Database Develop

No OTA Update to 2.3.4

I have an AT&T N1 that I bought second-hand a few weeks ago:
Android version 2.3.3
Baseband version 32.41.00.32U_5.08.00.04
Build number GRI40
There is no "lock" at the bottom of the screen when I boot the phone.
I have not received the OTA update to 2.3.4. I have tried the "checkin" procedure, but nothing. Menu/About phone/System updates says "Your system is currently up to date."
I followed widely available directions to manually upgrade to 2.3.4, but it didn't work. I saw several messages, ending with:
"E: No signature (226 files)"
"E: Verification failed"
"Zip verification failed!"
"Zip isn't signed correctly!"
"Installation aborted"
After reading through other threads, I am starting to think that I have a ROM that is somehow not stock or is carrier specific. Is my thinking right?
At this time I just want to get the regular, stock updates. Should I follow the directions in other threads to restore my phone to stock in order to get the regular stock updates?

A little more info:
Kernel version 2 [dot] 6 [dot] 35 [dot] 7 [dash] 59423 [dash] g08607d4 android [dash] build [at] apa28 #1

Follow the "Using PASSIMG.ZIP method" guide in the following link to bring the phone back to FRG83 (Android 2.2.1). After reboot, you should get the 2.3.4 update.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wik...des_&_Tutorials#Unroot_.2F_Restore_your_Nexus

mwandaw said:
I have an AT&T N1 that I bought second-hand a few weeks ago:
Android version 2.3.3
Baseband version 32.41.00.32U_5.08.00.04
Build number GRI40
There is no "lock" at the bottom of the screen when I boot the phone.
I have not received the OTA update to 2.3.4. I have tried the "checkin" procedure, but nothing. Menu/About phone/System updates says "Your system is currently up to date."
I followed widely available directions to manually upgrade to 2.3.4, but it didn't work. I saw several messages, ending with:
"E: No signature (226 files)"
"E: Verification failed"
"Zip verification failed!"
"Zip isn't signed correctly!"
"Installation aborted"
After reading through other threads, I am starting to think that I have a ROM that is somehow not stock or is carrier specific. Is my thinking right?
At this time I just want to get the regular, stock updates. Should I follow the directions in other threads to restore my phone to stock in order to get the regular stock updates?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you trying to flash the update manually? Do you have a custom recovery? If so, you need to turn signature verification OFF...

Unfortunately, I cannot include links to outside websites in my replies. However, I can tell you that there are instructions on AndroidCentral [dot] com to manually update. The name of the post or article is "Nexus One's Android 2.3.4 update is here; we've got your update instructions".
Basically, the article has a link to a zip file with an awfully long name. I'm supposed to rename that to update [dot] zip and move it to the SD card in my phone. Then I'm supposed to get into the bootloader, select recovery and eventually select Apply sdcard:update [dot] zip. I did all of that without any trouble, but then I got messages below:
"E: No signature (226 files)"
"E: Verification failed"
"Zip verification failed!"
"Zip isn't signed correctly!"
"Installation aborted"
I tried turning off signature verification, but then the error message said something about a missing file.
I would be glad to wait for the OTA update, but at this point (three weeks since the announcement) I doubt that it will happen.
I would appreciate any advice.

What is the error about the missing file? Because assuming you just have a stock install, it should work fine. If you don't have a stock install and your carrier put a custom version on there, you won't be able to update using this. You would either have to do the passimg method mentioned above which will put you to the stock firmware and you should then be able to receive the update.
Otherwise, you will have to wait until your carrier comes out with an updated version.

It Worked!
I followed the "Using PASSIMG.ZIP method" guide recommended by madballs. It worked quickly and easily. About ten minutes after installing the stock Android 2.2 I received a message that a system update was available, and 2.3.4 installed without any trouble.
Hopefully, from now on I'll receive updates OTA quickly and without hassle.
Thanks!

mwandaw said:
I followed the "Using PASSIMG.ZIP method" guide recommended by madballs. It worked quickly and easily. About ten minutes after installing the stock Android 2.2 I received a message that a system update was available, and 2.3.4 installed without any trouble.
Hopefully, from now on I'll receive updates OTA quickly and without hassle.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should not run into any problems from now on. When the next update comes, you can apply it manually or wait for the OTA. In addition, if at any time you try rooting your phone and flash a custom recovery and ROM, you can always use the PASSIMG method to go back to completely stock. There is a thread in the development section that linked a PASSIMG.zip file for to go to 2.3.4 directly. Never tried that file myself though. Enjoy your N1!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1094018

[Q] 4.4.2 on GPE HTC One and "Couldn't install on USB storage or SD Card."

