Database Users

Ota update bricked

If I flash TWRP and firefirefire will the next OTA update brick my device

jeffbud98 said:
If I flash TWRP and firefirefire will the next OTA update brick my device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that is all you do, you won't prevent the OTA from being loaded.
A simple search would have found a number of threads like
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1451328
which provide solutions that appear to work.

Ive already seen that thread but i am planning to root with burritoroot 3 so i was wondering if the next ota from amazon would brick my device since i will have the custom bootloader

Bootloader != Protection. Many people with a rooted stock rom with TWRP and FireFireFire were updated with the OTA..
Removing the system file listed in the thread above works OR using some other rom like CM7, CM9 etc.. will then ignore it.

When the Kindle fire installs an OTA update, it also restores the stock boot loader. Whatever customer boot loader or recover program you have installed will get deleted, and you will lose root. It pretty much restores the device to stock.
I have never seen it brick the kindle, though. That shouldn't be possible.

The OTA is aimed at improving performance and security. It is not going to brick anything, but you will be back to stock with no root.

As said before, OTA updates aren't likely to brick your device. Even if it does, you should have no problem returning/getting a replacement.

[Q] OTA 5.0 and Root

I just received the notice about the OTA update for android 5.0, if I install it will I keep custom recovery and able to install SuperSU for root access or do I lose complete root access and custom recovery?

If you have enabled ota survival in supersu you won't lose root (not 100% sure). Custom recovery will stay as is.

I think ota will fail quite surely as this time the script looks whether the complete system partition was tampered with which you have done by rooting
So either you first flash a fresh stock system.img or, which would be quicker and what i have done, do a fresh flash with lollipop factory img
--------------------
Phone: Nexus 4
OS: rooted Lollipop LRX21T
Bootloader: unlocked
stock Recovery

Masrepus said:
this time the script looks whether the complete system partition was tampered with which you have done by rooting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The KK-to-L OTA update for Nexus 4 works the old way - by validating signature for every file to patch.

tom.stanis said:
The KK-to-L OTA update for Nexus 4 works the old way - by validating signature for every file to patch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true, it patches the entire system block directly so OTA will fail in the OP's case.

venu123 said:
Not true, it patches the entire system block directly so OTA will fail in the OP's case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In attached file there is updater script from "LRX21T-from-KTU84P" OTA update. There you can see that it verifies files on system partiton.

Hmm strange..
How come all over the internet people tell you not to do 5.0 ota cause it checks the whole partition hash??
Well.. For me it's too late anyways xD and a fresh install feels really nice (sorry for OT )
--------------------
Phone: Nexus 4
OS: rooted Lollipop LRX21T
Bootloader: unlocked
stock Recovery

Masrepus said:
Hmm strange..
How come all over the internet people tell you not to do 5.0 ota cause it checks the whole partition hash??
Well.. For me it's too late anyways xD and a fresh install feels really nice (sorry for OT )
--------------------
Phone: Nexus 4
OS: rooted Lollipop LRX21T
Bootloader: unlocked
stock Recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I discovered that the stock rom was available in the development section, I'm up to date.

Masrepus said:
How come all over the internet people tell you...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you believe in everything what people tell you? It's always better to check by yourself.

tom.stanis said:
Do you believe in everything what people tell you? It's always better to check by yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well.. If quite a few different sources say that the ota mechanism is different this time, i believe it, yes.
And manually downloading the ota wasn't really sensible to me as my internet speed is really slow.
--------------------
Phone: Nexus 4
OS: rooted Lollipop LRX21T
Bootloader: unlocked
stock Recovery

Has it been confirmed possible to download & install the OTA successfully on a rooted device running 4.4.4?

edfernandez2 said:
Has it been confirmed possible to download & install the OTA successfully on a rooted device running 4.4.4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but you have to unroot (use the clean-up function of SuperSU) and reflash stock recovery (use flashify and transfer recovery.img to your phone from the official 4.4.4 factory image from googles own download page). Also, uninstall all apps that modify your system files, like Xposed framework and mods, BetterBattery etc. I'm not sure if you have to re-lock your bootloader too - I don't think so, but i did it to be sure anyway.
I did all that, and applied the OTA without any problems when the update notification appeared on my phone. You loose no data, but you do loose root.

