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Hi there geniuses of XDA! (somewhat of a noob here)
Need some help. I want to update my VZW HTC One (m7) to the Android L version (I think its out now, maybe not though, if not 4.4.3). I currently have Android 4.2.2. I am rooted, unlocked, and S-Off. I am running ClockworkMod Recovery and have a nandroid backup in that, that I would like to maintain in case things go wrong. It is my understanding that if I were to switch to TWRP my backup would not work, so I would like to stay with CWM. So can anyone provide a suggestion of a good ROM to get that will bring me up to current version and will still work with CWM?
Thanks, your help is greatly appreciated.
Steve
Also let me point out that I am still on Firmware 1.10.605.8. How do I get this updated? Looks like most of the current ROMs require later firmware. Basically I rooted last year, day one when I got the phone and have not updated anything since then. So I really need some help on getting current. Step by step instructions would be most helpful.
Thanks
lostnsound said:
Also let me point out that I am still on Firmware 1.10.605.8. How do I get this updated? Looks like most of the current ROMs require later firmware. Basically I rooted last year, day one when I got the phone and have not updated anything since then. So I really need some help on getting current. Step by step instructions would be most helpful.
Thanks
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See people's response in your other question thread. Furthermore, I would like to add that after you update your firmware from santod's thread - you will want to update to the latest ROM. We do not have L as you have requested. There is a preview floating around in the international forum, but it is not for daily use and not for VZW. I suggest - if you want stock to either use Santod's stock rom's as they are stock completely or Andybone's which are stock with minor tweaks. Outside of that there are stock based ROM's that have an abundance of tweaks - NuSense, Ecliptic, Viper, etc.
If you run into recovery issues (due to potentially outdated CWM) - I suggest trying Philz. It is CWM based but easier to use. You should be able to access your backup. You can also pull the backup off your phone and save it on a computer. It will be saved in clockworkmod/backups or something.
brymaster5000 said:
See people's response in your other question thread. Furthermore, I would like to add that after you update your firmware from santod's thread - you will want to update to the latest ROM. We do not have L as you have requested. There is a preview floating around in the international forum, but it is not for daily use and not for VZW. I suggest - if you want stock to either use Santod's stock rom's as they are stock completely or Andybone's which are stock with minor tweaks. Outside of that there are stock based ROM's that have an abundance of tweaks - NuSense, Ecliptic, Viper, etc.
If you run into recovery issues (due to potentially outdated CWM) - I suggest trying Philz. It is CWM based but easier to use. You should be able to access your backup. You can also pull the backup off your phone and save it on a computer. It will be saved in clockworkmod/backups or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the assistance brymaster5000. This is all very helpful information.
lostnsound said:
Hi there geniuses of XDA! (somewhat of a noob here)
Need some help. I want to update my VZW HTC One (m7) to the Android L version (I think its out now, maybe not though, if not 4.4.3). I currently have Android 4.2.2. I am rooted, unlocked, and S-Off. I am running ClockworkMod Recovery and have a nandroid backup in that, that I would like to maintain in case things go wrong. It is my understanding that if I were to switch to TWRP my backup would not work, so I would like to stay with CWM. So can anyone provide a suggestion of a good ROM to get that will bring me up to current version and will still work with CWM?
Thanks, your help is greatly appreciated.
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend Viper for sense 6 / 4.4.2, Santod's GPE 4.4.4 for gpe, or CM11 4.4.4 for a great aosp experience.
Just one thing to point out - if you move away from sense roms, you will lose some camera function. Only the sense camera(which only works on sense roms) really works well. If you go GPE or AOSP you will see a noticable drop in camera boot times, focus times and flash timing.
Good evening everyone -
I'm running into some issues with my LRA version of the M8. I am/was rooted and running TWRP fine until I decided to revert back to the stock recovery so I could install the latest OTA that was released to me. Like an idiot I never backed up my stock OTA before flashing TWRP so I extracted the firmware.zip from the OTA download, relocked my bootloader, then used fastboot to flash firmware.zip. All seemed to go well until I rebooted, I'm now stuck at the HTC splash screen and can get no further. Things I've done:
- tried booting into recovery, got red triangle w/red exclamation mark
- unlocked bootloader and installed TWRP, can get into recovery now at least
- tried factory reset
- wiped cache, no luck
Unfortunately the LRA M8 isn't very common it appears so I'm unable to find a stock ROM to try and reinstall. I'm hoping someone might be able to help me get started back up without the need for my stock RUU or nandroid backup. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, please let me know what other info I could provide to help out. Thanks in advance.
