Phone to phone flash copy -> hard brick. What went wrong? - Xperia Z3 Compact Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi all,
It looks like questions about bricking tend not to get replies...
hard brick
So I tried to relock my BL and restore it to the stock so I could send my phone to the lab for a broken screen replacement. I flashed stock OS, it worked great, messed around with locking the BL with the flashtool, and all I left was restoring my...
forum.xda-developers.com
Hard bricked z3c?
Hi All, I think i have hard bricked my sony xperia z3 compact (d5803). My z3c had unlocked bootloader, was rooted and run on [ROM][5.1.1|STOCK][D5803|D5833] 23.4.A.1.264 SLiM 4.4, with twrp 2.8.7.0 as bootloader. Was doing a factory reset when...
forum.xda-developers.com
... but hey, it's just a post.
I copied the internal memory contents from one of my Z3Cs to another one and now the one that was overwritten does seems bricked.
The copy was done with basically:
Code:
new # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/external_sd/mmcblk0_new.dd
# backup
old # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/external_sd/mmcblk0_old.dd
# copy new:/external_sd/mmcblk0_new.dd to old:/external_sd/mmcblk0_new.dd
# overwrite
old # dd if=/external_sd/mmcblk0_new.dd of=/dev/block/mmcblk0
Power, Power + volume up or down, and camera buttons do nothing. If the phone is plugged in to charge off USB, the notification light slowly blinks red (it is in a pre-boot loop). If I hold the power button while it's plugged in, the notification light is solid red. Holding down other buttons doesn't change the behavior. I tried unplugging the battery and plugging it back in, but it made no difference. Plugging the phone into a PC doesn't show a USB device.
Why didn't it work? And, I guess, is it totally unrecoverable?

Download an older version of flashtool (0.9.18.6) because I couldn't get the newer versions to work and I flashed a stock kitkat rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/list-stock-firmwares-d5803-d5833-t2906706 (Specifically the "23.0.A.2.93 - Unbranded - USA (1289-7524)" version - make sure you get the right version for your model). With this process, you don't need to turn your phone on. Just make sure you know how to use flashtool correctly.

Kenora_I said:
Download an older version of flashtool (0.9.18.6) because I couldn't get the newer versions to work and I flashed a stock kitkat rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/list-stock-firmwares-d5803-d5833-t2906706 (Specifically the "23.0.A.2.93 - Unbranded - USA (1289-7524)" version - make sure you get the right version for your model). With this process, you don't need to turn your phone on. Just make sure you know how to use flashtool correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but flashtool requires a functioning USB interface on the phone, right?
Is there maybe some trick I haven't tried yet with the buttons that would make the phone present a USB interface to the host PC?
I'm on Linux using dmesg --follow so I'm certain that the host is not seeing a USB device appear. Nothing happens even if I hold the power button to get the solid red light behavior, but maybe I'm doing something out of order.

Have you installed the drivers for the phone?

you can't flash TA from one phone to another, if you saved it. might explain why

@ascendant512 Yes, what you did was foolish, and is totally unrecoverable (at least as far as anyone outside of Sony knows). The main flash chip itself that you entirely cloned bit-for-bit from one phone to another contains a bunch of data on it that is specific to that particular phone itself (not specific to just that model of phone, but specific to that unique, individual unit).
We don't 100% know exactly how it works, but that data is ciphered and is somehow tied to a serial# or IMEI# or something else that exists outside of the contents of main flash (probably somehow being used as the encryption key, or at least part of the key). If the two don't match up (the ciphered data stored on main flash and whatever it is being checked against outside of main flash), that data is indecipherable, the phone will not boot, and you are left with a brick. (The bootloader chain-of-trust is broken and it won't even kick over to a recovery mode.)
If you had instead cloned individual partitions (e.g., boot/kernel, system, userdata, etc.) rather than the entire flash chip, this could have been avoided. The specific partition that you cloned which ended up killing your target phone was the 'TA' partition. This is the one that has all of the critical, phone-specific data in it. If you overwrite/scramble/trash the contents of that partition (which would include taking a copy of TA from one phone and writing that copy to another phone of the same model), your phone is done for. We lack the knowledge or tools to re-generate the contents of that partition, and even if we didn't, you would likely need to de-solder the flash chip from the mainboard to write the corrected TA partition contents back to it.

@nira
I don't think it was that foolish since Google suggested that it does work for many Android phones, but thanks for the info about TA. It's much more helpful and informative than responding to "no dmesg" with "USB drivers"
I was trying to do this because the GPS doesn't work on one of the phones. I tried to clean the contacts of the antennae, but it made no difference, only ever picks up 0-3 satellites. Looks like I'm stuck buying a third Z3C to have working GPS.

ascendant512 said:
I don't think it was that foolish since Google suggested that it does work for many Android phones, but thanks for the info about TA. It's much more helpful and informative than responding to "no dmesg" with "USB drivers"
I was trying to do this because the GPS doesn't work on one of the phones. I tried to clean the contacts of the antennae, but it made no difference, only ever picks up 0-3 satellites. Looks like I'm stuck buying a third Z3C to have working GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TA is a Sony "innovation" that you won't really find on other Android handsets (at least by that particular name).
Given how diverse the Android manufacturing ecosystem is, it's very tricky to extrapolate to a bunch of models (or even vendors) what might be true for a few, and thus, I would by nature be very hesitant to ever do a full-clone of seemingly-identical devices until I had first read up on and understood all of the intricacies of the *specific* model I was working with, because you never know what is easily undo-able and what isn't.
If you compare partition tables between different models of handsets, about the only commonalities when it comes to Android fixed-storage partition structure is 'boot', 'system', 'cache', and '[user]data'. There are typically tons of other various vendor-specific partitions storing who-knows-what data often with who-knows-what filesystems that (as your unfortunate particular story bears out) can be vital to the operation of the device as a whole. (It does seem foolhardy to me that manufacturers would choose to store those bits on the same storage medium as the rest of the system and user data, rather than in a separate ROM chip, but this is aggravatingly common in the world of embedded systems, probably as a cost-cutting measure...)
I *am* sorry for your loss, though...

