yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Thinkpad Tablet General] ms32035:
Did anyone succeed with a custom ROM in the end? I just upgraded to TB125FU_S000160_230227_ROW via RSA, end despite removing userdata flash and format from FlashInfo.tmp after the upgrade the only thing that worked was a factory reset. This is the second time it happened to me. Thinking about selling this tablet if that's how every upgrade will look like.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] fire_cuber:
That's exactly how it ended for me. :rolleyes:

I now have my device back after about 2 weeks.

I don't think I will re-root it again as the benefit of rooting is too small compared to the effort of troubleshooting/backup/reset.

I have now re-rooted everything and used ADBAppControl to disable or uninstall unwanted apps.

I will not try again until someone has the good grace to provide a working TWRP image.

[EDIT]

Correction I have not re-rooted it but only set up again ;)
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
I think it's a lot safer to wait, in general, for a restore solution (or at least the ability to unbrick) with devices as of late, since it seems to be getting more and more complicated in regards to even just unlocking bootloaders.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] chetqwerty:
So here I am, the reboots just started this morning..... Do I try the restore? Reflash *everything*? Wait for the tool to be fixed? RMA? yeeesh

Funny thing is I'm locked down. No google apps, no google account, OTA's disabled, Adguard running supper paranoid mode blocking everything, running like a champ for 4 months yet something (common among us) sneaks by and gets us! Nice.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] fire_cuber:
At first everything worked fine with root.

Until I wanted to do the second OTA.

I wanted to restore the backup/image from Magisk.

And then the whole trouble started, when Magisk said that no backup is available.

Then I wanted to make a system restore with the tool from Lenovo "Rescue and Smart Assistant".

And that was the death blow for the tablet.

First a continuous boot loop started and then at some point it didn't start at all.

Fastboot mode was also no longer available, and thus no access via ADB.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Yikes. Sounds like Lenovo REALLY dropped the ball with this one.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
I had a custom rom installed, and went back to stock in the hopes the latest update was the promised Android 13, that was supposed to come out in march.

It wasn't.

however, my tablet has always been a bit stuttery, which is one of the reasons I went to a custom rom (although this did not improve)

With the latest firmware, it's finally smooth after the initial install!!

Not sure how this happened, as it happened after a while, but it did..

I can recommend stock, for that reason, made a huge improvement to the enjoyment of the tablet (previously, I couldn't wait to sell it)
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Where did you find a custom ROM and how did you restore to stock? I was under the impression that the best we could do with this tablet was root it?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] foxymax:
Can I downgrade android 12 to 11 in tb125fu, mb someone have ROW??
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
If it's even possible, I don't know. It might not be safe to do so so considering the issues some of us have had with it just updating.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
I installed a GSI and worked perfectly. Had to go back to stock to get higher res Netflix. Check my previous post. I think I mention which one it was.

Edit: GSI is called Elixir
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
There might be a way to re-enable HDR and higher resolutions for Netflix and whatnot, if I remember right.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] klutzyT:
How did you go about installing this gsi?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
Just unlock the bootloader and flash the partitions with fastboot.

GSIs are usually distributed in img, so there is no recovery needed.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
GitHub - fu8765/Lenovo-Tab-M10-Plug-Gen-3-FlashiGSI-roms

Contribute to fu8765/Lenovo-Tab-M10-Plug-Gen-3-FlashiGSI-roms development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com
[Thinkpad Tablet General] Guzmanus:
As a note, i've flashed the AOSP GSI and booted fine, but to make it work in my device i had to download the latest rom from lenovo also and do:

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash boot boot.img

Otherwise it would just get stuck in the boot sequence with "Orange state blablabla"
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
Interesting. I saw the vbmeta in sone of the custom GSI instructions but I didn't need to include it. Wouldn't have thought you could flash boot as it should be a different kernel?

Since I wrote that I went back to stock, then tried to reinstall a custom rom and I keep getting stuck in the initial setup where it asks me to setup face unlock.

It fails to detect my face, and there is no button to skip so I can't complete the setup.

