Database Develop

[Q] Having trouble upgrading to 4.4.2 stock on Verizon

I have a Moto X Developer Edition rooted on Verizon with TWRP 2.6.3.1 and stock Android 4.4 on it. I have been trying to upgrade to 4.4.2 without doing the OTA, and without having to reflash TWRP.
So far, I have been unsuccessful.
I have tried Blur_Version.140.45.5.ghost_verizon.Verizon.en.US.zip (approximate file size 150MB) from multiple sources as all the posts I read keep saying that is what works. I have also tried a ~650MB version I found somewhere. In addition, I tried the upgrade located here: sbf.droid-developers.org/phone.php?device=0 which is called VZW_XT1060_4.4.2-KXA20.16-1.25.2_CFC_1FF.xml.zip (It's the 4.4.2 upgrade listed under Verizon US).
All of these fail. In TWRP, about 2-3 steps after it verified md5, it simply says "Failed" with no explanation as to why.
Here is my question:
How can I upgrade to 4.4.2 without a data wipe, and without having to reflash TWRP?
I have no interest in going to a ROM, I want to stay stock, and if I must, I will reflash the recovery if I have to, but I *really* don't want to.

Flash stock recovery, take the OTA, flash TWRP again.
It's so simple, so painless, so quick and it will not wipe your data.

tcrews said:
Flash stock recovery, take the OTA, flash TWRP again.
It's so simple, so painless, so quick and it will not wipe your data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was hoping to avoid that (Yep, I really am that lazy...) but that's what I was going to do tonight if I couldn't get my hands on a .zip to flash.
Ironically, I bought the Dev Edition specifically so things like this would be easy.

It is easy.....just need to do it.
I support my sister, her husband and my wife (as well as my own) who all have Moto X's. 2 seconds to flash recovery, however long it takes for the OTA to install and reboot and then 2 seconds to flash TWRP again. Heck...I'd just leave the stock recovery in place since it's not needed if you don't plan on flashing any ROMs. The OTA doesn't even remove root.

tcrews said:
It is easy.....just need to do it.
I support my sister, her husband and my wife (as well as my own) who all have Moto X's. 2 seconds to flash recovery, however long it takes for the OTA to install and reboot and then 2 seconds to flash TWRP again. Heck...I'd just leave the stock recovery in place since it's not needed if you don't plan on flashing any ROMs. The OTA doesn't even remove root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, that last bit is good to know! Well, I think even if it did remove root, getting it back is easy on the DE.
I think you're right though, I probably won't install TWRP again, I specifically got the Moto X because I was tired of messing around with stuff when I all I want is a rooted, stock Android experience.

So, after several hours of messing with this, and thinking the stock recovery had gotten messed up because the instructions I had for getting in to it were wrong, I finally got the OTA installing...
and it fails.
I don't know why, I haven't seen the error (I'm not looking at the phone when it fails).
So... Awesome.

Taegost said:
So, after several hours of messing with this, and thinking the stock recovery had gotten messed up because the instructions I had for getting in to it were wrong, I finally got the OTA installing...
and it fails.
I don't know why, I haven't seen the error (I'm not looking at the phone when it fails).
So... Awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are there files out so you can just flash 4.4.2 with mfastboot? Would be easiest.

kj2112 said:
Are there files out so you can just flash 4.4.2 with mfastboot? Would be easiest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume so, but I haven't found any instructions specifically saying how to do that, except for the ones that tell you how to return to stock without using RSD Lite.
Unfortunately, I don't know enough about how all this stuff works to be able to figure out which bits and pieces to put together to get upgraded without wiping my data.
What really pisses me off is that I specifically bought this phone so I wouldn't have issues like this, and here I am...
BTW: The only thing the error says is "Error". That's it, nothing else.

