CHUWI Hi9 Air 64GB MT6797 X20 Deca Core 10.1 Inch 2K Screen Android 8 Dual 4G Tablet

[santosst]

Offline Charging fix for Treble on MTK by Hadenix Mod Edit: Link removed

Sadly this fix didn't work... I tried to extract and copy manually, putting the correct permissions, but the tablet continues to go to fastboot mode when plugged in

 

[Tinimark]

First of all, welcome!

Gearlabs is a ROM based on our stock system in Aug/2018 version. It has some improvements and is also pre-rooted with Magisk. You can check this post to download it. This other post has the link for the Gearlabs post and other ROMs/tutorials.

About GSIs, yeah, phhusson's AOSP is the best in terms of performance and compatibility; you can install v222 (just follow the tutorial to install Android 10 GSIs) or any v3xx (based on Android 11, you can follow the tutorial for Android 9 but you'll need to flash an encryption disabler zip to be able to boot).

But in fact, a lot of GSIs will boot and work well, like andyyan's LOS 17.1 and 18.1, eremitein's CAOS, LOSQ/LiR, Bless and CrDRom, braia's Nitrogen, and so on. The better, if you can, is trying the most GSIs you can to feel what's the best for you!

Also check out the most recent posts, in which we have been talking a little about these new GSIs, and feel free to ask and share your experiences with us

Hi,

I have two of these devices on factory firmware and they both become unresponsive after a few days of uptime requiring hard reset to reboot. I'm hoping this can be fixed with a newer firmware.

In your link to that guide it states Please make sure you have the stock firmware installed August 2018. Mine has July 2018 on it and It can't find any updates.

Any advice on how to proceed highly appreciated.

 

[amg314]

Hi,

I have two of these devices on factory firmware and they both become unresponsive after a few days of uptime requiring hard reset to reboot. I'm hoping this can be fixed with a newer firmware.

In your link to that guide it states Please make sure you have the stock firmware installed August 2018. Mine has July 2018 on it and It can't find any updates.

Any advice on how to proceed highly appreciated.

Look at 'Downloads' tab in Opening Post:

Update_20181122.zip

drive.google.com

 

[UnpredictableN]

I am currently using android 9 gsi v123 phh treble vanilla
Tried it because I thought it would fix the oversaturated and oversharpened screen but it didn't. Also tried flashing v300l vanila but got stuck on android screen for very long....still didn't boot.....I tried the overlay @santosst gave in 9.0 gsi but the navigation bar disappeared so removed that......and flashed gapps pico but some apps with security concerns don't work....what should I do ? I have twrp installed and want to fix the screen and other app issues. Is there anything like we get in pixel experience plus rom to adjust screen saturation and any fix for the overlay issue?

 

[UnpredictableN]

Also if the screen issue remains....what should I prefer on this device for now? To get everything working like the apps with security concerns?

 

[santosst]

Also if the screen issue remains....what should I prefer on this device for now? To get everything working like the apps with security concerns?

I'd recommend you to test the newer Android 11 GSIs, especially the eternityson's ones, since they have an inbuilt option to pass SafetyNet, checking "SafetyNet" and "Spoof Pixel 5" in Phh Treble Settings -> Misc Features. With this feature, you should be able to use all apps in Play Store (I'm used to use NikGapps).

Only be sure you've flashed dm-verity and force encrypt disabler before booting to the GSI for the first time. Probably the issue you faced in v300l is related to the encryption (which is partially broken in A11 for some MTK devices including ours).

For me, the best GSI at this moment is Bless, the battery life is stunning and the only bug I've found is the upside-down front camera (what's a common issue since the latest A10 GSIs). I didn't notice any screen issue, however, I always use low brightness. Btw can you explain this screen issue, please?

 

[santosst]

Hey guys, I updated the overlay since I noticed that there were problems with the audio (sound also comes out through the speaker as well as through the headphone when connected in 3.5mm jack input). The new overlay should not have the navigation bar issue. However, the battery usage data isn't working yet.

Link to overlay sources: https://github.com/santosst3/vendor_hardware_overlay/tree/master

 

[amg314]

Please let know URL for download in your posts.
I find out Bless TrebleGSI for a/b architrcture only

TrebleGSI

Download TrebleGSI for free. None

sourceforge.net

For me, the best GSI at this moment is Bless

 

[santosst]

Please let know URL for download in your posts.
I find out Bless TrebleGSI for a/b architrcture only

TrebleGSI

Download TrebleGSI for free. None

sourceforge.net

Oh, of course! We can use any of the arm64_a*Z builds here.

