How To Guide Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 2021 (SM-X200) Android 12 / Android 13 Treble flash Guide

[ke4peo]

The full process for flashing is in the first post, in case you don't have the DSU option

I see it now. Don't know how I missed it. Thanks!

 

[kevinco1]

Is DSU option not possible if you have 16GB model because of limited storage space?

 

[lewmur]

Is DSU option not possible if you have 16GB model because of limited storage space?

I don't have the model with only 16gb so I can't test it. But there have been others that said it's true. Though why anyone would buy that model when 32 or 64gb model don't cost very much more.

 

[ke4peo]

Well, I managed to get through part of the process. I got TWRP installed in the recovery partition and I can reboot into TWRP.

However, I don't see any option to "Enable ADB over USB". There is "Apply update from ADB" but that puts it in sideload mode and ADB won't let me 'fastboot flash system system.img' that way. It just sits as <waiting for device>

There's also no option for 'navigate to reboot and select Fastboot mode'. I tried 'Apply update from SD Card' with the system.img on the SD card, but TWRP doesn't see anything in that folder. Used to be, you could put the ZIP file for the rom in a folder on the SD card and TWRP would find it and flash it.

Right now I'm stuck with TWRP installed, but still the stock Samsung OS on it. Also, I can't seem to get back to where I can make sure the bootloader is unlocked. When I reboot and hold Vol Up and Vol Down it just takes me to the 'Custom OS' screen.

Any suggestions on how to load the Lineage or AOSP roms would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[asripath]

Well, I managed to get through part of the process. I got TWRP installed in the recovery partition and I can reboot into TWRP.

However, I don't see any option to "Enable ADB over USB". There is "Apply update from ADB" but that puts it in sideload mode and ADB won't let me 'fastboot flash system system.img' that way. It just sits as <waiting for device>

There's also no option for 'navigate to reboot and select Fastboot mode'. I tried 'Apply update from SD Card' with the system.img on the SD card, but TWRP doesn't see anything in that folder. Used to be, you could put the ZIP file for the rom in a folder on the SD card and TWRP would find it and flash it.

Right now I'm stuck with TWRP installed, but still the stock Samsung OS on it. Also, I can't seem to get back to where I can make sure the bootloader is unlocked. When I reboot and hold Vol Up and Vol Down it just takes me to the 'Custom OS' screen.

Any suggestions on how to load the Lineage or AOSP roms would be appreciated. Thanks!

https://www.xda-developers.com/android-developer-options/
Enable developer options & usb debugging for adb over usb

 

[ke4peo]

https://www.xda-developers.com/android-developer-options/
Enable developer options & usb debugging for adb over usb

I did that. Both OEM Unlocking and USB debugging are on.

ADB can see the device. I can issue commands like "adb reboot" to the device and it will reboot. So ADB can talk to it. But when I try doing the 'fastboot flash system system.img' it sits there saying '<waiting for any device>'.

I even tried doing the 'fastboot' command then booting the tablet into download mode (the cyan-colored screen). That doesn't work and ADB doesn't see the device then. Only Odin does. So I'm at a loss.

 

[asripath]

I did that. Both OEM Unlocking and USB debugging are on.

ADB can see the device. I can issue commands like "adb reboot" to the device and it will reboot. So ADB can talk to it. But when I try doing the 'fastboot flash system system.img' it sits there saying '<waiting for any device>'.

I even tried doing the 'fastboot' command then booting the tablet into download mode (the cyan-colored screen). That doesn't work and ADB doesn't see the device then. Only Odin does. So I'm at a loss.

You need to be in fastboot/bootloader mode to run fastboot commands

adb reboot fastboot
Or
adb reboot bootloader

Edit
Get familiar with adb

List of ADB Commands and Fastboot Commands for Android | iHax

Here is a complete list of all the ADB Commands and Fastboot Commands and a help guide on how to use these commands on your Android device.

ihax.io

 

[ke4peo]

You need to be in fastboot/bootloader mode to run fastboot commands

adb reboot fastboot
Or
adb reboot bootloader

Edit
Get familiar with adb

List of ADB Commands and Fastboot Commands for Android | iHax

Here is a complete list of all the ADB Commands and Fastboot Commands and a help guide on how to use these commands on your Android device.

ihax.io

I tried 'adb reboot fastboot'. All that did was reboot the tablet and load right back into Android. So, then I tried 'adb reboot bootloader'. That sends me into the cyan-colored screen (see image). I then did 'fastboot flash system system.img' and it again sits at <waiting for any device>.

