Nexus 6P downgrading problems

[TGIS]

I tried to downgrade my phone from 7.1.2 to 6.0.1, since I find that version much more stable than Nougat. I have done a similar thing in the past, and it had worked correctly. However, this time, I cannot seem to flash it, giving me this error:

Is there any fix for this?

 

[LeoRex]

Have you tried expanding the image zip file manually, rather than letting the fastboot command explode it? That sort of looks like a bad file to be honest.

 

[GSDer]

Can you point us to the exact link you're using for the image? Looks like the one you downloaded is corrupted, or for the wrong platform.

 

[TGIS]

Can you point us to the exact link you're using for the image? Looks like the one you downloaded is corrupted, or for the wrong platform.

I got it from https://developers.google.com/android/images

 

[LeoRex]

Oh, that is the correct link. The question is if your file is not chewed up somehow. Inside the main zip you download, if you navigate into the directory, there's a very large file that is something like imageXXXXXXXX.zip... in there are the other images that get flashed by fastboot (fastboot expands them during the run). If you manually unzip that archive, does it report any errors?

You have the OEM Flashing setting toggled in Dev Settings on the phone, right? I assume the answer is yes, but I have to ask.

 

[TGIS]

Oh, that is the correct link. The question is if your file is not chewed up somehow. Inside the main zip you download, if you navigate into the directory, there's a very large file that is something like imageXXXXXXXX.zip... in there are the other images that get flashed by fastboot (fastboot expands them during the run). If you manually unzip that archive, does it report any errors?

You have the OEM Flashing setting toggled in Dev Settings on the phone, right? I assume the answer is yes, but I have to ask.

There doesn't seem to be any errors extracting it, what should I do next?

 

[LeoRex]

There doesn't seem to be any errors extracting it, what should I do next?

Try manually flashing the images. First, erase the partitions:

fastboot erase system
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase vendor

After that, it's a matter of flashing them

fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader img>
reboot into the bootloader
fastboot flash radio <radio img>
the reboot into the bootloader again

then:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img




then reboot into system

I think the system image isn't flashing right because Google fussed with the partitioning between M and N. If you STILL get a system flash error, then you probably will have to flash TWRP to get some different operations to clear the partitions.

 

[TGIS]

Try manually flashing the images. First, erase the partitions:

fastboot erase system
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase vendor

After that, it's a matter of flashing them

fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader img>
reboot into the bootloader
fastboot flash radio <radio img>
the reboot into the bootloader again

then:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img




then reboot into system

I think the system image isn't flashing right because Google fussed with the partitioning between M and N. If you STILL get a system flash error, then you probably will have to flash TWRP to get some different operations to clear the partitions.

Maybe Google messed around with the partitions for 7.1, because I did this exact same thing in September and it went without a hitch.

 

[GSDer]

You could try an incremental approach - flash a 7.0 build first and if that works correctly then try a 6.0 build next.

 

[TGIS]

You could try an incremental approach - flash a 7.0 build first and if that works correctly then try a 6.0 build next.

I tried redownloading the MTC20L build, same problem. I'll try this.

 

[TGIS]

Could PC RAM have anything to do with it? My PC only has 2GB of RAM, and I found it becoming unstable after the last few flash attempts.

 

[LeoRex]

Hard to say.... I guess it's a possibility. But I haven't really ever come across someone that had a flash fail because of resource issues on their computer.

Try Wugfresh's Nexus Root Toolkit... it comes with a ton of tools you can try.

 

[GSDer]

Could PC RAM have anything to do with it? My PC only has 2GB of RAM, and I found it becoming unstable after the last few flash attempts.

It's possible - these images are rather large, and that's not much RAM.

You could try flashing the latest 7.1.2 build and if that also fails then we know it has nothing to do with trying to roll back to an earlier OS.

Are you using the latest version of the SDK?

 

[TGIS]

It's possible - these images are rather large, and that's not much RAM.

You could try flashing the latest 7.1.2 build and if that also fails then we know it has nothing to do with trying to roll back to an earlier OS.

Are you using the latest version of the SDK?

I'll try that with another computer tonight.

I do have the latest SDK tools, I downloaded them straight from the Google yesterday.

 

[TGIS]

Hard to say.... I guess it's a possibility. But I haven't really ever come across someone that had a flash fail because of resource issues on their computer.

Try Wugfresh's Nexus Root Toolkit... it comes with a ton of tools you can try.

I mean, my PC almost crashed and got really unstable until I restarted it after attempting to flash a couple of times

 

[TGIS]

Thanks for the help. The problem was in the PC, since I tried with another, and my problem is solved.

 

[LeoRex]

Thanks for the help. The problem was in the PC, since I tried with another, and my problem is solved.

Well, there ya go. Glad you got passed that.

 

[GSDer]

my problem is solved.

Just be aware that rolling back to an older OS means that you'll be 'stuck' on out-of-date security updates. If that's not a concern then more power to you.

 

[TGIS]

Just be aware that rolling back to an older OS means that you'll be 'stuck' on out-of-date security updates. If that's not a concern then more power to you.

When I was deciding whether to flash the build, that was what went through my mind, but I know what I'm doing for the most part with security, so I'm not worried.