Database Develop

Where to begin......

I had a TF701T tablet and dock I sold on ebay. It was neither rooted nor unlocked and worked fine. The buyer later complained saying it didnt work right, wouldn't read the SD nor an external drive. Now i know to read a external drive it needs to be rooted. But I advised it worked perfectly when it was sold. He filed a PP claim. It got here and guess what, it doesnt work right because he unloaded the bootloader flashed CWM on it. IDK what else was done but he lost the PP claim and rightfully so. But with that being said, the tablet would not turn off so eventually it will die. It will charge though. Where would I begin in flashing (I assume) the OEM software to make it usuable again?

Sounds like your buyer was a straight up dumbass.
The first thing I think you need to do is check the forum for the updated bootloader and recovery and go from there if you can install them. If you can't, idk.

You begin by determining which bootloader version you currently have: Boot holding Power and Volume Down until you see some small text. Let go, read the text and post it. Do not use the Wipe Data option from that page with CWM installed!!!!!!!!
Next you need to find the corresponding stock recovery (same firmware version) at Droidbasement and flash it in fastboot.
That done you download the Asus firmware for your SKU, unzip that file once resulting in another zip. If the tablet boots into Android, you can copy the second zip to the root of your internal storage. You should get a notification that an update is available. Confirm it and the stock recovery will flash it. That'll put you back onto stock. But there is no way to relock the bootloader - sorry.
If that does not work there's also a way to flash the stock firmware from a microSD. Let me know.
I wrote a pretty detailed guide on flashing a recovery and rom for the TF700. It's the first sticky in the TF700 General section.
Read that for the basics on getting fastboot to work.
The TF701 is very similar to the the TF700, but there are small but important differences and I wrote that guide for people trying to get AWAY from stock, so you're gonna have to extrapolate. But the basic steps are the same.
Ask here if not sure and flash only once you are clear on each step.
An easier option would be to flash one of sbdag's stock Asus roms. You still have to determine which bootloader you have now and if your CWM version is compatible. But if both are ok, you could just flash the rom and would be on pure Asus stock, but rooted with a custom recovery and could try to sell it as such.
There may be people who actually looking for a tablet all ready for flashing custom roms to it...
Lets face it: Nobody knows what that guy did to the tablet and you should disclose that to the next buyer. So I think you have a better chance to sell it to someone who wants to tinker with it. Swappa would be a good place for that.

Thanks guys. I finally got this back working.

weedahoe said:
Thanks guys. I finally got this back working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity: How?

In the end, a data wipe though CWM that was installed by the buyer.
Thank God it was simple.

Nexus 6 is horrible

I have a nexus 6. The sound quality is horrible with headphones and the speakers. I unlocked the bootloader, rooted the nexus 6. A lot of the custom roms I have tried freeze during installation and soft brick the phone. The only rom that works is the stock rom.
alucke

That's a rather non-descript post. Who's your carrier, what Rom's are you talking about, any custom kernels, did you perform a wipe before installing? As far as the Audio goes, I've got no complaints from the speakers nor using headphones (both hardwired and BT headphones). You do realize that the first boot after installing a fresh Rom can take several minutes, some as long as 8 minutes while everything is set in place. More info so that we can help, please.

alucke said:
I have a nexus 6. The sound quality is horrible with headphones and the speakers. I unlocked the bootloader, rooted the nexus 6. A lot of the custom roms I have tried freeze during installation and soft brick the phone. The only rom that works is the stock rom.
alucke
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol your doing something wrong.
i have flashed most of the available roms, in total hundreds of times, never failed to boot, not even once.

i know i say this often, but ill say it again(even if im wrong this time).. i bet you used used a toolkit to root your device. too bad that you learn absolutely nothing from a toolkit. what you should do is put your phone down, and not touch it until you do some serious research into your device. how you do things properly, what can you flash, etc. these are things that you have to do before you ever root your device.

