Database Users

Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2?

Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2? Thought I'd ask because everytime I attempted to gain access to Recovery Mode, I would get an error (it said something like "No connecrtion"). I had to manually flash TWRP with Wugs and was able to successfully gain access to Recovery Mode again.

urbanman2004 said:
Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2? Thought I'd ask because everytime I attempted to gain access to Recovery Mode, I would get an error (it said something like "No connecrtion"). I had to manually flash TWRP with Wugs and was able to successfully gain access to Recovery Mode again.
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I've not updated my Nexus 7 to KitKat yet, but I just noticed on my Nexus 5 that TWRP is broken after updating to the 4.4.2 OTA. I don't get the "No connection" error, I just get the little dead android icon with the red exclamation point. Too bad I'm at work and won't be able to re-flash it until I get home.
You're not alone.

urbanman2004 said:
Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2? Thought I'd ask because everytime I attempted to gain access to Recovery Mode, I would get an error (it said something like "No connecrtion"). I had to manually flash TWRP with Wugs and was able to successfully gain access to Recovery Mode again.
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Click to collapse
Lacking any and all details about how you upgraded, I would have to say that is to be expected. The OTAs usually directly overwrite the recovery with a new version of the stock recovery.
Moreover, the most recent OTA used that "/system/recovery-from-boot.p" patch file and associated script "/system/etc/install-recovery.sh" mechanism that automatically overwrites the recovery by patching the boot partition image; I think this happens either on every boot (or maybe during a clean shutdown).
So, not having noticed that, I flashed a custom recovery & booted the stock ROM... and next time I rebooted into recovery, I was back at the stock recovery ... WTF?, right?
I renamed those files to stop that from happening. I think some of the recoveries are aware of this and perform similar tricks on your behalf when they "install root" for you, but if you continue to get your recovery overwritten by stock, this is the place to look.
FYI I capture a full nandroid backup of every new stock release, whether or not I plan on using stock. I set them aside (copy them to a PC) so that they are always available.
I do this by:
- TiBu user app & data backup
- make a nandroid backup of my current ROM
- restore a nandroid backup of the prior release of the pure Stock ROM including it's matching stock recovery
- take the OTA and apply it (note everything is COMPLETELY, 100% stock during this operation)
- soft-boot a custom recovery via fastboot ("fastboot boot ...")
- make a nandroid backup of the new pure Stock ROM, including it's matching stock recovery
- flash a custom recovery and either restore a different ROM, or root the stock ROM and move forward with TiBu
This may seem like a lot of work, but it preserves maximum flexibility and safety:
(a) I can roll back to pure stock (any version!) any time I please from my archive of stock nandroid backups.
(b) I never - ever - have problems with OTA installation (including hazardous things like bootloader installs)
(c) I never need to go begging on the internet "please anybody, can you send me file "xxxx" from the stock release "xyz" ? I already have them - all of them.**
hope that helps
** note that TWRP's ".win" files are just tar archives. You don't even need to restore prior ROMs to pluck out individual stock ROM files.

Restoring backup - what went wrong?

Hello,
today I managed to brick my device and restore it to working state, and I wonder at what point I made an error.
So here's what I did:
Had stock lollipop 30b
Rooted using oneclick root+recovery
Installed twrp using autorec
Xposed etc. and used it for a while without problem
Decided to flash something new
AOSPA 5.1.1 seemed like a good choice
Flashed bootstack, that was mentioned in aospa thread, system and gapps
Wow, that was smooth, but I needed my apps next day so I decided to restore my stock backup
Restored backup and ended up with phone in 9006 mode
Later I did some stupid moves that made whole situation worse, but that's not the point.
I backed up and restored everything that twrp allowed me to, so not only system and data, but also boot, efs, modem, recovery, sns etc. Could this be the cause? I didn't change bootstack, because I thought, that I had the needed one (autorec puts kk bootstack, right? and aosp roms also require this).
What should I do to avoid such problems in the future? I'll probably flash a lot, trying to find best possible rom for me, so it's neccesary to now whatto avoid.
And tip for future newbies like I was: if you can enter download mode, then use it, flash tool won't wipe your device data when you're using normal flash. When you've got normal working system to begin with then you can tinker further.
(Also there seems to be no way to recover from demigod critical error, even though it says it enters recovery. Then it's only this method with shorting capacitors on motherboard (fix real hardbrick)).
Cheers,
Marmelada

You can flash the patch (go back to LP from Sombons), flash, reboot recovery, restore stock rom and reboot.

