yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Topics] Oswald Boelcke:
Moderator Announcement

Thread cleaned from references to 4pda.ru! 4pda.ru is not only another phone related site (and not at all affiliated with XDA-Developers) but also well known for the distribution of malware and warez. Any references and links to 4pda.ru are not accepted on XDA.

Please refer to rules no. 6 and 11 of the XDA Forum Rules.
[General Topics] JoeEU:
My Bison came from Umidigi store with old security patch (September 2020) and Android 10. Checking for updates it says it's up to date, respectively that it could not connect to the server.
[General Topics] djvinniev77:
I ended up flashing through SP Flash Tool in linux, but yeah same deal. No OTA worked for me, I decided to give the 2021 rom a shot and it worked.
[General Topics] JoeEU:
After some discussion with Umidigi I actually received the OTA upgrade to Android 11.

Not bad but couple of things I'm not happy with...

- Accidental touch of the additional two buttons is quite annoying.

- I would like to fine-tune lower end volume

- Use fingerprint to wake up phone and double tap to lock

- Seriously, no LED notification? 🧐

I'm too afraid to brick the phone with a poor attempt at rooting. 😬
[General Topics] JoeEU:
Will this work on Android 11 as well?
[General Topics] renba78:
i got compilation UMIDIGI_BISON.E.E_V1.0_20210518, i want root the cellphone, the method works ? Kernel 4.14.186
[General Topics] JoeEU:
Did people give up on their Bisons? 😔
[General Topics] djvinniev77:
it should, the whole idea of "rooting" is using a patched boot.img with magisk, and ensuring you're able to flash the additional files to allow it to run an unsigned boot image. you won't need twrp for it. The issue after that is that the more advanced root capabilities don't work well since we're not writing in a RW capable OS, so no changes can be made. If you need to run a process as root, you can, but modifying system files won't work.
[General Topics] djvinniev77:
I for some reason are now on Bison 2021 with Android 11.. I haven't touched anything else with it since, it's been running pretty good and I found that if you use a mesh wifi system, dumb it down so the phone works better. Disable MIMO, fast network access etc.. my Bison was very tempermental and would disconnect and couldn't reconnect to the mesh access points properly until I configured my home wifi to be less aggressive.

On Android 11 however, I can't get any gcams to work (had one before on 10, but now it doesn't launch)

I'm sure people just use it as daily drivers so less tinkering involved, I gave up on TWRP because I could't break the encrypted file system stuff, none of the image changes while in TWRP worked to modify the rom.
[General Topics] mastersenpai05:
Okay I will try to build
[General Topics] JoeEU:
I'm on Android 11 as well. It's a decent cheap phone. Just looking for root access to gain a bit more control over the phone and what it's doing in the background.
[General Topics] mastersenpai05:
Umidigi twrp unofficial Bison

Download : Link

Note!

This is pre release.

If you found bugs just tell me!

Decrption not work use external SDcard to flash *.zip s or *.img
[General Topics] JoeEU:
Hi. Thanks. Does this work with Android 11?

Is it likely I'll lose data, apps, or my settings?
[General Topics] ahrlad:
Got a Bison yesterday. I suppose it's the 2021 6GB model, in any case I was able to upgrade it to Android 11 by using SP tool and the firmware from here.

I was able to install Magisk to it by patching the boot image in magisk app, and then using fastboot to flash boot and vbmeta with disable-verity --disable-verification. It works well enough, only the firmware doesn't seem to allow changing SELinux status, so I haven't got v4a working yet.

Both the SOS button and that fourth one on the right side one can be mapped to other functions in Button Mapper, which came as a positive surprise! In my older chinaphones, that kind of bonus buttons were really hard to remap.
[General Topics] CaVaYeJo93:
Hello, I have the bison 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM with versión UMIDIGI_BISON_1_V1.0_20210406 and I have a problem, when I want to play Spotify, YT music, TuneIn Radio or any app that use internet with the screen off, the apps don't work, I think that because the conection to Wi-Fi be lost. Are there any solution? Someone knows if I could update the firmware an other version? Thanks Best regards
[General Topics] mastersenpai05:
Yes just try it, and by the way join here @uknowndevice
[General Topics] JoeEU:
Will I lose settings and apps?

