Dell Venue 7480 issue -Bricked?

Dell Venue 7480 issue -Bricked? - Dell Venue

HI all, looking for some help. I recently became the owner of this Dell 7840. It was my sister's former boyfriend's device or something to that effect. It looks somebody did a hard reset and when I boot it up is asks for the google acct verification for acct previously used. This is information that she does not have and is not willing to attempt to get. I tried all the tricks online to bypass to no avail. So I assume its bricked.
Having read through most of the forums on this device, I figured I would several posted suggestions to try and unbrick the device to fix it but have not been able to get anywhere. (Ref How-To: Unbrick Dell Venue 8 7840 by wirebook) I have no way of know if USB debugging or developer settings were enabled but I suppose not.
I can get into Fastboot mode which list the following:
Prod name: BB, Variant - Venue 8 7840, HW version -unknown, Bootloader version - unknown, IFWI version - 0004.FD1F
S/N - 5B700JQA01, Signing - unknown, Secure Boot - unknown, Device State - Locked
The in Green - Fast boot CMD waiting
I installed Drivers, intel flash tool, SDK tools, ADB fastboot - Shows up devices as an Intel Android Device, with ADB interface
It shows up in the Flash tool and I've tried flashing 1-502_droidboot_and_firmware, but it times out everytime at 40 tries.
When I go into recovery mode:
it says Android system recovery, Venue 8 7840-user 5.1 LMY47I BBX803A173600DEL release keys
other than the option to wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache partition - (which I have tried) - the only option is apply update from ADB.
When I run the cwm tether launcher through IntelAndroid-FBRL-07-24-2015 I get:
'Device Status ADB Online', 'Device into 5B700JQA01 sideload'
Try to run T4 - get error 'closed', 'waiting for device' - Which is odd because when I tried it yesterday it said something like this:
'Using Trigger 4
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending '/tmp/recovery.zip' (7154 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.284s]
writing '/tmp/recovery.zip'...
FAILED (remote: Bootloader must not be locked)
finished. total time: 0.318s
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending '/tmp/recovery.launcher' (704 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.061s]
writing '/tmp/recovery.launcher'...
FAILED (remote: Bootloader must not be locked)
finished. total time: 0.095s
...
FAILED (remote: command not allowed in this device state)
finished. total time: 0.035s
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending '/system/bin/logcat' (349 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.055s]
writing '/system/bin/logcat'...
FAILED (remote: Bootloader must not be locked)
finished. total time: 0.096s
...
FAILED (remote: command not allowed in this device state)
finished. total time: 0.035s'
Minimal ADB and Fastboot>adb devices finds the device
List of devices attached
adb server version (32) doesn't match this client (36); killing...
* daemon started successfully *
5B700JQA01 sideload
D:\SDK\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot devices
5B700JQA01 fastboot
D:\SDK\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>
All I am trying to do is get thing back up and running - I don't need root or anything else - I would like to be able to sell as a functional device - if not possible no matter, but I thought I would ask the experts here.

So I had been fighting with my device for the past two days. I erased the entire system from the device by accident on fastboot. Most everything I read said I was doomed. However, there were 2 topics that really helped me through get it back up and running. I dont remember the specific steps that I took to get it up and running - but I'll give you some thoughts. Remember that I lost my entire system.img - so there wasn't even an OS to get to. When you would boot it - it would simply load to the circle dell logo and sit there.
Here are the topics I found the most useful -
https://forum.xda-developers.com/dell-venue/general/7840-stuck-bootloop-bricked-t3178937
https://forum.xda-developers.com/dell-venue/general/7840-stuck-bootloop-bricked-t3178937
First, I was about to get into Fastboot - but there was no stock recovery or cwm. I started by loading up the Intel flash tool. I initially flashed the developer DDO_BB.xml which unlocked things and allowed me to start really getting to work. I then flashed a stock recovery.img through fastboot. This at least allowed me to get to a stock recovery. It also allowed me to get to ADB. I circled here for awhile.. but eventually was able to get back to fastboot to get the T4 tool working. From there, I was finally able to get CWM loaded. Once I got in there - I figured I was going to be golden. Still wasn't having any luck fastboot flashing the system.img... so I was able to transfer my system.img file over to an ext_4 sd card, then use the dd command to transfer it over to the device. Once i got success here, I was totally golden. Was able to wipe data, cache, etc.. and it finally booted.
So, this might not be the exact issues you are having - but it should give you confidence that recovery can happen. Again - those links helped me the most.. it was a lot of trial and error.. but I figured I was already in a bad place, so it couldn't get much worse.

Once I flashed the DDO_BB through the Intel tool, it unlocks everything since it was released from Dell as the developer tools. My bootloader and recovery were both locked before flashing that. Afterwards, I was able to do whatever I needed.
---------- Post added at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------
Also, make sure you are in the right mode to flash.. you need to hold volume up and power while connected to the tool and it should register on the tool even though the screen may be blank on the device.

MynticeLX said:
So I had been fighting with my device for the past two days. I erased the entire system from the device by accident on fastboot. Most everything I read said I was doomed. However, there were 2 topics that really helped me through get it back up and running. I dont remember the specific steps that I took to get it up and running - but I'll give you some thoughts. Remember that I lost my entire system.img - so there wasn't even an OS to get to. When you would boot it - it would simply load to the circle dell logo and sit there.
Here are the topics I found the most useful -
https://forum.xda-developers.com/dell-venue/general/7840-stuck-bootloop-bricked-t3178937
https://forum.xda-developers.com/dell-venue/general/7840-stuck-bootloop-bricked-t3178937
First, I was about to get into Fastboot - but there was no stock recovery or cwm. I started by loading up the Intel flash tool. I initially flashed the developer DDO_BB.xml which unlocked things and allowed me to start really getting to work. I then flashed a stock recovery.img through fastboot. This at least allowed me to get to a stock recovery. It also allowed me to get to ADB. I circled here for awhile.. but eventually was able to get back to fastboot to get the T4 tool working. From there, I was finally able to get CWM loaded. Once I got in there - I figured I was going to be golden. Still wasn't having any luck fastboot flashing the system.img... so I was able to transfer my system.img file over to an ext_4 sd card, then use the dd command to transfer it over to the device. Once i got success here, I was totally golden. Was able to wipe data, cache, etc.. and it finally booted.
So, this might not be the exact issues you are having - but it should give you confidence that recovery can happen. Again - those links helped me the most.. it was a lot of trial and error.. but I figured I was already in a bad place, so it couldn't get much worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MynticeLX said:
Once I flashed the DDO_BB through the Intel tool, it unlocks everything since it was released from Dell as the developer tools. My bootloader and recovery were both locked before flashing that. Afterwards, I was able to do whatever I needed.
---------- Post added at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------
Also, make sure you are in the right mode to flash.. you need to hold volume up and power while connected to the tool and it should register on the tool even though the screen may be blank on the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again for the help - You were right - I was not in the correct mode - I apparently missed that at some point - So using that I was able flash the old droid boot (part1) from:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/dell-venue/general/7840-update-t3162385/page5
which worked successfully - Than I was able to use IntelAndroid-FBRL-07-24-2015 to get the cwm working.
I copied UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip and update.zip to my SD card
I followed steps 28-33 from:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/dell-venue/general/root-howto-dell-venue-8-7840-t3282532
Flashed both zip successfully. but when I went to reboot - the only option was to repair boot or something and when evrything rebooted - I was back to the FRP screen. I must be missing something to fix the boot image - maybe I need to use a different copy of the OS
Any thoughts?

