[IMPORTANT] Constant Reboots Causes Soft Brick How To Fix - Sony Tablet S

So today I was testing many reboot commands rebooting constantly via ADB and I met something not pretty at all.
I assume this was either the commands I have put in with the address ( adb reboot bootloader 0x00000008 ), the fact that I kept on rebooting way too much or rebooted at a bad time on the boot animation.
After realising that the boot was taking way too long I did adb logcat and I see USB errors, R/O errors and much more also with the system server getting killed constantly which is basically what a bootloop is.
Because I had the rescue-backdoor done I grabbed a OEM OTA from the OTA Download List thread (thanks to smgdev for giving me the URL), gone to recovery flashing it also going back to recovery to wipe.
It all worked after but I lost all my data, better then a bootlooping tablet!
The funny thing is that I can downgrade to R1A but the recovery stays the same because of that bootloader which checks the recovery version, there should be a way to also flash the R1A hidden.img file which contains the recovery to mmcb0p6 on the STS.
Flashing the OTA zip will flash an updated version of region.zip so you will need to use the backdoor again.
The morrow of the story is to root, get the rescue-backdoor before doing anything else and don't use adb during boot or even constantly.

Is there a chance to flash back tl 3.2?

mawnstermew said:
Is there a chance to flash back tl 3.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because of the SKU value and the 3.2, no.
If the SKU value was decreased by a lot like let's say no SKU value would be 0 so if you have the 3.2 OTA then it is fully possible but has mentioned above the recovery will not be flashed because that one is older, so far there is a plan to change the partitions in the flasher so the recovery and kernel gets flashed correctly.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Related

