complete.
Writing as boot.img, ramdisk.gz ... the complete.
Unpack the ramdisk command as follows:
mkdir ramdisk
% cd ramdisk
% gzip -dc ../boot.img-ramdisk.gz | cpio -i
% cd ..
Any help is greatly appreciated !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a newbie,finally I found a place where I can reply.I have been reading your thread but I cannot view the pdf instructions hosted on mediafire,due to GFW or some thing.Can you please send me the material in below thread by email.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1923764
I think it might be the hope for me to root my MTK 6573 based Motorola XT390.
Thank you so much.

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mediafire & myself is located outside of the GFW so nothing is block...
i presume its ur browser problem where i purposely use this feature for fellow xda member to 'view' it first & when they find it useful then just remove the view/ from the link & it will bring you to the download page...
That tut i made is specifically for MT6575/ 77 & a few of the steps are totally different so you can't use it...
However, i've updated the tut & attach it here just for you...
it has a mix response so hopefully it does work for you... :fingers-crossed:
And pls read the WARNING at the first post...
In fact, i have updated all my thread with that warning so hopefully nobody make that same mistake ever again...