Already spent so much time setting the phone up and it has become my daily driver.

Still some issues like it's battery consumption. I do take all the usual measures to save battery but just make it through a day. My 3 year old phone with same nominal battery size lasts double the time under similar use...
[General Topics] mastersenpai05:
same in my A7 Pro, by the way I will push test updates later to fix the mounting and fastbootd and MTP
[General Topics] CentralVAHere:
Greetings all! So I have the firmware: V1.0_20210405 and the original Bison. I'm a bit lost with all of the talk of Android 11 here. Can this original Bison get 11? More than this however, I'm really bummed out about the fact that the latest security update was September 2020.

What really ticks me off is I got my mother and my wife both lower model Umidigi phones and they get updates. The Bison was a big deal and at release, supposed to be the company's flagship phone.
[General Topics] JoeEU:
I received the upgrade to Android 11 after getting in touch with the official Umidigi vendor (on ebay) were I bought the phone.
[General Topics] CentralVAHere:
That sounds like voodoo to me. Are you sure you've got the 2020 Bison and not the 2021?
[General Topics] JoeEU:
How to find out? It's got 6GB, came with Android 10 just recently from the Ebay store.
[General Topics] CentralVAHere:
Umidigi sure makes this confusing. The 2020 was 6gb and apparently the 2021 came in both 6gb and 8gb versions. Can anyone confirm this?
[General Topics] JoeEU:
I suspect that is the case.

Umidigi promised the upgrade for Bison. I can't recall them saying it's just for a subset of Bisons.

Anyway, my phone couldn't find the update/upgrade until a couple of hours after getting in touch with them. They told me they are working on it. Others here already received the automatic update weeks before.

I suggest you get in touch with their support.
[General Topics] skaldamramra:
And as for the question about Android 11 possibility on old Bison 2020 (6GB/128GB): I have tested multiple phh-treble roms on this phone and all of them works (Android 11 included), so yes it is doable and works fine.

Just follow this guide https://xdaforums.com/t/umidigi-bison.4209291/post-84765463 from roperp that is on second page of this topic. When you got to step 5. then replace command

fastboot flash system lineage-18.1-20210317-UNOFFICIAL-treble_arm64_bvS.img

with

fastboot flash system "whatever rom you just downloaded and want to use".img - it needs to be ab rom

Currently I am running system-roar-arm64-ab-floss.img.xz but any *-arm64-ab-* ROM worked just fine
[General Topics] JoeEU:
Interesting battery compensation... 🤔

I think my battery performes poorly + noticed the voltages at 0 and 100% both seem a bit high...
[General Topics] cinder75:
Okei i think i need a tutorial for this hahaha any1 have lineage on umidigi bison 2021??
[General Topics] JoeEU:
Did you guys install the recent Wireless Update? Is it good and safe?
[General Topics] Uiu0309:
Hi Everyone, i have a question, does anyone know if there is a custom rom for Umidigi Bison? (6/128) And if it's worth installing? It would be the first time I would put a custom rom, I'm very curious, if there is more than one, I ask you to tell me which is the best for performance/battery, if you continue on android 11 even better
[General Topics] siersciuszek:
Wow, thank you so much for this, it has been an on-going problem on one of my Bisons (since April!). I've even tried two separate third-party mobile services and they both failed.

Curious thing though - I have two bisons, recently it turned out that one of them is 2021 and the other is 2020. I wasn't even aware of this until one got an Android 11 update and the other didn't. After that I found out, that the second one was not receiving any updates at all. Flushing it resulted in the phone call issues as the ones you've described.

So, upon fixing the modem config on my 2020 device, I went ahead to check what's the config on the 2021 one. And the file seems to be corrupted as well. This phone hasn't been flashed at all, and the phone calls work just fine on it - so this is pretty surprising! In fact, everything except WCDMA is zeroed. Now I'm curious whether this can affect my reception?

