Web installer fails at the bootloader step with error - FP4

Community Web Installer
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I have tried installing Murena /e/OS on my Fairphone 4, but I get an error message:

Error on step: connect-bootloader
Cannot execute command connect bootloader
The device is not connected Failed to connect: Cannot connect Bootloader
Proposal: Check connection and that no other program is using the phone and retry.

Am I to understand that this is probably due to my using a USB-C to USB-A USB 2.0 cable? There appear to be various USB-C to USB-A USB cables for purchase. USB-C to USB-A 3.2 Gen.1, USB-C to USB-A 3.2 Gen.2, USB-C 3.1 to USB-A 2.0, etc. A bit of a mess… What do I need?

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you can test your cable with : fastboot devices

you can have a try with : Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP4 - “FP4”

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Did you activate the developer options and did you set all necessary settings?

If you are on Windows a driver is needed when the device switches into all the modes (fasboot for bootloader, etc.).

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Yes, I activated all of the necessary settings. I am using Linux. Wondering if this could be done with FreeBSD as well :thinking:

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I did an installation on Mint with Ungoogled Chromium yesterday and I had no issues. Try to follow every step correctly.

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I just tried using the web installer, using a different computer, running LMDE and using the Chromium browser. Same error.

The bootloader is reading “start” in green. Is that as it should be? The installer detects “Android” instead of Fairphone 4 at the bootloader.

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Pictures of Computer and Smartphone would be gold.

The whole installer is not only on the Computer you also have to do things on the Smartphone.

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This page Web installer | Install | GrapheneOS includes the need for udev rules being present / set up for the target phone. Also a few words on establishing that you are in fastboot mode.

/e/os web installer cannot connect to Fairphone 3 in Fastboot mode
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OK, thanks. After having read through the documentation, I installed android-sdk-platform-tools-common. This seems to have been the issue. After that, the installation completed without any errors.

Unfortunately, my phone will not boot into the system. I just keep getting the bootloader :scream: What is going on and how do I solve it?

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So you got e-Recovery ok?

Does Recovery offer to Format factory data or Factory reset might be worth a try.

Does the Bootloader confirm that the phone is unlocked?

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There is a recovery mode, but I am unsure what it will try to recover to, and whether it will be successful.

Device state, as it is called, is unlocked.

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There is e-recovery.

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I tried the boot system option and it went back to the bootloader. Now I no longer get e-recovery.

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It will be much easier to manual install as Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP4 - “FP4” than to debug web-installer.

fp4 is installed by a script, so it is not so hard.

Does web-installer indicate that it has kept any kind of log? Without that, advice from here would be based on guesswork.

Web-installer will have started to install the Official build, so I suggest you use that rather than the Community build.

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I think the priority here is how do I recover the phone from this, not installing another system on top of something that doesn’t work, but that there is no information about…

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Indeed, and I am not one to say that an automated install is a good thing.

The guesswork is that maybe the script did not complete – this is quite commonly seen in manual install where one partition fails to flash, with the result that the script aborts intentionally – this is deemed the safest wording for the script. Seeing this, one can confidently just re-run the script until it succeeds.

The phone is ok, all the time you have a functioning fastboot. There is the expectation that system and recovery are clearly overwritten and replaced by any install instructions.

The most severe hazard is if there is any risk that you trip anti rollback. This hazard is fully explained in the install page I linked.

… but the web-installer is only automating the manual method and my comment about official was to ensure that you did not attempt to install something different.

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Wow. That actually worked. Thanks. I have read posts about people bricking their phones, so I have always viewed either the snap package or the web install as being the safest way of doing things

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The web-installer doesn’t really show any way to see a log. There are ‘Popup’ messages that something is wrong. But for people who aren’t aware of manual install and all the steps, it is pretty difficult to get a read.

I will check @globetrotterdk try with the plattform tools if that is needed. I do not think so, but I’ll give it a try to debunk it.

@globetrotterdk Is your installation now succefully done?

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Thanks for your follow up @mihi . Different distros handle udev rules (mentioned in the GrapheneOS web-installer) in different ways …

android-sdk-platform-tools-common

… seems the way to provide udev etc for this distro.

Debian (and I think Ubuntu) provides a solution by the same name android-sdk-platform-tools-common. In Debian and I expect the other distros the common package is marked as a dependency when one system installs platform-tools. Seems it is recognised not provided by Graphene web-installer.

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Hello!

Trying to install /e/OS on my Fairphone 4 (FP4, currently stock Android 12 OS), I reached the step 9/31 of the e Foundation Installer, the step right after downloading the /e/OS. Yet, I’m stuck there as the phone becomes suddenly undetectable by adb when launching it in fastboot mode (when writing the command « adb devices » in Command Prompt, the list of devices attached is suddenly empty, whereas before the fastboot mode, my phone appeared). The Installer in the web browser leaves me the following error message:

« Error on step: connect-bootloader Cannot execute command connect bootloader The device is not connected Failed to connect: Cannot connect Bootloader Proposal: Check connection and that no other program is using the phone and retry. »

It’s the first time I’m installing a phone OS, I never used adb, platform-tools, drivers update and so on before. I did everything well to reach the step 9 on 31 but then I probably do something wrong and I don’t know what. It’s not the USB cable or so, I already searched on several forums and watched videos to come to following conclusion, but still I’m a newbie, it’s maybe not a driver problem, idk.

If I understand well, it seems to be a driver problem for the fastboot mode. So, I connected my Fairphone in fastboot to my computer and installed the Google USB Driver (Google USB Driver पाना  |  Android Studio  |  Android Developers). My computer is on Windows 10, I followed the steps to install this driver. I unzipped it on local disk C:, I also tried moving it in Windows>System 32>drivers files but both don’t work: my computer always tells me that no relevant driver is found in the downloaded Google USB driver file when updating manually. I also tried with a more recent computer under Windows 11 (only on unzipping on local disk C:) but I got the same problem.

In the instruction manual from the e Foundation “Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP4 – “FP4””, in the section « Unlocking the bootloader », I can do manually the step 5 but then adb doesn’t detect my Fairphone anymore, so I can’t achieve the step 6 (here: Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP4 - “FP4”, when launching the command « fastboot flashing unlock », adb keeps trying as it doesn’t find the phone anymore).

That’s probably one small step for you, but a giant leap for me Ü Thank you in advance for your help!!

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Please study this post and tell us what changes [Solved] Windows does not see my phone in Fastboot mode

Another thread, is this a bit like your case Web installer step 9, unclear how to proceed.

Perhaps worth adding, fastboot and adb speak a different language.

fastboot commands only work in Fastboot mode.

adb works on the phone in “normal” mode and Recovery only.

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Hello @aibd !

I followed the GIF from Fairphone Support you posted on the page [Solved] Windows does not see my phone in Fastboot mode and it worked: my phone is know detected in fastbood mode!!

Thank you so much for your help, it allowed me to install /e/OS manually on my Fairphone 4 :sunny:
Have a nice day! :saluting_face:

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