Database Develop

Real Rom Install Issue Re. Trickdroid

I was talking about this problem over in the trickdroid thread, simply because it was trickdroid I was flashing but in fairness to that thread I don't want to clutter it with an endless amount of questions, repeating myself over and over, when people are simply there to review the rom/tweaks. I will give my issues in the correct order as best as I can remember, bottom line is I'm caught in a TWRP bootloop.
1) Picked up phone and unlocked bootloader and rooted via all-in-one toolkit. Confirmed root by downloading Titanium, so at this point I am stock rooted with zero issues.
2) Having installed latest TWRP at time of root I immiedietly backed up the stock rom, which I then copied to computer, so I do have this backed up and it's also visible (though unflashable) in TWRP under internal storage.
3) Flashed Trickdroid, which hung on 'install,' and I've since found out there is an issue with aroma installer. Tried 100 times (no exageration)since then to flash that rom and it gets to 30% installed and then reboots into TWRP. TWRP won't then let me do anything of substance. TWRP is also telling me I am now unrooted when I attempt to reboot into recovery from within twrp.The exact order is, flash rom - gets to 30% - reboots into a white screen (not recovery) that says HTC One, quietly brilliant, and then within 10 seconds it automatically reboots into TWRP.
4) On recomendation from rom developer, attempted to flash CWM via fastboot and it flashed fine, fastboot states the flash is sucessful but then when I reboot into recovery it's still TWRP. So CWM appears to have flashed but hasn't for some reason.
And that's where I am. Tried to flash CWM, tried to push rom to sd card, no luck.
Any ideas?

Try to flash without aroma... Replace the meta inf folder with the one linked in the op so it doesn't utilize aroma
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

thesparky007 said:
Try to flash without aroma... Replace the meta inf folder with the one linked in the op so it doesn't utilize aroma
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried to do that yesterday and it wouldn't push. Trying again right now so I can give an exact error message.

What do u mean it wouldn't push?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

OK, I've followed the instructions and now have a zip ready to be pushed/flashed.
My question is, would you reccomend flashing it directly to device in fastboot or push to sd card and flash from there?

thesparky007 said:
What do u mean it wouldn't push?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kept getting errors whenever I tried to flash or push to sd card

When u extract the meta inf folder what all do u see in the root of that folder
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

losangeles100 said:
I was talking about this problem over in the trickdroid thread, simply because it was trickdroid I was flashing but in fairness to that thread I don't want to clutter it with an endless amount of questions, repeating myself over and over, when people are simply there to review the rom/tweaks. I will give my issues in the correct order as best as I can remember, bottom line is I'm caught in a TWRP bootloop.
1) Picked up phone and unlocked bootloader and rooted via all-in-one toolkit. Confirmed root by downloading Titanium, so at this point I am stock rooted with zero issues.
2) Having installed latest TWRP at time of root I immiedietly backed up the stock rom, which I then copied to computer, so I do have this backed up and it's also visible (though unflashable) in TWRP under internal storage.
3) Flashed Trickdroid, which hung on 'install,' and I've since found out there is an issue with aroma installer. Tried 100 times (no exageration)since then to flash that rom and it gets to 30% installed and then reboots into TWRP. TWRP won't then let me do anything of substance. TWRP is also telling me I am now unrooted when I attempt to reboot into recovery from within twrp.The exact order is, flash rom - gets to 30% - reboots into a white screen (not recovery) that says HTC One, quietly brilliant, and then within 10 seconds it automatically reboots into TWRP.
4) On recomendation from rom developer, attempted to flash CWM via fastboot and it flashed fine, fastboot states the flash is sucessful but then when I reboot into recovery it's still TWRP. So CWM appears to have flashed but hasn't for some reason.
And that's where I am. Tried to flash CWM, tried to push rom to sd card, no luck.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay LA. One quick and very basic question? You said you rooted the phone and you know because you downloaded and installed Titanium. Titanium does NOT need root for simple backups so that is no way to make sure you have root. To verify root, when you boot into bootloader/recovery, make sure it says "unlocked" and "tampered" at the top. I know it is basic but nothing will work without it. If it shows that, we can work from there. You should be able to just copy the file over to your SD card on the phone if your computer sees it.

frodoboy said:
Okay LA. One quick and very basic question? You said you rooted the phone and you know because you downloaded and installed Titanium. Titanium does NOT need root for simple backups so that is no way to make sure you have root. To verify root, when you boot into bootloader/recovery, make sure it says "unlocked" and "tampered" at the top. I know it is basic but nothing will work without it. If it shows that, we can work from there. You should be able to just copy the file over to your SD card on the phone if your computer sees it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good points, and yes, i'm unlocked and tampered. What I actually meant was TB stated 'rooted.'

thesparky007 said:
When u extract the meta inf folder what all do u see in the root of that folder
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The new meta.inf now contains: com folder, CERT.RSA, CERT.SF, MANIFEST.MF

losangeles100 said:
The new meta.inf now contains: com folder, CERT.RSA, CERT.SF, MANIFEST.MF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure it zips up properly and try again. If that doesn't flash try flashing the original zip
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Hey, Mike
We can take this here from PMs
Not sure on the zip you are trying to do, but would still try to get off twrp 2.5.0.0.
and fastboot the 2.3.3.0 twrp image i sent you. then try flashing rom after all wipes in recovery, not aroma. and make sure you fastboot the boot image from command window right after you flash rom. then erase cache then reboot to bootloader then reboot system. usually after first boot I reboot again wipe caches then reboot system--

losangeles100 said:
Good points, and yes, i'm unlocked and tampered. What I actually meant was TB stated 'rooted.'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it that letting the battery drain didn't help? Does ADB find the phone now? by the way, without S-OFF, it is almost impossible to brick your phone so we'll get there eventually!

Rug, firstly, thanks for going above and beyond, you're a credit to XDA and I for one really appreciate your help.
Now the weirdness: flashed the TWRP image you gave me and erased cache and rebooted into recovery and it's the original twrp. It definetly flashed correctly, said 'flashed' 'ok' so that is really weird. It simply isn't sticking. And just to clarify, fastboot sees the phone and everything went as it always has, except the end result.

frodoboy said:
I take it that letting the battery drain didn't help? Does ADB find the phone now? by the way, without S-OFF, it is almost impossible to brick your phone so we'll get there eventually!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Letting the battery drain is easier said than done on this bad boy
I'm down to 45% and not charging at all so as soon as I get to zero I will let you know. I'm actually starting to pin too much god damned hope on that! lol

Ok when you flashed CWM in the bootloader you complained that it still booted into TWRP, did you try flashing it again and then erasing cache while still in fastboot then booting into the recovery?

losangeles100 said:
Letting the battery drain is easier said than done on this bad boy
I'm down to 45% and not charging at all so as soon as I get to zero I will let you know. I'm actually starting to pin too much god damned hope on that! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
boy this is a stumper! Can you reflash the original stock ROM and relock the bootloader and see if you go back to at least a working phone? Then you can unlock the bootloader again choosing CWM this time and then try to reflash TrickDroid? Also, do you have Superuser installed? I think you said you did. Just see if you can start over to at least recover your phone. Something went wrong with the initial steps to cause it to freeze up like that.

