Database Users

[TOOL][HOW-TO] [Nexus 5X] Bootloop of Death (BLOD) Workaround [Flashable Zip]

Bootloop of Death (BLOD) Workaround AnyKernel3 zip for Nexus 5X
osm0sis said:
Guys.. bad news.. my Nexus 5X just got hit with the BLOD.
Good news for everyone is I spent a bit of time tonight to first patch TWRP 3.2.1-0-FBE (File-Based Encryption support) image to be 4core, then made an AnyKernel2 zip which will patch the existing boot and recovery partitions on-device to add all the 4core fixes from @XCnathan32.
Should work over any ROM, any custom kernel, recovery, etc., can be added in queue after ROM, root zip + custom kernel to patch it from TWRP or FlashFire (so good for OTAs), and simplifies the initial process greatly since you can now fastboot boot any 4core recovery.img and then adb sideload my AK3 zip to fix the likely newer recovery you already had on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Original thread posts: Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P
Now updated to an AnyKernel3 zip to support the SAR (system-as-root) and 2SI (2 stage init) ROMs that have popped up for Pie and Android 10+!
General Information
If you've found this thread then I'm sure you probably already know what the Bootloop of Death is - separation of the performance (perf) CPU cores - and that the only way to recover from it is to unlock your bootloader and patch to disable the faulty cluster. If you have not enabled unlocking your bootloader yet, the known methods to get it to boot long enough so you can go to System, then Developer Options and toggle "OEM unlocking" are:
super cooling the device in a freezer in a ziplock bag to keep out moisture,
super heating around the camera, and
letting the battery run all the way down before trying to boot.
For further details on these methods check out the original threads by @XCnathan32, linked in the "Thanks" section.
Some important notes before going any further:
Freezing at the Google logo likely points to it being perf cluster separation, but this could also be caused by other components separating.
Freezing at the boot animation suggests ROM/ROM data problem or could also potentially be a BLOD with other components now beginning to separate and that's what people have reported when the 4core mods suddenly stop working with no configuration changes - if you've tried the default boot.img for your ROM, patched with the BLOD AK3 and it still doesn't work, sorry but your device is a brick.
If no 4core recovery boots for you then you definitely have more components than just the performance cores separated, sorry but your device is a brick.
I haven't seen anyone say their devices only worked using a "1core" modification who had tried a proper 4core patched setup; 4core makes sense because it's the separate perf cores cluster becoming unsoldered, but if the 4 low power cores cluster also starts to come unsoldered logically not even a single core would work.. I think that's where the "Green Screen Of Death" comes into it.
DemiGod = Green Screen Of Death; unfortunately this (more components separating given more time - maybe the flash memory chip?) is why many call the 4core workaround only temporary.. there's not much that can be done after that from what I've read.
EX Kernel does not support FBE on these devices because the EX zip patches the fstab forcefdeorfbe flag to encryptable.
Android 10 does not appear to support FBE on these devices but the 4core FBE TWRP build can be used to BLOD patch the latest TWRP (see instructions in next post).
On Oreo, I was personally on stock ROM still, FBE enabled, rooted with SuperSU v2.82 SR5 + suhide and the latest Franco Kernel on my 5X. Then I bumped up the min freq on the low perf cores and it's working great - totally fine for general use, just anything creating a bit of heat like games maxing the low power cores for awhile, or charging, will make it pretty painfully laggy and risk further solder deterioration.
Even though SuperSU development is ostensibly dead, I still strongly recommend it on BLOD-affected devices using stock ROM for reasons I'll explain below.
My development work on my many projects comes out of my free time, so if you enjoy this project or anything else I've done on xda, please consider sponsoring my ongoing work using my GitHub Sponsors profile. For a one-time donation you can hit the donate link from my profile. Thank you for your support!
Step-By-Step Installation Instructions
Any quoted commands should be entered without quotes
1) Download and unzip platform-tools for your PC from https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools.html
2) Navigate to https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=312881 (also mirrored below) and download N5X-6P_BLOD_Workaround_Injector_Addon-AK3-signed.zip to your platform-tools folder as well as
2a) twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-bullhead.img (Nexus 5X), or​2b) twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-angler.img (Nexus 6P)​3) Hold Shift + right-click on your platform-tools folder and
3a) Open a command window here (Windows <10), or​3b) Open a PowerShell window here, then enter "cmd" at the Windows PowerShell prompt (Windows 10+)​4) Reboot your phone to bootloader and connect it to your PC with a USB cable
5) Enter "fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-bullhead.img" into the cmd prompt
6) Reboot your phone to recovery and tap Advanced, then ADB Sideload
7) Enter "adb sideload N5X-6P_BLOD_Workaround_Injector_Addon-AK3-signed.zip" into the cmd prompt
8) Reboot and cross your fingers that it works
For information how to seamlessly update to stock and custom ROM OTAs, see the following post
Source Code: https://github.com/osm0sis/N5X-6P-BLOD-Workaround-Injector
Status: No Longer Updated
Thanks:
- @XCnathan32 for researching and developing the 4core workarounds for both the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P
- chetgurevitch (GitHub) for the original FBE supporting TWRP builds
- @Aukaminator for the original step-by-step write-up

