Custom recovery tech thread

[Guest uub]

I'm starting this thread so any technical minded people with the Hudl 2 can work on ideas together to move things forward with the Hudl2.

I have tried on numerous occasions to get a custom recovery booted and I'm thrown back to the droidboot screen each time.

I have even tried to just unpack and repack the original recovery image and boot it to no avail.

I can reflash the original recovery image which I had backed up and obviously that boots fine.

I'm unsure if a digital signature is being used on the boot and recovery images.

mkbootimg arguments are as follows

 

 

Android magic found at: 0
BOARD_KERNEL_CMDLINE loglevel=0 androidboot.bootmedia=sdcard androidboot.hardware=octagon watchdog.watchdog_thresh=60 androidboot.spid=xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx androidboot.serialno=01234567890123456789 oops=panic panic=40 vmalloc=172M vga=current i915.modeset=1 drm.vblankoffdelay=1 acpi_backlight=vendor i915.i915_rotation=0 i915.mipi_panel_id=1
BOARD_KERNEL_BASE 80000000
BOARD_RAMDISK_OFFSET 01000000
BOARD_SECOND_OFFSET 00f00000
BOARD_TAGS_OFFSET 00000100
BOARD_PAGE_SIZE 2048
BOARD_SECOND_SIZE 0
BOARD_DT_SIZE 1024

 

 

If anybody else has any other ideas I would like to know.

At the moment I would just like to see adb enabled in the original recovery image so we have a way to reach droidboot should the device ever fail to bootup as we can reach recovery via magic key.

The Hudl2 does have a Insyde EFI bios so it's quite possible that secure boot is enabled, there is also reference to support for this in the Android-IA source.

Edited November 7, 2014 by uub

[Guest uub]

Original recovery available here

 

md5: ba4b5e8840c4cb3367da5253e935c27f

[Guest r8zer]

Hi

 

does this device have Android-IA which Im guessing it does.

 

Can we not use the generic image from their site and flash this.?

[Guest r8zer]

Sorry about size of photo this is the underside of the hudl 2 motherboard, was hoping for a hidden reset switch to get into bios on the board.

 

 

[Guest uub]

Hi

 

does this device have Android-IA which Im guessing it does.

 

Can we not use the generic image from their site and flash this.?

 

Yes the Hudl 2 is using a ROM built with Android-IA and unfortunately not it is quite that simple.

The Hudl 2 just wouldn't boot anything other than the original image, I tried unpacking it and repacking it without modifying anything to see if it would boot and it wouldn't, I'm convinced the problem is probably just something really simple and nothing major.

The worst case scenario would be that the bootloader refuses to allow anything to boot that wasn't signed with a oem certificate as has been done with multiple devices in the past however I don't think that is the case here.

I also think it is possible to enter the bios on this device, it is running an Insyde bios and someone else has posted an image here of an error message from a bricked Huddle that looks exactly like a bios message, I definitely think there is a way into it.

Edited November 8, 2014 by uub

[Guest Desolutional]

Yes the Hudl 2 is using a ROM built with Android-IA and unfortunately not it is quite that simple.

The Hudl 2 just wouldn't boot anything other than the original image, I tried unpacking it and repacking it without modifying anything to see if it would boot and it wouldn't, I'm convinced the problem is probably just something really simple and nothing major.

The worst case scenario would be that the bootloader refuses to allow anything to boot that wasn't signed with a oem certificate as has been done with multiple devices in the past however I don't think that is the case here.

I also think it is possible to enter the bios on this device, it is running an Insyde bios and someone else has posted an image here of an error message from a bricked Huddle that looks exactly like a bios message, I definitely think there is a way into it.

Could it possibly be a jumper on the mobo? Or maybe shorting the board might make it boot into BIOS?

[Guest juhnlel]

Just saying I'll be getting my Hudl on Tuesday so I may be able to help test things (Within reason, don't want a brick! I'm only using the Hudl as a media consumption/small video game device)

[Guest QLF]

Did anyone ever take this any further? Still no custom recovery ROMs after so long......!

