Author Topic: Completely re flashing the Cosmo  (Read 5469 times)

drbytes

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Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« on: August 04, 2020, 08:04:36 am »
Say you do something stupid like flashing a boot.img for a samsung device using twrp to your boot partition and you now have a bootlooping cosmo that doesnt respond to anything, not even the recovery key sequence (ON+VOLUP) works and you are stuck at a blank and empty screen.

There is a way out. Connect your cosmo to your pc via the left port. If you are using windows you might hear something connect and disconnect. That is the mediatek flash interface.
Get SP Flash tool, find out what he most current is, I used SP_Flash_Tool_v5.2028_Win from https://spflashtools.com/windows/sp-flash-tool-v5-2028. You might also need the Mediatek Drivers, I used Mediatek_Driver_Auto_Installer_v1.1352 from https://androiddatahost.com/276a2.
Next you need to get the PC official firmware, I got mine from support.planetcom.co.uk/download/cosmo-android-v23.zip, extract this zip.

Last but not least, you need a scatter file so SP Flash knows where to write stuff to, I used MT6771_Android_scatter__cosmo_full_stock, shared on this forum by ZimbiX, I'm including it here but he's the one to credit for this.

Now run the SP Flash tool as administrator and connect your cosmo, go to Download, select the scatter-loading File by ZimbiX, make sure the dropdown says you are in "Download Only".
Next you need to match the files of the zip file with the info loaded by the scatter file, see the attached screenshot to get an idea how that looks.
Hit download and wait. When it's all done, disconnect the cosmo and press ON. You've lost everything but you're left with a functional device.


Varti

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2020, 08:23:07 am »
Thanks for sharing this!

Varti
Planet Gemini PDA WiFi/LTE with Mediatek x27
SL-C1000 running Arch Linux ARM May2017, K30225 Wi-Fi CF Card, 64GB SDXC card
and many other Zauruses!

Shiunbird1

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2022, 04:54:49 pm »
Necrothread alert, reporting back: this saved my day today.

I made the mistake of doing a factory reset from a rooted boot (I'm an Android n00b) and this got me stuck in a loop from blank to Red State. The device didn't respond to the usual Power-volume combo.

The difference for me: when I tried to flash, I got a PMT error, so I had, using the SP Tool itself, to format the flash EXCEPT THE BOOTLOADER first, then I could restore my Cosmo just fine.

Thank you so much for putting these instructions together.

yo

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2022, 05:18:32 pm »
Hi there!

@drbytes, thank you for your post - I hoped it'd be my rescue as well. Or my cosmo's at least.

What happened: Back then when the linux image v2 has been released I flashed it and everything seemed fine until I did the sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. The display suddenly went black and stayed black forever. No boot logo, no display illumination, no recovery mode no nothing. The only thing that 'works' is when I push the silver button CoDi wakes up and greets me.

I tried this guide and am unsure if what I see is related to a malfunction of the phone or my PC or anything else. Maybe someone has an idea what I could try to unbrick my device. As I think this is an issue that falls under warranty I contacted planet computers but they wanted me to spend ~ 200 pounds or similarb just to let them try.

When I flash the phone at first the status bar goes red with some information. The window looks like this:
 


After a while this error message appears:
 


I tried different timeouts in options, connected and disconnected the phone, used alternative cables, put a USB hub inbetween, disconnected the battery for a short while, ... nothing.

BTW: Flashing behaves differently when no phone is connected, so at least something seems to be working.

As @Shiunbird1 tried reformatting the flash I tried this myself. Again, only with an error message. This time nothing is printed in the status area - not even a timer. Shortly after I start this action I can hear the USB connection sound on my PC and a message is shown, that the last connected USB device could not be identified. After the period of time set in options for 'timeout' the timeout occurs ;) and a not that helpful error message appears.
 


Any help would be very much appreciated.

I'm using Windows 11 on a Surface Go 2 and the phone is connected via USB-C. (Well most of the times. I also tried connecting it via a USB hub and an A to C cable.)

