Develop Bugs

[Q] HTC Desire unrevoked root wont install roms

Hi All,
I rooted my unbranded/unlocked HTC desire using the unrevoked method successfully and loaded a custom rom on there which I have been using for about 1 year.
Needless to say it is now time for an update from (Paul's r9 to r11), however when I tried to install a new rom in recovery, nothing happens.
I boot my phone into recovery (clockworkmod v. 2.5.0.7) and delete all user data, cache, and the dalvik cache and then choose to install .zip from sd card.
I choose the .zip and go install, the it looks like it's working fine, the log says it's opening the package but then it just suddenly disappears and goes back to the recovery screen again as if nothing has happened.
When I reboot my phone, it just goes back to being reset but still using the old rom (r9).
Now all I want is to restore it back to the stock WWE version, but they all seem to be in .exe format...
Please tell me what I can do...
Thanks so much.

For flashing another rom I would try newer version of clockworkmod if yours don't work.
If you want to go back to stock, just run RUU. Like you said it's an .exe, so nothing you can do wrong.

Whats your erase size?

Thanks for your responses, I'm kind of new to all this.
Actually I started looking for solutions about 3 months ago but there's just so many different methods out there and I just didnt know which to follow.
RUU, ok I will look that up, thanks.
Also I installed Rom Manager (when looking for update to clockworkmod) and it has apparently flashed my recovery to the newest mod. So I will try it again.
EDIT: it hasnt worked, when I restarted my phone in recovery but it's still the old version...
I'm not sure what you mean by erase size?
Thanks again.

The erase size lets us know which hardwarerevision your desire has. It's important to know it because with the erasesize 40000 (aka PVT4 desire) you cannot use the cwm recovery which is usually flashed with unrevoked. To find out your erasesize, download a terminal emulator from android market, start it and then enter
Code:
cat /proc/mtd

ok I checked it and it shows erasesize as all being 00020000

Ok erase size is not the issue then.
I know I have this issue when there is a problem with my zip. Not always getting "Installation aborted, (bad)" error message.
Might be worth checking the file system of the SD card (maybe download h2testw.exe for windows to test it for errors)

Personally I'd just flash a better recovery and try again.
there's a guide on how to do so on my troubleshooting guide if you need help. Just look in the "repairing recovery" section. (Note: since you are fairly new to this, I'm betting on that your phone is S-ON, for you to be able to flash recovery, you need to be S-OFF, however there is also a guide on that, even with a video ^_^)

Thanks for your help
I checked and yes, I am s-on, but I read a few guides and really it's all too complicated for me.
The only reason why I needed a custom rom was because my phone was purchased in China and had chinese market content only and it wouldnt let me install Skype.
Now I'd be happy with a stock WWE rom that I can update automatically via android auto updates...
I think running the stock RUU will do this? I'm going to try it now.
Thanks again, but I might be back because I'm so unskilled at these things

Use android flasher, its easy to flash different recoveries, hboots, radios and boot animations. Almost cheating
HTC Desire

Error mounting /data/

I was trying to install a new rom on my Desire Z, following the directions here, but something went wrong somewhere and now I can't mount /data. I don't want to go any further in the rom installation process, as I'm afraid to brick my phone. The same thing happened to me while upgrading my Windows 6.5 phone (unexpected problem during rom install) and I ended up with a brick (corrupt bootloader).
I have found several threads here discussing the same problem. However, all of them use highly technical language and seem to be advice from experts to other experts. There are a lot of terms I don't understand or only understand partially, like nandroid, parted, hboot, and so on. Everyone assumes too much. Can anyone explain the procedure in terms a novice can understand?

gromky said:
I was trying to install a new rom on my Desire Z, following the directions here, but something went wrong somewhere and now I can't mount /data. I don't want to go any further in the rom installation process, as I'm afraid to brick my phone. The same thing happened to me while upgrading my Windows 6.5 phone (unexpected problem during rom install) and I ended up with a brick (corrupt bootloader).
I have found several threads here discussing the same problem. However, all of them use highly technical language and seem to be advice from experts to other experts. There are a lot of terms I don't understand or only understand partially, like nandroid, parted, hboot, and so on. Everyone assumes too much. Can anyone explain the procedure in terms a novice can understand?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Mount" data to flash a rom? You sure? Looking at the link you provided just says place on sd, wipe, flash. Where exactly are you stuck or am i just missing the obvious.

