yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Questions and Answers] Fytdyh:
how about fixing the screen ? any service should be able to replace the broken screen.
[General Questions and Answers] iyah123:
Yep fixing the screen looks like the "mechanical" way forward.

At $100 though was thinking might be better to just get a new phone .. and grab the data off of this one.

And what if the new screen doesn't fix the issue (think it'S the screen ... but can never be sure).

Would prefer a bit of sorcery, but if that's not possible, might need to risk the $100.
[OnePlus 7T Questions & Answers] ej8989:
So my 7T suddenly died. After the logo pops up, there are artifacts surrounding the screen like a graphical glitch.

I unbricked using MSM Download Tool more than 10x already and it says download was always successful.

But my device still doesn't go past the OnePlus logo.

I can only access fastboot, but not recovery.

OnePlus service center says it will cost me $290 for a motherboard replacement, and 3rd party repair shops told me it will cost $200.

Any other ideas before I buy a new device? Thanks!
[OnePlus 7T Questions & Answers] HueyT:
Buy cracked but working hd1907 on Ebay and swap mb yourself as likely hardware prob
[OnePlus 7T Questions & Answers] melvinabes:
@ej8989 I have the same issue with my Oneplus 7 pro this evening. Same as you described. Stuck on the oneplus boot logo with graphical glitches on it, I tried to unbrick the phone with msm tool multiple times and it says download completed, Phone reboots automatically back to the logo with graphical glitches.

Have you found a fix/solution for it yet? Or is replacing the motherboard the only solution?

What have you done?

Thanks in advance for your reply
[OnePlus 7T Questions & Answers] ohwarumbloss:
Stumbled across this

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s...ampaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_android. (sorry, German Platform) I am not the Seller and I don't know him, this isn't commercial!

So buying a new Mainboard is definitely a bad Idea I think. They even sell "as good as new" ones around €150.
[OnePlus 7T Questions & Answers] avro.bd:
what u did guys
[Touch HD General] Candy-men:
Hi Folks,

i want to rename and replace the right softkey (currently used for Programms)

I want to change it into a shortcut to Contacts, but i can´t find the contacts.exe or similar to write the right path into the registry:confused:

Could someone help me please?
[Touch HD General] eaglesteve:
You do it by pointing to the contact.lnk file in your start menu directory. If you wonder which program that links to , look at the property.
[Touch HD General] Candy-men:
By using resco Explorer with enabled Data-endings i´ve found it in: \windows\Startmenü\Kontake.lnk

Thx for your help.....
[Samsung Galaxy A32 4G] N523A:
My device which I want to port is sm-a325n (galaxy a32).

I know there is existing thread that include the twrp image for a32 but It doesn't work for me.

So I want to know how to build it myself but I need help.

Thank you.
[Samsung Galaxy A32 4G] Captain_cookie_200:
bit of a late reply but did you try sky hawk recovery project that was built recently for this phone? works for me on android 11 and 12 firmware just fine
[Google Pixel 5a] ka3yal:
Hi.

Updated my Pixel5a to latest android 13.

After unlocking bootloader and rooting the the phone with magisk the phone worked ok for a few days.

When suddenly after reboot it got to fastboot mode with failed to load/verify boot images error.

Tried to flash new image but every command I try now I get the "FAILED (remote: 'error getting device locked state Not Ready')" error

To make things worse i cannot switch the phone to recovery or rescue mode it always reboots to fastboot.View attachment 5751901

View attachment 5751903

Please help
[Google Pixel 5a] ka3yal:
Nobody encountered something similar?

First time since for me since I use smartphones(10+ years), a phone gets bricked so easily without a chance to revive it.
[Google Pixel 5a] Noexcusses:
Here is your answer brother
[Google Pixel 5a] V0latyle:
Sorry I missed this.

Unfortunately, it looks like your bootloader is corrupted or malfunctioning, and the only way to fix this is by replacing the mainboard. There are special software tools that can perform a low level reflash, but they are not publicly available.
[Google Pixel 5a] niscy:
I have the same issue. After a broken screen replacement, my 5a would often freeze and turn off when these two conditions were met: Not connected to power + screen turned on.

