[UNLOCK][ROOT][TWRP][UNBRICK] Fire TV Stick 4K (mantis)

[SweenWolf]

OK, so just to try and make this as idiot proof as possible for me:

1. Plug the USB cable that I currently have going to the power strip into my Windows laptop. This will boot the stick
2. Once it is booted, open a cmd prompt
3. Run "adb devices"
4. I will get some prompt on the TV, click OK using the Fire TV Remote
   (I don't think I need to push anything since I have the ROM already on the /sdcard of the stick)
5. Type "adb reboot recovery", this will reboot me into TWRP
6. Type "adb shell"
7. Type "twrp install /sdcard/mantis-6.2.6.6_r1.zip" (this file is already there)
8. Type "twrp wipe cache"
9. Type "twrp wipe dalvik"
10. Type "reboot -p"

At that point I should have a stick that is freshly flashed to 6.2.6.6, that may have OTA re-enabled

Two final questions before I dive into this:

1. If OTA is re-enabled, how do I prevent it from updating before I get a chance to disable OTA?
2. Do I need to deregister my firestick before I do this? I would prefer not to if it is not needed but if it has to be done, that's OK

Thanks again for the excellent help!

You do not have to deregister anything.

If OTA is reenabled, before rebooting go to network section and forget the network, or just turn off your router, simple as that

 

[emkorial]

You do not have to deregister anything.

If OTA is reenabled, before rebooting go to network section and forget the network, or just turn off your router, simple as that

OK I will unplug my router and be trying this tonight. Wish me luck!

 

[emkorial]

OK, this is not good. Here is what happened:

• I plugged the USB cable that I currently have going to the power strip into my Windows laptop. This booted the stick
• Once it is booted, I opened a cmd prompt
• Run "adb devices". NO DEVICES WERE FOUND

So I Googled and saw I needed to connect to the stick. (This step was missing from the instructions)

1. So I typed "adb connect 192.168.68.104", and it connected.
2. I typed adb devices, and it found the device!
3. I clicked OK on the prompt that came on the TV
4. I then typed "adb reboot recovery", and the stick rebooted me into TWRP

This is where it failed.

1. I was at the TWRP screen asking me if I wanted to keep things read only and the slide bar to modify settings,
2. I typed "adb shell" and got "error: no devices/emulators found"
3. So I typed "adb connect 192.168.68.104" and I got "unnable to connect to 192.168.68.104:5555: cannot connect to 192.168.68.104:5555: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. (10060)"
4. I could not use the FireTV remote to navigate the TWRP screen, so I was just stuck

So I unplugged the stick from the laptop, plugged it back into the power strip, I got the two boot up screens, then a black screen for a while, before the Fire Stick home screen finally came up

So I got rebooted to TWRP, but at that point I am unable to communicate with the stick to issue the abd shell command and flash the ROM. And I cannot navigate TWRP to do anything via the UI. What am I doing wrong?

 

[emkorial]

Possibly when the Fire Stick rebooted into TWRP mode, did it get assigned a different IP address, and that why the adb connect failed? Just grasping at straws here

 

[SweenWolf]

Possibly when the Fire Stick rebooted into TWRP mode, did it get assigned a different IP address, and that why the adb connect failed? Just grasping at straws here

SMH, Bluetooth and Wifi does not work in TWRP, you don't have to type the ip address as there won't be any.
The reason why i told you to connect using the cable is that it doesn't need any ip to connect, its a direct connection. You will have to type everything in the Console.
And make sure you are using a data cable i.e. it should have 4 wires in it

 

[emkorial]

SMH, Bluetooth and Wifi does not work in TWRP, you don't have to type the ip address as there won't be any.
The reason why i told you to connect using the cable is that it doesn't need any ip to connect, its a direct connection. You will have to type everything in the Console.
And make sure you are using a data cable i.e. it should have 4 wires in it

OK, that explains that

The firestick was directly plugged into the PC. I am used a USB data cable I just checked the pins with a flashlight and they are in there. Why would my laptop not be seeing the Firestick over the cable? Is there a Firestick "driver" I need installed?


