[Pixel 3a] Cannot downgrade from Q to Pie - Google Pixel 3a XL Questions & Answers

I've not been having a good experience with Q and now that TWRP has been released, it gives me more reason then ever to go back to pie.
I've successfully unlocked the bootloader, but it refuses to even start flashing the old image because of a bootloader version mismatch (3a has a newer version). I've tried both 9.0.0 (PQ3B.190801.002, Aug 2019) and 9.0.0 (PD2A.190115.029, Mar 2019) to no avail.
I'm sure I'm not the only one to experience this, and any help will be appreciated.

Not sure but in my experience with 3a Xl, I just unlocked bootloader and fastboot flashall from the stock 9.0 factory rom. Then boot twrp and install custom 9 rom. I got issues until I decided to flash the Google factory 1st release 9 rom. Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, you will definitely need to flash all to downgrade. I think the radio is the same but the bootloader isnt.

Solved, turns out that it was outdated device drivers that kept flash-all from flashing an older bootloader image.

Related

Can anyone on 7.1.1 DP1/DP2 grab the ota link back to 7.0 :( im stuck

Can anyone grab the OTA either from DP2 to stock 7.0 (Beta unenroll) or DP2 to final 7.1.1? (yet to come) please?
I'm stuck on this situation:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nex...device-corrupted-screen-t3511780#post69945696
Flashing 7.1.1 DP2 went wrong and now the device is stuck with a corrupt device right to recovery scenario and a 11 november 2016 date for otas, that means that there is not any ota able to flash over it (because new otas from december are from 26october and 1november... wtf). The bootloader is locked.
So I would need the ota that google sends back to unenroll from 7.1.1 Android Preview DP1 or DP2, because they presumably don't check for build dates and just flash the stock partitions .
The device is stuck corrupted until google wants to release an OTA flashable in recovery (not staged) with a >11 nov date.
Thanks in advance!
---
EDIT: The OTA from DP2 to final 7.1.1 may also work if it's not staged! if someone can, please capture it to help me
Thanks!!!!
RusherDude said:
Can anyone grab the OTA either from DP2 to stock 7.0 (Beta unenroll) or DP2 to final 7.1.1? (yet to come) please?
I'm stuck on this situation:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nex...device-corrupted-screen-t3511780#post69945696
Flashing 7.1.1 DP2 went wrong and now the device is stuck with a corrupt device right to recovery scenario and a 11 november 2016 date for otas, that means that there is not any ota able to flash over it (because new otas from december are from 26october and 1november... wtf). The bootloader is locked.
So I would need the ota that google sends back to unenroll from 7.1.1 Android Preview DP1 or DP2, because they presumably don't check for build dates and just flash the stock partitions .
The device is stuck corrupted until google wants to release an OTA flashable in recovery (not staged) with a >11 nov date.
Thanks in advance!
---
EDIT: The OTA from DP2 to final 7.1.1 may also work if it's not staged! if someone can, please capture it to help me
Thanks!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP request to close...
THREAD CLOSED

How to gracefully get off DP2

Hi all,
I'm currently on DP2 of 7.1.1 and I'd like to root my phone and install elementalX and possibly custom ROMS.
Once I am in a standard configuration I'm comfortable rooting and such, but I am unsure if I need to get off DP2 before doing so, and if I do need to get off DP2, I am not sure how to. I've seen reports that you cannot update to the release due to the older build date of the release than DP2... Odd but okay.
So my question to you fine folks is:
Do I need to get off DP2 before proceeding, and if so what should I flash to get off DP2?
Thanks!
I unenrolled in the beta program which pushed me back to 7.0, then flashed OTA to 7.1.1, unlocked bootloader, then flashed TWRC, then SuperSu, then kernel manager. Now I am done and happy
boardsportsrule said:
I unenrolled in the beta program which pushed me back to 7.0, then flashed OTA to 7.1.1, unlocked bootloader, then flashed TWRC, then SuperSu, then kernel manager. Now I am done and happy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same.
Voluntarily withdrew from the OTA program here.
Flashing is quite simple. Just take it slowly

