[Tutorial] [XT1663] How to reflash/unbrick

[anon(10181084)]

I know, I know, Using SPFlashtool to fix Mediatek-based devices is nothing special and should be pretty basic/trivial assuming you can navigate the more back-alley phone sites to find a ROM for you specific device. But now that there newer devices have secure boot (really, Mediatek?) it is a bit messy. A while ago I attempted to install a custom ROM using some crazy bootloader flashing hacks, etc... TWRP asked me to decrypt the device with the original password (don't have this as this used to be my mom's old phone), so I made the dumb assumption that I could wipe the data folder like and/or just flash something to decrypt like on devices that don't ask for decryption. Long story short I ended up bricking the thing. Then I downloaded the stock ROM and SPFlashtool from some random website and of course I ran into issues with secure boot. Not even downloading the DA file (that contains the cryptographic keys) and that didn't fix it. But then I managed to find a pre-signed version of the firmware packed with an adequate version of SPFlashtool. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1) Download the package (link I found when searching YouTube: https://mega.nz/#!fcoS2SII!ipO0YBudxaTnF7XVdqjEMwByJmn95p-K4A2mHrY-DvE ). Package password is rootandroidz (the package was made and posted on YouTube by the RootAndroidz website)

2)Extract the folders "XT1663-Moto-M_Flash_Tool_Windows_v5.1616.00-sign" and "SW" somewhere on your PC

3) Open the first folder and run flash_tool.exe

3) Ignore the error about the scatter file missing

4) Once the program loads, click the "scatter-loading" button,navigate to the SW folder, the open the target-bin folder and select the MT6755 scatter file.

5) Turn your phone off however you know how. If you previously discharged your phone, it is game over.

6) DO NOT CONNECT PHONE TO PC YET! Click the download button.

7)Now connect the phone with a good quality cable to your PC.

8)ON the bottom of the SPFlashtool window, something should be happening. A few various colors will flash and then some yellow progress bars with quickly go through while various images flash. Then the last one will take a long while. When this finishes COMPLETELY (do not remove before), remove the cable and power on your phone.

9) ENJOY!

Notes:

Now there will be an NVRAM warning showing up when you scan for WIFI networks. It will get stck connecting to encrypted WiFi and will connect to unencrypted WiFi but get no internet. A quick Google search reveals some crazy root-based hack, so basically not fixable even for a more tech savvy person like me as modding this phone in the first place got me into this whole flashing situation. Also, the above described flashing method only gives you Android 6.0 and NOT 7.0!

Also, if you are on Windows 10, ignore the included drivers folder.
I also checked this package for viruses/malware and it is 100% safe & clean.

 

[Rukbat]

That's why I stay away from Mediatek. Odin is bad enough (give me a bunch of files to flash with fastboot any day - brick the phone, fastboot boot.img and if that works, flash it), but I had it with Mediatek a long time ago.

 

[anon(10181084)]

I don't daily drive Mediatek devices anymore. I also advised my dad not to buy any more of them after what happened to me. And even a normal user could get a bad update and so on.... Also, Snapdragon just performs better hands down. And finding ROMs for Samsung devices is super easy (you can use something like SamFirm to download the latest Odin flashable files at high speed if you cannot be bothered to pay for fast speed on SamMobile and Updato), but yes odin can be a pain and sometimes you need to hunt down a specific copy of a specific version that works on your device.

I really don't know what has gotten into Mediatek thesepast few years. This secure boot and their lack of kernel source sharing is killing their marketshare. They have been putting out some somewhat decent chips lately and it is so dumb that they use secure boot, etc...

Qualcomm Snapdragon for life. Period.