Edit: SweenWolf, you da man, when you mentioned not needed to go over the network, it made me think that the laptop was just providing power and not seeing the stick. I checked device manager and saw it wasn't reading the stick properly! So I google for a driver and found one on xda and installed it (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/fire-stick-4k-mantis-driver-adb-for-win7-x64.4445315/), and now it shows up in Device Manager. And, I ran adb devices, and it saw the stick, WITHOUT having to connect to the IP Address first!! Which means (to me) the direct connection to the laptop is working! Progress!!

Thanks so much for the continued help, I feel like I am stumbling towards eventual success. I'm going to try the whole process again tomm, I have other things to attend to now. Stay tuned!! Looks like i need to get the driver set up for TWRP mode but the thread ha instructions on that so hopefully it goes smoothly

 

[emkorial]

OK, this is weird.

I plugged in the stick, rebooted to recovery, flashed the ROM, wiped cache, wiped dalvik, disabled OTA, an then rebooted the stick.

The stick came back, but all my apps were still there. And then about a minute after that it rebooted on it's own, and the brightness issue came right back (this was caused by an issue with the Prime Video app, so if it is keeping the apps, the problem is not getting fixed)

How do I do a FULL wipe of the stick so nothing carries over? What would the adb commands be to do that?

 

[emkorial]

Anyone? Was the stick still in some read only mode?

 

[Sus_i]

How do I do a FULL wipe of the stick so nothing carries over? What would the adb commands be to do that?

Boot into TWRP (via usb cable connected to your PC), then run something like this:

adb shell
twrp wipe data
twrp wipe cache

You can run 'twrp format data' too, if you like.
Done.

Full list of commands:

TWRP Commandline Guide

</style>CLIENT SIDE/SCRIPTinstall FILENAME : install FILENAME zip file.

twrp.me

 

[emkorial]

Boot into TWRP (via usb cable connected to your PC), then run something like this:

adb shell
twrp wipe data
twrp wipe cache

You can run 'twrp format data' too, if you like.
Done.

Full list of commands:

TWRP Commandline Guide

</style>CLIENT SIDE/SCRIPTinstall FILENAME : install FILENAME zip file.

twrp.me

Thanks, I thought I missed a wipe command in there somewhere!

Would I run "twrp wipe data" before or after, I flash the ROM? Or does it not matter? Would these be the steps, in this order?

1. Type "adb shell"
2. Type "twrp install /sdcard/mantis-6.2.6.6_r1.zip" (this file is already there)
3. Type "type wipe data"
4. Type "twrp wipe cache"
5. Type "twrp wipe dalvik"
6. Type "reboot -p"

Any risk of a brick or losing the remote pairing by wiping data ? Now that I have the driver issue worked out I am much more comfortable accessing the stick over USB and running the commands.

Thanks for the assist!

 

[Sus_i]

Thanks, I thought I missed a wipe command in there somewhere!

Would I run "twrp wipe data" before or after, I flash the ROM? Or does it not matter? Would these be the steps, in this order?

1. Type "adb shell"
2. Type "twrp install /sdcard/mantis-6.2.6.6_r1.zip" (this file is already there)
3. Type "type wipe data"
4. Type "twrp wipe cache"
5. Type "twrp wipe dalvik"
6. Type "reboot -p"

Yep, but you won't need to flash a rom if you wipe only data, dalvik and cache.

Any risk of a brick or losing the remote pairing by wiping data ?

It won't brick, but ofcourse you will lose all kind of data, incl. the remote pairing, wifi, adb dev. settings and the amaz. account... i.e. at the reboot the logon setup oobe waits for you.
You would need to skip the update thing too, or your 6.2.6.6 OS is gone.

 

[emkorial]

You would need to skip the update thing too, or your 6.2.6.6 OS is gone.

If I recall correctly, I might have to have it auto update to the latest version, then reflash 6.2.6.6 since you can't connect via ADB to disable OTA updates until you get to a home screen, and you can't get to a home screen until it updates. I think I had to do that before. But it is safe to do since the unlock blocks the efuse from blowing, correct?


So it would be :

• Connect to stick
• Wipe data, cache, and dalvik
• Reboot and it will act like a brand new out of the box fire stick
• Pair remote and go through setup, which will upgrade to whatever the latest FireOS version is
• Once that it done, connect via ADB and enable ADB debugging
• Reboot to TWRP
• Flash 6.2.6.6, clear cache, clear dalvik
• Disable OTA updates

That should leave me with a fresh 6.2.6.6 stick, and I then proceed from there.
We'll see what happens!