This should be easy to fix by changing the img and editing the build.prop to disable setup or possibly add biometrics APK in /system, but I don't have a setup to edit imgs

I found CBR kitchen but it seems pricey just to play around

PS: android 14 beta GSI from Google is available. While a bit buggy still, it'd be cool to have
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
Also. I found a tool designed for MTK chipsets that apparently attempts compiling TWRP for your device automatically. If anyone wants to have a go and post the results.

Mediatek (MTK) Auto TWRP recovery porter by Team Hovatek

If you wish to root your Mediatek Android phone, we'd dropped a guide on rooting using Magisk and stock boot.img at https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-21427.html , no custom recovery is required. Se

www.hovatek.com
[Thinkpad Tablet General] Guzmanus:
Hm maybe the boot.img flashing was not neccesary but for sure flashing the vbmeta.img was neccesary for my tablet to boot. I also did not expect to do it as on the guide you linked there's no mention of it but idk why.

I'm on a lineageOS 19 GSI and working fine too, i think i'll keep this one or maybe try the lineageos 20. Thanks for mentioning it, i had no idea of project treble before today and looks like it gave another life to this kind of devices that are easily forgotten by the manufacturers.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] BadRsT:
Hi Guys! Where i can finde Patched vbmeta.img for TB125FU? i just unlocked the bootloader but i couldn't find that file!
[Thinkpad Tablet General] aboulafia1901:
Hello ,

If you download the official rom with RSA ,it is in C:\ProgramData\RSA\Download\RomFiles\TB125FU_S000160_230227_ROW

2330227 is the date of the rom .
[Thinkpad Tablet General] Tigrin:
I've been lokking at guides on porting TWRP, does anyone know where to find recovery.img? I've downloaded the recovery files from RSA but I don't see any obvious recovery.img
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
The recovery.img should be packed inside the boot.img.

try to unpack the boot.img with this and post the results.

GitHub - cfig/Android_boot_image_editor: Parsing and re-packing Android boot.img/vbmeta.img/payload.bin, supporting Android 15

Parsing and re-packing Android boot.img/vbmeta.img/payload.bin, supporting Android 15 - cfig/Android_boot_image_editor

github.com
[Thinkpad Tablet General] Tigrin:
I unpacked boot.img but didn't find recovery.img, is there anywhere else I should look?

EDIT: I've tried using MTKdroid to extract the rom/recovery but ran into the error " --- Unknown ROM structure, backup NOT possible! " both on GSI and stock ROM
[Thinkpad Tablet General] JonW434:
I recently got a Motorola Edge 30, and I've read on here that unlocking the bootloader will result in losing Widevine L1 and the phone will be stuck with L3 forever. It's just the price to pay if you want root or custom ROM on this phone.

I'm looking at getting TB125FU, just to confirm.. unlocking the bootloader on this doesn't have same problem and will maintain L1 Widevine and HD playback on stuff like Netflix? I mean with unlocking and using stock ROM?

Also, once unlocked, it's best not to relock it as it can cause problems or even brick the phone if the wrong versions are installed? I've been doing a lot of reading in the last few days but just wanted to confirm that I haven't mixed these things up with another brand or model. I will reread the 7 pages before asking any more questions.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] Tigrin:
I got a root adb shell on stock ROM and listed all the partions (in /dev/block/platform/bootdevice/by-name) and no obvious recovery partion.

anyone know what partion might be the recovery?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Relocking is generally should never be done UNLESS you don't want to be rooted or going back to stock.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] JonW434:
Just to clarify my previous post.. I have one phone (Motorola), and one tablet (this one) and I'm trying to research in advance because I haven't done stuff like this in a while. What makes these two similar is that they can both use RSA to update/restore official ROM. They are part of the same family but also different.