When flashng zip without aroma I get this error in cmd:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

bobruels44 said:
Ok when you flashed CWM in the bootloader you complained that it still booted into TWRP, did you try flashing it again and then erasing cache while still in fastboot then booting into the recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe I did but you make a valid point.

frodoboy said:
boy this is a stumper! Can you reflash the original stock ROM and relock the bootloader and see if you go back to at least a working phone? Then you can unlock the bootloader again choosing CWM this time and then try to reflash TrickDroid? Also, do you have Superuser installed? I think you said you did. Just see if you can start over to at least recover your phone. Something went wrong with the initial steps to cause it to freeze up like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Superuser was installed but when I reboot into recovery I get a message from twrp saying 'you're not rooted, would you like to flash SU now.' When I swipe to flash it does nothing, although SU is on internal storage.
Just to add, the backup I made is visible in the TWRP folder in storage but cannot be accessed, and when I hit the restore button nothing is listed.
Regarding reflashing stock original, I'd pay 100 bucks to anyone in this thread who could get me back to stock.

Soft bricked Nexus 6? - "Your device is corrupt. It can't be trusted and may not work

Soft bricked Nexus 6? - "Your device is corrupt. It can't be trusted and may not work
I unlocked the bootloader using the Nexus Toolkit (wugfresh) succesfully. However, while installing TWRP Recovery my device now appears soft bricked and I am unable to boot up nor get into Recovery mode.
This is the message I get:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
It comes on briefly for a second or two, and then the phone shuts down. I attempted the suggestions listed here (
Dismiss the warning
The warning message should go away on its own after about 10 seconds and your device will continue starting up.
If you still see the warning message, you can choose to continue starting up your device by pressing the power button once.)
but they do not work. The phone will not continue to boot into System.
Help?
EDIT: I can get into Recovery Mode now. However, it wont go into TWRP (it did before), it now just has the Android on it's back with the red exclamation triangle reading "No command".

reflash twrp
flash a custom rom

Unlocking the bootloader shouldn't cause that message to show up. What were you expecting the toolkit to do? And do you know what it successfully did?

It happens whenever I try to root the device. I am able to get into the bootloader, and then reflashing to stock resolves the issue. But every time I try to root the device, it refuses to continue to boot into system after flashing the message. In summary, it successfully unlocked the bootloader but wont root/ flash TWRP.

Consult the guy who made the toolkit that ****ed up your phone. You clicked his button, rather then run a short list of well known commands we could help you with, so we have no idea what you did right or wrong... Maybe you didn't click hard enough.
Alternatively, read one of the many many many guides here, and use the single command needed, and if there are any errors copy and paste the console output (using code tags) here and we can sort you out in a minute or two.

Caebron said:
It happens whenever I try to root the device. I am able to get into the bootloader, and then reflashing to stock resolves the issue. But every time I try to root the device, it refuses to continue to boot into system after flashing the message. In summary, it successfully unlocked the bootloader but wont root/ flash TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What root are you using? That is probably the issue. If you use the older style root you need a modified boot image. I suggest the new systemless root.
So to fix this lets do this:
1 Use the toolkit to flash stock and unroot.
2 Flash TWRP
3 Copy the systemless root 2.65 to the !readytoflash folder. Delete the three files that are in there. The are from the old root way.
4 Reboot into TWRP and use it to flash the new root.
When you exit TWRP it will offer to root your phone. Say no. And stop after each step and make sure the phone is ok. So we can tell what went wrong if there are issues.

Thanks, I will give that a shot. FWIW, wugfresh Nexus Toolkit is an established tool and worked like a charm on my Nexus 5. But I also understand that things might be different for the 6 and the toolkit may not be the best option anymore. My fault for that assumption.
I will try TonikJDK's suggestion and report back.

Hi,
Had the same thing...
Really DONT know what the hack with with these wonderful people who developet these tools that do not mention ANYTHING regarding the issu in the main page of their tools here.
I think that you should follow the instructions:
1) Download shamu-mra58k => extract => take bootloader + radio + boot + cache + recovery + system + userdata => compy to platform-tools folder (under SDK).
2) Open CMD (open command prompt...) from platform-tools folder.
3) Type: fastboot devices (to know that pc recognized your N6) & than type the commands as shown at the attached screenshot.

That looks like a Wugfresh NRT log...
But why not go the whole way and use the latest 6.0.1 MMB29K?
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images?hl=en#shamu

Caebron said:
Thanks, I will give that a shot. FWIW, wugfresh Nexus Toolkit is an established tool and worked like a charm on my Nexus 5. But I also understand that things might be different for the 6 and the toolkit may not be the best option anymore. My fault for that assumption.
I will try TonikJDK's suggestion and report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your not along in getting that message after using the Wugfresh Nexus Root Toolkit as I got the same message on my brand new Nexus 6. The toolkit installed TWRP fine, but somewhere in the three files it asked me to install in TWRP (beta superSU, busybox, and another file), there was a problem. I ended up clicking flash stock + unroot and I did this twice and it worked the second time. Then I locked the bootloader and did a factory reset. So far so good. I will root the device again, but by another method.
However do note that I have used that Toolkit for a Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 & very recently with a Nexus Player and its worked great every other time. I think it has something to do with Marshmallow, but I'm not sure.

thinkingbrian said:
Your not along in getting that message after using the Wugfresh Nexus Root Toolkit as I got the same message on my brand new Nexus 6. The toolkit installed TWRP fine, but somewhere in the three files it asked me to install in TWRP (beta superSU, busybox, and another file), there was a problem. I ended up clicking flash stock + unroot and I did this twice and it worked the second time. Then I locked the bootloader and did a factory reset. So far so good. I will root the device again, but by another method.
However do note that I have used that Toolkit for a Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 & very recently with a Nexus Player and its worked great every other time. I think it has something to do with Marshmallow, but I'm not sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best and easiest method to root Marshmellow imo is to flash TWRP and CF`s latest systemless root zip 2.65.

dahawthorne said:
That looks like a Wugfresh NRT log...
But why not go the whole way and use the latest 6.0.1 MMB29K?
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images?hl=en#shamu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not the NRT log (just flahsed manually by fastboot without any script).
I think with up to 6.0.1 MMB29K(not included) there is no issues.

