Database Develop

[warning] ota update!!!

So today I was at work and a little notification popped up about a software update. I just left it alone and went on with work. I come back from lunch and it updated itself and disabled all my apps and root. The SD nethod with Nooter does NOT work. The software version showed 1.0.1. I ended up returning the Nook as its pretty useless with no root & 3rd party apps for me. I will be waiting and seeing where this all pans out as more people get the OTA. Good luck!

houseofbugs said:
So today I was at work and a little notification popped up about a software update. I just left it alone and went on with work. I come back from lunch and it updated itself and disabled all my apps and root. The SD nethod with Nooter does NOT work. The software version showed 1.0.1. I ended up returning the Nook as its pretty useless with no root & 3rd party apps for me. I will be waiting and seeing where this all pans out as more people get the OTA. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't gotten any notification of an update and I've been using the wifi all day. Don't see anything about an update on the Barnes and Noble site or community forums.
Not saying it doesn't exist. But if so, it's quite odd for them not to officially announce it the way they do for the original Nook firmware updates.
Keeping my WiFi off for the time being though.

This is definitely not good news. Can someone else confirm this firmware update ? B&N is not showing any updates on their website and the community forum over there is not indicating anything either. Haven't heard anything over on MobileRead.com forums either. I'd imagine that someone else would've gotten this update by now (either rooted or not) and reported it.

I'm wondering if mine just happened to get caught in a glitch in their system. Like how some Android phones got updated randomly before others. Your guess is a good as mine. I guess we will see if anyone else got hit too.

Any idea of where it saved it to? If this comes down the pipe, I'd like to pull it apart for a look at what they did

Those bastards

Maybe its time to edit the host file to prevent NC from calling home?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

jimmyz said:
Maybe its time to edit the host file to prevent NC from calling home?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do we know what domain the updates are coming from?
There are some instructions for blocking updates here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=860480
But as the author says, they may not work (read the thread).
The best option is to flash a new rom probably and it looks like good progress is being made there.

houseofbugs: Did you get a notification before reboot? My guess would be that these updates are installed from recovery, so there may be an interim solution to delete the file from internal memory if you get a notice.
Far from perfect, but better than nothing.

So nobody else has received this update ? I Googled for any info, checked out the BN forums and another forum dedicated to the NC and nobody else has reported any kind of software update.

Just as a precaution I called my gf and had her turn off my nook and turn off wifi on hers, not looking forward to going home and finding root has been broken. Don't like the fact that it force updates itself without user interaction too, from what I gathered from the op's post. OTACerts.zip doesn't do anything on the nook?

ZeroSX said:
Just as a precaution I called my gf and had her turn off my nook and turn off wifi on hers, not looking forward to going home and finding root has been broken. Don't like the fact that it force updates itself without user interaction too, from what I gathered from the op's post. OTACerts.zip doesn't do anything on the nook?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the Op didn't mess with the OTACerts.zip, then we wouldn't know. Op, did you disable updates as suggested in the thread above?

I haven't seen any "update" messages on mine. I double-checked and my NC is still running version 1.0.0. My wifi has been on for the past couple days (including all night last night) and I've seen nothing suggesting a firmware update.
Maybe I'm lucky. Looks like B&N may be planning to force a firmware update soon. It'd be nice if they gave us the option to decline it (they'll probably strip in-Store features without the most current version, but I've read here that rooting does away with in-Store features anyway).
There's another thread over in NC Android Dev where someone got a firmware update scare. Looks like a false-positive, but it's something to keep us on our toes.

Hmm no updates here either..

nothing...

I remember reading that someone else got an Update Available notification in the huge thread that started this forum. I think they said they did a system restore to factory and it allowed them to re-root it, but I don't recall if it had a version number in it. Same thing happened, nobody knew what was going on.
Regardless, we should eliminate the ability for B&N to apply automatic updates at will.

After un-rooting and resetting back to factory fresh settings, the Nook DID download an update, version 1.0.0.0. The notice appeared in the notification area.
The good news is that I am still able to root using the nooter method.

gojeda said:
After un-rooting and resetting back to factory fresh settings, the Nook DID download an update, version 1.0.0.0. The notice appeared in the notification area.
The good news is that I am still able to root using the nooter method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not an update, it's an improper notification. It hasn't been *updated* to anything, since that's what it came with stock. It's just the nook's way of saying it's been reset to defaults.