Is this a rant or are you asking for help? This is a development forum, so not really the place to rant. If you want help, please ask specific questions whilst supplying relevant information

Need education
simms22 said:
i know i say this often, but ill say it again(even if im wrong this time).. i bet you used used a toolkit to root your device. too bad that you learn absolutely nothing from a toolkit. what you should do is put your phone down, and not touch it until you do some serious research into your device. how you do things properly, what can you flash, etc. these are things that you have to do before you ever root your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct. Where do I go for help and advice upon this phone OS? I am willing to learn but know of no courses or clubs to join. I am taking lessons online at the Google developers site. This is a start but slow go. As an update, my soft bricked Nexus6 is back in order. I some how managed to use the Root Tool Kit and "pushed" the factory to the phone. I assume this restored my ABD and debug thereby establishing USB connection between PC and phone. I then wiped Cache, system and Dvalick. and loaded Cyanogen Mod 12.1 and Gapps. For a while there I lost debug and was never able to open the phone and enable it.
Still,I would like to know the alternate way such as sideload ABD and commands, Fastboot, Bootloader, etc.. Thank you.
---------- Post added 21st September 2015 at 12:09 AM ---------- Previous post was 20th September 2015 at 11:59 PM ----------
simms22 said:
i know i say this often, but ill say it again(even if im wrong this time).. i bet you used used a toolkit to root your device. too bad that you learn absolutely nothing from a toolkit. what you should do is put your phone down, and not touch it until you do some serious research into your device. how you do things properly, what can you flash, etc. these are things that you have to do before you ever root your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct. Where do I go for help and advice upon this Android phone OS? I am willing to learn but know of no courses or clubs to join. I am taking lessons online by self at the Google developers site. This is a start but slow go. As an update, my soft bricked Nexus 6 is back in order. I some how managed to use the Root Tool Kit v2.0.4 and "pushed" the factory, I downloaded from Google, to the phone. I assume this restored my ABD allowing debug thereby establishing USB connection between PC and Nexus 6, I then wiped Cache, system and Dvalick. and loaded Cyanogen Mod 12.1 and Gapps. For a while there I lost debug and was never able to open the Nexus 6 bootloader or Fastboot.
Still,I would like to know the alternate way such as sideload ABD and commands, Fastboot, Bootloader, etc.. Thank you.

This is the most idiotic post I've seen here all day. Seriously sell your nexus 6 and go buy a different phone if you don't like the phone or face the fact that you either don't know how to use a nexus device or you have a defective phone. But I'm almost entirely convinced this is 100% user error
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app

ray6279 said:
You are correct. Where do I go for help and advice upon this phone OS? I am willing to learn but know of no courses or clubs to join. I am taking lessons online at the Google developers site. This is a start but slow go. As an update, my soft bricked Nexus6 is back in order. I some how managed to use the Root Tool Kit and "pushed" the factory to the phone. I assume this restored my ABD and debug thereby establishing USB connection between PC and phone. I then wiped Cache, system and Dvalick. and loaded Cyanogen Mod 12.1 and Gapps. For a while there I lost debug and was never able to open the phone and enable it.
Still,I would like to know the alternate way such as sideload ABD and commands, Fastboot, Bootloader, etc.. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here is a good place to start
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/how-to-nexus-6-one-beginners-guide-t2948481
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/noob-read-adb-fastboot-how-help-t3006500
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/guide-flash-factory-images-nexus-6shamu-t2954008
good luck!

