OP8t destroyed boot?

[minetech48]

So, I recently updated my phone from Android 11 to 12 in order to try and fix some app compatibilities, and in attempting to restore Magisk and TWRP, I somehow made the phone unbootable. From what I found already, TWRP is just not compatible with Android 12. but now I have a bigger problem (obviously).

When I try to boot, I get a screen saying "The current image (boot/recovery) have been destroyed and can not boot". I have used the msm tool before to unbrick this device (when I made a similar mistake in the past, resulting in a boot loop) however, as far as I know, that wipes all data on the device.

Does anyone know of a way to fix this without wiping data? or, at least, recovering select files before wiping?

[Jenko32]

14 minutes ago, minetech48 said:

So, I recently updated my phone from Android 11 to 12 in order to try and fix some app compatibilities, and in attempting to restore Magisk and TWRP, I somehow made the phone unbootable. From what I found already, TWRP is just not compatible with Android 12. but now I have a bigger problem (obviously).

When I try to boot, I get a screen saying "The current image (boot/recovery) have been destroyed and can not boot". I have used the msm tool before to unbrick this device (when I made a similar mistake in the past, resulting in a boot loop) however, as far as I know, that wipes all data on the device.

Does anyone know of a way to fix this without wiping data? or, at least, recovering select files before wiping?

I'm not an expert and I've never tinkered with OnePlus phones but something like this happened to my LG G8s. You used the msm tool but you do have access to adb and fastboot I think. I had to download the firmware that was already on the phone (I just downloaded it from the LG Windows Tool) and unpack it, from it I took boot_a.img and boot_b.img and flashed them without having to flash it whole and lose data. My phone actually had 2 img files and I flashed them both. But keep in mind that LG's architecture might be different and that was on Android 10. My phone had nothing that indicated that the boot was broken but I run an adb command to scan all .img (fastboot getvar all) and this one was different size so that's why I did that but wait for someone else or try and find some people that have thinkered with the same phone, I found on of these groups by searching on Telegram my phone name

[OhioYJ]

48 minutes ago, minetech48 said:

Does anyone know of a way to fix this without wiping data? or, at least, recovering select files before wiping

As an owner of two OP8T... TWRP on this device is a mess. I just don't use it. I used a broken version, and it is very broken, to backup the EFS, and persist partitions and that's it. Other than that I use LOS recovery, and run LOS.

 

So does this mean you were running OOS and just rooted ? Or were you running a custom ROM?

 

Follow this at your own risk... At this point, this would be me theorizing, and likely what I would try in this situation. Your data is still at risk, and you may end up needing the MSM tool anyways.

 

So some partitions can be flashed from Fastboot, I assume you still have access to this (I can't remember if boot contained fastboot or not)? (recovery and boot would fall into this category on this device) You need the recovery and boot images from the firmware you are running. You can extract these images from your ROM or firmware using payload dumper.

 

However before you go through all that, have you tried to change the active slot? IIRC with the phone in fastboot, you can:

 

fastboot --set-active=a

fastboot --set-active=b

 

You'll likely have to try both, as you may not know which slot you are currently on (I wouldn't).

 

If that doesn't work, and assuming you actually have access to fastboot, then:

 

fastboot flash boot boot.img

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

[minetech48]

Thank you for the suggestions. Yes, I was running rooted OOS 11 before.

I have the software package "OnePlus8TOxygen_15.O.31_OTA_0310_all_2202182359_ca105dab55fd44e6", which is the latest I could find, and considering I had just updated, I assume it's the same version I was running. I have tried dumping and flashing as you suggested, but nothing changed. I have access to only fastboot. I also tried the set active command, both also with no change.

[OhioYJ]

18 minutes ago, minetech48 said:

Thank you for the suggestions. Yes, I was running rooted OOS 11 before.

I have the software package "OnePlus8TOxygen_15.O.31_OTA_0310_all_2202182359_ca105dab55fd44e6", which is the latest I could find, and considering I had just updated, I assume it's the same version I was running. I have tried dumping and flashing as you suggested, but nothing changed. I have access to only fastboot. I also tried the set active command, both also with no change.

If it's complaining about boot and recovery, but flashing those didn't fix it, it's not looking good.

 

I rename my files, so they are easier for me to keep track of. However it doesn't help in this situation. The last Android 12 Rom I have is a KB2003_11.C.33_1330_202207310007, with a security date of 2022-07-05 (this information is in payload properties). I notice the file I have is for the 2003, IIRC I did have to at one point download the Euro firmware to update (all I needed was the firmware anyways, as I run LOS). I think the KB2005 version was lagging behind on release or something.

 

There are more partitions that you can flash in fastboot, but I don't know what would trigger it to wipe data and what won't honestly. You also can't flash them all. So that would be venturing into very unknown territory.

 

How about using one of the newer versions of TWRP? The "official" versions are no longer maintained. However there are a couple versions on XDA.

 

There is a version here that claims to work with OOS 13.

 

In the zip, you can strip out the recovery.img file. Then temporarily boot it. Do NOT flash it. or permanently install it. From fastboot:

 

fastboot boot recovery.img

 

If it works and can access your data parition, then you can likely pull everything. If not, I'd try another version. Heck I'd try the LOS recovery. I don't have high hopes for that one, as I believe it's an entirely different version of encryption, but worth a shot. With LOS recovery though, you'll have to use ADB to pull your data. The good news is, I find this to be far more reliable, and faster.

 

For LOS recovery you can download the latest one here. Same thing as above, just boot it, and see if it works. Don't install it.

 

[minetech48]

Thanks again for the suggestions. Unfortunately, when I try to fastboot boot anything, I get "FAILED (remote: 'Failed to load/authenticate boot image: Load Error')" I don't know if this is a local thing I can bypass, or if it's an issue on the device's side.

