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Hello!
Recent proud owner of new Z5 Compact, U.S. edition (E5803, CDA 1298-3109). Excited to start tweaking it, but I want to have a copy of the shipping stock firmware before I begin messing with anything. I've already successfully created a TA backup, so we're good there. But I am BEYOND frustrated at the fact that it is seemingly impossible to obtain a copy of an FTF for the exact firmware version that my phone was preloaded with from the factory.
My phone was apparently manufactured in spring 2016 and came stock with 32.2.A.0.224, "Customized US". Does anybody have an FTF for this for my exact CDA? I haven't managed to find a copy anywhere, and of course XperiFirm doesn't show it as available for download from Sony's servers. (I'm having a little trouble believing that it is unavailable from Sony direct, given that OTA updates for older versions are still distributed...my phone is prompting me to accept an OTA for 32.2.A.0.253, which can't be obtained via XperiFirm, either.) I know I can flash FTFs for other CDAs on my phone (even for E5823s) but my goal at this point is simply to get one that matches what I already have exactly. It boggles the mind that nobody bothered to make a backup of this when Sony was still distributing it and that it isn't available for download anywhere (at least that I can find).
Barring that, though, I had another thought: pull a bit-for-bit image of the boot and system partitions. I'm concerned that a standard TWRP backup would not suffice given the existence of dm-verity, but I'm wondering if this would work:
1. Unlock bootloader
2. Boot TWRP with fastboot
3. Access an ADB shell, and then use dd to clone the necessary partitions to an SD card or attached USB drive
Then if I ever wanted to go back to the original factory firmware, I boot TWRP, use dd to write the clones back to the partitions, restore the TA to re-lock, and Bob's your uncle. Anybody see a problem with this plan?
Thanks much!
-- Nathan
P.S. -- Is there some super secret stash of FTFs for the Z5 Compact somewhere that I just haven't stumbled upon yet? In addition to hunting down this particular firmware build, I would also be interested in obtaining copies of other Sony stock firmwares (other than the most recent) for this particular CDA. Again, frustratingly hard to come by...
Darn it, I meant to post this to the Q&A forum. I swear that was the one I was browsing...grr. Anyway, mods, feel free to move, and my apologies.
-- Nathan
So, I guess I'll just keep talking to myself here...
I can confirm (in case anyone who stumbles across this thread in the future cares) that a bit-for-bit backup of all partitions using 'dd' works just fine, and that restoring that backup in reverse also works fine and does not risk a brick. I was 99% sure this was probably the case but wanted to make sure. I made a backup of every partition except userdata and cache, and then downgraded to Lollipop, and restored back to the shipping firmware by booting off of TWRP, clearing userdata and cache, and restoring each partition I had previously backed up (including my TA backup w/ bootloader lock & DRM keys). Phone booted up and went through OBE setup, and all DRM keys were present and accounted for.
I can't, however, get the FOTA update from .224 to .253 to take. Phone downloads it, reboots, goes through some kind of firmware verification process, reboots, and .224 boots up again and the Sony Updater says there was some kind of failure and to try again. If you try again, it re-downloads the whole update again and does the same thing. Not a huge deal, but I thought it would prove interesting if it were still possible to get all the way to 7.1.1 from the shipping firmware incrementally, especially since Sony seems to have pulled the full versions of those updates from their servers.
I'm still on the hunt for archives of firmware releases; I've found a few here and there, but it would be nice to find some Customized US releases. I'm particularly interested in 32.0.A.6.209, which I believe was the one and only Lollipop release that ever shipped on the U.S. models (since they were so late to market here).
-- Nathan
Can you post the img files?
Hey, as you can imagine I ****ed up. If you could do me a favor and post those images that you got from your phone somewhere that would be incredibly useful for me. Thanks.
nlra said:
I'm still on the hunt for archives of firmware releases; I've found a few here and there, but it would be nice to find some Customized US releases. I'm particularly interested in 32.0.A.6.209, which I believe was the one and only Lollipop release that ever shipped on the U.S. models (since they were so late to market here).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You probably won't find much US firmware floating around because of the disabled fingerprint reader, and I daresay the relatively tiny US market share Sony enjoys.
On top of that, I don't think anyone has compiled a database of Z5C FTFs unfortunately, so it's difficult to locate a particular version, and extra hard to find a specific version + region combo.
Honestly, I don't think there's any advantage to using a US-based firmware other than potential warranty validity reasons (if they even check it).
By hanging on to US firmware, you're missing out on a really useful feature that your phone hardware supports but can't let you use because business.
Since it sounds like you're comfortable with flashing ROMs, and have an understanding of making proper backups, I suggest you flash another region's firmware to enjoy the full potential of your phone.
Hey, thanks for the response.
mhaha said:
[...]I don't think anyone has compiled a database of Z5C FTFs unfortunately, so it's difficult to locate a particular version, and extra hard to find a specific version + region combo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do find this especially sad and frustrating, especially given that we know that Sony is apparently willing to delete older firmwares from their server. (Bad on Sony, BTW!)
mhaha said:
Honestly, I don't think there's any advantage to using a US-based firmware other than potential warranty validity reasons (if they even check it).
