Failed to install e/OS on Fairphone 5

jcl · December 7, 2024, 6:25pm

Hi all, I have a problem. I ordered myself a new Fairphone 5 recently and was keen to try iout e/os. I’ve previously Lineage OS on my old phone but saw this had more features and I thought it would be a straightforward process given that it is a standard version of the phone that you can buy elsewhere.

But when I came to install the OS it didn’t go well. I followed the instructions exactly as written on here: Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP5 - “FP5”

Here was the output when I tried to run the script:

me@mycomputer:~$ chmod +x flash_FP5_factory.sh && ./flash_FP5_factory.sh

*** Fairphone 5 flashing script ***

INFO: The procedure will start soon. Please wait...
Note that this will detect and flash only on Fairphone 5 device.
INFO: You are using a Linux distribution.
INFO: Looking for connected device(s)...
INFO: One Fairphone 5 in fastboot mode found (serial number: 6ff016e8).
Info: Your phone is in regular bootloader mode.
Sending 'bluetooth_a' (3356 KB)                    OKAY [ 0.120s]
Writing 'bluetooth_a'                              OKAY [ 0.008s]
Finished. Total time: 0.139s
Sending 'bluetooth_b' (3356 KB)                    OKAY [ 0.123s]
Writing 'bluetooth_b'                              OKAY [ 0.024s]
Finished. Total time: 0.155s
Sending 'devcfg_a' (52 KB)                         OKAY [ 0.003s]
Writing 'devcfg_a'                                 OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.012s
Sending 'devcfg_b' (52 KB)                         OKAY [ 0.003s]
Writing 'devcfg_b'                                 OKAY [ 0.003s]
Finished. Total time: 0.014s
Sending 'dsp_a' (65536 KB)                         OKAY [ 2.447s]
Writing 'dsp_a'                                    OKAY [ 0.126s]
Finished. Total time: 2.581s
Sending 'dsp_b' (65536 KB)                         OKAY [ 2.076s]
Writing 'dsp_b'                                    OKAY [ 0.093s]
Finished. Total time: 2.177s
Sending 'modem_a' (185116 KB)                      OKAY [ 6.487s]
Writing 'modem_a'                                  OKAY [ 0.570s]
Finished. Total time: 7.065s
Sending 'modem_b' (185116 KB)                      OKAY [ 6.221s]
Writing 'modem_b'                                  OKAY [ 0.624s]
Finished. Total time: 6.852s
Sending 'xbl_a' (3602 KB)                          OKAY [ 0.116s]
Writing 'xbl_a'                                    OKAY [ 0.010s]
Finished. Total time: 0.133s
Sending 'xbl_b' (3602 KB)                          OKAY [ 0.129s]
Writing 'xbl_b'                                    OKAY [ 0.015s]
Finished. Total time: 0.152s
Sending 'tz_a' (3585 KB)                           OKAY [ 0.129s]
Writing 'tz_a'                                     OKAY [ 0.008s]
Finished. Total time: 0.144s
Sending 'tz_b' (3585 KB)                           OKAY [ 0.135s]
Writing 'tz_b'                                     OKAY [ 0.018s]
Finished. Total time: 0.162s
Sending 'hyp_a' (3601 KB)                          OKAY [ 0.128s]
Writing 'hyp_a'                                    OKAY [ 0.018s]
Finished. Total time: 0.154s
Sending 'hyp_b' (3601 KB)                          OKAY [ 0.133s]
Writing 'hyp_b'                                    OKAY [ 0.034s]
Finished. Total time: 0.175s
Sending 'keymaster_a' (261 KB)                     OKAY [ 0.010s]
Writing 'keymaster_a'                              OKAY [ 0.002s]
Finished. Total time: 0.020s
Sending 'keymaster_b' (261 KB)                     OKAY [ 0.010s]
Writing 'keymaster_b'                              OKAY [ 0.003s]
Finished. Total time: 0.032s
Sending 'abl_a' (152 KB)                           OKAY [ 0.007s]
Writing 'abl_a'                                    OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.016s
Sending 'abl_b' (152 KB)                           OKAY [ 0.007s]
Writing 'abl_b'                                    OKAY [ 0.003s]
Finished. Total time: 0.017s
Sending 'boot_a' (98304 KB)                        OKAY [ 3.364s]
Writing 'boot_a'                                   OKAY [ 0.358s]
Finished. Total time: 3.733s
Sending 'boot_b' (98304 KB)                        OKAY [ 3.591s]
Writing 'boot_b'                                   OKAY [ 0.340s]
Finished. Total time: 3.940s
Sending 'dtbo_a' (24576 KB)                        OKAY [ 0.832s]
Writing 'dtbo_a'                                   OKAY [ 0.164s]
Finished. Total time: 1.004s
Sending 'dtbo_b' (24576 KB)                        OKAY [ 0.846s]
Writing 'dtbo_b'                                   OKAY [ 0.178s]
Finished. Total time: 1.032s
Sending 'vendor_boot_a' (98304 KB)                 OKAY [ 3.370s]
Writing 'vendor_boot_a'                            OKAY [ 0.548s]
Finished. Total time: 3.937s
Sending 'vendor_boot_b' (98304 KB)                 OKAY [ 3.678s]
Writing 'vendor_boot_b'                            OKAY [ 0.370s]
Finished. Total time: 4.056s
Sending 'vbmeta_system_a' (4 KB)                   OKAY [ 0.001s]
Writing 'vbmeta_system_a'                          OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.010s
Sending 'vbmeta_system_b' (4 KB)                   OKAY [ 0.001s]
Writing 'vbmeta_system_b'                          OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.010s
Sending 'vbmeta_a' (8 KB)                          OKAY [ 0.002s]
Writing 'vbmeta_a'                                 OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.011s
Sending 'vbmeta_b' (8 KB)                          OKAY [ 0.001s]
Writing 'vbmeta_b'                                 OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.011s
Sending sparse 'super' 1/6 (756257 KB)             FAILED (Error reading sparse file)
fastboot: error: Command failed

