Bricked Volla X Phone

doktorcaligari · 24 Sept 2021, 13:54

Hello everyone, I purchased a Volla X phone with preistalled ubuntu touch.

I did the following configuration steps to get mtp/ad enabled:

enabled developper mode
rebooted into fastboot mode with the usb cable connected to my linux debian PC and ran
fastboot flashing unlock
to get the usual features like adb terminal access, etc...
then rebooted again in normal boot mode.

Problems began there, the phone then got stuck in the bootloader (with the splash screen). I thought to myself "OK I must have messed up something, no worries, lets go back to fastboot mode and fire ubports-installer and reinstall ubports".

I fire the ubports installer, it automatically detects the Volla X, downloads the kernel installs it. The logs are printed below:

info: Welcome to the UBports Installer version 0.8.8-beta!
info: device detected: yggdrasil
info: Installing Ubuntu Touch on your VollaPhone (yggdrasil)
info: configuring...
info: settings: {"channel":"16.04/arm64/android9/stable","wipe":false,"bootstrap":true}
info: Downloading 2 files
info: Downloaded file 1 of 2
info: Downloaded file 2 of 2
warn: aborting run...
info: Downloading 12 files
info: Downloaded file 1 of 12
info: Downloaded file 2 of 12
info: Downloaded file 3 of 12
info: Downloaded file 4 of 12
info: Downloaded file 5 of 12
info: Downloaded file 6 of 12
info: Downloaded file 7 of 12
info: Downloaded file 8 of 12
info: Downloaded file 9 of 12
info: Downloaded file 10 of 12
info: Downloaded file 11 of 12
info: Downloaded file 12 of 12

Problem is after this the installer just got stuck in "waiting for adb debvice" mode, and my phone is completely dark, no amount of pressing the on+volume up/volume down will change anything to this.

So I am assuming I now I am left with a very heavy paperweight? connecting to usb and running fastboot devices does not yield anything in my terminal. I have read around the web that one solution would be to wait for the battery to drain, but how can it drain if the device is dark?

So I don't expect there is any workaround for my case but I just wanted to post my experience to help other people avoid making such an expensive mistake.

Cheers and thank you for listening.

Keneda · 24 Sept 2021, 15:54

@doktorcaligari
I don't understand, if uTouch was already running on you phone, that means bootloader was already unlocked...

Anyway, maybe you should get contact with HalloWelt, phone is pristine, so i assume they can help you and maybe unbrick it for you for only sending fees.

doktorcaligari · 24 Sept 2021, 16:16

@keneda

Simply put, adb was not seeing the phone which means that fastboot wasn't unlocked. This is not my first ubuntu touch phone so I had carried out this procedure in the past with no issues, but it seems I was out of luck with this specific model.

Btw, the phone came with ubports preinstalled.

It seems strange that a hard brick came from using the ubports installer so I was wondering if this could happen to other people switching from the Volla phone android flavor to ubports.

Anyway, I will definitely contact their technical support to see if I can send it back for repair. Its a real bummer though, I'm from Portugal and I just got the phone today, never even got the chance to use it for a single phone call

stanwood · 24 Sept 2021, 19:24

You should be able to re install UB-Touch using UBports installer indeed.
However, one thing catches my attention: Your logs indicate that the detected device is the yggdrasil, but the VollaX code is the yggdrasilx.
Try to choose manually the VollaX in the list of devices and try again the installation.

TotalSonic · 25 Sept 2021, 02:12

The Volla Phone X is not yet supported by the UBports installer - and the standard Volla Phone images provided by the installer do not work for the X.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

stanwood · 25 Sept 2021, 09:25

@totalsonic Indeed this is annoying.

Hope someone could help by providing the appropriate image installation for vollaX

doktorcaligari · 25 Sept 2021, 10:01

Again, this is a hard brick, the phone is as good as dead no amount of button pressing will bring it back to life and connecting the phone to the PC by USB does not produce any message in dmsg .

I am certainly very annoyed with this course of events, but there is nothing more to do.

The objective of this post is just to report what I did as a word of caution for future owners of this model. DON'T DO what I did, your phone will be hard bricked.

