Hi guys,
The question is in the title.
Now, I know it's probably not recommended to downgrade without unlocking the bootloader. But this is not about what's recommended. It's about what's possible.
Also, I've got a weird theory, but it's only a theory. I feel like it should be possible to downgrade if the security patch of the ROM you're coming from is lower or equal to the one of the ROM you're about to flash. In other words, as long as you're not downgrading your security patch. I've experimented with this with my old Moto One Action, and, while this was a long time ago, I remember this to be the case. But maybe my memory is not as good as it used to be, so I could be wrong. So don't take this as fact, but rather an open discussion.
Anyway, I'm curious if anybody tried to downgrade stock ROM from Android 12 to Android 11 and succeeded, without unlocking the bootloader.
I'm guessing you should erase userdata, since I don't think you can boot into the OS with Android 12 data on Android 11.
Also, I'm curious if anybody noticed a relevance for my theory above. Does it have anything to do with the security patch? Can anyone confirm this working?
Looking forward to your answers.
i think its possible if you can find Android 11 rom in anotjer websites or you can try to find a device that is not upgraded and then took rom backup from that and then use it in your device but i think you need to unlock bootloader in all cases
godslayer.04 said:
i think its possible if you can find Android 11 rom in anotjer websites or you can try to find a device that is not upgraded and then took rom backup from that and then use it in your device but i think you need to unlock bootloader in all cases
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ROM is not a problem. I already have a backup from before the update. Also, there are third party mirror sites for that. So that's not a problem.
The only thing I was curious about is whether or not it would be (theoretically) possible to downgrade an Android version (in this case, let's say it's 12 down to 11) without unlocking the bootloader.
I guess the answer is no then...
If I had another Moto G60, I'd try this myself. But I only have one... So I can't really test.
I was hoping someone already tried before. Or at least knows the theory around it.
Thank you very much for your reply!
arsradu said:
The ROM is not a problem. I already have a backup from before the update. Also, there are third party mirror sites for that. So that's not a problem.
The only thing I was curious about is whether or not it would be (theoretically) possible to downgrade an Android version (in this case, let's say it's 12 down to 11) without unlocking the bootloader.
I guess the answer is no then...
If I had another Moto G60, I'd try this myself. But I only have one... So I can't really test.
I was hoping someone already tried before. Or at least knows the theory around it.
Thank you very much for your re
arsradu said:
The ROM is not a problem. I already have a backup from before the update. Also, there are third party mirror sites for that. So that's not a problem.
The only thing I was curious about is whether or not it would be (theoretically) possible to downgrade an Android version (in this case, let's say it's 12 down to 11) without unlocking the bootloader.
I guess the answer is no then...
If I had another Moto G60, I'd try this myself. But I only have one... So I can't really test.
I was hoping someone already tried before. Or at least knows the theory around it.
Thank you very much for your reply!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can try one more thing you can go to service center and then ask them to do so once i got downgrade my realme narzo 20 from android 11 to 10 and they did so and my bootloader is locked already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah... Thing is, you can unlock and relock the bootloader. Also, is it the same phone (same IMEI) with the one you sent for repair? Cause they sometimes just replace the phone entirely.
If they really downgraded your OS, it would be interesting to know how they did it. Simple reflash of the OS? Or unlocked bootloader, flashed and then relocked? Cause that will work for sure. )
Now, there's also another thing. That was a Realme, this is a Motorola. Different manufacturers might have different ways/tools to achieve the same thing.
But the idea remains, of course. It should be possible to downgrade the OS, if you bring your phone to a repair center. However, what I'm trying to understand here is if you can do it yourself, at home, with a simple data cable and the OS itself, ooor...if you need special tools for that.
Also the question is hypothetical. I don't plan on actually bringing the phone to a repair service for downgrade. I just wanna know if it's possible, so I can eventually do it myself at home. Sending the phone for repair to a repair center usually takes time. So...if it's not a hardware issue, I'm trying to fix it at home.
arsradu said:
Yeah... Thing is, you can unlock and relock the bootloader. Also, is it the same phone (same IMEI) with the one you sent for repair? Cause they sometimes just replace the phone entirely.
If they really downgraded your OS, it would be interesting to know how they did it. Simple reflash of the OS? Or unlocked bootloader, flashed and then relocked? Cause that will work for sure. )
Now, there's also another thing. That was a Realme, this is a Motorola. Different manufacturers might have different ways/tools to achieve the same thing.
But the idea remains, of course. It should be possible to downgrade the OS, if you bring your phone to a repair center. However, what I'm trying to understand here is if you can do it yourself, at home, with a simple data cable and the OS itself, ooor...if you need special tools for that.
Also the question is hypothetical. I don't plan on actually bringing the phone to a repair service for downgrade. I just wanna know if it's possible, so I can eventually do it myself at home. Sending the phone for repair to a repair center usually takes time. So...if it's not a hardware issue, I'm trying to fix it at home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, I relocked my bootloader and guess what, now I cannot do anything.
Booting into the OS is not working as it says no OS found
Flashing images does not work since the bootloader is locked.
ankurpandeyvns said:
Dude, I relocked my bootloader and guess what, now I cannot do anything.
Booting into the OS is not working as it says no OS found
Flashing images does not work since the bootloader is locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you also happen to have an answer to the question in this topic?
ankurpandeyvns said:
Dude, I relocked my bootloader and guess what, now I cannot do anything.
Booting into the OS is not working as it says no OS found
Flashing images does not work since the bootloader is locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SAME issue with mine - we have all talked about this in the other posts. Unlocking bootloader on Moto phones seem to be risky. ONCE UNLOCKED, I SUGGEST PEOPLE DO NOT RE-LOCK THE BOOTLOADER AGAIN ON ANY ANDROID PHONE FOR THAT MATTER !!
arsradu said:
Do you also happen to have an answer to the question in this topic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have searched everywhere on the net and there's no solution to rollback an android 12 to 11 (i.e. without unlocking OEM)
Just curious - my G60 is on android 11 right now and I'm really hesitating in updating it to 12.
Why are you and other people talking about a rollback? Is the performance/bugs on 12 that bad?!!
KayaNN said:
I have searched everywhere on the net and there's no solution to rollback an android 12 to 11 (i.e. without unlocking OEM)
Just curious - my G60 is on android 11 right now and I'm really hesitating in updating it to 12.
Why are you and other people talking about a rollback? Is the performance/bugs on 12 that bad?!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it's not. But Android 12 comes with a few design choices not many people would like. So...I would suggest searching online for a review of the Android 12 update (there are plenty of them on YouTube for example) and see you're ok with those changes.
arsradu said:
No it's not. But Android 12 comes with a few design choices not many people would like. So...I would suggest searching online for a review of the Android 12 update (there are plenty of them on YouTube for example) and see you're ok with those changes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did check them out and the negative reviews were aplenty. I wanted a few reviews from the XDA community on Motog60 having Android12.
Which design choice did you find cumbersome/unwieldy?
KayaNN said:
I did check them out and the negative reviews were aplenty. I wanted a few reviews from the XDA community on Motog60 having Android12.
Which design choice did you find cumbersome/unwieldy?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For example the quicksettings toggles. They are bigger in Android 12, they take more space, and in terms of connectivity toggle, Google combined Mobile Data and WiFi, which...I personally would have preferred them to be separated (like in Android 11 and previous ones), but...it is what it is. It's not that bad.
Also, something else you might like or dislike, is the new Material You design. Which takes colors from your wallpaper. In my opinion, it doesn't work very well. I mean, it tends to give you very little contrast between the icons and backgrounds. It's not that bad, you can customise it...to a certain extent, but...it's a design choice I wish Google would have thought more about. It looks like something that still needed more time to mature. It looks a bit rushed and unpolished. But you can get it to look decent.