By hanging on to US firmware, you're missing out on a really useful feature that your phone hardware supports but can't let you use because business.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had the chance to run tests yet myself to confirm or deny this, but if you read some of the "enabling fingerprint scanner on U.S. models" threads for both the Z5 and the X/XZ, there is some unfortunate evidence that points to there being some kind of difference when it comes to LTE reception in U.S. firmware vs. other regions...some people claim that non-U.S. firmwares simply show "less bars" in the status area but that the phone's radio is still seeing the same RX levels (making it just a cosmetic thing), while others say that for them, it is not simply cosmetic and it quantifiably impacts their phone's radio's performance. I'm not sure why there would be any difference at all, but it is something to keep in mind, and is a potential "cost" one should take into account when using international firmware on a U.S. model.
Also, there are as-yet-unknown and undocumented differences between functionality in the various firmwares from different regions, making it extremely difficult to determine which is the "best" one to use. Arguably the only thing that the U.S. firmware lacks is the fingerprint scanner and is otherwise fully functional. I happen to know from reading other threads that all German firmwares, including the generic carrier-unbranded one, for some reason have SIP/VoIP calling ripped out of the system phone app, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Who knows what other features are missing or crippled in that region or in others.
At least with the U.S. firmware, it appears to be possible to restore the files that are missing from it in order to resurrect the fingerprint scanner (after rooting, of course). Given the minefield presented by the uncertainties when it comes to firmwares for other regions, this might arguably be the best way to go if you are in the U.S. and want a working fingerprint scanner.
-- Nathan
DRHARNESS said:
Hey, as you can imagine I ****ed up. If you could do me a favor and post those images that you got from your phone somewhere that would be incredibly useful for me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, somehow I missed seeing this reply! You want the images for 32.2.A.0.224 that I pulled? Just to clarify, these were pulled as bit-for-bit rips from the phone's partitions (so they're big; even leaving out cache and userdata we're talking about 6GB here), and are not in FTF format nor flashable with Flashtool or Emma. To flash, you'd have to have your bootloader unlocked, put the image files on an SD card, put the SD card in the phone, boot TWRP over USB with fastboot, and then use dd to flash each partition from the command line.
If you're still interested, send me a PM and we'll work out a way to get these to you.
-- Nathan
Hello, forgive me for asking what are probably considered noob questions, but I've been reading quite a few threads and getting lost in the acronyms (not to mention the users that don't agree with one another).
I've got an S9+ with G965USQS3ARG8 with Verizon bloat. I'm trying to bring it over to Project Fi. Inserting my active sim from my Nexus 6 seems to work OK. I have a persistent message about it not being a Verizon sim though, and would also like to get rid of the Verizon bloatware to clean this thing up a bit. Can I flash a U1 firmware on here and call it a day? If so, can I use heimdall? I'm running Linux Mint, just updated to Java 11, and heimdall is correctly detecting my device. I don't have Windows, and it seems Odin is kind of the default around here, but it's not my best option.
Do I need to unlock my phone in any fashion first? I have adb, if necessary. I have G965U1UEU3ARJ2 downloaded already, I just don't want to brick this thing and am not sure if I should proceed. I'm used to using TWRP to flash Moto phones, this is a different ballgame. Also, am I likely to run into bootloader incompatibility issues? What do I watch out for?
Thanks!
Not to worry! I was in the exact same boat as you, was expecting to receive a G965U1 but got a Verizon G965U. I posted in this thread and a very helpful member here walked me through it: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/how-to/g965u-g965u1-firmware-links-t3763487/page144. My post started on page 144 and pretty much takes up the rest of the thread. The 5th number from the end is the bootloader version, and I was advised to pick a U1 firmware with the same bootloader version, so it looks like you want to pick something with a 3, as you have. The only other thing is I was advised to pick an XAA firmware, which I guess means completely carrier free, but I'm not sure how important it is, or if you can even find one with bootloader 3.
Anyway, it should all be spelled out in that link, as I was in your exact position and it didn't take me long to get converted to essentially a factory unlocked device. Only thing I'm not sure about is Heimdall, because here I had to use a patched version of Odin that would allow the flashing of a different models firmware.... If Heimdall will allow that then I guess it would work but I'm not sure, haven't used it in years and back when I did use it, Samsung firmware was just one file, was not broken up into parts like it is now. Anyway, good luck, you can do this.
YrrchSebor said:
Not to worry! I was in the exact same boat as you, was expecting to receive a G965U1 but got a Verizon G965U. I posted in this thread and a very helpful member here walked me through it: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/how-to/g965u-g965u1-firmware-links-t3763487/page144. My post started on page 144 and pretty much takes up the rest of the thread. The 5th number from the end is the bootloader version, and I was advised to pick a U1 firmware with the same bootloader version, so it looks like you want to pick something with a 3, as you have. The only other thing is I was advised to pick an XAA firmware, which I guess means completely carrier free, but I'm not sure how important it is, or if you can even find one with bootloader 3.
Anyway, it should all be spelled out in that link, as I was in your exact position and it didn't take me long to get converted to essentially a factory unlocked device. Only thing I'm not sure about is Heimdall, because here I had to use a patched version of Odin that would allow the flashing of a different models firmware.... If Heimdall will allow that then I guess it would work but I'm not sure, haven't used it in years and back when I did use it, Samsung firmware was just one file, was not broken up into parts like it is now. Anyway, good luck, you can do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very, very much, YrrchSebor! This was a very thoughtful and helpful reply. Your thread was a gold mine--it was nice to read about a problem that was actually applicable to my situation.
I can't remember if my copy of 3ARJ2 is XAA or not, so I'm grabbing a new copy of 3ARJ6 XAA from Updato. Hopefully Heimdall will work without protest, but if not, I guess I'll have to create a virtual machine with the patched Odin.