Taegost said:
I assume so, but I haven't found any instructions specifically saying how to do that, except for the ones that tell you how to return to stock without using RSD Lite.
Unfortunately, I don't know enough about how all this stuff works to be able to figure out which bits and pieces to put together to get upgraded without wiping my data.
What really pisses me off is that I specifically bought this phone so I wouldn't have issues like this, and here I am...
BTW: The only thing the error says is "Error". That's it, nothing else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guide has a return to stock section. It will tell you how to flash the stock firmware.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2603358
Unfortunately the moto x is not a simple phone for tinkering with, like say a nexus, even the dev edition.
It can be easier once you do fully understand everything. Just gotta know what applies to you...meaning mostly the locked versus unlocked methods for everything.
After owning an s2, a moto x and now an n5 (n7 too...but I don't tinker with it really....its a family device) I've come to the mind set that for flashers and rooters.....nothing at all beats owning a nexus. Every other device has some limitations that a nexus won't have.

kj2112 said:
This guide has a return to stock section. It will tell you how to flash the stock firmware.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2603358
Unfortunately the moto x is not a simple phone for tinkering with, like say a nexus, even the dev edition.
It can be easier once you do fully understand everything. Just gotta know what applies to you...meaning mostly the locked versus unlocked methods for everything.
After owning an s2, a moto x and now an n5 (n7 too...but I don't tinker with it really....its a family device) I've come to the mind set that for flashers and rooters.....nothing at all beats owning a nexus. Every other device has some limitations that a nexus won't have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's the page I was talking about when I said I found the full instructions...
I specifically bought this phone because I didn't want to mess around with it like this, I just wanted to root it so I could use Titantium Backup and be done with it... and now I'm stuck at a halfway point.... Again...
I'll probably end up just doing the full wipe and manually flash to 4.4.2 (RSD Lite doesn't see my device... yay), since I have gone from my mute button not working (with 4.2.2), to a really bad echo for whomever I'm talking to when it's on speakerphone (Even when speakerphone is muted... THAT made for a fun conference call...).

Taegost said:
Yeah, that's the page I was talking about when I said I found the full instructions...
I specifically bought this phone because I didn't want to mess around with it like this, I just wanted to root it so I could use Titantium Backup and be done with it... and now I'm stuck at a halfway point.... Again...
I'll probably end up just doing the full wipe and manually flash to 4.4.2 (RSD Lite doesn't see my device... yay), since I have gone from my mute button not working (with 4.2.2), to a really bad echo for whomever I'm talking to when it's on speakerphone (Even when speakerphone is muted... THAT made for a fun conference call...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing stock and rooting on an unlocked Moto x is basically the same as a nexus. It really is simple, once you are familiar with fastboot.
I guess there are toolkits that automate everything....like Samsung's Odin, and there's a few for nexus....but it really doesn't help anyone learn. And that's kinda what this hobby is all about.
But, I am sorry you're having trouble. Not sure what else to add. The guides are there, and they work. Usually. I can't think of anything to add to whats already been said.
Hope it works out for you!

kj2112 said:
Flashing stock and rooting on an unlocked Moto x is basically the same as a nexus. It really is simple, once you are familiar with fastboot.
I guess there are toolkits that automate everything....like Samsung's Odin, and there's a few for nexus....but it really doesn't help anyone learn. And that's kinda what this hobby is all about.
But, I am sorry you're having trouble. Not sure what else to add. The guides are there, and they work. Usually. I can't think of anything to add to whats already been said.
Hope it works out for you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I'm articulating my issue properly. I understand how to do everything in the guides you mentioned, they're a piece of cake. That doesn't solve my problem.
My problem is that I want to get to 4.4.2 WITHOUT wiping my data, but can't do the update via OTA or flashing in recovery. RSD Lite doesn't work either.
The ONLY option I have available to me is to manually push the update with fastboot, which I can definitely do with the instructions provided... But those instructions require me to wipe my data.
I know it's possible to apply the update with fastboot without requiring me to wipe my data, but I don't know enough about the inner workings to know which steps to skip, and which need to be modified, in order to make that happen.