Android documentation is kinda lacking
Its not terrible... Its just not entirely coherent, well organized or complete. A lot of poking around and learn by doing, patching together threads that document how things work ect...
Here is my suggestion:
Follow the second link posted by simms22 above, this one here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/noob-read-adb-fastboot-how-help-t3006500
Go here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images?hl=en
And download the latest image for your phone (shamu, the images at the bottom of the list are most recent. All carriers currently use same build, unless your on tmobile or Fi)
Use some kind of unzipping program (not sure if winrar can do .tgz, if not just google "Windows .tgz") to decompress the image you download. This will have a few .img files in it and a .zip Unzip the .zip for the rest of the partition images for the phone.
With these you can use fastboot to re-format partition to stock.
Here is an older guide, while devices may vary a little... and things have changed since 2011, were still mostly talking about system, boot, recovery, data....
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...plained-boot-system-recovery-data-cache-misc/
I would say read through the above guides thoroughly, then manually update your phone to stock.
You will notice the stock flash-all script will
Code:
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-shamu-moto-apq8084-71.10.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot flash radio radio-shamu-d4.0-9625-02.101.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot -w update image-shamu-lmy48m.zip
You probably don't want to do all this... You will notice the last command I showed is fastboot -w update image-shamu-lmy48m.zip (assuming you downloaded the lmy48m image)
We already unzipped this, so rather then flash it in bulk (flashing userdata.img will wipe device) lets flash everything but leave data in place.
So get fastboot working, go to bootloader, and as the script does
With fastboot:
Flash the bootloader
then use fastboot to reboot, to the bootloader
flash the radio
then use fastboot to reboot to the bootloader
then fasboot flash system, recovery, boot and cache images, skipping userdata to avoid wiping the sd card.
At this point reboot. It may take a while for the first boot as android sets itself up and optimizing applications. If things appear to be hung give it 10 minutes before forcing a reboot checking your images and trying again. Pay attention to the output of the commands and make sure there are no errors. If there are read them, and google them.
Now you should be able to boot, and you will be fully stock. This is what it takes to recover from almost any situation. Often you can just flash system to update. Boot will overwrite your kernel, so it is often skipped when custom kernels are used... particularly when not encrypted.
Now find the website for twrp and find the image for your device, then go back to bootloader mode and flash recovery, after flashing reboot directly to recovery.
Also find chainfire's website with the recovery flashable supersu (should be a .zip)
Make sure the supersu install zip is on your phone, and the recovery is on your computer.
Reboot to bootloader and fastboot flash twrp to your recovery partition, then immediately reboot to recovery mode to finish the install.
In recovery make a backup of your working stock system.
After that install supersu
Reboot, and you should be stock and rooted with a backup of your completely stock system.
From here if your want to install a rom reboot to recovery, wipe caches, system and data. On future upgrades backup first, and try only wiping system and caches, then flash the new version of the rom and you wont have to set anything back up. You will have to reinstall xposed if your use it, as well as supersu if your rom does not include it for some reason.
If you do all that, read those guides to the point where you understand each step, and read the thread or at least the last hand full of pages of any rom or utility that you use... Things should work pretty good.

It so easy for some to assume user error, the phone might be a defective I know hate the layout of mine, and out of 13 android phones currently this d*m thing is the only one that freezes on me and will not show up in Linux (two versions) or windows 7 and it still stock. I have hated the phone from day two and tried very hard to use it stock for as long i could. I finally said screw it and went back to my old lg g flex till just died.. I wish i could sell this...but I am stuck trying to make it work. still cant even make it show up in any os and that makes it a bit hard to do anything (and yes my USB ports and drivers and cables are fine i have checked)

And likewise to this post , useless as well
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app

nevermind

simms22 said:
nevermind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:laugh: :laugh:
Was going to post, and had this thought also....
btw JJD loves his N6 and his speakers Rock!
#nuffsaid

Nexus 6 ftw!

disturb1 said:
It so easy for some to assume user error, the phone might be a defective I know hate the layout of mine, and out of 13 android phones currently this d*m thing is the only one that freezes on me and will not show up in Linux (two versions) or windows 7 and it still stock. I have hated the phone from day two and tried very hard to use it stock for as long i could. I finally said screw it and went back to my old lg g flex till just died.. I wish i could sell this...but I am stuck trying to make it work. still cant even make it show up in any os and that makes it a bit hard to do anything (and yes my USB ports and drivers and cables are fine i have checked)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is user error.
SOME hardware is bad... But people like to view their phones as these temperamental beasts that "need to settle" and "all have their own intricacies"
Its a computer. Is this the way we look at laptops?
Two, or two hundred version of linux... Doesn't really matter because linux is a kernel and MTP implementation is handled separately. Not Nexus' fault that you didn't configure linux correctly, or that you expected someone else to do it for you for free, and they didn't do it either.
What file manager do you use, and did you have gvfs-mtp or kio-mtp installed?
What utilities were you using to mount the mtp drive?
These instructions are for arch linux, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MTP#simple-mtpfs (I use simple mtpfs), adapt them to your distro, find your distros documentation.
But then you don't really need it to show up in the OS? Does fastboot recognize it? Have you installed udev rules for it?

ok, thanks for all the input. I will give the nexus 6 a try again, root it. Can anyone point me to a custom rom that is somewhat close to stock?

