8 replies to this topic

[dandreat]

I'm still stuck with a GB 2.3.6 Verizon RAZR Maxx which won't take the ICS OTA. :-(

I've attempted various methods: sideload 211 while rooted in GB 181 (flash from cache); also using Matt's utility 1.6 to restore to 6.12.181, (root, and unroot as needed) and then then pull down the update with the phone; Matt's utility 1.7 to "pre-pare for "side-load", AND I've even used RSD Lite to flash a stock 181. I actually understand what's going on with the various methods, BUT they ultimately ALL fail when "applying update" in recovery from either external storage OR from cache. Yes, I've 'wiped data/factory reset' and 'wipe cache' partition at all the right times, multiple times, etc. The bootloader is 0a6c, and I have seen both recoveries (cereal box, and droid on it's side w/ triangle). The current recovery is droid w/ triangle. I think that's the ICS recovery left over from a failed upgrade attempt. And, the phone runs just fine (missing 4g) with what appears to be a stock image of 2.3.6; when rooted or unrooted.

The failure always occurs when "applying update", from either external storage or from cache, as

...
updating LTE ...
assert failed: motorola.motoflash("/tmp/lte.img")
E:Error in /tmp/sideload/package.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.

This phone may have been rooted previously, using who knows what method, and who knows what might have been done while root. Yes, I can successfully root AND unroot 2.3.6 using Utility 1.6 as needed. If something is "stuck" or "missing", it is NOT fixed by either a fastboot load of stock 181 OR RDS Lite of the same; or rooting and unrooting. And, yes, I'm checking the MD5 on all files used, both on the phone and when I transfer them to/from the PC. I don't believe I've encountered any corrupt file issues along the way.

* I've been using fastboot to manually flash radio images extracted from various builds. Long before I ever started this process, the phone lost LTE / 4g. Perhaps that happened when the first pushed OTA failed months ago... June? It hasn't had 4g for months. I only see one version reported in the baseband, always the CDMA version. Recently it was CDMA_N_05.11.01P. After the most recent radio flash attempt, it's now reporting CDMA_N_04.07.01R. It continues to work fine in 3g. (And, yes, I've tried flashing the radio image two or more times in each radio flashing session.)

* Attempting to diagnose the problem, I've pulled a few lines from the "update_radio.zip.failure" file which appeared in /sdcard (or /sdcard-ext). This shows a successful flash of BP, but then a failure in flashing LTE! It looks like the flash never came back after an attempt to "Rebooting LTE in Flash Mode". I believe the assert is failing not because of a problem with the file, but because the flash can't be accessed.

...
Formatting of Cache is required
Reading input Flash image....
Registering bp flash device
Registering lte flash device
Searching for flash devices...
Found Flash MZ600
Checking if flash device is available...
Open Flash Device...
Open serial flash device /dev/ttyUSB0
Sending RDL to flash device length:328792
Jumping to RDL at 800000Searching for flash devices....
Found Flash MZ600
Checking if flash device is available...
Open serial flash device /dev/ttyUSB1
Flashing codegroup 2, addr 0, length 25539712
Completed flashing codegroup 2
Flashing BP Complete
Reading input Flash image....
Registering bp flash device
Registering lte flash device
Rebooting LTE in Flash Mode
Searching for flash devices...
Unable to find flash devices
Retry flashing
Searching for flash devices...
Unable to find flash devices
Retry flashing
Searching for flash devices...
Unable to find flash devices
Retry flashing
script aborted: assert failed: motorola.motoflash("/tmp/lte.img")
assert failed: motorola.motoflash("/tmp/lte.img")
E:Error in /cache/update_radio.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.
Radio Image Update failed.
...

(File attached below.)

It's annoying that it doesn't have 4g AND I can't upgrade to ICS. I've done quite a bit of searching on these topics and failures. Many resolve the problem with a new phone. :-( I'd be happy to just regain 4g in GB 2.3.6. ;-) But at this point, it has also become an educational opportunity. Any help and advice appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Attached Files

•  update_radio.zip.failure.txt   10.41KB   2 downloads

[mattlgroff]

Your device needs to be replaced. I have seen this before, somehow the lte modem gets corrupted or broken.

[cmh714]

Matt is correct. I had that exact problem, something is jacked with your radio and you will not be able to update. I gat VZW to replace mine back in December. My phone would never connect to 4G.

And LUCKY YOU, they will replace it with a Maxx HD since the plain Maxx is discontinued.

[Nanniepoo]

Matt is correct. I had that exact problem, something is jacked with your radio and you will not be able to update. I gat VZW to replace mine back in December. My phone would never connect to 4G. And LUCKY YOU, they will replace it with a Maxx HD since the plain Maxx is discontinued.

By all means good luck to the OP, but is VZW on the hook for replacing this if it's not under warranty?

[dandreat]

Thank you for the excellent advice. It was just coincidence that I started to revisit this problem recently, having lost 4g months ago, and finally having a short break from work to resume experiments to 'fix' the radio. When considering replacement by VZW, I learned that I was literally on the LAST day of the phone's warranty! I'm usually not this lucky. I would normally have discovered that I needed a replacement several days AFTER the warranty was up... Must be some good juju from the forums. ;-)

The RAZR Maxx is no longer officially for sale, BUT the factory apparently has a refurb stash for warranty and non-warranty replacements. The VZW rep placed an order for a replacement unit as there were none in the store. I'm expecting to see a MAXX in the box when I receive the shipment, but there could be an HD MAXX in there if the factory was out of stock. We'll see.

