yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android General] KilgoreT:
Do you still have issues with touch screen? If so, flash backup posted by Christos. Just check posts above.

Personally I went trough clean wipe/format off all (SP Flash Tool) and it didn't brick the phone. It was black but flashable. Then I flashed Christos backup. Then I flashed ) Ed's TWRP (no need to open OEM which is still locked on mine). I didn't use encryption remover. Next I installed Magisk zip through TWRP (mouse and micro SD). Root works well. No issues at all. I don't even know how to check encryption.

To summarize current TWRP gives root to new "red button" but it's mostly unresponsive. Doesn't see internal storage - only micro SD.
[Android General] Christos2714:
If TWRP can be used with external mouse here is another hint:

Normally internal memory should be seen by TWRP and you must be able to mount it. The same goes for sdcard also.

You need to reset data and restart tablet until you get it working. If internal memory is not seen at all by TWRP then no need to carry on this guide as its pointless.

So remememer wipe/ factory reset, reboot into recovery, check. If internal memory still cannot be mounted, use spflash tools, format+flash my backup, use the built in recovery and do a factory reset from the oem recovery. Then put TWRP and try again.

TIP: How to easily enter recovery:

Shut down tablet.

Press volume up button all the time.

Plug into computer usb cable, leave audio on computer on, keep on pressing volume up button.

You are going to hear the hardware found noise, keep on pressing volume up on tablet.

This goes 2-3 times, suddenly on your tablet screen appears recovery/fastboot/normal menu. TADA! you are there.

Let go of volume button and enter recovery.

Usb cable can come out.

When recovery oem is used you shall see the green droid and the NO COMMAND word. DONT PANIC.

Next step: Press power and volume+(or volume-) cannot remember, until the old fashion button control recovery meny appears.

TADA! Do you factory reset and restart.

Put TWRP again and see how it goes.

Me to be honest I did not go into all this hassle because I do not have a usb type C mouse to use.

What I did was to install magisk, patched the boot.img file and flashed it back. All working.

There is a chap from Italy if I remember who has posted a nice guide with the boot.img patching thing with magisk on the Hi9Pro. If you do not know how to do it you can see the pictures on his post.

I'm hoping for someone to make a working TWRP for this tablet so I could do my weekly backups on the go.

If you find anything give me a shout.

If you still cannot patch the image I could upload the ROM with the patched boot.img file so you could use it as is. You will need to put back your IMEI after that. Let me know and I will give away the links.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
Funny thing is that this TWRP doesn't see internal memory on new "red button" Hi9 Pro (always shows 0B) but it works for flashing magisk zip from micro SD and gives a proper verified root. I managed even to make TWRP backup with backup files stored on micro SD. Don't ask me how this is possible.

Your method of patching boot.img is clever and I wish I could use it before all that hassle. One way or another our tablets are rooted. Why does Google make it so hard?
[Android General] pfroo40:
Turns out I just hadn't installed the Magisk Manager apk, so there was no option to grant superuser when a root request was made by an app.

So, I am good, root verified working!

Interestingly, Android still says my drive is encrypted, but I can see the internal storage size in TWRP and mount/access the file system.

Oh well, as long as it works.

I only had screen issues with TWRP, I didn't touch my boot.img or flash any ROMs fortunately so didn't have to go through that hassle.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
It dawns on me that I also might have seen encrypted drive and that's why TWRP couldn't mount it. I saw folders but everyone was gray 0 Bytes.. Maybe I should flash the encryption remover like you. Looks like current TWRP is not that bad with only touch screen issue.
[Android General] Christos2714:
You need to properly format the internal disk, format all, reflash ROM, factory reset, put IMEI back, flash TWRP recovery.

Then it should become vizible and mountable(internal memory and sdcard)

This has not been verified on Hi9 Pro.

I had these issues with a mth 6589 phone and learned how to get over all this crap!

I think the most important thing to do is clean install on a formated memory, factory reset so that the firmware builds the files, and then IMEI and root.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
As I said my tablet works fine. I made full formatting (SP Flash Tool) at least twice and it didn't help at all. Touch screen didn't work. Next, after I flashed your backup tablet was brought back to life without IMEI. So I flashed stock Chuwi ROM without ticking boot.img and now IMEI numbers are back (they are different for both sims).