I like Pure Nexus

scryan said:
It is user error.
SOME hardware is bad... But people like to view their phones as these temperamental beasts that "need to settle" and "all have their own intricacies"
Its a computer. Is this the way we look at laptops?
Two, or two hundred version of linux... Doesn't really matter because linux is a kernel and MTP implementation is handled separately. Not Nexus' fault that you didn't configure linux correctly, or that you expected someone else to do it for you for free, and they didn't do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if I just have issues with lollipop or the hardware and lollipop
I have it rooted now and also still hate it I don't have the sound issues that some have but freezing was a constant with nexus T-Mobile stock ROM or maybe I have a lucky lemon ether way
I don't blame others or look to others to do my rooting rom installation or themes nor do I assume that it the phone every time all I am saying is we need to stop blaming every confused user as noob and assume people are not trying to learn
I been here 3 years but I lurk and learn and move on but I constantly see issues of flaming it is sad ...I see your reply and that fact that you offered help is what I like to see what I would offer if I knew an answer..
Honestly I am just not a fan of the phone but I made my bed and in it I must... hack at it till I am happy...

H811 unbrick help

Hi everyone,
Please forgive any n00b questions.
I got started with rooting / custom ROMs on a Nexus 4, and I didn't realize at the time that this made things really easy and I didn't need to learn very much about how everything worked. Fast forward to last week -- I decided, at long last, that I was tired of using stock MM on my T-Mo G4 / H811. How hard could it be? Probably not much different from playing on my old Nexus 4 right? Lol, maybe not.
So now 72 hours later, my phone is hard bricked and will not enter download mode. and I need some assistance, if anyone would be so kind.
I will try to recount what I did:
To start with, I was using a Mac, so I used Homebrew to install Android platform tools / ADB.
I decided I wanted to try out LineageOS so I went ahead and followed their very clear steps (on LOS wiki) to unlock the bootloader install TWRP. However, TWRP doesn't seem to have an official build for the G4(!) so I had to look up and use one of the betas from this post. Is this where I went off the rails already? [Of course, very stupidly I also failed to make a complete backup of anything before going on ahead. Rookie mistake.]
After unlocking bootloader and flashing my TWRP beta, I was able to boot into TWRP just fine. I followed the normal prescribed steps of doing a Wipe (normal TWRP defaults -- system, cache, etc.?) before flashing the latest LOS nightly (14.1-something) and also the nano-x64 variety of gapps. I rebooted and got stuck with the LOS boot animation. I let this go for 55 minutes, so I am pretty sure it was an actual bootloop, not just the 1st-time-startup and optimization going on.
I rebooted into TWRP and decided to try a different ROM to see if that was the issue. So I wiped again, flashed another ROM (I believe it was a flavor of AOKP 14.1.x), flashed gapps again, and gave it another try. Again got stuck with an endless bootloop (45 minutes).
Since this is my daily driver, I decided to go back to stock. Found this thread, downloaded the MM-debloated zip, pushed to phone, and again Wiped + Flashed. This time, when I hit reboot, my phone was immediately hard-bricked. No startup screen, no nothing. That was quite unexpected. Also, the first time I had ever HARD bricked a device that I was playing with. Yikes!
Since then, I got a hold of a PC, and have been trying to revive the device by flashing an image to the microSD and booting into Download mode, in the form of this thread or this one.
I did get this to work briefly yesterday, or at least I got to Download Mode / Firmware Update screen, and then attempted to run LGUP with the KDZ file. However I ran into an error at about 9%, and couldn't continue -- and then I had to give back my loaner PC for the day. I also noticed that the LG Mobile Support tool was recognizing my phone NOT as an H811 but as something like HX230 or ... whatever it was, it was definitely wrong. Which is worrisome.
Today I'm giving it another try but my phone will not enter Download Mode at all, nor respond in any other way. I'm curious if this is a battery issue? So I am simply charging it for the time being. I also re-formatted the microSD and re-flashed the single .img just to be safe, but still can't get a response out of the phone. On my PC's device manager it is showing up as the common Qualcomm 9008 that a lot of people seem to have seen. No recognition from LG Mobile Support tool, nor from LGUP.
So ... what now?
It's possible that once my battery gets some charge again, maybe I'll be able to enter DL mode. Let's hope so.
However, I am also totally in the dark about which software version I should be using. 20i? 20p? I have no idea what these refer to, and I did not make any prior notes to capture the state that my phone was in before this all began. So IF I get to DL mode I will definitely need further instruction on the CORRECT KDZ FILE to be flashing. Else I will just compound my problems.
ANY tips or suggestions will be appreciated! Thanks so much.