Okay, so here's the deal.
I have an AT&T HTC One that was running 4.4 Kit Kat (Click: this ROM) and is S-OFF via RumRunner. I am running the latest TWRP recovery.
Yesterday I got prompted for an OTA and accepted it (in the past, with GPE ROMs, it would just reboot to recovery and do nothing). This is the only way I know of to get rid of the annoying "System update available" notification. I figured it wouldn't do anything and I would simply reboot and be good for a few more days until it prompted again. Low and behold, it actually updated my phone to 4.4.2.
Now, I'm having some issues.
I was a user of DashClock Widget...but now I use Better DashClock. However, this app is now prompting me to download a key. When I try to download the key from the Play Store, I get the message:
Error: Couldn't install on USB storage or SD Card.
SwiftKey Keyboard has the same issue.
Other apps (such as ES File Explorer, ESPN, Fandango, etc. update just fine).
-------------
I have read a bunch of posts that suggest cleaning up temp files (which don't exist on my phone) and to download SELinux Mode Changer and change the mode to Passive...but to no avail.
Can someone help me? Is this the developers issue or did my phone do something wonky?
Thanks!

Exactly the same problem here. I've narrowed it down to paid apps that won't install. Followed the same possible solutions in the 1st post, nothing works. HTC One GE 4.4.2.

IlyaKol said:
Okay, so here's the deal.
I have an AT&T HTC One that was running 4.4 Kit Kat (Click: this ROM) and is S-OFF via RumRunner.
Yesterday I got prompted for an OTA and accepted it (in the past, with GPE ROMs, it would just reboot to recovery and do nothing). This is the only way I know of to get rid of the annoying "System update available" notification. I figured it wouldn't do anything and I would simply reboot and be good for a few more days until it prompted again. Low and behold, it actually updated my phone to 4.4.2.
Now, I'm having some issues.
I was a user of DashClock Widget...but now I use Better DashClock. However, this app is now prompting me to download a key. When I try to download the key from the Play Store, I get the message:
Error: Couldn't install on USB storage or SD Card.
SwiftKey Keyboard has the same issue.
Other apps (such as ES File Explorer, ESPN, Fandango, etc. update just fine).
-------------
I have read a bunch of posts that suggest cleaning up temp files (which don't exist on my phone) and to download SELinux Mode Changer and change the mode to Passive...but to no avail.
Can someone help me? Is this the developers issue or did my phone do something wonky?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a similar problem. I downloaded the 4.4.2 OTA update and tried flashing it with TWRP three different times. All three times I got that same error message with some apps. It was extremely frustrating. I ended up flashing the stock 4.4 recovery and then flashing the update. It worked perfectly and the problem went away. I then reflashed TWRP.

arfon said:
Exactly the same problem here. I've narrowed it down to paid apps that won't install. Followed the same possible solutions in the 1st post, nothing works. HTC One GE 4.4.2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a similar experience. Paid apps would not install from Play Store. Amazon app store or F-Droid apps would install.
But my journey was that I had a 4.4 GPE device suffering through an issue where I can't get my bootloader to unlock. So when 4.4.2 came out I wasn't getting the OTA so I tried flashing just the firmware package from the OTA download. That's when I was getting this error (after a factory reset).
But then next day I got the real OTA and after that the problem went away. So for me it was a firmware issue in that it wasn't the right firmware for my OS.
Weird that you are running 4.4.2 but having this issue. Any chance you didn't come to have 4.4.2 the "natural" way?

msw141 said:
I had a similar experience. Paid apps would not install from Play Store. Amazon app store or F-Droid apps would install.
But my journey was that I had a 4.4 GPE device suffering through an issue where I can't get my bootloader to unlock. So when 4.4.2 came out I wasn't getting the OTA so I tried flashing just the firmware package from the OTA download. That's when I was getting this error (after a factory reset).
But then next day I got the real OTA and after that the problem went away. So for me it was a firmware issue in that it wasn't the right firmware for my OS.
Weird that you are running 4.4.2 but having this issue. Any chance you didn't come to have 4.4.2 the "natural" way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update was OTA last night, so I guess its as natural as it comes.

arfon said:
Update was OTA last night, so I guess its as natural as it comes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah...my process was as natural as possible.
I was on 4.3 at first...so when I was going to 4.4 KitKat I first flashed back to some basic stock Sense ROM to run RumRunner and attain S-OFF. Then I COMPLETELY NUKED my phone and went to 4.4 KitKat. Had no problems, got the OTA, and now this.
It's aggravating, that's for sure.
I really don't want to completely wipe my phone again and have to re-setup all of my home screens, etc.