promsos said:
Good evening everyone -
I'm running into some issues with my LRA version of the M8. I am/was rooted and running TWRP fine until I decided to revert back to the stock recovery so I could install the latest OTA that was released to me. Like an idiot I never backed up my stock OTA before flashing TWRP so I extracted the firmware.zip from the OTA download, relocked my bootloader, then used fastboot to flash firmware.zip. All seemed to go well until I rebooted, I'm now stuck at the HTC splash screen and can get no further. Things I've done:
- tried booting into recovery, got red triangle w/red exclamation mark
- unlocked bootloader and installed TWRP, can get into recovery now at least
- tried factory reset
- wiped cache, no luck
Unfortunately the LRA M8 isn't very common it appears so I'm unable to find a stock ROM to try and reinstall. I'm hoping someone might be able to help me get started back up without the need for my stock RUU or nandroid backup. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, please let me know what other info I could provide to help out. Thanks in advance.
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Did your firmware.zip have a boot*.img in it? You probably need the old version of the boot.img to match the old software. You might want to find on of the old Verizon RUUs and extract the boot.img from there and try flashing that in fastboot. Message me if the Verizon boot doesn't work for you, I might have some other ideas. I'd say be careful, but you're already in trouble.
Edit: You could also do a nandroid backup and try a custom ROM to get it functional in the short term.
I did eventually grab a nandroid backup and loaded Viper Rom on it, although it's a bit quirky - probably because the LRA version of the phone is slightly different than the stock Verizon version. That being said, the firmware.zip that I loaded did have a boot.img file in it so I'm guessing that's the issue. Do you think the boot.img from a Verizon RUU would work considering my phone is not the same exact version as the Verizon one? Or another way to ask it I guess is if there's really any harm in me restoring my nandroid and loading a standard Verizon boot.img? I'd think it can't render my phone any more useless than it was previously, just wasn't sure how locked in the boot.img file was to the specific model\OS that's on the phone. The whole LRA phone thing is really a kick in the pants.
promsos said:
I did eventually grab a nandroid backup and loaded Viper Rom on it, although it's a bit quirky - probably because the LRA version of the phone is slightly different than the stock Verizon version. That being said, the firmware.zip that I loaded did have a boot.img file in it so I'm guessing that's the issue. Do you think the boot.img from a Verizon RUU would work considering my phone is not the same exact version as the Verizon one? Or another way to ask it I guess is if there's really any harm in me restoring my nandroid and loading a standard Verizon boot.img? I'd think it can't render my phone any more useless than it was previously, just wasn't sure how locked in the boot.img file was to the specific model\OS that's on the phone. The whole LRA phone thing is really a kick in the pants.
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Click to collapse
The boot.img from an older Verizon RUU would probably work, but you might have to try a couple to get the right one. The boot.img is directly tied to the ROM version that is installed, and is often called the kernel and tells the system how to boot the ROM.
Make sure you do a backup of your working Viper before restoring the stock one and trying to flash a boot.img.
I don't understand why you re locked the boot loader and flashed a firmware zip just to revert to stock recovery? All you had to do was pull the stock recovery from the firmware.zip in the OTA then flash it via fast boot. Then go ahead and flash the OTA.
You need to now find and flash a compatible boot.img. Just keep trying different ones until it boots.
I'm making a little progress here, thanks for the help. I downloaded a 4.4.3 Verizon kernel, loaded that (after restoring the old nandroid backup) and I'm able to boot, whew... I'm having two issues now, 1) my wireless won't turn on for some reason and 2) I tried installing the 4.4.4 OTA update my carrier released (downloaded via 4G) and it won't apply - I was hoping successfully applying this OTA would fix the wireless issue. Looking at my software version it looks like I'm actually running 4.4.2, could that cause both of these issues? I'm trying to locate a 4.4.2 kernel to load but figured I'd toss out the question in the meantime.
Ashyx - I wish I had a better answer to why I temporarily relocked the boot loader and flashed firmware.zip other than desperation (trying to get that darn OTA). It was a while ago I flashed the firmware.zip file but I thought that when I initially extracted the recovery from the zip file and flashed it I could no longer boot into a recovery, maybe I'm making that up though - I can hardly remember last week lol. I'm an IT guy, so I'm not completely clueless, but I'm far from proficient with mobile technologies, as I'm sure you gathered already.
