Develop Bugs

Galaxy Nexus reboot loop flashing error FAIL Exceed Buffer Size

My Galaxy Nexus reboots a few seconds after starting up. I don't have anything other than stock installed and I've tried following several guides here trying to flash it myself since the built-in recovery mode wipe data/factory reset does nothing.
I did notice something strange which following a guide, when I oem unlock and reboot the fastboot mode it locks itself again like I didn't do anything at all. This was a problem when I was using the Android Toolkit too but I managed to over ride my own fastboot oem unlock commands in between its batch file commands and got to an error "FAIL Exceed Buffer Size"
I believe if I can fix or know what to do with that error I can successfully bring my phone back to factory defaults I just don't know what to do! I tried looking for the error on this forum and it came up with 0 results and google isn't helping much either.
I'd appreciate any help regarding this, even if it means my phone is beyond repair I just want to know!
Thanks guys!

celeadyne said:
My Galaxy Nexus reboots a few seconds after starting up. I don't have anything other than stock installed and I've tried following several guides here trying to flash it myself since the built-in recovery mode wipe data/factory reset does nothing.
I did notice something strange which following a guide, when I oem unlock and reboot the fastboot mode it locks itself again like I didn't do anything at all. This was a problem when I was using the Android Toolkit too but I managed to over ride my own fastboot oem unlock commands in between its batch file commands and got to an error "FAIL Exceed Buffer Size"
I believe if I can fix or know what to do with that error I can successfully bring my phone back to factory defaults I just don't know what to do! I tried looking for the error on this forum and it came up with 0 results and google isn't helping much either.
I'd appreciate any help regarding this, even if it means my phone is beyond repair I just want to know!
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
best advice,flash back to stock,root the phone,and use bootunlock on your phone to unlock it,it wont wipe your data,then download a recovery.img and flash it with the flashify app,almost everything done with apps and no data loss.

pattyboi:) said:
best advice,flash back to stock,root the phone,and use bootunlock on your phone to unlock it,it wont wipe your data,then download a recovery.img and flash it with the flashify app,almost everything done with apps and no data loss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't flash the phone to stock because of that FAIL error, and I can't root the phone because it reboot loops before I can enable USB debugging in the OS.

celeadyne said:
I can't flash the phone to stock because of that FAIL error, and I can't root the phone because it reboot loops before I can enable USB debugging in the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i mean not using toolkit,using actual fasboot. BTW: do you have a custom recovery? if so you could just adb sideload & if you can get the phone into fastboot mode and just flash a recovery then adb sideload after wiping all partitions && did you try using odin to flash back to stock (i dunno if there are odin images available,i apoligize if not)

[2013] Possibly hard bricked on factory image update. Honestly not sure.

Earlier today I used the Nexus Root Tool Kit to flash stock and flash the factory image for 5.0.
At erasing User Data it seemed to get stuck, it was there for over 40 minutes. While looking at the device I accidentally knocked the USB cable out and it said failed. Upon rebooting the device I got the Google logo and the bootloader unlocked icon and then the bugdroid with the gear like it's doing an update (THIS: http://scottiestech.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Android_Update_Screen.jpg[1] ). It stayed like this for another 40 minutes. I forced it to shut down and tried to get into the bootloader but holding down vol up+vol down+power for almost 60 seconds did nothing.
I then booted it up normally again to the gear bugdroid and left it like that before I went out for almost 6 hours. When coming home it was the same and still stuck on that.
I rebooted again and held down to boot into the bootloader but again it did not boot in over 60 seconds.
So am I hard bricked and should toss this out with the trash tonight or can this be restored somehow.

Are you able to connect to your device using fastboot?
Assuming you have fastboot installed and the drivers installed, open a command prompt and from the directory where your SDK files are (unless you added the directory to your system PATH), type "fastboot devices" without the quotes. What do you get back? If you get back a serial#, you should be able to flash the individual files manually
(Download the factory image from google's site, and extract the files into a folder, and run the flash-all.bat This will wipe all your data out, and assumes your bootloader is already unlocked)
Edit: follow the instructions here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/tutorial-how-to-flash-factory-image-t2513701
These are for Nexus 5, but the same steps apply for Nexus 7 as well. Just make sure you download the right factory image for your Nexus 7. Use Method 1

jj14 said:
Are you able to connect to your device using fastboot?
Assuming you have fastboot installed and the drivers installed, open a command prompt and from the directory where your SDK files are (unless you added the directory to your system PATH), type "fastboot devices" without the quotes. What do you get back? If you get back a serial#, you should be able to flash the individual files manually
(Download the factory image from google's site, and extract the files into a folder, and run the flash-all.bat This will wipe all your data out, and assumes your bootloader is already unlocked)
Edit: follow the instructions here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/tutorial-how-to-flash-factory-image-t2513701
These are for Nexus 5, but the same steps apply for Nexus 7 as well. Just make sure you download the right factory image for your Nexus 7. Use Method 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I can get it into fastboot but I'm getting errors when it tries to flash the bootloader or boot.

what's the error message?

jj14 said:
what's the error message?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
originally there was none, it just said failed and completed. now i'm getting invalid arguments.
I'm still in fastboot mode but literally nothing will flash.
*edit* just tried to use tookit again and
writing 'bootloader'
FAILED <remote: flash write failure>
finished.
Seeing a couple people mention that they fixed errors like this just from using a different usb port or cable. going to try that.