I received the OTA which installed despite me having TWRP, not stock recovery (as per http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48586329). Now I have the same issue installing paid apps (the ones I had already installed before the OTA disappeared off the device).
Short of starting from scratch, I'm at a bit of a loss for a solution...
Nick

Sounds like this is wide-spread...or at least amongst the people who are running newer GPE ROMs on their Ones.

im having the exact same issues here

artmunkie said:
I had a similar problem. I downloaded the 4.4.2 OTA update and tried flashing it with TWRP three different times. All three times I got that same error message with some apps. It was extremely frustrating. I ended up flashing the stock 4.4 recovery and then flashing the update. It worked perfectly and the problem went away. I then reflashed TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you point me to where you got the stock recovery from please?

Fixed
It looks like this is all to do with custom recovery and OTA updates. I have TWRP installed. This morning I flashed stock recovery. I then put the OTA update file on the phone storage. Then booted into the stock recovery (which is the first time I've seen it, it would be nice if it was the last as it's tricky to get into), then flashed the 4.2.2. update from there. Once I booted the phone again all my paid apps reappeared. No data lost in the process. I'm not sure if going back to TWRP not will cause the problem again, so for now I'll stick with stock recovery....

arfon said:
It looks like this is all to do with custom recovery and OTA updates. I have TWRP installed. This morning I flashed stock recovery. I then put the OTA update file on the phone storage. Then booted into the stock recovery (which is the first time I've seen it, it would be nice if it was the last as it's tricky to get into), then flashed the 4.2.2. update from there. Once I booted the phone again all my paid apps reappeared. No data lost in the process. I'm not sure if going back to TWRP not will cause the problem again, so for now I'll stick with stock recovery....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please detail the procedure ?
If possible including where you got the files (OTA and stock recovery ) and how to put OTA on the sdcard to "provoque" que update.
Thanks in advance!

franciscols said:
Can you please detail the procedure ?
If possible including where you got the files (OTA and stock recovery ) and how to put OTA on the sdcard to "provoque" que update.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
Also, you left 4.4.2 on the device and just 're-applied' the OTA update? Or did you go back to a NANDROID backup of you on 4.4 or 4.3?

arfon said:
Can you point me to where you got the stock recovery from please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go! I can't remember the thread where I found it, so the file is attached. Just to be clear, this is the stock Android 4.4 recovery for the HTC One GPE.

artmunkie said:
Here you go! I can't remember the thread where I found it, so the file is attached. Just to be clear, this is the stock Android 4.4 recovery for the HTC One GPE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I flash this recovery and then flash the OTA update (this one?) and I should be good?

IlyaKol said:
So I flash this recovery and then flash the OTA update (this one?) and I should be good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's about it. I used adb to flash the stock recovery to replace TWRP, then used the stock recovery to flash the same update you linked to. After it was done updating I reflashed TWRP. And don't forget to make a nandroid.

Thank you! Will report back when I'm done!

What is the fastboot command to flash the OTA zip file?
I'm back on the stock recovery...phone is still booting/working so I just need to do the OTA part now.

IlyaKol said:
What is the fastboot command to flash the OTA zip file?
I'm back on the stock recovery...phone is still booting/working so I just need to do the OTA part now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, hectic day at work. I should have said that I applied the update with the stock recovery. Not fastboot.
I basically used the guide linked below to flash the update.
Read Step 2
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/1...e-nexus-7-now-manual-download-link-available/

artmunkie said:
Sorry, hectic day at work. I should have said that I applied the update with the stock recovery. Not fastboot.
I basically used the guide linked below to flash the update.
Read Step 2
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/1...e-nexus-7-now-manual-download-link-available/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What if you don't have an "apply from adb" option?
I have:
- reboot system now
- apply from sd card
- apply from phone storage
- apply from cache
- wipe data/factory reset
- wipe cache partition
Can't I just open a ADB shell while on the fastboot USB option?