Update Flashing Instructions
Keep N5X-6P_BLOD_Workaround_Injector_Addon-AK3-signed.zip on your device sdcard, henceforth referred to as BLOD AK3 zip
The correct manual order for a clean flash is: ROM -> root -> custom kernel -> BLOD AK3
Always flash the BLOD AK3 zip last!
Reflashing the BLOD AK3 zip will likely be required after anything that could modify the boot.img or recovery.img, including (but not limited to): ROM updates, custom kernel updates, custom recovery updates.
ROMs:
On custom ROMs with built-in Flash After Update (i.e. OmniROM-based), place your root (if using SuperSU), custom kernel and BLOD AK3 zip in /sdcard/OpenDelta/FlashAfterUpdate/ ensuring the BLOD AK3 is last in the directory listing so that they will be flashed after each update.
On custom ROMs that do not have built-in Flash After Update (i.e. LineageOS-based), you may add my FlashAfterUpdate addon.d script to /system/addon.d/ and then place your root (if using SuperSU), custom kernel and BLOD AK3 zip in /sdcard/FlashAfterUpdate/ ensuring the BLOD AK3 is last for the same effect: flashed after every OTA.
On stock ROM rooted with SuperSU (SuperSU v2.82-SR5 recommended) instead of tapping "Reboot & Install" once the OTA is downloaded you should use @Chainfire's excellent FlashFire app to queue the OTA from /data/ota_package/update_s.zip then queue the SuperSU zip, custom kernel and BLOD AK3 zip, ensuring the BLOD AK3 is last. This is how I have mine set up, since this is by far the most seamless. Be sure to disable EverRoot since SuperSU v2.82-SR5 is newer than the SuperSU included in FlashFire.
On stock ROM rooted with Magisk you must uninstall Magisk from within Magisk Manager to restore your stock boot.img, reboot the ROM to restore your stock recovery partition, tap "Reboot & Install" once the OTA is downloaded, then go through the steps above to flash the 4core TWRP and BLOD AK3 zip again. I definitely recommend SuperSU on this device to avoid the hassle of unrooting and/or messing with factory images.
Kernels:
Custom kernels can be flashed from an app like Franco Kernel Manager & Updater, which can be set to flash without reboot for Franco Kernel updates, or "Flash only" can be chosen in the manual flasher. The FK app supports all types of AnyKernel3 zip so the BLOD AK3 zip may then be flashed after the custom kernel zip to repatch the new kernel's ramdisk.
For other kernel managers that don't support AK3 zips, simply reboot to recovery and flash the BLOD AK3 zip from there to repatch before attempting to boot the ROM again. Also see above under "stock ROM rooted with SuperSU", since FlashFire also works perfectly for this use-case, queuing the custom kernel zip and then the BLOD AK3 zip, with FlashFire's EverRoot option disabled since the device is already rooted.
Recoveries:
Download the updated custom recovery .img and, without flashing it, reboot to recovery, use TWRP's flash image feature to flash the new recovery.img, then without rebooting immediately flash the BLOD AK3 zip to patch it. You can then dump/backup the recovery partition if you want it as a recovery.img. Custom recovery updates can also be done from FlashFire, queuing the BLOD AK3 zip afterward, but the "Preserve recovery" feature must be disabled.
If you prefer to stay on stock recovery for some reason, you can still use TWRP to do the above without flashing TWRP to the device by using "fastboot boot twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-bullhead.img".
My development work on my many projects comes out of my free time, so if you enjoy this project or anything else I've done on xda, please consider sponsoring my ongoing work using my GitHub Sponsors profile. For a one-time donation you can hit the donate link from my profile. Thank you for your support!
Changelog
2018-01-15 - Original post in other BLOD threads.
2018-07-21 - Update AK2 Core+Backend files to latest, add searching of all init.*.rc files for problematic cpuset commands which were popularized by Franco Kernel and are now used by multiple custom kernels. (6734 downloads)
2019-10-30 - Update to AnyKernel3, add support for SAR and 2SI Treblized ROMs. (886 downloads)
2020-01-16 - Update AK3 Core+Backend files to latest to fix AVBv1 signing in recovery on Android 10, update boot_signer-dexed.jar. (428 downloads)
2020-02-17 - Update AK3 Core+Backend files to latest to fix SAR mount support in fragmented TWRP and Lineage 16+17 Recovery. (1188 downloads)
2020-05-25 - Update AK3 Core+Backend files to latest to improve SAR mount support in Lineage 17 Recovery and AVBv1 signing. (1276 downloads)
2021-07-21 - Update AK3 Core+Backend files to latest to support Lineage 18.1 recovery and Android 11 ROMs.
Good luck and enjoy!

Thanks a lot for your hard work Sir ..!
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

hey,
my nexus 5x unfortunately started having the bootloop issue yesterday.
i tried fixing it using your instructions, now it's stuck in the colored boot animation. it's not frozen, but just stays in the animation forever (i waited already more than 1.5 hrs).
do you have any suggestions what i could try?
thanks in advance!

en_jo said:
hey,
my nexus 5x unfortunately started having the bootloop issue yesterday.
i tried fixing it using your instructions, now it's stuck in the colored boot animation. it's not frozen, but just stays in the animation forever (i waited already more than 1.5 hrs).
do you have any suggestions what i could try?
thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the 4core recovery work? If so, try flashing the lastest factory image, then the BLOD AK2 zip again and see if that helps. If not, you're out of luck.

Hey! Thanks for your instructions, im unbold my nexus 5x! But now my wifi doesn't work. Can it be problem with your img? Bluetooth works by the way.

Jatsu said:
Hey! Thanks for your instructions, im unbold my nexus 5x! But now my wifi doesn't work. Can it be problem with your img? Bluetooth works by the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have an img, I patch whatever's there. What ROM are you using?
Dirty flash your ROM, rename the BLOD AK2 zip to test-debugging.zip, flash and upload the debug.tgz it creates and I'll take a look.

Hey! Thanks for your instructions.
In my the error appears:
adb: sideload connection failed: closed
adb: trying pre-KitKat sideload method...
adb: pre-KitKat sideload connection failed: closed
Do you have a solution?

ediofelipe said:
Hey! Thanks for your instructions.
In my the error appears:
adb: sideload connection failed: closed
adb: trying pre-KitKat sideload method...
adb: pre-KitKat sideload connection failed: closed
Do you have a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you booted into 4core TWRP? Did you go to the Advanced | ADB Sideload page and swipe to start the sideload mode? Make sure your PC has adb sideload drivers installed? Try a different USB cable? Try adb pushing the file to your device and flashing it from there instead?
Side note to all: BasketBuild is having some down time so I've mirrored the uploads in the OP. :good:
Edit: And BasketBuild is back!

Thanks
So, first of all i would like to tell u that, I thank u a lot for your amazing work, i finally got my nexus 5x out of bootloop after a year
Got to say i thought i would never get it back from there. Also i would like to get some advice:
Currently im running 7.1.2, i wanna download the OTA for oreo, my question is:
As i dont have it rooted, what i should do is download and install it. then make this:
"Reboot your phone to bootloader and connect it to your PC with a USB cable
5) Enter "fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-bullhead.img" into the cmd prompt
6) Reboot your phone to recovery and tap Advanced, then ADB Sideload
7) Enter "adb sideload N5X-6P_BLOD_Workaround_Injector_Addon-AK2-signed.zip" into the cmd prompt"
Or what do u suggest??
Also it would be better if i get root and then get the OTA? in that case, if i root it should i flash again your patch? or is not necesary.
So Thanks again, for all your work.

FYI the TWRP does matter. I already had TWRP 3.2.1 so I didn't flash the suggested one and it didn't work. Flashing the suggested TWRP worked.

I can't seem to boot into recovery or normally boot(black screen but fastboot mode works fine), with or without the 4core fix (recovery + boot img). Also, to enter fastboot I have to hold power down and volume for a minute or so. Does this mean I'm out of luck?

With stock kernel it doesn't work right? Only custom kernel?
I'm trying to resurrect an old 5X. So i Should:
- fash latest factory image on fastboot
- flash suggested twrp on fastboot
- flash custom kernel, like Franco
- adb sideload in recovery the fix
- reboot and hope ?
Thanks
EDIT: I'm stuck at Google logo, when I reboot to suggested recovery above. It's stuck at Google logo and rebooting also when it is switched off and I plug the wall-charger. Only bootloader mode works! What to do?
EDIT 2: at the end everything works now and boots! Let's see if it stays like this!

Everything worked for couple hours without issues, then it bootloop again. The strange thing is that it doesn't power on anymore after some reboot, tried everything, long press for 10 seconds, 30 seconds, either power only and power + volume buttons.. It switch on only if I disconnect and reconnect the battery by opening the device,it starts but bootloops and then again no sign of life after some bootloops. I remember it happened the same when it died the first time almost 1 year ago I believe. Not even the bootloader come up when it is in this strange state, unless I disconnect the battery.
With the fix I thought it would keep staying alive.. But no luck seems

ok, perfect, everything work....but if I check cpu I see 4 CPU* 1.44GHZ + 2CPU stopped, instead 4 CPU* 1.82GHZ + 2CPU*1.44GHz. Why Did u change frequency of 4 cpu, lowering them?

fricco1983 said:
ok, perfect, everything work....but if I check cpu I see 4 CPU* 1.44GHZ + 2CPU stopped, instead 4 CPU* 1.82GHZ + 2CPU*1.44GHz. Why Did u change frequency of 4 cpu, lowering them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't and it doesn't.
Oh and as a general FYI to everyone, if I don't respond to your question/post it's because it's already answered in the OPs.

