Database Develop

[Q] how to return to stock recovery with locked bootloader?

im gona send my phone in as a replacement, but i want to make sure everything looks stock before it send it in, i found a couple of ways to return to stock but i keep getting signiture verified failed, and i assume its because i have an unlocked bootloader, can any 1 help?

You should be able to find the stock rom for unlocked users in the development section. Just flash that and you will be back on stock.
But you can't re-lock the bootloader. When you unlocked it you voided the warranty, and it stays that way.
If it is a physical hardware problem, you should be able to still get warranty though.

Sorry, I meant to say my bootloader is locked, I don't have a problem with the rom, but the recovery. I am on ra recovery atm and I want to go back to google's stock. Is there anyway to do that?

Im pretty sure this works for all phones but if you flash Official OTA it will put everything back to stock(except bootloader if it has been unlocked) but doing this you will also loose root as well
i would wait for some one to tell you another way to get back to stock recovery, im sure there is a way to do it in adb or something.. Flashing the official OTA should be like a last thing wanting to do

Look for the stock recovery Tom for your phone then just flash with fastboot. That's the easiest way that I. Did it.
sent from outter space

codearray said:
Look for the stock recovery Tom for your phone then just flash with fastboot. That's the easiest way that I. Did it.
sent from outter space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He cant do fastboot, he has locked Bootloader.

yeah, it saids verification failed and wouldnt let me flash anything onto it

oops my bad. I had an unlocked bootloader. My other phone is locked.
sent from outter space

vvaffles said:
yeah, it saids verification failed and wouldnt let me flash anything onto it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i had the same problem when i tried to revert mine to stock. My bootloader was lock and wouldnt let me reflash the stock rom with verification failed.
NOT SURE IF THIS IS THE CORRECT WAY, DO AT YOUR OWN RISK :
I renamed the image to PASSIMG.zip and booted into bootloader. The bootloader automatically searches for PASSIMG and when it found it went through an update/installing process which took about 5minutes. When it booted phone was unrooted again, and had the stock recovery.
Once that was done, i installed the FRF85 (i think) update.zip from bootloader recovery, then did the same with update.zip for FRF91.
Again not sure if this was the correct way as i have never seen posts directing to do it this way - have posted questions about it in the past week or two, but never got any responses...

I'm gonna bump this thread up again. I tried downloading the original PASSIMG file for the stock and when I try and flash it by putting it on the SD card I get that the main file is older and the install is aborted. I can't fastboot the files because my bootloader is not unlocked. I'm currently running a FRG83 based ROM, does this matter? I'd like to return my phone to stock recovery and stock ROM, but so far every attempt has been met in failure... I guess it's an irony of rooting a phone without unlocking a bootloader. If you have to send it in for repairs you have to unlock the bootloader to return to stock, or you can't return to stock and you're left with custom recovery and root... either way HTC knows you're rooted. I know my issue is a hardware issue, but it would be my luck they decide to void my whole warranty.

You can't just PASSIMG your way back from FRG83, if you have it - since there's no PASSIMG for FRG83 yet (at least I'm not aware of one, and looks like Google isn't either), and the system is designed not to flash older builds. Trying to use PASSIMG to return to older builds requires some heavy preparations (has to be rooted, then downgrading HBOOT and probably flashing initial system.img from an older build through adb in recovery, using flash_image). It's possible and not very hard to do, but most probably beyond "1-click-root"ers' skills. All the relevant info is in the Wiki, so if you want to attempt it - you can try.
Unrooting FRG83 (reflashing stock recovery from FRF91, removing su and Superuser.apk from root shell) might be easier.
Also, put attention that if the phone has SLCD screen - the official stock FRF91 won't work on it.

I actually was able to PASSIMG to FRG33 then OTA back to FRG83. which I thought was odd due to the fact that I was on a FRG83 based rom. Oh well, it's 100% back to stock now. So even though people say that a rooted/unlocked phone only voids your software warranty I don't have to worry about it. Yay for keeping a locked bootloader.

[Q] How to not Brick my Nexus 6 Android 5.1

Hi
I have been flashing for many years, but I think for the first time in 7 years, I am not feeling safe to flash on the Nexus 6.
I upgraded the stock to 5.1, and had a hard time figuring out what people did, other then flashing the CM 12 5.01 to brick thier phone.
Could someone Help compile a list of what not to do on the Nexus 6 and upgraded to stock 5.1?
What should I and others do in stead to insure we can unlock teh bootloader, flash recovery and flash custom rom safely
Thanks in advance

Flashed 5.1 BL and Modem on euphoria 5.0.2, then flashed back to stock 5.0.1, then flashed euphoria again, the same build upon which i flashed the 5.1 BL and Modem.
I didn't flash CM, still bricked my phone . And i don't know why. Coz after flashing it worked for a while and next morning it was bricked.

