Astro update to V07

[Zarhan]

Ok... Planet updater is now saying that the promised FW update is there.

Has anyone dared to try it yet? Any hassles? Did they get rid of the other two updaters?

[Zarhan]

Ok, bited the bullet... (Thanks to encouragement on #planet-devices)

Besides the stuff in release notes, I do notice that
 - One of the updaters (the google one) is gone
 - Security level is March 23
 - No resurgence of Deejay-Dota (never had it in the first place though)
 - Fingerprint sensor is still active all the time (so if you rest your hand on it, it will most likely not work for unlocking because you have spent your attempts)

I also got a scare. After updating, I just pressed the power button to lock the phone, like I usually do. Display turned off, as it should. Then I tried pushing the button...the display stayed black.

Eventually I got the device to reboot by holding down the power button a longer time, and I couldn't repeat the situation at least just yet. Maybe it was due to the Fingerprint sensor - perhaps I should scan my fingers again or something.

[Neophy]

Has any tried updating a rooted device?

[Mithren Ithil]

Upgrade on a non rooted device.

Finally it seems that the keyboard is working properly and not losing focus.  I used to have to keep tapping the screen to type.  I use T-UI as my launcher so it was super annoying.

Fingerprint sensor still doesn't work with Bitwarden, Joplin and Keepass2Android.  I'm guessing it won't work with my banking apps too so its not going to take over as my daily driver. 

Place holder cheapo Moto is going to carry on with that role!

[cam1965]

Ok... Planet updater is now saying that the promised FW update is there.

Has anyone dared to try it yet? Any hassles? Did they get rid of the other two updaters?

My esim card was not recognized after update.

[Zarhan]

Camera *much* better, added notes and tests to the camera thread, https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=36888.msg299352#msg299352

[Daniel W]

Well, I'm in trouble... after installing the update, I tapped on reboot in the updater. The screen turned off, the LED next to Q came on in blue for a couple of seconds, but the screen never turned on again. I waited a while but nothing happened. I held down Esc for ten or so seconds, which seems to force a reboot, since the vibrator buzzes briefly and LED next to Q comes on in blue for a couple of seconds again, but the screen doesn't turn on.

Right now, the charging LED, the keyboard backlight and the shift lock indicator works. Pressing the up or down buttons makes keyboard clicks, but only at most five in each direction, as if the Astro was showing a menu on its turned off screen. Forcing more reboots just seems to return the device to that state...

Help?

[Zarhan]

Well, I'm in trouble... after installing the update, I tapped on reboot in the updater. The screen turned off, the LED next to Q came on in blue for a couple of seconds, but the screen never turned on again. I waited a while but nothing happened. I held down Esc for ten or so seconds, which seems to force a reboot, since the vibrator buzzes briefly and LED next to Q comes on in blue for a couple of seconds again, but the screen doesn't turn on.

This kind of resembles the issue I had, although it only triggered after I tried to lock the phone after first reboot. I just held the power button for like half a minute and it resolved itself. But since this is clearly something different the only thing that comes to mind would be to go to attempt to factory reset via fastboot and/or recovery...

Or maybe ask for help from Planet...

[Daniel W]

I tried connecting the HDMI adapter and force a reboot. That gave me signal on an external screen. That way I could log in and verify that Android itself isn't broken. If I reboot it again without the HDMI adapter, the internal screen still won't turn on.

Since I, at least, has the external screen working, I'll experiment some more. Probably I'll end up contacting Planet.

[Daniel W]

Now I have emailed Planet. In my past experience, they have replied fairly quickly. Let's hope they do so this time too.

By booting without HDMI, logging in blindly and then calling my Astro from another phone, I've confirmed that my Astro does boot without HDMI. It is still rather useless in that state though. It rang as expected, but without the screen I couldn't answer.

For the short term I'll plan to have it tethered to an external screen and a bluetooth mouse. That will probably get cumbersome really soon though... 

[Daniel W]

Well... I sent the email to Planet Computers 10:51PM local time, which is 9:51PM British Summer Time. A guy called Jeff replied 61 minutes later (at 10:52PM BST) so apparently someone works late over there (and I'm up late, over here. ;-)

The reply mostly said they'd ask their ODM for advice first. If that doesn't help, they could try sending me software for a full reflash. We'll see. I've hooked up an external screen, power, mouse and headset a bit better now, so I should be able to use it landline-style until this is resolved.

Edit:

[cam1965]

Well... I sent the email to Planet Computers 10:51PM local time, which is 9:51PM British Summer Time. A guy called Jeff replied 61 minutes later (at 10:52PM BST) so apparently someone works late over there (and I'm up late, over here. ;-)

The reply mostly said they'd ask their ODM for advice first. If that doesn't help, they could try sending me software for a full reflash. We'll see. I've hooked up an external screen, power, mouse and headset a bit better now, so I should be able to use it landline-style until this is resolved.

If you access the external screen, try a factory reset on your phone.

[Daniel W]

If you access the external screen, try a factory reset on your phone.

I might. I should be able to initiate a reset from within Android and should that work, I should be fine...

The scary bit is that the HDMI doesn't seem to kick in until Android is actually booting, so it seems I can't see things like the recovery menu. Would anything I do disable HDMI out, I could be kind of hosed.

I have never used the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) over USB before, but I suppose turning in on before seriously messing with anything, might give me a second way in, should I loose video out. Things like flashing tools and scatter files are also just a haze to me, so I might need to ask some n00b questions, should I need to reflash.

For now, I'll wait a bit and see what Planet says. As can be seen in the picture I posted above, I have, for now, set my Astro up as a "stationary mobile". That's not ideal, but at least I can handle phone calls and use my e-id to pay bills and such. Should I need to, I can move that id to my old Cosmo (which now serves as my bedside clock again) but I'm trying to not get ahead of myself right now.

[Zarhan]

The scary bit is that the HDMI doesn't seem to kick in until Android is actually booting, so it seems I can't see things like the recovery menu. Would anything I do disable HDMI out, I could be kind of hosed.

That's...interesting. I would have thought that the first splash screens (Planet / Android, AstroSlide, and then finally the palette-scrolling "android") would be visible and then it would go black.

Some critical initialization portion is then missing from the bootloader.

[Daniel W]

When, after a shutdown, booting with the HMDI cable attached, the Astro first vibrates briefly, then the LED next to Q comes on in blue for a few seconds. After that, HDMI kicks in, sometimes showing some binary garbage, followed by a generic Android logo and after that, the SIM PIN screen, the lock screen and, finally, the home screen, all in glorious 720p (which is very cramped and looks weird on a 50-ish inch TV...)

When I, after a shutdown, held volume down and turned the Astro on, with the HMDI cable attached, I never got any HDMI out.

It is quite possible I did something wrong. As I recall, I slid off of the volume down button a few seconds after the Astro powered on, so maybe I should try again and hold volume down pressed for longer? Is volume down + power on even the correct sequence to get to the recovery mode on an Astro? I basically just noticed I didn't get any HDMI on the first attempt, forced a reboot and e-mailed Planet.