Have you tried the boot.img and system.img from xBIGREDDx post on the second link that I referenced for you? I believe those were the main files I used. I wouldn't worry about rooting right now, just get your system back up then go back and root.
xBIGREDDx system and boot img files
http://forum.datadevelopement.com/sh...58&postcount=5
system.img: https://mega.co.nz/#!w9AjBCSI!YdQenT...SgiyULA1FVIA8A
boot.img: https://mega.co.nz/#!Fk4FUSza!1gY1Rj...VOCH-P2V5fVFPI
---------- Post added at 07:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ----------
I would put the system image on a SD card.. then boot into cwm recovery to use the dd command in shell to transfer over the system.. then boot back into bootloader and fastboot the boot.img over to it.

MynticeLX said:
Have you tried the boot.img and system.img from xBIGREDDx post on the second link that I referenced for you? I believe those were the main files I used. I wouldn't worry about rooting right now, just get your system back up then go back and root.
xBIGREDDx system and boot img files
http://forum.datadevelopement.com/sh...58&postcount=5
system.img: https://mega.co.nz/#!w9AjBCSI!YdQenT...SgiyULA1FVIA8A
boot.img: https://mega.co.nz/#!Fk4FUSza!1gY1Rj...VOCH-P2V5fVFPI
---------- Post added at 07:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ----------
I would put the system image on a SD card.. then boot into cwm recovery to use the dd command in shell to transfer over the system.. then boot back into bootloader and fastboot the boot.img over to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK so I formatted an sd card in ext4 using Minitool partition wizard - got back into cwm recovery - unmounted system and mounted the external sd.
after several attempts trying to follow the instructions on:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/de...-8-7840-developer-files-posted-t3144232/page2
I was finally able to push the system.img to the sd card using adb but then I get to the next step and I get this response from ADB:
D:\SDK\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>dd if=/external_sd/system.img of=/dev/block/by-name/system
'dd' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
This is my first time using ADB so I'm not sure if I'm missing something though it seems i'm making some progress.
I noticed that you said to "use the dd command in shell to transfer over the system." I tried that as well - I typed 'shell' in cwm as indicated and entered the same command 'dd if=/external_sd/system.img of=/dev/block/by-name/system' - nothing happened.

Resazurin said:
OK so I formatted an sd card in ext4 using Minitool partition wizard - got back into cwm recovery - unmounted system and mounted the external sd.
after several attempts trying to follow the instructions on:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/de...-8-7840-developer-files-posted-t3144232/page2
I was finally able to push the system.img to the sd card using adb but then I get to the next step and I get this response from ADB:
D:\SDK\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>dd if=/external_sd/system.img of=/dev/block/by-name/system
'dd' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
This is my first time using ADB so I'm not sure if I'm missing something though it seems i'm making some progress.
I noticed that you said to "use the dd command in shell to transfer over the system." I tried that as well - I typed 'shell' in cwm as indicated and entered the same command 'dd if=/external_sd/system.img of=/dev/block/by-name/system' - nothing happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to make this super simplistic.. but want to make sure we are both starting from the same place. Get the device to launch into CWM. Once there, you'll need to move within the menu structure every couple mins to make sure that it doesn't exit out on you. You should be able to ADB from your computer at this point. Make sure you use adb devices to see your active device. Once you see it, and have the system.img on your external sd card - you should be able to run the command "adb shell". You should see the CMD window put you into a ">$ or >#" like screen. From there, you are specifically operating on the device - not on your computer to the device. This is where you can start to run the series of commands. I was not able to run the mount commands - so I just used the menu in CWM to make sure that they were mounted correctly. Before transferring the system - I would format it through CWM. Then, after all that is done, type in the dd command from the post referenced exactly. You won't really get any feedback from the cmd window or the device... as long as you DONT have the ability to type in the cmd window - it means it's transferring. It will finally say if it has successfully transferred or error'ed out. Hopefully a success. I did find out that through the process, I had to click in and through the CWM on the device to make sure that it stayed active and didn't kick me out into reboot.
Good luck. Sounds like you are getting close.

MynticeLX said:
Sorry to make this super simplistic.. but want to make sure we are both starting from the same place. Get the device to launch into CWM. Once there, you'll need to move within the menu structure every couple mins to make sure that it doesn't exit out on you. You should be able to ADB from your computer at this point. Make sure you use adb devices to see your active device. Once you see it, and have the system.img on your external sd card - you should be able to run the command "adb shell". You should see the CMD window put you into a ">$ or >#" like screen. From there, you are specifically operating on the device - not on your computer to the device. This is where you can start to run the series of commands. I was not able to run the mount commands - so I just used the menu in CWM to make sure that they were mounted correctly. Before transferring the system - I would format it through CWM. Then, after all that is done, type in the dd command from the post referenced exactly. You won't really get any feedback from the cmd window or the device... as long as you DONT have the ability to type in the cmd window - it means it's transferring. It will finally say if it has successfully transferred or error'ed out. Hopefully a success. I did find out that through the process, I had to click in and through the CWM on the device to make sure that it stayed active and didn't kick me out into reboot.
Good luck. Sounds like you are getting close.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to your clarification - I can report success - successful dd of system.img from external SD using ADB shell and after rebooting to fastboot, the successful fastboot push of root.img
Rebooted tablet and FRP was gone - logged in with my own google acct and all is well. Working tablet
Thank you so much for the help and your patience - really appreciate it and I learned a lot -
Update:
I didn't realize I was already rooted - Super SU was installed with the process above - I was able to flash the UPDATE.ZIP of 5.1 from xBIGREDDx link (https://forum.xda-developers.com/dell-venue/general/7840-update-t3162385/page2) through CWM. Works without issue - Still rooted after update. Thanks again

