Hi everyone,
I had some difficulties installing /e/ on my Zenfone. And I found the wiki quite disturbing (no blame here, they have lots of device, it is probably auto-generated …) so here is how I managed to do it.
DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert, it worked for me but I don’t fully understand how. If it breaks everything for you, I won’t be able to help you, so take some time to read and understand what you’re doing. Read everything first, it could prevent hard breaking your phone. During the process, all data will be lost forever, backup is love, backup is life.
If you broke everything, try this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/updated-guide-how-to-unbrick-your-zenfone-6-android-p-q-zs630kl.4189715/
It worked for me (like a few times…) to come back to a Android 9 working device.
FIRST: you need to install adb and fastboot. The wiki is good enough for this. My tip: use a Linux. A sh*ty old Linux running on a PC that belongs to a museum is far easier to get ADB and Fastboot to work than any cutting edge Windows.
SECOND: Unlock the boot loader. Again the tuto is good enough.
THIRD: you need to get a Android 10 version on your phone. I recomand the UL-ASUS_l01WD-ASUS-19.1810.2011.18, not because I tried all of them, but because it worked for me. 3 possibilities:
- you’re already set up, congrats, you rule
- you’re on android 9: download the Firmware on the Asus website and copy it in your internal storage. Reboot, and the phone will recognize the update. If it crashes, it’s probably because an intermediary update is necessary. Try older builds until it works.
- you overshot and you’re on Android 11. This is more complicated. You’ll need TWRP. Download the last version of the image (img file, not the zip one) and reboot in bootloader. Temporary boot to the recovery with
fastboot boot YOUR_IMAGE_FILE.img
Go to wipe, and tap format data. Type ‘yes’ and trash all the data. Return, go to Advanced wipe and wipe Cache and System. Swipe to Wipe. I don’t know if it’s necessary but I did it for both the A/B partitions: to do so press return to the main screen, tap Reboot and switch partition. And wipe everything again. Then on your computer:
adb push YOUR_FIRMWARE_FILE.zip /
Don’t forget “/” in the end of the command line. Then on the main screen tap Install. Up a level till you reach “/”. Look for you build file, and swipe to install. Again I don’t know if this is necessary, but I installed this build on both partition (the same way we wipe data on them: Main Menu -> Reboot -> select the non active partition). Back to the main menu, Install -> find the firmware -> swipe to install. Reboot. You now should have an Android 10 running on your device.
FOURTH: Download 3 files:
- the /e/ build AND recovery from the /e/ website
- the copy-partitions zip file on this site https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=8889791610682929240
FIFTH: Reboot to bootloader. Flash the custom recovery with
fastboot flash boot CUSTOM_RECOVERY_IMAGE.img
from the fastboot menu, use the volume key to select Recovery and boot in it using the power key.
Go to Apply update, then Apply from ADB to begin sideload. On your computer, use this command
adb sideload copy-partitions-FILE.zip
There will be a warning on your phone, this is expected, accept and tap continue.
Back to the main menu, tap Factory Reset, then Format data / factory reset and continue with the formatting process. Then back to the main menu, Apply update, then Apply from ADB to begin sideload. On your computer, use the command
adb sideload E_BUILD_FILE.zip
You can reboot, it should work, I guess, it worked for me.
Take care,
Bests,
JP