Why didn't you use adb to flash factory image from the get-go? It's the safest way to flash. I would be so mad on your place if device would render useless. But that might be just me since i'm poor. I really hope you manage to fix it.

neo5468 said:
Why didn't you use adb to flash factory image from the get-go? It's the safest way to flash. I would be so mad on your place if device would render useless. But that might be just me since i'm poor. I really hope you manage to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew of that way but the Nexus Tool Kit has always been perfect and I've never had any issues with it so I figured I'd just do it that way to make it easier and well, it didn't happen.
I'm hoping because I can get into fastboot that it's not actually bricked yet but if so then oh well i guess.

[HELP] Access internal memory from Fastboot

First up:
My 5x was rooted and working for 6 months using the amazing step by step posted at: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/guides-how-to-guides-beginners-t3206930
It has TWRP custom recovery which I can no longer access.
The only mode I can access is the bootloader using fastboot.
Google has already sent me a replacement but I would like to get as much of my non-backed-up info from the internal memory as possible before returning it.
The phone functioned perfectly in its rooted state for 6 months until one day on vacation when it kept rebooting at random intervals where the intervals got shorter and shorter to the point where the phone was simply unusable. Now it does not boot at all.
Even a week ago ago I was able to go into TWRP once out of 25 tries but now that does not work anymore either.
If you let it try and boot, it will display the "Your device software can't be checked for corruption.... please lock your bootloader..." message. It will then display "GOOGLE" on a plain black screen with an unlocked padlock in the bottom. It will loop between these two screens over and over without every going into the android startup animation screen.
I have reflashed a new stock image from the google repository as well as a new recovery - all of which completed successfully per the messages at the command prompt screen. However this did nothing to fix the actual issue. Same exact screen and bootloop.
At this point I would be happy just to be able to go in and access the information in the two users (I had multi-users setup). Since the bootloader is the only mode I can enter, is it possible to access the internal memory using fastboot? Thanks in advance.

Did you flash the full factory image? It would have deleted all your user information?
Even if not, you would need to access from something like TWRP as the user partition is encrypted, even if you have no password set up (it is encrypted with random password, which itself is then obfuscated by encrypting with known-text)
You could try booting TWRP over USB using
fastboot boot twrp.img
But if I recall correct, twrp has a bug where it can't decrypt user if booted in this way, but I don't remember if that is for pattern/pin/password or even with default known password.

sfhub said:
Did you flash the full factory image? It would have deleted all your user information? Even if not, you would need to access from something like TWRP as the user partition is encrypted, even if you have no password set up (it is encrypted with random password, which itself is then obfuscated by encrypting with known-text)
You could try booting TWRP over USB using fastboot boot twrp.img
But if I recall correct, twrp has a bug where it can't decrypt user if booted in this way, but I don't remember if that is for pattern/pin/password or even with default known password.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Sfhub. Just tried your recommendation of booting TWRP over USB. Still the same issue. The device restarts but never goes into recovery, just loops over and over. And no I did not flash the full image so as to protect the user data still on the device.

Nothing else I could try? Anyone?

anik321 said:
Nothing else I could try? Anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It just sounds like your EMMC is dying or dead and whenever something tries to access it, the kernel panics and reboots.

https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/bullhead-mtc19v-factory-f3a6bee5.tgz
Extract the archive and archive saved in it, then try flashing these images:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
and then check if the phone boots. You will not lose data.

No luck :/ but thanks przemcio510
I left the phone alone for a few days and came back to find a weird message saying the encryption process was interrupted and as a result all data is lost. That I should reset the phone to factory conditions to proceed. I am unable to replicate this screen back.
And the bootloop continues...

sfhub said:
It just sounds like your EMMC is dying or dead and whenever something tries to access it, the kernel panics and reboots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the EMMC was dead, would adb or fastboot complete flashing successfully?

What is your bootloader version? Try reflashing it from fastboot. If it fails, then I have no idea what's wrong.

You could get the message that it completed successfully. Try locking your bootloader, fastboot oem lock. Then reboot to the bootloader. If it doesn't say locked them the emmc is bad.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

anik321 said:
If the EMMC was dead, would adb or fastboot complete flashing successfully?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if fastboot does error checking. The OTA should be doing error checking.
One issue is the problem area of EMMC might not be the system/vendor/boot partitions.
It doesn't need to be catastrophic failure where everything is affected. It can be partial failure.

jd1639 said:
You could get the message that it completed successfully. Try locking your bootloader, fastboot oem lock. Then reboot to the bootloader. If it doesn't say locked them the emmc is bad.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you re-lock your bootloader, that wipes userdata now as well.