Below, an exemplary line:

[DCS1800 Sub band, RX loss]

Max ARFCN = 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

RF Chip ID = RF_ID_MT6177

RX loss = 0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000

RX loss elna bypass low = 0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000

RX loss elna utra high = 0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000

RX loss low = 0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000

RX loss middle = 0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000

RX loss middle TLF = 0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000,0.00000

And a sideline question - has anyone found a good way to distinguish the 2021 and 2020 versions? Mine are both 6GB, and they really seem identical.
[General Topics] siersciuszek:
If you're referring to the 20210813 version for the 2021 Bison - I got it last week. To this point, everything is working just fine.
[General Topics] JoeEU:
Yes. I installed the update in the meantime. My WiFi occasionally has issues now.
[General Topics] skaldamramra:
Okay, I will try to explain as much as possible (based on my understanding of mobile networks and some input from old friends that actually studied telecom in college).

To sucesfully make a connection, any phone needs to know how. So apart from physical (hardware) capability to do it also needs a proper config file. This file should include proper settings for transmission and receiving of signal for every frequency it operates on (ie 1800 Mhz). If that section of config is not there or is not properly configured, that phone will not know how it should transmit signal or how it should expect the signal to be received from nearest cell tower.

That doesn't mean that phone will not get signal at all. Today almost every single phone in the world has modem that supports a plethora of frequencies and protocols. So at least (commonly referred) 1G/2G/3G/4G is supported in virtually everything today and 5G in many phones as well. Also for example classic 1G/2G GSM operates on different frequencies in USA than in EU. 3G has many different frequencies around the world (it is based on legally avaliable frequencies for this usage in that part of the world, and no not everyone agreed on single frequency).

So if in your specific case you have 1800 Mhz frequency not properly configured, it only means that your bison is not able to make connection on that specific frequency. It is possible that you are in a country that didn't even use 1800 MHz. In that case you wouldn't even notice this durigh daily use. If you mobile provider use this frequency, then your phone is unable to use it, but it is oviously able to use a different one. So in this case your hardware is capable of 1G/2G/3G/4G but corrupted modem file only allow for 1G/2G/4G usage. Again the only difference would be that in a place when 4G is unavaliable but 1G/2G/3G is avaliabie you will only get 2G speeds and quality instead of 3G.

So if everything except WCDMA is not working then you will only get WCDMA conncection in areas where WCDMA is avaliable.

PS: Bison 2021 is different from 2020 usually by better specs (2020 never got 8GB/128GB package) but in case both of your phones are 6GB/128GB then 2021 has a newer revision of helio P60 (I think it has A75 big cores instead of A73 but I am not sure on this. But that would explain better mobile frequency compability especially in 3G range from 2020 model). So I think it is possible to check it with some app like cpu-z or any other that reads SOC onboard.
[General Topics] skaldamramra:
Roperp wrote a tutorial exactly for flashing lineage 18.1 on Bision 2020 his post is here

https://xdaforums.com/t/umidigi-bison.4209291/post-84765463
[General Topics] siersciuszek:
Huh, go figure this company, mine was having issues before the update - seems a little better now.
[General Topics] siersciuszek:
Thanks for the reply. Why I get how this should work in theory, I'm really baffled by what is actually going on.

On my Bison 2021. Almost all bandwidths are zeroed, the only ones that seem to have complete configs are WCDMAs, and for the rest of them, almost everything seems zeroed - sending the file as a reference. Again, I mean almost, seems that there are some slots configured, but it's certainly very much different from what I've seen in the file for the A9pro.

Now, I haven't done anything with this phone, apart from wireless updates. Most of the time, everything is working, but I tend to have weaker reception compared to my husband's Xiaomi. So I'm guessing this might be the case.

So now I wonder, maybe I should try copy pasting the modem settings for this one too...

As for the specs, they're both 6GB. Thanks for the idea with the software.

CPU-Z says that the 2021 has 4 cores A73 and 4 cores A75.

Can't download the soft for the 2020 - still haven't gone through the unwritten google key issue which is basically making it impossible to download some of the apps from the play store. This is somethi8ng I found out just now.
[General Topics] flairepathos.info:
UMIDIGI Bison. Dimensions: 79.9 x 162.5 x 12.8 mm, Weight: 250 g, SoC: MediaTek Helio P60 (MT6771), CPU: 4x 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A73

Hopefully this s right, to fix your tee key error

1 Sn write tool: use the google attestation

https://androidmtk.com/download-sn-write-tool

2 flash custom gsi rom
[General Topics] siersciuszek:
What do you mean by "google attestation"?

