Hi,
I installed /e/OS on my Fairphone 4 using the Easy Installer. Everything went fine, including the USB driver update.
But after the final reboot, the phone showed a brief security warning, then went straight into fastboot mode — and now it stays stuck there on every boot.
The real problem:
It’s not detected by platform tools or Minimal ADB. I cannot do anything on the phone.
fastboot devices returns nothing
It looks like the phone is soft-bricked or something similare. Anyone seen this before? What should I do now? Appreciate any help.
most likely a driver issue. With the phone in Fastboot mode, connected to the PC, open Device manager and check if your phone became a Problem device . Right click → Windows update is expected to find a more suitable combination driver.
Yes I made the installation with the web installer (/e/OS Installer), and it is stuck into the fastboot now.
About the detection of the phone, I tried all of the drivers update with Zadig, and nothing work (when it was working before the final reboot). The phone appear in my device manager, without the yellow /!.
After some research, it seems that something is corrupted deeper, and I can even not access to the fastboot.
Apparently, the only way looks like to try to use the EDL mode to flash directly the system from the cheep with a “Qualcomm Flash Tool”. It looks like pretty advanced and not very certains, I don’t think I will proceed.
I might send back my phone to the repair center. Sad that the e/os installation did not worked
Sad to hear that you feel the phone is bricked. This can happen if anti-rollback is tripped.
This happens if one installs a version of /e/OS with an SPL older than the SPL of the pre-existing OS. The anti-rollback hazard is explained on the manual install page Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP4 - “FP4”.
The damage happens at the moment the device is relocked.
Yes, the description match with what happened. So when the phone got bricked, there is nothing more to do than to send the phone back to the fairphone repair center?
Well I would always do all possible to get the phone to unlock in this situation.
As I understand it Fairphone (and I suppose /e/OS) have EDL hidden from the user. I guess this is why users are left a little uncertain if the phone is bricked.
I strongly recommend using a Linux Distro (e.g. native Linux or Ubuntu Live System bootet from USB) and the commandline installation process using the flash_FP4_factory.sh script.
If you are in doubt about the SPL leave the bootloader unlocked.
Ok, that’s current Android SDK platform tools in use then, as it should be, not a hopelessly outdated Minimal ADB and Fastboot command.
It was just a thought.
In case you want to continue on Windows, seeing you had mentioned Minimal ADB and Fastboot as well as Zadig, which sounds like all in all it could result in a proper mess … I would suggest a cleanup/repair next …
… and let Windows install the necessary drivers automatically then, don’t try to outsmart it with third party tools from the start.
Does the web installer automatically lock the bootloader? It definitely should not do that without some kind of sanity check. I know the command line instructions provide adequate warning about anti-rollback, but the document does not mention it only matters if you re-lock the bootloader.
I think people get overly obsessed about re-locking. The only time it really matters is if you need to run apps that require it, few do. Most of the /e/os supported phones can’t re-lock anyway.
In any case I’ve read where people have been able to unlock in fastboot mode even after running into the anti-rollback issue so I would try my best to do that before shipping the device off to Fairphone.
At the moment there is no sanity check (one of the reasons I started the guide, many with bootlooping FP device after locking), there is a gitlab issue for that.
But the user has to lock via buttons, installer just sends the fastboot.
Even so the user is probably following instructions blindly. People opting for the installer over the command line instructions would tend to be those not familiar with the nuts and bolts of the system. At the least the web installer should display a strong warning and require yes/no confirmation before sending the command to re-lock.
Problem device . Right click → Windows update is expected to find a more suitable combination driver.