Hopefully the update is not rolling out...
...but if it is I hope it hits my NC after this weekend when I have to take my son from the USA to the UK! Two flights and two airports without Angry Birds to keep him happy would be unpleasant.

Hmmm...
OTAcerts.zip would be my usual suggestion, for this kind of thing.
If anyone gets the nook with the update, try and grab the URL of the update via logcat.
Failing that, someone with the update might need to try things to get it rooted RageAgainstTheCage, anyone?
I don't know what you specifically need for the nook to let you sideload etc, but RageAgainstTheCage would make sense to work and get at least shell root.

[Q] To Root or Not?

Hi so I just heard that the D3 was rooted two days ago (been keeping up until a week ago). I'm not exactly a pro in this area or have ever rooted a device before but I have spent quite a few hours today reading up on the process and any info I could find.
Basically I just want to know if I should root my D3 or wait out another week or so? I heard that a SBF (?) hasn't been found yet so the stock rom can't be recovered and there is really no recovery net yet so should anything go wrong, there aren't a lot of options.
There is a one-click method to root but I'm going to try the original method using the adb shell (lol still researching what on earth to do with that still, just installed the android sdk :x). I'm not concerned about the process of rooting my droid, it's what comes after that makes me hesitant in doing so.
I read that there is a (seemingly simple) method to unroot the D3 by deleting the su file in some directory and rebooting (can't remember, it seemed legit however). Would "unrooting" have any consequences or would your device be back to the exact same state it was in right before you rooted? I'm not planning to drastically mess around with my D3 should I root it. Just want to take a few screenshots in an app to help out a dev, freeze any bloatware that won't cause problems, do a complete nand backup, and... thats about all that comes to mind right now.
I guess what I'm trying to ask is if rooting my D3 tonight would have any irreversible consequences and if there is any benefit in holding off the root?
Oh! Btw the OTA, I know that rooting won't affect ones ability to receive the update but that it will unroot your device and keep it that way. Would the rooting-discovery process have to start anew for people who update using the OTA (Thinking Verizon might patch the root-exploit) ? I know that updating via OTA isn't too bright anyway because devs just take the update and build on it before releasing it on their own custom ROMs and whatnot, but I feel official updates are somehow more stable (most likely flawed thinking, feel free to correct me on that lol).

Yes - SBF is an important component which would guarantee 100% pre-root configuration.
Removing the su binary and the superuser app would however put the phone back in factory state for this exploit. But anything you do while rooted inside /system is your responsibility to correct. Motorola patches usually verify only file existence/checksums and not creation/modification dates, so you should be fine with simple push of the removed (or renamed) stuff back. I remember I was able to update my D2G without unrooting in the past, but that's not necessarily granted for any other updates of that or any other Motorola phone. Ideally, you want phone in factory state to guarantee update will pass.
Another issue is nand backup you mentioned. Custom recovery isn't yet available for this phone. You can't do nand backups. So even this "safety net" isn't here. Installing custom recovery is a "100% secure way" to have OTA updates fail to apply since it messes up with phone's /system files. Un-doing CWM is a bit more complex than unrooting only and if not done carefully - a sure way for a soft brick. SBF is what we all want before start messing with anything, IMO.

So if an OTA updates fails for whatever reason, your phone will get soft bricked or?
I don't think ill be updating anway, but its good info to know for the future.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

I would say root the device and don't worry about unrooting. If you have to return it to the store or something, unfreeze the apps and delete su. Once you mess with it though, it will be very difficult (impossible?) to ever make /system binary identical to the factory image without an sbf. That said, I doubt VZW takes the time to investigate this very closely.
But I don't see any other reason to ever unroot. When the OTA update comes down, just don't install it. In a few days after its first released, the community developers will tell you how to install it with root and not botch anything up.

Dmw017 said:
So if an OTA updates fails for whatever reason, your phone will get soft bricked or?
I don't think ill be updating anway, but its good info to know for the future.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No - fortunately not. It will just say "Update failed" and phone will reboot back to normal.
Regarding updates - you may want to reconsider - updates usually fix bugs, bugs like the bluish camera or the wrong geotagging. Or stuff like phone shooting at max brightness after removal from HD dock.
But as the other poster mentioned - the community would do the hard work for you 'back-porting' the update to a rooted phone. Sure enough - we need custom recovery to be made before we can install any 'backported' updates or other customizations.
But all will come with time.
If you need to use an app that requires root (like openvpn or VPNC), or if you want to remove some of the unwanted apps Verizon stuck on the phone, you should root of course, but if you don't care about such stuff and want to be 'compliant' with stock software - stay as is, until at least SBF comes.

