Earlier today I installed Magisk, but then found that some apps I frequently use (Samsung Pay being one of them) were no longer working so I decided to revert back to Android O, remove Magisk etc. and basically go back to stock. I flashed the factory images using fastboot, then sent the command to lock the bootloader. Strangely when I tried "fastboot flashing lock_critical" it told me the bootloader was locked, but when I entered "fastboot flashing lock" it went through and restarted.
This is where I get stuck, when the phone boots it shows a message about the device being corrupt. If I press the power button, it just then goes to the white screen with Google in the middle and does nothing else.
What should I do to get my phone back to factory specs?
naiku said:
Earlier today I installed Magisk, but then found that some apps I frequently use (Samsung Pay being one of them) were no longer working so I decided to revert back to Android O, remove Magisk etc. and basically go back to stock. I flashed the factory images using fastboot, then sent the command to lock the bootloader. Strangely when I tried "fastboot flashing lock_critical" it told me the bootloader was locked, but when I entered "fastboot flashing lock" it went through and restarted.
This is where I get stuck, when the phone boots it shows a message about the device being corrupt. If I press the power button, it just then goes to the white screen with Google in the middle and does nothing else.
What should I do to get my phone back to factory specs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why on earth did you lock the bootloader? But oh well. Try unlocking it again, then fastboot 8.1 again. No need to worry about data anymore since you've been wiped! ?
I locked it again as Samsung Pay kept crashing saying I had a modified system, since I had already flashed back to factory 8.1 I assumed that was the reason why, hence locking the bootloader. I was actually in the middle of flashing 8.1 again when you replied, did exactly that, unlocked bootloader, flash-all in fastboot and I am back to setting it up again.
Going to leave the bootloader unlocked for now, but I do want to be able to use Samsung Pay so if that means locking it will likely go through the whole ordeal again at some point!!
naiku said:
I locked it again as Samsung Pay kept crashing saying I had a modified system, since I had already flashed back to factory 8.1 I assumed that was the reason why, hence locking the bootloader. I was actually in the middle of flashing 8.1 again when you replied, did exactly that, unlocked bootloader, flash-all in fastboot and I am back to setting it up again.
Going to leave the bootloader unlocked for now, but I do want to be able to use Samsung Pay so if that means locking it will likely go through the whole ordeal again at some point!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well glad your up and running. Outa curiosity, did you run the fastboot flashing unlock_critical when you first unlocked the bootloader? ?
Yep, in fact I think I only ran the unlock critical. Did both this time, oddly though unlock critical did nothing initially, so did just unlock, then tried unlock critical again and it reported being unlocked.
In the middle of setting everything up now, Samsung Pay working with the unlocked bootloader. Must have been something with root, even after removing it, that screwed it up previously.
naiku said:
Yep, in fact I think I only ran the unlock critical. Did both this time, oddly though unlock critical did nothing initially, so did just unlock, then tried unlock critical again and it reported being unlocked.
In the middle of setting everything up now, Samsung Pay working with the unlocked bootloader. Must have been something with root, even after removing it, that screwed it up previously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, root is usually always the culprit with pay type apps if magisk hide isn't working properly. But hey, at least your happy now ?
Yup, I had tried magisk hide and it did not work, so (wrongly) assumed the bootloader unlocked was the problem.
Thankfully all good now, was definitely a little worried earlier this evening!
naiku said:
Yep, in fact I think I only ran the unlock critical. Did both this time, oddly though unlock critical did nothing initially, so did just unlock, then tried unlock critical again and it reported being unlocked.
In the middle of setting everything up now, Samsung Pay working with the unlocked bootloader. Must have been something with root, even after removing it, that screwed it up previously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you get SP to work on a non Samsung phone? Does MST work or does that take special hardware?
Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk
dew.man said:
How did you get SP to work on a non Samsung phone? Does MST work or does that take special hardware?
Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pay works fine with no issues, I did nothing other than install the app while on O, then it still works on P DP3.
Not sure what MST is, so can't help there.
Are you sure you're talking about SAMSUNG pay, and not Android Pay? As far as I know (and just checked again), it' s not available from google, only from the galaxy store.