Should have verified being on 20o firmware
Upon further reading, quite obvious, at the top of this thread, I definitely should have followed the Prerequisite steps. I did NOT verify that I was on 20o firmware. "OR RISK BRICKING YOUR DEVICE" is right.
So I bricked my device, in exactly the way I was warned not to do, it seems.
Still, what's the next step? Any thoughts?

freeradical426 said:
Upon further reading, quite obvious, at the top of this thread, I definitely should have followed the Prerequisite steps. I did NOT verify that I was on 20o firmware. "OR RISK BRICKING YOUR DEVICE" is right.
So I bricked my device, in exactly the way I was warned not to do, it seems.
Still, what's the next step? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try search for a fix if not may be @steadfasterX knows how to help you.

Re: searching for unbrick solutions
raptorddd said:
try search for a fix if not may be @steadfasterX knows how to help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I have been looking around for solutions, but can't seem to find anything aside from the unbrick-guides that I've already listed / already attempted.
Will hope for help from @steadfasterX ! Or some other knowledgeable / benevolent party.

freeradical426 said:
Thanks, I have been looking around for solutions, but can't seem to find anything aside from the unbrick-guides that I've already listed / already attempted.
Will hope for help from @steadfasterX ! Or some other knowledgeable / benevolent party.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok what was the last KDZ file you flashed which had worked? 20o?
As you have hard bricked your device you can try the sdcard method again if it works flash 20o again (of it it was 20o).
If you flash a lower version you will hard brick again.
If the sdcard doesn't work anymore for you you can try to flash with QFIL but beware to use the right one. If you use the wrong one it will convert your device and believe me that's not what you want. I can share the good ones but unfortunately maybe on next week first.
Otherwise search on your own for 9008 unbrick but check the md5sum of the programmer!! Compare it with the Evil one mentioned in my ARB list here: http://tinyurl.com/antirollg4 and DO NOT USE THE EVIL one..
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Labs

steadfasterX said:
Ok what was the last KDZ file you flashed which had worked? 20o?
As you have hard bricked your device you can try the sdcard method again if it works flash 20o again (of it it was 20o).
If you flash a lower version you will hard brick again.
If the sdcard doesn't work anymore for you you can try to flash with QFIL but beware to use the right one. If you use the wrong one it will convert your device and believe me that's not what you want. I can share the good ones but unfortunately maybe on next week first.
Otherwise search on your own for 9008 unbrick but check the md5sum of the programmer!! Compare it with the Evil one mentioned in my ARB list here: http://tinyurl.com/antirollg4 and DO NOT USE THE EVIL one..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for the guidance! The post that you linked to REALLY helps. Until now I really was not sure what 10n, 20i, 20o, etc. referred to, aside from just various software versions. Having a definition for anti-rollback and further links to explain, really helps! This gives me more information and I might be able to self-resolve from here. I will give it a shot.
As for your question ... unfortunately there was NO instance where I flashed a working KDZ file, and I didn't know (due to my past experience with my Nexus) that I needed to check the STOCK software version of my phone before beginning to play with ROMs. In other words, I have no idea if I was on 20i, 20o, 20p, etc. From what I understand, this makes things a lot more difficult
Having looked at the linked thread just a little bit, it appears that using a 20o KDZ is the best bet -- because I bricked my device using a 20i ROM so I expect it was due to violating the anti-rollback restriction.
I will look into it more closely and come back if I hit another brick wall. Thanks so much!

If anyone cares, here are the ending results of all this ...
#1 Be wary of anti-rollback restrictions before you flash anything to your G4. You WILL brick your phone!
I tried multiple rounds and multiple variations of all the MicroSD card methods that I could find. I could NOT succeed in unbricking my phone.
#2 Luckily ... I was able to convince LG that I was still technically under warranty!
Because I had the stock bootloop issue in May 2017, LG did an in-warranty repair for me, and replaced the motherboard. So last week, I simply told them "my phone is AGAIN unable to charge and will not power on, just like in May". Since it had only been 5-6 months since the first issue, they agreed to replace the motherboard again.
Moral of the story: you can definitely unbrick your phone by having LG replace the mobo XD XD
From here, I think I will just totally avoid doing any rooting or custom ROMs on my totally-stock G4 coming today in the mail. I will cross my fingers and hope we get OEM Nougat in the USA sometime in the next couple of months.
Thanks again for the help everyone!