TWRP still does not see properly internal storage. It can show the size in some tab but can't see files. I guess this is encryption thing. But I have root.
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
Yeah this was because of a few flags in my device tree were not set properly. This was when I was doing TWRP bring up for it.
[Android General] NikosD:
[MENTION=7989623]KilgoreT[/MENTION]

Chuwi has really made us all very upset with its tricks, but at least for our communication between users of this forum we have to be more careful [emoji39]

It was not [MENTION=7987739]Infect_Ed[/MENTION] but [MENTION=759789]Evans_jd[/MENTION] who had problems with TWRP but you accidentally quoted Infect_Ed with Evans_jd's reply.

Let's try not to bring a new mess here.

[MENTION=9350973]All[/MENTION]

Be careful with our quoting.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
Thanks, I corrected my original post - don't know what's happened with this quotation tag.

As for the Chuwi I think this is great tablet. The reason it comes so cheap is they cut costs on support. I kinda understand this. Sometimes it's better to buy cheap quality goods with poor support, than to buy expensive and robust brands. Personally I enjoy buying China stuff. Their business philosophy is so different and they are very inventive folks.
[Android General] DeveloperOne:
Hi,

I need a little help, I have this 3/32gb Helio x20 chuwi hi9 pro which I bought over 6 months ago, but it does have a red power button.

Currently it has O00623 20180801 build

And I am getting an OTA for 20181115 build.

Should I proceed with the update or will it mess my device??

And as I'm on twrp I'm not able to install the update, it reboots to twrp and then gets stuck in the loop and I have to flash the para backup given in OP to fix it. So how to install it.
[Android General] NikosD:
The only issue with the latest November's firmware, is the restriction of 80% Max battery charging.

In order to install it as an OTA upgrade over the stock firmware, you have to revert back to stock recovery.

But if after the upgrade with stock recovery, you want to go back and flash TWRP again, you could have encryption issues.

Personally, I couldn't make it happen, so I had to download the whole firmware, not just the OTA and flash it with SPFlash tool along with Magisk boot.img and TWRP.

Go back a few pages in this thread, there is a lot of stuff to read regarding the new OTA installation.
[Android General] Diomorgan:
Hi, is this TWRP for new Hi9Pro or even for older?your twrp from first post doesn't allow me to install recent (17-18) magisk, it gaves an error that goooglin looks like related to TWRP,So no root now.

I actually don't know where to get the boot IMG from my firmware :(

thankyou
[Android General] amg314:
When Magisk patched your boot.img it makes backup of stock one.

On my Chuwi Hi9 Air tablet:

/data/stock_boot_b8287d8dd70ae9328cc4b399e39533d17d481895.img.gz

Try make search *boot*.img* in /data directory using Total Commander))
[Android General] Diomorgan:
I finally was able to install magisk 18.1 throught it's zip on twrp, but I had to install magiskmanager manually after. now everything is updated, thank you!
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
Gz is gunzip. Yes it needs to be unzipped. It's a compression form.

---------- Post added at 02:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 AM ----------

Also... If you go into commit history you can download the proper version of magisk with it's respective manager apk.
[Android General] amg314:
In Android terminal:

su #Super User rights

gunzip -k /data/stock_boot_b8287d8dd70ae9328cc4b399e39533d17d481895.img.gz #ungzip

mv /data/stock_boot_b8287d8dd70ae9328cc4b399e39533d17d481895.img /sdcard # move result to sdcard
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
Or do it the lazy way and pull from adb and unzip, then push it back to the phone lol.
[Android General] amg314:
You must first get up from the couch))

Where is there the lazy way?
[Android General] nikaiako:
I installed a "hybrid" firmware on my old chuwi hi9 pro with a red button (CWI548), and I'm completely satisfied with the result.

I took the whole 20181226 firmware posted here by Christos2714, and changed the boot.img and vendor.img to those from our 20180801 firmware.

I have to mention here that it is possible to use the old 20180801 boot.img already patched by a magisk manager too. And the old vendor is necessary to make our camera working.

(As for the boot.img, one will get the same touchscreen-out-of-sync problem if he decides to use the 20181226 boot.img on our old red button device.)

