I am relatively new to installing a new os on a smartphone. A couple of months ago I was able to install /e/OS/ on a Fairphone 3 (with a lot of patience and the help of the online installer). Now that I bought a Fairphone 6, I was sure I could do the same on this new model. Even though I use Linux, I am not great at it (I try to avoid using the terminal, since I do not know enough to confidently use it).
I guess I’m not the first one with this problem and I tried to find an answer on this forum (first day here), but I was unable to find anything that exactly resembled my situation. If you know of a similar case, please tell me.
I guess I accidentally forgot to lock the bootloader at the end of the procedure, because everytime I would start the phone, I would get a warning about the phone not being locked and its security issue. So… I decided that I could best reinstall /e/OS/. I had not done much with the phone, so I had no personal data that would be lost anyway.
I connected the phone to my computer and started the installation again. I made sure to follow the installation process of the installer extra carefully to prevent the same mistake from happening. But after I locked the bootloader, the phone said that there was a critical error and there was a “link” to a website. Unfortunately that link had vanished by the time I was able to look it up. According to the online installer, I was not finished yet, but there is nothing I can do with the phone anymore.
Now my phone is stuck in a loop om FastBoot Mode and it’s locked. I pressed the power button and the volume down button for 15 seconds, but that doesn’t help. Every option I try in FastBoot leads to the same thing: reloading to the FastBoot Mode. I can’t even seem to shut down the phone, it merely seems to go to sleep.
What can I do to solve this problem? As said before: my “coding” skills are limited, so please be as clear as possible. Also try not to refer to reading the manual, since that will not help me (it’s over my head). If I would have understood that, I would not have asked for help and I would probably have done a manual installation as well.
It’s not that I don’t want to use the terminal, it’s just that I would not know where to begin and what to do. If there’s a simple step by step guide like the one you gave, I can surely do it.
I did what you asked and the results are as followed:
The device went back to the lock/unlock option for the bootloader. When I chose unlock, the device status in the FastBoot Mode said “unlocked”
The next questions would be: what to do next and what can I do to lock the bootloader without getting stuck in the FastBoot Mode again?
And apparently I have to wait some time before I can reply in this form: when I clicked “Reply” I got a pop-up window saying that I have to wait 11 minutes before I can reply .
Edit: it does not matter whether the device state is locked or unlocked: I’m still stuck in Fastboot Mode!
I had the same problem; after locking, I got a “corrupt device” message. The only quick solution for me was to unlock the device using an ADB command, then I reinstalled to Android Fairphone OS. Could it be because the Android security patch level was too high?
Had you been using your phone previously with a Google account? Factory Reset Protection has become an issue in a15. All Google accounts, passwords and PINs including screen lock must be removed before start of /e/ nstall.
Hmm, yes, I had Fairphone Android with Google, then I installed e/OS via the web installer, and when I tried to lock it, I got an error message. Then I unlocked the bootloader again and reinstalled Fairphone OS. Since then, I’ve been sticking with Fairphone OS for now. I thought I’d bricked my Fairphone with the boot loop.
It worked! I was able to install /e/OS/ with the installation guide you provided! Through one of the links someone sent, I also read that locking the bootloader is not necessarily the best thing to do/even all that necessary. I therefore decided not to lock it and “endure” the warning .
Thank you all for helping me, especially Piero !!!
Locking the bootloader depends on lot of factors. From security to app compatibility.
I suggest you to install the apps you are really reliant on before you start to daily drive it. From thoose first days you will soon realize if locked or not. And even if it works today, it might change tomorrow…
I am aware of that, I even have an app which thinks my FP6 is rooted, but ony my older Pixel 5 no issues at all. Same version (A15-3.2), same build type (community), same source of app stora and both unlocked bootloader.
Luckely that authentication app allows YubiKey (2FA) to which I can now rely on.
Thank you for the extra advice. So far everything seems to work, at least all the apps I really want to use. That is including banking apps. Mail is acting a bit weird, but that is also because of Microft keypass securtiy not being able to use fingerprints in apps yet.
A big reason why I decided not to lock the bootloader is, because I did not know about the rollback issue before I started installing /e/OS/. This means that I have no idea what the date of the security patch of the original OS is. I could lock it again now, but my guess is that the phone will become bricked again. I have no idea how long I have to wait untill I will finally be able to lock the bootloader, but by then it will be a pain in the whatever to save my data, reinstall all the apps. login, etc.
I will think about locking the phone when I run into too many errors to use the phone propperly.
Provided that the update also contains a security patch update, I think I can be patient for one week . Just to be sure am I correct that I need to follow these steps to lock the bootloader:
Update /e/OS/ in the phone (settings > system updates).
Connect the phone to the desktop (also making sure that usb-debugging is active)
Open the platform-tools folder
Right-click in the folder > open in terminal
Then run the following commands: ./fastboot flashing lock_critical ./fastboot flashing lock
If I need to do something else/more please let me know.
I would advise to read very carefully the Requirements section of the instructions, especially the red warning about the anti rollboack feature. Those instructions are clear but the matter is not that easy to understand, hence do read it fully and understand clearly all the examples given before attempting another installation of any version to avoid having the same problem again.
Only then proceed to the "locking the bootloader” section
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. Just to be sure am I correct that I need to follow these steps to lock the bootloader: