Related
My N7 is unlocked, I upgraded to 4.2.2 factory stock, rooted, and flashed ClockworkMod Recovery 6.0.2.3 touch recovery. I ran into a very strange issue; if I flash the custom recovery on the tablet, then the tablet boots into a screen that asks me to type my password to decrypt storage not allowing me to enter the homescreen until I do so. Later, I found out that flashing back to stock recovery fixes the problem and my N7 is functional again. I've tried everything while on the custom recovery: erasing, formatting, writing userdata to the device without success.
I'm not really sure what question you are asking. Also, I think you might be leaving something out which ought to be clarified, the way you describe things seems to have some pieces missing. (And, you really should not be starting yet another thread on this)
You shouldn't be able to flash custom ROMs with a stock recovery; so, are you saying that you:
- flash a ROM with a custom recovery
- try and boot it -- but it fails with the "enter password" prompt (you mention "won't let me enter the homescreen")
- flash the stock recovery into place
- perform a factory reset with the stock recovery
- now the ROM boots?
Also, do you get the same result with TWRP?
bftb0 said:
I'm not really sure what question you are asking. Also, I think you might be leaving something out which ought to be clarified, the way you describe things seems to have some pieces missing. (And, you really should not be starting yet another thread on this)
You shouldn't be able to flash custom ROMs with a stock recovery; so, are you saying that you:
- flash a ROM with a custom recovery
- try and boot it -- but it fails with the "enter password" prompt (you mention "won't let me enter the homescreen")
- flash the stock recovery into place
- perform a factory reset with the stock recovery
- now the ROM boots?
Also, do you get the same result with TWRP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a help/troubleshooting post. I know it wasn't good to start another thread, but I felt that people that had already browsed my thread the first time wouldn't come back and now I found the reason behind my issue. I didn't flash a custom rom with stock recovery; I used fastboot on my pc to issue commands. My phone has the factory stock rom on it - then if I flash clockworkmod recovery, the next time I reboot, there's a screen that says I need to type a password to decrypt storage and I'm not able to access anything. If I go back into the bootloader and erase and write the stock recovery, I'm able to boot into the homescreen without the issue. Everything I've flashed to the tablet is done through my pc via fastboot. I never tried TWRP, but I don't like that recovery anyways.
UnlockedNand said:
It's a help/troubleshooting post. I know it wasn't good to start another thread, but I felt that people that had already browsed my thread the first time wouldn't come back and now I found the reason behind my issue. I didn't flash a custom rom with stock recovery; I used fastboot on my pc to issue commands. My phone has the factory stock rom on it - then if I flash clockworkmod recovery, the next time I reboot, there's a screen that says I need to type a password to decrypt storage and I'm not able to access anything. If I go back into the bootloader and erase and write the stock recovery, I'm able to boot into the homescreen without the issue. Everything I've flashed to the tablet is done through my pc via fastboot. I never tried TWRP, but I don't like that recovery anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, read and understood. Very bizzare, however. Almost sounds more like something caused by the bootloader (during the fastboot write) rather than it mattering which custom recovery is sitting there (it's not clear from the above, but it almost sounds like it is not even necessary to have ever booted the custom recovery from the device's recovery partition for the problem to appear)
Are you also saying that you can not flash a custom ROM from the custom recovery without this "enter password" phenomenon happening, or is it only this combo of pure stock ROM + recovery flashed via fastboot that exhibits the problem?
I have a lightly-rooted JDQ39 Stock (4.2.2) ROM with a custom recovery - no such troubles. But mine was installed by using factory-via-fastboot of 4.2.1, followed by a manually-triggered OTA to JDQ39, and then followed in turn by a fastboot flash of the recovery partition (TWRP 2.4.1.0). That last flash was certainly performed by the 4.18 bootloader.
No troubles, but that is certainly a different installation path.
Two more small questions for clarification purposes: when you installed the factory 4.2.2 ROM via fastboot, did you follow the exact sequence of the install-all.sh script:
Code:
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-4.18.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
sleep 10
fastboot -w update image-nakasi-jdq39.zip
... or did you omit anything (e.g. one or more of the erases, the bootloader flashing, etc)?
Yeah, it's like the bootloader writes bad information to the userdata partition if the recovery isn't stock. I haven't flashed a custom rom from the custom recovery, but I'm assuming the type your password issue would appear again. Yes, it's a combo of pure stock rom + custom recovery when this problem occurs. No, when I installed the 4.2.2 factory stock rom, I unzipped all the image files and typed these commands.
Code:
fastboot oem lock
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader name>.img
fastboot flash boot <boot name>.img
fastboot flash system <system name>.img
fastboot flash userdata <userdata name>.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot erase cache
fastboot reboot
I've also gone back and manually erased, formatted, and wrote the userdata partition again. Maybe I should try downgrading the bootloader to 4.2.1, reflash userdata, and flash the custom recovery?
