Easy Installer stopped in the middle of /e/OS install. Phone not responding

Community Easy Installer
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1

I bought a teracube cell phone, and followed your instructions to install the OS in order to have a DeGoogle cell phone.
The easy-install started the /e/e download. After couple of minutes it stopped and nothing happened.

I waited for about an hour and nothing happened.

The Teracube cell phone was not responding to anything. So, I took the battery off, waited for a minute or so, and then I installed the battery.

Pushed the power on , the phone comes on with following message:

======================

Orange State

Your device has been unlocked and can’t be trusted.

Your device will boot in 5 seconds

========================

And that is it, screen goes off after few seconds and the same message comes on after few more seconds.

I tried the power on with up speaker for 7 seconds. a message comes with options of fast boot , recover and normal. It does not matter what option I select, it goes back to cycling with the same message as above.:

======================

Orange State

Your device has been unlocked and can’t be trusted.

Your device will boot in 5 seconds

========================
I sure appreciate any help PLEASE. Thanks

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

2

Hi @Mehdi I am sorry to hear this. Teracube was previously on the List of devices supported by the easy-installer but it is no longer there. There are manual instructions for Info about Teracube Teracube 2e (2020) - 2e and Info about Teracube Teracube 2e (2021) - emerald.

The Orange state message is unnecessarily alarming, it appears because your phone has now been unlocked. The bootloop (refering to the repetitive nature of this condition) is happening as there is no valid operating system on the device (the device goes down to re-find the OS, attempts to boot, but it is not there).

3

Thanks aibd. I have gone through all those web pages. As of now I have not found out any solutions.

I need to find out how to get the phone out of unlocked state. I have no clue why being unlocked matters to install the OS, or get reboot. I suspect that during install of /e/OS the source code failed and left the phone in an unknown state.

4

In relation to your non-functional phone the Orange state warning is not a part of the real issue, the bootloop. The warning was mentioned recently here: Teracube 2e Orange State at Reboot. Please have a read and try to isolate that from the bootloop; then perhaps my explanation of the reboot and bootloop will make more sense (and / or check out another source to help understand a bootloop).

Perhaps you could confirm which of the two Teracube models you have, then we can start to point you to the solution.

Edit, and please tell us the OS of the PC you will use.

5

Appreciate your help.

The phone is Model : Teracube 2e

6

The order in which you proceed is particularly important on this device.

Can I ask how familiar with installing and running adb ? Installing adb and fastboot on Windows PC

(Then we shall work from Install /e/ on a Teracube Teracube 2e (2020) - “2e”)

7

I have not used Bill Gates software for over 20 years now. I have no use for Google and Microsoft. I use Ubuntu on my laptop and desktop. I am an old retired Electrical Engineer. My days of being on top of software tech has gone by. But I will try to learn new tricks! Ha ha
Is there a version of that software for Ubuntu?

8

Great to hear ! … we have it covered https://doc.e.foundation/pages/install-adb.html

… and please don’t use “System” tools !

  • Downloading the tools from Android Developer tools and running it. We recommend this method

Caution: The default adb installation on OS like Ubuntu can be outdated and can cause errors. We would recommend that linux distribution users ensure they use the installation process given here

9

I added the export PATH="$HOME/platform-tools:$PATH"
And this is what I got:
mehdi@mail:~$ adb devices
List of devices attached
adb server version (41) doesn’t match this client (39); killing…

  • daemon started successfully
10

Edit my immediate response was thinking that you already connected the device.

Now with the device connected (and on), re run the command to try to get the device to identify itself fully. We must get to that point before running further adb commands.

The correct response would look like

$ adb devices
List of devices attached
52xxxxx93	device

Repeating, the order in which you proceed is particularly important on this device !

We will need to find out if Easy Installer did anything odd. This is not directly related to your error, I am just reinforcing the order of play ! (Speculation, Teracube might have been withdrawn from Easy Installer support because of this sort of error.)

