Question [Solved] Bootloader is unlocked but cant get into fastboot mode to relock it

[GIutton]

Been trying to find out if there is a way to reflash the bootloader/fastboot to the phone?

Or how about relocking the bootloader without fastboot mode? osm0sis posted some tools that could do it on some older phones but haven't seen anything like it for newer ones so maybe it's not possible anymore. I have the phone rooted but if I can get back to stock with a locked bootloader I'd at least be happy.

 

[Quake94]

You could run the getvar command and compare partitions
Maybe try flashing "vendor_boot" or "abl" from the fastbootd.
Fastboot is stored on "abl" partition, so a bit of precaution
I would recommend backing them up before flashing over

 

[GIutton]

You could run the getvar command and compare partitions
Maybe try flashing "vendor_boot" or "abl" from the fastbootd.
Fastboot is stored on "abl" partition, so a bit of precaution
I would recommend backing them up before flashing over

When I use the MSM tool it flashes the "vendor_boot"

Do you know where I can get a copy of the abl partition? I am guessing it is not the abl.elf file found in the firmware ofp? And do I use dd to backup the file located in dev/block/by-name/abl_<a,b>?

I will try it but idk if it's going to allow me to flash the abl partition in fastbootd though. Ever since I tried doing a local install of A.20 then I MSM tool it back to A.17 and took the A.20 update ota (was trying various things to see if it would fix it) now it wont even flash the boot.img anymore. I get FAILED (remote: No such file or directory). Have already tried the MSM tool again to go back to A.17 but still can't flash a boot.img. So now I'm back to having an unlocked bootloader that I cannot relock and also cannot root the phone either lol.

Edit: "fastboot oem device-info" fails and "fastboot getvar all" gives me a completely different output from what you show. Not a single line is the same for me to be able to compare it to. And oh yeah I can't root the phone so I won't be able to backup the abl partition huh?

Edit again: okay so no idea why this worked but I tried "fastboot flash boot_b boot.img" and this worked and allowed me to root the phone. Last time I rooted I definitely used "fastboot flash boot boot.img" so idk why that stopped working but at least I am now rooted again. Also wanted to add that even after I flash the phone with MSM tool, USB debugging is enabled so something/some partitions are not being overwritten. I know MSM tool doesn't seem to overwrite the persist.img so could something in there be causing this? Or any other partitions not being overwritten that could potentially cause this?

 

[abhi24365]

Stuck on same. Service centre guys couldnt do anything
Were you able to find a solution?

When I use the MSM tool it flashes the "vendor_boot"

Do you know where I can get a copy of the abl partition? I am guessing it is not the abl.elf file found in the firmware ofp? And do I use dd to backup the file located in dev/block/by-name/abl_<a,b>?

I will try it but idk if it's going to allow me to flash the abl partition in fastbootd though. Ever since I tried doing a local install of A.20 then I MSM tool it back to A.17 and took the A.20 update ota (was trying various things to see if it would fix it) now it wont even flash the boot.img anymore. I get FAILED (remote: No such file or directory). Have already tried the MSM tool again to go back to A.17 but still can't flash a boot.img. So now I'm back to having an unlocked bootloader that I cannot relock and also cannot root the phone either lol.

Edit: "fastboot oem device-info" fails and "fastboot getvar all" gives me a completely different output from what you show. Not a single line is the same for me to be able to compare it to. And oh yeah I can't root the phone so I won't be able to backup the abl partition huh?

Edit again: okay so no idea why this worked but I tried "fastboot flash boot_b boot.img" and this worked and allowed me to root the phone. Last time I rooted I definitely used "fastboot flash boot boot.img" so idk why that stopped working but at least I am now rooted again. Also wanted to add that even after I flash the phone with MSM tool, USB debugging is enabled so something/some partitions are not being overwritten. I know MSM tool doesn't seem to overwrite the persist.img so could something in there be causing this? Or any other partitions not being overwritten that could potentially cause this?

 

[GIutton]

Stuck on same. Service centre guys couldnt do anything
Were you able to find a solution?

Unfortunately no I have not. I was thinking about flashing the persist to see if that fixes it, or using the MSM tool to put a different region software on the phone but I have not gotten around to doing either of those yet. There is something that isnt being overwritten by the MSM tool because after I use it not only is the bootloader still unlocked but even USB debugging is still turned on. The only thing I can think of would be the persist image because that for sure is not being overwritten by MSM tool. I am just a bit wary to try it because I have read some bad stuff can happen if it goes wrong.

 

[abhi24365]

I would strongly advice against flashing the persist partition. I have done it earlier on Realme X3 pro and i lost widevine L1 permanently. I discovered it the hard way. However as of now its more or less same boat as u can not lock the bootloader and widevine remains on L3(unless u have a chinese variant with permanent L3) But may be in future u can lock bootloader somehow u will get it back the L1, but persist will surely wipe your L1 keys and is non reversible. U can check other forums to verify it.

The guy at Realme service centre used official MSM tool to flash the firmware A.14 still bootloader remained locked.

Hope you discover something to lock the bootloader.
I am now living with unrooted stock as it allows to run certain bank apps which detect root no matter how i hide it.

 

[GIutton]

I would strongly advice against flashing the persist partition. I have done it earlier on Realme X3 pro and i lost widevine L1 permanently. I discovered it the hard way. However as of now its more or less same boat as u can not lock the bootloader and widevine remains on L3(unless u have a chinese variant with permanent L3) But may be in future u can lock bootloader somehow u will get it back the L1, but persist will surely wipe your L1 keys and is non reversible. U can check other forums to verify it.

The guy at Realme service centre used official MSM tool to flash the firmware A.14 still bootloader remained locked.

Hope you discover something to lock the bootloader.
I am now living with unrooted stock as it allows to run certain bank apps which detect root no matter how i hide it.