Honor 7x with Lineage and TWRP, stuck in limbo

Hi all,
I installed TWRP on my Honor 7x, that went well.
Yesterday I decided to try to get Lineage working so:
- I installed EMUI 8, that went pretty smooth
- I installed Lineage OS 15.1. (without GApps)
- I flashed TWRP.
The issue I have now is that:
1) I can't install any APK in Lineage. Probably needs a factory reset/dalvik cache wipe.
2) I can't boot into TWRP. It stays stuck on the splash screen forever. This also means I can't install OpenGapps, SuperUser access (afaik), or anything else that requires root.
3) The bootloader is saying "FRP: Locked", which means I can't flash a new TWRP or a different ROM. When I try it fails with "command not allowed"
3) "fastboot oem unlock" fails saying I need to enable it in the developer options, but it's grayed out in the developer options because it's already unlocked.
4) I wanted to try the "dload" method but I can't find a good explanation on how to do it, and Huawei recently took all their downloads down, which means I can't find any UPDATE.app even if I knew how.
5) The other solution that *might* work is using "fastboot oem frp-unlock", but I need an unlock code for that (I assume the same one that you request for an OEM unlock from Huawei), and Huawei closed down the site that generated the codes.
So I'm stuck in a weird limbo where I can't move forward (install Gapps and use my phone as normal) nor backwards (go back to EMUI8).
Does anyone have any idea how I can fix this situation?

Shadowsalyer said:
Hi all,
I installed TWRP on my Honor 7x, that went well.
Yesterday I decided to try to get Lineage working so:
- I installed EMUI 8, that went pretty smooth
- I installed Lineage OS 15.1. (without GApps)
- I flashed TWRP.
The issue I have now is that:
1) I can't install any APK in Lineage. Probably needs a factory reset/dalvik cache wipe.
2) I can't boot into TWRP. It stays stuck on the splash screen forever. This also means I can't install OpenGapps, SuperUser access (afaik), or anything else that requires root.
3) The bootloader is saying "FRP: Locked", which means I can't flash a new TWRP or a different ROM. When I try it fails with "command not allowed"
3) "fastboot oem unlock" fails saying I need to enable it in the developer options, but it's grayed out in the developer options because it's already unlocked.
4) I wanted to try the "dload" method but I can't find a good explanation on how to do it, and Huawei recently took all their downloads down, which means I can't find any UPDATE.app even if I knew how.
5) The other solution that *might* work is using "fastboot oem frp-unlock", but I need an unlock code for that (I assume the same one that you request for an OEM unlock from Huawei), and Huawei closed down the site that generated the codes.
So I'm stuck in a weird limbo where I can't move forward (install Gapps and use my phone as normal) nor backwards (go back to EMUI8).
Does anyone have any idea how I can fix this situation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
small chance you enable root from developer options. (i think it will be adb only)
if so , maybe can use adb shell and "dd" to write recovery to correct partition.
problem is many of the available twrp do not boot on custom rom .
example code. (if you do wrong , it may be bad)
Code:
dd if=/ext_sdcard/twrp_Recovery_ramdisk.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p32

It seems like I'm allowed to use dd in ADB shell, but before I run it, what do you mean by " problem is many of the available twrp do not boot on custom rom . "? I thought recovery was independent of the ROM? And does it mean flashing twrp like that could brick my phone?

Shadowsalyer said:
It seems like I'm allowed to use dd in ADB shell, but before I run it, what do you mean by " problem is many of the available twrp do not boot on custom rom . "? I thought recovery was independent of the ROM? And does it mean flashing twrp like that could brick my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like what you have , twrp stuck on splash screen

I managed to unlock the FRP with DC-unlocker. Sucks that it costs money but it worked!
Now Im stuck in a TWRP boot loop though.

Shadowsalyer said:
I managed to unlock the FRP with DC-unlocker. Sucks that it costs money but it worked!
Now Im stuck in a TWRP boot loop though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At this point you should have access to fastboot though, right? I'd try a different TWRP instead. Perhaps try this one: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZYo7Ndte3vlLcUSadD6jIgfBi1oxa0Pb/view?usp=drivesdk

Just to clarify, it gets stuck on TWRP splash screen. When I turn off the phone, it immediately boots up again into TWRP. I tried getting into fastboot mode with all kinds of combinations of button presses, but no luck. Not even Volume Up + USB cable works

smokinjoe2122 said:
At this point you should have access to fastboot though, right? I'd try a different TWRP instead. Perhaps try this one: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZYo7Ndte3vlLcUSadD6jIgfBi1oxa0Pb/view?usp=drivesdk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, only saw your answer after sending my other reply. In theory I should have access to fastboot mode. However, everytime I start up I get into TWRP, which doesn't work. I tried Volume up, volume down, both, with and without power button, with and without cable, and no dice.

