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[SOLVED. READ BELOW FOR DETAILS]
HI all.
I've managed to brick my Hero (T-Mobile G2) by flashing the wrong SPL file.
To make things more difficult I've lost the USB cable.
I can still:
Power+Menu (three vibrations + blinking green)
Power+Back (Fastboot)
Power+Search (Storageclean)
Power+VolumeDown (HBOOT, SD checking ...)
Is there a way to reflash the right SPL with one of these menus?
I've not found any similar case here and in MoDaCo.
Thanks in advance.
[SOLUTION]
This case is particular as there is no system available to use the "adb shell" commands. Nonetheless it's recoverable.
At least in one case
Almost everything comes from MoDaCo.
Despite I would say I'm not a real newbie, this time was a little bit harder than with other embedded devices for some reasons I'll explain later.
What do you need?
1. A miniUSB cable. Now I know that any miniUSB can work.
2. A Windows XP PC. A Linux or Mac OS X should also work. Read below.
3. The right USB software driver (I used this one) otherwise it won't work.
4. A modified recovery image (I used this one) that has flashing capabilities from the SD.
5. A working SPL (Second Program Loader) image (I used this one, thanks to the enlightner.
6. A system ROM image (again, I used this one).
What was the problem?
I used to play also with a Magic and still had an SPL zip of its on my SD.
I already had rooted and modded my Hero with MoDaCo's mod.
By mistake I flashed that SPL zipped image into my Hero and since then nothing was working any more.
The boot process was simply stopping at the "G2 Touch T-Mobile" screen up to the complete battery drain.
The directions found here were ineffective due to the fact that there was no running system to execute the "adb shell" commands.
I am using 99.99% of the time a Linux laptop but decided to get a Windows XP PC in order to simplify the troubleshooting while asking people for help and hints.
Maybe in the future I'll dare to reproduce the problem and solution with Linux. Maybe,
But let's see a stepwise procedure.
How I solved it (impossible to me without MoDaCo's and englightner's help, kudos to them)!
0. Unpack the USB driver and the recovery image ZIP files somewhere into your PC. Put the SPL and the system ROM image zip files into the SD card. Use the root directory of the FAT partition in case you have already partitioned it.
1. Switch off the Hero (by pulling the battery out).
2. Turn it on again without the USB cable in by pressing the back and the power keys. I've noticed some different behaviour if you keep the cable plugged in.
3. A white screen (the Initial Program Loader aka IPL aka Fastboot) will pop up.
4. Plug the USB cable in both the Hero and the PC. The screen will now show in red "FASTBOOT USB".
5. Windows should warn you about some unknown hardware having been plugged (Android 1.0). Ask for a manual installation by browsing to the directory where you unpacked the USD driver. Install it. No reboot is required (unbelievable!).
6. Open a command line session on your PC (Start-->Execute-->CMD on Windows), change the current directory (cd) to where modified recovery image has been unpacked and where both the fastboot.exe and cm-hero-recovery.img files are located.
7. From the command line run this command (without the quotes): "fastboot boot cm-hero-recovery.img". You'll see a green progression bar rising on the right side of the Hero screen and after 1 second you'll see the modified recovery image running.
8. At this point I tried to recover a previously saved nandroid backup. But for some reason this time the recovery was complaining about a chown/chmod not being able to change the permissions on a system file! So it's useless to try it.
9. Instead I asked to flash the SPL zip file. It worked fine and I asked for a reboot.
10. the final step was to pop the recovery tool again (Home+power, keep the home pressed until you'll see the friendly black and green screen) and to slash the system ROM zip file.
I also reset all user data before doing it. I'm not sure whether this reset is required.
11. At the reboot the flashed system ROM was happily waiting for me to customise the settings.
12. As a last check, I rebooted once again the Hero to see whether the solution was permanent. And it was.
Few suggestions for seniors.
Please, please be patient with newbies. This could be the first time they hit the wall and panic and frustration can play an important and irritating role.
Please, please be as precise as possible. What a senior thinks is an implicit piece of information, can lead to hours of frustration for the newbie. For example, the SUB driver installation is not mentioned very often in any thread. It looks trivial. It's not.
Please, please be positive to newbies. By encouraging them they'll become less newbies than they are now.
And a few suggestions for juniors (like me).
Please, please don't panic! If there's a solution, you don't need to panic. If there's none, you don't need to panic as well.
Please, please be precise in describing the problem (I've not been myself). Small unseen details can matter a lot.
Please, please don't blame people for late answers. Very probably they are busy with their own job, life or hobbies.
Please, please remember that if you are in trouble is very probably due to your own mistakes. Not someone else's. You are playing with low level stuff, not just application settings.
If you decide to follow someone's directions, please do it carefully. If you take some decisions on your own, please document them in the thread.
If you can get to fastboot with power and back, then all is not lost. And most importantly it's not a 'brick'. A 'brick' is a device that won't turn on.
You can flash the recovery via fastboot (using this guide) then a new ROM (I suggest my custom ROM) but, er, you're obviously gonna need a USB cable!
P
I was already using your marvelous mod, though.
I only took the SPL file from the wrong directory (I have been playing also with Magic, aka G1).
The cable is a huge problem, now.
At the moment I'm using a mini-USB cable which is good for charging the battery, but has no effect on the communication side.
Can I put some file in the SD card from my PC in order to have it booted into?
I still have a couple of nandroid backups in the SD but have no idea whether this makes any difference.
Anyway, thanks not just for the hints. Your 1.5 (1.5.1 when I'll fix my problem) rocks!
A real miniUSB cable should work fine. Yours must be only wired for charging. Go and buy one.
There's no other way to do it unless power+home gets you into recovery (which it sounds like it should?)
P
The mini-USB comes from my USB 2.5" HD.
It works with cameras and other mini-USB devices for full dvice access.
But it does not work with the Hero.
The original cable looked different from this one because of the asymmetric shape (and possibly an extra pin or two).
The Hero cable looks like it's proprietary design and buying one seems quite difficult. Would any HTC USB cable work?
Now I'm not in the Netherlands anymore and here the HTC stuff looks quite uncommon to have a cable lent.
I never use my HTC cable, I use a standard mini USB cable.
P
OK.
I've bought a brand new mini-USB cable. It works with my Nokia phone, my digital camera dnd also my USB disk.
1. I've donwloaded the file from the guide MoDaCo referred previously.
2. I've unpacked the ZIP file, opened the CMD session, CDed to the directory containing the adb.exe file
3. I've booted the phone to the FASTBOOT (VOLUMEDOWN+POWER)
4. I've connected the phone to the cable.
5. The HERO screen says now "FASTBOOT USB"
6. I've run the command "adb shell reboot bootloader"
7. I get "error: device not found".
What's next?
P.S.
Steps 3 and 4 are not mentioned in the guide, though.
You can't use adb shell from the fastboot screen, you need to boot a recovery image using the "fastboot boot <filename>" command.
Just of curiousity. What is the HBOOT version displayed on your fastboot screen?
Could you type all the text it displays?
I might be able to help you out.
Try following the guide linked above.
You can't do ADB until you've done the 'fastboot boot cm-hero-recovery.img'.
Seriously... how hard can it be to read thru a handful of steps!
P
You are right! It's hard unless you already know how to.
I quote:
- download this file and extract it to your PC or mac
- open a command prompt to the directory containing the extracted files
- type the following commands (prefix each command with ./ if you're on a mac)
So far it's trivial ...
adb shell reboot bootloader (wait for device to reboot into bootloader)
fastboot boot cm-hero-recovery.img
adb shell mount /sdcard
adb push cm-hero-recovery.img /sdcard/cm-hero-recovery.img
adb shell flash_image recovery /sdcard/cm-hero-recovery.img
That could also be trivial if:
1. I knew about the driver installation (quite later in the thread)
2. I knew in which initial status the phone is to be
Of course, a bit at a time I find everything.
