yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] mmmbn:
Yes, I can confirm it works after factory reset in recovery. Thanks!
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] mmmbn:
I have some beginner questions:

1. Is there a way to extract/derive a system image from a (e.g. lineageos) Installation package?

2. Which check exactly does the patched vbmeta file suppress? For example, I managed to flash a lineageos recovery using heimdall, but later the bootloader complained about an unsigned / unauthorized recovery. Could the bootloader be downgraded using this approach? I did not dare (yet) to try....
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] echow2001:
I can provide MMC dump if needed. Have a liquid damaged one I'm pretty sure isn't updated. as well as a working tab with root access
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] echow2001:
exynos SOC has efuse anti rollback but as far as i know the cheap qualcomm soc in the t290 does not have any mechanism. but there is no way to load the old bootloader onto it other than chip off which isnt practical. if someone wants to send me a spare logic board i am happy to try and send back just for fun.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
This is interesting. Is there a flag I can enable from my boardconfig? Or would I have to ship that prebuilt vbmeta?

I do have a second gtowifi; on binary 4, so I might have some fun with this.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] phhusson:
BOARD_AVB_MAKE_VBMETA_IMAGE_ARGS += --flags 3

This should do that I think

You can check after generating vbmeta.img with avbtool info_image --image=vbmeta.img and see that Flags: 3 line
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
I see; it does indeed say 3 already, as of whatever I built last night. So a generated vbmeta will just flatly refuse to work, I suppose.

Really makes you wonder how this tablet got screwed up this badly...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
So the reason I didn't add this feature was because I was under the impression that stock ROM did not support it, and that meant I am banned from adding that feature as per LineageOS's device support requirements: https://github.com/LineageOS/charte...d/device-support-requirements.md?plain=1#L213

No one confirmed with me it exists in stock; only after I checked with my second, binary 4 gtowifi that I NOW find out it is actually supported. In my defense I did ask this thread last year about it...

I've got some ideas on how to add it. Stay tuned, I suppose.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] 2faraway2:
What does that mean in general ? No chance to build a custom recovery based on the source of CWG5 with binary 5 ?

Thanks for feedback :)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] saq-xda:
Does anyone know what happened to Samsung (corporate wise)? I have a bunch of old Samsung stuff (S2, S3, S5, Tab, Tab Pro) and it was great because it was so easy to tweak and replace the systems. Now my parents have one of these and I was given a S9 and they're both pretty useless. Why the change?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] traman124:
2 reasons: security (somewhat dubious) and money (being able to limit features and enforce EOLs allows for a revenue stream).

I had an old S3 (T-Mobile, T999) with TouchWiz and installed Lineage 14.1 on it, didn't even need to unlock the bootloader (that's what makes it insecure but the Pixel approach of warning users would solve the problem).
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] saq-xda:
I find it hard to believe that there is much of a sales impact. Most people don't go that far into their devices and just buy new, and those that do hack roms will look for a company that enables it.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
The phone lineup is mostly Samsung unifying models for North America and appeasing some carriers' enforcing bootloader lock. Remember the average user DGAF about the stuff we do, so it makes sense in their perspective.

w/r/t the T290/T295, I personally don't think this is a Samsung fault; this device isn't actually made by Samsung but rather the development/production was offloaded to another team, and (totally unconfirmed, but other ODM devices from Samsung also have similar issues, see Galaxy A20s) they broke the bootloader and does security check even when the bootloader is unlocked. Take, for instance, the 2020 Galaxy Tab A7, which has official LineageOS builds too, and no one is complaining there.

Just speaking the benefit of the doubt. The situation truly does suck in any case, it annoys me as well even though I have a device that can boot things.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] phhusson:
I have no idea why you're saying that? SM-T290 is obviously borked (I think it's just the Samsung engineer working on that device that ****ed it up really), but my S9 can run any custom ROM just fine. As does my S10e. My S22. My S24. My A71. My A51. My A53. (Yes I need to buy a lot of devices to test GSIs)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] traman124:
They are probably using a Snapdragon S9 (which has issues with ROMs, including GSIs).

(Sidenote: I really appreciate your GSIs, they're great!)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] phhusson:
>They are probably using a Snapdragon S9 (which has issues with ROMs, including GSIs).

I'm pretty sure the three Honk Kong S9 in the world run just fine. The issue is "only" USA models

> (Sidenote: I really appreciate your GSIs, they're great!)