I'm not 100% sure if it was connected to the screen replacement, given the problems only started occurring ~2 weeks later.

The phone would only turn on again when connected to power, even when the battery was already at 100%.

Unfortunately, I thought it was a software issue and didn't get it fixed immediately, so after one of the crashes I was greeted by the fastboot screen from the original poster above. Mine looks exactly the same (except for serial numbers etc.).

Current status:

Locked, unrooted, vanilla Android 13. Assume it's the January OTA, but could be December.

Recovery/Rescue modes don't work, I can only get into Fastboot. Selecting recovery will reboot into Fastboot.

Questions:

Is there a way to restore Android and how? Would it require a mainboard replacement like @V0latyle suggested?

Is the user data on the phone lost, or could it be saved in the process (no recent backups)?

What's the best way to back up an unrooted+locked+vanilla Pixel phone (without Google Cloud backup, given that's not E2E encrypted, afaik)?

Thank you!
[Google Pixel 5a] simplepinoi177:
1. If I was current when the OP happened, I would've suggested powering on with the button combo to try and get into recovery -- Hold the Power and Volume Down; make sure to try and hold it down for as long as more than a minute. If that doesn't work, I might try Android Flash Tool as Noexcusses once suggested, but that usually requires an unlocked bootloader. Still...since it's officially from Google (the phone's maker), it might have some special "magic" that it can pull of, but don't get your hopes up on that...

3. The currently accepted best method is the Swift Backup app, My Backup Pro is an old and good staple, but without root, there's not much it will be able to save. I believe Swift (can) locks it to your Google account and/or you can password protect the backups, but I'm not totally sure if they encrypt it as well as locking it in such manner; I don't believe My Backup Pro does anything like this. There's always adb commands that might be able to save a little bit more, but again, not by much without root access. And I don't think any unrooted backup method bothers to back up the non-system internal storage.

Sorry for your troubles and hopefully you get it all back up and running! And not to be to "scoldy", but it's always a good idea to back things up (I usually do when I manually update the firmware & security updates each month); I know it's a bit harder to remember when it's an update OTA because it's a lot less involved, but it can be a good trigger to remind to...
[Google Pixel 5a] niscy:
I agree... I had it on my todo list forever, but I just couldn't find a good way to back it up without root. And I didn't want root, because in the past that has prevented certain apps from working (e.g., some banking apps would see it as a security issue and refuse to start) and it has created trouble with OTAs.

Will look into this "Swift" app then. It's a shame, this is so trivial with iPhones (fully encrypted iTunes backups).

That combo takes me to Fastboot, but when I select "Recovery" from there, the phone just reboots into Fastboot again with the same errors. I can see the phone in "fastboot devices", though.

Android Flash Tool = the thing that you run in the browser, by clicking the "Flash" link on the Google website? Is that better than adb/fastboot?

Also, do you mean for side-loading the OTA (see https://developers.google.com/android/ota)? I thought that required access to recovery?

Or are you talking about flashing the factory image (https://developers.google.com/android/images#barbet)? I haven't tried that, yet, but I assumed it would wipe my user data?

EDIT: I see the device in the Android Flash Tool, says "connected". It's in Fastboot mode and showing OP's screen. Let's see what I can do from here.

EDIT2: OUCH.

View attachment 5813733
[Google Pixel 5a] V0latyle:
With a locked bootloader, the only thing you can try to do is sideload an OTA, but if you can't get into recovery mode, I'm not sure there's anything you can do - a locked bootloader will reject commands such as boot, which would be useful in this case to live boot a good image...but if the bootloader was unlocked, you'd just be able to reflash /boot anyway

Unfortunately I believe nothing can be done to save it or back it up. If you could get into recovery and sideload an OTA, user data would be preserved, but since you can't get into recovery, that point is moot, because it looks like your only option to get the device working again is to have it repaired, which would most likely involve mainboard replacement and complete loss of all user data (except what was already backed up into the Google cloud)

There is none. Google cloud backup is the best way, but even this can't back up app data, and there is no way to back up app data without root, because of Scoped Storage - no app can access any other app's "private" data without root permissions.

Actually the only thing that is required is that OEM Unlocking be enabled in developer options. If it is not, the Flash Tool won't work.