Root Stock T-Mobile Springboard

Update:
I was able to use this method to root the new ICS update. The thread has been edited accordingly.
----------------------------------------------
I was unable to find a single thread that detailed how to root the stock T-Mobile Springboard firmware and keep the boot and recovery partitions intact to allow future updates, so I have consolidated information from other threads and posts, as well as adding a little myself. Full credit goes to the users and thread OP's referenced in the post links below.
The usual warnings apply: Under no circumstances should anyone do this to their device. You are likely to brick your device and render it completey unusable. In addition, you will void your warantee with T-Mobile. So you will have an out-of-warantee brick instead of a nice, functional tablet. Turn back now while there is still time.
Before you begin, I obviously did this to my device without any problems. My device is running full stock T-Mobile Springboard firmware with the following:
Android version: 4.0.3
Baseband version: 314007
Kernel version: 3.0.8
Build number: S7-303uV100R002C201B035
I do not know if it will work on a device with any other version of the firmware. The following also assumes that you have fastboot and ADB installed and functional on your computer.
In describing how to boot into fastboot and recovery modes below, the description of the volume buttons is how they are while in portrait mode in Honeycomb....as this is where I first used this method. In other words, the volume button closer to the power button is volume up and the other volume button is volume down.
1. Download the CWM Recovery image from this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=23601045&postcount=7
2. Download CWM-SuperSU-v0.95.zip from this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=27678611&postcount=22
3. Copy the CWM-SuperSU-v0.95.zip file to an sdcard and put the card in your device.
4. Flash the CWM recovery image to your first recovery partition ONLY:
a.) Boot into fastboot by powering down the device and starting it back up by pressing the
volume up and power buttons at the same time. After the device vibrates, release the
power button but keep holding the volume button until it is booted into fastboot.
b.) Once in fastboot, flash the recovery image:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery5.5.0.4.img
5. Press and hold the power key for 10 seconds to reboot the device. It will boot into the
T-mobile firmware.
6. Power down the device in the usual fashion.
7. Boot into recovery by starting the device back up by pressing the volume down and power
buttons at the same time. After the device vibrates, release the power button but keep
holding the volume button until it is booted into CWM Recovery.
8. Choose 'install zip from sdcard' -> 'choose zip from sdcard', then select the
CWM-SuperSU-v0.95.zip file you put on your sdcard above, then confirm installation.
9. Go back to the main menu and select 'reboot system now'. It will boot into the T-Mobile
firmware.
10. Shut the device down again in the usual fashion, then restart normally and boot into the
T-Mobile firmware again.
11. Now you need to get your stock recovery partition back and get rid of CWM recovery.
There are two copies of the stock recovery- one on each 'recovery' and 'recovery2'. You can
get back to stock recovery by extracting an image from 'recovery2' and flashing it back to
'recovery'. The following (using adb from your computer) will dump the image from recovery2
to your sdcard:
Code:
adb shell
su
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p18 of=/mnt/sdcard2/recovery.img
12. Take the sd card out of your device and copy this file back to your computer, then flash the
first recovery partition with this image as in step 4b above, but with your new recovery.img file.
You are now rooted and your recovery partitions are returned to stock.
Once you are rooted, if you would like to remove some of the T-Mobile bloatware note that the apk files are not in the usual location (/system/app). I found them tucked away in the following directory:
/data/cust/app
Of course, you will need an app like Root Explorer to get to them and delete them...or you can just use adb. I deleted several of the apk files in that directory, rebooted, and everything is working just fine...with less bloatware.
Also, be aware that any changes you make will be permanent. I tried hard reseting the device through the usual android settings menu security method, and I kept root and all of my deleted bloatware was still gone after it finished and rebooted. There does not appear to be a way to get all of your stock stuff back once you start deleting things...so make backups of files before you delete them in case removing them causes unexpected consequences.
Just to add another bit of information - a list of what I believe are the internal partitions and their locations appears below. I got this from the output from 'cat /proc/partitions' and 'mount', as well as further inspection of the stock recovery image that I extracted from my device. As we don't have a functional CWM Recovery, and I am not sure that I would use any version that was built for the Mediapad (i.e. non-Springboard) for backup and restoring, this list should give Springboard users a way to back up their devices. Using the 'dd' command as in the coding box at the bottom of the OP for each of the paritions should result in a partition image stored out on the sdcard. Fastboot then should be able to flash these 'backed up' images back to the device as in step 4b of the OP...with the correct partition names and backup files substituted of course. I did do this for the recovery partition as I detailed in the OP, but have not tried it for the rest of the partitions.
Code:
/misc emmc /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
/vrcb emmc /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
/recovery emmc /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
/recovery2 emmc /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
/boot emmc /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
/system ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
/cache ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
/cust ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
/data ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p27
/tmpdata ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
/persist ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
/tombstones ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p24
/firmware ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
Thanks
Many ty's for this.
Thanks you help me rooted my Springboard. Have you try the MediaPad Phone app can we use the tablet for calling? :good:
Do I have to do step 11 ?
Sent from my SpringBoard using XDA Premium App
---------- Post added at 06:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:49 PM ----------
robkaos said:
Do I have to do step 11 ?
Sent from my SpringBoard using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also can I do it without PC?
Sent from my SpringBoard using XDA Premium App
Can I use the recovery image from the update that is still on my sd card,what is the difference between the I've springboard .rar, and the su files
Sent from my SpringBoard using XDA Premium App
robkaos said:
Do I have to do step 11 ?
......