MST is the (supposedly) proprietary Samsung technology that allows you to pay with your phone at older terminals that do not have NFC. From what I understand, they have a way to communicate with magnetic card readers enabling their solution to work pretty much everywhere.
dew.man said:
Are you sure you're talking about SAMSUNG pay, and not Android Pay? As far as I know (and just checked again), it' s not available from google, only from the galaxy store.
MST is the (supposedly) proprietary Samsung technology that allows you to pay with your phone at older terminals that do not have NFC. From what I understand, they have a way to communicate with magnetic card readers enabling their solution to work pretty much everywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% sure it's Samsung Pay. I will say though that I use it on my watch, not the phone itself. Had to double check though, looks like we are both right. I don't have Samsung Pay on my phone as its own app, but it is used as part of the Gear app in order to set it up on my watch. During set up with the phone rooted, the watch Samsung Pay setup, on the phone, was crashing. Sorry for any confusion.
Gotta say I am glad the watch works with it. I would not have been happy if I had lost that functionality switching from the S7 Edge to the Pixel.
Related
If you have no plans to root the phone is there any reason to unlock the bootloader?
It would probably break Safety net and Android pay. BUT if you're unlocked, you have ability to flash factory images. That could be beneficial something goes really bad and your device won't boot up. You're also less secure with it unlocked.
Sent from my marlin using XDA Labs
You can always lock and unlock the bootloader when you want.
I would say you should at least have the option checked on in the Developer settings.
So just in case something happened and you can't fully boot the phone. you can still get into it and unlock the bootloader and do what you need to do.
This happened to a friend of mine where something happened and couldn't fully boot and couldn't unlock bootloader cause the option was never checked.
I don't believe the unlock option stays enabled after it boots up.
I would argue why WOULDN'T you unlock the bootloader? Regardless of rooting, an unlocked bootloader is a safety net for when things go south. Phone decides to bootloop tomorrow? No big deal, flash the latest images via fastboot and start from scratch.
Sure there's the counter argument of the phone being much less secure and vulnerable in the hands of a person who is tech savvy and stole/found your device. I'm not worried about my phone being stolen so I ALWAYS unlock my bootloader.
Pain-N-Panic said:
I would argue why WOULDN'T you unlock the bootloader? Regardless of rooting, an unlocked bootloader is a safety net for when things go south. Phone decides to bootloop tomorrow? No big deal, flash the latest images via fastboot and start from scratch.
Sure there's the counter argument of the phone being much less secure and vulnerable in the hands of a person who is tech savvy and stole/found your device. I'm not worried about my phone being stolen so I ALWAYS unlock my bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or just flash the full OTA image without an unlocked bootloader.
mngdew said:
You can always lock and unlock the bootloader when you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does re-locking the bootloader wipe the phone?
foosion said:
Does re-locking the bootloader wipe the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does. That's why you should unlock or lock the bootloader when flashing factory images.
mngdew said:
Yes, it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
mngdew said:
That's why you should unlock or lock the bootloader when flashing factory images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand what you mean by this.
You have to unlock the bootloader to flash a factory image and you can eliminate the w flag so that flashing the factory image won't wipe the phone.
uicnren said:
or just flash the full OTA image without an unlocked bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true. If the phone goes into booploop due to a bad zip or whatever other reason you have a bricked device with no options to recover.
It's healthy for me to unlock my Bootloader ASAP on XDA!
Unlocking the bootloader was always the very first thing I did when I got a new phone. However, I use Android Pay all the time, and Google seems very determined to break AP for unlocked bootloaders with every new patch. Sure, someone usually finds a way to get it working again, but that sometimes takes time, and I simply use AP too much to deal with it. As long as AP won't work officially with an unlocked bootloader, mine stays locked unless I'm flashing an image, and even then, gets locked right after. Luckily, OTAs are posted by Google now, often at the same time as the Factory Images, so it hasn't really been an issue for me.
akenis said:
It would probably break Safety net and Android pay. BUT if you're unlocked, you have ability to flash factory images. That could be beneficial something goes really bad and your device won't boot up. You're also less secure with it unlocked.
