Bricked Leaf. Factory Reset, Wipe cache still in bootloop. Can't flash firmware?

[Renate]

Oh, I forgot that I added that progress stripe.
It looks like 100% but it didn't close correctly.
Try that setprop sys.powerctl reboot

Please post that updater-script in a [code][/code] block

[bazookajoe]

Sorry I don't know what you want to see re: updater-script? Will it be on my USB or device somewhere?

The reboot command has launched the device and tentatively is working. I got through basic setup and am about to log in to wifi.

[Renate]

It's in the update.zip META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script

I think you're fine. I don't know why it didn't display the end.
It could have been my GUI broke and it was fine.
In any case, it's clear that /system and /vendor were unconditionally updated.
So if you're even playing with it at all now I think that it's success.

[bazookajoe]

Here's the code from updater-script you wanted:

(!less_than_int(1638429894, getprop("ro.build.date.utc"))) || abort("E3003: Can't install this package (Thu Dec  2 15:24:54 CST 2021) over newer build (" + getprop("ro.build.date") + ").");
getprop("ro.product.device") == "Leaf" || abort("E3004: This package is for \"Leaf\" devices; this is a \"" + getprop("ro.product.device") + "\".");
ui_print("Target: ONYX/Leaf/Leaf:10/2021-12-02_15-24_3.2_a54499c/4177:user/dev-keys");
show_progress(0.650000, 0);
ui_print("Patching system image unconditionally...");
block_image_update("/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system", package_extract_file("system.transfer.list"), "system.new.dat.br", "system.patch.dat") ||
  abort("E1001: Failed to update system image.");
ui_print("Patching vendor image unconditionally...");
show_progress(0.100000, 0);
block_image_update("/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/vendor", package_extract_file("vendor.transfer.list"), "vendor.new.dat.br", "vendor.patch.dat") ||
  abort("E2001: Failed to update vendor image.");
show_progress(0.050000, 5);
package_extract_file("boot.img", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/boot");
package_extract_file("rpm.mbn","/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/rpm");
package_extract_file("abl.elf","/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/abl");
package_extract_file("xbl.elf","/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/xbl");
package_extract_file("pmic.elf","/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/pmic");
package_extract_file("persist.img","/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/persist");
show_progress(0.200000, 10);
set_progress(1.000000);

Thanks Renate you've done amazing work.

Thought I'd ask as you're clearly a God amongst mere mortals, is it possible for me to make OTG SDs/USBs...work decently on Android 10/Onyx. ReadEra won't read from an OTG SD card if you try scan it for books (nor will Samsung Androi 11). Calibre Companion and Calibre Sync will download to a card via OTG and index covers, metadata etc but it will not open them, it gives a similar error that the files are not there (ditto 11). Some apps won't select the path properly. I know this can be an issue because it can change the number of the card on reinsertion but even if I have to manually change permissions/path in CC or CS each time I don't care. I chmodded media_rw to 777 (path is shown as /mnt/media_rw/sd card) also did the same for storage but it did nothing. Is it even possible to do something with root to open up that read/path situation?

Thanks again.

[Renate]

Thanks for the script.

That was a bit of fun, I'm glad it all worked out. I still have to figure out how the last bit of logging went off.

Mmm, I haven't even looked how/what the system does with flash drives. I just did it all myself in that autoupdate. I'll take a look soon.

[lenlux]

Hi! I didn't read through the whole thread but while it seems your issue is resolved I just wanted to generally recommend backing up your device via EDL before (further) tinkering.
It's quite easy to restore your device with a proper EDL backup and safer/more "wholesome" than flashing partial updates (update.upx) via decryptbooxupx and recovery. Also I wanted to offer my backup of the Leaf on firmware 3.1 (factory stock) if anyone needs it. (apparently many folks are stuck on and possibly dissatisfied with the 3.2 update?)

All the best and regards,
Len

[lenlux]

@Renate Thanks for all your work, I read a bunch of your posts, very helpful. Do you know which of the partitions of my Leaf 3.1 backup could/should be omitted when recovering other devices with it? (I figured userdata.img was a safe bet but maybe there are other partitions that are device-specific and shouldn't be overwritten on other devices?)
Also are there custom recovery (TWRP/CWM) ports for Poke 3/Leaf available to make backup/restore even easier than EDL?

[Renate]

Originally Posted by lenlux

... safer/more "wholesome" than flashing partial updates...

True, but in this case it was a full update.
Now that Onyx is trying to switch to incremental updates we're seeing people run into trouble.
The minimal pro-active thing people can do is to hold on to the last full update.

You can see from the updater-script what the important things are:

• xbl
• abl
• rpm
• pmic
• boot
• system
• vendor
• persist

Note that (at least on my Poke3) there are lots of empty partitions:

 #  Name             Size
--  -----------  ------------
 7  fsg               2097152
21  dip               1048576
23  apdp               262144
24  msadp              262144
25  dpo                  1024
26  splash           34226176
27  limits               4096
28  toolsfv           1048576
29  logfs             8388608
31  sec                 16384
33  fsc                  1024
36  modemst2          2097152
39  keystore           524288
42  logdump          67108864
43  sti               2097152
45  rawdump         134217728
46  vbmeta              65536

The stock recovery isn't all that useful. It has no ADB and without ADB it's not easy to get to EDL. For me, all I need out of a recovery is rooted, permissive ADB. The flash drive option is still a work-in-progress. I'm trying to work out some minor bugs. Right now I'd like to work with people who are trying it.