Also can I do it without PC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do not return your recovery partition to stock, then you will not be able to install future firmware updates from T-Mobile as their updates rely on the stock recovery. So no, you don't have to return your recovery partition to stock, but if you don't you will not be able to install future T-Mobile updates. As far as doing this without a computer - you can use a terminal emulator on your Springboard to create the recovery image from 'recovery2'....the commands should be the same. However, you need to fastboot flash that image back to 'recovery', which you must do from your computer with your device in fastboot mode.
robkaos said:
Can I use the recovery image from the update that is still on my sd card....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, if you extract the recovery image from the official T-Mobile update package, you can use this image to flash 'recovery' back to stock when you are done.
Some people have reported that they are unable to boot into CWM recovery if it is flashed only to 'recovery' and not also to 'recovery2'. It is my experience that the device seems to alternate which recovery partition it boots into when you sequentially boot it into recovery mode. When I have CWM on 'recovery' and the stock recovery on 'recovery2', my device will boot into CWM every other time I boot into recovery mode. The other times it boots into the stock recovery. If you can't get CWM recovery to appear when you boot into recovery mode, you could do things a bit different than the instructions. Extract the stock recovery image from the official T-Mobile update package. Store this away on your computer. Then, instead of only flashing 'recovery' with CWM recovery, also flash 'recovery2'. Once you are done rooting the device, use your stored image of the stock recovery to flash 'recovery' and 'recovery2' back to stock.
Originally, I used this method to root Honeycomb. I did not have the T-Mobile update package for Honeycomb and so could not simply extract the stock recovery image from that package. You cannot use the 'dd' command as in step 11 above until you are rooted to dump the image of 'recovery2'. So, without a copy of the update package I could not get an image of my recovery partition without already being rooted. But to root, I have to overwrite my recovery partition with CWM recovery, thereby making it impossible to dump a copy of the stock recovery as I had wiped it out and replaced it with CWM. The solution was to only flash one of the recovery partitions and keep the other one as a backup until the device was rooted and the image could then be extracted.
robkaos said:
...what is the difference between the I've springboard .rar, and the su files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what you are asking here...please clarify.
I haVe found two different root files one su zip and the other is for media pad orange Tahiti ,andspringbord .rar which is the difference?there is not a one click Method like motor defy? My phone wasn't such a problem
Sent from my SpringBoard using XDA Premium App
robkaos said:
I haVe found two different root files one su zip and the other is for media pad orange Tahiti ,andspringbord .rar which is the difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about the root files for the Mediapad. I know there is a package that contains the su files and a Windows-based command file that contains a string of adb commands that is supposed to work to root both the Mediapad and the Springboard. I think what you are talking about can be found at either one of these locations:
http://www.modaco.com/topic/354579-...-mediapad-t-mobile-springboard-orange-tahiti/
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22185176/Huawei+MediaPad+ROOT+ICS+Android+4.0.x.rar
I tried to use this, and got a 'premission denied' fail pretty early on. I run Linux on my desktop, so perhaps this works under Windows with the specific Springboard drivers and interface software installed, but it sure does not work in Linux. I came up with my method (or rather consolidated the information for 'my' method from multiple other sources) as a result of having this root method fail for me.
robkaos said:
...there is not a one click Method like motor defy? My phone wasn't such a problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the files that I linked above work for you, then this is going to be about as close to a 'one-click' method as you can get. Unless you modified it, your Motorola Defy is running Android 2.1 (Eclair). This version of Android can be rooted pretty much just by yelling 'ROOT!' at your phone. There is even an app in the market that can be installed and run on an Android v2.1 device that provides a one-click root without the use of a computer. All of the exploits that were used for these one-click root methods were patched in Android v3+. Pretty much every device needs its own unique root method now, and the only way it is a one-click method is if someone has constructed a command script to execute all of the needed commands for you, as in the linked packages above.
xdajunkman said:
Also, be aware that any changes you make will be permanent. I tried hard reseting the device through the usual android settings menu security method, and I kept root and all of my deleted bloatware was still gone after it finished and rebooted. There does not appear to be a way to get all of your stock stuff back once you start deleting things...so make backups of files before you delete them in case removing them causes unexpected consequences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to point out - now that the Springboard ICS update is out, and the zip has been captured and archived - there is a backup of complete stock ICS available. Every single partition is in there including system and cust. So worst case scenario if you bork it by zapping the wrong file in system or cust, you can reflash that partition from the bootloader.
Thanks for the clarification
Sent from my SpringBoard using XDA Premium App
cmstlist said:
Just to point out - now that the Springboard ICS update is out, and the zip has been captured and archived - there is a backup of complete stock ICS available. Every single partition is in there including system and cust. So worst case scenario if you bork it by zapping the wrong file in system or cust, you can reflash that partition from the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are, of course, correct. That statement of mine is now outdated...you can delete things to your hearts desire. If you mess something up, just reflash the firmware and start over.
Just finished rooting my MediaPad from t-mobile. I had to install into recovery one and two so now I have no original recovery but I don't really care, I've got the latest Android Ice Cream update beforehand. What usefull apps with root access do I need now? I've got ad free and ROM Toolbox. Was there a phone app that I could use now?
Failed updates and can't recover - PLEASE HELP!
xdajunkman said:
You are, of course, correct. That statement of mine is now outdated...you can delete things to your hearts desire. If you mess something up, just reflash the firmware and start over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, unfortunately, I've messed things up. Here's what happened:
1) I received the OTA update and everything went fine with upgrading the my T-mobile Springboard tab to ICS 4.0.3
2) I then got brave and went ahead with rooting and installing SU using the technique described in "Root Stock T-Mobile Springboard" by xdajunkman. That worked fine and I was able to get CWM recovery installed.
