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[H918] Successful root/fastboot unlock from 10J -> No roms are flashed successfully

[H918] Successful root/fastboot unlock from 10J -> No roms are flashed successfully
Hi folks, wanted to share my current state of affairs with trying (and failing) to install a new rom on my LG V2O. Here's the order of events
Received brand new sealed-in-box LG V20 from T-Mobile from a third party seller that came in firmware 10J
Followed all directions to successfully perform dirtycow unlock
Installed TWRP (3.0.2-1)
Backed up, but mistakenly deleted the backup after trying to install Megarom in an attempt to do a clean flash
.zip flashed correctly, but hits boot loop upon reaching LG screen (even after waiting 20+ minutes on first boot). T-mobile screen never pops up
Can access TWRP still and ADB commands
Basically now, I've tried looking at as many H918 rom threads as I could but every single rom I try either: never completes flashing OR if it does complete flashing, the device never boots (either bootloop or stuck on the LG screen). I've never seen the device get past the LG screen for any reason. I am desperate for help on this matter as I have royally screwed up trying to provide a nice gift for my partner but was apparently way in over my head with trying to get a fresh rom on this thing.
Can anyone provide assistance as to how I can roll back to a stock rom? I'd be willing to give up root/recovery. All of this was spawned from wanting to be able to unlock the carrier but I have decided I'll just pay for the sim-unlock service if I can get this back to stock. Would be willing to provide some PayPal cash for someone who can help me out with this matter.

Flash to 10j kdz firmware located in the thread with all the firmwares. You`ll need lgup to flash it.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/how-to/restore-v20-to-100-stock-bricked-devices-t3524903
https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/how-to/t-mobile-lgv20-h91810j-kdz-t3540747

So how badly i bricked LG V20 LS997?

I got LS997 that was not completely unlocked (Sprint support confirms unlock status but phone did not receive unlock command, and i got no sim card and no previous owners name to re-initiate ota-unlocking process)
First thing i did - i used pathed LGUP and dirtysanta rooted my phone.
Suggested 995 kdz rom was vibrating like crazy (as described in dirtysanta guide) but i got root and started experimenting further.
Than i flashed rootable 996 kdz, rooted, had no vibration problem but got static boot issue, ok, installed mk2000 kernel, no static - all good but still not enough.
LOS16 = gsm/lte unlocked but battery was drained in 5 hours with screen turned off and no camera, got back to 996, rooted, super rom, all good but LTE not operating for some reason. Really enjoyed stock functionality (camera, seconds screen) and decided to get back to stock system.
HOWTO: Root LS997 up to ZV7, did it all, started flashing available 'stockish' roms one by one [this, and this], so there goes bad stuff.
At this moment i was still being able to boot into twrp, so i didn't really notice that phone was bricked, those stockish systems was just hanging in LG logo for hours without any progress. ok, found another one stock ls997 rom in dirtysanta root post, flashed it - and nothing, phone still stuck at lg logo.
LGUP flashing routine that was always helping me recover, now if fully completes partition_dl process but results are the same - lg logo for hours without anything happening, except vibrator motor starting to work on power up on Verizon firmware version and no vibro on 996 variant (as it sould):
996 kdz - stuck on logo
996 kdz- stuck on logo
flashing everything i got from lg-firmwares.com:
US99610g_00_1216 - stuck on logo
US99610f_00_1205 - stuck on logo
US99620f_00_1120 android 8.0 - stuck on logo
VS99512A_06_1114_ARB00 - stuck on logo
download couple more variants and still nothing, phone stucking in lg logo
so how badly i bricked it? is there any method of recovering that i am not aware of?

There is an older thread on returning the LS997 back to stock that may help.

