Develop Bugs

[Q] Geeky questions

Hi everyone,
I have some advanced questions so I'm reaching out to the geeky people out there for help.
Just a bit of backgroud, I have the OPPO find 7 and so far I managed to root it using guides online and to add Cyanogenmod on it and I'm comfortable so far installing CM 11 nightly build updates and doing things like backup/restore.
Recently during an update the phone was bricked and I managed to unbrick it myself following some guides online. After I unbricked it, I noticed that it was running Lollipop and that few things had changed. After I installed CM 11 I have been having problems so here's my questions:
a) I noticed the Logo during startup has changed and also the "fastboot" icon is different too. This seems to have nothing to do with the OS. Did I somehow manage to change the Kernel? Could all the problems I am having be caused by the change of Kernel?
b) How do we update the Kernel? Can I put it back to how it was when everything with was working?
c) If the startup logo and the fastboot is not related tot he Kernel, then what is it that I have accidentally changed?
d) A lot of people in forums make recommendations such as to "install COS model version blah", or use Nameless Rom version blah, or to do a full wipe first and then blah. I am extremely confused about all of these recommendations because I have hundreds of apps that are very specifically configured and if I have to do a full wipe it'll take me weeks to bring the phone to a state where it's useful to me.
Do all these people have a way of backing up all their apps and data? It sounds like a cosmic joke that I wasn't let it on.
I know how to do an image backup/restore but that changed the OS too. I am using TWRP, can that do a different type of backup that only backs up all the data/apps/cache but leaves OS independent?

nkomp18 said:
Hi everyone,
I have some advanced questions so I'm reaching out to the geeky people out there for help.
Just a bit of backgroud, I have the OPPO find 7 and so far I managed to root it using guides online and to add Cyanogenmod on it and I'm comfortable so far installing CM 11 nightly build updates and doing things like backup/restore.
Recently during an update the phone was bricked and I managed to unbrick it myself following some guides online. After I unbricked it, I noticed that it was running Lollipop and that few things had changed. After I installed CM 11 I have been having problems so here's my questions:
a) I noticed the Logo during startup has changed and also the "fastboot" icon is different too. This seems to have nothing to do with the OS. Did I somehow manage to change the Kernel? Could all the problems I am having be caused by the change of Kernel?
b) How do we update the Kernel? Can I put it back to how it was when everything with was working?
c) If the startup logo and the fastboot is not related tot he Kernel, then what is it that I have accidentally changed?
d) A lot of people in forums make recommendations such as to "install COS model version blah", or use Nameless Rom version blah, or to do a full wipe first and then blah. I am extremely confused about all of these recommendations because I have hundreds of apps that are very specifically configured and if I have to do a full wipe it'll take me weeks to bring the phone to a state where it's useful to me.
Do all these people have a way of backing up all their apps and data? It sounds like a cosmic joke that I wasn't let it on.
I know how to do an image backup/restore but that changed the OS too. I am using TWRP, can that do a different type of backup that only backs up all the data/apps/cache but leaves OS independent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will attempt to answer your questions. Forgive me if I didn't answer everything to your satisfaction.
A) How is your fastboot icon different? Any elaboration? Startup animation should (by right) be different every time you flash a custom ROM. For example, if you flash CM, you'll have the CM boot animation and not the Oppo boot animation. This issue shouldn't be caused by a change in kernel. Your boot animation is stored in system/media/bootanimation.zip. Not sure about fastboot though.
B) Kernels are updated when you flash a ROM. You will get the CM kernel when you flash a CM ROM, etc. If you want the stock kernel back, you'll need to flash COS (1.2.5i recommended)
C) Look at A), again, not sure about fastboot, need a pic or explanation.
D) Normally for me, when I run into a major issue, I simply download the ROM+GApps, boot into recovery, wipe system, cache and Dalvik cache then flash the ROM before GApps. This should solve most issues. If you run into radio/GPS issues, you'll have to back up your apps via TB or Helium, then copy your whole internal storage onto a computer (for backup purposes), then flash COS. Boot into COS, run a few apps, then flash your custom ROM. (Custom recovery first of course.)
P.S. how did you unbrick your device? I don't know any tool that flashes Lollipop when unbricking.
---------- Post added at 08:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:21 PM ----------
If you have any questions feel free to ask.