Well I tried to use Jodin3 with Heimdall to no avail. Now I'm installing VirtualBox and jumping through all the necessary hoops. Oh well, I'll get there eventually.
pvfjr said:
Well I tried to use Jodin3 with Heimdall to no avail. Now I'm installing VirtualBox and jumping through all the necessary hoops. Oh well, I'll get there eventually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep us posted! I know with a virtualbox the trick is having the device recognized, once you get that you should be good I would hope.
YrrchSebor said:
Keep us posted! I know with a virtualbox the trick is having the device recognized, once you get that you should be good I would hope.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After messing with VB for a while, it dawned on me I still had a dual boot laptop on hand with a sad and degraded old Win7 install. I was able to make it work. The flash was a success! No more obnoxious notifications about sim cards. I do get odd strings of characters after texts though. May be a topic for another thread.
This is a long-shot but essential if we're going to mess around with this phone with any degree of confidence or YOLO. Without this, there is no experimenting with global non-5G 7T Pro roms and partitions. The MSM for the OP7 Pro 5G for EE and Sprint never leaked, but that was a low-key phone. Let's do better with the T-Mobile McLaren.
Your mission is simple: Obtain the MSMDownloadTool and ops file (usually packaged together in a password-protected rar). You need that package and the password. These are device specific. Don't really care how the files are ultimately delivered as long as there's no encryption. Any info about the file or URL (e.g. https://s3.amazonaws.com/oneplussupport/...) is welcome.
I hate bounties or the thought of enforcing one, but expect donations if you succeed and avail yourself. Anonymity is also acceptable.
If you happen to find something we don't expect like global firmware for this phone, there's a separate bounty thread for that. I doubt it exists.
Relevant codenames and identifiers for our device:
HD1925
hotdogg
oneplus7tpronroxygen
HD61CB
I think @ddggttff3 asked them for this and they wouldn't send it to him for some reason. Maybe they misunderstood what he was asking for? A stock MSM image is just stock, so it doesn't make sense to not release it on XDA. It seems wasteful for a company to have to do extra remote recovery sessions when simply releasing a stock MSM image on XDA could save a company extra time and money.
I also asked OnePlus https://www.oneplus.com/support/contact for a MSM image for the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren, since it's critical for safe development. In my case, they did not say no, they just gave me a boilerplate response of, "About your concern we would like to inform you that we will take this as feedback and pass it along to our developer team so that this update can be rectified in the upcoming updates in the near future." They emailed me again asking for a further response and I haven't replied yet, because that second email was more obviously automated and did not have a name like the first one did. I think they could possibly let a tech post it to XDA, etc., if convinced by someone with experience like a XDA Recognized Developer.
jhofseth said:
I also asked OnePlus https://www.oneplus.com/support/contact for a MSM image for the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren, since it's critical for safe development. In my case, they did not say no, they just gave me a boilerplate response of, "About your concern we would like to inform you that we will take this as feedback and pass it along to our developer team so that this update can be rectified in the upcoming updates in the near future." They emailed me again asking for a further response and I haven't replied yet, because that second email was more obviously automated and did not have a name like the first one did. I think they could possibly let a tech post it to XDA, etc., if convinced by someone with experience like a XDA Recognized Developer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got off a chat with an agent and they tell me I'll get a remote session with their technical team in 24-48 hours I'm gonna do my best to get the image/ password for you guys
tserv95 said:
I just got off a chat with an agent and they tell me I'll get a remote session with their technical team in 24-48 hours I'm gonna do my best to get the image/ password for you guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did it work out?
Still waiting from then
They never follow up. I'm still waiting a week later
LLStarks said:
They never follow up. I'm still waiting a week later
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, been about four days!
Unlucky. OnePlus is being pretty crappy with their service.
https://www.oneplus.com/support/contact has 3 contact options: phone (Call us +1 (833) 777-3633 7x24 hours), live chat and email. I really think a XDA Recognized Developer might have some luck getting a MSM image for the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren. There is a legitimate safe development need for this and providing it only benefits OnePlus and T-Mobile. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!
Barring actually getting the MSM I may have a method of recovery using fastboot and friends. However, I need the help of
a hotdogg owner with stock firmware & unlocked bootloader. The method is non-destructive (aside from the unlocking nuking
your data); just requires you to use fastboot to boot a twrp image and use adb to pull a partition (its 15gb, so to make it faster
you may want to use a real usb-c 3.0 cable; I don't think the orange one that comes with it is) and unpack it with a tool
called 'lpunpack' (unfortunately I don't know how to build it outside of an aosp/lineageos/grapheneos tree yet).
bad news, after waiting for days for a response from Oneplus, I decided to phone them. They state that after speaking to the remote support team, they cannot even help us. As they apparently don't have the images for the T-Mobile firmware either/ firmware for the Mclaren edition. This is a big bummer as until they (if they for that matter) release the firmware on support site we have no way of really recovering a bricked device and any firmware flashing is gonna be very dangerous to attempt. So yeah.. really regretting buying a T-Mobile variant Oneplus phone atm.
tserv95 said:
bad news, after waiting for days for a response from Oneplus, I decided to phone them. They state that after speaking to the remote support team, they cannot even help us. As they apparently don't have the images for the T-Mobile firmware either/ firmware for the Mclaren edition. This is a big bummer as until they (if they for that matter) release the firmware on support site we have no way of really recovering a bricked device and any firmware flashing is gonna be very dangerous to attempt. So yeah.. really regretting buying a T-Mobile variant Oneplus phone atm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, does T-Mobile flash the final firmware after OnePlus ships it to the US or something? If the firmware isn't finally flashed until it gets to the US, then that might make sense; but, if not, someone there could either be mistaken or less than truthful.