Taegost said:
I don't think I'm articulating my issue properly. I understand how to do everything in the guides you mentioned, they're a piece of cake. That doesn't solve my problem.
My problem is that I want to get to 4.4.2 WITHOUT wiping my data, but can't do the update via OTA or flashing in recovery. RSD Lite doesn't work either.
The ONLY option I have available to me is to manually push the update with fastboot, which I can definitely do with the instructions provided... But those instructions require me to wipe my data.
I know it's possible to apply the update with fastboot without requiring me to wipe my data, but I don't know enough about the inner workings to know which steps to skip, and which need to be modified, in order to make that happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says right at the bottom of the return to stock section in the guide I linked too.....you can skip
Fastboot erase user data
fastboot erase cache
Though if you have any problems after, you might have to do it again and do erase those, before spending time trying to figure out what's wrong.

kj2112 said:
It says right at the bottom of the return to stock section in the guide I linked too.....you can skip
Fastboot erase user data
fastboot erase cache
Though if you have any problems after, you might have to do it again and do erase those, before spending time trying to figure out what's wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow... Attention to detail -5
Sorry about that, when I looked through that article, I skimmed through and saw that the "Return to Stock" section was (almost) identical to the other instructions I was reading...But I missed that last paragraph when I looked at the link you provided, the directions I was using referenced that article but did not include that last bit...
Thank you for your patients, I feel like a dumbass now *sheepish grin*

Taegost said:
Wow... Attention to detail -5
Sorry about that, when I looked through that article, I skimmed through and saw that the "Return to Stock" section was (almost) identical to the other instructions I was reading...But I missed that last paragraph when I looked at the link you provided, the directions I was using referenced that article but did not include that last bit...
Thank you for your patients, I feel like a dumbass now *sheepish grin*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries!! .
And sorry, its userdata. My keyboard split the words up.
---------- Post added at 11:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 AM ----------
And, you may very well have issues doing that way. But its worth a shot first. If you do have issues, then you can erase those and repeat the process.

if using fastboot/mfastboot, I would still erase cache, as it doesn't touch your data/apps/config.
Another tip, use this mfastboot -> http://mark.cdmaforums.com/X-STUFF/Mfastboot-4.4.zip
or you can use RSDlite to flash the SBF, but there is a corresponding line for "erase data"
Two helpful links that will help explain what you saw...
Taking the OTA -> http://mark.cdmaforums.com/MotoX-OTA.html
various ways to Return to stock -> http://mark.cdmaforums.com/MotoX-ReturnToStock.html

kj2112 said:
No worries!! .
And sorry, its userdata. My keyboard split the words up.
---------- Post added at 11:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 AM ----------
And, you may very well have issues doing that way. But its worth a shot first. If you do have issues, then you can erase those and repeat the process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alrighty, well I was able to successfully flash to 4.4.2 using the Fastboot instructions. Flashed TWRP afterwards and got root right back. Now that I know, this won't be a trial in the future (fingers crossed!)
Thanks for your help and patience

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...

Need help rooting Nexus 6 on 6.0.0

I want to root my Nexus 6 running stock android 6.0.0 but not sure exactly how to do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

dbzturtle said:
I want to root my Nexus 6 running stock android 6.0.0 but not sure exactly how to do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chainfire just released a new root for mm, http://www.xda-developers.com/chainfire-releases-root-for-android-6-0-without-modifying-system/
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

blueyes said:
Chainfire just released a new root for mm, http://www.xda-developers.com/chainfire-releases-root-for-android-6-0-without-modifying-system/
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says that it's experimental and will likely have bugs. is there a stable way to root? If not I don't mind waiting until there is.

dbzturtle said:
It says that it's experimental and will likely have bugs. is there a stable way to root? If not I don't mind waiting until there is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fastboot flash twrp, and then flash 2.52superuser.sip in recovery. Look up wugfresh Nexus root toolkit, it'll explain the process.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I rooted my N6 on Android 6.0 with 2.52 weeks ago and it's absolutely fine - I've seen no problems at all. The "experimental" mention is a disclaimer to cover Chainfire in case you have problems - a very sensible warning in my opinion, but in this case you can probably ignore it.
And I agree with blueyes - Nexus Root Toolkit is pretty much idiot-proof as long as you read the instructions and in particular choose the correct ROM.