Motorola Edge 30

- Once oem unlocked, Widevine L1 is lost and can never return. The DRM keys are lost and can never be recovered. Otherwise there are plenty of custom ROMS available, some with SafetyNet passing by default, and reverting back to official rom seems quite easy or simple. Or getting root etc. So far, it's still locked but I've been able to flash via cmd batch commands and restore older or newer versions updates without problems. When updating forwards, no data reset required. When going backwards, factory reset required. I hate how RSA forces you to a always use latest version. I can't remember the reason why but relocking oem bootloader on this one is really risky and can cause hard brick. Usually the reason stated for relock is for claiming/restoring warranty.

Lenovo Tab M10 Plus 3rd Gen

- Having read many pages here, it seems getting root and dealing with boot.img has caused big problems and recovering official roms doesn't work very well. Does using the full image from here work ok? With SP Flash Tool? However with this one, no problems with Widevine L1 unless using a custom ROM (only GSI available). Is that because SafetyNet doesn't pass? Based on post #122, it would appear that restoring Widevine L1 is no problem when going back to stock ROM. Face lock problems on some GSIs but two work.. LineageOS and Elixir. Relocking the phone seems possible without any serious risks.

Someone please correct me if I have said anything that is wrong.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] JonW434:
On Motorola Edge 30, I have family members who have the same phone. Mine has been used for experiments but others are stock and fully updated. The last patch was Android 13 update. It was disappointing. It works ok, but the performance scores were slightly slower, no real advantages to speak of except some small quick settings menu or UI tweaks. New bugs arrived.. the color gamut of the display changed and it's now more faded and washed out while watching videos. And the brightness slider is weird now.. it's super sensitive and already super bright at 50%. The middle of the range is at 25% where as it used to be at 60 or 70% at stock. It makes me want to try a custom ROM and not rely on official updates anymore, but maybe new updates can fix it. Or maybe new updates can make the phone even slower.

For this tablet, I'm hoping the same bugs don't arrive with Android 13 update. The CPU is the weakpoint on this one, and in the case of the Edge 30, Android 12 was faster than 13. General user experience when using regular phone tasks was slightly slower. I have two phones side by side, one with 12 and one with 13 so it's easy to notice the differences in speed or display brightness. For this tablet, I'm curious if any custom or GSI roms can make a difference, but maybe Elixir or ArrowOS would be worth trying. I don't know if ArrowOS has GSI available but I assume so. I'm curious if there are any big advantages to any custom roms or if it's just customization or small ui differences.

Do you mind mentioning which version for official firmware fixed your stutters? I haven't had a chance to update yet, since the tablet hasn't arrived yet. Is it TB125FU_S000160_230227_ROW?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] Tigrin:
So I have been researching, this device doesnt have/need a recovery.img because its a a/b partioned device source I can't find any information about porting twrp to a/b devices without a recovery.img, I did try using this guide and used the stock boot.img as the recovery but that didn't work.

EDIT: so I used this guide to port TWRP and used this as the base TWRP recovery (uses the same chipset) however I got this error message when booting

the reason that I want to make a custom recovery is so I can flash opengapps via ADB, however the stock "recovery" won't allow flashing of unsigned .zip. is there a way to install opengapps.zip onto a GSI?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
you should integrate gapps into the GSI by using a "kitchen" tool.

however, it's too much of a hassle for me, and i'd just go with a GSI that has gapps integrated.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] andrwprk:
I think I'm following these instructions correctly but I keep encountering this error.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I'm on TB125FU_S000164_230512_ROW if it matters.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
I forgot to disable the automatic updates after rooting, and after rebooting the system wouldn't start.

I ended up solving this by downloading the new firmware using RSA, and flashing the system.img.

The problem is that no matter what I do now, I can't re-root.

O copied the new boot.img to the tablet, patched it with magisk, and then flashed it with fastboot.

every time it reboots into a black screen, where I can do anything, but it does respond to holding the power button (I get the restart, shut down, lock down menu) and it responds to adb commands.

Any one has other ideas for me to try? I can't really restore the whole thing to stock, as the tablet is shared.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] JonW434:
Has anyone successfully used SP Flash to revert to stock, or is everyone going with the official tool (RSA) only? The problem with RSA is that it forces you onto the latest version. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's not.