Installing 5.0.2 on rooted tablet

So I recieved the notification that the 5.0.2 update was ready to install on my tablet. My tablet is ROOTED but that is all, still stock, I only root to use ad away. I get an error trying to install it OTA. How can I install the update, without having to wipe all my data? Sorry, I am very new to this stuff

viper2ko said:
So I recieved the notification that the 5.0.2 update was ready to install on my tablet. My tablet is ROOTED but that is all, still stock, I only root to use ad away. I get an error trying to install it OTA. How can I install the update, without having to wipe all my data? Sorry, I am very new to this stuff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No go on root. Your system partition has to be pristine. (Technically you can add files, but the ones that came with it have to be unchanged) Just undo any changes you have made and unroot and the OTA should work.

So if I get this right, OTA breaks also when recovery is stock, but supersu installed, modified hosts and gps.conf file

jshamlet said:
No go on root. Your system partition has to be pristine. (Technically you can add files, but the ones that came with it have to be unchanged) Just undo any changes you have made and unroot and the OTA should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only changed I have made are installing ad away

viper2ko said:
Only changed I have made are installing ad away
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HOSTS file came with the stock image. It counts, unfortunately. (I'm also an Adaway user)

Modify /system, you don't OTA. Period.
Just download the Nexus image and flash just system.img, not the batch file.

Can I flash the system.img in TWRP or do I need to flash the stock recovery?
And will this upgrade me from 5.0.1 to 5.0.2 without losing anything except for root?
Thanks!

^You flash the system image with fastboot. Run: fastboot flash system system.img
You'll keep data just have to reflash the su zip in twrp.

yosmokinman said:
^You flash the system image with fastboot. Run: fastboot flash system system.img
You'll keep data just have to reflash the su zip in twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. Just had this problem myself and was trying to figure out what to do. This must be a 5.x problem? I've never had this problem on 4.x as long as I had the stock recovery installed. Just had to re-root after. Guess I'm off to download the factory images since it won't even show an update available after erroring out. It definitely still shows 5.01 as being the version I'm on.

flyinion said:
Thanks for the info. Just had this problem myself and was trying to figure out what to do. This must be a 5.x problem? I've never had this problem on 4.x as long as I had the stock recovery installed. Just had to re-root after. Guess I'm off to download the factory images since it won't even show an update available after erroring out. It definitely still shows 5.01 as being the version I'm on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just download Scrosler's Factory Stock Rooted Rom 5.0.2 in the Android Development section and install via TWRP over the top of 5.0.1. No need for a fresh install.

magnumlove said:
Just download Scrosler's Factory Stock Rooted Rom 5.0.2 in the Android Development section and install via TWRP over the top of 5.0.1. No need for a fresh install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I wasn't going to do a fresh install (i.e. wiping everything), just flash that system.img or modify the batch file to remove the "-w" flag and just run that. I'm wary of running 3rd party ROMs now after I couldn't play movies through Play Movies that were downloaded to the device instead of streamed. Something to do with copy protection I guess

It isn't a "3rd party ROM," just a flashable version of 5.0.2. If you flash using TWRP, just don't have it wipe anything. I flashed his 5.0.1 flashable ROM over 4.4.4 (after updating my bootloader) and didn't lose anything.

Telyx said:
It isn't a "3rd party ROM," just a flashable version of 5.0.2. If you flash using TWRP, just don't have it wipe anything. I flashed his 5.0.1 flashable ROM over 4.4.4 (after updating my bootloader) and didn't lose anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming this was in reply to me? I'm not worried about losing anything. I've done the whole back it up and wipe between ROMs a ton on my OG Droid and Galaxy Nexus. In this case it's a worry that Play Movies for instance will detect that it is not a stock ROM/image and will disallow playing downloaded versions of movies in the app. I.e. you can download vs. stream for offline playback. I nearly found out the hard way (night before leaving on a vacation) that I couldn't play downloaded versions (it will download but not play them) when I for instance installed AOKP to my Nexus 7. As best I could tell from a bunch of Googling, it's something to do with copy protection.

It was, but I didn't know your experience level. I guess what I wanted to say is that scrosler's stock rooted ROM is exactly that; once it's on the tablet it isn't any different from rooting the OTA or factory image. It's just flashable via recovery instead of having to use fastboot or flash-all.bat.