3) I then tried to install the [ROM][ICS] [Unofficial] Root-ready Huawei/Springboard International ROM and downloaded the dload folder to my SDCard, etc. I tried using the dload folder with the ulmt.cfg file in it and that failed with a "Installation aborted" message. I then removed that file and tried to go into CWM and tried "Install from zip" approach. Same thing...installation aborted message.
4) So, then I did the next stupid thing...in CWM, I formatted my /system, /data, and /cache. That was a big mistake! I now have officially bricked by tab.
5) I tried to get rid of CWM recovery by extracting the recovery.img file from the stock rom zip file. I fastboot flashed that to the recovery and recovery2 partitions. I then thought, let me try extracting the update.zip from the stock rom zip and put that on the root of my sdcard and tried to install that. No go...it just says, update failed with a big red "FAIL" message in the center.
Any and all help would be immensely appreciated! How can I get back to some sort of working ROM? Please!
Thanks!
knightpawn said:
Well, unfortunately, I've messed things up. Here's what happened:
1) I received the OTA update and everything went fine with upgrading the my T-mobile Springboard tab to ICS 4.0.3
2) I then got brave and went ahead with rooting and installing SU using the technique described in "Root Stock T-Mobile Springboard" by xdajunkman. That worked fine and I was able to get CWM recovery installed.
3) I then tried to install the [ROM][ICS] [Unofficial] Root-ready Huawei/Springboard International ROM and downloaded the dload folder to my SDCard, etc. I tried using the dload folder with the ulmt.cfg file in it and that failed with a "Installation aborted" message. I then removed that file and tried to go into CWM and tried "Install from zip" approach. Same thing...installation aborted message.
4) So, then I did the next stupid thing...in CWM, I formatted my /system, /data, and /cache. That was a big mistake! I now have officially bricked by tab.
5) I tried to get rid of CWM recovery by extracting the recovery.img file from the stock rom zip file. I fastboot flashed that to the recovery and recovery2 partitions. I then thought, let me try extracting the update.zip from the stock rom zip and put that on the root of my sdcard and tried to install that. No go...it just says, update failed with a big red "FAIL" message in the center.
Any and all help would be immensely appreciated! How can I get back to some sort of working ROM? Please!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK so you blanked system, screwed up data and possibly recovery. Cache shouldn't be an issue. Everything else is probably fine.
So from the Springboard ICS update zip, you'll want to flash each of the following from fastboot:
- stock recovery.img to recovery and recovery2
- boot.img just in case that got buggered up
- cust.img
- system.img.ext4
- userdata.img.ext4 (this will probably blank your internal storage but you probably already did that in the process because CWM doesn't know the difference)
At this point, does it boot? If it looks like it might be bootlooping on the animation, give it a good 20-30 minutes before you pronounce that it's not working. Wiping pretty much anything other than cache with CWM is a huge nono... it doesn't work right and it buggers a lot of things up.
Any particular locations for the other files via fastboot?
cmstlist said:
OK so you blanked system, screwed up data and possibly recovery. Cache shouldn't be an issue. Everything else is probably fine.
So from the Springboard ICS update zip, you'll want to flash each of the following from fastboot:
- stock recovery.img to recovery and recovery2
- boot.img just in case that got buggered up
- cust.img
- system.img.ext4
- userdata.img.ext4 (this will probably blank your internal storage but you probably already did that in the process because CWM doesn't know the difference)
At this point, does it boot? If it looks like it might be bootlooping on the animation, give it a good 20-30 minutes before you pronounce that it's not working. Wiping pretty much anything other than cache with CWM is a huge nono... it doesn't work right and it buggers a lot of things up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Thanks for the help! I unfortunately, don't have my other computer that has the proper drivers installed to recognize the tablet and to run fastboot on. So, I'll try the fix you are suggesting once I get home today. However, in the meantime, I had some questions with regard to where I should flash the other files.
I understand that recovery.img should go to the recovery and recovery2 partitions.
What about the others? Does boot.img go to a particular partition? Effectively, what would the command line look like? (eg fastboot flash boot boot.img?)
Sorry about the newbie questions. I've installed a number of custom ROMs on phones using CWM, but this is a strange beast.
With regard to your question of whether it boots, well, kind of...it does boot to the T-mobile Springboard screen, then it sits there. I will let it sit for 20-30 minutes and see what happens. Will report back...for sure!
Thanks a ton!
[UPDATE]
So, I had a chance to install the TWRP recovery with the CM10 ROM. I loaded the CM10 ROM with the TWRP which installed successfully. I turned the tablet on and let it sit there for about 10 minutes and sure enough, CM10 runs just fine. However, I did notice that I cannot receive any calls. I am able to make calls, but when someone dials my number, it just goes straight to voicemail.
So, now, I'm wondering, if I can get the stock ICS with International ROM running so that I can try to use this thing as a phone, data and texting tab. I'll try what you suggested when I get home as mentioned earlier.
CM10 has too many problems, why would you want to use it?
cmstlist said:
OK so you blanked system, screwed up data and possibly recovery. Cache shouldn't be an issue. Everything else is probably fine.
So from the Springboard ICS update zip, you'll want to flash each of the following from fastboot:
- stock recovery.img to recovery and recovery2
- boot.img just in case that got buggered up
- cust.img
- system.img.ext4
- userdata.img.ext4 (this will probably blank your internal storage but you probably already did that in the process because CWM doesn't know the difference)
At this point, does it boot? If it looks like it might be bootlooping on the animation, give it a good 20-30 minutes before you pronounce that it's not working. Wiping pretty much anything other than cache with CWM is a huge nono... it doesn't work right and it buggers a lot of things up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked for me. After playing with vold.fstab I had rendered my Springboard unusable (got the encryption was unsuccessful screen!).
I really wanted to switch the apps installation path to the external sd card but did not succeed.
What am I doing wrong
I have not been able to root my springboard at all. It will go to a black screen that says enter fastboot and it just stays there. When I type to flash the recovery it says it cannot load it. I have adb and fastboot installed...could it be a driver issue? I now know that I am in the correct screen, just can't get this thing rooted. any help would be appreciated thanks.
Well I feel quite stupid. But figured out where I went wrong and for the love of God got my Springboard rooted. *whew*