Related

[SOLVED] Can access fastboot but can't get past splash screen

Yesterday, I unlocked and rooted my tf201, and proceeded to mess around with it. DL'd androwook, wiped everything and installed it. I think my mistake was choosing wipe internal SD when installing (it's where the installer was), and as a result, I was not able to get past the boot animation. I screwed around with it some more and eventually, after trying the Unbrick tool by MasterZen, was stuck at the splash screen with no recovery. Somehow, I had managed to screw up the boot and recovery. Oops.
However, I was able to fix it (boots normally, has recovery, etc..) with some knowledge of fastboot. This is what I did, as a complete amateur, so I probably can't answer specific questions and definitely cannot be held responsible for what you do to your tablet. Make sure you confirm files as non-corrupted with MD5s. This is basically a manual alternative to the Unbricker tool by MasterZen.
I used:
fastboot & adb
TWRP recovery twrp.blob
Ubuntu for Android boot image
[Optional] Stock .28 for unlocked (blob from inside the zip), which you will need to rename (system.blob)
Put these blobs in the folder with your fastboot.
1) get tf201 into fastboot (hold volume down + power on), connect to PC
2) command prompt, "cd [directory fastboot is in]"
3) "fastboot devices" & confirm your device is seen, otherwise go to devmgr and uninstall tf201 drivers and install the Universal Naked Drivers.
4) "fastboot -i 0x0b05 flash recovery twrp.blob" - flashes recovery so you have TWRP. You could try CWM if you'd like.
5) "fastboot -i 0x0b05 flash boot prime-sdlinux.blob" - flashes main kernel.
At this point you should be able to shut down, hold down volume down, and boot with the option of getting into recovery. In recovery, you could use ADB to push a specific rom you'd like and install zip from there. Alternatively, if you want to be able to boot into the system, and have downloaded the stock .28 for unlocked devices and placed the blob inside the folder with fastboot, you can type into command prompt:
6) "fastboot -i 0x0b05 flash system system.blob[or whatever you named it]"
And you should be able to boot up normally.
I've rooted and messed around with android phones before, but honestly I don't know enough about it to give 100% confident answers, and as such cannot be held accountable for what you do to your own device. I figured if someone also had this problem and wasn't able to get the Unbricker tool to work, they could benefit from what I learned. So good luck! Leave questions and feedback, and I'll do my best to answer.
Thanks to blade2k11, who in this post, made me realize that the main kernel was screwed, and that's why I couldn't access the recovery, and that I could fix it with the bootimage from the Ubuntu for Android post.

Thank you sooo much. This brought life back to my tablet!

jmonster141 said:
Thank you sooo much. This brought life back to my tablet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really glad to hear it! I almost thought I had posted this for nothing.

Yea man. I was set on me having a $500 paper weight. You're my tablet's savior. Thanks again
Sent from my myTouch 4g using xda app-developers app

thank you
i wanted to thank you so very much i was at my wits end stayed up for hours trying to fix a simple mistake and you saved the day with this if you where standing here i think i would prob kiss ya cause im that happy that i didn't mess up my only real toy i have

:good: I can't thank you enough, I've been working on mine for a few days now, bad rom download messed it up, then one click fix made things worse, was starting to think hardware issues when nothing was saving or taking, you just saved my tab and made my day than you

Happy to hear it. Have fun with custom roms! I'm on cm10 jellybro, I highly recommend it.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda app-developers app

i just went through the fire. did all this to the teee and still no os. was not able to push the rom i wanted even though my device is seen. the .blob file loaded in second,, yet im stuck on the splash screen with no OS installed. what do i need to do know?? i have got a paper wight on my deck and it was not bought to be so

jyarborough said:
i just went through the fire. did all this to the teee and still no os. was not able to push the rom i wanted even though my device is seen. the .blob file loaded in second,, yet im stuck on the splash screen with no OS installed. what do i need to do know?? i have got a paper wight on my deck and it was not bought to be so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you download the stock .28 rom and take out the system blob? Have you checked the MD5's to make sure they're downloaded without any corruptions?

jyarborough said:
i just went through the fire. did all this to the teee and still no os. was not able to push the rom i wanted even though my device is seen. the .blob file loaded in second,, yet im stuck on the splash screen with no OS installed. what do i need to do know?? i have got a paper wight on my deck and it was not bought to be so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming you have access to adb, put the rom file in your adb folder you have been working from, in windows, right click the rom file, go to properieties, copy the name of the file.
In your adb command box you opened from within your adb folder (pressand hold shift while right clicking select command prompt here) type adb push then right click and paste the name of the rom you copied followed by .zip
This should take about 5 minutes to transfer, go get a coffee or something.
Once done, boot into recovery (twrp)
Under install you should see the rom, install, after the reboot you should be good....

i got stuck in a bootloop trying to unbrick, i can boot into recovery using this but when i try to transfer a rom with adb it gives an error that /sdcard is read-only so i cant put my rom on it. i tried using the stock .28 blob but im still in the same bootloop. not sure what else to

Deleted... whew!

Thanks guys for the help. I'm back up and running
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

Thank you soooo much. I have a working tablet again!

Worked!!
geo.z said:
Yesterday, I unlocked and rooted my tf201, and proceeded to mess around with it. DL'd androwook, wiped everything and installed it. I think my mistake was choosing wipe internal SD when installing (it's where the installer was), and as a result, I was not able to get past the boot animation. I screwed around with it some more and eventually, after trying the Unbrick tool by MasterZen, was stuck at the splash screen with no recovery. Somehow, I had managed to screw up the boot and recovery. Oops.
However, I was able to fix it (boots normally, has recovery, etc..) with some knowledge of fastboot. This is what I did, as a complete amateur, so I probably can't answer specific questions and definitely cannot be held responsible for what you do to your tablet. Make sure you confirm files as non-corrupted with MD5s. This is basically a manual alternative to the Unbricker tool by MasterZen.
I used:
fastboot & adb
TWRP recovery twrp.blob
Ubuntu for Android boot image
[Optional] Stock .28 for unlocked (blob from inside the zip), which you will need to rename (system.blob)
Put these blobs in the folder with your fastboot.
1) get tf201 into fastboot (hold volume down + power on), connect to PC
2) command prompt, "cd [directory fastboot is in]"
3) "fastboot devices" & confirm your device is seen, otherwise go to devmgr and uninstall tf201 drivers and install the Universal Naked Drivers.
4) "fastboot -i 0x0b05 flash recovery twrp.blob" - flashes recovery so you have TWRP. You could try CWM if you'd like.
5) "fastboot -i 0x0b05 flash boot prime-sdlinux.blob" - flashes main kernel.
At this point you should be able to shut down, hold down volume down, and boot with the option of getting into recovery. In recovery, you could use ADB to push a specific rom you'd like and install zip from there. Alternatively, if you want to be able to boot into the system, and have downloaded the stock .28 for unlocked devices and placed the blob inside the folder with fastboot, you can type into command prompt:
6) "fastboot -i 0x0b05 flash system system.blob[or whatever you named it]"
And you should be able to boot up normally.
I've rooted and messed around with android phones before, but honestly I don't know enough about it to give 100% confident answers, and as such cannot be held accountable for what you do to your own device. I figured if someone also had this problem and wasn't able to get the Unbricker tool to work, they could benefit from what I learned. So good luck! Leave questions and feedback, and I'll do my best to answer.
Thanks to blade2k11, who in this post, made me realize that the main kernel was screwed, and that's why I couldn't access the recovery, and that I could fix it with the bootimage from the Ubuntu for Android post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good::good: Thank you soooo much..My prime is alive !! very much appreciated!!!