Just kidding...
I've been running MMB29K for a couple of weeks with no problems. I was just suggesting that if the OP was going to go to the effort of flashing then he/she may as wll use the most recent version. Or even hold off for a few days for the possible new one in January. Hey, that's today...

Caebron said:
Thanks, I will give that a shot. FWIW, wugfresh Nexus Toolkit is an established tool and
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... it bricks your phone. Unless you know exactly what you're doing. But then you don't really need it anymore.
People, Marshmallow is already past the toolkits. It has an update once a month, and the toolkits don't have time to be updated fast enough. You'll be bricking your phones constantly if you don't learn your stuff.

Caebron said:
I unlocked the bootloader using the Nexus Toolkit (wugfresh) succesfully. However, while installing TWRP Recovery my device now appears soft bricked and I am unable to boot up nor get into Recovery mode.
This is the message I get:
It comes on briefly for a second or two, and then the phone shuts down. I attempted the suggestions listed here (
Dismiss the warning
The warning message should go away on its own after about 10 seconds and your device will continue starting up.
If you still see the warning message, you can choose to continue starting up your device by pressing the power button once.)
but they do not work. The phone will not continue to boot into System.
Help?
EDIT: I can get into Recovery Mode now. However, it wont go into TWRP (it did before), it now just has the Android on it's back with the red exclamation triangle reading "No command".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This error is the consequence of a " feature " of marshmallow that checks if your system is modified and issues this error message.
Here is how you "unbrick" your phone after running into a problem like this:
1- Download and flash a stock rom. Make sure all partitions are flashed (i.e. bootloader, radio, kernel (aka boot), recovery, cache, userdata, and system). If you don't know how to do it Google it.
2- Boot into the stock recovery and wipe data, cache, and factory reset.
Now that your system is restored, here is how you root it:
1- copy superSU 2.65 on your internal SD card.
2- reboot into bootloader
3- flash twrp
4- very important: do not boot from the bootloader back into Android, rather boot into recovery.
5- when you are booted into twrp recovery, flash superSU zip. It will both root your phone and patch the kernel so that it doesn't give you that curroptrd phone error.
One last thing, not to rub it in for the gentlemen who posted the question but for other who are considering the easy way of using a toolkit, and please don't get offended by this. No one is against convenience but if you are unable or unwilling to learn few simple commands to unlock and unroot your phone you probably are not the type of user who needs to root the phone and chances are that after using a toolkit something will go wrong and you will have to learn the steps the hard way after the effect. Toolkits are good intentioned tools that should be avoided at all cost.

najoor said:
This error is the consequence of a " feature " of marshmallow that checks if your system is modified and issues this error message.
Here is how you "unbrick" your phone after running into a problem like this:
1- Download and flash a stock rom. Make sure all partitions are flashed (i.e. bootloader, radio, kernel (aka boot), recovery, cache, userdata, and system). If you don't know how to do it Google it.
2- Boot into the stock recovery and wipe data, cache, and factory reset.
Now that your system is restored, here is how you root it:
1- copy superSU 2.65 on your internal SD card.
2- reboot into bootloader
3- flash twrp
4- very important: do not boot from the bootloader back into Android, rather boot into recovery.
5- when you are booted into twrp recovery, flash superSU zip. It will both root your phone and patch the kernel so that it doesn't give you that curroptrd phone error.
One last thing, not to rub it in for the gentlemen who posted the question but for other who are considering the easy way of using a toolkit, and please don't get offended by this. No one is against convenience but if you are unable or unwilling to learn few simple commands to unlock and unroot your phone you probably are not the type of user who needs to root the phone and chances are that after using a toolkit something will go wrong and you will have to learn the steps the hard way after the effect. Toolkits are good intentioned tools that should be avoided at all cost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense taken I've rooted quite a few phones although I'm far from being an "expert". The toolkit was really just for convenience, and I went back to using it because it worked like a charm for the Nexus 5. It really was the go-to handy tool. To be sure: As I've stated above, I was able to recover the phone on my own. Still not rooted though, but I'm getting there. Sure, M is good enough on it's own, but frankly I can't wait to get back on a Cataclysm ROM.

najoor said:
Here is how you "unbrick" your phone after running into a problem like this:
1- Download and flash a stock rom. Make sure all partitions are flashed (i.e. bootloader, radio, kernel (aka boot), recovery, cache, userdata, and system). If you don't know how to do it Google it.
2- Boot into the stock recovery and wipe data, cache, and factory reset.
Now that your system is restored, here is how you root it:
1- copy superSU 2.65 on your internal SD card.
2- reboot into bootloader
3- flash twrp
4- very important: do not boot from the bootloader back into Android, rather boot into recovery.
5- when you are booted into twrp recovery, flash superSU zip. It will both root your phone and patch the kernel so that it doesn't give you that curroptrd phone error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just LOVE how you explain it!
Wish more users will explain these kinds of things in such an "user friendly" way

I used the Chain Fire method and ended up in the same place. I can still access TWRP and fastboot, I am in the process of downloading the stock image.

fyrmd said:
I used the Chain Fire method and ended up in the same place. I can still access TWRP and fastboot, I am in the process of downloading the stock image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to flash back to stock first. Marshmallow is checking for system mods, so if you don't undo the previous changes it will trigger again. Flash stock, twrp then 2.65 chainfire.

Caebron said:
No offense taken I've rooted quite a few phones although I'm far from being an "expert". The toolkit was really just for convenience, and I went back to using it because it worked like a charm for the Nexus 5. It really was the go-to handy tool. To be sure: As I've stated above, I was able to recover the phone on my own. Still not rooted though, but I'm getting there. Sure, M is good enough on it's own, but frankly I can't wait to get back on a Cataclysm ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... You don't need to root to install a rom.
In fact, while installing the rom you will likely wipe your /system partition and any other partition you mess with to root....
What is it you think rooting actually does? Why are you doing it? What part do you think it will actually play in you installing a rom? Don't just do random ****. Learn what things do, so you can do what you want. This is why people hate toolkits. They promote this kinda of mentality where you just do stuff you don't understand in the slightest.

