Boot Loop after doing January Security update without uninstalling magisk first - Google Pixel 4a 5G Questions & Answers

Hi,
My Pixel 4a 5g was rooted via magisk. First time I rooted a phone. I forgot I needed to uninstall magisk before security update. Google notification kept pestering to update...I updated. Phone restarted fine, but I wanted my root back. Figured I'd just need to flash patched magisk, and someone in magisk forums suggested the same. Rebooted phone and now it's in a bootloop.
I can get into Fastboot and Recovery, but if trying to load system it stays stuck on fastboot screen. Sometimes through recovery reboot or after OTA update/factory image flash it'll reboot and get to the google "G" logo with loading status bar underneath, but it's stuck there, and eventually reboots back to fastboot.
I tried flashing stock boot.img. I tried ADB sideload of OTA. I tried flashing factory image with flash-all.bat removing "-w" modifier to try to keep user data.
Only next step I can think of is to factory reset and hope it'll work. I'd prefer to keep my data though. Anyone have any ideas on what I might be able to try next?
Edit 1.21.2021:
10:40
I did a factory reset via Recovery. Upon reboot, still stuck in Fastboot. I really thought that would fix things...
10:55
I ran a factory flash via flash-all.bat, but this time with the "-w" modifier to wipe all data. Phone booting up now.
To anyone reading who has an idea of how to have salvaged things without having to do the above, please respond to the thread and provide feedback. That way anyone with similar issues might have something to work with. Who knows I might mess up again in the future; I have a lot of medical issues that cognitively impair me and the only way I can get myself to function is to stop eating (which I did trying to deal with this problem). But I'll be back to eating food and being made 'stupid' by it so mistakes might happen. So, please, if you have any idea how to fix a mess like I was in, please share that information here, or create a thread and link it in this thread.

I have messed it up once or twice but it's pretty easy to fix. The other thing that you need to be aware of is that there are two boot slots and you have to make sure that you are flashing the correct one and also that the correct boot slot is active. I always check the active boot slot before flashing the magisk-modified boot image using "fastboot getvar current-slot" and then flash to the active slot with "fastboot flash boot_a magisk_patched.img" substituting boot slot a or b as appropriate. The good thing is that an unlocked pixel is just about impossible to brick.

Are you running Android 12?
I had the same issue until I patched with Magisk Canary then disabled verity then reflashing the whole os:
fastboot update --disable-verity --disable-verification image-bramble-spp2.210219.008.zip

Is it me or this solution doesn't work since the new update ( 210219.018 )?
I can only flash without the "--disable-verity --disable-verification" options.
Edit: actually it worked but forced me to do a factory wipe after flashing with the disable options.

I get something similar to this when upgrading from the January 2021 update to the April 2021 one.
In my case, the problem is fixed by using a newer version of the "fastboot" tool from the Android SDK.
For reference, this is the version of fastboot that causes my bootloop (it also appears that it updates both slots for some reason, rather than just the active slot):
$ fastboot --version
fastboot version 28.0.2-debian
Installed as /usr/lib/android-sdk/platform-tools/fastboot
This version seems to work once I flash-all without -w:
# fastboot --version
fastboot version 29.0.6-6198805
Installed as /home/dwon/android/sdk/platform-tools/fastboot

Related

Nexus 6 xt1103 help (system UI has stopped).

I have a pretty serious issue...well at least to me it is.
I have a nexus 6 xt1103. I was running cyanogen 13 newest nightly. I was gonna sell the phone and they wanted to have it in rooted and not custom.
OK, no problem right? Wrong. I used wugfresh tool kit to unroot and flash stock. The toolkit downloaded the latest version which was Shamu 7.0 installed and flashed it...once done the device rebooted, initialized apps and when it booted... immediately recieved "unfortunately system UI has stopped" so I select continue or exit and the message just keeps popping up no matter what...I can reboot into recovery, bootloader and everything else but the device will not start the UI what so ever. I'm in need of immediate help to fix this issue....please, someone a lil brighter and experienced help me out a bit? I'd greatly appreciate it
Update*
Problem solved.
After a continuous system UI stopped message I finally got the phone turned off. Rebooted to recovery reopened wugfresh tool
And clicked the flash stock and unroot method once again. This time in the following box I unchecked the "no wipe user data* which obviously wipes user data.
This time it installed 7.0. As it did before and rebooted successfully. Idk what was wrong or why but in checking the no wipe data option worked. This is how I fixed it this time .
Now for future references I'm still curious what else could be done to fix this issue if this in future does not fix the "system UI has stopped" thanks in advance!
jessyjoseph2044 said:
I have a pretty serious issue...well at least to me it is.
I have a nexus 5 xt1103. I was running cyanogen 13 newest nightly. I was gonna sell the phone and they wanted to have it in rooted and not custom.
OK, no problem right? Wrong. I used wugfresh tool kit to unroot and flash stock. The toolkit downloaded the latest version which was Shamu 7.0 installed and flashed it...once done the device rebooted, initialized apps and when it booted... immediately recieved "unfortunately system UI has stopped" so I select continue or exit and the message just keeps popping up no matter what...I can reboot into recovery, bootloader and everything else but the device will not start the UI what so ever. I'm in need of immediate help to fix this issue....please, someone a lil brighter and experienced help me out a bit? I'd greatly appreciate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would try manually flashing the latest 7.0 build (NBD91P) from here using Fastboot and the following flashing instructions:
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img (Note: this command will wipe your device (including /sdcard), EVEN if your bootloader is already unlocked.)
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot erase cache
fastboot flash cache cache.img
The flashing instructions are from this page and I follow step 3 to extract the image and then use Method 2 to install. I have used this method for a long time and it has yet to fail for me or produce any errors. Make sure you are using the latest ADB and Fastboot versions with the latest Nexus 6 drivers.
Awesome
Much thanks to this I really appreciate it.
This will be saved on my PC in case it's ever needed again. I greatly appreciate your advice and would be what I would do if I hadn't fixed it. But this will probably be a permanent method I use from now on. Thanks ks a bunch again!

Cant Flash back to MR1 from MR2 to get arter, magisk & twrp.