 

[Sus_i]

If I recall correctly, I might have to have it auto update to the latest version, then reflash 6.2.6.6 since you can't connect via ADB to disable OTA updates until you get to a home screen, and you can't get to a home screen until it updates. I think I had to do that before. But it is safe to do since the unlock blocks the efuse from blowing.


So it would be :

• Connect to stick
• Wipe data, cache, and dalvik
• Reboot and it will act like a brand new out of the box fire stick
• Pair remote and go through setup, which will upgrade to whatever the latest FireOS version is
• Once that it done, connect via ADB and enable ADB debugging
• Reboot to TWRP
• Flash 6.2.6.6, clear cache, clear dalvik
• Disable OTA updates

That should leave me with a fresh 6.2.6.6 stick, and I then proceed from there.
We'll see what happens!

A messed up stick is what happens

You may just skip the initial update... which is way better and very easy if you follow this guide:

How to Skip Software Updates during Initial Setup or Factory Reset on a Fire TV, Firestick, or Fire TV Cube

Since the latest software update for Fire TV devices is blocking the ability to use custom launchers, you may want to avoid updating a new or factory reset Fire TV.

www.aftvnews.com

 

[emkorial]

A messed up stick is what happens

You may just skip the initial update... which is way better and very easy if you follow this guide:

How to Skip Software Updates during Initial Setup or Factory Reset on a Fire TV, Firestick, or Fire TV Cube

Since the latest software update for Fire TV devices is blocking the ability to use custom launchers, you may want to avoid updating a new or factory reset Fire TV.

www.aftvnews.com

Why would mess up the stick? I went through that process before, but that was back when the latest OS was (I believe) 6.2.8.0, which would blow the eFuse if applied, but if you unlocked the stick via the short, you could safely upgrade to that version without blowing the eFuse and you could then downgrade after that. Has that changed?

I'm not a fan of trying to perfectly time yanking an ethernet cable to avid the upgrade, are there any more reliable methods? Do the modified build prop version still work? As described at https://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-blo...k-by-setting-a-custom-fire-os-version-number/

 

[emkorial]

A messed up stick is what happens

I found the original post, and it turns out it was you that said it was ok to upgrade and then downgrade

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...stick-4k-mantis.3978459/page-72#post-84832395

lol, yeah.
Idk why it is so hard, just to do the unlock first.. it will protect the efuse
Then all options are possible, up- or downgrade, just nothing gets blocked.

However that was back when the OS upgrade version was 6.2.8.0, has there been later OS releases that do screw it up and prevent downgrading?

 

[emkorial]

duplicate

 

[Sus_i]

I found the original post, and it turns out it was you that said it was ok to upgrade and then downgrade

Yes, you are right.
Back then this was ok, however nowadays I would just skip the update...

However that was back when the OS upgrade version was 6.2.8.0, has there been later OS releases that do screw it up and prevent downgrading?

Maybe yes, idk, I guess it's best and easiest if you skip the update.

 

[emkorial]

Yes, you are right.
Back then this was ok, however nowadays I would just skip the update...

Maybe yes, idk, I guess it's best and easiest if you skip the update.

I will be trying the update "skip" shortly. My car broke down, so I've had to switch from electronics mode to car mechanic mode for the past few days,

 

[emkorial]

So after I wipe data, dalvik, and cache, and flash the ROM, then skip the update, finish setting up the stick, then block updates, and get everything set up totally stock on 6.2.6.6 with updates blocked, I should reboot into recovery and back that up so I can return to that state easily, right?

Would the ADB command to back that up be (from adb shell) "twrp backup partition S, D to STOCK_BACKUP"
Would the ADB command to restore that in the future be (from adb shell) "twrp restore S, D from existant STOCK_BACKUP"

 

[Sus_i]

I should reboot into recovery and back that up so I can return to that state easily, right?

Would the ADB command to back that up be (from adb shell) "twrp backup partition S, D to STOCK_BACKUP"

You don't need a name for the backup, example "twrp backup S" will backup system...