pallefar said:
Hi
I have been flashing for many years, but I think for the first time in 7 years, I am not feeling safe to flash on the Nexus 6.
I upgraded the stock to 5.1, and had a hard time figuring out what people did, other then flashing the CM 12 5.01 to brick thier phone.
Could someone Help compile a list of what not to do on the Nexus 6 and upgraded to stock 5.1?
What should I and others do in stead to insure we can unlock teh bootloader, flash recovery and flash custom rom safely
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the others relocked their bootloader after flashing the full 5.1 image and ended up in a bootloop. Not the end of the world but now the "enable OEM unlock" unsets every time you boot so if you lock the bootloader and end up in a bootloop, you cannot unlock the bootloader which means you cannot flash anything to recover.

Dont relock your bootloader?
So would you say that if you have unlocked the bottloader then dont relock it untill a fix for the brick has been found?
Also if you update to 5.1, the stay with 5.1 Roms to be on the safe side?
Thanks in advance, just want to help pthers with same questions

pallefar said:
What should I and others do in stead to insure we can unlock teh bootloader, flash recovery and flash custom rom safely
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think people are bricking b/c they are attempting to downgrade the bootloader and/or the partition table. In general, you should never do that with a Motorola phone. There are some examples when it could be done in the past, but those are few and far between.
The best advice is to know what you are flashing before you flash and make sure you never attempt to downgrade the bootloader or partition table. And never take an OTA until you revert back to stock.
Also, always enable OEM lock and USB debugging. If that makes your phone too insecure for you b/c you keep trade secrets, classified information or pictures of your private parts on your phone, then you shouldn't be unlocking and rooting your phone to begin with.
So based on what has helped avoid bricks on the Moto X:
1) ensure your bootloader is unlocked before you flash anything to your phone;
2) do not attempt to downgrade the bootloader or partition table*;
3) know what you are flashing and make sure whatever it is does not include files that would attempt to downgrade your bootloader or partition table*;
4) make sure OEM unlock and USB debugging are enabled each time you flash;
5) never take an OTA unless you have reverted back to stock completely;
6) never upgrade the bootloader w/o also upgrading the partition table* and vice-versa; and
7) use mfastboot for flashing**.
* there is apparently no partition table on a Nexus
** this may or may not be necessary on the Nexus 6
Now the above is a bit overkill - for instance, there may be situations in which you can take an OTA w/o reverting completely back to stock or there may be situations in which you can downgrade your bootloaders. But if you follow those rules above you should be safe from bricking your device.
As long as your bootloader is unlocked and you can get into bootloader mode and you have the factory images, you aren't bricked.
---------- Post added at 05:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 PM ----------
randy6644 said:
Flashed 5.1 BL and Modem on euphoria 5.0.2, then flashed back to stock 5.0.1, then flashed euphoria again, the same build upon which i flashed the 5.1 BL and Modem.
I didn't flash CM, still bricked my phone . And i don't know why. Coz after flashing it worked for a while and next morning it was bricked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you flash the 5.1 partition table when you flashed the 5.1 bootloader? I would never have a mismatch of versions b/t the bootloader and the partition table.
Once you upgraded the bootloader to 5.1, do you know if any of the subsequent flashes you did included earlier versions of the bootloader or the partition table?

pallefar said:
So would you say that if you have unlocked the bottloader then dont relock it untill a fix for the brick has been found?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally.
I'm not on 5.1 yet so I cant say if the "Enable OEM lock" is controlled by the bootloader at boot or the Kernel / OS..

Better be safe then sorry
JulesJam said:
I think people are bricking b/c they are downgrading the bootloader and/or the partition table. In general, you should never do that with a Motorola phone. There are some examples when it could be done, but those are few and far between.
The best advice is to know what you are flashing before you flash and make sure you never attempt to downgrade the bootloader or partition table. And never take an OTA until you revert back to stock.
Also, always enable OEM lock and USB debugging. If that makes your phone too insecure for you b/c you keep trade secrets, classified information or pictures of your private parts on your phone, then you shouldn't be unlocking and rooting your phone to begin with.
So:
1) ensure your bootloader is unlocked before you flash anything to your phone;
2) do not attempt to downgrade the bootloader or partition table;
3) know what you are flashing and make sure whatever it is does not include files that would attempt to downgrade your bootloader or partition table;
4) make sure OEM unlock and USB debugging are enabled each time you flash; and
5) never take an OTA unless you have reverted back to stock completely.
Now the above is a bit overkill - for instance, there may be situations in which you can take an OTA w/o reverting completely back to stock or there may be situations in which you can downgrade your bootloaders. But if you follow those rules above you should be safe from bricking your device.
As long as your bootloader is unlocked and you can get into bootloader mode and you have the factory images, you aren't bricked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate, I think for now it is better to be dafe then sorry and follow your steps above

i believe it would be controlled by the kernel/OS...and thats how it gets disabled upon boot of 5.1

pallefar said:
Thanks mate, I think for now it is better to be dafe then sorry and follow your steps above
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I would add to that not to do anything to cause a version mismatch b/t the bootloader and the partition table. And since you shouldn't be downgrading those, what that means is never upgrade the bootloader w/o also upgrading the partition table and vice-versa.
Again, maybe you can get away with upgrading the bootloader w/o upgrading the partition table but I can't think of any reason not to have those both be on the same version.
One more thing - use mfastboot not fastboot to flash. mfastboot may only be needed for the larger files like system.img but I just use mfastboot all of the time and then I don't have to worry about it.

