yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
I got hold of that device to take a few quick notes. It's running the 170505 stock ROM (no further OTA upgrade seems to be available) and has the following settings in /system/build.prop:

ro.product.sw.internal.version=A2016a40_USR_S235_1705052115_MP3V1_8G_ROW
ro.product.name=A2016a40 (same for .device and .board)
ro.product.hw.version=H101
ro.product.ota.model=Lenovo A2016a40 ROW DS
ro.huaqin.version.release=A2016a40_USR_S235_1705052115_MP3V1_8G_ROW
ro.lenovo.region=row

(not necessarily in the original order). Also "huaqin/config/hq6735m_35u_b1a_m/al732row/default/system.prop" is mentioned, thus [MENTION=7279931]carlosarriagacm[/MENTION]'s naming *seems* to cover the a40 to some extent.

Perhaps it's possible to extract that (and more) from the ROM upgrade file "A2016a40_S219_16090~a40_S235_1705052115" (or anything similar) if someone can get his hands on it.

Perhaps one could even compare the system filesystems of stock a40 and b30 - and there's a chance that "only" the baseband (modem) would be different. (The scatter file in the original stock ROM doesn't seem to have a corresponding entry?) A ROM that doesn't touch that would then probably be fine.

As I had said before, this phone doesn't belong to my collection anymore, and I'm not allowed to perform any potentially destructive actions - and my supermarket has run out of stock, thus there's no "second chance".

Are there any estimates about the sizes of the userbase for both sub-models? I'm counting to two for the a40 but have absolutely no idea about the b30 - on http://www.cyanogenmods.org/forums/topic/lineage-os-14-1-vibe-b-al732row-nougat-7-1-rom/ I'm seeing more than half a dozen people. Not too many... does androidfilehost have a download counter visible to the developer?
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
[MENTION=2352290]vladpaul[/MENTION], since you're subscribed to the other forum, can you find out whether Carlos has copied some files from the stock ROM (the b30 one, obviously) into his ROM that would make it incompatible with an a40 device?

I'm still in the process of finding out how to unpack a system-sign.img - when I managed to do this I could search for duplicates between this ROM and his. A naive approach would then be to replace those files in with the corresponding ones from the a40 stock.

No cigar yet...
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Vlad Paul:
Sorry my friend. Still not any rom compatible for our beloved a40. Im sick for stock rom. :( OMG
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
A thread in a German forum suggests that flashing a ROM for the wrong "subtype" (LATAM vs ROW) might affect the baseband - render it completely unusable, or make one of the dual SIMs vanish. Comparing stock ROMs for a40 and b30 suggests that this claim is true - the modem firmware files are different while most of the ROM (/system filesystem) is the same. What makes things more complicated is that the LineageOS ROM contains a completely different (from both stock ROM varieties) set of /etc/firmware files. Only the author may explain this, I'm afraid. Here, or over there at cms.org
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] hyderaly:
Tried following the instructions to root the phone. Restarted the phone after wiping and factory resetting using TWRP and now the phone refuses to go past the boot screen. Been waiting for over half an hour - no movement. Any suggestions?
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
Which version of TWRP? I've used 3.1.0-0, and it works. Heard some bad news about some 3.1.1 flavours, so never upgraded.

Did you by any chance wipe the wrong stuff? (Boot into TWRP, adb shell into the device, check with df)
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
For all looking for new(er) builds of LineageOS 14.1 for the Vibe B (a2016), there's a new developer in town: EduardoMonteiro (doesn't seem to be here though?). In his file space on AFH, next to TWRP 3.0.2 and 3.1.1, there are two builds of LOS 14.1 for al732row - now I've got to find the thread where these goodies are being discussed...

Just one sobering fact: In the 20170916 updater-script, there's a check for "al732row" or "A2016b30" - "A2016a40" isn't mentioned anywhere.

Update:

Things seem to be, um, complicated.

The 3.1.0 TWRP E.M. offers (with a timestamp of Sep 4) is *bit-wise identical* to the one built by [MENTION=7279931]carlosarriagacm[/MENTION] on May 8, link can be found in the OP of the thread linked from #5.

Nicely reproduced, but nothing more.

