Database Users

COS13 rooting failed, stuck in boot loop

Hi all,
I got a brand new Wileyfox Storm which I liked to have rooted. When I booted the phone I got several updates which I installed first.
After updating I followed this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wileyfox-storm/general/root-wileyfox-storm-t3250992
And also with a little bit help from the Cyanogen wiki: https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_kipper
Reason I chose for this method is because I tried the recommended WinDroid Toolkit before but the server doesn't has the required files anymore so that program is useless for the Wileyfox Storm.
I'm running Cyanogen Os version 13.1.2-ZNH2KAS3NA-kipper btw (offical FOTA).
When I followed Bobslesbricoleurs tutorial to unlock the bootloader I got a message but not one I expected. It said:
<bootloader> Device already : unlocked !
OKAY [ 0.000s]
finished. total time : 0.000s
Does this mean I got my Wileyfox Storm with bootloader already unlocked? That how I read it...
I continued to start rooting it, but not before testing if I could still boot but everything was fine.
I tried to flash the attached custom recovery I got OK and a 'remote: size too large' error. It didn't successful flashed the recovery.
I checked if everything still was ok and it was. I could boot and everything.
So I tried something different. I'm not new to flashing (I've had a Galaxy S2 for 5 years which was running on CM13) so I went to the Cyanogen site and downloaded the latest stable (snapshot) recovery for kipper which was cm-13.0-20160820-SNAPSHOT-ZNH5YAO0J4-kipper-recovery.img.
I tried to flash that recovery and it succeeded. I could still boot recovery and system... except that after booting system the ROM would replace the recovery back to stock.
I did some research on this but I couldn't find any helpful information about it for the Storm device. So I Googled it in general and read somewhere that COS had a developers toggle to disable 'updating recovery'.
This is probably where I made my mistake because I unchecked that update recovery toggle and reflashed the snapshot recovery that worked before.
I'm not very sure, I should have written this down, but if I remember correctly the system could still boot.
I didn't know how to flash the SuperSu-v2.46_signed.zip with fastboot, the tutorial didn't specify this and I'm used to flashing from recovery (fastboot is kinda new to me, although I have worked with adb commands before).
So I booted the rom, installed AirDroid to push the zip to my internal storage and I went back to the recovery.
I flashed the SuperSu-v2.46_signed.zip with the update option in the recovery.
And now the rom is in a boot loop.
I already tried a full factory reset but it's still boot looping.
I know that in the tutorial topic FluffyTwit has had a similar problem, not sure if it's the same but it looks like it.
The given solution is "Flash stock boot.img from stock rom zip, reboot" to which he replied " flashed the whole .zip file because I saw a tutorial on some website...".
But at this stage I'm a bit afraid that I'll do it wrong again, as the instructions are either out-dated or they're just not 100% correct. Could someone help me out and/or confirm the exact steps I should do to get my device back up and running?
I'd rather keep the device stock without root than rooting it with risks of bricking. I have a feeling this device isn't as safe to rooting as I'm used to..
Thank you in advance.
Edit: I've found my solution and had to change something.
You can read it here starting from Edit 2.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=68632922&postcount=84

Soft bricked my phone, could somebody help me?

Hi everyone, sorry for a noob problem but I seemed to have soft bricked my phone and was hoping that somebody here would be able to help me out. I have an A2017U in the US.
A short history:
I had been using my phone on B20 rooted/locked with tenfar's tool for about 3 months now, and decided I would try and update it finally before the new year.
To update it, after reading it seemed I would need to unlock the bootloader to keep root on B29 so I decided first step would be to unlock the bootloader and then update to B29. I did the following steps today
1) Unlock bootloader using DrakenFX's guide here http://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/how-to/guide-how-to-unlock-bootloader-stay-t3461165 The unlocked proved successful and I was able to boot back into B20 after all the data was wiped, and I followed the instruction to backup the Boot in TWRP. All good.
2) I then decided to follow another of DrakenFX's guides (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=68873482&postcount=2) to update from B20 to B29. I followed the instructions exactly again, but then the phone just hangs on the ZTE logo on boot infinitely. I wondered if I made a mistake when re-initializing TWRP after unlocking the bootloader. I did a search and found in "Mount" to uncheck "Mount system partition read-only" and unchecked it. The System partition however is unmounted, I'm not sure if that's normal now or not. Even when I check it, after rebooting it goes away. I've checked the MD5 of the ZTE_A2017U.B29_StockSystem_by_DrakenFX.zip file and it's good. I then flashed through fastboot to the new 3.0.3-0 TWRP which I'm now using, and still nothing. It appears I don't have an OS installed. I'm going to guess here the issue is with a setting in TWRP but I've tried everything I could find. Unfortunately I don't seem to have a copy of my stock recovery right now to flash either. I've tried several times to flash ZTE_A2017U.B29_StockSystem_by_DrakenFX.zip and reboot but to no avail. I even tried this tip from rczrazor to delete DATA first and others one by one (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=69428659&postcount=136) but no such luck for me. Still stuck on the ZTE logo.
tl;dr - I have access to fastboot and TWRP, but apparently no ROM installed even though have flashed now multiple times.
If anybody could help me I would greatly appreciate it. I'm even willing to pay a few bucks in Paypal to help get me going again.
Thank you all in advance.