Shadowsalyer said:
Sorry, only saw your answer after sending my other reply. In theory I should have access to fastboot mode. However, everytime I start up I get into TWRP, which doesn't work. I tried Volume up, volume down, both, with and without power button, with and without cable, and no dice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen this happen before , solution was to wait for dead battery, or disassemble to unplug battery
---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------
Shadowsalyer said:
Sorry, only saw your answer after sending my other reply. In theory I should have access to fastboot mode. However, everytime I start up I get into TWRP, which doesn't work. I tried Volume up, volume down, both, with and without power button, with and without cable, and no dice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is because after the frp unlock, it needed to see a factory reset, and it usually needs to be done with stock recvery.
So will have to wait till battery is dead and and plug in usb while holding volume button. Should then load to fastboot. Where it is best to flash stock recovery to clear the recovery bootloop. The bootloop is do to the fact yo unlocked frp and now phone needs to wipe/data

Shadowsalyer said:
Sorry, only saw your answer after sending my other reply. In theory I should have access to fastboot mode. However, everytime I start up I get into TWRP, which doesn't work. I tried Volume up, volume down, both, with and without power button, with and without cable, and no dice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it sucks this happened to yu but im glad i am not the only one that dc-unlocker deleted my fastboot after i unlocked the frp and i cant boot fastboot for nothing if you find a solution please contact me. my phone is doing the exact same thing booting straight too twrp no mater what combinations i use

dcraffam said:
it sucks this happened to yu but im glad i am not the only one that dc-unlocker deleted my fastboot after i unlocked the frp and i cant boot fastboot for nothing if you find a solution please contact me. my phone is doing the exact same thing booting straight too twrp no mater what combinations i use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just took mine apart and discconected the battery and still no luck that program deleted my fastboot

Please can you tell me the process to install twrp I have the L24

I waited all the way till the battery drained, stuck in the USB, and it booted to ROM! Sadly it immediately shut off again because the battery is dead (even with keeping the USB in). I'm going to keep trying though.

I can't get into fastboot mode. I can get into the ROM by letting the battery drain completely on the TWRP splashscreen, and then sticking in the USB cable. However, no button combination or "adb reboot bootloader" or rebooting to bootloader from the ROM brings me to the bootloader. I wonder if it's still there. Any ideas?

Shadowsalyer said:
I can't get into fastboot mode. I can get into the ROM by letting the battery drain completely on the TWRP splashscreen, and then sticking in the USB cable. However, no button combination or "adb reboot bootloader" or rebooting to bootloader from the ROM brings me to the bootloader. I wonder if it's still there. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to be a f-up situation either way.
You have adb DD available, found out before.
Don't know if maybe flashing stock recovery is good idea at this point.
I think fastboot.img can be flashed with DD too, but don't try till someone can confirm.
If flash stock recovery clears the loops, maybe best to do full-ota manual flashing.

I managed to get an UPDATE.APP file and extract fastboot.img from it, as well as all the other .img files. If someone can tell me what to flash and how (with dd), I think Im set.

Shadowsalyer said:
I managed to get an UPDATE.APP file and extract fastboot.img from it, as well as all the other .img files. If someone can tell me what to flash and how (with dd), I think Im set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fastboot.img is the large part the bootloader. If flashing it goes bad, might be dead phone after, just rember that.
Will add a list of partition names and command s for you soon.
here is a list of oreo partitions and there /dev/blk/** number
and here is an example of code to save images with dd assuming you put the images on your extrnal-sdcard in folder called oreo-images
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p5 of=/mnt/ext_sdcard/oreo-images/fastboot.img
Do that save first and compare the md5 of the file from update.app to this file.
or just check the md5 before making the copy
Code:
adb shell md5sum /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
If you are conviced you need to flash the images, here is example of writing the image assuming files are in sdcard folder oreo-update-images
Code:
dd if=/mnt/ext_sdcard/oreoupdate-images/fastboot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p5
As I have said, this might be bad advise , I have not done fastboot.img flashing before. But on other devices it is same as lk.img or uboot.img, There is danger in flashing it incorrectly. That is why my suggestion was to flash no-check-recovery and do manael update with "echo -update_package" commands.
Along with the statement that fastboot.img is similar to lk.img or uboot.img on other phones, Your fastboot cannot be gone. because phone boots.
but do let us know how it goes.

I agree it would be better to flash recovery if possible. I assume I need the NoCheck-Recovery image from this thread? https://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-7x/how-to/manual-update-to-oreo-beta-emui-8-bnd-t3767044
And what partition do I have to flash it to? I'm guessing either /dev/block/mmcblk0p28 (erecovery ramdisk) or /dev/block/mmcblk0p32 (recovery ramdisk)? I'm not sure what the difference is between erecovery and normal recovery.
(didn't flash fastboot yet, wanted to see if recovery was doable).

