[Zuk Z1 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tndb:
Gonna try and cover as much as possible but dont be afraid to comment or correct me as I might forget to mention something :)

ZUK Z1 Specs:

5.5 inch IPS Screen

Snapdragon 801 @ 2.5GHz

3GB RAM

64GB Storage

Dual sim - 2G/3G/4G (doesnt have LTE band 20 unfortunately)

13MP camera with OIS and 8MP front

USB-C charging/data connector

Fingerprint reader

Wifi A/B/G/N/AC

GPS Glonass

Bluetooth 4.1

4100mAh battery

Activate developer settings and ADB + OEM unlock (needed for bootloader unlock among other things)

1. Open settings and scroll to bottom and press "About phone"

2. Scroll to bottom again and press 5 times on "Version" (the one above "SElinux-status") and it should say "developer settings now activated"

3. Press back button once and you should now have a new option "Developer Settings" above "About Phone"

4. Press "Developer Settings" and scroll down to USB debugging and activate it.

5. You can also find the OEM-unlock which unlocks bootloader. If nothing happens when you try to unlock the bootloader then you can use adb command to unlock instead.

Download "Android debug bridge", can recommend minimal ADB by shimp208

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2317790 and install it.

You also need adb driver for the phone

https://mega.nz/#!l8pVHIpT!UkcW3Jg4B7YilDjZatvLqGBi_R4vVUYVdkrsUL_Ve9k

or from the chinese site

http://bbs.zuk.cn/z1/t16224/

When driver and adb is installed then type "adb devices" to check if phone is detected. If its detected then you can type "adb reboot bootloader" and after that you might wanna check device manager that your phone driver is installed and working then type "fastboot -i 0x2b4c oem device-info" to see the bootloader lock status and type "fastboot -i 0x2b4c oem unlock" to unlock it, doublecheck with "fastboot -i 0x2b4c oem device-info" again to see if its actually says unlocked before you reboot. Either type "fastboot -i 0x2b4c reboot" or hold power button til it restarts.

Ps. If you are running windows 10 and have issues with adb not detecting any devices, then download updated binary (credits goes to mrcoldbird) and replace the three files in your adb installation https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=...164e5e9c078239797e768e69027c4effaf26930b8050b

After you´ve replaced the files, type "adb kill-server" and then try "adb devices" again and it should hopefully work. Dont forget to authorize your computer on the phone when the dialog pops up or else you wont be able to perform any commands.

How to enter recovery mode, flash mode

To enter recovery mode you need to make sure phone is turned off.

Then you press and hold vol - and + (both yes) and push the power button and release as soon as the screen is lit (still hold vol+ and vol- until you see the recovery screen).

To enter flash mode you need to make sure phone is turned off.

Then you press and hold vol+ and insert the usb data cable and your computer should have found new hardware. The iffy part here is that the phone is only in flashmode for like 5sec or so, so you need to be quick. Flash mode is currently used for when you wanna unbrick phone or factory reset to the chinese android version called ZUI

How to enter diagnostic mode

There are 2 ways of doing this, the first way is making sure no cable is inserted into phone and turning the phone off. Then hold vol+ and insert usb cable and it will be in diag mode for a brief moment (which can be quite annoying)

The second way (which requires root) makes it easier to fiddle around in diag mode. Activate ADB in developer settings and plug in your phone and authorize it, then type

adb shell
su
setprop sys.usb.config rndis,diag,adb

and voila you got diag mode activated

Flash TWRP (recovery) onto your phone

Download a twrp file for this phone (credits to JoaoPaulo)

https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24269982087019837

1. Make sure you have adb on pc, driver installed, phone developer settings activated and bootloader is unlocked. Just use the above guide where I explain how to "Activate developer settings and ADB + OEM unlock"

2. Plug in cable if it isnt already and type "adb devices" to check if phone is detected, if not then try "adb kill-server" and try "adb devices" again. If detected then type "adb reboot bootloader".

3. Again make sure phone still has connection with pc by typing "fastboot -i 0x2b4c oem device-info" (since "adb devices" mostly dont work in bootloader mode we use oem device-info command instead to check communication)

4. You can then type "fastboot -i 0x2b4c flash recovery TWRP-2.8.7.0-ham-fixSystem-fixADB.img" to flash the recovery onto phone.

5. If all good and no error messages then reboot phone by typing "fastboot -i 0x2b4c reboot" or hold power button til it restarts.

6. Check that recovery is there and works by shutting down phone, then press and hold vol+ and vol- and press power button til screen goes on then you can release it (still keep hold vol+ and vol- til recovery screen is up)

Flash ZUI, Unbrick phone or fix wierd issues such as problem with activating Wifi or bluetooth

First you need to download the QPST flash program

https://mega.nz/#!4tom3DqL!4a-rRcLef1yS6HJSrBfne_-r9atg6yF3kI_HW8lDaPY

And then you also need the ZUI rom file

https://mega.nz/#!chQkEAwR!IHeYRxWx38QdML6VxjPdVz08BgbZD-Z-xVuSG150qPU

And if you havent already fixed the driver then that aswell

https://mega.nz/#!l8pVHIpT!UkcW3Jg4B...UYVdkrsUL_Ve9k

After you installed QPST, you will get a bunch of programs associated to it, start QFIL from the QPST folder

Click browse on the programmer path row and select "prog_emmc_firehose_8974.mbn" from the directory where you unzipped the QPST ZUI ROM and then click browse on the search path row and select the xml file + the other patch file which comes after it.

When thats done, make sure phone is off and then hold vol+ while you are inserting usb cable into phone and QFIL should then detect phone, you may need to select port in the QFIL program and be quick with it, took me a few tries before I got it right so just take out the cable and turn off and try again if you fail to make them connect.

