[Q] Fire HD with only TWRP installed - 7" Kindle Fire HD Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi all, I've been searching online and I haven't found anything that helps or even directly applies, so I broke down and decided to ask for help.
I was working off the guide to root my kindle, install TWRP and then a ROM, first time doing this.
SO let me break down where I'm at:
-rooted
-TWRP installed
-there's no .zip that I can find to stall from (checked sdcard folder and all others)
-can't load into original OS, logo goes from orange to blue on its own, and hangs there
-when plugged into PC, it is recognized but says no drivers are installed for it (no matter how many times i try reinstalling it.)
- I can get it into fastboot mode, but can't seem to load anything (I've read that fastboot doesn't work with twrp)
- adb sideload doesn't seem to work, it cannot find device
So how can I get a .zip file loaded to twrp, or restore the device, without adb seeing the device?
Is there a specific way to install the drives, or a way to get the .zip loaded through fastboot that I'm not aware of?
I'm sorry if this has been addressed before, I haven't seen this exact issue, and the fixes that seem close haven't worked :
thanks guys!

G_G_L said:
Hi all, I've been searching online and I haven't found anything that helps or even directly applies, so I broke down and decided to ask for help.
I was working off the guide to root my kindle, install TWRP and then a ROM, first time doing this.
SO let me break down where I'm at:
-rooted
-TWRP installed
-there's no .zip that I can find to stall from (checked sdcard folder and all others)
-can't load into original OS, logo goes from orange to blue on its own, and hangs there
-when plugged into PC, it is recognized but says no drivers are installed for it (no matter how many times i try reinstalling it.)
- I can get it into fastboot mode, but can't seem to load anything (I've read that fastboot doesn't work with twrp)
- adb sideload doesn't seem to work, it cannot find device
So how can I get a .zip file loaded to twrp, or restore the device, without adb seeing the device?
Is there a specific way to install the drives, or a way to get the .zip loaded through fastboot that I'm not aware of?
I'm sorry if this has been addressed before, I haven't seen this exact issue, and the fixes that seem close haven't worked :
thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without a working ADB connection, you can't get a file to your device in TWRP. You can restore your system, recovery, and boot images with fastboot, but your device must be in fastboot mode first. If you decide to do that, you'll have to restore your stock system, recovery and boot images, saved from the 2nd bootloader install instructions, then start the whole process all over again.

soupmagnet said:
Without a working ADB connection, you can't get a file to your device in TWRP. You can restore your system, recovery, and boot images with fastboot, but your device must be in fastboot mode first. If you decide to do that, you'll have to restore your stock system, recovery and boot images, saved from the 2nd bootloader install instructions, then start the whole process all over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers! Excellent advise! I got it restored to stock!
I used the img files from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1951254
and followed the fastboot directions here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2277105
now try it again! (and hopefully succeed!)

Related

[Q] Need a lot of Help!

I was dumb enough to root my phone and try using some custom roms just to get a black notification bar and a couple other things. Thats literally all I wanted. Used Cyan, couldnt get notification bar to change color so went back to original. Anyways thought I'd try flashing the black desire bar or w/e, and failed.
Tries booting up and gets half stuck on the nexus 'X' animation loop. It gets really laggy and studders, never fully completing the loop. So I say eff it after fifteen or so minutes and reboot to recovery. Only it's the stock android recovery, not that clockwork one? So I'm lost, can't flash back to original, and decide i'll just try the factory reset. I have no time for this stuff at this point, and just want my phone so I can talk to people.
Did factory reset/wipe option, and still nothing, stuck on boot. Don't know what to do and I would greatly appreciate some help or advice. Honestly would be so sad if this $500 phone is a paperweight.
Dude relax,
1.First boot to superboot
2.Flash your clockwork (Or any other recovery). DONT REBOOT.
3.Go straight to recovery,
4.Restore your nandroid back up,
--- If you dont have back up then you have to download rom what you want (Stock froyo can be found some where in htc site)
--- Select mass storage option in the recovery and copy there the zip file, then flash it.
Tadaa everything is working again
Read my signature, "unroot / restore your Nexus", and execute. If you have ever updated to FRG83, you might be out of luck and no PASSIMG.ZIP will flash. In this case, you'll need to connect using ADB and run flash_image to flash recovery (most probably you'll get adb shell even if your phone isn't finishing boot - just make sure you run adb shell early enough in the boot). Once you've flashed the recovery, get into it and proceed with a custom ROM. If you flash stock again, your recovery will be lost again. If you didn't set up ADB (enable "USB Debugging" option on your phone) - then you're seriously out of luck. If you have it, but don't know how to use it - spend time reading and understanding "flashing Recovery" guide in the same place from my signature (Wiki), and if you have any further questions along the way - ask here.
You're not booting up because you've screwed up framework-res.apk and possibly some other system files - so you're stuck in boot loop. Need to read and understand what you're doing before you're doing it. It's really not that hard, and not willing to spend enough time understanding things "pays off" if mishaps happen - and they happen.
elkyur said:
Dude relax,
1.First boot to superboot
Tadaa everything is working again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He can't boot! Do you read what I read? He's stuck in a bootloop! What boot are you talking about?!
Take your time reading before you rush answering with wrong and incomplete instructions that won't get the OP anywhere. A good portion of mishaps happens because of instructions like these.
This is alot for me to take learn in such quick time to be honest.
I can't even get adb to recognize my phone and i've followed all the steps. My computer makes the noise that something has been plugged in through USB, but nothing else. Under that program to uninstall drivers, I try uninstalling them, but they just stay there, nothing changes.
