yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
I am just testing various non root ways to do it in the off chance one of them still might happen to work. It looks like all the methods out there on the internet are obsolete and do not work. I am assuming unlocking and rooting and flashing a new ROW will enable USB debugging by default so you can run the ADB commands before connecting to a network and bypass the OTA update. I will be trying that.

Yes, if I could connect to ADB then disabling OTA seems trivial. Connecting to ADB without being updated is the trick I am trying.

Well I'll keep mucking with it maybe I stumble across something but I suspect you are right. I'm getting some interesting results selectively blocking the servers the stick is trying to connect to when it does connect to a wifi network
[Fire TV Original Android Development] BeAtSs:
I was so smart of configuring the firetv first, which made it update to 6.2.8. I didnt think it would do harm, cause I did the same procedure with a different 4k stick a few days ago. And that one worked fine.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Well that was anti climactic

I downloaded the Linux ISO and booted it into a VM. I then downloaded the script. I then when to download the ROM to flash, but you can't download it, because the ISO image is to small. So it is impossible to actually perform the flash because you can't store the ROM on the Linux environment.

I tried mounting a USB stick on the windows host and accessing it on the Linux VM but this does not work, no matter what is done the USB never shows up in the Linux environment.

So I have no idea how anyone performed this exploit when it is physically impossible to have the ROM on the Linux image you need to put it on to flash it. Disappointing, for sure.

The "Newbie Guide" (yeah, thats a laugh) just handwaves this away by saying "the image is larger than the available partition on this USB so this is a good time to either get a second USB or if you want to download the file to your local hdd and pull them from there its up to you" with ZERO instructions on how to actually do that. Classic XDA
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Bertonumber1:
Just use fireiso from live USB and do the unlock/amonet thing first.

You can then switch back to your normal os

(as the USB ports power stays connected as does firestick whilst you reboot to twrp)

This will let you have the chance to download the firmware, magisk etc which you can then adb push to the stick /sdcard.

Regards
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
So I was trying to do this via VirtualMachine, but it won't work, as the Linux environment in the Virtual Machine cannot see USB devices, so it will not see the Fire Stick.

I burned a USB stick and booted it up on my laptop, and got the following error:

Failed to mount '/dev/disk/by-label/FIREISO200'

And I am dumped back to a prompt. I tried reburnign the stick multiple times in both MBR and GPT mode and tried every USB port on the laptop, same thing, it refuses to boot.

How do you boot this iso?

Edit: FFS it was a bad USB stick. I swear to christ the universe does not want this to work for me
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
OK, I got the unlock to work, and got TWRP flashed. I flashed the mantis 6.2.6.8 rooted rom via twrp, and it took it. I wiped cache, wiped dalvik, and rebooted. The Fire TV logo came up, and then after a while I get a box that says "Android System" and "There's an internal problem with your device. Contact your manufacturer for details" If I hit OK on the remote I get to the setup screen

ADB STILL SHOWS NO DEVICES IN THE DEVICE LIST. And since ADB doesn't see it I can't reboot into recovery to get back to TWRP

What am I doing wrong?
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
I tried both this, and in keeping the fire stick hooked up to the Linux iso the whole time, both resulted in the same. I get to TWRP, I flash the ROM, clear cache, clear dalvik, reboot, and ADB does NOT see the device on either the Linux iso or my main Windows PC. I also get the Android Error message " "There's an internal problem with your device. Contact your manufacturer for details" whenever it starts

I did see Magisk flash with the ROM and it went OK so I believe that worked. But at this point I do not know how to get back to TWRP without replicating the entire short process all over again. USB debugging is NOT enabled on the ROM

So at this point I am basically right where I started. I flashed 6.2.6.8, but if I go through setup, it will update, then I can get into Settings, enable USB debugging, then reboot into recovery, then flash an older ROM, and then be right back in the same predicament of not having USB Debugging enabled and having to go through Setup and upgrade.

Without ADB seeing the device after you boot the flashed ROM I have no idea how you avoid that since you won't be able to run the pm commands
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
I don't see how it's possible to downgrade at all

I did the unlock. I flashed an older ROM. I can't get through setup without it updating. And just like I thought back when I first started down this whole path, you can't enable USB debugging without going through setup.

So no matter what you flash, you will ALWAYS be updated when you go through setup, and you can't connect via ADB without going through setup, so downgrading is effectively impossible, since you can never enable USB Debugging without going through setup and being upgraded

The ROM needs to have ADB Debugging enabled by default.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
OK, I decided to throw caution to the wind and let the dam stick update. It did, all the way to 6.8. I then went into settings and enabled USB debugging, which had the Stick show up in adb devices. I then was able to reboot into recovery using adb shell, I then flashed an older ROM, and it "kinda" worked. It looked like USB debugging persisted through the ROM flash. I disabled the updates via PM and have a 6.2.7.1 Home screen.