I again, confirmed OEM Unlocking and USB debugging are enabled. Bootloader is unlocked. Not sure what else I can try except trying to flash the IMG file via Odin. But it's been a while and I can't remember the way to do it that way.

 

[lewmur]

I tried 'adb reboot fastboot'. All that did was reboot the tablet and load right back into Android. So, then I tried 'adb reboot bootloader'. That sends me into the cyan-colored screen (see image). I then did 'fastboot flash system system.img' and it again sits at <waiting for any device>.

I again, confirmed OEM Unlocking and USB debugging are enabled. Bootloader is unlocked. Not sure what else I can try except trying to flash the IMG file via Odin. But it's been a while and I can't remember the way to do it that way.

Samsung devices don't all support fastboot natively. If you read the OP carefully, you will see that you have to flash TWRP first and use that to enter fastboot.

 

[ke4peo]

Samsung devices don't all support fastboot natively. If you read the OP carefully, you will see that you have to flash TWRP first and use that to enter fastboot.

Which I did flash TWRP. But there is no fastboot option that I can find in TWRP. There's "Reboot system now" and "Reboot into bootloader".

Reboot Into Bootloader just takes me to the same cyan screen and doesn't allow ADB to do anything.

 

[lewmur]

Which I did flash TWRP. But there is no fastboot option that I can find in TWRP. There's "Reboot system now" and "Reboot into bootloader".

Reboot Into Bootloader just takes me to the same cyan screen and doesn't allow ADB to do anything.

The recovery shown in your pics is the standard recovery and NOT TWRP. When flashing TWRP you MUST disable the auto-reboot option in Odin because if the tablet reboots to system, it will overwrite TWRP. When TWRP finishes flashing in Odin, hold the vol down and power until the screen blanks. Then, immediately switch from vol down to vol up to reboot to TWRP. You have to do this fast or it will reboot system again and you'll have to do it again.

 

[ke4peo]

The recovery shown in your pics is the standard recovery and NOT TWRP. When flashing TWRP you MUST disable the auto-reboot option in Odin because if the tablet reboots to system, it will overwrite TWRP. When TWRP finishes flashing in Odin, hold the vol down and power until the screen blanks. Then, immediately switch from vol down to vol up to reboot to TWRP. You have to do this fast or it will reboot system again and you'll have to do it again.

Ah ha! That explains it then. I double-checked the link to the post I used on how to install TWRP and it mentions nothing about disabling auto-reboot. I will go back and try this again and this time disable auto-reboot.

Thanks!

 

[ke4peo]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped me. Finally got Lineage installed and formatted my 256GB SD card as internal storage! So far, it's only had one little quirk, but it's a livable one until I figure it out.

The quirk? After I installed and formatted my Sandisk 256GB SD card as internal storage inside Settings the Storage section sees it, but when I tap on Storage it circles and then closes the Settings app. Like I said, quirky...but livable so long as it sees all the storage.

Edit: Fixed it! Basically went into TWRP and factory reset (with the SD card inserted) and also made sure to wipe the SD card. After rebooting and setting up my Google account again, it allowed me to format as internal and now doesn't crash!

 

[cyb7]

Guys, I guess I am too stupid to install LineageOS on that tablet, maybe someone is kind enough to help me.

I enabled "USB debugging" and "OEM Unlocking", unlocked the bootloader, flashed TWRP recovery with Odin, formated data, wiped all partitions with TWRP, unzipped lineage-19.1-20221122-UNOFFICIAL-arm64_bgN-secure.img.xz to system.img, rebooted tablet to fastboot and used "fastboot flash system system.img" to flash LineageOS.

fastboot output shows 11 steps of sending data to the tablet and finishes every step with OKAY. When selecting "Reboot to system" on the tablet after that, the tablet reboots and nothing happens. I can still restart TWRP, but LineageOS was obviously was not installed correctly.

Strange thing to me: During "fastboot flash system" nothing is displayed on the tablet itself. IIRC from flashing Smartphones the tablet should actually display some logging, shouldn't it?