dahawthorne said:
I rooted my N6 on Android 6.0 with 2.52 weeks ago and it's absolutely fine - I've seen no problems at all. The "experimental" mention is a disclaimer to cover Chainfire in case you have problems - a very sensible warning in my opinion, but in this case you can probably ignore it.
And I agree with blueyes - Nexus Root Toolkit is pretty much idiot-proof as long as you read the instructions and in particular choose the correct ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with using toolkits when they are "idiot-proof" is that if you go into the process as an idiot, you leave the process still an idiot, so if something goes wrong with the device at a later date, the user has not got the skills to fix it, which becomes a problem on these forums as rather than telling someone how to fix it, we also have to teach the skills that should already have been learned.
Toolkits are great if you know what they're doing but if you dont, use fastboot the first time to get an understanding of it and also to ensure you know it is working on your computer correctly. It's easier to troubleshoot PC configurations when the device is fully working rather than waiting until it is "broken"

"you leave the process still an idiot"
I'll take that in the spirit I think you meant it...
Sure, point taken, but the problem with telling someone to start learning to use tools they don't understand is that this forum ends up with a flood of "I've bricked my device" posts. I agree that the manual way is useful for resolving problems, and I don't use NRT for everything - I'd say maybe 50% of the time for installing a brand new factory ROM, and the rest of the time using ADB/Fastboot for stuff I (think I) understand.
I just think that if someone has taken the time and trouble to give me the commands typed perfectly in the correct order and proven to work, why would I risk typing them in maybe in the wrong order or accidentally installing an image into the wrong partition? My own stupid fault, sure, but why take the long way round instead of the simple straight proven path?
Just sayin'...

dahawthorne said:
"you leave the process still an idiot"
I'll take that in the spirit I think you meant it...
Sure, point taken, but the problem with telling someone to start learning to use tools they don't understand is that this forum ends up with a flood of "I've bricked my device" posts. I agree that the manual way is useful for resolving problems, and I don't use NRT for everything - I'd say maybe 50% of the time for installing a brand new factory ROM, and the rest of the time using ADB/Fastboot for stuff I (think I) understand.
I just think that if someone has taken the time and trouble to give me the commands typed perfectly in the correct order and proven to work, why would I risk typing them in maybe in the wrong order or accidentally installing an image into the wrong partition? My own stupid fault, sure, but why take the long way round instead of the simple straight proven path?
Just sayin'...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not really the long way round. Once everything is installed, its as quick if not quicker. And as I said, you need all this installed for ongoing maintenance anyway so may as well do this whilst your device is working.
You can't brick your device by flashing to the wrong partition so there are no floods of posts from people doing things manually at all. .if you flash to the wrong partition,.just flash to the right partition. It's not rocket science either. If you flash a radio, flash it to the radio partition. If you flash system, flash it to the system partition. ...and if you type something wrong, it won't do anything at all.
Fastboot is well documented (by me and others) in the general forum. People should feel free to nude toolkits once they have learned it, but noobs should definitely learn it and use it the first time for the reasons I have already mentioned.
To root is so simple.
1. In fastboot, use
"fastboot oem unlock"
2. In fastboot, flash a custom twrp recovery image
"fastboot flash recovery twrp.img "
3. If marshamallow, flash a custom boot.img to allow it to be rooted
"fastboot flash boot boot.img"
4. Copy SuperSU to sdcard
5. Flash SuperSU zip from recovery
Once these steps have been carried out, you've used fastboot, know how it works and also have proof your computer has working fastboot. That ticks essential boxes.that every root user needs to have ticked. Once they're ticked, use toolkits to your hearts desire.
The worst thing about noobs using toolkits is when we need them to use fastboot when helping with their issues, they don't know what it is and we have to teach them that. We also need to troubleshoot setting it up which can be extremely hard if their device is bricked or in a state of needing repair. 10 minutes learning now can help prevent hours of wasting our time later. Surely it's only being courteous to learn these things ?

Where can I find a custom boot image ? I'm asking because I'm rooted but every time I try to go into recovery it ask me for a password

getmoneygreen said:
Where can I find a custom boot image ? I'm asking because I'm rooted but every time I try to go into recovery it ask me for a password
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're encrypted, recovery will always ask you for a password. If you've set a password in android, you use that..if you have not set a password in android, you use the default twrp password.

