yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
Ok, I was able to get into fastboot and do an erase but still stuck at the firetv screen.

adb shell reboot-amonet

fastboot devices

fastboot erase userdata

Then a message comes up to format ext4 then erasing and finish.

then i when into twrp

./fastboot.-step.sh

adb shell

reboot
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] 0815hoffi:
Try this.

Download FW / Magist again.

ftvs4k_6.2.7.7

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

www.mediafire.com

https://github.com/0815hoffi/FireTV-2k-4k-debloat/raw/main/Magisk-v20.4.zip

Boot TWRP with USB Cable ( never used OTG )

adb shell twrp wipe cache

adb shell twrp wipe data

adb shell twrp wipe dalvik

adb shell twrp wipe /system

adb push Magisk-v20.4.zip /sdcard/Magisk-v20.4.zip

adb push ftvs4k_6.2.7.7.zip /sdcard/ftvs4k_6.2.7.7.zip

adb shell twrp install /sdcard/ftvs4k_6.2.7.7.zip

adb shell twrp install /sdcard/Magisk-v20.4.zip

adb shell reboot
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
Apart from a wipe system, I wonder if a wipe of the vendor partition is necessary to solve this kind of issue/brick...

Since there isn't a wipe button for vendor in TWRP, running an adb shell mkfs command for /dev/block/mmcblk0p10 or /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor should do the trick. After that, a rom + magisk flash is mandatory.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
0815hoffi - I tried your instructions but still no go. I had to re-root the stick since i don't have adb connection since this stick was never setup. I have access to twrp with an otg cable.

Sus_i - I tried to issued the command adb shell mkfs or shell mkfs or mkfs with the valve below but getting not found. I also has tried parted and twrp wipe vendor. I had to mount vendor partition to see it when i do and df. I cat the the partition but alot of unreadable text shows up. Is there another format command i can use to format that partition? I tired in fastboot to issue that command same result.

/dev/block/mmcblk0p10

/dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor

~ # df

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on

tmpfs 646136 156 645980 0% /dev

tmpfs 646136 36 646100 0% /tmp

/dev/block/mmcblk0p13

5557564 682240 4569972 13% /data

/dev/block/mmcblk0p13

5557564 682240 4569972 13% /sdcard

/dev/block/mmcblk0p12

499656 664 462296 0% /cache

/dev/block/mmcblk0p11

1074000 949020 108596 90% /system

/dev/block/mmcblk0p10

144660 52752 88888 37% /vendor

~ #
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
Yes, the command isn't complete, I don't want that some users damage something.

You've to complete the command yourself (i.e. add the filesystem, probably ext4 I guess).
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
It still comes back not found.

~ # mkfs /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor/Filesystem

/sbin/sh: mkfs: not found

~ # shell mkfs /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor/Filesystem

/sbin/sh: shell: not found

~ # shell mkfs /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor/Filesystem ext4

/sbin/sh: shell: not found

~ # mkfs /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor/Filesystem ext4

/sbin/sh: mkfs: not found

~ # mkfs /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor /Filesystem ext4

/sbin/sh: mkfs: not found

~ # mkfs /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor /Filesystem

/sbin/sh: mkfs: not found

~ # mkfs /dev/block/mmcblk0p10

/sbin/sh: mkfs: not found

~ # mkfs /dev/block/mmcblk0p10 /Filesystem

/sbin/sh: mkfs: not found

~ # mkfs /dev/block/mmcblk0p10 /Filesystem /ext4

/sbin/sh: mkfs: not found

~ # df /dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/vendor

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on

/dev/block/mmcblk0p10

144660 52752 88888 37% /vendor
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] 0815hoffi:
Example: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/220609

But if you have no experience. Don't do it!!!!!
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
Thanks i will have a look at it. I decided to go back to fastboot and do a format. I was able to format the vendor partition via fastboot, but still stuck at the firetv screen. If you find anything new let me know. Thanks for all your help

~ # reboot-amonet

[root@sysresccd ~/Desktop/kamakiri-mantis-v1.2-linux/kamakiri]# fastboot devices

G4N0VM0401 fastboot

[root@sysresccd ~/Desktop/kamakiri-mantis-v1.2-linux/kamakiri]# fastboot format userdata

mke2fs 1.44.4 (18-Aug-2018)

Creating filesystem with 1444859 4k blocks and 361440 inodes

Filesystem UUID: 1ecd7e7d-24c3-4428-8300-f4d8390810e6

Superblock backups stored on blocks:

32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736

Allocating group tables: done

Writing inode tables: done

Creating journal (16384 blocks): done

Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Sending 'userdata' (2940 KB) OKAY [ 0.172s]

Writing 'userdata' OKAY [ 0.246s]

