[Guide][Installation][Fix]Switching from stock ROM to custom ROMs + Installing stock ROM after a brick or other Failures ( Mi A2 Lite - Daisy)

[user-001]

This guide is general guide for the installation of custom ROMs. I will also include guide to install stock ROM on devices which have been bricked or for solving various problem which you may encounter in custom ROMs. There are other guides for the same purpose but most of them are outdated and many of you seem to ignore old guide despite the fact that those guides can be helpful.

This is guide is only relevant for installation of custom ROMs which were released up to the date of posting this guide or up to android version 11. Recovering a bricked device can be done in the same way as to this one but installation instruction for devices with android version greater than 11 may differ.

DISCLAMER

I am NOT responsible for bricked devices,
thermonuclear war or for you getting fired because your alarm app failed.

Make sure the bootloader is unlocked and never lock the bootloader
How to unlock bootloader ?
>See in this thread.

Hard Brick, Soft brick, Problems in custom rom due to bad base, installation of base for switching to custom roms: windows linux

Installation of stock ROM through fastboot : The reply below

Migration from stock base to custom ROM : CLEAN FLASH

Migration between different version of same custom ROM : DIRTY FLASH

FOR SPECIFIC THREADS
Oragne Fox For Daisy
TWRP For Daisy
Magisk


CREDITS:
LInkBoi for his previous guide and TWRP
DarthJabba9 for Orange Fox Recovery
Every pros in daisy telegram groups.

 

[user-001]

EDL FLASHING (For windows only)​

EDL flashing can be helpful when flashing every partition of device is needed either for clean stock base or after brick or after some failure.
EDL flashing can be the final resort when everything else fails.


PREREQUISITES
1) A good USB cable, your phone
2) A PC with either windows or linux
3) Fastboot drivers from google and edl drivers from qualcomm
4) Platform tools from google
5)Fastboot rom. This should be full rom in .tgz format.
6)Xiaomi flash tool (LATEST VERSION AVAILABLE)

Install the adb and fastboot drivers from google. If you are on windows 10 or greater then you can also use "windows update > optional updates" to update adb and fastboot drivers + edl drivers. For the installation of drivers always use trusted sources and don't turn of driver signature enforcement if you can.

Extract the platform tools in a convenient folder, we will be doing our operations from this folder for fastboot and adb opeartions. Extract the fastboot ROM and place that in convenient folder as well. And for xiaomi flash tool extract the zip and launch XiaoMiFlash.exe .



If you can access fastboot in you phone then the phone can be booted into edl mode through fastboot else you have to take out back cover and short the testpoint pins to make the device boot into edl mode (see the attached image ).



If you can access fastboot. Boot into fastboot and type the following command in terminal.

To check if device is connected properly and drivers are properly installed
If no devices is shown then connect device properly with good usb cable and check the drivers.

 fastboot devices

To boot phone into edl mode. This is only possible if the bootloader is unlocked else testpoint-edl is the only option

 fastboot oem edl

The device should be shown as COM device in device manager ( Windows ). If not then either drivers aren't installed properly or your phone isn't in edl mode.

Now click on refresh button in xiaomi flash tool. Your device should be recognized as com device. Set the path to the images folder ( extracted fastboot rom ). Select CLEAN ALL option . If everything is good then click
on FLASH. The flashing process should start now. After the process completes keep pressing power button to boot device into the currently installed ROM.

Just install the rom and setup once even if you're going to flash custom rom next. This reduces various problems which may come in custom ROMs.

If any error occurs then try the following:

• Make sure you are using latest flash tool.
• Good fastboot rom (shouldn't be corrupted )
• Good USB cable and try different ports of the PC.

The flashing should be done immediately after booting to edl. If not then take out battery and reconnect it if you have back cover open(In case of hard brick). Or keep pressing power button and volume down to boot into fastboot and boot to edl mode again from the above instructions(If fastboot is accessible)

For booting to edl using testpoint:
> Take out backcover
> Disconnect battery
> Short the pins
> Flash
> Connect battery after flashing is complete
> Keep pressing power button to boot into system.

 

[user-001]

qdl flashing ( linux only )​

For very detailed guide github -> bkerler edl
Thanks to DEFXZ and LinkBoi for suggesting this alternative.