And one more thing, and I have no idea why they did that, they removed the ability to customise fonts and icon shapes.
Motorola still kept them in their version of Android 12, but it's been removed by Google from AOSP.
If you watched those reviews and you're ok with those changes, just go for it.
arsradu said:
For example the quicksettings toggles. They are bigger in Android 12, they take more space, and in terms of connectivity toggle, Google combined Mobile Data and WiFi, which...I personally would have preferred them to be separated (like in Android 11 and previous ones), but...it is what it is. It's not that bad.
Also, something else you might like or dislike, is the new Material You design. Which takes colors from your wallpaper. In my opinion, it doesn't work very well. I mean, it tends to give you very little contrast between the icons and backgrounds. It's not that bad, you can customise it...to a certain extent, but...it's a design choice I wish Google would have thought more about. It looks like something that still needed more time to mature. It looks a bit rushed and unpolished. But you can get it to look decent.
And one more thing, and I have no idea why they did that, they removed the ability to customise fonts and icon shapes.
Motorola still kept them in their version of Android 12, but it's been removed by Google from AOSP.
If you watched those reviews and you're ok with those changes, just go for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for elaborating dude It makes sense now - I thought those very same customizable features were a bomb. Now after understanding your point to view, I'd rather stay in 11
Cheers!
And also, good luck in rolling back to 11 without unlocking the bootloader. Keep us updated when you do find a way to do so!
arsradu said:
Hi guys,
The question is in the title.
Now, I know it's probably not recommended to downgrade without unlocking the bootloader. But this is not about what's recommended. It's about what's possible.
Also, I've got a weird theory, but it's only a theory. I feel like it should be possible to downgrade if the security patch of the ROM you're coming from is lower or equal to the one of the ROM you're about to flash. In other words, as long as you're not downgrading your security patch. I've experimented with this with my old Moto One Action, and, while this was a long time ago, I remember this to be the case. But maybe my memory is not as good as it used to be, so I could be wrong. So don't take this as fact, but rather an open discussion.
Anyway, I'm curious if anybody tried to downgrade stock ROM from Android 12 to Android 11 and succeeded, without unlocking the bootloader.
I'm guessing you should erase userdata, since I don't think you can boot into the OS with Android 12 data on Android 11.
Also, I'm curious if anybody noticed a relevance for my theory above. Does it have anything to do with the security patch? Can anyone confirm this working?
Looking forward to your answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I have a Moto One action XT2013-2 RETIN running on Android 11 July 2022 security update. I want to downgrade it to Android 10. After 11, the HDR function of the camera and NFC stopped working. Can I safely downgrade it to Android 10 without unlocking the bootloader ?.
Do you still have the One Action with you? If so, I kindly request you to confirm whether it is safe to do so with One Action.
Also one more question, can i fix the NFC and camera HDR issue without downgrading to Android 10 ?. I had a look into the dtbo file, opened in Notepad and found out some chip level instructions and found something regarding camera HDR and NFC. Is there a safe way to modify the file to get back HDR and NFC
working?
zankdroid said:
Hi,
I have a Moto One action XT2013-2 RETIN running on Android 11 July 2022 security update. I want to downgrade it to Android 10. After 11, the HDR function of the camera and NFC stopped working. Can I safely downgrade it to Android 10 without unlocking the bootloader ?.
Do you still have the One Action with you? If so, I kindly request you to confirm whether it is safe to do so with One Action.
Also one more question, can i fix the NFC and camera HDR issue without downgrading to Android 10 ?. I had a look into the dtbo file, opened in Notepad and found out some chip level instructions and found something regarding camera HDR and NFC. Is there a safe way to modify the file to get back HDR and NFC
working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't think you can downgrade to Android 10 without unlocking the bootloader. I'm trying to confirm that myself. But so far, no, I don't recommend it. You can try if you want, but most likely, it's not gonna work.
I don't know what the issue with NFC and HDR is, but I would recommend trying to figure that out instead of thinking about downgrading. I don't think the issue is the update to Android 11. I think the issue is somewhere else (possible hardware).
arsradu said:
No, I don't think you can downgrade to Android 10 without unlocking the bootloader. I'm trying to confirm that myself. But so far, no, I don't recommend it. You can try if you want, but most likely, it's not gonna work.
I don't know what the issue with NFC and HDR is, but I would recommend trying to figure that out instead of thinking about downgrading. I don't think the issue is the update to Android 11. I think the issue is somewhere else (possible hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen another guy on Lenovo forums with the same issue. His phone was a RETGB version. He says the Android 11 September 2021 patch caused the HDR issue. The problem is same as mine.
If I try to downgrade to 10 , will it result in a hard brick which even the Rescue software wouldn't be able to save ? like a permanent brick?
I have gone through the dtbo file and searched for NFC and HDR. Found some differences here
Android 9
sec-nfc, ldo_en exynos,block-type exynos
Android 11
sec-nfc,ldo_en sec-nfc,pmic-ldo exynos
I have found some lines in the dtbo file like
HDR Max Luma, Average Luma and Min luma etc which represents the three exposure images that the camera captures to produce an HDR image
Android 10 dtbo also has some differences compared to 11
Is there any way to port the old camera software to Android 11 and also to fix the NFC issue?
Can I replace the Android 11 dtbo file with Android 10 dtbo and then reflash Android 11?
zankdroid said:
I have seen another guy on Lenovo forums with the same issue. His phone was a RETGB version. He says the Android 11 September 2021 patch caused the HDR issue. The problem is same as mine.
If I try to downgrade to 10 , will it result in a hard brick which even the Rescue software wouldn't be able to save ? like a permanent brick?
I have gone through the dtbo file and searched for NFC and HDR. Found some differences here
Android 9
sec-nfc, ldo_en exynos,block-type exynos
Android 11
sec-nfc,ldo_en sec-nfc,pmic-ldo exynos
I have found some lines in the dtbo file like
HDR Max Luma, Average Luma and Min luma etc which represents the three exposure images that the camera captures to produce an HDR image
Android 10 dtbo also has some differences compared to 11
Is there any way to port the old camera software to Android 11 and also to fix the NFC issue?
Can I replace the Android 11 dtbo file with Android 10 dtbo and then reflash Android 11?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"If I try to downgrade to 10 , will it result in a hard brick which even the Rescue software wouldn't be able to save ? like a permanent brick?"
Never tried, so I don't know. If you do it with an UNLOCKED bootloader, it should be fine. I don't know about locking the bootloader after that.
But what I would recommend, if you want to attempt this, is boot into Android 10 (after flashing), BEFORE locking the bootloader, and make sure the OEM Unlocking option is still ON (meaning bootloader is still unlockable)! Yes, even if the bootloader is currently unlocked. That option is very important.
If it's still ON, THEORETICALLY you should be able to lock the bootloader back. And, even if there would be issues, since the bootloader is still unlockABLE, you should be able to fix them by unlocking the bootloader and flashing whatever it needs to be flashed to fix this. I repet, this is only a THEORY. Attempt this on your own risk!
My Moto Action is on July security patch right now (RETEU). So...I can't confirm anything regarding September security patch.
"Android 10 dtbo also has some differences compared to 11
Is there any way to port the old camera software to Android 11 and also to fix the NFC issue?"
Never tried it. It should be possible. But also, I have a feeling the camera software is actually the same. So, if it's a bug with the camera, it should be present in both. But I don't think the camera is the problem here. I think the actual OS is the problem.
Are you using the correct build for your region? Have you ever flashed something else? This is weird, for a stock ROM.
"Can I replace the Android 11 dtbo file with Android 10 dtbo and then reflash Android 11?"
You can try... I never tried it, so I don't know if it works or not.
HOWEVER, all these things seem like a very complicated way to fix these issues, in my opinion.