Yeah I rooted already but should an update come, I could always unroot my device. An update would be really welcome too. Yeah the bluish tint on the cam is bad but there are soft fixes for that. What I really really want out of the update is the huge improvement in battery life I've heard about. Im using the extended battery right now and straight up, it sucks. I've heard good things about the extended battery but mine lasts ... maybe 10 hours under light - medium usage, playing music for several hours and having the display on for about an hour. I expected a lot more. Numerous people have reported getting 24-48 hrs of life while others got 15 under normal/heavy use.
There have been a few reports of peope already receiving an OTA update (devs/testers most likely) but have said many pf the d3s current issues were fixed with it, primarily the blue tint on cam and the battery life.
Honestly, with root, I figured my battery would outlast a day like a champ, but there have been no/minimal improvements, even with every piece of bloat frozen. I even froze google Maps because it constantly showed up as using cpu (and therefore battery), have my radio set to cdma, and only have 1 gmail account syncing.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

[Q] HEELLLPP!! I didnt strapsafe, now I dont know what to do!!

To the admins I apologize if this is in the wrong section if it is please move it accordingly.
Hello everyone, I have an issue, hopefully someone can hel me and it starts like this. I and everyone else have been waiting for months for a safe root method and a recovery system such as TWRP OR CWM just incase I fudge something up flashing custom roms so I can always go back to stock. I came across a safestrap article and decided it was something similar to what I was looking for. So I decided to root using the big K. I know not the best choice, you can boo me now.
After a successful root, I installed safestrap. Unfortunately safestrap kept crashing upon starting the app, I couldnt even get it to set up. thats fine, I was just going to unroot and keep on living life, but then I stumbled upon Xposed installer, that modified and tweaked like a custom rom but without all the risk according to a website. I said hey thats worth a try and I did. After the Xposed installer setup and a reboot, I wad looking for mods on the web and all of a sudden my apps and system files started crashing to the point that I could not use my phone. I immedeately uninstalled Xposed installer ss soon ad my phone stabalized and unrooted.
I thought everything was good, 4 hours later the apps and system files started crashing again, so I did a reboot and I noticed that custom with the lock came up on intial startup. though I was told I was unrooted by the K program and even double checked using a rootchecker app, which stated I had indeed an unrooted phone. I did another reboot and no custom or logo came out. At this point I just wanted a working phone and As much as I hated doing so I did a factory reset. This seemed to have fixed the problem, but 4 days later my phone randomly went into a bootloop. I couldnt get it to stop so I took out the battery and that did not fix it.It was strange becuase I thought it might have been unrelated since it wasnt doing this when I had the issue with Xposed installer.
After yet another factory reset my phone seems to be fine, its still too early to tell though since its only been about a day. I had the normal google playstore and gvoice app crashing...Sigh..the only thing different was that sometime yesterday after the second factory reset a notification popup of unfortunately a sytem file stopped working came up. I acknowledged it, but thankfully I havent gotten any problems. I forgot what the notification read. hopefully its not related to what happened the other day.I dont know if this is related to one another, but I did notice that before I rooted my android system had automatically upgraded. I looked for issues like this on the net and saw people where having random bootloops after system upgrades and that unchecking scanning for wifi fixed the problem. though I did this and it did not work, thats why I did the second factory reset.
Now Im asking for help if any further issues arise. I love my Note3 and at this point I just want a reliable working device. Im keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully that will be the end of it, but in case it started to act up again, what can I do? any information and help is greatly appreciated. thanks.

Never uninstall any Xposed app that changes system files without first reverting any changes you made with it. Some of them are permanent until they are turned off in the App. Then you can disable the module.
You may want to look into this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2559715
I cannot stress this enough.
READ READ READ.
Too many times have I seen someone read a line or 2 then rush right in ultimately turning their very nice phone into the most expensive paperweight one could own.
On that link I posted, read it until your eyes are bleeding if you truly need to start from scratch.
I am not joking here.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Thanks man. it makes sense. I will look into it. you mentioned read. I have read what I thought was plenty, but always ideas and opinions differ, sometimes knowing too much and causing what they say decision paralysis. Because I still read about the Xposed experiences and different people go about it in a different way. but what you mentioned about reverting back makes alot of sense.