Anyways, I'd appreciate any insight, in the mean time I'm going to keep hunting for a 4.4.2 kernel to try on this thing. Thanks again to all.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2723159
Try the zips from here, they should have a boot.img for 4.4.2.
Sent from my One M8 using XDA Free mobile app
Ok, I think I'm back up and running. I was able to find a 4.4.2 boot.img that allowed me to once again use my wireless. After getting the wireless working I had to find valid versions of flashlight.apk and calculator.apk to put in data/preload and the OTA finally took....success at last. I really appreciate the help durgis, I'll be grabbing a nandroid of my now working phone right away so I don't run into issues in the future. Again, thank you for the help, very much appreciated.
I suspect that we are on the same carrier, LRA__001. I've been fighting a similar problem to yours. The only custom rom I've been able to install is Cyanogenmod. It's good, but the battery life is horrible for me. Also, I can't get MMS or 4G to work. Everything other rom I've tried won't boot up for me. Any chance that you could provide a link to your nandroid backup? I'm looking to get back to a more stock rom that I can get OTA updates on. Thanks.
rook79 said:
I suspect that we are on the same carrier, LRA__001. I've been fighting a similar problem to yours. The only custom rom I've been able to install is Cyanogenmod. It's good, but the battery life is horrible for me. Also, I can't get MMS or 4G to work. Everything other rom I've tried won't boot up for me. Any chance that you could provide a link to your nandroid backup? I'm looking to get back to a more stock rom that I can get OTA updates on. Thanks.
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Click to collapse
Hey rook, I do have the same CID, are you on Cellcom out of Wisconsin? I didn't grab a bare bones nandroid, but i can do a backup, uninstall my apps and do one, or rebuild mine from my unbootable one now that I have everything i need. If you want to try a different ROM you could try Viper, it worked decent for me, just a few quirks when i bounced from wireless to 3G for some reason.
I am with Cellcom. My problems started with the recent OTA update. The update wouldn't take, because of the flashlight.apk. I decided it was time to root this phone anyway and try some custom roms. I've done it with my other HTC phones in the past with no problems. Unlocked the bootloader, loaded TWRP and did a backup. Didn't check where the backup was being put and ended up saving it to internal. Put on a new ROM and wiped my backup. Cyanogenmod 11 is the only ROM that I've had success with. Every other rom that I have tried so far will not complete the initial boot. I suspect that I'm missing something stupid, or it has something to do with the OTA update not completing. Are you running Viper, or did you get the Cellcom OTA update to work?
I was running Viper for a while but now have my phone reverted to stock with the 4.4.4 OTA applied. If you want a nandroid of stock Cellcom 4.4.4 I can work on one for you, it may take a couple days to get it but I should be able to get one.
That would be awesome. I've been looking for a stock Rom for a while now. As you know those are nearly impossible to find. Not having a stock nandroid backup or the OTA update zip kind of put me in a SOL position. Thanks for your help.
Finally got around to this, try the download below, it's the stock 4.4.4 ROM and also the stock recovery (for future OTA updates). Let me know if it works out for you. I also have the 4.4.4 OTA updated if needed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/thd0z8l2zlprt3r/One M8 LRA 4.4.4 Stock.zip?dl=0
That worked awesome. Thanks!!!
Hi Guys, (@rook79 , @promsos)
i have the same model and running into similar problem, i was also not able to flash any other rom than SkyDragon, wanted to be able to flash other roms but no luck, i thought its the firmware that wont let me install so i went for S-Off and flashed one of the firmware from verizon, since there was not much help for this specific model and everyone was referring it as a variant from verizon, i did flash one and my problem started, my phone had no signals after flashing the firmware and was still not able to flash any other ROM, i flashed couple of more firmwares and radios to get my network working but no luck, and i got a new problem that the phone keeps rebooting after a couple of minutes it loads into system.
then somebody helped me with the stock firmware 4.4.4 from here and nandroid from this thread, firmware was still verizon, i managed to restore it but still the same reboot issue and no signals, but i was able to download OTA which wont install, everytime i try to install it, it goes to stock recovery with a progress bar 1% filled and then stuck into boot loop and after n number of attempts it boots into system, where again it reboots after a couple of minutes.
extracted the firmware from OTA and manually flashed it and tried to install OTA but still same, i tried to reboot into stock recovery but every time i do that, it goes to black screen and then keep rebooting, i am not able to get to that red triangle screen.