---------- Post added at 11:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 AM ----------
Maybe this will be a good avenue for us? https://twitter.com/tmobilehelp
tserv95 said:
bad news, after waiting for days for a response from Oneplus, I decided to phone them. They state that after speaking to the remote support team, they cannot even help us. As they apparently don't have the images for the T-Mobile firmware either/ firmware for the Mclaren edition. This is a big bummer as until they (if they for that matter) release the firmware on support site we have no way of really recovering a bricked device and any firmware flashing is gonna be very dangerous to attempt. So yeah.. really regretting buying a T-Mobile variant Oneplus phone atm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you currently have one in an unflashed (to anything other than stock), unlocked state? If so I can probably guide you through how we can get a sort of
flashable stock image (flashed over fastboot). Hit me up if you are in that situation (sim unlocked, bootloader unlocked, and otherwise stock firmware).
---------- Post added at 11:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 AM ----------
jhofseth said:
So, does T-Mobile flash the final firmware after OnePlus ships it to the US or something? If the firmware isn't finally flashed until it gets to the US, then that might make sense; but, if not, someone there could either be mistaken or less than truthful.
---------- Post added at 11:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 AM ----------
Maybe this will be a good avenue for us? https://twitter.com/tmobilehelp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite possible. I don't recall offhand but I believe mine came to me with version 10.0.14, and after 'recovering' from
flashing an experimental lineageos build on mine I ended up on version 10.0.13, which may be sort of the last common
ancestor for all the variants, and its now unable to OTA (it wants to go to 10.0.16, but as an incremental update it
can only jump versions 'in the correct order').
ntzrmtthihu777 said:
Barring actually getting the MSM I may have a method of recovery using fastboot and friends. However, I need the help of
a hotdogg owner with stock firmware & unlocked bootloader. The method is non-destructive (aside from the unlocking nuking
your data); just requires you to use fastboot to boot a twrp image and use adb to pull a partition (its 15gb, so to make it faster
you may want to use a real usb-c 3.0 cable; I don't think the orange one that comes with it is) and unpack it with a tool
called 'lpunpack' (unfortunately I don't know how to build it outside of an aosp/lineageos/grapheneos tree yet).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Getting my device tomorrow, but will obviously have to get it sim unlocked first, then wait the week for the OnePlus token to unlock the bootloader. But once I am at that point, I would happily do this if it could possibly lead to an alternate fastboot recovery method if no one is able to get the MSM tool. Obviously if anyone else can do this before I am able to, please do
ntzrmtthihu777 said:
Do you currently have one in an unflashed (to anything other than stock), unlocked state? If so I can probably guide you through how we can get a sort of
flashable stock image (flashed over fastboot). Hit me up if you are in that situation (sim unlocked, bootloader unlocked, and otherwise stock firmware).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering what particular device was mounted root, so I did: cat /proc/mounts
Apparently, / is /dev/block/dm-8
This is why TWRP is taking so long for Android 10: https://twrp.me/site/update/2019/10/23/twrp-and-android-10.html
"Android 10 also introduces a new dynamic partitioning system. Instead of having a dedicated system partition and a dedicated vendor partition, etc. Android 10 uses a super partition. I like to think of the super partition as a partition that contains a bunch of smaller partitions. One of the side effects of this dynamic partition system is that Google has chosen to use a form of the ext4 file system that is for all intents and purposes, read-only. This choice means that even if you wanted to, you can't easily mount and modify the system partition. We haven't really discussed this with other developers yet, but it may impact your ability to do things like install Gapps. In addition, the dynamic partition model means that eventually, we should probably provide you, the user, some GUI driven tools in TWRP to allow you to manage the dynamic partitions that are on the super partition." @Dees_Troy
jhofseth said:
I was wondering what particular device was mounted root, so I did: cat /proc/mounts
Apparently, / is /dev/block/dm-8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but / is not terribly important compared to /system, /vendor, and /product (it is important tho)
jhofseth said:
This is why TWRP is taking so long for Android 10: https://twrp.me/site/update/2019/10/23/twrp-and-android-10.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but twrp is not incredibly essential to the backup/restore process I've theorized about (still not sure about how it would work
in practice), just needed to get something to boot with root available without actually changing the stock firmware (by installing
magisk and such) in order to be able to pull the stock data.
---------- Post added at 12:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 PM ----------
jhofseth said:
"Android 10 also introduces a new dynamic partitioning system. Instead of having a dedicated system partition and a dedicated vendor partition, etc. Android 10 uses a super partition. I like to think of the super partition as a partition that contains a bunch of smaller partitions. One of the side effects of this dynamic partition system is that Google has chosen to use a form of the ext4 file system that is for all intents and purposes, read-only. This choice means that even if you wanted to, you can't easily mount and modify the system partition. We haven't really discussed this with other developers yet, but it may impact your ability to do things like install Gapps. In addition, the dynamic partition model means that eventually, we should probably provide you, the user, some GUI driven tools in TWRP to allow you to manage the dynamic partitions that are on the super partition." @Dees_Troy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. This super partition is what I'm interested in. Once you copy it from the device (using adb pull /dev/block/.../super super.img)
you can extract it into its subpartitions using lpunpack. I believe one would be able to flash its subpartitions using fastboot in order
to recover from either a bad flash or a bad restore (like I and another user have, which left us on 10.0.13).
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/super
I made an image of super and file info reads 14.0 GiB (15,032,385,536).
That super.img compresses down to about 4.6 GiB in a regular zip file.
https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/dynamic_partitions/implement
jhofseth said:
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/super
I made an image of super and file info reads 14.0 GiB (15,032,385,536).
That super.img compresses down to about 4.6 GiB in a regular zip file.
https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/dynamic_partitions/implement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, nice. Yeah. that's to be expected. I think with that file I and dandroid would be able to restore our phones, assuming
that's stock firmware. Potentially others. Do you have a reliable means to share the file, if you're willing to? Per the link you
posted it contains no userdata so it should be safe to share.
I'm on a TMobile converted to stock rom. Can someone with a factory unlocked de8117 extract their rom so we can update to the latest version
summersofar said:
I have asked for the unlocked images as well (to help contribute). I know there are a few here that have them, but they have stayed silent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps the reason they are silent is that they have not got the 11.0.3 update yet?
For the the 11.0.2 unlocked images, you can get them from Oneplus officially here - https://oxygenos.oneplus.net/OnePlusN200Oxygen_10.O.07_OTA_007_all_2107241606_52437f0423c74bef.zip
if you use android studio profiler. while your phones plugged in and hit install even if you cant do it. you are able to watch the network logs to find the url hosting a certain download.
summersofar said:
That is OTA. It is not the entire set of partitions. I have made this fact very clear in my other posts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which partitions do you need, which you believe are not in this 2.6GB ROM from Oneplus?
summersofar said:
Plenty of system partitions are not bundled, it is NOT a super. There would be no way one could restore a completely wiped phone with the OTA alone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it. Sorry if it sounded like I am questioning you - far from it. I am trying to understand how a 2.6GB ROM which you have used for converting from Tmobile version to Oneplus version, did not have all the partitions one could possibly need for factory restore. My understanding now is that the conversion process is not a complete conversion. There are some partitions which are still not available for the full conversion. I am guessing the release of the MSMDownload Tool for the Oneplus version, should hopefully address that gap?
summersofar said:
Yep, you've got it all straight now. Either a full dd from an unlocked phone or the MSM (should it ever get released) would get us there.
And hopefully 'there' means long-term functional OTA updates and SIM unlocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the dd from an unlocked phone is such an important step to getting 'there' (in the absence of any progress on MSMDownload Tool release by OP for the unlocked version), my suggestion is that perhaps you might have better success in somebody contributing it, if you were to make a separate, standalone post on it - explicitly making it clear that the post is for folks who have the unlocked version, and then giving detailed instructions in that post on how to get a dd copy of the partitions. You might even want to consider making it a sticky, so that everybody will read it when they enter XDA for the N200.
I think folks are just not very clear (like I was until I got it clarified from you today) on the importance of getting the dd copy of the partitions from their unlocked phone, and contribute it here. My 2 cents.
New here. Didn't see a forum for the Moto G Pure XT2163. Mods - I am sorry. Please move wherever's best.
Discovered that the version Verizon is selling (notably the slickdeals thread on the one from Visible) is different. It's -2 vs. -4.
Looks like VZW disabled most of the bands that T-Mobile/Sprint use - 25, 41, 71, for example.
Looking to see if it's possible to enable those bands. One report on SD thread says they bricked their device trying RETUS version but IDK if the bootloader needs to be unlocked first, or if it would even help. Probably more work to unlock these bands if it's even possible.
Downloads look available here https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/moto/ellis/official/
Haven't messed with flashing a phone in years. May be able to try later but hoping anyone else here can look into this.
I'm going to guess as is the case with most other Android devices branded by Verizon that the bootloader will be restricted from being unlocked. There is really no way around this as it's an OEM based policy. If you want to play with custom ROMs or root based modding, I would highly recommend ditching the Verizon or any other carrier branded variant with the exception of T-Mobile/Metro and Google Fi (there are others) that actually allow OEM unlock. Not only that, but if you're looking for certain connectivity bands, you don't want to settle for a carrier device variant designed to use a particular set of bands which don't include the ones you need. No sense getting a Verizon variant to run on T-Mobile/Sprint bands when you can, you know, get the T-Mobile variant in the first place. Get the global unlocked variant model if you can and start from there. Far easier than the headaches you'll get trying to transform VZW to TMUS.
Cross-flashing is not going to unlock bands, you need to change modem configuration. Throw your SoC(Mediatek) followed by "unlock bands" into Google and see if you have any luck.
I also didn't see a forum for the Moto G Pure and was wondering if anyone knows of a custom bootloader like TWRP or CWM for it? I think I have enough understanding of how to sideload the app, I just need something to send the phone. I tried using a random TWRP mod on it but it fails, invalid signature. I haven't tried doing the phone rooting thing in years now, but I have this Moto G Pure phone without any service on it that I'm willing to experiment on. It can be used as a test bed or data extraction device to put code from it on the internet if someone needs it to help custom rom makers for example by testing stuff on it. Perhaps that's why no one has a custom recovery for it yet.
I don't know exactly how to extract the phones current ROM data so all I've done so far is unlock the bootloader. The phone's carrier based on the unactivated sim card shows it's a T-Mobile branded device, but the T-Mobile and other carrier software is inactive other than the few Moto apps. An article on XDA say's the phone's suck, but that's just not true at least not to me. It's a fine phone like it is, but if I can format it's SSD and only install what I want it to have on it that would be great. It's just a spare sim locked phone that I can't use my active sim card in. So with that it's now a project phone. I would like to mainly just unbloat it and free up all that used space occupied by the recovery partition. I don't necessarily need a whole new ROM, just want to root it. That's the only way to erase those factory files that I know of.
For me unlocking the bootloader wasn't to hard to do. You have to make sure the drivers from Motorola are installed and have a current version of ADB available on a computer. I still had a version of ADB tools that was almost a decade old now so I had to update that for the fastboot oem_unlock_unlockcode (automated code from Motorola support) command to work. To find out if it can be unlocked or not go here:
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone%2Fbootloader%2Funlock-your-device-b
At the Moto site they will guide you on how to generate the code they want you to send them. You have to sign in to their site to use that function though. After I finally figured out what to type in the CMD window it generated that code and I edited it down to one long line of numbers and give it to the page. In seconds I had an email with the unlock code inside.
Unlocking it seems to help with uninstalling some of the built in stuff, before I could only disable most of the apps that come with it. The apps are still probably on there I just have to factory reset it and they'll come back. Now however the removed apps don't show as using any internal storage, all the apps info numbers go to 0 bytes, but still even doing that it's still over 10GB of unmovable data. When it should really be more like 2-3 GB for the entire system. I hate how Google just inserts itself in your life even when you don't want it at all.
I anyone passing by reading this post needs more details please let me know and I'll try to get the information or even data files from the phone. Would a copy of it's stock firmware be of any help? If so let me know how I would go about saving a copy of it. I'll keep looking for answers but it seems this phone is not high on the priority list or is new or something. So there is only scam guides trying to tell you "How to unlock your phone" or "Install TWRP on Motorola devices" and other clearly click bait sites. I can't even find the stock rom for it on Motorola's site, just outdated versions from 2016, with different build numbers, that can't be right.
All I know is unlocking the bootloader was the first step on all the guides and I've done that. Got a warranty voided notice and everything. There currently isn't a custom recovery mod for this model as far I can tell. If I can ever find that then I can try Linage or just debloat Android 11 which is probably the safer and easier option provided I can find that Custom Covery'.
When it boots up now, it has to tell me it's unlocked and all the dangers it poses. Dangerous if you cared about what was on it I suppose. There is nothing on it I can't just copy back over to it, other than the stock operating system.
Oh yeah, it's model number and other side of the box information is:
Model Name: Moto G PURE
SKU: MO-XT21634-AJB (MOXT21634AJB)
Software Version RRH31.Q3-46-20
Production date was 12/15/2021
I'm not sure what other information to include.
BrittonCBurton said:
I also didn't see a forum for the Moto G Pure and was wondering if anyone knows of a custom bootloader like TWRP or CWM for it? I think I have enough understanding of how to sideload the app, I just need something to send the phone. I tried using a random TWRP mod on it but it fails, invalid signature. I haven't tried doing the phone rooting thing in years now, but I have this Moto G Pure phone without any service on it that I'm willing to experiment on. It can be used as a test bed or data extraction device to put code from it on the internet if someone needs it to help custom rom makers for example by testing stuff on it. Perhaps that's why no one has a custom recovery for it yet.
I don't know exactly how to extract the phones current ROM data so all I've done so far is unlock the bootloader. The phone's carrier based on the unactivated sim card shows it's a T-Mobile branded device, but the T-Mobile and other carrier software is inactive other than the few Moto apps. An article on XDA say's the phone's suck, but that's just not true at least not to me. It's a fine phone like it is, but if I can format it's SSD and only install what I want it to have on it that would be great. It's just a spare sim locked phone that I can't use my active sim card in. So with that it's now a project phone. I would like to mainly just unbloat it and free up all that used space occupied by the recovery partition. I don't necessarily need a whole new ROM, just want to root it. That's the only way to erase those factory files that I know of.
For me unlocking the bootloader wasn't to hard to do. You have to make sure the drivers from Motorola are installed and have a current version of ADB available on a computer. I still had a version of ADB tools that was almost a decade old now so I had to update that for the fastboot oem_unlock_unlockcode (automated code from Motorola support) command to work. To find out if it can be unlocked or not go here:
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone%2Fbootloader%2Funlock-your-device-b
At the Moto site they will guide you on how to generate the code they want you to send them. You have to sign in to their site to use that function though. After I finally figured out what to type in the CMD window it generated that code and I edited it down to one long line of numbers and give it to the page. In seconds I had an email with the unlock code inside.
Unlocking it seems to help with uninstalling some of the built in stuff, before I could only disable most of the apps that come with it. The apps are still probably on there I just have to factory reset it and they'll come back. Now however the removed apps don't show as using any internal storage, all the apps info numbers go to 0 bytes, but still even doing that it's still over 10GB of unmovable data. When it should really be more like 2-3 GB for the entire system. I hate how Google just inserts itself in your life even when you don't want it at all.
I anyone passing by reading this post needs more details please let me know and I'll try to get the information or even data files from the phone. Would a copy of it's stock firmware be of any help? If so let me know how I would go about saving a copy of it. I'll keep looking for answers but it seems this phone is not high on the priority list or is new or something. So there is only scam guides trying to tell you "How to unlock your phone" or "Install TWRP on Motorola devices" and other clearly click bait sites. I can't even find the stock rom for it on Motorola's site, just outdated versions from 2016, with different build numbers, that can't be right.
All I know is unlocking the bootloader was the first step on all the guides and I've done that. Got a warranty voided notice and everything. There currently isn't a custom recovery mod for this model as far I can tell. If I can ever find that then I can try Linage or just debloat Android 11 which is probably the safer and easier option provided I can find that Custom Covery'.