As for the USB debugging and me being ****ed, I'm pretty sure I left that on.
Maybe it would help me if I told you more about what I know and what I've done.
Literally just followed the step by step instructions from this site theunlockr.com/ to root my phone and use a custom rom.
In the process it made me install PDANet (again probably means nothing, but I don't know).
If adb isn't recognizing my phone, I can't flash using it. Again thank you for the help, as I really am clueless about most stuff like this.
Most of the time when doing anything that could possibly do any harm to a device, I am very cautious. I have hacked several PSP's and didn't think this would be much different...
I read all about the rooting, and knew full well all i wanted to do was get a new notification bar, I didn't really read into the rest as I had no desire or use for that information. Then everything went well, and I learnt how easy it was to go back if I screwed up or didn't like what I had flashed. Not to mention people saying it's near impossible to brick your phone unless your really trying to. Maybe that was just me being ignorant, this could not have happened at a worse time. And I cannot thank you enough for your help thus far.
Thank you for the help. Your guides were very helpful. But unfortunately every step of the way I have run into some sort of problem.
When trying to install the sdk drivers, it won't let me install the amd64 or the i386, but only both of them together. As in it selecting usb_drivers installs (where both of the seperate drivers can be found). I don't know if this is right or not.
When typing in "fastboot devices", "HT036P901361 decives" shows up, but when viewed in USBDeview, 2 of the 3 HT036P901361 drivers show as not connected. The only one that shows as connected is the "vendor specific" one.
Also adb devices, shows nothing.
So again, I'm asking for advice or help.
Edit: So I can reboot fastboot through my computer, but cannot flash anything,
typing in "flashboot flash recovery recovery.img" I get a "cannot load recovery.img".
My recovery.img file is saved on the root of the SD card which is in the phone. Is this the correct way to do it? If so I assume it's still because of the issue stated at the beginning of this post (before edit).
Edit 2: Okay decided to try this
fastboot flash recovery C:\CWrecovery.img (where its located on my hdd), and it starts then says failed infoSignature.
volsey said:
Thank you for the help. Your guides were very helpful. But unfortunately every step of the way I have run into some sort of problem.
1. When trying to install the sdk drivers, it won't let me install the amd64 or the i386, but only both of them together. As in it selecting usb_drivers installs (where both of the seperate drivers can be found). I don't know if this is right or not.
2. When typing in "fastboot devices", "HT036P901361 decives" shows up, but when viewed in USBDeview, 2 of the 3 HT036P901361 drivers show as not connected. The only one that shows as connected is the "vendor specific" one.
3. Also adb devices, shows nothing.
So again, I'm asking for advice or help.
4. Edit: So I can reboot fastboot through my computer, but cannot flash anything,
typing in "flashboot flash recovery recovery.img" I get a "cannot load recovery.img".
My recovery.img file is saved on the root of the SD card which is in the phone. Is this the correct way to do it? If so I assume it's still because of the issue stated at the beginning of this post (before edit).
Edit 2: Okay decided to try this
fastboot flash recovery C:\CWrecovery.img (where its located on my hdd), and it starts then says failed infoSignature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's get one thing straight. You need to read more, I guess, because you still don't know the basics - and with the lack of knowledge, it's going to be hard to help you.
Fastboot commands and driver only work when you're booted into bootloader - which is, 3 droids on skateboards on white screen and text menu, get there by booting with trackball or volumedown button pressed.
adb works only when you're booting the OS - which means, you don't touch anything and let the phone boot. Right when boot animation starts, adb should also start.
1. That's correct.
2. Are you booting into bootloader? There should be no other way to view fastboot driver. In that case, DON'T boot to bootloader, just reboot your phone and let it loop, and only then try "adb devices". If it works - use the "flash_image" method to flash recovery.
3. Read (2) above.
4. If your bootloader isn't unlocked (does it show a padlock below Nexus logo when you boot?), you won't be able to flash non-standard recovery through fastboot. You might be able to flash a complete system image through fastboot, though. Download a factory image, FRF91 for example, unzip it, then do "fastboot flash system system.img", "fastboot flash boot boot.img", and reboot.
When you flash something, you should open the Command prompt in the same directory as the file you're trying to flash! Or use full path for the image you're flashing. And it should be on the computer, not on SD card.
If everything fails - just unlock your bootloader and fastboot flash anything you want.
I am using bootloader.
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>fastboot flash system system.img
sending 'system' (58570 KB)... OKAY [ 8.293s]
writing 'system'... INFOsignature checking...
FAILED (remote: signature verify fail)
finished. total time: 15.014s
That's the error I'm getting everytime.
I got the system.img from hXXp://developer.htc.com/adp.html, I tried looking for FRF91 but could only find megaupload links, and I had exceeded my limit somehow.
As for adb, still getting no devices when I leave it to boot by itself even though I've:
Uninstalled the 3 drivers, unplugged/rebooted, plugged back in/turned back on, and it automatically installs the wrong drivers again too quickly to do anything about it. I've gone into advanced system settings and checked it to never install system drivers automatically. Tried updating drivers, all say they're up to date.
1)So is bootloader not an option for me? Or is there something else I haven't tried? Why am I getting the signature errors?
2)Is it the drivers that are keeping adb from recognizing my phone? How do I fix this?
Any suggestions?
Ok, looks like USB debugging isn't on. In that case, there are exactly 2 options:
1) from here:
http://developer.htc.com/
Download FRG83 image for Nexus, rename to PASSIMG.ZIP, put on the root of your SD card (you can't use the phone for it, so use SD card reader), reboot into bootloader, it'll ask you to flash system image, answer "yes", wait for it to flash. Keep the phone powered. WAIT.