Lakotaubp · 25 Sept 2021, 10:02

And factory reset is a non starter now I guess. Is there nothing on the Hallo Welt web site? don't manufacturers normally have images somewhere?

There Forum https://forum.volla.online/

Github https://github.com/HelloVolla

Though that only seems to be yggdrasil, but didn't look to far.

Keneda · 25 Sept 2021, 12:43

@doktorcaligari
Contact HalloWelt.

And i think your phone is not dead, as it is a mediatek device, you (or hallo) can use MTK flash tool (a.k.a. SP Flash Tool) to flash device to low level.
Just need the right files to do that.

domubpkm · 25 Sept 2021, 20:53

@stanwood This seems to be on track
https://github.com/ubports/installer-configs/pull/126

mateo_salta · 26 Sept 2021, 10:26

@keneda no the volla devices have the bootloader locked even with ubuntu touch

Keneda · 26 Sept 2021, 10:52

@mateo_salta
Ah ok. That's kind of a problem i'd say...
Users of uTouch Volla (x or not) should be able to use ubports installer out of the box, for any reason they want/need to use it.

mateo_salta · 26 Sept 2021, 12:55

@keneda the orginal volla could be used with the installer, and you didn't have to unlock it. probably shouldn't unlock it - because then you end up accidentally flashing a different boot-loader

C0n57an71n · 27 Sept 2021, 04:02

@doktorcaligari Happened the same to me when switching to RC channel. Contact @NotKit on Telegram on the https://t.me/vollaphonefan , he will provide you with the instructions to recover your phone.

doktorcaligari · 9 Oct 2021, 17:08

To provide some context: I wanted to unlock fastboot specifically because I was trying to install the patch so that the top rounded corner does not cover the time, and it is much less fastidious to just connect your phone the the pc and type the instructions via adb. Also I was trying to do chmod +x and it was having no result, hence why I tried to unlock fastboot.

Plus I usually use a lot of shell scripts for example to backup my phone home via terminal to my synology workstation, so having a rooted phone is a must for me. I know its not optimal in terms of security, but I'm just a random nobody, so the advantages of having a rooted phone matter to me.

@C0n57an71n , thanks for the tip, I will try to contact the person you mention.

doktorcaligari · 1 Oct 2021, 21:43

Well no good for the telegram group, I tried to join and a bot told me to press an un-existing button (in teleports) in 30s so now I'm banned and cannot see the channel.

Can someone with access to the telegram group tell me which steps will recover the phone? Much appreciated.

Edit: no need I managed to contact NotKit directly

buz · 1 Oct 2021, 21:43

@doktorcaligari Were you able to unbrik your volla phone x...it seams I'm in a similar situation

cregox · 2 Oct 2021, 06:07

#braindump

this whole thing, from the bricking, through trying to fix the hatch, to the teleport malfunction on the support channel, shows indeed a collection of unfortunate events not because of your unlucky self, but because volla and ubuntu touch still haven't grew out of this "embrionatic" state, in my humble opinion.

got my own volla x just a few weeks ago, and i love it very much, but i can't trust my mom would be able to use it. mostly because i rely on telegram to talk with her, and delta chat still needs lots of improvements yet including a ut version (and i really dunno of any better alternatives), but also because of the rawmess of the whole eco system, from kernel development to ux polishing.

this is normal, though.

like every other truly free and open source huge project out there (android works as a bad example because of its closed ecosystem in practice, like everything google does, and we do need better words to distinguish such evilness), it eventually becomes the default option. software that works for everyone in reality requires this code cleaninless that can only be achieved with no bs full transparency. linux, wikipedia, blender, etc. smaller projects like ledger, ffmpeg, and rsync also play important pervasive roles... in common, they get used everywhere and have no need for an alternative.

tl;dr

we probably need more or better awareness around ubuntu in general, volla, and invisible pervasive projects.

please keep us updated on how, i'm sure, you manage to unbrick it!

buz · 3 Oct 2021, 04:52

@cregox I was able to contact the Volla group on Telegram https://t.me/vollaphonefan and @NotKit answered with instructions on how to unbrick.

Lakotaubp · 3 Oct 2021, 05:29

@buz Could you please explain what you needed to do, I'm sure it would help others. Thanks