Thank you very much for your work. My phone went into a bootloop today and flashing stock rom didn't work. Your guide was well-written, easy to follow and most importantly worked like a charm!

Hi when i make the 7th point of guide my PC open the zip file.
Which is my error?
Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

It's alive!
Thanks, man. It worked great and was really easy. I will happily make a donation!
Initially my 5X was booting to the Google logo and then rebooting, forever.
I am hoping this will last me until the end of the year when I will get a OP6T or Pixel 3 maybe.
Is there any advice for maintaining the device in this state? For example doing a factory reset, flashing a custom ROM?

Gazza2907 said:
Thanks, man. It worked great and was really easy. I will happily make a donation!
Initially my 5X was booting to the Google logo and then rebooting, forever.
I am hoping this will last me until the end of the year when I will get a OP6T or Pixel 3 maybe.
Is there any advice for maintaining the device in this state? For example doing a factory reset, flashing a custom ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi! Use some kernel manager to make sure your N5X doesn't turn big cores on, and keep it as cool as possible. Good luck!

[GUIDE] 2 Minutes Magisk installation, Best Method +OTA

Hey hey hey !!! I'm back for a new method, for flash Magisk without patched_boot.img or select current-slot etc, just by do 2 things. And it works for all phone version, Sable, Beta.... ( We use TWRP temporarily, so after the process, TWRP is gone)
Credits :
Me for the idea.
@Frustrated Indian the tester.
@TingyiChen for this nice TWRP.
Code:
Your warranty is now void.
We are not responsible for bricked devices, bootloop... Please
do some research if you have any concerns about features
included in this GUIDE before using it! YOU are choosing to
make these modifications.
Of course first you must have the drivers installed on your pc. And an unlocked bootloader + unlock critical partition, if it is not, follow this procedure :
1. Installing drivers & Preparing PC
- Download this and extract it
- Open and install "adb-setup-1.4.3.exe"
- When it is done, go to "Drivers" folder and start "miflash_unlock.exe"
- Click on the gear icon top right corner and click on "Check" next to "Click the button to install the drive"
- Do as the installer says
- Hopefully the drivers has been installed so we're done with it, let's head on the next step.
2. Preparing phone for unlocking
- On your phone navigate to Settings->System->About phone and tap the build number until you see "You are developer"
- Go back once and you'll see a new menu called "Developer options"
- Tap on it and search an option called "OEM Unlocking", enable it
- We're done here. Let's keep going
3. Entering fastboot and unlocking bootloader (MAKE A BACKUP of your data!)
- Hold your power button down, tap on restart and hold your volume DOWN button while it resets until you see the Mi bunny doing its thing
- Now we're in Fastboot mode, hooray
- Download this zip and extract it on your PC
- Open it and type "cmd" (without the quotations) in the file manager header where you see (This computer>somethingsomething>Mi A2 fastboot), don't be afraid just type it in, and hit enter and you'll enter into command prompt
- Now we are ready for action
- Type these commands one by one:
fastboot flashing unlock
fastboot flashing unlock_critical
- And follow phone on screen steps to validate unlock bootloader...
After this, you will see a warning message that your bootloader is unlocked and your data is not safe, blah blah... Just ignore it everytime you power on your phone.
Downloads :
- TWRP here
- Magisk Latest Beta / Stable (if you prefer) zip
- Magisk Uninstaller zip
Steps :
- Download TWRP
- Copy it to your pc adb folder
- Rename it to twrp.img
- Download Magisk Installer
- Download Magisk Uninstall
- Place these 2 folders on your phone storage
- Reboot phone to fastboot
- Open fastboot command prompt on your pc
- Type "fastboot boot twrp.img" without quotes
- Your phone will boot twrp
- Decrypt data with your pin if needed
- Click install and select the Magisk Installer zip, swipe to confirm
- Wait for the process
- Reboot
That's it !! You now have root on your phone, and TWRP is gone.
If you have issues you can uninstall Magisk with the Uninstaller zip.
For OTA just uninstall Magisk using Magisk Manager, by flash the stock boot.img to your current-slot, or using the zip and flash it like the Magisk Installer.
Check my other thread, Part 3 : OTA for more informations.

-reserved-

I always thought this method was all we needed to do even with the A/B thing... Is this a custom magisk zip?

After installing the October ota: installing magisk caused a boot loop. Switch to this kernel and install magisk again and everything should work.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a2/development/kernel-hex-t3855773

Magisk link not work.

kishd said:
After installing the October ota: installing magisk caused a boot loop. Switch to this kernel and install magisk again and everything should work.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a2/development/kernel-hex-t3855773
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is that what happened to you, or is that what you heard? the testers did not encounter any problem without hex. Plz don't do pub for other thread.

SpectraFun said:
Magisk link not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fixed. sorry it was an issue when we click links using XDA phone app. Have a nice day.
Matteo

Adairo said:
I always thought this method was all we needed to do even with the A/B thing... Is this a custom magisk zip?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, this is just the latest Zip. i can explain you how my method work. when you fastboot boot TWRP.img , the TWRP will automatically boot on your current slot. and when you flash the magisk zip it will automatically flash the zip on your current slot, ( for exemple if your current slot is b, in the past you should flash magisk_b, but no TWRP will automatically temp boot on slot b, so mgisk will automatically be installed on b. and that's it. ).

Atlas/ML said:
is that what happened to you, or is that what you heard? the testers did not encounter any problem without hex. Plz don't do pub for other thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happened to me. Even with flashing back the original kernel I could not boot. Flashing the alternate kernel solved my issue and it's much smoother than stock. Not advertising but it seems that the dtb is changed in some way by patching with magisk and an alternate kernel bypasses that issue to allow booting. In my opinion.

kishd said:
This happened to me. Even with flashing back the original kernel I could not boot. Flashing the alternate kernel solved my issue and it's much smoother than stock. Not advertising but it seems that the dtb is changed in some way by patching with magisk and an alternate kernel bypasses that issue to allow booting. In my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flash stock kernel has no sense. that's why it doesn't work. if you have issue you should just flash boot.img or flash magisk uninstaller in twrp like magisk zip. sometime hex kernel cause some issues . for me with all version tested, with help of the maintainer @draco I'm not able to boot fine. I have a green glitchy screen etc, and after some boot my device screen stuck on black screen.

works fine, thank you!

bavmouse said:
works fine, thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad to hear it, enjoy

Atlas/ML said:
nope, this is just the latest Zip. i can explain you how my method work. when you fastboot boot TWRP.img , the TWRP will automatically boot on your current slot. and when you flash the magisk zip it will automatically flash the zip on your current slot, ( for exemple if your current slot is b, in the past you should flash magisk_b, but no TWRP will automatically temp boot on slot b, so mgisk will automatically be installed on b. and that's it. ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm gonna try to get Xposed working with this method, if it fails I'll try another one used on pixel 2

Adairo said:
I'm gonna try to get Xposed working with this method, if it fails I'll try another one used on pixel 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend you to use magisk and install systemless xposed.