UnlockedNand said:
Yeah, it's like the bootloader writes bad information to the userdata partition if the recovery isn't stock. I haven't flashed a custom rom from the custom recovery, but I'm assuming the type your password issue would appear again. Yes, it's a combo of pure stock rom + custom recovery when this problem occurs. No, when I installed the 4.2.2 factory stock rom, I unzipped all the image files and typed these commands.
Code:
fastboot oem lock
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader name>.img
fastboot flash boot <boot name>.img
fastboot flash system <system name>.img
fastboot flash userdata <userdata name>.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot erase cache
fastboot reboot
I've also gone back and manually erased, formatted, and wrote the userdata partition again. Maybe I should try downgrading the bootloader to 4.2.1, reflash userdata, and flash the custom recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. Well, I can't say for sure, but I am willing to gamble that the bootloader relocates itself into a load-offset address so that it runs out of RAM rather than running directly out of Flash Memory. Much quicker that way. The implication of that is that once it is fully loaded into RAM and operational, you could actually erase the bootloader and suffer no ill effects - until you powered off the device. Then you would be in real trouble.
The point is, in the Google factory sequence, all of the partition flashing is done by the new bootloader (4.18), whereas in your case none of it is done that way - except for the custom recovery flash. Here's the Google sequence:
- erase all partitions using currently installed bootloader (4.13)
- flash new bootloader and boot into it ( 4.13 -> 4.18 )
- flash all 4.2.2 ROM partitions using new bootloader
whereas your sequence looks like:
- (no explicit erasures)
- flash partitions with old bootloader (4.13)
- reboot into new bootloader ( 4.13 -> 4.18 )
- erase cache
- flash recovery with new bootloader ( 4.18 )
very different!
Also, the "-w" switch used in the google sequence causes partition erasure and re-formatting (depending on partition type) prior to each partition's flashing.
Without going through the lock/unlock procedure, I suppose it would be possible to reflash all the partitions with 4.18 to see if the problem disappears. But, now that I said that, I realize my tab - which had an OTA upgrade - is sort of similar in that the partitions & files patched by the OTA were all initially flashed by 4.13 (by me), patched by the OTA, and then finally I flashed only the custom recovery with the 4.18 bootloader.
Doing further experimentation might mean attempting a bootloader rollback flash. I can't say that I've seen reports here of anybody trying it. And I can't say I blame them - there could be dragons hiding in that process.
Ah, I see. The sequence I followed flashing the partitions would erase and write the partitions automatically done by the fastboot script. The only instance where I erased, formatted, and flashed the partition was the userdata when I was troubleshooting. From reading other threads before, I believe people have done bootloader rollbacks without consequences to the rest of the partitions. The bootloader updates contain fixes, but aren't explicitly required for the rom to run, am I correct?
Good morning, (at least where I'm at) I want to test out a Nougat rom or two and I am currently on a Marshmallow rom (specifically Resurrection Remix). I know I have to flash the radios for Nougat, and also the vendor image. However,if I end up going back to my old rom will I have to flash MM radios again or will the new radios still work? Also will there be any other problems when going between Nougat and MM? I don't believe this question has been asked. At least I could not find it. If it was feel free to just leave the link below! Thanks for you help!
Hi mate.
Radios are backwards compatible, so the Nougat radio will work on MM, however in case you want to go back you can also do it.
About downgrading from N to MM this are the steps I used to return to stock MM. The only thing that cannot be downgraded is the bootloader.
1. Enabled OEM unlock in developer options.
2. Booted into bootloader and used "fastboot flashing unlock" to unlock bootloader.
3. Rebooted phone and went through initial setup (Still in Nougat).
4. Booted into bootloader and flashed radio.img and rebooted bootloader.
5. In bootoader, I booted TWRP without flashing it using "fastboot boot twrp.img"
6. In TWRP I did a factory reset, then went into advanced wipe and marked all the options and proceeded to wipe. Finally I used the option of wipe data.
7. Booted into bootloader again from the options in TWRP, and started doing the following commands:
a. fastboot flash boot boot.img
b. fastboot erase cache
c. fastboot flash cache cache.img
d. fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
e. fastboot format system
f. fastboot flash system system.img
g. fastboot erase vendor
h. fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
i. fastboot format userdata
8. Then proceeded to boot the phone and now I'm running MM again.
You do need only this...from Marshmallow just update to the last Nougat version NRD90U, with the stock factory image...then you can with a custom recovery, switch between N and M without any problem...just flash custom via recovery and it works...no need to flash boot, bootloader, vendor ecc any time... only rom
Thanks, if i would have known that i would have updated my stock to Nougut first before unlocking, when i get home tonight i will go back to stock and update. Then i will reflash twrp and my custom rom. Thanks!