Finished. Total time: 0.550s

[root@sysresccd ~/Desktop/kamakiri-mantis-v1.2-linux/kamakiri]# fastboot format vendor

mke2fs 1.44.4 (18-Aug-2018)

Creating filesystem with 38400 4k blocks and 38400 inodes

Filesystem UUID: e0a03c83-67d8-448d-b976-d5ca9a394f43

Superblock backups stored on blocks:

32768

Allocating group tables: done

Writing inode tables: done

Creating journal (4096 blocks): done

Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Sending 'vendor' (132 KB) OKAY [ 0.010s]

Writing 'vendor' OKAY [ 0.033s]

Finished. Total time: 0.072s

[root@sysresccd ~/Desktop/kamakiri-mantis-v1.2-linux/kamakiri]# fastboot format cache

mke2fs 1.44.4 (18-Aug-2018)

Creating filesystem with 131072 4k blocks and 32768 inodes

Filesystem UUID: a7d2b04f-652f-4d4c-8684-739ae86d5922

Superblock backups stored on blocks:

32768, 98304

Allocating group tables: done

Writing inode tables: done

Creating journal (4096 blocks): done

Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Sending 'cache' (324 KB) OKAY [ 0.020s]

Writing 'cache' OKAY [ 0.056s]

Finished. Total time: 0.107s

[root@sysresccd ~/Desktop/kamakiri-mantis-v1.2-linux/kamakiri]#
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
Did you flashed a rom and magisk after doing the formatting?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
Yes
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
Then I'm out of ideas. Sry^^

Watch out in logcat for errors.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] 0815hoffi:
Did you format /system also ???
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
yes, i did will have a look at the logcat.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
I can't get logcat to run when I'm in twrp and then terminal. I'm getting not found. I tested it on a working 4k stick and getting the same message. On the working 4k sitck i can run the command when the stick is fully up and i can adb to it.

Do i have to mount a partition?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
Well, I've the same problem, tried several stock updates, cant flash anything, thought the problem lay in boot.img preventing updates due to firmware versions being written to boot.img like they used to, got this error:

fastboot flash boot boot.img

fastboot: core/libsparse/sparse.cpp:131: int write_all_blocks(struct sparse_file *, struct output_file *): Assertion `pad >= 0' failed.

Aborted (core dumped

Any ideas?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
Logcat isn't aviable in TWRP (there is a TWRP logfile instead).

Fastboot needs an update...

What OS are you using? FireISO?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
You need to type: mount /vendor for it to show up.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
I got this part sussed, just found windows kamakiri, so I'll give it a go with latest platform tools :)
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
I tried backing up and restore the following partitions from a working 4k stick, but still getting stuck at the firetv black screen.

//Backup 4k stick partition//

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11 of=/sdcard/system.img

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 of=/sdcard/vendor.img

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 of=/sdcard/boot.img

//Restore 4k stick partition//

dd if=/sdcard/system.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11

dd if=/sdcard/vendor.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10

dd if=/sdcard/boot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4

How dd command works in Linux with examples - LinuxConfig.org

In this tutorial we learn to know the dd command, what is its purpose, and what are the most common cases in which it is used.

linuxconfig.org
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
I take it your backup was made before black screen?

Any chance of those img's for testing, or how would I extract them from stock firmware?

I made a 4 way otg, 2 x firestick connection ends, 1 usb female socket, and the other a male, male is now powering the firestick, female plugs a dual male into pc, so I can reboot without losing power to the firestick lol...

I'm beginning to think I've been hit with an amazon brick update..

edit: after a reboot of lappy with firestick in fastboot mode, I managed to flash origional 7.1 boot, now gonna kamakiri it again o see if it makes a difference...

Fireiso needs updated, you were right about fastboot :)
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
No, i have another 4k stick. The backup file size is below, however the stock boot image size is 7.7MB. I might try to flash the stock again and see what happens.

You can rename the stock image extension to .zip and get the boot.image file. I don't see the vendor image in the stock image file.

vendor.img 150 MB

boot.img 16 MB

Nice, are you able to adb to the stick without going into twrp or run the rooting script with your setup?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] 0815hoffi:
Maybe try to unroot.

Extract boot.bin from update-kindle-mantis-NS6271.zip

Twrp wipe data, dalvic, cache and system.

Twrp flash update-kindle-mantis-NS6271.zip

#adb shell reboot-amonet

#fastboot flash boot boot.img

#fastboot reboot

All in row without reboot.

Let it normal boot after # fastboot reboot

If it not work, root it again.

Only a Idea, I don't know if this fix your Problem.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
sounds like it might work, but I reckon amazon have sent some update, because I attempted the latest debloat 7.7 and again, BRIEFLY saw the android logo, ie, not the white firestick of earlier version, and it went back to black screen. I reckon trying to dowgrade back to 7.1 is a no-no, because I got out of this before, by flashing 7.3, which took 3 updates from amazon before I could actually sign in, this took me to 7.6, which also crashed after a nights viewing, and since then I've been unable to get passed the black screen, albeit now I at least see the beginning of the 2nd logo, be that firetv or android, depending on rom.