Dead link
The link for the ubuntu for android kernel is dead...
Can someone post it back please ?

When I attempt to flash the blobs through fastboot it gives me FAILED unknown error. Anyone help me please? The recovery flashes fine but the boot image gives me the failed error. When i try to access recovery it gives me unrecoverable bootloader error

im trying to flash main kernel i get error that says fastboot.exe has stopped working. Any help?
C:\Users\John St\Desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>fastboot -i 0x0b05 f
lash recovery twrp.blob
sending 'recovery' (7462 KB)...
OKAY [ 2.037s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 1.006s]
finished. total time: 3.045s
C:\Users\John St\Desktop\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>fastboot -i 0x0b05 f
lash boot prime-sdlinux.blob
error: out of memory

Installed wrong ADB and Bootloader, please help

Ok, Im retarted. I got my HTC One and had no clue what I was doing trying to unlock it. Well, I eventually got it unlocked but somehow installed the ADB and Bootloader from my Nexus4 onto it. I cant figure out how I did that or how to get the correct ADB and Bootloader onto the device now.
Can anyone assist me?

HyperM3 said:
Ok, Im retarted. I got my HTC One and had no clue what I was doing trying to unlock it. Well, I eventually got it unlocked but somehow installed the ADB and Bootloader from my Nexus4 onto it. I cant figure out how I did that or how to get the correct ADB and Bootloader onto the device now.
Can anyone assist me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well you dont install ADB to your phone, thats on your computer. You may have installed the wrong boot.img but probably not the bootloader. please give more details. list the files you installed to the One.

Ok, so I went out and bought a new laptop since the one I was using was 8 years old running XP and took 5 minutes to open any program.
Anyway, I downloaded the all-in-one-toolkit on the laptop and did a factory reset on the phone. I installed the correct drivers on the computer(hopefully). The phone is still saying its unlocked when I put it in fastboot mode. I have it connected right now and Im trying to install the TWRP but the CMD prompt is just sitting there saying <waiting for device>.
Im the least techie technophile there is apparently. I usually have a friend do all this set up crap on every phone and then I have no problems installing kernels and ROM's after that. Its this beginning crap I always get lost on.
Im seriously so frustrated that Im debating if I even want to keep the phone anymore.

wait because you can't get it install a recovery your going to rage quit ..... dang

CheesyNutz said:
wait because you can't get it install a recovery your going to rage quit ..... dang
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have had this phone since Friday and have been working on doing this the whole time, wouldnt you be feeling the same way?? Maybe since you have already done all this you might be able to lend a helping hand.

you're seeing waiting for device because you don't have the drivers installed correctly.
are you on windows 8?
get the drivers from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2135381
then look at the link to how to use adb and fastboot in my signature

gunnyman said:
you're seeing waiting for device because you don't have the drivers installed correctly.
are you on windows 8?
get the drivers from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2135381
then look at the link to how to use adb and fastboot in my signature
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now Im on W8, never used this operating system before either so Im trying to figure this out as I go. Im a Mac guy(still on Leopard though, dont get me started).
So I used the CMD prompt to unlock the bootloader in the first place. The all in one toolkit is a POS, it doesnt seem to do anything. Anyway, so I went to your link and installed the drivers. All I want to do is root the device so I can install TWRP or vice versa(again, I always had a friend do this).

HyperM3 said:
Now Im on W8, never used this operating system before either so Im trying to figure this out as I go. Im a Mac guy(still on Leopard though, dont get me started).
So I used the CMD prompt to unlock the bootloader in the first place. The all in one toolkit is a POS, it doesnt seem to do anything. Anyway, so I went to your link and installed the drivers. All I want to do is root the device so I can install TWRP or vice versa(again, I always had a friend do this).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
once you have the drivers installed
it's simple and all in ones aren't needed really.
I have a mac too and have to do it all by hand.
follow the directions in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2182792
I installed cwm then installed the root.zip.

gunnyman said:
once you have the drivers installed
it's simple and all in ones aren't needed really.
I have a mac too and have to do it all by hand.
follow the directions in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2182792
I installed cwm then installed the root.zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im just extremely computer illiterate apparently. No matter what I do my computer still says device not recognized. When I click on the device manager theres a yellow triangle over "my HTC". I click on it to try to update the drivers and it says they are up to date. I have no clue if thats even important. Im in research overload right now.

Still have access to a Mac? So much easier

gunnyman said:
Still have access to a Mac? So much easier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, Im on the mac for all of this research.

HyperM3 said:
Yeah, Im on the mac for all of this research.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
install fastboot and adb for the mac and use it instead
commands are the same, no driver BS to worry about

gunnyman said:
install fastboot and adb for the mac and use it instead
commands are the same, no driver BS to worry about
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might just have to try that. I went through the whole rigamarole of creating the android folder and in there I put ADB, fastboot, adbwinapi.dll and the TWRP img file. I got the command line open trying to install the TWRP and it just sits there still saying <waiting for device>.

Trust me the mac is much easier

gunnyman said:
Trust me the mac is much easier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I have everything hooked up to the mac. When the phone is powered on I can use android file transfer to see all the folders in the phone. When I disconnect the phone, reboot into bootloader and then reconnect the phone, thats where Im lost. No clue what Im supposed to do next.
I have a folder on the desktop with the fastboot, adb and TWRP file in there. Im able to navigate my command prompt to that folder and then.....no clue what next.

HyperM3 said:
Ok, I have everything hooked up to the mac. When the phone is powered on I can use android file transfer to see all the folders in the phone. When I disconnect the phone, reboot into bootloader and then reconnect the phone, thats where Im lost. No clue what Im supposed to do next.
I have a folder on the desktop with the fastboot, adb and TWRP file in there. Im able to navigate my command prompt to that folder and then.....no clue what next.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok open a command prompt
use spotlight and type terminal
once terminal is open
cd to the directory you put those files in
for example
cd /Users/Gunnyman/Desktop/files
once you're there
type ls and hit enter
this will give you a list of the files in that directory
you should see fastboot and adb and the recovery image
make sure your recovery is unzipped and says somefilename.img
once you've verified the files are there
type ./fastboot devices
you should see a serial number there
if it isn't there make sure you see fastboot when you did the ls command from before
next is installing the recovery
the command is ./fastboot flash recovery nameofrecovery.img
after that completes completely power down your phone
power it back up and when it boots type ./adb reboot bootloader
from there choose recovery and recovery should boot
sometimes this takes a couple of tries to make it stick.
---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:55 PM ----------
gunnyman said:
ok open a command prompt
use spotlight and type terminal
once terminal is open
cd to the directory you put those files in
for example
cd /Users/Gunnyman/Desktop/files
once you're there
type ls and hit enter
this will give you a list of the files in that directory
you should see fastboot and adb and the recovery image
make sure your recovery is unzipped and says somefilename.img
once you've verified the files are there
type ./fastboot devices
you should see a serial number there
if it isn't there make sure you see fastboot when you did the ls command from before
next is installing the recovery
the command is ./fastboot flash recovery nameofrecovery.img
after that completes completely power down your phone
power it back up and when it boots type ./adb reboot bootloader
from there choose recovery and recovery should boot
sometimes this takes a couple of tries to make it stick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
installing the root is as simple as dragging the root.zip or whatever it's called onto your phone rebooting to recovery and installing it