[Guest thefunkygibbon]

Paul from Modaco was supposed to be going to see the Tesco Devs, but this was said not long after it was released and as far as I can tell nothing more has been said about it.   I would hope that that meeting would have maybe uncovered some nice pointers as to where people can go from here.   But alas... nothing as yet.

[Guest state-it]

Paul from Modaco was supposed to be going to see the Tesco Devs, but this was said not long after it was released and as far as I can tell nothing more has been said about it.   I would hope that that meeting would have maybe uncovered some nice pointers as to where people can go from here.   But alas... nothing as yet.

 

Many moons ago in a past life I had to go to Tesco HQs at Cheshunt and Welwyn to help produce their external presentations. Outside of those buildings there wasn't much I was allowed to talk about of what went on inside...

 

one thing I can say about those visits: The nearest pub to the Welwyn offices (just round the corner) is called 'The Cock'. Try saying this out loud: "The Cock, Welwyn, Herts"  ;)

Edited November 27, 2014 by state-it

[Guest liam mullenj]

i got into fast boot and recovery mode but still trying to get into the bios so if anyone find anything new please post

[Guest opensauce]

#!/system/bin/sh -e

sfile="/data/fwupdate.flag"
lfile="/data/pshfwupdate.log"
fwfile=$1

echo > $lfile

exec 1>>$lfile
exec 2>>$lfile

set -x
if [ $2 == force ]; then
     needupdate=1

elif [ -f $sfile ]; then
    echo "file" $sfile

    read flag value < $sfile
    echo "flag" $flag
    echo "value" $value

    if [ "$flag" == "update" ]; then
        if [ "$value" == "done" ]; then
            needupdate=0
        else
            needupdate=1
        fi
    else
        needupdate=1
    fi
else
    echo "file not exist"
    needupdate=1
fi

if [ $needupdate -eq 1 ]; then

    echo 0 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio59/value
    echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio95/value
    echo 0 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio95/value
    echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio95/value

    sleep 1

    echo "update firmware start"

    /system/bin/fwupdatetool -f $fwfile

    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "update firmware success"
        updatesuccess=1
    else
        echo "update firmware failed"
        updatesuccess=0
    fi

    echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio59/value
    echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio95/value
    echo 0 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio95/value
    echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio95/value

    sleep 1

    if [ -f $sfile ]; then
        rm $sfile
    fi

    if [ $updatesuccess -eq 1 ]; then
        echo "update done" > $sfile
    else
        echo "update failed" > $sfile
    fi

fi

exit 0

Edited January 12, 2015 by opensauce

[Guest opensauce]

I'm starting this thread so any technical minded people with the Hudl 2 can work on ideas together to move things forward with the Hudl2.

I have tried on numerous occasions to get a custom recovery booted and I'm thrown back to the droidboot screen each time.

I have even tried to just unpack and repack the original recovery image and boot it to no avail.

I can reflash the original recovery image which I had backed up and obviously that boots fine.

I'm unsure if a digital signature is being used on the boot and recovery images.

mkbootimg arguments are as follows

 

 

Android magic found at: 0
BOARD_KERNEL_CMDLINE loglevel=0 androidboot.bootmedia=sdcard androidboot.hardware=octagon watchdog.watchdog_thresh=60 androidboot.spid=xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx androidboot.serialno=01234567890123456789 oops=panic panic=40 vmalloc=172M vga=current i915.modeset=1 drm.vblankoffdelay=1 acpi_backlight=vendor i915.i915_rotation=0 i915.mipi_panel_id=1
BOARD_KERNEL_BASE 80000000
BOARD_RAMDISK_OFFSET 01000000
BOARD_SECOND_OFFSET 00f00000
BOARD_TAGS_OFFSET 00000100
BOARD_PAGE_SIZE 2048
BOARD_SECOND_SIZE 0
BOARD_DT_SIZE 1024

 

 

If anybody else has any other ideas I would like to know.

At the moment I would just like to see adb enabled in the original recovery image so we have a way to reach droidboot should the device ever fail to bootup as we can reach recovery via magic key.