[Q] Can't successfully install new ROM

I got my DNA back in December, unlocked with S-ON, rooted, and flashed a lightly modified stock ROM. It's been super stable, so I figured I wouldn't mess with it, and I've been running it since.
Yesterday, I was trying to free up some space on my device by integrating updates of system apps through Titanium Backup, and it jacked stuff up pretty royally. I figured, this is a great chance to install a new Sense 5 ROM.
I went through TWRP, installed the new ROM, cleared data, and when it restarted, it hung at the white HTC screen. Undeterred, I tried again through recovery. Then through sideloading a different ROM. Then by restoring a backup, downloading a new ROM and trying through recovery. Then installing CWM instead of TWRP and trying that way. Then by sideloading through CWM.
Every single method by which I've tried to install a new ROM has resulted in the phone hanging indefinitely at the white HTC screen.
I have obviously searched repeatedly for a fix for the white screen issue, and while I can restore an old backup and get the phone running, I can't seem to find a solution that gets me up and running on a new ROM. I'd hate to go through all the work (my phone's been unusable since around 8 PM last night) and not come out of it with a new ROM.
Am I missing something? Maybe I should be installing a new kernel before installing the ROM?
you are s-on you must flash the kernel boot.img via fastboot then flash kernel modules via recovery
copy boot.img from rom.zip
in command prompt goto folder with boot.img and enter
fastboot flash boot boot.img
then create a flashable module.zip and flash via recovery or adb eacxh module into system folder or just s-off your device and re flash rom.zip
The best way to fix ur phone now is to go through RUU, first relock the bootloader through fastboot, then enter RUU again through fastboot nd run the RUU from ur pc, ur good to go.
The reason it's getting stuck thr is becoz the system partition isn't getting mounted
As soon as I typed "S-On" in that original post, I started getting suspicious that might be the problem, but none of the ROMs I was trying specifically mentioned the need to be S-Off. But that does make sense.
So I spent the afternoon getting it S-Off, which was a bit of a hassle, and now in about three minutes, I see if I can indeed flash a ROM. I feel pretty optimistic, though.
Update: Success. I am now a very happy person.
congrats hope you enjoy
now no need for anything special to flash roms or kernels.

[Q] Secure Fail: kernel ugh!

