How to extract recovery.img from A/B partition device? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello all, I am trying to make a custom recovery for my new phone, the Moto G30. However this is my first phone that is A/B partitioned so I don't know what to do fully. I am trying to extract the recovery.img because that is whats needed in order to make a custom recovery. However, when I look into the device firmware the only image files I see are: boot, bootloader, dbto, radio, vbmeta, vbmeta_system and vendor_boot. The system files are all seperated into "sparsechunks".
On a non-A/B device getting the recovery was as easy as downloading the stock firmware, extracting, and then recovery.img was right there. Now it seems to be different and I don't know what to do, I couldn't find anything on google about how to do this. I am sure it is easy enough though. Thank you in advance.

Drysauce said:
I am sure it is easy enough though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. Everything can be easy - after you've done it at least once.
Try searching the boot... it probably lies there somewhere....

CXZa said:
Sure. Everything can be easy - after you've done it at least once.
Try searching the boot... it probably lies there somewhere....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK thank you

@Drysauce
Don't get confused: An Android device with A/B partition layout simply means it has has 2 slots, named A and B. Slot A holds the active Android OS whereas slot B is reserved to receive / hold Android OS updates ( read: OTAs ).

And the empty slot can be converted to a new mountpoint to hold say... root

so what to do in this case

Related

[RECOVERY][MT2-L01-L02-L05-C00][Unofficial TWRP Recovery 3.0.0-0]