Sent from my marlin using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you what actually is compromised when phone is unlocked?
uicnren said:
or just flash the full OTA image without an unlocked bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can you flash with a locked bootloader?
painfree said:
Thank you what actually is compromised when phone is unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ho...unlocking-your-android-phones-bootloader/amp/
Sent from my marlin using XDA Labs
painfree said:
If you have no plans to root the phone is there any reason to unlock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you ever contemplate going onto the Verizon network, when you first boot up after placing VZN sim into the phone,
the ability to ever unlock again is eliminated. You could relock it, but it will have the Unlock option in Developer
Option greyed out forever after that. I would unlock it maybe because of Verizon thing, but also to be able to flash factory a image in case I ever mess up the phone.
michaelbsheldon said:
If you ever contemplate going onto the Verizon network, when you first boot up after placing VZN sim into the phone,
the ability to ever unlock again is eliminated. You could relock it, but it will have the Unlock option in Developer
Option greyed out forever after that. I would unlock it maybe because of Verizon thing, but also to be able to flash factory a image in case I ever mess up the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you have the Google version it should never grey out on you at least that's how it was with the first pixels. I have Verizon I've never had it grey out.
jt3 said:
Unlocking the bootloader was always the very first thing I did when I got a new phone. However, I use Android Pay all the time, and Google seems very determined to break AP for unlocked bootloaders with every new patch. Sure, someone usually finds a way to get it working again, but that sometimes takes time, and I simply use AP too much to deal with it. As long as AP won't work officially with an unlocked bootloader, mine stays locked unless I'm flashing an image, and even then, gets locked right after. Luckily, OTAs are posted by Google now, often at the same time as the Factory Images, so it hasn't really been an issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Android Pay is pretty convenient and I always told myself I didn't need it compared to unlock+root. Wish Google would allow AP with unlocked bootloader but I can understand why they don't from a security standpoint.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
foosion said:
Thanks
I don't understand what you mean by this.
You have to unlock the bootloader to flash a factory image and you can eliminate the w flag so that flashing the factory image won't wipe the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you unlock the bootloader, phone is wiped automatically.
Hello, I purchased a Pixel 3 XL off craigslist and it is working fine, but the bootloader is unlocked therefore I am receiving a warning when restarting the phone and Google Pay does not work. How can I re-lock the bootloader? Do I need to flash the latest standard google image? The build number is: "crosshatch-userdebug 9 PQ1A.181105.013 5027108 dev-keys". When in bootloader the bootloader version is: b1c1-0.1-5004167. Obviously a n00b here, please be gentle. Thank you for any help.
Do you have a computer? If so what OS do you use?
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
superchilpil said:
Do you have a computer? If so what OS do you use?
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have a computer, a Windows 10 Pro
Are you planning on rooting? If so, you can use Magisk Hide (after using Magisk to root of course) to get Google Pay to work. I would be hesitant to re-lock the BL unless you are certain that it is completely stock otherwise. Re-locking a modified phone can brick the device. Better to just learn how to root, etc and keep it unlocked. You have come to the right place to learn.
sliding_billy said:
Are you planning on rooting? If so, you can use Magisk Hide (after using Magisk to root of course) to get Google Pay to work. I would be hesitant to re-lock the BL unless you are certain that it is completely stock otherwise. Re-locking a modified phone can brick the device. Better to just learn how to root, etc and keep it unlocked. You have come to the right place to learn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't plan on rooting. But I am afraid of bricking the phone since I don't know what has been done to it. Is there a way to determine what was done to unlock the bootloader? Otherwise I will follow your recommendation of using Magisk Hide. I would prefer to keep the phone stock. Thanks.
eec007 said:
No, I don't plan on rooting. But I am afraid of bricking the phone since I don't know what has been done to it. Is there a way to determine what was done to unlock the bootloader? Otherwise I will follow your recommendation of using Magisk Hide. I would prefer to keep the phone stock. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you live in Denver I'll trade you my Verizon one for yours. It has a locked bootloader.
eec007 said:
No, I don't plan on rooting. But I am afraid of bricking the phone since I don't know what has been done to it. Is there a way to determine what was done to unlock the bootloader? Otherwise I will follow your recommendation of using Magisk Hide. I would prefer to keep the phone stock. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The two obvious things you can check are that you have stock recovery and that the phone is not rooted. Manually power on to bootloader (hold volume down and press power then use the volume keys to select recovery and press power. you should get a no command android screen if in stock recovery. assuming you don't have a Magisk icon, you are probably not rooted but you can confirm by installing and running a root app like root checker. likely, the previous owner did nothing but unlock the BL given how recently it came out, but if someone where really creative they could have done work in the other partition. there are no exploites, so doing it normally (running fastboot flashing unlock from a prompt) is pretty much all that would have been done other than enabling developer options and OEM unlocking in settings.
