Hi everyone,
This is probably a dumb question and possibly answered though I can't find it. Is it possible to flash cwm to the Bionic in fastboot? I see everyone using the bootstrap mod but was curious if a cwm image could be flashed instead via fastboot. If this is not possible could someone try to explain why as I love learning new things about modding and hacking Android.
Thanks!
No, you can't because the recovery partition is signed like the boot.img and radio, webtop and cdt.bin etc. This is part of the security scheme that includes the locked bootloader and is why these phones are so difficult to mod.
If that were possible, then so would be custom kernels and the whole development picture would be rather different.
Perhaps on future Googorola devices, but highly unlikely ever on the Bionic.
cellzealot said:
No, you can't because the recovery partition is signed like the boot.img and radio, webtop and cdt.bin etc. This is part of the security scheme that includes the locked bootloader and is why these phones are so difficult to mod.
If that were possible, then so would be custom kernels and the whole development picture would be rather different.
Perhaps on future Googorola devices, but highly unlikely ever on the Bionic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I was hoping I was just missing something and could do it but I wanted to be certain before trying just in case. Didn't want to brick it or anything even though it most likely just wouldn't write the image.
Related
i was thinking since the razr ics update will have a signed kernel and it will be able to pass through the bootloader if we could use the razr ics update(since its like our roms all cross platform due to same processor,resolutions) and mod it a little so there is no 4G or webtop and change the device name to D3/solana then flash it as an update instead of a zip in recovery/fastboot like as if it was an OTA update that we sideload. we may have to return to stock to do this, or use otaroot keeper? i dont know if it will need to be re signed after changing things. but since this is an official kernel and the zip has a path motorola made it may get passed our bootloader if the unlock process is the same for all phones.
also maybe someone with a RAZR can use adb and see the commands during the update process to see if the phone spits out any lines of code when it opens the bootloader to replace the kernel?
I'm guessing it won't work as the kernel is signed only for that device and not the d3. Not to mention hw differences.
Sent from my XT862 using xda premium
the cameras are the same, they both have the same processors just razr is .2 ghz faster and running a little version different, the way they use the camcorder is the same, and the way they run flash player/hardware accelleration is the same. if we can trick the GB kernel to run the roms we have now then tricking the phone to use the razr kernel could be easy given we can get it passed the bootloader securely. once its passed the BL hashcode can get codecs to take a little easier since we will have the ability to run the DEV- ION drivers instead of getting ducati to decode and re code them for the GB kernel.
this may be worth a try instead of everyone saying "oh that wont work," then waiting god knows how long until hash gets the codecs to work, or motorola might just update up in 3-6 months. it might be a sloppy thing but it may work
double post
I doubt it'll work. The keys used to sign the Droid 3's kernel and the Razr's kernel are different. It would be just as hard (and really, afaik, impossible) to get our devices to run the Razr's kernel than it would be for us to get it to run any other kernel we can make/compile.
Sent from my XT862 using XDA
Keep brow beating Motorola, they "promised" unlock, blah, blah, blah
If we don't push though you'll never get anything.
im hoping hashcode gets the codecs working by may/june, if not then ill just go pick up a used D4/razr since they should be 100% on it by then or maybe a gnex off CL for 300 i really want to keep the d3 though.
It may work if we package the kernel into the ICS rom by hash or flash it separately. But who knows how much work it may take for that to happen. Also some DROID 3s may not be able to run that .2ghz faster so we have to tone that back. It maybe be simpler to port over razr ICS codecs
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA
saintlikesniper said:
It may work if we package the kernel into the ICS rom by hash or flash it separately. But who knows how much work it may take for that to happen. Also some DROID 3s may not be able to run that .2ghz faster so we have to tone that back. It maybe be simpler to port over razr ICS codecs
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This what will likely happen
Sent from my XT862 using xda premium
I could be mistaken here, but it is my understanding that the kernel acts as a sort of intermediate between the phone's hardware and OS. Seeing as how the RAZR lacks a physical keyboard, there could likely be some very pertinent information missing in it's kernel that is needed in order for the D3 keyboard to be usable. If this is the case, we would probably be better off attempting to utilize an ICS leak for the D4.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
Full disclosure: I'm not a dev. My eyes glaze over the second someone mentions compiling or code.
