[Recovery] TWRP 3.0.2-0

[Guest Hurders]

Yes, everything else besides boot.img and system directory needs to go (I think there's zero fscks given if file_contexts is there or not :P).

updater-script should look like this:
https://www.diffchecker.com/9lz21l8r

Don't forget to make a nandroid backup in TWRP before flashing this to your device.

Ok, really appreaciate the help, got it ready I think, can I just flash my zip file (with files/folders removed and modified updater-script) directly in TWRP? or do I need to make a recovery.img from it? I'm a TWRP newbie, not done much custom rom work since CWM on my original blade 1 way back in the day!

[Guest Hurders]

Ok, really appreaciate the help, got it ready I think, can I just flash my zip file (with files/folders removed and modified updater-script) directly in TWRP? or do I need to make a recovery.img from it? I'm a TWRP newbie, not done much custom rom work since CWM on my original blade 1 way back in the day!

I went ahead and flashed the modified zip (after nandroid backup!) which flashed ok but didn't work, phone got stuck in bootloop, restored the nandroid backup ok. I didn't wipe any partitions prior to flashing, should I have done?

[Guest KonstaT]

Ok, really appreaciate the help, got it ready I think, can I just flash my zip file (with files/folders removed and modified updater-script) directly in TWRP? or do I need to make a recovery.img from it? I'm a TWRP newbie, not done much custom rom work since CWM on my original blade 1 way back in the day!

We were talking about repacking the firmware for TWRP, right? :P

I went ahead and flashed the modified zip (after nandroid backup!) which flashed ok but didn't work, phone got stuck in bootloop, restored the nandroid backup ok. I didn't wipe any partitions prior to flashing, should I have done?

Yes, you should have done a factory reset like always installing any ROM.

[Guest Hurders]

We were talking about repacking the firmware for TWRP, right? :P

Yes, you should have done a factory reset like always installing any ROM.

Yes, does the firmware need repacking in a special way? I assumed it would be ok just to flash the zip through TWRP?

[Guest KonstaT]

Yes, does the firmware need repacking in a special way? I assumed it would be ok just to flash the zip through TWRP?

Heh, that was the 'packing in special way'.

Yes, you are fine to flash it in TWRP because all along we were talking about how to repack the stock firmware so that you could flash in TWRP. I know I was, at least. ;) You surely can't flash it in stock recovery anymore as it's not signed with ZTE's proprietary keys and won't pass the signature check.

Edited August 20, 2015 by KonstaT

[Guest Hurders]

Heh, that was the 'packing in special way'.

Yes, you are fine to flash it in TWRP because all along we were talking about how to repack the stock firmware so that you could flash in TWRP. I know I was, at least. ;) You surely can't flash it in stock recovery anymore as it's not signed with ZTE's proprietary keys and won't pass the signature check.

Well I tried to flash it again but did a factory wipe before, still no good, bootloops, doesn't actually get as far as the animated ZTE splash screen, shows the static ZTE splash screen for a few seconds then reboots and repeats over and over. Looks like I'll have to give it up as a bad job!

[Guest KonstaT]

Well I tried to flash it again but did a factory wipe before, still no good, bootloops, doesn't actually get as far as the animated ZTE splash screen, shows the static ZTE splash screen for a few seconds then reboots and repeats over and over. Looks like I'll have to give it up as a bad job!

Well, that's strange. TWRP didn't give you any errors when flashing? Did you check if it flashed successfully and there's actually some files in /system? Repacking the zip should be fine, you can do the same thing for EU firmware and test it on your device.

I've diffed the AS and EU boot.img and there were no notable differences. Maybe the bootloader really does some checking or there's hardware differences between these variants. :o

Edited August 20, 2015 by KonstaT

[Guest Hurders]

Well, that's strange. TWRP didn't give you any errors when flashing? Did you check if it flashed successfully and there's actually some files in /system? Repacking the zip should be fine, you can do the same thing for EU firmware and test it on your device.

I've diffed the AS and EU boot.img and there were no notable differences. Maybe the bootloader really does some checking or there's hardware differences between these variants. :o

Just tested using a repacked EU B08 with files removed and updater-script modified and it booted ok like stock. Must be some variants between the AS and EU hardware then?

[Guest KonstaT]

Just tested using a repacked EU B08 with files removed and updater-script modified and it booted ok like stock. Must be some variants between the AS and EU hardware then?

Good. :) I highly doubt there's any hardware differences between AS/EU variants. Maybe the bootloader checks that some system properties match and hits brakes if they don't(?).

