Shift6mq (3.7L) boots to Shift logo with full circle only => poweroff, even after restoring full backup

G

gegenstand

Member
Original poster
22 August 2021
8
This time I'm safe, I thought, I have a full backup!

Environment: SHIFT6MQ.SOS.3.7.L.20220511, rooted with Magisk

After a Syncthing-Update I had to modify packages.xml to give WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE storage - an admittedly dangerous operation, since it resulted in an unrecoverable boot loop some time ago and forced me to re-install ShiftOS and set up everything. This is why I do full backups since then, using TWRP (3.5v10 - the one that somehow works for Shift6mq).

But now here I am again - after modifying packages.xml for Syncthing as described, my Shift6mq only gets to the full circle, hangs for a minute and turns off.

After some retries I accepted I will loose some weeks without backup and made a full restore using TWRP (with full, I mean I checked all partitions when doing the backup and restored them all)

But now - same situation. Boot until full logo => stop => reboot

What are my options here? Is there anything I can do about this? Switching boot partition expectedly didn't help, wiping Dalvik cache AFAIK doesn't work with this version of TWRP since it can't decrypt the partitions.
 
Please more Infos:
Modifying XML through magisk module?
Did you trie to flash the original firmware again to set every file in system/Product/vendor to original?
Did you try an unrooted boot?
Did you try method 2 from here?

That's all I got for now except deleting Userdata.
Greetz
 
I modified package.xml manually to add a line adding permissions to Syncthing - I did that a couple of times successfully before, always following the same procedure. So maybe some sort of race condition..?

Regarding rescuing my phone I did not try anything yet except restoring a backup. I'll try to flash the original firmware again, but I don't have too much hope, since this was what I tried, when this happened to me the first time.
How can I try this unrooted boot you mentioned?

Is there a way to get some log output while booting?
 
If your device is registered to ADB you can try to start a shell during startup
Code: 
adb shell pm uninstall com.nutomic.syncthingandroid
.
This should uninstall Syncthing with his changes. Maybe the next start works well if an syncthing Autostart is the issue.
Greetz
 
Unfortunately I don't get to the point where I can use `adb` - I guess I have to try to flash the original image - anyway I'm still wondering why what I thought to be a full backup via TWRP didn't bring back anything. Can you confirm this to work?
 
TWRP was a "maybe it works, maybe not" proof of concept (modern therm for: depreciated) from an non developer...me 😅.
It cannot decrypt Userdata, what sense does an backup also make? Sure, you can backup the complete Userdata-Partition of 12gb or the complete encrypted Userdata of ca. 120gb.
But what Advantage did you get from that?
You can restore the System with all of its errors and maybe the ability to unencrypted it afterwards because of the lack of backup the keybase-partition.

So you have to fix the problem on your system now or do a factory reset.

You can fire adb during startup if registered when the system isn't fully booted.
Your describe, the boot goes nearly to the end, so there is a great chance to start adb and do some actions.

If this doesn't work i tended to recommend to load the latest LineageOS-Recovery, start it out of fastboot with
Code: 
fastboot boot /path/to/lineageOS-Recovery
.
Inside do an Update via Adb and install your ShiftOS version with
Code: 
 adb sideload /path/to/shifts
.

If this doesn't work i see no other solution then a full wipe.

Greetz
 
Well I thought, backing up (even encrypted partitions) at a sane state of course would bring that state back. Isn't even that possible?
How would you make a "full backup" with ShiftOS and/or TWRP today? I.e. "bring back the old state, not matter what"?

Btw. currently I can't even manage to enter the fastboot mode via TWRP - that one brings me back to TWRP immediately. Rebooting to bootloader brings me the bootloader interface (printing the yellow "fastboot mode") but `fastboot boot ..` wait's forever..

`adb sideload` works in general (and so did all `adb` commands in the past)

Am I missing something?
 
Ok, got that one with `fastboot` - luckily I remembered that command has to be run with root permissions
 
Theoretically, and if you don't mess the TEE-Partition with the Key file inside it should be possible to restore the 120gb encrypted userdata Partition from a former backup and it should work. But if the error is inside this partition, maybe because of an booting userapp, an restore shouldn't solve the issue.

Guess that's the case in your system, depending on the Infos from your first posts.

Maybe it's root and Magisk (if you do a few modules). So the problem is solved as long magisk doesn't start. Verifiable by restoring the boot image. Therefore the system reinstall.

Greetz
 
I managed to do the steps you provided and installed 3.9L now (the only one available here: https://downloads.shiftphones.com/builds/). I have a different behavior now (boot loop, rather than reboot to recovery) but the system still doesn't start.
Is there a download link for older ShiftOS images? I have very old ones lying around but not 3.7 or 3.8..

Btw, I really appreciate your help here - while I might give a somehow frustrated impression, after all it's me who fiddles with the system all the time :)
 
Didn't find 3.7 or an boot image of that. You can change bootslot out of the bootloader with fastboot. Then you are back on 3.7.

At the moment I see no other solution as a factory reset.

Sorry for that. And if you wanna keep root, look for other backup solutions. TWRP Is anything but stable, recommendable or space-saving. You don't always want to have 120 gigabytes of backup lying around, even if 3gb work with NeoBackup, for example.

Greetz
 
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