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] traman124:
I had a US S8 and I could not find a good ROM for it...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] hkp935:
yeah, only the normal AOSP and Lineageos GSI boots , all the other gsi would randomly reboot non-stop
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] pogopin:
i tried to install lineage os as per the instructions on my sm-t290 , i unlocked the bootloader and then tried to flash their recovery and another file mentioned in their website but it was not booting into the lineage os recovery so then i tried to lock the bootloader and then the it is stuck on the download mode showing :

<!>

partiton boot

reason samsung boot , t290xxu4cwc3, 63601522A / vbmeta t290xxu4cwc3, 63601522A

i tried to flash the stock firmware and did not succeed and also tried to install stock firmware and try to flash the PIT file using odin and then i showed some error regarding hash and something else.....

please help me by tying to boot into stock firmware or any other custom os

email id : adisplash@gmx.com

also please help me how to force shutdown samsung sm-t290 stuck in bootloader mode..
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
Did you enable OEM unlock? If so, try re-unlocking the bootloader.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
Thanks to @phhusson I managed to boot Andy Yan's LOS GSI. I also managed to boot AOSP and a couple other GSIs. At this moment I am using a crDroid GSI with MicroG.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
Nevermind it's says you have OEM unlock on. Can you at least get into stock recovery?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] hkp935:
hey i found this method on xda to downgrade the android version (not BL) . if i downgrade it to android 9 or 10 and if I run a update from the device will it install the u3 bl
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] pogopin:
There is no option to re unlock the bootloader, whenever I turn on the device it directly goes to the download mode without any other options.

If u know more about the tab can u please email me - adisplash@gmx.com
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] traman124:
Here's a suggestion: power off the tab by pressing and holding until the screen turns black while the tab is unplugged. After this, press VolUp and VolDown while plugging the tab into a computer and see if the option is presented to you.

You are on BL revision 4 so FYI, you can no longer install custom ROMs on your Tab. The LOS guide tells you not to install on BL revisions 4 and 5...

I'd prefer to keep this conversation on XDA... If you'd like help, feel free to open a new thread or I could DM you.

Maybe try to reflash the boot partition with the BL 4 firmware (here's the Samfw link to download it)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
You can still flash Custom ROMs. I successfully flashed a GSI on BL 5 firmware.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
I have the Tab, but in all my attempts of flash Custom ROMs, I never encountered this. Can you try flash stock firmware again (with your specific bootloader version) and share the message you get on Odin?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] traman124:
yes, a GSI but NOT LineageOS (the BL version in the guide will fail)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] mmmbn:
Have you been able to reproduce this?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] hkp935:
i tried it on a the bl (aboot.mbn) first (not the system.img) and it gave something like "cant use custom binaries" on a blue screen while booting. I will try it on the system.img today or tommorow when i have time
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] hkp935:
i did try it but they wont work they give there custom binary thing error . I also reported samsung in there live chat support (I told them about their bootloader not allowing to flash custom files) and they said they will try to remove it

. I dont know if they would try to change it
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
Odin will block the BL downgrade.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] TamD:
Maybe an alternative flashing app might not block the downgrade? I seem to remember that far smarter than me have flashed using Heimdall. Just a thought.....
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] hkp935:
do you think using the update.zip(U3 firmware) and sideload it with adb, will it downgrade the device
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
The one blocking it is the tablet, not the PC software. I guess me saying Odin wasn't exactly the correct wording for it.

After all, if it was the PC software that was blocking it, working around it would be too easy and the Verizon Galaxy S4 might have been bootloader unlockable now...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] necat_:
Hi, Can you also do it for T290XXS5CWG5 bootloader version?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
LineageOS for CWG5 is impossible.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
You can flash a GSI though.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Steyko0:
Hi, can I use it with bootloader version T290XXS5CWG53?