So I've gone on adventure trying to prepare a new Z3C with working GPS and the adventure seems to have ended in failure.
I can describe some of the journey, and maybe there is advice on what bricked the phone or possibly a way to unbrick it as it is not in as poor condition as the previous one.
The phone arrived new in box with the Sony holographic stickers; I immediately followed the bootloader unlock procedure without any hiccups (to the best of my memory, it arrived with firmware 23.5.A.1.291).
The first failure was getting the phone to boot TWRP. For my previous z3c, this was the TWRP I used.
However, booting it with fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-0.4-z3c.img
returns the error:
Code:
Booting FAILED (remote: 'dtb not found')
fastboot: error: Command failed
The device forums are sparse on this error, what it means, or how to fix it, but I'm used to TWRP being incredibly flaky. I did find that there is a combination of requirements from a kernel somewhere on the device which boots recovery requiring LZMA support, as it is the compression method for newer TWRPs.
The TWRP 3.2 from that post, as well as older TWRPs such as 3.1.1 were usable to boot, and led to the new phone's very brief peak operating state, in which I was able to flash and boot an old CarbonROM 5.1/Android 7 zip. However, TWRP 3.2 predates the phone's renaming from aries to z3c, and that version of TWRP would not flash the latest CarbonROM and Android 10.
From here, things only went downhill. Retrieving images from my Z3C which currently runs current CarbonROM, I overwrite the boot, FOTAKernel and userdata partitions from the old phone using a process like this:
Bash:
losetup --find --partscan --verbose backup.dd
dd if=/dev/loop0p14 of=backup_boot_14.dd
dd if=backup_boot_14.dd of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p14
Where backup.dd is a copy of mmcblk0 on the working phone and partition 14 is the one labeled "boot" in the GPT (16 is FOTAKernel and userdata is 25). The phone has never successfully booted into anything since, and these are some of the things I've tried to do to fix it:
Using Xperifirm 5.6.1 I downloaded firmware 3.5.A.1.291-R5D for US
Using flashtool 0.9.33.0 I assembled a ftf using the components "fotakernel.sin, kernel.sin and system.sin"
After flashing this group to the phone, it would boot loop the stock firmware (boot animation, freeze, reboot, do "optimizing apps", repeat). The stock firmware would also recognize my encrypted userdata and prompt to decrypt it until I used fastboot to clear the userdata partition.
That's the last time that flashtool worked, though. I later learned that there are preassembled ftfs that can be found, and got the one from this post:
[List][FTF] Stock Firmwares + Concept (18/10/2016)
Please, don't be lazy! If you've never flashed a "z3 compact" before, please read carefully all the warnings and the instructions for beginners. Before any question, read all the FAQs. Any suggestion is welcome! :) WARNINGS This process will...
forum.xda-developers.com
Whenever flashing anything to anywhere using flashtool, it spits out these errors:
flashsystem.X10FlashException: ERR_SEVERITY="MINOR";ERR_CODE="0017";ERR_DYNAMIC="80080021";
I haven't found anything anywhere that explains what these mean, or how to solve them.
I've tried checking and unchecking the various boxes in flashtool's flash mode that cause it to skip steps in the flashing process like so:
Flash the D5803_23.5.A.1.291_Customised_Nordic with default settings
When the first step fails out, restart the flash process
Uncheck the box for that step and let it start. It errors out on the next step
Repeat until only system is left that failed.
However, this does not seem to have accomplished anything productive. I also tried
fastboot flash:raw boot backup_boot_14.dd
and
fastboot flash boot boot.img (from CarbonROM's zip)
As well as the above with recovery and FOTAKernel from various TWRPs.
The phone isn't hard bricked, it boots into fastboot mode with vol+ and flash recovery mode with vol-. fastboot boot twrp.img has a few different behaviors depending on the TWRP version:
Nailyk's twrp_z3c_2019-03-13 from
https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/edwnzf
will boot to a black screen. No adb available.
The previously successful TWRP 3.2.3-0 without LZMA compression from NeoArian boots to a SONY logo notably without the Xperia logo on the bottom.
Newer versions of TWRP (3.3+) or lineage-18.1-20210914-recovery-z3c continue to fail with the "dtb not found" error.
It seems almost certain that the path to a working phone will be through flashing it back to stock using flashtool, but I don't see a way to make flashtool work or what is causing the errors.