The Hudl2 does have a Insyde EFI bios so it's quite possible that secure boot is enabled, there is also reference to support for this in the Android-IA source.

 

another simple, but effective trick is end of data padding telechips use this to stop img file booting unless it has been compiled with correct padding after data in file ( spare space used as boot locking mechanism)

 

https://mega.co.nz/#!eoNGlBST!J-QSyIMU5-QRAz813iFETU9NLq7dVkMnP2LzK9s3Wyw bios esp.img unpacked

[Guest dennissingh99]

Hi, someone please help me to get into the droidboot when the hudl stays stuck at POWERED BY android screen. Also, I connected a keyboard, so does anyone know how I could get into the bios.

[Guest dennissingh99]

i got into fast boot and recovery mode but still trying to get into the bios so if anyone find anything new please post

How did you get into fastboot?

[Guest vampirefo]

Original recovery available here

 

md5: ba4b5e8840c4cb3367da5253e935c27f

Guys, I see no signature on this recovery.img, so really your bootloader isn't locked, you should be able to make and flash a custom recovery, I am not sure how you all determined the bootloader is locked? based on this recovery.img the bootloader isn't locked.

 

Below is my recovery.img that is signed, and my bootloader is locked for iView i-700, cwm tethered works just fine on it, but can't flash recovery, I can flash recovery on my dell venue 8 cause I unlocked the bootloader.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/axfcpu8o2dm0pow/i-700_stock_recovery.img

Edited April 25, 2015 by vampirefo

[Guest 4L0M]

Thanks for the info Vampirefo.

 

If the bootloader definitely isn't locked, then maybe we could build TWRP or CWM for it?

 

Here are Hudl2 Partitions :

 

 

I outputted a huge LS_Output file from Hudl2 yesterday, Haven't had time to look at it yet.

 

I have never owned an intel android device before, so does anyone know if TWRP/CWM is easy to port to Intel chip devices?

 

 

 

[Guest 4L0M]

I'm starting this thread so any technical minded people with the Hudl 2 can work on ideas together to move things forward with the Hudl2.

I have tried on numerous occasions to get a custom recovery booted and I'm thrown back to the droidboot screen each time.

I have even tried to just unpack and repack the original recovery image and boot it to no avail.

I can reflash the original recovery image which I had backed up and obviously that boots fine.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm having the same problem.

 

I unpacked the recovery image, edited a .png file in the charger files of the ramdisk just as a marker to show that my recovery was enabled, but after repacking and flashing my recovery to Hudl 2 and then rebooting into recovery, it just instantly boots into Droidboot.

 

I flashed back the original recovery and that boots fine.

 

I then unpacked and repacked the original recovery with no edits, but after flashing it just boots into droidboot again.

 

Anyone know if the unpacked recovery is meant to contain a DT.img file?

 

I haven't tried using the split_bootimg.pl script yet to see if there is one.

Edited April 30, 2015 by 4L0M

[Guest vampirefo]

 

 

I don't have hudl2 but did download the stock recovery that was uploaded, this might be an old recovery, I have no ideal how many updates have been made since the recovery was uploaded, none the less i unpacked it changed some stuff and repacked it if someone wants to test. This is the stock recovery that was uploaded here, but i did change some stuff, and repacked it.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/r55djo9kxgxca9a/vamp_hudl2_mod_recovery.img

Edited May 1, 2015 by vampirefo

[Guest 4L0M]

Hi Vampirefo,

thanks for the upload, but I just tried to flash your custom recovery, and it does the same as the one I repacked. Booting into recovery just boots into droidboot instead.

Thanks for the effort though!

[Guest Daniel_Twigg]

Has any progress been made with this?

[Guest]

There is now already a tethered recovery available - in the 'this will definately be useful' thread.

[Guest Daniel_Twigg]

There is now already a tethered recovery available - in the 'this will definately be useful' thread.

That's cool, I just wondered if people still looking to get an untethered version. Just read through all the old threads about bios etc so I'm guessing it's quite difficult.