For example, this one (avZ) is vanilla, so we can install any gapps we want (or don't use them lol).

By the way, for some reason, when I did a factory reset, I'm not able to pass SafetyNet anymore using "SafetyNet"+"Spoof Pixel 5" options, and I really don't know why. If anyone can test, I'd appreciate it.

EDIT: Several custom ROM development teams have commented on the issue of SafetyNet failing with Pixel 5 spoofing due to a new Google certification algorithm strategy. In fact, several ROMs have already fixed it, such as PE, Descendant, and CAOS. Unfortunately Bless hasn't been updated for a while, but maybe we can be able to use some updated version of Gapps with Spoofing (I know NikGapps does that, but there's no updated stable version since mid-August, maybe a Canary Release can help us).

 

[santosst]

Hey guys, some awesome news!

I was able to repartition my Hi9 Air, increasing the system partition to about 3.9 GB (4000 MB). The process was a bit tricky but I succeeded on my first try. Then I installed Pixel Experience 11 Unofficial by ponces (about 3.1 GB), and it's running almost perfectly (only flashlight and front camera aren't working, like the LOS-based ROMs* - Check EDIT). By the way, here are some screenshots:



I'll probably make a tutorial soon, but my reference was this site: https://forum.hovatek.com/thread-32750.html

The only con is that the SP Flash tool doesn't work anymore if you repartition the device, only if you use "format all", but I fear that IMEI can be lost if using this option. For me, it's not a problem, but I should warn you.

EDIT: I rebooted the tablet and now flashlight and front camera works well (front camera is upside down, but it's a known bug related to cam2api).

 

[thecoolkid]

Hey guys, some awesome news!

I was able to repartition my Hi9 Air, increasing the system partition to about 3.9 GB (4000 MB). The process was a bit tricky but I succeeded on my first try. Then I installed Pixel Experience 11 Unofficial by ponces (about 3.1 GB), and it's running almost perfectly (only flashlight and front camera aren't working, like the LOS-based ROMs). By the way, here are some screenshots:

View attachment 5415649 View attachment 5415651 View attachment 5415653

I'll probably make a tutorial soon, but my reference was this site: https://forum.hovatek.com/thread-32750.html

The only con is that the SP Flash tool doesn't work anymore if you repartition the device, only if you use "format all", but I fear that IMEI can be lost if using this option. For me, it's not a problem, but I should warn you.

I have been playing with the same tutorial and successfully repartitioned 2 tablets, but I haven't had the time to post about it. The process is pretty straight forward and indeed you can't use SP Flash Tool afterwards except "format all" option, so I made myself a couple of tools to backup all the partitions that can't be flashed with SP Flash Tool and another one for restore. Another tool is to set up parted while you are in TWRP and to format vendor, system, cache and userdata afterwards (optional), because I was resizing vendor to 500 MB (there's some wasted space left by CHUWI, no harm in reclaiming it since there are no updates), system to 4 GB (4096 MB), cache to 100 MB (as per Google recommendation on AOSP site: 50-100 MB) and userdata to whatever's left. In the future I might write a tool for automatic repartitioning of the tablet, we'll see

Some tips:
Follow the Hovatek guide, but remember:
1. Don't delete sdrpmb and flashinfo partitions, they are at the end of memory, but contrary to the guide you don't have to delete last partitions
2. You can remove just 28-31 partitions (vendor, system, cache, userdata) and the newly created partitions will "fall into place".
3. In parted you can switch units by a "unit" command followed by a unit (MB: 1000 MB = 1GB, MiB: 1024 MiB = 1 GiB, B: Bytes). I recommend using MiB for vendor, system, cache if you're pedantic like me and then switching to Bytes for userdata partition to fit it exactly in the free space left.
4. I advise you to make a TWRP backup in case smth goes wrong (not partition image, compressed file backup) of boot, para (restore for recovering from bootloops, it contains a flag of unsuccessful boot and will reboot you to recovery even if you have a working system), vendor and system and also all device specific partitions that can't be flashed with SPFTool (you can use my tool for that).
5. You'll need vendor backup to restore it into smaller partition since the image backup won't fit. Offload the TWRP backup onto the computer. You'll lose access to all data stored on removed partitions!
6. I advise you to save parted output (partition list with their sizes, starts and ends) as text in a text file for multiple units (MB, MiB, B) for reference later, both before and after repartition. It'll make your life easier
7. Your newly repartitioned device is best enjoyed with Modern Boots