Personally, I think you have a good chance to learn your device, root (you need to be rooted for Magisk hide) and keep the bootloader unlocked. Besides rooting, being able to install a full factory image instead of an OTA is so much better in my opinion. The amount of work it would take to be 100% confident that the only thing done was the BL unlock would take as much work as at least getting a working knowledge of rooting and reinstalling the OS.
P.S. Keeping a phone "stock and rooted" has advantages. That is how I run my 3 XL and how I ran my OG XL. No custom OS. Not even a kernel.
coolhandz said:
If you live in Denver I'll trade you my Verizon one for yours. It has a locked bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, what I don't get is that I thought the google edition could have the bootloader unlocked in the developer options. So why go to this hassle of unlocking the bootloader from fastboot? FYI, in the Developer options the OEM unlocking is greyed out and says "Bootloader is already unlocked".
sliding_billy said:
The two obvious things you can check are that you have stock recovery and that the phone is not rooted. Manually power on to bootloader (hold volume down and press power then use the volume keys to select recovery and press power. you should get a no command android screen if in stock recovery. assuming you don't have a Magisk icon, you are probably not rooted but you can confirm by installing and running a root app like root checker. likely, the previous owner did nothing but unlock the BL given how recently it came out, but if someone where really creative they could have done work in the other partition. there are no exploites, so doing it normally (running fastboot flashing unlock from a prompt) is pretty much all that would have been done other than enabling developer options and OEM unlocking in settings.
Personally, I think you have a good chance to learn your device, root (you need to be rooted for Magisk hide) and keep the bootloader unlocked. Besides rooting, being able to install a full factory image instead of an OTA is so much better in my opinion. The amount of work it would take to be 100% confident that the only thing done was the BL unlock would take as much work as at least getting a working knowledge of rooting and reinstalling the OS.
P.S. Keeping a phone "stock and rooted" has advantages. That is how I run my 3 XL and how I ran my OG XL. No custom OS. Not even a kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! Root Checker says that "root access is not properly installed on this device". The recovery mode screen just has a warning about the bootloader is unlocked and a link to a google help page. I figure that I can always unlock the bootloader again if I need to later, but for now I just want everything to work (bank and pay app) and not worry about updating anything myself. I think I may try fastboot to lock the bootloader for now. Thanks for all the help.
Hope it all works out for you. I assume you did a factory reset on the device since you got it used. Re-locking will do another factory reset.
sliding_billy said:
Hope it all works out for you. I assume you did a factory reset on the device since you got it used. Re-locking will do another factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, so I locked using "fastboot flashing lock" but then it doesn't start, saying that there is no operating system or something like that. I freaked out and was able to unlock again using "fastboot flashing unlock". Now all is wiped. I guess I need to flash the oem rom first, then lock. I'll have to do this all later tonight. Just glad that I didn't brick it yet.
eec007 said:
Thank you! Root Checker says that "root access is not properly installed on this device". The recovery mode screen just has a warning about the bootloader is unlocked and a link to a google help page. I figure that I can always unlock the bootloader again if I need to later, but for now I just want everything to work (bank and pay app) and not worry about updating anything myself. I think I may try fastboot to lock the bootloader for now. Thanks for all the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't rooted or bl unlocked in some time now so if I make a mistake someone please correct me. After buying it from a 3rd party I'd wipe the device entirely. Download the correct image and install the latest platform tools for Windows (here) https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools and make sure you can connect with adb devices and fastboot devices commands. Then extract the latest full image from here https://developers.google.com/android/images to your platform-tools directory and run the flashall.bat command if you wish to wipe the entire device and get rid of anything the previous owner might have "inadvertently" installed. (this is what I would do but not necessarily what you should do if you want to keep the current apps and system intact) This will reset your device and then you can lock the bootloader with no worry and you'll have a stock system.