The /data corruption occurred halfway through the upgrade process. I'm not sure what to do, so I stopped and asked for advice. I kept going the last time I had a problem, and got a bricked phone for my trouble.

The only "data" I see in that guide (Same one I used in fact), is the comment bout doing a "Factory Reset/Wipe Data" which is what it says, says nothing about /data/ partition, just to do a full wipe.
Naturally you do this from recovery, not from within an app or while the phone is still booted into normal usage.

So, wiping the phone will fix everything? And then install cyanogen? Sorry, just want to be totally completely sure.

Aye, indeeed, as KB said, full wipe, then flash new rom.

OK, thanks! I was just reeeealy nervous about the "wipe the phone" part. My phone still sort of works now, most programs not available, but Google Maps and the telephone still work...the most important parts of the phone as I travel a lot.

gromky said:
OK, thanks! I was just reeeealy nervous about the "wipe the phone" part. My phone still sort of works now, most programs not available, but Google Maps and the telephone still work...the most important parts of the phone as I travel a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory Reset/Wipe will only clear the internal partitions ( /system /data /cache ) , and additionally if you choose Dalvik Cache, then that as well is usually good to do with a brand new rom.
It will not wipe your radio, hboot, recovery, etc, just the system-related areas for roms.
Generally speaking:
Factory Reset + Wipe Cache/Dalvik Cache
Flash CyanogenMod
Flash the Google Apps Zip specific to that CM version (as CM doesn't come with Google Apps by default)
Reboot
Just remember that doing a backup before doing anything to your phone like above is available, as a factory reset and such will wipe contacts and settings and so forth unless you got a google account setup to restore them (or using something like Titanium Backup on an already rooted phone).

OK, I was following the rooting guide, as that must be done before installing cyanogen. I performed all the steps to "reboot". Md5 #2 & md5 #3 matched. Upon rebooting, I can't use su from the terminal (permission denied). I also tried "cd /sdcard && ./su" and got the same thing. Does this mean the rooting didn't work? Or can I proceed with wiping the device regardless? After I wipe the device I won't be able to perform the rooting steps again...and will likely have a brick...just totally paranoid here.

gromky said:
OK, I was following the rooting guide, as that must be done before installing cyanogen. I performed all the steps to "reboot". Md5 #2 & md5 #3 matched. Upon rebooting, I can't use su from the terminal (permission denied). I also tried "cd /sdcard && ./su" and got the same thing. Does this mean the rooting didn't work? Or can I proceed with wiping the device regardless?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed that one as well. And I assume you rebooted after that point.
Did you continue forth and factory-reset/wipe and then install CM7 over your stock install?
Basically the downgrading/etc makes the phone exploitable, and then the rooting portion puts you back up to a engineering hboot and such that is unlocked with S-OFF, from there you either flash a pre-rooted ROM (i.e.: CM7 etc), or you root an existing stock (which would have gotten wiped from the hboot replacement).
If you already flashed CM and can't do su via adb then it's possible that under "Security" or "Development" in your phones system memory that su is restricted to "app only" and you may need to change that to "app and adb".
You shouldn't be running su from /sdcard (since that's not a linux style partition, and /sdcard is a no exec area). The su binary should already be installed to system in CM.
Clarification If you did not yet reboot (i.e.: Step #7 and onward), and then wipe/flash cyanogenmod (or another pre-rooted custom rom), then proceed with the steps, otherwise you're just working with a half-processed phone and naturally nothing would work in that state.