Related

Help needed! Cannot boot into either Flash mode or Fastboot mode

Hi all,
A few years ago (well when the devices has pretty much just come out), I ran a mod which i found on the XDA website that allowed me to root my partners Xperia T (LT30P),
Everything has been fine until recently, where I've wanted to upgrade the ROM on the phone, but this is where i'm having some major problems.!
Essentially I cant get the phone to boot into either Flash mode (green LED) or Fastboot mode (Blue LED). I've tried the volume down and then connecting the USB cable to my PC (on which the correct drivers are installed via Flashtool). and also the volume up for Fastboot. Neither work. Unsure if the phone has an unlocked bootloader or if that matters (im a Samsung man and used to working with that, so all the Xperia modding is totally new to me... :/
So far ive tried the following:
-Volume down key and plugging into USB port - Result: Phone remains switched off.
-Volume up key pressed in and then plugging into USB port. - Result: Phone remains switched off
-Enabled USB debugging and attempted to boot the phone into flash mode via ADB (Flashtool option). Phone simply reboots.
-Attempted inbuilt software update - Update downloads, but fails at 25% approx when it reboots and attempts the install.
-PC companion equally unsuccessful on my PC, as cant enable flash mode.
I'm totally at a loss at how to flash a fresh complete build (using a ftf file) to the phone without access to flash mode or fastboot mode. Anyone got any idea or know of any tools that might allow me to to completely rebuild the phone so all partitions are present and correct?
One idea i had was to flash a recovery to the phone using FlashR or alike, but cant seem to get it to work either. Flashr looks to install the twrp recovery, but when i attempt to reboot into recovery via Flashr or Rom Manager (another tool i use but not sure if useable on xperia phones?), the phone simply reboots. SOunds like a damaged or wiped partition perhaps?
Anyhoo , any ideas would be welcome guys! Too good a phone to just leave in the drawer
Cheers
Craig.
Cant you flash a boot.img (maybe from cm11 or something) with inbuilt recovery? You can use this for flashing
Ok, I've started writing this reply and lost everything near the end, started freaking out, calmed down and decided to do it again, cause I know what it's like to have a phone that's not behaving as it should. So here goes the shorter-ish version cause I really can't type everything again...
Make sure your volume buttons are working at all (I mean when the phone is booted). They work? good, procced. They don't? we can bypass that, but you, should get them fixed.
Got to this thread and download the latest build of the ROM http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-t-v/orig-development/rom-cyanogenmod-12-neo-s-homebuilds-t2984988
Extract the boot.img file from the zip and copy it to the root of your external micro sdcard, NOT IN A FOLDER. If you don't have an sdcard, put in on the internal storage, again, not in a folder.
Root your phone if you haven't. There are plenty of threads on that here on xda
Download an app called Terminal Emulator from the Play Store
Open the app and type su into the prompt.
Grant the app superuser/root access
The following step is the dangerous one where you can seriously break your phone forever. I'm not responsible for anything you mess up. You alone chose to do this
Run the following command in the terminal (be sure that the $ at the end of the line changed to a # (That means you're in root shell, but it's not important))
If you don't have an external sdcard type sdcard0 instead of sdcard1
Code:
dd if=/storage/sdcard1/boot.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/Kernel
Connect the phone to a PC with fastboot drivers installed
Next execute this command and your phone should now boot into fastboot
Code:
reboot bootloader
If a blue LED lights up, you can happily continue flashing kernels and ROMs, if not report back and I'll see if I can help you
Cheers gents. Going to give this a shot tonight. I read last night that some builds out there where you cannot unlock the bootloader (which you can check via service menu)? Is that now bypassable?
crstephenson said:
Cheers gents. Going to give this a shot tonight. I read last night that some builds out there where you cannot unlock the bootloader (which you can check via service menu)? Is that now bypassable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No and it probably never will be. It's hardcoded on the chip. If your phone is bought with a contract binding or it's limited to a single provider, then chances are that you will never be able to unlock the bootloader and flash kernels. It could be that you not being able to get into fastboot is because it's restricted on the device itself [citation needed]. In that case you're screwed and can pretty much forget the whole custom kernel thing. Only ROMs for locked bootloaders

I bricked my Moto X 2013 VZW Dev Edition - any chance of revival?

