Recover a 4.4.4 downgrade brick! (Temporal solution)

tatazeuz

Senior Member
Dec 5, 2012
315
90
0
Santiago
So, i have noted a increased number of threads about people who have soft-bricked their phones downgrading from 4.4.4 GPE after recieving the OTA, since it includes a new partition table and there's no firmware image yet.
Worry not, i have found a solution for your problem. This method only let's you use custom ROMs (sadly), but it's meant to be a temporal solution while we wait for a 4.4.4 GPE image anyways.
So, without further ado, here's my fix:

You will need:
-The good ol' Android SDK
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html#download

-Motorola drivers
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/88481

-A custom recovery. I recommend TWRP, since is the only one i have tested.
Official TWRP Images for Moto G: http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/xt1032/openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.1-xt1032.img

-The gpt.bin from 4.4.4 (this is the partition table)
I extracted it from the OTA file and uploaded to my Dropbox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/82658555/gpt.bin

-A custom ROM of your choice (obligatory) + GApps (optional)

What to do:

Once you have the Android SDK, decompress the folder sdk/platform-tools in a place of your choice.
Inside this folder, put gpt.bin, the custom recovery image and the ROM and GApps zip's.
Start your phone on fastboot. Connect it.
Inside your decompressed platform-tools folder, hold shift and right click inside the folder. Select "Open command window here".
Make sure your phone is properly connected by typing "fastboot devices" (without the quotation marks). The command prompt should show your phone serial number.

Now we start the real deal. Fist of all, flash gpt.bin using this command:

fastboot flash partition gpt.bin

Make sure it ends on "OKAY"
Now, flash the recovery

fastboot flash recovery nameoftherecoveryfile.img

Once this is done, enter recovery using the fastboot menu on your phone (use Vol- to highlight "Recovery", and then press Vol+)
Now your phone should boot on recovery mode. If you recieve an error like "Can't mount /system/", don't worry, this is normal (there's no system partiton yet, after all). Now you can use ADB command with your PC. Once again, to be sure everything is connected properly,tyipe on the console:

adb devices

Once that is done, it's time to give your phone the custom ROM, so you can flash it. Type (or copy/paste)

adb push NameoftheROMfile.zip /sdcard/ NameoftheROMfile.zip

If you have GApps, do the same for those

adb push GApps.zip /sdcard/ GApps.zip

Now you can finally disconnect your phone from the PC! You are almost done, select "Install" in your recovery, and flash your ROM zip, then the GApps if you have them.

Once it's done, you can reboot to system.
And you will have a working Moto G again!!

Enjoy it, and don't brick it again :)
 
Last edited:

maurocds

Senior Member
Jan 30, 2013
525
164
0
the guide isw missing some info (like enter flash sideload on recovery)

and that weird command push does not work, i have to use other command

i managed to install another rom after being bricked but still that rom won´t start, i have to try another

still thanks a lot

i did not download android sdk, i have my folder with adb files

also when i am in recovery, i type fastboot devices and nothing happens, but still the recovery could receive the file
 

tatazeuz

Senior Member
Dec 5, 2012
315
90
0
Santiago
the guide isw missing some info (like enter flash sideload on recovery)

and that weird command push does not work, i have to use other command

i managed to install another rom after being bricked but still that rom won´t start, i have to try another

still thanks a lot

i did not download android sdk, i have my folder with adb files

also when i am in recovery, i type fastboot devices and nothing happens, but still the recovery could receive the file
From my experience, you don't have to enter sideload mode in recovery to push a file, sideload mode is for pushing OTAs. And remember, the ADB push command requires you to put the exact name of the file to transfer twice, that could have failed for you.

You can't use fastboot devices on recovery because you can only use ADB commands in recovery, you were supposed to use "adb devices".
 

masa86

Senior Member
Dec 19, 2007
129
105
0
Or you can restore 4.4.2 nandroid backup using recovery if you made one. But after that you need to flash correct baseband.
 

tatazeuz

Senior Member
Dec 5, 2012
315
90
0
Santiago
i just received failed at twrp recovery and how do i flashed gpt.bin right because it say okay.
And what does gpt.bin actually? (i am a noob)
got.bin is the partition table of the Moto G. Its the file that indicates to the phone the size, name and number of partitions it should have.
So, I know TWRP said in red letters Failed, but I'm interested what is the specific error, what did it said on the command prompt of TWRP.
 

Fresroqir

Member
Feb 16, 2014
18
2
0
Error flashing zip sdcard pa falconzip
and then there comes this updating partitution details and do i need to put the rom twice in the cmd?
 
Last edited:

Fresroqir

Member
Feb 16, 2014
18
2
0
It still doesn't work for me i got th whole time failed and i don't know what i need to do ;(

It says: Z:\New folder\Android>fastboot flash partition gpt.bin
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'partition' (32 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.025s]
writing 'partition'...
(bootloader) This may take a few seconds, if a
(bootloader) different partition table is being
(bootloader) flashed since we need to backup
(bootloader) and restore a few partitions
(bootloader) Flashing primary GPT image...
(bootloader) Flashing backup GPT image...
OKAY [ 0.372s]
finished. total time: 0.399s



is that good?



EDIT:it looks that sideload works and not that push command



EDIT: nvm i am stuck at bootanimation :(



EDIT: this wont work it says failed all the time at twrp
 
Last edited:

nlra

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2012
134
58
0
I'm kind of confused. Why couldn't people downgrade and go back to stock by reflashing all of the files from an older stock image, including the motoboot and gpt? I would think this would work...although with people saying that they are unable to downgrade I'm not willing to try upgrading to 4.4.4 myself. :p

What errors are people seeing if they try to flash gpt and motoboot from, say, 4.4.2 stock or 4.4.2 GPE?

-- Nathan
 
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