2) if it doesn't work - you're out of luck. "fastboot oem unlock" it is. Then you can flash whatever you want with fastboot.

Rooting Problem

Hello today I attempted something that I thought was going to be a quick video tutorial fix. I tried Rooting my HTC one. I followed several guides and read many posts I easily managed to unlock my phone. The problem started when trying to flash the recovery onto my phone, first I tried through commands: fastboot flash recovery and I received the error (FAILED data transfer failure unknown error) I've searched for 7 hours looking for a fix. Since I cant root reverting back to a fresh install is impossible, I cant find a RUU for telus, (I live in canada). I just don't know what to do, when I try to flash anything my bootloader freeze, drivers are up to date, tried restarting computer. Used One_M7_All-In-One_Kit_v1.0 doesn't work. This is a nightmare come save me before I jump off a cliff.
EDIT: What I did from beginning was followed this video "How to Root the HTC One-FlamingArio"to the point where you try and flash the recovery fastboot. That didnt work so after trying to fix that I tried How To Root HTC One & Unlock Bootloader - Easiest & User Friendly- The smoking Android ( super boot a 1 click install) that made my bootloader screen turn to tampered. after that I tried One_M7_All-In-One_Kit_v1.
Note in all in one kit I did erase cache and standard recovery works fine, I've re-installed it may times.
Cant post links yet but I gave video names.
EDIT: when I do the cmd fastboot devices my device shows up when I do adb devices nothing shows up could this be part of the problem?
Thank you all for your help, I re-installed all the programs on my laptop and redid all the steps and it worked. Bye!
Try this in ABD fastboot erase cache then flash the recovery again i hope this helps:fingers-crossed:
What did you do from the beginning? Could you post a step by step traceback of what got you to this point? Let's see if you missed any steps
Tonberry23 said:
Hello today I attempted something that I thought was going to be a quick video tutorial fix. I tried Rooting my HTC one. I followed several guides and read many posts I easily managed to unlock my phone. The problem started when trying to flash the recovery onto my phone, first I tried through commands: fastboot flash recovery and I received the error (FAILED data transfer failure unknown error) I've searched for 7 hours looking for a fix. Since I cant root reverting back to a fresh install is impossible, I cant find a RUU for telus, (I live in canada). I just don't know what to do, when I try to flash anything my bootloader freeze, drivers are up to date, tried restarting computer. Used One_M7_All-In-One_Kit_v1.0 doesn't work. This is a nightmare come save me before I jump off a cliff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep an eye on this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2302870
Many people are looking for the Telus RUU.
Can you still access standard recovery? If so try reverting to factory settings (all data will be lost) and try to boot.
If you can get it to boot you should have more luck in trying to root your device.
I know that I had some issue's trying to get root on my device. But once I got S-off with revone, I was able to install root no problem.
ArmedandDangerous said:
What did you do from the beginning? Could you post a step by step traceback of what got you to this point? Let's see if you missed any steps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I would agree, if you can post the steps you have taken so we know where the bottleneck is.
Hope this helps you out bud
Still need help
Tonberry23 said:
Still need help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice to see you sorted it
Assuming you have actually flashed a recovery image to your device, you will then need to push a ROM to your sd card so that you can flash it in recovery.
Just do the following:
1. I am guessing you have the HTC drivers installed on your PC.
2. Download the attached adb.zip and unzip it to a folder on your C drive and call the folder whatever you like.
3. Boot your device into recovery and plug it in to a powered USB port on your PC.
4. Navigate to the folder that you just created on your PC and copy your ROM zip into it. rename the ROM zip to 'rom.zip' to make life easy.
5. Inside the folder, press and hold the shift key and right click in a blank part of the window and select 'Open command window here' (screenshot attached).
6. Type 'adb push rom.zip /sdcard' (don't use the quote marks)
7. Press 'enter'
8. Once the zip has finished being pushed to your sdcard, you can reboot into recovery and then flash it as normal.
EDIT: That will teach me not to read to the very end of a post. I'll leave this here for someone else.

[help] got a soft brick after a build.prop edit

A while earlier I was trying to enable tethering on my at&t N6 by editing the build.prop and after the reboot it's stuck in a boot loop. I don't imagine that this is important but it doesn't get to the dots animation; just white Google and the unlock at the bottom. I am still able to get into fastboot and recovery (stock one). I have a backup of the correct build.prop in the /system file named build.prop.back , so I'm hoping that there's a way to revert to that without needing to wipe my device again, but I'm not sure.
I found this thread, however my computer isn't recognizing the device when it's in recovery mode. I have the fastboot drivers installed (needed to root), so that may be why but, again, I'm not sure. the adb devices command shows that there is no device, I imagine because the driver is not installed.
any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance.
Try the ADB & Fastboot installer from this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979
jj14 said:
Try the ADB & Fastboot installer from this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately that didn't fix the problem.
Do you know if the fastboot driver and recovery driver would be different? As far as I can tell from my research, I think they're the same, but I could be wrong. Hopefully that's the problem and you can direct me towards the correct driver.
If I select "show hidden devices" in the device manager, it shows the phone as ADB Interface, and I tried undating the driver for that but it said it was already up to date. not sure what to do from here.
Thanks for your help.
Install working drivers if you can. This is important on so many levels. If they are installed correctly you type ADB devices, you should see your device. If you do type adb reboot bootloader, it should reboot to bootloader. Type fastboot devices, you should see same device name. Pat self on back.