Atlas/ML said:
I recommend you to use magisk and install systemless xposed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard about Xposed from magisk brings a bootloop... I already installed Hex kernel so I don't mind to modify system partition

Adairo said:
I've heard about Xposed from magisk brings a bootloop... I already installed Hex kernel so I don't mind to modify system partition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay, give me results if it works. good luck

Atlas/ML said:
okay, give me results if it works. good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*Xposed from magisk = bootlop
*flashed Xposed.zip from twrp = bootlop
*install xposed from Pixl 2 method: https://www.themefoxx.com/2018/01/xposed-for-pixel-2-xl.html = bootlop
I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to get xposed working on our A/B partition device

Adairo said:
*Xposed from magisk = bootlop
*flashed Xposed.zip from twrp = bootlop
*install xposed from Pixl 2 method: https://www.themefoxx.com/2018/01/xposed-for-pixel-2-xl.html = bootlop
I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to get xposed working on our A/B partition device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hum, interesting

I'm on September update and want to update to the October one, I've tried doing everything in Part 3 but no success. Any solution that let me keep my data?

Adairo said:
*Xposed from magisk = bootlop
*flashed Xposed.zip from twrp = bootlop
*install xposed from Pixl 2 method: https://www.themefoxx.com/2018/01/xposed-for-pixel-2-xl.html = bootlop
I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to get xposed working on our A/B partition device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xposed will not work untill we get a deodexed stock rom or custom rom

Unable to root Redmi 7A - with MIUI 11.0.6

Got a second Redmi 7A, I'm 99.99% certain it came with *global* 10.2.5 PCMMIXM (it was what ordered, and saw it too, pretty certain), decided to let it upgrade OTA, it picked 11.0.6 OTA, and it came to:
MIUI Global 11.0.6 PCMEUXM (notice the EU there), which, I'm assuming from this url: https://mirom.ezbox.idv.tw/en/phone/pine/
to be this one:
Code:
Redmi 7A – EEA Stable ROM
Lstest V11.0.6.0.PCMEUXM(History)
MIUI 11
Android 9.0
Update at 2019-10-31 19:05:57
Changelog Expand Official Link
Recovery miui_PINEEEAGlobal_V11.0.6.0.PCMEUXM_bcc90ca1df_9.0.zip
Filesize 1.5G
MD5 bcc90ca1df89a4f3d8cc7b9705a70d83
which is a bit confusing, it says Global, but has "EU" in the name.. in any event, flashed TWRP as per:
https://xiaomifirmware.com/guides-and-tips/how-to-install-twrp-and-magisk-root-on-redmi-7a/
choose the LRTeam version:
Code:
2a3296af05267160cba2891bff446203 TWRP-3.3.1-1003-REDMI7A-CN-wzsx150.img
seemed newest, all is great, it boots into TWRP recovery.. Next, trying to get Magisk on it, got the manager apk installed 7.4 all fine, it says 20.1 needs to be installed so...
unzipped the boot.img from above zip file, it has this md5, this is original , unmodified boot.img:
Code:
036d1b6c5a99e9417f8d3e98d5718368 boot_Global_V1106PCMEUXM.img
following this guide: https://romprovider.com/2019/01/create-pre-rooted-patched-boot-img-magisk/
Magisk successfully patched the boot.img on the same phone (running 11.0.6) and got this file:
Code:
dad219422c9302a460d4d2370adafb4f magisk_patched_Global_V1106PCMEUXM.img
transferred to PC, attempted to flash:
Code:
c:\XiaomiADB\bin>fastboot flash boot magisk_patched_Global_V1106PCMEUXM.img
target reported max download size of 535822336 bytes
sending 'boot' (14914 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.470s]
writing 'boot'...
OKAY [ 0.190s]
finished. total time: 0.665s
c:\XiaomiADB\bin>fastboot reboot
rebooting...
finished. total time: 0.003s
Phone boots fine, however, magisk still says it needs to be installed...
in developer's options, the USB debugging is enabled, and boot loader is definitely unlocked, it says on splash screen and the OEM Unlocking is greyed out and says "bootloader already unlocked".
Also, attempted to flash boot image from within TWRP, selecting the above boot.img file and selecting the boot partition, flashes OK, however, after normal reboot, as if nothing happened, phone boots, but magisk is NOT installed (no root).
Is there anything missing in these steps? does anyone have a correctly patched 11.0.6 image with magisk in it from an 7A phone?
Only thing that appears as an "error" are these family of cmds to unlock boot loader:
Code:
fastboot oem unlock
...
FAILED (remote: Token verification failed, reboot the device)
finished. total time: 0.004s
however, i think that is normal/expected, since the bootloader is already unlocked.. able to flash twrp, etc.
Thanks so much for any ideas...
Stormy.

Forgot to mention that attempted to install Magisk 20.1 zip file downloaded by the app, from within TWRP, attached screenshot of how that looks like all seems okay but after reboot it still says that magisk needs to be installed... Very strange..
Appreciate any thoughts..
Stormy

noticed in above screenshot that it detected a patched boot image so decided to try installing the
v20.1 Magiskk zip file with the stock Boot, the install results in a screenshot, after reboot it still says that magisk has to be installed.!
also attaching screenshots showing the device is unlocked as well as USB debugging and OEM unlocking are all there.
Should this be posted in The magisk forum or is this something specific to the 7A? Or my steps?
How to debug further?

Attempted with the other TWRP image TWRP_v3.3.1-1_all.img, same results also reinstall the magisk manager 7.4 and same results....hmm.. maybe the OTA update took wrong ROM version. (EU and not pure Global)?...

Digging a bit more, found this pretty cool tool: https://www.xiaomitool.com/V2/latest called: "XiaoMiTool V2 ", which basically automated (almost) Everything !! Tried to do TWRP, as well as Magisk, it too followed similar steps I did, all automatically, rebooting, patching, etc. but outcome is still same, when phone boots normally, Magisk Manager says that Magisk 20.1 needs to be installed...
Then tried to flush miui_PINEGlobal_V11.0.4.0.PCMMIXM_674ed79f0b_9.0.zip using that tool, it said all is OK, phone rebooted , wiped all, but it still runs the EU version for some reason.. Now trying to find the path to "downgrade" from 11.0.6 to 11.0.4, or switch from EU to Global.. maybe that's the source of all issues, not sure what else to try

Reporting progress, to keep track of what was attempted. So, decided to WIPE all and start with 11.0.4 Global fresh, from TWRP, wiped everything, to the point it said "no OS installed, are you sure u want to reboot" it rebooted into fastboot, then downloaded the 11.0.4 Global .tgz and flashed, phone booted OK this time into 11.0.4 Flashed TWRP, and then attempted to flash Magisk via both routes, one by patching the boot.img from the .tgz and flashing, all using the Phone (to avoid any PC/driver/adb issues). The flashing worked fine, but upon reboot, Magisk Manager claimed that Magisk is not installed. Second try was to flash the stock boot.img, then flash magisk zip file, did that for v20.1, v19.4 and 19.3, each time from stock boot.img, and reboots to test, none of them showed that magisk is installed...
all this time, usb debugging is enabled despite most work done on the actual redmi 7A phone itself.
Then uninstalled magisk manager 7.4, and tried with 7.2, but that doesn't change much since any action there wants to update to v7.4..
next step will wipe again, and go for the Global 10.2.5... if that doesn't work then I really don't know what can be going on...
If anyone does have a 7A with MIUI 11 with a properly patched boot.img, would love to try it... all my patching attempted booted fine, but none showed that Magisk is installed... finding it hard to think it's a magisk bug, more likely some MIUI 11, lets see how 10 works out...
Stormy