Make sure you have platform tools, fastboot rom and other prerequisites to detect device properly.

clone the repository in convenient place

git clone https://git.linaro.org/landing-teams/working/qualcomm/qdl.git --depth=1

change to qdl directory

cd qdl

Build qdl tool

make

Finally flash the rom

./qdl --storage emmc --include /path/to/stock/images /path/to/stock/images/prog_emmc_firehose_8953_ddr.mbn /path/to/stock/images/rawprogram0.xml /path/to/stock/images/patch0.xml

The paths are the paths to various files inside the images folder which will be obtained after fastboot rom is extracted.

For further informations:
Original github link
qdl discussion in XDA

 

[user-001]

FASTBOOT FLASHING​

PREREQUISITES

• FASTBOOT DRIVERS
• PLATFORM TOOLS
• FASTBOOT ROM
• GOOD USB CABLE
• PC WITH WORKING USB PORT

See this for meeting prerequisites.

• Install fastboot drivers, connect device to PC via USB.
• Extract platform tools into a convenient folder.
• Extract fastboot ROM into a convenient folder.

Go to platform tools folder ( this will contain files and executable like fastboot.exe) and open powershell or any terminal window there
[ shift + right click and select open (powershell) window here ]

Type this command to see everything worked correctly.

 fastboot devices

If not then check every step properly.

Now execute the script to flash the ROM.
Execute flash_all.bat script for windows PC.
Execute flash_all.sh script for linux PC.

If platform tools cannot be accessed system wide then.

./fastboot devices

will provide fastboot devices information.

For flashing drag and drop flash_all.bat or flash_all.sh file into the terminal.

'/media/user001/user/daisy/stock_roms/daisy_global_images_V10.0.18.0.PDLMIXM_9.0/flash_all.sh'

It will look something like this in linux and similar in windows.

If any error occurs the search for particular error. Most of the times the error is due to corrupted fastboot ROM or bad connection between phone and PC.

 

[user-001]

FINALLY! FLASHING CUSTOM ROM​

STEP 0
Flash(if not flashed already) the stock base recommended by particular ROM, if the ROM doesn't recommend a specific stock base flash 10.0.18.0 from the above instructions.

PREREQUISITES

• TWRP or ORANGE FOX RECOVERY
• Fastboot drivers and platform tools (details above )
• The ROM which you want to flash, choose from here
• GAPPS package if rom is vanilla and you want to install it.
• Magisk if you want to root.

As you may have known by experience, our device doesn't have recovery partition so, flashing recovery through fastboot isn't possible. For flashing recovery first we need to boot recovery image and then only we can flash it.

If you want to use twrp:

• Download both twrp*.zip and twrp*.img and place it in a convenient place.

If you want to use orange fox recovery:

• Download orangeFox*.zip and extract it.
• Keep both the .zip and .img file in convenient place.

If you have sdcard then copy ROM file, gapps, magisk, twrp or orange fox files into sdcard.
If not then there will be further instructions.

Now, connect the phone to the PC via USB and enable usb debugging. And open terminal in the platform tools folder as in above instructions.

Check device connectivity:

adb devices

Reboot into fastboot:

adb reboot bootloader

Check device connectivity:

fastboot devices

Lets check if the bootloader is unlocked:

 fastboot oem device-info

If bootloader isn't unlocked you won't be able to flash custom recovery into the device. So, first unlock the bootloader. This should be allowed in the developers option of your phone first. This will factory reset the device.

 fastboot oem unlock

Now if everything is good then it's time to boot into custom recovery:

fastboot boot recovery.img

recover.img is name of image of whichever custom recovery you want to use.

fastboot boot  '/media/user001/storage (1)/daisy/twrp/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img'

It's like this in my case. You can drag and drop after typing fastboot boot

The phone should now boot into custom recovery. If it ask for decryption then your lockscreen password should work there.

if you want to flash recovery only then find the recovery.zip you want and flash it.

The steps further is also valid for moving between different custom roms. The term used for such process is CLEAN FLASH.

For Flashing custom ROMS :
SOMETIMES FLASHING INSTRUCTIONS MAY DIFFER SO, BE SURE TO CROSS CHECK FOR INSTRUCTION IN ROM SPECIFIC XDA THREAD OR TELEGRAM GROUP

The following action will wipe userdata if not wiped already. Be sure to backup data before these steps. Also if you encounter any future problems full backup from custom recovery may be able to solve most of the problems. So, be sure to keep full backup(including every partition) of your device.