Thx por u reply
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] necat_:
Unfortunately, you cannot use it, but there is Lineage OS 20 GSI ROM for this bootloader version, you can install it if you want. After unlocking the bootloader you can install it with Odin

Lineageoslightt290bgn.tar

drive.google.com

The ROM I am currently using is very stable and there is no lag or freezing, but there is a bug when the screen turns off, sometimes it does not turn on when you press the power button once, you have to press it more than once.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] thedarkinvader:
~Deleted~

(Realized that my bootloader's already updated to "4", hence the error that I'm getting.)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Minionguyjpro:
Any news on LineageOS 21 with Android 14 support for this device? It seems out now for some devices (or at least a changelog).
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
It's mostly working, but there's two things stopping me from officially updating:

- USB data control is broken (you can't force disable data transfer mode, needed for Trust)

- There's a UI issue in lock screen

Maybe I'll start doing unofficial builds for this thing if I can't fix them.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] nomannet:
Would it be possible to flash with T290XXS5CWG2? Or GSI is the only option?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
GSI is the only option.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] nomannet:
I may be skipping something or unsure of - I'm not sure if it will allow me to flash GSI on T290XXS5CWG2 BL.

Additionally, I haven't rooted the device. which is adding it to the confusion.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] 2faraway2:
Yes, it will work well :) And no, rooting doesn't have any impact on installing gsi on your device.

Just follow these steps and read some more comments above and below
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] hkp935:
has anyone tried using the \e\ os gsi on the tab . i tried it but getting a bootloop.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] tymclrewhjbcpo:
Hello, I installed android_14.0.0_r27 ci-20240226 GSI build and successfully booted the tablet, but I'm unable to root the tablet with Magisk because it patches recovery.img and flashing it via Odin results in SECURE CHECK FAIL : recovery.img error.

My goal is to remove obsolete AOSP apps and replace them with the Google apps. I also couldn't flash MindTheGapps via stock recovery, I believe it always gives verification errors on non-Samsung packages.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
Hello, you can not root with magisk. Simply because of that fact you are above binary 3.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] traman124:
That's the deal with using BL V5. You can flash a GSI but not any ancillary packages. Instead, use a GSI with Gaps (ex Andy Yan's LOS GSIs @ https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-21-td/ - make sure that the build you're downloading is actually a gapps build). You can also download builds with superuser afaik...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] tymclrewhjbcpo:
Thanks for pointing LOS GSIs out. I couldn't manage to boot LOS 21, the tablet gave boot loops. I tested LOS 18 and LOS 20 to see which one performs better. I found out that Android 11 is more usable than Android 13, but I preferred Android 13 for being more future proof. I think the reason Android 11 was faster was it gave Google Play Protect error which indicates GMS was inactive.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] traman124:
If you get the play protect error you can solve it by using the custom ROM step on this Google support page (yes, there is a custom ROM step if you click on "Device isn't certified"): https://support.google.com/android/answer/10248227

LOS21 booted for me but I needed to flash real the LOS20 ROM first to update the vendor.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Argonon:
Luckily I stayed on older bootloader from having flashed twrp 2 years ago. I have been using your nightly build for about a year now and am very satisfied and thankful as there isn't much development going on with this device which is a shame as its quite capable of running Android 14. I still get a random reboot once in a while but nothing too troubling to me. I use as my DD Tablet. Thanks again. Oh I think the random reboot happens when I'm charging and booted.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Minionguyjpro:
Thank you for trying! It's good to hear that most things seem to work. Let's hope that we can get those issues fixed so we could retain official support.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] G_Bot:
I'm currently running your los 20.0 build on my device runs very smooth. Thanks for your work on los 14 project.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Minionguyjpro:
Oh it's not mine. Maybe you're talking about the original developer? I know I only made like a guide, though maybe I should look into porting ROMs to devices too.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] r4ph4r0ck5:
Guys.... could be a dumb question but.... i made it work with the instructions above.... LineageOS 20 is installed.... how to install other apps? even google stuff?

I tryied the MindTheGapps but the recovery complains on the signature
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] ArchVisions:
Are you using stock recovery?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Minionguyjpro:
@lifehackerhansol any news on the progress of LineageOS 21 for this device? Were you able to get any of the issues you listed fixed?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
As of today, we are now LineageOS 21.

You will need to follow the upgrade instructions: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/gtowifi/upgrade/

Builds will start rolling out in the following week.

I've fixed the USB issue. I left the status bar thing alone, because after a few months it really isn't that noticeable (due to Google changing something in SystemUI?)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Minionguyjpro:
Nice! I saw your unofficial 21 version, so I was afraid that you'd keep it forever unofficial. Okay so let's wait until next week, although there is a reason why I have to wait a little longer. But exciting news!
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Minionguyjpro:
Wait @lifehackerhansol could you show me what with the status bar is wrong with something like a screenshot? I'm curious. Because I also saw a screenshot of a device with Android 14 and it seems like the status bar is a little lower compared to 13 anyway:
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] TamD:
I have not used gapps in many years. Previously I have been able to find alternative sources for all of my apps. Unfortunately, the bank app that I use (need) is no longer downloadable from other sources.