Not only you need to select comport, you also need to press the download button aswell as soon as possible or else phone will continue booting as normal.

If everything went well then you should have ZUI loaded onto your phone and you are met with Chinese language as default. On the first screen you are met with, just press the button in the bottom (on screen), then press cogwheel (which is the settings), scroll down to yet another cogwheel in here which should be below a lock icon, then press second option in here and then the top option to change language to english incase you cant make out the chinese and you should be good to go :)

Download and install Gapps

Open http://opengapps.org/

and for first column select "ARM"

Second column, if you are running CM12 or the ZUI 1.2.x for example it is 5.1 you want

If you are running CM13 or ZUI 1.5.x it is 6.0 you want.

Then last column is just how many of the google apps you want to have installed, you can press the link "Version Information" in red text at the bottom left to see the what each package contains.

I usually go with nano since you get the necessary apps to sync your account and then ill just download the rest I want/need from play store. Its also a smaller download so goes quicker to flash aswell :)

Activate Root on Cyanogenmod

First you need to activate developer settings if you havent already (tap version 5 times in "about phone"), then enter developer settings menu and there you´ll have an option called "Root access" which you can set to either "only apps" and "only ADB" or both. "Only apps" is preferred and thats it, you can now run root priveliged apps (after you have confirmed each apps authorisation).

Convert from ZUI to cyanogenOS/mod

Check the guide from Paul on Modaco for this

http://www.modaco.com/forums/topic/375804-convert-z1-from-zukui-to-cyanogen-os/

Troubleshooting

If you are having usb connectivety issues, please try using another PC. Can also be a bit iffy getting connection going with windows 10 so try windows 7 if possible. You could also run windows 7 in a virtual machine and get it working that way as an example.

Also when troubleshooting connectivety issues working with adb, dont forget to try and "adb kill-server" to reset the connection before you try adb commands again if phone isnt detected in the first place between any changes you may have made.

If you have issues with rom then its good to start fresh with a factory reset and if that doesnt help then flash zui through QPST and any issues should now be resolved unless there is a hardware issue ofc.

Keep in mind that you should almost always do a factory reset when doing a large update, like if you update from kitkat to lollipop then factory reset or from lollipop to marshmallow also factory reset but this also applies when you change from cyanogen to Zui for example regardless of it its lollipop or marshmallow. Only time when its ok to "dirty flash" (

in my opinion

) is when you do smaller updates such as updating nightly to nightly on CM12 or nightly to milestone/rc or final. Also applies on modified roms which uses CM12 as base, as long as you are staying on the same rom its fine but if you swap from modified cm12 to vanilla/stock cm12 then you might experience issues.

CM12 Nightly -> CM12 newer Nightly OK

CM12 Nightly -> CM12 Milestone OK

CM12 Nightly -> ZUI any version definately NOT OK

CM12 Nightly -> CM13 NOT OK

CM13 Nightly -> CM13 newer Nightly OK

CM12 MOKEE -> CM12 nightly NOT OK

CM12 MOKEE -> CM13 NOT OK

Stuff "might" work if you update from CM12 to CM13 and also going from a modified CM12 to vanilla or the other way around but it might also cause wierd issues which you might not think of, batterydrain, slow phone, force close etc etc

Downloads and links:

Driver Zuk Z1 Win Vista/7/8/10

https://mega.nz/#!l8pVHIpT!UkcW3Jg4B7YilDjZatvLqGBi_R4vVUYVdkrsUL_Ve9k

Flash program QPST

https://mega.nz/#!4tom3DqL!4a-rRcLef1yS6HJSrBfne_-r9atg6yF3kI_HW8lDaPY

Password: bbs.zuk.cn

Kernel

Chromakernel http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/development/kernel-chroma-kernel-r1-tester-t3254724

Minimal ADB

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2317790

ROMS (mostly TWRP)

CyanogenOS 12.1 http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/development/official-ota-update-links-ota-updating-t3226990 and http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/development/rom-cyanogen-os-12-1-yog4pas3oh-t3248820

Cyanogenmod 12.1 http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/orig-development/rom-cyanogenmod-12-1-nightlies-lenovo-t3249009

Cyanogenmod 13 http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/orig-development/unofficial-cm13-t3277885

Zui QPST version https://mega.nz/#!chQkEAwR!IHeYRxWx38QdML6VxjPdVz08BgbZD-Z-xVuSG150qPU

Zui 1.2.070 (Lollipop) http://bbs.zuk.cn/zui/t53638/

Zui 1.5.x (Marshmallow) http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/development/android-6-0-official-zui-1-5-077-beta-t3270587

Exodus http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/orig-development/rom-exodus-android-zuk-z1-t3244026

Mokee http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/orig-development/rom-mokee-opensource-project-official-t3254984

Toolkit

http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/development/win-zuk-z1-toolkit-0-1-alpha-t3235964

Unlock Bootloader without wiping data

http://xdaforums.com/zuk-z1/help/guide-unlock-bootloader-zuk-z1-wiping-t3251801

TWRP (Recovery) by JoaoPaulo

https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24269982087019837

Thanks to everyone involved in helping making this a better device :)

Thanks to Breadcrust for the initial developing and help

Thanks to javirenart for porting a Toolkit to our device

Thanks to Paulobrien at Modaco for the guide on converting ZUI to CM

And whomever else I have forgotten to mention (shout at me and ill update)

Special thanks to [MENTION=4355924]MrColdbird[/MENTION] for fixing a working CM13 with Wifi/Data/GPS/DT2W/bugs and [MENTION=5115078]JoaoPaulo[/MENTION] for helping out and giving us an updated and fixed TWRP, kernel stuff and hopefully fingerprint reader!