If I were in your position above, I would try going back to the version you were running before the update. It may not work but it only takes fives mins to try if you have a backup of that ROM.

I've successfully been able to do this with my Motorola phone (using the Motorola equivalent of SP Flash). I can update in either direction (an earlier or a more recent update), and when going forwards, a factory reset isn't required. It means being able to stay on Android 12 for example. RSA forces you onto Android 13 now. The process is faster than an official update.

If no one else has tried SP Flash, I'll be trying this at some point in the near future. I have the tablet now and can start some experiments. I'm new to MediaTek devices, but below is a list of tools that can potentially be used. At this point, I'm expecting to use SP Flash Tool because I'm expecting that it's all that will be required. But it would be nice to also find a way to backup current firmware installed on the device (it's possible apparently). Especially being able to make a backup of a modified/custom/GSI rom.

SP Flash tool (version 5.xx using a scatter file)

Multiport tool

NCK Pro box

Miracle box (scatter)

Miracle box (.bin)

Infinty CM2 MTK
[Thinkpad Tablet General] eversaevel:
Is there an easier way of getting adoptable storage to work? I did a few sm commands on my son's 32GB tablet in order to force the 128G sd card adoptable, but every reboot it forgets about all apps installed on that SD (which he then has to reinstall etc). Would using another GSI or so help?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] Majd97:
Hello everyone

I got a new tablet Lenovo tablet TB128 Qualcomm that comes with sim card but unfortunately I couldn't unlock bootloader due to the Qualcomm processor!!

I went for the site called ZUI "https://m.zui.com/iunlock" to unlock it and they give me wrong IMEI , for further information go to this thread: https://xdaforums.com/t/wrong-imei-in-zui-com.4006137/

I tried more times to unlock it by the site and search many times on the internet but all my efforts go away.

please help me!!
[Thinkpad Tablet General] joeblowma:
Just to put it out there, I just got offered the android 13 update and when I went to reflash the unmolested boot.img to do a factory reset, it got stuck on the orange notice screen. I managed to put the magisk bootloader back using button combinations (power + vol down to force off, power + vol up to force fasboot) and then I shocked myself...

I used RSA to update to android 13, it relocked the bootloader in the process so I had to redo all that, but now I'm rooted again. Just shocked RSA finally works.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Glad to hear that. I hate some of the UI changes A13 (Leno-blow's skin of it, anyway) made to this tablet. And it feels a lot less smooth or snappy than A12 did. Sigh. Wish there were some custom ROMs for this. I might look into that GSI mentioned a few times here, at this rate.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] hugehead83:
So if I am running Android 12 with root, I can use the latest RSA tool to upgrade to Android 13, re-root, and not have to do a factory reset and lose all my apps/data?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] aboulafia1901:
Hello ,

If the bootloader relocked you'll lose datas by unlocking .
[Thinkpad Tablet General] hugehead83:
Ahh thought so, thanks. I'll mull this over.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] SwedishForenger:
Hi, I'm wondering if you can help me figure out a problem I've never encountered before using 'fastboot'. I have had a few Mediatek phones over the last few years that have given me an insight into how to flashing and rooting, using all kind of tools and tricks. However, using the familiar fastboot on this tablet, is giving me a headache. Using adb devices, gives me the usual phone name. booting in to fastboot with 'adb reboot bootloader' and then 'fastboot devices', gives me the usual phone name, which indicates that the drivers for the fastboot are correct for this device. And giving the fastboot reboot command, restarts the tablet. But unlocking the bootloader with fastboot flashing unlock,fastboot oem unlock,fastboot oem unlock-go,fastboot flashing unlock_critical, Will ABSOLUTELY not work ????. And I can't for the life of me, understand what's going wrong!. If I replace the tablet with one of my other MediaTeck phones and type 'fastboot flashing unlock' it works perfectly. What am I doing wrong here?.