OK, some success! so, wiped ALL again, to the point of no-OS installed; phone only boots into fastboot (brick), using flash_all.sh from 10.2.5 fastboot Global ROM flashed entire phone and it booted OK.
btw, not easy to find 10.2.5 now, as places already updated links to 11.0.x..
Once in 10.2.5, tried to patch Magisk in all possible ways (twrp or patching boot.img on phone the flashing from Windows10/PC) as also described in this thread few weeks ago:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=80498891&postcount=179
but it did NOT work, well, the procedure appeared OK, no errors and when booting, it says magisk needs to be installed.
The only thing that works is the provided boot global .img file [size 14.5 MB (15,269,888 bytes)], as soon as this one is flashed, via phone/twrp or PC, then the magisk is correctly detected.
Very mysterious, why only that boot.img is working on my 7A phones.. maybe there's an additional step, to "sign" or fix the boot.img before it can be flashed?
now took a full TWRP backup, and will try to move to 11.0.4 see if magisk is retained, and if not, if possible to re-gain it.. if not, then, will restore from TWRP backup.
Any thoughts welcomed..
Stormy.

Did not manage to get it working with MIUI 11 yet, so backed to MIUI 10.2.5.. all is fine there.
Noticed that TWRP did not "stick", flash but after normal boot, it came back to original recovery. I think this is b/c of Verify Boot in android Pie/9.. so I *think* what helped here is to flash a vbmeta.img from first post of this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-7a/how-to/custom-gsi-firmware-t3965820
Even after flashing this, and even in 10.2.5, patching the STOCK 10.2.5 from the phone using Magisk 20.1 and installing using TWRP did not work, not sure if this is a bug in magisk or what, but only way to get root was using the provided boot.img as described above. I'll keep using 10.2.5 for now. feel free to add any ideas here , maybe one day will get more time and a spare phone to try MIUI 11
Stormy.

hey , I have the same problem. I noticed you mentioned 'sign', what should I sign what things? and how to sign?

I was going to ask for the same thing : is there any method to root Redmi 7A under MIUI 11?
For my case :
-I can flash and boot to TWRP,
-I can 'flash' (install) Magisk through TWRP,
-However : this has no effect. Still Magisk Manager tells me that Magisk was not found!
The Redmi is unlocked and I can install custom roms (Mokee, LineageOS...). I see no reason why the phone can't be rooted it's probably just some bad configuration.
Thank you very much

depaul9999 said:
I was going to ask for the same thing : is there any method to root Redmi 7A under MIUI 11?
For my case :
-I can flash and boot to TWRP,
-I can 'flash' (install) Magisk through TWRP,
-However : this has no effect. Still Magisk Manager tells me that Magisk was not found!
The Redmi is unlocked and I can install custom roms (Mokee, LineageOS...). I see no reason why the phone can't be rooted it's probably just some bad configuration.
Thank you very much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't bother rooting Redmi 7A, it just isn't possible, not even with the miui 10 (I've tried). There's no way to flash magisk successfuly, because when you do, magisk is still uninstalled, therefore no root and if you try SU instead, it happens some kind of error. If you try magisk without TWRP and flash a patched recovery it still doesn't work either. Since I can only follow tutorials because I understand nothing about Android I can say that there is no tutorial out there that works and all of them are wrong. I just don't understand why people bother to make tutorials that do not work just to make people waste their time.

KnowTheyself said:
Don't bother rooting Redmi 7A, it just isn't possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks indeed that's the case for the moment. Hopefully we could soon manage to root the phone successfully.
My biggest motive is to install App2SD and move games to external storage, since with my 16GB version I can barely install one or two games and MIUI only allows installation to internal. (I know I should've bought a phone with bigger storage).

depaul9999 said:
Thanks indeed that's the case for the moment. Hopefully we could soon manage to root the phone successfully.
My biggest motive is to install App2SD and move games to external storage, since with my 16GB version I can barely install one or two games and MIUI only allows installation to internal. (I know I should've bought a phone with bigger storage).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read that the 16GB version of the Redmi 7A is possible to put a micro SD card and format it as internal storage and that was the reason I've bought it, although I'm not yet sure because I'm waiting to buy a microSD card, it's still on the way.
I want to root it because of privacy reasons and that's the only reason. For now I'm using a VPN to block 99% of the google and xiaomi apps, etc. to the internet this way I got some privacy. I have unlocked the phone too so I did uninstalled several apps from the system using the PC.

KnowTheyself said:
Don't bother rooting Redmi 7A, it just isn't possible, not even with the miui 10 (I've tried). There's no way to flash magisk successfuly, because when you do, magisk is still uninstalled, therefore no root and if you try SU instead, it happens some kind of error. If you try magisk without TWRP and flash a patched recovery it still doesn't work either. Since I can only follow tutorials because I understand nothing about Android I can say that there is no tutorial out there that works and all of them are wrong. I just don't understand why people bother to make tutorials that do not work just to make people waste their time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that's correct.. I've rooted several 7A, as many others on the forum, just look around, all these posts, many HAVE done based on the topics...
There are few more mysteries, even to experts, so don't feel bad (like how to path boot.img from Magisk, did it for other phones, but not possible for this one for some reason).. agree, there is no current/updated guide that works for everyone, but one can piece things together..
The reason there is no complete guide is not b/c people want to waste your time, they are really trying to SAVE time, however, there are many FACTORS at play, like initial ROM/state of the phone, some Global, some EU, some 10.x other 11.x and so forth, which change over time...
Once the bootloader is unlocked, then one should be able to:
- flash vbmeta.img
- flash twrp (I'm using 3.3.1-1003 'wzsx150').
boot into twrp and flash a properly patched boot.img (that matches your phone), now that's the tricky part, b/c one cannot be re-generated, u'd have to dig through some of the posts, like this: https://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-7a/how-to/custom-gsi-firmware-t3965820 and find the boot.img that works, it had magisk 19.3 in it, but then update is easily possible.
it's important to flash vbmeta otherwise the "verified boot" will revert things back to a "working state", and you'll lose twrp..
Once my phone got to MIUI 11 it was not possible to root (since there is no boot.img that's patches correctly, and i couldn't do it), so i've flashed the whole phone back to 10.2.5 and from there rooting was pretty easy, the trick is to find the right boot.img.
Good luck.