I can only seem to get into fastboot mode with a Menu saying:
Restart Bootloader
Unlock Bootloader (Unlocked)
Wipe Userdata
Exit
I haven't been able to get to any download mode at all, just this menu and stock recovery, can someone please give me instructions on this? I've gotten different files and ways to root this from many different threads and I'm confused as hell.
Never rooted this RP2 before, it's on latest OTA MR2-RC001-RZR-190914.3123. Got it unlocked before and it's been unlocked for a while but didn't go further with rooting because I got confused and didn't want to brick my expensive phone. Last phone I rooted was back on kitkat or lollipop before I switched to iPhone, so I'm not a total noob just rusty. But Razer got me back to Android and it''s changed alot. I need detailed advice please. :good: And if my instinct is telling me correctly I'd assume something is changed about the bootloader in MR2 thats affecting me right now?
That menu is the bootloader/download mode.
DarkestSpawn said:
That menu is the bootloader/download mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My issue was not having Bootloader interface installed. Fixed
MarkusGingles said:
My issue was not having Bootloader interface installed. Fixed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you unlocked critical partition?
https://developer.razer.com/razer-p...6.1692205032.1582602359-1206928491.1581902985
Razer recommends you use a USB 3 Type-A to Type-C spec-compliant cable for any device flashing.
THE CABLE THAT CAME WITH THE PHONE WILL NOT WORK.
If you have everything unlocked then make sure you do this
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cheryl-fac...stall_Android_Fastboot_Drivers_on_Windows.pdf
Or install using this tool
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/tool-adb-fastboot-installer-tool-windows-t3999445
If you make it this far then it's a matter of typing in the correct path in fastboot.
fastboot flash boot "arter97 name here".img
Then from the fastboot menu scroll down to boot to recovery or type fastboot reboot recovery
TWRP should boot if you installed the correct kernel.
In TWRP hit cancel then swipe to make modifications and install magisk 20.3
Profit
JDBarlow said:
Have you unlocked critical partition?
https://developer.razer.com/razer-p...6.1692205032.1582602359-1206928491.1581902985
Razer recommends you use a USB 3 Type-A to Type-C spec-compliant cable for any device flashing.
THE CABLE THAT CAME WITH THE PHONE WILL NOT WORK.
If you have everything unlocked then make sure you do this
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cheryl-fac...stall_Android_Fastboot_Drivers_on_Windows.pdf
Or install using this tool
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/tool-adb-fastboot-installer-tool-windows-t3999445
If you make it this far then it's a matter of typing in the correct path in fastboot.
fastboot flash boot "arter97 name here".img
Then from the fastboot menu scroll down to boot to recovery or type fastboot reboot recovery
TWRP should boot if you installed the correct kernel.
In TWRP hit cancel then swipe to make modifications and install magisk 20.3
Profit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so I couldn't flash anything originally simply because i didn't have Bootloader Interface installed. Figured that out and had everything working, unlocked, Arter Kernel 12, Magisk 20.3, EdXposed, and now after I edited build.prop to enable my regular hotspot without carrier permission and reboot. Well now I really can't flash sh?t. Even though I can get into bootloader & Recovery, when I try to fastboot flash MR1 Stock or MR2 stock just to get back into the phone it freezes on the razer logo and eventually reboots and repeats. Then i have to Reflash arter to get back into TWRP after I try to flash anything else which otherwrites Arter97.img. Finally read the red text in TWRP and /data was refusing to mount, fixed that by a basic ass wipe (DUH) Hoping that might have been the issue, my data folder was corrupt or my old data folder was mismatching with the rest of the new roms i tried to flash? Idk someone smarter plz tell me. So far my next attempt is going to be downloading a flashable Stock Deodoxed ZIP to see if flashing from within TWRP now that /Data will mount makes a difference compared to Fastboot. Tried fastboot flashing MR1 and MR2 Normal Razer Stock Rom after data remounted and now i can get to the green vortex/visualizer screen instead of just the Razer Logo before it STILL loops and then when it loops again a second time it sends me to TWRP automatically.
MarkusGingles said:
Okay so I couldn't flash anything originally simply because i didn't have Bootloader Interface installed. Figured that out and had everything working, unlocked, Arter Kernel 12, Magisk 20.3, EdXposed, and now after I edited build.prop to enable my regular hotspot without carrier permission and reboot. Well now I really can't flash sh?t. Even though I can get into bootloader & Recovery, when I try to fastboot flash MR1 Stock or MR2 stock just to get back into the phone it freezes on the razer logo and eventually reboots and repeats. Then i have to Reflash arter to get back into TWRP after I try to flash anything else which otherwrites Arter97.img. Finally read the red text in TWRP and /data was refusing to mount, fixed that by a basic ass wipe (DUH) Hoping that might have been the issue, my data folder was corrupt or my old data folder was mismatching with the rest of the new roms i tried to flash? Idk someone smarter plz tell me. So far my next attempt is going to be downloading a flashable Stock Deodoxed ZIP to see if flashing from within TWRP now that /Data will mount makes a difference compared to Fastboot. Tried fastboot flashing MR1 and MR2 Normal Razer Stock Rom after data remounted and now i can get to the green vortex/visualizer screen instead of just the Razer Logo before it STILL loops and then when it loops again a second time it sends me to TWRP automatically.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried the format data partition ?
MarkusGingles said:
Okay so I couldn't flash anything originally simply because i didn't have Bootloader Interface installed. Figured that out and had everything working, unlocked, Arter Kernel 12, Magisk 20.3, EdXposed, and now after I edited build.prop to enable my regular hotspot without carrier permission and reboot. Well now I really can't flash sh?t. Even though I can get into bootloader & Recovery, when I try to fastboot flash MR1 Stock or MR2 stock just to get back into the phone it freezes on the razer logo and eventually reboots and repeats. Then i have to Reflash arter to get back into TWRP after I try to flash anything else which otherwrites Arter97.img. Finally read the red text in TWRP and /data was refusing to mount, fixed that by a basic ass wipe (DUH) Hoping that might have been the issue, my data folder was corrupt or my old data folder was mismatching with the rest of the new roms i tried to flash? Idk someone smarter plz tell me. So far my next attempt is going to be downloading a flashable Stock Deodoxed ZIP to see if flashing from within TWRP now that /Data will mount makes a difference compared to Fastboot. Tried fastboot flashing MR1 and MR2 Normal Razer Stock Rom after data remounted and now i can get to the green vortex/visualizer screen instead of just the Razer Logo before it STILL loops and then when it loops again a second time it sends me to TWRP automatically.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will it not let you flash stock using flash_all.bat file while in fastboot mode?
I would definitely try and start over for sure if possible