That being said, I feel that at this point, maybe these types of off-the-wall ideas might be valuable. Even if the OP wasn't 100% on the right track, maybe that will light a fire in a more capable person's head.
mikedyk43 said:
I could be mistaken here, but it is my understanding that the kernel acts as a sort of intermediate between the phone's hardware and OS. Seeing as how the RAZR lacks a physical keyboard, there could likely be some very pertinent information missing in it's kernel that is needed in order for the D3 keyboard to be usable. If this is the case, we would probably be better off attempting to utilize an ICS leak for the D4.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see thats the thing, our ICS roms werent programmed to utilize a hard keyboard either (sourced on the Gnex) so we can have that fixed. what im getting at is the razr, bionic, D4 and D3 run the same OMAP 4430 processor with the same efuse so it should be the same key for the bootloader. when we package the signed bootloader with either a modded RAZR rom to remove 4G and webtop and/or rename the phone id then resign it OR package the signed kernel in our ics roms then *flash as a manual update* it may get passed the bootloader. since the EFUSE looks for official firmware, the razr ics rom is signed by moto and the kernel has the efuse keys attatched (for OMAP 4430) so it may let it in. we would need root access in the rom to do changes (freeze/delete webtop) etc. we also need to wait for a reliable flashable zip of the razr rom since the only way to get it is a fatal way(cheesecake). BUT this is the deal, if we do this this will totally take you off the upgrade path if there is even one anymore, so an SBF back to 2.3.4 will need to happen in case of anything.
Tyfighter said:
Full disclosure: I'm not a dev. My eyes glaze over the second someone mentions compiling or code.
That being said, I feel that at this point, maybe these types of off-the-wall ideas might be valuable. Even if the OP wasn't 100% on the right track, maybe that will light a fire in a more capable person's head.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hashcode is more than capable of doing this its just a matter of if hes brave enough to try since hes tried everything else and we havent heard anything about codecs in awhile.
A few things
1). Signed. This means you can't edit it, change it, modify it or do anything with it...and it has to be signed for your device. Razr kernel will not be usable, nor will a Droid 4 when it comes out later.
2). Our D3 ICS CM9 rom is not built off the GNex ROM, it's built from source (AOSP) modified by CyanogenMod team and then further modified by Hashcode. Hashcode is modifying it to work with the D3 Gingerbread Kernel and that is why the hardware keyboard works.
3). Unless Motorola releases an ICS kernel/Rom for the D3.....OR Motorola releases an unlocker for the bootloader......the best will see is a modified source built ROM running on the stock Gingerbread kernel.
I'm not going to list someone hacking/cracking the D3 bootloader signing key, etc.... While it's entirely possible.......the Droid 2, Droid X have still not been cracked....and they've been out how long now?
We can run something like Hashcode's CM9 ICS and enjoy it and hope that Hashcode can get as much out of it as possible.......running on top of the Gingerbread kernel.....other than that it's just going to be hoping/waiting for Motorola to do something.
T
saintlikesniper said:
It may work if we package the kernel into the ICS rom by hash or flash it separately. But who knows how much work it may take for that to happen. Also some DROID 3s may not be able to run that .2ghz faster so we have to tone that back. It maybe be simpler to port over razr ICS codecs
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem we run into (i messed with this idea a bit) is that /boot wont allow unsigned code, the file containing the kernel needs to be flashed to /boot and is signed by motorola so it cant be tampered with and is also signed with a product code allowing it to only be flashed on that model. We cant changed the model # in the file without altering the signature so the phone wont accept the flash anyways. As for flashing it along with hashcodes rom, i think thats what theyre trying to do with kexec (this seems to be the most likely way we have to get custom kernels running on any bootloader locked phones). The problem with kexec (it's an app that loads you into an alternate kernel after the first kernel has booted, it's like a handover) is that our kernels have to have kexec support compiled into them right now by motorola for it to work(not sure theyve done this). Really, without a bootloader unlock or kernel upgrade by motorola (meaning ics and a 3.0+ kernel signed for our phones) i think we're stuck with what we're doing atm.
Perhaps we could do something like move the /boot partition to somewhere else but i imagine it's been tried and moving /boot to a partition on internal storage or something probably just causes the phone to not boot at all.
Willis111 said:
T
The problem we run into (i messed with this idea a bit) is that /boot wont allow unsigned code, the file containing the kernel needs to be flashed to /boot and is signed by motorola so it cant be tampered with and is also signed with a product code allowing it to only be flashed on that model. We cant changed the model # in the file without altering the signature so the phone wont accept the flash anyways. As for flashing it along with hashcodes rom, i think thats what theyre trying to do with kexec (this seems to be the most likely way we have to get custom kernels running on any bootloader locked phones). The problem with kexec (it's an app that loads you into an alternate kernel after the first kernel has booted, it's like a handover) is that our kernels have to have kexec support compiled into them right now by motorola for it to work(not sure theyve done this). Really, without a bootloader unlock or kernel upgrade by motorola (meaning ics and a 3.0+ kernel signed for our phones) i think we're stuck with what we're doing atm.