FYI: My tools require PATH system variable to be set up to include ADB tool, so it can be executed from any folder as simply "adb [command]", if you don't have that edit the scripts to fit your environment. You have to be booted into TWRP with ADB enabled to use the tools. If you formated your whole memory with SPFTool, first flash all partitions in SPFT then flash TWRP then boot to TWRP and finally you can restore IMEI and DRM keys or whatever there is using restore tool

FYI 2: Usefull terminal commands (prefix with adb shell if executing from adb):
# sgdisk --print /dev/block/mmcblk0
list all partitions in TWRP without parted

# parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 [unit MiB]
list all partitions in parted in automatic units [optional unit change, you can also change units later]

Have fun!

 

[santosst]

I have been playing with the same tutorial and successfully repartitioned 2 tablets, but I haven't had the time to post about it. The process is pretty straight forward and indeed you can't use SP Flash Tool afterwards except "format all" option, so I made myself a couple of tools to backup all the partitions that can't be flashed with SP Flash Tool and another one for restore. Another tool is to set up parted while you are in TWRP and to format vendor, system, cache and userdata afterwards (optional), because I was resizing vendor to 500 MB (there's some wasted space left by CHUWI, no harm in reclaiming it since there are no updates), system to 4 GB (4096 MB), cache to 100 MB (as per Google recommendation on AOSP site: 50-100 MB) and userdata to whatever's left. In the future I might write a tool for automatic repartitioning of the tablet, we'll see

Some tips:
Follow the Hovatek guide, but remember:
1. Don't delete sdrpmb and flashinfo partitions, they are at the end of memory, but contrary to the guide you don't have to delete last partitions
2. You can remove just 28-31 partitions (vendor, system, cache, userdata) and the newly created partitions will "fall into place".
3. In parted you can switch units by a "unit" command followed by a unit (MB: 1000 MB = 1GB, MiB: 1024 MiB = 1 GiB, B: Bytes). I recommend using MiB for vendor, system, cache if you're pedantic like me and then switching to Bytes for userdata partition to fit it exactly in the free space left.
4. I advise you to make a TWRP backup in case smth goes wrong (not partition image, compressed file backup) of boot, para (restore for recovering from bootloops, it contains a flag of unsuccessful boot and will reboot you to recovery even if you have a working system), vendor and system and also all device specific partitions that can't be flashed with SPFTool (you can use my tool for that).
5. You'll need vendor backup to restore it into smaller partition since the image backup won't fit. Offload the TWRP backup onto the computer. You'll lose access to all data stored on removed partitions!
6. I advise you to save parted output (partition list with their sizes, starts and ends) as text in a text file for multiple units (MB, MiB, B) for reference later, both before and after repartition. It'll make your life easier
7. Your newly repartitioned device is best enjoyed with Modern Boots

FYI: My tools require PATH system variable to be set up to include ADB tool, so it can be executed from any folder as simply "adb [command]", if you don't have that edit the scripts to fit your environment. You have to be booted into TWRP with ADB enabled to use the tools. If you formated your whole memory with SPFTool, first flash all partitions in SPFT then flash TWRP then boot to TWRP and finally you can restore IMEI and DRM keys or whatever there is using restore tool

FYI 2: Usefull terminal commands (prefix with adb shell if executing from adb):
# sgdisk --print /dev/block/mmcblk0
list all partitions in TWRP without parted

# parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 [unit MiB]
list all partitions in parted in automatic units [optional unit change, you can also change units later]

Have fun!