benefit of mfastboot
What is the benefit of mfastboot compared to normal fastboot flashing? just want to make sure everyhitng is covered
thanks in advance

pallefar said:
What is the benefit of mfastboot compared to normal fastboot flashing? just want to make sure everyhitng is covered
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://mark.cdmaforums.com/MotoX-mFastboot.htm

pallefar said:
Hi
I have been flashing for many years, but I think for the first time in 7 years, I am not feeling safe to flash on the Nexus 6.
I upgraded the stock to 5.1, and had a hard time figuring out what people did, other then flashing the CM 12 5.01 to brick thier phone.
Could someone Help compile a list of what not to do on the Nexus 6 and upgraded to stock 5.1?
What should I and others do in stead to insure we can unlock teh bootloader, flash recovery and flash custom rom safely
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue with bricking is that after updating to 5.1 people flashed CM which for some reason includes a bootloader. (no rom should include a BL and radio) When they flashed CM it tried to load an older bootloader which caused bricks. This will be seen by any roms that pretty much is just a renamed CM rom. My advise would be to know what your flashing by always inspecting the zip file before you flash it.

Is the nexus locking its bootloader itself now...I unlocked mine and never have knowing locked it back....So on every flash or after every reboot always turn OEM unlock on?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

safe side
So basicly to be on the safe side, stay away or evestigate any Rom which is using the CM 12 source.
I guess AOSP is a safer bet at the moment? like Chroma rom

pallefar said:
So basicly to be on the safe side, stay away or evestigate any Rom which is using the CM 12 source.
I guess AOSP is a safer bet at the moment? like Chroma rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much. Many claim to be based off of AOSP but most are just using CM sources. I know Slim and DU are based off of AOSP. DU uses the theme engine from CM but thats about it. Slim doesnt use anything from CM last I knew. Many are moving away from using anything CM related so there may be more.

zelendel said:
Pretty much. Many claim to be based off of AOSP but most are just using CM sources. I know Slim and DU are based off of AOSP. DU uses the theme engine from CM but thats about it. Slim doesnt use anything from CM last I knew. Many are moving away from using anything CM related so there may be more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. I think @zephiK chroma is aosp no-cm.

awesome thanks guys, I think this thread will guide people to not brick thier phones

kenbrownstone said:
Is the nexus locking its bootloader itself now...I unlocked mine and never have knowing locked it back....So on every flash or after every reboot always turn OEM unlock on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't relock itself but lots of people who are on these forums don't really understand what they are doing/flashing and so to be extra safe, I put that in there for people always to double check that OEM unlock is enabled.
People may think they have unlocked when they haven't or may not realize they relocked. I know that seems hard to do but I have never seen so many bricked nexi in my life before.
Just trying to help the less experienced from bricking. If you know what you are doing you don't need to take advice from me.
---------- Post added at 10:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 PM ----------
zelendel said:
The issue with bricking is that after updating to 5.1 people flashed CM which for some reason includes a bootloader. (no rom should include a BL and radio) When they flashed CM it tried to load an older bootloader which caused bricks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that will do it - downgrading the bootloader is a no-no on a motorola phone except in rare cases when it was possible.
zelendel said:
My advise would be to know what your flashing by always inspecting the zip file before you flash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Always!

Great write up! Saved my a$$ for sure. I updated my bootloader and radio the day it was available and I'm running a 5.0.1 CM12 based ROM. Here's where sometimes you get lucky, I was on v8.7 of this ROM, after I did the 5.1 bootloader and radio flash, an update came out to 8.8, I'm usually flash happy, but I figured why bother if I can wait for the 5.1 integration! I did unzip the update and no bootloader.img to be found, so I suppose the dev was wise enough not to put it in, but still.
I was curious about why most are moving away from CM? Because of these types of oversights? Their"interesting" business model?