1. Go to main menu > wipe > select all except internal storage and microSD.
2. Swipe right to perform wipe.
3. Install custom recovery by flashing recovery.zip
   (This is done in case adb push doesn't work below and sdcard isn't available for flashing)
4. Again go to main menu > wipe > format data
5. Type yes and press enter.
6. If you don't have files in your sdcard then:
   • push rom file + gapps + other files into your device through adb push.
     
     The command will be something like this:
     

     adb push '/media/user001/storage (1)/daisy/posp/potato_daisy-11-20210919-dumaloo.v4.2.3+20.Community.zip' /sdcard

   • If adb push fails to work then you can reboot recovery and simply copy the files through file explorer.
     Reboot to recovery only if you had installed recovery after wiping system else the device will soft brick
7. Now flash the rom.zip by selecting the file and swiping right.
8. Flash custom recovery if the ROM doesn't contain recovery
9. We have to change current slot even if we don't want to flash anymore things.
10. Latest recoveries changes slot automatically So, go to main menu > reboot > recovery
11. Now flash files which you want to flash i.e. gapps and magisk.
12. Again, Don't flash gapps if the ROM is of Gapps variant
13. Most of the roms now have implemented FBE (File Based Encryption ). So, you need to format data before rebooting to system. Again, check for specific ROM installation instruction if that is required or not. If you keep data from previous ROM that won't be considered a clean flash so, for proper clean flash format data before rebooting to system.
14. reboot system

 

[user-001]

MOVING BETWEEN DIFFERENT VERSION OF SAME CUSTOM ROM
Dirty flash or OTA ​

Most of the newer ROMs have seamless update ( even the unofficial ones ). The OTA update is simple. Just go to updater ( in settings > system or native app, depends upon the rom). If your ROM is of vanilla version then make sure gapps and/or magisk which you have installed, your ROM and custom recovery all support addon.d survival script. If they don't then you may have to flash everything again after update process is complete.

If custom recovery itself doesn't support update then you may need to choose different recovery or dirty flash ROM from the recovery. Don't worry most of the roms and both the recoveries for daisy support OTA and addon.d survival.

DIRTY FLASH​

The process of flashing a ROM on top of existing one keeping the /data partition intact is known as dirty flashing. Such flashing must be done only on different builds of same ROM and it isn't recommended to flash build of lower version on top of higher version.

The steps for dirty flashing:

• Download the update package.
• Reboot to recovery
• Enter password for decryption if encrypted.
• Flash the update.zip package.
• Reboot recovery, if recovery/rom doesn't support survival of recovery then flash recovery before rebooting to recovery.
• If gapps and/or magisk survival isn't supported then flash gapps and magisk, make sure gapps is of the same type which was flashed before.
• reboot system

 

[steve.loveday]

Hi @user-001 thanks for this.
I'm on a stock A2 lite thats never had anything done to it , am i right in thinking i follow the clean flash section ?
You mention in there

We have to change current slot even if we don't want to flash anymore things.

I'm not fully sure what that involves could you break it down the steps a little for me.
I've downloaded all the files and am set up but i'm unsure on the Flashing fastbbot section where you say to use these files..

Execute flash_all.bat script for windows PC.

Is this a section i can bypass ? if not where can i get them from ?
Cheers

 

[user-001]

Hi @user-001 thanks for this.
I'm on a stock A2 lite thats never had anything done to it , am i right in thinking i follow the clean flash section ?
You mention in there

I'm not fully sure what that involves could you break it down the steps a little for me.
I've downloaded all the files and am set up but i'm unsure on the Flashing fastbbot section where you say to use these files..

Is this a section i can bypass ? if not where can i get them from ?
Cheers

1) Yes you should follow clean flash instructions.
2)Changing of slot is done in custom recovery. Precisely in the reboot menu. But newer recoveries automatically switch the slot after flashing the rom , just be sure to reboot to recovery after flashing the recovery zip file.
3) the flash_all.bat script will be inside the extracted rom(fastboot rom) folder. You can use xiaomiflash too for flashing through fastboot.

 

[steve.loveday]

1) Yes you should follow clean flash instructions.
2)Changing of slot is done in custom recovery. Precisely in the reboot menu. But newer recoveries automatically switch the slot after flashing the rom , just be sure to reboot to recovery after flashing the recovery zip file.
3) the flash_all.bat script will be inside the extracted rom(fastboot rom) folder. You can use xiaomiflash too for flashing through fastboot.