shyguy88 said:
Hi everyone, sorry for a noob problem but I seemed to have soft bricked my phone and was hoping that somebody here would be able to help me out. I have an A2017U in the US.
A short history:
I had been using my phone on B20 rooted/locked with tenfar's tool for about 3 months now, and decided I would try and update it finally before the new year.
To update it, after reading it seemed I would need to unlock the bootloader to keep root on B29 so I decided first step would be to unlock the bootloader and then update to B29. I did the following steps today
1) Unlock bootloader using DrakenFX's guide here http://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/how-to/guide-how-to-unlock-bootloader-stay-t3461165 The unlocked proved successful and I was able to boot back into B20 after all the data was wiped, and I followed the instruction to backup the Boot in TWRP. All good.
2) I then decided to follow another of DrakenFX's guides (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=68873482&postcount=2) to update from B20 to B29. I followed the instructions exactly again, but then the phone just hangs on the ZTE logo on boot infinitely. I wondered if I made a mistake when re-initializing TWRP after unlocking the bootloader. I did a search and found in "Mount" to uncheck "Mount system partition read-only" and unchecked it. The System partition however is unmounted, I'm not sure if that's normal now or not. Even when I check it, after rebooting it goes away. I've checked the MD5 of the ZTE_A2017U.B29_StockSystem_by_DrakenFX.zip file and it's good. I then flashed through fastboot to the new 3.0.3-0 TWRP which I'm now using, and still nothing. It appears I don't have an OS installed. I'm going to guess here the issue is with a setting in TWRP but I've tried everything I could find. Unfortunately I don't seem to have a copy of my stock recovery right now to flash either. I've tried several times to flash ZTE_A2017U.B29_StockSystem_by_DrakenFX.zip and reboot but to no avail. I even tried this tip from rczrazor to delete DATA first and others one by one (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=69428659&postcount=136) but no such luck for me. Still stuck on the ZTE logo.
tl;dr - I have access to fastboot and TWRP, but apparently no ROM installed even though have flashed now multiple times.
If anybody could help me I would greatly appreciate it. I'm even willing to pay a few bucks in Paypal to help get me going again.
Thank you all in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happened to me once - boot to TWRP, format data, reboot to TWRP, advanced wipe everything but the external SD card,reboot to TWRP, flash DrakenFX B29 bootstack, reboot to TWRP, flash DrakenFX B29 system.

shyguy88 said:
Hi everyone, sorry for a noob problem but I seemed to have soft bricked my phone and was hoping that somebody here would be able to help me out. I have an A2017U in the US.
If anybody could help me I would greatly appreciate it. I'm even willing to pay a few bucks in Paypal to help get me going again.
Thank you all in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have bricked my AXON 7 many times during the last week. The Zip files from DrakenFX are very good. But in case those were still failling...
First, check for corrupted downloads, just check the zip file integrity using 7zip, winRAR or any other tool.
Use TWRP 3.0.3
Try a different ROM such as ZADMix or even CM13.
If everything fails:
Flash TWRP 3.0.2 signed.
Flash the original Stock B29 Boot partition and reboot to recovery
Flash again the verified DrakenFX files.

Moto G4 (XT1625 Athene): Android won't boot after flashing TWRP 3.1.0

I flashed TWRP on my Moto G4 after booting the TWRP img using fastboot, and now I can't seem to get Android to start. I can boot into TWRP just fine, but when I try to start Android the phone screen just goes black and the LED USB indicator blinks.
Does anyone know what happened and how / if I can fix it without flashing the stock rom?

try flashing everything from recovery again? Maybe you messed up something, like rooting your rom without knowing it

I managed to get it to boot again by flashing the stock system image, but now there are a few odd bugs and I can't get the Android 7 OTA. Fastboot is giving me issues when I try to follow Motorola's instructions (gyazo.com/38675380995061a98714678c796ba92b, motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/recovery-images) saying that the images aren't signed or are corrupt. I'll try just flashing the image files from TWRP like you said.
The forum won't let me link to websites.