Need x522 stock .019s rom. Lost IMEI, baseband, etc.

So, after rooting my device, I used rom toolbox to delete some of the bloat ware. Well, in doing so, I lost the ability to customize my lock screen wallpaper by deleting the gallery app. This annoyed me, so I decided to just start over. I flashed the x526 stock firmware. I thought it was essentially the exact same rom. Well, it apparently killed my imei, baseband is unknown, don't know status of NVRAM. From what I understand, flashing back to x522 stock rom should rectify issue. I've exhausted all other avenues. I tried to force the IMEI using mobileuncle, tried mtktools, tried dialing the #*#* command (phone did nothing). I don't know what else to do.

X522 is a snapdragon 652 device. you wont be able to use mobile uncle or mtk tools as they are for mediatek CPUs. you are screwed for the time being until someone is able to extract a backup of the stock image. i have a completely unmodified LeEco S3 sitting right here, where i may be able to do a TWRP backup, but honestly i don't know how

TWRP > backup > select all the partitions > swipe. Should put a backup file on your device. Upload to like google drive or something. Would that not work?

Joneildu said:
TWRP > backup > select all the partitions > swipe. Should put a backup file on your device. Upload to like google drive or something. Would that not work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
interestingly, the S3 has an unlocked bootloader similar to the US LePro3 in that the bootloader will unlock temporarily until the next reboot. i was able to unlock the bootloader, boot into twrp, wipe my data, then backup system/boot. its a 1.9GB file that's uploading at the moment. it'll take a while due to my slow connection

You are a hero my friend. Bought the phone for my daughter to keep in touch with me using hangouts/google voice number for wifi calls and texts while she is at her mother's. (She's 9). Didn't really care to brick it. Hopefully it works. :good:

Joneildu said:
You are a hero my friend. Bought the phone for my daughter to keep in touch with me using hangouts/google voice number for wifi calls and texts while she is at her mother's. (She's 9). Didn't really care to brick it. Hopefully it works. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no worries. i was going to get around to this sooner or later. the following backup is from TWRP with a completely stock, unrooted system/boot backup. unfortunately, i didn't realize until after i was uploading that i forgot to run the OTA first, so the backup is from 18S. unfortunately, TWRP wouldn't allow me to backup the recovery, the only options were - system/boot/cache/data/firmware??
here's the mega link. a mirror would be nice - LeEco_X522_TWRP_BootSystem_18S
https://mega.nz/#!voQTWJrA!lZaTKQyoBKuiYfYizpWkh-fOBTlldUUCDtiiVYHzwes
also, imo, you should learn fastboot and NOT use that toolkit that's floating around.
---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 PM ----------
for some reason the 19S OTA fails now, no idea what i did wrong considering i did a "fastboot boot twrp.img" and did no flashing of anything. gah

I have some experience flashing the contents using fastboot, as my last two phones were a nexus 5 and 5X. I do appreciate your time and effort! The OTA failing is really weird. I cannot recall if I installed TWRP before or after I did the OTA update initially.

Joneildu said:
I have some experience flashing the contents using fastboot, as my last two phones were a nexus 5 and 5X. I do appreciate your time and effort! The OTA failing is really weird. I cannot recall if I installed TWRP before or after I did the OTA update initially.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the whole ROM from TWRP and select do not disable stock recovery replace (do note swipe). The OTA zip will be around 1.5-2GB

I've gotten the option to not disable stock recovery when flashing via zip. I did not get that option when loading the recovery from the recovery menu. Nonetheless, I ran the recovery through twrp, IMEI still empty, baseband still unknown . I've got no clue now.

Joneildu said:
I've gotten the option to not disable stock recovery when flashing via zip. I did not get that option when loading the recovery from the recovery menu. Nonetheless, I ran the recovery through twrp, IMEI still empty, baseband still unknown . I've got no clue now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you do a restore? you would have to copy the contents of the zip file i posted to your \sdcard\TWRP\BACKUPS\[deviceid]\
the device ID folder you can get by doing a simple backup of something, then put the system/boot backup that i uploaded also in that folder. in any case, i think we're screwed anyway unless someone does a full system image backup with TWRP mounted as "read only"

Yep. That's exactly what I did. Did a generic TWRP backup of what I have. Then added the folder you uploaded to the device folder in the twrp backups folder. Everything loaded into the phone fine, just the IMEI and baseband are still toast.

Joneildu said:
Yep. That's exactly what I did. Did a generic TWRP backup of what I have. Then added the folder you uploaded to the device folder in the twrp backups folder. Everything loaded into the phone fine, just the IMEI and baseband are still toast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're probably SOL until a full US ROM is posted. i can try to do a full TWRP "system image" for ya, but there's no guarantees. the backup i posted earlier was just the system and boot partitions. not sure what else the full system image contains though

I'm in a similar situation. I'm just trying to get back to 100% stock so that I can take the OTA. I was hoping this backup would do that for me. I can't seem to get it to prompt me to disable stock recovery replacement. I want it to put stock recovery back so that I can attempt the OTA. I'm restoring it from twrp, not flashing it. Attempting to flash it is throwing an error at me.

Hitokiri-Snake said:
I'm in a similar situation. I'm just trying to get back to 100% stock so that I can take the OTA. I was hoping this backup would do that for me. I can't seem to get it to prompt me to disable stock recovery replacement. I want it to put stock recovery back so that I can attempt the OTA. I'm restoring it from twrp, not flashing it. Attempting to flash it is throwing an error at me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when you restored from my twrp backup, did you get the stock recovery back? double check by turning off the phone, then holding both power button and volume up until the screen turns back on. i'm going to try to dump the recovery partition tonight within twrp, but i'm seriously a noob at this. you won't be able to install the OTA until we also get someone with a 100% stock USA S3 to do a full system image backup while mounting twrp as read-only. i should be able to get another S3 to do this within the next week or two. unfortunately you'll have to wait until then

Is there an EFS partition that was able to be backed up? That's the partition that contains the radio information with modem_st1 and modem_st2

Joneildu said:
Is there an EFS partition that was able to be backed up? That's the partition that contains the radio information with modem_st1 and modem_st2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately no, the only selectable partitions to backup using the X520 TWRP were: boot/data/cache/system/firmware. the partitions could be different from the X520, so hopefully i have some time tonight to dump the partitions. i found this guide, and it seems to work on my oneplus3 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2450045