kbeezie said:
I followed that one as well. And I assume you rebooted after that point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
Did you continue forth and factory-reset/wipe and then install CM7 over your stock install?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean hold "down" and boot into recovery, and immediately do these steps? No, I did not. I let the phone boot as normal, to try to run su to verify if the rooting process worked or not.
I suppose my question should be: how can I verify that the rooting process worked, and I'm ready to wipe? The su on /sdcard was pushed there by adb and used during the procedure. From the guide:
adb push su /sdcard/
adb push Superuser.apk /sdcard/
Basically the downgrading/etc makes the phone exploitable, and then the rooting portion puts you back up to a engineering hboot and such that is unlocked with S-OFF, from there you either flash a pre-rooted ROM (i.e.: CM7 etc), or you root an existing stock (which would have gotten wiped from the hboot replacement).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't downgrade, I still have my stock rom (phone bought from Hong Kong so it's one of the Asia roms) which temprooted just fine with visionary.

gromky said:
Yes.
You mean hold "down" and boot into recovery, and immediately do these steps? No, I did not. I let the phone boot as normal, to try to run su to verify if the rooting process worked or not.
I suppose my question should be: how can I verify that the rooting process worked, and I'm ready to wipe? The su on /sdcard was pushed there by adb and used during the procedure. From the guide:
adb push su /sdcard/
adb push Superuser.apk /sdcard/
I didn't downgrade, I still have my stock rom (phone bought from Hong Kong so it's one of the Asia roms) which temprooted just fine with visionary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't use Visionary unless for some strange reason your phone came with Froyo (2.2) on it (it's an outdated method, and has a high brick rate). Given that you may have an asian rom etc, I would just go ahead and do a factory reset /wipe via recovery, and flash CM7 or a pre-rooted stock rom found here on the XDA forum for the best result.
I think even one of the AOKP or Adromudus comes with Pinyin input support already if you need it.

It did have Froyo. I have uninstalled visionary per instructions before performing all these steps. But since I only get one shot at rooting correctly, I want to make absolutely positively sure the process worked before I do something irrevocable like wiping the entire phone, only to discover I can't install a new rom because the phone isn't rooted.
I use third-party programs (GO keyboard) for all of my Chinese needs, and they've worked fine so far.

gromky said:
It did have Froyo. I have uninstalled visionary per instructions before performing all these steps. But since I only get one shot at rooting correctly, I want to make absolutely positively sure the process worked before I do something irrevocable like wiping the entire phone, only to discover I can't install a new rom because the phone isn't rooted.
I use third-party programs (GO keyboard) for all of my Chinese needs, and they've worked fine so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is at the rom/kernel level. But in order to flash a new custom kernel would need an unlocked bootloader which you already did with S-OFF.
So you would either flash a pre rooted rom like almost everything available via the developer section here (via recovery not hboot) or a stock rom then root that.
If you do everything via recovery you are less likely to accidentally lock/unroot the phone since recovery normally deals with the rom/kernel /cache and not hboot.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2

It worked - thanks! I was so concerned about bricking the thing. The whole process was easy...now that I've done it. Cyanogen came up in Chinese...couldn't figure out how to change it to English for a while. I suppose there's some setting in my phone that tells it to default to Chinese. It also appears to be locking up frequently on my phone - but at least I got the software on there, and now I can play with other mods. Thanks again!

gromky said:
It worked - thanks! I was so concerned about bricking the thing. The whole process was easy...now that I've done it. Cyanogen came up in Chinese...couldn't figure out how to change it to English for a while. I suppose there's some setting in my phone that tells it to default to Chinese. It also appears to be locking up frequently on my phone - but at least I got the software on there, and now I can play with other mods. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I had to make a guess, I would probably say you flashed Cyanogenmod onto the phone WITHOUT first doing a factory-reset/wipe, in which case you probably broke it (hence the language and freezing) by merging cyanogenmod on top of the pre-existing rom.

No, I definitely wiped the phone first. I got a few lockups in cyanogen so I went to install another rom. Now I'm getting "E:error in /cache/recovery/log" and "E:can't open /cache/recovery/log". When I install a new rom, it won't take and boots into cyanogen. It was in a reboot loop for a while but now it has booted into cyanogen again. Sigh. This is what I was afraid of.