Once that is all good I'd install the latest TWRP img file for your whale, straight off TWRP website (do you know how to do this? fastboot flash recovery recovery/name.img) . Once you do that go to your new recovery by pushing vol-down twice then your power button, inside TWRP you mount system and go into the file manager inside TWRP and swap/rename build.prop files. At this point, please make a backup inside TWRP. This backup will be on your internal memory, also save a copy to your computer in case you accidentally reformat your internal memory like every noob that uses toolkits. Having a backup is very important when you are screwing around with your phone. Reboot and profit.
jawmail said:
Install working drivers if you can. This is important on so many levels. If they are installed correctly you type ADB devices, you should see your device. If you do type adb reboot bootloader, it should reboot to bootloader. Type fastboot devices, you should see same device name. Pat self on back.
Once that is all good I'd install the latest TWRP img file for your whale, straight off TWRP website (do you know how to do this? fastboot flash recovery recovery/name.img) . Once you do that go to your new recovery by pushing vol-down twice then your power button, inside TWRP you mount system and go into the file manager inside TWRP and swap/rename build.prop files. At this point, please make a backup inside TWRP. This backup will be on your internal memory, also save a copy to your computer in case you accidentally reformat your internal memory like every noob that uses toolkits. Having a backup is very important when you are screwing around with your phone. Reboot and profit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I though I had the working drivers... Whenever I boot into fastboot/ bootloader, I can do fastboot devices and the phone shows up, but for whatever reason adb devices returns an empty list everywhere. It's empty in fastboot and recovery and while the phone is stuck in it's bootloop...
I'm fairly confident I can flash TWRP without any problems. I had an old galxy tab 2 that i flashed cyanogen onto a while ago, however i used clockwork for that recovery. I don't imagine it would be too much different though.
edit: also might be worth noting that I'm using a windows 8.1 computer for this. not sure if it matters or not, but it might be useful
momo5732 said:
I though I had the working drivers... Whenever I boot into fastboot/ bootloader, I can do fastboot devices and the phone shows up, but for whatever reason adb devices returns an empty list everywhere. It's empty in fastboot and recovery and while the phone is stuck in it's bootloop...
I'm fairly confident I can flash TWRP without any problems. I had an old galxy tab 2 that i flashed cyanogen onto a while ago, however i used clockwork for that recovery. I don't imagine it would be too much different though.
edit: also might be worth noting that I'm using a windows 8.1 computer for this. not sure if it matters or not, but it might be useful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are ok w/ your problem because you can get to fastboot screen. Don'y worry about adb drivers for now. Do what I said in my earlier post in the 2nd paragraph, start w/ installing TWRP img then do the rest and it will work for you. Win 8.1 seems to have its difficulties but we'll worry about that later after you get TWRP installled.
jawmail said:
You are ok w/ your problem because you can get to fastboot screen. Don'y worry about adb drivers for now. Do what I said in my earlier post in the 2nd paragraph, start w/ installing TWRP img then do the rest and it will work for you. Win 8.1 seems to have its difficulties but we'll worry about that later after you get TWRP installled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. twrp is making a backup as I type. is this backup the same thing as a nandroid backup? i hadnt heard of them before I decided to root.
It should boot properly now. I'll update when it's done.
Edit: IT BOOTS! thank you so much.
Edit 2: So I'm not really sure why it works now but adb recognizes it when its in twrp... odd. I tried to reinstall the drivers with the most recent version i could find, but it didn't look like it actually updated anything. maybe stock recovery was just broken? I'm not sure...
momo5732 said:
OK. twrp is making a backup as I type. is this backup the same thing as a nandroid backup? i hadnt heard of them before I decided to root.
It should boot properly now. I'll update when it's done.
Edit: IT BOOTS! thank you so much.
Edit 2: So I'm not really sure why it works now but adb recognizes it when its in twrp... odd. I tried to reinstall the drivers with the most recent version i could find, but it didn't look like it actually updated anything. maybe stock recovery was just broken? I'm not sure...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool glad it's working. Yes backup=nandroid
It's cool now I've also noticed the computer recognizes phone in TWRP. You can drag and drop files onto the phone while it's in TWRP not just booted in android, couldn't do that before unless I'm wrong which is often. This is really cool as I always forget a file or two or its location on SD card.

I simply cannot flash recovery

I nearly bricked my Razr i XT when downgrading from a Kitkat update to JB 4.1.2 but thanks to the great work here I am making some progress but cannot get Recovery or Root. the unlocking of bootloader via the Motorola website went fine and thanks to this post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239706 I got the rom I wanted, and it's fine.
I have read many other tutorials on installing a recovery and have downloaded and tried 6 or 7 CWM and TWRP images
but it never completes - fastboot says it has, but the phone stubbornly hangs at the flashing.
I have no problems getting into fastboot, but failed many times, and in desperation have tried with USB debugging on and off
and with and without sim and sdcard inserted.
attached are some photos to show where I am stuck at, and I would greatly appreciate some help
carkev said:
I nearly bricked my Razr i XT when downgrading from a Kitkat update to JB 4.1.2 but thanks to the great work here I am making some progress but cannot get Recovery or Root. the unlocking of bootloader via the Motorola website went fine and thanks to this post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239706 I got the rom I wanted, and it's fine.
I have read many other tutorials on installing a recovery and have downloaded and tried 6 or 7 CWM and TWRP images
but it never completes - fastboot says it has, but the phone stubbornly hangs at the flashing.