Telyx said:
It was, but I didn't know your experience level. I guess what I wanted to say is that scrosler's stock rooted ROM is exactly that; once it's on the tablet it isn't any different from rooting the OTA or factory image. It's just flashable via recovery instead of having to use fastboot or flash-all.bat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah ok. Well, I ended up using fastboot to flash the system.img last night and looks like I'm good to go. I tried unrooting (SuperSU remove root function) and changing betterbatterystats to a non-system app first but the OTA still failed. Yeah I learned how to use the basic adb/fastboot stuff when I got my Galaxy Nexus and again with the N7. I figured that way if I totally broke something I'd know how to fix it, and all the fancy tools weren't around when the GNex first came out (at least I don't think they were).

I dirty flashed scrosler's 5.0.1 ROM when I got the 5.0.1 OTA notification, but when the 5.0.2 factory image was posted I fastboot flashed the system.img from that and rerooted. Naturally, less than half a day or so later, scrosler posted his 5.0.2.

So for someone that's not really too experience with fastboot, could someone post a step by step?
Where would I get the system.img?

Check the sticky threads for guides. Read and reread then get started on setting up the Android SDK. Once complete, type in the commands letter for letter.

Lollipop 5.2.2 update 2 OTA Capture!

Hey all, I've managed to get my hands on the Lollipop 5.2.2 update 2 bin. I had received the update previously which broke my 5.2.2 root, so I figured I might be able to get it again. I downgraded to 4.5.3, rooted, updated to 4.5.5 (keeping root), then checked for updates. The file that downloaded had a different filename and filesize than the currently available 5.2.2 bin, so I thought I would chance updating it and seeing if I got a brick or not. I booted into TWRP, changed the file extension of the bin to zip, then flashed it with TWRP alongside the 5.2.0 bootloaders/recovery. As a result, I am now running rooted 5.2.2 update 2! My build date says Sept. 23rd and I have a neat new launcher. I hope this can help prevent some bricks and bring some life back into these forums. Thanks to all of the kind people who have spent their time making such helpful guides and tutorials!
Link:
https://mega.nz/#!ZI1wTL6L!xbDNDvaJjLUWwqe8J9awAs4xNQvxreXCmZ1I6cWTLVA

Great news! Thanks for taking the plunge!
I successfully installed it on tablet running rooted July 23 developers preview. Nice . . .

I've downloaded your capture and am rooted on 4.5.5 but am pretty nervous to try to upgrade... Is your tablet still running fine with rooted lollipop? Also did you disable any amazon auto updater after you upgraded? Thanks for posting your capture!

increzible said:
I've downloaded your capture and am rooted on 4.5.5 but am pretty nervous to try to upgrade... Is your tablet still running fine with rooted lollipop? Also did you disable any amazon auto updater after you upgraded? Thanks for posting your capture!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, still running great. After I upgraded I pm disabled com.amazon.otaverifier and com.amazon.device.software.ota as I didnt want any more surprise updates breaking my root. With these two disabled, a check for updates should fail completely. I think you should be fine for the update, just remember to flash the 5.2.0 bootloader/recovery along with it and swipe to root when you are asked.

OK do I need to flash any different GAPPs while I'm in twrp or will the ones installed in 4.5.x work? I'll be trying this later tonight and will report my results.

increzible said:
OK do I need to flash any different GAPPs while I'm in twrp or will the ones installed in 4.5.x work? I'll be trying this later tonight and will report my results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I'm not 100% sure on the GAPPS bit. I've just been using this little program:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/installing-google-framework-playstore-t3216122
It installs all of the GAPPS with or without root in just a few clicks. The only difference between this and flashing I suppose would be that these are installed as user applications, not system applications. It all works the same though. Also, I'm not sure exactly which apps cross over if any in the upgrade. I did a clean wipe before flashing.

Hariiiii said:
I guess I'm not 100% sure on the GAPPS bit. I've just been using this little program:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/installing-google-framework-playstore-t3216122
It installs all of the GAPPS with or without root in just a few clicks. The only difference between this and flashing I suppose would be that these are installed as user applications, not system applications. It all works the same though. Also, I'm not sure exactly which apps cross over if any in the upgrade. I did a clean wipe before flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so I decided to go ahead and update and just see what happened out of a nervous excitement. Updating with the zips went fine in TWRP and I swiped to keep root. Then I rebooted the device and waited while the device installed the system for “approximately 10 minutes” or an eternity in my experience. I had to reinstall supersu through the apk and update the binary when everything had booted up. Rebooted after binary update as per supersu direction and successfully pm disabled the above mentioned updaters. I then had to uninstall play services, play store etc via titanium in order to get the play store working using the method mentioned in Hariiiii’s above link. After uninstalling through titanium I rebooted and then ran the bat script afterwards. Rebooted again and logged into the play store and done. Everything seems to be working now. Thanks so much for this Hariiiii!