Perhaps we could do something like move the /boot partition to somewhere else but i imagine it's been tried and moving /boot to a partition on internal storage or something probably just causes the phone to not boot at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont understand why we cant completely wipe the phone of the data/rom AND bootloader and create a custom bootloader.
I think that would be eFuse and harder than it sounds entirely. Again may be easier to port razr codecs when it becomes available. Which should be soon according to speculation
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA
Willis111 said:
T
The problem we run into (i messed with this idea a bit) is that /boot wont allow unsigned code, the file containing the kernel needs to be flashed to /boot and is signed by motorola so it cant be tampered with and is also signed with a product code allowing it to only be flashed on that model. We cant changed the model # in the file without altering the signature so the phone wont accept the flash anyways. As for flashing it along with hashcodes rom, i think thats what theyre trying to do with kexec (this seems to be the most likely way we have to get custom kernels running on any bootloader locked phones). The problem with kexec (it's an app that loads you into an alternate kernel after the first kernel has booted, it's like a handover) is that our kernels have to have kexec support compiled into them right now by motorola for it to work(not sure theyve done this). Really, without a bootloader unlock or kernel upgrade by motorola (meaning ics and a 3.0+ kernel signed for our phones) i think we're stuck with what we're doing atm.
Perhaps we could do something like move the /boot partition to somewhere else but i imagine it's been tried and moving /boot to a partition on internal storage or something probably just causes the phone to not boot at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We actually don't need Motorola to have compiled kexec in (fully, at least. I think there has to be some basic support there, which there might be). As long as we can load kernel modules (which I believe we can) we could create our own and run that. The problem with kexec, though, is that it drops kernel communications with the radio for long enough for the radio to think the phone has shut down or errored or something, and it will shut itself off. So, upon loading into the new kernel, the phone will have no radio, and the only way to reinitialize it is to go through the bootloader process again, which would mean we couldn't have an unsigned kernel. It would be nice if there was a way to communicate to the radio that the kernel wasn't actually shutting off yet or if there was a way to reboot the radio after switching kernels, but sadly there isn't (as far as I know).
I say we all put our computing power together to crack Motorola's private key that they signed the kernel with, [email protected] style.
</semi-sarcasm>
Edit: Okay, actually being productive here... is the radio image signed? Because we could use kexec to load a new kernel, but modify the radio code so that it doesn't assume something horrible has happened when the kernel stops communicating with it.
ssinisterss said:
i dont understand why we cant completely wipe the phone of the data/rom AND bootloader and create a custom bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because even a fully wiped phone will only accept files that are signed by motorola.
I believe the only way we can see a custom kernel is using the method some guy (i forgot who) has been able to kinda do. He's on the Razrs forums and he was able to get a custom kernel running on his phone. Unfortuantly this kernel can only use 1 out of the 2 cores, so it is not done yet. From what I remember he gets the phone to boot with the stock kernel and then has his kernel installed over it. I think the boot up process takes a little bit longer but it is a small price to pay for customization.
Flashing the Razrs ICS is futile. The only thing we can do is maybe kang some prop settings and apks. That's about it. We'd have a better chance with the Bionic, but it's still unlikley it will help anything.
im not that new to flashing and things but coming from a samsung phone im not really sure what safestrap does.
I know that i can get into CMW with it, and thats what i use to flash/make backups and things...
Is that basically all its used for? I also notice i can turn safe mod on/off and really dont know what that is...
Ok, so the Droid 3 is a bit different than most other phones. It has what is called a preinstall environment, which allows for a second system to be run, kind of like dual booting a computer. However, the standard recovery or CWM doesn't allow user access to this second system. Someone figured out a way to make a bootloader, which is very similar to CWM, but that can access the second system. What it does is it allows you to install another ROM in the second system, while leaving your primary system relatively unchanged. This is nice for people who like testing new ROMs and don't want to worry so much about losing their original data through a myriad of backups and restores. It does allow for additional backups, however that is mostly a precautionary method. If you intend to install any ROMs on your D3, it is highly recommended that you use safestrap as opposed to CWM, as it is a lot safer (hence the name safestrap).
Someone may be able to give you a better explanation and you can read more about it on Hashcode's blog at http://blog.hash-of-codes.com/
Hi linuxgator,
Hey very nice explanation of Safestrap.