I am an Android Noob! My first Android devices were the Nexus Player and the Nexus 6. (I came from iPhones and Apple TV) It did not take me long at all to learn how to use fastboot and adb. I manually flashed my Nexus 6 and Nexus Player to 6.0 before the OTAs were rolling out no problem. I have root on both of my devices.
My point is, if I can learn how to do this in a matter of a day (I have not had my Nexus 6 a full month yet) You can learn how to do it as well. There are tons of guides out there on how to do all of this. Google is your friend. You will feel awesome and have a sense of accomplishment if you take the time to learn this stuff. It is easy to learn, not hard at all! I come from a pretty extensive tech background so I was a step ahead, but anyone can do / learn this stuff.
There are toolkits that can do this stuff for you pretty much. I have not downloaded or used one myself. I don't trust someone else's code with my device. That's just me though. I like to feel in control when I flash stuff.

@danarama
"Surely it's only being courteous to learn these things ?"
I know that it's all too easy to be taken wrong when writing a post, so I'll say up front that I'm serious - thanks for posting those steps. I've watched the NRT run through its steps a number of times and it clearly does a lot more than this, which is why i'm glad that it's doing the typing for me
I have used your steps when flashing various things, I've just never used them for a ROM upgrade - except once when I was trying to recover a broken-radio N5 and was installing Chroma.
One value at least of the NRT for noobs is its help in setting up your PC's drivers - that alone is a good reason to look at it.
Just for interest, what would happen if I flashed recovery into the radio partition? Or the boot partition?
Seriously, thanks for these steps - I appreciate it.

dahawthorne said:
@danarama
"Surely it's only being courteous to learn these things ?"
I know that it's all too easy to be taken wrong when writing a post, so I'll say up front that I'm serious - thanks for posting those steps. I've watched the NRT run through its steps a number of times and it clearly does a lot more than this, which is why i'm glad that it's doing the typing for me
I have used your steps when flashing various things, I've just never used them for a ROM upgrade - except once when I was trying to recover a broken-radio N5 and was installing Chroma.
One value at least of the NRT for noobs is its help in setting up your PC's drivers - that alone is a good reason to look at it.
Just for interest, what would happen if I flashed recovery into the radio partition? Or the boot partition?
Seriously, thanks for these steps - I appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Radio may boot but won't connect to a network.
Boot is the kernel so it won't boot without it (bootloop)
Both can be fixed by flashing the correct image to the correct partition.
The images in the factory image are appropriately labelled too, so it would be difficult to flash to the wrong partition without realizing it was wrong.. Eg
"fastboot flash radio boot.img" looks wrong when you have radio.img too.

Thanks, danarama. I suppose that's the point I was trying to make at the top - that if you're a bit of a thicko then you could flash to the wrong partition, which a predefined script won't. As long as it's recoverable, no problem, but I remember the pumping heart and breathlessness as I watched my devices on several occasions sitting with the boot animation for 10-15 minutes and thinking "What the hell do I do now?"
I know I'm hijacking this thread (sorry...) but is there anything you can think of that would definitely hard-brick my device if I'm being thick or careless? I've never managed it, and maybe as Android progresses it's becoming harder to hard-brick, but is there ever a time when I need to think "There's no way back from this one"?

danarama said:
If you're encrypted, recovery will always ask you for a password. If you've set a password in android, you use that..if you have not set a password in android, you use the default twrp password.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank for the heads up really appreciate that. BTW what is the default password for twrp

getmoneygreen said:
Thank for the heads up really appreciate that. BTW what is the default password for twrp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure, Im not encrypted. But its documented somewhere by twrp dev. Maybe on their site or in their thread