IF the problem is hardware (NFC for example, which I still don't know what's wrong with it), you need to fix it on a hardware level. If it's software, you need to submit a bug report to Motorola, so they can fix it in an update.
If the HDR thing is a software issue, and it's been intriduced by an update, you need to let Motorola know about it, submit a bug report (with logs) so they can fix it with a future update!
What I'm trying to say is that downgrading is NOT the way to go!
It's not easy. It will break your warranty (if you have any), because you will likely need to unlock the bootloader, in order to downgrade, and if it's a hardware issue, it will not fix it.
Is your
arsradu said:
"If I try to downgrade to 10 , will it result in a hard brick which even the Rescue software wouldn't be able to save ? like a permanent brick?"
Never tried, so I don't know. If you do it with an UNLOCKED bootloader, it should be fine. I don't know about locking the bootloader after that.
But what I would recommend, if you want to attempt this, is boot into Android 10 (after flashing), BEFORE locking the bootloader, and make sure the OEM Unlocking option is still ON (meaning bootloader is still unlockable)! Yes, even if the bootloader is currently unlocked. That option is very important.
If it's still ON, THEORETICALLY you should be able to lock the bootloader back. And, even if there would be issues, since the bootloader is still unlockABLE, you should be able to fix them by unlocking the bootloader and flashing whatever it needs to be flashed to fix this. I repet, this is only a THEORY. Attempt this on your own risk!
My Moto Action is on July security patch right now (RETEU). So...I can't confirm anything regarding September security patch.
"Android 10 dtbo also has some differences compared to 11
Is there any way to port the old camera software to Android 11 and also to fix the NFC issue?"
Never tried it. It should be possible. But also, I have a feeling the camera software is actually the same. So, if it's a bug with the camera, it should be present in both. But I don't think the camera is the problem here. I think the actual OS is the problem.
Are you using the correct build for your region? Have you ever flashed something else? This is weird, for a stock ROM.
"Can I replace the Android 11 dtbo file with Android 10 dtbo and then reflash Android 11?"
You can try... I never tried it, so I don't know if it works or not.
HOWEVER, all these things seem like a very complicated way to fix these issues, in my opinion.
IF the problem is hardware (NFC for example, which I still don't know what's wrong with it), you need to fix it on a hardware level. If it's software, you need to submit a bug report to Motorola, so they can fix it in an update.
If the HDR thing is a software issue, and it's been intriduced by an update, you need to let Motorola know about it, submit a bug report (with logs) so they can fix it with a future update!
What I'm trying to say is that downgrading is NOT the way to go!
It's not easy. It will break your warranty (if you have any), because you will likely need to unlock the bootloader, in order to downgrade, and if it's a hardware issue, it will not fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am from India . When I bought the phone and booted it for the first time, the default language was English United States. NFC and HDR were working fine, Auto HDR very well responded to changing light conditions and produced well optimized HDR images.
Got Android 10 after a few months and even after that everything was fine.
Following one Android 10 security update (can't remember which update), the file manager started crashing.
Then for the first time I tried a Rescue using the official Lenovo rescue Software for a clean software installation. The software detected my phone and downloaded the correct firmware and installed it.
After rescue when the phone booted up to the setup screen, the default language was English India.
The File manager crashing issue was fixed. NFC and HDR continued to work fine. Everything was perfect until I received Android 11. After that NFC stopped working.
Auto HDR is now not detecting ambient light conditions very well and with HDR ON mode it is not optimizing the bright and dark areas of the image.
As I have told earlier, In Lenovo forums I found another guy who is having RETGB version of One Action with the same HDR issue. He didn't mention anything about NFC. I have also contacted Lenovo regarding the issue but of no use.
Is NFC and Camera HDR working well in your phone with RETEU firmware?.
If it's working can I install RETEU firmware in my phone?. I don't know about the carrier frequencies in Europe and India.
I am currently on July 2022 RETIN
RSBS31.Q1-48-36-26 version and I believe July security patch is the last update for the phone.
arsradu said:
Hi guys,
The question is in the title.
Now, I know it's probably not recommended to downgrade without unlocking the bootloader. But this is not about what's recommended. It's about what's possible.
Also, I've got a weird theory, but it's only a theory. I feel like it should be possible to downgrade if the security patch of the ROM you're coming from is lower or equal to the one of the ROM you're about to flash. In other words, as long as you're not downgrading your security patch. I've experimented with this with my old Moto One Action, and, while this was a long time ago, I remember this to be the case. But maybe my memory is not as good as it used to be, so I could be wrong. So don't take this as fact, but rather an open discussion.
Anyway, I'm curious if anybody tried to downgrade stock ROM from Android 12 to Android 11 and succeeded, without unlocking the bootloader.
I'm guessing you should erase userdata, since I don't think you can boot into the OS with Android 12 data on Android 11.
Also, I'm curious if anybody noticed a relevance for my theory above. Does it have anything to do with the security patch? Can anyone confirm this working?
Looking forward to your answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is the firmware. You must check for the right firmware version for that Android release.
Let's say for example: I flash a custom rom A10 based and I take a nandroid backup with TWRP. Then some time later I flash the upgrade for this custom rom to A11 (flashing the correct firmware for this release) and I take a nandroid backup also for this rom upgrade. Now I have 2 nandroid backup, one is old A10 and other is for the new A11. Well, if I try to RESTORE the old A10 based rom, it don't works, because I previously flash the firmware to flash A11 rom.
Related
Hi all,
I'm in need of some guidance with regards to a downgrade that I'd like to perform.
About 1 week ago the phone updated itself OTA. I don't remember which version was last before this update .. but what I remember is that the download was quite consistent (over 1G) and then the update took a while. Everything went by without any errors, but at the end I got Android Pie ... and I don't like it.
Reading through the forums I found that flashing a Xperia is doable .. with the right care and tools. So I started to get acquainted with newflasher and Xperifirm - but for now not connecting the phone and / or trying anything and here are the questions for anyone who might guide me a bit:
1. the phone is warranty (about 4-5 months old in fact). I believe the latest firmware that it was running with Oreo was 47.1.A.16.20-R6B. Reference = h**ps://xpericheck.com/cda/1310-4373. I don't see that version in Xperifirm => how can I get access to it for re-flashing?
2. as far as I read, I don't need to root it or unlock the boot loader. Just flashing would be enough to go back one firmware "edition".
3. backing up user data does not interest me so much. I have a list of all apps that are currently installed and within a few hours of tinkering I could get them all re-installed.
4. Would the process of downgrading be visible afterwards? - i.e. warranty would be "bye-bye", right?
.. any other comment / note / reference or observation is highly appreciated.
Best wishes!
metalik said:
Hi all,
I'm in need of some guidance with regards to a downgrade that I'd like to perform.
About 1 week ago the phone updated itself OTA. I don't remember which version was last before this update .. but what I remember is that the download was quite consistent (over 1G) and then the update took a while. Everything went by without any errors, but at the end I got Android Pie ... and I don't like it.
Reading through the forums I found that flashing a Xperia is doable .. with the right care and tools. So I started to get acquainted with newflasher and Xperifirm - but for now not connecting the phone and / or trying anything and here are the questions for anyone who might guide me a bit:
1. the phone is warranty (about 4-5 months old in fact). I believe the latest firmware that it was running with Oreo was 47.1.A.16.20-R6B. Reference = h**ps://xpericheck.com/cda/1310-4373. I don't see that version in Xperifirm => how can I get access to it for re-flashing?
2. as far as I read, I don't need to root it or unlock the boot loader. Just flashing would be enough to go back one firmware "edition".
3. backing up user data does not interest me so much. I have a list of all apps that are currently installed and within a few hours of tinkering I could get them all re-installed.
4. Would the process of downgrading be visible afterwards? - i.e. warranty would be "bye-bye", right?
.. any other comment / note / reference or observation is highly appreciated.