C D said:
There is an older thread on returning the LS997 back to stock that may help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thanks, been there.
Unfortunately i'm not meeting 2 of 3 prerequisites:
- Your device needs to be able to boot into TWRP and fastboot mode
- You need access to a computer to run ADB commands to the phone
There are no more twrp presents on device because of kdz uploads from LGUP, i was thinking that it was recovery and aboot partitions that was messing up my system.
And there is no bootable system on device to turn on usb debbuging to run ADB commands as only thing i get is boot logo, fastboot are also locked to 995 or 996 (whatever version i've uploaded last from LGUP, and they are not unlockable because LG recognizes original LS997 hardware identification and refuses to give me unlock.img.
As i get it - the only thing that can tinker with my device is something that can get same hardware access as LGUP (laf is still operational or idk, maybe not, but it should be getting everything up and running but that is not the case anymore for some reason)

So you are saying that LGUP can still see the phone but ADB can't. Did you by any chance do a full system dump of the phone on LGUP before the whole DirtySanta procedure in the beginning? I wonder if those files can help getting things back on track. Not sure if they are device-specific, but I did make a dump of my own LS997, so if you think there's something useful there, let me know, and I can upload the files somewhere.

C D said:
So you are saying that LGUP can still see the phone but ADB can't. Did you by any chance do a full system dump of the phone on LGUP before the whole DirtySanta procedure in the beginning? I wonder if those files can help getting things back on track. Not sure if they are device-specific, but I did make a dump of my own LS997, so if you think there's something useful there, let me know, and I can upload the files somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i did full LGUP backup at first system state, but nature of this backups makes them pretty useless in this system state - because they are just images of partitions.
Only software that can write directly to those partition may be able to utilize those backups, there are a lot of post on this forum describing TWRP routine for making update packages based on LGUP backups.
So unfortunately there is only LGUP, but it only can make backups but can not restore them as it uses some special file format (KDZ) that containing some dll's and data files (like glued partition images with special info of where to put what) and i didn't find a way to make my own KDZ files from backup images.
I'm now getting another idea - that this can be a blowed fuse in CPU ARB protection mechanism, if anyone has experienced ARB 1 please confirm that system should be in this state in case of ARB error

Any idea how to flash my idiotic LG?

Hello,
I really do not remember how I used to flash LG, I've tried everything on google, the LG Flash tool 2014 and LG UP method.
LG flash tool gives me contact system admin thus the LG UP when goes to Com port and saying my phone model it says not compatible or something.
I need to reflash it cause the Twrp is stuck at factory reset on mem cache.
Its H440 aka Spirit 4G LTE (on back it says soo C70 E).

Occasionally it becomes difficult, but you will achieve it, just read and go learning again to do it! with patience

Updated H870DS TWN via LG Bridge now stuck on "Encryption Unsuccessful"

As the title says I went and updated my H870DS TWN via LG Bridge, it all seemed fine until the phone rebooted and now I get the "Encryption Unsuccessful" message saying I have to do a reset.
My phone is not rooted, its totally stock, not sure why it would fail like that. Any way I can recover without a reset? I mostly don't want to lose my text messages and call logs. Forgot to backup those before doing the update.
Thanks

Full message:
"The password you entered is correct, but unfortunately your data is corrupt.
To resume using your phone, you need to perform a factory reset. ...."

Got the same on TWN version and also encrypted phone. I had to reset.
Always backup your data.
After update it comes out, that I have still oreo.
Managed to update to 9 with lg up and with many yrials with dll files.
Good luck!

Wooo got it back! Manually flashed H870DS30a_00_OPEN_TW_DS_OP_0920.kdz via LGUP and it's back up and running.

US997 US Cellular/BRIGHTPOINT Bootloader Unlock Solution??

OK so I need some help...
When I originally purchased my LG G6 in June of 2019, I made sure it was a US997 model, but I ended up getting a BRIGHTPOINT version during my purchase. I went through the website to check the imei and the device ID and it gave me the not unlockable status.
After that, I went and decided to update the software manually to US99721e since it wouldn't OTA it and have been on that ever since. Now, I just recently tried while on the 21e software and I was given an unlock.bin code!
So if someone could help me out:
IF you're on a US997 BRIGHTPOINT G6:
-Download LG UP and UpperCut
-Download US997_21e_01_0211-UCL.kdz at lg-firmwares.com (this is the one I'm on, try this one first!)
-Once it's done, enable developer mode, adb debugging, and OEM unlock
-Go through the unlocking process
Please let me know what you find out!!