Thanks and best wishes,
yo
« Last Edit: February 07, 2022, 05:25:28 pm by yo »

logicalmoviles

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2022, 04:36:02 pm »
I have the same problem, have you found a solution?  I am hoping to find a way to reinstall the system.  I'm looking for someone who has another scatter or systems v15, v16, and I understand that there is v25, someone who provides me to try to revive my cosmo, even disarm it to connect it via test point but although it connects, it marks that I do not have the system Rom .  I hope to upload images of what I took from the cosmo, thanks to Sorber's tutorial and how to connect it via test point.

spa

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2022, 10:31:52 am »

soCket23

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2022, 08:16:01 am »
I have the same problem, have you found a solution?  I am hoping to find a way to reinstall the system.  I'm looking for someone who has another scatter or systems v15, v16, and I understand that there is v25, someone who provides me to try to revive my cosmo, even disarm it to connect it via test point but although it connects, it marks that I do not have the system Rom .  I hope to upload images of what I took from the cosmo, thanks to Sorber's tutorial and how to connect it via test point.


were you able to get any option to work?

soCket23

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2022, 08:16:24 am »
Hi there!

@drbytes, thank you for your post - I hoped it'd be my rescue as well. Or my cosmo's at least.

What happened: Back then when the linux image v2 has been released I flashed it and everything seemed fine until I did the sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. The display suddenly went black and stayed black forever. No boot logo, no display illumination, no recovery mode no nothing. The only thing that 'works' is when I push the silver button CoDi wakes up and greets me.

I tried this guide and am unsure if what I see is related to a malfunction of the phone or my PC or anything else. Maybe someone has an idea what I could try to unbrick my device. As I think this is an issue that falls under warranty I contacted planet computers but they wanted me to spend ~ 200 pounds or similarb just to let them try.

When I flash the phone at first the status bar goes red with some information. The window looks like this:
 


After a while this error message appears:
 


I tried different timeouts in options, connected and disconnected the phone, used alternative cables, put a USB hub inbetween, disconnected the battery for a short while, ... nothing.

BTW: Flashing behaves differently when no phone is connected, so at least something seems to be working.

As @Shiunbird1 tried reformatting the flash I tried this myself. Again, only with an error message. This time nothing is printed in the status area - not even a timer. Shortly after I start this action I can hear the USB connection sound on my PC and a message is shown, that the last connected USB device could not be identified. After the period of time set in options for 'timeout' the timeout occurs ;) and a not that helpful error message appears.
 


Any help would be very much appreciated.

I'm using Windows 11 on a Surface Go 2 and the phone is connected via USB-C. (Well most of the times. I also tried connecting it via a USB hub and an A to C cable.)

Thanks and best wishes,
yo


did you find a solution?

soCket23

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2022, 08:19:03 am »
Necrothread alert, reporting back: this saved my day today.

I made the mistake of doing a factory reset from a rooted boot (I'm an Android n00b) and this got me stuck in a loop from blank to Red State. The device didn't respond to the usual Power-volume combo.

The difference for me: when I tried to flash, I got a PMT error, so I had, using the SP Tool itself, to format the flash EXCEPT THE BOOTLOADER first, then I could restore my Cosmo just fine.

Thank you so much for putting these instructions together.

so if I accidentally chose the "Format Whole Flash" option, meaning the bootloader also would I still be able to make this work? I was on v25, would it be better to use the v23 or another option? I am just trying to figure my options before sending it to Planet again..

Dom (shymega)

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Re: Completely re flashing the Cosmo
« Reply #9 on: September 19, 2023, 08:09:57 pm »
Late for me to the party, but if you erase NVRAM/NVDATA/NVCFG, you need to send your Cosmo back for the IMEI to be restored.

Whilst there are ways.. to set the IMEI yourself, it's a grey legal area, and I can't condone those. Won't even discuss it to be honest, I have to be clear.