I'll start out by saying I was careless and had not read various threads before flashing things and causing my issues. I've already bought a replacement phone but I'd like to see if there's any chance to revive the Moto X or not.
What happened:
I had unlocked the bootloader years ago. I was running the (mostly) stock Lollipop 5.1 with XPosed, and got noticed of a security update.
After fully charging the battery, I flashed stock recovery over my custom recovery (TWRP) and then, without thinking, got the latest image from Motorola without realizing it was a 4.4.4 image.
I flashed the system partition using this image thinking it would remove SU and that I could install the update - this soft-bricked the phone when I tried to boot.
Too late, but at this point I re-flashed TWRP and ran a backup. I used adb to extract the backup and my other files from the /sdcard partition.
Factory Reset. The phone boot up at this point.
I tried flashing the logo, gpt.bin (I forgot that Lollipop changed how partitioning worked) and then did another Factory Reset. Phone boots fine.
I then tried restoring the data from my nandroid backup. Rebooted once, and phone seemed to start. And then it went black.
At this point, the phone does not appear to boot at all. I can't use Vol Down + Power to boot into Fastboot, and if I connect to a computer, it does not see the device... USUALLY.
If I connect via USB to my Windows computer, and try to boot into Fastboot, the green LED behind the volume will flash once and my computer will signal the "Hardware connected" sound. I can try to run 'adb reboot bootloader' but adb reports that it doesn't see any devices. My system events note a USB Input Device was added but don't get any further. Within 5 seconds, the "hardware disconnected" sound fires. About 20 seconds later, this will repeat on its own.
I just tried making a fastboot cable from a spare micro usb cable... I may have done it wrong - but it does not seem to have had any effect. The result is the same. It's possible I didn't solder the connection well, though (it was difficult exposing the terminals on my particular cable).
The screen is always black and never lights up in any way.
It kind of makes me think that the device is attempting to boot, fails, and cycles. Is there anything I can do?
At this point I am able to get into fastboot after bricking my XT1060DEV in a similar way. Follow the guide as best as you can in this post. Toward the end of that thread you can see the sequence of events that led me to at least fastboot mode.
Awaiting a response from someone who might know which gpt.bin and bootloader I can flash to have more than a blank phone. I'll try to keep you updated.
EDIT:
You might find it easiest to get QHUSB set up using this guide. This guide has been superseded by the previously posted one, but some people still report success following it.
PiArc said:
At this point I am able to get into fastboot after bricking my XT1060DEV in a similar way. Follow the guide as best as you can in this post. Toward the end of that thread you can see the sequence of events that led me to at least fastboot mode.
Awaiting a response from someone who might know which gpt.bin and bootloader I can flash to have more than a blank phone. I'll try to keep you updated.
EDIT:
You might find it easiest to get QHUSB set up using this guide. This guide has been superseded by the previously posted one, but some people still report success following it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may not have a chance for a few days, but I will try this. I did try to download the software on the second link you provided and some of the links on that page were broken.
I'm not going to lie, navigating those threads is harsh.
Towards the end of the first linked thread you can see a post with what ended up getting me into fastboot. It might be a decent little roadmap to guide you in the right direction (plus, I think the files I indicate in that particular post are all still up).
Keep us updated!
ohioDroid said:
I'll start out by saying I was careless and had not read various threads before flashing things and causing my issues. I've already bought a replacement phone but I'd like to see if there's any chance to revive the Moto X or not.
What happened:
I had unlocked the bootloader years ago. I was running the (mostly) stock Lollipop 5.1 with XPosed, and got noticed of a security update.
After fully charging the battery, I flashed stock recovery over my custom recovery (TWRP) and then, without thinking, got the latest image from Motorola without realizing it was a 4.4.4 image.
I flashed the system partition using this image thinking it would remove SU and that I could install the update - this soft-bricked the phone when I tried to boot.
Too late, but at this point I re-flashed TWRP and ran a backup. I used adb to extract the backup and my other files from the /sdcard partition.
Factory Reset. The phone boot up at this point.
I tried flashing the logo, gpt.bin (I forgot that Lollipop changed how partitioning worked) and then did another Factory Reset. Phone boots fine.
I then tried restoring the data from my nandroid backup. Rebooted once, and phone seemed to start. And then it went black.
At this point, the phone does not appear to boot at all. I can't use Vol Down + Power to boot into Fastboot, and if I connect to a computer, it does not see the device... USUALLY.
If I connect via USB to my Windows computer, and try to boot into Fastboot, the green LED behind the volume will flash once and my computer will signal the "Hardware connected" sound. I can try to run 'adb reboot bootloader' but adb reports that it doesn't see any devices. My system events note a USB Input Device was added but don't get any further. Within 5 seconds, the "hardware disconnected" sound fires. About 20 seconds later, this will repeat on its own.
I just tried making a fastboot cable from a spare micro usb cable... I may have done it wrong - but it does not seem to have had any effect. The result is the same. It's possible I didn't solder the connection well, though (it was difficult exposing the terminals on my particular cable).
The screen is always black and never lights up in any way.
It kind of makes me think that the device is attempting to boot, fails, and cycles. Is there anything I can do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try reflashing twrp via fastboot, install custom ROM -OR- download latest XML for your variant flash via rsd lite or manual flash.
Note: When using the XML you will lose everything, including data on internal storage.
Hopefully this helps ?
Also, if your phone stays black it's likely the battery is dead. Leave it hook up for awhile or keep trying to boot into fastboot(while plugged into outlet, not PC) and leave it for a couple of hours, should charge.
I'm speaking from personal experience, just without having Xposed framework, lol.
Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk

Moto X4 Bricked - no fastboot - USB 05c6:9008 Qualcomm, Inc. Gobi Wireless Modem (QDL