I have an MDK S4. I have been running beanstown's rom for months with TWRP 2.5.0.2 with no issues. Today I decided to flash clockworkmod touch recovery in terminal emulator using the following command:
su
dd if=/sdcard/ recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.4.4-jfltevzw.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p21
So now my phone won't boot at all. All I get is a screen that says:
Secure fail: kernel
System software not authorized by Verizon Wireless has been found on your phone...
UGH!!!! So now what? Do I need to do the following or is there another way around it?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2301259
Please advise asap. Thanks.
mochamoo said:
I have an MDK S4. I have been running beanstown's rom for months with TWRP 2.5.0.2 with no issues. Today I decided to flash clockworkmod touch recovery in terminal emulator using the following command:
su
dd if=/sdcard/ recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.4.4-jfltevzw.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p21
So now my phone won't boot at all. All I get is a screen that says:
Secure fail: kernel
System software not authorized by Verizon Wireless has been found on your phone...
UGH!!!! So now what? Do I need to do the following or is there another way around it?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2301259
Please advise asap. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need to go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2290798
k1mu said:
I think you need to go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2290798
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. My s4 is rooted. I *think* that I have solved my issue. I was able to get it to go into Odin mode power+vol down. I didn't connect to a computer (am at work and all of my android tools are at home). I just cancelled out of Odin mode and it booted up just fine. Now I tried to go into recovery again and got the same error as above and was able to get out of it the same way. I was able to go into ROM manager and flash regular non-touch CWM recovery and was able to boot to it without issue.
I suspect that my flash of the touch via terminal emulator didn't work right. Can anyone who has done it this way let me know how long the flash should take? I was at the su prompt and entered the dd line above (copy and pasted to avoid typos). It appeared to do something...there were some numbers maybe 5 or 6 per line and then it went back to the prompt so thought it was done. This didn't take it more than about 15 seconds to do. What should I see here?
I know that I can just flash it via ROM manager but wanted to be able to do it myself without rom manager and also be able to flash the latest twrp img if I want to (goo.im seems broken at the moment). Maybe I will try to do it via Odin later.
TIA.
you rock
I just got this same error and your steps worked perfect
Same problem except on i545vrufnk1
k1mu said:
I think you need to go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2290798
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, I went to flash a recovery package with flashify and got the black screen with kernel fail. I was on the latest nk1 kernel.
please help
Hi! I'm really sorry to revive such an ancient thread but I've a similar problem.
I tried to use the dd command to update TWRP and wound up at this spot, but I was running a custom 5.1.1 system (jflte dev something or other from oct 2014 - recovery needed to be updated in order to install 7.1.1). So I tried to ODIN back to the old bootloader because I read it may have just become locked again, and now the system seems broken or missing, I'm not sure which. Phone no longer boots into the system and I get this error at recovery, so I'm hoping that if I flash an older factory image onto the phone, it'll restore it.
My question is, if I flash a stock image onto the phone, will it overwrite the bootloader and make my custom recovery dreams impossible? I went as far as to transplant the insides of this phone into a replacement when it first broke to maintain my MDK bootloader, so I'm really hoping I didn't **** myself here.
----
Edit:
So I've fixed my phone! The whole ordeal wasn't too too bad, but it was somewhat time consuming and difficult to divine on my own.
Now, I realize now I may have actually flashed the wrong .img file, which may have caused this whole issue. I'm actually not certain, because through the method that I fixed this problem with, I was able to flash what I would later find out was an incorrect .img for the recovery (jfltexx instead of jfltevzw ) but it did work properly, and I only found out when I got an error on trying to install the LineageOS zip.
I tried a bunch of things, but the one that worked was converting a twrp .img file to a .lok (loki) file. At the time of this writing, it happens that there's a bug in the latest twrp version that also prevents you from installing the system, but downgrading back to an older version will work, and I assume after 3.1.2 the bug will be fixed.
In order to do this, I wiped the system back to an MDK 4.2.2 system image I found here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2301259
(dead link? Here's an archive: https://archive.is/LDnaY - I hit a bunch of dead links when I was figuring this process out and it was frustrating)
which preserved the mdk bootloader (because flashing anything newer than this will lock the bootloader, I've been told. I didn't dare try.)
I rooted that image by downgrading to the prerelease kernel and using motochopper to root, then upgraded back to the mdk kernel.
Then I grabbed the loki_tool from this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g2/general/guide-how-to-flash-cwm-6-0-4-4-lokitool-t2813514
(Dead link? Here's an archive: https://archive.is/F7k29 )
and used a twrp .img file to create the recovery.lok file
Flashing through this method restored my custom recovery, and also made the samsung unlocked padlock bootscreen go away (I miss it already!). Having Android 7.1.2 on this phone is quite a treat though!
Hope that anyone else who winds up here in the future finds this useful! And I hope those links

