Title text. My device “mars” (Xiaomi mi 11 pro) has an /e/os Community build for T (Android 13). I’d like to switch from LOS 21 (A14) to /e/os T (A13). What methods can I take to retain as much of my current data as possible?
So far, my steps are:
Actually, I’m not sure how you actually restore some data from a seedvault backup? How do you transfer it to pc and how do you restore?
the Seedvault on /e/ is many years old - and this route won’t work reliably when coming from a higher version to a lower one, especially Android 14 that has the device2device backup earlier versions have no idea about. You can test ofc, at best the installation apks and some system settings will be transfered, but no App data (app authentication, messenger content etc).
As to the procedure, you transfer the “.SeedVaultAndroidBackup” directory from and to the folder Seedvault has as backup location.
well, shit… ig I can transfer the app data directories manually using adb
Well, I’ve come up with my own solution, just use a file manager with su permission to copy any important app configs to a structured directory, compress it into an archive, transfer archive to my computer.
in case, AOSP 14 / LineageOS 21 based /e/OS-U should be released in about a month (or two)…
I’m moving specifically because i DON’T want to use A14… I already hate the features past Android 11, but Android 14 starts to make it even worse.
Oh my god, why is the e/os recovery fucking LIGHT background? What was wrong with Lineageos recovery black background??
well shit, i’ve completely fucked up my boot_a partition i think…
During the install I didn’t like the recovery white background black text, so I then tried flashing Lineage recovery (which broke it)…
So now, every few seconds after a boot, it just restarts and goes back to black screen, then the Mi logo shows up again. During this time i can get into fastboot but only for a few seconds until the next sudden restart.
So order of flashing is: flash /e/os dtbo, flash /e/os vendor_boot , flash /e/os recovery in boot_a , I decided I didn’t like it, flash lineageos recovery in boot_a , boot to lineageos recovery, it starts getting stuck in a restart loop…
I managed to time the fastboot and flash the /e/os recovery to “boot” but it started sending and writing to boot_b instead of boot_a and now is permanently stuck restarting every few seconds. The phone also is now booting straight to fastboot by itself now then restarting a few seconds later, not sure what to do now to fix. I tried reflashing everything important and it doesn’t work. My current idea is to wait for it to drain its own battery while constantly bootlooping to fastboot, then bring it to a repair shop and see what they can do.
Are you serious, you don’t like the colour of the recovery screen… How many times do you have to look at that?
Your doing this stuff to yourself…
Good idea. When you restart from the recharge I suggest you boot straight to fastboot. I would hope that, if you don’t use the broken system, there is a hope that you get a stable fastboot.
When you introduced Lineage recovery was it from Android 13 or 14?
To avoid forcing /e/OS to do the downgrade (bound to be problematic) I would always prefer to do the downgrade with a Stock ROM where you can fastboot flashall … and be sure to get both slots downgraded.
yeah, this one is entirely on me Jets. I’m an idiot for that one.
it’s the android 14 lineageos recovery. So once I can get the phone into stable fastboot without the constant restarting, I should try and flash the official xiaomi rom?
I do not know the device and I have done no experiments with Android 14 … but I expect that both the mix of Android versions and the downgrade were problematic.
I think this is the safest route (both to downgrade and to recover the device) but some would be happy to experiment and learn.
The device is “Mars” xiaomi mi 11 pro from china. You’re probably right about both potential issues. I will try and figure out how to flash the official xiaomi hyperos rom again, then once everything is restored to default i’ll flash the /e/os rom. But what is flashall? I’ve never heard of it.
well, fuck. After charging the phone again, it goes straight into the loop again. Mi logo for a fraction of a second, fastboot for a few seconds, screen turns off, mi logo for a fraction of second, loop. When I plug it into computer using a cable it instead shows a xiaomi logo for a few seconds, then a battery no power icon for a few seconds, then screen turnoff for a few seconds. So my theory is that the phone is not detecting the battery and that’s why it’s turning itself offf, though I might be completely wrong about it.
I was using the term flashall to describe the method. This is an example of a flash-all.bat, notice the way that the script attempts to flash both slots, multiple partitions and erases userdata; this is good practice in recovering a non-working phone. Many fastboot ROMs already contain a flash-all script.
My first thought would be that the battery never discharged sufficiently but this “discharge to empty” is not as easy to perform as the (old) more reliable “disconnect the battery”!
Edit yes to “official xiaomi”, but you want Android 13 of course. You may be able to recover the phone using the tool and account you used to unlock the phone – I remember using MiUnlockTool to connect to my account and finding an Unbrick option.
Well, I’m definitely not experienced enough to be disconnecting the battery. So I’ll probably take my device to a repair shop and see what they can do with it. Once that’s done, since hyperos is android 14, should I try and flash xiaomi miui (android 13)?
Here’s my zsh shell history if that can say anything
: 1729977951:0;adb pull /sdcard/truthcontact
: 1729977952:0;ls
: 1729977957:0;adb pull /sdcard/Downloads
: 1729977958:0;adb pull /sdcard/Download
: 1729978550:0;ls
: 1729979188:0;exit
: 1729979387:0;ls
: 1729979396:0;cd recovery
: 1729979396:0;ls
: 1729979414:0;fastboot flash dtbo dtbo-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729979527:0;ls
: 1729979541:0;fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729979551:0;adb reboot bootloader
: 1729979581:0;fastboot devices
: 1729979589:0;fastboot flash recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729979599:0;fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729979809:0;cd ..
: 1729979837:0;ls
: 1729979846:0;fastboot flash boot boot_lineage.img
: 1729980026:0;cd recovery
: 1729980028:0;fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980047:0;fastboot
: 1729980048:0;fastboot --help
: 1729980165:0;fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980357:0;fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980945:0;fastboot flash dtbo dtbo-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980956:0;fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980974:0;fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729981967:0;fastboot flash boot_a recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729985585:0;exit
: 1730024644:0;fastboot devices
: 1730024649:0;cd /new3
: 1730024649:0;ls
: 1730024654:0;cd eos
: 1730024655:0;ls
: 1730024659:0;cd recovery
: 1730024659:0;ls
: 1730059022:0;nano .zsh_history
: 1730059025:0;cat .zsh_history
Heres the relevant lines i think
: 1729979846:0;fastboot flash boot boot_lineage.img
i flashed lineage boot in boot_a partition
: 1729980028:0;fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
i realised I fucked it up and then tried to flash the /e/os recovery in boot_a
: 1729980165:0;fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980357:0;fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980945:0;fastboot flash dtbo dtbo-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
: 1729980956:0;fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
i tried reflashing everything
: 1729980974:0;fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
this one went to boot_b instead and that’s when i realised i fucked it up
: 1729981967:0;fastboot flash boot_a recovery-e-2.4.1-t-20241010439852-community-mars.img
i did this ages after and realised that nothing connected
That sounds about right.