Hi, guys!
Here's updated version of TWRP
Features:
Supports USB OTG, so you can use USB flash drive as external storage for backups, zip installations.
Added feature to make backup of internal storage.
Combined with stock EMUI 3.1 recovery. In case of power-on by holding power + vol+ or rebooting into recovery by command or any 3rd part application: will boot in TWRP. In case of local update, OTA-update, "force update" (3buttons method) or factory reset from menu: will boot into EMUI recovery.
Off-mode charger updated from EMUI 3.1 (for 4.4.2)
custom.bin and cust symlinks are saved/restored (if they were exist) in case of Wipe/Format Data. So there is not gonna be "cust" issues after factory reset in TWRP.
Excluded SuperSu from build.
Included support of crypted data.
Screen lock replaced with screen off at power button.
Requirements:
Unlocked bootloader
Android 4.4.2 - 5.1.1
Known bugs:
Because internal storage is not a separate block device and just a subfolder of "userdata" partition, before you can make backup/restore of internal storage, first you should do Mount -> Data. Otherwise you will get error, saying that TWRP can't mount "storage". So don't bother if you'll see this error.
Installation:
Reboot in fastboot mode
Flash image via fastboot
Code:
fastboot flash recovery TWRP_MT2-3.0.0-0.img
fastboot reboot
From TWRP: Press "Install" and select zip-archive
Download: TWRP_MT2-3.0.0-0.img
For TWRP: TWRP_MT2-3.0.0-0.zip
Older version: TWRP_MT2-2.8.1.0.img
Kostyan_nsk said:
Hi, guys!
I've built TWRP for MT2-C00 by request, so I would like to share it with you.
It works also on L05 because it's on the same SoC.
Download: TWRP_MT2-2.8.1.0.img
Requirements:
Unlocked bootloader
Android 4.4.2
Installation:
Reboot in fastboot mode
Flash image via fastboot
Code:
fastboot flash recovery TWRP_MT2-2.8.1.0.img
fastboot reboot
Known issues: I don't know because I'don't have a device and didn't test it by myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much !
I have flashed this onto my MT2-L05 using flashify from the Playstore ( because i'm lazy, lol ) and can confirm that it appears to work perfectly on 4.4.2 b606 EMUI 3.0 rom.
I had no problem booting into TWRP or making a backup. I will attempt to restore my data later to make sure it's working 100% as it should. Excellent work and thanks again !
How did you root your phone ?? I have same model on EMUI 3.0
That is good that the two devices are on the same SoC however I have a relatively important question to ask. Do both the L05 and C00 models contain the same partition layouts? For example, lets say, hypothetically speaking, that the boot partition for device one was mmcblk0p20, then would device two be equal to that and following through with the other partitions as well? Most newer model phones these days will use the "by name" scheme which is in lamen terms just a mere variable that directs to the actual value stored to that variable in which always points to the correct location as it should. So my next question would be, does the device tree include these "by names" variables?
Merely asking this so as to clear the air with less in experience users as to prevent any future complications as well as a better understanding.
Modding.MyMind said:
So my next question would be, does the device tree include these "by names" variables?
Merely asking this so as to clear the air with less in experience users as to prevent any future complications as well as a better understanding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, partitions are mounted via "by-name".
Kostyan_nsk said:
Yes, partitions are mounted via "by-name".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Outstanding! One more question. Are the partition sizes for both devices identical? If not, then it would not be safe to use this TWRP build for both devices but presumably only for the C00 model given that it was initially built based on it's structure. Appreciate your timely response
Modding.MyMind said:
Outstanding! One more question. Are the partition sizes for both devices identical? If not, then it would not be safe to use this TWRP build for both devices but presumably only for the C00 model given that it was initially built based on it's structure. Appreciate your timely response
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm that the this recovery works perfectly on MT2-L05.
I have used it to back up and restore system, boot and data partitions and it's worked flawlessly every time.
modding.mymind said:
outstanding! One more question. Are the partition sizes for both devices identical? If not, then it would not be safe to use this twrp build for both devices but presumably only for the c00 model given that it was initially built based on it's structure. Appreciate your timely response
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only place where size of partitions is defined is BoardConfig.mk, owners of L05 can compare them with their own.
BOARD_BOOTIMAGE_PARTITION_SIZE := 16777216
BOARD_RECOVERYIMAGE_PARTITION_SIZE := 16777216
BOARD_SYSTEMIMAGE_PARTITION_SIZE := 1610612736
BOARD_USERDATAIMAGE_PARTITION_SIZE := 12790530048
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I didn't notice that these variables somehow related to TWRP. For example, there is not defined size of 'cust' partition, but TWRP makes backup of it or some other partition placed in twrp.fstab successfully.
TWRP has its own methods of determinig size of partitions, so do you have any proves that it could be unsafe to use for L05 if partition's sizes are not identical?
I'm just curios what your suggestions are based on?
4L0M said:
I can confirm that the this recovery works perfectly on MT2-L05.
I have used it to back up and restore system, boot and data partitions and it's worked flawlessly every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure it does and I appreciate the reply back. Glad to here it actually. I merely asked because in any given device tree used to build from source, twrp in this case, you must determine the used partitions and their sizes and allocate that information towards the boardconfig.mk file. I own a K2_CL as well and there are also three other models to that variant. All of which are on the same SoC, but not only are their partition layouts different but so are their partition sizes. Having said that, it could cause problems should the improper TWRP be used in this case. For example, if you were to use TWRP to say, wipe your data partition and reformat it, but the sizes for the data partition were different from each other then you would literally be resizing your partition where it be smaller or larger than before. Even more so, say it were to enlarge it, then by doing so, it could presumably crash the phone since any given device is given but only so much space unless it were to be intentionally manipulated which is far outside of this discussion.
Modding.MyMind said:
I'm sure it does and I appreciate the reply back. Glad to here it actually. I merely asked because in any given device tree used to build from source, twrp in this case, you must determine the used partitions and their sizes and allocate that information towards the boardconfig.mk file. I own a K2_CL as well and there are also three other models to that variant. All of which are on the same SoC, but not only are their partition layouts different but so are their partition sizes. Having said that, it could cause problems should the improper TWRP be used in this case. For example, if you were to use TWRP to say, wipe your data partition and reformat it, but the sizes for the data partition were different from each other then you would literally be resizing your partition where it be smaller or larger than before. Even more so, say it were to enlarge it, then by doing so, it could presumably crash the phone since any given device is given but only so much space unless it were to be intentionally manipulated which is far outside of this discussion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at TWPartition::Wipe_EXT4() function
Kostyan_nsk said:
Take a look at TWPartition::Wipe_EXT4() function
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just got off of work. Decided to take a look at partitions.cpp and I am seeingng what you are pointing out. Will take a closer look at.
Meanwhile, decided to to look elsewhere and realized in some ways I should correct myself. Ultimately depends if the devices kernel supports "by-names" or not, which the K2 variants unfortunately do not. Though can easily be added.
In addition, the sizes in BoardConfig.mk are used by the compiler to ensure that the boot.img, recovery.img, etc that it produces are not too large for the partition on your device.
Been a fun learning and refreshing discussion . Enjoyed it lol.
didn't work on my phone
well, i tried this recovery on my device. Its MTL2-L05 and it didn't work. Tried to reboot into recovery but the phone just restarted after an attempt to boot into recovery.
mawais15 said:
well, i tried this recovery on my device. Its MTL2-L05 and it didn't work. Tried to reboot into recovery but the phone just restarted after an attempt to boot into recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason being, you haven't unlocked your bootloader I reckon. The recovery works perfectly on MT2-L05, on firmware b606 4.4.2
4L0M said:
The reason being, you haven't unlocked your bootloader I reckon. The recovery works perfectly on MT2-L05, on firmware b608 4.4.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Android version is also 4.2.2. So this makes sense why it's not working. Is there a way to upgrade my o's to 4.4.2?
mawais15 said:
My Android version is also 4.2.2. So this makes sense why it's not working. Is there a way to upgrade my o's to 4.4.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the exact wording on your phone in Settings-About Phone-Build Number?
mawais15 said:
My Android version is also 4.2.2. So this makes sense why it's not working. Is there a way to upgrade my o's to 4.4.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read requirments carefully in the first post.
Won't work on 4.2.2
4L0M said:
What is the exact wording on your phone in Settings-About Phone-Build Number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Screenshot attached plz
Kostyan_nsk said:
Read requirments carefully in the first post.
Won't work on 4.2.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is there any way i can upgrade it to 4.2.2 or any other method to root my version??
mawais15 said:
is there any way i can upgrade it to 4.2.2 or any other method to root my version??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean downgrade TWRP? As to allow it to work while on 4.2.2? Assuming the partition layout isn't different from the android OS's on your device then you can literally just unpack your stock recovery image "take note of the configurations used to rebuild it" then unpack this TWRP build and swap out the kernel binary from the TWRP build with the one from your stock recovery image. Then using the build configurations you should have taken note of, simply rebuild the custom recovery image and flash it to your recovery partition. This will resolve your issues as an unethical but temporary solution.
Modding.MyMind said:
You mean downgrade TWRP? As to allow it to work while on 4.2.2? Assuming the partition layout isn't different from the android OS's on your device then you can literally just unpack your stock recovery image "take note of the configurations used to rebuild it" then unpack this TWRP build and swap out the kernel binary from the TWRP build with the one from your stock recovery image. Then using the build configurations you should have taken note of, simply rebuild the custom recovery image and flash it to your recovery partition. This will resolve your issues as an unethical but temporary solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish i were that good at development stuff to understand your post but sure thanks for trying to help
The problem is i don't know where to get my stock recovery image first. which is the first step in your suggestions..

[Q] 7840 - Recover Bricked Device

Did my best to avoid having to ask for help, but looks like I've run out of ideas. I've got a 7840 that currently refuses to boot past the recovery screen, thanks (probably) to my own incompetence. Here's what happened along the way to this point:
First, probably important to note: my tablet is a Chinese-released 7840 running 5.0.2 Lollipop. The hardware is identical from what I can tell, but the software was definitely a bit tweaked as there were no Google services installed. (And sideloading any of the Google services always failed no matter how I went about it.) This is basically why I decided to start messing around with things.
Attempted to load the developer firmware. Wound up in the dreaded "Intel Inside" bootloop, but thanks to @xBIGREDDx and his unbrick.zip (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60663442&postcount=2) I was able to return to normal booting. No matter how many times I attempted to flash the open source firmware, I always got stuck in the bootloop and had to flash the unbrick.zip to be able to do anything. No ability to exit the bootloop in order to reach the bootloader meant this was a big impasse.
I then decided to use the tethered CWM method to root the device for the purposes of giving sideloading the Play Store another try. That worked just fine and I was able to root my 7840 without a hitch. I then created a nandroid backup (which suspiciously didn't generate an MD5 file) in case I managed to really screw things up trying to sideload the Google Services.
That's when I thought wiping and recovering the 4.4.4 Kit Kat nandroid backup might be a good idea. This of course didn't work, so I wiped and restored my own 5.0.2 backup. However, at this point things wouldn't boot no matter what I did. I would see the boot screen with the Dell logo and the Lollipop-style ANDROID text, but after a couple of minutes everything would reboot and after a couple of tries the device would boot to recovery and just sit.
After fiddling around with trying different restore methods, I decided to see if I could flash the developer firmware to no avail. (Unable to write to OSIP, security error, etc.) Then I gave @anggusss's 5.0.1 OTA update.zip a try. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60632439&postcount=21) That gave me a different error:
"Can't install this package (Fri Apr 24 13:29:34 CST 2015) over newer build (Fri Apr 24 13:58:18 CST 2015)."
Frustrating to see that a build a half hour newer might be all I need. So, if any of you happen to have captured the 5.0.2 OTA build (or can help me tweak the 5.0.1 build to report itself as newer), would you mind giving me a hand? Would be most appreciative. I've written to Dell open-source support but don't expect to hear back for another week or so. It'd be nice to not be using the Venue as a paperweight for a week.
wirebook said:
No matter how many times I attempted to flash the open source firmware, I always got stuck in the bootloop and had to flash the unbrick.zip to be able to do anything. No ability to exit the bootloop in order to reach the bootloader meant this was a big impasse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of interest, how was the tablet booted when you flashed the unbrick.zip (did you volup + power or just regular boot?) ?
Going back to the open-source firmware won't help, because they 4.x to 5.x transition included a re-partitioning, and the bootloader in the 4.x firmware doesn't understand the new partition scheme.
If you boot with the vol. down key held, do you get into fastboot mode? If you can, then you should be able to flash a system image and boot image. I have those pulled from my device; I can post them for you to try later tonight.
anggusss said:
Out of interest, how was the tablet booted when you flashed the unbrick.zip (did you volup + power or just regular boot?) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never gotten vol. up + power to do anything, is that normal? Only vol. down + power, and that'll get me into fastboot mode.
xBIGREDDx said:
Going back to the open-source firmware won't help, because they 4.x to 5.x transition included a re-partitioning, and the bootloader in the 4.x firmware doesn't understand the new partition scheme.
If you boot with the vol. down key held, do you get into fastboot mode? If you can, then you should be able to flash a system image and boot image. I have those pulled from my device; I can post them for you to try later tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, well this sounds like it's my problem, then. If you can get those images to me to try I'd be most appreciative! Should be able to give it a shot as I'm still able to get into fastboot.
wirebook said:
Ah, well this sounds like it's my problem, then. If you can get those images to me to try I'd be most appreciative! Should be able to give it a shot as I'm still able to get into fastboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system.img
This is inside a .zip file because I don't know how to get only the important bits, so I got the whole /system partition. Just unzip then 'fastboot flash system system.img'
boot.img
This is straight from the OTA zip.
You will be pre-rooted. Let me know if this goes well. :good:
xBIGREDDx said:
system.img
This is inside a .zip file because I don't know how to get only the important bits, so I got the whole /system partition. Just unzip then 'fastboot flash system system.img'
boot.img
This is straight from the OTA zip.
You will be pre-rooted. Let me know if this goes well. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for those! Flashed both boot and system, though the system gave me some sort of error on my machine ("Invalid sparse file format at header magi") and then continued to flash something ("sending sparse 'system'"). I saw the red text of some sort of error on the tablet but wasn't able to read it fast enough. The system flash did seem a bit suspiciously fast, though...
Anyway, now waiting to see if anything boots. Been sitting on the Dell/Powered By Android screen for a couple of minutes, though, so if nothing else it looks like I've at least found myself in a new place. Will try reflashing if no improvement and then get back with results!
Sorry if this is considered spamming my own thread, but didn't seem right to just edit my earlier post.
Couldn't get the system image to flash. First got the error about needing to flash as a sparse system, which seemed to be fine. But when the device tried to write the sparse chunk to the partition, it threw an error. ("remote: flash_cmds error!") Thought this might've been a bug of my particular version of adb/fastboot, but updating or trying a different version didn't work any better. In fact, things got worse as I can't even run fastboot on my machine (Windows) anymore without the program crashing on me.
Jumped over onto my Mac and things seemed to be going better, but no progress was made. Still threw that error whenever it came time to write that first sparse chunk. Might my partition table be totally out of whack? (If so, how do I go about fixing it without easy access to an adb shell?)
In other news, I realized the back of the tab has "Venue 8 784001" engraved on it, so there might be hardware / bootloader changes that I can't beat...
Well, I'm not 100% sure it's going to be able to flash the system.img correctly, I thought I could just pull it from my device and it would flash fine, but apparently not. It would be interesting to see what your partition table looks like, but I don't know of a way to get that without having a root shell.
If you have a hex editor or know how to use dd, try chopping off like 200 MB from the end of the image (I think it's all zeroes for at least that much) and see if it flashes then.
If you don't know how to do that, I could upload a modified image for you.
xBIGREDDx said:
Well, I'm not 100% sure it's going to be able to flash the system.img correctly, I thought I could just pull it from my device and it would flash fine, but apparently not. It would be interesting to see what your partition table looks like, but I don't know of a way to get that without having a root shell.
If you have a hex editor or know how to use dd, try chopping off like 200 MB from the end of the image (I think it's all zeroes for at least that much) and see if it flashes then.
If you don't know how to do that, I could upload a modified image for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wirebook said:
Sorry if this is considered spamming my own thread, but didn't seem right to just edit my earlier post.
Couldn't get the system image to flash. First got the error about needing to flash as a sparse system, which seemed to be fine. But when the device tried to write the sparse chunk to the partition, it threw an error. ("remote: flash_cmds error!") Thought this might've been a bug of my particular version of adb/fastboot, but updating or trying a different version didn't work any better. In fact, things got worse as I can't even run fastboot on my machine (Windows) anymore without the program crashing on me.
Jumped over onto my Mac and things seemed to be going better, but no progress was made. Still threw that error whenever it came time to write that first sparse chunk. Might my partition table be totally out of whack? (If so, how do I go about fixing it without easy access to an adb shell?)
In other news, I realized the back of the tab has "Venue 8 784001" engraved on it, so there might be hardware / bootloader changes that I can't beat...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you dump an image is raw.ext4 it has to be converted to sparse image format for android 5.0.2
social-design-concepts said:
When you dump an image is raw.ext4 it has to be converted to sparse image format for android 5.0.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I found the source for img2simg but it won't do me much good... you wouldn't happen to have a pre-built tool handy would you?
xBIGREDDx said:
Well I found the source for img2simg but it won't do me much good... you wouldn't happen to have a pre-built tool handy would you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the image you passed me already employed some kind of compression on it, as I was getting errors about an invalid sparse data header or something like that. (The size on the disk was also less than the reported image size.) Unfortunately I'm unable to mount or convert it on any of my machines so I'm a bit useless.
Thanks everyone for all the help you've been, by the way!
wirebook said:
I think the image you passed me already employed some kind of compression on it, as I was getting errors about an invalid sparse data header or something like that. (The size on the disk was also less than the reported image size.) Unfortunately I'm unable to mount or convert it on any of my machines so I'm a bit useless.
Thanks everyone for all the help you've been, by the way!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just a dump straight from my system partition. I don't have my tablet with me so I'm not certain on file paths but essentially I did:
dd if=/dev/block/by-name/system of=/storage/sdcard1/system.img
So it's a raw dump of the system partition, whatever happened to be in there.
I think the fastboot command tries to sparse things on its own, but fails?
If you want to try re-partitioning (could be dangerous, could be harmless), try these commands with the partition file from the OTA package:
EDIT: For anyone else coming along, don't do this, it didn't work out well for wirebrook. /EDIT
Code:
fastboot oem start_partitioning
fastboot flash /tmp/partition.tbl kk2lp_partition.tbl
fastboot oem partition /tmp/partition.tbl
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase cache
fastboot oem stop_partitioning
You may also want to erase data while you're in there.
xBIGREDDx said:
It's just a dump straight from my system partition. I don't have my tablet with me so I'm not certain on file paths but essentially I did:
dd if=/dev/block/by-name/system of=/storage/sdcard1/system.img
So it's a raw dump of the system partition, whatever happened to be in there.
I think the fastboot command tries to sparse things on its own, but fails?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That must be what's happening. I'll fiddle with things a bit more later on. It's a bummer there aren't any custom ROMs I could simply flash as an alternative to getting stock up and running...
xBIGREDDx said:
Well I found the source for img2simg but it won't do me much good... you wouldn't happen to have a pre-built tool handy would you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xBIGREDDx said:
It's just a dump straight from my system partition. I don't have my tablet with me so I'm not certain on file paths but essentially I did:
dd if=/dev/block/by-name/system of=/storage/sdcard1/system.img
So it's a raw dump of the system partition, whatever happened to be in there.
I think the fastboot command tries to sparse things on its own, but fails?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's looking for the sparse magic header that's not there I can when I get home you could also try to use 7zip to compress it to a .gz but I believe Intel stopped support for that format in 4.4.4.
I'm at work I have it at home if your on Linux and want to convert it.
social-design-concepts said:
It's looking for the sparse magic header that's not there I can when I get home you could also try to use 7zip to compress it to a .gz but I believe Intel stopped support for that format in 4.4.4.
I'm at work I have it at home if your on Linux and want to convert it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure this'll be useful for me any more because... (see below)
xBIGREDDx said:
If you want to try re-partitioning (could be dangerous, could be harmless), try these commands with the partition file from the OTA package:
Code:
fastboot oem start_partitioning
fastboot flash /tmp/partition.tbl kk2lp_partition.tbl
fastboot oem partition /tmp/partition.tbl
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase cache
fastboot oem stop_partitioning
You may also want to erase data while you're in there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gave this a shot and partitioning seemed to work just fine. Flashing the OTA boot.img worked just fine, and attempting to flash your system.img once again threw an error at me. Thought I'd perform a reboot at this point (bad idea!) to see what I was working with and then I found myself with @anggusss' USB screen. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60675581&postcount=5) Probably should've tried flashing a something else just to see if that did anything.
Guessing I've now got a brick, because I'm no longer able to get it to register with Fastboot. I can, however, flash the open-source firmware and the unbrick.zip firmware, which reacts exactly like when @anggusss did it. We'll have to see if Dell ever gets back to my original query for help, otherwise might have to look into contacting Dell for a replacement.
You might have better luck, just using one of the tethered TWRP recoveries, If someone with a working system backups up system via TWRP recovery and shares it you could use the TWRP recovery to restore it.
I have Linux version tethered TWRP up and SDC has Windows version of tethered TWRP up.
Linux version
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/linux-version-twrp-2-8-6-0-tethered-t3123075
Windows Version
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/intel-android-devices-root-temp-cwm-t2975096
vampirefo said:
You might have better luck, just using one of the tethered TWRP recoveries, If someone with a working system backups up system via TWRP recovery and shares it you could use the TWRP recovery to restore it.
I have Linux version tethered TWRP up and SDC has Windows version of tethered TWRP up.
Linux version
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/linux-version-twrp-2-8-6-0-tethered-t3123075
Windows Version
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/intel-android-devices-root-temp-cwm-t2975096
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the thought, but if I can't get into Fastboot mode (or get the computer to recognize the device as being in Fastboot mode)... kinda unable to use it.
wirebook said:
Gave this a shot and partitioning seemed to work just fine. Flashing the OTA boot.img worked just fine, and attempting to flash your system.img once again threw an error at me. Thought I'd perform a reboot at this point (bad idea!) to see what I was working with and then I found myself with @anggusss' USB screen. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60675581&postcount=5) Probably should've tried flashing a something else just to see if that did anything.
Guessing I've now got a brick, because I'm no longer able to get it to register with Fastboot. I can, however, flash the open-source firmware and the unbrick.zip firmware, which reacts exactly like when @anggusss did it. We'll have to see if Dell ever gets back to my original query for help, otherwise might have to look into contacting Dell for a replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh man, sad to hear, I've done that successfully in the past, they must have changed something in the process. I check just about every day for an update to the dev. firmware. Last time around it took them just over two months from release, so maybe, end of June?
xBIGREDDx said:
Oh man, sad to hear, I've done that successfully in the past, they must have changed something in the process. I check just about every day for an update to the dev. firmware. Last time around it took them just over two months from release, so maybe, end of June?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fingers shall stay crossed till the end of the month, then! Contacted Dell Support and- just as I predicted- they don't want to help out. Something about being unable to do anything at all for Dell products purchased outside of their support areas (US and Canada). What a joy of a phone call that was...
An internet search landed me on guides for unbricking the Asus Zenfone displaying a similar USB symbol. They used the xFSTK Downloader to flash a set of files which then gave them renewed access to the bootloader (and thus fastboot). Played around with the xFSTK-Downloader and Manufacturing Flash Tool apps and can see the 7840 and even flash the (open-source and unbrick.zip) firmware, however I'm at a loss for what I might use for the Operating System flash files. Anybody have any thoughts?
Feel like I'm so close to getting this thing unbricked. If I could just figure out where to find the .bin "OS Image" that the tool wants...
Edit: Would also need the droidboot binary. FIngers crossed for Dell to release all of this soon...