Maybe re-editing the original post to include all the bits in one single place would both boost the success rate of n00bs like me (really) and lower the amount of stupid questions (really) like mine.
Anyway, I need to thank you very much!!!
Hmm, bad news, ust spoken to an extremely knowledgeable friend of mine, and he says your device is knackered.
P
I'm impressed the SPL actually booted on a Hero.
It's is a "real" Hero you have right? aka T-Mobile G2 Touch?
Fastboot can be used when you are in HBOOT, with FASTBOOT USB being displayed.
So, if this doesn't work, you're screwed.
- download this and extract the rom.zip
- copy the .zip to your SD card and name it HEROIMG.zip
- turn on your device with volume down+ power
If it doesn't start flashing, buy a new Hero.
P
packetlss said:
You can't use adb shell from the fastboot screen, you need to boot a recovery image using the "fastboot boot <filename>" command.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know. I have no idea about this specific device!
And the help is quite fragmented among a large number of threads.
packetlss said:
Just of curiousity. What is the HBOOT version displayed on your fastboot screen?
Could you type all the text it displays?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HERO CVT
HBOOT-1.33.2005 (HERO10000)
MICROP-010e
RADIO-6.35.05.15
Apr 20 2009,15:30:43
packetlss said:
I might be able to help you out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope so.
Try doing what modaco suggested and see where that ends up.
modaco said:
So, if this doesn't work, you're screwed.
- download this and extract the rom.zip
- copy the .zip to your SD card and name it HEROIMG.zip
- turn on your device with volume down+ power
If it doesn't start flashing, buy a new Hero.
P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope to fix mine.
Anyway, is there any comprehensive guide about the booting (not rooting) process with the software stack and the "cheat codes"?
I don't think I'm really a n00b, but the fragmentation of information is quite large for these marveloous Android phones.
The HEROIMG.zip has been flashed, I presume, as a vertical blue bar appeared on top right screen.
After fre minuted the process ended ... with no news.
At the reboot everything is again as before.
Home+Power won't make the CyanogenMode+JF menu pop up.
The simple boot itself won't make my Hero botting in any system.
Only a big "G2 Touch T-Mobile" on the black background.
Now what?
That HEROIMG.zip contained a hboot. When you boot to bootloader is still the same?
You say 'fastboot boot recovery.img' (as per my instructions) didn't work?
P
'fastboot boot recovery.img' works.
It's the subsequent step that doesn't. I cannot mount /sdcard (error: device not found)!
And even recovering a previous nandroid backup won't help.
What I understand there's something in between the fastboot and the actual image (the SPL?) that is missing doe to my original error.
Does the bootloader still show the old version?
P
Ok, so I know this will eventually get buried in the forums but I thought I would attempt to give a little basic info here. Right now the QA section is flooded with people that have flashed and are now soft bricked (have problems but can recover) or hard bricked (have problems and cannot recover). I'm hoping that I can help some people prevent these issues to an extent.
Terminology, the differences in my opinion.
Soft brick- Your flash didn't go right, something went crazy, etc, but either way you can't boot, stuck at ATT logo, boots into recovery no matter what, boots to phone--!--pc, BUT, your hardware buttons work or ADB works and you are able to boot into DOWNLOAD mode.
Hard brick- Your flash didn't go right, something went crazy, etc, but either way you can't boot, stuck at ATT logo, boots into recovery no matter what, boots to phone--!--pc, BUT, your unlucky and hardware buttons do not allow access to DOWNLOAD mode or ADB is not downloading.
Also, after a new flash or flash to stock, it's a good idea to immediately enable USB debugging. Menu, Settings, Applications, Developement, check the box for USB debugging. It will make things easier later on.
1. First. BEFORE you flash, can you access download mode with your buttons??? Test it.
3 Methods.
Method 1: (ADB - from recovery or normally booted with usb debugging on)
Open a cmd prompt/console/shell
adb shell
adb reboot download
Method 2: (KEY COMBO)
Remove the battery, sim card, sdcard if you have one
Insert the battery
Hold Volume Up + Volume Down + Power
Method 3: (KEY COMBO)
Remove the battery, sim card, sdcard if you have one
Insert the battery
Hold both Volume buttons (from i9000 just down, don't touch the power button)
Plug in the USB cable and continue holding both Volume buttons
If not, use designgears fix. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=812434
2. Second. Download the SDK, drivers for your PC, and learn some basic ADB commands, ie, adb reboot download, adb reboot recovery, adb shell. Here's my quick guide. ADB can be used when the OS is running, when in recovery, and when stuck on ATT boot screen.
Here's what I do. After you download the sdk and unzip. There is a folder called tools. I copy that to c:
Then open a command prompt and type,
C:
CD tools
Then issue adb commands.
adb reboot, adb reboot download or whatever command you need.
Of course make sure your phone is connected via USB and debugging is enabled.
Here's another method for using adb.
1) start-> run-> sysdm.cpl
this will start the system properties. you can reach this from right clicking "My Computer" and hitting properties. Windows 7 though is different. The above method is most universal.
2) Move to Advanced Tab that pops up. From there click the "Environment Variables" button.
http://wtfokc.com/sef****/sysdm-1.gif
3) In the window that pops up, find the "PATH" area in the "System Variables" listbox at the bottom:
http://wtfokc.com/sef****/sysdm-2.gif
4) Click edit again, put in path to the AndroidSDK tools folder. Do it like shown otherwise you can biff something up. DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING. Just add a SEMICOLON ( ; ) to the last of the line that's already there, then the path to the folder.
http://wtfokc.com/sef****/sysdm-3.gif
5) If on Win7 you shouldnt have to reboot. XP however will. Then you are set. You can now just load a CMD prompt and do ADB without having to CD TOOLS.
3. Third. Install Clockwork Recovery! Root your phone and download ROM Manager from market. Install Clockwork recovery from ROM Manager. BOOT into recovery to make sure it works. You will have to choose reinstall packages from stock recovery. What ROM Manager does, it put an update.zip on the root of your SDcard, then when you choose reinstall packages from stock recovery it install update.zip. I personally leave the update.zip file on my sdcard at all times, just in case.
Once you have clockwork installed, make a Nandroid backup of a good running rom. In case something happens, if you can boot into recovery, then you can possibly restore your nandroid to at least get you up and running quickly, and without the need of a pc.
NEW Info!!! You can recover from a hard brick, maybe. Here's how to create a USB Jig to reproduce the button download mode for you folks who don't have it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=841512
Here's another thread about the USB Jig method.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=819551&highlight=USB+jig
If my captivate was one that had the missing button recovery/download out of the box, I would probably know how to make a USB jig or have one already before flashing. Even with the 3 button fixes that are out, it looks like some people are still bricking.
****Disclaimer****
This is just from personal exprience. I have flashed most roms available, and I have experienced every variation of soft brick mentioned above and have recovered.
I find that being able to get your phone into download mode and knowing how to use Odin will be your 2 biggest life savers after something bad happens.
This will not keep you from getting a bad flash or something else, but having this knowledge ahead of time may help you recover from issues more quickly and without asking a question on the forums that have been asked dozens of times.
Also, personally, if I cannot perform step 1, access download mode with buttons, I personally would be VERY cautious about flashing! ADB reboot download is nice, but if you are stuck at ATT logo or phone--!--PC mode then ADB doesn't work, YOU HAVE TO USE BUTTONS.
Just my 2 cents, take it or leave it.
Edit. Added some new info to post. Thanks for extra info guys. I'll mirror the links to the images later when not at work.
+sticky
excellent write up. a must-read for anyone even thinking about flashing
Original Post updated to add my information
bobbylx said:
ADB reboot download is nice, but if you are stuck at ATT logo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok first off something that should be added to this is always may sure you have usb debug mode Settings>Applications>Development>USB Debugging enabled on your phone. Don't take it out of debug mode. This will allow you to issue adb commands if you have.