Everything works, except the App Store seems to be missing. There are no apps listed and when I try to install an app nothing happens. I tried flashing 6.2.6.6. and got the same thing. When I try and launch apps manually I get an error, "Amazon Appstore connection failure, An error occured connecting to the Amazon Appstore, please try opening this app again" with a Quit button

Any ideas how to fix that? If I could get the app store working I think I would be in good shape and I can stop bugging everyone

When I go to Settings > Applications, Appstore is listed, but it lists 0B for Application Storage. Do I need to flash an Appstore APK and if so where do I get that and how to I install it via ADB?

I tried going to amazon.com appstore and pishing apps to the stick but that didnt work
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Bertonumber1:
Wait.. What? You flashed magisk after you unlocked right? If you did and enabled permissions you should have control of that device. I don't understand what you mean??

I suggest you boot to twrp

Then flash another firmware other than the latest one as something maybe corrupted.

You can also use a filemanager (or twrp) to edit build.prop and enable adb at boot as well as other various tweaks.

What is your goal here ?

cos you're giving out mixed signals and changing like the weather with each post,

Use the search facility and read back through the threads it is the best way to learn.

If you have twrp why not simply flash magisk after you flash a firmware update.bin and you have full control. Simple really.

Regards
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
I guess your working stick only got the 6.2.7.7 update during setup...

6.2.8.0 introduce the brand new efuse burning in the SOC, which disables bootrom access.

However, you can try the unlock nevertheless, it doesn't harm your device.

Who knows, maybe they messed the burning-efuse thing up badly and rooting is still possible ^^

You can confirm this if you like. Boot the fireISO, then make sure the stick is 100% shorted propperly. Keep the short, connect it to the PC and run lsusb in a terminal while shorted.

Then report back what shows up in lsusb. Run lsusb a few times for a good reading.

Only if you can see a continous 'phone' message while shorted, try the bootrom-step.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Magisk was flashed as part of the ROM.

I couldn't because I did not have USB debugging enables. I had to go through Setup and fully upgrade, then turn on USB Debugging, then flash a new ROM and the ADB Debugging persisted across the flash. Once I figured that out I was able to get ADB Access and reboot into recovery and flash an older ROM.

At this point all I need is to get the Amazon Appstore working and I am good. Any ideas?

Thank you for the help
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Bertonumber1:
Nobody mentioned because nobody has upgraded to this firmware on an unlocked rooted mantis (save the ones using rbox prerooted modded 6.2.7.8 lol) it could well be this is part of the problem amazon have created.

Idk Maybe use Magisk hide then clear data on the apps in managed installed applications and reboot , what happens when you open up the appstore what error are you getting?

Have your tried flashing another lower firmware and checking if all is normal on that. Just download another rom to firestick sdcard (or adb push)

Only Wipe cache, dalvik and system and flash the older firmware and magisk and try that.

As you're not wiping data your stick won't go through all the updates again and remain on the older firmware which will be treated by twrp like any other update.bin albeit a previous older version.

Regards
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Once I get the amazon AppStore working on my rooted stick, I will be trying the unlock on my device that was natively upgraded to 6.2.8. Maybe it will work, who knows.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
This device was not upgraded either, it was fresh out of the box non upgraded. The only ay to get USB debugging to be turned on was to go through Setup, get upgraded, then turn it on, then reflash. Either way it is working now and I have ADB access

So on the Home Screen the "Your Apps" list is empty. If I go to Settings > Applications, it shows some apps and the Appstore. If I search for an app (like Disney+) it will come up in the Search results, but if you click on it, nothing happens, and it does not install. I tried clearing Cache, Data, and Force Stopping the App Store and it didn't change anything. I tried going to the appstore online and pushing an app to the Stick, but that did not work either.

If you try to run an app that it syncs (it did this for HBO Max) from the Manage Applications screen, you get an error, "Amazon Appstore connection failure, An error occurred connecting to the Amazon Appstore, please try opening this app again" with a Quit button

Amazon Prime does seem to be working in that I can watch a Prime show with no errors.

I tried 4 LOL. Here were my results. All ROM's were downloaded from https://xdaforums.com/t/fire-tv-stick-4k-mantis-prerooted-stock-images-6-2-8-0_r1.3983091/

6.2.6.8 - Upon boot you get an error, "There is an internal problem with your device". You can hit OK and proceed through Setup

6.2.7.1 - Boots fine, will get you to a Home screen, but the Appstore doesn't work

6.2.7.7 - Will not get past the Boot screen (the white screen with the yellow "Fire" and arrow on it)

6.2.6.6 - Boots fine, will get you to a Home screen, but the Appstore doesn't work

I have 6.2.6.6 flashed now because visually it seems to be the best version for me. Everything works, except the Appstore.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] BeAtSs:
I got another Firetv Stick today, got it out of the box and did not do any update yet. But for some reason I cannot get the unlock to work.