Tab a (2017) force oem unlock

I purchased my first Samsung tablet today after a long, loving relationship with Asus Transformers (wanting something smaller). To my surprise OEM Unlocking was not available in Dev Mode. Having not owned a Samsung device since my S5 I searched high and low on Google and nothing worked. Tons of suggestions for S8's/9's but nothing for my new little SM-T380. I tried variations of everything I found and when none of them worked, started back at the top of the list. I FINALLY GOT LUCKY.
TL;DR - Today's date is 12/1/2018, time was 9:32pm (central).
I toggled my date/time to manual.
I manually set my date to 11/1/17. (YES, ONE YEAR AND ONE MONTH EARLIER)
Before wifi had time to reconnect after the date change I manually checked for updates and it errored out.
Without pressing anything else, I held the power button and restarted.
After restart I checked to see if OEM Unlocking was there and it wasn't.
I then adjusted the date back farther to a random interval. (Ended up being 03/1/17)
Manually check for updates again.
Selected dev options on the left again and OEM Unlocking finally appeared!!!!!1
Notes:
SM-T380
7.1.1
ARB3 build

B1G7r33! said:
I purchased my first Samsung tablet today after a long, loving relationship with Asus Transformers (wanting something smaller). To my surprise OEM Unlocking was not available in Dev Mode. Having not owned a Samsung device since my S5 I searched high and low on Google and nothing worked. Tons of suggestions for S8's/9's but nothing for my new little SM-T380. I tried variations of everything I found and when none of them worked, started back at the top of the list. I FINALLY GOT LUCKY.
TL;DR - Today's date is 12/1/2018, time was 9:32pm (central).
I toggled my date/time to manual.
I manually set my date to 11/1/17. (YES, ONE YEAR AND ONE MONTH EARLIER)
Before wifi had time to reconnect after the date change I manually checked for updates and it errored out.
Without pressing anything else, I held the power button and restarted.
After restart I checked to see if OEM Unlocking was there and it wasn't.
I then adjusted the date back farther to a random interval. (Ended up being 03/1/17)
Manually check for updates again.
Selected dev options on the left again and OEM Unlocking finally appeared!!!!!1
Notes:
SM-T380
7.1.1
ARB3 build
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the REAL difference between what you did today and what we did days ago.? Is the same thing we came up with 3 days ago.. Just your version of the same thing..

Three days ago?

This didn't work for me. Neither have any of the other similar date-spoofing methods people have suggested or linked to on this forum. I'd be happy to be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a legitimate way to trick this tablet into letting you bypass the 7 day wait for OEM Unlock to appear.
@B1G7r33!, if your method actually works, can you replicate the process and prove it? Can you wipe your data, flash back to stock firmware, go to Settings>About tablet>Status, and take a screenshot that shows the "Up time" of the tablet, go through your suggested date-spoofing method, then if OEM Unlock appears, take another screenshot of your tablet's up time, and one screenshot of your developer options menu.
I'm not calling you a liar, it's just that this and similar methods haven't worked for me and haven't been confirmed as working by anyone else yet. If it actually works, then great, but it's not working for me, so I'd like to pinpoint the problem and solve it.

B1G7r33! said:
Three days ago?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually starting on 14th November 2018, 07:17 PM and ending about 4 days ago.. with ptballers solution.
post 118 was the beginnings of it on the thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...10-02-2018-t3747564/post78159074#post78159074
but even THAT came from earlier works that weren't detailed enough and reconstructed.
the builds seem to be way different here in the solution, i had luck with what we came up with but have only done that once so far.
I am using build NMF26X.T380DXU1ARB3 myself, what about you?
we need to figure out what ptballer is using and everyone else too as we confirm stuff so we know what to do with tablets based upon builds.
seems there is no single solution yet, and that's what we really need too keep confusion cut down to a minimum.
---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:12 PM ----------
Evul1 said:
This didn't work for me. Neither have any of the other similar date-spoofing methods people have suggested or linked to on this forum. I'd be happy to be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a legitimate way to trick this tablet into letting you bypass the 7 day wait for OEM Unlock to appear.
@B1G7r33!, if your method actually works, can you replicate the process and prove it? Can you wipe your data, flash back to stock firmware, go to Settings>About tablet>Status, and take a screenshot that shows the "Up time" of the tablet, go through your suggested date-spoofing method, then if OEM Unlock appears, take another screenshot of your tablet's up time, and one screenshot of your developer options menu.
I'm not calling you a liar, it's just that this and similar methods haven't worked for me and haven't been confirmed as working by anyone else yet. If it actually works, then great, but it's not working for me, so I'd like to pinpoint the problem and solve it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you clear out your storage cache after changing the date and then turn on developer options?
what build are you working with btw.

