[dandandaaan]

@dandandaaan ~ I see you're on macOS, which I was able to use to successfully get TWRP recovery working on my end (at one point in time). The link in my signature should point to a post...that has a link to macOS specific guidance.

(I'm not at home at the moment, and nor do I have the apple device I did before. . . but I'll still try and offer help where possible!)

Hello! Thanks for the reply. Yes that was the guide I followed (eventually) - but I am pretty sure messed up before then by trying to flash the new kernel from stock - like a complete idiot! So now I don’t have any recovery mode at all, even after trying to flash both TWRP and stock in bootloader mode with rkflashtool any ideas on a fix at all?

 

[WitzyZed]

Quickest (subjective) fix would be to run the windows firmware upgrade tool (on windows device or in a virtual machine on your mac) to flash the stock rom back in place.

Have you confirmed which key combination puts your player into bootloader mode? I've seen a few different variants that have popped up.

 

[WitzyZed]

For me it's holding previoustrack while inserting USB cable, but other devices have not responded to this and instead need play/pause held.

 

[dandandaaan]

For me it's holding previoustrack while inserting USB cable, but other devices have not responded to this and instead need play/pause held.

I’m pretty sure I can get it into boot loader mode though adb or the button combination - it should just be blank with the blue light in when in bootloader mode right? Also I can check with rkflashtool v and rkflashtool n and they seem to give the correct result. But flashing a stock recovery doesn’t seem to fix it sadly. How would I go about getting hold of and flashing a stock rom? Can it be done in the same way or better to use the windows app?

 

[WitzyZed]

There should be NO light when in bootloader mode.

 

[dandandaaan]

There should be NO light when in bootloader mode.

Interesting. So is there any way of knowing when the device is in bootloader mode at all? Do rkflashtool n and rkflashtool v only return results when in bootloader or is that not a way to tell? Tried flashing stock recovery once more but still can't get any sort of recovery boot at all.

 

[WitzyZed]

Do rkflashtool n and rkflashtool v only return results when in bootloader or is that not a way to tell?

Those commands should only return results if in bootloader mode, yes. The player should otherwise appear totally inert (no screen illumination, no power LED either).

 

[WitzyZed]

Here's a more laid out set of instructions, but you need to view this page from google chrome or a browser that will auto-translate the text into English (it is very smooth to follow once translated, surprisingly).

Link to 4PDA

Find this part of prispewnic's post:

 

[dandandaaan]

Hi there - still having a nightmare with this I'm afraid

I have tried the following - running the 1.2.3 Firmware Upgrade Tool in a Virtualbox machine, as instructed near the top of that linked post. However this doesn't seem to work at all - partway through the process, the USB device disconnects from the VM and sometimes crashes completely, after waiting 10 minutes or so just in case. Potentially corrupting my X5 even further

After this, just out of interest I tried booting into standard recovery mode, which worked temporarily.

So then I tried to flash twp_recovery with rkflashtool, exactly as in the guide above (and as I have tried before). No dice once again - just a blank screen in recovery mode, whether I try and boot into "normal" recovery, or TWRP.

I think the problem is still this - my X5 thinks it is running a custom kernel (it is listed in the settings app on device), but it isn't, because I tried to install it before I had TWRP or root installed. Have I totally FUBAR'd this??

EDIT: After tweaking a couple of settings in VirtualBox, I think I have successfully and fully flashed a stock ROM.... Progress!

 

[WitzyZed]

It's a fickle but rewarding toy, this one! Full steam ahead I hope

 

[dandandaaan]

Still no joy... rkflashtool appears to flash twrp_recovery successfully. However I still just get "on" but a blank screen when I try and boot into it with the PLAY/PR TRACK/POWER button combination.

Do I need to flash a boot.img too?

Honestly I just feel like I may as well be mashing buttons randomly at this point!!

 

[WitzyZed]

Yes, I see now replacement of the boot.img wasn't present in the 4PDA forum instructions (mea culpa). It just so happens to detail the homebrew installation part a bit better... (why it's missing beats me)...

My macOS instructions do have this step. (& it's a necessary one)

 

[dandandaaan]

Yes, I see now replacement of the boot.img wasn't present in the 4PDA forum instructions (mea culpa). It just so happens to detail the homebrew installation part a bit better... (why it's missing beats me)...

My macOS instructions do have this step. (& it's a necessary one)

No worries, I should have spotted! Tried flashing the boot on top but it hasn't fixed the issue, still no recovery mode available whatsoever - I guess my best bet is to go back to the beginning (flashing a fresh stock ROM from inside VirtualBox), and then use rkflashtools to do boot first, then TWRP? I guess the order matters?

EDIT: Now back to the constant nightmare of trying to keep the X5 (in bootloader mode) connected to VirtualBox. Is it possible to do a Firmware update from macOS to avoid this painful step??

EDIT 2: Still nothing - I'm absolutely at my wit's end now! Managed to get back to a stock 1.2.1 ROM, flashed boot.img and TWRP using rkflashtool (following all the instructions meticulously) and it WILL NOT LOAD - my X5 just does not want to run TWRP

 

[WitzyZed]

Is it possible to do a Firmware update from macOS to avoid this painful step??

Follow this page (starting from step 2), only do NOT use the update.img from the fidelizer rom, use the stock update.img that comes in the firmware upgrade tool zip. Pushing the system.img to the device is basically what does the firmware restore. Not to add more convoluted steps (to an already hair-pulling adventure), but after this it may be wise to still do a factory data reset from within the X5iii settings app once it boots up in its "stock" state.

 

[dandandaaan]

Follow this page (starting from step 2), only do NOT use the update.img from the fidelizer rom, use the stock update.img that comes in the firmware upgrade tool zip. Pushing the system.img to the device is basically what does the firmware restore. Not to add more convoluted steps (to an already hair-pulling adventure), but after this it may be wise to still do a factory data reset from within the X5iii settings app once it boots up in its "stock" state.

Thank you - that is good to know for future attempts(!) as it removes the rather painful VM element. As you’ve maybe seen from an edit above, I am now sadly back to square one though I have stock 1.2.1 running correctly but no recovery mode.