JulesJam said:
I think people are bricking b/c they are attempting to downgrade the bootloader and/or the partition table. In general, you should never do that with a Motorola phone. There are some examples when it could be done in the past, but those are few and far between.
The best advice is to know what you are flashing before you flash and make sure you never attempt to downgrade the bootloader or partition table. And never take an OTA until you revert back to stock.
Also, always enable OEM lock and USB debugging. If that makes your phone too insecure for you b/c you keep trade secrets, classified information or pictures of your private parts on your phone, then you shouldn't be unlocking and rooting your phone to begin with.
So:
1) ensure your bootloader is unlocked before you flash anything to your phone;
2) do not attempt to downgrade the bootloader or partition table;
3) know what you are flashing and make sure whatever it is does not include files that would attempt to downgrade your bootloader or partition table;
4) make sure OEM unlock and USB debugging are enabled each time you flash;
5) never take an OTA unless you have reverted back to stock completely;
6) never upgrade the bootloader w/o also upgrading the partition table and vice-versa; and
7) use mfastboot for flashing.
Now the above is a bit overkill - for instance, there may be situations in which you can take an OTA w/o reverting completely back to stock or there may be situations in which you can downgrade your bootloaders. But if you follow those rules above you should be safe from bricking your device.
As long as your bootloader is unlocked and you can get into bootloader mode and you have the factory images, you aren't bricked.
---------- Post added at 05:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 PM ----------
Did you flash the 5.1 partition table when you flashed the 5.1 bootloader? I would never have a mismatch of versions b/t the bootloader and the partition table.
Once you upgraded the bootloader to 5.1, do you know if any of the subsequent flashes you did included earlier versions of the bootloader or the partition table?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does nexus have a partition table to flash? I've never heard of that from a nexus forum. I just flashed the 5.1 BL and went back to 5.0 stock rom ,then flashed euphoria. I believe that you flash via Fastboot if your bootloade is mismatched, that you can't acutally flash it. Not unless you use dd command. I'm not sure about this, though. I'm no way a dev or someone with knowledge in this field. But for nexus devices i owned, i never saw any nexus could be bricked this easy. Yes, they're made by motorola, but it's still a nexus . LG makes nexus 4 and 5, doesn't mean LG locked their bootloader as well. I don't think it's a fault of Motorola or has anything to do with its manufacturer. It's a nexus.

Unable to downgrade bootloader to get LMY47M OTA

I am ever impatient. So when I saw new factory images up on the Google page, I just had to try them out. I upgraded to LMY47E, then naturally the next day I saw the news about LMY47M. Being that I'm a T-Mobile customer, I want the M version (reported the T-Mobile version) of the new 5.1. Unfortunately, as part of the LMY47E upgrade, the bootloader was moved from 71.05 to 71.08.
Now, trying to flash factory images from LRX22C results in a bootloader mismatch error. I got around this by manually flashing radio, system, boot, etc. images on the phone, and I do in fact now have the 5.01 build showing. However, when I try to sideload the LMY47M build, I'm receiving an error from this line in the updater script:
Code:
#getprop("ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/shamu/shamu:5.0.1/LRX22C/1602158:user/release-keys" ||
abort("Package expects build fingerprint of google/shamu/shamu:5.0.1/LRX22C/1602158:user/release-keys; this device has " + getprop("ro.build.fingerprint") + ".");
It's stating that I have 5.0.2 LRX22G signed with test keys. I don't know how I would have got an engineering build installed from flashing factory firmware from the Google page, but apparently something is confused somewhere along the way. The best I can guess is that perhaps that's some leftover remnants from when I had installed a CM12 nightly build (which I believe is based on 5.0.2).
I don't know what I need to flash with what to get that cleared so I can sideload the LMY47M OTA, and I'm concerned that I may be unable to properly upgrade to additional OTA upgrades if there's a missmatch along the way. There was a confirmed update coming to move from LMY47E to LMY47M per T-Mo support , also confirmed by @askdes) but again, if I have some funky mismatched stuff, unsure if I can upgrade to LMY47E again and still expect to receive the OTA.
I'd love to have someone with more knowledge of these wonderful things weigh in on this. Educated opinions are always welcome, but someone with actual first-hand knowledge would be incredibly helpful to my sanity as well.
Thanks!

Theres nothing you can do to receive the OTA now.
Maybe the M factory image will become available. If so, you'll be able to flash that. Well at least the system and boot image. If the bootloader is newer, that too.
I suppose the other options are that if someone could install TWRP with an unmodified, unrooted M on, they could take a backup of system and boot and give you them to do a Nandroid restore via TWRP... Or maybe someone can take a system dump for you. But you cannot downgrade the bootloader.