I'm afraid the ROMs, with a delay of two months, will not be different. The build.prop files are almost equal, as are the contents of the ROM zips.

At the moment one ROM series looks like a copy of the other, with no features changed or added. What a waste of AFH disk space...
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rigapov:
Hi, I'm new here. There is a new Custom rom for Lenovo vibe b, and EduardoMonteiro claimed that it works on a2016a40 (just read the comments.) And also a RR port that he did. It states that it works on a2016a40 as well. I have little knowledge and I am afraid to test them. But here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw-Zhu--QEo&t=133s

Google+ profile: https://plus.google.com/103979532898161784524
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
I don't have access to the device atm, but I can read the updater-scripts, and the one of the 0916 build clearly says in the first line:

assert(getprop("ro.product.device") == "al732row" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "al732row" || getprop("ro.product.device") == "A2016b30" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "A2016b30" || abort("E3004: This package is for device: al732row,A2016b30; this device is " + getprop("ro.product.device") + "."););

Thus if, and only if, your device reports as one of the listed ones, this ROM will be accepted at all. Otherwise you'll get an error 7.

In this respect, there's no advantage over (or change to) CarlosArriaga's builds.

This is the diff of their latest ROMs's updater-scripts:

2c2
< ui_print("Target: lenovo/lineage_al732row/al732row:7.1.2/NJH47D/1428ad9768:userdebug/test-keys");
---
> ui_print("Target: lenovo/lineage_al732row/al732row:7.1.2/N0G4T7/1428ad9768:userdebug/test-keys");

In another forum I have found the claim that flashing a ROM labelled with a2016b30 might disable SIM slots. Often it's recommended to remove all SIM cards before flashing and fresh starting the device, dunno whether this actually helps.

If all breaks you can still use the FlashTool to restore Stock. (That's what they say. I never did this.)
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
Yet another update. I finally did more homework (I had the chance to connect the Vibe to my computer, and ran some more tests), and found out that

a. TWRP (at least the 3.1.0-0 installed) returns "al732row" for both "ro.product.device" and "ro.build.product"

b. Stock S235 (A2016a40) returns "A2016a40" and "hq6735_..." (verylongstring)

This means that at least with the right recovery there will be no mismatch with CA's or EM's ROMs.

But, and this is a very big "but" indeed: the situation wrt baseband and SIMs is still unclear.

With Stock, on my a40, "adb shell getprop | grep -i ds" returns:

[gsm.project.baseband]: [HQ6735_65T_B1A_M_HW(LWG_DSDS)]
[gsm.project.baseband.2]: [HQ6735_65T_B1A_M_HW(LWG_DSDS)]
[persist.radio.multisim.config]: [dsds]
[ro.lenovo.lcdsize]: [4.5]
[ro.lenovo.sim]: [dsds]
[ro.product.ota.model]: [Lenovo A2016a40 ROW DS]

I'm curious how this would look like for 1. a A2016b30 (LATAM) device, and 2./3. for both b30 and a40 devices with one of those LinOS ROMs flashed. Can you provide some insight? Thanks -
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Black Heretic:
Hi, I'd like to know if the procedure and files on 1st post will work with a Lenovo a2016a40 on S235 update. I'm only interested in recovery and root, I would stay with stock ROM (but I would uninstall all Google preinstalled apps).
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xmpkx:
Hi Black Heretic,

I've just rooted the phone with files from the first post.

Have fun ;)

Edit: S235 of course, A2016a40_S235_170505_8G_ROW exactly.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] uptodowntown:
Bricked my Lenovo Vibe B a2016a40

PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU!

if you have a Lenovo Vibe B a2016a40, and have TWRP, please make a backup and send to me.

I can't find a way to flash with MTK,

PLEASE MAKE A TWRP BACKUP! xC

I AM ALREADY DEPRESSED. MY LOVE BROKE UP WITH ME YESTERDAY AND I AM BROKEN INSIDE OUT WITHOUT MY PHONE

---------- Post added at 10:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 PM ----------

IF SOMEONE HAS NOT SENDED A BACKUP FILE FOR ME WITHIN 24 HOURS, I PROMISE THAT I WILL KILL MYSELF AND SEND IT LIVE ON YOUTUBE!! I CAN NOT haNDLE MY LIFE ANYMORE SOON.