[Solved] Unable to boot into custom rom after device crash

So I my A2017G had RR-20170314 with TWRP 3.1.0-0 and AX7 R6 installed. Everything was working fine until today my phone rebooted while it was in my pocket. I didn't change anything before and haven't used it for some time and only noticed this through 2 short vibrations. Since then the phone refused to boot into system, TWRP was still accessible though. Three short blinks by the led directly after the bootloader screen and then the phone shut itself down.
Back in recovery I made a full backup and tried booting with deleting cache etc and installing the latest RR. Nothing worked.
When I went back to stock I was finally able to boot. Flashed TWRP 3.1.0-0 through axon7tool and installed RR again. And again only those 3 led blinks
Used "disemmcwp" to make sure write protection is disabled and noticed that when I rebootet the recovery got replaced by the stock one. Only if I enable write protection through "emmcwpenab" the recovery isn't replaced
Just checked the status of the bootloader and it still says unlocked.
I found two threads with a similiar issue but unfortunately nothing helped:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/help/boot-recovery-boot-t3569364
https://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/help/3-flashes-reboot-phone-shuts-off-t3574324
Never experienced such a thing before. Any help is really appreciated ?
I'm really out of ideas what to do. And stock isn't really a permament solution

Are you using latest G bootstack? Is the device in dfu, or edl mode (check device manager on pc)?
Be very careful with that G version.

Yes since I was on RR before. Using the stock bootstack nor the one provided in the Los thread makes a difference.
Fortunately I'm not stuck in DFU mode. Booting to stock works, so does edl and twrp. But twrp only without using disemmcwp

I would try using older twrp. I've encountered this before but usually a reboot fixes it. I have not gone to twrp 3.1 yet, i think 3.0.4 was the one before.

lafester said:
I would try using older twrp. I've encountered this before but usually a reboot fixes it. I have not gone to twrp 3.1 yet, i think 3.0.4 was the one before.
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Tried it with TWRP 3.04-1 and it's the same result.
Reboot diseemcwp -> recovery gets replaced by stock recovery after reboot
Reboot emmcwpenab -> recovery gets not replaced
In both cases I am unable to boot with a modified system or kernel.
Seems like the write protection is screwed up

Cyb3rzombi3 said:
Tried it with TWRP 3.04-1 and it's the same result.
Reboot diseemcwp -> recovery gets replaced by stock recovery after reboot
Reboot emmcwpenab -> recovery gets not replaced
In both cases I am unable to boot with a modified system or kernel.
Seems like the write protection is screwed up
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Click to collapse
If you disable write protection you inadvertently end up tripping dm-verity, which causes the device not to boot (security feature).
The reason you feel that disabling system write protection through TWRP causes TWRP to get overwritten by the stock recovery, could be because of the reboot rather than anything else.
I.e. When you install the stock system and reboot, the system overwrites the recovery partition, installing the stock recovery.
My suggestion:
- Make a backup.
- Wipe dalvik cache, cache, system, and data through recovery (under Wipe-> Advanced Wipe).
- Check that the filesystem of the partitions are ext4 (through the "file system" button under Wipe->Advanced Wipe menu), and change them if necessary.
- Reboot recovery.
- Don't swipe to allow system modifications.
- Install the stock bootstack, stock system (I'm assuming that you are using DrakenFX's image zips), and reboot.
- If it fails to install, just reboot recovery, and try to install once again.
Let me know if this works for you.

Erahgon said:
If you disable write protection you inadvertently end up tripping dm-verity, which causes the device not to boot (security feature).
The reason you feel that disabling system write protection through TWRP causes TWRP to get overwritten by the stock recovery, could be because of the reboot rather than anything else.
I.e. When you install the stock system and reboot, the system overwrites the recovery partition, installing the stock recovery.
My suggestion:
- Make a backup.
- Wipe dalvik cache, cache, system, and data through recovery (under Wipe-> Advanced Wipe).
- Check that the filesystem of the partitions are ext4 (through the "file system" button under Wipe->Advanced Wipe menu), and change them if necessary.
- Reboot recovery.
- Don't swipe to allow system modifications.
- Install the stock bootstack, stock system (I'm assuming that you are using DrakenFX's image zips), and reboot.
- If it fails to install, just reboot recovery, and try to install once again.
Let me know if this works for you.
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Click to collapse
Already did those steps but instead of using DrakenFX's files I used the official stock zip.
Shouldn't make a difference right?
Gonna try it once more...
Edit:
I'm stock now, TWRP installed without allowing system modifications.
Edit2:
Just rebootet and the recovery is gone again. This happened after I dlashed the recovery again after reverting to stock.
Edit3:
So what I tried so far after reverting to stock after each fail:
- flash SuperSU 2.65 -> unable to boot
- flash SuperSU 2.97 -> unable to boot
- flash Magisk 11.6 -> boot successful, Magiks installed and showing root but unable to request root permissions
- flash latest Los -> unable to boot
- flash latest RR -> unable to boot
- flash latest tool to disable dm-verity (from TWRP thread: https://build.nethunter.com/android-tools/no-verity-opt-encrypt/) -> unable to boot
- flash AX7 R1 -> unable to reboot
Did the above steps with allowing system modifications and without.
Same for rebooting with disemmcwp and reformatiing partitions.
Tried using the universal bootloader from Los thread and still wasn't able to boot except using the stock rom.
I'm really out of ideads what I could try next.
Recovery seems to stick for now.
Could it be that the problem is not dm-verity but something else?
When I rooted the device I encountered no problem with that security mechanism. Custom roms and kernels worked as well without ever having to worry abou that.