Question: Flashing 8.1 Factory Image vs Flashing 8.0 T-Mobile Factory Image

I want to run Oreo 8.1 but noticed that there is no T-Mobile specific 8.1 factory image. In order to get all the various firmware bits needed when moving from 7.1.2 to Oreo must I first fastboot flash the T-Mobile specific 8.0 factory image and then fastboot flash 8.1 or can I just flash the non-specific January 2018 factory image and everything will just work on T-Mobile?
google has 2 factory images available for the january update, a non-carrier-specific image and an image for o2/uk. if there is no image available for your specific carrier, then you can use the non-carrier-specific image. there's no need to flash an older t-mobile specific image because flashing the january update will overwrite it anyway.
i'm in a similar situation as you. i have a verizon pixel xl. if there's a verizon specific image, i flash that. if not, i flash the non-carrier-specific one. i haven't had any issues. and it looks like there are fewer carrier specific images ever since the transition to oreo.
What is different in a TMobile specific firmware?

Support for! lost moto baseband z2 force -05

It came from openmx rom, I decided to use lineage os 17.1 everything ok except for the mods that I could not use, I decided to go to lineage os 16 to enjoy the dark mode at 100% but when updating ... I stayed in bootloop it restarted, I opted for install lineage os 17 again, and ran out of baseband I have been downloaded all the variants and I can not return the baseband, any solution?
IrvinGarcia1821 said:
It came from openmx rom, I decided to use lineage os 17.1 everything ok except for the mods that I could not use, I decided to go to lineage os 16 to enjoy the dark mode at 100% but when updating ... I stayed in bootloop it restarted, I opted for install lineage os 17 again, and ran out of baseband I have been downloaded all the variants and I can not return the baseband, any solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stop flashing things and do not re-lock your bootloader for any reason, it doesn't fix anything. What was your original software channel?
41rw4lk said:
Stop flashing things and do not re-lock your bootloader for any reason, it doesn't fix anything. What was your original software channel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, the only thing i remember is that it was openmx, but i already installed all the mexican roms and my baseband doesn't come back.
I have a complete backup of the system but it cannot be restored well and the moto logo does not pass, I have the following data from the recovery of the twrp.
ro.boot.bootdevice=1da4000.ufshc
ro.boot.bootloader=MBM-3.0-nash_retail-43c7c77-190920
ro.boot.veritymode=disabled
ro.boot.slot_suffix=_a
ro.boot.wifimacaddr=60:1D:91:24:0E:42,60:1D:91:24:0E:43
ro.boot.usbcontroller=a800000.dwc3
ro.boot.write_protect=0
ro.boot.powerup_reason=0x00000080
ro.boot.secure_hardware=1
ro.boot.verifiedbootstate=orange
ro.omni.device=nash
ro.omni.version=16.1.0-20191027-nash-HOMEMADE
ro.omni.version.security_patch=
ro.twrp.boot=1
ro.twrp.version=3.3.1-0
ro.vndk.lite=true
ro.vndk.version=28
ro.wifi.channels=
ro.allow.mock.location=1
ro.build.id=PQ2A.190405.003
ro.build.date=Sun Oct 27 15:17:42 UTC 2019
Double Post sorry.
What do you mean by all mexican roms? If openmx was your provider, then you need to flash the latest openmx firmware and you should generate your own flashall for the firmware. Flashalls aren't universal, so if you just grabbed one it could be possible that it isn't flashing everything you need. I can attach a flashall gen script if needed.

Question Has anyone ever tried downgrading Android 13 to 12 via skipping flashing the bootloader: I have tried