Best wishes!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a post in different thread that should answer all of your questions. I couldn't write it better myself, so here you go https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-xz1-compact/development/help-t3889845/post78673359
I hope it helps.
Hello,
Thanks for the quick reply.
For sure it confirms my understanding of the process.
Would there by any chance to find my Oreo 8 previous firmware (47.1.A.16.20) but for my "Customized DE" version?
It intrigued me that Xperifirm has just the latest one.
metalik said:
Hello,
Thanks for the quick reply.
For sure it confirms my understanding of the process.
Would there by any chance to find my Oreo 8 previous firmware (47.1.A.16.20) but for my "Customized DE" version?
It intrigued me that Xperifirm has just the latest one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there will be any difference between customised DE and customised UK, there will be VoLTE and fingerprint enabled.
If you have to start asking other xda users for historical firmware then you can't guarantee its validity.
All the firmwares on Xperiafirm are direct from Sony servers.
Didgesteve said:
I don't think there will be any difference between customised DE and customised UK, there will be VoLTE and fingerprint enabled.
If you have to start asking other xda users for historical firmware then you can't guarantee its validity.
All the firmwares on Xperiafirm are direct from Sony servers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I secured the Oreo firmware (customized UK) and the Pie firmware (customized DE) .. using xperifirm. I downloaded Pie just to have the current release that's running on the phone nearby, in case any of my attempts go bad and I'd need to restore it.
By chance, I have for about 2 weeks the possibility to have a non-branded original "Customized UK" XZ1c. As far as I've seen, there 1 app only that's different compared with my original customized DE. I might flash this one to Oreo and back to Pie ... just to learn the process ... and only afterwards to get to work on mine.
I also took my time to look around the web before jumping into flashing.
There are topics which I don't quite grasp yet .. like DRM .. or attest keys.
The thing is that I don't want to break anything in doing this downgrade to Oreo. I don't need to root it, to unlock the boot loader, to break any X-Reality or other functionality. I'm truly amazed by the battery life, btw: I get 3 1/2 days plus with Stamina activated non-stop. The phone is very snappy even with Stamina ... and that's another issue: by downgrading, I wouldn't like to ruin anything of the battery management internal apps / features.
Another thing is this: i don't intend to preserve any data. Whatever I have as apps, currently, will be backed-up and re-installed from scratch + restore of personal data.
I'm now at the point of going through:
1. flashing with flash tool + xperifirm
OR
2. flashing with newflasher.
Basically, I'm trying to understand what the differences (risks) are and what's the safest to use.
Any advice from the XDA community is welcome on this one.
Best wishes,
@metalik download the firmware with xperifirm and from settings select to decrypt/decompress (don't remember how it is). Then delete all .ta files from the folder and persist*.sin (to avoid losing android attest keys and flash with newflasher.
Flashtool has some problems with newer phone models so it's not recommended for xz1c.
the right question would be, how to get the latest security patches but staying with oreo?
vofferz said:
@metalik download the firmware with xperifirm and from settings select to decrypt/decompress (don't remember how it is). Then delete all .ta files from the folder and persist*.sin (to avoid losing android attest keys and flash with newflasher.
Flashtool has some problems with newer phone models so it's not recommended for xz1c.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gentlemen,
your input is highly appreciated.
aside from the persist*.sin and all .ta files .. should I take care of anything else?
P.S. I followed this tutorial (link) and it clearly indicates that warranty would not be voided if I would attempt such a re-flashing. Is it true?
P.S. the last question in the thread remains valid: how to apply the upcoming patches on top of Oreo? .. can those be obtained and flashed in a similar way? ... I doubt it would be a good approach because Sony is supposed to take the Google patches and make sure they integrate properly in their Android customization ...
metalik said:
I secured the Oreo firmware (customized UK) and the Pie firmware (customized DE) .. using xperifirm. I downloaded Pie just to have the current release that's running on the phone nearby, in case any of my attempts go bad and I'd need to restore it.
By chance, I have for about 2 weeks the possibility to have a non-branded original "Customized UK" XZ1c. As far as I've seen, there 1 app only that's different compared with my original customized DE. I might flash this one to Oreo and back to Pie ... just to learn the process ... and only afterwards to get to work on mine.
I also took my time to look around the web before jumping into flashing.
There are topics which I don't quite grasp yet .. like DRM .. or attest keys.
The thing is that I don't want to break anything in doing this downgrade to Oreo. I don't need to root it, to unlock the boot loader, to break any X-Reality or other functionality. I'm truly amazed by the battery life, btw: I get 3 1/2 days plus with Stamina activated non-stop. The phone is very snappy even with Stamina ... and that's another issue: by downgrading, I wouldn't like to ruin anything of the battery management internal apps / features.
Another thing is this: i don't intend to preserve any data. Whatever I have as apps, currently, will be backed-up and re-installed from scratch + restore of personal data.
I'm now at the point of going through:
1. flashing with flash tool + xperifirm
OR
2. flashing with newflasher.
Basically, I'm trying to understand what the differences (risks) are and what's the safest to use.
Any advice from the XDA community is welcome on this one.
Best wishes,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First take a screenshot of your current keystore status by typing this in the dialler *#*#7378423#*#*, then go to Service tests or Service info -> Security
I used newflasher since it's the last updated software for flashing.
Extract your ftf if required, put only the required files to downgrade in newflasher's folder. For me I only used kernel, system, userdata and cache.
Boot to flash mode, flash using newflasher, reboot and done! Make sure your keystore is intact by comparing the status of all keys with your screenshot.
I've used this method to downgrade temporarily, get temp root, backup my TA partition and then go back to current firmware. All keys intact.
metalik said:
gentlemen,
your input is highly appreciated.
aside from the persist*.sin and all .ta files .. should I take care of anything else?
P.S. I followed this tutorial (link) and it clearly indicates that warranty would not be voided if I would attempt such a re-flashing. Is it true?
P.S. the last question in the thread remains valid: how to apply the upcoming patches on top of Oreo? .. can those be obtained and flashed in a similar way? ... I doubt it would be a good approach because Sony is supposed to take the Google patches and make sure they integrate properly in their Android customization ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would flash everything else but the .ta and persist*.sin to ensure it works as intended with all files from the firmware you're using. Of course that resets all your userdata, but I guess a downgrade would require that anyway.
Warranty should be just fine - you're still just using official Sony firmware without any modifications to the device or system.
I don't think it will be possible to stay in official Oreo fw with locked bootloader and get recent security patches.
Sony will most probably implement the new patches only into the latest fw version - and that's Pie.
And if someone would make a custom rom with the latest patches on Oreo, you won't be able to install it with a locked bootloader.
Hello again,
what's the impact of flashing persist*.sin ... I believe that's connected with the attest keys, right?
Later edit: I downgraded from Customized DE Pie to Customized UK Oreo. I used newflasher, deleted all *.ta from the root & boot folder ... but by mistake I forgot about the one small persist*.sin file.
Long story short: yes, leaving persist*.sin file in the folder and flashing with newflasher destroyed the Attest keys (I get them as NOT provisioned).
The phone seems to work without problems nevertheless. I re-flashed to an older Customized DE Pie and got the last valid OTA update. Going back to Customized UK Oreo did remove everything from the Service Tests > Security (it showed "none"). But on that the Xperia Companion did the trick (software repair). So it's back on the initial Customized UK Oreo - just attest key shows NOT provisioned ... so
Lessons learned: /*.ta + /persist*.sin + /boot/*.ta must be removed before flashing with newflasher.
Hey, sorry to bring up this old thread but I don't suppose you still have a copy of 16.20? I've been looking for a working copy of it everywhere and I'm getting desperate
Joecalone said:
Hey, sorry to bring up this old thread but I don't suppose you still have a copy of 16.20? I've been looking for a working copy of it everywhere and I'm getting desperate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
sorry for the late reply ...