If you are getting to the att logo screen and not beyond that and you have debug mode enabled then you can use adb to reboot into either recovery or download mode.
Steps
1: Get the command prompt up and que up the adb command you want to issue either reboot download or reboot recovery. Don't press enter yet.
2: When the att screen comes on your pc should make a notification sound that the device is connected.
3: On the second notification sound issue your adb command and the phone will reboot into the mode you selected.
Mileage may vary but should work.
This has saved me a few times.
STICKY
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Thanks for the extra info. Malfuncion, awesome write up with pics, I'll add to first post later. I always forget about adding a system variable.
Sparker366, thanks, I always thought that at the ATT screen adb didn't, but you know what, I never tried.
I figured since I'm not a dev and don't have that knowledge I would try to help start this up to contribute a bit. And honestly, if you hop over to the QA sections there are so many threads that could be solved by knowing this info ahead of time. I doubt everyone will read it, but I hope it helps the ones that do.
bulletproof1013 said:
STICKY
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
This is my first smart phone and first experience with Android. I also don't have any experience with linux. Fortunately, I was able to avoid problems when I first started by reading, reading, reading. This type of information would have been invaluable. In fact, the tip on keeping debug mode on all the time is great to know, and I never saw that before.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
This thing is getting buried in the BS posts....BACK TO THE TOP!
definitely sticky
Bump Bump Bump
Great Info
Updated original post with extra info.
Shameless bump here. New version of Cog uploaded, so that means there will be questions soon.
Thanks, great info.
FWIW........
I feel like I am of average intelligence, and would think I could nail download mode everytime by the 3 button method, but damn if it is hit and miss for me every other time.
One way I found (I didnt discover it, but read it somewhere) to nail it EVERYTIME is to remove sd and sim. Plug the usb to the phone AND THE PC, while odin is sitting and waiting. Then while holding both up and down volume buttons, insert the battery. It works every time with no fuss.
Thanks for the post, my vote for sticky as well.
+1 sticky
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Moving this to the top. More questions in QA that can be helped by reading these tips first.
I would also suggest that anyone who wants to flash actually test their phone's USB transfer ability before flashing.
The best way is to find a large file, perhaps one just under 2G in size and transfer it to the internal SD storage.
Test md5 checksums on the source and this file and make sure these match.
(you can use the 'md5sum <filename>' command from the terminal app, from Windows you can use a md5sum port for the source file win32 md5sum).
This will ensure your USB connection is stable enough for long, error free transfers to the phone.
Also important: it's useful to disable any powersave actions on your PC while using an app like ODIN.
Sorry all, moving this to the top. There are about 6 or 7 bricked phone Questions in Q & A now.
Awesome, clear and concise. Been trying to figure out how to make nandroid backups and this explained it very simply Thank you!
thanks for the reminder
there's so many steps to install a rom...
specially with download mode keycomb, i tend to not to remove sim and memory card cuz i dont want to lose or damaged my mcard. now i will remove each time!
another good reason flashing stock with odin before flashing new rom
I would also say its a good idea to back up your efs folder. Mine got all borked up when that jpc rom came out a while ago and it is a ton of work to fix. Sgs tools copies your nvdata.bin and. /nvdata.bak files to your sd card if you do a product code check. Or you can use root explorer.
*** I've been receiving many requests and PMs from members asking to help them unbrick their device. Please note that I no longer own this device (and even if I did I would not purposely brick it just to reproduce your problem), therefore I am unable to help out beyond this tutorial. ***
Hello,
First some background and credits:
There are a few ways to brick a phone. Sometimes it's lack of experience, sometimes it's an accidental thing, sometimes there just isn't an explanation for what went wrong... (share your experience here, if you wish). For me, I owned my OPO for about 4 hours before things went wrong. First thing I did was I rooted it and installed TWRP. After creating a nandroid backup of the stock image I installed my favorite custom ROM and restored all my apps with TiBu. Everything was great and configured just the way I wanted it. I then wiped my old phone (Nexus 4), installed a new ROM and got it all ready for my wife. She was so excited to get rid of her GNex and move up to the N4. But then, for whatever reason, I opened an app on my OPO that I used to manage, download, and install kernels with. It came up with "there is a new kernel update!" and I instinctively clicked on "Install". 10 seconds later my phone was bricked. Nothing came on the screen, no fastboot, no recovery, nothing to boot to, no way to send data to and from it. The second the screen went black and the phone became lifeless I got that wretched feeling in my gut as I realized I just flashed a N4 kernel on my new OPO. Restoring the kernel management app with TiBu made it act like it's still running on my old phone, and in my excitement I didn't take a second to think things through...
I received a bit of consolation when a quick XDA search revealed that I am not the only dumbass to brick his phone this very way. I joined forces with some pretty smart and desperate people and tried different things, all described in the following thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/help/wrong-kernel-black-screen-fastboot-adb-t2835696. Unfortunately it took us what seemed like many long weeks to figure it all out. Well, in the end a solution was found and I documented it in the the following post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55024864&postcount=136.
This was a few months ago, but I recently noticed many people continue to search for these directions and have problems finding them hidden among many pages and other threads, so I've decided to put this stand alone thread with these, now updated, directions.
Let me get one more thing straight, for the record. I did not find the way to unbrick the OPO. In fact I wasn't even the very first one to do it. It was a collective effort of few people who tried many different approaches and ideas, and I eventually documented these steps for others to follow. Being said, the following people deserve credit as well: @os_man, @rezor92, @Mnt-XDA. If I am forgetting other significant names and efforts, I apologize.
***CAUTION***
The following instructions are for hardware bricked devices ONLY and will not work on soft bricked devices. To determine whether your device is soft or hard bricked, click the button below:
Hardware brick
A hardware bricked OPO has nothing but a black screen (nothing ever comes on the screen, not even a boot logo), it might vibrate when a power button is pressed and held for 20 seconds, has no Recovery partition, no adb mode, and no fastboot partition. The device might be detected in Linux and you might be able to even send commands to it. In Windows, the bricked OPO should be detected as QHSUSB_BULK USB. You might have a bricked OPO as a result of flashing a kernel meant for a different device (or a ROM meant for another device that included a kernel), tinkering with the boot logo or bootloader, or your attempt of unlocking the bootloader resulted in corrupting the boot partition.
Software brick
Please do not attempt to use these directions if your phone is soft bricked. A software bricked OPO is one that might be stuck in a bootloop, but has a working bootloader, recovery partition, fastboot, or adb. If you press the power button and images appear on the screen and you are able to enter fastboot mode (Power + VolUP) or recovery (Power + VolDOWN) then your device is soft bricked. This thread does not encompass soft brick recovery, the instructions below do not apply and will not work on these phones. Consult other threads for help on soft bricked devices.
If based on the above explanation of differences between soft and hard bricks you determined your device is hard bricked, here's what you will need to do...
1:
Download Color.zip from (mirror needed).
After downloading, unzip the archive on your computer.
2:
Next, you need proper Windows drivers. There are architectural differences between Windows XP and Windows 7/8, so follow the directions below that pertain to you. One quick note about the drivers: the installation and process is very simple and straightforward on Windows XP (I also tested successfully on Windows 2003), but proves to be quite a challenge when running on Windows 7 or 8. Over and over people report issues when attempting the unbrick procedure on Windows 7/8, some have more luck than others. Being said, if you have access to a Windows XP computer, I highly recommend that you use that. If you have no choice but to use a Windows 7 or 8 computer and have problems, please share them here and read others' experiences.
So first, by now you probably tried a few different things to fix your phone and you've already installed some drivers, including Qualcomm USB drivers for 9006 and 9008. My best advice is to uninstall the drivers you tried so far and use the ones listed below. Go to Device Manager, right click on the bricked USB device (QHSUSB_BULK or Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008) and go to Properties, click on Driver, then select Uninstall. Check the box to remove driver files, if prompted. Then:
2a:
Windows XP users:
You are in luck, driver installation is straightforward. Go to the extracted Color.zip folder and find Driver.iso. Extract Driver.iso. Inside the extracted folder find Setup.exe. Run Setup.exe to install the drivers. The installer is Chinese, but all you need to do is click through the prompts.