Hi there,
Just like the title says.
Xprivacylua won't' work on Android 13 for me. what I was wondering is whether I can downgrade without flashing the bootloader.
I am going to follow the following guide but am afraid to get a bricked phone
How to Bypass Anti Rollback Mechanism in Pixel 6A/6/6 Pro
This guide will show you how to bypass Anti Rollback Mechanism while doing a downgrade from Android 13 to Android 12 on Pixel 6A/6/6 Pro.
www.droidwin.com
Thank you all
------------------------add---
finally managed to downgrade to Android 12, just add --force before update:
fastboot --force update image-oriole-sq3a.220705.001.b2.zip (m phone is pixel6)
then reboot, then choose factory reset.
credits @Bunnehbunn
If you do it, regardless if you succeed or fail, you and your phone shall forever be remembered. And this day
forth shall always be named bush911 Pixel 6 Pro Day. And it shall be written and stories will be told from one generation to the next.
If you do it, the inner Yoda in me tells me to tell you to make sure you flash BOTH slots. Godspeed.
smokejumper76 said:
If you do it, regardless if you succeed or fail, you and your phone shall forever be remembered. And this day
forth shall always be named bush911 Pixel 6 Pro Day. And it shall be written and stories will be told from one generation to the next.
If you do it, the inner Yoda in me tells me to tell you to make sure you flash BOTH slots. Godspeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've made my day
I am going to wait and see for several days before proceeding as I just know how to flash-all, I have never flashed step by step or flashed to the specific slots.
I know that Android 12 worked just fine with Android 13's bootloader, but that was before I actually upgraded to 13. After I fully upgraded to 13, I wasn't willing to test downgrading everything but the bootloader since I would have to wipe in order to have app data be consistent with the Android version.
I'm pretty sure in my thread a user (sooooo many posts this week since the update, it's all running together) that yesterday a user reported that downgrading everything but the bootloader worked just fine. Android 12 worked fine. If you do this, remember to wipe (and have a backup of anything you want to keep from your internal storage), and downgrade on both slots, not just your active slot.
roirraW edor ehT said:
I'm pretty sure in my thread a user (sooooo many posts this week since the update, it's all running together) that yesterday a user reported that downgrading everything but the bootloader worked just fine. Android 12 worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I have to find that post. I knew someone was talking about trying that but didn't see that they actually did. Let's see how good of a friend search really is to me
roirraW edor ehT said:
I know that Android 12 worked just fine with Android 13's bootloader, but that was before I actually upgraded to 13. After I fully upgraded to 13, I wasn't willing to test downgrading everything but the bootloader since I would have to wipe in order to have app data be consistent with the Android version.
I'm pretty sure in my thread a user (sooooo many posts this week since the update, it's all running together) that yesterday a user reported that downgrading everything but the bootloader worked just fine. Android 12 worked fine. If you do this, remember to wipe (and have a backup of anything you want to keep from your internal storage), and downgrade on both slots, not just your active slot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is downgrading on both slots a must? I have just flashed Android 13 bootloader on both slots. For now chrome (stable, beta and development) keeps crashing. I can't even finish writing this reply on Chrome.
tried clearing the cache, restarting etc., ended up with no luck . It turned out that Chrome often closes itself within no more than 5 minutes of browsing after downloading to Android 12
Post before crashing
.
bush911 said:
Is downgrading on both slots a must?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to run Android 12 instead of 13, and you've already flashed 13 to both slots, or at least 13's bootloader to both slots (which you should definitely do if you haven't), then yes, you should downgrade both slots and wipe to start fresh.
You can't expect both Android 12 and Android 13 to operate with the same app data, so having a different version of Android on the other slot isn't going to do you any favors.
bush911 said:
I have just flashed Android 13 bootloader on both slots. For now chrome (stable, beta and development) keeps crashing. I can't even finish writing this reply on Chrome.
tried clearing the cache, restarting etc., ended up with no luck . It turned out that Chrome often closes itself within no more than 5 minutes of browsing after downloading to Android 12
Post before crashing
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try a factory reset?
Lughnasadh said:
Oh, I have to find that post. I knew someone was talking about trying that but didn't see that they actually did. Let's see how good of a friend search really is to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here my friend. Also in the OP.
Partial quote:
I tried this as soon as I upgraded to 13 and yes you can downgrade down to Android 12 after upgrading with no noticable issues. The radio and every other image but the bootloader can be downgraded. But I only tried 003, 004 July images for oriole so I don't know about anything lower personally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
roirraW edor ehT said:
Here my friend. Also in the OP.
Partial quote:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, you are now officially a better friend to me than search is. Sorry search...