I kept everything that I (historically) downloaded with Xperifirm ...
I just checked and one folder is this "G8441_Customized UK_1310-6856_47.1.A.16.20_R18B" ... about 2.55 GB in size.
the content of fwinfo.xml is this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<fwinfo>
<project>Lilac</project>
<product>Xperia XZ1 Compact</product>
<model>G8441</model>
<market>United Kingdom</market>
<operator>Customized UK</operator>
<swId>1307-7511</swId>
<swVer>47.1.A.16.20</swVer>
<cda>1310-6856</cda>
<cdfVer>R18B</cdfVer>
<fsVar>GENERIC</fsVar>
</fwinfo>
and update.xml is this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<UPDATE>
<SYSTEMPARTITIONIMAGE>partition.zip</SYSTEMPARTITIONIMAGE>
<BOOT>boot.zip</BOOT>
<NOERASE>appslog_X-FLASH-ALL-C93B.sin</NOERASE>
<NOERASE>diag_X-FLASH-ALL-C93B.sin</NOERASE>
<NOERASE>ssd_X-FLASH-ALL-C93B.sin</NOERASE>
<NOERASE>Qnovo_X-FLASH-ALL-C93B.sin</NOERASE>
<FACTORY_ONLY>persist_X-FLASH-ALL-C93B.sin</FACTORY_ONLY>
<NOERASE>userdata_X-FLASH-CUST-C93B.sin</NOERASE>
<SIMLOCK>simlock.ta</SIMLOCK>
<NOERASE>cust-reset.ta</NOERASE>
<NOERASE>master-reset.ta</NOERASE>
<RESETNONSECUREADB>reset-non-secure-adb.ta</RESETNONSECUREADB>
<NOERASE>reset-wipe-reason.ta</NOERASE>
</UPDATE>
in a nutshell: I can zip the folder and find a way to send it to you.
Best regards,
Joecalone said:
Hey, sorry to bring up this old thread but I don't suppose you still have a copy of 16.20? I've been looking for a working copy of it everywhere and I'm getting desperate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my copy of 16.20 and related firmware. They are all Generic Latin America versions.
Xperia XZ1 Compact 47.1.A.16.20 Firmware Search
metalik said:
in a nutshell: I can zip the folder and find a way to send it to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shahnewaz said:
I have my copy of 16.20 and related firmware. They are all Generic Latin America versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great! I have also been searching desperately for a G8441 47.1.A.16.20 firmware. The country doesn't matter.
If either of you are able to send a zip, I would love to host it on my drive for anyone else who comes looking.
@cynthi4 Customized NOBA (nordic/baltic) latest Oreo: http://aeitis.org/xz1c/
It's downloaded and decrypted via xperifirm and zipped.
I'll keep it there for a while, but might remove soon.
cynthi4 said:
Great! I have also been searching desperately for a G8441 47.1.A.16.20 firmware. The country doesn't matter.
If either of you are able to send a zip, I would love to host it on my drive for anyone else who comes looking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go:
https://bigboidrive.duckdns.org/nextcloud/s/ZW4FQmqBE8Dfcp2
Hello, I just got a xz1c and I'm on 47.1.a.2.281. I haven't updated because of reported battery drain issues. Should I stick with this? Do you recommend pie at all? If not, what's the most stable build you'd recommend?
moist_line said:
Hello, I just got a xz1c and I'm on 47.1.a.2.281. I haven't updated because of reported battery drain issues. Should I stick with this? Do you recommend pie at all? If not, what's the most stable build you'd recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you have any specific issues with Oreo or see some advantage with upgrading to Pie, I wouldn't. I am not a big fan of Pie and went through this downgrade to 47.1.A.16.20 to avoid it. If you're interested in custom ROMs, I am running LineageOS 15.1 on my xz1c and it's been great!
That's strange. Being still happy with my locked device, I've always regretted switching to pie so today I actually did the whole process to restore Oreo: downloaded the latest Costumized NOBA oreo the user few posts above linked, deleted *persist.sin and every *.ta files in the folder (even the one inside boot folder), run newflasher and then reboot. Too bad I found stock camera broken
I re-checked multiple times searching for those *.ta files to be sure to avoid this issue, but that's it: I got Oreo but now I have lost stock camera and who knows what else.
Does it mean I've lost those functionality forever? Is there any way to restore stock camera? Happy to see this thread still active
hi, I'd like to know if there were any way I could revert back to marshmallow without bricking the device. I was thinking about rooting my phone, download the stock a520 6.0 rom zip file and flash it with the recovery menu. First I don't wanna brick it, second I'm not sure I can find some flashable zip file.
I did this with my old Motorola moto g 3 and never had any problems.
do you guys think it'll work and so where I could find those files? also if there's any other safe way to do it share it please!
Thanks in advance!
nubry said:
hi, I'd like to know if there were any way I could revert back to marshmallow without bricking the device. I was thinking about rooting my phone, download the stock a520 6.0 rom zip file and flash it with the recovery menu. First I don't wanna brick it, second I'm not sure I can find some flashable zip file.
I did this with my old Motorola moto g 3 and never had any problems.
do you guys think it'll work and so where I could find those files? also if there's any other safe way to do it share it please!
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it will work because Samsung has anti rollback in its phones which prevents the bootloader from being downgraded. However, a system and boot flash might work. I don't know about the modem though.
Samsung is one of the few brands that implement it.
I don't really see the use though as it is quite possible to bootloop and if done incorrectly, could result in a hard brick.
nubry said:
hi, I'd like to know if there were any way I could revert back to marshmallow without bricking the device. I was thinking about rooting my phone, download the stock a520 6.0 rom zip file and flash it with the recovery menu. First I don't wanna brick it, second I'm not sure I can find some flashable zip file.
I did this with my old Motorola moto g 3 and never had any problems.
do you guys think it'll work and so where I could find those files? also if there's any other safe way to do it share it please!
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick question...
Why would you want to?
I did this with my old Moto X Play and bricked it
iloveoreos said:
I don't think it will work because Samsung has anti rollback in its phones which prevents the bootloader from being downgraded. However, a system and boot flash might work. I don't know about the modem though.
Samsung is one of the few brands that implement it.
I don't really see the use though as it is quite possible to bootloop and if done incorrectly, could result in a hard brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is what I thought... I think the only real solution would be to find a custom Rom of the Stock 6.0 but untouched. It would not need the bootloader to be downgraded would it?
I really like samsung phones but I hate the way the treat costumers, it feels like being fooled.
Thank you for your reply though !
moozer said:
Quick question...
Why would you want to?
I did this with my old Moto X Play and bricked it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I bought my Moto g 2015 it was very fast and that was surprising. All the updates started to drain the battery and make the device work slower . I tried almost all the custom Rom possible and after flashing back the stock 5.1 out of the box version I have to admit they wanted the device to become slow with all the updates.
Now when I received my A5 it was already running nougat. I think the best you can get from your phone is with the outbox version because everything is planned to be running perfectly so people buy it. For me even though it brings new features and stuff, update wont get you device any better.
So ya that's the reason I'd like to downgrade.
nubry said:
that is what I thought... I think the only real solution would be to find a custom Rom of the Stock 6.0 but untouched. It would not need the bootloader to be downgraded would it?
I really like samsung phones but I hate the way the treat costumers, it feels like being fooled.
Thank you for your reply though !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could extract the system and boot out of the stock firmware, but I don't know if it's worth the risk.
nubry said:
When I bought my Moto g 2015 it was very fast and that was surprising. All the updates started to drain the battery and make the device work slower . I tried almost all the custom Rom possible and after flashing back the stock 5.1 out of the box version I have to admit they wanted the device to become slow with all the updates.
