Quote:
Originally Posted by reckon
Hello everyone,
I'm trying to downgrade my Kindle PaperWhite 2024 from firmware version 5.18.1 to 5.17.1.0.4.
I initially followed a guide which suggested modifying the /etc/version.txt file on the device. However, after doing that, the update process still failed with "Update Error: 12". 
I checked the logs in /var/local/system/update_logs and found the specific reason for the failure. Here are the key lines from the log:
Code:
<12>[ 24.186821] INFO:u-boot: 2 -> 1
<12>[ 24.186827] INFO:u-boot version downgrade
<12>[ 24.186834] ERROR:unbundle_file: aborting install process because of check_metadata failure.
<12>[ 24.187004] ERROR:Could not unbundle /mnt-us/update_kindle_all_new_paperwhite_12th_5.17.1.0.4.bin,error_code=12
To confirm this, I used KindleTool to extract both firmware packages and compared their metadata.txt files. I can see the bootloader versions are indeed different, which explains the log.
Current Firmware (5.18.1) metadata:
Code:
bootloader_version.kernel=1
bootloader_version.quickboot=1
bootloader_version.lk=2
bootloader_version.tee=2
bootloader_version.u-boot=2
Target Firmware (5.17.1.0.4) metadata:
Code:
bootloader_version.lk=1
bootloader_version.tee=1
bootloader_version.u-boot=1
It seems clear that a bootloader anti-downgrade check is stopping the process.
My question is: What is the recommended way to proceed with the downgrade from here? I've read that a possible solution is to unpack the target firmware (5.17.1.0.4.bin), modify its internal metadata.txt to match the current bootloader versions (e.g., set u-boot to 2), and then repack it. Is this a safe and viable approach for my situation?
Any guidance or confirmation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
P.S. As I am not a native English speaker, this post was composed with the assistance of an AI tool to ensure clarity. Please excuse any potential awkward phrasing. |
Huh, this is new, unfortunately I don't see any way to downgrade if they are checking uboot versions now inside the kernel updater
(changing the metadata and repacking is not possible since we don't have amazons Ota signing keys) only way would be dd'ing over the rootfs in user space, which doesn't sound safe or fun