This is still quite confusing then, because I still don't understand why the logo and the fastbook icon changed and also I don't understand why the phone loaded Lollipop. Before the logo was a gray "OPPO" but now it's a white one, with different font and it says Android at the bottom. The fastboot icon used to be a green android robot with a blue text saying "fastboot" if I remember correctly but now it shows chinese text with the OPPO emoticon.
I downloaded CM 11 latest nightly (which bricked my phone) and then I followed your guide to unbrick it. But instead of flashing COS as you recommended, I followed this recommendation here and used a unbrick_cm.zip which should, in theory, load CM 11, but instead it booted to Lollipop:
A problem was identified in the find7 nightlies for the 14th and they were pulled; unfortunately you and possibly a few others already installed it. The problem has been identified and a fix has been found:
http://www.oppoforums.com/threads/gu...nd-7-7a.23067/ provides a tool and instructions on how to return a bricked find7 to stock. The linked download includes the entire stock ColorOS rom, which isn't needed to fix this problem(and is over 1gb in download size!); an edited version can be found at https://mega.co.nz/#!SQNh2ShY!UlHUE8...fTuaP_CPYr9yfQ will fix the specific issue caused by this nightly without replacing the OS or wiping your data.
Use the unbrick_cm.zip with the instructions in the oppoforums post (I also had this problem but it wouldn't work on win7 but did on xp, so there may be some compatibility issues) and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am still quite confused about what happened to be honest. After the phone was unbricked I used an earlier image I had from a backup and restored the phone to that point, so If the kernel and OS are in the image then the logo and the fastboot menu should go back to exactly as they were before, but they didn't!

nkomp18 said:
This is still quite confusing then, because I still don't understand why the logo and the fastbook icon changed and also I don't understand why the phone loaded Lollipop. Before the logo was a gray "OPPO" but now it's a white one, with different font and it says Android at the bottom. The fastboot icon used to be a green android robot with a blue text saying "fastboot" if I remember correctly but now it shows chinese text with the OPPO emoticon.
I downloaded CM 11 latest nightly (which bricked my phone) and then I followed your guide to unbrick it. But instead of flashing COS as you recommended, I followed this recommendation here and used a unbrick_cm.zip which should, in theory, load CM 11, but instead it booted to Lollipop:
I am still quite confused about what happened to be honest. After the phone was unbricked I used an earlier image I had from a backup and restored the phone to that point, so If the kernel and OS are in the image then the logo and the fastboot menu should go back to exactly as they were before, but they didn't!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have used the tool I linked in my thread. It's by Addel (Oppo employee if I'm not wrong) so nothing should go wrong. I never heard if the unbrick_cm.zip before so... Yea, not recommended. You should use the tool I linked to install COS 1.2.5i then mess around with it. Nothing should go wrong.
P.S. never use third party tools for unbricking unless dev is recognised or well-known.

Using TWRP you can restore apps/data/cache independently from system - just check/uncheck the boxes.

Lord Childe said:
Using TWRP you can restore apps/data/cache independently from system - just check/uncheck the boxes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it'll work if you restore apps/data from a COS while on CM. Learnt this the hard way by bricking my old Note 2

Irwenzhao said:
I don't think it'll work if you restore apps/data from a COS while on CM. Learnt this the hard way by bricking my old Note 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed Nightly on my 7a, restored app+data (TWRP) without a problem. But I had issues with the 'screen of death' on CM every time the phone was put in sleep mode, so I went back to stable color 1.2.7 and restored everything with TWRP. So my experience of it is OK.
You could always use Titanium to restore apps/data if you don't want to risk bricking again, although I can't see how restoring non-system apps/data can brick your phone.