mikecole79 said:
I am ever impatient. So when I saw new factory images up on the Google page, I just had to try them out. I upgraded to LMY47E, then naturally the next day I saw the news about LMY47M. Being that I'm a T-Mobile customer, I want the M version (reported the T-Mobile version) of the new 5.1. Unfortunately, as part of the LMY47E upgrade, the bootloader was moved from 71.05 to 71.08.
Now, trying to flash factory images from LRX22C results in a bootloader mismatch error. I got around this by manually flashing radio, system, boot, etc. images on the phone, and I do in fact now have the 5.01 build showing. However, when I try to sideload the LMY47M build, I'm receiving an error from this line in the updater script:
Code:
#getprop("ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/shamu/shamu:5.0.1/LRX22C/1602158:user/release-keys" ||
abort("Package expects build fingerprint of google/shamu/shamu:5.0.1/LRX22C/1602158:user/release-keys; this device has " + getprop("ro.build.fingerprint") + ".");
It's stating that I have 5.0.2 LRX22G signed with test keys. I don't know how I would have got an engineering build installed from flashing factory firmware from the Google page, but apparently something is confused somewhere along the way. The best I can guess is that perhaps that's some leftover remnants from when I had installed a CM12 nightly build (which I believe is based on 5.0.2).
I don't know what I need to flash with what to get that cleared so I can sideload the LMY47M OTA, and I'm concerned that I may be unable to properly upgrade to additional OTA upgrades if there's a missmatch along the way. There was a confirmed update coming to move from LMY47E to LMY47M per T-Mo support , also confirmed by @askdes) but again, if I have some funky mismatched stuff, unsure if I can upgrade to LMY47E again and still expect to receive the OTA.
I'd love to have someone with more knowledge of these wonderful things weigh in on this. Educated opinions are always welcome, but someone with actual first-hand knowledge would be incredibly helpful to my sanity as well.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about relashing the factory image? Of course, this would wipe all data, config, apps, etc.

clairez said:
What about relashing the factory image? Of course, this would wipe all data, config, apps, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you both for the replies. My course at this point seems to be "wait until M is up on the factory images page", which is what I suspected.
I have done a full factory flash of the LRX22C image, manually (since the script fails because of the newer bootloader) and it has still left me with the engineering build stamp showing. Any idea where that information is coming from? The image I used to flash back was the LRX22C for Shamu from developers <dot> google <dot> com/android/nexus/images. I would think that would have wiped the world (exception of the bootloader that doesn't know how to travel back in time; should really introduce that thing to Doc....). I'm not sure if it's because of the bootloader itself, or because of some other thing that just didn't get wiped properly. I flashed the radio, boot, cache, recovery, userdata, and system images initially, then re-flashed recovery to TWRP 2.8 after. Where does ro.build.fingerprint get it's information from? Is that all from the bootloader?

clairez said:
What about relashing the factory image? Of course, this would wipe all data, config, apps, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you can not flash an older bootloader So far for the developer phone At least HTC has S-Off.

gee2012 said:
But you can not flash an older bootloader So far for the developer phone At least HTC has S-Off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong (often am), but I thought several folks tried and succeeded with a factory image flash, by using the following methodology:
1. If your phone is showing OEM Unlock in the developer options and you can boot into recovery, then
2. Boot into android and remove all security
3. Set OEM Unlock and USB debugging
4. Perform several reboots to ensure OEM Unlock is persistent (if not, do not proceed)
5. Perform a factory reset/data wipe in recovery
6. Reflash the 5.01 factory image (or wait for 5.1 M version) using the manual method located here:
[TUTORIAL][GUIDE][HOW TO] Flash Factory Images || Unroot || Relock bootloader
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexu...shamu-t2954008
* Use Method 2 from this tutorial, Method 1 does not work
7. You can relock the bootloader as outlined in the tutorial.
8. At this point if all went as expected, the N6 is factory fresh and eligible for the OTA.
But before you proceed check out some of the other posts to ensure that others have succeeded. So many reports of bricked phones it is hard to tell what caused the problem.
I have used the above method several times, but only reflashing to a newer version.
Hope this helps ....
PS: I missed the mention of CM12! There are so many variables in your situation, I am unsure now that there is a way back. So many of the hard bricked cases involved CM12. Good luck, I hope you come out of this right side up!

mikecole79 said:
Thank you both for the replies. My course at this point seems to be "wait until M is up on the factory images page", which is what I suspected.
I have done a full factory flash of the LRX22C image, manually (since the script fails because of the newer bootloader) and it has still left me with the engineering build stamp showing. Any idea where that information is coming from? The image I used to flash back was the LRX22C for Shamu from developers <dot> google <dot> com/android/nexus/images. I would think that would have wiped the world (exception of the bootloader that doesn't know how to travel back in time; should really introduce that thing to Doc....). I'm not sure if it's because of the bootloader itself, or because of some other thing that just didn't get wiped properly. I flashed the radio, boot, cache, recovery, userdata, and system images initially, then re-flashed recovery to TWRP 2.8 after. Where does ro.build.fingerprint get it's information from? Is that all from the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in the same situation as you are, mine shows my build fingerprint as "google/omni_shamu/shamu:5.0.2/LRX22G/dees_troy020120939:eng/test-keys" I have gone through the same steps as you have and tried to reflash LRX22C. I guess we wait until the factory image!

