[STOP] FireOS 5.1.1 & attempted downgrade - the fastest Fire brick!

[bibikalka]

OK, just got the Fire today. The OS says 5.0.1 from Nov 17th, and says update is available, version 541112720. I block OTAVerifier only, thinking by blocking the verification I can intercept the update file in /cache. then I turn on airplane mode, play a bit and boot into TWRP via fastboot, install SuperSu. All is good.

Then I decide to see what the update is all about, and let it download. To my surprise, it starts installing. After the installation, I see FireOS 5.1.1 Now, I try to go into TWRP via fastboot, and it does not reboot and just hangs. A couple more tries - and still nothing.

I go back to stock recovery, and start sideloading update-kindle-37.5.2.2_user_522054520.bin . It sideloads OK, and upon reboot i get dark screen. Nothing works. This sounds very similar to the 4th gen issues where downgrades were bricking Fires :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/general/stop-upgrade-to-lollipop-via-twrp-t3216817

It'll be simple to install 5.1.1 via TWRP once the update file is captured, such that the older bootloaders can be kept.

But beware of the update - without TWRP there likely won't be root!

 

[Orbiting234]

Dang, sucks about the brick! Hopefully getting TWRP to work again won't take a herculean effort. Right now I'm loving SlimLP but anyone getting one for xmas would likely get that Fire OS 5.1.1 pushed to them right away upon booting up and logging in and I would hate to see them stuck on that!

 

[blueberry.sky]

Damn!
What if an open wifi network is within range? Will the Fire OS ask before connecting?
My friend has a new fire in the box & has an open wifi network within range of their place.

The 5.1.1 update should find it's way to amazon's Software Updates page in time. It's not there yet. http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201830180

 

[DoLooper]

What if an open wifi network is within range? Will the Fire OS ask before connecting?
My friend has a new fire in the box & has an open wifi network within range of their place.

afaik they don't ship with wifi on, and you have to agree to connect if wifi is detected.

Still, anyone who might want to root needs to keep wifi off until this is sorted--or until they're rooted and can rename DeviceSoftwareOTA.apk . And everyone on rooted stock should confirm /system/priv-app/DeviceSoftwareOTA/DeviceSoftwareOTA.apk is renamed to .apkOFF (or whatever), which should prevent a download. Don't know how the roms handle OTA.

 

[blueberry.sky]

I do believe that you should have to agree to connect to wifi. But I'd like to be 100% sure. Don't want to take the slightest chance.

I would appreciate confirmation from anyone with a brand new Fire & an open wifi network within range, that it will not auto-connect.

 

[DoLooper]

It'll be simple to install 5.1.1 via TWRP once the update file is captured, such that the older bootloaders can be kept.

But beware of the update - without TWRP there likely won't be root!

So, 5.1.1 can't boot TWRP and downgrading produces bricks. Lovely!

Wonder if there's any chance the CM recovery will boot?

I assume some of the "old-timers" here will capture the update soon enough. If not, I'm glad to give it a go.

 

[87racer]

tried the downgrade as well, same result. I think the reason we can't get back into recovery\fastboot is because the device is just endlessly rebooting (you can see in device manager). it wont let you power it off to try the volume down+power combo and just holding them does nothing. im going to let mine die overnight hopefully and maybe getting the volume down+power from off will let us back into recovery?

---------- Post added at 01:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 AM ----------

So, 5.1.1 can't boot TWRP and downgrading produces bricks. Lovely!

Wonder if there's any chance the CM recovery will boot?

I assume some of the "old-timers" here will capture the update soon enough. If not, I'm glad to give it a go.

Well 5.0.1 is available on the Amazon website here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201830180 so I contacted Amazon for the 5.1.1 file and this was what I got:

Jyothirmayi: In this case, I'll personally follow up your contact and email you the link for the update because we currently don't have the manual link for the update in our website.

I will post here if\when I hear back

 

[diegocr]

dmesg on linux machine when plug usb, open mediatek preloader com port.
Have this on bricked fire ?

usb 1-2.4: Product: MT65xx Preloader
usb 1-2.4: Manufacturer: MediaTek
cdc_acm 1-2.4:1.1: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

adb
usb 1-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=1949, idProduct=0222
usb 1-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=4
usb 1-2.4: Product: Fire
usb 1-2.4: Manufacturer: Amazon
usb 1-2.4: SerialNumber: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

fastboot
usb 1-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=0bb4, idProduct=0c01
usb 1-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 1-2.4: Product: Android
usb 1-2.4: Manufacturer: MediaTek
usb 1-2.4: SerialNumber: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[hp420]

If you have TWRP, why didn't you just use the file manager to copy and paste the OTA from your /cache to your sd card? If you can boot to TWRP, see if it's still there.

You can also dump your cache via adb shell from within TWRP and get the OTA by extracting the cache.img that dumps. There are several ways, as long as TWRP and fastboot are still booting.

Also, you can use adb shell within twrp to dd a system.img dumped from another fire tab, and restore your device that way if all else fails.

 

[inscythe]

If you have TWRP, why didn't you just use the file manager to copy and paste the OTA from your /cache to your sd card? If you can boot to TWRP, see if it's still there.

You can also dump your cache via adb shell from within TWRP and get the OTA by extracting the cache.img that dumps. There are several ways, as long as TWRP and fastboot are still booting.

