The Volla X23 (GX4) Thread

Hardware Adaptation
54

Hi,
encouraged by this thread and the one with the Volla Installation Guide, I tried to install VollaOS on a Gigaset GX4 device. Sadly, this first attempt failed and I would appreciate any help or suggestions for how to resolve the problems.

Steps of tried VollaOS installation on Gigaset GX4 • WARNING: THIS HAS FAILED

  • Buy GX4.
  • Start the phone (normal boot) and go through initial setup.
  • Enable developer options.
  • Enable USB debugging, enable OEM unlocking.
  • Connect the phone via USB to the computer.
  • Authorise the computer for USB debugging. (optional: Disable automatically dropping the authorisation.)
  • on computer continue:
    adb reboot bootloder
# wait until phone is ready
fastboot devices # check whether phone is reachable
fastboot flashing unlock
# The tiny text asks you to press Volume UP key on the phone within 5 seconds.
# You may repeat `fastboot flashing unlock`, if you are too slow or want to read the text.
  • STOP HERE (After the following few steps, the test GX4 was bricked! The notes describe the problem.)
  • Run fastboot reboot fastboot (Based on forum posts, could possibly work out if done before starting ubports-installer)
  • Install ubports-installer (version 0.10.0, see devices.ubuntu-touch.io/devices)
  • Start ubports-installer
  • Manually select Volla X23 as device (should be identical to Gigaset GX4)
  • Select VollaOS as to-be-flashed operating system. (options: Ubuntu Touch, VollaOS)
  • Start installation (This downloads the file volla-12.1-20230911-stable-SPFLASH-vidofnir.zip of 2 GB size and starts flashing it to the phone.)
  • notes:
    • On the test device, the ubports-installer installation of VollaOS was started before performing fastboot flashing unlock (due to not seing the 5s timeout but the OKAY printed afterwards → and therefore missing unlock).
    • After successful fastoot flashing unlock with button press on the phone, the ubports-installer continued further.
    • Now, it failed with the appended error message with ‘partition does not exist’. Here, I did not exit the ubports-installer before running fastboot reboot fastboot - this could maybe be the cause of the bricking.
    • Since running fastboot reboot fastboot ([non-reliable source for this decision](https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/fastboot-flash-system-partition-not-found.3992977/#post-81245141)), the device shows the “volla” logo (identical to the Volla X23 when booting) instead of the Gigaset logo. The problem now is this: The device reboots every 30 seconds (cycle: 10 seconds screen turned off (black screen, no backlight), then 20 seconds volla logo (with backlight)). It is neither reachable via adb nor via fastboot (tested with watch -n 0.5 fastboot devices and watch -n 0.5 adb devices while letting the GX4 do its power cycle for some time).

Probably relevant part of error messages:

error: Error: fastboot:flash: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'partition does not exist')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
stack trace: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'partition does not exist')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/lib/module.cjs:1121:15
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/node_modules/cancelable-promise/dist/CancelablePromise.js:27:18
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)

full ubports-installer log:

$ ubports-installer
Gtk-Message: 17:06:09.358: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"
Gtk-Message: 17:06:09.359: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"
Gtk-Message: 17:06:09.377: Not loading module "atk-bridge": The functionality is provided by GTK natively. Please try to not load it.
info: Welcome to the UBports Installer version 0.10.0!
[322130:1004/170611.150888:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(622)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.StartServiceByName: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.
info: device selected: vidofnir
info: Installing Volla OS on your Volla Phone X23 (vidofnir)
info: Downloading 1 files
info: Downloaded file 1 of 1
error: Error: fastboot:flash: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'No support by lock control')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
stack trace: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'No support by lock control')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/lib/module.cjs:1121:15
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/node_modules/cancelable-promise/dist/CancelablePromise.js:27:18
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
warn: restart after error
error: Error: fastboot:flash: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'No support by lock control')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
stack trace: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'No support by lock control')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/lib/module.cjs:1121:15
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/node_modules/cancelable-promise/dist/CancelablePromise.js:27:18
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
# note: Here, `fastboot flashing unlock` was run with Volume UP button press as confirmation.
warn: restart after error
error: Error: fastboot:flash: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'partition does not exist')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
stack trace: Error: Flashing failed: {"error":{"code":1},"stderr":"FAILED (remote: 'partition does not exist')fastboot: error: Command failed"}
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/lib/module.cjs:1121:15
    at /snap/ubports-installer/462/app/resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/promise-android-tools/node_modules/cancelable-promise/dist/CancelablePromise.js:27:18
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
# note: Here, `fastboot reboot fastboot` was run. Then, after some time without luck accessing the device, the ubports-installer was stopped.
info: Good bye!

(note: Directly before last warn: restart after error, the fastboot reboot fastboot command was run in another terminal window.)

Device information (written down before OEM unlock):

Android Recovery
Gigaset/GX4_EEA/GX4
12/SP1A.210812.016/1691412268
user/release-keys

Android Fastboot
Product name - GX4
Bootloader version - unknown
Baseband version - 
Serial number - <hidden in this forum post>
Secure boot - yes
HW version - 0
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