I have a full TWRP backup of the x522, its actually 7.6 GB
, when i was copying it over to the phone or a small usb drive, it went to 3.? gb, it seems one file is 4gb......
anyways, even at 3.?gb it restored, and booted up, but i was never able to take the OTA to 19s
i put the full 7.6gb TWRP on a 128 mb sdcard and restored, but when i pressed reboot, that was last thing it did...lol
I did a return as a faulty unit,and have a new one coming saturday....
my point is, if any use i could upload it somewhere, i also captured the 19s update file if that helps anyone..
will upload if someone wants

ExTREmE99 said:
when you restored from my twrp backup, did you get the stock recovery back? double check by turning off the phone, then holding both power button and volume up until the screen turns back on. i'm going to try to dump the recovery partition tonight within twrp, but i'm seriously a noob at this. you won't be able to install the OTA until we also get someone with a 100% stock USA S3 to do a full system image backup while mounting twrp as read-only. i should be able to get another S3 to do this within the next week or two. unfortunately you'll have to wait until then
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I restore you're twrp backup, it's not giving me stock recovery back for some reason, and it's not asking about the stock recovery override thing either. I made a backup of my own before I rooted originally, (system and boot, but not system image) when I restore that it restores stock recovery. It's strange, using my backup, I can get the device unrooted and with stock recovery, but the OTA still fails

britdude said:
I have a full TWRP backup of the x522, its actually 7.6 GB
, when i was copying it over to the phone or a small usb drive, it went to 3.? gb, it seems one file is 4gb......
anyways, even at 3.?gb it restored, and booted up, but i was never able to take the OTA to 19s
i put the full 7.6gb TWRP on a 128 mb sdcard and restored, but when i pressed reboot, that was last thing it did...lol
I did a return as a faulty unit,and have a new one coming saturday....
my point is, if any use i could upload it somewhere, i also captured the 19s update file if that helps anyone..
will upload if someone wants
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the only way a full backup will keep the OTA going is if you booted TWRP in read only mode and did a full backup that way. i think a lot of us messed up and swiped away the lock screen that TWRP shows after you change the language from chinese to english.
Hitokiri-Snake said:
When I restore you're twrp backup, it's not giving me stock recovery back for some reason, and it's not asking about the stock recovery override thing either. I made a backup of my own before I rooted originally, (system and boot, but not system image) when I restore that it restores stock recovery. It's strange, using my backup, I can get the device unrooted and with stock recovery, but the OTA still fails
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea, i was looking through the OTA script and it basically does a checksum of the /system partition and if it doesnt match the one in the script, it fails right there. you can see it working by flashing the OTA's update.zip in TWRP. i dug a little further and opened up the OTA zip file and looked into the script and that's when i started googling and found out about the TWRP read-only vs read/write screen
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

ExTREmE99 said:
the only way a full backup will keep the OTA going is if you booted TWRP in read only mode and did a full backup that way. i think a lot of us messed up and swiped away the lock screen that TWRP shows after you change the language from chinese to english.
yea, i was looking through the OTA script and it basically does a checksum of the /system partition and if it doesnt match the one in the script, it fails right there. you can see it working by flashing the OTA's update.zip in TWRP. i dug a little further and opened up the OTA zip file and looked into the script and that's when i started googling and found out about the TWRP read-only vs read/write screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont usually use TWRP in read only mode, but like ya say, with TWRP being in chinese till ya figure out the language part anything is possible
so to do the full back up you have to be in read only mode and that will allow restore and ota to take?

[RECOVERY][swift] Unofficial TWRP 3.1.1-0 touch recovery [2017-10-24]

DEPRECATED because I don't have the watch anymore. Might still work, might also not. Feel free to just try and iterate on my work.
TWRP touch recovery
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
This is TWRP touch recovery for the Asus Zenwatch 3.
Usual disclaimer:
Code:
[I] I take no responsibility for any issues to your watch, your house, your job, your kitten, blah blah.[/I]
DON'T ALLOW TWRP TO MODIFY /SYSTEM IF YOU DIDN'T DISABLE DM-CRYPT! Recovery will then get overwritten on every boot though.
INSTRUCTIONS
It's recommended to boot it via "fastboot boot twrp_swift_*.img".
To flash, use the default "fastboot flash recovery twrp_swift_*.img". To boot into recovery, use adb or hold center and bottom button when off. Everything is tested to work fine.
If you want to return to stock recovery, flash recovery image from here.[/SIZE]
DOWNLOAD
3.1.1-0: View attachment twrp_swift_3.1.1-0.img
3.1.0-0: View attachment recovery_swift-3.1.0-0.img
3.0.2-0: View attachment recovery.img
SOURCES
Device/board config
Recommended platform manifest
Thanks a lot to @joeykrim and @T10NAZ, I used their Zenwatch 2 thread as a guide to compile the kernel and recovery.

This is interesting to see, I don't own a ZenWatch 3, but I'm curious how this would work. Would it be possible to flash custom ROMs on a watch? Maybe even port over Android 2.0 for the ZenWatch 3? Just curious how this would work on a watch.

To see something like this on a watch I must say you guys and everyone involved are truly awesome

Thank you!
I flashed a SuperSU zip file and the flash process worked well. Still root is not working because the SuperSU app crashes everytime something needs root rights...

g4rb4g3 said:
Thank you!
I flashed a SuperSU zip file and the flash process worked well. Still root is not working because the SuperSU app crashes everytime something needs root rights...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which SuperSU.zip did you flash? Remember not every SuperSU.zip are compatible with Android wear. I am a bit out of time ..will try to play with root in my kernel.

janjan said:
Which SuperSU.zip did you flash? Remember not every SuperSU.zip are compatible with Android wear. I am a bit out of time ..will try to play with root in my kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nevermind, I got it working now using this tutorial: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ap...t-squashfs-t3319097/post65428079#post65428079

g4rb4g3 said:
Nevermind, I got it working now using this tutorial: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ap...t-squashfs-t3319097/post65428079#post65428079
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you flash the recovery or also only boot it?

Maxr1998 said:
Did you flash the recovery or also only boot it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the late response, I didn`t flash it I just booted it. But I`ve sent the watch back and got a Gear S3 instead now.

g4rb4g3 said:
Sorry for the late response, I didn`t flash it I just booted it. But I`ve sent the watch back and got a Gear S3 instead now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No prob, I already tested myself and flashing worked fine.

Thanks, can't wait to see other development stuff to follow too. Anybody tried to root through the recovery ?

I just updated the recovery to TWRP 3.1.0, grab the image from OP.