Right that is what I had read too about losing widevine permanently if you flash persist which is why I have not tried it yet. Would that happen even if I save a backup copy of the persist and flash it back?

So is your bootloader locked or unlocked?

The main thing for me is just finding a way to relock the bootloader. I do not care so much about accessing fastboot mode, I just want to relock the bootloader so I can get Widevine L1 back but seems the only way to do that is in fastboot mode.

 

[GIutton]

I would strongly advice against flashing the persist partition. I have done it earlier on Realme X3 pro and i lost widevine L1 permanently. I discovered it the hard way. However as of now its more or less same boat as u can not lock the bootloader and widevine remains on L3(unless u have a chinese variant with permanent L3) But may be in future u can lock bootloader somehow u will get it back the L1, but persist will surely wipe your L1 keys and is non reversible. U can check other forums to verify it.

The guy at Realme service centre used official MSM tool to flash the firmware A.14 still bootloader remained locked.

Hope you discover something to lock the bootloader.
I am now living with unrooted stock as it allows to run certain bank apps which detect root no matter how i hide it.

Have you updated to A13 yet? I just did the update manually and Widevine L1 was restored on my phone and the bootloader is still unlocked.

 

[GIutton]

I would strongly advice against flashing the persist partition. I have done it earlier on Realme X3 pro and i lost widevine L1 permanently. I discovered it the hard way. However as of now its more or less same boat as u can not lock the bootloader and widevine remains on L3(unless u have a chinese variant with permanent L3) But may be in future u can lock bootloader somehow u will get it back the L1, but persist will surely wipe your L1 keys and is non reversible. U can check other forums to verify it.

The guy at Realme service centre used official MSM tool to flash the firmware A.14 still bootloader remained locked.

Hope you discover something to lock the bootloader.
I am now living with unrooted stock as it allows to run certain bank apps which detect root no matter how i hide it.

Just wanted to let you know that I was able to get this fixed. Not exactly sure if I had to do all these steps or only some of them but I will just list everything I remember doing just in case.

First I updated the phone to Android 13 RMX3301export_11_C.13 by local install then factory wiped it from the settings menu. Then I set it up like I normally would and rooted it by flashing a magisk patched boot image through fastbootd. Then I installed the universal safetynet fix v2.4.0 module and rebooted. Next I enabled developer options and USB debugging and then ticked the OEM unlocking switch to off but did not restart the phone, and then I ticket it right back on. Next I went and opened the deep testing app and, unlike every other time I tried this, this time it did not recognize the bootloader as being unlocked already and allowed me to submit an application which I did. The phone froze on something like "application submitted: processing" so after about 30 min I clicked on "back" and then clicked on "query approval status". It showed my application was approved and I clicked on "start deep testing" and the phone immediately and successfully booted the bootloader/fastboot. From here I selected the option "reboot to bootloader" and it was a success again so then I booted into the system, connected it to the PC and did "adb reboot bootloader" and again it booted into the bootloader/fastboot mode just fine. I have no idea why any of this would have worked all of the sudden because I have tried pretty much the same stuff in the past. Maybe it has something to do with the Android 13 update or the new safetynet fix v2.4.0. All I know is I just kept tinkering with it and finally something worked.

 

[M323]

Hello everybody.
I have a similar issue, with a few differences :
I tried flash a custom ROM and used fastboot mode ( by keep DOWN+POWER keys ).
After this command: (fastboot reboot fastboot) my fastboot mode was disabled, and I can not connect to my tablet again. Now tablet show the logo after restart for a few seconds and then restart again. I searched on the web to how to enable fastboot mode again and not found anything. One person preferred me to wait to recharge battery completely and then charge, but it does not work. So I need help immediately.

This is my list of commands I used :
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot devices
HGT6FPQP fastboot
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot getvar version-bootloader
version-bootloader: akita_row_call-622276bd-20220223142906-20220706021818
Finished. Total time: 0.003s
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot flashing unlock
(bootloader) Start unlock flow
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot flash boot boot.img
Sending 'boot' (32768 KB) OKAY [ 1.219s]
Writing 'boot' OKAY [ 0.470s]
Finished. Total time: 1.867s
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot flash system system.img
Sending sparse 'system' 1/24 (130096 KB) OKAY [ 5.518s]
Writing 'system' OKAY [ 1.905s]
Sending sparse 'system' 2/24 (128056 KB) OKAY [ 5.592s]
Writing 'system' OKAY [ 1.865s]
......
Sending sparse 'system' 24/24 (31296 KB) OKAY [ 1.241s]
Writing 'system' OKAY [ 0.482s]
Finished. Total time: 198.984s
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Sending 'recovery' (32768 KB) OKAY [ 1.271s]
Writing 'recovery' OKAY [ 0.472s]
Finished. Total time: 1.907s
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot flash cache cache.img
Sending 'cache' (128 KB) OKAY [ 0.016s]
Writing 'cache' OKAY [ 0.016s]
Finished. Total time: 0.062s
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot reboot
Rebooting OKAY [ 0.000s]
Finished. Total time: 0.000s
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot flash recovery twrp34.img
Sending 'recovery' (4562 KB) OKAY [ 0.163s]
Writing 'recovery' OKAY [ 0.069s]
Finished. Total time: 0.254s
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot reboot fastboot
Rebooting into fastboot OKAY [ 0.000s]
< waiting for any device >
^C
D:\LENOVO TAB M8\platform-tools>fastboot reboot
< waiting for any device >
^C
As you can see, "fastboot reboot fastboot" was the last command I used, and then my tablet restarted and fastboot mode disabled forever. So turning off and then keeping Down+Power keys for going to fastboot not working
How can I enable fastboot mode again ?