Boot into boot and write down everything on that screen (power+volume down) just to check all is well, what is your recovery?
Search out two things (just use search function in g2 xda threads)
1 superwipe+ext4.zip
2 elitemod cm7
Boot into recovery and flash the super wipe like you did the from
Now flash elitemod
Is all well at this point?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Actually the phone seems to be working with cyanogen now. I suspect the internal memory is corrupt somehow, and that's a problem that can't be fixed. I'm going to stop messing with it before I brick it. If any more problems I'll revive the thread. Thanks so much to everyone who helped. I really can't afford a new phone right now and cyanogen seems to have fixed the problems I was having with the stock rom.

gromky said:
Actually the phone seems to be working with cyanogen now. I suspect the internal memory is corrupt somehow, and that's a problem that can't be fixed. I'm going to stop messing with it before I brick it. If any more problems I'll revive the thread. Thanks so much to everyone who helped. I really can't afford a new phone right now and cyanogen seems to have fixed the problems I was having with the stock rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the emmc is faulty then it's going to eventually brick itself, and should probably be sent in for warranty if available.

[q] frequent frustrating data drops on htc one m7

Hello All,
Due to my endless frustrations, this might be a long one so please bear with me!
So I purchased a Verizon Global HTC ONE M7 from the States, I am currently in Nigeria and the only thing that makes me sadder and more frustrated than the state of my phone right now is the incessant terror attacks in the country! Initially, almost everything worked fine when i popped in my new Etisalat sim card into the phone, except for the mobile hotspot (which just conveniently turns out to be the one of the top 3 most important features in a phone for me - probably the feature I use the most) this message kept popping up about how hotspot couldn't be used without a VZW sim, etc (also with the non-verizon sim warning when the phone boots up). I tried all I could, eventually deciding to flash a new ROM to clear out everything Verizon and start fresh.
Enter Viperone 6.2.0 - everything worked initially, but after a few weeks i noticed if I did anything like watch a youtube video or download something over a few MBs 90% of the time the data drops (no visible signs like changes from E to H or 3g or the likes, everything looks the same, just that the data stops), toggle mobile data on/off and data connection is back. It worsened and became more frequent over time. Upgraded to Viperone 6.2.1, no difference, so i figured its probably the viperone rom.
Enter Cyanogenmod - http://forum.xda-developers.com/ver...-oneplus-one-stock-rom-cm11s-verizon-t2857425 - and its the same exact issue from the beginning, so im guessing its not to do with the ROM at all (though there are one or two niggling issues with the ROM - cant change BBM display pic, etc)?! I've really tried to comb through the forum and see what makes sense that i could try without bugging y'all - I did a factory reset, wiped everything completely and its the same thing.
I've seen suggestions to similar issues like: flash stock recovery, update radio/firmware/kernel, flash back to custom recovery and some other things which are beginning to sound quite dangerous in my ignorance!! I did believe updating the firmware made sense but after digging deeper, i must honestly say i'm quite confused on what to do. what radio/firmware/kernel works with what software version, etc- most firmware that i've seen are 4.4.3 compatible, while this ROM is 4.4.4., some of them seem to be for stock ROMs only and a lot of other confusions.
So, I'm not gonna be a hero and brick my phone from trying to do what i do not understand, instead here i am, hat in hand, crying out for help after suffering for 3 months! Its really frustrating as, downloads break causing me to lose data, skype or MSLync calls always break and im beginning to look unprofessional to people! This is why I have decided to put up a post of my own specific to my case so i don't medicate for someone else's ailments. So please........ WHAT EXACTLY DO I DO??
PHONE DETAILS (typing it out as i've just realized on this ROM i can't take screenshots with Power+Home button combo anymore and can't be bothered at this point!!!)
ANDROID VERSION: 4.4.4
BASEBAND VERSION: 1.12.41.1112_2
KERNEL VERSION: 3.4.82-gfe09065; [email protected] #1; Wed oct 8 01:36:03 PDT 2014
BUILD DATE: SUN AUG 3 23:00:51 PDT 2014
BUILD NUMBER: CYANOGENMOD 11S v5 (Verizon)
SELinux status: Enforcing
Thanks

Have you tried a stock version of sense? Essentially what our phone was meant to run. Viper uses a lot of custom tweaks for the masses, and sometimes carrier specifics get finicky. I would suggest santods stock Rom, bonestock, or ecliptic. I think nusense uses an international base and not strictly vzw, but you could also try that one...and santod can clarify about the details.
Hope you get it going.
Sent from my One.