Trying this on round two after root yielded no results. I also tried the clear cache method from your post I found which has a MUCH more consistent process to follow and still got nothing.
Perhaps starting from the bottom would be beneficial here.
Flash stock with odin --> find method that works --> add to root process.
It adds two more steps but that seems like a small price for consistency.
This is f***ing infuriating.
7r33

capriorn1971ad said:
did you clear out your storage cache after changing the date and then turn on developer options?
what build are you working with btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I tried that as well and it didn't work. Are you suggesting that this has worked for you? If so, can you reset your tablet right now and try it again to confirm?
I'm using the same build you are using, NMF26X.T380DXU1ARB3

Evul1 said:
Yes, I tried that as well and it didn't work. Are you suggesting that this has worked for you? If so, can you reset your tablet right now and try it again to confirm?
I'm using the same build you are using, NMF26X.T380DXU1ARB3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats quite a bit of work to do, but yes it worked for me.
I was planning on writing a guide on rooting this and what to do if and when it fails in laymans terms and utilizing this, but if it isn't working for everyone.. if it isn't the cache then what is causing it to show for some and not others?
to do the guide i was going to start from a failed installation so i could write part 2 first and finish with part 1 (the actual initial rooting), which would require me to reset the tablet but if this isn't working right.. then i need to hold off on that idea.
maybe i should just do it and spend my day tearing around on that, sounds fun and all but i have to go to Burbank tomorrow to sign up at Central Casting (they are actually looking for someone like me right now, i am going with inside information) and it will be an all day endeavor, tuesday would be much better for me in truth, that allows me to use that tablet while i wait, and i will have hours to wait, but of course with my luck they will call me wednesday and null and void that.

B1G7r33! said:
Trying this on round two after root yielded no results. I also tried the clear cache method from your post I found which has a MUCH more consistent process to follow and still got nothing.
Perhaps starting from the bottom would be beneficial here.
Flash stock with odin --> find method that works --> add to root process.
It adds two more steps but that seems like a small price for consistency.
This is f***ing infuriating.
7r33
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when you flash stock, restart the device and set the date back 2 months, then do a factory reset AFTER that and it will work.
after rooting it DO NOT reboot it until the OEM unlock shows up again, you can't rely on a method to bypass the second 7 days that requires rebooting, it null and voids the rooting by doing such.
this tablet is awefully touchy, i lost root 2 1/2 weeks after rooting and being able to reboot having OEM unlock showing and all.. but i didn't set up magiskhide..
don't know how the tablet detected it and figured it out..
yes it is infuriating, least you have company to work on it with..

capriorn1971ad said:
thats quite a bit of work to do, but yes it worked for me.
I was planning on writing a guide on rooting this and what to do if and when it fails in laymans terms and utilizing this, but if it isn't working for everyone.. if it isn't the cache then what is causing it to show for some and not others?
to do the guide i was going to start from a failed installation so i could write part 2 first and finish with part 1 (the actual initial rooting), which would require me to reset the tablet but if this isn't working right.. then i need to hold off on that idea.
maybe i should just do it and spend my day tearing around on that, sounds fun and all but i have to go to Burbank tomorrow to sign up at Central Casting (they are actually looking for someone like me right now, i am going with inside information) and it will be an all day endeavor, tuesday would be much better for me in truth, that allows me to use that tablet while i wait, and i will have hours to wait, but of course with my luck they will call me wednesday and null and void that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It shouldn't be that much work at all if your method to get OEM Unlock to display actually works, as your bootloader will then be unlocked and you can immediately re-root, re-flash TWRP, and restore a nandroid backup. Rooting this tablet [flashing TWRP and su and/or magisk and/or a nandroid image] is actually quite simple and can be done in 5 minutes once you have OEM Unlock displayed.
You certainly wouldn't need a whole day just to try this. But I understand. Samsung's security nonsense makes the initial root of this tablet rather fragile if you don't know all the potential roadblocks beforehand. And a comprehensive root guide that explains all of this would certainly help people looking to root this tablet, so I don't want to rush you.