gunnyman said:
ok open a command prompt
use spotlight and type terminal
once terminal is open
cd to the directory you put those files in
for example
cd /Users/Gunnyman/Desktop/files
once you're there
type ls and hit enter
this will give you a list of the files in that directory
you should see fastboot and adb and the recovery image
make sure your recovery is unzipped and says somefilename.img
once you've verified the files are there
type ./fastboot devices
you should see a serial number there
if it isn't there make sure you see fastboot when you did the ls command from before
next is installing the recovery
the command is ./fastboot flash recovery nameofrecovery.img
after that completes completely power down your phone
power it back up and when it boots type ./adb reboot bootloader
from there choose recovery and recovery should boot
sometimes this takes a couple of tries to make it stick.
---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:55 PM ----------
installing the root is as simple as dragging the root.zip or whatever it's called onto your phone rebooting to recovery and installing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was good up until this failed:
Macintosh-2:android HyperM3$ ls
adb openrecovery-twrp-2.5.0.0-m7.img
fastboot
Macintosh-2:android HyperM3$ ./fastboot devices
HT348W907962 fastboot
Macintosh-2:android HyperM3$ ./fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.5.0.0-m7.img
sending 'recovery' (0 KB)...
FAILED (remote: unknown command)
finished. total time: 0.000s

That looks like a bad.download of the recovery. It shouldn't say 0 kb. Your command looks right

gunnyman said:
That looks like a bad.download of the recovery. It shouldn't say 0 kb. Your command looks right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt even notice that 0 file size. Just downloaded it again and followed your steps. Totally worked and Im looking at TWRP on my phone right now. Thank you for your patience and rocking ability to walk me through this. Is there anyway I can donate to you for something? I cant click "thank you" for your posts enough.

Happy to help. No donations necessary.

[Q] No android-info.txt & android-product.txt ~I Need Help~

Hey everyone,
This is my first time posting to the forums. I have been trying to get everything done without having to ask questions since there are so many all over the place and I can see how it can get tiring trying to help everyone when their may be an answer out there already if you look. However, I have ran into an issue that I can't seem to find much information on. I have the HTC Rezound that is S-On (apparently you need a Linux machine to get S-Off which I don't have. Using Windows 7.) and have been using fastboot to get things done. I have unlocked the bootloader and have installed the 'Amon Ra' recovery and setup Superuser and SU. As far as I know, I have to use ROM's that are S-On friendly (right?) and I chose to try out 'EclipticRez' and later 'Talon'.
As I tried to flash the ROM's through fastboot it fails with the following errors every time and I cannot continue:
archive does not contain android-info.txt
archive does not contain android-product.txt
From what I found is that it may be a bad download of the ROM. Maybe.... But it happened consecutively with two different ROM downloads.
I also read that maybe the recovery wasn't setup, which as far as I know it is. Should I use a different recovery? Everyone usually references to using CWM, which I wouldn't mind using but I couldn't figure out how to get SU access.
Can I just create the files myself? They are only txt files after all.
If anyone can help me with this I will be so grateful! I'm pretty new to this and it has definitely been a fun learning experience for me
Much thanks in advance!

Strikerz87 said:
Hey everyone,
This is my first time posting to the forums. I have been trying to get everything done without having to ask questions since there are so many all over the place and I can see how it can get tiring trying to help everyone when their may be an answer out there already if you look. However, I have ran into an issue that I can't seem to find much information on. I have the HTC Rezound that is S-On (apparently you need a Linux machine to get S-Off which I don't have. Using Windows 7.) and have been using fastboot to get things done. I have unlocked the bootloader and have installed the 'Amon Ra' recovery and setup Superuser and SU. As far as I know, I have to use ROM's that are S-On friendly (right?) and I chose to try out 'EclipticRez' and later 'Talon'.
As I tried to flash the ROM's through fastboot it fails with the following errors every time and I cannot continue:
archive does not contain android-info.txt
archive does not contain android-product.txt
From what I found is that it may be a bad download of the ROM. Maybe.... But it happened consecutively with two different ROM downloads.
I also read that maybe the recovery wasn't setup, which as far as I know it is. Should I use a different recovery? Everyone usually references to using CWM, which I wouldn't mind using but I couldn't figure out how to get SU access.
Can I just create the files myself? They are only txt files after all.
If anyone can help me with this I will be so grateful! I'm pretty new to this and it has definitely been a fun learning experience for me
Much thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Switch to TWRP or CWM for your recovery.
2) You install the rom zip via recovery.
3) You then need to fastboot flash the kernel from the rom zip you downloaded. You don't install the whole rom via fastboot.
To borrow from the CM11 thread.
- Place the boot.img into the platform-tools folder of the Android SDK's install directory.
- Boot to the bootloader.
- Ensure your device is connected to your computer and that your device is now in fastboot mode. This is a white screen and it says fastboot on it.
- Open a Terminal (OSX or Linux) or CMD window (Windows) and cd to the platform-tools directory of the Android SDK's install directory.
- Issue this command to flash the boot.img we placed in the platform-tools folder earlier:
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
- Watch the output of the terminal, it should say something like "sent successfully".
- Finally send this command:
Code:
fastboot reboot
Since you're s-on, you'll need to do this whenever you install a new rom. Using these steps, you can install any rom you want.

Solved!
Thank you, Mjones, I finally got it! I knew it was much easier than I was making it out to be. I was missing the kernel! Yeah, a crucial part in the process, I know
I first ran CWM and flashed the ROM over and ran the .zip through recovery (which I couldn't understand at first as I could never find it in the directory) but the installer would only go 50% and would fail... makes sense why now lol
I later flashed TWRP and backed up again after recovering from the fail. I flashed over the kernel and voila! So simple... Had to slap myself.
Thanks again! Case solved.
REV3NT3CH, that is sweet!! I have been hoping there is a way to gain s-off with Windows. I have 7 at work and 8.1 (which I can't get anything to work on) at home. I actually have to focus on work today haha so I'll look into the method and try it out tomorrow if I can. Thanks for all of the help.