Tablet stuck in recovery - ONE FOR THE BRAINIACS

So, I've stupidly let my son try and flash a custom rom on his generic chinese tablet (Cambridge Sciences StarPAD 9 SE) and he found a few very similar spec tablet roms on the internet which said they require TWRP to be installed before flashing. So he's installed that, rebooted into recovery but the TWRP doesn't fit the screen in terms of resolution size. Now, that's not the main problem. The main problem is that the touch screen doesn't work at all within TWRP so I can't select any of the options. Whenever I power off the device and power it back up, it reboots to TWRP and doesn't boot to the main ROM. He said that it did originally reboot to the ROM whenever he first installed the TWRP because he said that it was the only way of getting to the recovery. So I thought that I could just use ADB and just force a reboot from there but off course, there is no ADB device driver to be found on the internet.. well not that I can find anyway.
I'll attach a photo for you guys and hopefully someone can help me with this as I've spent the best part of 2 days trying to figure out a fix but am now stuck.
I'm now able to access the device by adb however I don't know what to do from there.
Any help?
Does anyone have any firmware for this device? I can't find anything on the internet at all. If I could get a firmware img then the device will be fixed.
The build number from the firmware is: fiber_evb-eng 4.1.1 master 20130530
the command is "adb reboot" AFAIK
Did he take a nandroid backup before flashing? It looks like a version of twrp that is not compatible with the tablet was installed. Not every device supports touch screen recovery mode. Can you use the volume rocker to navigate?
I can almost guarantee you won't find the firmware for a Chinese tablet. I've just been trying to help someone in a similar situation but the best we could manage was a ROM that had lots of glitches.
Edit how did he flash TWRP if it was incorrectly flashed ie: fastboot flash boot recovery.img instead of fastboot flash recovery recovery.img then that may produce a device that would boot straight into TWRP. I've heard of that happening on a nexus 7
Sent from my C5303 using xda app-developers app

Cannot install update

I've searched through the forums, but haven't found an answer, so I'm starting a new thread.
I received a G Watch as a gift last weekend, and it had a problem on the initial configuration. It wasn't able to connect and download any updates, so I manually flashed the updated firmware. Everything is working fine, and I'm on build LDZ22D. I was able to use G Watch Restore Tools V9 to flash system and recovery (and, in fact, boot, although that didn't seem to do anything), which got my watch up to an earlier version.
I then tried LG G Watch Return to Stock LDZ22D to get to my current build. However, I'm notified that there's an update available, but I'm not able to install it. When I try to install it through the regular user interface, it boots to recovery.
I've tried using the stock recovery, but had no luck with getting anything other than the android with the sore tummy appearing. I've used TWRP to try to flash update.zip (the stock downloaded update) and also tried this image.
When I try to apply update.zip through TWRP recovery, it gives me an error.
E: Error executing updater binary in zip '/cache/update.zip'
Package expects build fingerprint of lge/platina/dory:5.1.1/LDZ22D/19259530:user/release-keys or lge/platina/dory:5.1.1/LCA43/2160025:user/release-keys; this device has lge/cm_dory/dory:4.4.2/KVT9L/561735d166:eng/test-keys
It looks like the release keys are set to a nexus 7 build number (I don't understand how that's even possible). Is there a way to rewrite those keys? I understand they're part of the digital signing process, but I'm not sure why they didn't reset when I used the return to stock tool to flash my current image, which is the actual LDZ22D build. I appear to have a key mismatch. I've tried reflashing boot.img, system.img, and recovery.img manually (the ones included in the return to stock download), but they don't seem to work.
I get the same error when I try to flash the update I downloaded through ADB sideload. I'm frustrated, since my watch gives me this error, then after I reboot, it goes ahead and downloads the update.zip again, killing my cell data plan.
I'd love any help or insight into this. Is there a way to turn off the verification of the keys, or write the actual keys associated with my build? I'm new to working with a watch, and I've got limited experience working with phones/tablets through custom recovery. I'm not interested in a custom rom for my watch - I just wanted to get it to run properly on the stock image, and had a whack at getting it set up through developer options instead of letting it error out when I first got it.
Thanks in advance!
Still working on it
Okay, after quite a bit more research, it appears that my recovery.img doesn't match the rest of the build. I've tried the LDZ22D recovery.img, but it doesn't respond to any user input.
I'm now trying the factory image files from this post.
It seems there are a few people having problems getting to LCA43 recently. If you have an unlocked bootloader by now, you can try this method (TWRP restore from my LCA43 system+boot backup).
Hope this helps.

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