Shadowsalyer said:
I agree it would be better to flash recovery if possible. I assume I need the NoCheck-Recovery image from this thread? https://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-7x/how-to/manual-update-to-oreo-beta-emui-8-bnd-t3767044
And what partition do I have to flash it to? I'm guessing either /dev/block/mmcblk0p28 (erecovery ramdisk) or /dev/block/mmcblk0p32 (recovery ramdisk)? I'm not sure what the difference is between erecovery and normal recovery.
(didn't flash fastboot yet, wanted to see if recovery was doable).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To recovery_ramdisk. 32
What about check md5 of fastboot partition, that will be helpful to know if it did get wiped out.?

Hmm seems like I'm not allowed to use dd after all:
HWBND-H:/ $ dd if=/storage/7C96-7E17/BND-RECOVERY-NoCheck.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p32
dd: /dev/block/mmcblk0p32: Permission denied
And here I was thinking I was close to solving it...
Also can't run md5sum on the fastboot partition, since that needs root as well.

The Complete Noob Guide to Rooting MetroPCS XT1955-5 Qualcomm Variant

This tutorial is for people like me than ran into problems rooting the Moto G7 Power XT-1955-5 (MetroPCS Qualcomm Variant) running on stock Pie. I got two of these literally today brand new in the box after swapping out that mess Samsung Galaxy A20 crap.
Follow the following at your own risk! I am not responsible for any mishaps with your devices. I also don't know if this will work on other variants, as I only have these for MetroPCS, and from my understanding this will NOT obviously work for Verizon, AT&T, and Cricket phones.
I want to thank @diversenerd, and @jhjhjhjhjhjh for their hard work tinkering with the phone as I tried to figure it all out from their notes and instructions. And for the rest of the contributors that I took bits and pieces from that helped me figure out rooting this, as the information wasn't quite clear in some places and I got some bootloops.
Introduction/Preparation
First, go and prepare by READING EVERYTHING IN THIS FORUM. Very important. Don't even jump into this without reading this thread here all the way to the last page: https://forum.xda-developers.com/g7-power/how-to/versions-moto-g7-power-supra-magisk-t3923857 (this is so you know start to finish what worked for some might not work for this variant).
Second, unlock the bootloader. The MetroPCS variant can be unlocked by Motorola; follow their instructions, it's easy peasy. If you do it in firefox it may not go to the third step page and hang on the page where you put the long code in (follow instructions on page to get the unlock code you'll see what I'm talking about). I did it in Firefox this go round and it sent the codes immediately . When you get it, follow Motorola's instructions for unlocking the bootloader in fastboot. It will show you that the bootloader is unlocked.
***NOTES SO YOU DON'T FREAK OUT***
1. Every time you power up the phone after you unlock the bootloader Moto will try and make you feel like crap with a bad key error in the middle of a nice message that your phone is not to be trusted. :laugh: This is normal. Give it a minute, you havent broke it.
2. There is no custom recovery/TWRP for this variant, so read carefully so you don't delete something you might not be able to flash back later.
3. OEM Unlocking toggle switch is interesting. On my first phone it was activated once the bootloader is unlocked and greyed out to where it couldn't be accessed anymore; On the significant other's phone it is still accessible and can be toggled even with the bootloader unlocked.
Files
There is confusion in some of the threads about leaving the Sim Card/SD Card in while flashing. Yes, pull it out and flash without it. Flashing with the sim card/SD card in can cause problems flashing. I did my first phone without it, but forgot to take it out with my second and had to start from scratch. Avoid that step.
1. Get Minimal ADB and Fastboot (it's easier to use than Android SDK and smaller).
2. Download the Motorola Drivers from their site (if you run into problems you will have to uninstall and reinstall them through their utility which is found on PC here: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Motorola Shared\Mobile Drivers
3. Cpu-Z.apk (This is a good thing to have to know your hardware responsibly).
4. Stock Firmware. I used XT1955-5_OCEAN_RETUS_9.0_PPO29.114-63-2_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml which is the US Retail software instead of MetroPCS's firmware because of the issues I was having with it straight out the box. Both of my phones flashed fine with it and you can find it here: https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/moto/ocean/official/RETUS/ I used the 2nd one with success - the first one doesn't play nice with Magisk.
5. MagiskManager-v7.3.2 apk.
6.The Boot .img separately extracted from the Firmware listed in Step 4.
7. Root Checker.apk
8. Patience (and a good movie keeping you going).
Pre-Rooting
1. Make sure the phone is fully charged.
2. Make sure your sim card and SD card is REMOVED from the phone. Again, this is to prevent problems in the flashing.
3. Make sure your wifi is OFF. Every time you wipe the phone or do anything messing with the boot image the phone resets itself to factory settings, and immediately pushes updates galore.
4. Make sure you save Magisk and the Boot .img to your phone directly. Using the Download folder is a great place and easily accessible in Magisk. You will not be able to add files once in fastboot).
5. Make sure your developer options are activated.
6. Make sure your USB debugging is enabled AND you've given permissions for your computer to have administrative access with it enabled (more on this below).
7. Make sure to check CPU-Z for your hardware specs and to make sure you're avoiding potential problems.
8. Make sure you manually set USB to Transfer files (no other option will work and by default its set to Charge this Device). Once you flash, you have to constantly check USB to Transfer because it will not do it.
9. Make sure you have the STOCK CABLE that comes with the phone. This model is funky about using other cables.
10. Make sure you set your display to time out to ten minutes. If the phone screen goes to sleep mode, it may interfere with flashing.
Rooting
Here is the fun part. Please keep in mind you may get a bootloop. I did on both phones on the first try with two different methods. I was on the infamous March 1 2019 security update and still got a bootloop from the patching. The second phone I just flashed ahead of time to the new firmware and still got a bootloop until I flashed again. Expect it.
1. Go into your developer options and DISABLE Automatic Updates. This is important for later on.