Hi thanks for the reply,
I'm getting confused with all the various guides all seem to want you to do it a different way.
As i'm wanting Lineage thier instructions are...

Installation:

1. Download the latest build from here
2. Download LinkBoi00's version of TWRP here
3. Reboot to bootloader (adb reboot bootloader)
4. Fastboot into TWRP recovery (fastboot boot twrp*.img)
5. Do a factory reset in TWRP
6. Flash the latest build of Lineage OS
7. Boot into your new phone

Theres no mention of the edl or fastboot flashing and also the fastbot rom i downloaded doesnt have the flash_all.bat script in the zip file.
So do i follow thier instructions or these ones ?
Cheers

 

[user-001]

Theres no mention of the edl or fastboot flashing and also the fastbot rom i downloaded doesnt have the flash_all.bat script in the zip file.
So do i follow thier instructions or these ones ?
Cheers

This guide deals with how to do something rather than what to do, meaning you should always do what particular rom suggests but the way to do this is mentioned here.

edl or fastboot flashing comes under clean flashing with new base, most of the time you aren't required to do this.

The script should be clean_all.bat or something similar just don't execute script with lock in the name(it will lock the bootloader)

And if you're already on the recommended base you don't have to flash the fastboot rom.

 

[AntonyMan]

First of all, thank you very much for the detailed guide. What you have done here took a lot of work to do but it will help a lot of people (including me) to understand, albeit rudimentarily, the structures and functions of the devices etc.
For all that, thanks again.

When I start using the guide, I will update this post with any questions, such as :
fastboot boot '/media/user001/storage (1)/daisy/twrp/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img'

why not doing below? (For those who, like me, are not very familiar with linux.)
1. > adb push <twrp.img> /sdcard or same adb push "C:\platform-tools\twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img" /sdcard
( which means push <file> from "adb|platform-tools\ folder" (eg. C:\platform-tools\)
into the root of <internal storage> | /storage/emulated/0 )

2. Reboot from adb to fastboot:
> adb reboot bootloader
3. Boot the image from <internal storage>:
> fastboot boot /sdcard/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img

What is the "Red" pointed and "Yellow" addresses"?
fastboot boot '/media/user001/storage (1)/daisy/twrp/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img'

 

[AntonyMan]

I followed your "EDL FLASHING" post (#2) and it worked exactly as you mention!

In short, I was comming from unsuccessful flashing... but this is out of topic.
For me, did not worked the first time (after restarts) but the other day worked perfect.

The point is, most of times, it's becase windowz drivers.
We have to point that windowz needs their time to take the drivers in place. So, be patient and leave windowz to (not forced) restart(s).

 

[user-001]

What is the "Red" pointed and "Yellow" addresses"?
fastboot boot '/media/user001/storage (1)/daisy/twrp/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img'

That must be your terminal representing different type of character in different colors.

Or, Are you talking about something else ?

 

[user-001]

Theres no mention of the edl or fastboot flashing and also the fastbot rom i downloaded doesnt have the flash_all.bat script in the zip file.
So do i follow thier instructions or these ones ?
Cheers

For future references, the extracted fastboot ROM should be like this and you need to execute flash_all.bat or flash_all.sh script depending upon your OS or terminal.

 

[AntonyMan]

That must be your terminal representing different type of character in different colors.

Or, Are you talking about something else ?

Of course I'm talking about something else. lol
I was talking about that 'strange' address. fastboot boot '/media/user001/storage (1)/daisy/twrp/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img' (explained in post #11)
There is not such a directories in my miA2Lite phone. Obviously, it's because you are on Linux or Mac (UNIX). On Windowz 'command prompt' syntax it's slightly different.

Thus, I typed fastboot boot "/sdcard/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img"
* /sdcard is the root of <internal storage> directory.
** On Windows, double quote the address, if it's include spaces.

 

[user-001]

Of course I'm talking about something else. lol
I was talking about that 'strange' address. There is not such a directories in my miA2Lite phone.

Thus, I typed fastboot boot "/sdcard/twrp-3.5.2_9-2-daisy-unofficial.img"
* /sdcard is the root of <internal storage> directory.
** On Windows, double quote the address, if it's include spaces.

The twrp image was on my pc(linux) i was booting directly from pc's terminal. And if you use only adb(or fastboot) then the paths are pc's absolute paths.