wadsface said:
I am in the same situation as you are, mine shows my build fingerprint as "google/omni_shamu/shamu:5.0.2/LRX22G/dees_troy020120939:eng/test-keys" I have gone through the same steps as you have and tried to reflash LRX22C. I guess we wait until the factory image!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you flashed a custom kernel? Sounds like a non-google boot.IMG or something is on the device.

clairez said:
4. Perform several reboots to ensure OEM Unlock is persistent (if not, do not proceed)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is absurd.
Unlocked is unlocked is unlocked.
The only thing that may not be persistent is the flag in the dev settings menu, ENABLE oem unlock.
Once you enable the unlock, you may *immediately* try to unlock it. If the enable setting isn't persistent, then it just won't unlock.
ONCE IT IS UNLOCKED, IT IS UNLOCKED. DON'T EVER LOCK IT AGAIN.

I also received that error when trying to sideload the OTA. The only modification I made was using a custom kernel, but I flashed the stock boot.img before attempting to sideload. So I'm not sure what could have caused the error?
I just read somewhere that we can get the sideload to work if a line in the updater script is deleted or modified. Has anyone else read this?

To sideload an OTA you need a stock recovery. I have been unable to sideload an OTA with a custom recovery installed since 5.0. The Dees Troy (guessing TWRP recovery) in the path is a dead giveaway that it is from the recovery. I don't think it is checking bootloader version when sideloading OTA.

android_mp99 said:
TI don't think it is checking bootloader version when sideloading OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is. OTA doesn't replace the bootloader. It patches the existing BL with the deltas - I.e. the code that have changed. Obviously the bootloader must be the exact expected version for a patch to work, so it is definitely being checked when you install an OTA, no matter what method you use..
If you patched the BL with an incorrect patch, you could very easily be facing a brick.

Then I'm guessing the people that were able to sideload the OTA with the new bootloader got lucky or are talking a bunch of BS (totally possible). I haven't tried it myself but I know for sure that the stock recovery is needed to sideload the OTA since 5.0 and the error reported earlier by some could be because of the recovery installed.

You definitely need stock recovery, yes

Since I have never updated my bootloader, I'm inclined to think it must be recovery. I was trying to sideload via TWRP.

doitright said:
[snip]
ONCE IT IS UNLOCKED, IT IS UNLOCKED. DON'T EVER LOCK IT AGAIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are many reasons that people want to have a locked bootloader, such as, among many other reasons, your employer requires it, for example.
rootSU said:
It is. OTA doesn't replace the bootloader. It patches the existing BL with the deltas - I.e. the code that have changed. Obviously the bootloader must be the exact expected version for a patch to work, so it is definitely being checked when you install an OTA, no matter what method you use..
If you patched the BL with an incorrect patch, you could very easily be facing a brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, OTA updates do not verify which bootloader your device is running, and they do NOT patch the bootloader -- they fully replace it.

android_mp99 said:
Then I'm guessing the people that were able to sideload the OTA with the new bootloader got lucky or are talking a bunch of BS (totally possible). I haven't tried it myself but I know for sure that the stock recovery is needed to sideload the OTA since 5.0 and the error reported earlier by some could be because of the recovery installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rootSU said:
You definitely need stock recovery, yes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use TWRP as well. It just requires an edit to one line in the updater-script file.

efrant said:
There are many reasons that people want to have a locked bootloader, such as, among many other reasons, your employer requires it, for example.
No, OTA updates do not verify which bootloader your device is running, and they do NOT patch the bootloader -- they fully replace it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you're right, my mistake.
efrant said:
You can use TWRP as well. It just requires an edit to one line in the updater-script file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to have stock recovery to apply a stock ota. You could edit the updater-script for any amount of purposes, but that isn't really the point. The people who simply want to "check for updates" and use the standard mechanism to apply it, it will not work with twrp.

rootSU said:
You need to have stock recovery to apply a stock ota. You could edit the updater-script for any amount of purposes, but that isn't really the point. The people who simply want to "check for updates" and use the standard mechanism to apply it, it will not work with twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, ok, but we were talking about sideloading the OTA, no? You can sideload an OTA update file (or even flash it directly from your device) using TWRP just by editing one line. But yes, as far as clicking on "check for updates" and having it install that way requires the stock recovery.

efrant said:
Yeah, ok, but we were talking about sideloading the OTA, no? You can sideload an OTA update file (or even flash it directly from your device) using TWRP just by editing one line. But yes, as far as clicking on "check for updates" and having it install that way requires the stock recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You technically can. But then you edit the line, side load the ota via twrp, and immediately flash SuperSU to stop the updated system image from replacing the recovery.. It all seems a little pointless to me. If you're going to modify an ota (or download a modified ota) to side load from custom recovery rather than use a pre-rooted ROM.zip, it seems to add unnecessary steps.