Does ADB Debug in developer options need to be turned for the bootrom unlock to work? Because that is a problem ofcourse, as stated above here, you cannot get into the menu without letting it upgrade first.

Its frustrating with how easy it was with the other stick, and few days later how many problems I am having to get it to work.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
I unlocked my old stick without ADB Debug enabled so I do not believe it is needed. I have a new stick showing up today that I will be trying the unlock on. the one I was just able to do it successfully on was a year old.

Also, from the OP:

Maybe this got you?
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
So for some strange reason, I plugged the Fire Stick in today, after doing absolutely nothing, and now the App store seems to be working. I'm going to try and get things loaded but if it works I should be good to go.

No idea why it works this morning and not last night, it just sat unplugged on my desk overnight.

Update: I have successfully installed some apps from the appStore, I successfully sideloaded an app, and I successfully registered an app with my online provider, so at this point, everything SEEMS to be working. I only have it plugged into a little mini monitor right now, I need to hook it up to the TV later and see if it works. I don't know what version my old stick was on before it upgraded, I never thought to look, but from what I remember this looks like it used to look on the other stick prior to it upgrading

I'm going to leave it plugged in and just sitting on the screensaver for a while to see if anything bad happens. Once I get it up and running on the TV I will take the one that was updated and see if I can unlock that and follow the same steps
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
If the stick is new, the OS doesn't need to be on 6.2.8.0. They ship them with br mode disabled, independently of the OS version... Remember the note from OP:

In addition to that, they try to patch all old devices now, with the 6.2.8.0 OTA update.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] BeAtSs:
Serial starts with VM070, so I did not think it would apply here. But for some reason it is still patched it seems. I cannot get it to detect when shortcutted.

And it does not have the 6.2.8 update yet, because if I go through setup and choose a network, it starts downloading the updates. And also the boot screen is still the old one (White background with orange text)
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Well I trying the stick that got updated, which was was just as old as the stick that I was successful with, and when shorting it the script runs but crashes and I get

"raise RunTimeError("ERROR: Serial protocol mismatch, expected {} got {}". format(gold.hex(), test.hex()))

Runtime Error: ERROR Serial protocol mismatch, expected 0001 got 0000

Anyone know what that means?
[Fire TV Original Android Development] BeAtSs:
From what I know thats an expected error when the short is not properly done.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
Ok, fine, then apply a good short and try again. Take a look into lsusb while shorted, you need the 'phone' message for the bootrom-step
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
Yeah. It mean that the script talked to preloader instead of the bootrom.

Only way to tell if the bootrom is blocked, is to look into lsusb while shorted.

-if there isn't a device like phone or preloader or mtp, it is patched. It shows just nothing while shorted.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
So when the device in unshorted, lsusb lists it as MediaTek MT65xx Preloader

I short the device, and get the error. While still shorted, I run lsbusb, and I still see MediaTek MT65xx Preloader

Does that mean I just need to keep trying the short? I've tried about 20 times and always gotten the error. On the other stick I got it perfect the first time I tried and 2 other times after that
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
If it shows preloader -> the short wasn't propper / or is removed (the bootrom was able to load the preloader from the eMMC. That is not possible with a good short in place).

Disconnect and try again if you like.

A kamakiri vulnerable device shows mtk phone while shorted.

A non-vulnerable aka patched device shows nothing while shorted.

In order to get a clear answer, patched or not, a good short is most important ;)
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
I tried about 50 times and got the same error

My brand new fire stick showed up just now, I tried it on that one, and got the SAME error. That would lead me to believe both devices are patched. But I can keep trying. Foil is cheap.

will lsusb show MediaTek PreLoader or Mediatek phone with a good short? I ave never gotten "nothing" on a lsusb so far, it's always the MediaTek preloader
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
OK, this is interesting, and I think the device may be patched.

When I plug in the device with NO short, lsusb shows MediaTek Preloader

When I apply the short, BEFORE I run the ./bootrom-step.sh, with the short in place, lsusb shows NOTHING.

If i keep that short in place, and run the script, it gives the error, and THEN an lsusb shows MediaTek preloader again

I will keep trying the short and running lsusb and see if phone ever shows up but it sounds like it is patched which is odd since this is an old 2019 stick.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
Ok. This is what I said, it shows nothing in lsusb while shorted.

This stick is 100% for sure patched.

It is normal that the SOC loads the preloader (if the short gets removed, even for only a second) and that the script errors out in case of a patched stick, cuz bootrom isn't aviable.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Gotcha, that makes sense

Whats weird is that the stick was purchased in 2019 (either April, September, or Nov 2019) and I thought patching didn't kick in till the mid 2020's? Point of fact the one I WAS successful in unlocking was also purchased during one of those months, and it was not patched.