Is that only for us cellular?
Sent from my V60 ThinQ using XDA Labs

I have a brightpoint LG G6, which I bought as the seller claimed it was an unlocked US997, failing to share it was a OEM phone. I don't understand how this works please can you clarify? I tried the unlocking process and I have to supply my phone information to LG. Their database says it is a brightwell phone and so they won't release the unlock. Are you saying that after installing this ROM I don't need the key from LG to unlock the bootloader?
I have installed Uppercut and LGUP (1.14 as newer versions don't seem to work). I downloaded the ROM and I have the LGUP loaded. It shows the phone using US99721a. I have 4 process options, Refurbish, Upgrade, FOTA upgrade or Phonesettings which is the one to use?

It works! At least I obtained an unlock.bin file from LG. I need to work out which is the best LG G6 US997 ROM and how to load it when my SD card doesn't work. Any help or pointers to useful information much appreciated. For anyone else trying this here is what I found. I downloaded the LG windows drivers and LGUP 1.14 (There are newer versions but these don't work with uppercut. I downloaded Uppercut from XDA website and then you run Uppercut not LGUP. This immediately caused my virus checked to block it as it contains a trojan. I didn't like that but googled to find others had the same issue. There seems to be a way to load the correct file to get LGUP to work directly and I would recommend researching that but I disabled the virus software and proceeded. I used the UPGRADE option in LGUP - you need to reboot your phone into download mode. To do so, disconnect USB cable then Power off the phone completely. Now hold Volume Up then plug in USB cable at the same time. Make sure that LGUP is NOT running when you connect the USB cable and start it once you are in download mode. It loads the ROM very quickly and takes a bit longer to reboot and then it needs time to upgrade android as you have a 6 months newer version of Android 8. Then follow direction on the LG unlock site https://developer.lge.com/resource/mobile/RetrieveBootloader.dev. You will need to install ADK https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools unzip after you download. LG emailed my unlock code immediately.

Yes, I can confirm that it works with the US997 model now. I already was at version US99721e so I didn't have to jump through the hoops to load this version. I went through the steps to unlock the bootloader via the LG developer website and voila, got sent the unlock.bin file, too.
Now I am pretty sure that I tried that in past perhaps 1-2 years ago and it didn't work, so perhaps LG has secretly flipped a few bits in their database to allow unlocking for these not quite brand new devices.
I just applied the unlock.bin and got the "cannot check for corruption" warning on the boot screen. So this is working - fantastic!
Now have to restore my device from the LG Backup I made before and put on the SD card.

I had tried the unlock last year but I didn't retry before I updated so it may have worked anyway and the update of the ROM wasn't needed. I unlocked the phone and installed Sky Hawk recovery but when that starts it asks for a deception password and nothing I have tried works. I'm not sure if that is a real issue or I can continue safely with flashing a new ROM. Has anyone worked through this issue?

challenger07 said:
I had tried the unlock last year but I didn't retry before I updated so it may have worked anyway and the update of the ROM wasn't needed. I unlocked the phone and installed Sky Hawk recovery but when that starts it asks for a deception password and nothing I have tried works. I'm not sure if that is a real issue or I can continue safely with flashing a new ROM. Has anyone worked through this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, when you're in Adroid remove all screen lock mechanisms, you can re-enable it later.
Enable USB debugging, do adb reboot bootloader and fastboot flash recovery with this recovery instead (rel_o2):
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g6/development/recovery-twrp-3-2-1-unofficial-fixes-t3722199
Do the button combo to launch recovery. If you're in recovery, first reformat /data (you have to enter "yes") to get rid of encrption and after that flash the anti-root removal tool mentioned in the post. Then reboot into recovery and then flash Magisk and/or your ROM of choice. Note that I have only used this with stock ROM and Magisk and not tried any custom ROMs, but the thread has plenty of people having also tried other ROMs.

How do you even know if you have a Brightpoint device?

I found out when I tried to unlock. http://mobile.developer.lge.com/

Thanks for the info. I'll dig into this once I know for sure that a version of Android 10 is available to load into the phone.
What I've been dealing with so far keeps asking for a 15 digit IMEI number. My phone only has a 14 digit value.
I pulled box (yes I kept it) and discovered that the IMEI is 15 digits. No idea why the value is the phone truncates the last digit. The site that checks IMEI numbers says that it is the platinum edition: US997PL. Gee, the box says that.