[Q] Unlocked Bootloader running 5.01 - is it safe to upgrade OTA to 5.1?

Hi Noob question here, I don't want to root or flash my Nexus 6, I bought it from a guy 2nd hand and he had flashed various roms. He restored it to stock android before selling it to me - It has the unlocked padlock on boot - Unlocked Bootloader running 5.01 - is it safe to upgrade OTA to 5.1? Will there be any danger of bootloop?
What should I do?

@Darius,
Unlocked bootloader has no effect on installing OTA.
Yes, there's always a risk of bricking if you don't follow the directions precisely. There are several "how to" threads. Read, understand, and ask questions.

Whatever you do, relocking the bootloader is probably not the answer ?
Sent from my Google N6 on VZ

Darius said:
Hi Noob question here, I don't want to root or flash my Nexus 6, I bought it from a guy 2nd hand and he had flashed various roms. He restored it to stock android before selling it to me - It has the unlocked padlock on boot - Unlocked Bootloader running 5.01 - is it safe to upgrade OTA to 5.1? Will there be any danger of bootloop?
What should I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the device is completely stock (including recovery), you should be able to take the OTA. Unless there is something wrong with your device hardware, I don't see any risk. It is just a regular OTA you get from google, direct to device, and you just apply it. Just make sure your phone has a full charge, and don't interrupt the update process.
As a precaution, you should back everything up - never say never
Oh, and to second what DebianDog wrote, don't lock your bootloader

Thanks for all the tips guys, applying update right now...

I have been trying to upgrade my Sprint Nexus6 for the last 3 days. the download goes well the install gets halfway through the blue line under the Android and then he lays down with an "Red Error"
boot loader unlocked and rooted running Stock 5.01. suggestions of the log files i should pull to help narrow this down?

myopic said:
I have been trying to upgrade my Sprint Nexus6 for the last 3 days. the download goes well the install gets halfway through the blue line under the Android and then he lays down with an "Red Error"
boot loader unlocked and rooted running Stock 5.01. suggestions of the log files i should pull to help narrow this down?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing needed to narrow it down - you cant take the OTA if you rooted -> because rooting installs SU -> which changed your /system partition -> it no longer matches what the OTA looks at -> and it will fail, sorry.
Unroot it and you might try it again, or you would have to re-flash a stock image to be clean and then take it. The bootloader being unlocked is not the cause.

[Q] Basic steps from unlocked to Sprint updates

I'm overwhelmed by all the shop speak regarding the android OS. Everything's an acronym, and everything sounds vaguely similar to everything else. Stock recovery, stock rom, stock firmware, factory reset, I'm a computer literate person, and I don't know what the difference is between any of these things, I only know that they're serious.
So here's my situation:
I have a Sprint HTC One M8, unlocked with s-off.
I have adb installed on my PC, TWRP and Super SU installed on my phone,
I need to install system updates, first to install KitKat 4.4.4, then immediately after, Lollipop.
When I go to install
my phone boots into TWRP mode
I go to update
select the update zip
swipe to flash
and get "updating partition details... failed"​
I gather that I'm supposed to first restore to a stock recovery, and I think I found the correct one here, but the instructions I'm finding are very convoluted. I need to either unlock or lock my bootloader using adb. I need to flash one of the downloads on that page, but I'm not certain which one, how to flash it.
I understand that this isn't a forum for newbies, but that's just the thing, I'm not usually lost when it comes to this stuff, which makes me think many others are probablylost as well.
Can anyone clearly explain the steps I need to take, with a minimum of acronyms, to do whatever you do with a stock recovery to then be able to install Sprint updates?
I posted this question in a different way back in November and had one member keep posting unhelpful answers until the whole thread got hijacked by piggyback questions. I've also found step by step guides that each conflict with one another. One may have 5 steps and the other may have 12, and in one way or another they've always gone off the rails until they no longer seemed to apply to my use case.
If you can help, thank you.