Latest TWRP installed and working fine. Thank you!

wokrs well!
Thank you
Now running :
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenwatch-3/development/rom-asus-zenwatch-3-swift-t3537340

I added TWRP 3.1.1-0 to the OP, built on latest Nougat kernel from git and with latest TWRP sources in 7.1 tree. Enjoy!

is there an repair option for the partitions like there is in a stock TWRP? I do not see it. I am having some issues with my watch, one of which is that I am unable to mount /data, which is normally fixed with the repair option under the advanced wipe menu, but I do not see that option here. Please help.
Here is a link to the full issues I am experiencing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/zenwatch/comments/7de8ax/help_unbricking_zenwatch_3/

re: flashing roms in twrp
Coltonbyu said:
is there an repair option for the partitions like there is in a stock TWRP? I do not see it. I am having some issues with my watch, one of which is that I am unable to mount /data, which is normally fixed with the repair option under the advanced wipe menu, but I do not see that option here. Please help.
Here is a link to the full issues I am experiencing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/zenwatch/comments/7de8ax/help_unbricking_zenwatch_3/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried to "FORMAT DATA" in TWRP?
If not then go to the WIPE option in twrp and
select "format data" then you will be ready
to flash a zip file rom or IMG files.
Most likely your DATA partition is "encrypted"
which means the watch cannot successfully
complete a rom installation because it cannot
write to the data partition.
Wiping DATA is fine if your DATA partition is
not encrypted.
Good luck, have a great day!

Misterjunky said:
Have you tried to "FORMAT DATA" in TWRP?
If not then go to the WIPE option in twrp and
select "format data" then you will be ready
to flash a zip file rom or IMG files.
Most likely your DATA partition is "encrypted"
which means the watch cannot successfully
complete a rom installation because it cannot
write to the data partition.
Wiping DATA is fine if your DATA partition is
not encrypted.
Good luck, have a great day!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not see a "format data" option under wipe in TWRP on my zenwatch when i go to wipe i have either factory reset, or advanced wipe.
If i go to advanced wipe, and then select data, and slide to wipe, it says "unable to mount storage " "updating partition details..." "Failed to mount '/data' (invalid argument)" "...done" "unable to mount storage"

I have a problem with my ZW3: I unlockt the bootloader and booted into TWRP 3.1.1.0 (via fastboot, did not install it).
I wanted to transfer a ROM on my watch, but did not find a way to do it. So I rebooted the system.
But now everytime I want to boot into (stock) recovery (on the watch) I get the android droid with a exclamation mark. Is there a recovery image I can flash to solve this?
How do I transfer files on my watch? I don't see the device on my pc in the list (adb and fastboot work fine).
EDIT: Found a file here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ze...stock-zenwatch-3-partition-dump-boot-t3535589
Do I have to flash all three files (system, boot and recovery) in order to get recovery back?
EDIT 2: When I boot the recovery from the file above via fastboot I also get the droid with the exclamation mark.

re: stock firmware
Der-Knuffi said:
I have a problem with my ZW3: I unlockt the bootloader and booted into TWRP 3.1.1.0 (via fastboot, did not install it).
I wanted to transfer a ROM on my watch, but did not find a way to do it. So I rebooted the system.
But now everytime I want to boot into (stock) recovery (on the watch) I get the android droid with a exclamation mark. Is there a recovery image I can flash to solve this?
How do I transfer files on my watch? I don't see the device on my pc in the list (adb and fastboot work fine).
EDIT: Found a file here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ze...stock-zenwatch-3-partition-dump-boot-t3535589
Do I have to flash all three files (system, boot and recovery) in order to get recovery back?
EDIT 2: When I boot the recovery from the file above via fastboot I also get the droid with the exclamation mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Der-Knuffi
Go into fastboot and flash all 3 of the image files (recovery.img, boot.img and system.img)
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot oem lock
When your done flashing reboot the watch.
The watch will boot into official stock Android Wear 1.5, have patience it takes a long time to boot.
Good luck, have a great day!

Misterjunky said:
@Der-Knuffi
Go into fastboot and flash all 3 of the image files (recovery.img, boot.img and system.img)
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot oem lock
When your done flashing reboot the watch.
The watch will boot into official stock Android Wear 1.5, have patience it takes a long time to boot.
Good luck, have a great day!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will try it. Isn't there a dump from AW2.0?
Gesendet von meinem ONEPLUS A3003 mit Tapatalk

Potentially bricked device...is it fixable?

Hey guys,
I'll be honest...I'm a noob at all of this. I thought I would experiment with putting a custom ROM on an old Android phone I had (the SP), so googled around to find some guides on how to do it and tried to follow them. I successfully got the phone into fastboot (after using the Windows 8 driver workaround on Windows 10), and all seemed good. However, from then the issues (or what looked like them) started:
1. When entering into the bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong, but that's when you hold down the up volume as you connect it to the PC), the blue light would come on, but nothing would show on the screen. The guides I was looking at would suggest that the bootloader would load onto the screen. Was I just not loading into the bootloader?
However, I was still able to interact with the phone through the Cmd.exe, so something right was happening, so I pressed on (probably a mistake!) to attempt to install TWRP, as this was the next step in the guide I was following. This was where I ran into my next problem:
2. When trying to flash the TWRP.img to the recovery partition, I would get an error back saying the recovery partition could not be found. As far as I was concerned, there was also no way to verify whether the recovery partition was there or not, as I couldn't seem to load the bootloader either
Having googled around, I found an article that suggested I'd flash it to the boot partition instead, which I did. From that point, the device would no longer boot at all. It would enter fastboot/bootloader with the blue light, but unplugging the device and holding down the power button did nothing. At this point I decided "screw it" and decided to push on and see if I could install a ROM (I'd settled on LineageOS), so started following the steps, and flashed the Boot.img to the boot partition. The other instruction was to "flash the LineageOS zip from recovery", which I did not know how to do, and presumed was not possible, seeing as I thought I'd somehow broken that partition. At this point, the phone would turn on, the bar would flash green then red, and the Sony splashscreen would show. However, that is that would happen - it would stay frozen at that point. That is the point I'm at now
I appreciate that I've probably royally messed up this phone, and that's okay with me if that's the case - it was a learning experience. However, if this is recoverable, I'd really appreciate some help! I may be new to this, and not know much at all, but I want to try it, so if there is a way to get to a position where I can install TWRP and then flash a ROM to the phone, then please share your knowledge! I'm open to anything
Thanks in advance,
Meeb

