Booting into Recovery fails with VBMETA error on Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 lite

/e/OS Devices Samsung
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1

I’m running into an issue when trying to boot into recovery on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite.

The device was running the latest version of Android 14 when I started the install. I followed the installation guide until I flashed the the recovery using $heimdall flash –RECOVERY recovery-e-3.2-a14-20251022539039-community-gta4xlwifi.img –no-reboot , which worked fine. When I subsequently try to boot into recover, it fails with this error message:

partition recovery
Reason recovery: Error verifying vbmeta image: invalid vbmeta header (6)
CUSTOM RECOVERY
VBMETA P613XXS8CYE1, 95910613R

I’m stuck at this stage and not really sure how to proceed? It seems like this VBMETA file is in the firmware, and gets compared to the one on the device (?), but not sure what to do about this error?

Any hints highly appreciated.

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2

According to the install page you need to downgrade to A13 (link to gta4xl - please check if your device is the wifi or LTE variant)

I flashed eOS a few months ago in my Tab S6 lite. Except for Heimdall being new to me everything went fine.

If you struggle with apps going into desktop mode (like I did), you might want to read this

3

Hello @t0m, Welcome to the /e/users forum.

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downgrade to SamsungOS android 13 on this device is nomore possible since 2024-02-06 release due to anti roll-back protection…
but downgrading is not needed as current /e/ version is android 15 based on android 14 firmware…
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Samsung Firmware https://samfw.com/firmware/SM-P613
(latest P613XXS8CYE1 is android 14 based)
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[UNOFFICIAL BUILD] /e/OS-a15 3.0 for Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2022 Model (Qualcomm)
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Retail Branding Marketing Name Device Model Build
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite gta4xlve SM-P619 gta4xlveu
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite gta4xlve SM-P619N gta4xlveu
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite gta4xlvewifi SM-P613 gta4xlveu

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4

Wow, thanks for the detailed response @piero and @vish ! I’ve since learned a bit more about what’s going on here, and leave my findings here in case other people come across it.

I have learned that my device is indeed the SM-P613 (gta4xlveu) version, as evidenced by a tiny sticker in the back. So that would explain why my efforts failed.

I managed to install lineage using the recovery and image here.

It looks like @ronnz98 might have a eOS build for this device, but looking at the timestamp, it seems to be older than the lineage version I’m running?

I might give the e-2.3 build a go, I guess I can just flash it using the same recovery as I have currently on the device (from the lineage build?). Or, I might wait until @ronnz98 might have a newer build available?

By the way - @ronnz98 let me know if I can help out with testing or anything along those lines.

1 Like
5

You could try to install latest /e/OS-a15 version

Prior to that you would need to downgrade recovery to LOS22, eg lineage-22.2-20250617-UNOFFICIAL-gta4xlveu-1750172025

LOS 23 is not yet available, so I only can do a newer /e/OS-a15 build. In any case you need to downgrade recovery

1 Like
6

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now we know exactly how to do it !

7

strickly as it is documented :

Unlock the bootloader

You may skip this section if you have already unlocked your device

  • Enable developer options
  • In developer options, toggle the “Allow OEM unlocking” setting
  • Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:
  • hold Volume Down + Volume Up and connect the USB cable to PC.
  • Once into download, long press the volume up button and follow the instructions on the screen correlate to “Continue” and/or “Unlock Bootloader”
  • reboot system with Volume Down + Power
  • Now, once the system has finished booting, you MUST connect to a WiFi network, enable developer options again, and make sure that the OEM unlocking toggle is on and greyed out. If you do not see the toggle on the developer settings, close the settings and try again a few times.
  • Once you see the toggle greyed out, all is set.

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Download eOSBuildsRonnz98 - Browse /Samsung/Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 lite (2022) at SourceForge.net
(also extract the recovery.img from the main /e/.ZIP)

Download recovery-IMG-lineage-22.2-20250617-UNOFFICIAL-gta4xlveu.tar (from github.com/danielml3/releases)
(extract the vbmeta.img from the “.TAR”, but forget about the included recovery.img)

put those 3 files into a folder
and use the right clic to open a terminal from the folder where they are

flash the vbmeta and the recovery

  • Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:
  • hold Volume Down + Volume Up and connect the USB cable to PC.
  • in the terminal on the PC copy / paste this command :
heimdall flash --VBMETA vbmeta.img --RECOVERY recovery.img -- no-reboot
  • Once the flashing completes, power off your device by pressing Volume Down + Power, and just after the screen turns off, quickly hold Volume Up + Power.
  • If everything went fine, you should be now on the /e/ recovery

install /e/OS

  • Once in recovery, go to the “Apply update” section, and click “ADB sideload”
  • in the terminal on the PC, copy / paste this command :
adb sideload e-3.1.4-a15-20251002-UNOFFICIAL-gta4xlveu.zip
  • Your device should start verifying and installing the update
  • After the installation has finished, you need to format the data partition
    (Factory reset → Format data/factory reset)
  • Now, tap on “Reboot to system”.
  • If everything went correctly, you should be booting into /e/OS
8

please confirm if Heimdall v1.4.2 works for this “recent” device…
(we have other solutions)