I agree that since you can unlock it at any time and you don't need it now then relock it. But there are those here that disagree with me and fight with Magisk and OTAs constantly. But they are not noobs and know what they're doing. If you want to learn there is a wealth of information here so it's your call. Just my 2 cents. But please check my steps before you do anything that might cause issues.
edit: darn, sorry I just saw above that you already tried to lock it. I hope what I said to do will get you out of the predicament.
bobby janow said:
I haven't rooted or bl unlocked in some time now so if I make a mistake someone please correct me. After buying it from a 3rd party I'd wipe the device entirely. Download the correct image and install the latest platform tools for Windows (here) https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools and make sure you can connect with adb devices and fastboot devices commands. Then extract the latest full image from here https://developers.google.com/android/images to your platform-tools directory and run the flashall.bat command if you wish to wipe the entire device and get rid of anything the previous owner might have "inadvertently" installed. (this is what I would do but not necessarily what you should do if you want to keep the current apps and system intact) This will reset your device and then you can lock the bootloader with no worry and you'll have a stock system.
I agree that since you can unlock it at any time and you don't need it now then relock it. But there are those here that disagree with me and fight with Magisk and OTAs constantly. But they are not noobs and know what they're doing. If you want to learn there is a wealth of information here so it's your call. Just my 2 cents. But please check my steps before you do anything that might cause issues.
edit: darn, sorry I just saw above that you already tried to lock it. I hope what I said to do will get you out of the predicament.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your steps are basically what I will try tonight. Currently the phone is working again, so there was no harm done yet (just the restore of all apps and such). But I'm going to flash the oem image tonight and start all over again.
eec007 said:
Your steps are basically what I will try tonight. Currently the phone is working again, so there was no harm done yet (just the restore of all apps and such). But I'm going to flash the oem image tonight and start all over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing I would do before I relocked the bl would be to do the full login procedure, email everything other than apps. Then make sure you're on the Nov update in about phone, I'm sure you will be, and then fastboot relock the bl with the proper command. It will wipe the device again but it's a small price to pay for about 10 minutes of work. Then once it reboots and there is no more error message you'll be fully stock. Enable dev options again and make sure the oem switch is active allowing bl unlock. Then you're done. I've gotten to the point on my 5X where I even flip the oem switch so it can't be bl unlocked until I go in and flip it back. Dangerous if you're flashing stuff but not so much if you're just taking OTAs. That's of course your call entirely. Good luck.
eec007 said:
lol, what I don't get is that I thought the google edition could have the bootloader unlocked in the developer options. So why go to this hassle of unlocking the bootloader from fastboot? FYI, in the Developer options the OEM unlocking is greyed out and says "Bootloader is already unlocked".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will stay grayed out until you relock the bootloader. That slider "allows" unlocking. Then you boot into fastboot and unlock it.
So you would reverse the process, hit fastboot and relock the bootloader. Then you can toggle the slider back to not allow unlocking.
Relocking the bootloader will wipe your phone.
You should not do this until you first flash the full factory image to make sure the phone is 100 percent stock. And if it were my phone I would wait for the next OTA update after flashing it back to stock to make sure it goes ok. Then lock it.
And then I would wait awhile before hitting the slider.
You are playing with fire here, if you mess it up and lock it and hit the slider you will not be able to fix it. And no offense, but since you have not done this all before on this phone chances are good you will mess it up.
So, flash to stock and leave it unlocked.
Then wait for the next OTA.
Then lock it.
Then wait a bit more before you hit the slider.
And remember, since you are not the original buyer you will not be able to warranty it.
eec007 said:
Hello, I purchased a Pixel 3 XL off craigslist and it is working fine, but the bootloader is unlocked therefore I am receiving a warning when restarting the phone and Google Pay does not work. How can I re-lock the bootloader? Do I need to flash the latest standard google image? The build number is: "crosshatch-userdebug 9 PQ1A.181105.013 5027108 dev-keys". When in bootloader the bootloader version is: b1c1-0.1-5004167. Obviously a n00b here, please be gentle. Thank you for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're right to mention that relocking a modified device can result in a brick.
