Unable to Mount MX4 Ubuntu Edition on Ubuntu 17.04 laptop

[Ignorance]

Hi
My MX4 Ubuntu Edition won't mount on my Ubuntu 17.04 laptop. When I tried to port to UBports I seem to have just reinstalled Ubuntu Touch. I can't see any sign that my new install is the UBports version.
I then tried to install the UBports store but this failed because the device couldn't be detected.
I think the reason is down to my failure to mount the phone in the first place.
I have gooled the problem and tried a couple of fixes when I can understand them and nothing seems to work.
Any advice would be nice.
As my name implies I am not much of a computer buff so please don't assume I have much knowledge.

[abernator]

What method did you use and did it give you some errors on the way?

[Ignorance]

Hi
Using the second method I get the following terminal output:-

2017/09/09 22:01:19 Device is |arale|
2017/09/09 22:01:19 Flashing version 1 from 15.04/stable channel and server http://system-image.ubports.com to device arale
can't flash recovery image

On the phone I get:-

read USB error

I have also used the first method without success.

[Ignorance]

Using the first method I get the following terminal output:-

Detecting device

75HABLL6L4CS fastboot
Device detected !

Flashing legacy channel

Creating filesystem with parameters:
Size: 738197504
Block size: 4096
Blocks per group: 32768
Inodes per group: 7520
Inode size: 256
Journal blocks: 2816
Label:
Blocks: 180224
Block groups: 6
Reserved block group size: 47
Created filesystem with 11/45120 inodes and 5847/180224 blocks
erasing 'cache'...
OKAY [ 1.041s]
sending 'cache' (13424 KB)...
OKAY [ 5.735s]
writing 'cache'...
OKAY [ 1.035s]
finished. total time: 7.811s
Creating filesystem with parameters:
Size: 838860800
Block size: 4096
Blocks per group: 32768
Inodes per group: 7328
Inode size: 256
Journal blocks: 3200
Label:
Blocks: 204800
Block groups: 7
Reserved block group size: 55
Created filesystem with 11/51296 inodes and 6651/204800 blocks
erasing 'userdata'...
OKAY [ 1.040s]
sending 'userdata' (14952 KB)...
FAILED (data transfer failure (Protocol error))
finished. total time: 4.777s
rebooting into bootloader...
FAILED (command write failed (Protocol error))
finished. total time: 0.101s

sending 'recovery' (13704 KB)...
FAILED (command write failed (Protocol error))
finished. total time: 0.000s
2017/09/09 22:46:36 Device is |arale|
2017/09/09 22:46:36 Flashing version 10 from ubports-touch/legacy channel and server http://system-image.ubports.com to device arale
can't flash recovery image

Move to your device to finish the setup.

Cleaning up..

Exiting magic-device-tool. Bye Bye
phil@phil-ThinkPad-T410:~/magic-device-tool$

The phone says:-

=> Fastboot....
Erase EMMC Time 31ms vol:23812822KB/s
USB Transferring...
USB Transmition OK Time 5675ms Vol:2422KB/s
cashe Writing Flash....
write Flash OK Time 451ms Vol:30480KB/s
EraseEMMC Time 428ms Vol:9690753KB/s
USB Transferring....

At which stage I will leave it over night and have a re install of OTA 15 Ubuntu Touch.

What am I doing wrong?

[abernator]

@Ignorance said in Unable to Mount MX4 Ubuntu Edition on Ubuntu 17.04 laptop:

(data transfer failure (Protocol error))

Protocol error suggests that something is wrong with your USB ports or cable. Is it USB 2 or USB 3? If it is USB 3 (or 1) then that may be your problem. Try using USB 2 ports or different computer and cable.

[Ignorance]

Thanks for that info.
All my USB ports are 2.0 on a Think Pad T410. I have 4 of them which I have tried.
I have tried multiple cables so I doubt that is the cause.
Your comment that it sounds like a USB problem though has started me thinking it could be dirty contacts. I am not sure how to clean them but I may try some contact cleaning spray with the phone switched off.
I did seem to get a different result the last time I tried to flash the phone. No failure outputs but the process ended with <waiting for device> and then the phone booted itself into yet another new copy of the OTA 15. I still have <waiting for device> on the terminal with no additional output.
I am beginning to wonder if the OTA 15 is the only version on the Magic-device-tool and there is no UBport version there at all. I choose the only options it offers except back to main menu which is Legacy.

[hans1977se]

@Ignorance said in Unable to Mount MX4 Ubuntu Edition on Ubuntu 17.04 laptop:

started me thinking it could be dirty contacts

It could maybe also be something wrong with the usb connector in the phone or it's poorly soldered.

[Stefano]

@Ignorance I use to have MX4 and had a problem with usb cable, it was not a very high quality and I had to hold it to the side when flashing ,otherwise the flashing would fail or terminal says no device detected, connected. Try different usb cable, if not, your usb port might be damaged.

[Lakotaubp]

@Ignorance Hi again. With respect you seem to be getting similar answers now accross all your threads. Take time ti read all of them again and check for similar advice. Most common appears to be a cable usb issue. Only other thing I can think of is setting your device to not sleep when trying to flash it. There is also a telegram group for the MDT that might help.

[Ignorance]

Thanks all for looking into my problem.
I think you are all correct it does seem to be the micro usb port on the phone. I have eliminated all other cable issues and computer usb connectors by flashing a table to UBports.
I have ordered a new phone usb board which I hope will fix the hardware problem.
I feel a little less Ignorant now!