Thank you,
R
So I've always owned samsung phones...fell in love with amoled and never looked back...and i gotta tell you, my short spurt with the one xl with having to flash kernels and rom separably and unlocking bootloaders and what not man! i really miss the simplicity of being able to root with odin and never having to look back...everything just worked as it should (the biggest inconvenience we had was having to flash an older kernel on the sg2 before flashing anything above gb) but here I am, ready and willing to embrace the atrix's sexy design but limited development...but I need some clarification that simple searches and reading through threads dont seem to explain quite as thoroughly as other devices portals.
1.) I understand the concept of a bootloader and how it needs to be unlocked in order to flash ROM's and kernels and write to specific partitions of the phone, I just want to ensure that this device has an unlockable bootloader with the latest firmware that it ships with
2.) even more important than bootloader unlocking is root...i see references to SBF's and qslite or something...is this similar to odin for samsung? do i use an SBF (perhaps the equivalent of an RUU for htc or .tar for samsung??) to flash firmwares onto the device, and will a modded version provide SU?
3.) no roms! thats unacceptable. if i can obtain root and recovery, trust me when i say that even while i cant build from source, ill put SOMETHING together, even if its only rooted/themed stock. but what are the odds of rom from other devices being ported?
4.) cheesecake. wtf.
which one of these threads should i use for the latest firmware on the atrix to root?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1785401
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1940594
which one of these threads should i use for the latest firmware on the atrix to unlock bootloader?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1896526
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1985031
does hash's safetrap work for backups on the ahd? i read that flashing is disabled currently, but id still like to backup
gosh so many questions! hope the trolls dont come out on sundays...........................
hapticxchaos said:
So I've always owned samsung phones...fell in love with amoled and never looked back...and i gotta tell you, my short spurt with the one xl with having to flash kernels and rom separably and unlocking bootloaders and what not man! i really miss the simplicity of being able to root with odin and never having to look back...everything just worked as it should (the biggest inconvenience we had was having to flash an older kernel on the sg2 before flashing anything above gb) but here I am, ready and willing to embrace the atrix's sexy design but limited development...but I need some clarification that simple searches and reading through threads dont seem to explain quite as thoroughly as other devices portals.
1.) I understand the concept of a bootloader and how it needs to be unlocked in order to flash ROM's and kernels and write to specific partitions of the phone, I just want to ensure that this device has an unlockable bootloader with the latest firmware that it ships with
2.) even more important than bootloader unlocking is root...i see references to SBF's and qslite or something...is this similar to odin for samsung? do i use an SBF (perhaps the equivalent of an RUU for htc or .tar for samsung??) to flash firmwares onto the device, and will a modded version provide SU?
3.) no roms! thats unacceptable. if i can obtain root and recovery, trust me when i say that even while i cant build from source, ill put SOMETHING together, even if its only rooted/themed stock. but what are the odds of rom from other devices being ported?
4.) cheesecake. wtf.
which one of these threads should i use for the latest firmware on the atrix to root?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1785401
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1940594
which one of these threads should i use for the latest firmware on the atrix to unlock bootloader?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1896526
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1985031
does hash's safetrap work for backups on the ahd? i read that flashing is disabled currently, but id still like to backup
gosh so many questions! hope the trolls dont come out on sundays...........................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, your bootloader (if it is from att) is not getting unlocked. That is the best way to put it because AT&T ruins everything. Firmware flashing, there is a utility out now. It's the best way to get back to stock. Razr HD roms should be portable, we wont know for sure until we have something to test. Cheesecake is worthless now so don't even worry about it. Moto blocked us from accessing their servers. It really seems like you aren't going to like this to be completely honest. You are probably more of a nexus 4 or gs3 guy....
SirHoover2010 said:
Okay, your bootloader (if it is from att) is not getting unlocked. That is the best way to put it because AT&T ruins everything. Firmware flashing, there is a utility out now. It's the best way to get back to stock. Razr HD roms should be portable, we wont know for sure until we have something to test. Cheesecake is worthless now so don't even worry about it. Moto blocked us from accessing their servers. It really seems like you aren't going to like this to be completely honest. You are probably more of a nexus 4 or gs3 guy....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sincerely, ill get by with just root so to sum it all up, no bl unlock or proper recovery, but purely just root (which is fine by me ) which i can obtain by using THIS? seems your the one who made that tool kit so your clearly the man to ask i can use your utility to obtain root, and even retain root after the upgrade to the test build of jb?
your so awesome sirhoover
hapticxchaos said:
sincerely, ill get by with just root so to sum it all up, no bl unlock or proper recovery, but purely just root (which is fine by me ) which i can obtain by using THIS? seems your the one who made that tool kit so your clearly the man to ask i can use your utility to obtain root, and even retain root after the upgrade to the test build of jb?
your so awesome sirhoover
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can use that utility to obtain root
Hi I have a few questions for my nexus 6 that I am getting today
1) I am going to flash a the new marshmallow update, which one should I pick because for root you need a specific build but on the google factory images the latest build is not supported? I really don't know.