Can you flash stock recovery from Santod's firmware thread and do a factory reset? It could be a corrupt nv partition which would only be fixed by doing a factory reset via stock recovery. (If you must, make a nandroid of system and data in your recovery of choice so you can restore your data if you wish).

Uzephi said:
Can you flash stock recovery from Santod's firmware thread and do a factory reset? It could be a corrupt nv partition which would only be fixed by doing a factory reset via stock recovery. (If you must, make a nandroid of system and data in your recovery of choice so you can restore your data if you wish).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the responses folks, i'll try out your suggestions and revert..

8100
brymaster5000 said:
Have you tried a stock version of sense? Essentially what our phone was meant to run. Viper uses a lot of custom tweaks for the masses, and sometimes carrier specifics get finicky. I would suggest santods stock Rom, bonestock, or ecliptic. I think nusense uses an international base and not strictly vzw, but you could also try that one...and santod can clarify about the details.
Hope you get it going.
Sent from my One.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So.. i found time to get to this and decided to go with your suggestion of Santod's stock rom... and now, i think i've done the unthinkable!! After WIPING EVERYTHING "All partitions except SD!" as the instructions stated... i attempted to reboot into bootloader and got a message saying "no OS installed, are you sure you want to reboot"... that scared me a bit, but i thought surely, it must be part of the process! I proceed to reboot to bootloader to flash the firmware and i cant seem to do anything!!
Fastboot is stuck on " waiting for device" for everything i try.
Also, i rebooted back into recovery and attempted to install the stock rom: i get the error message "unable to open zip file"..
Have i destroyed my phone with my own hands, people? :crying:

Mr HaRR said:
So.. i found time to get to this and decided to go with your suggestion of Santod's stock rom... and now, i think i've done the unthinkable!! After WIPING EVERYTHING "All partitions except SD!" as the instructions stated... i attempted to reboot into bootloader and got a message saying "no OS installed, are you sure you want to reboot"... that scared me a bit, but i thought surely, it must be part of the process! I proceed to reboot to bootloader to flash the firmware and i cant seem to do anything!!
Fastboot is stuck on " waiting for device" for everything i try.
Also, i rebooted back into recovery and attempted to install the stock rom: i get the error message "unable to open zip file"..
Have i destroyed my phone with my own hands, people? :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FALSE ALARM FOLKS!!! I decided to attempt flashing the CM11 rom i just uninstalled and it worked. Turns out its a known issue with the .zip file for that rom - i am now re-downloading from another mirror. Meanwhile the Fastboot thing was just a driver issue - though i'm surprised because i had all the drivers installed on the system and have used fastboot successfully - anyway i reinstalled the drivers and all was well with fastboot again.
NB: Don't get tired of me just yet please!

brymaster5000 said:
Have you tried a stock version of sense? Essentially what our phone was meant to run. Viper uses a lot of custom tweaks for the masses, and sometimes carrier specifics get finicky. I would suggest santods stock Rom, bonestock, or ecliptic. I think nusense uses an international base and not strictly vzw, but you could also try that one...and santod can clarify about the details.
Hope you get it going.
Sent from my One.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello!
Thanks for your ideas guys. I'm currently running Santod's stock rom (which is brilliant, i must say, i actually wanna stay on this rom) since friday - thought i'd give it the whole weekend and see how it goes.. BUT! i still get thoseconnection drops.. and frequently too.
Any other ideas on what the issue could be?