Finally managed to boot into RR!
Here is what I did:
1. Went back to B10
2. Relocked bootloader
3. Booted into system -> developer settings -> Oem Unlock
4. Unlocked bootloader
5. Flashed recovery through fastboot
6. Booted directly into TWRP (when I did a restart it was overwritten immediately that's why I booted directly into it one the second try)
7. Allowed system modifications inside TWRP and flashed SuperSU 2.65
8. Successfully booted into system and had root
9. Flashed Universal Bootloader and Modem from Los thread
10. Flashed RR + Gapps
I really don't know which step the crucial one was but I hope if someone else manages to get into the same situation as I did those steps will help.
Thank you guys for helping me out

Back to stock Nougat?

I have a Moto X Style XT1572 Indian version. I updated it to stock Nougat 7.0 via OTA when it was rolled out in India. Later in January I unlocked the bootloader and installed unofficial TWRP recovery for flashing custom ROMs. I did take a full backup of stock ROM immediately when I installed the recovery. Since then I'm using custom ROMs built for Nougat modem.
At present, how can I go back to stock Nougat? I did do a full wipe (except internal memory) and tried to restore the stock Nougat backup which I took in January. The backup always gets successfully restored. However, when the phone boots up completely and reaches the language selection screen(the first screen when the phone boots up), the phone reboots and goes into a bootloop just displaying the bootloader unlocked screen. The only option I have then is to flash any custom ROM again and they do work perfectly. So what must be restricting the stock backup to boot? Also, is there any other way to go back to stock Nougat?

anyone, please?

AsquareX said:
anyone, please?
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Click to collapse
This thread looks like it has the nougat full firmware package for your phone. Try fastboot flashing all of it: https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-style/general/xt1572firmwareclarkretasiaindiads7-t3735257
If that doesn't work out, here's another trick I've seen work on occasion. Restore your TWRP backup, but do not reboot into it. After restoring the backup, use TWRP to flash stock recovery, then reboot to recovery and do a factory reset with the stock recovery. Then reboot into the stock rom. That can clear up some internal storage problems that hang things up. There are other ways to do it, but this is easiest.

jason2678 said:
This thread looks like it has the nougat full firmware package for your phone. Try fastboot flashing all of it: https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-style/general/xt1572firmwareclarkretasiaindiads7-t3735257
If that doesn't work out, here's another trick I've seen work on occasion. Restore your TWRP backup, but do not reboot into it. After restoring the backup, use TWRP to flash stock recovery, then reboot to recovery and do a factory reset with the stock recovery. Then reboot into the stock rom. That can clear up some internal storage problems that hang things up. There are other ways to do it, but this is easiest.
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I'll give a try to the fastboot version.

system keeps flashing stock recovery?

My phone was rooted for the longest time without any problems, but some time ago (I'm assuming after the Treble update) apps would not detect root, although any app that was already using root could continue doing so.
I checked Magisk, which said root was not installed. I booted my phone into recovery, and somehow my phone had the stock recovery flashed on it. I tried flashing TWRP on it again, and it worked. Except, when I rebooted my phone into recovery later again, it went back to stock recovery.
I have no idea what's going on, and would really appreciate some help.
(PS: I do know how to update my phone without the phone reverting to stock recovery, I've done it many times before, so that can't be the problem)

update: I tried flashing TWRP again (through bootloader), and this time I jumped straight to recovery. It showed all the directories as if my phone had just been completely wiped. Internal memory 0M. No files anywhere. Didn't even have a downloads folder.
In a panic, I rebooted my phone, but my phone was actually untouched, no data wipe whatsoever. I'm even more confused about what the hell is happening now.

The stock OOS will automatically reflash the stock recovery if it detects it has changed to something else.
You have to boot into TWRP right after installing it and either let it mount /system read-write (likely to cause problems later) or install something like Magisk that will prevent overwriting the recovery.
TWRP was not able to read your data partition, which can happen depending on which kind of encryption you have. Try the BlueSpark TWRP, it supposedly supports encryption better than the official one.

It's the version. If I use 3.2.3.0 or 3.2.2.0 I get no files. But 3.2.1.1 works for some reason. You can also install pie now. There is a link in the one plus 5 forums here to hydrogen os. It's Chinese version but that doesn't matter. It is in English. You will need to uninstall a few Chinese bloatware apps and flash gapps. But besides that I don't see much difference. If anything the hydrogen os looks nicer. I'll add some screenshots . Developer options was enabled from first boot, with the advanced reboot menu I noticed.

Also, if you have root the TWRP app can flash recovery from in the OS.

Fif_ said:
The stock OOS will automatically reflash the stock recovery if it detects it has changed to something else.
You have to boot into TWRP right after installing it and either let it mount /system read-write (likely to cause problems later) or install something like Magisk that will prevent overwriting the recovery.
TWRP was not able to read your data partition, which can happen depending on which kind of encryption you have. Try the BlueSpark TWRP, it supposedly supports encryption better than the official one.
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It's frustrating for sure. Lol