You were spot on with the adb/fastboot being out of date, but I really gettin fed up trying to flash using fireiso, only to have to reboot over and over, only to find out fireiso is more hassle than its worth now... amazon must be kickin themselves now that no-one has updated the adb, I'll bet thats what they did.. blocked kamakiri with a fastboot update...
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
0815hoffi - I did but it didn't work.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
And I reckon it's because we dont know the full directory structure to delete any offending partions/mounts that may contain whatever is causing the black screen. I'm kinda pulling my hair out knowing fireiso is now useless, because devs are to busy re-writing the same debloat stuff from last year, too busy to know what we've been hit with will hit them too, I mean, latest update I got was 7.6, and wonder if because I flashed 7.7, which may not be out here yet, that I cant downgrade, hence wiping the boot got me to at least see the 2nd logo, albeit for a second, but if this is true, I'd have to wait on a 7.8 update to fix it, because no one seems to have a clue anymore, all they do is use magisk, which is now a target if u ask me... magisk root for those that wont ever get it...

soz guys, but this site has got so depressin it's like, maybe I should debloat the site, maybe we'll find what we're looking for...
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
I was able to get two log files from /cache/recovery.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
These were helpfull, I take it the amonet lines were your attempts at a reflash?

2 things stood out to my untrained eye, markus errors, and in last log, line 2096

init.svc.set_permissive=stopped = initial service set, but what service? This initial service being stopped, is it normal? Cause the stick initialises during the 2nd screen

How do I obtain these logs from mine?

can you get a log from a stock flash?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
No :D

The fireISO is fine, you just need to update the fastboot package with the common pacman command... ;)

Connect the fireISO to the internet and then run this in a terminal window: pacman -Sy fastboot

This needs to be done at every reboot...
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
I think I'll just connect the serial port and see what I can do from there, fireiso is a good tool, but fek updating adb everytime I use it considering I'm rebooting into it 20-30 times a day at the moment, the fireiso op should at least make your tip clear on the site, thanks for the cmd though ;)

still zero input on the actual problem... does navins logs look good or bad?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
They look good, imo^^

Someone with that fault needs to enable adb debugging in the buildprop, in order to get a logcat booting fireOS kernel. In case that won't work for some reason, there is also an UART port on the stick... Someone with an UART adapter and basic soldering skills needs to capture some boot logs (logs from booting PL, LK and android kernel). Without logs, there is nothing to do...
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
Now your talking my skill's, uart com tty is one to me, now I'll connect my home made serial to firestick using pics, but I need a guide on where/how to go from there... google aint no-ones friend anymore...

Edit: guide as in I know how to set up com/serial/uart, what I mean is where would I be looking to look?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
In the unlock thread OP is a picture, there you find the RX/TX/GND pads...

[UNLOCK][ROOT][TWRP][UNBRICK] Fire TV Stick 4K (mantis)

NOTE: There have been multiple reports of devices with serial numbers containing VM190 or higher being shipped with DL-Mode disabled in BROM. These devices cannot be unlocked using kamakiri. These devices do not show up at all on USB when...

xdaforums.com

You need a TTL UART adapter, connect RX-TX and TX-RX and GND-GND. Power comes over USB.

The bootrom talks at 115200 baud.

PL and LK boot process talks at 921600 baud.

In case you get a log of these two, we can ask k4y0z what flag on misc partition is necessary in order to log the android kernel...
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
I have a 'serial' ch340g adapter spare, will this do the trick? Or do I need to think in terms of emmc sd card reader/writers?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
Yeah, your ch340g should work...
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
Well, I'v seen bit n bobs, a couple of letters and zero's, f1 f2 etc, waiting for bootrom, then garbled, prob cause I dont have a uart program to read higher baudrates, My experience here would be modems and amateur radio's, any suggestions on how to get higher without the green lol?

Ok, I'll point out dont apply the usb, as in dont plug in firestick, secondly, do not apply black, - negative, and use a prog that dont turn itself off, UARTX is ****; turn's itself off and you gotta click a stupid f'n button missing the most important part, the boot!

And to microsoft, die you horrible people, deleting my com apps everytime I connect to the net...

Edit:

Fireiso sux, period, cant connect over ethernet, even when manually choosing ip, weird how wifi connects automatically, but ethernet wont.

It's not just adb that needs updated, adb requires a glib update, and after that? Too much hassle for me, thats the creator of the iso's job, and from what I've read, yes, it needs updated, I agree.

I've givin in for now, looking at the mess I've made all around me, trying to fix something, when I should just tidy up, and get something not amazon, they suck big time. Agreed.

