Hi,
I recently purchased a Boox Page (QC Snapdragon 662) and decided to play a bit with it and find out the different boot options.
Goal is of course to be able to backup and restore the firmware images in case some experimentation go wrong.
So far, different boot modes I managed to get into (Page running the 3.5.1 firmware). Unless otherwise specified, everything has been tested and proven to work fine:
First, enable adb:
- Open Apps tab
- Top right menu ⇒ Manage apps
- Then enable Android Debug Bridge (adb)
Boot into bootloader (Fastboot):
- From adb ⇒ adb reboot bootloader
- From recovery => Reboot to bootloader
Boot into Recovery:
- Command line:
- From adb ⇒ adb reboot recovery
- From bootloader ⇒ fastboot reboot recovery
- Buttons:
- Poweroff the page (unplugged)
- Press power until blue led turns on and keep pressed for 7 seconds then release
- Right after, press and release power 5 times
- Your device should enter recovery
Boot into Fastbootd:
- From recovery ⇒ Enter fastboot
- From adb ⇒ adb reboot fastboot
Boot into EDL (9008):
- From adb ⇒ adb reboot edl
- Buttons ==>
No option. To be confirmed
- edl cable (
https://romprovider.com/make-qualcom...ype-c-devices/ ):
Works fine (tested)
- Device off ==> Plug the cable to the device, shortcut green (Data+) and black (Ground) cables, plug onto the computer, once booted into EDL, release shortcut.
- Device on ==> Plug the cable to the device and the computer, shortcut green (Data+) and black (Ground) cables, press the Page power button until it forces reboot, once booted into EDL, release shortcut.
Exit from EDL (9008):
- Buttons ==> Press an maintain power button for 10 to 15 seconds.
- edl utility ==> Depends on the utility you're using
Boot into EDL (900e):
- From Recovery ⇒ Reboot bootloader
- Plug your device to your computer
- Once booted under bootloader ==> Press vol Up (or Down, both work) + Power
Exit EDL (900e):
- PRess power for at least 15 seconds
Setting up and EDL working environment:
I've had hard time getting
https://github.com/bkerler/edl to work (some python issues on both Archlinux and Debian).
So decided to use @Renate edl utility (
http://temblast.com/edl.htm) under Windows with the
following loader
- Step 1 ==> Boot under Windows and install the
15 second adb/fastboot installer
- Step 2 ==> Download @Renate edl utility (link above) + [url}https://zadig.akeo.ie/] Zadig USB installer [/url] and extract them where you want (at least in a drive that has enough space for your future edl backups).
- Step 3 ==> With your Page booted and connected to your PC, open a PowerShell or a cmd tool from the C:/adb folder and do:
- Step 4 ==> Launch Zadig, once your device is detected, install the WinUSB driver. Once done, your Device Managers + Zadig should look like in the screenshot in the attachments.
- Step 5 ==> Force reboot your device under Android (using the power button pressed for 10-15 seconds until the blue led turns on).
- Step 6 ==> Plug your Boox Page to your computer, and re-do the "adb reboot edl" thing. Keep it plugged on your PC. You should now be under edl mode with the proper driver installed on Windows.
- Step 7 ==> Use the edl utility with the loader provided by @Renate in the second post of this thread. As proposed, it is good practice to make a full backup of your NAND in case of you start messing around with your device partitions and need to restore it at some point.
From now on, every time you'll want to use the edl utility, only steps 6 and 7 will be needed.
I left the list of the Boox Page partitions in the attachments for those who need it.
Root:
Just follow @Renate's thread instructions (
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=357269 ) and use the boot.img backup you did via EDL.
For now, having access to the Recovery is enough to play a bit with "adb shell pm uninstall" to debloat the Boox Page and recover a working state in case of debloating went too far...
Edit: Added a list of the Page partitions. It's a AB device with a super partition.
Edit 2: Updated OP following recent success