Of course, the VZW employee didn't really believe the theory that the phone was damaged, so they tried a SIM replacement and waited to re-download the OTA and watch it fail flashing before they agreed there was a problem. Ok with me. That added "replace the SIM, no effect" to my list of troubleshooting diagnostics.

So, for those who might be experiencing this, here's a list of symptoms which could mean your phone has this problem:

* You may be stuck at a down-level firmware, in my case 2.3.6, as the OTA will not complete flashing. It quits at about the 1/3 completion point on the progress bar when doing the upgrade following the prompts on the phone. (Settings -> About phone -> System updates) When using methods where you can actually see what's going on such as Utility1.6, Utility1.7, or root and sideload, it will always fail with a specific assertion, when updating LTE, as in:

...
updating LTE ...
assert failed: motorola.motoflash("/tmp/lte.img")
E:Error in /tmp/sideload/package.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.

* At some point in the failed flashing process, a file named "update_radio.zip.failure" may be written to the root of /sdcard. If you look at it with a text editor, you will see events as I describe above in the OP leading to the "assert failed". You may also be able to find the failure point using logcat with the system logs.

* No 4g. Running the Motorola Restore Connectivity app doesn't help. The phone works just fine in 3g. (If you are happy with your current firmware and 3g connectivity and don't want to mess around with a phone replacement, then you could probably just keep going with what you have until it's time for a phone upgrade. If you're reading this, you're probably not... ;-))

* On firmware 2.3.6 and below, Settings-> About phone -> Baseband version will ONLY show a CDMA version string. There should be a second one there for the LTE radio. (This may also be true for 4.x.y, but I don't have one to look at. I'm not sure when the unified CDMA/LTE/GSM international radio comes into play and what the Baseband version string should look like for it...)

* Settings-> About phone -> Status will reveal that the IMEI is "Unknown".

* If you experiment with flashing the radio images, you will see that the CDMA version string described above may change. (Trying a variety of radio.img files extracted from various build files, I was never able to regain LTE.) Apparently the radio image (radio.img) file must need to be flashed multiple times where one time updates the CDMA and another updates the LTE portion. You can see how to do this by looking at the main .bat file in Utility1.7, and beyond. There is lots of information posted about that elsewhere.

* Replacing the SIM has no effect. (I tried flashing the radio one more time after the SIM change just in case that somehow re-enabled writing LTE radio code, but it didn't work...)

So, I hope that is helpful. Bits and pieces of this are sprinkled across various topics / forums across various sites, so I hope that pulling it together might simplify the troubleshooting process for someone. Again, and as always, thanks for the advice and contributions of the developer community, and forums like this...

[cmh714]

So this is EXACTLY how mine went down....they tried a SIM replacment, I stood there for 10 minutes, showed them that it didnt work and they ordered the replacement. Since mine was back in December I got another Maxx, but since then others here have gotten Maxx HD's as the replacement.

Even if not under warranty, they should be willing to help. The excuse I used was the update fried my radio and now you need to do something to fix me since you broke it....

[rokky]

Same thing happens  after upgrading a Bionic to ICS (pretty much - no failure message or log that I have seen).  I got it on eBay as a broken screen replacement for an otherwise decent eBay "win" that turned out not to have a functional USB port for charging/communication (including ADB/updates).  Both phones came with GB.

 

After mixing/matching mobo from 2nd phone with screen from 1st phone, and re-activating the SIM I got for the 1st phone, all seemed well except for lack of LTE.  Some googling/foruming seemed to indicate I needed a new SIM, but then I found that a new SIM from the Vzw store made no difference - arrgghhh!. 

 

I reflashed GB, then decided to go for broke with an ICS update attempt that worked fine in every other respect, except still no LTE.  I have been flashing just radio.img with RSDlite, and moto-fastboot, and poking around with RadioComm to no avail over the last week, so I finally concluded I could not get that lte bit from radio.img to "take", and gave eBay one more try this past weekend with another lottery crapshoot that "only" has a cracked back camera lens -  I have a part for that .  It is from Gazelle Store who seems to be pretty up and up about making good on their sales, so I am hoping I can get this to go one way or another. 

 

Yeah, I am being stubborn about not buying retail from Vzw with an " upgrade" that will kill my old unlimited data plan - hoping I don't piecemeal my way to the unsubsidized price of a new phone in the end.

 

Hmm. I did just go through the process of usig Linux to loop mount the radio.img file from the ICS xml/upgrade zip, and extracting lte.img, so maybe a direct fastboot flash of that would be worth a try.  I would have a backup phone with all capabilities then, or I could give it to my son whose Droid X is getting long in the tooth...

 

One more try after I boot back to XP (ugh).

 

[johnbrain]

They replaced my first razr due to this issue. They went through all the same troubleshooting steps and ultimately said the late radio failed.

Now the mechanism for vibrate doesn't work so I'll be on my third replacement. Forgot to mention the first had a bad earpiece.

At one point can I push for a different device. And it seems the had OG razrS in stock for warranty replacement. Was hoping something else might come. I'll know tomorrow

[shippj]

SOLVED!

 

I had the exact same symptoms and almost gave up after reading so many forums where so many people gave up but it was very easy once I just thought about it.

 

just flash this file with RSD LITE

(DROID RAZR) 

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(FOR OTHER MODELS, LOOK IN 

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 and pick the newest android version)

 

WARNING, this will delete all your data like a factory reset, but it will fix the updating problem.