Hi,
i have a pretty bricked Moto X4 - I unlocked the bootloader and bootet twrp via
"fastboot boot twrp-3.2.3-1-payton.img"
I wiped and installed lineage-15.1-20190206-nightly-payton-signed.zip via sideload.
After rebooting the machine is dead. No screen. No fastboot. Power + up or down do not lead to anything.
I can get it to a stage where it shows up on the USB bus as:
Bus 002 Device 119: ID 05c6:9008 Qualcomm, Inc. Gobi Wireless Modem (QDL mode)
But no adb or fastboot and screen is pitch black.
And chance of reanimating this device?
Flo
Short answer, yes; you should be 'fine'.
I don't have the time at the moment to get you any details nor do I know of what side effects there are after fixing this.
dougo007 said:
Short answer, yes; you should be 'fine'.
I don't have the time at the moment to get you any details nor do I know of what side effects there are after fixing this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got my way after opening 150 Tabs ob various sites a bit further.
I can get back to fastboot and flash a new bootloader.
But whenever i go back to flashing lineageos -> BOOM. Back to black screen
Here is currently my procedure:
Code:
blankflash/qboot blank-flash blankflash/singleimage.bin
fastboot flash partition PAYTON_FI_OPWS28.46-21-12_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml/gpt.bin
fastboot flash bootloader PAYTON_FI_OPWS28.46-21-12_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml/bootloader.img
fastboot reload-bootloader
fastboot boot twrp-3.2.3-1-payton.img
-> format data
-> wipe system
adb sideload lineage-15.1-20190206-nightly-payton-signed.zip
-> reboot recovery
-> Black screen
My guess is that i am missing something important. After flashing my HTC 10 for 100s of times without any hassle i am puzzled.
Flo
flohoff said:
I got my way after opening 150 Tabs ob various sites a bit further.
I can get back to fastboot and flash a new bootloader.
But whenever i go back to flashing lineageos -> BOOM. Back to black screen
Here is currently my procedure:
Code:
blankflash/qboot blank-flash blankflash/singleimage.bin
fastboot flash partition PAYTON_FI_OPWS28.46-21-12_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml/gpt.bin
fastboot flash bootloader PAYTON_FI_OPWS28.46-21-12_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml/bootloader.img
fastboot reload-bootloader
fastboot boot twrp-3.2.3-1-payton.img
-> format data
-> wipe system
adb sideload lineage-15.1-20190206-nightly-payton-signed.zip
-> reboot recovery
-> Black screen
My guess is that i am missing something important. After flashing my HTC 10 for 100s of times without any hassle i am puzzled.
Flo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to flash the lineage zip with twrp. You can't sideload. Just remember it installs to the opposite slot.
Read this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x4/development/rom-lineage-os-15-1-t3802265
ptn107 said:
You need to flash the lineage zip with twrp. You can't sideload. Just remember it installs to the opposite slot.
Read this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x4/development/rom-lineage-os-15-1-t3802265
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know i have 2 system partitions - But after flashing Lineage with or without TWRP the bootloader is gone - I cant power on with power up/down and get to the bootloaders fastboot menu. And from my understanding the bootloader is not part of the A/B partitioning - right?
So i am puzzled on what is going on. Flashing LineageOS from TWRP breaks something on the phone letting the Bootloader fail and go back to the QDL safe mode.
Flo
flohoff said:
I know i have 2 system partitions - But after flashing Lineage with or without TWRP the bootloader is gone - I cant power on with power up/down and get to the bootloaders fastboot menu. And from my understanding the bootloader is not part of the A/B partitioning - right?
So i am puzzled on what is going on. Flashing LineageOS from TWRP breaks something on the phone letting the Bootloader fail and go back to the QDL safe mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay - got a bit further - Side B never had a bootloader - Stock did never do a software update so side B never had been flashed. Now it does not fall back to QDL mode anymore. Still lineageos does not boot.
So i guess i fail some partition content from Stock ROM in the B side.
Flo
I'm glad you're fining your way.
I would suggest a complete flash of stock based on your variant ex. XT1900-1.
Make sure your phone is still good and start from step one.
Then make sure you use the copy partitions zip; I think is what was screwing up someone before.
Either it was that or they tried to flash multiple things at the same time (magisk, google, TWRP).
dougo007 said:
I'm glad you're fining your way.
I would suggest a complete flash of stock based on your variant ex. XT1900-1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having a hard time identifying which of the STOCK images belong to which Moto X4 variant.
For me its a XT1900-7 - And i have a page listing hundrets of variants of images but i fail to identify anything common.
I tried looking for strings in the image binaries and failed.
Am am booting to LineageOS now after flashing side B with stuff i found - i am not shure whether it fits my Phone model.
Flo
Based on this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=76816113&postcount=92
It appears that the XT1900-1 firmware runs on a XT1900-7 device, but I'm not 100% about LTE coverage (US vs EU)
---------- Post added at 08:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 PM ----------
Here is the best 'visual' as too see how many partitions are used.
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-...ess-updates-affect-custom-development-on-xda/
There are two copies of everything but there is no dedicated recovery or cache partition anymore in an A/B treble system.
Based on your question of the boot loader, I'm not sure you used the copy partitions zip (although I'm not 100% what it does but I assume it means all of the content in A is copied to B).
If something doesn't seem to be running properly, I'd suggest flashing the firmware from here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=77490529&postcount=2
Use the one listed last and run this in bootloader.
@flohoff, I had the same problem when I tried to install LineageOS 15.1 without copying partitions (A→B ) first. It's frustrating that the LineageOS install instructions don't mention this step.
After using BlankFlash to unbrick it, and reading the LineageOS 15.1 install instructions here on XDA, and copying the partitions, I soon succeeded. Have you managed to get past this as well?

Sony Xperia 1 mrk ii [XQ-AT51] soft bricked after FW change with newflasher

I could really use a bit of help.
I wanted to root my phone (Nordic edition of XQ-AT51). I went to XperiFirm (5.4.0) and found the most possible fit, being Customized EU 58.0.3.132 / R14A.
I tried Flashtool64 (0.9.31.0) but it got stuck on Device connected in flashmode, and nothing happened for 10 minutes.
Went in here and found a nice guide suggesting Newflasher. successfully-flashed-customization-t4119707
Downloaded it (version 36) , following the guide for removing any .ta files, and then moved Newflasher to same dir as the downloaded firmware, ran it as administrator answered
n,n,n,y and everything went without visible error (and quite fast)
Case is, now my phone is stuck in an endless reboot loop - first it complains about the unlocked bootloader, then showing the Sony logo for a few seconds, and then restarting.
I can break it by going into Flashmode, but thats about it.
Any good suggestion on how to move forward from here ?
Try reflashing again. What ta files did you remove, exactly? You should have only removed the simlock.ta, and do a full wipe (don't preserve userdata). Also, how did you unlock the bootloader beforehand? Via cmd, and did you toggle "enable oem unlock" in dev options?
iArvee said:
Try reflashing again. What ta files did you remove, exactly? You should have only removed the simlock.ta, and do a full wipe (don't preserve userdata). Also, how did you unlock the bootloader beforehand? Via cmd, and did you toggle "enable oem unlock" in dev options?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the feedback !
I unlocked the bootloader using fastboot (and entered the key generated by the sony webpage) - and prior to that enabled USB debugging and OEM Unlock within dev options.
Then I did what in retrospect might be the rootcause for the misery. I followed a guide for rooting the phone (the purpose of unlocking the bootloader alltogether) but failed to realize that the boot file I was after should likely match the excact SW the phone is running (which isn't available on XperiFirm) - so I used Magisk with the file to generate a patched version on the phone, and then I used fastboot to install the patched loader. Following that the phone started to complain about Corrupt Software (in a somewhat similar endless boot loop).
So - in order to get the SW on the boot on the same page, I re-downloaded the full FW to get that on the phone.
First I tried using the Flashtool (updated drivers and stuff) but as mentioned that one got stuck, I've seen other users in here getting stuck at the same, and found this guide suggesting using Newflasher, removed all .ta files, following the guide saying that was the golden nugget and went into it (all going fine, probably not the best thing in retrospect to have said yes to removing the persistent part?)
I have downloaded the firmware again, and this time only removed the simlock.ta as suggested. Loaded that, again with newflasher, including wiping the persistent part (as it'd been done before anyway), but the result is sadly the same, phone starts to complain about the unlocked bootloader (which is fine obviously) and the for a brief second shows the Sony logo before it restarts. Only options to change that pattern are the vol up or vol down following a USB to PC connection.
I could try a different software, but the available set is quite limited.
Oh, and should it be relevant somehow, to get it back to life, I do have another phone which I haven't touched with the right software.
please rollback boot loader to lock and try flash by newflasher again