2. With the phone on, install Magisk. Make sure you use the version 7.3.2 or update to it since it's the latest version at the time of this guide.
3. Say yes when your phone asks whether or not you want to install things from unknown sources. It will grant access for this application only.
4. Open Magisk Manager and turn on your Wifi. If you don't Magisk will hang at checking updates. If necessary, force close Magisk and open it up again with Wifi on. It should bring you to One Green Check Mark that Magisk Manager is Up To Date, and One Red Mark above it that says Magisk isn't installed.
5. Click install on that tab ONLY (there is no need to click install by the Green Check Mark one). Magisk will then ask you "Do You Want To Install Magisk v19.3(193000) now? and click Install again.
6. Under Select Method, navigate to the folder on the phone where you saved your boot.img file (or whatever you named it). Once you select it you will be taken to a screen where the letters are funky looking but spell FLASHING at the top. Once it patches your file, it will tell you when it's done. Should it hang or you get errors, you WILL HAVE TO REFLASH THE FIRMWARE AND START OVER.
7. When the screen tells you it's all done, plug your phone up to the computer and drag the patched img file (it should by default say magisk_patched.img) and put it in the folder with Minimal ADB and Fastboot.
8. Turn the phone completely OFF.
9. Plug your phone via USB cable into the computer.
10. Press Volume Down and Power to boot into fastboot mode.
11. Open up Minimal ADB and Fastboot (Make sure you don't have it set to open this as an administrator, it messes with permissions) Make sure your boot image file is in the Minimal ADB directory or it won't work.
12. Type "fastboot flash boot thenameofyourrecoveryfile.img" and hit enter.
If all goes well it should flash to "a" partition, and you should see in the command prompt "image signed with key bad key" before it says done. If it doesn't take do not re-flash as it will flash to "b" partition which will definitely bootloop and ensure you have to reflash the firmware.
13. When it is done, reboot phone by selecting START (keep pressing volume rockers until you see it, then press the power button).
14. Wait for the bad key/device cannot be trusted screen to pass (may take a minute) and wait for the Hello Moto opening.
15. Open Magisk Manager. The icons should be in green, letting you know you have root. Follow @diversenerd advice and Click Tap To Start SafetyNet Check. Make sure your Wifi is on for that check. This apparently tests to see if it can deceive Google checks and possibly install OTA (can't say I did all that, not a update junkie).
16. Install Root Checker and confirm root.
17. Disable Updates. I know this is hard for some people, but you dont know if a forced OTA update will take root away, and leave us with no option to get it back or roll back to an earlier version of Pie.
***NOTES SO YOU DON'T FREAK OUT***
1. Do NOT flash someone else's patched boot image. It WILL NOT WORK. Do the work, find your firmware, and patch the boot image yourself. I have no idea why it doesn't work device to device, but it doesn't. And while I thank @jhjhjhjhjhjh for giving up his original files, it was incompatible with my phone (even though we are on the same variant) and bootlooped me.
2. You may have followed everything perfect and it still bootlooped. Save yourself the frustration and just flash it over. See the next section on the proper way to flash so you don't lose your baseband, IMEI, or any other important stuff.
3. You will lose everything datawise flashing and playing with the boot.img. My phone reset itself tinkering with flashing, every time. Don't be alarmed if it takes you through a reset.
4. I wasn't able to confirm by going into updates (couldn't find the system settings) and verifying that nothing said anything about Device Integrity Compromised. I just assumed it.
5. Magisik is TEMPERAMENTAL. So if first you don't succeed, reflash the firmware and try again.
6. You cannot just go into the Stock Rom file and extract the boot.img file, put it in the Minimal ADB file folder and flash it if it bootloops. YOU MUST REFLASH ALL THE FIRMWARE OVER.
****Notes on Flashing The Stock Firmware if you have to****
In the event you bootloop and have to start from scratch, here's what you're going to have to do. And don't worry - it won't relock the bootloader.
1. Make a duplicate folder of Minimal ADB & Fastboot that is clean (doesn't have any boot images or any added files in it).
2. Extract the firmware to the folder where Minimal ADB & Fastboot are at on your computer.
3. Turn the phone completely OFF and back ON if you haven't done so yet. Make sure there is no Sim Card of SD card in it.
4. Press Volume Down and Power to boot into fastboot mode.
5. Plug your phone via USB cable into the computer.
6. Open up Minimal ADB and Fastboot (Make sure you don't have it set to open this as an administrator, it messes with permissions) Make sure all your firmware files have been extracted in the Minimal ADB directory or it won't work.
7. Cut, Copy, and Paste in Fastboot All Together the following:
Code:
fastboot oem fb_mode_set
fastboot flash partition gpt.bin
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot flash dsp adspso.bin
fastboot flash logo logo.bin
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.0
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.1
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.2
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.3
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.4
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.5
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.6
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.7
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.8
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.9
fastboot flash system_b system_b.img_sparsechunk.0
fastboot flash system_b system_b.img_sparsechunk.1
fastboot flash system_b system_b.img_sparsechunk.2
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img_sparsechunk.0
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img_sparsechunk.1
fastboot flash oem oem.img
fastboot flash oem_b oem_other.img
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase DDR
fastboot oem fb_mode_clear
fastboot reboot
8. When it is done it will stop on fastboot reboot. Hit enter and the phone will reboot.
9. Repeat all steps in the Pre-Rooting and Rooting section to obtain root.
Hope this helps my fellow MetroPCSers. I boot looped both of my phones this evening and brought them back with this method, and eventually achieved root on the 2nd tries, respectively. Old girl is working and I got Root Explorer and Titanium Backup going full stop. At least this root was easier than on my E4, lol.:laugh:
I will try and answer questions if I can or point you in the right direction.