Also, you can use adb shell within twrp to dd a system.img dumped from another fire tab, and restore your device that way if all else fails.

I think in the OP, he mentioned that he is no longer able to get into TWRP after 5.1.1 update...

 

[mmoogle]

So I bricked my device last night trying to downgrade before anyone had posted about it. Oops.

I did some Googling and theoretically these tools here should help us unbrick, but I believe we don't have the Amazon firmware in the right format.

HOWEVER, this tool, if I understand it right, should be able to pull the firmware from a working device in the right format for us to try flashing to a bricked device. Anyone want to give it a shot?

 

[Vlasp]

Jyothirmayi: In this case, I'll personally follow up your contact and email you the link for the update because we currently don't have the manual link for the update in our website.

I will post here if/when I hear back

So I bricked my device last night trying to downgrade before anyone had posted about it. Oops.

I did some Googling and theoretically these tools here should help us unbrick, but I believe we don't have the Amazon firmware in the right format.

HOWEVER, this tool, if I understand it right, should be able to pull the firmware from a working device in the right format for us to try flashing to a bricked device. Anyone want to give it a shot?

When we get the official file from Amazon, we can format it to the way the MTK Droid Tool wants it, and then that would theoretically work.

 

[bibikalka]

So I bricked my device last night trying to downgrade before anyone had posted about it. Oops.

I did some Googling and theoretically these tools here should help us unbrick, but I believe we don't have the Amazon firmware in the right format.

HOWEVER, this tool, if I understand it right, should be able to pull the firmware from a working device in the right format for us to try flashing to a bricked device. Anyone want to give it a shot?

When we get the official file from Amazon, we can format it to the way the MTK Droid Tool wants it, and then that would theoretically work.

Well, I've been there before with the 4th gen Fire HD :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/help/mtk-tools-people-hopeless-bricks-t3139784

In a nutshell, MTK Droid tools don't even talk to the working Fire properly, so it's unlikely they'd help with a bricked one ...

 

[blueberry.sky]

tried the downgrade as well, same result. I think the reason we can't get back into recovery\fastboot is because the device is just endlessly rebooting (you can see in device manager). it wont let you power it off to try the volume down+power combo and just holding them does nothing. im going to let mine die overnight hopefully and maybe getting the volume down+power from off will let us back into recovery?

Just pull your battery. The back cover is very easy to get off. Use a knife just to widen the seam so you can get your fingernail in at the corner. Keep one fingernail at the corner & side a 2nd nail down along the edge.
Then the battery connector lifts out upwards.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/ama...o-photo-amazon-fire-2015-motherboard-t3227808

 

[87racer]

Well, I've been there before with the 4th gen Fire HD :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/help/mtk-tools-people-hopeless-bricks-t3139784

In a nutshell, MTK Droid tools don't even talk to the working Fire properly, so it's unlikely they'd help with a bricked one ...

We might be in luck. I happen to have 3 of them One bricked, one mostly untouched on 5.1.1 and another with OTA blocked on 5.0.1. I will fiddle with the tools you posted and see if I can come up with something.

Just pull your battery. The back cover is very easy to get off. Use a knife just to widen the seam so you can get your fingernail in at the corner. Keep one fingernail at the corner & side a 2nd nail down along the edge.
Then the battery connector lifts out upwards.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/ama...o-photo-amazon-fire-2015-motherboard-t3227808

Good to know, even over night, it still isn't dead so I might give this a shot.

 

[acmurdah]

 

[nEUTRon666]

So, if i previously installed the google framework and blocked ota like most people did, this won't block the ota really ?

 

[bibikalka]

We might be in luck. I happen to have 3 of them One bricked, one mostly untouched on 5.1.1 and another with OTA blocked on 5.0.1. I will fiddle with the tools you posted and see if I can come up with something.

The best deal is of course to capture the 5.1.1 update file. I am eager to try it, provided I get root with requires installing via TWRP.

 

[87racer]

Well, I've been there before with the 4th gen Fire HD :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/help/mtk-tools-people-hopeless-bricks-t3139784

In a nutshell, MTK Droid tools don't even talk to the working Fire properly, so it's unlikely they'd help with a bricked one ...

So MTK tools does talk but from what I gather it is looking for /proc/dumchar_info which contains the partition structure. This is used to create the scatter file that would allow us to push the firmware back. This file is non-existent. I tried to find some alternate way to build a scatter file but am coming up short and without it we can't really do anything using SP Flash...

Also tried looking into /proc/mtd for info but that file is basically blank. Not sure if Amazon is storing the partition information somewhere else or maybe its hard coded into a chip?

If anybody has any ideas, I have the working devices and can try pulling stuff but I am stumped atm

---------- Post added at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 PM ----------

The best deal is of course to capture the 5.1.1 update file. I am eager to try it, provided I get root with requires installing via TWRP.

We were replying at the same time. I don't think a 5.1.1 file is going to help us on the bricked devices. Once bricked, the preloader seems to just endlessly loop so we would have no way to get the firmware on the device without using something like SP Flash and a scatter file (which eludes me atm)

Theoretically if we have the scatter file I think we should be able to use our 5.0.1 file and restore, then upgrade to 5.1.1 (or stay for root and fastboot boot support)

 

[Pond-life]

So, if i previously installed the google framework and blocked ota like most people did, this won't block the ota really ?

What makes you say that? No one who did that has reported it updating.