Glad it worked out well and that I could be of help!!

Hariiiii said:
Hey all, I've managed to get my hands on the Lollipop 5.2.2 update 2 bin ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome effort with this 5.2.2u2 !!! I suspect that perhaps flashing of 5.2.0 bootloaders could have been skipped, but for the sake of non-bricking safety it's a good move!!!
So far the record is this (in terms of bootloaders):
4.5.3 works fine after 5.2.2u2, 4.5.5 bricks after 5.2.2u2 (one report)
5.2.0 works fine after 5.2.2u2, 5.2.2 bricks after 5.2.2u2 (many reports)
Overall, the fix seems simple, so this is definitely good news!

bibikalka said:
So far the record is this (in terms of bootloaders):
4.5.3 works fine after 5.2.2u2, 4.5.5 bricks after 5.2.2u2 (one report)
5.2.0 works fine after 5.2.2u2, 5.2.2 bricks after 5.2.2u2 (many reports)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, some confusion here. If you think 5.2.2u2 is the same as (or anyway has same bootloaders as) the September developer preview that resulted in bricks, then wasn't hariiiii's upgrade successful because he did flash the 5.2.0 bootloaders?

DoLooper said:
Ok, some confusion here. If you think 5.2.2u2 is the same as (or anyway has same bootloaders as) the September developer preview that resulted in bricks, then wasn't hariiiii's upgrade successful because he did flash the 5.2.0 bootloaders?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest I'm pretty confused myself about exactly what is happening here. Let me throw you for a loop: when I first flashed 5.2.2u2 from 4.5.5, I didn't flash bootloaders OR RECOVERY and it booted fine. The bootloaders would take me to the OS but wouldn't boot TWRP so I had no recovery. I used the method to temporarily access TWRP by dd-ING 4.5.3 boot, tee1, and twrp, then did a clean wipe and flashed 5.2.0 recovery/boot first followed by the 5.2.2u2 bin.

Hariiiii said:
. . . when I first flashed 5.2.2u2 from 4.5.5, I didn't flash bootloaders OR RECOVERY and it booted fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. Davigar posted similar in my upgrade from dev preview guide (so I assume he's talking about 5.2.2u2). Sorry if this is a red herring, but it seems the different results might matter. Perhaps @bibikalka will weigh in.
davigar said:
Finally i follow the turorial and i forgive[forget] flash 5.2.0 recovery and gapps and it works then i flash twrp again by adb and i did wipes and flash update, gapps, xposed and 5.2.0 recovery[5.2.0_stock_recovery_uboot] and i hard bricked my fire. Why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hariiiii said:
The bootloaders would take me to the OS but wouldn't boot TWRP so I had no recovery. I used the method to temporarily access TWRP by dd-ING 4.5.3 boot, tee1, and twrp, then did a clean wipe and flashed 5.2.0 recovery/boot first followed by the 5.2.2u2 bin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not TWRP-smart (nor bootloader smart), but assume the order in which things are flashed matters. Because you flashed 5.2.0 bootloaders/recovery first, wouldn't the 5.2.2u2 bootloaders have overwritten the 5.2.0--so you're running 5.2.2u2 bootloaders?