Amazon owe me for stealing my firestick's use.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
I added the following lines in the buildprop file, but I still can't adb to the stick.

persist.service.adb.enable=1

persist.service.debuggable=1

persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb

How to Turn On USB Debugging Using an ADB Command on Android

How to enable USB debugging using ADB command? If you want to enable USB debugging using an ADB command, this guide tells if and how you can do that.

www.tenorshare.com
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
And you wont be able to unless you can click grant in the box that shows when you are able to login lol.... the initial grant that supplies some keys to pc to debug box.

And then a though sprung to mind, I've read others can sort of see their 'desktop' or amazon screen and take screenshots, suggesting to me, the application Vysor may be of use in trouble shooting why we can still manipulate the firestick as if logged in when all we have is a black screen... if this works, we may be able to not only login using the vysor screen, but activate the adb?

I gave up on mine after reading the entire unbrick thread, too much work for a peice of junk that will just get another crippling update the next day...

Amazon.co.uk

I kinda lost hope for now.

All I can say is you get to see your fone on the pc, why not a firestick?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
You don't need to change the windows settings... leave windows default.

This should work fine:

Connect the UART adapter.

Grab putty, select the session tab, then select Serial, add the COM Port number and the connection speed 921600

Then go click logging > All session output + add a logfile name... Done.

Plug in the fireSticks USB.

The fireISO is fine. The bug in fastboot package affects only ~1% of people, it depends 100% on the used hardware... and it's easily fixable with the pacman command. Adb doesn't need an update.

Thanks, then we need some UART logs.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] navin23:
Ok, I was able to get some UART logs. All the reading is in one file and need to view it with an hex editor.. The ground pad was a pain to solder.

PC set to 115200 baud. The date time stamp in the log file is a change of the baud setting in putty.

Putty baud settings.

9600

115200

921600
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Sus_i:
Hmm, can't see anything useful with HxD or an editor...

Something is wrong, I guess.

The log should be plain text if you open up it with Notepad++ or any other editor.

The file is also to small for a bootlog.
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
Thanks for the tip on the uart, but it doesn't work like that at this end using either my ch340g or my old baofeng serials, by connecting black/ground, all freezes, so cant ground the black, and with usb plugged in, of course, it is then also grounded, and freezes, the only way I can see any output at all is to remove the usb and ground. makes sense, since the tx provides the logic (and hence power), meaning only rx and tx are actually used. At least by my serials.

I also noticed my com in hardware settings does not have 921600, and when set in putty, it's not quite readable... working on it...

As for your pacman comment, Navin suggested updating adb which I did in windows, and was able to flash a boot.img, Which I could NOT do in fireiso. Off course, adb is not fastboot, but they both come together no? Most people in fact view fastboot as adb, albeit they are different programs, in the adb package... So fastboot in Fireiso needs updated, and after reading 63 pages of the unbrick thread, kamakiri also needs an update, maybe with a selection to choose from regarding what update you intend to flash in order to have the proper preloader/tk, as I noticed in the 7.6 stock rom, that the preloader is 0 bytes?

Please accept this as constructive critisism, seems all are getting blackscreened, yet no-one has a clue what actually causes it (yet), me, I'm looking, but its all so out of date I'm spending more time updating stuff I would never use if it was not for this damn firestick.

Edit, navin, what serial are you using, as in make?

try reading just by connecting tx to rx, it will work, dont add black, dont plug firestick into usb, tell me what you see

edit 2: I noticed in winscp that there is actually an option to connect to amazon devices using scp but it wants two keys which wouldf be amazons own login? Perhaps we need a different program to connect? In winscp file protocol, there is 'AmazonS3' The hostname is s3.amazonaws.com on 443, and wants access key id and secret key, is this connected to loging into the firestick uart?
[Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pachacouti:
As for your logs Navin, typical output of wrong baud settings ;)

If you dont see 921600 in your hardware/com settings, this is the output to expect, I'm there too.. maybe they changed that too?

Now I have a theory: What if this was the case of our problem in that the 'baud' settings for hdmi (could be another name/title) now cause the problem due to different speeds required by hdmi, causing blackscreen, as the stick is clearly loading, that I know 4 sure... I came up with this when I noticed others thought it was the resolution had been changed to one incompatible with old hdmi leads?

Example:

I have a 10 meter hdmi I use for my ps3 and ps4, now something went wrong with my tv, leaving me with 1 hdmi socket, and neither playstation shows in this socket unless I use an hdmi splitter, powered, telling me power is missinng somewhere, most likely my tv, but if I plug the firestick direct into same socket, the firestick shows. now what if the firestick's same power connection was disabled by amazon at the 2nd logo?

And again in my mind I realised that having my uart connected using ony rx/tx and seeing gobbledygook in putty, is because it's still grounded via hdmi duh!