messed up my bionic

Hoping someone has a minute to inform me of how to repair my bionc from vzw. I had safestrap 3.73 on and upgraded to safestrap 3.75 with rooted stock moto image from way back when. I saw a lineage 14.1 image install and thought what the heck. couldnt hurt. so I did a nandroid backup with compression to the external sdcard of all partions(securedata,system,data,webroot). did another backup to the internal partion. had the prefrered storage device as intenrnal memory. I then wiped system-data-cache-dalvik and left webtop and secure partion alone. I tried unlocking the bootloader from moto bye getting my device info in fastboot but fastboot did not understand the "oem" command. I remember I was able to boot multiple boots but it had to share the same kerenl so I firgured what the the heck. I could always safestrap back and restore if lineage os failed. my mistake. I assumed. I then found there was a file called moto-fastboot but not sure if it was any different than google's fastboot. before I get things anymore screwed up I thought I would kindly ask for someone to throw me a lifepreserver because I wanna get me and the brick outta the water.
anyhow now it tries to boot, reboots and gets a dead android bmp screen. I can get into fastboot still
any help greatly appreciated. I have not used rsdlite in a while nor can I find the cdma_targa_9.8.2O-72_VZW-22_1ff.xml.zip file to manually doit through fastboot. (my own diagnoses but hey I'm an advnace noob with super cape and no superpowers)
yes my weaknesses are no-fear and stupidity based on not reading, reading and then reading a little more.

rp201 said:
Hoping someone has a minute to inform me of how to repair my bionc from vzw. I had safestrap 3.73 on and upgraded to safestrap 3.75 with rooted stock moto image from way back when. I saw a lineage 14.1 image install and thought what the heck. couldnt hurt. so I did a nandroid backup with compression to the external sdcard of all partions(securedata,system,data,webroot). did another backup to the internal partion. had the prefrered storage device as intenrnal memory. I then wiped system-data-cache-dalvik and left webtop and secure partion alone. I tried unlocking the bootloader from moto bye getting my device info in fastboot but fastboot did not understand the "oem" command. I remember I was able to boot multiple boots but it had to share the same kerenl so I firgured what the the heck. I could always safestrap back and restore if lineage os failed. my mistake. I assumed. I then found there was a file called moto-fastboot but not sure if it was any different than google's fastboot. before I get things anymore screwed up I thought I would kindly ask for someone to throw me a lifepreserver because I wanna get me and the brick outta the water.
anyhow now it tries to boot, reboots and gets a dead android bmp screen. I can get into fastboot still
any help greatly appreciated. I have not used rsdlite in a while nor can I find the cdma_targa_9.8.2O-72_VZW-22_1ff.xml.zip file to manually doit through fastboot. (my own diagnoses but hey I'm an advnace noob with super cape and no superpowers)
yes my weaknesses are no-fear and stupidity based on not reading, reading and then reading a little more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Howdy! Sorry it's taken three months for your question to get any attention. Bionic forum's pretty dead, eh? I'm amazed it's still an officially supported Lineage device. Go team!
Sadly, the no one ever found a bootloader unlock, as a fellow informed me here two years ago. Unless some clever hacker happens upon a Bionic and decides to crack it for kicks, it's not likely to happen. But at least we have SafeStrap and Lineage!
You may know this already, but you didn't mention it in your post, so I'll go ahead and say: when installing a ROM like Lineage on the Bionic with SafeStrap, you need to install it on ROM Slot 1, not the Stock ROM Slot. I imagine that might be why you bricked your phone (I've done it myself a few times too ).
Now that I've given you the skinny on the Bionic's limitations, let's see if we can't get you back afloat. Whenever I bricked mine, I never used RDS Lite—I found a utility called House of Moto. You can find the home page here, but you'll need to create an account to see the important stuff and the downloads (you'll also need to install Java). But if you're more familiar with RDS Lite, feel free to use that instead
System images for the Bionic are hard to find nowadays. I seem to have found one link to an article with a direct download link to an update file at the bottom, which I'll link to here. Whether the update file is the same as an FXZ file RDS Lite/House of Moto requires, I'm not sure. Give it a try and see how it goes! If not, I may have a copy of the file on my old computer at my parents' house. If the linked update file doesn't work, I'll see if I can't get ahold of my image file.
Finally, if you do happen to get things up and running happily, I've got a list of optimizations that help Lineage run more smoothly.
Best of luck! :good:

Delete all files and re-partition all?