I believe my boot img was flashed to "b" partition and everything is fine...
do you know a way to sim unlock it?

edwardxi said:
I believe my boot img was flashed to "b" partition and everything is fine...
do you know a way to sim unlock it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure it is okay, because when I flashed it the first time and it flashed to "a" and it bootlooped the Moto intro, I only flashed the boot image again and it flashed to "b" and hung at the "This Device Cannot Be Trusted/Bad Key" Screen.
I have no way to test sim unlock as MetroPCS locks their sims to the phone via IMEI and don't let you hotswap them, mostly to charge you 11 bucks reactivation fee. But in theory it should be sim unlocked by flashing to a different Carrier/Retail Rom, or at least that is how in the more budget line phones it worked.

Articul8Madness said:
Make sure it is okay, because when I flashed it the first time and it flashed to "a" and it bootlooped the Moto intro, I only flashed the boot image again and it flashed to "b" and hung at the "This Device Cannot Be Trusted/Bad Key" Screen.
I have no way to test sim unlock as MetroPCS locks their sims to the phone via IMEI and don't let you hotswap them, mostly to charge you 11 bucks reactivation fee. But in theory it should be sim unlocked by flashing to a different Carrier/Retail Rom, or at least that is how in the more budget line phones it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using it for couples of days, and definitely, everything is fine:laugh:
For metro, it's controlled by their Unlock app, you can't simply flash a different rom to unlock it... used to $10 on eBay, now $40... too expensive

edwardxi said:
I have been using it for couples of days, and definitely, everything is fine:laugh:
For metro, it's controlled by their Unlock app, you can't simply flash a different rom to unlock it... used to $10 on eBay, now $40... too expensive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, on My E4 I was able to unlock it by flashing Lineage Nougat. I could put any sim in it but Metro, because they lock by IMEI. Can't speak for this one, I just jumped back to Metro from Tmobile, who was HIDDEOUS.
Maybe you might get lucky and get some Moto support from Chimera. Then for 11 euro you could unlock it with their tool. But stay on their behinds and make sure its working first.

Articul8Madness said:
Well, on My E4 I was able to unlock it by flashing Lineage Nougat. I could put any sim in it but Metro, because they lock by IMEI. Can't speak for this one, I just jumped back to Metro from Tmobile, who was HIDDEOUS.
Maybe you might get lucky and get some Moto support from Chimera. Then for 11 euro you could unlock it with their tool. But stay on their behinds and make sure its working first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, can't agree more, they are terrible...

@Spaceminer. This is the post I'm talking about

If you want to get rid of the bad key message at boot, you can flash the logo.bin file from the link below with fastboot. Just place the downloaded logo.bin in the minimal adb and fastboot folder, open a cmd window and type fastboot flash logo logo.bin and press enter. Next boot you should have a plain white screen with a large black moto symbol instead.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g7-power/themes/remove-bad-key-start-boot-t3947359

Going to root mumy G7 power from metroPCS. Can anyone confirm is there a way to SIM unlock after root?

aggresive said:
Going to root mumy G7 power from metroPCS. Can anyone confirm is there a way to SIM unlock after root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no SIM unlock per se with MetroPCS. They tie their SIMS into the IMEI of the phone you're using. So you can't just take the sim out and put it in another phone easy peasy without going through them and paying them to do it.
However, if a custom rom comes out, which will happen once we get a TWRP, you'll be able to do that probably on Lineage. But until then, there will be no confirmation.