help less clueless trying to find complete RUU for it (not sure if thats going to help)
my partition table has 2 vzw partitions as well because i flashed dottat's RUU for verizon.
can you guys help me with that?
my phone is m8_wlv CID: LRA_001 MID: 0P6B20000
s-off, and i am on a GSM network (not US).
promsos said:
Finally got around to this, try the download below, it's the stock 4.4.4 ROM and also the stock recovery (for future OTA updates). Let me know if it works out for you. I also have the 4.4.4 OTA updated if needed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/thd0z8l2zlprt3r/One M8 LRA 4.4.4 Stock.zip?dl=0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll appreciate if you share the 4.4.4 OTA, I really need it now.
hoang555 said:
I'll appreciate if you share the 4.4.4 OTA, I really need it now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is this what you are looking for? https://www.dropbox.com/s/2oozc291kwe5l9r/OTA_M8_WL_L50_SENSE60_MR_LRA_US_4.21.512.4-3.31.512.2_release_426215.zip?dl=0
hoang555 said:
I'll appreciate if you share the 4.4.4 OTA, I really need it now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Do you still have that LRA version?? I need some help
Hi,
I know this information is probably available somewhere, but I have spent hours of reading, and still having some trouble getting my head around things. So I will try to be clear here as to what my issues are.
Firstly... I have Samsung Galaxy S-III, SGH-i747M, with virgin mobile canada. It started with android 4.1.2. I wanted to unlock it, and there was a way to do it with 4.1.1 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2176719), so I used odin, with firmwares (found at SamMobile.com I think) to flash a 4.1.1 ROM, did the unlock procedure, and then used odin to flash stock firmware for 4.1.2 again. Seems to have all worked out ok.
Anyway, I want to try some custom roms, like cyanogenmod, as they are purported to improve battery life, speed, clearing off bloatware, giving me more control, etc.
However, I really want to maintain the ability to go back to how it is now, if I don't like the custom roms. (or if I need warranty help, though there's not much of that left).
The main thing that's concerning me is that while I was playing with this phone before, I read in a number of places that if I had updated to Android 4.3 or 4.4.2 when those had become available from my carrier, I would not have been able to downgrade to 4.1.1 (which I needed to be able to do to use the built-in unlock method). This is because of Knox, which would be installed, and gets "tripped." So now I'm scared: if I did that upgrade, I wouldn't have been able to revert; so now, if I flash a CGM ROM, will I also be unable to revert?
I think there are a few pieces of android to sort out in my mind... If I'm not mistaken, there's bootloader, there's recovery, and there's the ROM. Flashing a ROM with Odin apparently would restore recovery and the ROM? But not the bootloader (that's where knox is? though I still don't understand, if an upgrade can modify the bootloader and put knox there, where it wasn't before, shouldn't there be a way to put a pre-knox version back there?)
Oh, there's also EFS, which some say should be backed up before doing anything (though you need to root first, which in my mind counts as doing something before backing it up).
Anyway, please let me know if you can help clarify these issues, thanks!!
There is a lot to cover to address all that you bring up.
Regarding EFS, there are a number of ways to back it up. Use several. This thread is an excellent place to start for more info and several ways to make the backup. I was rooted, so I used A2 and B. I believe you can use A1 without being rooted, probably B as well. Long after that post was written wanam came out with two backup apps available in the PlayStore. One was specifically for EFS, but I do not think it is still supported. The other is a more comprehensive app, both require root.
As a rule, bootloaders and modems are not installed with custom ROMs. If you are flashing a stock ROM from these forums that is installed from within a custom recovery it probably does not install a bootloader and modem either, but read the relevant thread to be certain. Full stock ROMs flashed from with Odin, or Heimdall, almost certainly install a bootloader and modem.
Prior to 4.3 there was an ability to downgrade bootloaders and modems, nor were they required to match - be at the same version. Once you upgrade to the official 4.3 bootloader you can no longer downgrade it. Once you have upgraded to 4.4.x the bootloader and modem versions must always match. If they are mismatched you risk soft bricking your phone at a minimum. For the i747 there was an unofficial 4.3 release; ROM, bootloader, and modem. I do not recall seeing mention of an unofficial release for the i747M, so I will not go into the exceptions on the above the unofficial bootloader/modem introduced.