Long story short. I had an Axon 7 A2017 B11 which I updated to B13. I was able to unlock the bootloader, root the phone then flash a custom rom Z.A.D.Mix7_v0.3. I was having fun with the phone but I did something very stupid when I realised I could not use Android pay due to unlocked boot loader. Without doing enough research, I went to fastboot and did a fastboot oem lock. The command was successful but I could no longer boot into the system or recovery or fastboot. I tried MiFlash with B07 which was posted in this forum, but it did not work, came back an error of bad format. Then I used axon7tool to flash TWRP 3.0.2 and the boot.img which I extracted from B13. I am now able to boot into TWRP and fastboot. But I still do not have a working system. I tried fastboot oem unlock, it does not let me do it. I flash ZAD Mix7 again but once I flash that it does not boot anymore. I am now really stuck. What should I do to go back to stock then start everything again. Thanks a lot for the help.
I understand your device doesn't boot into system anymore, but can adb on your pc detect it at all? If so, you can try following all steps after "B)" in my tutorial. I think your aboot img and fbop partition are messed up. If you can use adb to replace the files in aboot and fbop with files that allow the fastboot oem unlock command to be executed, it should be unlockable again. After that, custom ROMs should boot.
Stock bootloader
Controllerboy said:
If you can use adb to replace the files in aboot and fbop with files that allow the fastboot oem unlock command to be executed, it should be unlockable again. After that, custom ROMs should boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having a similar issue. Although my phone boots to stock rom I seem to have messed up my bootloader. I had TWRP and unlocked bootloader. I, similarly, locked the bootloader and things seemed to be fine. After attempting to install Nougat received from OTA I realized my bootloader is corrupted. When I hold the power and volume up the phone seems to just turn off (or go to EDL mode? I'm not sure) I can always just hold power and it'll boot up normally. Is there a way to get the stock bootloader to work and keep it locked?
I also bricked my A7 after relocking my bootloader. I used tenfar's tool to make TWRP my boot.img, then flashed ZTE's stock B20 image. Here's the thread where I found the file links.
From there I updated all the way up to the OTA Nougat, but I suppose you can decide where you want to go after it's unbricked. Hope this helps.
Why are so many people relocking bl? Regardless, always take an ota before locking to ensure you are completely shock.
Stock bootloader
lafester said:
Why are so many people relocking bl? Regardless, always take an ota before locking to ensure you are completely shock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't you have to be running a locked bootloader in order to be able to install OTAs?
aabnamak said:
Don't you have to be running a locked bootloader in order to be able to install OTAs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course not.
aabnamak said:
Don't you have to be running a locked bootloader in order to be able to install OTAs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you do not. I thought that was the case at first as well, but I was mistaken. You do, however, need the stock recovery and an untouched system partition.
My problem is that I don't seem to have a recovery at all. I realized once the ZTE logo pops up I can hold down both volume keys and get to the bootloader. The bootloader is locked but does not display a bootloader version or basedband version. I tried the tenfar tool (axon7root.exe) and now my phone doesn't boot into the system either. I really need help...
Just an update to everyone that helped.
I finally managed to fix it.
I used axon7tool to flash a signed TWRP, so that i can boot into TWRP. The signed TWRP is the only way to make it work. Then I downloaded the A2017 B11 from this thread
https://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/development/rom-guide-updates-to-stock-files-via-t3469484
There are two zip files. The boot stack and the rom. Because it is a stock rom, I can boot into the system. The next thing I did was to enable the developer option and turn back on the option to allow OEM unlock.
I went back to TWRP. boot into the fastboot screen. Then I simply typed in 'fastboot oem unlock'.
I went back to TWRP, which says can't read encrypted device. I formated everything. mount the USB then flash the custom rom again.
Hola, phone fixed. Made me sweat for the whole day.
deleted...forgot I had a micro sd card. Flashed stock update from the card and it worked. Phew!
I was trying to flash the stock image and i guess i messed up somewhere because after i did that i locked the bootloder and not it is not booting past the google screen. i want to reflash all images but i cant cause the bootloader is locked. so is there anyway to unlock the oem in bootloader or recovery mode TWRP? i can access terminal in TWRP so any command that can help me?
TheTickReborn said:
I was trying to flash the stock image and i guess i messed up somewhere because after i did that i locked the bootloder and not it is not booting past the google screen. i want to reflash all images but i cant cause the bootloader is locked. so is there anyway to unlock the oem in bootloader or recovery mode TWRP? i can access terminal in TWRP so any command that can help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe try and sideloading the it's through twrp. I can't remember if an unlocked bootloader is needed though. Also, you could maybe try flashing a custom ROM to see if you can boot into it.
I wanted to make this post about my adventure with my old Pixel 2. I was getting non-stop red lines out of the log in TWRP. Many times I would have problems mounting system and vendor partitions as well as vendor partitions needing "to be cleaned".