When it boots up now, it has to tell me it's unlocked and all the dangers it poses. Dangerous if you cared about what was on it I suppose. There is nothing on it I can't just copy back over to it, other than the stock operating system.
Oh yeah, it's model number and other side of the box information is:
Model Name: Moto G PURE
SKU: MO-XT21634-AJB (MOXT21634AJB)
Software Version RRH31.Q3-46-20
Production date was 12/15/2021
I'm not sure what other information to include.
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Click to collapse
hey i just came up on one of these today, nice phone considering... Any luck with trying to find a custom recovery? I have been looking as well but development seems pretty sparse right now. I am in the same boat as you, unlocked bootloader, locked everything else lol. I cant even find a way to root it without TWRP! I am curious if one of the other moto G series phones would have the same TWRP? Also check this out. It sounds legit but IDK...https://www.getdroidtips.com/root-motorola-g-pure-xt2163/
Agent_Orange1488 said:
hey i just came up on one of these today, nice phone considering... Any luck with trying to find a custom recovery? I have been looking as well but development seems pretty sparse right now. I am in the same boat as you, unlocked bootloader, locked everything else lol. I cant even find a way to root it without TWRP! I am curious if one of the other moto G series phones would have the same TWRP? Also check this out. It sounds legit but IDK...https://www.getdroidtips.com/root-motorola-g-pure-xt2163/
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Click to collapse
Well I was able to use Magisk to "root" it with the patched boot file trick, but still that's not the same thing as I did before with a Samsung phone and the CWM recovery deal. That gave the user all the control they wanted. Even though the phone claims I have root access, I'm not sure what to do with Magisk's root trick. I still don't see a way to backup or install a different operating system or just a blank Android 11 OS. My knowledge there is limited and there isn't a custom recovery for this model as far as I can tell.
So I still can't wipe the drive or remove the OEM partition that contains the installers for the bundled stuff. I'd still need some form of interface that has more features than the stock Fastboot and Bootloader modes offer I guess, or I just don't know how to use the software tools correctly. It's still locked even with root as far as I can tell but if there is something more I'm missing or an additional app to install for example, like SU. Is that still a thing? If I'm on the right track let me know.
BrittonCBurton said:
Well I was able to use Magisk to "root" it with the patched boot file trick, but still that's not the same thing as I did before with a Samsung phone and the CWM recovery deal. That gave the user all the control they wanted. Even though the phone claims I have root access, I'm not sure what to do with Magisk's root trick. I still don't see a way to backup or install a different operating system or just a blank Android 11 OS. My knowledge there is limited and there isn't a custom recovery for this model as far as I can tell.
So I still can't wipe the drive or remove the OEM partition that contains the installers for the bundled stuff. I'd still need some form of interface that has more features than the stock Fastboot and Bootloader modes offer I guess, or I just don't know how to use the software tools correctly. It's still locked even with root as far as I can tell but if there is something more I'm missing or an additional app to install for example, like SU. Is that still a thing? If I'm on the right track let me know.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply!!! I am speaking from a place of semi-ignorance here but I would thing that you could install SuperSU from inside the system, right? As long as the root binary is there...idk though and from what I hear, chainfire is not responsible for SuperSU anymore so it has become somewhat sketchy. I saw a post (about this phone, I think) that mentioned having to install terminal emulator and running root command from there to achieve legit root after flashing the patched boot.img. I will see if I can find the post again and update you. Is there anyway you could post the boot.img? Or give me a link for it?
Agent_Orange1488 said:
Thanks for the reply!!! I am speaking from a place of semi-ignorance here but I would thing that you could install SuperSU from inside the system, right? As long as the root binary is there...idk though and from what I hear, chainfire is not responsible for SuperSU anymore so it has become somewhat sketchy. I saw a post (about this phone, I think) that mentioned having to install terminal emulator and running root command from there to achieve legit root after flashing the patched boot.img. I will see if I can find the post again and update you. Is there anyway you could post the boot.img? Or give me a link for it?
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Click to collapse
Well I can try and learn how to extract the phones information to my computer. I don't know how to do that exactly. The way I was able to get a hold of the phones stock firmware data was by using Lenovo's Smart Rescue and Recovery software.
You have to enable usb debugging mode, attach the phone to the computer with the software running and make sure that you didn't disable/delete Device Help. That app is what makes the Lenovo software work, otherwise the Recovery software fails to see the phone. If it sees the phone correctly then you can see the preselected target firmware it wants you to download under the Rescue tab along the top.
So I did that and grabbed the files it created without actually applying them to the device. The whole thing is a little over 2GB and difficult to host but I put the stock boot.img file here for anyone who needs it. If anyone wants all the files I can try to upload the whole thing one file at at time. That's the way it was sent to me, an uncompressed folder. If I zip it all up and try to upload it most sites will say file size exceeded. Anyway here's the link...
boot
MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.
www.mediafire.com
Thanks I was able to patch it with Magisk and achieve root. It looks like Magisk is an SU manager anyway. I have never used it before so this is a first for me. The root and bootloader unlock seem a little pointless without any recovery or ROM though....I guess it's time to learn how to compile one lol
I just picked up the Moto G Pure (XT2163-4) Android 11 aka Red Velvet Cake *sounds yummy lol*....I've been searching around and not seen any info about any rooting method for this device....besides the "Root All Motorola Phones" crap...and I don't feel like risking making a paper weight with it. Even on here it doesn't show up in the...add device list....was going to add to my profile...but can't.
