Please add your suggestions to improve the documentation for the Sony - Xperia XA2 - pioneer here …
Documentation Feedback
- I suggest including the following tip on the instructions (copied from LOS instructions):
Warning: Before following these instructions please ensure that the device is on the latest Android 9 firmware.
-
When it comes to the section "Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using
fastboot" I would suggest that the LineageOS installation instructions are more accurate for this device (substituting recovery-e-0.14-q-etc into the command).fastboot flash boot <recovery.img>
Screen will stay black with blue led lit. Then unplug phone to power it off, wait a 15 seconds or so then manually boot the recovery by holding vol down/power until first vibration. E-recovery should then boot up and you can continue. Remember to plug back into pc for sideloading the OS!
Hei chrisrg,
i had the same idea. The warning is nessecary.
Thanks Markusk
The manual seems to be a bit unclear whether to use TWRP or the recovery image provided by e.foundation. In Lineage only the recovery image is used. And from a first look that seems to work fine.
The /e/ Recovery has only a basic set of functions.
Users who are aware of adb shell commands can use it to manage more advanced functions.
TWRP on the other hand has a UI which makes it easy for all users to try out complex activities.
This is why we are not aggressively promote the /e/ recovery for now.
In that case the information “load TWRP here” is missing. The Chapter " Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using fastboot" tells how to flash an image. I did that for the /e/ Recovery. It would be great if that chapter tells what should be flashed. For example first /e/ Recovery using command x and then boot into TWRP without flashing using command y.
Most likely it worked for me because I tried TWRP first (wipe worked but install failed for some reason) and then I used the /e/ Recovery to do the install.
Hi there,
I would suggest renaming “Upgrade” to “Install on unlocked phone” or the like, because the one thing you can exactly not do is just upgrade an XA2 running Oreo with the Q version.
A prerequisite for installing /e/ Oreo on the XA2 was not having the Pie version on the phone.
So in any case you would have to install the official Android 9 Pie from Sony before installing/upgrading to / e/ Q. (There is no Android 10 for the XA2 but according to the forum, the official Android 9 and /e/ Q does work.).
Installing the official firmware is no piece of cake either, given the a/b scenario. So users should IMHO be sent to lineage for instructions:
Best Dave
Hi,
this is my first post in this forum, so I hope to respect all the community guidelines.
After very good experiences with flashing a Nexus 5 with /e/, yesterday evening I tried to flash my Xperia XA2 following the steps on
https://doc.e.foundation/devices/pioneer/install
It did not went well so I hope to find some help or suggestions here.
In short
In the section “Pre-install instructions” the step “Sideload the copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip”
did not work out well. After rebooting, the phone was stuck in a boot loop, but it was possible to recover to Android 9 via a menu on the phone. After restarting the procedure from “Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using fastboot” and rebooting the phone, the phone is stuck with “Your device is corrupted. It can’t be trusted and will not boot.”
Details
Setting:
- Sony Xperia XA2 (H3113)
- Android 9
- e-OS: e-0.20-q-20211216151800-dev-pioneer.zip
- Recovery-image: recovery-e-0.20-q-20211216151800-dev-pioneer.img
- pre-install-instructions: copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip
Section: Unlocking the bootloader
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo adb reboot bootloader
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo fastboot devices
CABC12345C fastboot
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo fastboot oem unlock 0xUNLOCK_CODE
...
OKAY [ 1.933s]
finished. total time: 1.933s
Section: Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using fastboot (1st run)
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo adb reboot bootloader
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo fastboot devices
CABC12345C fastboot
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo fastboot flash boot recovery-e-0.20-q-20211216151800-dev-pioneer.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'boot_b' (23461 KB)...
OKAY [ 1.047s]
writing 'boot_b'...
OKAY [ 0.191s]
finished. total time: 1.238s
Please note: In the first run ‘boot_b’ was sent.
Section “Pre-Install instructions” (1st run)
The phone was still connected to the PC, but did not respond to any touch on the display or pressing any button, so I thought, that the commands
- 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-20210323_1922.zip
are kind of “either… or” and chose the second option, which led to:
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo adb sideload copy-partitions-20210323_1922.zip
adb: sideload connection failed: no devices/emulators found
adb: trying pre-KitKat sideload method...
adb: pre-KitKat sideload connection failed: no devices/emulators found
The device did not react and so I disconnected the phone from the PC and tried a reboot. Afterwards, the phone was stuck in a boot-loop and after a couple of restarts, the option of a factory reset or “Try again” was presented on the smartphone’s screen. After factory reset, the Android Version 9 was still present. The bootloader was still unlocked.