Or did the forced upgrade to 6.0.8 "patch" it with the efuse? Thats the biggest difference between the two sticks, the one I unlocked was from 2019 and fresh out of the box, the one that I cannot unlock was also from 2019 but had underwent the 6.0.8 upgrade OTA

Is anyone working on a way to bypass that eFuse issue?
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
Correct, thats it...

Locked sticks get this patch with the 6.2.8.0 update.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
OK, so that means my other Fire Stick that got updated is lost to me too. So the only thing this works on are old Fire Sticks from pre mid 2020 that have not been updated to 6.0.8. That's a small number. I'll start looking on eBay and emailing sellers

This a workaround will ever be developed or is this the end of the road for the hardware?
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
Yes, that is a small number.

I guess a howto for switching stock-launcher to wolflauncher will come up sooner or later... ;)
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
The launcher isn't the issue, I already switched on the other Stick. the update includes HDMI driver updates which trigger my disability. It's not just a UI preference.

Maybe someone will come up with a new root method, until then the Stick is relegated to the bottom of the closet.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] BeAtSs:
My stick with Serial VM070 out of the box is not unlockable either it seems. Maybe something else is up? I am pretty sure it is not running the 6.2.8 update. Cause I have seen the boot screen of it, and this is not that.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Bertonumber1:
People can goto techdoctoruk and download Launcher Manager:

Launcher Manager 1.0.7 | TechDoctorUK

www.techdoctoruk.com

This let's you enable/disable stock amazon launcher provided you have wolf, ATV or some other custom launcher in place . You can also access settings/adb enable while stock launcher is disabled.

I've been using this for a while now. It should work on the new OS unless they've patched that too.

Best regards
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
This works on updated sticks (or did on mine at least). However it doesn't solve my issue.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
When did you buy it?
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Michajin:
I am gonna test one of my updated mantis' in the next couple days to check for boot access. They both updated to 6.2.8.0, so we will see if the e-fuse blocked the bootrom and unlocking, or it just prevented from downgrading. My guess is the eFuse just blocked downgrading...
[Fire TV Original Android Development] BeAtSs:
I am pretty sure it blocked the bootrom or something else is up.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
If the sticks were unlocked, i.e. you updated with TWRP, nothing gets blocked. Tested it myself this way.

Pretty easy to check, connect a shorted stick to fireISO and run lsusb in a terminal with the short in place. Don't run the bootrom-step for this check, only lsusb.

A patched stick won't show up in lsusb, a non-patched stick shows as mtk phone.

As you know already, if it shows preloader, the short was bad...
[Fire TV Original Android Development] BeAtSs:
Ye, I checked that, nothing shows in lsusb when shorted...
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Sus_i:
If it's an old stick, running a lower OS than 6.2.8.0, but it is (really?) patched... then it's probably a refurbished stick. However, nobody reported such a combination until today.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
I don't suppose there is any way to tell what OS version a Stick was running BEFORE it was updated to 6.0.8?

Also is the eFuse thing the final death knell, or are folks working on a way around that? Could you order a new chip that has an unburned eFuse, remove the existing chip, and solder in a replacement? I've done chip swaps on smaller sized chips than the ones I see on the Fire Stick. I don't know if the chip with the eFuse has data in it or is just a generic chip that can be swapped in and out. Knowing Amazon it's probably serialized anyway.

I hate this world where you don't own anything and corporations can reach their fingers into devices you paid for at any time and do anything they want to them with no recourse. And people wonder why I have a fridge from the 1950's.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Just to flesh this out, when I was checking my patched stick with lsusb, before you run the bootloader script

- With no short in place, the device shows up as "MediaTek Preloader"

- With the short in place, the device does not show up at all

- If you try the boot-loader script, it will fail, and if you check lsusb after it fails (even with the short still in place), the device shows up as "MediaTek Preloader" again
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Also, what do you look for in the SN to tell if a device is unlockable? I'm not sure what series of numbers I should be looking at on the box.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
That's weird, the Xaomi Mi Stick has completely vanished off Amazon today. And the 4k fire Stick price just jumped $10 vs yesterday.....
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Michajin:
If you can find a lot code, anything like 09XX or less. Anything past 00XX seems to have a bootrom disabled.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Where is the lot code/what part of the SN is it? I don't have a box handy to look
[Fire TV Original Android Development] emkorial:
Also, I just tried to fire up the ESPN app and the app told me a device update was required before it will run

Hopefully other apps don't start following.
[Fire TV Original Android Development] Skel40:
I'm running 6.2.7.7/3033 and it still works. It only appears if you're running any version below 6.2.7.7 then it's required to update. Don't know why but I'm now discovering this myself