Lancelot enters fastbootd mode, does not communicate with adb and it's command, can't install twrp

Hello there.
Just like title says - I've got my hands on new Redmi 9 (lancelot) nfc 4/64 version. I've unlocked it from Mi stuff successfully yesterday and wanted to install there twrp, magisk and titanium backup to clean a bit and maybe to have foundations for further change of rom.
However, my phone gaves answers, that I do not understand correctly.
Firstly - after first instalation of twrp via adb it booted into this. However, after choosing option to boot to system from it, power off via ui and then another try to enter recovery...it gave me stock miui recovery again. When I've tried the same steps for second time, phone finished, but after restart it entered bootloop. I've followed steps from this guide - https://miui.blog/redmi-9/download-install-twrp-and-root-redmi-9-codename-lancelot/
After some time I've managed to make low-level rom instalation again (12.0.4 official lancelot rom, dated 31st of Mar, 21) to at least being able to communicate with it (done with usage of miflash 2018 version and rom in *.tgz file). This time, I've used help from this page - https://www.getdroidtips.com/guide-flash-miui-rom-xiaomi-devices/ - had some troubles with mediatek based phones before in my life, so it wasn't from scratch, but some time to understand it were needed.
Phone is working again, but this rom is based on Android 10 (which I would like to keep, if it won't cause too much trouble). And I think because of that fastboot mode changed now into fastbootD mode, where old commands from adb does not recognize the device, thus no flashing recovery action etc can be taken.
Is there a workaround here? I've stumbled across some articles about installing clean Generic System Image with Android 10 on this phone (since it has been released with android greater, than number 8), but again - this requires to have custom recovery, prefeably twrp. I cannot do anything about it, because I got back to stock recovery (which now at least works, yesterday phone was so twisted at one point, that he cannot even load this recovery, but somehow managed to open system and fastboot modes normally (!!!)).
Is there a way to work it out? Older miui version, older android version, then twrp, then update via twrp? Or an alternative method, since google changed something in partitions again (not sure, if I get it right, but it might be it)? I would actually like to stay somewhere around miui (at least let it be official with ota support without too much issues), but without twrp I cannot do anything. I also do know, that there aren't any official twrp/pbrp yet (just betas). Could it also be the issue with troubles with installing it and staying it on the phone?
buczek0711 said:
Hello there.
Just like title says - I've got my hands on new Redmi 9 (lancelot) nfc 4/64 version. I've unlocked it from Mi stuff successfully yesterday and wanted to install there twrp, magisk and titanium backup to clean a bit and maybe to have foundations for further change of rom.
However, my phone gaves answers, that I do not understand correctly.
Firstly - after first instalation of twrp via adb it booted into this. However, after choosing option to boot to system from it, power off via ui and then another try to enter recovery...it gave me stock miui recovery again. When I've tried the same steps for second time, phone finished, but after restart it entered bootloop. I've followed steps from this guide - https://miui.blog/redmi-9/download-install-twrp-and-root-redmi-9-codename-lancelot/
After some time I've managed to make low-level rom instalation again (12.0.4 official lancelot rom, dated 31st of Mar, 21) to at least being able to communicate with it (done with usage of miflash 2018 version and rom in *.tgz file). This time, I've used help from this page - https://www.getdroidtips.com/guide-flash-miui-rom-xiaomi-devices/ - had some troubles with mediatek based phones before in my life, so it wasn't from scratch, but some time to understand it were needed.
Phone is working again, but this rom is based on Android 10 (which I would like to keep, if it won't cause too much trouble). And I think because of that fastboot mode changed now into fastbootD mode, where old commands from adb does not recognize the device, thus no flashing recovery action etc can be taken.
Is there a workaround here? I've stumbled across some articles about installing clean Generic System Image with Android 10 on this phone (since it has been released with android greater, than number 8), but again - this requires to have custom recovery, prefeably twrp. I cannot do anything about it, because I got back to stock recovery (which now at least works, yesterday phone was so twisted at one point, that he cannot even load this recovery, but somehow managed to open system and fastboot modes normally (!!!)).
Is there a way to work it out? Older miui version, older android version, then twrp, then update via twrp? Or an alternative method, since google changed something in partitions again (not sure, if I get it right, but it might be it)? I would actually like to stay somewhere around miui (at least let it be official with ota support without too much issues), but without twrp I cannot do anything. I also do know, that there aren't any official twrp/pbrp yet (just betas). Could it also be the issue with troubles with installing it and staying it on the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After to flash TWRP you have to flash the vbmeta.img and then boot to TWRP not through commands but manually with hardware buttons, don't allow device to boot to system before to boot to custom recovery otherwise this will be overwritten again.
I've done that with this vbmeta, one and only difference might be that I was trying to get into twrp by commands (however, it did not work XD). Overwritten isn't an issue in my opinion, since I do have booted to recovery after installing it yesterday and then from it choose option "reboot to system". After poweroff from system and then trying to get into recovery, then stock showed.
I'm currently trying this - https://c.mi.com/oc/thread-3312019-1-0.html
After putting this command to cmd - bcdedit /set testsigning on lancelot shows somewhere, but I cannot install it (most likely due to this issue about encrypted drivers). I'll try to overcome it now.
Yea, well, I've tried this method from link listed above, phone still enters fastbootd mode, still is not-visible from cmd started from google platform tools folder (which a subfolder to working adb). Not sure what to do now.