[Q] OTA 5.1 Update file location?

So I received a notification to download the 5.1 update this morning on my rooted Nexus 6. I proceeded to click download and then install.
However, due to that I had TeamWin recovery installed the update failed on reboot. (didn't even try to install)
Now when I click on "Check for updates" in About in System Settings menu. It says that there are no new updates??? Even though it failed to install.
Does anyone know where the update is stored on the device before installation? Maybe i need to remove it before it will try and update again? (now that i have flashed stock recovery)
Any help would be very appreciated.

You need to unroot too.
Ota can be downloaded online.

d1wepn said:
So I received a notification to download the 5.1 update this morning on my rooted Nexus 6. I proceeded to click download and then install.
However, due to that I had TeamWin recovery installed the update failed on reboot. (didn't even try to install)
Now when I click on "Check for updates" in About in System Settings menu. It says that there are no new updates??? Even though it failed to install.
Does anyone know where the update is stored on the device before installation? Maybe i need to remove it before it will try and update again? (now that i have flashed stock recovery)
Any help would be very appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you remove root, try pulling your Sim and rebooting. Let the phone sit, without Sim, and see if update reappears.

rootSU said:
You need to unroot too.
Ota can be downloaded online.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was hoping to use the factory OTA update method for a change. (Always manually update) But might just be easier.
Downloading OTA now. Thanks for the advice rootSU

Evolution_Freak said:
Once you remove root, try pulling your Sim and rebooting. Let the phone sit, without Sim, and see if update reappears.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might give this a try first. Worth a shot. Cheers mate.

OTA update downloads to system/cache folder ... It may get deleted soon after you try installing and restart the phone. You need rooted phone and a file explorer like es file explorer for accessing system folder.
Sent from android one lollypop 5.1
---------- Post added at 12:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 AM ----------
Check first whether you have it in your phone already. Rooted phone go to /cache folder you'll find something.Zip there.

Ok so i managed to get the phone to download the OTA again and attempted to install it again. This time with stock recovery.
Everything was looking good but it fails with "error" below the android logo.
Any ideas?

Sorry I can't help you. I don't want that AT&T 5.1 update. So I did what you did and hit install. It of course didn't. I use TWRP also. But the damn 5.1 update is back!
Tappin from my Nexus 6

Any reason you want the OTA? you can install the factory image from here and get the same result without mucking around...
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images

Gage_Hero said:
Any reason you want the OTA? you can install the factory image from here and get the same result without mucking around...
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using a stock image will wipe the device each time. The posters question is even more valid now since Google's doing security patches every month.
I have the same issue & I wasn't able to find the .zip in /cache

Rocky1988 said:
Using a stock image will wipe the device each time. The posters question is even more valid now since Google's doing security patches every month.
I have the same issue & I wasn't able to find the .zip in /cache
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You only need to flash the system.img file within the Google image using fastboot.
After that, boot into TWRP and reflash SuperSU, XPosed, and anything else you've flashed that resides in /system.
Wipe caches and reboot. Easy, and no app or data loss.

Rocky1988 said:
Using a stock image will wipe the device each time. The posters question is even more valid now since Google's doing security patches every month.
I have the same issue & I wasn't able to find the .zip in /cache
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
um.. you are quite a bit late. this is an old thread, look at the dates. you responded to a question thats 6 month old.

liquidzoo said:
You only need to flash the system.img file within the Google image using fastboot.
After that, boot into TWRP and reflash SuperSU, XPosed, and anything else you've flashed that resides in /system.
Wipe caches and reboot. Easy, and no app or data loss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except, to be more complete, it might be a good idea to flash everything except data and boot - that is, in case changes are made to radio or anything else, but if changes are done to boot and are required for system or kernel and you don't put stock boot, you're kinda screwed (you'd need a different version of twrp in this case and it probably won't be out).
My point, there really is no complete way to know if flashing just system is enough to get all the security updates unless you look at what the update replaces. That's why I'm looking for the ota.zip

Rocky1988 said:
Except, to be more complete, it might be a good idea to flash everything except data and boot - that is, in case changes are made to radio or anything else, but if changes are done to boot and are required for system or kernel and you don't put stock boot, you're kinda screwed (you'd need a different version of twrp in this case and it probably won't be out).
My point, there really is no complete way to know if flashing just system is enough to get all the security updates unless you look at what the update replaces. That's why I'm looking for the ota.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And thankfully Google put version numbers to the other files so takes about 15 seconds to realise you only need to flash system. If a change was made to radio you can still flash in exactly the same way as the system and not lose data...