Reverting back - my 2020 Bison was not receiving any updates, so I tried flashing it. Flashing using the versions meant for the 2021 Bison resulted in bootloops. Only then had I realized that it's probably a 2020 phone, but it looks identical to my second phone which turned out to be 2021 - even though I bought both of these simultaneously.

Upon numerous attempts, the device was finally flashed, but modem settings, TEE and Google Key (nvdata file, I suppose) were lost. Looking back, I probably did one of the flashing through the upgrade option instead of download only - my bad.

Anyways, I've been struggling with this for months, even had it submitted to mobile fixing service - no luck.

Only now, after the very much appreciated guide by skaldamramra, I went back to trying to fix it myself. So I flashed it with the UMIDIGI_BISON_V1-0_20210405 soft, rewrote the IMEIS through the SN Tool and then fixed the modem. Now I am finally able to make and receive the calls. The "unwritten TEE key" message is no longer present, but the unwritten google key remained. It didn't bug me that much until I realized that I'm not able to install some apps.

So now I'm thinking, maybe I should fix the nvdata.img, by loading the backup file from another phone (2021 bison)? I'm using this guide: https://www.getdroidtips.com/backup-restore-imei-nvram-data-mediatek/

But yeah, they have different systems right now, so it probably won't work, that's the error I'm getting.

Going for alternative methods right now.
[General Topics] flairepathos.info:
Try with the DRM option

if that doesn't work

Try Mtk bypass tool

or

Check in your SN write tools options there is something to do with google key write/ google attestation

Try look for a newer version or older version ~ 2019 of the SN write tool there is a option to write google key it'll fix your problem, trust me on this
[General Topics] whheman:
Here is the guide in case of misuse of format all option from Umidigi: https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=19492

As learned on Internet, Bison 2021 supports more bands for Africa that Bison 2020 not included.
[General Topics] siersciuszek:
Thanks, I was able to locate the attestation key loading option im my SN write tool (no google write key, though, I now have searched for this in 5 different versions of the SN write tools).

Still, in my stock rom folder there is no attestation key file - from what I gathered it should have the following format: "20210405(...).bin" (I found what it should look like here: https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=18624&extra=&page=1).

They say that this file is universal for all stock roms versions, so I even downloaded the first ROM available here: https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=forumdisplay&fid=242 but it doesn't have this file either.

The same guide says that when attestation key is not provided, "just flash your IMEIs. You'll get an error message at the end of the flashing process but just ignore it. Reboot your phone, connect it to the internet, wait for a few minutes (your google certificate will be installed from the internet in the background), then reboot your phone again." and it should be fixed.

This doesn't work for me, unfortunately :/

p.s. I already completed the tutorial from here: https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=19492&extra=&page=1, this just fixes the IMEIs, removing the TEE key error, the google key error is still present.

Not really sure how to perform the DRM/MTK bypass solutions, do you maybe have any tutorials for that? I would really appreciate that!
[General Topics] flairepathos.info:
No problem they all work pretty much the same, but also make sure you the app version that is compatiable with yout phone MTVersion eg(MT6763)

Here's a guide
[General Topics] moresat:
Nice to read this, can you tell please if your system is still only read ?

If not it could be possible now to take a full backup via TWRP, am I right ?
[General Topics] kgoerbig:
Has anybody confirmed if there is a working version TWRP 6GB/8GB Bison? I tried to root mine, and ended up bricking it. Luckily, I was able to revive it with SPflash, and restore IMEI with SNwriter w/ these links:

1. SN Writer on YT -

2. Firmware - https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=forumdisplay&fid=279

3. Umidigi Forum post - https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=19492

I also upgraded to Android 11 via SPflash for the 6GB version by downloading the latest from the site above. I would really like a stable version of TWRP to backup my stock OS before really diving into rooting, and trying GSI ROMs.
[General Topics] D2sx34:
I tried these steps. and first fastboot command failed with error "error: Faild to find AVB_FOOTER at offset: 33554368". This is with Bison 2020, and Platform tools 30.0.5 on windows 10.

I first tried to run this command with latest platform tools 31.0.3, but it gave error "terminating with uncaught exception of type std::out_of_range: basic string"

Pls advise.

