FP6 not being detected by fastboot - can't install /e/OS

Hi all - I recently decided to treat myself and pick up a Fairphone 6 intending to install /e/OS on it. Unfortunately, more issues have appeared than I could possibly count during the installation, very little of which is documented and has clear solutions.

I have managed to get to a point where the bootloader is entirely flashed and ready for the OS to be replaced (to be precise, step 4 under Installing /e/OS), but this is where I am well and truly stuck. Trying to use fastboot devices while the phone is in Fastboot Mode yields no results, and attempting to run the install script always fails due to the phone not being recognised.


I dual boot Windows 10 and Linux Mint, and have tried several avenues I can find documentation or anecdotes on on both systems. On Windows 10 I have done the following:

  • Installed drivers using Windows Update
  • Ran adb and fastboot as administrator
  • Removed and reinstalled all drivers related to Fairphone, adb or fastboot

With the following behaviour:

  • While not in Fastboot Mode or the bootloader, the phone is recognised by the computer as long as it avoids one particular USB slot. However, adb devices fails to pick it up.
  • While in Fastboot Mode, the computer does not recognise the phone at all, only as an unknown USB device whose descriptor request failed. Thus, fastboot cannot communicate with it.

On Linux Mint I have done the following:

  • Done all preparation for the phone from start to finish, including successfully running fastboot commands once before
  • Ran adb and fastboot with sudo
  • Attempted to install platform-tools both manually and with apt install
  • Added the phone’s vendor ID to /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
  • Made my account be in the plugdev group

With the following behaviour:

  • Whether or not the phone is detected by fastboot devices while in Fastboot Mode is essentially a coin toss. On the rare chance that it is, the /e/OS install script might also detect it, but it never progresses past remarking the phone is in the normal bootloader mode, no matter how long I wait.
  • It fairly consistently gets detected by adb devices while outside of Fastboot Mode.

Naturally I’ve done all required steps on the phone itself, but to be clear, OEM unlocking is enabled, USB debugging is on, the default USB configuration is set to File Transfer and both fastboot flashing unlock and fastboot flashing unlock_critical have been successfully ran.

I am getting extremely sick of working with this thing. Until Google is removed from my phone I simply cannot use it in good conscience, but I’m also on a timer and can’t spend so much of my time on a project like this. I’ve already experimented for three days now with little else done in the meantime, yet I have finally encountered a wall I cannot surmount. If anyone has any leads on what to do next I would be most appreciative.

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I have a FP6 that I was able to install /e/ on just fine (typing this message on it, in fact), so I don’t think the issue would be the phone or the OS.

With apologies for such a simple suggestion, have you tried a few different USB cables to see if they all give the same result? Junk cables have messed me up on more than one occasion.

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When you use windows update thr bootloader driver

Else different cable or USB ports can help

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If you succeed
When in fastboot mode, run the command fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability before attempting to relock the bootloader.
Don’t relock the bootloader if the result of the command is 0!
Because you will brick your phone and then the phone needs to be repaired by Fairphone.

Please report here if you get 0 as a result.

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I went out and bought a new USB cable but I’m hesitant to ascribe my recent success to it. While I could successfully start the flashing process, it aborted with the following message:

Sending 'uefi_b' (2835 KB)                         FAILED (Write to device failed (Broken pipe))
fastboot: error: Command failed

ERROR: Could not flash the uefi_b partition on device <number>.

ERROR: Please unplug the phone, take the battery out, boot the device into
ERROR: fastboot mode, and start this script again.
ERROR: (To get to fastboot mode, press Volume-Down and plug in the USB-C)
ERROR: (cable until the fastboot menu appears.)

This sounded strange to me. Why would the phone start without its battery? And why is the method to get to Fastboot Mode different all of a sudden? Nevertheless I did what it asked, and as expected the phone did not start while the battery was out, so I reinserted it. Now I’m back to fastboot devices not discovering the phone regardless of what port I plug it into.

