A month ago, on my Fairphone 3 i manually installed /e/ 0.17 from https://images.ecloud.global/stable/FP3/IMG-e-0.17-q-20210615117215-stable-FP3.zip (sha256sum checked)
When I installed it, i followed Install /e/ on a Fairphone FP3/3+ - “FP3” with one exception, the “fastboot -w” failed. I decided to not care about that as i have read others experiencing the same and it worked for them. IIUC the command is about clearing/recreating data partition. Problem is host side, various distros, and becoming fixed in Mageia ( 29157 – fastboot-android fail to use mke2fs ) if i should try again. But preferably i want to avoid reinstalling.
Before that, this device have been running same old /e/ from September 2020, with only minor quirk (one electronic ID app was sluggish. And before that, FP3 stock OS. I believe it was updated to Fairphone Android 10 but am not sure. New information is that we should update to and run stock Android before installing same major version of /e/. Advise users to flash stock ROM before applying an upgrade Unfortunately that info is not yet in official install instructions etc. Update: added very recently
In settings, about phone, Version, i see:
e_FP3-userdebug 10 QQ3A.
200805.001 eng.root.20210615.085611
dev-keys,stable-release
System update show:
/e/OS
0.17-20210615117215
Correction: …at the top and now i realise it is another way to describe the currently installed version, same as described in Version but deceivingly written in another way…
_Below that it describes one update:
/e/OS 0.17
21 june 2021
896MB
And a clickable download text. - It would really help if version descriptions followed same syntax in all three places… End correction.
I tried to let it update, but that failed to boot so i reverted. In more detail: Upon reboot it displayed:
Cant load android system
Your data may be corrupt
etc
I chose “Try again”, and it fail again.
It say slot a is chosen.
I press and hold UP+pwr, it boots to recovery
I see slot b is now chosen
I chose “Recovery”
It boots up and works as before.
Note also: The official install instruction say to install TWRP (Update: No it does not now mention twrp, but other instructions i.e at Fairphone forum do) but the updater have now replaced it with the /e/ counterpart. Feels inconsistent.
Apart from the update failing, the current problems i suffer from on this device are
- APN settings vanishes and cant be set → No mobile data, no MMS - This is really a show stopper; no out of home payments, bus tickets, email… (wifi on travel is scarce and not trustworthy)
- SMS notice sound is very weak and can not be set. Update, workaround: [SOLVED] No message sound notification in loudspeaker, but can be heard loud & clear in earphones?! - #11 by molej
I think optimally, the update problem should be solved first so this device really is on latest official version. “data may be corrupt” also feels it may trig problems.
Questions
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How come the installed system boot OK but the update think data is corrupt. And why it thinks so and exactly what data it do not tell
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Can another tool verify data - some kind of disk check on relevant partition?
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Is it possible the failure to execute “fastboot -w” caused the problems? (but strange if so, as the /e/ version i installed using adb runs, but not the update)
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In my case (phone model and /e/ version) is it important to have updated to FP3 android 10 before /e/ q?
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Can i check the version of firmware that is supposed to have been loaded by that stock OS is the correct one?
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How can i take a full backup of user data (like /home on a linux system), and put it back? (and in between i plan to install and boot latest version of stock OS, then latest /e/)