Fairphone 4 Bootloader doesn't communicate anymore with PC

[i33SoDA]

Greeting,

I bought myself at a discounted price a brand new Fairphone 4 and I really really wanted to try the e/OS on it. The only reason that I bought F4 is that, it was my assumption that it is relative easy to install Murena’s e/os.

It is my first time working with bootloader or unlocked OEM phones. I followed the following step:

• got access to developer options and on web I generated a code from fairphone official website to unlock OEM
• using Easy Installer on Linux I started the process of installing e/OS

1. OEM unlocking from developer Options

2. Turning off Phone

3. Started bootloader - pressing “Volume Down” and connecting USB-C cable

4. Unlock OEM - during this process it asked to to chose between unlock and lock bootloader, navigating between this two options and choosing with Power button

5. Unlock Critical at some point a circle appeared and under it said “erasing” but after 4 seconds it restarted in bootloader.

6. Installation status went to 100% ( while the phone displayed the bootloader screen ) then it gave an error.

7. Installation was taking to much and at some point it crashed

https://i.imgur.com/lBdHb97.jpeg

I installed adb and fastboot on Linux and while in bootloader I am getting this following message:

On windows however I tried with the phone turned on and I can communicate but in bootloader it says the following message: waiting for any device

Did I bricked the bootloader? If I relock bootloader will the stock OS from Fairphone get updates?

Best regards,
i33SoDA

[yvmuell]

Waiting for any device often is a hint that you dont have the bootloader driver needed on your window PC.

Have a look here

How to: ADB/Fastboot (Windows)

Platform Tools runterladen von hier Zip Ordner entpacken Entpackten Ordner öffnen, den darin enthaltenen Ordner auch öffnen In diesem Ordner: Shift+rechte Maustaste drücken und Terminal Eingabeaufforderung/Powershell öffnen Wenn das FP im Fastboot nicht erkannt wird: Kann es am Kabel oder USB Port liegen, meist ist es aber ein Fastboot Treiber Problem (unter Windows). Um den Treiber zu aktualisieren: verbinde das FP im Fastboot Modus mit dem PC, gehe zu Windows Updates, suche manuell nach Up…

[yvmuell]

@i33SoDA

Unlock OEM - during this process it asked to to chose between unlock and lock bootloader, navigating between this two options and choosing with Power button

That seem somehow odd, was this using the easy installer?

What did you select? From the wording I think it should have been unlock to then proceed with unlocking (unlocking critical isnt unlocking the bootloader)

[i33SoDA]

I followed the steps provided in the Easy Installer. This is the message that I have in the terminal.

https://i.imgur.com/EVdnOBU.png

My question is: If I use the command ‘fastboot flashing lock’ to lock the bootloader is there a chance to brick the phone. I am giving up installing e/OS. I have no experience with this and easy installer is not that easy. After it said that e/OS installation was 100% it gave me this error.

https://i.imgur.com/4zBsL32.jpg

and I am afraid to use the command ‘fastboot flashing lock’ becasue I do not know if there were created new partitions…

[yvmuell]

As long as get unlock ability is 1 it should normally not brick the phone. Should it not work afterwards, you can unlock again and need to troubleshoot…

[i33SoDA]

@yvmuell

Should it not work afterwards, you can unlock again and need to troubleshoot…

Sorry. I do not understand. Do you mean that if I lock it, then I cannot unlock it anymore if I need to do some troubleshooting?

I have some additional questions:

• if I lock it, does the warning message at the start disappear?
• currently I still have the OS that came with the phone. If Fairphone release new updates will my OS get them with boot-loader unlocked?
• if the boot-loader remains unlocked and if I have banking apps like Revolut, are there more vulnerabilities compared to locked one?
• I understand that if someone steal my phone, then security measures like PIN and fingerprints are just a piss in a breeze.

Ultimately, do you have a guide for installing e/os through fastboot and adb?

Thank you in advance!

[yvmuell]

@i33SoDA

Ultimately, do you have a guide for installing e/os through fastboot and adb?

e/OS has official alternatives to install.

Please just ensure that the security patch level is the same or higher than the current installed, else when you then lock the phone a brick is quite sure

@i33SoDA

if I lock it, does the warning message at the start disappear?

Which message the one about unlocked bootloader? Then yes

@i33SoDA

e. If Fairphone release new updates will my OS get them with boot-loader unlocked?

Yes

@i33SoDA

Do you mean that if I lock it, then I cannot unlock it anymore if I need to do some troubleshooting?

No. As long as get unlock abilitiy is 1 when you lock it you can unlock it again to troubleshoot. So def check once again before you lock! Should it be 0 dont lock!

[i33SoDA]

My ambiguity is that i read this topic:

Relock bootloader step-by-step

Hi all, After using easy installer and successfully installing eOS I ended up with an unlocked bootloader. It seems the fact that it is unlocked makes some apps fail the security check and won’t work (netflix for example). As I don’t have a good reason to keep it unlocked I would prefer to get it locked again. Last time I tried, this wasn’t possible due to some versioning rule regarding the installed security update vs the one being installed. This was back in April. I’ve now waited a few mo…

and although the user that posted the question while using fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability it returned 1, he said that he got corruption problem.

Because for me, the Easy Installer gave me an error Flashing of one partition failed at Installing e/OS, I am not sure if Easy Installer created some partition and I am not sure if I try to re-lock the boot-loader again will not give me some errors.

Thanks.