I have no problems getting into fastboot, but failed many times, and in desperation have tried with USB debugging on and off
and with and without sim and sdcard inserted.
attached are some photos to show where I am stuck at, and I would greatly appreciate some help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U said fastboot hangs at flashing the recovery, but on the command lines on your PC it says finished. Have u tried booting into recovery?
What recovery did u use and where did u get it?
USB debugging, simcard and sdcard don't have anything to do with fastboot. But it is likely that u didn't know that
thanks for looking at this.
I did try booting into recovery from my PC by after rebooting it and then taking the recovery option, but the phone hung at the Motorola bootloader unlocked warning screen.
this link was typical of the various tutorials I used: http://androidteen.com/motorola-razr-i-how-to-root-and-install-clockworkmod-cwm-recovery-on-android-4-1-2-jelly-bean-firmware/
to be fair I cannot recall where I got all the recovery images from - I have that many, and had to rename them recovery.img, so cannot remember the original download names
update:
I have just tried an app from the google play named Root Android, which advised trying other apps - Kingroot, Framaroot & Towelroot,
but they all failed .
what did catch my eye yesterday was the yellow text when in fastboot that says 'dismatched partition entry'
I ignored it as the img files I was trying to flash are all much smaller than the 100mb stated,
but today I am beginning to think that perhaps my recovery partition is corrupt and look for ways to repair it.
does that make any sense?
carkev said:
update:
I have just tried an app from the google play named Root Android, which advised trying other apps - Kingroot, Framaroot & Towelroot,
but they all failed .
what did catch my eye yesterday was the yellow text when in fastboot that says 'dismatched partition entry'
I ignored it as the img files I was trying to flash are all much smaller than the 100mb stated,
but today I am beginning to think that perhaps my recovery partition is corrupt and look for ways to repair it.
does that make any sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That could be it. Try flashing a rsd lite package from JB. Than go to the recovery and see if u have stock back.
Hazou said:
That could be it. Try flashing a rsd lite package from JB. Than go to the recovery and see if u have stock back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks HazouPH, I'll give that a go
I have solved my problem with CWM:victory:
whilst I am not 100% certain I am pretty much sure it was a driver problem - for those who this may benefit, here is what I did.
1. I did not reflash my phone, but stayed with the one in my original post.
2. remember that the main problem was that Fastboot said I had succeeded in flashing a Recovery image, but that the phone 'hung'
at flash as in my photo. and then from my phone I could not get to recovery from the fastboot menu .
3. I stumbled across a posting (on XDA, but I cannot remember where) that said the Motorola drivers were not as good as they should be and that the Motohelper one's would be fine - so I downloaded them, and have attached the zip below.
4. I then decided to tidy up my PC and uninstalled all mobile phone drivers, plus any redundant USB Device drivers
5 for the USB tidying up I tend to use USBdview, which is superb and can be found here
6 when all this was done I simply tried the reflash of CWM - and got the same situation I had been having all along
but amazingly, when I selected 'recovery' it went in CWM - I nearly fainted with surprise!
from all this I can only assume it was a driver problem as I had changed nothing else.
perhaps it was Motohelper drivers- perhaps it was USBdview that did it for me - I will never really know, nor care!
I now have CWM v6.0.1.9 - it is touchscreen and permanent, plus I use the cute Reboot by app by Petrus to control my phone.
happy days!

Factory Reset to Stock (8.0) from root 8.0 updated to 8.1 - No USB Connection

Greetings,
I recently got a Pixel 2 XL and the first thing I did was try to root with SuperSU and TWRP. I had some issues with it and someone suggested Magisk. It worked great and I was able to update from the 8.0 to 8.1 with root. I kept up with the latest Magisk installs until the past week or so.
My phones USB port appears to have failed partially. Luckily I can still charge, but there is no way to see the device storage from a PC. Support has defaulted, after much troubleshooting, to an RMA solution with a refurbished phone. Thankfully, this seems to be covered by warranty and isn't going to pose a cost issue. However, through the troubleshooting I was forced to do a factory reset. I looked up some information regarding factory reset with rooted devices. I cannot find the exact tutorial I followed or thread I gained the how-to information, I'm not sure which it was. I simply searched how to factory reset magisk 8.1 device. It was quick and most of the stuff I find now has the same information.
Open Magisk, uninstall. Open TWRP, uninstall. Device Settings, Factory Reset. Easy
This seemed to have worked. I didn't run into any locked hardware issues thankful because I don't have USB to really flash something to it.
Before I continued, prior to attempting the reset I fully backed up the device to my computer using ES File Explorers FTP transfer over the wifi. This was great, lots of photos were able to be saved with no hassle. I copied the entire root directory and have it backed up.
The problem with the reset is that while Magisk remained uninstalled, TWRP has a basic file installed that upgrades to the full app. I still have root, which would have been nice, except I still need to unroot and go back to factory settings before I can send this device in.
Before I make a mistake moving forward, I want to find the best way to unroot, (preferrably relock the boot also), and return to factory stock as it was the day I got it so I can return in it in the best state I can.
I am running rooted android 8.1.0 Pixel 2 XL with kernel 4.4.88 if the helps. When I reset to factory defaults TWRP remains installed and root persists. I cannot connect via USB and run android dev tools to flash anything directly. How can I restore this device? I should have all original kernels backed up. During the root process I remember them saying to copy the old ROMs first and I performed every step exactly. I do have access to move files to and from the device via WiFi. Is it this even possible?
