181 replies to this topic

[johnthehillbilly]

Man I am doing it just to see if it works. Mine is a toy for me to flash so no worries on lossing data. My G2 is my daily user.

Indeed....... I nuke and repave all the time..... Just because.... Lol

[jw0914]

Indeed....... I nuke and repave all the time..... Just because.... Lol

lol I'm like that with my laptop... although I've become smarter and usually make a wim or use hyper-v if I want to test or make massive changes 

[nobe1976]

ok this took longer then what I thought. File size is 25.98 gig. Luckly I got a Maxx updrade when I replaced my Motherboard. Woke up and pulling it now.

 

Going at this all the wrong way.... All is needed is the bootloader. Got some time to re-read the OP over on XDA. 

[jw0914]

Awesome, thanks bro =]

 

Although I knew the bootloader would have to be in the bin, I wasn't sure about anything else, and didn't understand the terminal command I pasted until you explained it last night. I'm a novice at best and have a very minimal understanding of Linux.  I try to read at least one linux tutorial a day (just in general, not android specific), as I think it's a good skill to have.  Most of the information I've learned thus far about linux has been from running DD-WRT on my router, installing optware, and using different linux services, basic although they might be.

[nobe1976]

no prob.. I sent dhacker a message in regards of the .bin you need for the xt926. I believe he has it just gotta wait for him to respond back.

[jw0914]

Sounds good

[jw0914]

Was curious if anyone had been able to dd mmcblk0 for the bootloader (should obly be around 2MB give or take, per the XDA thread, which the bin for the XT912/907 was a little more than 1.9MB ) or if nobe had heard back from dhacker (not rushing, just looking for an update =])?   Thanks =]

[nobe1976]

Haven't got a answer on it yet... That dd mmcblk0 command isn't the right command since the output of it was a 23 gig .bin file. Just need to get the command correct

$3π+ £®m€ ×X× ®∆z® |/|@xX Π¶ oπ $ø|/|£ťhïñğ ¢ű$ț¤|/|

[SamuriHL]

Why not just use the bootloader from the fxz?  It's signed.

[cmh714]

Heres the partition table for the block: 

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try that for if

 

EDIT: running dd on partition 31 left me with a 10mb file

 

Of course looking back, I now see nobe suggested this....

[nobe1976]

Why not just use the bootloader from the fxz? It's signed.

The bin file needed I believe has all the necessary binary files for the BlankFlasher to work, not just the bootloader. Looking into a way to combining them all without issues, unless you know how to?

Sent from my VS980 4G

[nobe1976]

Heres the partition table for the block:

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try that for if

EDIT: running dd on partition 31 left me with a 10mb file

Of course looking back, I now see nobe suggested this....

That's just pulling in the boot image which is,not needed. BlankFlasher puts the device back into the state where you are in fastboot mode after it completes... Its a combination of the different partitions that include aboot as one of them


Sent from my VS980 4G

[SamuriHL]

If you know what partitions and what order, then a copy /b will combine them.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

[nobe1976]

If you know what partitions and what order, then a copy /b will combine them.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

What I need to do is tear that .bin file apart that is for the MotoX and see what they use.

Sent from my VS980 4G

[SamuriHL]

That won't be particularly easy but if you can figure it out and get it to work on the hd that'd be huge. There's a few razr m's out there too.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

[jw0914]

Haven't got a answer on it yet... That dd mmcblk0 command isn't the right command since the output of it was a 23 gig .bin file. Just need to get the command correct

$3π+ £®m€ ×X× ®∆z® |/|@xX Π¶ oπ $ø|/|£ťhïñğ ¢ű$ț¤|/|

 
 
I owe everyone an apology, as I didn't read enough of the google post where that command came from, and after reading it, it becomes extremely clear I gave the wrong directions on how to obtain the bin file, which is not dd'd from a phone.  I'll quote the two posts that tell where it is from, and hopefully the more experienced users posting will be able to provide insight.
 
Per

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• The bootloader repair kit contains the ramdownloader that allows the QC HS-USB QDLoader to be seen as an Android fastboot device. That is the piece that is corrupted. Then fastboot can access it and flash the rest of the partitions so you have all the right signed pieces in sync and the device will boot normally.
• The repair kit came with the original leaked packages in a separate folder and they contain the the qflash.exe binary and dll files and the MPRG8960.hex file and MSM8960_bootloader_singleimage.bin file and scripts to flash those files in Windows. That will then allow it to enumerate as a fastboot device if successful. The scripts included only support flashing in Windows

​

Since I've always downloaded the fxz's from here, I've never seen the folder he's [Cell Zealot] referring to, however I'm assuming someone in this thread either will, or they'll probably know another member that does

 

The google plus thread takes about 5 minutes to read and is definitely worth the read, as it provides an extremely clear and concise answer and steps to take to fix the problem.  I understand everything within, and the only problem we have to solve now is someone having, or knowing where to find, the bootloader repair kit.  I'll even buy it if it's sold somewhere, as I'll be keeping my XT926 to still use as a computer when I upgrade to the Note 4 in September, and this will be a set of tools I'll probably need again in the years to come.