There's couple of easy things you could test. It involves your favorite zip tool and some dragging&dropping. ;)
1. Replace /system/build.prop in your modified AS firmware package with the one from the EU firmware (if this boots it would indicate bootloader does some property checks)
2. Replace boot.img in your modified AS firmware package with the one from the EU firmware (if this boots it would indicate some hardware differences)

[Guest Hurders]

Good. :) I highly doubt there's any hardware differences between AS/EU variants. Maybe the bootloader checks that some system properties match and hits brakes if they don't(?).

There's couple of easy things you could test. It involves your favorite zip tool and some dragging&dropping. ;)
1. Replace /system/build.prop in your modified AS firmware package with the one from the EU firmware (if this boots it would indicate bootloader does some property checks)
2. Replace boot.img in your modified AS firmware package with the one from the EU firmware (if this boots it would indicate some hardware differences)

Right, so:

1. Replacing /system/build.prop with the EU one didn't work - bootloop reboot.

2. Replacing boot.img with EU one did work and it booted ok.

So can we assume hardware differences?

[Guest KonstaT]

Right, so:

1. Replacing /system/build.prop with the EU one didn't work - bootloop reboot.

2. Replacing boot.img with EU one did work and it booted ok.

So can we assume hardware differences?

Apparently so. In EU build's kernel defconfig there's five(!!!) more touchpanel drivers enabled than in AS build. There's also a different battery driver.

What makes this really strange is that TWRP here has kernel from AS B12 and it boots and works fine in your EU variant including touchscreen(?).

Edited August 22, 2015 by KonstaT

[Guest Hurders]

Apparently so. In EU build's kernel defconfig there's five(!!!) more touchpanel drivers enabled than in AS build. There's also a different battery driver.

What makes this really strange is that TWRP here has kernel from AS B12 and it boots and works fine in your EU variant including touchscreen(?).

No noticeable problems with the touchscreen in TWRP. Any signs of differing GPS drivers between the AS and EU kernels?

[Guest KonstaT]

No noticeable problems with the touchscreen in TWRP. Any signs of differing GPS drivers between the AS and EU kernels?

That's what makes it really strange. :o There shouldn't be any hardware differences as the AS kernel/dt works fine on EU device (TWRP has AU kernel/dt). There's no major difference in ramdisk between AS/EU either. Maybe the init binary does something strange or the bootloader actually does some checking. Reminds of the situation on Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 which refuuses to boot pretty much anything custom.

GPS is an userspace implementation, nothing depends on Linux kernel. There's only defconfigs (configuration that was used to build the kernel) that can be extracted from (some) prebuilt kernels. ZTE has released kernel source for Blade S6 but I think it's already outdated and doesn't match the recent stock firmware (someone should request another release - it's GPLv2, they're legally obligated to provide it).

[Guest krab_mozga]

Hello!

Given kernel sources and recovery is in place what else needed to produce custom kernel for S6? I'm facing very annoying crmcu-wake-lock that drains battery. Is it feasible to compile stock kernel with said thing commented out and flash it with recovery?

[Guest KonstaT]

Hello!

Given kernel sources and recovery is in place what else needed to produce custom kernel for S6? I'm facing very annoying crmcu-wake-lock that drains battery. Is it feasible to compile stock kernel with said thing commented out and flash it with recovery?

Sure you could compile a 'custom' kernel. It seems that you've misunderstood wakelocks, though. Just because something is listed as a kernel wakelock doesn't mean kernel is the problem or that you could simply just 'comment out' something. Most likely your problem is caused by some misbehaving app/mod/hack/etc you've installed yourself.

[Guest krab_mozga]

Sure you could compile a 'custom' kernel. It seems that you've misunderstood wakelocks, though. Just because something is listed as a kernel wakelock doesn't mean kernel is the problem or that you could simply just 'comment out' something. Most likely your problem is caused by some misbehaving app/mod/hack/etc you've installed yourself.

I wish it would but sadly it isn't. It is related to "gestures" support, and is there from the fresh start. But while "gestures" can be turned off in settings, this thing continues to run in kernel mode. Correlation can be observed clearly: when phone lays undisturbed at night cwmcu takes less cpu time, but when phone is in pocket and one's walking or driving a car cwmcu takes much more cpu time.

[Guest KonstaT]

I wish it would but sadly it isn't. It is related to "gestures" support, and is there from the fresh start. But while "gestures" can be turned off in settings, this thing continues to run in kernel mode. Correlation can be observed clearly: when phone lays undisturbed at night cwmcu takes less cpu time, but when phone is in pocket and one's walking or driving a car cwmcu takes much more cpu time.