If you ever had loaded into recovery in temporary TWRP you'll note that even after formating /data/ and doing an advance wipe (selecting everything), then enter the file manager there is still a bunch of folders and some files throughout your device.
Is there a way to wipe out everything and start completely 100% fresh?

DO NOT DO THIS --- OR --- DO but do not cry about it
I have an answer to my question and it is as I suspected. The short and more official answer is, no. The longer answer is, yes, technically. -- But you should not try it unless you are 100% sure you can live without your phone (forever).
As it turns out no one had a full 100% flash for the whole device and its complete file system structure (except for Motorola). But as it turns out without a manufacturing cable it would be useless anyway. This is because part of your phone is protected and cannot be wiped clean and flashed so blindly... ie... Unlike your desktop computer. But if you're like me you have noticed some orphan files (a few logs).
Is it worth taking the risk just to clear some orphan files? Probably not. But since you do not have a manufacturing cable and technically, your phone can recover, what you can do is the following.
Do NOT use the TWRP installed on your phone. Rather use it in memory
Code:
sudo fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-0-payton.img
Load TWRP and format DATA
Reboot, go to advance wipe, wipe everything.
Reboot to TWRP (again)
In TWRP via the terminal type in
HTML:
rm -r -f *
You will see a lot of things that cannot be deleted. This is because you do not have permission to do so. What little is removed will likely be restored after reboot from the master rom hidden somewhere on your phone which cannot be played with unless you have a manufacturing cable (so I am told). ---- If you have such a cable --- DO NOT DO THIS. --- If you suspect you have such a cable --- Do NOT do this. -- I did this with just my normal charging cable.
After you have run the command which will take forever. Tell TWRP to reboot to bootloader. You will now have a BLACK screen. This is where I panicked. I waited a while and long pressed down the power button (presumably turning off my device). Then I pressed down the power button and the lower volume button. -- Keep holding the buttons. -- It will take longer than you like but your phone will boot up. And low and behold everything that was in the master rom (chip?) has been restored and you will now see the bootloader screen (finally). Load TWRP and install your ROM of choice.
How many times have I done this successfully? 2x
Does this mean this is dependable? Unlikely
Do I recommend this? No.
Should you depend on this? No.
Are you taking a large gable? YES
Can this brick your device? YES, more than likely.
Should you do this if you have any doubts? NO.
Will you get any help if this goes wrong? NO.
So why did I do it? As I look to possibly upgrade my phone in the future I feel a little more daring and can afford to do so. lol

you say "yes, technically", but I have yet to see someone get back to a fully operational stock. The best they can do is get to a mostly operational custom ROM. I (and a bunch of other folks here) would love to be proven wrong.

KrisM22 said:
you say "yes, technically", but I have yet to see someone get back to a fully operational stock. The best they can do is get to a mostly operational custom ROM. I (and a bunch of other folks here) would love to be proven wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After performing this I installed only the official firmware. No additional ROM or GSI. The firmware itself includes the stock software.
A word of caution. --- I did this on 3 phones now. 2 work just fine. But 1 does not. The one that does not reports my IMEI as 0. This means it boots, it loads, it will play games and apps and update via Google Play Store, but it will never make a single phone call ever again. --- Food for thought.

Thanks. That got me thinking - I wonder if you took the one with no IMEI and plugged it to Moto's Smart Assistant, would it recognize it? Would it allow you to force flash it?

KrisM22 said:
Thanks. That got me thinking - I wonder if you took the one with no IMEI and plugged it to Moto's Smart Assistant, would it recognize it? Would it allow you to force flash it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The world will never know. lol --- I'm a Linux user and their app doesn't seem to like Wine. I suppose I could set up a virtual machine with Windows and hope to connect through that. But I was once informed you really cannot do that via a virtual machine. Unless I was misinformed?! In any case, flashing the phone is not a problem. I can wipe it and reinstall any ROM or GSI at the moment. Or I can repeat my process too back to stock under a full wipe. The results appear to be the same.
I already have ordered a cheap Moto G7 from Google as a replacement. My current plan will be to find a very light (small), bare-bones ROM / GSI and install it onto this Moto X4. From there I'll load it up with games and such and let the kids play with it. Figure since it cannot make or receive calls anymore (or text messages either) it will make for a fun little toy.

