Update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

[Doodleschmit]

update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

So, I got my Nexus 6p recently, and within two hours of getting it (after an initial update) I have the bootloader unlocked through fastboot and TWRP installed. I also have played with the build.prop. I have done all of this to attempt to activate my phone's wifi hotspot around my carrier's limits.

Now, since I have played with these files, what exactly is going to happen with the update? Do these updates mess with my phone's recovery and/or build.prop? I don't care if I have to remodify the build file. but if it tries to mess with my custom recovery, I'm sure that will cause problems. I don't have any root access, I have only messed with the recovery and bootloader.

I'm used to root and stuff like that, but I usually skip over to a custom OS after it. so, I'm not sure how OTA's interact with the phone's low level files.

 

[TonyStarks260]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

In the past, phones with custom recovery flashed did not get OTA updates, you have to be stock unrooted to receive them. If it was me, I would just flash the factory images and make a backup of my build.prop, then set it back up. Also if you don't need to have a custom recovery installed 100% of the time you can just boot into it when you need to use it via fastboot commands. That way you can still take OTA updates since the recovery is original

 

[Doodleschmit]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

Okay, fantastic. That sounds like a very easy way to avoid the issue

Just for funsies, I tried to push the update. It went into the stock recovery and attempted to update. After about 10 minutes It errored out. I force rebooted (Power + Volume up) it after 15 minutes had passed and nothing happened after the error showed. Phone booted up like normal, just still lists 6.0 as version, not 6.0.1

But, now for what you said. I can have two installed recoveries? I assumed that when I flashed a recovery, I was actually overwriting the old one. How can I set the stock recovery as active to allow for these?

Once I have that, it should be just as simple as having the original build.prop and my modified build on hand.

So, would it be like this?

1.make TWRP active recovery
2.push original build.prop
3.chmod original build.prop
4.set stock recovery as active
5.boot phone
6.accept and install OTA
7.set TWRP as active recovery
8.push modified build.prop
9.chmod build
10. Set stock recovery as active?

That look at all correct?

 

[jasoraso]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

I would suggest you read up on manually flashing the update. There are about 5 steps - you flash each component of the update through Fastboot. Then re-flash the TWRP recovery and modify the the build.prop again. I think that might be easier than trying to return the phone to stock and then taking the update.

 

[Doodleschmit]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

I would suggest you read up on manually flashing the update. There are about 5 steps - you flash each component of the update through Fastboot. Then re-flash the TWRP recovery and modify the the build.prop again. I think that might be easier than trying to return the phone to stock and then taking the update.

Okay, that doesn't sound too bad, either. Does Google post these updates somewhere in a flash-able format?

This is my first nexus, so I am not used to how often stock updates come around. Will there be a new update every week/month kinda thing? I honestly don't mind it, just kinda curious.

 

[jasoraso]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

Yes, Google posts the updates to a webpage for all the nexus devices (the 6p is known as "angler").https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images?hl=en

You should be able to find a guide that will walk you through the steps to manually update.

The updates are posted to the webpage by Google as soon as the update is released. You can often update manually days before the update willing roll out ota to your device. Security upates will be coming about once/month, bigger updates less frequently.

 

[Doodleschmit]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

Yes, Google posts the updates to a webpage for all the nexus devices (the 6p is known as "angler").

You should be able to find a guide that will walk you through the steps to manually update.

The updates are posted to the webpage by Google as soon as the update is released. You can often update manually days before the update willing roll out ota to your device. Security upates will be coming about once/month, bigger updates less frequently.

Thank you very much for the link and advice. I really appreciate it.



Okay, and now for the whining:

I don't wanna factory reset my phone every time an update comes out!

 

[jasoraso]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

The last update 6.01 I performed without reset (I didn't perform the erase userdata step)

 

[Doodleschmit]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

The last update 6.01 I performed without reset (I didn't perform the erase userdata step)

In one of your posts you were saying I had to reflash TWRP after using fastboot to manually update the phone.

Doesn't reflashing the recovery force a factory reset?

 

[jasoraso]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

no - in fastboot it doesn't force a factory reset. I think you might be thinking of the first time you unlocked bootloader - which does force a factory reset. After that flashing an update manually typically includes wiping the userdata - but that is a step you can choose to skip (there can be risks of the phone not working properly if you skip the step - however typically it won't be an issue if you aren't switching custom roms)

You actually can do want you are looking to do without even flashing twrp - you can boot to it manually from the computer if you choose.

By the way - which cell provider are you on?

 

[Doodleschmit]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

no - in fastboot it doesn't force a factory reset. I think you might be thinking of the first time you unlocked bootloader - which does force a factory reset. After that flashing an update manually typically includes wiping the userdata - but that is a step you can choose to skip (there can be risks of the phone not working properly if you skip the step - however typically it won't be an issue if you aren't switching custom roms)

You actually can do want you are looking to do without even flashing twrp - you can boot to it manually from the computer if you choose.