I AM NOT AFRAID!!! I GOT NOTHING TO LOSE.. NOTHIING!!!!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
One week later, I'm sorry to read this. A broken relationship, a broken phone IMHO never warrant to put an end to one's life.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rigapov:
Hello everybody. I've been researching the device name in Russian, and I've found that they are already well advanced in the rom. If interested, you can check: https://goo.gl/7mHUq4
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rigapov:
If anyone tests one of the ROMs, please talk about it here. I could not translate all things clearly, and still do not know how to install and if there are no bugs.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hafficci:
Hi, everybody!!

I've got a Lenovo a2016a40 on S238 update (A2016a40_S238_171027_8G_ROW), and I'd like to know if the method on the first post will be working on it.

Thank you so much!!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
Will the S238 OTA upgrade install over a rooted S235, and if yes, is it worth the trouble?

I'm currently trying to read the Russian pages... Unfortunately, LOS 14.1 seems to be completely unavailable at the moment, and while RR might be an alternative, I fail to find a download link :(
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rigapov:
Hi, Steve! After a whole dawn trying to register and put the Russian captcha, I was able to download the Rom RR and I was able to install. If you want I can provide you the link, or even register an account for you

---------- Post added at 02:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:19 AM ----------

[IMG="RR in a2016a40"]https://i.imgur.com/TxJb2mb.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a screenshot of Rom, so I read there is flashlight bug and nothing else. From what I noticed it was just that. There are reports of bugs regarding nvram and nvdata, but I only had problems with nvdata with very low sound on LOS 14.1, and I went to RR, which I quite liked and had no problems at all.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Black Heretic:
My situation is identical to yours, guys. My phone is currently with S235 update and I've been notified about a pending update (S238), however I'm waiting for confirmations about compatibility because my phone got blocked in recovery mode last time I tried to update with root. This time I want to be more cautious.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hafficci:
In my own experience, it's not worth trying the update: it's just 50Mb but after updating to S238, everytime I try to make a WiFi Hot Spot, my tablet (which is using the Hot Spot) can't connect to internet.

Btw, I've trying some of the Roms in the Russian Forum, but none is working properly: the better, the one named "AOSP 6.0 Stable". It's really smooth, but has no gapps, and if I install them, Goggle Server never works, so I'll try to come back to stock again (to S235, if possible). Does anyone Know how to do that??

Thank you so much!!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hafficci:
Anyone knowing if there is a Stock Rom S235 for flashing from Recovery?? I can't install the proper drivers, and the Flash Tool never "feel" my device... :crying:

Thank you so much!!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hafficci:
Got it!! :good:

It wasn't the drivers but the way of using Flashtool (just needed to push volume - while connecting the device). Already in Stock S235!!!

I advice you not to update to S238!! It ruined my Wifi Hot-spot!!

Let's wait for any useful customs rom !! :D

P. S: The Russians' ones aren't good enough.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hafficci:
Do you mean 'Resurrection Remix RR-N-v5.8.4-20170916-al732row-Unofficial (Android 7.1.2 Nougat)' by EduardoMonteiro?? Is it really working on a2016a40?? Any issue, or is it smoothy??

Thank you for your feedback!!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rigapov:
No, the rom did not come from EduardoMonteiro, it's from the Russian forum, probably made by a guy with that nick thestrelok228. The rom is very fast, I have nothing to complain about. But a problem with flash, the flash of the notification drawer does not work, just flash the application, but the rest everything works, there are other rom's there in the forum, I do not know if this is the best.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hafficci:
Thank you so much!!

I've tried a few of the ROMs on that russian page, page, but no one worked properly so I came back to stock, but if you can tell that only the notification flash is not working, maybe I could try too.

Have a nice day!!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rigapov:
Hello, in fact none works well. All have some bug, and some bugs can be fixed with fix that are available in the header. I think I was lucky with RR because it works well here, tell me what the problem was with RR.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kurajmo:
Where i can find stock clean rom for my Lenovo Vibe B A2016a40? Anyone know?
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
Lmgtfy?

---------- Post added at 03:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 PM ----------

A couple of months has passed, and Lenovo have come up with yet another OTA upgrade.