I have no love for Android 13 and I don't think the spec in this tablet is built for it either. so I want to flash som GSI Android 11 and make it go smooth and fast in place of all the Bling, whistle an bells crap Android 13 brings, and the bugging down of the unit with it.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Is "Enable OEM unlocking" toggled on in your developer settings?
[Thinkpad Tablet General] SwedishForenger:
Yes all of that, and the ADB drivers from the Lenovo rescue program. I can communicate with the bootloader. I can ask for the tablets ID by 'fastboot devices' command, and and also ask it to reboot the tablet with the 'fastboot reboot' command. And the bootloader responds by rebooting the tablet. The drivers are the ones that the Lenovo rescue program uses to restore or flash new updates.

I went into the installed 'Programdata' folder and took the drivers from there.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds101291-rescue-and-smart-assistant-lmsa

How can all fastboot commands work, apart from 'Unlocking the bootloader ???.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] xd4d3v:
I found a gitlab repository with sources, even a device tree, not sure what to do with it yet, but someone more knowledgeable could probably build twrp

Files · full_P98980AA1-user-12-SP1A.210812.016-TB125FU_USR_S000164_2305120951_MP1RC_ROW-release-keys · Firmware Dumps / Lenovo / TB125FU · GitLab

GitLab.com

gitlab.com
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Goddamn it, stuck in fwsdkjfhaol boot loop again, and I can't fix it, even after a factory reset. Looks like I have to RMA it yet again....
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Anyone know of a way to re-enable disabled apps? I can reboot to Android but mere seconds after I unlock the screen, it reboots to recovery. I have dev tools on but it doesn't seem to have debugging and I can't get into it fast enough to toggle it on.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] SwedishForenger:
i don't remember exactly, years ago since I used these commands.

adb shell pm list packages -d : display all disabled apps

adb shell pm list packages -3 : apps only I have installed

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 appname -- Exsample:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.play

adb shell cmd package install-existing com.google.play

adb shell suspend --user 0 com.google.play

adb shell unsuspend --user 0 com.google.play

adb shell disable com.google.play

adb shell enable com.google.play
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
I found similar commands throughout the internet, though there's indication that they require root. But I can't test them as adb debugging is disabled at the moment. Even with developer options on, I can't get through the settings fast enough to turn it back on, though I believe it might be possible to run commands one at a time every time I unlock and have to reboot.

At this point I would just factory reset it, but I really would like to try to save at least one folder from the internal storage (which keeps a record of manga/books in my library and my reading progress on them). I can't even seem to enable MTP and get into the files fast enough to do so. smh
[Thinkpad Tablet General] SwedishForenger:
You might have time to put the phone in to 'Safe Mode'.

That will ignore any personal settings you made, and give you time to fix your problem.

Press your phone's power button.

When the Power OFF button appears, LONG press it until the phone restarts.

You'll see "Safe mode" at the bottom of your screen.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
That did reboot into safe mode as intended, though unfortunately it rebooted again the instant I unlocked it. Fuuuuuuu-----!
[Thinkpad Tablet General] SwedishForenger:
Hmm, that's not supposed to happen. shouldn't reboot just because the screen is being unlocked.

The phone supposed to stay in 'Safe mode until you manually reboot it. The only two system apps I know of that usually cause this, is if there is something wrong with / ore the apps been disabled, is the hardwired default launcher or system setting.apk file. The two apps can set the phone in infinite system boot loop.

PS ...

If you are unsure what is causing the boot loop, Clear the eMMC memory.

This will erase all old and previous settings, and forces the phone to add the current new settings files in to the boot system.

Turn off your phone. Hold down 'Power button and 'Volume -

When you see your phone's LOGO, release the power button, continue holding the Volume button until the menu appears.

​

.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
Sadly, it's not going to that menu, it's booting directly to Android.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] SwedishForenger:
No no ... ALL smartphones have this menu. JUST keep holding power and Volume - until it pups up. The phone may reboot 3 times, but eventuay it will pop up.
[Thinkpad Tablet General] GuyInDogSuit:
My hands are hurting lol but still no dice. I'm not sure I'm doing this right. I've tried from a powered-off state, as well as with it in recovery, and with it in Android but locked. I've lost count of the failed attemtps...