Thank you!!!
Lughnasadh said:
Ok, you are now officially a better friend to me than search is. Sorry search...
Thank you!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can join the ranks of such like my boss at work (where we use Google officially for everything including company mail). They chat me to ask me for a link to a particular file that's in Google Drive, or to find a particular email for them.
Just kidding about joining the ranks! You're welcome!
roirraW edor ehT said:
Here my friend. Also in the OP.
Partial quote:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it would just as easy to remove the bootloader line from the flash-all.bat script and just use flash-all???
It's good to know for sure that we can downgrade though and that it's only the bootloader version that is important and not other parts of the OS.
Lughnasadh said:
I guess it would just as easy to remove the bootloader line from the flash-all.bat script and just use flash-all???
It's good to know for sure that we can downgrade though and that it's only the bootloader version that is important and not other parts of the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely, I agree on both parts.
Hi, I have a question here, as long as I don't update the latest bootloader (>= 1.2 ?), it shouldn't trigger the anti rollback mechanism? My pixel 6 with Android 13 now has a bootloader version of oriole-slider-1.1-8167057, but the bootloader version in this official page has been updated to slider-1.2-8739948.
I pulled the AOSP 13 (branch android-13.0.0_r2), built it locally (userdebug mode), and flashed it without the bootloader because there is no bootloader.img in the build output. And the phone successfully booted.
I've never flashed the Android 13 factory image, so i got away with the risk of ARB?
enderdzz said:
Hi, I have a question here, as long as I don't update the latest bootloader (>= 1.2 ?), it shouldn't trigger the anti rollback mechanism? My pixel 6 with Android 13 now has a bootloader version of oriole-slider-1.1-8167057, but the bootloader version in this official page has been updated to slider-1.2-8739948.
I pulled the AOSP 13 (branch android-13.0.0_r2), built it locally (userdebug mode), and flashed it without the bootloader because there is no bootloader.img in the build output. And the phone successfully booted.
I've never flashed the Android 13 factory image, so i got away with the risk of ARB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm surprised with that old of a bootloader you were able to boot Android 13, you're running a bootloader from April. Also I'm surprised you weren't bricked after booting Android 13 because it does increment the anti-rollback counter.
https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/android-13.0.0_r2:device/google/gs101/interfaces/boot/1.2/BootControl.cpp;l=226
drivers/soc/google/boot_control/boot_control_sysfs.c - kernel/gs - Git at Google
I'm guessing your bootloader version is old enough to not have the bits implemented so it just doesn't care, but that's weird because the July Android 12 bootloaders do have the bits and will not load if the counter is incremented by Android 13.
I wouldn't recommend continuing to run like this and would update to the August Android 13 bootloader because there's no telling what might be happening wrong under the hood. Example is that the August Android 13 bootloader it is able to boot Android 12 but because of interface differences it is a broken experience.
June 20, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010.A1 T-Mobile/MVNOs / June 13, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010 Global - Root Pixel 6 Pro [Raven]
Pixel 6 Pro [Raven] Updated May 13, 2023 Note that more than three users have said that 34.0.1 (even May 10, 2023's binary update of 34.0.1) did not work correctly for them. I recommend sticking with 33.0.3 (just below these quotes) Someone...
forum.xda-developers.com
So yeah if you're correct then it's possible you did get away with it as your firmware is too old to have implemented it. However this is not a supported firmware-software configuration.
Thank you for your reply!
Namelesswonder said:
I'm surprised with that old of a bootloader you were able to boot Android 13, you're running a bootloader from April.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. This bootloader came from the factory image `oriole-sp2a.220405.004`.
Namelesswonder said:
https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/android-13.0.0_r2:device/google/gs101/interfaces/boot/1.2/BootControl.cpp;l=226
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also noticed this piece of code, but I'm not sure if it was compiled into bootloader.img or boot.img? If it's in bootloader.img, that's a good explanation, because I didn't flash this version (after June) of bootloader so the A13 now isn't restricted by anti-rollback.
BTW I am also curious why the device is not flashed bootloader.img when running `fastboot flashall -w`, even though there is a compiled bootloader.img file in the output directory.
enderdzz said:
Thank you for your reply!
Yeah. This bootloader came from the factory image `oriole-sp2a.220405.004`.
I also noticed this piece of code, but I'm not sure if it was compiled into bootloader.img or boot.img? If it's in bootloader.img, that's a good explanation, because I didn't flash this version (after June) of bootloader so the A13 now isn't restricted by anti-rollback.
BTW I am also curious why the device is not flashed bootloader.img when running `fastboot flashall -w`, even though there is a compiled bootloader.img file in the output directory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That code is not in the bootloader, the bootloader is closed source. The code is part of the bootcontrolhal ([email protected]) on Android and runs on a successful boot of Android. The other code is the sysfs device being called by the HAL, that code is in the kernel.