So, sadly, I am looking into installing gapps so that I can download from the play store

Any recommendations for a minimal gapps for the T290 that will allow me to use play store?

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.....
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Heeni:
I use Aurora Store (available on F-Droid). It works fine for the handful of free apps that I use. I don't know how it goes with paid ones – someone else would need to comment on that.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] TamD:
I have been using Aurora Store, Aptoide and F-droid for years.

I have also used APK Downloaders where you paste in the url of the Play Store page and they generate the download for you. Unfortunately, the banking app that I need is restricted now. https://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] shadyg:
I cant install los recovery and if i install los, with twrp it dos not boot
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
What happens when you install via TWRP? I am able to install it via TWRP fine...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] shadyg:
twrp instals fine with no errors like the one in the photo, i can try to instalt los 19.1 and report back
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
LOS recovery isn't exactly important at the moment (only really relevant for users that can't install TWRP for whatever reason), what I find concerning is that someone is unable to boot the actual ROM.

I think I'm going to have to go back to stock ROM and see how this recovery install process works...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] antisomnic:
I really want to thank @lifehackerhansol for this build!!! It made a cheap tablet that NEVER ran very good, even from the day I bought it, run smooth as butter. I put this thing away in a drawer after a few months. I was bored one day and got it out and got it running with your build of lineage and I honestly can't believe I'm running the latest version of Android in such a snappy and speedy way.

Thank you for your work!!
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Ventur83:
Hello.Now I want to download this ROM and flash it on my tablet. I had a few suggestions. One is that the sourceforge link is very slow, I think it is better to upload the ROM file somewhere else besides the sourceforge. The second suggestion is to create a Telegram group and channel to support the ROM or all the developments of this tablet.

I had left this tablet for a long time, I took it out today and I was very happy to find a ROM with the latest version of Android for it.

Thank you for this wonderful work❤️😍
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] antisomnic:
I may be mistaken, but this particular version of this ROM is only being worked on by one individual. It's not the official Lineage OS but an offshoot. I didn't read a ton of the posts on here so I may be incorrect.

Point being, if it's one person developing it for the SM-T290, I would not expect them to do all that.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] retiredtab:
There are no problems with sourceforge for me. It downloads fairly quickly. The reason I host my roms on sourceforge is so I can see download stats on where it's being used in the world and how many people are using my roms.

I've never had anyone complain about sourceforge in 2 years that I've been using it. Androidfilehost, on the other hand, has lots of uptime problems which is why I switched to sourceforge 2 years ago.

The idea of open source software is so that everyone can use it and the discussion about it's capabilities should be in a public forum. Telegram is NOT an open forum because it forces people to give away their phone number to join and participate. I or anyone can view xda posts without an userid/password if I choose so.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Ventur83:
Thanks for the answer. Yes, now that I think more, it is the same
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] Ventur83:
Yes, after doing some tests, I found out that the sourceforge was recently filtered in my country and only I have a download problem. And about Telegram because my other devices have Telegram to support custom ROM and kernels. I just joined xda and I'm not very familiar with the environment here. Anyway, I failed to flash the ROM on my device. I found out that my device is a 295 with bootloader 4, which doesn't have the ability to flash custom recovery at the moment.

I hope a way will be found soon

Thank you for answering.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] 2faraway2:
Hhhm, LOS recovery straight after the 3 files or do I have to reboot after flashing the 3 files you provided ?
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] 2faraway2:
I can report a least a small progress ..

I flashed the three files and rebooted the device

- Now I get the 'open bootloader warning' as expected (which I've never seen before when on latest stock even with open bootloader'

- KG-status seems to be gone in download mode -> What does this mean ?

Then I flashed LOS recovery.

Sadly the device again didn't let me boot into the recovery ... -> secure check fail : recovery.img ..

Some more advices / hints ? ;)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] lifehackerhansol:
It seems the correct way to do this is to NOT reboot into OS. After flashing the 3 tars from GitHub, immediately reboot into DL mode and flash recovery.

At least, that is what a few hours of searching got to me.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] 2faraway2:
I see, how can I manage this ? Reboot from download mode into download mode ?