2b:
Windows 7 and Windows 8:
These operating systems block unsigned driver installations by default. Follow these steps (thanks @nag4pl for testing these):
Download and extract these Qualcomm 2012 drivers: (mirror needed).
Connect your bricked phone and let Windows do its thing.
Now something very essential you need to do here is to execute two commands to allow you to install unsigned drivers for QHUSB_BULK. Click on Start Menu > Type cmd.exe > Right Click and Run as Administrator.
In the CMD window type in the following commands (hit enter after each):
Code:
bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
Code:
bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING ON
After both the commands should run successfully, restart your computer.
You can now proceed to install unsigned drivers from the file you downloaded. Open Device Manager, you should be seeing ugly yellow warning under other devices for QHUSB_BULK. Right click on the name and select Update Driver Software > Browse my Computer for driver software. For driver software location provide the path where you have extracted Qualcomm 2012 drivers you downloaded and make sure 'Include Subfolders' is checked. Proceed through all the installation prompts ignoring any warnings.
3:
Once you have the drivers straightened out, connect your bricked phone to the computer and start it up by holding VolUp + Power to about 10 seconds, and let the computer do its thing. Don't install drivers if they are not installed by itself. Instead launch Msm8974DownloadTool.exe as Administrator (right click on Msm8974DownloadTool.exe and select "Run as administrator") from the extracted Color.zip archive. It will scan all the COM ports and find the phone. That's the one line that looks different in the list. The list is just a list of your com ports and devices. If you unplug the phone and move it to another port, it will show your bricked phone on a different line.
Clicking on "Enum" just rescans the busses. Clicking the big square button in upper right corner scans the phone and reports what's good and what's not. It takes a minute for the scan to finish.
If you don't see your phone in the list of com devices, try unplugging/plugging in your phone a couple times, and rebooting it with VolUP + Power (hold 10 seconds). You will see it in Device Manager as well.
Once you see the phone in the list, click Start. You should see the programs start writing different files to the phone. Each time it writes a file you'll see a progress bar. Once you see this process happening, smile, you know you will be good to go... After all files are written, the com line with your device will turn green. You're good, unplug and reboot your phone. It will boot to ColorOS, the Chinese OS that comes on OPO.
4:
Optional Steps:
Your phone is no longer bricked. You now have a few options to get back to stock. The easiest way is to use a toolkit from http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/oneplus-one-toolkit-manudroid19-gui-t2807418, or you can flash an image manually by following directions from: http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/general/guide-return-opo-to-100-stock-t2826541. Download the proper image zip and after extracting it, run the following commands in fastboot mode:
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot flash sbl1 sbl1.mbn
fastboot flash dbi sdi.mbn
fastboot flash aboot emmc_appsboot.mbn
fastboot flash rpm rpm.mbn
fastboot flash tz tz.mbn
fastboot flash LOGO logo.bin
Make sure you have the proper image. I accidentally installed the 16GB version on my 64GB OPO first time and obviously didn't get 64GB of space.
That's about it. I think if people are still having problems then it's likely due to drivers, or Windows 7/8 issue.
Good luck! Share your experience here and let me know if I can improve this thread.
Please click the Thanks button if you found the above guide useful.
Added to OnePlus One index thread:
[INDEX] OnePlus One Resources Compilation Roll-Up
Transmitted via Bacon
did this and it finally worked but still i have unknown baseband and no imei.........flashed coloros using the msm tool and rom goes into a bootloop......tried all the ways with no luck....even flashed the persist.img......still no luck.......my last hope is claiming warranty and act like a noob in service center.......will they get to know taht i unlocked the bootloader?
mysterio619 said:
did this and it finally worked but still i have unknown baseband and no imei.........flashed coloros using the msm tool and rom goes into a bootloop......tried all the ways with no luck....even flashed the persist.img......still no luck.......my last hope is claiming warranty and act like a noob in service center.......will they get to know taht i unlocked the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to boot to fastboot now. From there flash the cm11s image. I believe that "fastboot flash sbl1 sbl1.mbn" will fix the imei issue.
Also, unlocking bootloader does not void your warranty. Not with OPO.
netbuzz said:
You should be able to boot to fastboot now. From there flash the cm11s image. I believe that "fastboot flash sbl1 sbl1.mbn" will fix the imei issue.
Also, unlocking bootloader does not void your warranty. Not with OPO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried it......still no imei
mysterio619 said:
Tried it......still no imei
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to give one last try, flash color os modded zip from relic, i used 2.0.43 purezip and it gave me back my imei. Had the same issue as you last week. Be sure to flash TWRP 2.8.4.1 first and then flash color os.
Legit method.
Worked for me 2 weeks ago!
unbrick oneplus one, oppo 7
Hi there my friend, i had many works about unbricking solutions, a few of you know that, i have much easier and faster ways now, tested many times before i decided to share with you, it will be a long topic ( and my brain is messed up to sum them up clearly), as soon i can think clearly again, i start to write them, till then,
greetings from Istanbul to all geeks around thw world.
Ps: including restoring imei's if they got lost during this process.
Ps2: just a quick info abou imei, if your imei is "invalid" , this means your modem.bin (NON-HLOS.bin, baseband) is not inadaptable with your rom, just try flashing the right modem ( from fastboot), your imei will be back.
Ps3 : This will lead us to unbrick many Snapdragon's out there , not only oneplus one's or oppo's.
I had to use this tutorial some days ago.
There is also a modified .zip where the tool from OPO flashed CM11s instead of ColorOS.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/general/tool-oneplusrecovery-tool-v1-0-restore-t2991851
I had many driver problems and i had to use this driver from qualcomm so my win7 could recognize the phone.
Tutorial to install the driver:
1. Open your device manager (Start - right click on computer - properties - devices manager)
2. Press on power + vol up for like 10 sec until you see a device showing up (called QHSUSB_BULK)
3. Right click on this devices and click on "Update Driver Software" -> "Browse my computer for driver software" -> locate the Qualcomm 2012\fre\Windows7 8 or vista folder depending on your setup. Update the driver.
michaeldepotter said:
I had to use this tutorial some days ago.
There is also a modified .zip where the tool from OPO flashed CM11s instead of ColorOS.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/general/tool-oneplusrecovery-tool-v1-0-restore-t2991851
I had many driver problems and i had to use this driver from qualcomm so my win7 could recognize the phone.
Tutorial to install the driver:
1. Open your device manager (Start - right click on computer - properties - devices manager)
2. Press on power + vol up for like 10 sec until you see a device showing up (called QHSUSB_BULK)
3. Right click on this devices and click on "Update Driver Software" -> "Browse my computer for driver software" -> locate the Qualcomm 2012\fre\Windows7 8 or vista folder depending on your setup. Update the driver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Dropbox link for drivers seems to be wrong.. could you please update correct one.. I am in very much need of it! pls!!
nag4pl said:
Hi, Dropbox link for drivers seems to be wrong.. could you please update correct one.. I am in very much need of it! pls!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry. Here is the link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgujdut93m341qm/Qualcomm 2012.rar?dl=0
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Free mobile app
michaeldepotter said:
Sorry. Here is the link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgujdut93m341qm/Qualcomm 2012.rar?dl=0
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you.. Troubleshooting my phone now..
may i ?
http://www.androidbrick.com/?wpdmdl=2599
Back from Brick!!
First of all Thanks a lot to @netbuzz(for such a life saver guide on unbricking 1+1) and @michaeldepotter for providing link to download appropriate drivers.