Now when I received my A5 it was already running nougat. I think the best you can get from your phone is with the outbox version because everything is planned to be running perfectly so people buy it. For me even though it brings new features and stuff, update wont get you device any better.
So ya that's the reason I'd like to downgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Motorola got in trouble for that. Others too. It's illegal now, so you should leave out that theory.
I've had only positive experiences with my last 5 smartphones. Upgrading does precisely that...makes it better. An OEM would not produce an upgrade without testing it. That's why we had a better experience with Nougat and even better with Oreo.
What do you do differently with Oreo than you did with Nougat?
Question related to "After updating, you will not be able to downgrade..." message
Hope you guys are safe and well.
Currently my A50 on August update. I have no problems with this update but I like to update to Android 10 for additional features. I'm reluctant to update because of this message. I'm afraid that if I had problems or something wrong with the new update, I won't be able to go downgrade to August update.
So, Is it really impossible to downgrade using Odin with an official firmware?
I'm coming from iOS and hence the fear of updating. As you may know, iOS downgrade is impossible when Apple sign-out the old software.
Thanks in advance.
Most major OS updates (i.e. from Android 9 to 10) also update the 'bootloader', which is a little piece of software that initializes your device, and runs before the system can even start (when you turn your phone on).
Once the bootloader is updated, it's often impossible and certainly not recommended to downgrade the OS, since you may permanently brick your device.
If Android 10 is out for your device model (eg. A505G in my case), just go ahead and update. I don't have any issues with it whatsoever, in fact it has fixed quite a few bugs (wifi connection would frequently drop for me in Pie with February/March updates, and now it doesn't anymore).
Greetings.
pripyaat said:
Most major OS updates (i.e. from Android 9 to 10) also update the 'bootloader', which is a little piece of software that initializes your device, and runs before the system can even start (when you turn your phone on).
Once the bootloader is updated, it's often impossible and certainly not recommended to downgrade the OS, since you may permanently brick your device.
If Android 10 is out for your device model (eg. A505G in my case), just go ahead and update. I don't have any issues with it whatsoever, in fact it has fixed quite a few bugs (wifi connection would frequently drop for me in Pie with February/March updates, and now it doesn't anymore).
Greetings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But can't I backup the boot loader too? Also, I heard that the official firmware includes the boot loader and therefore I won't have problems downgrading. I'm confused.
Screen not responding after update
Hi. I updated to the new Android 10 which my phone prompt me to install. But after updating, my screen is not responding anymore. I already tried to restart and factory reset. What can i do regarding this? Thank you very much!
sheidyly said:
Hi. I updated to the new Android 10 which my phone prompt me to install. But after updating, my screen is not responding anymore. I already tried to restart and factory reset. What can i do regarding this? Thank you very much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to flash the ROM manually using ODIN
redymedan said:
Try to flash the ROM manually using ODIN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry but I'm new to all of this and I seem to read some comments saying the phone was bricked after flashing.
And if I will try flashing, do I use the old firmware or the new one?
Thank you so much!
mistpsn said:
But can't I backup the boot loader too? Also, I heard that the official firmware includes the boot loader and therefore I won't have problems downgrading. I'm confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think... and I could be completely wrong, but it keeps track of the highest version of bootloader you installed. So it will not allow you to boot if you flash the older one. However, I am not sure how it behaves if the bootloader is unlocked.
If anyone have the same concerns I had. I found out that only security updates seems to have this message and risk bricking your phone in case you downgrade to lower version. Some people confirms that they were able to downgrade without any problems from android 10 to android 9 on their A50.
It also made sense that there are no problems since the warning message only included with security updates. The android 10 Update change list have no warnings related to downgrading to older versions.
March security update had the warning message. And I had to do the security upgrade before the android 10 update was available OTA.
My P6P (on T-Mobile) was working fine for me on the November release.
I did not sideload the December release.
With the January release, I started to notice significant radio issues.
I am seeing the same issue with the February release and after taking a look, I see that the radio has NOT changed between January and February. (But is a different radio from the November update)
I would definitely like to try flashing the November radio, but my Pixel bootloader is locked and can't be unlocked since it is still carrier locked. (I am working on that.)
In the meantime, is it possible for someone to make a custom OTA sideload package with just the November radio in it for those with locked bootloaders?
The 12L radio is different. I flashed it yesterday (12L factory image) and Signal is back to normal, and switching from Wifi to LTE/5G is much better than it's ever been on my 6 Pro. but its only been 24hours, but worth a try/
Good to know, but if I don't want to go 12L... again, could someone create a custom OTA sideload package with just the radio from 12L?
If this is even possible, which I'm dubious of, you might want to think twice. With a locked bootloader, your recovery options are more limited, so if someone creates such a custom OTA zip (again, if that's even possible to work with an unlocked bootloader), and something goes seriously wrong, it might be either more difficult or impossible to recover.
I would think (and could be completely wrong), that in the event of an issue, I'd be able to flash the original full OTA sideload package to recover.
chp said:
I would think (and could be completely wrong), that in the event of an issue, I'd be able to flash the original full OTA sideload package to recover.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just wanted to add, I tried flashing a different radio in December after flashing that image before it got pulled, and my phone wouldn't boot (but my bootloader was unlocked so I was able to save it but I wouldn't try it). I suggest you unlock your bootloader and flash 12L on both slots. That's what I did yesterday. Just kind of kill 2 birds with one stone by wiping, reflashing, and using a new build/radio (3 birds I guess?)
Creating a custom OTA won't work. That will break the cert chain and the phone won't validate it and install it.
chp said:
I would think (and could be completely wrong), that in the event of an issue, I'd be able to flash the original full OTA sideload package to recover.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on how badly things went wrong. I would hope so, too, but would be a bigger gambler than someone who has the bootloader unlocked in the same situation. But of course, if you had an unlocked bootloader, you could flash only the radio.img without any customization needed. But as @TonikJDK indicates, the question is effectively moot, anyway.
TonikJDK said:
Creating a custom OTA won't work. That will break the cert chain and the phone won't validate it and install it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I didn't realize that was in place (signing of the various components such as radio+recovery+bootloader+image), and that the checking was disabled as part of the bootloader being unlocked.
chp said:
and that the checking was disabled as part of the bootloader being unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong, but to clarify, the phone still checks the OTA to make sure it's valid even with an unlocked bootloader.
No one * bothers creating a custom OTA to install their ROMs as it would be more trouble than it's worth to do it that way.
What the unlocked bootloader gets us is the ability to install things in other ways than the normal OTA process.
* Other than possibly more fully developed custom ROMs such as GrapheneOS and such might use the normal OTA method since you can re-lock the bootloader once you're on it - I have no first-hand experience with GrapheneOS other than reading their site and what other users have said about it.
roirraW edor ehT said:
I could be wrong, but to clarify, the phone still checks the OTA to make sure it's valid even with an unlocked bootloader.
No one * bothers creating a custom OTA to install their ROMs as it would be more trouble than it's worth to do it that way.
What the unlocked bootloader gets us is the ability to install things in other ways than the normal OTA process.
* Other than possibly more fully developed custom ROMs such as GrapheneOS and such might use the normal OTA method since you can re-lock the bootloader once you're on it - I have no first-hand experience with GrapheneOS other than reading their site and what other users have said about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes, you're right. I was overthinking it. The sideload OTA does have a cert, so without the private key, we wouldn't be able to create a new cert to match the custom OTA contents.
I also use T-Mobile and was always using the November radio image whilst still updating everything else to the latest release. I was in the same boat as you with the November radio image working so much better than the others. Granted, right now I'm using the 12L beta radio image as it's (thankfully) much better than the others.
But yeah, with an unlocked bootloader you can flash whichever radio image that you want - even if it's from a different release than your current Android build. It won't cause problems if you know what you're doing and only takes a few minutes. Feel free to shoot me a message once your bootloader is unlocked if you need any help with this.