Wow, great, thank you very much! Everything I'd like to tell are in your tips (including Modern Boots )
Furthermore, thanks for sharing your tools, I'll probably take a backup of all partitions right now lol, and if you manage to write the re-partitioning tool, it'd be amazing

 

[thecoolkid]

Wow, great, thank you very much! Everything I'd like to tell are in your tips (including Modern Boots )
Furthermore, thanks for sharing your tools, I'll probably take a backup of all partitions right now lol, and if you manage to write the re-partitioning tool, it'd be amazing

Haha Thx! I guess I needed a gentle nudge to write this guide

 

[ULAMSS5]

I have been playing with the same tutorial and successfully repartitioned 2 tablets, but I haven't had the time to post about it. The process is pretty straight forward and indeed you can't use SP Flash Tool afterwards except "format all" option, so I made myself a couple of tools to backup all the partitions that can't be flashed with SP Flash Tool and another one for restore. Another tool is to set up parted while you are in TWRP and to format vendor, system, cache and userdata afterwards (optional), because I was resizing vendor to 500 MB (there's some wasted space left by CHUWI, no harm in reclaiming it since there are no updates), system to 4 GB (4096 MB), cache to 100 MB (as per Google recommendation on AOSP site: 50-100 MB) and userdata to whatever's left. In the future I might write a tool for automatic repartitioning of the tablet, we'll see

Some tips:
Follow the Hovatek guide, but remember:
1. Don't delete sdrpmb and flashinfo partitions, they are at the end of memory, but contrary to the guide you don't have to delete last partitions
2. You can remove just 28-31 partitions (vendor, system, cache, userdata) and the newly created partitions will "fall into place".
3. In parted you can switch units by a "unit" command followed by a unit (MB: 1000 MB = 1GB, MiB: 1024 MiB = 1 GiB, B: Bytes). I recommend using MiB for vendor, system, cache if you're pedantic like me and then switching to Bytes for userdata partition to fit it exactly in the free space left.
4. I advise you to make a TWRP backup in case smth goes wrong (not partition image, compressed file backup) of boot, para (restore for recovering from bootloops, it contains a flag of unsuccessful boot and will reboot you to recovery even if you have a working system), vendor and system and also all device specific partitions that can't be flashed with SPFTool (you can use my tool for that).
5. You'll need vendor backup to restore it into smaller partition since the image backup won't fit. Offload the TWRP backup onto the computer. You'll lose access to all data stored on removed partitions!
6. I advise you to save parted output (partition list with their sizes, starts and ends) as text in a text file for multiple units (MB, MiB, B) for reference later, both before and after repartition. It'll make your life easier
7. Your newly repartitioned device is best enjoyed with Modern Boots

FYI: My tools require PATH system variable to be set up to include ADB tool, so it can be executed from any folder as simply "adb [command]", if you don't have that edit the scripts to fit your environment. You have to be booted into TWRP with ADB enabled to use the tools. If you formated your whole memory with SPFTool, first flash all partitions in SPFT then flash TWRP then boot to TWRP and finally you can restore IMEI and DRM keys or whatever there is using restore tool

FYI 2: Usefull terminal commands (prefix with adb shell if executing from adb):
# sgdisk --print /dev/block/mmcblk0
list all partitions in TWRP without parted

# parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 [unit MiB]
list all partitions in parted in automatic units [optional unit change, you can also change units later]

Have fun!

For anyone else getting:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 /sbin/sh: parted: Permission denied

I solved it by doing another factory reset in TWRP, un-checking all mounts (since it has rebooted), and "Disable MTP" (apparently not needed).

@thecoolkid your .bat tool appears to only delete the partitions 28-31, but does not re-create the system partition? Am i reading it wrongly? Or does the system partition not have to be manually re-created?

Also, which PixelExperience did you flash? I tried "PixelExperience_arm64-aonly-11.0-20211009-UNOFFICIAL.img.xz" but it does not work for me. Still boots back into TWRP.



I had a lot of trouble understanding the instructions, but finally got it to work. For anyone else confused, this is the set of commands I used after entering parted.

Your exact locations may differ from mine, please double check your factory settings and re-align. Best to print after every mkpart x... to check.

rm 28
rm 29
rm 30
rm 31

mkpart vendor ext4 241 741
name 28 vendor
set 28 msftdata on

mkpart system ext4 741 4837
name 29 system
set 29 msftdata on

mkpart cache ext4 4837 4937
name 30 cache
set 30 msftdata on

mkpart userdata ext4 4937 100%
name 31 userdata
set 30 msftdata on

quit

mkfs.ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p31

 

[thecoolkid]

@thecoolkid your .bat tool appears to only delete the partitions 28-31, but does not re-create the system partition? Am i reading it wrongly? Or does the system partition not have to be manually re-created?