Mr HaRR said:
hello!
Thanks for your ideas guys. I'm currently running Santod's stock rom (which is brilliant, i must say, i actually wanna stay on this rom) since friday - thought i'd give it the whole weekend and see how it goes.. BUT! i still get thoseconnection drops.. and frequently too.
Any other ideas on what the issue could be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If doing factory reset from stock recovery doesn't fix it, it is most likely a burned SIM. It has happened to me. (Average 150+ GB a month in data, so I burn em easily)
Sent from my HTC6500LVWBLU using XDA Free mobile app

Uz has it right, you need to flash a stock recovery and THEN do a factory reset, then reload your custom recovery and rom. I had the exact same issue before. Or you could flash an ruu file which would reset the partitions also.

ccarr313 said:
Uz has it right, you need to flash a stock recovery and THEN do a factory reset, then reload your custom recovery and rom. I had the exact same issue before. Or you could flash an ruu file which would reset the partitions also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey folks, apologies for the touch and go nature of this thread - i just don't have a lot of free time on my hands and other reasons..
Anyhow, i think I want to try out ur suggestion of flashing an RUU - I noticed that im unable to actually enter recovery after flashing stock recovery from Santod's thread (i flashed the latest three recoveries). I can get to bootloader, but when i select recovery, the phone goes black for a few seconds and then i get the RED TRIANGLE WITH THE EXCLAMATION MARK INSIDE, obviously something's wrong, few seconds later the phone reboots itself into normal mode. I did do a factory reset from bootloader, but issue persists.
So now to the RUU flashing issue - could you suggest one for me to flash?
By the way though, isn't flashing an ruu gonna take me back to stock completely (as in back to S-ON, ETC..)?
Thanks a whole bunch - IM DETERMINED TO GET THIS TO WORK!!!

Mr HaRR said:
Hey folks, apologies for the touch and go nature of this thread - i just don't have a lot of free time on my hands and other reasons..
Anyhow, i think I want to try out ur suggestion of flashing an RUU - I noticed that im unable to actually enter recovery after flashing stock recovery from Santod's thread (i flashed the latest three recoveries). I can get to bootloader, but when i select recovery, the phone goes black for a few seconds and then i get the RED TRIANGLE WITH THE EXCLAMATION MARK INSIDE, obviously something's wrong, few seconds later the phone reboots itself into normal mode. I did do a factory reset from bootloader, but issue persists.
So now to the RUU flashing issue - could you suggest one for me to flash?
By the way though, isn't flashing an ruu gonna take me back to stock completely (as in back to S-ON, ETC..)?
Thanks a whole bunch - IM DETERMINED TO GET THIS TO WORK!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is in fact stock recovery man. When you get the triangle press volume up and power at the same time. You will enter stock recovery.
Any of my ruu will run fine. You won't lose s-off or unlocked status. You flash them in boot loader fastboot mode.

dottat said:
That is in fact stock recovery man. When you get the triangle press volume up and power at the same time. You will enter stock recovery.
Any of my ruu will run fine. You won't lose s-off or unlocked status. You flash them in boot loader fastboot mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HA! and now i feel :silly: !!
Bless your soul! i'll give it a go shortly...

Boot loop and factory image restore

Hi,
I'm writing here as a last hope, after I've tried every possible solution I could find online. Any help here will be very much appreciated.
Couple of days ago I received my fresh Nexus 5X, that I plan to use with Project Fi.
After unlocking the bootloader (with Google Support blessing!) and installing TWRP+SuperSU, I ran into problems, big problems.
Following the Android wizard setup, I connected to the wifi and the phone started downloading an update of ~79Mb.
When rebooted, though, it started TWRP, and it didn't go ahead.
To play safe, I decided to do a factory reset, using the official ROM from Google, replacing also TWRP with the original recovery (I basically did every step in the "flash-all.sh" script).
That didn't work either, and the phone now gets stuck at the boot animation.
I've tried also wiping partitions using both fastboot ("fastboot -w...") and TWRP, but nothing worked.
Another diagnostic symptom.
I've noticed that the recovery (TWRP for sure, the stock one not so much sure) had problems finding the sdcard partition ("unknown volume for path couldn't mount sdcard installation aborted").
Could that be a source of issues?
I thought that it would be possible to do a factory reset, but I'm probably missing something.
At this point, I'm completely lost and I don't know what to do.
Thanks in advance.