Cant flash TWRP

Trying to flash TWRp after unlocking bootloader. First time i tried it, said successful but booted to MIUI recovery
2nd time i tried said again successful, booted to TWRP, formatted data.
Phone then wouldnt reboot to TWRP. Instead it going straight to fastboot. I keep trying to flash again, every time saying successful, then it just boots to fastbooot, not recovery. Any ideas, phones dead at the minute
Tones1971 said:
Trying to flash TWRp after unlocking bootloader. First time i tried it, said successful but booted to MIUI recovery
2nd time i tried said again successful, booted to TWRP, formatted data.
Phone then wouldnt reboot to TWRP. Instead it going straight to fastboot. I keep trying to flash again, every time saying successful, then it just boots to fastbooot, not recovery. Any ideas, phones dead at the minute
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to recover the phone in your situation is to fastboot flash MIUI.
Get the latest MIUI fastboot ROM for your phone from here
https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/miui/raphael/
Install it using this guide from the official MIUI forums
https://c.mi.com/oc/miuidownload/detail?guide=2
If you see a blank page on a mobile browser, set it to view in desktop mode, for this page.
Make sure in step 5 you change the option at the bottom of the Mi Flash Tool to 'clean all' before hitting the Flash button.
MIUI will restore stock recovery when it reboots, so you need to do something to fix this. Flashing Magisk or a custom ROM will automatically preserve TWRP.
If you plan to keep MIUI and do not want Magisk, then you need to flash the vbmeta patcher from here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/k2...icial-twrp-xiaomi-redmi-t3944363/post79823568
You need to flash TWRP, then immediately boot into TWRP.
Code:
fastboot flash recovery <path to twrp>
fastboot oem reboot-recovery
At this point you need to flash something in order to preserve TWRP (either a new custom ROM, Magisk, or the vbmeta patcher)
Cheers. You know this is all familiar. Pretty sure i had the same trouble 3 years ago with my mi mix 2
Anyway, lots of hiccups on the way along with this solution. Got to the point now where it says its flashing but it never stops.
EDIT: Bit more research, shortened the path names. Got an error. Commented out device name, got a different error. Switched to USB 2.0 port an FINALLy im back up and running.
Thank you so much for the help.