mjones73 said:
1) Switch to TWRP or CWM for your recovery.
2) You install the rom zip via recovery.
3) You then need to fastboot flash the kernel from the rom zip you downloaded. You don't install the whole rom via fastboot.
To borrow from the CM11 thread.
- Place the boot.img into the platform-tools folder of the Android SDK's install directory.
- Boot to the bootloader.
- Ensure your device is connected to your computer and that your device is now in fastboot mode. This is a white screen and it says fastboot on it.
- Open a Terminal (OSX or Linux) or CMD window (Windows) and cd to the platform-tools directory of the Android SDK's install directory.
- Issue this command to flash the boot.img we placed in the platform-tools folder earlier:
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
- Watch the output of the terminal, it should say something like "sent successfully".
- Finally send this command:
Code:
fastboot reboot
Since you're s-on, you'll need to do this whenever you install a new rom. Using these steps, you can install any rom you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank You So much, Mine case also Resolved. I was too frustated sice last 3 days cause my phone was in dead mode. At the end, fastboot flash boot boot.img Worked. ThankYOu

mjones73 said:
1) Switch to TWRP or CWM for your recovery.
2) You install the rom zip via recovery.
3) You then need to fastboot flash the kernel from the rom zip you downloaded. You don't install the whole rom via fastboot.
To borrow from the CM11 thread.
- Place the boot.img into the platform-tools folder of the Android SDK's install directory.
- Boot to the bootloader.
- Ensure your device is connected to your computer and that your device is now in fastboot mode. This is a white screen and it says fastboot on it.
- Open a Terminal (OSX or Linux) or CMD window (Windows) and cd to the platform-tools directory of the Android SDK's install directory.
- Issue this command to flash the boot.img we placed in the platform-tools folder earlier:
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
- Watch the output of the terminal, it should say something like "sent successfully".
- Finally send this command:
Code:
fastboot reboot
Since you're s-on, you'll need to do this whenever you install a new rom. Using these steps, you can install any rom you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to be able to do it via fastboot, as my Motorola Electrify M is stuck in a bootloop and there's no way I could find to boot into recovery. I'm using ./fastboot update name_of_update.zip and it is an official OTA .zip but I still get this error. Any suggestions?

ecols33 said:
I need to be able to do it via fastboot, as my Motorola Electrify M is stuck in a bootloop and there's no way I could find to boot into recovery. I'm using ./fastboot update name_of_update.zip and it is an official OTA .zip but I still get this error. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, don't know anything about that phone.

ecols33 said:
I need to be able to do it via fastboot, as my Motorola Electrify M is stuck in a bootloop and there's no way I could find to boot into recovery. I'm using ./fastboot update name_of_update.zip and it is an official OTA .zip but I still get this error. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try this first? (Right from Moto's site)
Perform a factory reset using external keys
1. Power off the phone, press and hold volume down button, press power button
2. Screen will come up with "Fastboot", press Vol down key to cycle through choices until you get "Android Recovery", then press Vol up key
3. Wait for the "triangle ! / Android" screen then go on to step 4
4. Press both Vol up and Vol down key simultaneously. A menu will come up
5. Tap on Vol down key until "wipe data/factory reset" is highlighted, and tap Power key. Another Confirmation screen will come. Tap on Vol down key until coming to Yes and tap Power key
6. After userdata is cleared, the "reboot system now" option will be highlighted by Default. Tap Power key
7. Phone will reboot to initial setup screen.

PLEASE HELP! I have a Huawei P8 and I tried to update to android 6.0 (GRA-L09xxxxxxxxxxxB317 or something) Went to install it and now im stuck in bootloop (a very annoying one, I can rarely get into eRecovery and eRecovery is not able to fix my problem: "Getting package info failed") so I went into fastboot&rescue mode and I did the flash thing via my PC (that Fastboot flash boot boot.img etc.) but I get this error saying: "FAILED (remote: Command not allowed)" for any image im trying to flash. My fastboot/bootloader or whatever it's called is locked my android is unrooted and stock android. I don't know how to unlock it I can't find anything anywhere.. HELP ME

not working
hariom.gupta11 said:

Thank You So much, Mine case also Resolved. I was too frustated sice last 3 days cause my phone was in dead mode. At the end, fastboot flash boot boot.img Worked. ThankYOu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not working on my 4c. write successful but when reboot is completed it goes to previous state.
"the user data partition can no longer be used"

zb602kl_x00tdb
L0RDZ3RO said:
PLEASE HELP! I have a Huawei P8 and I tried to update to android 6.0 (GRA-L09xxxxxxxxxxxB317 or something) Went to install it and now im stuck in bootloop (a very annoying one, I can rarely get into eRecovery and eRecovery is not able to fix my problem: "Getting package info failed") so I went into fastboot&rescue mode and I did the flash thing via my PC (that Fastboot flash boot boot.img etc.) but I get this error saying: "FAILED (remote: Command not allowed)" for any image im trying to flash. My fastboot/bootloader or whatever it's called is locked my android is unrooted and stock android. I don't know how to unlock it I can't find anything anywhere.. HELP ME
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have same problem on asus zenfone max pro m1 I bought it online said used and now working
can't boot into recovery.
can't boot into system.
Only EDL Mode and Fastboot Mode, but fastboot is Locked whic I cant unlock because I cannot boot into system to toggle USB Debugging and allow OEM unlocking
Qualcomm is harder to flash than MTK that can use SP FlashTool.
on this I use QFIL but keeps "sahara error". I tried searching and try moving firmware file to bin but no Luck. I'm currently trying different version of QFIL Tool.
If it FAILS my only HOPE is to use MUT-QCfire which will Require a "SmartCardReader" Which is a bit pricey and I don't even know if it will work on my device.

Backup carrier's recovery before flashing CWM

I'm trying to backup my entire 1st generation Moto G before doing anything like rooting or flashing CWM or CyanogenMod. From googling, it should be possible by booting from CWM without flashing it. I've had no success:
> $ fastboot.exe boot recovery-clockwork-6.0.4.7-falcon.img
> downloading 'boot.img'...
> OKAY [ 0.300s]
> booting...
> OKAY [ 0.240s]
> finished. total time: 0.540s
I unlocked the bootloader and tried the above with fastboot and mfastboot, from a CMD prompt in an account with Administrator privileges, and invoked with As Administrator. All that happened was that the device rebooted as normal. Not that for this to work, I had to copy all the DLL files from XDA's adb/fastboot folder tree into the directory with the CWM image.
Given that this doesn't work, is there any other way to backup the carrier-provided recovery before flashing CWM? Or can CWM be flashed to the devices (and booted) without clobbering the carrier's recovery? I don't mean the OS, I mean the recovery itself. Thanks.

