Need Help with G7 Plus Installation!

Hi all - this is my 2nd time installing /e/os and only 3rd installing a custom rom and I’ve hit a roadblock.
Unfortunately it seems that I picked one of the more awkward devices to install on.

Progress so far: Went through the convoluted Motorola unlock procedure, so bootloader is now unlocked.
Downloaded build and recovery.
Enter fastboot.

“fastboot devices” - device shows in list.
“fastboot oem get_unlock_data” - a bunch of numbers, but on fastboot it says bootloader is unlocked

Ok time to flash recovery, but here’s where I’m stuck: When I run
“fastboot flash boot recoveryfilename.img”
I get an error message basically saying something like the partition is empty or boot_a is empty (I can rerun the command and post the exact results if needed - just a bit worried about bricking the phone at this point). So in the installation instructions it says " Tip: Outdated fastboot releases dropped legacy A/B support, so it might attempt to flash to boot__a / boot__b rather than boot_a / boot_b if you try to flash boot. In this case, you must update fastboot to a release newer than or equal to 31.0.2. Alternatively, you can manually specify which slot to flash to based on what slot fastboot failed to flash to. For example, if fastboot fails to flash to boot__a, you must flash to boot_a." - However I don’t know how to boot to a specific partition, nor do I know the name of the partition I need to boot to. Also in the “Ensuring all Firmware Partitions are Consistent” section - I can’t figure out how to do the sideload. It says *** On the device, select Apply Update, then Apply from ADB to begin sideload. * On the host machine, sideload the package using: adb sideload copy-partitions-20220613-signed.zip** - However I can’t see an “Apply Update” option on the phone, and “adb sideload partitions etc.” isn’t working.

Other things to note - I tried just turning the phone back on and it says “verity mode set to disabled” and something along the lines of “another OS is installed”. But it did come on and seems to be working fine.

Help would be GREATLY appreciated so I don’t break this phone!
Thank you.

EDIT: Trying to Sideload the partitions package gets: db: sideload connection failed: no devices/emulators found
adb: trying pre-KitKat sideload method…
adb: pre-KitKat sideload connection failed: no devices/emulators found

So you are trying to follow Install /e/OS on a Motorola Moto G7 Plus - “lake”.

Did you really mean

fastboot flash boot recoveryfilename.img

Did you …quoting …

Replace the recoveryfilename with the name of the recovery image you downloaded in the previous section

Thanks.

Yes - I can’t see a difference between what I wrote and what you did - am I missing something?

Yes! My actual command was: “fastboot flash boot recovery-IMG-e-2.2-t-20240716417775-dev-sunfish.img” - I don’t think I need to specify the file location more specifically in the command?

So … might you have this issue ?? Please show the output of

fastboot --version

Thanks for your help:

fastboot --version

fastboot version 35.0.2-12147458

Ahead of me with Moto G7 Power ocean … so let’s assume that is not the issue.

+

Maybe you do need to look at PATH??

1 Like

Sorry I’m a noob - what exactly would I need to look for here? I have added the adb path to the environment variables, as far as I know.

Edit: Oh - I just rechecked Environment Variables and under “User Variables for User” I’m pretty sure there used to be one called “Path” that had the same Value as “Path” in “System Variables”… I may have accidentally deleted that… :expressionless: If so I’m not sure how to restore that…
Edit 2: I created a “New” item in User Variables, called it “Path” and made the value the same thing as the value of “Path” in “System Variables”.
I’ll retry installation tomorrow and see if that resolves it…

fastboot flash boot recovery-e-2.6.4-t-20250104459146-community-lake.img
fastboot: error: Failed to identify current slot

Did you do sufficient research to be able to say that the device was fully updated to the last published Motorola version ?

If yes, please try

fastboot getvar all

Many of our install pages include

" Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using fastboot"

… and then proceed to tell us how to flash recovery.

Typically the command for temporarily booting would be

fastboot boot recovery-image-filename

This is the least invasive thing that comes to mind.

This approach is also mentioned in this thread for a different device, https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/d0tskr/fastboot_error_failed_to_identify_current_slot/

fastboot getvar all
(bootloader) kernel: uefi
(bootloader) version-bootloader: MBM-3.0-lake_retail-38523c9489-210129
(bootloader) product: lake
(bootloader) board: lake
(bootloader) secure: yes
(bootloader) hwrev: PVT
(bootloader) radio: WEJP
(bootloader) storage-type: eMMC
(bootloader) emmc: 64GB MICRON S0J9K8 RV=08 PV=10 FV=0000000000000004
(bootloader) ufs: N/A
(bootloader) ram: 4GB MICRON LP4 DIE=16Gb M5=FF M6=04 M7=10 M8=10
(bootloader) cpu: SDM636 1.0 (1)
(bootloader) serialno: ZY22749R56
(bootloader) cid: 0x0032

Have Googled this issue and others seem to have resolved it by using a usb 2.0 port instead of 3.0, so will try that and see if it resolves.

For anyone running into similar issues - the solution wsa to use a usb 2.0 hub. Also - when sideloading files you must copy the files as a path and paste that filename into the command in cmd. Not clear in instructions for noobs.