Wrong Test Keys - OTA update failed

Hi Guys,
so this morning my SW3 told me there was a system update, cool, so i said yes to the update and let it do its thing.
on coming back, the os version was still the same (LDZ22D) which i thought was odd.
I then did a search and found that there was indeed a new version out (LCA43) and thought something sus was afoot.
I got the twrp from this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/smartwatch-3/development/lwx49k-rooting-easy-t3107501 and booted from twrp
i then pushed the rom i downloaded form here http://www.xperiablog.net/2015/08/2...-update-lca43-intros-interactive-watch-faces/ and promptly tried to flash it like i would any custom rom i would normally flash on any of my other android devices.
I got an error, saying it was expecting "test keys" from a LAZ22D device or a LWX49K device, and that I had LRX22G test keys.
I also tried an ADB sideload which also didn't work.
Am i doing something wrong? Has anyone else ever encountered this?
Full disclosure, I also installed supersu a few months ago, but have had many factory resets since then (new roms on the paired fone) which i wouldn't have thought was an issue?
Cheers for any help you can give

That update only works on stock recovery. Go to my rollback thread and install the complete system of 5.0.1. I put links and directions to all the files. Then roll forward.

Thanks for that @lekofraggle, but I found an easier option, install Sony companion software, reflash "latest" firmware (apparently LAZ22D) then sideload the original update zip. Worked just fine. Just to clarify, I never flashed twrp, just hot booted from it, wondering if root did break ota...
Sent from my Nexus 7 WIFI using Tapatalk

Yes, root breaks most otas, but adb sideload usually works. Glad it was simpler than my doomsday thoughts.

WARNING Miui 11 OTA update breaks Mi Max 3 root

If I am in a class of 1 in terms of rank stupidity please feel free to delete this post. :silly:I got sick of the updater nags. With a couple of previous Xiaomi phones I got away with finally saying yes to the OTA update which would inevitably fail after which the nags would stop for a good long while.
Not this time. I now have Miui 11 (which I did not want and which has a completely broken feedback function, btw) but lost root, magisk, and exposed.
I should also note that another Max 3 user posted here that permitting the OTA update bricked their device, so I guess things could be worse.
About to see if I can re root using the same method as before the update.
Sorry if I wasted anyone's time on the blindingly obvious.

Update: The Miui 11 OTA update completely broke screencasting on my phone. While previous updates crippled native miracast you could still use it within apps such as media players prime video etc. Not anymore. The new casting and widi settings see devices but do not connect successfully while apps with casting ability see no devices at all. If I can't get around anti rollback I'll have to buy a new phone.

brasscupcakes said:
Update: The Miui 11 OTA update completely broke screencasting on my phone. While previous updates crippled native miracast you could still use it within apps such as media players prime video etc. Not anymore. The new casting and widi settings see devices but do not connect successfully while apps with casting ability see no devices at all. If I can't get around anti rollback I'll have to buy a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry about anti-rollback unless you go back to rom that has no anti rollback. I go from miui 10 global to miuieu 11 P beta to miuieu 11 Q beta then back to miuieu 10 P stable. Now I settled on miuieu 11 P stable, yes miui 11 Q is very buggy. A few of my app don't work properly.

[Fix] Root on latest MIUI 11 build !
Just update Magisk Manager to 20.2 !

What's with a screen when charging, it keeps turnin on? Happens after MIUI 10 install...

Since the first version of Android Q, I could never do it Root, I can't make Magisk work, whatever I do.
I install it without problems, but when restarting it is not installed, I never have root.
Try 20.1 and 20.2, it still doesn't work.
I have a Mi Max 3 6/128

I installed the latest Miui 11 OTA update last night - taking a full Orangefox backup beforehand. After reboot, the phone was full of ads suddenly and it took me a while to figure out that root had been removed. I soon discovered that Orangefox had also been removed and replaced with a clunky-looking version of TWRP. I reflashed Orangefox and Magisk - coming back to recovery inbetween-times and it booted fine but the ads were still there so I tried to install Xposed via Magisk and that seems to have pretty much soft-bricked it. I can get into Orangefox where it said 'No Rom' which didn't seem like a good sign. I tried to re-flash the full backup I'd made with Organgefox yesterday (and this not really understanding Orange fox that well) but that hung at 'System image' - so I tried to flash without that and that succeeded but it's still totally bootlooping.
I'd very much appreciate some advice:
1. The Orangefox backup I made was with all the boxes ticked - i.e back up everything. I have the dim idea that trying to simply restore all of this won't work (it certainly doesn't seem to work). What parts of the full backup should I try to restore?
2. If I install the latest Global Miui 10 ROM - which is still Android 9 - using the Miui repair tool, will this brick the phone because of ARB? Or is it safe to do this?
3. Will dirty-flashing the latest Miui 11 rom via OrangeFox likely make something I can at least boot up and get some data (it turns out that 'SMS backup and restore' hasn't been working for weeks so I don't have a pile of work texts that I really wouldn't like to lose)?
4. Any other suggestion most gratefully received. Thanks in advance.
(Thinking about it, this thread is for the OTA breaking the MI Max 3, not my particular woes with restoring an Orange Fox backup - so, with apologies, I'll post in the Mi Max3/Orange Fox thread.)
PS: Flashing the OTA again fixed it, short term: no root is better than no phone.