MotoX4 said:
The world will never know. lol --- I'm a Linux user and their app doesn't seem to like Wine. I suppose I could set up a virtual machine with Windows and hope to connect through that. But I was once informed you really cannot do that via a virtual machine. Unless I was misinformed?! In any case, flashing the phone is not a problem. I can wipe it and reinstall any ROM or GSI at the moment. Or I can repeat my process too back to stock under a full wipe. The results appear to be the same.
I already have ordered a cheap Moto G7 from Google as a replacement. My current plan will be to find a very light (small), bare-bones ROM / GSI and install it onto this Moto X4. From there I'll load it up with games and such and let the kids play with it. Figure since it cannot make or receive calls anymore (or text messages either) it will make for a fun little toy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Yeah, in the past I have been a lot on Ubuntu and stuff like this is not forgiving for wine.
It's a darn shame that we can't just send these phones to Moto with $25 and get it fixed. Oh well!

KrisM22 said:
Thanks. That got me thinking - I wonder if you took the one with no IMEI and plugged it to Moto's Smart Assistant, would it recognize it? Would it allow you to force flash it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moto smart assistant can`t recognize the phone in rescue mode..

St.Noigel said:
Moto smart assistant can`t recognize the phone in rescue mode..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it can't on yours, and most folks with this prob. I was wondering about MotoX4's case. But thanks for trying it!
I had high hopes for that smart assistant when I discovered it, but no joy. When we lost RSDlite, we lost a lot - unless they upgrade it...

KrisM22 said:
I know it can't on yours, and most folks with this prob. I was wondering about MotoX4's case. But thanks for trying it!
I had high hopes for that smart assistant when I discovered it, but no joy. When we lost RSDlite, we lost a lot - unless they upgrade it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RSDlite? Lost? Is this what you seek? https://rsdlitetool.com/

MotoX4 said:
RSDlite? Lost? Is this what you seek? https://rsdlitetool.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
6.2.4 won't recognize a Moto X4 after it is upgraded to Pie.

I used RSDLite since the times of the P2K and MAGX (Linux)... but since it's easier to use fastboot commands...
I have a stock X4 Android One around, if I want to flash Pixel Experience, can I go back to stock in the future?

joel_sinbad said:
...snip...
I have a stock X4 Android One around, if I want to flash Pixel Experience, can I go back to stock in the future?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In all probability, NO.

Then I'm gonna stay on Stock Rom, so... If I want to flash custom Roms, there's not way back...

joel_sinbad said:
Then I'm gonna stay on Stock Rom, so... If I want to flash custom Roms, there's not way back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read a lot on this forum, that's the message I see.

I agree, NO going back. You can, I have... flash any factory Pie rom . All will flash fine and no IMEI, wifi. Radios are gone. I use Google Fi and cell data services go wierd on custom roms, if you want carrier switching.

This makes me think that the Moto X4 is more dangerous than the back then Atrix 4G with their Tegra 2 chipset...

joel_sinbad said:
This makes me think that the Moto X4 is more dangerous than the back then Atrix 4G with their Tegra 2 chipset...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't recall thinking that the Moto Atrix 4g was at all dangerous when I had one - a rather nice phone imho, though that was a very long time ago. I don't think of the Moto X4 as "dangerous" - it is simply that there is not a correct understanding of the Pie file structure by the custom ROM devs such that their ROMs would not so change the file structure of the phone as to prevent it from being flashed back to stock.
Users need to recognize that, with this phone, you can't get back to stock if you flash any custom ROM.
afaik.
This change happened with the file structure and boot structure changes of the Pie update. Prior to that, folks could get away with all manner of mods. Devs for this phone need to approach modifications with the idea of assuring that any mod can be flashed back to stock, BEFORE it is released. That has not happened. And likely won't. User beware!

KrisM22..... Thank you for stating what I could not do as well.

kkjb said:
KrisM22..... Thank you for stating what I could not do as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we ALL do it, and CAN do it - all in hopes of saving some newbie from disaster!