The regular Python EDL utility from bkerler works just fine. Still, it makes you download a bunch of Python stuff and all 100 Megs of loaders just to find what you are looking for. For those who want to use a native Windows utility there's one on my website that weighs in at under 0.25 Megs (including loader). Another feature is that you can just load the boot image, not the extra 53,813,248 bytes of zeroes.

C:\>edl /pboot boot.img /t
...
Requesting header... Ok, receiving... Ok
Android: 25968 / 131072 = 19.8%
Requesting read boot.img... Ok, receiving 100% Ok
C:\>dir boot.img
13,295,616 boot.img
C:\>edl /pboot boot.img
...
C:\>dir boot.img
67,108,864 boot.img

[bazookajoe]

Originally Posted by Renate

The flash drive option is still a work-in-progress. I'm trying to work out some minor bugs. Right now I'd like to work with people who are trying it.

I'll test for you if you like Renate. I don't mind wiping my device again or doing any kind of tests you might like. You've been so helpful to me I'm happy to help in return. Plus, since I've had it I've spent the whole time trying to get 10.5K books on a (forced by Onyx) FAT32 card in the first place, only to then be slapped in the face with blanket weird to no OTG read access issues that I've not become attached to it as a reader at all lol.

Originally Posted by lenlux

Also I wanted to offer my backup of the Leaf on firmware 3.1 (factory stock) if anyone needs it. (apparently many folks are stuck on and possibly dissatisfied with the 3.2 update?)

I always wonder about older firmware RE: security but if 3.1 is Android Pie (9) I'll take a copy. If it's Android 10 I'll stick with 3.2. Thanks for the offer that's very sweet of you.

I have nothing to compare to, this is my first Onyx device but I've seen YT videos say the Leaf is not as snappy as other models and that's certainly my experience. That my be compounded by 3.2 as well perhaps.

Thanks both of you for EDL information. I am teaching myself about that now.

[Renate]

I'm just not a big fan of USB mass storage (UMS) in any shape. There are too many problems with corruption. Hmm, maybe unless you're using a card reader with write protect.
Isn't 32 GB enough for you? The photo isn't my Poke3, it's a Nook Glow 2. That's one solution. I haven't checked really if that's possible on the Poke3. I read a lot of library books so that I only have ~500 books on my devices.

The Leaf appears to be the same as the Poke3 (except for the display).
Models like the Note Air 2 use A/B which means that you always have your current system and the last system. You can switch painlessly between them by "fastboot set_active a".

[bazookajoe]

It's really just me being obstinate. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to do this. I don't always have internet to hop on for downloading as-needed from cloud either.

Android 10 and 11 devices have personally attacked me and thrown down the gauntlet for a duel because this seems to be the default behaviour post-Pie and it's deeply bothersome to me.

Why can I get apps to write to the card but not read it back? It makes no sense. Some apps can't even properly select the path. I can use file picker, run through and pick the folder I want and it says "yeah fine" but then it won't read the path properly and can't use that folder.

That's with 3 card readers and 3 cards and the Leaf, Tab S6 (11) and Tab A 8.4 (2020) (11) (My old Tab A 8.0 (2017) on Pie however works fine).

My sources where I'd usually go to attack this problem are just all outdated now. Xposed, Magisk Modules, Foldermount, Link2SD just don't cut it. Lot of information on Oreo and Pie. My messing about in packages per Google search is probably what bricked me etc. etc.

[Renate]

All that storage stuff has gotten massively complicated over time retaining FAT32 compatibility.
There's a new thing also with "scoped storage" that I haven't even looked into.
Many apps can't navigate the "no man's land" between different paths.

My internal SD card in the photo I formatted in ext2.

[bazookajoe]

Yeah, it's an obscure area as most Android devices have SD slots anyway that's why I'm just not getting a lot of info on this.

Interestingly Android 12 on my S20+ (no root) has full read/write access in Calibre Sync unlike 10 and 11. It can open the books from within the app after downloading them. Still having issues with ReadEra, which seems to not be able to differentiate between my external SD and my OTG SD. File picker does, app does not. Returns a path the same as my SD in the slot. So, 12 is an improvement over 10 and 11, but still lesser than Pie which ReadEra handles the difference fine.

You wanna know what's super fun? I've lost write access in Calibre Sync now too on Leaf. That could be because I never had it and I systemized the app straight away (which I think I did). Also super fun, I can't get systemizer to work now either lol.

[Renate]

Lol, you're a lot more into some bells and whistles than I am!
There are so many fires to put out and one only has so many fire trucks.

I don't use Calibre. I set up a directory on my desk and synchronize all my devices with adbsync (on my website).
Even though I only have 500 books, I've got gigs of technical references.

[Renate]

Both Leaf and Poke3 just came out with the 3.2.1 update.
I updated my Poke3 using the recovery flash drive method.
It worked fine, except that the Eink drawing (during update) is not as efficient as it should be.

Those updates keep getting bigger, 1.4G???