Again, due to scoped storage, root permissions would be required to access any other app's private data to effect a "full" backup.

If you can boot into system, you'd be better off using Google Cloud Storage because at least that would back up device settings. Swift Backup won't do this, and is otherwise only able to access "generic" data - phone logs, texts, external storage, etc.

I think you're toast, bud.

No, it's just a GUI alternative that only flashes official images. As I mentioned above this only works if OEM unlocking is enabled, or the bootloader is unlocked. A locked bootloader rejects commands like flash, boot, and update, so the flash tool unlocks the bootloader first (if not already unlocked) before proceeding with the flash.

Yes, it does.

You can only do this with an unlocked bootloader. Even though it's the factory image, as I mentioned a couple times already, the commands necessary to flash the image are rejected by a locked bootloader.

As for wiping data, this only happens if you use the included script without editing out the -w. Some people with unlocked bootloaders prefer to update using the script, they just change it so it doesn't wipe data. I personally prefer updating using the factory image but I do everything manually through fastboot and ADB because I'm stubbornly old fashioned.
[Google Pixel 5a] simplepinoi177:
Just so you know, there are ways & methods to keep apps from detecting root; I would say (as far as Pixel 2XL, Pixel 5, and Pixel 7's are concerned) about 95% of apps could be made to hide root from; I get Wallet, 3 banking apps, Netflix, Xfinity apps, & certain games which all shouldn't work with a rooted device to work. And, usually, if for some reason hidden detection stops working, it usually is worked on and works again within a short amount of time.

Surprisingly, it is a thing you run from the browser...! It surprised the heck out of me too! I would've thought it was a tool you actually download and run... Be aware you most likely need like 3-4GB+ free on your system (usually C:) drive...

I am talking about neither of those as they require you to have access to recovery mode and/or require an unlocked bootloader...

Hey! At least that's something! And hopefully, at least it's not a total loss...could be worse; you might've/could've had to wait while a repair shop completely replaced the motherboard.

If you end up having to wipe the device to recover, consider the worst case scenario where they replace the motherboard...it would mean a wiped device anyway....
[Google Pixel 5a] niscy:
Okay guys, thank you for the help so far @V0latyle @simplepinoi177

This is where I'm now:

View attachment 5813743

It only gives me the "wipe" warning when I select the "Lock Bootloader" box, otherwise it directly proceeds to download the image without giving the warning.

How come I'm getting this far while I'm in Fastboot? Am I on the right path?
[Google Pixel 5a] niscy:
The image download failed a few times due to supposedly insufficient disk space (a lie). Turns out the problem was Incognito mode, seems that has restrictions that break the flash tool.

But now I'm getting the below instead after the image downloaded. Does that mean that the tool won't work, because my device is locked?

Flash Failed

Fastboot command (flash:bootloader_b) failed: 'error getting device locked state Not Ready'

View attachment 5813745
[Google Pixel 5a] simplepinoi177:
See if you can get away with not checking "wipe device" or "lock[ing] bootloader"...

It automatically downloads the factory image -- that's why I said you have to have 3-4GB free on your hard drive...

You get that far because the AFT works in fastboot, and you luckily are still able to see fastboot in your device manager & be in fastboot mode...

I'd say you are on the right path....at least a lot more hopeful than replacing your mobo. But if all doesn't work, you may be required to wipe the device and/or lock the bootloader as well...
[Google Pixel 5a] niscy:
Seems the next thing I would have to try is re-running the Flash Tool with the "Wipe device" and "Lock bootloader" boxes checked?

Just to confirm, would the motherboard replacement require a user data wipe? If yes, then I guess I have nothing to lose at this point.
[Google Pixel 5a] simplepinoi177:
Yes, unfortunately this is bad news...

Most likely, I imagine and maybe @V0latyle can concur and/or elaborate, but it is most likely due to you not having OEM unlock ticked in the Developer Mode and an unlocked bootloader -- I stated before, but wasn't exactly sure as I've never tried it not on an unlocked bootloader, but that tool most likely doesn't work without having an unlocked bootloader (& thus also having OEM unlocked ticked as well)...I was just holding out hope that, since it was an official Google tool, it might've been able to do something for you (especially considering you could still see it as a fastboot device in your device manager)....