Nexus 6 bootloop when updating to android 5.1

Hey everyone I'm looking here as my last resort before sending my phone back to Motorola.
Bought a Nexus 6 from motorola uk which was delivered yesterday, switched phone on and all the Google apps on the phone updated, then had a notification OTA to download and install android 5.1 which I did, towards the end of the install process I had an error with the green android and a red exclamation mark.
I powered the device off with the power button and it turned back on and ever since it says "Android is starting" "Optimizing app 1 of 125" once it goes through all the apps it gets to the android boot screen then just goes back to the "Android is starting" "Optimizing app 1 of 125" over and over and over. (Infinite bootloop)
Pointers: The phone is not unlocked or rooted as I'm a noob its just fresh out the box, also I never opened/unlocked the developer options.
I have tried various recovery mode fixes, wiping cache and wiping all data and then rebooting the device with no luck.
Is there anyway I can hook my N6 up to my computer and fix this with a tool kit etc? I'm willing to try but I'd need basic instructions and reassurance it wouldn't muck up my warranty if it didn't work as my only other option is to exchange for a new device.
I'm a noob so I need detailed basic step by step instructions.
Any help, advice etc would be hugely appreciated. Thanks

Just send it back, no point messing about with it if it brand new could down to a fault with the hardware itself.

ixon2001 said:
Just send it back, no point messing about with it if it brand new could down to a fault with the hardware itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Iv'e heard this is a common problem with the N6 whilst trying to update the OTA 5.1 I had no other apps on the phone it was fresh, I did nothing wrong, I know someone who has been through 4 devices with the same bloody issues! In the end he had to sideload 6.0 and I'm not confident in being able to do that.

Well best bet is to download wugfresh toolkit 2.10 i think is the latest version, follow the instructions carefully because first you need to unlock the bootloader then flash 6.0.1 which has just come out.
Using Wugfresh is the best way to go if your new to flashing & you can't really go wrong with it.

ixon2001 said:
Well best bet is to download wugfresh toolkit 2.10 i think is the latest version, follow the instructions carefully because first you need to unlock the bootloader then flash 6.0.1 which has just come out.
Using Wugfresh is the best way to go if your new to flashing & you can't really go wrong with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I`am sure most xperienced users (me included) will not agree with you The best way to unlock, flash and root is still adb/fastboot. Especialy for lesser xperienced users that are lost is something goes wrong while using the toolkit, wich happens frequently btw. Just check the help threads.

gee2012 said:
I`am sure most xperienced users (me included) will not agree with you The best way to unlock, flash and root is still adb/fastboot. Especialy for lesser xperienced users that are lost is something goes wrong while using the toolkit, wich happens frequently btw. Just check the help threads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol it's not rocket science using adb, been doing that way for years but for somebody that never flashed, rooted ect I still think the toolkit best way to go at first because everything is done for you at a click of a button.
Yes things can go tits up when using toolkits, mainly because they don't follow simple instructions.

ixon2001 said:
Lol it's not rocket science using adb, been doing that way for years but for somebody that never flashed, rooted ect I still think the toolkit best way to go at first because everything is done for you at a click of a button.
Yes things can go tits up when using toolkits, mainly because they don't follow simple instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets agree to disagree

OK

ixon2001 said:
Yes things can go tits up when using toolkits, mainly because they don't follow simple instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, but because toolkits are always behind at least one version with marshmallow. People kept bricking their devices with toolkits when marshmallow came out and they thought they could root it. As 6.0.1 came out they'll do something else wrong.
Toolkits are not help. It's the lazy way if everything is already working and up to date.
Also what can a toolkit do if this phone doesn't even have developer options turned on? If it's in boot loop, as the OP said, then the Enable OEM unlocking was never set, then the only solution is to send it back. Unless there's a toolkit magic we don't know about.
Sent from my Nexus 6 running cyosp using Tapatalk

istperson said:
N
Also what can a toolkit do if this phone doesn't even have developer options turned on? If it's in boot loop, as the OP said, then the Enable OEM unlocking was never set, then the only solution is to send it back. Unless there's a toolkit magic we don't know about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think op created another thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/help/nexus-6-stuck-bootloop-trying-to-update-t3266100 for this issue - and was somehow able to unlock the bootloader (not sure how that worked if OEM unlock was never set)

jj14 said:
(not sure how that worked if OEM unlock was never set)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was said that some of the first Nexus 6s with the original 5.0 came out with a bootloader that didn't check for this switch.

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!