Web installer seemed to brick my Fairphone 5

Using /e/OS Setup
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1

Hello,

I am a happy e/OS user on my Google Pixel. I have bought a Fairphone 5 and tried to install e/OS on it. Since the FP has first-class support, I guessed it would be safe to use the web installer to save time (I am used to performing the manual install process).

However, after install, the phone is bricked. I ended up in non-functional fastboot mode. After looking at the manual instructions, I see the big red caution message about the anti-rollback feature. I believe I tripped this security.

This specificity of Fairphones should be displayed prominently in the web installer! I assume the process should be able to detect the patch date of the stock OS and compare it with the date of the installed e/OS. Even if it is not possible, the user MUST be presented with an install step where they are instructed to look up the Android Security Patch Level, and ideally asked to put it in a date form, so that the web install can immediately stop before touching the phone.

I understand that I am responsible for looking up all the information in the manual instructions, but the web installer gives a false sense of security for beginners and impatient users, so it must come with much stronger safeguards than the manual install, not fewer…

Thanks in advance for your feedback on this request :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
2

I am sorry to hear this. Problems by other eosinstaller users prompted Eos Web Installer Support improvements.

You might comment here

3

dificulty to figure if you used latest e-3.3-a15 version

did you tried to unlock again ?

fastboot oem device-info

[HOWTO] a Clear Guide to install "IMG-e-builds" when /e/ web installer fails

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4

This is so true and exactly what I hope for regarding improvement and the same reason why I advise against web installer at the moment.

Is your device bootlooping? Is the bootloader locked? Sometimes it helps to unlock the bootloader again, since then rollback shouldn’t check SPL anymore when booting. But it did not work always so far…

2 Likes
5

Thanks for the quick and welcoming reactions!

I have good news, the phone does not seem to be actually bricked :partying_face: Yesterday, in the panic, I opened the command-line, and the fastboot command kept giving me < waiting for any device >. I do not know why. I might have made a mistake between several versions of the platform tools in my PATH.

Today, I plugged the phone again to answer your questions above, and the device responds. So I will be able to perform the /e/OS install manually.

Yes, I did. However I can’t check the version of the stock OS anymore.

Today, it works!

$ fastboot oem device-info
(bootloader) Verity mode: true
(bootloader) Device unlocked: true
(bootloader) Device critical unlocked: true
(bootloader) Charger screen enabled: true
OKAY [  0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.001s

So it looks like I can move forward with the “Installing /e/OS” section of the FP5 instructions. Please correct me if wrong.

Yesterday it bootlooped just after install, now it boots in unlocked FastBoot mode.

Before attempting the install, please confirm the following: I should be able to install /e/OS, but I should be careful NOT to re-lock the bootloader after install in case the stock OS version was too recent.

If I’m correct, how will I be able to confirm I can re-lock the bootloader? Will there be a way to check somewhere? Will I just have to wait for a future /e/OS version to come out after the date of yesterday, so I can be sure that it is more recent than the stock OS? Should I reinstall the stock OS as explained by the Fairphone support in order to restart the whole process on a sane basis?

Thanks for your input.

6

/e/OS builds include needed firmware partitions…

that’s it, you have to wait for the e-3.4-a15 release to relock
because current e-3.3-a15 is builded with 01 December 2025 SPL, when current FairphoneOS have 05 December 2025 SPL

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image690×547 83.2 KB

[HOWTO] a Clear Guide to install /e/ on a Fairphone

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@Itms Please be aware that locking the device will wipe all data on it. Therefore don’t do anything with it (except things you won’t miss if gone) before you actually use it. Users who start to use it often don’t lock it later and then have banjing apps which need locked bootloader, etc.

And as piero stated, you should wait for 3.4 or you might have bootloop again or even worse

2 Likes
8

Thank you so much for the precise answers.

Is the release schedule for /e/OS planned in advance, or should I wait for 3.4 at some unknown date during January?

I have never re-locked my bootloader on my Google Pixel 7a, and I never knew that it could prevent me from installing banking apps: mine runs just fine. So depending on the planned release date of 3.4 I might just keep the Fairphone unlocked. Thoughts?

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I hope before mid fabruary…

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It is not something you can with every customRom. You could also use the community build which can’t be locked and you have to do major upgrades on your own. For me official without locking bootloader beats the purpose.

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11

Yes, “official” branch (only for models solded by Murena) provide the possibility to relock the bootloader, But also the android OTA ugrades ability …

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Hi folks. I’m going to move forward with the setup of the phone, unlocked, without waiting for the release of 3.4.

Reading what you wrote I feel like you’re saying that, if I don’t lock the phone, I should rather use the community build. Is there any downside to using the official build unlocked instead of the community one?

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Nope, no downsides. You can continue to use ‘official’ with unlocked bootloader :ok_hand::ok_hand:

15

Maybe update the progress from your own post…