I flashed all this combination via sp flash tool "download only" mode. I did not check preloader, cache and userdata boxes (in order to keep my settings and my userdata intact).

I used the 20181226 scatter file (by the way, it has no userdata section when opened in spft).

The result is that everything works quite smooth and fine.

- The battery is charging up to 100% without any issues;

- android security patch level is the same as of the 20181115 firmware;

- google play protection certification is in place;

- SafetyNet test is passed completely (magisk 18.1 installed);

- Geekbench 4.3.2 test results are good.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
I confirm it works as I also use this "hybrid" firmware for new red button. My procedure was as followed:

- clean all with SP Flash Tool

- flash full Christos backup (it gives all except IMEI numbers) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QQ8dZBwZaKpTkl-GPBx0vWRLhIEoUjhc/view

- flash full Chuwi official firmware WITH EXCEPTION of boot.img (untick)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/69sbx7m7f0ghxb1/CHUWI_Hi9Pro_3+32_20181115_ota增加TP距离感应.rar

Boot.img from official firmware brakes touch screen function on new red button tablets.

Tablet works great. It's rooted with TWRP from Infect_Ed and magisk. Kids torment it all day installing new games. Battery lasts many hours.
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
I need a favor from you bro. Can you link it all in one post please. I'm going to start development for it again. Finals are next week and I'm done with classes... For good lol. At least for this trade. I'm gonna (try to at least) put together a zip for us. If you can, also link the black button firmware. I apologise for asking this. I'm at work and don't have much time right now. Gonna see if I can put together a zip that's for all 3 variants. I'm also working with a couple peeps to get custom building and booting for us. I recently joined my good buddy [MENTION=3816568]Myself5[/MENTION] on the carbon team. Since it's prebuilt kernel, it can't be official, but I can certainly go unofficial for it.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
I've added firmware download links to my posts above. I have Chuwi Hi9 Pro NEW red button. Your TWRP works without touch screen (OTG mouse solves it). As far as I can see the download link for black button is broken.
[Android General] NikosD:
And what about TWRP ?

Is it working and how did you manage to flash it without encrypting again the data ?

How did you root the new firmware using Magisk ?
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
This "New" red button variant has touch issues I guess
[Android General] KilgoreT:
You can easily flash TWRP with SP Flash Tool without unlocking the OEM. Then you put magisk zip into micro SD, reboot into TWRP, mount micro SD and install it. All with use of OTG mouse. No problems with encryption because micros SD is not encrypted - at least that's what I figured out.

Unlocking OEM to fastboot the TWRP left me stranded. Tablet kept rebooting into TWRP. It's much better to simply flash the TWRP - just like you flash firmware.
[Android General] NikosD:
Unfortunately I don't have a microSD card.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
It's possible but it's hard to believe that you don't have even one micro SD in your household. They are in cameras, phones, car recorders etc. For installing magisk zip you don't even have to format it - just put file into it. (You also must have OTG cable to connect mouse because touch screen doesn't work on current TWRP). When you do all above remember to install magisk apk on system level.
[Android General] NikosD:
From all the devices you mentioned I have only a tablet - Chuwi Hi9 Pro [emoji16]
[Android General] KilgoreT:
Good for you. These are all gadgets. Then try to borrow from some friend of yours. They carry them in their phones and always need more and more.
[Android General] NikosD:
I had a phone, but it's been stolen - it was inside my bag.

Also, I have always both SIMs installed in the tablet, but I guess it's not difficult to remove the second one if I find a microSD.

But I really wonder, is the microSD mode the only secure method to flash things without breaking encryption ?
[Android General] KilgoreT:
I'm hardly a specialist and I know next to nothing about encryption. That's what I did and it worked. No guaranties.

Just be extra careful with flash tool. Put TWRP in the same folder where you have the right scatter file. DO NOT flash other things if your system works fine. Make a tick only in the TWRP line.

Here is tutorial I used: https://www.getdroidtips.com/flash-twrp-recovery-mediatek-sp-flash-tool/
[Android General] nikaiako:
No, I don't use TWRP at all on Chuwi. I prefer to have my data encrypted, and with our twrp I found it impossible. (UPD: This twrp recovery just does not work with encrypted userdata partition.)

I have made several memory dumps with spft as backup. I also use a magisk manager for flashing modules if i need smth, so for me a twrp would be rather excessive.