[HELP REQUEST] WILL PAY TO WHOEVER HELPS ME GET THROUGH THIS SOFTBRICK

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rodagola said:
Hello everyone on xda, please bare with me. Here's my story
I own a Redmi Note 8 pro, chinese rom model. It was running miui 11.0.3 over android 9 If I recall correctly.
Ok so... I was tired of some of the china apps pushing their notifications over and over and auto installing stuff, so I looked up how to apply adb commands to remove such bloatware, which was a fairly simple process. I copied and pasted a list of safe stuff to delete I found around some forums.
then... there were some other packages I checked out using an app called "app inspector", which directly tells you which app is under which package (totally useful for this purpose).
I tried to be careful not go overboard since I don't have any root access, or custom recovery, and wasn't really planning to have these, just wanted to keep this as my simple daily driver cellphone, but also perform this little maneuver to get rid of some bloatware.
little did I know, I was about to somehow softbrick it. More info: I did not use a screen lock method other than the "swipe up".
Ok, so I uninstalled some packages I cannot remember exactly how they went, but they had the terms "xman" and "yman" on them I think, I wasn't so sure about them because I looked them up on the web yet they didn't appear anywhere. I think they went something among the lines of "com.android.miui.xman". I also uninstalled 2 or 3 more, but after googling, they seemed unsuspecting.
Anyways, I'm aware there's a command to reinstall the packages because they're still on the phone's ROM image. That is in case I had to restore anything back to normal. Turns out I later rebooted the phone and when it launches the lock screen, I keep swiping up but it won't take me over to the actual MIUI launcher. The screen is frozen on the lock screen.
I'm not freaking out at this time because I still tried to connect the device to the pc, and it still shows as connected, I then go to the adb console and type "adb devices", it is still recognized, however, it says next to it that it is unauthorized... damn it. So now I might not be able to run the commands that allow me to reinstall the exact packages that are rendering the phone softbricked (I guess), plus I'm not really sure which package caused this.
After about a minute or two on the lock screen, the phone takes me to the "redmi-recovery 3.0",
which displays 3 options:
Reboot to system: which basically forms a loop
Wipe date: godforbid... really don't want to do it since I likely had many files not backedup
Contact miassistant: not sure what to do with this, says "pcsuite.mi.com" at the bottom
on the miassistant option you can apparently sideload stuff, idk how to go about this, maybe it allows me to install a slightly upgraded ROM, which in turn will work the same as if it was an OTA update (so it will keep my data as it was instead of wipe)? Because the point is not to erase my user data!!
I'm not sure how to feel or what to do without losing my pictures, notes and documents
I have hopes this situation can be turned around back to normal, and like the title implies... I'm WILLING to PAY you through paypal or something to WHOEVER offers to guide me through in the best way possible. Please if you have the knowledge/experience don't hesitate I'll also be grateful timelessly.
I'm not an expert at these scenarios so I might as well ask on xda where most are really skilled! Thanks in advance to those amazing souls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tldr;
If you can boot into fastboot mode you can just flash a official MIUI fastboot ROM:
Xiaomi Firmware Updater (where you can download official MIUI ROMS): https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/
This is the current hard unbrick method: https://telegra.ph/Installing-Redmi-Note-8-Pro-firmware-via-SP-Flash-Tool-01-21
It should also work in your case and there's even a video guide.
This is another video guide for fixing a hard brick:
Both methods above will format your phone though (afaik all data will be lost).
Compass.