Does anyone know whether it's safe to install it before rooting, or after flashing twrp and root? I'm worried that (if it succeeds at all) an OTA will overwrite the recovery partition and wreck root.

What's the canonical way to disable OTA?
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kurajmo:
Speak clearly or dont speak anything. English isnt my primary language.

I just ask question about where i can find stock firmware for this shietest phone. Cause i use this phone and i want to root.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jagannv:
A2016a40- Twrp recovery works but normal boot fails

After following the steps, TWRP recovery comes up. But normal boot fails. normal boot gets stuck on logo screen. SPTool reinstall unbricked my phone. But unable to install this TWRP along with a working Stock ROM.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
Hello [MENTION=8884962]easylite[/MENTION],

although I have given the B to someone else, I'm loosely watching here. You claim that it's possible to OTA it from 235 to 238 (I presume you removed root before) and can be rooted again using the original instructions - this is good news as I don't have a computer that can run the flash software.

Did you go and try what would happen if you flashed a b30 firmware on an a40? That could tell us something... And there are claims that this device is indestructible.

I'm afraid that neither Carlos not Eduardo ever had access to an a40 device, although I couldn't find their source of the baseband files included in the rom :(

Cheers,
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] easylite:
hey,

i flashed the stock rom version for the a2016b30 s172

... there are no sim cards detected.

adb shell getprop | grep -i ds returns:

[persist.radio.multisim.config]: [dsds]

[ro.lenovo.lcdsize]: [4.5]

[ro.lenovo.sim]: [dsds]

for comparison the a2016a40 stock version with adb shell getprop returns:

[gsm.project.baseband]: [HQ6735_65T_B1A_M_HW(LWG_DSDS)]

[gsm.project.baseband.2]: [HQ6735_65T_B1A_M_HW(LWG_DSDS)]

[persist.radio.multisim.config]: [dsds]

[ro.lenovo.lcdsize]: [4.5]

[ro.lenovo.sim]: [dsds]

[ro.product.ota.model]: [Lenovo A2016a40 ROW DS]

greetz
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Biplob_Biswas:
So, after reading all the post I got the sense that there are no custom Roms for a2016a40 version yet. All the available Roms I tried and same problem, no sim card detected. IMIE also gone after flashing .so finally came back on stock s238 after flashing with sp flash tool. And done root and wait for a REAL custom rom for a2016a40 dual sim version.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] steve8x8:
There are (or, worse, have been) only few developers looking after the B, and most (all?) of them seem to have access to the b30 variant only. Unless this changes (and since the model isn't available here anymore, this may be never) there's little hope.

While I appreciate the effort taken by individuals to provide custom ROMs, this is also a drawback: knowledge gets lost pretty quickly if it's only kept in that person's build tree.

This isn't new, my Ainol Fire 7 suffered from the same disease...
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jagannv:
Hi Biswas,

I tried flashing the al732row, forgetting to take a backup. Now I am stuck without a stock rom. Where can i get the stock rom for a2016a40 ?
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Biplob_Biswas:
Hi brother, do you need the stock rom? i forgot from where i got it, but i have the zip file in my pc. If you need the stock i can share it from Gdrive. The zip included sp flash tools ,drivers and the stock rom .

Cheers!!:cowboy:
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dafonehacker:
Any updates on the roms for the a2016a40 model? I tried to flash lineage by editing the updater-script, but then I get mounting errors in twrp...
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jagannv:
Found a similar online rom

Hi Biswas,

I found a similar zip of flash tool,driver and stock rom. Sorry for the delayed response.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dafonehacker:
INSTALL ROMS ON a2016a40

Guys, I did some digging myself to get this rom working on the a2016a40:

https://www.lineageosroms.org/forums/topic/lineage-os-14-1-vibe-b-al732row-nougat-7-1-rom/

I did it by editing the updater-script. (they are attached below)

I removed the device check and changed the mounting commands to match my (our?) device.

you can try it by downloading the rom from the link (I used the 20170916 build specifically, didn't test the other one yet but guess it would work as well)

then you have to open the archive in 7 zip, and replace (delete the old one and copy the new one into the archive) updater-script from META-INF\com\google\android\

unpacking and repacking in windows explorer won't work, you have to use 7zip

Then you can flash the rom on your device

You can use the attached updater-scripts if you like.