capriorn1971ad said:
when you flash stock, restart the device and set the date back 2 months, then do a factory reset AFTER that and it will work.
after rooting it DO NOT reboot it until the OEM unlock shows up again, you can't rely on a method to bypass the second 7 days that requires rebooting, it null and voids the rooting by doing such.
this tablet is awefully touchy, i lost root 2 1/2 weeks after rooting and being able to reboot having OEM unlock showing and all.. but i didn't set up magiskhide..
don't know how the tablet detected it and figured it out..
yes it is infuriating, least you have company to work on it with..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found out the reboot after root no-no the hard way, lol.
After playing with it all day today, I think you're on the right path with it being application based. If we could log which run before and after, the chances of finding it and being able to adb uninstall/disable would be significantly increased.
So what can be used to low-level log WITHOUT root?

B1G7r33! said:
I found out the reboot after root no-no the hard way, lol.
After playing with it all day today, I think you're on the right path with it being application based. If we could log which run before and after, the chances of finding it and being able to adb uninstall/disable would be significantly increased.
So what can be used to low-level log WITHOUT root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
don't think we can really.
trial and error..
thought i was on the right path earlier, but if it didn't work for you then it isn't the solution, cause the solution will work for everyone.
has to be some small thing were overlooking i would assume.
I worked for Metricom through Verso Technologies back in the late 90's, the first coast to coast wireless provider, had dealings with the big wigs and all, but they always opted for less security and more accessibility in most everything pertaining to networking, always afraid to give up backdoors.
i need to go back to what you said too and see what slight differences there are, did you have any luck this time around? was it repeatable?
sucks to know i am going to have to root to cause a failure to try to bypass and root again only to cause a second failure to verify, and to get it right it is going to take that really, the bypass has to be repeatable, i think setting the date back before the systems restore is key to it, but i could be wrong.
if you would lose root and be able to get it pass the first 7 days OEM unlock then your good, because even if you can't get the second, and something goes wrong to where you need it, your gonna have to wipe anyways, which means you just wipe, set date back and then do the factory reset, not being able to reboot afterwards until the OEM unlock appears and not being able to advance it through the last 7 days means little so long as the root is good and right, funny thing really, took me a while to realize that, there is no real need to rush the second 7 days, only the first 7, but it would be nice to be able to reboot it again afterwards, the same day, and not have to worry about it anymore, but like i said earlier, i got detected somehow and lost root still., wish i knew how.
that's alot of my problem though, i do things and try to document them afterwards rather than as, and i am not 20 years old anymore with a mind like a razor, it's just a serrated steak knife now at almost 50, wish i wasn't like that, because i lose bits and pieces as i go.

so if my tablet auto updates to Oreo 8.1 ... then i'm SOL huh?

Factory reset has not restored Auto-Rotate, Active Edge, and the "ear sensor" when making calls

Hi!,
I'm a long-time reader of this forum, but this is my first post. In the last few days, something happened (I wish I could pinpoint exactly what) where I ended up restarting my phone and it entered a continuous boot loop. The phone was receiving updates per normal and may have received an update not that long ago that required some kind of restart, but I'm not confident about that. Either way, the phone was restarted and it entered into a permanent boot loop.
Before restarting, I'm confident the "ear sensor" that turns the screen off when I'm on a call as functioning. I'm also confident the auto-rotate functionality of the phone was working perfectly.
After I tried to factory reset the phone from the power-volume reset options, I actually ran into a TON of trouble trying to get the phone to properly reset. It tooks me countless tries to eventually get the phone to start after resetting it over and over again. I was stuck trying to get the phone to actually move through the setup steps. SUPER frustrating. I actually went to sleep while the phone was somewhere in the middle of setting up and when I woke up the phone somehow eventually made it through some setup steps.
I'm now using the phone as I normally would, but it's very odd. The phone is a LOT more unstable. At least 3 of the sensors I had working have just completely stopped working.
The phone is in otherwise perfect condition. I'm genuinely confused about how I should go about trying to resetting this thing to a pure stock configuration and slowly installing apps again to make the experience what I'd want.
And no, I'm not a super power user. I am a strong engineer happy to do crazy things like flashing bootloaders and whatnot, but I'm honestly confused about where to start. I understand other versions of this device may have had corrupted persist partitions during updates -- those problems seem like my problems -- but I don't know how I should go about simply flashing my phone at the lowest level into something stock that I can try to build back from.
And obviously when talking to google support their suggsetion is that I mail them the device and wait 10 days without a phone. I'm confused about how that could EVER be a reasonable way to get a phone repaired, sigh -- phones are not toys, they're pretty critical to the day-to-day work of so many people including myself. I'm pretty disappointing with that approach from Google and I had always considered them much better than that before this experience.
Anyway, I'm really lost and I'd love to understand how to repair the software on my phone.
(You all kick ass!)

