I rooted my XT1052 straight after updating to 5.1, a few years back. As a result I have never been able to install the OTA update (the one which fixed Stagefright, so far as I'm aware it's the only OTA Moto did after the 5.1 update.)
I've been unable to install a few apps recently due to SafetyCheck failing on the rooted phone, so yesterday I decided I would unroot and return to stock, which would also enable me to install the bugfix OTA. (And with Magisk, nowadays we can keep root access without a modified system partition.)
I didn't have a stock image (or I had an image of some sort on a hard drive but couldn't remember its provenance). Moto's download page has images for the XT1053 but not the XT1052… Eventually I found firmware.center, where (I thought) I found the right image.
However, when flashed it (following the step-by-step guides which are the same on various pages, including Moto's own instructions), it failed to flash the `system` image. I got messages about invalid block sizes (IIRC) and then an error saying the image was corrupt (it wasn't; I checked the MD5).
This left me unable to boot. So I downloaded LineageOS (I'd been considering switching to LineageOS anyway to get Android 6), and was able to flash it from TWRP without any issues (other than the fact that a newer version of TWRP is required than the one published on their website…)
All well and good – except that now, when I turn my phone on it goes straight into Recovery (TWRP). Initially I could only get System to boot by starting the bootloader (Pwr+VolDn) and selecting 'BP Tools', which would cause it to boot normally. (I found this by trial and error.) Now, after re-flashing the boot image, It also works if I select Standard Boot from the bootloader. But I still have to select it manually. If I just turn the phone on normally, with the power button, it always boots into Recovery. Also, all the 'reboot' options from fastboot/adb or TWRP all boot to Recovery.
Now, I think I know what I did wrong. The stock image I downloaded was 'XT1052_GHOST_RETGB_5.1_LPAS23.12-15.5-1_cid7_CFC.xml.zip', but my system version before was 5.1_LPA23.12-15.5. I just assumed that the 5.1_LPAS23.12-15.5-1 version was a minor update – likely with the Stagefright OTA installed – so I went for that. But probably I should have gone for the exact version I already had installed.
Searching these forums and the wider web, I haven't found anyone with the exact same issue. But from similar issues, I decided I needed to re-flash the partition table (gpt.bin). I took the gpt.bin image from an older 5.1 ghost ROM I had saved, but I'm not able to flash it – the bootloader shows security warnings when I try.
So I'm stuck now – I have tried pretty much everything I can think of.
If anyone has any ideas I'd be very grateful!
I've been unable to install a few apps recently due to SafetyCheck failing on the rooted phone, so yesterday I decided I would unroot and return to stock, which would also enable me to install the bugfix OTA. (And with Magisk, nowadays we can keep root access without a modified system partition.)
I didn't have a stock image (or I had an image of some sort on a hard drive but couldn't remember its provenance). Moto's download page has images for the XT1053 but not the XT1052… Eventually I found firmware.center, where (I thought) I found the right image.
However, when flashed it (following the step-by-step guides which are the same on various pages, including Moto's own instructions), it failed to flash the `system` image. I got messages about invalid block sizes (IIRC) and then an error saying the image was corrupt (it wasn't; I checked the MD5).
This left me unable to boot. So I downloaded LineageOS (I'd been considering switching to LineageOS anyway to get Android 6), and was able to flash it from TWRP without any issues (other than the fact that a newer version of TWRP is required than the one published on their website…)
All well and good – except that now, when I turn my phone on it goes straight into Recovery (TWRP). Initially I could only get System to boot by starting the bootloader (Pwr+VolDn) and selecting 'BP Tools', which would cause it to boot normally. (I found this by trial and error.) Now, after re-flashing the boot image, It also works if I select Standard Boot from the bootloader. But I still have to select it manually. If I just turn the phone on normally, with the power button, it always boots into Recovery. Also, all the 'reboot' options from fastboot/adb or TWRP all boot to Recovery.
Now, I think I know what I did wrong. The stock image I downloaded was 'XT1052_GHOST_RETGB_5.1_LPAS23.12-15.5-1_cid7_CFC.xml.zip', but my system version before was 5.1_LPA23.12-15.5. I just assumed that the 5.1_LPAS23.12-15.5-1 version was a minor update – likely with the Stagefright OTA installed – so I went for that. But probably I should have gone for the exact version I already had installed.
Searching these forums and the wider web, I haven't found anyone with the exact same issue. But from similar issues, I decided I needed to re-flash the partition table (gpt.bin). I took the gpt.bin image from an older 5.1 ghost ROM I had saved, but I'm not able to flash it – the bootloader shows security warnings when I try.
So I'm stuck now – I have tried pretty much everything I can think of.
If anyone has any ideas I'd be very grateful!