Here is some good news by my findings and can be a quick help for those who do not have or can't get XP. You can use Windows 7 itself for the process mentioned by @netbuzz
All you need to do is:
1. Download drivers from link provided by @michaeldepotter : https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgujdut93m341qm/Qualcomm 2012.rar?dl=0
2. Extract to some folder under C: or whichever drive you prefer.
3. Connect your bricked phone after pressing Volume Up and Power key (make sure phone vibrates once)
4. Now that QHUSB_BULK should be detected and Windows will eventually try to download drivers from update, which you can skip and close the window.
Now something very essential you need to do here is to execute some commands so that you will be able to install unsigned drivers for QHUSB_BULK.
4a. Click On Start Menu > Type cmd.exe > Right Click and Run as Administrator (make sure you are running cmd as admin)
4b. Now type below command
bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
>hit Enter
bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING ON
> hit Enter again
4c. Both the commands should run successfully, then restart your computer.
These steps are to disable driver sign verification. You must proceed to next steps only after above steps executed successfully.
After machine booted back to desktop
5. Now Open Device Manager by Start > Run > type "devmgmt.msc" and hit enter
6. You should be seeing ugly yellow warning under other devices for QHUSB_BULK.
7. Right click on the same > Update Driver Software > Browse my Computer for driver software
8. Now under driver software location, provide the path where you have extracted drivers which you downloaded from step 1. For me it was:
"C:\Users\Arjun\Downloads\Qualcomm 2012\fre\Windows7" - Remember to provide path only till windows 7 and make sure 'Include Subfolders' is checked.
9. Click next, and it should install driver for QHUSB_BULK. Click on Install Driver if you get any warnings.
Now your driver set-up for QHUSB_BULK in Windows 7 is complete and now you may proceed with the steps to run Msm8974DownloadTool as provided by netbuzz.
I have attached the screenshots for the same just for confirmation.
SuccessfullDriver - showing successful installation of driver
FlashInProgress - showing tool flashing the system image
FlashSuccess - showing green row indicating successful flash.
Once again, thanks a lot for all the guide and help. Hope this quick guide helps some one in need!!
nag4pl said:
First of all Thanks a lot to @netbuzz(for such a life saver guide on unbricking 1+1) and @michaeldepotter for providing link to download appropriate drivers.
Here is some good news by my findings and can be a quick help for those who do not have or can't get XP. You can use Windows 7 itself for the process mentioned by @netbuzz
All you need to do is:
1. Download drivers from link provided by @michaeldepotter : https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgujdut93m341qm/Qualcomm 2012.rar?dl=0
2. Extract to some folder under C: or whichever drive you prefer.
3. Connect your bricked phone after pressing Volume Up and Power key (make sure phone vibrates once)
4. Now that QHUSB_BULK should be detected and Windows will eventually try to download drivers from update, which you can skip and close the window.
Now something very essential you need to do here is to execute some commands so that you will be able to install unsigned drivers for QHUSB_BULK.
4a. Click On Start Menu > Type cmd.exe > Right Click and Run as Administrator (make sure you are running cmd as admin)
4b. Now type below command
bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
>hit Enter
bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING ON
> hit Enter again
4c. Both the commands should run successfully, then restart your computer.
These steps are to disable driver sign verification. You must proceed to next steps only after above steps executed successfully.
After machine booted back to desktop
5. Now Open Device Manager by Start > Run > type "devmgmt.msc" and hit enter
6. You should be seeing ugly yellow warning under other devices for QHUSB_BULK.
7. Right click on the same > Update Driver Software > Browse my Computer for driver software
8. Now under driver software location, provide the path where you have extracted drivers which you downloaded from step 1. For me it was:
"C:\Users\Arjun\Downloads\Qualcomm 2012\fre\Windows7" - Remember to provide path only till windows 7 and make sure 'Include Subfolders' is checked.
9. Click next, and it should install driver for QHUSB_BULK. Click on Install Driver if you get any warnings.
Now your driver set-up for QHUSB_BULK in Windows 7 is complete and now you may proceed with the steps to run Msm8974DownloadTool as provided by netbuzz.
I have attached the screenshots for the same just for confirmation.
SuccessfullDriver - showing successful installation of driver
FlashInProgress - showing tool flashing the system image
FlashSuccess - showing green row indicating successful flash.
Once again, thanks a lot for all the guide and help. Hope this quick guide helps some one in need!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this Win7/8 workaround. I'll be adding your info to the OP.
Finally Unbricked mine...Drivers resolved on Win 7
netbuzz said:
Second note about drivers is that I had the worst time trying to get things to work on my Windows 7 computers. Both Windows 7 and 8 block unsigned driver installations by default. I've tried overwriting these settings in Windows and spent half a day messing with it, and I never got things to work properly. At first all looked good to go, but then latter steps were failing. You might have a better luck getting drivers to work on Windows 7 or 8 (I've heard some people did it), but if you have access to a Windows XP or 2003 machine, try it first, it should save you some major headache.
Once you have the drivers straightened out, connect your bricked phone to the computer and start it up by holding VolUp + Power to about 10 seconds, and let the computer do its thing. Don't install drivers if they are not installed by itself. Instead launch Msm8974DownloadTool.exe from the extracted Color.zip archive. It will scan all the COM ports and find the phone. That's the one line that looks different in the list. The list is just a list of your com ports and devices. If you unplug the phone and move it to another port, it will show your bricked phone on a different line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used the override tool for certificates: DSEO - Driver signature enforcement overrider
to allow the unsigned drivers to be used and it worked like charm on windows 7 64 bit.
Also, I used the additional Qualcomm 2012 drivers and not sure which one might got picked in that mess :cyclops::cyclops:
Thanks!!
:good::good::angel::angel:
nevermind!
Well I managed to hardbrick my phone. I am download the ColorOS file from Mega at the moment. It's downloading at 30KB/s and will take around 6.5 hours. Is there any other source to download it from ? Thanks !
Also, about the driver ...
While I wait on the colorOS to download I want to clarify one more thing about the driver.
According to the screenshot of @nag4pl the driver should show as Qualcomm USB diagnostic 9006, while for me it shows as Qualcomm HS-USB QDloader 9008. Is this going to be an issue ?
This is what I did. I uninstalled the default driver that came with windows 7. After that it failed to install the driver provided in this forum because it kept saying that device descriptor failed. I rebooted the phone several times and changed the USB ports and eventually windows detected it but AGAIN with the windows driver even though I had checked the option to delete the original driver while uninstalling it. Through the update driver option I managed to force it to install the unsigned driver.
Now I can see both the drivers under the update drivers option. Interestingly the default driver is a version ahead of the unsigned driver provided in this forum.
My only concern is that I see a different driver name compared to the one posted by @nag4pl
Thanks! Very useful for me!
That shouldn't be a problem. Not sure if that is specific to region, mine is India version phone.. Can some one clarify on this?
After reading for hours, I was successful to find an OTG micro-USB adapter with male USB-A end which allowed a Logitech dongle to be inserted and the mouse allowed me to start afresh from a factory reset. The touch screen didn't work.
There was an OTA update and I got all excited thinking, "This will be the update that fixes the touch (or lack thereof) issue."
Sadly, after the message said this was the final update, the touch screen still didn't work.
I was successfully able to enable USB Debugging because of the OTG Mouse.
When I connect to the PC and run an ADB command (e.g. adb devices), a message pops up asking to verify I trust the RSA Fingerprint for that computer and to remember that device.
Now my huge predicament: there is no way for me to touch the checkbox and choose OK.
Once I unplug in the cable to connect the OTG Mouse, the dialog box disappears.
I read about TeamViewer on the PC and TeamViewer Host from the Play Store. I installed both and was able to see the Essential Phone on the computer but whenever I touched the screen of the computer (or used the trackpad), nothing happened on the phone.
I tried pressing spacebar thinking that might enable the checkbox but no remote response on the phone.
I'm so close...all I need is one checkbox and one ok and it'll remember the USB Debugging settings.
From there I can then figure how to either downgrade from Android 10 or hopefully some kind soul can let me know what file to install so I can get this stupid touch screen to work.