aliljet said:
Hi!,
I'm a long-time reader of this forum, but this is my first post. In the last few days, something happened (I wish I could pinpoint exactly what) where I ended up restarting my phone and it entered a continuous boot loop. The phone was receiving updates per normal and may have received an update not that long ago that required some kind of restart, but I'm not confident about that. Either way, the phone was restarted and it entered into a permanent boot loop.
Before restarting, I'm confident the "ear sensor" that turns the screen off when I'm on a call as functioning. I'm also confident the auto-rotate functionality of the phone was working perfectly.
After I tried to factory reset the phone from the power-volume reset options, I actually ran into a TON of trouble trying to get the phone to properly reset. It tooks me countless tries to eventually get the phone to start after resetting it over and over again. I was stuck trying to get the phone to actually move through the setup steps. SUPER frustrating. I actually went to sleep while the phone was somewhere in the middle of setting up and when I woke up the phone somehow eventually made it through some setup steps.
I'm now using the phone as I normally would, but it's very odd. The phone is a LOT more unstable. At least 3 of the sensors I had working have just completely stopped working.
The phone is in otherwise perfect condition. I'm genuinely confused about how I should go about trying to resetting this thing to a pure stock configuration and slowly installing apps again to make the experience what I'd want.
And no, I'm not a super power user. I am a strong engineer happy to do crazy things like flashing bootloaders and whatnot, but I'm honestly confused about where to start. I understand other versions of this device may have had corrupted persist partitions during updates -- those problems seem like my problems -- but I don't know how I should go about simply flashing my phone at the lowest level into something stock that I can try to build back from.
And obviously when talking to google support their suggsetion is that I mail them the device and wait 10 days without a phone. I'm confused about how that could EVER be a reasonable way to get a phone repaired, sigh -- phones are not toys, they're pretty critical to the day-to-day work of so many people including myself. I'm pretty disappointing with that approach from Google and I had always considered them much better than that before this experience.
Anyway, I'm really lost and I'd love to understand how to repair the software on my phone.
(You all kick ass!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would try flashing the latest factory image via fastboot.
[Guide] Root Pixel 4 XL with Magisk Android 13
[Guide] Root Pixel 4 XL With Magisk Android 13 Android Security Bulletin—Feburary 2023 Pixel Update Bulletin—Feburary 2023 Introduction This Guide is for Pixel 4 XL owners that want to Root their phone, and enjoy the benefits of rooting it. The...
forum.xda-developers.com
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/guide-unlock-flash-root-for-the-pixel-2-xl-taimen.3702418/ (This is for a Pixel 2 XL but the process is the same. It's basically a condensed version of the one above.)

aliljet said:
Hi!,
I'm a long-time reader of this forum, but this is my first post. In the last few days, something happened (I wish I could pinpoint exactly what) where I ended up restarting my phone and it entered a continuous boot loop. The phone was receiving updates per normal and may have received an update not that long ago that required some kind of restart, but I'm not confident about that. Either way, the phone was restarted and it entered into a permanent boot loop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You did not provide the most important information we need- whether your phone is bootloader unlocked. Probably not, otherwise you would have already flashed it with a full Google image, which returns the phone to "out of the box" condition. You need to determine whether you can unlock your bootloader. If you cannot unlock (allow oem unlock is off and or greyed out in Dev options) then you will not be able to fastboot flash ANYTHING. If that is your case, the next best thing is flashing a full OTA image (sometimes called a rescue OTA) from recovery mode using the OTA via ADB option. This means you need fastboot/adb installed and working on your PC. Instructions on how are on the same Google dev page for OTA's.

So, my phone's bootloader is not unlocked. But I have an update for the crowd that may one day find this. I know your frustration and I can report that my phone is once again fixed.
A day (or two) after I sent this, a set of updates came down to my phone. And WebView was updated. That restored all of my sensors and also restored most of my crashing applications. It was an incredibly odd experience.
My phone once again functions. And the nightmare of owning a Google phone and talking to Google support has ended.