Unbrick Assistance Thread

Bricked your M5? Post here. I am one of three posters who have posted threads requesting assistance - we might as well create one thread where we can try and help each other.
My model? SHT-AL09 (C636). My story? I apparently made a bad change to my build.prop file, and had USB debugging disabled. I then probably dug myself a deeper hole trying to recover. I don't even get boot animation anymore. I'd happily pay someone to unbrick me.
The only potential progress I have made, is that I was able to install and successfully boot TWRP - although TWRP detects that I have no operating system installed and I am unable to mount any partitions except for my external SD card. Using TWRP's file manager, I can see that the system partition, for example, has not been entirely wiped, but many files seem to be missing. At the very least, TWRP allows me to turn the screen off without seeking to contantly reboot thereafter.
To install TWRP, I followed these instructions intended for Mate 9 owners:
duraaraa said:
This is TWRP to Mate 9/Android O, brought to you by FunkyHuawei.
It's just a preliminary build so I can't promise anything/everything will work! Keep that in mind. I'm not responsible if you brick your device.
EDIT: Does not work with Mate 10 series.
DOWNLOAD LINK:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B45NCsO2AL_1NEh2aDFLM3JlYkU
It works on the Android O build here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FunkyHuawei/comments/75uwkd/october_12_first_official_android_o_beta_for/
and the official European beta.
To install:
First, have Android O running. Unlock the bootloader. Download the twrp image.
Then, run in fastboot mode:
fastboot flash recovery_ramdisk twrp_android_o_mate9_a1.img
Then, reboot holding volume up, and you've got TWRP!
Note: With the Android O update, it is no longer possible to flash the recovery2 partition. Furthermore, the names of the partitions have changed. Please keep that in mind, and don't mess around too much with TWRP, to be sure you don't brick your system!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm ... I wanted to ask you whether you have the full OTA package for your device? So you should be able to extract all the partition images from there and to fastboot flash them. But I checked on HFF and I do not see a full OTA package matching your device yet.
AndDiSa said:
Hmm ... I wanted to ask you whether you have the full OTA package for your device? So you should be able to extract all the partition images from there and to fastboot flash them. But I checked on HFF and I do not see a full OTA package matching your device yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried flashing system.img/ramdisk.img from the c00 package. Maybe I have to wait for c636 firmware, or maybe I have to flash additional .imgs. I am pretty sure that the specs and hardware I have are the same as the c00.
I've tried flashing the entire update.zip file in TWRP...but as noted TWRP is unable to mount internal storage. I'm not sure if I need to wipe and reformat first. I also have no clue whether the TWRP build I installed is properly compatible with the device. I had nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
thref23 said:
I've tried flashing system.img/ramdisk.img from the c00 package. Maybe I have to wait for c636 firmware, or maybe I have to flash additional .imgs. I am pretty sure that the specs and hardware I have are the same as the c00.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will not work as the boot chain will be broken due to mismatching checksums. You need to have the correct images. To flash a OTA image you also need to have the standard recovery image installed ...
So...will someone correct please correct me if this is wrong?
If I were to flash a c00 oeminfo file, I could then install a c00 update.zip via dload folder?
Would c432 work as well (with a flashed oeminfo), even though the Euro hardware has different bands than my hardware?
There is now a full OTA on FF for C635.....still nothing for c636...
Finally, a full OTA is available for c636.
But the 'dload' method (update.app on an sd card) failed at 5%. And flashing ramdisk/recovery/erecovery/system images also failed.
Is this possibly because the OTA is B153, whereas my M5 was shipped B121?
(I hate to be that guy bumping his own thread, sorry)
I'm unbricked!
For those in a similar spot, looking to rebrand, or otherwise interested...
I finally e-mailed Funky Huawei for assistance. Their unbrick tool did not work. However, their e-recovery method worked perfectly (basically, you point your router's DNS to Funky Huawei, enter stock recovery and connect to wi-fi, and Funky Huawei's servers mimic Huawei's servers. If they do not have your firmware on their server, they will add it by request (provided it exists on the internet).
I paid $65 for a 30 day pass - a little steep, but I was impatient. I'm not sure if I could have gotten away with paying less. If you want to try and use my FH account over the next 30 days PM me (although I don't want to get carried away with that).
For those looking to rebrand, if you can flash an OEMinfo file successfully (FH has a rebrand tool and I have no clue how well it works), you should be able to use FH's erecovery method to flash firmware (don't blame me if something goes wrong).
One reason for the trouble I was having, if because I bootlooped after making a change to the vendor/build.prop file. This file was on the vendor partition, not the system partition, and for whatever reason the vendor partition cannot be flashed via fastboot (in theory it can be flashed, in reality it returns an error that doesn't have to do with the size of the partition).
Before reverting to FH, I finally got TWRP installled and functioning, and after all the attempts I made to recover my device, the same build.prop file which initially caused a bootloop was still in the /vendor folder. And TWRP wouldn't mount the system and vendor partitions as read/writeable - that was frustrating.
Now off to experiment with AOSP GSIs while I feel like I have little to lose...
Please help me
hello everyone,
i tried to rebrand my m5pro with help of ministryofsolutions. Something went wrong and my tablet (CMR-AL19) is stucked in the recovery mode. how can i fix it? Someone who ca help me? I will pay
Greeztings
Luigi
thref23 said:
Bricked your M5? Post here. I am one of three posters who have posted threads requesting assistance - we might as well create one thread where we can try and help each other.
My model? SHT-AL09 (C636). My story? I apparently made a bad change to my build.prop file, and had USB debugging disabled. I then probably dug myself a deeper hole trying to recover. I don't even get boot animation anymore. I'd happily pay someone to unbrick me.
The only potential progress I have made, is that I was able to install and successfully boot TWRP - although TWRP detects that I have no operating system installed and I am unable to mount any partitions except for my external SD card. Using TWRP's file manager, I can see that the system partition, for example, has not been entirely wiped, but many files seem to be missing. At the very least, TWRP allows me to turn the screen off without seeking to contantly reboot thereafter.
To install TWRP, I followed these instructions intended for Mate 9 owners:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Question Flashing CPH2459_11_A.06 on a GN2200_11_A.06 ?

Hello,
I found a firmware file for the Nord N20 5g. However, it is CPH2459_11_A.06, while my phone says it is GN2200_11_A.06. Would it still be possible to do a local update to pull the boot image, or must the CPH and GN match? I have the T-Mobile version, bootloader unlocked, and network unlocked , along with the July security patch.
Thanks!
Take a full-backup of your firmware and find out.. lol.
DrScrad said:
Take a full-backup of your firmware and find out.. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm unfortunately not that brave
Rogo00 said:
I'm unfortunately not that brave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Want me to give it a go?
DrScrad said:
Want me to give it a go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would be awesome just to see if it works, but I don't know if it would harm your phone or not, and I would feel terrible if it did.
i would try flashing to inactive slot then switch over and maintain your functional system
PsYk0n4uT said:
i would try flashing to inactive slot then switch over and maintain your functional system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still too new to rooting to do this successfully, I'm afraid
cph2459 is the unlocked version of the N20 5G correct? could you link the firmware please?
It is the unlocked version. I have the TMO version but it is network unlocked. The firmware can be found here: https://mega.nz/file/MXckFawK#IZ1ypD5Ftqw5Oz3oaeHLahqfUeaD6DlTzHCjeR3oseg
Also, this one is GN2200, but it is 11_A.05. Would it downgrade with the current patch? https://mega.nz/file/lX1H3Z5C#hUVmdbWUFI0bt0WQZVfaenTfVwoOqlfn2oexY5uC-Hs
If the OTA contains patches for all the required images then it SHOULD. But don't take my word on that.
What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Do you simply need a backup? It would probably be best to load a prerooter gsi with DSU sideloader and just use Partitions Backup and Restore app from playstore and backup all your partitions then just add them all to a single archive to make it easier to manage. You can select in options to save as raw (.img) and then just compress them all into a single archive and that would make it even easier to retrieve the needed partition images if you happen to need to restore anything.
PsYk0n4uT said:
If the OTA contains patches for all the required images then it SHOULD. But don't take my word on that.
What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Do you simply need a backup? It would probably be best to load a prerooter gsi with DSU sideloader and just use Partitions Backup and Restore app from playstore and backup all your partitions then just add them all to a single archive to make it easier to manage. You can select in options to save as raw (.img) and then just compress them all into a single archive and that would make it even easier to retrieve the needed partition images if you happen to need to restore anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. Basically I'm just trying to obtain root access. You mentioned prerooted gsi? I will need to read up more on this. Man this would be a lot easier with TWRP lol
waiting to hear from someone about a twrp that has been in the works. we tried one yesterday that didnt work. a different device tree is needed from the one that was used.
using DSU loader you can temporarily load a prerooted gsi and back everything up and move it to your pc and then move the boot.img to your internal storage where you can easily find it with the magisk app. install and load the magisk app and patch the boot.img then move the patched boot image to your pc and flash it in fastboot. that will give you a permanent root unless you prefer to stick with the gsi you sideloaded. but keep in mind any gsi you load with DSU Sideloader will be gone when you reboot the phone and your back to your regular system. you can use the sticky command if you want to keep the gsi installed but be sure to allocate plenty of space for your gsi if you plan on using it long term
if your on the may or july security patch you should be able to just download the patched boot.img from my other thread. i posted the stock images too in case you need to go back to stock or have issues booting. that being said. its best to just make your own backups. the july patch is GN2200_11_A.06
PsYk0n4uT said:
if your on the may or july security patch you should be able to just download the patched boot.img from my other thread. i posted the stock images too in case you need to go back to stock or have issues booting. that being said. its best to just make your own backups. the july patch is GN2200_11_A.06
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know you did the July patch as well. I will check it out now
Also if and when you do flash the magisk patched boot images, do this command before and/or after flashing the boot.img:
fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
Someone else has tried this and lost radios..... Can maybe get everything working again by reflashing the FULL BACKUP you took before cross flashing.... This would be an experiment though so don't attempt if your not ready to spend some time researching and unbricking your device should it be necessary
I tried it. I'm bootlooped
bricklife4me said:
I tried it. I'm bootlooped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just about to ask if you had two different devices because remember me telling you to be careful and not get your flashes mixed up?
DrScrad said:
I was just about to ask if you had two different devices because remember me telling you to be careful and not get your flashes mixed up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a samsung a02, pixel 7 pro, moto g 5 g , oneplus n20 , iphone 12, iphone 6 , 4 tablets, and two LG

[Q]Info about Qualcomm, Motorola and A/B partitions scheme

@arsradu I am continuing my doubts from https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/moto-g60-not-starting-flashing-locked.4483221/post-87900723 since my device(Moto G52) doesn't have a seperate forum.
Can you please tell what you did before locking bootloader in your G60?
I have my device Stock ROM from lolinet and trying to examine them. By merging multiple super.img_sparsechunk.* with simg2img and unpacking merged super.img with lpunpack, I found that _b slot partitions are empty it in, I don't know if it will fill when flashed to device. My question is, you just flashed stock rom and locked or copied to other slot too before locking? Can you please share full process you have done before unlocking like from coming from cuatom rom
Thanks
HemanthJabalpuri said:
@arsradu I am continuing my doubts from https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/moto-g60-not-starting-flashing-locked.4483221/post-87900723 since my device(Moto G52) doesn't have a seperate forum.
Can you please tell what you did before locking bootloader in your G60?
I have my device Stock ROM from lolinet and trying to examine them. By merging multiple super.img_sparsechunk.* with simg2img and unpacking merged super.img with lpunpack, I found that _b slot partitions are empty it in, I don't know if it will fill when flashed to device. My question is, you just flashed stock rom and locked or copied to other slot too before locking? Can you please share full process you have done before unlocking like from coming from cuatom rom
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See if my post here helps.
Personally, while I did flash ROMs from that mirror site and I believe they're safe, I would still recommend using LMSA for this. I also didn't mess around with the sparsechunk files. I just flashed them in their respective order, and that's about it.
Did you flash anything to slot B? If not...well, it should be pretty clean by default.
But if you want to make sure, you can simply boot (not flash) into TWRP, if you have one for your phone, check the active slot, flash the ROM with LMSA, then switch to slot B, and repeat the process.

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