MrMeeb said:
Hey guys,
I'll be honest...I'm a noob at all of this. I thought I would experiment with putting a custom ROM on an old Android phone I had (the SP), so googled around to find some guides on how to do it and tried to follow them. I successfully got the phone into fastboot (after using the Windows 8 driver workaround on Windows 10), and all seemed good. However, from then the issues (or what looked like them) started:
1. When entering into the bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong, but that's when you hold down the up volume as you connect it to the PC), the blue light would come on, but nothing would show on the screen. The guides I was looking at would suggest that the bootloader would load onto the screen. Was I just not loading into the bootloader?
However, I was still able to interact with the phone through the Cmd.exe, so something right was happening, so I pressed on (probably a mistake!) to attempt to install TWRP, as this was the next step in the guide I was following. This was where I ran into my next problem:
2. When trying to flash the TWRP.img to the recovery partition, I would get an error back saying the recovery partition could not be found. As far as I was concerned, there was also no way to verify whether the recovery partition was there or not, as I couldn't seem to load the bootloader either
Having googled around, I found an article that suggested I'd flash it to the boot partition instead, which I did. From that point, the device would no longer boot at all. It would enter fastboot/bootloader with the blue light, but unplugging the device and holding down the power button did nothing. At this point I decided "screw it" and decided to push on and see if I could install a ROM (I'd settled on LineageOS), so started following the steps, and flashed the Boot.img to the boot partition. The other instruction was to "flash the LineageOS zip from recovery", which I did not know how to do, and presumed was not possible, seeing as I thought I'd somehow broken that partition. At this point, the phone would turn on, the bar would flash green then red, and the Sony splashscreen would show. However, that is that would happen - it would stay frozen at that point. That is the point I'm at now
I appreciate that I've probably royally messed up this phone, and that's okay with me if that's the case - it was a learning experience. However, if this is recoverable, I'd really appreciate some help! I may be new to this, and not know much at all, but I want to try it, so if there is a way to get to a position where I can install TWRP and then flash a ROM to the phone, then please share your knowledge! I'm open to anything
Thanks in advance,
Meeb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all don't worry, Sony's phone doesn't brick that easy ?
All you need to do first is to repair your phone using official Xperia companion (Google how to repair your phone using Xperia companion).. After that you'll need to root your phone and unlock the bootloader to be able to install custom recovery like TWRP and use it to install any custom ROM.
Sent from my Xperia SP using Tapatalk

OsGhaly said:
First of all don't worry, Sony's phone doesn't brick that easy
All you need to do first is to repair your phone using official Xperia companion (Google how to repair your phone using Xperia companion).. After that you'll need to root your phone and unlock the bootloader to be able to install custom recovery like TWRP and use it to install any custom ROM.
Sent from my Xperia SP using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice! I successfully got it to the point of being rooted (using towelroot) and the bootloader unlocked, using flashtool. All seemed good. I then downloaded TWRP Manager, and tried to install TWRP, but it failed, which was an issue I faced before. To confirm my theory, I tried doing it using the CMD fastboot, and, using "fastboot flash recovery twrp.img", and was met with the same error as before - recovery partition not found. How am I supposed to install TWRP to the recovery partition if I don't have a recovery partition?

MrMeeb said:
Thanks for the advice! I successfully got it to the point of being rooted (using towelroot) and the bootloader unlocked, using flashtool. All seemed good. I then downloaded TWRP Manager, and tried to install TWRP, but it failed, which was an issue I faced before. To confirm my theory, I tried doing it using the CMD fastboot, and, using "fastboot flash recovery twrp.img", and was met with the same error as before - recovery partition not found. How am I supposed to install TWRP to the recovery partition if I don't have a recovery partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're more than welcome dear, glad to hear you've successfully did it :good:
Concerning TWRP flash, you can try one of these:
1- Use rasher tool to flash the TWRP img (the easiest way).
2- Adb Sideload:
AdrianDC said:
HOW TO INSTALL MANUALLY TO FOTA :
* Bootimage : Download the TWRP bootimage you want to flash
* File storage : Adapt the path and push the file to the device this way :
Code:
adb root
adb wait-for-device
adb push FullPathToTheRecovery.img /tmp/twrp.img
* Flash : Extract the TWRP image to the FOTA partition
Code:
adb shell dd if=/tmp/twrp.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/FOTAKernel
* Reboot to recovery : adb reboot recovery
​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3- Using terminal emulator app such as $cripter:
Place twrp.img in the root of your /sdcard folder then run the following commands using $cripter app:
Code:
su
dd if=/sdcard/twrp.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/FOTAKernel
P.S. You can download the latest TWRP from here

OsGhaly said:
You're more than welcome dear, glad to hear you've successfully did it :good:
(Rest cut as I'm not allowed to post external links)
[/CODE]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, Rashr does not seem to work - I select it to flash recovery, select my twrp.img, it says flashing then nothing happens. When booting to recovery, nothing shows, and it goes through to a normal boot. When trying to flash TWRP using the official TWRP app, it says it has flashed successfully, but again, no luck when booting into recovery mode. I don't really want to try either of the other two techniques, for fear of breaking things again. I've seen talk elsewhere that this isn't possible on the stock Kernel, which I'm on. Is that correct?

MrMeeb said:
Hmm, Rashr does not seem to work - I select it to flash recovery, select my twrp.img, it says flashing then nothing happens. When booting to recovery, nothing shows, and it goes through to a normal boot. When trying to flash TWRP using the official TWRP app, it says it has flashed successfully, but again, no luck when booting into recovery mode. I don't really want to try either of the other two techniques, for fear of breaking things again. I've seen talk elsewhere that this isn't possible on the stock Kernel, which I'm on. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok then, you can't use custom recovery with the stock kernel ofc. but we don't want that!.. you will install the TWRP recovery then reboot to it and install the new ROM without booting to the stock ROM at all.
1- Download TWRP and the ROM you want to flash for example Lineage OS.
2- Use the second method mentioned in my previous post by Adrian DC to install TWRP then boot into recovery -> wipe all then install LineageOS ROM + GApps.
-----
Another workaround is to install XZDualRecovery to have Philz touch and TWRP recoveries working alongside with the stock kernel and use it to install LineageOS ROM.