PS, does anyone think the firmware and rooted install could be the problem with the USB? It seems entirely like failed hardware to me but the troubleshooting was extremely thorough and seems to indicate softare/firmware are likely to be the issue instead of the hardware issue that was determined. Could this still rooted device have corrupted the USB transfer? It seems I should do my best to rule this out as well, more so than just giving them a factory reset device. I'd rather keep my phone if it can be fixed easily, than obtain a possibly low quality heavily used refurbished model.
Regards
Did you try removing and reinstalling the drivers?
Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk
teddy0209 said:
Did you try removing and reinstalling the drivers?
Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you mean for the PC. Yes, I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling both using Microsofts found drivers and directly sent packages from the support team. Updates and 2 different PCs. DevKit installed on the one I originally used to root and a new PC with fresh driver installs.
They wouldn't suggest drivers for the phone, if you know of a way to install new drivers for the phone, please let me know, I'd definitely give that a shot.
Regards
BlazzedTroll said:
I assume you mean for the PC. Yes, I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling both using Microsofts found drivers and directly sent packages from the support team. Updates and 2 different PCs. DevKit installed on the one I originally used to root and a new PC with fresh driver installs.
They wouldn't suggest drivers for the phone, if you know of a way to install new drivers for the phone, please let me know, I'd definitely give that a shot.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should include all troubleshooting I mentioned for those that think they have a solution for the dead USB. My original request was for the OTA flash directions without USB, but I think a lot of people will want to suggest fixes for the phone as I suggested in the PS section.
Step 1: Check computer software.
Windows users, check to see if you have the latest version of Windows Media Player and have installed all recent system updates. Visit omitted for more information.
Mac users, make sure you install and are using Android File Transfer. Visit omitted for more information.
Step 2: Check for system updates.
On your device, go to "Settings" > Scroll down to "System" > Touch "About phone" (or tablet) > Touch "System updates".
If your device has a modified OS, troubleshooting may not resolve your device issue. Re-image your device back to Android factory settings using the instructions from the following link: omitted
Step 3: Restart your device in safe mode.
With the device on, hold the Power button to get the "Power off" prompt.
Touch and hold "Power off" until the "Reboot to safe mode" prompt appears.
Touch "OK" to reboot in safe mode.
Note: To exit safe mode later, simply restart the device normally.
Step 4: Unlock your device.
Before connecting the device to a computer, if your device is password protected, unlock your device. A locked device will not connect to the computer.
Step 5: Connect USB cable directly into computer.
If the USB cable is connected through a USB hub or extension, unplug the cable from the hub/extension and plug it directly to the computer.
A pop-up window should appear.
Mac users will have the Android File Transfer window appear.
Windows users may have a pop-up window appear. If not: On the computer, click the Windows Start button on the bottom left > click Computer > under Portable Devices, click on the device > click on the device's Internal Storage.
Step 6: Test if you can transfer files.
Try transferring a small file.
If file transfer works, success! No need to do the next steps.
If file transfer still isn't working (no pop-up windows to allow file transfer), proceed to Step 7.
Step 7: Change your USB computer connection settings.
Android 6+ Marshmallow only:
Plug in the device.
Slide down the notifications drawer from the top of the screen.
Touch the notification saying "USB for charging."
Touch the option for "File Transfers".
Test file transfer again (from Step 6). If the file transfer does not work, proceed to Step 8.
Older Android OS Versions:
Go to "Settings", under "Device," touch "Storage"​ > touch the "Menu" button (three vertical boxes at the top right) > touch "USB computer connection".
Only Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) should be checked. Uncheck MTP, check and then uncheck PTP, then re-check MTP.
Test file transfer again (from Step 6). If the file transfer does not work, proceed to Step 8.
Step 8: Windows Only: Install Google USB Driver.
Go to omitted and click the blue button on the right labeled "Download Google USB Driver."
After the download completes, right click the file ("latest_usb_driver_windows.zip") and select "Extract All."
Follow the USB Driver installation instructions available here: omitted
Test file transfer again. If file transfer still isn't working (no pop-up windows to allow file transfer), proceed to Step 9.
Step 9: Turn on "Developer options" and disable USB debugging.
Go to "Settings."
If using a phone, swipe down the screen with two fingers, then touch "Settings."
If using a tablet, swipe down the screen from the right side of the top of the screen, then touch "Settings."
Scroll down to "System" and touch "Developer options." If you don't see "Developer options," turn them on as follows:
Touch "About phone."
Scroll down to the "Build number."
Touch "Build number" 7 times to activate "Developer options."
Under "Debugging," verify that the box for "USB Debugging" is not checked. If it is checked, touch the checkmark to uncheck "USB Debugging."
Once USB Debugging has been deactivated, test file transfer again.
Step 10: Try different USB connections.
Try plugging the USB cable into a different USB port on the same computer.
Try connecting to the same computer but using a different/spare USB cable.
Try connecting your device to another computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apologies on readability, I tried to include HTML formatting. I couldn't figure it out, the options support code highlighting but not the code itself.
Additionally, I tried different USB cables, safe mode, and the factory reset that I could perform.
@BlazzedTroll
Summary:
You've uninstalled Magisk, so you don't have root access when booted. TWRP still remains, so you have root access there.
If I read you correctly, what you need to do is to get rid of TWRP. Right?
Download the corresponding factory image, extract recovery.img and flash that by issuing the Install Image option in TWRP.
Just make sure you've done everything you need to before doing this, since you can't get back to a custom recovery if your USB really is busted. Other things to do could include flashing the system.img the same way to revert any possible /system modifications, etc.