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rodagola said:
are these the kind of roms that you unzip and have the BL, AP, CP, CSC files? I could try that, but I've heard installing home_csc will not override/wipe my personal data. If this is what you meant, can you confirm? Or do you reckon these linked video tutorials would not wipe the data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it doesn't.
If you can boot into Fastboot, flash the ROM using Mi Flash, otherwise, use this tutorial:

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Compass Linux and juliusjr have told you the method, so I will just add supplemential infos.
In your case, I think simple upgrade will do the trick, dirty flash is applicable both via fastboot flash (mi flash) and recovery flash (the mi assistant method). If you want to stop the ads, I will recommend you to unlock your bootloader, move to global, root, and use an adblocker (a bare minimum config, in trade of some bangking apps being blocked).
I don't know the corresponding version for miui china rom, but in global rom, prior 12.0.0.7 (the one with the early 2021 security update), you can dirty flash back and forth while keeping your data.

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rodagola said:
Hi, thanks for your info, I would like to try the mi flash tool as I've been told before the stock recovery thing has less chances of working. However, I had dev options turned on before but didn't manage to turn on the "OEM unlock" option, will flashing original ROMs work this way? or did I need that option toogled on? That's my last doubt, and thanks a lot. Btw, the China ROM this Redmi N8P had never ever showed me any ads, but thanks a lot as well for such input
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still have a locked bootloader? (How do I know? You will see "Unloked" on the bottom of the screen everytime your device reboots and showing mi logo if your device is unlocked)
Hmm, mechanically it work like normal ota update. Full recovery update will ony erase nessesary partitions (system, boot, and some other things) while keeping your data intact. So doing this to your phone technically safe. You can do this with MiFlashPro, do a recovery update using a recovery rom (the 2 gigs one) greater than your current MIUI version. But please bear in mind that I have never done this before to a locked phone. A same distribution version IS A MUST (i.e. global with global).
Oh and it will need you to log in to your xiaomi account. My guess is you need the flash permission open for your account (if you have unlocked your phone you shouldn't have a problem). I have never flashed with an account that never have been used to unlock a bootloader, so I might be wrong.
If your phone is bootloader unlocked, Mi Flash is the least demanding and it can retain your data with "save user data" in the bottom right corner option on, regardless your miui version (but I think there will be some problem with installed apps if you downgrade from A10 to A9).
Hope this help.

Question Flashed 13, can't go back to A12 and now soft bricked - HEAD request failed: Unknown network error

Per the title I tried to go to A13 to see if it would fix the low ringer volume on my Unlocked Pixel 6 Pro, or whether I have a hardware issue. It did not. I decided to go back to A12 and wait until the stable release and trying to flash via adb tells me I can't downgrade. When I try the Android Flash Tool and select the A12 build I need, it starts and then shows a "HEAD request failed: Unknown network error" and stops.
I'm soft-bricked now. I get a message that the device is corrupt and may not work properly, then the bootloader unlocked warning I've always gotten after I unlocked that. After that I At best I get to a white screen with the Google logo or bootloader mode.
Has anyone worked through this error or does anyone have a solution on how to recover my phone? Thanks!

Reflash A13 and make a backup then flash - wipe A12

Paz9 said:
Reflash A13 and make a backup then flash - wipe A12
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - that's exactly what I did. I was traveling and trying to get my phone working again and you are on the right track. I got it fixed fairly quickly, but I left the thread open to give another instance of hope to folks who may stumble across this in the future. I'm guessing I was flashing the OTA image and not the factory image, and it was confusing because it would partially succeed and then fail with no obvious indication of the reason for the failure. I've since flashed the factory image several times and while it too has the .sig files missing errors that appears to be a non-issue, it works just fine and I'm back in business.

It may be related to what we seen today with A13 being released. The Bootloader cant be rolled back to earlier version.
Someone posted today they can get Android 12 installed back, AS LONG as they edit the factory image script to skip the bootloader flash part.

chaco81 said:
It may be related to what we seen today with A13 being released. The Bootloader cant be rolled back to earlier version.
Someone posted today they can get Android 12 installed back, AS LONG as they edit the factory image script to skip the bootloader flash part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not, he was on the Android 13 beta and was trying to flash the full OTA when the recovery does not permit flashing a lower firmware than what is already running. He only had to instead flash the firmware from the bootloader to downgrade from the beta.
However yes, if you take the Android 13 release bootloader you cannot downgrade back to Android 12's bootloader. How long the Android 13 bootloader will continue to boot Android 12 or if they will put another antirollback measure in is unknown.