I explained in a lot of detail as I wanted you folks to know I've tried many options to troubleshoot this problem before asking for help.
If there's a non-USB Debugging checkbox checked way in Fastboot Mode (e.g. ADB Sideload in Recovery), I'm willing to try that.
Thanks.
Update 2020-07-07: I had an idea to connect a SteelSeries Stratus XL wireless gaming controller to the phone via bluetooth and was successfully able to use the controls of the controller to enable the checkbox and remember the RSA Fingerprint for USB Debugging. Whooo-hoo! Now for the rest of the matter...getting this darn touch screen working with an device image that solves the problem....
I had the same problem after flashing the newest (and final) Image on top of a rooted, very old marshmallow build.
I found a fix on reddit however, and hopefully it works for you too.
I tried the second method described there:
1. Connect to fastboot to unlock bootloader and critical
Code:
fastboot flashing unlock
(didn't do anything for me since I was already unlocked)
Code:
fastboot flashing unlock_critical
Let the phone wipe itself and reboot, then go into fastboot again
2. Then flash the image of September 2018 (PH1-Images-PPR1.180905.036) via the "flashall.bat". After a reboot my touchscreen worked again.
3. Upgrade to the newest image or whichever one you like.
I don't understand the whole problem exactly, so maybe you could try flashing the newest image directly after the unlock_critical step, but I just followed the instructions I found.
Good luck!
Thanks for the suggestion and the link for the file.
When I try and run the command
Code:
fastboot flashing unlock
in fastboot mode, I keep getting the message "Waiting for device".
Same thing, when I try and run the flashall.bat file.
I booted in to FastBoot mode, but when I type adb devices in an admin command prompt, it doesn't show any devices listed, even though adb devices does show the phone listed when the phone has booted up normally.
I have:
uninstalled the Essential Phone driver and reinstalled it (multiple times).
installed the 15 Seconds ADB installer and uninstalled it (multiple times).
rebooted the Windows 10 computer multiple times.
IconBoy said:
Thanks for the suggestion and the link for the file.
When I try and run the command
Code:
fastboot flashing unlock
in fastboot mode, I keep getting the message "Waiting for device".
Same thing, when I try and run the flashall.bat file.
I booted in to FastBoot mode, but when I type adb devices in an admin command prompt, it doesn't show any devices listed, even though adb devices does show the phone listed when the phone has booted up normally.
I have:
uninstalled the Essential Phone driver and reinstalled it (multiple times).
installed the 15 Seconds ADB installer and uninstalled it (multiple times).
rebooted the Windows 10 computer multiple times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure to use a proper cable and not the one that comes with the phone for charging.
I use the one from my Nexus 6p. The cable from Essential is only for charging, not data transfer.
I'm using a USB-A TO USB-C cable which shows device in normal boot mode.
I have tried three different cables which all work when using adb devices in normal boot mode.
Still no phone when List of devices attached is shown.
Just for clarity: adb and fastboot are completely different modes. To test if you successfully booted into fastboot and have a working connection, you have to type "fastboot devices". "adb devices" doesn't work here.
But the unlock command should have worked anyway. How did you boot into fastmode? Can you see this fastboot screen?
If not, the easiest way to get to fastboot is to connect the turned off phone to the PC while keeping the volume down button pressed, until you see the screen linked above.
But if you do see the fastboot screen, and still don't get anything from "fastboot devices", I'd try Google's official adb/fastboot tools.
xxera said:
...you have to type "fastboot devices".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes! I can see the device listed now! I had no idea that you had to type that command! Wow....years later of working with phones and I am still learning. :good: I guess I didn't progress because I mistakenly thought the device was not being found.
I ran both commands fastboot flashing unlock and fastboot flashing unlock_critical successfully.
Once the phone wiped itself and booted up (without progressing from the startup screen prompts), I shut it down then went back in to fastboot mode and successfully ran the flashall.bat command.
I shut it down and restarted it. Touchscreen is still not working. :crying:
When I finally get this working...would I just run the commands fastboot flashing lock and fastboot flashing lock_critical to relock the phone...? I need Google Pay and other banking apps to work so want the phone to be secure.
There is always more to learn
Shame that it didn't work, though :/ Did you flash the image from September 2018 that I linked, or the newest build? If you directly flashed the newest one, maybe try the 2018 build, since that worked for me. Alternatively, from the same reddit post I linked before, someone got it working by flashing the August 2018 build, and sideloading the September 2018 OTA Update after. But I never did this sideloading thing, so can't help much there. All builds and OTAs are available on this neat website by the way.
Regarding relocking, it is generally advised to only relock if you have a good reason to do it. You can only relock a completely unmodified stock image, otherwise your phone won't boot, so no root, magisk or anything.
My banking apps still work on my unlocked and rooted phone, but I'm using a Pixel 3, and not sure about Google Pay.
But yes, if you want to relock, make absolutely sure you're stock, and use the commands you mentioned. Just be aware that this also wipes the phone again.
xxera said:
Shame that it didn't work, though :/ Did you flash the image from September 2018 that I linked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I used the link you gave me for the Sep 2018 build.
I will try the Aug 2018 build and see if I get any joy with that.
Thank you so much for your patience and help!
Just to be clear, you should sideload the September OTA after that, the August build itself won't do much as far as I understood.
Glad to help, I just had the same hunt for clues behind me, I know how frustrating it can be
I tried the Aug 2018 build then sideload flashing the Sep 2018 build. No joy...touchscreen still not working.
The whole fastboot flashing worked except for this one error:
fastboot format userdata
CreateProcess failed: The system cannot find the file specified. (2)
fastboot: error: Cannot generate image for userdata
This message came up once the flash was complete and the phone rebooted itself):
Android Recovery
essential/mata/mata
9/PPR1.180610.091/249
user/release-keys
Use volume up/down and power.
Can't load Android system. Your data may be corrupt. If you continue to get this message, you may need to perform a factory data reset and erase all user data stored on this device.
--------------------------------------------------
Try again
Factory data reset
--------------------------------------------------
There was no choice to Apply update from ADB so I can sideload the Sep 2018 update so I went ahead and chose Factory data reset.
Once it factory reset, I was able to go in to recovery and sideload the Sep 2018 update.
Have I missed anything in this procedure...?
I also tried fastboot flashing the Apr 2019 build but that hasn't helped either.
(Attached is a screenshot of the two files I downloaded. The links are the purple ones I chose). Did I get the correct ones?
The files look right to me.
After some research I found that updating the adb tools worked for some people with that error. The creator of the 15 Seconds ADB installer even edited the post and said the tool is outdated by now. There's a newer version in this post, and maybe you are already using that, but I'd strongly recommend the official ADB from google, since I never had a problem with that one.
Also, I read that you should use a USB-3 cable. The official one from essential itself is USB-2 which can cause some problems in flashing sometimes (which is pretty stupid tbh).
Yes, after you updated ADB/fastboot, I'd just try the Aug image + Sept OTA again. Or directly the Sept image.
Not sure about the factory reset message, I'd say yes again just in case.
Edit: Ah, since it says "can't load android system", I guess the flashing failed.
I managed to fix phones with flashing a second time exactly the same way many times, sometimes fastboot is just moody. But may updating ADB can help here.
I updated fastboot and adb from the Google site.
Reflashed Aug and Sep 2018 files.
No joy. Touchscreen still doesn't respond.
An idea...I tried to install TWRP to see if the touchscreen is actually working but get the error fastboot: error: Couldn't parse partition size '0x' when running the command to install the TWRP Mata recovery image file.
Any way to check if the screen/digitizer is not a hardware fault?
Weird error... Can you post the whole log? If the partition size was read as 0, something went wrong with identifying the partition (if I interpret the error message correctly). Did you correctly flash to boot_a/boot_b depending on which one is active?
But TWRP might not help diagnosing the issue, I think touch stopped working in TWRP for essential phone a while ago, because it is also very outdated...