Oh, but I did notice one other detail: Every time I’ve managed to get the device to be recognised by my computer in either operating system, the output of adb reboot bootloader has been empty. If it instead says error: closed then it’s never detected. That’s the one pattern I’ve found.

just to check : to use adb you have to activate the debug bridge in the Developers Options (and also device turned on). Still doesn’t work?

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Its always this button combination or whith adb, nothing strange with this.

And reg the battery maybe its just to turn off the phone (so I guess you have to insert it again).

Overall you might want to head over to the e/OS forum maybe you find faster help over there

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First I’ve heard of this, I believe. Where is this located? I looked through Developer Options on the phone (and searched the entire Settings app) but didn’t find anything described as a debug bridge.

I’ve already attempted this once before, but got no help. I figured I’d shoot my shot here as well.

It’s at Settings > System > Developer Options > USB debugging.
Source

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Ah yes, it’s been on the whole time, apologies for the misunderstanding.

I have decided to pursue a refund and, despite every bone in my body telling me not to fall for it, buy a Murena branded FP6 instead. I have lost 3 days of my life trying to get these few commands to work despite there being such little documentation about it, and I am frankly over it.

I have deep moral qualms about spending more money to get something I could get for free, but I do not think I have the energy left in me to continue regardless. I already bought another USB cable for this, what’s a bit more to get the official version?

Thank you for your attempts to help.

Well you can at least feel good about supporting a company that makes a privacy-friendly OS

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I have unfortunately the exact same issue as kijelilon. Have tried several USB cables, so don’t think that this is the issue. Only difference is that my laptop runs on Windows 11.
I kinda gave up now and will wait for the easy installer, but it’s of course a shame that my brand new phone is only collecting dust. So if anyone stumbles upon a solution, I’d be very thankful.

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And did you follow this?

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Yes to both, unfortunately. :-/

I’ referring to driver updates check the post I linked not the preview if not done

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I’ve had issues before on my main PC. I switched to a laptop and it worked. Sometimes USB2 ports work better than USB3 for some reason.

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So I just gave it another shot and actually made some progress but did not succeed.
In Windows Device Manager, the phone was correctly identified as “The Fairphone (Gen. 6)” and did not have the yellow exclamation mark. But I was able to manually update the ADB driver under “USB Devices” and install the Google USB driver (Google-USB-Treiber herunterladen  |  Android Studio  |  Android Developers).
Now finally I could see the device when I entered adb devices in the PC console. I was also able to reboot the phone into FastBoot with adb reboot bootloader.

But this is as far as I come, step 6 in the official install doc says: " Ask for unlock with fastboot flashing unlock". When I do this, nothing happens. The PC console says “< waiting for any device >” and I cannot type or do anything. The phone also does not give me any option to select apart from “Start”, “Restart Bootloader”, “Recovery Mode” and “Power Off”.

Does anybody have any suggestions or had the same problem? Many thanks!

You still did not follow what IIinked you and I’m sure you need fastboot driver.

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You’re absolutely right and my apologies for being slow - I now got it. Documenting so others don’t repeat my mistake: the post you linked to says
“To update the driver: connect the FP in fastboot mode to the PC, go to Windows Updates, check for updates manually, go to Optional Updates and Drivers and install everything regarding Google/Bootloader (e.g. Kedacom/LeMobile).”

I misunderstood “check for updates manually” and checked in the device manager for USB/device drivers that I could update and searched for Kedacom/LeMobile drivers on my own. In Windows 11 at least, what you actually have to do is go to “Windows Updates” - select “Advanced Options” and there you find “Optional Updates” after scrolling a bit. The ADB LeMobile drivers were 2 of the 3 selectable options for me, so I wouldn’t actually have needed to search for them on my own at all.

For anyone equally unsavvy in these things: to get the FP into FastBoot mode, unplug the phone, turn it off, press volume down and power button for approx. 5 seconds. It’s then in FastBoot mode and you can plug it back in.

Many thanks again, it worked like a charm and I could also lock the bootloader (and followed Lidwien’s advice above to check the unlock ability, so thanks for that as well!).

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