Hi bro
neva mind wat happened to u ,do as wat i say
First search n find the proper (stock .tft) file as per your country and version.
Download FLASHTOOL
now paste ur stock.tft file (around 1-2 gb) in flash folder
open flashtool and connect ur sick brick SP-Xepria in fastboot
install ur stock onces it done successfullly u wil get ur phone as stock .
i too bricked now im on andriod 7
no worries bro
---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:24 AM ----------
Hi everybody welcome to my tutorial about Flashing with Flashtool. This thread is for those who want to reflash their device back to Sony Stock. See below for last details about this thread and the last build by Sony.
Note: I DO NOT OWN THIS DEVICE ANYMORE. PICTURES ARE REMOVED FROM MY DROPBOX AND THUS NOT VISEBLE. FOR NOW JUST RELY ON THE EXPLANATION PLEASE. ANY QUESTION CAN BE ASKED HERE. I DO NOT RESPOND TO TECHMAIL!
Created: 23-02-2014
Updated: 05-07-2014
Latest Android build released by Sony: 12.1.A.1.205
Let's begin shall we.. We shall!
First you need to download the correct ftf file for your device/operator or needs. This can be done here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2311964 In there you can share and download firmware files in .ftf format..
You alsol need a program called Flashtool. You can download this here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=920746
For Windows 8 and 8.1 users I also recommend you to read this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2095087 Microsoft has enhanced the security in Windows 8/8.1 and Windows won't install proper signed drivers.
When you are done with that you need to move your downloaded firmware file to the proper location for flashtool to be found:
C:\Flashtool\Firmwares
After that you are good to go, just remember the following:
Bootloader locked? If not you wont have BE2/OTA/PCC etc (for unlocking and relocking: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2354721 )
I've made backups of my important files that are stored on my phone?
Battery at atleast 50%?
I have patience?
I got something to do meanwhile?
The last two things are very important
Let's get started:
1: Open Flashtool:
Flashtool(.exe) for 32Bits systems and Flashtool64(.exe) for 64Bits systems
2: Press the Lightningbolt picture and select Flashmode
This will give another screen.
3: Select the downloaded ftf. (In this case 2.254)
Make sure that all the wipes are checked and the others are unchecked. This is to prevent any bootloops or other problems after downgrading.
4: Press Flash and the next two lines will be added to the flashtool log
The files are being prepared and checked. Have a bit of patience please.
5: Turn off your phone and turn it back on into Flashmode
After this the process will start.
After flashing you can disconnect your phone and boot it up.
Via Flashtool you can also reset your system after. For example:
You are running the latest ExistenZe ROM from our beloved Niaboc79 and you want to go back to stock for a reason WITHOUT losing data! Just flash the last Stock ROM and untick the following boxes:
Untick DATA and APPSLOG!! But keep CACHE to wipe the /cache (is the same as a wipe cache via CWM).
FAQ
- My Phone wont stay into flashmode
> Turn it off, wait a few minutes and turn it back into flashmode
- Flashtool wont recognise my phone
> Make sure you have the proper drivers installed. See C://Flashtool/Drivers
- Flashing failed
> Problem depends on the error code given by Flashtool. Post the problem here and perhaps we can help
- Got a bootloop
> Reflash again
- Even after reflash I got into a bootloop
> Turn off your phone via the small button behind the batterycover and wait a few minutes. Then try again. If that doesnt work you need to flash again.
- Booting takes ages
> This is normal. The entire cache needs to be rebuild. Patience my dear..
- After flashing and booting my phone is laggy.
> Reboot device and wait a bit. The phone needs to fully reset and boot itself. Have some patience dear.
- Do I need to unlock my bootloader to use flashtool
> NO!
- Can I unlock my bootloader with flashtool?
> NO!
- Can I relock my bootloader with flashtool?
> Yes

You too have Sony.yt procedure with s1boot in the last case...

OsGhaly said:
Ok then, you can't use custom recovery with the stock kernel ofc. but we don't want that!.. you will install the TWRP recovery then reboot to it and install the new ROM without booting to the stock ROM at all.
1- Download TWRP and the ROM you want to flash for example Lineage OS.
2- Use the second method mentioned in my previous post by Adrian DC to install TWRP then boot into recovery -> wipe all then install LineageOS ROM + GApps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, okay! I'm trying to do the command as stated, but (while rooted with SuperSU installed) I get the error about adb not being able to run root in production builds. So, I enter the shell with adb shell type su, but then when i type exit and then adb root I get an error saying device not found, even though it shows up when typing adb devices before entering into SU (suggesting I have the correct drivers installed). However, when looking in Device Manager there's a yellow triangle next to the device, with an option to update drivers. Any advice? If I need to update the drivers, what drivers are they and were do I find them?
Edit: Picture as described -
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"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
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MrMeeb said:
Oh, okay! I'm trying to do the command as stated, but (while rooted with SuperSU installed) I get the error about adb not being able to run root in production builds. So, I enter the shell with adb shell type su, but then when i type exit and then adb root I get an error saying device not found, even though it shows up when typing adb devices before entering into SU (suggesting I have the correct drivers installed). However, when looking in Device Manager there's a yellow triangle next to the device, with an option to update drivers. Any advice? If I need to update the drivers, what drivers are they and were do I find them?
Edit: Picture as described -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstall any driver installed + Xperia companion then install ADB drivers from here:
http://adbdriver.com/downloads/
Here you can find a guide how to install ADB drivers on Windows 8 or 10:
http://adbdriver.com/documentation/how-to-install-adb-driver-on-windows-8-10-x64.html
Also make sure you have enabled USB Debugging from Developer options menu on your phone before connecting it to PC.

OsGhaly said:
Uninstall any driver installed + Xperia companion then install ADB drivers from here:
http://adbdriver.com/downloads/
Here you can find a guide how to install ADB drivers on Windows 8 or 10:
http://adbdriver.com/documentation/how-to-install-adb-driver-on-windows-8-10-x64.html
Also make sure you have enabled USB Debugging from Developer options menu on your phone before connecting it to PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! We've done it! I initially managed to install LineageOS using the developer TWRP that could be flashed to boot partition, but after that wanted to have TWRP with LineageOS. Thanks to your advice I just managed to install TWRP using FOTA, so now I have TWRP and LineageOS. Hallelujah! I've given you all the thanks I can on this thread

MrMeeb said:
Thank you! We've done it! I initially managed to install LineageOS using the developer TWRP that could be flashed to boot partition, but after that wanted to have TWRP with LineageOS. Thanks to your advice I just managed to install TWRP using FOTA, so now I have TWRP and LineageOS. Hallelujah! I've given you all the thanks I can on this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome dear, glad to hear that you finally got lineage os and TWRP on your phone.. Well done
Sent from my Xperia SP using Tapatalk