Help Needed: Flashing Global Firmware on Poke 4S (Chinese Version)

[flowxd]

Hi everyone,
I recently got a Poke 4S (Chinese version) and I'm looking to flash the global firmware onto it. I've read that it's possible with other device with same SoC like Poke 5, but I'm struggling to find a reliable guide or the correct recovery file.

Appreciate any help or tips—thank you in advance!

[flowxd]

I already got EDL working and full backup and there are some device information

Poke4S:/ $ getprop | grep suffix
[ro.boot.fstab_suffix]: [emmc]
[ro.boot.slot_suffix]: [_b]
Poke4S:/ $ getprop | grep fingerprint
[ro.bootimage.build.fingerprint]: [Onyx/Poke4S/Poke4S:11/2024-07-02_06-53_3.5.3_7f5c78ff3/8815:user/release-keys]
[ro.build.fingerprint]: [Onyx/Poke4S/Poke4S:11/2024-07-02_06-53_3.5.3_7f5c78ff3/8815:user/release-keys]
[ro.build.version.preview_sdk_fingerprint]: [REL]
[ro.odm.build.fingerprint]: [Onyx/Poke4S/Poke4S:11/2024-07-02_06-53_3.5.3_7f5c78ff3/8815:user/release-keys]
[ro.product.build.fingerprint]: [qti/qssi/qssi:11/2024-07-02_06-53_3.5.3_7f5c78ff3/8815:user/release-keys]
[ro.system.build.fingerprint]: [qti/qssi/qssi:11/2024-07-02_06-53_3.5.3_7f5c78ff3/8815:user/release-keys]
[ro.system_ext.build.fingerprint]: [qti/qssi/qssi:11/2024-07-02_06-53_3.5.3_7f5c78ff3/8815:user/release-keys]
[ro.vendor.build.fingerprint]: [Onyx/Poke4S/Poke4S:11/2024-07-02_06-53_3.5.3_7f5c78ff3/8815:user/release-keys]
Poke4S:/ $

Fastboot information

fastboot getvar current-slot
current-slot: b
Finished. Total time: 0.001s

fastboot getvar secure
secure: yes
Finished. Total time: 0.000s

Current boot_b and recovery_b are dumped with official qualcomm qdlrs
f1b369fd86b5f1410e5990243c4e117e10708d117e9be3130a 93bf9d6e7d42b1 recovery.zip
https://workupload.com/file/UDYUuKhcAac

[Renate]

What is the English equivalent of the Poke4S?
What's the difference between Poke4, Poke4Lite, Poke4S?

As I've never seen any of these I don't have a recovery for them offhand.

[flowxd]

Originally Posted by Renate

What is the English equivalent of the Poke4S?
What's the difference between Poke4, Poke4Lite, Poke4S?

I pretty sure that english equivalent is Poke4Lite

[flowxd]

The device has been successfully flashed to the Poke 4 Lite firmware using Renate's custom recovery. Thank you very much for your guidance and support.

[flowxd]

I would also like to root my device, but I am currently unable to flash the vbmeta image. Is it possible to use EDL mode to root the device? Additionally, the Fastboot screen indicates that Secure Boot is enabled.

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta_a vbmeta_a.img
Rewriting vbmeta struct at offset: 0
Sending 'vbmeta_a' (64 KB)                         OKAY [  0.002s]
Writing 'vbmeta_a'                                 FAILED (remote: 'Unrecognized command flash')
fastboot: error: Command failed

[Renate]

Thanks for the photo.
I forgot how low-res the Poke4Lite is.
It makes the text look very big.
But at least it got the size and orientation right.

[flowxd]

I wasn’t able to find the Poke 3 at a reasonable price, and since this is my first e-book reader, I went with an alternative even though the screen quality and overall build are not great. That said, I’m happy to report that your custom recovery works perfectly. If it works, it works!

[Renate]

I don't know if you really need it, but here is an empty vbmeta.

[flowxd]

I successfully rooted the device using an empty vbmeta and a patched Magisk image. However, I want to warn anyone planning to root this device: after flashing vbmeta, the device’s decryption key appears to be lost, and it will prompt a factory reset.

[Renate]

That's strange.
Did you flash Magisk first and try it without touching vbmeta?
There was no risk of bricking your device.
You should have tried that.
I'm not sure what happened.
What did it say exactly?