For TouchWiz ROMs, custom or stock, the bootloader (and modem) version should match or be more current than the ROM Android version. (One of the unofficial 4.3 release exceptions applies here, I make use of it.)
For CyanogenMod, CM based ROMs, AOSP ROMs, and their derivatives the bootloader and modem version can lag behind Android version of the ROM. With your 4.1.2 bootloader and modem you could run the earlier releases of 4.4.x CM and AOSP ROMs. Later in the 4.4.x development, around Oct or Nov 2014 IIRC, I began reading reports of needing to be on 4.3 or later, there were a few said the 4.1.2 firmware still worked for them. For the 5.x.x LP releases of CM and AOSP most report that they must be on a 4.4.x bootloader and modem.
Knox is in the ROM, not the bootloader and modem. It was introduced with the official 4.3 releases. It is not present in CM/AOSP nor most of the custom TW ROMs. It will be present in stock ROMs from official sources or sites like sammobile. Many of the stock ROM images/dumps have Knox disabled, especially those from enewman17, but read to make sure what you are getting.
I don't feel qualified to discuss tripping the Knox counter, I am still on the unofficial 4.3 bootloader, which has not kept me from running 4.4.x ROMs. I am not the only Luddite, but I feel we will all be updating bootloaders and modems due to the Stage Fright bug. I am long out of warranty so there is no loss.
ABOVE ALL, read thoroughly before taking any action. Keep in mind that I am on the i747 and not the i747M as you are, I am not be correct on all comments for your device. @audit13 should be able to clear any gaffs I have made.
@dawgdoc is correct about everything said.
It is not Knox that prevents downgrading from 4.3 to an earlier version, it is the code in the bootloader itself.
Ok, starting to feel a bit more comfortable with the whole system and relationships, thanks!
audit13 said:
@dawgdoc is correct about everything said.
It is not Knox that prevents downgrading from 4.3 to an earlier version, it is the code in the bootloader itself.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for verifying that. There could have easily been small, but very important, differences in the devices that had slipped my mind since I don't have the i747M.
This is the way xda should be. Good questions from a concerned user & great answers from @dawgdoc. Nice job guys!
canodroid15 said:
This is the way xda should be. Good questions from a concerned user & great answers from @dawgdoc. Nice job guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to extend similar praise and thanks to @mrrocketdog and @audit13
more uncertainty
Hi,
I'm a lot more experienced now, having rooted (I flashed root66_BMC_I747MVLDMF1 by MrRobinson, since CF-autoroot just made the phone show "booting recovery" then blank screen indefinitely), I backed up EFS by a couple methods, flashed TWRP, did a nandroid backup, and flashed a couple versions of CM. Still a few things I want to clarify though.
Unsurprisingly, after flashing the final CM 11 release, data did not work, as I'm still on the 4.1.2 (MF1) bootloader/modem. In general, I see a lot of posts simply saying "update the modem." From what you've said though, that will create problems, unless I update the bootloader as well, correct? Just feels like the phrase "update the modem" is said so casually, without also mentioning the bootloader, and the inability to go back.
(an older CM 11 worked with data just fine)
(a big issue is that S3 is over 3 years old, so there are over 3 years of posts, so there's a lot of conflicting information, likely due to different versions, new discoveries, etc. )
I'm not quite sure myself what I'm trying to ask, I guess it's something along the lines of "am I just being silly by not updating?" There are a lot of "Never update to 4.3 (or above) because of knox!" comments. But also in general, it seems the only real issue with knox is that warranty bit, otherwise it doesn't have too big an impact on our lives? Seems the consensus is that we can still root, install custom roms, and everything else. (Do you know if this remains true with latest bootloaders and modems (OB3 for i747M). There are also "My battery life became way worse after the upgrade" or "more FCs" or other issues, which is a significant concern if my phone which currently comfortably lasts a day starts to not last a day after updating. Though it's likely a small percent noting that, while the quieter majority are fine. Meanwhile, by not updating, we may be missing out on features and security improvements (and maybe actually improved performance). What do you guys think? (I know dawgdoc was sticking to an unofficial 4.3 rather than updating, so it's not an obvious choice).
As for updating, I think somewhere one of you suggested the better (or at least safer) way is to use odin to flash stock ROM, then do the OTA updates, or, directly flash the latest stock ROM, rather than trying to flash modems and bootloaders directly?