stormy1777 said:
I don't think that's correct.. I've rooted several 7A, as many others on the forum, just look around, all these posts, many HAVE done based on the topics...
There are few more mysteries, even to experts, so don't feel bad (like how to path boot.img from Magisk, did it for other phones, but not possible for this one for some reason).. agree, there is no current/updated guide that works for everyone, but one can piece things together..
The reason there is no complete guide is not b/c people want to waste your time, they are really trying to SAVE time, however, there are many FACTORS at play, like initial ROM/state of the phone, some Global, some EU, some 10.x other 11.x and so forth, which change over time...
Once the bootloader is unlocked, then one should be able to:
- flash vbmeta.img
- flash twrp (I'm using 3.3.1-1003 'wzsx150').
boot into twrp and flash a properly patched boot.img (that matches your phone), now that's the tricky part, b/c one cannot be re-generated, u'd have to dig through some of the posts, like this: https://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-7a/how-to/custom-gsi-firmware-t3965820 and find the boot.img that works, it had magisk 19.3 in it, but then update is easily possible.
it's important to flash vbmeta otherwise the "verified boot" will revert things back to a "working state", and you'll lose twrp..
Once my phone got to MIUI 11 it was not possible to root (since there is no boot.img that's patches correctly, and i couldn't do it), so i've flashed the whole phone back to 10.2.5 and from there rooting was pretty easy, the trick is to find the right boot.img.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you say so... If you're right then I got the wrong Redmi 7A model. It came with the EU version of the miui.
I already knew the tutorial in the link you gave, but that seems very complicated and I do not really know what's going on there so it's better I do not try it. And if I followed that tutorial I would have to flash the phone again with the miui 10, because I have the 11 now. I already wasted many hours trying to root the phone and I had to flash the rom about 4 times because the phone became bricked. Anyway the tutorials I've followed were not the one in the link above and all the other ones I've tried did not work and yet they claim it does, specially using magisk only, without TWRP.
I'll wait for an easier method than the one you shared, if that will ever happen. For now I just use a VPN, it's the closest thing to root I have found, to deny system and apps permission to the internet.
Thank you

In case you're not aware, there are scripts to flash the entire phone automatically, I've done that 10's of times BEFORE putting the phone into "production" use, root was a _must-have_,phone's now heavily used, so can't toy with it much, unless forced to (see below), i may get another phone to play with, but not much TIME to justify it...
Was getting tired of typing:
Code:
:/ # pm list packages|grep xyz
followed by:
:/ # pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tachyon
Success
Decided to give some "highly-rated" app a try, it claims to be able to remove system apps: "System app remover (root needed)":
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jumobile.manager.systemapp&hl=en_US
Took a full TWRP backup, installed, all seems great.. remove, goes to recycle bin, ok.. now, lets REBOOT..
Opps.. phones goes into FASTBOOT... OK!! that's what the backup is for.. go into TWRP, flush SYSTEM, CACHE, DATA, reboot, again, we're in Fastboot, and this time no RECOVERY boot is possible, just goes into FASTBOOT directly.. much like i've described in this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=80509823&postcount=111
so, TWRP on phone doesn't help much, took the TWRP backup from SD Card to PC (since phone can only do fastboot at this point), thought it would be easy/possible to fastboot flash all the TWRP into the phone from PC, however, that is NOT simple, since TWRP breaks files, one must concatenate them before flashing..
I was not in the mood, nor did i think a huge change took place, it was just something silly that app did. hmm.. here, i can't exactly explain what took place, but a sequence of flashing of boot.img recovery.img and vbmeta.img all from STOCK and the TWRP backup, was "all it took" to recover the phone fully..
After about 30+ flashes and reboots it came to life much like the last boot, went into that APP again, tried to RESTORE the apps, it failed, and a reboot again, went into FASTBOOT! twrp was there, again, tried recovery, this time only SYSTEM, again, phone lost recovery, and went into, fastboot only... and.. again, sequence of flashing from fastboot, i can tell that vbmeta (Verify Boot) takes a *major* role in this version/device, if something is not right, it just reverts things or decides to go into fastboot.
I saw it work once, so was not going to give up and wipe/start fresh.. kept trying..
I think the app somehow made "direct" modifications to the system partition without proper interface, and thus ruined the "signature" or encryption, otherwise not sure how it could trash the phone so badly..
in any event, after long struggles, flashing the LATEST did _not_ work, it's almost as if the phone had to be taken back to original setting, let it boot into recovery, then reboot again, and flash things in steps, not all at once, at least based on this experience. I know it's silly, b/c in Android 6 I've restored/cloned phones all the time using TWRP directly from phone.. not sure, it does not work on my 7A's...
eventually, phone booted, with 10.2.5 magisk/boot.img (no root, since it did not recognize magisk), then fastboot flashed the canary boot.img, and got root.
anyways, point is, it was pretty ugly, and I'm not complaining, just saying this is pretty complicated stuff, it's a miracle that this even works
keep up the great work everyone, if i can help in any way, let me know...
All this is on Global phone, I don't have an EU/ROM/phone, so can't help u directly, but someone may have a root boot.img EU boot, that's really the key, and the vbmeta.img of course as for MIUI11? so what if that's what you have, it can be flashed, it's a matter of choice, flash to miui 10.2.5 and get root, or try to do it on MIUI11, or, let it be and use w/o root.. which was not an option for me
good luck.
Stormy.

btw, the magisk/patching boot.img did not work for me, and was reported in that same thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=80560039&postcount=206
MDV106 said that both EU and global boot.img were posted in that thread, and i agree i used one of them, not sure exactly which, but definitely it was the Global, not the EU. and i think it's not goot to mix up.. if u have an EU, stick with it, it might impact Wifi or similar "regional" things..

Same problem, but it works on mokee
Add-on-su on mokee open source ROM works fine, can enable root from developer options only, magisk and supersu don't work.
I have been trying to make them work but it seems impossible, I have looked in system/xbin and found no su files, maybe the problem is in the meta-INF because it doesn't properly know where to install it.

boody shaban said:
Add-on-su on mokee open source ROM works fine, can enable root from developer options only, magisk and supersu don't work.
I have been trying to make them work but it seems impossible, I have looked in system/xbin and found no su files, maybe the problem is in the meta-INF because it doesn't properly know where to install it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this data point, yeah, root was/is also possible with MIUI 10.2.5, I'm sure other ROMs can root pretty easily.. the "goal" of this thread is to somehow figure how to do it on MIUI 11 so we can take the security updates and still retain rootness

working root redmi 7a
Working root for Redmi 7a
thank you stormy1777 - it is your tutorial, I only put it together. It is the only tutorial that works
links unavailable due to site rules:
google for: ROM v10.2.5. global V10.2.5.0.PCMMIXM/pine_global_images_V10.2.5.0.PCMMIXM_20190805.0000.00_9.0_global_efb78ff9c3.tgz
google for: patched boot v10.2.5. under: xiaomifirmware (dot) com how-to-install-twrp-and-magisk-root-on-redmi-7a
google for: TWRP: under: androidweblog(dot)com xiaomi-redmi-7a-root-install-twrp-recovery I took the version 3.3.1.-0
google for Magisk: Magisk-v20.1.zip
Install in fastboot mode and with Mi Flash Tool
flash: pine_global_images_V10.2.5.0.PCMMIXM_20190805.0000.00_9.0_global
option: clean all
wait until the mobile phone is fully installed (will reboot automatically)
copy Magisk into the root directory on your phone
restart in fastboot mode (volume down + power button)
on PC:
rename twrp file to recovery.img
rename boot file to boot.img
copy boot.img and recovery.img on the PC in the directory, where adb drivers are
open power shell on the PC in the directory, where adb drivers are
type in the power shell window:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Enter
then type in the power shell window
fastboot flash boot boot.img
Enter
then hold volume up + power button until it 2x starts and vibrates, then wait, it opens in TWRP
type install, find Magisk.zip in the phone root directory a flash
restart into system
done