my1stSmartPhone said:
I'm trying to backup my entire 1st generation Moto G before doing anything like rooting or flashing CWM or CyanogenMod. From googling, it should be possible by booting from CWM without flashing it. I've had no success:
> $ fastboot.exe boot recovery-clockwork-6.0.4.7-falcon.img
> downloading 'boot.img'...
> OKAY [ 0.300s]
> booting...
> OKAY [ 0.240s]
> finished. total time: 0.540s
I unlocked the bootloader and tried the above with fastboot and mfastboot, from a CMD prompt in an account with Administrator privileges, and invoked with As Administrator. All that happened was that the device rebooted as normal. Not that for this to work, I had to copy all the DLL files from XDA's adb/fastboot folder tree into the directory with the CWM image.
Given that this doesn't work, is there any other way to backup the carrier-provided recovery before flashing CWM? Or can CWM be flashed to the devices (and booted) without clobbering the carrier's recovery? I don't mean the OS, I mean the recovery itself. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm aware of. Essentially, the recovery partition will get overwritten once you flash CWM. I did manage to find some info on extracting the stock recovery.img. It's not for the Moto G specifically, but it does provide some insight to the process involved.
How to extract a stock recovery.img
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2027311&page=3
EASIEST WAY ROM DUMP - ROM dumping method for any phone - some links no longer work in that article.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771347
This should give you some reading material for the time being and I'll check in from time to time to see what progress has been made.

rikkster said:
Not that I'm aware of. Essentially, the recovery partition will get overwritten once you flash CWM. I did manage to find some info on extracting the stock recovery.img. It's not for the Moto G specifically, but it does provide some insight to the process involved.
How to extract a stock recovery.img
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2027311&page=3
EASIEST WAY ROM DUMP - ROM dumping method for any phone - some links no longer work in that article.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771347
This should give you some reading material for the time being and I'll check in from time to time to see what progress has been made.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the delayed follow-up. I had only fragmented opportunities to examine the content that you linked to (a few times), then things went crazy in the home stretch of 2014 at work, before the holiday season. Then the holiday season came in at full force (not that I'm complaining). Only now having a chance to look at this again, and a limited chance at that. Will respond with more thoughts/decisions as soon as possible.

Being unfamiliar with Android, the 2 links took a number of visits to digest. Here are my notes in following the 2 discussions.
1st link: How To Extract Stock Recovery.img From an android
-----------------------------------------------------------
I only followed this link until the 4th page, as most of it seemed to apply to other models. Because of the many references to the directory structure on the smartphone, I ended up using adb to explore the directory stucture on the phone. For anyone else who may follow in my naive footsteps for the Moto G (1st generation):
* For those unfamiliar with command line shells, for any of this to
work, you need to ensure that the directory containing adb.exe is
in your environment variable PATH (this is googlable)
* Since I was playing around and exploring, I also ensured that PATH
contained the directories in which fastboot & mfastboot resided.
This was not necessary for exploration described here.
* I then had to enable Developer Mode by going into Settings, About
phone, then tapping Build number ten times.
* I then went into Settings, Developer options, and enabled USB
debugging.
* For some reason, I also had go into Settings, Developer Options,
and Revoke USB debugging authorization
* After that, when I issued "adb devices" from the laptop, I and to
confirm authorization from the Moto G
* Note that if the Moto G required a password when powered up, I
needed to enter that before "adb devices" saw the Moto G.
* That "adb devices" command was issued at the command line on the PC
to which the Moto G was connected
* I did not need to be on an account with Administrator privileges
in order to use adb
* This 1st link suggested the existence of /proc/bml, /proc/mtd,
/dev/bml, and /dev/mtd. I found none of these on my Moto G.
* References are made to /proc/dumchar_info and /proc/emmc (albeit
for an "MTK Phone"), and my phone seems to contain neither
* Mention was made of SP Flash tool, but I'm making a conscious
decision to stick with mainstream tools
* CWM for sure, but the whole challenge right now is to back
up the OEM recovery before installing CWM
* Whatever the means of backing up the OEM's recovery, root cannot be
a prerequisite, since the point is to backup the whole phone as-is
before messing around, i.e., backing up the OEM recovery before
installing CWM, using it to back up the rest of the phone before
anything else like rooting, etc.
* Frankly, I don't plan to install much else, nor root unnecessarily
* From
http://www.theandroidhow.com/2014/06/how-to-dump-backup-any-android-rom.html,
the prospects of backing up the OEM's recovery without rooting
seems low
2nd link: [EASIEST WAY ROM DUMP] ROM dumping method for any phone
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* I initially entertained the idea of treating the Romdump mentioned
in the 2nd link as mainstream, but a google doesn't reveal any hits
for that, so it's not
* The top of the thread says "Need ROOT access", though it's not
clear whether the meaning is that root is needed for Romdump or
Romdump is needed because the person wants to back up the phone
before rooting
* The 1st post says that the su command is needed, which implies
that whatever was meant in the 1st bullet, root is needed to use
Romdump
* The 2nd post asks how Romdump can create a reliable image when CWM
requires that the OS must not be running (probably not referring to
backing up the OEM recovery). I could not find a clear and
compelling answer to the question of how the integrity could be
confirmed. One "answer" was to restore the backed up partition.
To me, this is not acceptable as you will be clobbering the content
of interest before confirming that it was properly backed up.
* I followed this thread at length, and several times, but it becomes
confusing after this and its relevance to my phone seems uncertain.
Due to the above 4 bullets, I decided not to spend the time needed
to more thoroughly vet this
It seems that backing up the OEM recovery without rooting may be a lost cause. I will go ahead and clobber it with CWM. Hopefully, that will work. Thanks for the help.

Need help installing recovery on XT1526, it's just not working, tried all the methods

EDIT: ALSO, use usb 2.0 ports to flash stuff, usb 3.0 is not working 100 percent yet.
EDIT, 14 Mar 2016: Kingroot got me to root and now I have twrp installed, http://www.kingroot.net/ .
I have a Sprint prepaid Moto E 2015 LTE, XT1526. I did the motorola bootloader unlock, that went fine.
The phone works and is activated on RingPlus, when it boots, I get the Red Warning, Bootloader unlocked, when normally booting.
When I try to flash a recovery to the phone (all that I could find here on XDA), I get this response:
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\adb-and-fastboot>fastboot devices
TA0XXXXXXX fastboot (edited to take out SN)
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\adb-and-fastboot>fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
target reported max download size of 268435456 bytes
sending 'recovery' (12916 KB)...
FAILED (data transfer failure (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.015s
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\adb-and-fastboot>adb kill-server
I've tried everything, and am providing as much info as I can, in case anyone seeing something that is 'new' or 'different' about my phone.

Double check and be sure you're attempting to flash the TWRP for the Moto E 2015 LTE "Surnia", not "Otus" (which is the Moto E 2015 3G). iirc, I used Squid's TWRP from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e-2015/development/twrp-squid-twrp-recovery-moto-e-lte-t3137649 . If 3.0.0 doesn't work, try 2.8.7.
You should also try changing USB ports. I ran into a similar issue where I wasn't able to flash things when I plug into my most often used USB port. I suspect that the contacts got worn from how often I used it, so I tried another USB port and it worked fine.