Boot loop after patched magisk boot image

After an android update i lost my root on my phone. I tried to flash Magisk back with the same patched boot image as i did last time.
fastboot flash boot_a "boot.img"
fastboot flash boot_b "boot.img"
But now It's in a bootloop,
I tried flashing the unpatched boot.img from redfin-rd1a.200810.021.a1-factory-cd18efdf but that didn't help.
Is there a way to solve this without loosing all my data?
fr0sty said:
After a firmware update i lost my root on my phone. I tried to flash Magisk back with the same patched boot image as i did last time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You lost me there, you updated firmware and then tried to use the patched image from the previous version? That's your issue if I'm reading correctly.
You can try
fastboot --set-active=a
iand see if you can at least boot, if so you'll have to extract the new boot image, patch it and see. Every time you update you need to use the new boot image. Sadly, it looks like you patched both A and B..
Edit- you can try flashing over the previous version or reflash the current version. If those all fail, I'm not sure what to suggest and some one with a bit more knowledge maybe can suggest a fix.
Ducter said:
You lost me there, you updated firmware and then tried to use the patched image from the previous version? That's your issue if I'm reading correctly.
You can try
fastboot --set-active=a
iand see if you can at least boot, if so you'll have to extract the new boot image, patch it and see. Every time you update you need to use the new boot image. Sadly, it looks like you patched both A and B..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Used the wrong words, Android 11 prompted me with an update, it was 1.7Gb. After that magisk was gone. So i booted into fastboot and flashed the patched magisk boot image again. The one i used for installing it the first time.
But magisk was updated in Android in the meantime. So maybe the patched version is not compatible anymore with magisk causing the boot loop? But the untouched boot image is also causing a boot loop.
Changed the boot slot, and flashed to the according letter, but no changes.
Maybe i need to flash the boot.img with a newer version of magisk. I was running the latest canary version. But i dont know how to patch the image without the phone working.
fr0sty said:
Used the wrong words, Android 11 prompted me with an update, it was 1.7Gb. After that magisk was gone. So i booted into fastboot and flashed the patched magisk boot image again. The one i used for installing it the first time.
But magisk was updated in Android in the meantime. So maybe the patched version is not compatible anymore with magisk causing the boot loop? But the untouched boot image is also causing a boot loop.
Changed the boot slot, and flashed to the according letter, but no changes.
Maybe i need to flash the boot.img with a newer version of magisk. I was running the latest canary version. But i dont know how to patch the image without the phone working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were promoted with an update, updated, then proceeded to flash the boot image you were running prior to updating, that's not going to work. You'll need to track down a patched boot image for your current version you have flashed or reflash the update via fastboot, you can follow the guide posted and it walks you through the steps to not wipe everything.
I'm in the same position. I took the OTA update, then downloaded the 11.0.0 (RQ1A.210105.003, Jan 2021) from Google. I patched the boot.img with Magisk, put it on my laptop, and flashed it in fastboot. Now I'm getting a bootloop. I tried flashing the unpatched boot.img to try to just get back in, but I'm still bootlooping.
Did you ever find a solution? FWIW, I'm on AT&T. I noticed that sometimes there is an AT&T specific file, but that did not appear to be the case this time.
I finally fixed it. At first I didn't see that the latest factory image was on the end of the list here https://developers.google.com/android/images
I picked 11.0.0 (RQ1A.210105.003, Jan 2021), then i extraced the boot.img file from it and flashed it in fastboot with fastboot flash boot boot.img --slot all.
That resulted in a no command screen when booting. But i was able to boot in safe mode. And from there i could patch the new boot.img file with the latest magisk. After that i patched that in fastboot and now everything is working again!
You guys know that you can extract the actual boot.img from your Device after it installed the update? Should solve all problems. After the Update you can change the active Partition using fastboot (to be able to use the second Partition with the older System) just root the older System and extract the boot.img from the inactive (updated) Boot Partition. From here just Flash the Stock boot.img to the old System to remove root. Patch the extracted boot.img and flash it to the updated Boot Partition. Reboot, done.
saturday_night said:
You guys know that you can extract the actual boot.img from your Device after it installed the update? Should solve all problems. After the Update you can change the active Partition using fastboot (to be able to use the second Partition with the older System) just root the older System and extract the boot.img from the inactive (updated) Boot Partition. From here just Flash the Stock boot.img to the old System to remove root. Patch the extracted boot.img and flash it to the updated Boot Partition. Reboot, done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me my solution is easier, because i don't know all the fastboot commands to do the things you write
Well, you are not the only one with the exact same Problem (wrong boot.img or maybe broken dl) and there are several threads already. Just answering here because it was the newest.
If you or anybody else use the boot.img from your own device there will never ever be a Problem with it. I already wrote a step by step guide (with fastboot comands) for this somewhere on xda for one of my older devices. Just need to find it and i will link it here.
Hi ALL,
any chance that anyone rooted the Pixel 5 or pixel4a 5G then get the NSG working?
the device i have is rooted correctly and checked by (Root checker) however the Diag port is silent and not producing any log, need to get the NSG working...
please help !
Thanks