NippleSauce said:
I also use T-Mobile and was always using the November radio image whilst still updating everything else to the latest release. I was in the same boat as you with the November radio image working so much better than the others. Granted, right now I'm using the 12L beta radio image as it's (thankfully) much better than the others.
But yeah, with an unlocked bootloader you can flash whichever radio image that you want - even if it's from a different release than your current Android build. It won't cause problems if you know what you're doing and only takes a few minutes. Feel free to shoot me a message once your bootloader is unlocked if you need any help with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I've been with Android and Pixel/Nexus for a long time, and other than needing to brush up, I'm still familiar with the ins-and-outs to flashing, etc.
My Pixel 6 Pro is carrier locked, and would have to be unlocked before I could unlock the bootloader. I was just hoping to make my Pixel 6 Pro usable again without having to try to get it unlocked.
Since my radio issues started with the January update, I was hoping the February update would fix things. At first it did seem better, but then the poor behavior returned. And when I realized that the radio was unchanged in February from January, that explained things.
chp said:
My Pixel 6 Pro is carrier locked, and would have to be unlocked before I could unlock the bootloader. I was just hoping to make my Pixel 6 Pro usable again without having to try to get it unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel ya. That's partially why I started buying my phones from the company that makes them (and also because my phone carrier stopped offering any interesting upgrades after being with them for a few years lol). But supposedly, a quick text chat with a T-Mo representative via the T-Mobile app can get your device carrier unlocked via the SIM card if you're polite with the whole thing and ask the right questions. I'm not sure if anything specific needs to be asked or stated, but you could always give that a shot. I just quickly skimmed through a post from someone who did that the other day but I didn't give it too much thought since my device is factory unlocked.
But I wish you the best of luck with your phone service!
Hi there,
Just like the title says.
Xprivacylua won't' work on Android 13 for me. what I was wondering is whether I can downgrade without flashing the bootloader.
I am going to follow the following guide but am afraid to get a bricked phone
How to Bypass Anti Rollback Mechanism in Pixel 6A/6/6 Pro
This guide will show you how to bypass Anti Rollback Mechanism while doing a downgrade from Android 13 to Android 12 on Pixel 6A/6/6 Pro.
www.droidwin.com
Thank you all
------------------------add---
finally managed to downgrade to Android 12, just add --force before update:
fastboot --force update image-oriole-sq3a.220705.001.b2.zip (m phone is pixel6)
then reboot, then choose factory reset.
credits @Bunnehbunn
If you do it, regardless if you succeed or fail, you and your phone shall forever be remembered. And this day
forth shall always be named bush911 Pixel 6 Pro Day. And it shall be written and stories will be told from one generation to the next.
If you do it, the inner Yoda in me tells me to tell you to make sure you flash BOTH slots. Godspeed.
smokejumper76 said:
If you do it, regardless if you succeed or fail, you and your phone shall forever be remembered. And this day
forth shall always be named bush911 Pixel 6 Pro Day. And it shall be written and stories will be told from one generation to the next.
If you do it, the inner Yoda in me tells me to tell you to make sure you flash BOTH slots. Godspeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've made my day
I am going to wait and see for several days before proceeding as I just know how to flash-all, I have never flashed step by step or flashed to the specific slots.
I know that Android 12 worked just fine with Android 13's bootloader, but that was before I actually upgraded to 13. After I fully upgraded to 13, I wasn't willing to test downgrading everything but the bootloader since I would have to wipe in order to have app data be consistent with the Android version.
I'm pretty sure in my thread a user (sooooo many posts this week since the update, it's all running together) that yesterday a user reported that downgrading everything but the bootloader worked just fine. Android 12 worked fine. If you do this, remember to wipe (and have a backup of anything you want to keep from your internal storage), and downgrade on both slots, not just your active slot.
roirraW edor ehT said:
I'm pretty sure in my thread a user (sooooo many posts this week since the update, it's all running together) that yesterday a user reported that downgrading everything but the bootloader worked just fine. Android 12 worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I have to find that post. I knew someone was talking about trying that but didn't see that they actually did. Let's see how good of a friend search really is to me
roirraW edor ehT said:
I know that Android 12 worked just fine with Android 13's bootloader, but that was before I actually upgraded to 13. After I fully upgraded to 13, I wasn't willing to test downgrading everything but the bootloader since I would have to wipe in order to have app data be consistent with the Android version.
I'm pretty sure in my thread a user (sooooo many posts this week since the update, it's all running together) that yesterday a user reported that downgrading everything but the bootloader worked just fine. Android 12 worked fine. If you do this, remember to wipe (and have a backup of anything you want to keep from your internal storage), and downgrade on both slots, not just your active slot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is downgrading on both slots a must? I have just flashed Android 13 bootloader on both slots. For now chrome (stable, beta and development) keeps crashing. I can't even finish writing this reply on Chrome.
tried clearing the cache, restarting etc., ended up with no luck . It turned out that Chrome often closes itself within no more than 5 minutes of browsing after downloading to Android 12
Post before crashing
.
bush911 said:
Is downgrading on both slots a must?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to run Android 12 instead of 13, and you've already flashed 13 to both slots, or at least 13's bootloader to both slots (which you should definitely do if you haven't), then yes, you should downgrade both slots and wipe to start fresh.
You can't expect both Android 12 and Android 13 to operate with the same app data, so having a different version of Android on the other slot isn't going to do you any favors.
bush911 said:
I have just flashed Android 13 bootloader on both slots. For now chrome (stable, beta and development) keeps crashing. I can't even finish writing this reply on Chrome.
tried clearing the cache, restarting etc., ended up with no luck . It turned out that Chrome often closes itself within no more than 5 minutes of browsing after downloading to Android 12
Post before crashing
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try a factory reset?
Lughnasadh said:
Oh, I have to find that post. I knew someone was talking about trying that but didn't see that they actually did. Let's see how good of a friend search really is to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here my friend. Also in the OP.
Partial quote:
I tried this as soon as I upgraded to 13 and yes you can downgrade down to Android 12 after upgrading with no noticable issues. The radio and every other image but the bootloader can be downgraded. But I only tried 003, 004 July images for oriole so I don't know about anything lower personally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
roirraW edor ehT said:
Here my friend. Also in the OP.
Partial quote:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, you are now officially a better friend to me than search is. Sorry search...
Thank you!!!
Lughnasadh said:
Ok, you are now officially a better friend to me than search is. Sorry search...
Thank you!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can join the ranks of such like my boss at work (where we use Google officially for everything including company mail). They chat me to ask me for a link to a particular file that's in Google Drive, or to find a particular email for them.
Just kidding about joining the ranks! You're welcome!
roirraW edor ehT said:
Here my friend. Also in the OP.
Partial quote:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it would just as easy to remove the bootloader line from the flash-all.bat script and just use flash-all???
It's good to know for sure that we can downgrade though and that it's only the bootloader version that is important and not other parts of the OS.
Lughnasadh said:
I guess it would just as easy to remove the bootloader line from the flash-all.bat script and just use flash-all???
It's good to know for sure that we can downgrade though and that it's only the bootloader version that is important and not other parts of the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely, I agree on both parts.
Hi, I have a question here, as long as I don't update the latest bootloader (>= 1.2 ?), it shouldn't trigger the anti rollback mechanism? My pixel 6 with Android 13 now has a bootloader version of oriole-slider-1.1-8167057, but the bootloader version in this official page has been updated to slider-1.2-8739948.
I pulled the AOSP 13 (branch android-13.0.0_r2), built it locally (userdebug mode), and flashed it without the bootloader because there is no bootloader.img in the build output. And the phone successfully booted.