But to me it sounds like the usual problem after updating that many people had. The screen stopped working after an update, right?
Also, did you make sure to use the new platform-tools fastboot? Google's version doesn't automatically install itself system-wide, so if you just type "fastboot" in the command line, that might still be the old "15 Seconds ABD installer" fastboot. You can type "adb --version"to find out, it tells you in which folder the adb.exe file is.
EDIT: Instructions for updating the ROM are in the third message and they work for everyone, rooted or not.
This is specifically for the RFinder B1+ with 6 GB of system RAM and 128GB of built in ROM but with or without the First Responder designation or Band 14. It will likely work with all three RFinder B1+ radios as they use the same MediaTek chipset.
***THE B1 CLASSIC ROOT METHOD IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT***
***I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU DAMAGE OR DESTROY YOUR DEVICE***
***I AM ALSO NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU VIOLATE FCC RULES OR WHATEVER THE EQUIVALENT AGENCY US IN YOUR COUNTRY***
In a nutshell, if something goes wrong, it's up to you to fix it. Though there are very few ways to brick the RFinder, keep in mind it's also a two way radio, so don't blame me if yours falls apart, you burn yourself on an exposed part of the antenna, the family cat runs off, you manage to summon security on their local DMR channel, or if it gets stuck in an infinite loop showing sample Pac Man footage.
For those unfamiliar, there are a few combo radio and Android units. The RFinder B1+ is one of them. I see no advantage to rooting on the radio side; most amateur radios offer you as much access as you need. AnyTone offers access to *everything*, they're completely unlocked. Motorola Solutions (not the Motorola seen most often here) keeps strict control of what you can access. Analog only devices vary but have a lot of access through the program Chirp.
Now that we've worked out you're here to root the Android part instead of the radio, let's dive on in.
Here's what I used:
A laptop running Windows 11
My Moto G7 (Mobility, not Solutions)
A typical USB-A to USB-C cable
ADB tools
MediaTek drivers
Magisk 23
The latest RFinder firmware, which can be found here:
Index of ./B1-Plus-APKs/
While there you may need to grab the latest APKs. Towards the end of this post I'll explain a bit about DMR and analog radio, this will help you understand what the B1 does and if it's worth the investment ($1,600 currently) to you.
Please be patient, it may take a couple of tries to download the firmware.
I don't see a need to change the recovery. If you have other ham radios with you, you will likely have a computer as well which can be used to reflash the ROM to the radio if need be.
First, back everything up. Files and whatnot can be backed up to SD cards, radio info is to be backed up to the cloud. Install the latest firmware (this will include the ROM) as per RFinder's instructions. It takes a little digging to find it. My B1 has the firmware I linked to, so I used that. With the latest firmware installed, shut the B1 down and either charge it or attach a fully charged battery.
Over on the G7 (you may use any phone that runs Magisk Manager 23) I extracted boot.img from the downloaded firmware. You also need to extract vbmeta and lk.bin (depending on your preferences). lk.bin can be added to clean up the boot screen. I used a blank vbmeta intended for a rooted Onn 10.1 tablet, but it's better to use the one that comes with the firmware.
Next I patched the boot.img with the Magisk Manager 23 on my rooted G7 and took note of the file name. I have several patched boot images for different devices, no need to risk flashing the wrong image and possibly turning my radiophone into a light bulb.
Then I hooked up the laptop to the phone. ADB tools are in the most basic directory I could make: c:\adb. I put the patched boot.img in there. You'll need to copy vbmeta and lk.bin as well. I disconnected the laptop from the G7 and hooked it up to the B1, then started the B1 normally. Windows 11 recognized it immediately and installed the drivers. I enabled developer options (settings->system->about phone, then tap build number several times) and enabled OEM unlocking through Developer Options.
Next I unhooked the B1 and rebooted it to the super simple MediaTek bootloader by holding power and volume UP together for a few seconds. I followed the on screen prompts to get into fastboot mode.
With the laptop and the B1 connected, I went to C:\adb on the laptop, right clicked, and opened a terminal. This may be listed as open PowerShell or command prompt depending on your version of Windows.
For the next part, we're telling certain programs to do certain things to certain partitions within the radiophone with certain files. Imagine giving someone a command: "Fastboot, please flash the boot partition with the boot.img. file." That's the flow of each command.
The first command was to verify the laptop and PC could communicate, so I typed (without quotes)
"fastboot devices"
The RFinder put a number up on the laptop screen. All good so far.
Next
"fastboot flashing unlock"
This unlocks the bootloader and frees up every bit of storage on the radio's installed ROM storage.
Next, without quotes or parentheses, I typed "fastboot flash boot (whatever Magisk named the patched boot image).img
Last was "fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img"
At this point if you want to patch the lk.img file and have that nice, clean battery warning specific to the B1, patch it in a hex editor, put it into the ADB folder, and type:
"fastboot flash lk (whatever you named the patched lk.img).img
If for some reason you want to re lock the boot loader,
"fastboot flashing lock" should do it. I left mine unlocked.
Once that's done, reboot the B1. You can power cycle it or type
"fastboot reboot"
That will either get it booted to Android 9 or into a boot loop. If it boot loops, re check your work and try again. Worst case scenario you can flash the respective files from the firmware you downloaded, start with vbmeta, though!
The last step is to install Magisk Manager 23. It should recognize the Android part is rooted.
You can use a later Magisk or even a different root solution. I used 23 because it's the latest one I'm familiar with.
Now... just what exactly does this oversized, bulky piece of hardware do?
Most any radio, your cell phone included, has to connect to a central point and identify itself to be allowed to use that connection. For a cell phone, we call that a "tower", for ham radios, it's called a "repeater". Shocking idea...they both do the exact same thing: take in information and then repeat it either over the air or via physical connection (backhaul for cell, network for radio) so that other devices can receive it. Some radios can talk directly to one another without all of this.
When your radio connects to a repeater, it also sends certain information to activate that repeater. Both analog and digital modes require this, but the digital identification carries more information.
Enter DMR radio. An analog repeater has one or maybe two "channels". A DMR repeater accesses a network called Brandmeister or sometimes DMR_MARC which contains thousands of channels known as "talkgroups".
In either case, someone has to program those ID signals and the desired channels into the radio. No two repeaters are exactly the same, but someone with a lot of patience can set the radio up to automatically access each repeater on a long trip much the way a cell phone roams from tower to tower.
Most programmable two way radios have to have all this info entered at least once by hand. The B1 does it automatically.
Aside from that, there are obvious advantages to an amateur radio operator with a single device that can serve as their cell phone, their handheld radio, and possibly even their wallet. There's also an advantage to being able to simply switch out a dead battery for a charged one, the B1 is offline for perhaps a minute while this is done rather than being captive to a power bank and cable for an hour or two.
OK, post #2. I like to put my ham and GMRS call signs on my radios' boot screens, and I hate that orange mode warning, so a good place to put change that is in the lk.bin file.
Dumb skull moment #1: fastboot flash lk onn_10_lk.bin (should have flashed the B1+'s lk.img, not some bin file from a cheap tablet...oops!)
Dumb skull moment #2: fastboot reboot.
Step 3: Enjoy my new $1,800 brick. Smartphones ain't cheap!
I went through the same steps I normally would to unbrick a Walmart tablet because the chipsets are almost identical. Bob designed a next gen B1+ and added some lifesaving features to a few of them for first responders, then ran a batch or two with the better hardware but no access to US cell band 14 for the rest of us. In the end, we got a good ham radio with a solid cell phone as the front end and batteries that absolutely devastate what would normally be in the phone.