IN2025_11_C.21 Root / Boot.img Help

TLDR: I need boot.img (stock or patched) for C.21
I made a huge mistake. I thought the _11 in the new version was OOS11. The upgrade window didn't indicate it was a significant upgrade.
Anyway, I was also on an old version of Magisk because I need Magisk Hide to hide root from applications required for work.
I did the usual OTA by restoring binaries in Magisk, then installing to inactive slot before reboot, but I guess due to the old MAgisk and New OOS12, it failed.
I'm now on the terrible IN2025_11_C.21 and I lost root.
I need a copy of the boot.img from C.21
I cant seem to boot into the latest TWRP (fastboot boot twrp.img) to access adb shell and extract this myself. (Should I be able to? Does TWRP still work?)
I tried downloading the OTA from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...epo-of-oxygen-os-builds.4084315/post-87101587 so I can extract boot.bin myself but payload dumper just throws an error.
I tried downloading the images from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...epo-of-oxygen-os-builds.4084315/post-87129235 but it seems I have to pay for them. Doesnt seem legit.
I was able to extract the c.21 image from the IN2021 (India) model, but I'm not sure if that's safe for my IN2025 model.
Advice? Help?

x51 said:
TLDR: I need boot.img (stock or patched) for C.21
I made a huge mistake. I thought the _11 in the new version was OOS11. The upgrade window didn't indicate it was a significant upgrade.
Anyway, I was also on an old version of Magisk because I need Magisk Hide to hide root from applications required for work.
I did the usual OTA by restoring binaries in Magisk, then installing to inactive slot before reboot, but I guess due to the old MAgisk and New OOS12, it failed.
I'm now on the terrible IN2025_11_C.21 and I lost root.
I need a copy of the boot.img from C.21
I cant seem to boot into the latest TWRP (fastboot boot twrp.img) to access adb shell and extract this myself. (Should I be able to? Does TWRP still work?)
I tried downloading the OTA from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...epo-of-oxygen-os-builds.4084315/post-87101587 so I can extract boot.bin myself but payload dumper just throws an error.
I tried downloading the images from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...epo-of-oxygen-os-builds.4084315/post-87129235 but it seems I have to pay for them. Doesnt seem legit.
I was able to extract the c.21 image from the IN2021 (India) model, but I'm not sure if that's safe for my IN2025 model.
Advice? Help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are boot images.
[GUIDE] How to Avoid Killing Your OnePlus 8 Pro / 8T / 9R with OxygenOS 12 / ColorOS 12
As You can see, recently we started seeing more and more threads complaining about OxygenOS 12 killing people's devices. I lost my 8 Pro the same way few months ago and we finally know what caused this! ANSWER - THE BOOTLOADER! Massive Update...
forum.xda-developers.com
AFAIK, there isn't twrp for Android 12 yet

bacon612 said:
There are boot images.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/guide-how-to-avoid-killing-your-oneplus-8-pr
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://
bacon612 said:
There are boot images.
[GUIDE] How to Avoid Killing Your OnePlus 8 Pro / 8T / 9R with OxygenOS 12 / ColorOS 12
As You can see, recently we started seeing more and more threads complaining about OxygenOS 12 killing people's devices. I lost my 8 Pro the same way few months ago and we finally know what caused this! ANSWER - THE BOOTLOADER! Massive Update...
forum.xda-developers.com
AFAIK, there isn't twrp for Android 12 yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I ended up using the Indian boot.img. it worked.

x51 said:
http://
Thanks.
I ended up using the Indian boot.img. it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem with IN2025_ 11_C.35 no version of twrp worked for me either. Wondering if c.21 boot.ing will work

Downloaded IN2025_11_C.21 last stable in full zip from oxygen update. Payload dumpered it and fastboot booted the stock boot.img and screwed it up good, restarted thinking it'd go back to original image but no, takes a while to fire up lock screen image comes up, home screen is black. Strangely google assistant works to voice open file manager and oxygen update, downloaded IN2025_11_c.35 incremental zip but "op12 local update" doesn't see it. Twrp doesn't work so can't side load the c.35 zip to restore the boot.img. if anyone's got a IN2025_11_C.35 boot.img or any advice I'd appreciate

Orig-pinetree said:
Downloaded IN2025_11_C.21 last stable in full zip from oxygen update. Payload dumpered it and fastboot booted the stock boot.img and screwed it up good, restarted thinking it'd go back to original image but no, takes a while to fire up lock screen image comes up, home screen is black. Strangely google assistant works to voice open file manager and oxygen update, downloaded IN2025_11_c.35 incremental zip but "op12 local update" doesn't see it. Twrp doesn't work so can't side load the c.35 zip to restore the boot.img. if anyone's got a IN2025_11_C.35 boot.img or any advice I'd appreciate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think boot.img corrupted the system launcher, making the settings, home screen and app drawer black or blank. Had Google assistant open a file manager and uninstalled the launcher and it came back

SM-T280 SuperSU install zip creates broken kernel image

Hey,
I've installed https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...g-galaxy-tab-a-7-0-sm-t280-gtexswifi.4158061/ on a SM-T280 that has TWRP 3.2.1-1 recovery installed, using TWRP zip install.
It had been rooted before with SuperSU, so I wanted to root it again with SuperSU (I have reasons for not trying Magisk).
I've tried SuperSU v2.82 and v2.78 from https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...amsung-galaxy-tab-a6-sm-t280-sm-t285.3475381/ also by installing the zip in TWRP.
When the zip installs, it chooses systemless root. The logs seem fine, no errors, it patches the boot partition.
However, the tablet won't boot. It stays in the "Galaxy Tab A6" screen forever.
When I restore a backup of the previous boot partition, it boots fine again. So I guess it produces a bad boot image when trying to patch it.
Am I missing something obvious here or should it work that way?

RFZ said:
Hey,
I've installed https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...g-galaxy-tab-a-7-0-sm-t280-gtexswifi.4158061/ on a SM-T280 that has TWRP 3.2.1-1 recovery installed, using TWRP zip install.
It had been rooted before with SuperSU, so I wanted to root it again with SuperSU (I have reasons for not trying Magisk).
I've tried SuperSU v2.82 and v2.78 from https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...amsung-galaxy-tab-a6-sm-t280-sm-t285.3475381/ also by installing the zip in TWRP.
When the zip installs, it chooses systemless root. The logs seem fine, no errors, it patches the boot partition.
However, the tablet won't boot. It stays in the "Galaxy Tab A6" screen forever.
When I restore a backup of the previous boot partition, it boots fine again. So I guess it produces a bad boot image when trying to patch it.
Am I missing something obvious here or should it work that way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this link.

lewmur said:
Try this link.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx, I'll try it, but I don't understand it.
It requires me to download and flash a kernel (boot.img) at the end. This will overwrite any changes the SuperSU installer made to the boot partition during its install. And if I understand system-less root correctly, it will essentially undo everything the installer did. Also, one kernel can't just run any Android version - usually it's tied to a specific Android version?
I'll report if it works. If it does, someone needs to explain to me how.

lewmur said:
Try this link.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't work. To be fair, even https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...amsung-galaxy-tab-a6-sm-t280-sm-t285.3475381/ mentions this step (I kinda missed it).
Instead of freezing at "Galaxy Tab A6" it boot-loops. It even enumerates on USB after 20s of booting and provides adb, but shell commands available are limited. It doesn't even know `ls`. 10s later it reboots.
As said before, I do not understand this procedure. My impression was that systemless root only modifies the kernel / boot.img. So flashing another boot.img after that seems strange.