buczek0711 said:
I've done that with this vbmeta, one and only difference might be that I was trying to get into twrp by commands (however, it did not work XD). Overwritten isn't an issue in my opinion, since I do have booted to recovery after installing it yesterday and then from it choose option "reboot to system". After poweroff from system and then trying to get into recovery, then stock showed.
I'm currently trying this - https://c.mi.com/oc/thread-3312019-1-0.html
After putting this command to cmd - bcdedit /set testsigning on lancelot shows somewhere, but I cannot install it (most likely due to this issue about encrypted drivers). I'll try to overcome it now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, this is not the method to boot to recovery from what I pointed out, you don't have to firstly power off device but from fastboot commands you can type either fastboot or fastbootd reboot and inmediately press the volume up till the TWRP logo appears, the fastboot/d command will act same as it be the power button.
The thread explains how to install unsigned drivers in Windows, not to set it on your Redmi but is for your PC. If you succesfully get the drivers installed then you have to reboot your PC entering again in safe mode (not normal mode) and from there the commands through fastbootd are generally the same than those for fastboot.
buczek0711 said:
Yea, well, I've tried this method from link listed above, phone still enters fastbootd mode, still is not-visible from cmd started from google platform tools folder (which a subfolder to working adb). Not sure what to do now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be sure you are doing fine and not missing something the adb commands work while device is on and fastboot/d commands work only in fastboot mode.
Can you attach some SS to see what you are typing and the error that brings the cmd?
Hm, you say, that I can type fastbootd into cmd and this will be recognised? It seems that it cannot be recognised in this case, when I'm trying to type fastbootd powershell says "unknown command".
Typing fastboot /d devices results in "waiting for device", despite phone being in fastbootd all the time.
I'll attach ss tomorrow - it is time to sleep for me now, gotta wake up early. Then we will also know something else, when it comes to behavior after restart pc (once again, I've done it all in one sit, it might be an issue here).
PS. if you want english errors, I'll have to use powershell - cmd is in my native language (polish). Found out, that it doesn't really matter, which program you use, powershell simply can do more, while cmd dates back 30 years or so.
Anyway - phone is still booting to miui 12 and android 10 normally, I do not set there google acc or lock yet, so don't know if there's any issue with it (most likely no).
I've also stumbled across some dude from indonesia, who had the same phone, miui 12.0.1 with android 10 and he installed successfully twrp, then magisk, but he also put some small img - misc misc.img. Could it be the issue?
I'm giving link to this material on YT -
FROM WHAT I SEE IN THE THUMBNAIL, this version of twrp is even the same (code number and english translated from chinese), that once worked here (md5 of the file might be different, though).
There's also an option to reinstall again whole adb, platform tools, drivers from official miunlock app etc, but since I do not had ANY android-related problems on this pc with previous phones, I'm not sure if this is worth our time.
And I think that if I would misspell something in cmd program would give me error instantly, instead of behaving like it was nothing - i've made tons of errors before and cmd/powershell always informed me about it in first line of their texts.
buczek0711 said:
Hm, you say, that I can type fastbootd into cmd and this will be recognised? It seems that it cannot be recognised in this case, when I'm trying to type fastbootd powershell says "unknown command".
Typing fastboot /d devices results in "waiting for device", despite phone being in fastbootd all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, fastboot works normally while in cmd, this is intended for that, no problem to enter firstly toi Power Shell but you can switch to cmd from PS just typing cmd and all the commands from here will be for cmd, doesn´t matter at all how many old is, cmd can work inside PS keeping the same aspect.
buczek0711 said:
I'll attach ss tomorrow - it is time to sleep for me now, gotta wake up early. Then we will also know something else, when it comes to behavior after restart pc (once again, I've done it all in one sit, it might be an issue here).
PS. if you want english errors, I'll have to use powershell - cmd is in my native language (polish). Found out, that it doesn't really matter, which program you use, powershell simply can do more, while cmd dates back 30 years or so.
Anyway - phone is still booting to miui 12 and android 10 normally, I do not set there google acc or lock yet, so don't know if there's any issue with it (most likely no).
I've also stumbled across some dude from indonesia, who had the same phone, miui 12.0.1 with android 10 and he installed successfully twrp, then magisk, but he also put some small img - misc misc.img. Could it be the issue?
I'm giving link to this material on YT -
FROM WHAT I SEE IN THE THUMBNAIL, this version of twrp is even the same (code number and english translated from chinese), that once worked here (md5 of the file might be different, though).
There's also an option to reinstall again whole adb, platform tools, drivers from official miunlock app etc, but since I do not had ANY android-related problems on this pc with previous phones, I'm not sure if this is worth our time.
And I think that if I would misspell something in cmd program would give me error instantly, instead of behaving like it was nothing - i've made tons of errors before and cmd/powershell always informed me about it in first line of their texts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to reinstall nothing, just from the downloaded SDK platform do all that you want to avoid misspelling path and folder directories, I mean place the files you need to use in the same directory and open terminal prompt (PS) in the same folder where adb/fastboot binaries are, pressing right mouse button and shift at same time.
I feel you are missing something simply here, not so hard to do.
The misc.img partition that you mentioned is just to restore something that went wrong in the process.