Another note, the OOS I downloaded was apparently from march of last year, so I doubt that it's the same as I just got through the OTA update

[OhioYJ]

39 minutes ago, minetech48 said:

Thanks again for the suggestions. Unfortunately, when I try to fastboot boot anything, I get "FAILED (remote: 'Failed to load/authenticate boot image: Load Error')" I don't know if this is a local thing I can bypass, or if it's an issue on the device's side.

Another note, the OOS I downloaded was apparently from march of last year, so I doubt that it's the same as I just got through the OTA update

The failed message can happen if Fastboot / ADB is outdated. Make sure these are up to date.  I ran into this before and I wasn't using a current enough version. 

 

As for the version, yes you will likely need a newer version. KB2005 / KB2003 (US / Euro) versions are similar in a many ways. There are a few files that are different, but as I mentioned in a pinch I've mixed the two.  India and China versions though (and TMobile) are different (well the firmwares).  So I would avoid those files. 

 

Is what you're looking for in this thread?

[minetech48]

I'm not sure if those are the OOS 12 versions in that thread, but it didn't work either anyway. My Android tools are up to date (34.0.1-1)

[OhioYJ]

10 hours ago, minetech48 said:

I'm not sure if those are the OOS 12 versions in that thread, but it didn't work either anyway. My Android tools are up to date (34.0.1-1)

I have that build I listed above, C33 as A12. I would probably ask over on XDA, perhaps someone smarter than I will have some ideas. It's sure looking like you are headed towards a MSM flash though... 

[minetech48]

On 4/17/2023 at 8:03 AM, OhioYJ said:

I have that build I listed above, C33 as A12. I would probably ask over on XDA, perhaps someone smarter than I will have some ideas. It's sure looking like you are headed towards a MSM flash though... 

I have made a post on XDA, but so far, no luck. I have another phone I can use in the meantime, so I'll still be making sure I've tried everything before wiping. Thanks again for your help though.

Also, yet another thing I can't do is clear cache, fails with "(remote: 'Check device console.')".. I have no idea what kind of state this thing is in right now..

[OhioYJ]

55 minutes ago, minetech48 said:

I have made a post on XDA, but so far, no luck. I have another phone I can use in the meantime, so I'll still be making sure I've tried everything before wiping. Thanks again for your help though.

Also, yet another thing I can't do is clear cache, fails with "(remote: 'Check device console.')".. I have no idea what kind of state this thing is in right now..

 

Are you trying to wipe cache from fastboot? I know just enough to be dangerous, but pretty sure that doesn't work on most devices anymore, particularly the device in question. That command would be looking for a cache partition, which does not exist on the OP8T.

 

So I had another thought... on the OP6T (<-- Different device, but trying to think outside the box) we used to do fresh installs and also recover them using fastboot ROMs, if we had access to fastboot.  The 6T is also a A/B device, so fairly similar. Same concept, use payload dumper on the payload.bin file to get all the files you need to flash. You can have a peak at my OP6T script here (its a Linux script, but you can open it in any text edit in Windows).  I took it from my very old installing Lineage writeup for the OP6T

 

However you won't know which XBL file to flash without a working recovery. As you need an ADB shell to figure out which DDR type you have (Don't guess). My two 8Ts were bought quite a bit apart, so I figured for sure the second one would be the new memory type, and it's not. Note: The XBL likely doesn't need flashed anyways, this is a "crtical" and can only be flash in recovery anyways. There are a few of those "img" files like that, that you won't be able to flash in fastboot, and can only be flashed from a recovery like TWRP, or LOS recovery.

 

The other issue, is I'm not sure which files will trigger the phone to wipe itself. I would guess the security based stuff at a minimum, but I really don't know as it's never been a concern.

 

The Lineage update firmware guide my help determine which files are "firmware", might help eliminate files. The confusing part though, is it says enter fastboot, that's the Fastbootd in LOS Recovery. That is different from your phones actual Fastboot. Those commands won't work in the actual fastboot menu. I wish they wouldn't have named it that, or would have referred to it as fastbootd or made the commands fastbootd, or something different so it was less confusing. That guide would just be for helping to identify what is considered firmware. It won't be useful unless you can get the phone to boot LOS recovery.

[minetech48]

So, after everything, I had tried switching between a and b with no change or success, however, I realized that I never tried to flash or boot to an image form the b state. Turns out, that worked! I have OrangeFox recovery booted, and have already transferred most of my files. Next, I'll see about restoring the system itself (I haven't even tried booting into it yet) but I'm not worried about that part. Thank you again for taking the time to try and help

[OhioYJ]

8 hours ago, minetech48 said:

So, after everything, I had tried switching between a and b with no change or success, however, I realized that I never tried to flash or boot to an image form the b state. Turns out, that worked! I have OrangeFox recovery booted, and have already transferred most of my files. Next, I'll see about restoring the system itself (I haven't even tried booting into it yet) but I'm not worried about that part. Thank you again for taking the time to try and help

Nice. Once you have your data, honestly I think I would just MSM it as it sounds like you have some messed up partitions, and It's hard to say what at this point. 

 

However if you want, Lineage has a copy partitions script that will run from recovery, that will make the opposite slot identical to the current one. I take a look at the script to verify, but IIRC that was the purpose of it, to prevent differences in firmware from causing issues. It's in the install instructions. A similar script is used on several A/B devices actually. That may help on the A slot if you get B working. That or just update the phone once you get B working. That would also likely fix A 

[Robert O]

After scrolling for a long time this thread has given me hope that my Oneplus 7Tpro data can be saved. I had. Similar issue after updating causing my boot to be destroyed and practically bricking my phone