Here's the catch: the RFinder B1+ flash memory is formatted a little different than a standard MTK 6765. The scatter file used in the ROMs doesn't play nice with SP flash tool because of this. This is actually fairly common among different radio models, but before now I've had to do some soldering to repartition a handful of AnyTone units. What I did was grab a generic MTK 6765 scatter file and compare it to the B1+. I changed line numbers and memory addresses on the generic file to match the RFinder official ROM, but left the generic file structure intact. I double checked my work and it matched up. Next I loaded it into SP Flash Tool and hit download without the B1+ hooked up. It stalled where I expected it to. A quick driver update, some frustration with Windows 11 (I said the magic words a few times), then back to Windows 10 because that laptop is working still... another driver update and presto! The radio swallowed a stock lk.img faster than I wolf down steak and taters.
Another warning: on the B1+, if you need to use SP Flash Tool, only use the "download" function and untick ALL the boxes except just what you need! If you're hacking up the scatter file, one mistake can soft brick the radiophone, but if that mistake isn't on a partition you're flashing it won't matter.
Anyway, back to hackin' devices and yakkin' on the radio!
-73
ROM updating:
If you open the RFinder HAM app and go to "Advanced Settings" it may prompt you for an update. If it's updating the app itself, follow the on screen instructions.
If it's updating the ROM, follow the instructions to download the file, then STOP. Back everything up including the radio memories, then unmount any SD cards you have, power down, and remove them from the radio.
Re attach the battery to the radio and charge it fully. Once it's charged, unplug the USB and remove the radio from the cradle.
ROOTED USERS ONLY (all others skip to "ALL USERS"):
Get the radio into fastboot mode and connect a USB cable. Locate the downloaded zip file that matches the ROM you have, unzip it into a folder on your PC that's easy to find, and then use fastboot to flash *stock* files from that zip file into the radio to replace any files you've patched or modded. Specifically you'll need the boot.img and the vbmeta.img and they MUST match the ROM currently in the radio. Open a command prompt, then change to the directory where your fastboot is installed. I recommend you put the official vbmeta and boot files in this directory.
"fastboot devices" and wait for your B1+ to show up.
"fastboot flash boot boot.img" where boot.img is the official boot image that matches the one in the radio. Double check your typing, then hit enter.
"fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta" Again, you need to be sure it's the matching official vbmeta.img. Double check typing, then hit enter.
Double check everything.
"fastboot reboot" Your B1+ will boot back into Android.
Go to Settings -> Reset Options -> Erase All Data, then read the text and hit "Reset Phone".
Alternately you can reset from the B1+'s Recovery Menu (power +vol down IIRC, if not try power +vol up).
Sideload the Magisk app. Again, I used 23, which is older but it's the one I understand best.
ALL USERS:
Plug in a live USB cable (preferably to a USB power outlet, not a computer).
Go to settings -> System -> About Phone -> System Upgrade. Click that and choose update from local storage, then choose the update file the radio downloaded or that you received from the customer support team. Follow the instructions. The radio will shut down. You may have to power it up manually. It'll go into a mode that looks like recovery, then it'll say it's updating. If something isn't right the update will abort and generate an error message. If everything is OK the update takes around five minutes. The first reboot hangs on the tower splash screen for a while, so please be patient!
Non rooted users are done. Hooray!
ROOTED USERS:
Once the update is finished, go to your fastboot folder on the PC and replace vbmeta with the empty one you used with the old *rooted* boot.img.
Unpack the new update file, copy it to the radio's internal storage, and use Magisk to patch it. Copy the patched file back to your PC, preferably into the folder with fastboot.
Get the radio into fastboot mode and connect it to your PC with a USB cable.
Use fastboot the same way you did above except this time, flash the patched boot.img and the empty vbmeta.img.
Double check everything you just flashed, then type "fastboot reboot" and hit Enter.
Once the radio loads up, download a root verification app and run it. You should get a superuser request. Hit grant, read the root checker output, and voila!
Next find the RFinder HAM apk and install it. Ideally you should have a backup of it, if not, get it from RFinder.wiki.
Make any other mods you need to make, then reinstall any SIM and SD cards, update the RFinder HAM and IMEI apps if necessary, restore your memories into the RFinder HAM app. Reload your other apps, restore any backups they have, re grant root access as needed, and you're done.
B1 Classic rooting.
If you got hold of one of these, you're in for a rough ride. If it's got the latest update, version 25, you have your work cut out for you. The best way to get hold of the ROM is from Bob Greenberg with RFinder support. RFinder has an official and an unofficial Facebook group and a Zoom channel. Bob is proactive in contacting people who post with issues in either of those groups. He has a number of beta roms available as well as beta RFinder software. Serious, go sign up and ask.
If you're NOT on 25 or you'd care to chat via Zoom, things are a lot easier.
I started with a B1 classic from a silent key That operator was part of a Jeep club out of Oregon and for whatever reason they sold off his B1 Classic as part of the estate.. That's a term of respect for a ham operator who has passed on. Obviously if the person had a startup PIN on the device, it soft bricks when hey pass on unless someone knows it. You also have the FRP lock to deal with, however, this operator had either logged out of Google before he passed or never logged in.
Here's what I did:
To remove the startup lock, shut the unit off and remove the battery. Cherge the battery it its cradle (the B1 Classic will not charge via USB). Reinstall the battery, press and hold "Power" and Volume down, release them after a few seconds. This gets you to recovery. Factory reset the radiophone from here.
Once the B1 restarts, head over to RFinder.wiki and get the latest RFinder ham apk. Install it, go into settings, and Advanced Support. If you're not on version 25, you'll get a notice to update an an option to download a ROM. Do both, and save the ROM file whe n you're finished.
Unzip the ROM file and locate the boot.img and the scatter.txt. You know what to do with the boot imagw: get it onto a device that has the Magisk apk, rooted or not, and patch it. Put it back into the folder with the unzipped ROM file.
Shut down the B1 Classic and remove the battery. Unplug the USB cable from your PC.
Next grab a scatter file for a stock MTK 6763. Go through it and the scatter file from RFinder, match up the start points of all the partitions and as man of the sizes as you can. You'll need to delete one of the partitions in the stock file and do all of your edits on the *stock* MTK file, not the RFinder one. Chenge the "is download" value on ALL partitions except the Preloader and the Boot to FALSE. Save that in the unzipped ROM folder.
Now grab SP Flash tools. The B1's bootloader can be unlocked, but it's difficult and I happen to like my data. Open SP Flash tools (unzip, find flashtool.exe and double click it). Hit "browse" and go to the unzipped ROM folder, then click on your scatter file. If everything went well, you should have only two lines showing on the download screen: Preloader and Boot.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOU TO MODIFY THE PRELOADER! Uncheck that option. You have to have the line populated or SP Flash Tools will throw an error, but you MUST UNCHECK IT. If the two lines don't populate, find the respective images in the unzipped rom. Click the empty line, then find the image and click that. Ensure the Boot line is checked, preloader unchecked, double check your work, then hit "download".
Grab the B1, plug the loose USB cable into it. Press and hold Volume Up and Volume Down while you plug the other end of the USB cable into your computer where SP Flash Tools is waiting. You do not need a battery. SP flash Tools will connect to the B1, the progress bar will turn RED, then it will verify your work and attempt to download your changes to the B1. If that's successful, the bar will turn yellow. When it's finished, it'll notify you of the results.
DO NOT FORMAT ANYTHING IF IT ASKS YOU TO. That's an error which needs addressed, so fix it and try again.
Unplug the cable, attach the battery, and boot the B1. You will not need to reinstall anything save for an SU manager (Magisk is fine) and a root checker.
Keep in mind that we didn't touch the bootloader, it is still LOCKED. I was all over it trying to unlock it to no avail, and I didn't care to dig out my old Toughbook for Ubuntu. Not everyone has an old Toughbook with Ubuntu on it anyway, you may be on Windoze.
I strongly suspect this method will work for future updates to the other B1 models as well, and since we're not fooling around with the bootloader, no data will be lost. Runbo puts out quit a few ROM updates for their stuff (yes, Runbo) so those who own the newer devices will be re rooting a time or two.
E81 owners: if these methods work, please let us know! Or if you flashed a B1 to an E81 or vice vera, let us know how that went.