Agent_Orange1488 said:
Thanks I was able to patch it with Magisk and achieve root. It looks like Magisk is an SU manager anyway. I have never used it before so this is a first for me. The root and bootloader unlock seem a little pointless without any recovery or ROM though....I guess it's time to learn how to compile one lol
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Click to collapse
Yeah now we're on the same page then. I thought the same thing, not much use to have an unlocked boot loader and root access without software to make use of it. I gave the phone to my nieces to play with for now, but it's with in arms reach if I need it for instructions yet to be defined. I should receive updates to this post if anyone else responds.
Gamekeeper408 said:
I just picked up the Moto G Pure (XT2163-4) Android 11 aka Red Velvet Cake *sounds yummy lol*....I've been searching around and not seen any info about any rooting method for this device....besides the "Root All Motorola Phones" crap...and I don't feel like risking making a paper weight with it. Even on here it doesn't show up in the...add device list....was going to add to my profile...but can't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah appears it was produced in late 2021 or sold at that time so it's new and no one has made any custom firmware's or recoveries for it as far as I know. I don't know how to do that, requires computer programming skills. I don't have any of those.
Gamekeeper408 said:
I just picked up the Moto G Pure (XT2163-4) Android 11 aka Red Velvet Cake *sounds yummy lol*....I've been searching around and not seen any info about any rooting method for this device....besides the "Root All Motorola Phones" crap...and I don't feel like risking making a paper weight with it. Even on here it doesn't show up in the...add device list....was going to add to my profile...but can't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel your pain! Had mine a few days and of course came to XDA immediately to find the DL on this joint but no luck... Ya I definitely don't recommend one click root method for this. If you want, I can post/link the patched boot.img i made with magisk. Mine boots with it and have confirmed root.
BrittonCBurton said:
Yeah now we're on the same page then. I thought the same thing, not much use to have an unlocked boot loader and root access without software to make use of it. I gave the phone to my nieces to play with for now, but it's with in arms reach if I need it for instructions yet to be defined. I should receive updates to this post if anyone else responds.
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Click to collapse
Excellent, it's nice to be caught up with everyone else haha!! I am going to do some digging and posting and whatnot to try to find some info on porting a recovery for this model. I feel like it can't be too different from at least one or two of the other G series phones. I will see updates as well so please post if you come up with anything!!
BTW does anyone know the process of creating a device page for this joint?! I think this phone is definitely worth some development...
Agent_Orange1488 said:
Excellent, it's nice to be caught up with everyone else haha!! I am going to do some digging and posting and whatnot to try to find some info on porting a recovery for this model. I feel like it can't be too different from at least one or two of the other G series phones. I will see updates as well so please post if you come up with anything!!
BTW does anyone know the process of creating a device page for this joint?! I think this phone is definitely worth some development...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck finding anything that will load onto the phone. Seems like it would be possible to install LineageOS on it if nothing else. You'd think by now installing a phone's operating system would be similar to how operating systems are installed on other computers. All I get is invalid signature, way to much security (for them) on phone OS'es. With phones and PDA's apparently you can't just find the OS you want to use and install it. Where's the generic and bloat free Andriod 11 stock OS/firmware at? No such thing? It's either "Gaggles" way or nothing apparently. (It's ok if you don't know either, maybe someone else has more information about that.)
BrittonCBurton said:
Good luck finding anything that will load onto the phone. Seems like it would be possible to install LineageOS on it if nothing else. You'd think by now installing a phone's operating system would be similar to how operating systems are installed on other computers. All I get is invalid signature, way to much security (for them) on phone OS'es. With phones and PDA's apparently you can't just find the OS you want to use and install it. Where's the generic and bloat free Andriod 11 stock OS/firmware at? No such thing? It's either "Gaggles" way or nothing apparently. (It's ok if you don't know either, maybe someone else has more information about that.)
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Click to collapse
Ya I'm definitely not going to try anything on the actual device, (ESPECIALLY if I am trying to put it together myself) but I am pretty sure you can test that stuff on a virtual system. Some kind of android emulator or whatever. As for a stock/debloated/de-odexed ROM, I haven't seen one but that couldn't be all that difficult to put together, right? I mean as long as the patched boot.img is included anyway. I feel like a recovery would be a higher priority though...? BTW, I have never used Lineage before, how is it?
Agent_Orange1488 said:
I feel your pain! Had mine a few days and of course came to XDA immediately to find the DL on this joint but no luck... Ya I definitely don't recommend one click root method for this. If you want, I can post/link the patched boot.img i made with magisk. Mine boots with it and have confirmed root.
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That would be great if you could share that patched boot.img......it is for the XT2163-4 MOTO G PURE correct?
Gamekeeper408 said:
That would be great if you could share that patched boot.img......it is for the XT2163-4 MOTO G PURE correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agent_Orange1488 said:
I feel your pain! Had mine a few days and of course came to XDA immediately to find the DL on this joint but no luck... Ya I definitely don't recommend one click root method for this. If you want, I can post/link the patched boot.img i made with magisk. Mine boots with it and have confirmed root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would also like the patched boot.img if it is for the XT2163-4. Thanks
Hey boys I actually got rid of the moto g pure...for now at least lol! GREAT phone and I would be willing to get it back once there is some dev work done on it...will definitely be watching the threads on it. Good luck boys!!!
Hi
I read the above posts, and it seems like even if I am able to root it using Magisk, I won't be able to flash it with custom rom?
Thank you Agent_Orange1488 for the posts.