NOTE: I don't know if my partition layout matches yours (but I'd guess it does), I'm not responible if your phone breaks. This might also mess up your ability to use a sim card

If you know something about you could check if it matches in adb shell with something like "mount" or by checking the twrp recovery log (it shows the partitions and their names)

the partitions needed for the install are system, data and boot.

So far, it works on my phone but I haven't tested if calling, texting and mobile data works (wifi works though). Might test that when I have more time

EDIT: I got it to work, will post a zip and guide later. It doesn't work out of the box, I had "baseband unknown" first, but was able to get it working by replacing the modem in the lineage rom with the modem from the stock rom (replaced /system/etc/firmware). I still had the error after that, but deleting /data/nvram with es file explorer and rebooting got it working! Now both sim slots work for me on lineage 14.1 nougat!

I'm guessing pretty much every rom for the al732row and a2016b30 variant can be adapted like this to work on our a2016a40.

Happy flashing ;)
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dafonehacker:
Lineage OS 14.1 a2016a40

Here we go:

This rom:

https://www.lineageosroms.org/forums/topic/lineage-os-14-1-vibe-b-al732row-nougat-7-1-rom/

for the a2016a40 variant.

All credits for the rom go to the original developers: CarlosArriagaCM (0730) and another build by EduardoMonteiro (0916)

Install it like you would install any rom (or see link above for detailed instructions)

If phone services (data, calling, texting, sim detection,..) don't work after installing, try a reboot (sometimes doesn't work on the first boot). If it still doesn't work, get a root explorer and delete /data/nvram. Then reboot, twice.

You can ignore the NVRAM ERR = 0x10 in the wifi settings, didn't impair any functionality for me...

If you still have problems with the phone functionality (I had a problem where lte and texting were fine, but calling didn't work for some reason), try this:

-flash the stock s235 firmware with sp flash tool

-get the s243 ota update

-factory reset and verify that everything is working in the stock rom

-install the nougat rom

this fixed it for me

What I changed:

Edited the updater-script to allow installing on a2016a40 and match its partition layout (don't try to install this on anything else as it doesn't check if the device is compatible)

Replaced /system/etc/firmware with /system/etc/firmware from the s243 stock rom (this is needed to get the sim card related services to work, I guess the other variant uses a different modem/baseband)

If, for some reason it doesn't work on your device, you should be able to restore the phone to stock with sp flash tool. I tried it multiple times and was always able to fully recover all functions of my device. I'm not responsible if yours can't be restored though...

DOWNLOAD

20170916 build by EduardoMonteiro

20170730 build by CarlosArriagaCM

Have fun and good luck! :)
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kurajmo:
No news about root without twrp? I really can't use pc right now. But root is needed

Lenovo A2016a40 user here
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] porc0:
Its a way to do this in OSX? Works on A2016B30?

Thanks
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kurajmo:
Working newest trwp, root and working magisk for Lenovo A2016a40

Is?

Can I unlock bootloader on this phone with OEM unlocking code from Lenovo?

I ask because yesterday i unlocked bootloader and flash newest nougat on my second Huawei Y6.

I need unlock bootloader code from Huawei.

Is there anybody how can write simple modding instruction for this Lenovo?

I only need twrp, working root and magisk.

Nothing more.

But I dont want brick my primary android device.

I been very grateful for this and you help will be very apperciate
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kurajmo:
Anyway. Tonight i have some fun with this Lenovo.

And here's results.

I have twrp, custom rom called Ressurection Remix 5.8.5 version from 4pda.

And working Magisk and Black youtube theme with background playback.

If Anyone want. I may upload everything on my mega.co.nz account for download.

I use Ressurection Remix almost 5 hour now. And its stable. No bugs. Everything works. WiFi hotspot too.

Here's screenshoot.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] polishedbottlecaps:
Can you please upload this somewhere where we can download to try on our a2016a40 devices?

thanks
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kurajmo:
Im back to stock, with twrp and root only. CAuse Ressurection Remix my battery drain faster, and this rom have sevearl bugs like not working front camera. But i upload this custom today. Maybe somebody build better full working custom rom for this phone. Im still use this phone as my first android device. Cause this device have a dual sim support.