Once I have a 4.3 or 4.4.2 bootloader/modem, I can delete any old TWRP nandroid backups from when I had 4.1.2 since restoring them would cause a brick? Same for EFS backup (which backed up EFS, Modem, Modemst1, and Modemst2 partitions)
Thanks again!
I almost wish I'd just taken the blue pill at the start of all this
For XDA members that are new to rooting, flashing, etc., I always recommend the safest route which is to flash back to a completely stock ROM and just upgrade to the latest bootloader and modem via OTA updates. There's always a risk of something going wrong when flashing anything, be it a custom ROM, recovery, or OTA update.
If the phone still had warranty, I recommend not flashing any non-Samsung software until the warranty has expired. Once expired, flash away
Knox should not interfere with root if supersu is flashed from a custom recovery, regardless of the bootloader. I have used supersu to root the latest s3, s4, Note2, and Note3 ROMs without a problem.
Restoring old nandroid backups should not cause a brick as TWRP does not change the modem or bootloader.
sacrawfo said:
....Still a few things I want to clarify though.
Unsurprisingly, after flashing the final CM 11 release, data did not work, as I'm still on the 4.1.2 (MF1) bootloader/modem.....
(an older CM 11 worked with data just fine)
I'm not quite sure myself what I'm trying to ask, I guess it's something along the lines of "am I just being silly by not updating?" ....(I know dawgdoc was sticking to an unofficial 4.3 rather than updating, so it's not an obvious choice).
Once I have a 4.3 or 4.4.2 bootloader/modem, I can delete any old TWRP nandroid backups from when I had 4.1.2 since restoring them would cause a brick? Same for EFS backup (which backed up EFS, Modem, Modemst1, and Modemst2 partitions)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the change date for CM11 requiring the newer bootloaders, at least NE4, is Nov 2014. Releases prior to that date would run fine on older bootloaders.
I have since updated to NE4 in order to run ROMs patched with the StageFright fixes, specifically CM11 20150831. Knox isn't installed on this ROM or even the newer custom TouchWiz based ROMs. I am not concerned about Warranty Bit being triggered. My device is long past being covered by any warranty and I have no intentions of using Knox features on this phone in a corporate environment.
Keep the EFS backups, those are from partitions not changed by flashing roms; stock or otherwise.
Finally went through the OTA updates, surprised how long it took but all done, at OB3.
Ok makes sense, restoring an old Nandroid would effectively result in a 4.1.2 OS with a 4.4.2 bootloader/modem, which != brick.
Still surprised that modem updates do not effect the "modem" partition that EFS backup saved.
Thanks,
Restoring a nandroid backup should not brick the phone brick the phone as twrp does not restore the modem or bootloader.
sacrawfo said:
...
Still surprised that modem updates do not effect the "modem" partition that EFS backup saved.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are quite a few partitions not affected by flashing, not only the EFS partitions. IIRC there are secondary modem partitions, more than two extra bootloader partitions, etc.
Hey everyone,
Apologize if this is something that has been asked before, haven't been able to find much information on it using search. Also still a relative newbie to android, so hope you folks will bear with me. I'm seeing the OS version in download mode showing as OS-3.36.709.3, while the software number in software information shows 4.30.617.12. Is this considered normal, or did I mess something up?
I previously had Marshmallow on my phone, and used TWRP to install the developer edition of Nougat. Was trying to do OTA, which unsurprisingly didn't work with TWRP installed. My plan is to reflash the recovery.img, but I'm unsure whether I should be using the recovery.img for 4.30.617.12, or the one for 3.36.709.3? Is there something I should do to get the versions aligned properly? Trying to make sure I avoid bricking the phone
The easiest solution would be downloading the latest version of the rom that you installed in the past and flashing it via TWRP.
Some advices: Please read the ReadMe thread. It explains why the version numbers differ (e.g. in the RUU section). In addition it will explain to you, that installing OTAs with TWRP actually is possible (c.f. the OTA section) but not in your case. Even with the correct stock recovery for your phone (the 709 one) you wouldn't be able to achieve your goal. You're trying to install an update for a completely different firmware than the current one of your phone. That's not possible. OTAs are incremental. That means you need to be using the firmware that the OTA is supposed to update (4.30.617.12) and not 3.36.709.3. You would need to convert your phone if you want to install that update.
You might want to read the article that I called "the difference between rom and firmware" in the further reading section of the ReadMe thread, as well, after you finished reading the ReadMe thread itself.