Bison 2020 (6GB)

Build: UMIDIGI_BISON_V1.0_20210405 Android 10
[General Topics] D2sx34:
btw: why is the attached IMG file have a name containing RAwsD, and the command does not have this string. I renamed it to the name shown in the 1st command.
[General Topics] MajjuBhai:
I tried this , but in my bison 2020 it is not possible to flash img.xz file it shows error "FAILED : No such directory." But I'm able to perform a flash with extracted .img (tried with same AOSP img.xz file) it flashed. But during reboot it goes to fastboot (bootloader, not fastbootd) and stuck there. Any solution ?

Edit:

Solved the issue after flashing the original boot.img from the official RoM. Previously I was on patched boot. And Anyway Is there any working TWRP for Bison? Mine is stuck at Its splash screen logo.
[General Topics] D2sx34:
I did it - rooted Bison 2020 with Magisk.

I had already unlocked the bootloader.

I used these instructions to create a boot image from the latest ROM provided by umidigi for the Bison 2020.

and then copied both patched boot image and vbeta.img to PC.

and, then I used the fastboot commands above to flash both vbeta.img and patched boot image.

and, then rebooted.

Magisk app now shows installed, and rooted apps like Titanium backup are working!!

Thank you all for the amazing help. And, special thanks to Munchy for the youtube video.
[General Topics] skaldamramra:
I can second that link posted here by whheman:

worked at least for someone in past. The problem is that recently no one is able to insert new google/tee keys this way and Umidigi support was unable to provide any alternative solution.

As fot flashing nvram from another phone - you got that right. It is possible to do this, but I must add that up to my knowledge nvram isn't part of standard ROM package, because nvram is not flashed during update. There isn't any reason why it should be flashed at all. Thats why when you format all partitions it is so painfully difficult to flash it back (because it is not a standard part of any ROM/update). You will need someone with Working Bison 2020 to extract working nvram.

Unfortunately I learned this the hard way too, so currently I don't have a working tee on my bison as well. But I am running floss android so not having a google certificate is irrelevant for me.
[General Topics] skaldamramra:
Well, I don't have TWRP installed right now. I tried several TWRPs for Bison (last one from mastersenpai here in this thread), but every single one left mi with RO system. So I just tried different method (from roperp) and that way I am able to install ROMs and patched root images so I have no use for TWRP. Also IMO Mediatek SOC and their specific apps and ways to do something are not very TWRP or OrangeFox friendly.

Glad you figured it out.

Yes you need to flash img file, not archive (but my previous post talked about .img at the end.

Yes you also need to have stock everything (preferably from latest official ROM update) and only flash certain partitions. One thing that helped me if I got stuck was to reflash original vbmeta after flashing system with new ROM. But this may be just coincidence.

And Yes, flashing magisk is just a matter of flashing modifiet boot image and magisk is able to produce that boot image if you provide it with unpatched boot image from official ROM you are using. So it is possible to flash new rom and root at the same time if you prepare everything beforehand.
[General Topics] kgoerbig:
What is working, and what is not working with custom ROMs? Seems like a big hassle if you lose features like WiFi calling, and NFC.
[General Topics] cinder75:
everything works with linage 18.1 but no gapps....

tried to install the 19 on a bison 2021 but cant make it boot

is there any custom recovery out there working?
[General Topics] cinder75:
I wanna know if someone already try the linageOS 19 on bison 2021?? Any tips to flash it??
[General Topics] bds2115:
Eu sei como me manda um email sandrobds16@gmail.com
[General Topics] Kiryu1284:
How can i install LineageOS 17 on umidigi bison 2020?
[General Topics] Ferry13th:
Hi, i followed the advice from umi support to flash my BISON with latest rom. However, now it doesnt do anything anymore. The asholes from UMI don't respond and don't help. Anyone?
[General Topics] kgoerbig:
How did you flash? The last time I tried to flash, and bricked by Bison, I had to re-flash using SP flash, and if your IMEI numbers are erased, you will need to use SN writer to recover IMEI:

Bison SP Flash Tool

https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=20147

SN Writer download:

https://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=19492

SN Writer Video
[General Topics] xXLuKyXx:
Could someone help me to unlock the bootloader of bison x10s?