Try the flash all script again with latest firmware and let it boot up completely. It will take a while, once booted, flash TWRP and root if you want.

ntropia said:
Hi,
I'm writing here as a last hope, after I've tried every possible solution I could find online. Any help here will be very much appreciated.
Couple of days ago I received my fresh Nexus 5X, that I plan to use with Project Fi.
After unlocking the bootloader (with Google Support blessing!) and installing TWRP+SuperSU, I ran into problems, big problems.
Following the Android wizard setup, I connected to the wifi and the phone started downloading an update of ~79Mb.
When rebooted, though, it started TWRP, and it didn't go ahead.
To play safe, I decided to do a factory reset, using the official ROM from Google, replacing also TWRP with the original recovery (I basically did every step in the "flash-all.sh" script).
That didn't work either, and the phone now gets stuck at the boot animation.
I've tried also wiping partitions using both fastboot ("fastboot -w...") and TWRP, but nothing worked.
Another diagnostic symptom.
I've noticed that the recovery (TWRP for sure, the stock one not so much sure) had problems finding the sdcard partition ("unknown volume for path couldn't mount sdcard installation aborted").
Could that be a source of issues?
I thought that it would be possible to do a factory reset, but I'm probably missing something.
At this point, I'm completely lost and I don't know what to do.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you need a modified boot.img or kernel since you are rooted .In my experience since Android 5.1.1 you need a custom kernel for root and sometimes a modified boot.img after flashing twrp
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA Free mobile app

androidddaaron said:
I wonder if you need a modified boot.img or kernel since you are rooted .In my experience since Android 5.1.1 you need a custom kernel for root and sometimes a modified boot.img after flashing twrp
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an interesting perspective, actually.
I didn't know that you needed a special image for rooted devices.
Although, I would imagine that's always possible to 'un-root' it, and honestly I was hoping that 'fastboot flash -w...' would have removed any trace of the root.
Is that the case?
Either way, where could I find these modified images?
Thanks a bunch!

Solved
I found the solution which, as it happens when nothing seems to be wrong, was fairly trivial.
Basically, the scripts provided with the stock ROM from Google has problems, and this last command fails:
Code:
fastboot update image-bullhead-mmb29p.zip
saying that system.img is missing.
To fix that, you have to manually extract the content of the files and proceed to flash manually userdata, system, etc...
The problem is that if you don't flash also vendor.img, you're in trouble, and the device will not boot.
Some of the guides that I've found were suggesting that you need to do it for the Nexus 9, and I didn't notice when other guides were mentioning it.
Once you flash the vendor.img, the boot loop is gone.
I'll put it here, I hope it can be helpful to somebody.
Thanks to androidddaaron and k.s.deviate for the support!
(I've thanked also used the thank button near the posts, but if there's more to do, let me know)
Now, back to mess up the Project Fi SIM...

How Do I Flash Factory Image?

It's been some time since I've done this so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I've had my Pixel 2 XL for like a month now...but since day one I've gotten occasional force closes of various apps. Well next week I'm going with a new carrier (Koodo here in Canada) and I thought it would be a great time to flash a factory image to make sure everything is correct. Also when does Google release monthly updates? Is it the first week of April, maybe I'll just wait and flash that factory image when it comes out. Thanks for the help.

acheney1990 said:
It's been some time since I've done this so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I've had my Pixel 2 XL for like a month now...but since day one I've gotten occasional force closes of various apps. Well next week I'm going with a new carrier (Koodo here in Canada) and I thought it would be a great time to flash a factory image to make sure everything is correct. Also when does Google release monthly updates? Is it the first week of April, maybe I'll just wait and flash that factory image when it comes out. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your wanting to flash a factory image, you'll need a few things first.
I would highly recommend that you look over the linked thread carefully. It has many links and tips to help you on your way :good:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/guide-unlock-flash-root-pixel-2-xl-t3702418

acheney1990 said:
It's been some time since I've done this so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I've had my Pixel 2 XL for like a month now...but since day one I've gotten occasional force closes of various apps. Well next week I'm going with a new carrier (Koodo here in Canada) and I thought it would be a great time to flash a factory image to make sure everything is correct. Also when does Google release monthly updates? Is it the first week of April, maybe I'll just wait and flash that factory image when it comes out. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://developers.google.com/android/images

