[Nexus 5X General] osm0sis:
Bootloop of Death (BLOD) Workaround AnyKernel3 zip for Nexus 5X

Original thread posts: Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P

Now updated to an AnyKernel3 zip to support the SAR (system-as-root) and 2SI (2 stage init) ROMs that have popped up for Pie and Android 10+!

General Information

If you've found this thread then I'm sure you probably already know what the Bootloop of Death is - separation of the performance (perf) CPU cores - and that the only way to recover from it is to unlock your bootloader and patch to disable the faulty cluster. If you have not enabled unlocking your bootloader yet, the known methods to get it to boot long enough so you can go to System, then Developer Options and toggle "OEM unlocking" are:

super cooling the device in a freezer in a ziplock bag to keep out moisture,

super heating around the camera, and

letting the battery run all the way down before trying to boot.

For further details on these methods check out the original threads by @XCnathan32, linked in the "Thanks" section.

Some important notes before going any further:

Freezing at the Google logo likely points to it being perf cluster separation, but this could also be caused by other components separating.

Freezing at the boot animation suggests ROM/ROM data problem or could also potentially be a BLOD with other components now beginning to separate and that's what people have reported when the 4core mods suddenly stop working with no configuration changes - if you've tried the default boot.img for your ROM, patched with the BLOD AK3 and it still doesn't work, sorry but your device is a brick.

If no 4core recovery boots for you then you definitely have more components than just the performance cores separated, sorry but your device is a brick.

I haven't seen anyone say their devices only worked using a "1core" modification who had tried a proper 4core patched setup; 4core makes sense because it's the separate perf cores cluster becoming unsoldered, but if the 4 low power cores cluster also starts to come unsoldered logically not even a single core would work.. I think that's where the "Green Screen Of Death" comes into it.

DemiGod = Green Screen Of Death; unfortunately this (more components separating given more time - maybe the flash memory chip?) is why many call the 4core workaround only temporary.. there's not much that can be done after that from what I've read.

EX Kernel does not support FBE on these devices because the EX zip patches the fstab forcefdeorfbe flag to encryptable.

Android 10 does not appear to support FBE on these devices but the 4core FBE TWRP build can be used to BLOD patch the latest TWRP (see instructions in next post).

On Oreo, I was personally on stock ROM still, FBE enabled, rooted with SuperSU v2.82 SR5 + suhide and the latest Franco Kernel on my 5X. Then I bumped up the min freq on the low perf cores and it's working great - totally fine for general use, just anything creating a bit of heat like games maxing the low power cores for awhile, or charging, will make it pretty painfully laggy and risk further solder deterioration.

Even though SuperSU development is ostensibly dead, I still strongly recommend it on BLOD-affected devices using stock ROM for reasons I'll explain below.

My development work on my many projects comes out of my free time, so if you enjoy this project or anything else I've done on xda, please consider sponsoring my ongoing work using my GitHub Sponsors profile. For a one-time donation you can hit the donate link from my profile. Thank you for your support!

Step-By-Step Installation Instructions

Any quoted commands should be entered without quotes

1) Download and unzip platform-tools for your PC from https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools.html

2) Navigate to https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=312881 (also mirrored below) and download N5X-6P_BLOD_Workaround_Injector_Addon-AK3-signed.zip to your platform-tools folder as well as

2a) twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-bullhead.img (Nexus 5X), or​

2b) twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-angler.img (Nexus 6P)​

3) Hold Shift + right-click on your platform-tools folder and

3a) Open a command window here (Windows <10), or​

3b) Open a PowerShell window here, then enter "cmd" at the Windows PowerShell prompt (Windows 10+)​

4) Reboot your phone to bootloader and connect it to your PC with a USB cable

5) Enter "fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.2.1-0-fbe-4core-bullhead.img" into the cmd prompt

6) Reboot your phone to recovery and tap Advanced, then ADB Sideload

7) Enter "adb sideload N5X-6P_BLOD_Workaround_Injector_Addon-AK3-signed.zip" into the cmd prompt

8) Reboot and cross your fingers that it works

For information how to seamlessly update to stock and custom ROM OTAs, see the following post

Source Code: https://github.com/osm0sis/N5X-6P-BLOD-Workaround-Injector

Status: No Longer Updated

Thanks:

- @XCnathan32 for researching and developing the 4core workarounds for both the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P

- chetgurevitch (GitHub) for the original FBE supporting TWRP builds

- @Aukaminator for the original step-by-step write-up