Beetle84 said:
If you want to get rid of the bad key message at boot, you can flash the logo.bin file from the link below with fastboot. Just place the downloaded logo.bin in the minimal adb and fastboot folder, open a cmd window and type fastboot flash logo logo.bin and press enter. Next boot you should have a plain white screen with a large black moto symbol instead.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g7-power/themes/remove-bad-key-start-boot-t3947359
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct and I have contributed my custom made logo.bin image on said thread, even though you can still see bad key its cute, lol.

i got it all rooted but now it shows i have no imei and sim status not available any suggestions do i need to flash modem or radio

626jose said:
i got it all rooted but now it shows i have no imei and sim status not available any suggestions do i need to flash modem or radio
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try
Code:
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn

Thanks figured it out i used the 2nd download like the op said. I didnt check to see if it was the same version i was on so it bootlooped and i flashed the whole thing so i downloaded the original firmware reflashed it that didnt work so i let it update and it came back good as new. So for anyone else doing this make sure its the same version youre on i found it on a different site just google it

626jose said:
Thanks figured it out i used the 2nd download like the op said. I didnt check to see if it was the same version i was on so it bootlooped and i flashed the whole thing so i downloaded the original firmware reflashed it that didnt work so i let it update and it came back good as new. So for anyone else doing this make sure its the same version youre on i found it on a different site just google it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the RETUS version and didn't have that problem; are you sure you didn't accidentally click the wrong version and flashed that (like a CDMA version)? At any rate, glad you got it back. Interesting you updated....I NEVER EVER EVER EVER do that because updating can break root if the manufacturer patches it.
Also, make sure you are on the OS version March1st; I didn't update my phone and used that stock.

Articul8Madness said:
I used the RETUS version and didn't have that problem; are you sure you didn't accidentally click the wrong version and flashed that (like a CDMA version)? At any rate, glad you got it back. Interesting you updated....I NEVER EVER EVER EVER do that because updating can break root if the manufacturer patches it.
Also, make sure you are on the OS version March1st; I didn't update my phone and used that stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep made sure to follow everything word for word pretty sure thats why it bootloops the 1st time then after you flash the whole thing it works ive looked at them and the one that matches my firmware is the last 1 with the 2nd one i had 2 unlock apps one from metro and one from tmobile idk if thats your case or something didnt flash right or dirty flashed i was wondering also if that twrp river works has anyone tried it or is there twrp for this device and is there a way to rewrite the imei using adb or some other way

626jose said:
Yep made sure to follow everything word for word pretty sure thats why it bootloops the 1st time then after you flash the whole thing it works ive looked at them and the one that matches my firmware is the last 1 with the 2nd one i had 2 unlock apps one from metro and one from tmobile idk if thats your case or something didnt flash right or dirty flashed i was wondering also if that twrp river works has anyone tried it or is there twrp for this device and is there a way to rewrite the imei using adb or some other way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Geofferey has created an unofficial TWRP here https://forum.xda-developers.com/g7-power/development/port-twrp-g7-power-t3963738
Warning: DO NOT USE RIVER twrp - Our device is Ocean and River will Bootloop and possibly brick it.
We can't rewrite the imei or any of that yet - we still are working on custom roms. I've been trying to make stock roms for our variant, but unlike the old Moto I had, the new android OS has new permissions and all that with Pie and it keeps messing up on the porting.

Well after installing adaway and it not working i tried uninstall phone froze so i turned it off by holding the power button now its stuck in a bootloop idk if it finally ran out of power everytime i shut it off it kept rebooting can i recover without reflashing everything or do i have to start from scratch tia for the help

626jose said:
Well after installing adaway and it not working i tried uninstall phone froze so i turned it off by holding the power button now its stuck in a bootloop idk if it finally ran out of power everytime i shut it off it kept rebooting can i recover without reflashing everything or do i have to start from scratch tia for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had that problem before, so I'll give my suggestions.
1. Try a factory restore from the Fastboot Menu. That may set everything easy peasy BUT it will wipe the phone.
2. If #1 doesn't work, then see if you can just reflash the magisk patch. That may do it.
3. If #1 and #2 don't work, then yeah, back to the drawing board.
Adaway maybe messed with Magisk; did you set the proper permissions in Adaway to give it root access? Anybody else care to weight in?

I'm not able to upload Magisk or boot.img directly to moto g7 phone from computer through Windows. I can transfer both to SD card, but doesn't allow access directly to phone file directly. Yes, bootloader is unlocked.