Amos91 said:
And thankfully Google put version numbers to the other files so takes about 15 seconds to realise you only need to flash system. If a change was made to radio you can still flash in exactly the same way as the system and not lose data...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you check version numbers for the other files? This may be what I'm after!

Rocky1988 said:
Using a stock image will wipe the device each time. The posters question is even more valid now since Google's doing security patches every month.
I have the same issue & I wasn't able to find the .zip in /cache
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm unable to find the latest update in the /system folder (/system/cache doesn't exist on my device) or the /cache folder either.

/data/data/com.google.android.gms/app_download/update.zip

d1wepn said:
Ok so i managed to get the phone to download the OTA again and attempted to install it again. This time with stock recovery.
Everything was looking good but it fails with "error" below the android logo.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Flashify to install OTA updates instead.

At last i found it
I have clock work recovery installed on my phone. It refuses to update my OTA factory software update, i searched for it and installed it manually. It was in /data/data/com.tinno.systemupdate/files/googleota/0/update.zip

[Help needed!] L09C635B361 can't update via either OTA or TWRP.

Hi guys, I am only a very junior user who randomly flash his phone but most of the time I want my phone to be stable for work. I have had the situation since the recent OTA available, suffered a lot, would like to seek any help or advice.
I have a L09C635B361, Japan version. I updated to Android 7 via OTA, then unlocked / rooted under the instructions in this forum, forgot which exact thread though. Never thought of flashing any customized rom so I haven't realized the update problem until the recent OTA update (from B361 to B382) released. I got the push, downloaded B382 OTA package, restart to TWRP, then the flash was failed in TWRP screen. Restart again, the system notified there was a recent update failure. Then I installed Firmware Finder, downloaded the 3 update zip files, restart back to TWRP, still failed installing. Please refer to the failure screenshot for detailed reson. I have no idea what it said and how I should do differently.
No other way to go, I backed up my system, then wiped my phone, reset to factory mode, but brand new system was very strange: only voice input, no keyboard, missing several key functions such as camera. So I have to restore to my previous system, everything worked well except I can't open "clock".
Right now I am looking at system notification of B382 all the time, but I can't figure out how to get it updated, I don't mind if there's a way enables me go back to stock rom, but it's really hard to find the stock firmware for C635......
Thanks, appreciate your help in advance.

Hey man, try follow this guide to debrand your phone (get onto C432). It will probably unroot you and get you back to stock firmware as well.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/p9/how-to/guide-debranding-to-c432-updating-to-t3551523
Might want to check around first though, I dont want you bricking your phone on my account.
Good luck

xMrTROLLIPOPx said:
Hey man, try follow this guide to debrand your phone (get onto C432). It will probably unroot you and get you back to stock firmware as well.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/p9/how-to/guide-debranding-to-c432-updating-to-t3551523
Might want to check around first though, I dont want you bricking your phone on my account.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks bro. I will try the entire process when I have a backup phone.

One more thing is when I first tried to wipe phone, failed for several times. Plus the TWRP flashing error, I have suspect that there's something wrong with my partition information or format error. Can anyone help me to eliminate the possibility by the screenshot please?

On the other hand, I found 3 zip files on Firmware for same version update. Which one should I flash? If I need to flash all of the 3, is there a sequence?

The screenshot for the 3 zip files.

oushouseki said:
The screenshot for the 3 zip files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You flash those in the order they appear. Except the last one, don't flash that (I think). From what I know it's always been update.zip and then update_hw.zip.
I see you're going to flash hw_jp which is the Japanese cust, so ignore the advice above about debranding to c432 as that's essentially the same thing as what you are about to do with those files. (C432 is the European version, which is called update_hw_eu.zip)
Also the voice input only bug is well known. You need to rollback to marshmallow (I forget which firmware but there's a thread on it here somewhere) and then OTA back to nougat and it should fix it.

lostunsunghero said:
You flash those in the order they appear. Except the last one, don't flash that (I think). From what I know it's always been update.zip and then update_hw.zip.
I see you're going to flash hw_jp which is the Japanese cust, so ignore the advice above about debranding to c432 as that's essentially the same thing as what you are about to do with those files. (C432 is the European version, which is called update_hw_eu.zip)
Also the voice input only bug is well known. You need to rollback to marshmallow (I forget which firmware but there's a thread on it here somewhere) and then OTA back to nougat and it should fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it ended up with paying 20USD to some "pro"s on taobao.com to unbrick my P9...sigh...am I too old to do this :crying:

What is the purpose of each of the 3 different update zip files ?