Be aware that it's always best to use a system that has the same version (or at least the same mayor version - e.g. 3.x for marshmallow or 4.x for nougat) as your phone. This way you can be sure that system and firmware are optimized for each other. Mismatches can cause unforseen side effects like battery drainage, lags or bugs.
I read the ROM vs. firmware article, and also based on your last comment, I think it would be best to align the firmware and ROM versions. If I'm understanding things correctly, I either need to flash the firmware to a version matching my ROM (4.30.617.12) by following the steps in the 's-off firmware flashing thread', or else I need to go back to a 3.36.709.3 rom and use OTA to update the firmware/ROM. If I use TWRP to update the ROM, I'll still be stuck with an older firmware. Is my understanding on this correct?
I originally go the phone second hand, and am not sure what ROM was on it to begin with. Had previously tried to get it back to stock to update to Nougat via OTA, but kept getting the your device software has been modified regardless of what I did, so ended up using TWRP.
P.S. will make sure to put questions in the right forum in the future.
e1rond said:
I read the ROM vs. firmware article, and also based on your last comment, I think it would be best to align the firmware and ROM versions. If I'm understanding things correctly, I either need to flash the firmware to a version matching my ROM (4.30.617.12) by following the steps in the 's-off firmware flashing thread', or else I need to go back to a 3.36.709.3 rom and use OTA to update the firmware/ROM. If I use TWRP to update the ROM, I'll still be stuck with an older firmware. Is my understanding on this correct?
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Correct.
e1rond said:
I originally go the phone second hand, and am not sure what ROM was on it to begin with. Had previously tried to get it back to stock to update to Nougat via OTA, but kept getting the your device software has been modified regardless of what I did, so ended up using TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then the phone had been modified before you got it. Since android 5 google is using block-based OTAs. That means re-flashing the stock recovery isn't sufficent if you want to update your phone and modified it, beforehand. You need to restore a completely untouched system image.
Check the ReadMe thread. The RUU section as well as the TWRP section II should contain the files and instructions that you need for restoring the OTA function of your phone. It's up to you which of the methods you prefer to use.
Appreciate the information and the advice. Decided to RUU back to a 3.x version, and use OTA to upgrade to Nougat. Took a lot of updates to get it to the latest version, but everything is working well now
So I recently purchased a brand new HTC M8 & the first thing I did was install TWRP & Custom Oreo ROM. However, I was not very impressed as two of the things I was looking forward to took a major hit - audio quality & battery drain on certain camera based apps. However, while most devices are very easy to return to stock ( I have experience with Samsung, OnePlus etc.) I cannot find a definitive guide that can help me restore to the last marshmallow update with stock firmware & recovery. Every online tutorial I try seems to work halfway and then the files wont flash etc.
Does anyone have a proper surefire way of bringing it back to stock. I would appreciate it alot.
Also its M8n (Euro Unlocked Version) it came with S-Off from the factory. It had Kitkat on it when I wiped it.
Thankyou
First of all, if you made a TWRP backup of your stock ROM (before flashing custom ROM); then you can just restore that to get back to the stock ROM. If you didn't make a TWRP backup, then you should have. This is a fundamental best practice when modding these devices. I find it surprising that so many folks skip doing this. For that matter, do not do anything to your phone without beforehand knowing how to reverse it (go back to stock).
Luckily, there is a collection of stock TWRP backups which you can use, plus a very well written guide: https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/tutorial-how-to-stock-stock-twrp-t3086860
Flashing custom ROM doesn't touch firmware, so that hasn't changed from stock firmware (Kitkat?). If you want to update firmware, the above linked thread has that as well.
On the note of firmware, you should not have been running an Oreo custom ROM with kitkat firmware (if that is what you did). It may or may not explain some of the issues you had. I'm actually surprised you were able to flash an Oreo ROM at all, with KK firmware.
As far as stock recovery, the link I gave also has the necessary files and instructions on how to restore stock recovery. But honestly, I don't feel it is value added to do so. The only reason to have stock recovery is for updates, and this phone is long done (years) with updates. And TWRP gives you a lot more flexibility to recover, backup, etc.
Alternately, your version may have RUU. This is a HTC specific tool you can use that to restore to full stock, including ROM, firmware, stock recovery - every single partition restored to stock (will also wipe all data on the phone). But I would need the exact phone info, in order to tell you which RUU (if your M8 version has one - not all do). If you want to go that route, do fastboot getvar all, and post the results (delete IMEI and serial number before posting).