ERROR: Could not flash the super partition on device 6ff016e8.

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.)

ERROR: Aborting now (press Enter to terminate).

The trouble is that now I can’t run the script again because my computer can’t see any attached devices. The phone appears to be stuck in “Fastboot mode” with four options: Start, Restart bootloader, Recovery mode, Power off

These options don’t work, not even power off - every time it restarts and takes me back to this screen. Is there anything that I can do with my phone to recover it to some kind of working state?

aibd · December 7, 2024, 8:47pm

The script failing on one element and need to start again does happen, so not a real worry.
The phone appears to be stuck in “Fastboot mode” , is what is expected, the script is a fastboot script and should run again.
The command ‘fastboot devices’ run before the the script should reassure you that you have a responsive fastboot.
Some users have been confused by fastbootd. Please just check that you are seeing the “big green START” bootloader menu, not some visually different one called fastbootd.
Do you have platform-tools “system installed” on your Linux machine; is it a recent version?
There have been reports that the script is faulty, but it ran for you once.
The hashtag fp5 should connect you with the recent threads about the script issue.

jcl · December 7, 2024, 9:24pm

Ok, that’s a step forward. It’s a relief to see that fastboot commands are still working. I had thought my computer couldn’t see the phone when “adb devices” returned nothing, but “fastboot devices” is giving me a response.

The bootloader I’m seeing definitely has the big green “START” on it.

I do not have platform-tools installed on my computer but will get that if I need to. I will have a look through the hashtag and see what possible solutions are out there.

Thanks a lot for your help.

piero · December 8, 2024, 12:29am

ADB only works in “normal mode” and “recovery mode”

jcl · December 8, 2024, 1:23pm

To update, I have reached out to Fairphone for support as I don’t know if I’ll be able to resolve this myself.

I thought it would be best to try and set it back to the standard Fairphone OS (from here: https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/18896094650513-Install-Fairphone-OS-manually) using fastboot and at least get it back to a working state.

Unfortunately that has not worked either. It looks as though it’s working but it hangs at “Sending ‘modem_a’ (184796 KB)” and gets no further. Bothersome.

jcl · December 10, 2024, 9:20pm

The story has a happy ending: I changed the usb cable! I would have tried this earlier but I don’t really have a lot of spares about the place so I had to hunt to find one - I was surprised (and slightly annoyed) that was what solved the problem.

A mystery why it kept hanging at exactly the same point every time, but at least it’s sorted now.