Makes a little more sense now that you wrote the name of the service correctly (CwMcu). ;) I'm not familiar what kind of gesture controls Blade S6 has. Your device might have some hardware failure or it might be something that you've caused yourself (task killers, etc). Otherwise all Blade S6s would have this problem.

[Guest krab_mozga]

Makes a little more sense now that you wrote the name of the service correctly (CwMcu). ;) I'm not familiar what kind of gesture controls Blade S6 has. Your device might have some hardware failure or it might be something that you've caused yourself (task killers, etc). Otherwise all Blade S6s would have this problem.

All S6s have. People in S6 forums on xda/4pda make complains regarding it. I've switched from phone with 3000 mah battery to S6 with 2400 mah battery and I cant understand why old phone lasted for 2 days and S6 barely lasts for one. 

I one stick into their phone every 5 mins, cmwcu would go below screen/cpu/4g/something else in battery sucker list. And that's why anyone is not complaining. But if one's not and using phone for calls then cwmcu go on 1st place in the list.

[Guest krab_mozga]

Please lets shift focus from "you've caused yourself" to how to install custom kernel on S6.

[Guest KonstaT]

All S6s have. People in S6 forums on xda/4pda make complains regarding it. I've switched from phone with 3000 mah battery to S6 with 2400 mah battery and I cant understand why old phone lasted for 2 days and S6 barely lasts for one. 

I one stick into their phone every 5 mins, cmwcu would go below screen/cpu/4g/something else in battery sucker list. And that's why anyone is not complaining. But if one's not and using phone for calls then cwmcu go on 1st place in the list.

Well, then it works as expected and there's nothing a 'custom kernel' can do about that. Sure you can disable sensor drivers in kernel but that'll only break sh*t. Why on earth would you want to do that (there's a lot easier ways to break all the sensors anyway). Report your 'issue' to ZTE and let them fix it.

Please lets shift focus from "you've caused yourself" to how to install custom kernel on S6.

This is a TWRP thread so technically none of this discussion belongs here...

[Guest Neositroid]

Hi all! 

recovery-twrp2870-p839f30-physical.img installed properly but now can't boot device system, locked at second logo (did something wrong with root I think). Would be helpful stock recovery for  ZTE_ES_Blade_S6V1.0.0B05 to flash it again. Please let me now. Thankyou!!

Trying factory reset... Doesn't work, tried three times.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Neositroid
maybe find a trick to solve the problem

[Guest KonstaT]

Hi all! 

recovery-twrp2870-p839f30-physical.img installed properly but now can't boot device system, locked at second logo (did something wrong with root I think). Would be helpful stock recovery for  ZTE_ES_Blade_S6V1.0.0B05 to flash it again. Please let me now. Thankyou!!

Trying factory reset... Doesn't work, tried three times.

Restore the nandroid backup you made in TWRP before you started messing with your /system. That's exactly what custom recoveries are made for!

I'd need these files from ES update.zip (I'm not going to download the full firmware because the ZTE site is so slow). Upload them somewhere and I can create a stock recovery image.

boot.img
recovery/recovery-from-boot.p
recovery/bin/install-recovery.sh
system/etc/recovery-resource.dat

 

[Guest Neositroid]

My system started to mess just after I reboot the device once I flashed TWRP... anyway sorry, mines are dangerous newbie hands. Maybe I shouldn't have flashed TWRP without proper SU binaries...

I have the update.zip. As soon as I can I bring you a link to download the files. Thanks man!!

 

Hello, here you are: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5Mxedx29T3hMTliS1c4ZU5DYTQ&usp=sharing

I hope this works , let me know. Thanks!!

Edited September 15, 2015 by Neositroid
link to files

[Guest KonstaT]

Flashing a custom recovery shouldn't do anything to your /system that stops the device from booting.

Here's the ES stock recovery in TWRP flashable zip. Use the stock recovery to install stock ES update.zip.

recovery-stock-ZTE_ES_Blade_S6V1.0.0B05.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/?i1vs1ekpc6xsuc3
md5:224880ca761d2e53446ef94c06b7bdc3

[Guest Neositroid]

Flashing a custom recovery shouldn't do anything to your /system that stops the device from booting.

Here's the ES stock recovery in TWRP flashable zip. Use the stock recovery to install stock ES update.zip.

recovery-stock-ZTE_ES_Blade_S6V1.0.0B05.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/?i1vs1ekpc6xsuc3
md5:224880ca761d2e53446ef94c06b7bdc3

Thanks a lot! I'll tell...

PD: Works it on internal or external SDcard?

Worked from external.Thanks!! Flashing update.zip

Edited September 15, 2015 by Neositroid