This led me to believe that I may have a corrupted partition, so I did some research into how the partitions are organized, and what happens when you flash a lot of ROMs. Perhaps you want to go back to the stock firmware? Perhaps - like in my case - you want to install a ROM such as GrapheneOS that's meant to lock the bootloader afterwards, and act more like the stock ROM.
What I didn't understand up until recently is how exactly the A and B slots of phones like the Pixel 2 work. They work because the firmware allows updating OTA to the opposite slot of what's active. That way - in the worst case scenario - you can actually boot into the opposite slot and regain access to your phone. I'm not an expert on this, but that's my basic understanding.
So now that that's covered, another important aspect is flashing ROMs. If you are like me and like testing many different ROMs, you may end up running into issues such as the one I stated above with TWRP.
The only way I was able to avoid these types of issues is to run some commands through fastboot.
One such command is
Code:
fastboot format system
This command will format the system partition and make it easier to install ROMs without running into issues.
Another command is
Code:
fastboot format vendor
This command was very important in my case, because the vendor partition was actually unusable for my slot A. Doing this command finally fixed that issue.
Another thing to note is ROMs can be installed in both slots. A lot of people don't do this, because they leave their bootloader unlocked and probably just run the ROM for half a day, and flash another. In my case, I needed to flash both slots in order to lock the bootloader in GrapheneOS, and allow the OS to update OTA. If you don't flash both slots, that won't work.
Just to clarify further, these are the commands (at the bootloader) I ran (from a command prompt in Windows) in order from start to finish when I was flashing a ROM I wanted to keep:
Code:
fastboot --set-active=a
fastboot format system
fastboot format vendor
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot --set-active=b
fastboot format system
fastboot format vendor
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot update rom.zip
// Let the phone reboot into the new ROM, let it sit for a minute,
// then reboot into bootloader manually and then continue with fastboot:
fastboot --set-active=a
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot update rom.zip
Once I've done this, and can confirm it successfully loads into the ROM I've installed, I can now say that I have a clean, fresh install in BOTH slots A and B.
I'll update this thread if I can think of anything else that can help newbies like me.
Cheers!
HCFL said:
I wanted to make this post about my adventure with my old Pixel 2. I was getting non-stop red lines out of the log in TWRP. Many times I would have problems mounting system and vendor partitions as well as vendor partitions needing "to be cleaned".
This led me to believe that I may have a corrupted partition, so I did some research into how the partitions are organized, and what happens when you flash a lot of ROMs. Perhaps you want to go back to the stock firmware? Perhaps - like in my case - you want to install a ROM such as GrapheneOS that's meant to lock the bootloader afterwards, and act more like the stock ROM.
What I didn't understand up until recently is how exactly the A and B slots of phones like the Pixel 2 work. They work because the firmware allows updating OTA to the opposite slot of what's active. That way - in the worst case scenario - you can actually boot into the opposite slot and regain access to your phone. I'm not an expert on this, but that's my basic understanding.
So now that that's covered, another important aspect is flashing ROMs. If you are like me and like testing many different ROMs, you may end up running into issues such as the one I stated above with TWRP.
The only way I was able to avoid these types of issues is to run some commands through fastboot.
One such command is
Code:
fastboot format system
This command will format the system partition and make it easier to install ROMs without running into issues.
Another command is
Code:
fastboot format vendor
This command was very important in my case, because the vendor partition was actually unusable for my slot A. Doing this command finally fixed that issue.
Another thing to note is ROMs can be installed in both slots. A lot of people don't do this, because they leave their bootloader unlocked and probably just run the ROM for half a day, and flash another. In my case, I needed to flash both slots in order to lock the bootloader in GrapheneOS, and allow the OS to update OTA. If you don't flash both slots, that won't work.
Just to clarify further, these are the commands (at the bootloader) I ran (from a command prompt in Windows) in order from start to finish when I was flashing a ROM I wanted to keep:
Code:
fastboot --set-active=a
fastboot format system
fastboot format vendor
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot --set-active=b
fastboot format system
fastboot format vendor
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot update rom.zip
// Let the phone reboot into the new ROM, let it sit for a minute,
// then reboot into bootloader manually and then continue with fastboot:
fastboot --set-active=a
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot update rom.zip
Once I've done this, and can confirm it successfully loads into the ROM I've installed, I can now say that I have a clean, fresh install in BOTH slots A and B.
I'll update this thread if I can think of anything else that can help newbies like me.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would this help in bootloop as well? I have a pixel 1st gen that does. I have flashed and or tried to anyways factory images...OTA and even was able to boot twrp and get lineage to flash, only to get a random reboot and bootloop. I would need to flash the factory image in order to get this phone operable. Should I flash a factory image and then do your steps or should I do the steps first and then flash the factory image?
Nope. Did not work. Seems as if the stock recovery is fubar