But if you are happy with this Miui ROM then great. No hurry to answer that, give your time to rest.
I also feel, that there is something simply to overcome, Only the fastbootd is new Stuff to me. However, any time I was doing something with Snap, i was long after finish by the current time (almost a month with It and 3rd day with fastbootd issue).
I don't get it. Now when I've tried to enter fastboot mode...phone entered it (fastboot, not fastbootD). Then I've installed pitch black recovery and sucessfully booted into it by restarting phone and then pressing vol up. Now I'm trying with magisk and another entry to pbrp.
Second try gave me stock recovery again. What is wrong with it XD?
something is wrong. Installing twrp resulting in nothing (stock recovery is still there), installing pitch black resulting in successfully boot into new recovery. However, this recovery does not see any zip (magisk zip, to be exact, that I've put there before it to root phone). After boot into system and then power it off to boot into recovery...phone boots into stock recovery. Should I downgrade system to miui 11 to be able to get over it? Or should I wait until miui 12.5 enters redmi 9?
My tries of installing it has been done by using cmd with admin rights, if it does make any difference.
buczek0711 said:
something is wrong. Installing twrp resulting in nothing (stock recovery is still there), installing pitch black resulting in successfully boot into new recovery. However, this recovery does not see any zip (magisk zip, to be exact, that I've put there before it to root phone). After boot into system and then power it off to boot into recovery...phone boots into stock recovery. Should I downgrade system to miui 11 to be able to get over it? Or should I wait until miui 12.5 enters redmi 9?
My tries of installing it has been done by using cmd with admin rights, if it does make any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are not following the right direction, if you want consider what I pointed out; you don't have to power off device prior to boot to recovery for first time but you have to type from fastboot (no matter fastbootd) and inmediately from there boot to the custom recovery, when you succesfully booted to custom recovery then flash the recovery zip if there is one (PBR and OFR have one) and if not a zip then flash the image again to the recovery partition, also check if there is some installer apart from the image that can fix it in the ramdisk partition, at this point your issue is solved, next step is to reboot device to system normally, if you don't have any issue on that then OK but if you can´t there some steps more that you should do, but let this for last.
Ok, let's group it.
I do not think that particular matter of how do I restart phone matters here (at least, I do not believe it, that it does anything).
Option to restart to recovery from adb still not working.
Trying to find magisk.zip in main directory of internal storage still fails under pitch black recovery project.
From new stuff - I now got an error message, while opening pbrp, most likely with the issues about system being read-only (not sure though, since I do not remember it now, might look into it once more). I have the options to mount partitions, available from main menu, but since I do not used it at all before, I do not know, how to deal with it.
Also - my system boots normally, it must have overwritten recovery (or at least header of it) sometime during boot, since custom recovery is unavailable to access after first full reboot.
I'll try now to install newer version of twrp from yt that I've posted days back. I would also try with orange fox (however, i cannot find img for it, just source code, don't get it).
Is there someone, who can and will to help me?
Situation looks this - on this 12.0.4 MIUI with android 10 I'm unable to install ANY recovery (either phone do not restart to recovery after proper command from cmd or it boots into it, but after visiting system and then to recovery again it shows stock (even without any operations or updates from ota).
I cannot force to work either twrp 3.4.2b, twrp 3.5.2, pitch black recovery 3.0.0 beta.
After trying to install magisk 21.4 zip from twrp 3.4.2b phone entered bootloop, because f**k you, user, I cannot even get it to fastboot mode now (btw, fastboot now works, fastbootD is luckily a long-gone crap).
All cmd's have been run with admin rights. There are NO SUCH THING, as misspelling (cmd and adb would not execute command ,if it is misspelled, either command or filename). I've installed drivers once again and used cmd from dedicated folder with adb fastboot portable version (runned as admin, of course).
Now I'm downloading older version of rom for fastboot (miui 11.0.9) with android 10. Something has to finally work on this piece of junk.
Writting each time is success (cmd says "OKAY" nad displays time, it took to do so), downloading recovery image to start from it also works, there aren't any errors in cmd, yet phone still isn't working.
Where's the issue with it? Apart from being mediatek, which seems to somehow enormously hardened any flashing? I did not encounter anything like this with qualcomm, yet mediatek still manages to pisses me off with their really weird implementations and working (???) of their stuff.
another update from battlefield. Managed to finally get mediatek verify bypass in smart phone flashing tool, however it ended with forcing me to format anything in the phone (if not, program would not let me install anything).
Second problem is forcing me to disable verify, yet command fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img put in fastboot mode (yes, it works now) does not work, because adb says, that "--disable-verity" is not a recognised command.
SPFT cannot properly download images from phone and welcomes me with error about download exception, happening either in recovery part or in boot part. SInce I do have access to fastboot now, I can overcome it (I think).
Old miflash tool to install roms via fastboot says it cannot flash rom in locked stage (I might have lost unlocked status, but I'm not sure about it). Do you know ways to overcome it?
It is me again (inb4 use edit). Had to unlock phone again by using miphone unlocker (it went ok). Still cannot flash using SPFT, miflash started showing idiotic errors like "no file in directory" or "cannot access to directory" (it could before, I did not changed name of it). Will continue reporting of progress (or the so-called "progress").

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