My tool does not create or delete any partitions on it's own. It boots parted and when parted exits it asks if you want to format partitions 28-31 as EXT4, because they need to be formatted before they can be used and parted doesn't do that even if you flag newly created partitions as EXT4. You can skip that process and format manually in TWRP, my tool just makes it easier and faster, but it assumes all necessary partitions are already created.

From you instructions I noticed you're leaving unallocated space between partitions, you don't have to do that. Read through my tips and change unit to MiB and use the same number as end of one partition and a start of the next one, parted will fit them nicely and then again change unit for userdata to B and then fit it exactly in the leftover space.

 

[thecoolkid]

I solved it by doing another factory reset in TWRP, un-checking all mounts (since it has rebooted), and "Disable MTP".

You don't need to factory reset or disable MTP, just unmount all partitions that you plan to work on, it's part of the guide, you only need to read

 

[ULAMSS5]

My tool does not create or delete any partitions on it's own. It boots parted and when parted exits it asks if you want to format partitions 28-31 as EXT4, because they need to be formatted before they can be used and parted doesn't do that even if you flag newly created partitions as EXT4. You can skip that process and format manually in TWRP, my tool just makes it easier and faster, but it assumes all necessary partitions are already created.

From you instructions I noticed you're leaving unallocated space between partitions, you don't have to do that. Read through my tips and change unit to MiB and use the same number as end of one partition and a start of the next one, parted will fit them nicely and then again change unit for userdata to B and then fit it exactly in the leftover space.

Thanks, I've edited my post above to fit.

Do mind sharing instructions and which specific files needed to flash PixelExperience? When I tried it it only boots me to TWRP. Should I flash back to OEM with SPFT?

 

[thecoolkid]

Thanks, I've edited my post above to fit.

Do mind sharing instructions and which specific files needed to flash PixelExperience? When I tried it it only boots me to TWRP. Should I flash back to OEM with SPFT?

If you read my tips you'll know that you can't use SPFT after repartitioning, it'll format whole memory block. By now, you should've made a backup using my tool and a twrp backup of system, vendor, boot and para partitions. After repartitioning you have to restore vendor and para in twrp. Then PE should work.

 

[ULAMSS5]

If you read my tips you'll know that you can't use SPFT after repartitioning, it'll format whole memory block. By now, you should've made a backup using my tool and a twrp backup of system, vendor, boot and para partitions. After repartitioning you have to restore vendor and para in twrp. Then PE should work.

Sorry some of your tips are not very clear... especially with the Hovatek guide, steps are all over the place.

So for someone coming in fresh (or with a semi-bricked device):
1. SPFT back to OEM, boot in to enable OEM unlock... USB Debugging... fastboot unlock oem... flash twrp
2. Do the repartioning stuff above
3. "restore vendor and para in twrp", is this just steps 21-22 in the Hovatek guide? Also, what is "para"? I've never seen this partition before.
4. Flash Pixel Arm64 AONLY? Any need for other stuff like "no-verity-opt-encrypt" or "permissiver" or anything like that?

 

[thecoolkid]

Sorry some of your tips are not very clear... especially with the Hovatek guide, steps are all over the place.

So for someone coming in fresh (or with a semi-bricked device):
1. SPFT back to OEM, boot in to enable OEM unlock... USB Debugging... fastboot unlock oem... flash twrp
2. Do the repartioning stuff above
3. "restore vendor and para in twrp", is this just steps 21-22 in the Hovatek guide? Also, what is "para"? I've never seen this partition before.
4. Flash Pixel Arm64 AONLY? Any need for other stuff like "no-verity-opt-encrypt" or "permissiver" or anything like that?

1. If you format with SPFT and don't have IMEI backup you'll lose all the keys of your device. Make a backup first. After flashing stock, unlock bootloader, flash twrp.
3. No. You need to restore data to vendor partition after you deleted it's data, this is where all the drivers are. Para is a partition that holds a flag that will prevent booting even on a working system after a bootloop. You need to restore it to be able to boot.
4. You don't need permissiver, but of course you need to flash disable verity and optional encrypt, encryption is not supported in TWRP and GSI's and verity needs to be disabled to be able to boot any custom ROM.