I had the same boot problem after trying to systemless root after 7.0 updateon twrp 3.1. Had to reflash to stock recovery and stock boot image before it would boot to anything other than fastboot or a blank screen.

So it seems like the best solution for now is to not flash twrp as recovery when running Android 7 and just booting into twrp temporarily with
Code:
fastboot boot <twrp.img file>
I didn't have any problems systemless rooting my Android 7 phone with supersu doing it this way, the problem only started after I attempted to flash twrp as my recovery.
After flashing the stock firmware, my only issue now is not getting the OTA, which is very frustrating as I had it working earlier today.
EDIT; Found a possible solution for getting the OTA for XT1625 in another thread, flash XT1625-XT1644_ATHENE-RETUS_MPJ24.139-49_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_CFC.xml.zip to the phone from here firmware.center/firmware/Motorola/Moto%20G4%20%28Plus%29/Stock/
* Currently testing this now, not sure if it'll work
EDIT; Worked for me, a few seconds after booting I got the OTA update. I'm on Moto G4 (XT1625 Athene) retusa
If you want to know how to flash the .49 rom, refer to this thread (forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g4/development/unbrick-hard-bricked-moto-g4-amazon-t3486578) and follow the instructions as closely as you can. There are some differences between the Amazon version and the non Amazon.
IMPORTANT: do not attempt to systemless root (at least with SuperSu 2.79 SR3), it just caused Android to not boot. For now, wait for a fix. (But if you simply must attempt a root, make a backup in twrp)
Good luck!

unprofessional hacker said:
So it seems like the best solution for now is to not flash twrp as recovery when running Android 7 and just booting into twrp temporarily with
Code:
fastboot boot <twrp.img file>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this! I didn't know how to do it until now

The phone won't boot and I can't use MiFlash

Well, it's not so bad.
Yesterday I bought this phone and applied the October update. Then I flashed TWRP by @mohancm (I wasn't sure about that but I did it anyway). And then I flashed Magisk. But because I couldn't get Xposed to work, I tried to remove Magisk (unsuccessfully it seems) and flash SuperSU. I played around by switching from slot B to A. I am not sure exactly what I did.
The end result is that the phone won't boot when I turn it on. (I think I might still have TWRP installed, but I am not sure.) I tried flashing stock boot.img via fastboot, but I get get an error (I think it's something to do with the partition table). I can't flash using MiFlash because it says I don't have the permission. (I've had bad experiences with MiFlash before.)
However, I am able to boot the phone manually. When I boot to bootloader I can just boot stock boot.img (flashing doesn't work like I said), and then the system boots properly and I'm rooted.
Any ideas what I can do now to fix the issue. I just need to try to avoid random reboots and I can use my phone just fine, but is there a way to fix it? Should I just wait for the November update? Any hope of getting a ROM that I can flash using TWRP?

Edit: I'm dumb. Of course you can flash an image via TWRP. I flashed the stock image via TWRP and now the phone boots properly. Problem solved.

Moto G5 Plus starting problem

It's been a while since I unlocked my mobile's bootloader, following the steps of a you tube video specifically from the Tecnocat channel. Everything was going well until I thought I did not have any system because whenever I started it it went straight to recovery. Install roms and the same. Until I decided to go directly to the bootloader and start it from there. Of surprise it worked, there was no problem with the system. Everything works fine, but every time I turn off the phone and turn it on it starts in recovery and I have to boot it in fasboot mode and from there start the system. It's tedious, and for example I can not do restarts. I already reprimand the recovery from different sources, and I can not find a solution. Please help

Similar issue
I'm having a similar issue except mine started after mistakenly installing a OTA update (Sept. I think) on a xt1687. Rooted (magisk) with TWRP recovery on stock ROM. Every time I boot it goes into recovery mode, and the only way to get into the phone is through TWRP Reboot > Bootloader, then Start.
I tried flashing the latest stock ROM I could find, but still have the same issue. Only now I'm getting nagged with Install System Update New Version NPNS25.137-93-18. I know better now to follow the OTA update guides, but how do I get the phone back to the way it was before the update? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!