Again not connected (but I am UTC +1 and have a few appointments today !) there are many Requirements on our install page to run through. I need to find what control you have over the device with the hardware buttons ( but I cannot find a reference for your device. Sorry ! )

We need to find the state of charge of the device. All these reboots may drain the battery – it is very important to have a fully charged battery.

Anyone please help with a source for the hardware button presses for Recovery and bootloader please?

Later edit

This is included to help you learn what control you have over the phone while you still experience the bootloop issue. As you have the luxury of a removable battery, you can stop the bootloop, by removal of battery. Hopefully you can then reinsert the battery, keep powered down and recharge the device and learn when it is fully charged, before moving on.

Hardware buttons

  1. Shutdown the phone.
  2. Press Vol+ and Power buttons simultaneously for 5/6 seconds.
  3. You’ll see 3 options in tiny fonts. Use Vol+ to switch options.
  4. Select Fastboot and press Vol- to confirm. Now the phone is in Fastboot mode.

Expect to leave fastboot mode by powering down, but the bootloop will probably restart.

(I realise I am including more info that may be required by an Electrical Engineer, sorry :slight_smile: )

A further Edit

If, maybe @Mehdi, you cannot get a response from adb devices, are you able to boot int Fastboot mode with the hardware buttons and get a response from fastboot devices?

https://adbshell.com/

1 Like
11

Thanks much, and appreciate all the details. I did what you said before. It shows
=>FASTBOOT mode…
and that is it. It stays at that message and nothing happened. I left it for a long time, the above message stayed and no other message or action! So you are correct ;cannot get a response from adb
Thanks again for your help.

12

Oh by the way, I have sent 2 emails to teracube support and have gotten no response!
The teracube support is the one who sent me the link to load /e/OS on this new phone. I followed the instructions and all went to hell!
Thanks teracube for none support …

13

This might be a bumpy ride. We have options …

Let’s focus on Fastboot mode first.

abd relies on system and recovery. I think we have evidence we lost both !

Please try to look at it in a new light. Once you see an invitation to Fastboot mode, please can you try to Enter Fastboot mode with the hardware buttons.

It is only if we can Enter Fastboot mode that the command

fastboot devices

might give us a response !

That is all we want, then stop.

14

None responsive via usb cable to my desktop.
I did use the phone keys to get to the fastboot option. But no response. And I could not turn the phone off by the power key when it stayed at fastboot stage. So, I had to take the battery out.

15

I guess the next thing to do is to try to flash the Teracube firmware using the instructions here.

This does not rely on fastboot. The instructions are written for using Windows. SP Flash Tool is available for Linux Linux - SP Flash Tool This is mentioned in the thread.

Before proceeding I recommend you read carefully there and / or ask if the latest firmware version is correct if you plan to then install /e/ as there are reports that this was significant in the past.

16

Great, Thanks. Yes the teracube phones are Mediatek devices and according to the web page, the flash tool will work.
The newest version is v6.2208.
I will read the instructions couple of times before doing the flash job.
Thanks much again. Appreciate it.

17

Have lots of issues installing the flash_tool on ubuntu. When it opens up, the list is empty. Have to figure it out somehow what is wrong with my installation.

18

I will certainly help if I can but I really recommend you ask on the linked thread.

  • The thread gives specific instructions about udev for SP Flash Tool.

If you were in any doubt that Linux instructions, https://spflashtools.com/category/linux vary from the Teracube instructions please stop and ask. We are told of the Teracube version of SP Flash Tool

  • we have made it even safer to use.

This may in fact be essential to anyone unfamiliar with SP Flash Tool.

If the device was brand new, I myself, would seriously consider returning it for reflash.

19

I would return it and yes it is new, but the teracube has never responded to my 4 email requesting assistance. I do not think they really care at all. What a sad deal!

I will reinstall the SP Flash tool again tomorrow and see what happens.

I do appreciate your help very much and wish you well. God Bless.

Mehdi

20

If it is new, it is more probably “emerald” than “2e”"