 

 

What's Needed:

 

1. Bootloader Repair Kit that came within the original leaked engineering build(s) for 4.4.2 on the Qualcomm MSM8960 XT926 (or sister devices)

 

After speaking with Cell Zealot from TeamBlackHat a little bit ago, it appears the BRK is extremely difficult, if not altogether impossible, to get a hold of for the XT926... unless you know a Linux software engineer at Motorola Mobility that works within the Android team who's feeling a bit rebellious and pulls another f**k VZW move all of us loved with the release of 4.4.2  If anyone does happen to come across it for another device, hang on to it, as it's a rarity to have, and is why most of the information out there says it's impossible to recover a phone through blank flashing.

 

While I have a better chance of walking through a wall in my lifetime, I'm going to contact motorola and ask if I can buy the tool, or gain access to it if I waive any future warranty claims, as this incorporates into a much larger problem manufacturers and carriers don't seem keen on addressing: the term "smartphone" is a misnomer and what it is is a highly advanced computer that happens to have a cellular radio, of which will surpass PCs in speed with the release of the OctaCore, 16 thread CPU in the x64 Note 4 in Sep.  With the activation of a new device, it doesn't render the current smartphone obsolete nor worthless... What happens to users wishing to continue using their devices as main or secondary computers after they buy a new device... no user in that situation should be forced into a situation where they have to pay close to/over $100 to simply have it's ramdownloader fixed out of warranty (the equivalent of screwing your OS and Microsoft charging you to do a clean install... absurd). 

[livinginkaos]

Just had a small conversation with CZ this morning.  Here is the basics of what he said about this -

 

"Well, unfortunately we don't have the Bootloader repair kits for XT926. They come from leaked engineering builds that include them. We had them for early Moto X builds and I did a similar procedure on xt912. The single image.bin files are signed. You can't alter them.

 

You have to have the right one for your hardware or it won't work.

Cell

 • 

6:33 AM

 

 

 

 

They come as packages with firmware and will have an extra folder in them with the repair kits and binaries.

 

With theQC devices it is a Win only binary but with the OMAP kits we found a Linux binary that finally worked. That is what I used. Its much easier in Linux.

 

No drivers needed.

 

I haven't done it on QC devices myself, only helped others work through it.

 

Bottom line, without the proper signed files for your hardware it can't be done though."

 

 

-

 

 

[jw0914]

The drivers are easy to find, especially if using Windows 8... I tried it both ways to see if one worked better than the other, and Windows 8 automatically recognizes the QC DLoader driver, installs it, then reboots; I also manually installed the driver... both worked fine.  However, while that allows you to communicate with the phone via a serial connection, unfortunately, as you both mentioned, it serves no purpose without the proper hex and bin files. I thought I might have gotten somewhere when I finally got CDMA Workshop to connect, read, and dump the nvram... until i opened the text file and it said unreadable for every block lol 

 

What I really can't wrap my head around is Motorola not only sells devices with the capability for the bootloaders to be unlocked, vzw is the only carrier to require dev editions, but it has to know this is a possible result, as mistakes happen (like the one time I accidentally deleted a reg key, forgetting to export which resulted in a very unhappy OS, leading to a clean install), intentional or not.  It's not economically viable at this stage in the game for manufacturers to refuse an end user the right to fix their own computer after it's no longer on a network and not governed by the FCC.  The Note 4 changes the game entirely, as it will be the first smartphone to surpass it's PC counterparts... and while it is the first to do so, every smartphone will follow suit and be at or above PC speeds by 2016 with a 16 core, 32 thread processor, and by 2020 a 64 core, 128 thread.

 

I guess the good news is when my phone arrives back at the processing center for testing, I'll no longer have an unlocked bootloader lol

[livinginkaos]

The legalities behind the actual ownership of a device are a convoluted mess.  We have the rights to the physical property (ie: buy. sell, cosmetic change), but the intellectual property is not owned by us and as such, if we do something to our device that renders that "broken", they do not have to provide us squat.  If it is something that happens due to normal function (ie: updates, etc), they have a responsibility to offer repair, but not to provide us with the tools to do so ourselves.

[jw0914]

Convoluted is an understatement lol  

Maybe it's because I see certain things differently than many people, however, as much as I disagree with it, I also understand VZW's need to baby end users while they're accessing their cellular network (it is a valid point they have no idea how custom OSs en masse would function on their network without causing network related issues). However, MEIDs/IMEIs can be blacklisted by the carrier so they're not capable of being activated on 1x or data, [upgrading and intending to use their device for the computer that it is] and phones are no longer "phones"... they're no different than a laptop with a cellular card... yet this kind of nannying would never fly with PC users.  Except the size of the components and the OS being Linux instead of Windows, there's little, if any, difference from a PC... and you can't apply a standard to one, then the complete opposite and different standard to the other.  With consumers now buying their devices at full MSRP without subsidies, it [at least to me] becomes even more troubling, as the current stance is an extremely dangerous and slippery slope to go down. Users buy PCs at MSRP, just as majority of users are buying their devices at MSRP. and if you inject the manufacturers stance into a PC scenario, where a user is restricted from not only running a different OS on their computer, but are not allowed to reinstall it, this becomes not just troubling, but ludicrous.  

On top of that, it lacks common and legal sense... No one can classify reinstallation of an OS or installing a different OS as a violation of IP laws/rights.  This goes right back to the computer scenario.  In other words, precedence has been set for the last 30 years, and when grey areas of laws are found, precedence is heavily relied upon... not dismissed in it's entirety,