I have done same procedure as yours and meet same problem yesterday.
I flashed twrp recovery with following command,
fastboot boot recovery.img
instead of
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
here are the post which I followed.
http://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-root-the-moto-e-2015-and-unlock-the-bootloader-xda-tv/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e-2015/orig-development/twrp-moto-e-2015-recovery-t3049726
faheyd said:
When I try to flash a recovery to the phone (all that I could find here on XDA), I get this response:
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\adb-and-fastboot>fastboot devices
TA0XXXXXXX fastboot (edited to take out SN)
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\adb-and-fastboot>fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
target reported max download size of 268435456 bytes
sending 'recovery' (12916 KB)...
FAILED (data transfer failure (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.015s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks, but not working:
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\adb-and-fastboot>fastboot boot recovery.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
FAILED (data transfer failure (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.009s
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\adb-and-fastboot>

You can get rid of the warning by method in post 2 of this link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e-2015/general/guide-unlock-bootloader-moto-e-2015-t3045748
Q1:How to remove the unlocked bootloader message?
Then, flash the twrp recovery again. Make sure you have right recovery.img. here is the one I used.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/devdb/project/?id=8591#downloads

llaalways said:
You can get rid of the warning by method in post 2 of this link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e-2015/general/guide-unlock-bootloader-moto-e-2015-t3045748
Q1:How to remove the unlocked bootloader message?
Then, flash the twrp recovery again. Make sure you have right recovery.img. here is the one I used.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/devdb/project/?id=8591#downloads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, does not help. I've tried that recovery, one from cyanogenmod also, the recovery img is not the problem. Thanks anyway.

go to phone options and turn on USB debugging and when you go to flash it..
- turn off phone.
- hold volume down and power to get to boot loader screen..
Leave it there and connect to PC.
It should be showing you the bootloader screen.. you know what that is right ?
Then open "Minimal ADB and Fastboot" install folder..
Right click empty folder space while holding shift key down..
Select open cmd window here..
type in either,
fastboot devices
or
mfastboot devices
and make sure it says your device is listed
then paste into cmd window..
mfastboot flash recovery recovery.img
make sure your new recovery file has that name and is copied to that fastboot folder.
that should be it..

xpmule said:
go to phone options and turn on USB debugging and when you go to flash it..
- turn off phone.
- hold volume down and power to get to boot loader screen..
Leave it there and connect to PC.
It should be showing you the bootloader screen.. you know what that is right ?
Then open "Minimal ADB and Fastboot" install folder..
Right click empty folder space while holding shift key down..
Select open cmd window here..
type in either,
fastboot devices
or
mfastboot devices
and make sure it says your device is listed
then paste into cmd window..
mfastboot flash recovery recovery.img
make sure your new recovery file has that name and is copied to that fastboot folder.
that should be it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated in my OP, I've done all that, but I'll do it again, please look at my pics and post, you'll see I've done all that already:
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\mfastboot-v2>mfastboot devices
TA00000000 fastboot (edited to change serial number)
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\mfastboot-v2>mfastboot flash recovery recovery.img
target max-sparse-size: 256MB
sending 'recovery' (12916 KB)...
FAILED (data transfer failure (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.007s
S:\Phones\Moto_E-2015-2ndGen-XT1526\mfastboot-v2>

Can a DEV please help ? If I need to go back to stock I'll be glad to do it and then unlock the bootloader again, however, I've posted in two diff forums trying to get someone to tell me the correct SPRINT img to bring back to stock, no answers.
XT1526_SURNIA_USC_5.0.2_LXI22.50-29.1_cid9_subsidy-DEFAULT_CFC.xml
XT1526_SURNIA_REPW_5.0.2_LXI22.50-56-1.1_cid6_subsidy-REPUB_CFC.xml
XT1526_SURNIA_BOOST_5.0.2_LXI22.50-14.8_cid9_subsidy-DEFAULT_CFC.xml
I think it's the boost, but it doesn't have the SPRINT label on it, like my phone.

You just said,
"Can a DEV please help ? If I need to go back to stock I'll be glad to do it and then unlock the bootloader again"
So why would you say that ?
Did you relock your bootloader ?
Maybe that is why you are having a problem ?
I never have relocked mine eh..
And i have had no problem flashing TWRP from Squid.. all his various updates overwriting the old one.
I have flashed a bunch of stock retail recoveries too and all of those worked fine too.
I am curious did you try and load recovery after to see if it actually changed or not ?
EDIT:
Can i ask you exactly what Custom Recovery you are trying to install ?
And did you verify the MD5 hash ?
I always do *if it's available..

xpmule said:
You just said,
"Can a DEV please help ? If I need to go back to stock I'll be glad to do it and then unlock the bootloader again"
So why would you say that ? On other models of phones it has solved a problem of this nature.
Did you relock your bootloader ? Of course not, if you had read the post, you would see that.
Maybe that is why you are having a problem ? No
I never have relocked mine eh.. Good for you, that doesn't help me.
And i have had no problem flashing TWRP from Squid.. all his various updates overwriting the old one.
I have flashed a bunch of stock retail recoveries too and all of those worked fine too. Good for you, that doesn't help me.
I am curious did you try and load recovery after to see if it actually changed or not ? I did, I get an icon with something that says no cmd,
EDIT:
Can i ask you exactly what Custom Recovery you are trying to install ? Surnia and CM's recovery, no difference.
And did you verify the MD5 hash ? Yes.
I always do *if it's available..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done all those things and tried to post as much info in my OP. Is there a Dev that can help me?

I've now tried to go back to stock in an effort to unlock this biatch using XT1526_SURNIA_BOOST_5.0.2_LXI22.50-14.8_cid9_subsidy-DEFAULT_CFC.xml, and it wont let me do that either. It's not letting me write to the GPT partition. This leads me to believe my phone is NOT unlocked, even though the bootloader shows UNLOCKED BOOTLOADER. Anyone know an answer?

I noticed something a while back when I attempted to flash recovery on a different phone (nexus 6) but failed. I tried a bunch of stuff to no avail. The solution was to simply get a new set of platform tools because mine was too old. Doesn't hurt to try.

Snorbro said:
I noticed something a while back when I attempted to flash recovery on a different phone (nexus 6) but failed. I tried a bunch of stuff to no avail. The solution was to simply get a new set of platform tools because mine was too old. Doesn't hurt to try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for trying. I just found a post, (and now I can't find it), but the guy went through what I did, and then he used KingRoot, http://www.kingroot.net/ , and it worked.
So, I tried it too, and magic, it worked. I now have root and TWRP installed.
I could have sworn I tried KingRoot, but it must have been on another phone I had.

Are you sure your recovery file is called recovery.img and not twrp.xxx.img? If not you need to rename it

Another problem I had, I was using a USB 3.0 port on my computer. This is a not the way. Using a USB 2.0 port works on flashing stuff.

Hi faheyd, I also have XT1526 on android 5.0.2, but kingroot fails. I was told not to update OS to keep it working in India.
Doess ur phone run on 5.1?
Does USB debugging needs to be activated?

drshreenivaas said:
Hi faheyd, I also have XT1526 on android 5.0.2, but kingroot fails. I was told not to update OS to keep it working in India.
Doess ur phone run on 5.1?
Does USB debugging needs to be activated?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea, hopefully someone that knows will step in and help.

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