Yes, motherboard replacement requires a user data wipe. I'm unsure if the technician either does this just as policy/practice, or if after installing the new mobo, the Android OS requires it...but I imagine it is the latter...

It might be worth a try to check those boxes, but most likely will not work. Your bootloader is already locked, so "lock[ing] bootloader" is kinda redundant and wouldn't be necessary for it to work...
[Google Pixel 5a] niscy:
Okay guys, I think I'm officially ****ed. No matter what boxes I check, I get the error mentioned above ("Fastboot command (flash:bootloader_b) failed: 'error getting device locked state Not Ready'").

But even worse, I checked with some repair shop and they told me they won't even do motherboard replacements for out-of-warranty devices (because thieves would often use this service to "refurbish" stolen phones).

So I can't even get the motherboard replaced, unless I do it myself? **** my life.
[Google Pixel 5a] simplepinoi177:
Sorry to hear that it didn't work out...was a long shot...

Is there a uBreakiFix anywhere near you (they are the official repair company for Google)? If not, would it be possible to ship them the unit? Talk to Google versus talking to "some repair shop" (unless that repair shop you talked to was uBreakiFix, then that might be the policy; but I doubt it. Doesn't sound reasonable. I might try another store; even if you have to ship it to a distant one)...

Or course this all means you will have to spend $$$ to get it repaired, so be prepared for that...
[Google Pixel 5a] V0latyle:
That would have no effect on whether the tool works

All the storage lives in the flash devices, which live on the mainboard. A new mainboard would be preloaded with firmware, and would have to be programmed with your IMEI, but it would be like getting a brand new phone - no user data whatsoever.

Well, hold on. We've got a lot of people all responding at once. @niscy if you could, hold off for a bit until we can get to the bottom of what your device state is and what you can and can't do.

Yes, one of these is required to use the Android Flash Tool (although if the bootloader is unlocked, OEM Unlocking is default "on"

The bootloader doesn't have to start unlocked; as long as OEM Unlocking is enabled, the Flash Tool will automatically unlock the bootloader and perform the flash. I'm pretty sure this results in a data wipe.

Negative, the Flash Tool is simply a GUI interface for ADB Platform Tools and uses the same commands. Since, as I have explained multiple times, a locked bootloader rejects several commands required to flash the device, OEM Unlocking would have to be enabled at the very least to use the tool, which would then unlock the bootloader so that the commands will work.

The only "Google approved" way to update ALL devices regardless of OEM lock or bootloader lock is via OTA, because either update_engine in Android system, or the recovery kernel, is able to verify the update package. The bootloader is not capable of verifying packages applied externally; it can only compare certain partitions (such as /boot) against reference hashes (vbmeta images), which is why it's designed to reject all flashing and booting commands while locked

To be able to perform a complete factory reflash on a locked bootloader, the bootloader would have to have the ability to analyze and verify the entire update package, and it simply does not have the resources to do this. Bootloader only has three jobs:

Verify boot images

Load boot images

Provide USB interface (and must be unlocked to flash anything)

As I explained, it's because you'd essentially be getting a brand new phone that has never had user data on it. Wiping data on the old mainboard is unnecessary, but most repair centers don't have a way to transfer user data.

@niscy Before you go any further, let's establish where exactly "Square One" is. Please answer these questions:

Are you able to boot into Android system? Is recovery the only thing not working?

What have you tried to get into recovery mode?

When you attempt to boot into recovery, do you see an error message at the bottom of the bootloader screen?

Do you have any particular issue with backing up your data to Google Cloud if that option is possible?
[Google Pixel 5a] niscy:
1) Can't get into Android system, just Fastboot.

2) Select recovery from Fastboot mode with the volume keys. I also tried "fastboot reboot recovery" (doesn't seem to work on the 5a). It doesn't make a difference how I get into fastboot (just turning it on vs. voldown + power key combo).

3) Screen just goes black and stays black for 30-60 seconds or so. Then it goes back to the fastboot screen.