I've never flashed the Android 13 factory image, so i got away with the risk of ARB?
enderdzz said:
Hi, I have a question here, as long as I don't update the latest bootloader (>= 1.2 ?), it shouldn't trigger the anti rollback mechanism? My pixel 6 with Android 13 now has a bootloader version of oriole-slider-1.1-8167057, but the bootloader version in this official page has been updated to slider-1.2-8739948.
I pulled the AOSP 13 (branch android-13.0.0_r2), built it locally (userdebug mode), and flashed it without the bootloader because there is no bootloader.img in the build output. And the phone successfully booted.
I've never flashed the Android 13 factory image, so i got away with the risk of ARB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm surprised with that old of a bootloader you were able to boot Android 13, you're running a bootloader from April. Also I'm surprised you weren't bricked after booting Android 13 because it does increment the anti-rollback counter.
https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/android-13.0.0_r2:device/google/gs101/interfaces/boot/1.2/BootControl.cpp;l=226
drivers/soc/google/boot_control/boot_control_sysfs.c - kernel/gs - Git at Google
I'm guessing your bootloader version is old enough to not have the bits implemented so it just doesn't care, but that's weird because the July Android 12 bootloaders do have the bits and will not load if the counter is incremented by Android 13.
I wouldn't recommend continuing to run like this and would update to the August Android 13 bootloader because there's no telling what might be happening wrong under the hood. Example is that the August Android 13 bootloader it is able to boot Android 12 but because of interface differences it is a broken experience.
June 20, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010.A1 T-Mobile/MVNOs / June 13, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010 Global - Root Pixel 6 Pro [Raven]
Pixel 6 Pro [Raven] Updated May 13, 2023 Note that more than three users have said that 34.0.1 (even May 10, 2023's binary update of 34.0.1) did not work correctly for them. I recommend sticking with 33.0.3 (just below these quotes) Someone...
forum.xda-developers.com
So yeah if you're correct then it's possible you did get away with it as your firmware is too old to have implemented it. However this is not a supported firmware-software configuration.
Thank you for your reply!
Namelesswonder said:
I'm surprised with that old of a bootloader you were able to boot Android 13, you're running a bootloader from April.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. This bootloader came from the factory image `oriole-sp2a.220405.004`.
Namelesswonder said:
https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/android-13.0.0_r2:device/google/gs101/interfaces/boot/1.2/BootControl.cpp;l=226
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also noticed this piece of code, but I'm not sure if it was compiled into bootloader.img or boot.img? If it's in bootloader.img, that's a good explanation, because I didn't flash this version (after June) of bootloader so the A13 now isn't restricted by anti-rollback.
BTW I am also curious why the device is not flashed bootloader.img when running `fastboot flashall -w`, even though there is a compiled bootloader.img file in the output directory.
enderdzz said:
Thank you for your reply!
Yeah. This bootloader came from the factory image `oriole-sp2a.220405.004`.
I also noticed this piece of code, but I'm not sure if it was compiled into bootloader.img or boot.img? If it's in bootloader.img, that's a good explanation, because I didn't flash this version (after June) of bootloader so the A13 now isn't restricted by anti-rollback.
BTW I am also curious why the device is not flashed bootloader.img when running `fastboot flashall -w`, even though there is a compiled bootloader.img file in the output directory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That code is not in the bootloader, the bootloader is closed source. The code is part of the bootcontrolhal ([email protected]) on Android and runs on a successful boot of Android. The other code is the sysfs device being called by the HAL, that code is in the kernel.
I don't know if your device actually had the anti-rollback counter incremented, because a system monitor call is made and the source code for TZ/TEE/Titan are also closed source. Your device might've never incremented the counter because the firmware used by them just don't have the ability to, but it's just speculation.
And flashall doesn't flash bootloaders or radios, it only flashes Android system partitions defined by the product information. You can follow the steps here to flash them.
June 20, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010.A1 T-Mobile/MVNOs / June 13, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010 Global - Root Pixel 6 Pro [Raven]
Pixel 6 Pro [Raven] Updated May 13, 2023 Note that more than three users have said that 34.0.1 (even May 10, 2023's binary update of 34.0.1) did not work correctly for them. I recommend sticking with 33.0.3 (just below these quotes) Someone...
forum.xda-developers.com
Namelesswonder said:
That code is not in the bootloader, the bootloader is closed source. The code is part of the bootcontrolhal ([email protected]) on Android and runs on a successful boot of Android. The other code is the sysfs device being called by the HAL, that code is in the kernel.
I don't know if your device actually had the anti-rollback counter incremented, because a system monitor call is made and the source code for TZ/TEE/Titan are also closed source. Your device might've never incremented the counter because the firmware used by them just don't have the ability to, but it's just speculation.
And flashall doesn't flash bootloaders or radios, it only flashes Android system partitions defined by the product information. You can follow the steps here to flash them.
June 20, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010.A1 T-Mobile/MVNOs / June 13, 2023 TQ3A.230605.010 Global - Root Pixel 6 Pro [Raven]
Pixel 6 Pro [Raven] Updated May 13, 2023 Note that more than three users have said that 34.0.1 (even May 10, 2023's binary update of 34.0.1) did not work correctly for them. I recommend sticking with 33.0.3 (just below these quotes) Someone...
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! I'm much more clear now.
enderdzz said:
Thank you very much! I'm much more clear now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good.
Have a question, while you were on Android 13 with the Android 12 bootloader, was everything working right? Nothing crashing or throwing errors? With the Android 13 bootloader on Android 12 having issues with DRM and web browsers crashing it would be interesting to know if the same was also true for you when you were on the opposite scenario.
Namelesswonder said:
That's good.
Have a question, while you were on Android 13 with the Android 12 bootloader, was everything working right? Nothing crashing or throwing errors? With the Android 13 bootloader on Android 12 having issues with DRM and web browsers crashing it would be interesting to know if the same was also true for you when you were on the opposite scenario.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm also interested in this topic.
I've only tested webview browser tester 101.0.4951.61 and NNAPI. No problems found so far. I will update here if I encounter any new problems
I'll experience it deeply, won't flash another system or bootloader for a while. Since I flashed the userdebug version, which I think is not as feature-rich as the factory image, but it let me have root access.
I also checked `dmesg` info and didn't find anything abnormal except that it keeps reporting `init: Control message: Could not find 'aidl/android.hardware.biometrics.fingerprint.IFingerprint/default' for ctl .interface_start from pid: 467 (/system/bin/servicemanager)`, I think it's not a big deal. And no useful log about the anti-rollback counter, which maybe needs some reverse engineering.
enderdzz said:
Yes, I'm also interested in this topic.
I've only tested webview browser tester 101.0.4951.61 and NNAPI. No problems found so far. I will update here if I encounter any new problems
I'll experience it deeply, won't flash another system or bootloader for a while. Since I flashed the userdebug version, which I think is not as feature-rich as the factory image, but it let me have root access.
I also checked `dmesg` info and didn't find anything abnormal except that it keeps reporting `init: Control message: Could not find 'aidl/android.hardware.biometrics.fingerprint.IFingerprint/default' for ctl .interface_start from pid: 467 (/system/bin/servicemanager)`, I think it's not a big deal. And no useful log about the anti-rollback counter, which maybe needs some reverse engineering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If WebView applications didn't crash within minutes of launching them then that means the DRM library should either be working or just not segfaulting like it does with Android 12 on 13 bootloader.
The fingerprint scanner HAL not working is completely understandable, part of the bootloader flash also carries the fingerprint scanner's firmware, and we know that one of the big things with Android 13 is that the fingerprint scanner is somewhat more reliable, so it definitely has changed between Android 12 to 13.
Interesting stuff, will be cool to see where it can go, but man is it sketchy to recommend people still on Android 12 to downgrade to April and then try flashing the Android 13 system images, real possibility of making bricks.