Make sure you have the latest adb and fastboot. Get them from Google...
Go get the latest image and Unzip it. Do not Unzip the folder inside. Move everything you just unzipped into the folder with adb and fastboot.
Now, if you've unlocked and unlocked critical, great. If you haven't unlocked critical, you'll have to. The system image won't install if the bootloader is out of date. Sadly, this will wipe your data.
If both are already unlocked, then open the flash-all file with a text editor and remove the,"-w" and the space preceding, then save the file. Removing the -w will keep your data. Run the flash-all.bat file and in about 10 minutes everything will be flashed.

back to stock
how to back on stock ....i sell the phone and want all stock...no root no boot loader unlocked ...what is the fastest way pls

lomski said:
how to back on stock ....i sell the phone and want all stock...no root no boot loader unlocked ...what is the fastest way pls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First thing!! Forget fast!! You need to fastboot flash a full factory image with the -w still in the script. Maybe even do it twice. Then go in and do a factory reset from the OS for good measure. Once that is done and you know it reboots you can go through the locking command. I would NOT toggle the OEM switch in dev though.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs

So this has been a a very frustrating experiance but I think I've got everything working again. I don't know how many times I've flashed different factory images and then tried to install TWRP and then install a new custom rom. So I want to explain all of the steps I took (if I remember them all).
0. I couldn't boot into my system but had TWRP installed. At this point I should have tried to get all my data from the sd card via "adb pull /sdcard" .
1. I didn't find any option to fix my system. So I followed this guide to install a factory image (link).
3. I skipped through all of the setup processes and gave my phone wifi. Then I went into the system and did a factory reset.
4. After skipping thourgh the setup again I enabled adb and bootet into the bootloader "adb reboot bootlader"
5. From the bootloader I booted into TWRP by "fastboot boot twrp-3.3.0.0-taimen.img. In the recovery I set the display time out to 300s because for some reason once the phone timed out I could get into twrp any more and the screen stayed black.
6. I transferred the twrp installer and my rom by " adb push TWRP_installer.zip /sdcard/Download" and " adb push ROM.zip /sdcard/Download"
7. I first added the TWRP installer to the flash queue and then I added the rom and then falshed them both. This allowed me to install the rom.
8. For some reason TWRP was not installed. So repeat step 5 and only flash the TWRP_installter.zip
Problems I had:
- In twrp I often got errors that said unable to mount system or vendor. I decided to ignore the error but this thread might help
- Installing TWRP while the stock rom is installed led to the problem that touch didn't work in TWRP
- Entering a pin for the stock rom and then installing TWRP led to TWRP asking for a pin to decrypt my data. Apparently this is not the case if you use a stock image which is older

After flashing stock ROM ota and twrp installer zip the only way to get TWRP to respond to touch is if you disable screen lock and connect to your PC before booting TWRP.
I've found the most reliable way to flash factory images is do it manually with fastboot, latest platform tools installed and a Linux OS like Ubuntu or pop os.
But first do some research and get comfortable with fastboot commands. And dear god don't relock your bootloader unless you're ?% sure it's totally stock.

@schpongo,
Also, a good point to keep when flashing via TWRP is to flash/install ONE AT A TIME. As per the great @Az Biker, you should even reboot to the bootloader after each subsequent flash/install. So, in your case, it seems that you might/should be rebooting to the bootloader three times; one for TWRP installation, one for flashing the custom ROM, and one more for any other subsequent installation (i.e. custom kernel or custom font)...
Also, as it's been said before, but stock kernel doesn't play nice with touch commands on TWRP, and (usually) the only way around it is to reboot into bootloader using the adb command -- as opposed to holding the volume-down button or from an app.
I know you figured this all out already, but it might bear repeating just in case you didn't know and/or to help any other users here...