DoLooper said:
Ok, some confusion here. If you think 5.2.2u2 is the same as (or anyway has same bootloaders as) the September developer preview that resulted in bricks, then wasn't hariiiii's upgrade successful because he did flash the 5.2.0 bootloaders?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hariiiii said:
To be honest I'm pretty confused myself about exactly what is happening here. Let me throw you for a loop: when I first flashed 5.2.2u2 from 4.5.5, I didn't flash bootloaders OR RECOVERY and it booted fine. The bootloaders would take me to the OS but wouldn't boot TWRP so I had no recovery. I used the method to temporarily access TWRP by dd-ING 4.5.3 boot, tee1, and twrp, then did a clean wipe and flashed 5.2.0 recovery/boot first followed by the 5.2.2u2 bin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DoLooper said:
Hmm. Davigar posted similar in my upgrade from dev preview guide (so I assume he's talking about 5.2.2u2). Sorry if this is a red herring, but it seems the different results might matter. Perhaps @bibikalka will weigh in.
I'm not TWRP-smart (nor bootloader smart), but assume the order in which things are flashed matters. Because you flashed 5.2.0 bootloaders/recovery first, wouldn't the 5.2.2u2 bootloaders have overwritten the 5.2.0--so you're running 5.2.2u2 bootloaders?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it looks like the original poster was booting either 5.2.2u2 bootloaders or 4.5.3 bootloaders (when downgrading or getting temporary TWRP). Flashing 5.2.0 bootloaders before 5.2.2u2 zip only replaces recovery, since then the 5.2.0 bootloaders get flashed to 5.2.2u2 during the 5.2.2u2 zip update process. So effectively 5.2.0 bootloaders are not needed. However, it seems that 5.2.0 will boot after 5.2.2u2 since a few people have followed the mis-guided guide , and that worked fine!
Thus, if one gets 5.2.2u2, then only 4.5.3 bootloader works out of the 4.5.x series, or 5.2.0 and 5.2.2u2 but not 5.2.2(u1) which caused most bricks!

bibikalka said:
So it looks like the original poster was booting either 5.2.2u2 bootloaders or 4.5.3 bootloaders (when downgrading or getting temporary TWRP). Flashing 5.2.0 bootloaders before 5.2.2u2 zip only replaces recovery, since then the 5.2.0 bootloaders get flashed to 5.2.2u2 during the 5.2.2u2 zip update process. So effectively 5.2.0 bootloaders are not needed. However, it seems that 5.2.0 will boot after 5.2.2u2 since a few people have followed the mis-guided guide , and that worked fine!
Thus, if one gets 5.2.2u2, then only 4.5.3 bootloader works out of the 4.5.x series, or 5.2.0 and 5.2.2u2 but not 5.2.2(u1) which caused most bricks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm but after downgrading to 4.5.3, I upgraded to 4.5.5 before 5.2.2u2. So after having 5.2.2u2, I successfully was able to use 4.5.3, 4.5.5, and of course 5.2.2u2. I'm really quite curious to figure out what exactly is driving these bricks. Is there any information I can grab from my tablet that might help to clarify? e.g. partition sizes, any system data
It's currently my suspicion that 5.2.0 bootloaders might not successfully boot 5.2.2.u2....given that I overwrote my 5.2.0 bootloaders with 5.2.2u2 ones by flashing the update second and it worked for me, meanwhile this other fellow from dolooper's guide thread flashed the 5.2.0 bootloaders after the update and got bricked.

bibikalka said:
So it looks like the original poster was booting either 5.2.2u2 bootloaders or 4.5.3 bootloaders (when downgrading or getting temporary TWRP). Flashing 5.2.0 bootloaders before 5.2.2u2 zip only replaces recovery, since then the 5.2.0 bootloaders get flashed to 5.2.2u2 during the 5.2.2u2 zip update process. So effectively 5.2.0 bootloaders are not needed. However, it seems that 5.2.0 will boot after 5.2.2u2 since a few people have followed the mis-guided guide , and that worked fine!
Thus, if one gets 5.2.2u2, then only 4.5.3 bootloader works out of the 4.5.x series, or 5.2.0 and 5.2.2u2 but not 5.2.2(u1) which caused most bricks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for info. So more questions:
Why were hariiiii and davagar both able to boot after flashing an update in TWRP, but not overwriting TWRP with 5.2.0_stock_recovery_only? Does this mean that 5.2.2(u1) and (u2) can boot unsigned TWRP? [EDIT: Oh, wait. Maybe the issue wasn't that you couldn't boot to OS, but couldn't get into recovery with unsigned TWRP. That would make sense.]
When you say at end, "but not 5.2.2(u1)," you mean neither 4.5.3 nor 5.2.0 bootloaders work with that update? So people were getting bricked because they were running 4.5.3 bootloaders in TWRP and when 5.2.2(u1) bootloaders tried to kick in after the update was flashed they couldn't (kick in)?
But from what davigar has said, he was in same situation--running 4.5.3 bootloaders in TWRP when he updated to 5.2.2(u1). But we know he was able to boot afterward. The only difference seems to be he hadn't installed stock recovery.
Obviously I'll take out the bit about flashing 5.2.0_stock_recovery_uboot.zip in the update from dev preview guide. But now I'm unclear whether we need to flash 5.2.0_stock_recovery_only or not. [EDIT: NVM. Of course we do Thanks!]
---------- Post added at 08:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:25 PM ----------
Hariiiii said:
It's currently my suspicion that 5.2.0 bootloaders might not successfully boot 5.2.2.u2....given that I overwrote my 5.2.0 bootloaders with 5.2.2u2 ones by flashing the update second and it worked for me, meanwhile this other fellow from dolooper's guide thread flashed the 5.2.0 bootloaders after the update and got bricked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW, we know 5.2.0 bootloaders do boot 5.2.2.u2. I'm using 'em. Davigar got bricked because of the 5.2.2u1/5.2.0 bootloader conflict, although I don't understand why he didn't get clobbered at the time he installed 5.2.2u1 while running 4.5.3 bootloaders like everyone else. Seems it must be related to not installing recovery. Hope bibikalka can enlighten us.