4) While setting it up, the explanations in Android suggested that it was not fully end-to-end encrypted. However, I found some articles online that say the opposite. So maybe I just got confused by ambiguous language.

EDIT: flashing without the Android Flash Tool fails too, obviously...

barbet-tq1a.230105.001 % ./flash-all.sh

Sending 'bootloader_b' (8762 KB) OKAY [ 0.350s]

Writing 'bootloader_b' FAILED (remote: 'error getting device locked state Not Ready')

fastboot: error: Command failed

Rebooting into bootloader OKAY [ 0.080s]

Finished. Total time: 0.080s

EDIT2: Seems there's enough E2E encryption in Google backups ... see https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/01/...n-apple-icloud-google-and-microsoft-accounts/
[Google Pixel 5a] simplepinoi177:
Interesting...I am aware that, for computers, replacing the motherboard doesn't necessarily touch data because that's usually stored on the hard drive. I figure the internal storage on a smartphone might be set up similarly and have it separated in something the same way (i.e. I imagine it's something similar to a microsd internal circuitry), and thus might not be touched simply by replacing the mobo. I wasn't insinuating that the repair centers would wipe old data that they were going to toss anyway; thought it was separate from the mobo and could possibly survive the exchange.

Thanks for clarifying! Also, I posted this here instead of PMing it because it is somewhat useful information that might help someone else understand things better (like me)...but I do apologize for the off-topic...
[Google Pixel 5a] V0latyle:
I just went back and read your first post. Failure to load/verify boot images means there's a dm-verity issue - as I mentioned previously, the bootloader verifies the integrity of the boot image as it's loaded; this prevents things like persistent rootkits. In this case, it's coming up against an error - the hash of the boot image does not match the verification hash in /vbmeta, probably because it somehow got corrupted during the update. With an unlocked bootloader this would be a fairly simple fix - just reflash /boot - but with a locked bootloader, this is pretty much impossible to fix.

Yeah, because as described above, the boot image is corrupted, and unfortunately, the boot image also contains recovery.

Not sure why the screen goes black for a while, it should just recycle back to the bootloader screen immediately

Yeah. I won't be one of those people who advocates for using a product you don't believe in, but you also have to consider benefit vs risk - in this case, you really don't want to use your data, but you didn't implement an alternative for backups.

Yeah. At this point, I think you're pretty much limited to two options:

Pay for a repair (expensive)

Buy a new device (even more expensive)

I'm sorry there's no better answer. If OEMs like Google (or in this case, Foxconn as the manufacturer) made a point of providing low level flash tools and training to repair stations, then it might be possible to reflash the boot image. But, they don't do this for a litany of reasons, ranging from "it's cheaper to replace than to fix" to "tools like this could be used for major exploits in the wrong hands".

Yeah, mobile mainboards are generally "all in one", with the SoC, modem, and storage all located on the same board. There are sometimes small daughterboards for things like camera modules and microSD/SIM card slots but for the most part everything is on the same board. All flashable storage is located on the same memory devices - this includes the most basic things such as the bootloader itself and the baseband image, as well as the system partitions, and of course the "userspace" data. Imagine if your hard drive was built into your motherboard, and also hosted your BIOS/UEFI.

There is only one more thing I can advise trying, and it will most likely not work: Try to switch back to the A slot. You can do this through fastboot: fastboot --set-active=a

Again, this is not likely to work because I believe the bootloader will reject this command as well.

An interesting note that isn't of much help right now: The whole point of A/B slots (and seamless system updates) is not just being able to update "on the fly" without booting into recovery and waiting 5-10 minutes for an update to finish, but also a "fail safe" so that if an update fails for whatever reason, the system should recycle back to the last working configuration.

Spoiler content hidden.
[Google Pixel 5a] simplepinoi177:
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing... I was like, wasn't it supposed to automatically switch back to the original slot before the OTA if the boot had become this corrupted? Isn't that the whole point of the A/B slot set up?! Sucks that it failed for the OP & niscy

Do you have any comment on the statement below; especially considering you also suggested going to a repair shop...?
[Google Pixel 5a] V0latyle:
Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. They won't do warranty repairs so you'll have to pay for it but I don't see why a repair shop wouldn't do it.