Didn't Uninstall Magisk Before OTA - Way to Get Back Root without factory reset/data loss?

Hi,
My memory issues and a hard week led me to forget I needed to uninstall magisk manager adn 'restore image'. I've never had a rooted phone before, so I'd never done it before. Got lost in the 'big pile of problems' and google kept nagging to 'update'. Sigh.
Last thing I want to do is try to figure out how to migrate all my data and apps (I'm expecting Google Recorder is likely to prove a PITA to get everything 'moved'). So I'm wondering, is there a simple/easy way to get magisk root back and active without wiping apps/data on my Pixel 4a 5g since it was already rooted prior to the OTA security update?
The only consequence with applying the OTA should be that you're know updated and rootless (since the boot image would have been overwritten in the update)... Just patch the new boot image, flash it and you should be up and running again.
Didgeridoohan said:
The only consequence with applying the OTA should be that you're know updated and rootless (since the boot image would have been overwritten in the update)... Just patch the new boot image, flash it and you should be up and running again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah. Thanks. That's simple enough and sounds like I don't have the emergency I was dreading.
Didgeridoohan said:
The only consequence with applying the OTA should be that you're know updated and rootless (since the boot image would have been overwritten in the update)... Just patch the new boot image, flash it and you should be up and running again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I rebooted the Pixel 4a 5g, and then it would get stuck on G logo and wouldn't load the system.
So I couldn't use latest magisk manager to create a new patched boot img. So I tried to flash the patched boot img I still had on my PC from december as the Factory image firmware is still the same right now as it was then. Now when I try to boot I get a boot loop that doesn't get to the G logo even.
Wondering what to do now... I guess it wasn't so simple after all.
Edit: I tried flashing the original boot.img. No change. Near as I can tell next option would be to try to side load an OTA update, but the Pixel 4a 5g doesn't seem to work via ADB...
What's weird is that the pixel was working before I tried to reboot it initially. Now I can't get into recovery or rescue mode either. Just have a boot loop. Can get into fastboot still.
Edit 2:
I had the wrong factory image. Got the right one, for january. Flashed boot.img via fastboot. Back to 'stuck on G logo' like before.
Edit3:
Seems stuck in fastboot mode now. When selecting 'start' fastboot just loads up again.
I tried adb sideloading OTA update. Didn't work.
I tried flashing factory image removing "-w" modifier from flash-all.bat. Stuck in boot loop on googles "G" logo with the loading status bar underneath.
Hoping there's still a way to avoid a factory reset, but wondering what next steps there are.
Is there a subforum better suited to maybe getting this question answered?
Sounds like you've gotten to a point where it's better to ask for help in your device's forum, but I've seen you're doing that already.
Hope you get things sorted...
Edit: since it's always possible that modules mess up a system update, have you tried the adb command to remove modules (if boot reaches a point where adb is recognised), or booted to safe mode to disable all modules? You've got some details here:
https://www.didgeridoohan.com/magisk/Magisk#hn_Disablinguninstalling_modules_manually

Categories

Resources