As for the rooting procedure, I just took my 20180801 boot.img that was already patched by magisk manager 7.1 and flashed it with sp flash tool.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
That's cool if you know how to patch boot.img.

Edit: I've just checked: My tablet is still encrypted. That means that flashing TWRP doesn't decrypt tablet.
[Android General] amg314:
You do not need TWRP to patch boot.img. It may be done in Magisk Manager.

After patching you can flash patcher_boot.img thru SP Flash Tool or fastboot (rename it to boot.img first))
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
He didn't say it was needed....
[Android General] KilgoreT:
The downside I see here is that you need to have stock boot.img to your tablet. And this is the big problem because there is NO WORKING stock firmware to download for new red button tablets. We use firmware backup provided by Christos (again big thanks!)

And I've just found that flashing TWRP didn't decrypt my tablet. I wasn't interested in this before because I gave tablet to my kids - nothing sensitive there. Anyway - if you use TWRP and micro SD card for installing magisk zip - tablet can stay encrypted.
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
So wait... If there's no working firmware, then how did he get this backup? Obviously there's working firmware somewhere.

---------- Post added at 05:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 PM ----------

You sound very arrogant here. This Chuwi community is not about this. It's laid back and drama free. Don't act like this please.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
He made backup following some sophisticated tutorial. You would have to read his previous posts. And his backup firmware doesn't show IMEI numbers - it's kind of incomplete. It helped to brought my tablet to life when I accidentally flashed boot.img from new firmware.

Edit: I found what Christos said: "hOPEFULLY THE FIRST THING i DID WHEN UNBOXED THE TABLET WAS TO DO FULL rom BACKUPS WITH SPFLASH AND wWr mtk. Now I can sleep in peace."

---------- Post added at 06:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:43 PM ----------

Big surprise that you took my post as arrogant while I tried to be helpful. I try to return favors I got from this and other online communities. Why did you take it as arrogant?
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
Umm, the "Good for you" part. I'm not saying you're not being helpful. Just wanted to make you aware and how I perceived your message. That's all.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
I see. Look, I'm surrounded by gadgets and I'm not proud of it. When I meet someone who has only one tablet I feel immediate respect. Less is more these days - this is my gut feeling. I'm interested in rooting mainly because I want less. I want to block ads and all intrusions to my life Android phone can bring. I hate self synchronizing apps. The reason I see you posts is that I work on my PC. (Hope I didn't brake any rules by giving my opinions.)
[Android General] nikaiako:
CHUWI_Hi9Pro_ROM_20180801_ota.rar - all respects to pic@$$o from the 4pda forum who took his time and pains to save it.

CHUWI_Hi9Pro_3+32_20181115_ota.rar - from the Chuwi official forum. (For the old red button device judging by its boot.img).

CHUWI_Hi9Pro_backup_orig_O00623 release-keys OGS 20181226.rar - all respects to Christos2714

(As for the black button firmware, it disappeared from the Chuwi official forum. However, it seemed to me that that firmware was identical to the 20181115 firmware for the old red button device)

-------------------------------

UPD Remember that we can always use AOSP 8.1 system.img on our device (everything works) released by Phhusson, and even his AOSP 9.0 (problems with bluetooth). Note that we have to use just the "arm64 aonly" variant.

UPD For any case, here is How to flash a Generic System Image (GSI)
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
The "Good for you" part. I appreciate your help and everything... Don't get me wrong about that. It's just how I perceived your message.

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:48 PM ----------

Thank you.

---------- Post added at 07:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 PM ----------

Wasn't showing my first reply... SMH I can't stand conversing in length on XDA. I'm making a telegram chat right now.

---------- Post added at 08:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------

https://t.me/joinchat/Fyo_HhUap5gbAeNVq5rF7w

---------- Post added at 08:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

No worries bro. No you didn't break any.. not that I know of. I'm no mod or authority figure ??. Join my telegram chat. I just posted the link
[Android General] KilgoreT:
Thank you for your invitation. Link shows that I would have to install some app and I prefer to keep it all minimal. I'm hardly a computer geek. I just read and follow. I bought Chuwi only because I found your thread with rooting info. Thanks again! You guys let us to tame Google.
[Android General] Infect_Ed:
Yeah, Telegram. Which is encrypted end to end. No spyware or anything. It's a safe app. A lot of Android stuff in there.
[Android General] NikosD:
I used [MENTION=9429197]nikaiako[/MENTION] method to install the hybrid 26/12/2018 firmware on old "red button" Hi9 Pro and it works.