Section: Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using fastboot (2nd run)
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo adb reboot bootloader
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo fastboot devices
CABC12345C fastboot
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo fastboot flash boot recovery-e-0.20-q-20211216151800-dev-pioneer.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'boot_a' (23461 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.929s]
writing 'boot_a'...
OKAY [ 0.190s]
finished. total time: 1.119s
Please note: In the second run ‘boot_a’ was sent.
Section “Pre-Install instructions” (2nd run)
Since in the first run I was not able to follow the Pre-install instructions I disconnected the phone form the PC to check whether in the recovery image the option “Apply Update” and “Apply form ADB”
- 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-20210323_1922.zip
Then a reboot did not work and the message “Your device is corrupted. It can’t be trusted and will not boot.” is displayed.
After reconnecting to the PC the device is not found
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo fastboot devices
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$
and the device does not respond to the volume down and power button.
Have I “hard-bricked” my phone or do you see any chance for recovery?
I am happy for any suggestions.
HI @Cassandra73 ,
Can you try again plugging phone to pc while holding vol up, see if you can get the blue led in fastboot mode.
The first misstep in your install procedure was to miss out manually booting the e-recovery directly after flashing. Not your fault, as the instructions don’t show this. The second was trying a reboot after sideloading the copy partitions zip.
The phone should be ok, it can take a lot! But might need to take it a step at a time.
Hi @chrisrg,
thanks for the quick reply.
OK. Well, I don’t get a blue led, however, the device seems to be back in fastboot mode:
user@host:~$ sudo fastboot devices
CABC12345C fastboot
ok, that’s good. It would be best to start again and try to be on slot b.
Just in case you don’y know the commands, to see what slot you are on now
:
fastboot getvar current-slot
To change slot
fastboot --set-active=b
it might be fastboot getvar --set-active=b
Sorry, I’m away from home and my notes
Cool. Thank you for the hint. In effect the current-slot was “a”.
And it is:
fastboot --set-active=b
Just for my understanding:
Having checked the
user@host:~$ sudo fastboot devices
CABC12345C fastboot
the next step would be to reflash the recovery-image on b? So I am back in the procedure as described and the next step would be step 4 of
Section: Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using fastboot
i.e.,
fastboot flash boot recoveryfilename.img
correct?
And then the next step would be to make a reboot of the phone?
P.S. Oh, don’t worry. I am very happy for your help!
yes
Next step would be with device powered off (unplug from pc) manual reboot to recovery by holding vol down and power. Release power after vibration .
This should boot up the e-recovery. Plug device back in to pc. and you can then follow the instructions to copy partitions again. Do not reboot again until the end. Go to next step to factory reset in recovery etc.
Ok, it seems that I am almost there…
Sideloading of the zip-file gives
user@host:~/Downloads/e-os$ sudo adb sideload e-0.20-q-20211216151800-dev-pioneer.zip
serving: 'e-0.20-q-20211216151800-dev-pioneer.zip' (~47%) adb: failed to read command: Success
However, in step 10 the process does not pause at 47%, but it seems to stop/abort there.
On the phone the Recovey|Apply Update screen is displayed. In small fonts, there is written in the last three log lines
Installing update...
Step 1/2
Step 2/2
The messages " Total xfer: 1.00x" or " Script succeeded result was [1.000000]", as expected in steps 12 and 13, are not displayed.
I just tried it (the sideloading) twice with the same result.
It stops at 47 on PC, the rest is on device. It takes about 5 mins. Eventually you should see a little back arrow at top left of recovery screen. Go back an select reboot system. You can unplug.
If you get a bootloop, leave it an see if it drops back into e recovery and do a factory reset again. Reboot system.
Right now it works! Thank you very much for your help and patience.
Just for the record:
After the arrow on the upper left corner is visible, and going back to Recovery Main Screen the message:
“Install completed with status 0.”
is displayed and a reboot (with the unplugged phone) worked well in about 2 minutes.
Thanks again!
Congratulations, well done!
Install with status 0 is exactly what you want .
If there is a way to contribute to the update of the documentation I would be happy to do so.