Meizu MX4 problem with update to Ubuntu 16 or android

advocatux · 10 May 2019, 12:32

@Sandro perfect and good luck!

Sandro · 10 May 2019, 13:26

I don't see any phone in SP Flash, as I understand on the phone I should see a confirmation dialogue to let my pc see sys folders, this does not happen, I can see:

Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, Videos.

Also, i forgot to mention that if I try to boot the phone in Fastboot mode it hangs showing "=> FASTBOOT mode..."

Lakotaubp · 10 May 2019, 13:56

@Sandro his may also help. Different phone but method is the same https://web.archive.org/web/20180118130643/http://www.mibqyyo.com/en-articles/2015/09/16/ubuntu-android-installation-process-for-bq-aquaris-e4-5-and-e5 it might also be worth trying to reset the phone first. That will be in system settings.
@advocatux is right you need to start again with a clean install. It sound like you still have the old Canonical Ubuntu Touch as you mention the Ubuntu Store so you will need to follow the instructions given by @advocatux and read the ones in the link above as well. As your on Windows also please try the 15 sec adb I linked to above https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979

Sandro · 10 May 2019, 14:09

@Lakotaubp

Thanks for taking the time to answer me, well, now i can't but I'll give it a try tomorrow, however i already tried every reset option I found on the device, multiple times, what I think is that there is some kind of permission problem, I start to think there 's no way to solve that as even reset does not help.

If confirmation dialogue is mandatory and theres no way to bypass it i think I'm done trying.

So, any advice for a new phone?
What about Nokia 7.1?

Thank you everyone for sharing your advices anyway
Sandro

advocatux · 10 May 2019, 14:19

@Sandro no confirmation dialog is necessary for SP Flash tool

Lakotaubp · 10 May 2019, 14:32

@Sandro These are the current supported devices https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ if you really are stuck. Have a break and come back to it afresh another day it may well come back to life and double check that dev mode setting. We are here when needed

zubozrout · 10 May 2019, 14:47

I have MX4 myself and never had any of these issues. Fastboot is a bit broken making UBports installer useless.

Anyway, based on the thread I suppose you can access filesystem using the USB cable, so the data flow is probably ok. Some cables can be problematic and could possibly cause this kind of issues. Could you try a different USB cable?

Nonetheless if you could run the installation on an Ubuntu desktop it would simply things a bit:

Boot to fastboot mode (hanging on the message you mentioned is correct) and install recovery using fasbtoot flash recovery path/to/recovery-arale.img - you can download it from here: http://cdimage.ubports.com/devices/recovery-arale.img
Once flashed reboot to recovery ... again, it will not say much ... there will only be an ubuntu logo with a background displayed.
Install the ubuntu-device-flash package if it is not installed already.
- Perhaps by adding this repo if you are on bionic (Ubuntu 18.04) running this code: sudo add-apt-repository http://repo.ubports.com and then apt install ubuntu-device-flash.
- or just get the package manually https://repo.ubports.com/pool/bionic/main/g/goget-ubuntu-touch/ubuntu-device-flash_0.35+ubports+0~20181221200828.5~1.gbpd7daaa_amd64.deb and install it - fixing possible apt issues in case they appear by apt -f install then.
Flash Ubuntu Touch to the device: ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --device=arale --channel=ubports-touch/16.04/stable ... which will keep the old data or alternatively add --wipe option to clear old data making this a clean install.

Sandro · 11 May 2019, 13:58

Damn.. those instructions on spflash site miss the last step which is to power on the device!
But probably it's just that I'm stoopied and that was obvious however It's flashing..fingers crossed.

Sandro · 11 May 2019, 14:13

Ok, flashing went fine and now the phone has ubuntu 15.04 r26.

If I understand right I should find the image with 16.04 and ubports store set as default is that right?
Will look for that.

Thank you all

advocatux · 11 May 2019, 15:04

@Sandro you just need to use the ubports-installer as usual

Sandro · 11 May 2019, 15:46

@advocatux
I'm really out of luck with the installer, the phone is not recognized, I select the model manually and when it's time to reboot to fastboot mode it simply does not if the usb cable is connected.
Tried to remove the cable, boot to fb and reconnect, not working.

Same with adb

Sandro · 12 May 2019, 00:49

So i found these posts:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/644245/ubuntu-mx4-not-detected-on-ubuntu-sdk?noredirect=1&lq=1

https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/help/meizu-mx4-ubuntu-to-android-flyme-t3172828

and it seems MX4 has definitely some problems with usb connection, it appears it's a common issue, but someone found that "adding the vendor ID to adb_usb.ini seems to help".

Of course there was no such file in my pc fuuuu..... so continued looking and searching and found this:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9709263/google-android-usb-driver-and-adb

which basically says you have to modify another file: android_winusb.inf with other data. (all the instructions in the link), i did, no luck. I then re-installed the usb driver and made sure it was fine, and finally.. adb seeing my device! What a battle it was.

And for today that's enough. Tomorrow I will try the adb method and pray to God it will work.
Sandro

Sandro · 5 Dec 2019, 12:26

Trying with manual installation, not without issues but i managed to follow all the instructions somehow.. just one question, this command does not work:

'sudo fastboot oem unlock'

It gives me the following error:
FAILED (remote: 'unknown command')
fastboot: error: Command failed

Is that fine?

Sandro · 13 May 2019, 21:42

Hi all, just a little wrap up, I managed to put FlymeOS 6.2 on the phone finally.
I wanted to try the last Ubuntu build but unfortunately I couldn't get it to work, not sure why.
Someday I will get back to it but as of now i need android and wa basically.

I'm a bit unsatisfied with this phone, it's always warm and that does not help the battery which dries out fast. I wondered if that could possibly depend on un-optimized drivers on Ubuntu, it doesn't, the exact same thing happens on android, it's a hardware problem i think. Also the display is very good, big and bright but it's consuming a lot, that doesn't help the battery either.
In the end I will have to try it out and see if it lasts enough for my habits.. my hard earned money saving could last little time, sigh

Another time, thank you all for all your advices and help, without it i would still be trying (and swearing).

See you soon,
Sandro

lduboeuf · 23 Oct 2019, 20:22

Sorry for replying that old topic, have you successfully installed UT on MX4 ?.
Maybe that post will give you some new informations ? http://winael.github.io/ubuntuphone-tutorial-how-to-set-up-mtp-adb-and-ssh-on-meizu-mx4-ubuntu-edition.html