Hariiiii said:
Hmmm but after downgrading to 4.5.3, I upgraded to 4.5.5 before 5.2.2u2. So after having 5.2.2u2, I successfully was able to use 4.5.3, 4.5.5, and of course 5.2.2u2. I'm really quite curious to figure out what exactly is driving these bricks. Is there any information I can grab from my tablet that might help to clarify? e.g. partition sizes, any system data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that when you say you had "4.5.5" (I assume rooted?), you actually had 4.5.3 bootloaders with TWRP!!! The actual 4.5.5 bootloaders also brick. You are lucky that your 5.2.0 bootloaders got replaced by 5.2.2u2 (as you flashed the latest zip file), or you'd have a brick on your hands.
DoLooper said:
Thanks for info.
FWIW, we know 5.2.0 bootloaders do boot 5.2.2.u2. I'm using 'em. Davigar got bricked because of the 5.2.2u1/5.2.0 bootloader conflict, although I don't understand why he didn't get clobbered at the time he installed 5.2.2u1 while running 4.5.3 bootloaders like everyone else. Seems it must be related to not installing recovery. Hope bibikalka can enlighten us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My current working theory is that once 5.2.2u2 bootloaders BOOTED at least once, there is no going back to anything prior to that (other than 4.5.3) 5.2.0 bootloaders work OK only for people who never booted 5.2.2u2 bootloaders before. Davigar first was booting 5.2.2u2 bootloaders, and then decided to "fix" things and flashed 5.2.0 bootloaders. At this point the Fire bricked.

bibikalka said:
Note that when you say you had "4.5.5" (I assume rooted?), you actually had 4.5.3 bootloaders with TWRP!!! The actual 4.5.5 bootloaders also brick. You are lucky that your 5.2.0 bootloaders got replaced by 5.2.2u2 (as you flashed the latest zip file), or you'd have a brick on your hands.
My current working theory is that once 5.2.2u2 bootloaders BOOTED at least once, there is no going back to anything prior to that (other than 4.5.3) 5.2.0 bootloaders work OK only for people who never booted 5.2.2u2 bootloaders before. Davigar first was booting 5.2.2u2 bootloaders, and then decided to "fix" things and flashed 5.2.0 bootloaders. At this point the Fire bricked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent theory! I think that actually explains all of the different results we've been trying to bring together. One thing though: I updated from 4.5.3 to 4.5.5 using the OTA download (and just changing the filename and flashing while it was still sitting in /cache). There was actually a point in time where I was using 4.5.5 as my OS in its entirety (It was through checking for updates within 4.5.5 that I was able to get the OTA download for 5.2.2u2). Shouldn't this mean that I would've had 4.5.5 bootloaders? (unless they are the same bootloaders as the 4.5.3 ones).

Hariiiii said:
link (remove the space in https):
http s://mega.nz/#!ZI1wTL6L!xbDNDvaJjLUWwqe8J9awAs4xNQvxreXCmZ1I6cWTLVA
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So now that you've earned your cred could you please attach this link to the OP--so I my new rooters can more easily grab your yummy update? Thanks!