RFZ said:
Didn't work. To be fair, even https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...amsung-galaxy-tab-a6-sm-t280-sm-t285.3475381/ mentions this step (I kinda missed it).
Instead of freezing at "Galaxy Tab A6" it boot-loops. It even enumerates on USB after 20s of booting and provides adb, but shell commands available are limited. It doesn't even know `ls`. 10s later it reboots.
As said before, I do not understand this procedure. My impression was that systemless root only modifies the kernel / boot.img. So flashing another boot.img after that seems strange.
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At what point did it fail? Did you boot to TWRP recovery after flashing it. IOW, before doing anything with SU?

lewmur said:
At what point did it fail? Did you boot to TWRP recovery after flashing it. IOW, before doing anything with SU?
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What I did:
I booted TWRP and restored a boot.img I backuped yesterday (working LineageOS).
I rebooted to confirm it works. It did.
I booted into TWRP, copied "SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip" and "boot.img" (extracted from "supersu_2.78_SR1_systemless_boot_t280.tar") to the device.
Then installed "SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip" (install zip) and installed "boot.img" as "boot".
Then I rebooted.
Now it shows "Galaxy Tab A6" for 30s and the reboots. Over and over again.
I watched it many times, then booted TWRP again, restored the backup boot.img and it is back.

RFZ said:
What I did:
I booted TWRP and restored a boot.img I backuped yesterday (working LineageOS).
I rebooted to confirm it works. It did.
I booted into TWRP, copied "SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip" and "boot.img" (extracted from "supersu_2.78_SR1_systemless_boot_t280.tar") to the device.
Then installed "SR1-SuperSU-v2.78-SR1-20160915123031.zip" (install zip) and installed "boot.img" as "boot".
Then I rebooted.
Now it shows "Galaxy Tab A6" for 30s and the reboots. Over and over again.
I watched it many times, then booted TWRP again, restored the backup boot.img and it is back.
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The only thing I see that doesn't match the instructions is restoring the backup boot.img prior to installing SR1.

lewmur said:
The only thing I see that doesn't match the instructions is restoring the backup boot.img prior to installing SR1.
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Sure. But the instructions ask me to replace my entire boot partition with a static file I downloaded from the internet. Everything I did to the boot partition before is meaningless.
Clearly the kernel in the patched boot.img is not designed for the Android Version LineageOS 14.1 uses. You can't just boot any android with any random kernel, right?

RFZ said:
Sure. But the instructions ask me to replace my entire boot partition with a static file I downloaded from the internet. Everything I did to the boot partition before is meaningless.
Clearly the kernel in the patched boot.img is not designed for the Android Version LineageOS 14.1 uses. You can't just boot any android with any random kernel, right?
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By your own reasoning, you can't use just any boot.img with what superSU file you're installing. You have to use the one TWRP installed. All I know is that every time someone reports a boot loop it is because they failed to follow the EXACT steps in the instructions.

lewmur said:
By your own reasoning, you can't use just any boot.img with what superSU file you're installing. You have to use the one TWRP installed. All I know is that every time someone reports a boot loop it is because they failed to follow the EXACT steps in the instructions.
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My guess is that whoever wrote these instructions knew that the SuperSU install script isn't compatible with the device and will corrupt its boot partition. He probably fixed it or rooted it manually on his own and provided a rooted version of his boot.img instead. He still asks you to perform the regular setup as it not only will corrupt the boot partition but also install SuperSU.apk to the data partition.
However, this means it will only work with the Android version he used when he created the boot.img. So probably the most recent available stock ROM when the instructions were written. But not Android 7.1.

RFZ said:
My guess is that whoever wrote these instructions knew that the SuperSU install script isn't compatible with the device and will corrupt its boot partition. He probably fixed it or rooted it manually on his own and provided a rooted version of his boot.img instead. He still asks you to perform the regular setup as it not only will corrupt the boot partition but also install SuperSU.apk to the data partition.
However, this means it will only work with the Android version he used when he created the boot.img. So probably the most recent available stock ROM when the instructions were written. But not Android 7.1.
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That may be true but you won't get an answer here. Post the question in that thread. But the dev may well have move on to a later device. The 280 dates back to 2016.

lewmur said:
That may be true but you won't get an answer here. Post the question in that thread. But the dev may well have move on to a later device. The 280 dates back to 2016.
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Yep, confirmed my theory. I compared the original LineageOS 14.1 boot partition (from my backup) with the one the SuperSU installer creates that won't boot at all using a Hex-Editor. The one SuperSU installer created is missing an additional 0x200 bytes header that the original one had. I simply copied the first 0x200 bytes from the original into the one SuperSU installer created, removed the last 0x200 bytes of the image so the size fits, and flashed it.
And it works.
So I guess the SuperSU installer works with every Android Version on the SM-T280, but you have to add the additional 0x200 bytes from the original partition. (Probably also something one could simply patch in the SuperSU installer)
I've attached the image that works with LineageOS 14.1 on the SM-T280 and SuperSU installer 2.78.
Procedure is the same as:
1) Install SuperSU 2.78.zip in TWRP
2) Flash attached image (extracted from zip) to "boot" using TWRP
EDIT:
removed the attached image. See https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...sm-t280-sm-t285.3475381/page-13#post-87442015

RFZ said:
Yep, confirmed my theory. I compared the original LineageOS 14.1 boot partition (from my backup) with the one the SuperSU installer creates that won't boot at all using a Hex-Editor. The one SuperSU installer created is missing an additional 0x200 bytes header that the original one had. I simply copied the first 0x200 bytes from the original into the one SuperSU installer created, removed the last 0x200 bytes of the image so the size fits, and flashed it.
And it works.
So I guess the SuperSU installer works with every Android Version on the SM-T280, but you have to add the additional 0x200 bytes from the original partition. (Probably also something one could simply patch in the SuperSU installer)
I've attached the image that works with LineageOS 14.1 on the SM-T280 and SuperSU installer 2.78.
Procedure is the same as:
1) Install SuperSU 2.78.zip in TWRP
2) Flash attached image (extracted from zip) to "boot" using TWRP
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Glad you got it working. Did you post this info in the other thread? That is probably where someone else would look for the info.

lewmur said:
Glad you got it working. Did you post this info in the other thread? That is probably where someone else would look for the info.
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Not yet. I will try to fix the SuperSU installer and also try it with SuperSU 2.82. Supplying a boot.img is really not the best idea and a fixed installer would be a far better solution.
It's just an additional offset of 0x200 when writing the modified image. Can't be hard to fix. I'll look into it tomorrow.
Edit: Posted a patched SuperSU installer here:
[RECOVERY][ROOT][TWRP 3.2.1-1][Magisk v14] Samsung Galaxy Tab A6 SM-T280/SM-T285
TWRP custom recovery for the Tab A SM-T280/T285. Latest build is 3.2.1-1 Disclaimer: you flash these at your own risk. Knox counter will be tripped. Having the stock firmware to hand is also advised. NOTE: BEFORE MAKING MODIFICATIONS, ON SOME...
forum.xda-developers.com
Didn't work for 2.82 though, just for 2.78
Edit: Got it working for 2.82 too, see link above.