Didgeridoohan said:
@BlazzedTroll
Summary:
You've uninstalled Magisk, so you don't have root access when booted. TWRP still remains, so you have root access there.
If I read you correctly, what you need to do is to get rid of TWRP. Right?
Download the corresponding factory image, extract recovery.img and flash that by issuing the Install Image option in TWRP.
Just make sure you've done everything you need to before doing this, since you can't get back to a custom recovery if your USB really is busted. Other things to do could include flashing the system.img the same way to revert any possible /system modifications, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say corresponding factory image, does that mean I need the exact one that came on the device? Or just the latest factory image for the right device?
*EDIT* Never mind that, I found the backup folder in the Unified Toolkit which contains a compressed zip just like the ones on the site. I'll use that and transfer to my device over WiFi and use TWRP to flash it and come back with the results.
Thank you for your assistance
@Didgeridoohan
I have a backup locally saved that resembles those packages. I was unable to locate a recovery.img in either my saved file or the one on the site. My version that was backed up was 1.171019.011, which is 8.1. I know my phone came originally with 8.0 so I tried looking at one of the those for a recovery.img and still could not locate one.
In the zip there are several files
bootloader-taimen-tmz12a.img
flash-all.bat
flash-all.sh
flash-base.sh
another zip
radio-taimen-g8998-00164-17... .img
inside the second zip, many more .img files looked promising
abl.img
aes.img
android-info.txt
boot.img
cmnlib.img
cmnlib64.img
devcfg.img
dtbo.img
hyp.img
keymaster.img
laf.img
modem.img
pmic.img
rpm.img
system.img
system_other.img
tz.img
vbmeta.img
vendor.img
xbl.img
Same files in all 3 zips I checked.
TWRP only expects recovery.img for "BACKUP EXISTING RECOVERY"
TWRP also has "TWRP FLASH", which I did as one of my troubleshooting steps before and got the Google Pixel 2 XL (taimen) flash. These still keep the TWRP and root, which I believe is to be expected for that flash option.
DELETED
BlazzedTroll said:
I assume you mean for the PC. Yes, I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling both using Microsofts found drivers and directly sent packages from the support team. Updates and 2 different PCs. DevKit installed on the one I originally used to root and a new PC with fresh driver installs.
They wouldn't suggest drivers for the phone, if you know of a way to install new drivers for the phone, please let me know, I'd definitely give that a shot.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, I mean for PC...
You can usually get twrp backups from same device with same rom and flash it on yours via twrp ( ask on your device forum)... You will need system.img, recovery.img, and boot.img... I'm not so sure if you can relock the device without working usb/fastboot...
Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk
@BlazzedTroll
My apologies... I'm still not used to these damned A/B devices. :laugh:
If I remember correctly, recovery is included in the boot image, so what you need to do is flash the stock boot.img file to slot A. Don't know if this is possible in TWRP.
teddy0209 said:
You're right, I mean for PC...
You can usually get twrp backups from same device with same rom and flash it on yours via twrp ( ask on your device forum)... You will need system.img, recovery.img, and boot.img... I'm not so sure if you can relock the device without working usb/fastboot...
Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give this a shot, I have system.img and boot.img, as I said in reply to Didgeridoohan, I do not have a recovery.img in the files.
Sad news about relocking, but that should be OK.
Thanks for lending some help
Didgeridoohan said:
@BlazzedTroll
My apologies... I'm still not used to these damned A/B devices. :laugh:
If I remember correctly, recovery is included in the boot image, so what you need to do is flash the stock boot.img file to slot A. Don't know if this is possible in TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's alright. I don't know much of anything about them. It's easy enough to follow tutorials and if I had my USB connection I could do as you say pretty quickly. The problem is I don't understand what TWRP even is. There doesn't seem to be an option to flash you own custom img. "TWRP FLASH" only lets you select from the latest versions and downloads the one you select and starts the flash. "BACKUP EXISTING RECOVERY" expects a recovery.img and doesn't let me select anything other than that. I could try renaming system.img to recovery.img, but until I find out what the difference between the images is, I'm not to keen on trying that one. Sounds like a good way to get hosed before I return it. At this time, I would think without having USB access the folks at Google would be happy to have root on the phone. Rather return it working, but rooted, than bricked.
So I was trying to follow some other suggestions and it seems like maybe the device is actually not rooted anymore.
There is no SU file located in system/bin or system/xbin.
When I download something like "Root Checker" it gets stuck verifying the root.
I tried to use apps like rashr and flashify to flash a stock recovery and neither app will load properly suggesting no root access.
This means when I ran the uninstalls, everything did uninstall and unroot but the TWRP install must not be very clean (I don't think it's being maintained anymore for most devices). So I need to try and find where this app is located and remove it manually before I run the recovery again. If I solve this I'll post back.
BlazzedTroll said:
So I was trying to follow some other suggestions and it seems like maybe the device is actually not rooted anymore.
There is no SU file located in system/bin or system/xbin.
When I download something like "Root Checker" it gets stuck verifying the root.
I tried to use apps like rashr and flashify to flash a stock recovery and neither app will load properly suggesting no root access.
This means when I ran the uninstalls, everything did uninstall and unroot but the TWRP install must not be very clean (I don't think it's being maintained anymore for most devices). So I need to try and find where this app is located and remove it manually before I run the recovery again. If I solve this I'll post back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have root access, since you uninstalled Magisk. TWRP has it's own root, so while booted to recovery you can still do root stuff...
The only way to restore the stock recovery is to flash the boot image to your device.
And TWRP is pretty much the only maintained custom recovery for most devices...