Dr.Zee said:
I'm completely overwhelmed by all the shop speak regarding the android OS. Everything's an acronym, and everything sounds vaguely similar to everything else. Stock recovery, stock rom, stock firmware, factory reset, I don't know what the difference is between any of these things, I only know that they're serious.
So here's my situation:
I have a Sprint HTC One M8, unlocked with s-off.
I have adb installed on my PC, TWRP and Super SU installed on my phone,
I need to install system updates, first to install KitKat 4.4.4, then immediately after, Lollipop.
When I go to install
my phone boots into TWRP mode
I go to update
select the update zip
swipe to flash
and get "updating partition details... failed"​
I gather that I'm supposed to first restore to a stock recovery, and I think I found the correct one here, but the instructions I'm finding are very convoluted. I need to either unlock or lock my bootloader using adb. I need to flash one of the downloads on that page, but I'm not certain which one, how to flash it.
I understand that this isn't a forum for newbies, but that's just the thing, I'm not usually lost when it comes to this stuff, which makes me think many others are probablylost as well.
Can anyone clearly explain the steps I need to take, with a minimum of acronyms, to do whatever you do with a stock recovery to then be able to install Sprint updates?
I posted this question in a different way back in November and had one member keep posting unhelpful answers until the whole thread got hijacked by piggyback questions.
If you can help, thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First things first, this is a forum for all kinds but there is a Q&A section.
On to the update.
The first thing you need to do is boot to fastboot and type "fastboot oem lock" without quotes and press enter.
The device should be locked and from there you should be able to run the RUU (ROM update utility) that comes directly from htc, no need to do the incremental updates from KK (kitkat) to LP (Lollipop) unless you are looking to do something specific on a certain radio or firmware.
No need to flash stock recovery if you run the RUU, only lock the bootloader.
The RUU files are found on the HTC website or in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2729173 and you should find the directions there, just follow the S-on procedure if you are S-ON, you would know because at this point the only way to obtain S_OFF is to pay 25$ to use the Sunshine app.
This might be able to be moved to the Q&A by a mod and there are plenty of users and devs around here willing to help, just ask questions and try to follow the directions first.

dopy25 said:
First things first, this is a forum for all kinds but there is a Q&A section.
On to the update.
The first thing you need to do is boot to fastboot and type "fastboot oem lock" without quotes and press enter.
The device should be locked and from there you should be able to run the RUU (ROM update utility) that comes directly from htc, no need to do the incremental updates from KK (kitkat) to LP (Lollipop) unless you are looking to do something specific on a certain radio or firmware.
The RUU files are found on the HTC website or in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2729173 and you should find the directions there, just follow the S-on procedure if you are S-ON, you would know because at this point the only way to obtain S_OFF is to pay 25$ to use the Sunshine app.
This might be able to be moved to the Q&A by a mod and there are plenty of users and devs around here willing to help, just ask questions and try to follow the directions first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much, I'll run through these steps.
Question, I installed a couple firmware patches after I got s-off. when this is finished, will those be overwritten? Will my phone still be s-off, or would I have to pay to have that done again?

Dr.Zee said:
Thank you very much, I'll run through these steps.
Question, I installed a couple firmware patches after I got s-off. when this is finished, will those be overwritten? Will my phone still be s-off, or would I have to pay to have that done again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you are S-OFF, OK.
No, the S_OFF is tracked by the device I believe, and would still be able to be used without having to pay again. I have read that many places.
I would not do the full RUU if you are s-off, but the thread I linked has zips to flash firmwares and roms and keep S_OFF. I am still on so I have no experience with S-OFF but I would not lock the bootloader until another s-off user confirms.

dopy25 said:
So you are S-OFF, OK.
No, the S_OFF is tracked by the device I believe, and would still be able to be used without having to pay again. I have read that many places.
I would not do the full RUU if you are s-off, but the thread I linked has zips to flash firmwares and roms and keep S_OFF. I am still on so I have no experience with S-OFF but I would not lock the bootloader until another s-off user confirms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a little wreckless and just went ahead and tried it. Everything worked. I'm running Lollipop, I still have S-off, and I just re-rooted through the HTC dev program. The firmware patches I installed were overwritten, but, you can't have everything.
Thank you very much, I'd been dealing with system update messages for months.

Dr.Zee said:
I got a little wreckless and just went ahead and tried it. Everything worked. I'm running Lollipop, I still have S-off, and I just re-rooted through the HTC dev program. The firmware patches I installed were overwritten, but, you can't have everything.
Thank you very much, I'd been dealing with system update messages for months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by patches? Just specific bits of firmware? I don't really know of any benefits to having specific bootloader or hboot or radio over another. It used to matter back in the day but I think it is best to have the most updated if you are going to run a newer ROM anyway.
Also, if you are S-OFF you can always downgrade any of them at any time. So if any of the patches you had before gave you any benefits you can always run them again.
Glad you got it taken care of. On any note, if you muck something up you can always run the RUU to get back to stock. HTC did us a huge favor with those.

dopy25 said:
What do you mean by patches? Just specific bits of firmware? I don't really know of any benefits to having specific bootloader or hboot or radio over another. It used to matter back in the day but I think it is best to have the most updated if you are going to run a newer ROM anyway.
Also, if you are S-OFF you can always downgrade any of them at any time. So if any of the patches you had before gave you any benefits you can always run them again.
Glad you got it taken care of. On any note, if you muck something up you can always run the RUU to get back to stock. HTC did us a huge favor with those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a patch that adds Harmon Kardon sound. Then I incorrectly remembered an app that enables Snapdragon audio (which is far superior to HK sound) but that's not firmware, you just need a rooted phone to be able to drop it into the system folder.