Hi,
Sorry of this is a bit of a newbie question but:
What is the purpose of each of the 3 different update zip files ?
And do I have to apply them all - and in what order ?
In my case, I am about to update to B389, and I have downloaded 3 files for VIE-L29C636B389 (currently on VIE-L29C636B130), and I have an update.zip, an update_full_VIE-L29_hw_spcseas.zip and an update_data_full_public.zip.
I was planning on doing the first two by the dload method (with reboots in between), but the update_data_full_public.zip doesn't appear to have an update.app, so how do I load that ? (I do have TWRP on my phone, so could probably figure it out - eventually).
Cheers,
SZ

same question
I read somewhere that it should be flashed in that exact order. i'm guessing that is the same procedure as with auto OTA updates, except now we have rooted phones, so bye-bye to auto updates. I am currently on VIE-L29CB636B387 and i received an automatic Huawei notification of a new version (VIE-L29CB636B388) about a week ago. I tried to update to that version in System Update-Quick Update, but that didn't work (surprise!). There was no issue though as when I rebooted it just went back to 387. However, I now have a red "New Version" notification in my System Update. Please tell me how your upgrade went if you went ahead and flashed 389. I have the three files already from filefinder, i also have TWRP and/or I could use adb fastboot to install. Thanks in advance.

Hey,
I am not sure I want to proceed on the basis of something that somebody 'read somewhere' ....
Anyhow - I've not run these updates yet, as I wanted to backup my phone first, but TWRP keeps blowing up with an error in the middle of the backup, so I am not going to try anything until I get to the bottom of that.
Will let you know if/when I ever go ahead!
Cheers,
SZ

Hi,
TWRP blowing up during NAND backups? thats not a good thing. Upon the advice of a forum member (xzanium) I flashed TWRP 3.1.1-1 instead of TWRP-3.2.1-0-vienna. No hitches so far, solid backups and no hiccups in flashing SuperSU, also got xposed to work seamlessly and other stuff. I hope you are able to resolve the issue you mentioned and get around to getting VIE-L29CB636B389 on your phone.
Well good luck to you, and post here any progress if you would.

SZ,
I have an idea on what the purpose of each of the 3 different update zip files are for and whether you have to apply them all - and in what order.
Since I could make a NAND backup using TWRP without issues, and there was an OTA update notice for an upgrade to VIE-L29CB636B388 which I couldn't upgrade to while rooted, I decided to unroot in order to upgrade to that. First i did the requisite steps - uninstalled the xposed framework and proceeded with the full unroot with SuperSU. Then I performed the dload method to flash the update.app that I extracted from the update.zip.
It was here where i hit a snag. What followed was, I found out that Huawei needs a verified stock rom, meaning it has to be a fullOTA-MF-PV in order that the bootloader could be relocked. So I tried my luck and downloaded the stock ROM VIE-L29C636B370 and flashed that. Success! From there, and several auto upgrades later I was back to L29C636B370. Reinstalling my Google account also locked back FRP. At this point i am full stock EMUI 5
Now, to answer your question. When I tried to upgrade to VIE-L29C636B388 via system update quick update. I only saw one file - update.zip therefore this must the only one needed for incremental patches. The same holds true with update_data_full_public.zip as I later learned when I decided to use the proxy upgrade method in MT filefinder . It applied a 2nd patch. The third file, namely, update_full_VIE-L29_hw_spcseas.zip was not required for this incremental update. In fact, the update process was cut short and an error message appeared that the file could not be located, even though i copied that to the HwOUC folder. It appears that this was deleted before the fullOTA update could finish during the incremental update process. Clearly, this last zip is not necessary for incremental updates. So this must be the package which delivers the rest of the ROM, or the parts of it that needs to be changed.
So, obviously what "I read somewhere" was legit. I hope that answers your question.
cheers!
mm