By the way - which cell provider are you on?

You are absolutely correct. I was thinking of the when I had initially unlocked the bootloader. So, I can keep TWRP as my recovery, because I'm not flashing from a recovery, I'm going to be in fastboot, right?

Do these updates include files that attempt to re-write my recovery? Or do they only play with my root and system folders typically? (Sorry for extra questions. I just like to understand how things work)

I'm on Sprint at the moment.

 

[jasoraso]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

The factory images include a script that will auto flash the update - and that will flash the (updated) stock recovery, erasing the TWRP recovery. If you unzip the factory image, you can get the individual update files, and then flash them manually, bypassing the the steps the flashes the recovery, and the userdata (so it doesn't factory reset).

To better understand the steps - the o/s and data are stored on several partitions of the memory, and you can flash/update each partition independently, these include the bootloader partition, the boot partition (where the "kernel" is stored), the recovery partition, the userdata partition, the cache partition, and of course the system partition where the system files are stored.

In fact when you flash the update manually, you are flashing an .img file - which you can think of as a picture of the partition, and it is re-writing that partition to look exactly like the update image.

As a general rule, you want to update all the partitions - bootloader, radio (and reboot between these two steps), boot (kernel), system, cache, vendor. The userdata and the recovery partitions can be skipped (although understand that there are sometimes updates that could run quirky if you don't update/flash userdata - although I typically skip this step).

Another quirk to be aware of is that a fresh boot of system will sometimes re-write the recovery partition to a stock recovery image instead of the TWRP image. This can be prevented by booting into TWRP recovery after flashing teh system, but before booting to system.

One last thing - your can flash different radios (downgrade) if you notice better signal on one radio version than another). Or downgrade to a previous system (make sure you match kernels i.e. boot.img). BUT downgrading the bootloader.img can be risky.

I'm not an expert, but these are steps i've followed and haven't ever had problems

 

[Doodleschmit]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

The factory images include a script that will auto flash the update - and that will flash the (updated) stock recovery, erasing the TWRP recovery. If you unzip the factory image, you can get the individual update files, and then flash them manually, bypassing the the steps the flashes the recovery, and the userdata (so it doesn't factory reset).

To better understand the steps - the o/s and data are stored on several partitions of the memory, and you can flash/update each partition independently, these include the bootloader partition, the boot partition (where the "kernel" is stored), the recovery partition, the userdata partition, the cache partition, and of course the system partition where the system files are stored.

In fact when you flash the update manually, you are flashing an .img file - which you can think of as a picture of the partition, and it is re-writing that partition to look exactly like the update image.

As a general rule, you want to update all the partitions - bootloader, radio (and reboot between these two steps), boot (kernel), system, cache, vendor. The userdata and the recovery partitions can be skipped (although understand that there are sometimes updates that could run quirky if you don't update/flash userdata - although I typically skip this step).

Another quirk to be aware of is that a fresh boot of system will sometimes re-write the recovery partition to a stock recovery image instead of the TWRP image. This can be prevented by booting into TWRP recovery after flashing teh system, but before booting to system.

One last thing - your can flash different radios (downgrade) if you notice better signal on one radio version than another). Or downgrade to a previous system (make sure you match kernels i.e. boot.img). BUT downgrading the bootloader.img can be risky.

I'm not an expert, but these are steps i've followed and haven't ever had problems

That is an absolutely fantastic explanation. Thank you.

So I think I found a couple of posts about flashing these individually. If I found one that references a nexus 5 or 6, would that also apply to my 6P? They all just list fastboot commands for the separate partitions to flash.

 

[jasoraso]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

That is an absolutely fantastic explanation. Thank you.

So I think I found a couple of posts about flashing these individually. If I found one that references a nexus 5 or 6, would that also apply to my 6P? They all just list fastboot commands for the separate partitions to flash.

Those should work, but I think they might not have the vendor.img step - that might be new to the 6P?

If you look on xda, there should be a guide for the 6p

 

[TonyStarks260]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

f you ever decide you want to keep stock recovery you just save the twrp .img file on your computer and run fastboot. Instead of fastboot flash you use fastboot boot and then point it toward where you saved the image file. I use this all the time if I want to flash a quick system mod or something

 

[DLK1]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

That is an absolutely fantastic explanation. Thank you.

So I think I found a couple of posts about flashing these individually. If I found one that references a nexus 5 or 6, would that also apply to my 6P? They all just list fastboot commands for the separate partitions to flash.

You may want to take a look at the following link:

[GUIDE] Unlock/Root/Flash for Nexus 6P | Huawei Nexus 6P

Step 10 or 11 should do you.

 

[Doodleschmit]

Re: update 6.0.1 + customer bootloader = borked phone?

You may want to take a look at the following link:


Step 10 or 11 should do you.

And thats the post I finally stumbled onto. Thanks!