2) After I flash 6.0 can I just do the fastboot flash recovery twrp.img without flashing the boot.img
3) When I go to a new rom like Chroma by Zephik do I still need to change the boot.img to flash the beta super user
For now these are all my questions and I would really appreciate if you could answer it.
side note: I cannot use NRT becuase I am on a mac, if you guys have any alternatives I would really appreciate it too.
1) Flash any of them, they are all rootable. I would recommend going with the latest one. Unless I am mistaken, I believe K, N, and R each have the same radio so there effectively would be no real difference in the end result, as a custom ROM will overwrite everything else.
2) Yes, there is no need to have a modified boot image or root if you plan on flashing a custom ROM.
3) This depends on the ROM, they should have instructions in their post as to what they require. I am pretty sure Chroma comes with a custom kernel already, and I believe it comes pre-rooted as well. It could be that you have to root the ROM after you flash it if you want root though, there are some ROMs that are like that. The OP should have installation instructions.
As for your side note, I don't recommend using a toolkit of any sort. I recommend learning how to use fastboot, and doing it manually. That way if you were to need to fix something in the future, you would have a general understanding of what you did and why, and perhaps that will help you in how to fix it. Rather than clicking a couple buttons in a toolkit. Also, toolkits can fail, and not tell you why. It is often hard to figure out what went wrong when it is doing multiple steps at once, rather than one at a time like if you were to do it the manual way. It really isn't that difficult, and it is very well documented process at this point with tons of guides with pictures and even videos out there.
cupfulloflol said:
1) Flash any of them, they are all rootable. I would recommend going with the latest one. Unless I am mistaken, I believe K, N, and R each have the same radio so there effectively would be no real difference in the end result, as a custom ROM will overwrite everything else.
2) Yes, there is no need to have a modified boot image or root if you plan on flashing a custom ROM.
3) This depends on the ROM, they should have instructions in their post as to what they require. I am pretty sure Chroma comes with a custom kernel already, and I believe it comes pre-rooted as well. It could be that you have to root the ROM after you flash it if you want root though, there are some ROMs that are like that. The OP should have installation instructions.
As for your side note, I don't recommend using a toolkit of any sort. I recommend learning how to use fastboot, and doing it manually. That way if you were to need to fix something in the future, you would have a general understanding of what you did and why, and perhaps that will help you in how to fix it. Rather than clicking a couple buttons in a toolkit. Also, toolkits can fail, and not tell you why. It is often hard to figure out what went wrong when it is doing multiple steps at once, rather than one at a time like if you were to do it the manual way. It really isn't that difficult, and it is very well documented process at this point with tons of guides with pictures and even videos out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much, I actually used adb/fastboot when I was rooting my mytouch 4g so this knowledge should come in handy, one other question if I were to root the latest factory image can I use the MRA58K.img that Chainfire posted for 6.0 or do I have to find a modified boot img that matches the latest factory image which is MRA58R, thank you so much again
Hey XDA users,
My only experience with Android device modding was installing TWRP, SuperSU and CyanogenMod on my SM-T530. It seems that all modding information for my current phone is so scattered that I don't know where to start...
From what I have are telling me that I should unlock bootloader, flash an fstab.qcom file and flash a no-verity kernel before I go on flashing a custom ROM, but is it enough or I need something more than just those steps? I know how to make backups, but how different is it between different Android devices?
I know that I have to use ODIN for Samsung devices, but for Motorola, do I just use Fastboot to flash images?
There is a guide to getting twrp and root going here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e5/how-to/guide-root-twrp-moto-e5-play-explained-t3856182
Once you have twrp you can flash roms from there. Instructions are usually included in each rom thread.
Will Rickards said:
There is a guide to getting twrp and root going here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e5/how-to/guide-root-twrp-moto-e5-play-explained-t3856182
Once you have twrp you can flash roms from there. Instructions are usually included in each rom thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
c) Cause the Device to overheat, explode and/or catch fire, exceed SAR values,
exceed safe volume settings, and otherwise be unsafe, including creating the potential to
cause serious bodily injury, including death (while we understand this may seem harsh,
we do not know what you will do with the device once it is unlocked, and/or how it will
function if its software is altered, and therefore we want you to understand the potential
dangers); and
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, can a device really overheat, explode or exceed SAR values when in custom ROM?