Just a small note: this demonstrates the issues with using toolkits... It's just to click away and you never really learn how things actually works. Can bite you in the bee-hind when things go south.
Didgeridoohan said:
You don't have root access, since you uninstalled Magisk. TWRP has it's own root, so while booted to recovery you can still do root stuff...
The only way to restore the stock recovery is to flash the boot image to your device.
And TWRP is pretty much the only maintained custom recovery for most devices...
Just a small note: this demonstrates the issues with using toolkits... It's just to click away and you never really learn how things actually works. Can bite you in the bee-hind when things go south.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At this point I've just ordered the RMA replacement and I'll send it in. Hopefully those at Google are able to verify that the hardware malfunction is entirely unrelated to the root and they still honor the warranty. If the USB hadn't failed, I would easily flash back to stock as you have suggested. It's a fairly trivial action.
I agree somewhat with the idea that toolkits can be problematic in this way. There was quite a bit involved in running through the toolkit, it wasn't that One-Click root/jailbreak type stuff. I issued all of the commands over ADB and was fairly knowledgeable about what actions I was performing. This issue lies in this toolkits maintenance. The latest update to TWRP removed a ton of features and I'm unable to find the other version. Magisk was fully uninstalled as expected. TWRP did not make it clear that the flashed recovery would in fact contain was is essentially an ad for their toolkit. The placeholder app, as they call it, is literally just an ad that pops up when your recover that says "Don't forget to install us!". You can't even remove that file from the recovery partition, you must reflash to remove it. So the problem isn't just that you don't learn how it works, it's that you aren't forced to go through the changes with a fine-toothed comb as you would creating your own recovery. Had I created my own recovery I would have left it stock so that in the event of a failure such as this you are returned to factory stock without any changes except the unlocked bootloader. I guess in the future I'll have to do this myself. I did take the easy way out and just run the defaults from the toolkit in most cases.
Thanks to you and the others who threw in some helpful suggestions.
For anyone stumbling across this in the future, the problem is a 'semi-rooted' recovery can't be flashed without USB transfer capabilities. The solution is to RMA the faulty hardware hopefully. They should be reflashing all phones they get after repair/refurbish anyway.
Best Regards
For future reference...
BlazzedTroll said:
Greetings,
I recently got a Pixel 2 XL and the first thing I did was try to root with SuperSU and TWRP. I had some issues with it and someone suggested Magisk. It worked great and I was able to update from the 8.0 to 8.1 with root. I kept up with the latest Magisk installs until the past week or so.
My phones USB port appears to have failed partially. Luckily I can still charge, but there is no way to see the device storage from a PC. Support has defaulted, after much troubleshooting, to an RMA solution with a refurbished phone. Thankfully, this seems to be covered by warranty and isn't going to pose a cost issue. However, through the troubleshooting I was forced to do a factory reset. I looked up some information regarding factory reset with rooted devices. I cannot find the exact tutorial I followed or thread I gained the how-to information, I'm not sure which it was. I simply searched how to factory reset magisk 8.1 device. It was quick and most of the stuff I find now has the same information.
Open Magisk, uninstall. Open TWRP, uninstall. Device Settings, Factory Reset. Easy
This seemed to have worked. I didn't run into any locked hardware issues thankful because I don't have USB to really flash something to it.
Before I continued, prior to attempting the reset I fully backed up the device to my computer using ES File Explorers FTP transfer over the wifi. This was great, lots of photos were able to be saved with no hassle. I copied the entire root directory and have it backed up.
The problem with the reset is that while Magisk remained uninstalled, TWRP has a basic file installed that upgrades to the full app. I still have root, which would have been nice, except I still need to unroot and go back to factory settings before I can send this device in.
Before I make a mistake moving forward, I want to find the best way to unroot, (preferrably relock the boot also), and return to factory stock as it was the day I got it so I can return in it in the best state I can.
I am running rooted android 8.1.0 Pixel 2 XL with kernel 4.4.88 if the helps. When I reset to factory defaults TWRP remains installed and root persists. I cannot connect via USB and run android dev tools to flash anything directly. How can I restore this device? I should have all original kernels backed up. During the root process I remember them saying to copy the old ROMs first and I performed every step exactly. I do have access to move files to and from the device via WiFi. Is it this even possible?
PS, does anyone think the firmware and rooted install could be the problem with the USB? It seems entirely like failed hardware to me but the troubleshooting was extremely thorough and seems to indicate softare/firmware are likely to be the issue instead of the hardware issue that was determined. Could this still rooted device have corrupted the USB transfer? It seems I should do my best to rule this out as well, more so than just giving them a factory reset device. I'd rather keep my phone if it can be fixed easily, than obtain a possibly low quality heavily used refurbished model.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try downloading a stock Fastboot Image for your device then unzip it, collect boot.img, then flash just the stock boot.img from TWRP. Should solve the issue upon the following reboot with no more TWRP or root. If youre on magisk or systemless SuperSU. Not locking the bootloader though lol that's hopeless without usb function unless it's possible to lock bootloader using the terminal command with an WiFi ADB app from another device then follow with "adb reboot bootloader", "fastboot boot TWRP.img", then flash stock boot.img from there. I'm just spitballing the second one lol, but if it'll make it to the TWRP part successfully it should work in theory unless the WiFi ADB connection can't make it past reboot which I've never tried. Should probably get an unlock box like NCK Box Pro or whatever supports your device and you'll always know if the port is ****ed or not and flash back to full locked stock with the box if it isn't. It's what I do now. Handy little ****ers lol.

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