But:

1) Even if I left my TWRP (recovery.img) intact by not checking recovery in SPFlashTool, the new system is encrypted and although TWRP is working without display calibration issues, it can't access the "Data" partition.

[MENTION=7987739]Infect_Ed[/MENTION], [MENTION=8056188]amg314[/MENTION]

Is there a way to flash a decrypter or TWRP again in a specific way in order for TWRP to have access to "Data" partition without formatting it and losing my userdata ?

2) Google Play protection is not included in firmware.

If [MENTION=9429197]nikaiako[/MENTION] you see a certification it's probably because you had already manually made the device certified before flashing the new FW.

3) My battery was at 51% using previous November OTA and after the December's firmware update went immediately to 69%

I don't know if the 80% is just a cosmetic bug or a normalized percentage, meaning that the battery is actually being charged to 100% but it shows 80% while fully charged (!)
[Android General] nikaiako:
It is strange because Chuwi Hi9 pro is already on the list of google's officially supported devices. https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1727131?hl=en
[Android General] amg314:
Try https://xdaforums.com/android/software/universal-dm-verity-forceencrypt-t3817389
[Android General] KilgoreT:
I don't know why you are having this troubles. I have Google Protection, encryption, TWRP, root and locked OEM. Did you unlock your OEM when rooting?
[Android General] NikosD:
How could I flash the zip file without a working TWRP ?

Also, for encrypted partitions it says that you need first to format data in order to work.

Well, he is not.

It is me that I'm having these problems.

Does your TWRP work with encrypted "Data" partition ?

How ?

I think it's impossible for 3.2.2 version.

Also, I have unlocked bootloader maybe this is the issue with Google Play certification.

Could you describe the procedure to keep the device locked, encrypted, rooted and with a working TWRP (aka mounting "data" partition) ?
[Android General] amg314:
Read manual in the thread first. Yes, the manual recommend to format data partition. Your TWRP works OK, but data is encrypted))
[Android General] NikosD:
With an encrypted /userdata partition, there is no place to put the zip file for TWRP to flash it.

I don't have an SD card.
[Android General] amg314:
OTG USB flash?
[Android General] NikosD:
I used to have a microUSB OTG with my previous phone which obviously is not compatible with USB-C of Hi9 Pro.

You have Hi9 Air which still has microUSB.

I haven't looked for USB-C OTG yet, but probably I have to.
[Android General] KilgoreT:
I believe this is not not true because I have TWRP installed and encrypted drive. Encrypted data is still a data - it's just encrypted. TWRP is installed in the free space. That's how I see it.

I described procedure in my posts before. First trick is to flash the TWRP (SP Flash Tool) - not to install it in the fastboot. This goes without unlocking the OEM. The second trick is to use microSD card - it's not encrypted so TWRP can see it and use it for installing magisk.zip. You just have to manually mount microSD from the level of TWRP interface.

Here is tutorial how to flash the TWRP: https://www.getdroidtips.com/flash-twrp-recovery-mediatek-sp-flash-tool/

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 PM ----------

I use some cheap OTG USB I received as a gift to some generic junk tablet. Mouse works well with Hi9 Pro. Withoput it I couldn't operate TWRP because I have touch screen issues on TWRP.
[Android General] NikosD:
My friend, I have carefully quoted the exact phrases of your post which interest me.

I have already read your previous post and the tutorial how to install TWRP using SPFlashTool.

Why do you need a microSD to flash Magisk if TWRP can see the encrypted userdata partition ?

Why don't you put the Magisk zip on data partition in order to flash it ?

If you have managed to avoid the boot delay of the disclaimer of the unlocked bootloader and you have a rooted device with a TWRP capable of seeing the data partition which is also encrypted, that would be my lifetime dream.

Could you reboot your device in TWRP and tell me for sure that you can mount and see the data partition ?

If this is true, I'm 99% sure that you somehow prevented the encryption of data partition because TWRP v3.x can't work with encrypted partitions.