I don't know if your device actually had the anti-rollback counter incremented, because a system monitor call is made and the source code for TZ/TEE/Titan are also closed source. Your device might've never incremented the counter because the firmware used by them just don't have the ability to, but it's just speculation.
And flashall doesn't flash bootloaders or radios, it only flashes Android system partitions defined by the product information. You can follow the steps here to flash them.
June 20, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010.A1 T-Mobile/MVNOs / June 13, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010 Global - Root Pixel 6 Pro [Raven]
Pixel 6 Pro [Raven] Updated May 13, 2023 Note that more than three users have said that 34.0.1 (even May 10, 2023's binary update of 34.0.1) did not work correctly for them. I recommend sticking with 33.0.3 (just below these quotes) Someone...
forum.xda-developers.com
Namelesswonder said:
That code is not in the bootloader, the bootloader is closed source. The code is part of the bootcontrolhal ([email protected]) on Android and runs on a successful boot of Android. The other code is the sysfs device being called by the HAL, that code is in the kernel.
I don't know if your device actually had the anti-rollback counter incremented, because a system monitor call is made and the source code for TZ/TEE/Titan are also closed source. Your device might've never incremented the counter because the firmware used by them just don't have the ability to, but it's just speculation.
And flashall doesn't flash bootloaders or radios, it only flashes Android system partitions defined by the product information. You can follow the steps here to flash them.
June 20, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010.A1 T-Mobile/MVNOs / June 13, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010 Global - Root Pixel 6 Pro [Raven]
Pixel 6 Pro [Raven] Updated May 13, 2023 Note that more than three users have said that 34.0.1 (even May 10, 2023's binary update of 34.0.1) did not work correctly for them. I recommend sticking with 33.0.3 (just below these quotes) Someone...
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! I'm much more clear now.
enderdzz said:
Thank you very much! I'm much more clear now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good.
Have a question, while you were on Android 13 with the Android 12 bootloader, was everything working right? Nothing crashing or throwing errors? With the Android 13 bootloader on Android 12 having issues with DRM and web browsers crashing it would be interesting to know if the same was also true for you when you were on the opposite scenario.
Namelesswonder said:
That's good.
Have a question, while you were on Android 13 with the Android 12 bootloader, was everything working right? Nothing crashing or throwing errors? With the Android 13 bootloader on Android 12 having issues with DRM and web browsers crashing it would be interesting to know if the same was also true for you when you were on the opposite scenario.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm also interested in this topic.
I've only tested webview browser tester 101.0.4951.61 and NNAPI. No problems found so far. I will update here if I encounter any new problems
I'll experience it deeply, won't flash another system or bootloader for a while. Since I flashed the userdebug version, which I think is not as feature-rich as the factory image, but it let me have root access.
I also checked `dmesg` info and didn't find anything abnormal except that it keeps reporting `init: Control message: Could not find 'aidl/android.hardware.biometrics.fingerprint.IFingerprint/default' for ctl .interface_start from pid: 467 (/system/bin/servicemanager)`, I think it's not a big deal. And no useful log about the anti-rollback counter, which maybe needs some reverse engineering.
enderdzz said:
Yes, I'm also interested in this topic.
I've only tested webview browser tester 101.0.4951.61 and NNAPI. No problems found so far. I will update here if I encounter any new problems
I'll experience it deeply, won't flash another system or bootloader for a while. Since I flashed the userdebug version, which I think is not as feature-rich as the factory image, but it let me have root access.
I also checked `dmesg` info and didn't find anything abnormal except that it keeps reporting `init: Control message: Could not find 'aidl/android.hardware.biometrics.fingerprint.IFingerprint/default' for ctl .interface_start from pid: 467 (/system/bin/servicemanager)`, I think it's not a big deal. And no useful log about the anti-rollback counter, which maybe needs some reverse engineering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If WebView applications didn't crash within minutes of launching them then that means the DRM library should either be working or just not segfaulting like it does with Android 12 on 13 bootloader.
The fingerprint scanner HAL not working is completely understandable, part of the bootloader flash also carries the fingerprint scanner's firmware, and we know that one of the big things with Android 13 is that the fingerprint scanner is somewhat more reliable, so it definitely has changed between Android 12 to 13.
Interesting stuff, will be cool to see where it can go, but man is it sketchy to recommend people still on Android 12 to downgrade to April and then try flashing the Android 13 system images, real possibility of making bricks.

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