Another strange thing: I installed Samsung-USB-Driver-v1.7.48.0.exe but nevertheless the Windows Device Manager displayed SM-X200 as non-working with invalid driver. I then updated the driver in Device Manager manually to "Samsung Android Bootloader Interface" (which was existing on my system because of the installation of that samsung.exe) and from then on the device would show up in "fastboot devices".

Does anybody know what I might do wrong?

Thanks!

cyb7

 

[lewmur]

Guys, I guess I am too stupid to install LineageOS on that tablet, maybe someone is kind enough to help me.

I enabled "USB debugging" and "OEM Unlocking", unlocked the bootloader, flashed TWRP recovery with Odin, formated data, wiped all partitions with TWRP, unzipped lineage-19.1-20221122-UNOFFICIAL-arm64_bgN-secure.img.xz to system.img, rebooted tablet to fastboot and used "fastboot flash system system.img" to flash LineageOS.

fastboot output shows 11 steps of sending data to the tablet and finishes every step with OKAY. When selecting "Reboot to system" on the tablet after that, the tablet reboots and nothing happens. I can still restart TWRP, but LineageOS was obviously was not installed correctly.

Strange thing to me: During "fastboot flash system" nothing is displayed on the tablet itself. IIRC from flashing Smartphones the tablet should actually display some logging, shouldn't it?

Another strange thing: I installed Samsung-USB-Driver-v1.7.48.0.exe but nevertheless the Windows Device Manager displayed SM-X200 as non-working with invalid driver. I then updated the driver in Device Manager manually to "Samsung Android Bootloader Interface" (which was existing on my system because of the installation of that samsung.exe) and from then on the device would show up in "fastboot devices".

Does anybody know what I might do wrong?

Thanks!

cyb7

I looked up what bgN meant and it seems the N means there is no superuser partition included. I think you need a ROM that is bgS.

 

[cyb7]

I looked up what bgN meant and it seems the N means there is no superuser partition included. I think you need a ROM that is bgS.

Okay, I checked https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-19.x/ and the only images with GAPPS where without superuser partition. So the most popular image seems to be lineage-19.1-20221122-UNOFFICIAL-arm64_bvS.img.xz I guess.

Right now I cannot try anything anymore on the tablet. From TWRP I chose "Reboot" and "Power Off". The tablet restarted and now hangs in "Samsung Galaxy" screen displaying "This tablet is not running Samsung's official software...blaa." I guess I have to wait for the battery getting empty before I can do anything again

 

[lewmur]

Okay, I checked https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-19.x/ and the only images with GAPPS where without superuser partition. So the most popular image seems to be lineage-19.1-20221122-UNOFFICIAL-arm64_bvS.img.xz I guess.

Right now I cannot try anything anymore on the tablet. From TWRP I chose "Reboot" and "Power Off". The tablet restarted and now hangs in "Samsung Galaxy" screen displaying "This tablet is not running Samsung's official software...blaa." I guess I have to wait for the battery getting empty before I can do anything again

This one is bgS. Hold power and vol down with USB cable plugged in. As soon as the screen blanks, switch to vol up while still hold power. That should boot to TWRP.

Once that is installed, you can then flash a later one that is bgN, so long as you DON't wipe the superuser partition.

 

[lewmur]

I'm still on the Aug version of the 19.1 ROM. When I try to use the Updater it says there is a Nov 22 version but when I click download and install, it just show an error occurred and to try later. Is there any way to manually download and install this version?

 

[cyb7]

Is there any way to manually download and install this version?

Will flashing the system image with fastboot not just update the system and leave all the user data alone?

Is there a way to install (e.g. BiTGApps) from a zip file in TWRP? I am not able to mount anything in TWRP. I can see a directory structure, but all folders are empty.

 

[lewmur]

I'm trying to flash this ROM system-td-arm64-ab-vanilla.img. I have installed stock Android 13 and flashed TWRP and rooted with Magisk. This all worked fine and I have root access. I booted TWRP, formatted data and rebooted back to recovery. Wiped Factory Reset and flashed the new img file to Super. It appeared to work fine with no error message but it still bootloops at Samsung screen with the red nag about being unsafe. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to flash the img with fastboot instead of TWRP?

edit: Flashing with fastboot worked. I think the problem with TWRP is that there is no option to flash to system and flashing to super doesn't work.