Your best bet is to go to https://developers.google.com/android/images#taimen
Follow the directions to the "T", then relock it if you are really really sure that the unlock screen bothers you.
Would suggest to do this anyway, no matter future unlock status.
TonikJDK said:
That will stay grayed out until you relock the bootloader. That slider "allows" unlocking. Then you boot into fastboot and unlock it.
So you would reverse the process, hit fastboot and relock the bootloader. Then you can toggle the slider back to not allow unlocking.
Relocking the bootloader will wipe your phone.
You should not do this until you first flash the full factory image to make sure the phone is 100 percent stock. And if it were my phone I would wait for the next OTA update after flashing it back to stock to make sure it goes ok. Then lock it.
And then I would wait awhile before hitting the slider.
You are playing with fire here, if you mess it up and lock it and hit the slider you will not be able to fix it. And no offense, but since you have not done this all before on this phone chances are good you will mess it up.
So, flash to stock and leave it unlocked.
Then wait for the next OTA.
Then lock it.
Then wait a bit more before you hit the slider.
And remember, since you are not the original buyer you will not be able to warranty it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with most of your post other than waiting for the next OTA before you lock the bootloader. Why would he need to do that? If he's stock, and he'll see that immediately, then relock it. He doesn't want root or Magisk but only wants banking and Pay. With the slider allowing bl unlock he's in no danger whatsoever. Lock and relock whenever he wants. OTA will not disallow the slider once it's set.
TonikJDK said:
That will stay grayed out until you relock the bootloader. That slider "allows" unlocking. Then you boot into fastboot and unlock it.
So you would reverse the process, hit fastboot and relock the bootloader. Then you can toggle the slider back to not allow unlocking.
Relocking the bootloader will wipe your phone.
You should not do this until you first flash the full factory image to make sure the phone is 100 percent stock. And if it were my phone I would wait for the next OTA update after flashing it back to stock to make sure it goes ok. Then lock it.
And then I would wait awhile before hitting the slider.
You are playing with fire here, if you mess it up and lock it and hit the slider you will not be able to fix it. And no offense, but since you have not done this all before on this phone chances are good you will mess it up.
So, flash to stock and leave it unlocked.
Then wait for the next OTA.
Then lock it.
Then wait a bit more before you hit the slider.
And remember, since you are not the original buyer you will not be able to warranty it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for explaining this. I had thought that the Developer Option slider was to unlock the bootloader, but your explanation clarifies it, the slider is to allow the bootloader to be unlocked...
Ok, so I tried to flash the factory image using adb flash-all and it keeps getting the error:
Sending sparse 'vendor_a' 2/2 (193888 KB) FAILED (Error reading sparse file)
Now the phone is not working at all and says that "device is corrupt" and will not boot past the white google screen. I can try again using adb, but it is the same error each time. I tried to download the image again and same sparse error. I can also fastboot in TWRP, but not sure what to do in there. What am I doing wrong? I guess I should've rooted and used Magisk like others have said.
turns out changing to a different cable resolved my sparse error and I was then successfully able to apply the factory image and lock the device. Thanks everyone for the help.
I am on the official Android 10 firmware and would like to downgrade back to Pie. Is this possible without unlocking the bootloader? The T-Mobile unlock app apparently don't work on 10 yet so I need to get back to Pie to unlock then I can go back to 10.
Yes, I think you can. You can sideload an OTA image without unlocking the bootloader. Even though it says OTA, it is a full factory image. The files and directions are both available at that link. If possible, I would certainly do a full factory reset of your phone as soon as it booted however. You never want to back into an older version of Android without doing a full factory reset.
sic0048 said:
Yes, I think you can. You can sideload an OTA image without unlocking the bootloader. Even though it says OTA, it is a full factory image. The files and directions are both available at that link. If possible, I would certainly do a full factory reset of your phone as soon as it booted however. You never want to back into an older version of Android without doing a full factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I just tried that and part way through installation it aborted. "E:Failed to verify package compatibility" along with some other errors...