Hariiiii said:
Hey all, I've managed to get my hands on the Lollipop 5.2.2 update 2 bin. I had received the update previously which broke my 5.2.2 root, so I figured I might be able to get it again. I downgraded to 4.5.3, rooted, updated to 4.5.5 (keeping root), then checked for updates. The file that downloaded had a different filename and filesize than the currently available 5.2.2 bin, so I thought I would chance updating it and seeing if I got a brick or not. I booted into TWRP, changed the file extension of the bin to zip, then flashed it with TWRP alongside the 5.2.0 bootloaders/recovery. As a result, I am now running rooted 5.2.2 update 2! My build date says Sept. 23rd and I have a neat new launcher. I hope this can help prevent some bricks and bring some life back into these forums. Thanks to all of the kind people who have spent their time making such helpful guides and tutorials!
Link:
https://mega.nz/#!ZI1wTL6L!xbDNDvaJjLUWwqe8J9awAs4xNQvxreXCmZ1I6cWTLVA
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Awesome, thanks a lot of grabbing this and making it available. I was able to use this to update from 4.5.2, and keep root/TWRP, and get playstore access, so I'm really happy! Question, though - my build date shows Sept 23, 2015, but OS version shows 5.0.1, not 5.2.2. Is that right?

Rasilon said:
Question, though - my build date shows Sept 23, 2015, but OS version shows 5.0.1, not 5.2.2. Is that right?
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I confirm, mine also reports 5.0.1. And in quick settings there is not Blue Shade toggle

Couple Questions About H918

So I recently got the LG V20, H91810J specifically, I have a couple of questions:
Q1: If I see a rooting guide for H918, does that work for all H918 variants? (Like the H91810J ?)
Q2: Can I update the phone and still be able to root/install TWRP?
Q3: If I can't update the phone and root/install TWRP, can I update the phone after It's been rooted?
Q4: Anyone have a good guide for rooting/installing TWRP? (Did a search earlier and found mixed results, not sure which would be safest/easiest)
Thanks.

1. Rooting guide only works for firmware up through 10j. 10k can be rolled back to 10j using KDZ tools, but 10p can't because of the anti-rollback.
2. No. If you update to the latest 10p firmware, you're stuck and can't roll back.
3. Yes and no. If you update via OTA, it will wipe out root and custom recovery and you'll be stuck on 10p with no way to go back. Modified versions of the updates that will preserve custom recovery can be downloaded and flashed manually via twrp: https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/rom-10p-debloated-rom-beta-flashable-zip-t3656616
4. https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/h918-recowvery-unlock-v20-root-shell-t3490594/

eric.clay42 said:
1. Rooting guide only works for firmware up through 10j. 10k can be rolled back to 10j using KDZ tools, but 10p can't because of the anti-rollback.
2. No. If you update to the latest 10p firmware, you're stuck and can't roll back.
3. Yes and no. If you update via OTA, it will wipe out root and custom recovery and you'll be stuck on 10p with no way to go back. Modified versions of the updates that will preserve custom recovery can be downloaded and flashed manually via twrp: https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/rom-10p-debloated-rom-beta-flashable-zip-t3656616
4. https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/h918-recowvery-unlock-v20-root-shell-t3490594/
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Thanks, sometimes I get impatient and I was really tempted to update lol, glad I didn't.

WheresTheDamnSignInButton said:
Thanks, sometimes I get impatient and I was really tempted to update lol, glad I didn't.
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I'm thinking about rooting my V20 as well. Let me know how it goes for you.
Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

There is one more catch with updating after TWRP to 10p+. It is currently impossible to use an older firmware on the device. You wouldn't think that's a big deal, unless you end up having a problem that requires a stock restore. Now you have an un-rootable firmware you can't roll back to an older one to root with. If root/AOSP is important to you, don't install 10p.
To be clear, attempting to roll a 10p device back to an older bootloader hard bricks the device at present. The 10p bootloader will not boot older firmware.
Note that you must have root to flash anything other than signed stock firmware. It's not like a Nexus where you can use fastboot to write things without root.

Everything went smoothly, just a couple things to note:
I haven't rooted in a VERY long time (last was the Galaxy Note 3) so I completely forgot that USB debugging needs to be enabled for ADB (The guide didn't specify this, so I spent a good 2 hours trying to figure out the problem)
When I first booted into Recovery, it asked for a password to decrypt the data (Again, the guide didn't specify anything about this screen, so I just hit cancel, everything worked out)
When I went to make a backup, it failed near the end (Reason unknown, perhaps not enough space? Will try again later)
Also anyone know If it's possible to install xposed? I can live without it but It'd be nice to have it.