Fastboot does not work

Help Fairphone 2
#1

I have a Fairphone 2 here, it works fine but I cannot get it in fastboot modus. “adb reboot bootloader” reboots the device, but then it gets stuck. When I use the buttons it does not work too. And I also cannot come in the recovery modus with the buttons…

So I guess there is something really wrong with the recovery, is there a way to reinstall it, or something like that?

Background: I want to install LineageOS on the device.

#2

Welcome to our community :+1:

What happens when you try it with the buttons (Power + holding Volume Down)?

What should happen is that the LED flashes blue and the screen is “stuck” on the Fairphone logo (a short succession of vibrations should also occur, I think).

#3

Thanks for your welcome :wink:

I found out more. When I do “adb reboot bootloader” it looks-like it’s stuck, but “fastboot devices” does work! So I could flash the recovery.

But after that, I had problems to go to the recovery with “Power + holding Volume UP”, but I also found a way. I did not turn-off the device but I rebooted it from fastboot modus with “Power + holding Volume UP”, and came into recovery. So I guess I can install LineageOS now.

I hope somebody else can use this information.

Bye,
Paul

#4

I’ve got LineageOS up-and-running.

I did take a look on the fastboot modus, there is (in my case) no blue (or other colored) LED on or blinking. And no vibration too. Only the Fairphone logo, and “powered by Android”.

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#5

Fastboot mode was this way without LED and vibration before Fairphone OS/Fairphone Open OS 19.02.1.

This would either mean you were running one of Fairphones older OS releases … or you were running a custom ROM with older Fairphone modem files (they can be updated).

That’s fastboot mode working then.

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#6

Thanks for the information!

I don’t know what the phone was running exactly, and if it was updated to the latest version. The phone is from a customer who needed help to install LineageOS. I did that before, but I am not an expert.

Bye,
Paul

#7

If LineageOS is working now, and fastboot mode is still without indication, then the modem files on this particular Fairphone 2 are outdated, and LineageOS will not update them.
I mean, even the latest available modem files are old now, but at least there are more current ones then pre-19.02.1, here’s the link again … and the 19.02.1 files for instance fixed a noticeable bug, apart from introducing fastboot mode indication.

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#8

Hmm, you are right :wink: Thanks!

#9

Hello AnotherElk and others,

I do find the firmware for the modem, but first I did not found a manual how to flash it. After long searching, I found it here: GitHub - WeAreFairphone/flashable-zips: Index of Android flashable ZIPs by the Fairphone Community
It seems to be a simple “adb sideload modem-19.11.2_2020-02-11.zip” from recovery. Correct?

But when I do this, I get a “signature verification error”. Do I need to say “yes” to “install anyway” ?

#10

Either that, or you can install the ZIP file in recovery mode, if the recovery offers that (TWRP does).

Can’t say I’ve seen this, but then I always used TWRP to install such ZIPs back in the day (and TWRP had a setting for signature verification which had to be kept turned off).
If you want to try and TWRP is not installed, you can just boot TWRP without installing it, see #twrpwoflashing .

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#11

What I use is “Lineage Recovery 18.1”, I can use it for sideload.

I did check the checksum and it was correct, so I did try it. But it says:

Warning: No file_contexts
E3004: This package is for device: FP2; this device is  .
E:Error in /sideload/package.zip (status 7)

Not sure what to do now.

With regards,
Paul

#12

I would try to boot into TWRP to see if it works then. With Stock FP recovery e.g. you cannot flash LOS so maybe there is some “incompatibility” when you use the LOS recovery. With TWRP it always worked well

#13

I’d say yes, no harm would then be done, I’ve had signature verification errors with TWRP as well. As long as you know what you are flashing where, it’s fine.

#14

Thanks for your help. I could flash the modem using this page:

So I did boot the signed version of TWRP using fastboot.

I have to test the result better, but I guess it’s OK now. There is a blue LED blinking in fastboot modus :wink:

With regards,
Paul

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