To revert to pie you have to use the full image and the platform tools available over at Goog but for this you need to unlock the bootloader. If you want to stay on a locked bootloader you then lock it after you're up on stock pie again. Keep in mind you'll want to do the works before you move any data back to the phone and that unlocking the bootloader will wipe the phone so you'll need to back up everything before you unlock.There are specific instructions for all of that and the images and tools at https://developers.google.com/android/images
Don't be afraid of unlocking the bootloader, it can be unlocked and locked again at your whim over and over. Doesn't hurt anything other than you get a wipe in the process.
krabman said:
To revert to pie you have to use the full image and the platform tools available over at Goog but for this you need to unlock the bootloader. If you want to stay on a locked bootloader you then lock it after you're up on stock pie again. Keep in mind you'll want to do the works before you move any data back to the phone and that unlocking the bootloader will wipe the phone so you'll need to back up everything before you unlock.There are specific instructions for all of that and the images and tools at https://developers.google.com/android/images
Don't be afraid of unlocking the bootloader, it can be unlocked and locked again at your whim over and over. Doesn't hurt anything other than you get a wipe in the process.
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I cant unlock the boot loader because the phone is SIM locked to T-Mobile. This is the whole reason I want to go back to Pie so the unlock app will work. This sucks
You can get it sim unlocked by phone if you meet their unlock requirements, or at least you used to be able to do so, I did it that way there myself a few years ago. If that's not the case anymore then... yeah, you're in a pretty sucky spot.
krabman said:
You can get it sim unlocked by phone if you meet their unlock requirements, or at least you used to be able to do so, I did it that way there myself a few years ago. If that's not the case anymore then... yeah, you're in a pretty sucky spot.
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I do meet their unlock requirements..They have a ticket open with engineering for over a week but I’ve found out from other means that the unlock app isn’t compatible with Android 10.
Do you mean there’s another way to SIM unlock then the app? If so please enlighten me.
"You can get it sim unlocked by phone..." You call them on the good old fashioned telephone and tell them you want to remove the sim lock. Customer service can do it without the app, to my knowledge this was possible as recently as the 6T; Tmo guys were calling up and getting it done in essentially the same scenario you're in.
Hello everyone. I installed the developer preview for Android R and i'm over it. I wanna go back to stock and I tried sideloading the OTA image and I get this message
update package is older than the current build. Downgrade not allowed.
My bootloader is locked so I can't flash the image through fastboot. I need help.
May update released might want to try that one.
hedgehogmd said:
May update released might want to try that one.
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I tried but it didn't work.
I was on the phone with t-mobile to see if they could unlock my phone but we're having issues with the unlock app.
I miss the days of typing in a code and getting your phone unlocked.
As you have just learned, the developer previews are not the same as beta releases. With the beta releases, you can "quit" the beta program and have the old OS version reinstalled via an OTA update The preview releases have no such OTA reset ability. Therefore, you should not participate in the preview releases unless your phone is unlocked.
If the May release doesn't let you revert back, then I think the only option you will have is to wait until the beta is released. Join the beta and have it installed on your phone and then quit the beat and hope that the OTA update takes you back to stock Android 10. In theory I think it will.
you should use the flashall.bat script if you're installing the factory image. Though this will earase data. Just make sure you have USB debugging on
EDIT: I think you should still be able to unlock your bootloader
EDIT2: After reading a bit more I see that on carrier specific devices, OEM unlocking is greyed out until the phone is sim unlocked. But after you get the app working everything should work fine. Did you use another sim thats not from T Mobile?
RicardoSal24 said:
you should use the flashall.bat script if you're installing the factory image. Though this will earase data. Just make sure you have USB debugging on
EDIT: I think you should still be able to unlock your bootloader
EDIT2: After reading a bit more I see that on carrier specific devices, OEM unlocking is greyed out until the phone is sim unlocked. But after you get the app working everything should work fine. Did you use another sim thats not from T Mobile?
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I put a different sim on the phone and it worked but it's b/c I did the temporary unlock. After 30 days the phone will be locked again. The phone won't let me unlock the bootloader unless it's a permanent unlock. The problem is I'll have to wait 30 days for the phone to re-lock. I wish t-mobile could just give me a code...
Lucky for me this phone isn't my daily driver but I wanted to revert to stock android b/c I got an invite to test out the Ratio launcher by Blloc. It's incompatible with Android R.
chivamex10 said:
I put a different sim on the phone and it worked but it's b/c I did the temporary unlock. After 30 days the phone will be locked again. The phone won't let me unlock the bootloader unless it's a permanent unlock. The problem is I'll have to wait 30 days for the phone to re-lock. I wish t-mobile could just give me a code...
Lucky for me this phone isn't my daily driver but I wanted to revert to stock android b/c I got an invite to test out the Ratio launcher by Blloc. It's incompatible with Android R.
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Your best bet would be to just wait until you can permanently unlock it. I got mine from best buy and only recently did I bother with flashing roms on it.
I have a TMO device and had a temp unlock, and obviously it doesn't allow oem unlocking to be enabled. I DM'd TMOhelp on twitter and was able to get a permanent unlock there. They told me that I'd have to wait for my temp unlock to expire before I could perm unlock, but I didn't. If you have trouble with the app, just clear the storage and cache data for it. Once it is actually perm unlocked you'll immediately get a notification and be prompted to restart the phone. After that you should see oem unlocking enabled in dev options and be able to hit bootloader and unlock it.
Hi all,
So my father bought about a year ago his galaxy a50 in a new sealed box from unknown reseller, and recently the phone got locked by the network operator due to unpaid tax invoice for this device. It seems like the guy purchased it and only paid the first rate, and then resold it to my father for a full price. The phone when turned on displays a huge notification on the lock screen menu and does not allow me to do anything. Tried hard reset, didnt help. Anyway, I also tried to flash a linearge os on that, but it threw an error because the OEM unlocking option is not ticked (However, I managed to unlock bootloader before the device went down).
And my question is, is there any way i can flash any custom rom to get rid of the blockade without unlocking OEM? or should i throw the device away?
Thanks for any feedback !
x321 said:
Hi all,
So my father bought about a year ago his galaxy a50 in a new sealed box from unknown reseller, and recently the phone got locked by the network operator due to unpaid tax invoice for this device. It seems like the guy purchased it and only paid the first rate, and then resold it to my father for a full price. The phone when turned on displays a huge notification on the lock screen menu and does not allow me to do anything. Tried hard reset, didnt help. Anyway, I also tried to flash a linearge os on that, but it threw an error because the OEM unlocking option is not ticked (However, I managed to unlock bootloader before the device went down).
And my question is, is there any way i can flash any custom rom to get rid of the blockade without unlocking OEM? or should i throw the device away?
Thanks for any feedback !
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Click to collapse
The hard way easier said than done :
0. Factory reset your phone
1. Find a smashed A50 cheap
2. Replace motherboard (open up adhesive with heat gun)
3. Put your motherboard into the smashed one
4. Sell the reassembled smashed one on eBay for parts only
5. Profit
yeah.. actually I dont have enough experience to do it myself, I guess I'll just sell it as it is
Can you reflash stock ROM on Odin as an final desperate attempt of re enable unlock bootloader?
(Won't elaborate here, don't have time, you may search)
Stock ROM is from samfw.com
Actually i failed flashing TWRP on it, coulnt even get to the moment of flashing the rom
x321 said:
Actually i failed flashing TWRP on it, coulnt even get to the moment of flashing the rom
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So it does not even boot now?
It still can boot, but when i set it up with the minimum permissions (no google account , no wifi. anything) the blockade still comes up straight away
x321 said:
It still can boot, but when i set it up with the minimum permissions (no google account , no wifi. anything) the blockade still comes up straight away
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Even after factory reset in recovery?
LR7875 said:
Even after factory reset in recovery?
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Yeah, even after hard reset - It is supposedly caused by the software called Samsung Knox.
x321 said:
Yeah, even after hard reset - It is supposedly caused by the software called Samsung Knox.
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Can you dissemble the phone and unplug antenna?
LR7875 said:
Can you dissemble the phone and unplug antenna?
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Click to collapse
Will try, thanks