Rollback Nokia 8.1 to Android 10 from Android 11 without unlocking bootloder. Needs EDL (emergency download mode)

I updated Nokia 8.1 from Pie to Android 10 and then to Android 11. Pie was good for network because Android 10 made network connection weaker and less stable then Pie. Android 11 is the most worse Android ever released. I started hating it and was desperate to get rid of it. It was slow and didn't offered me worth more than Android 10. For security 11 is better but performance is poor. Finally after 7-10 days of effort gave me success in rolling back Nokia 8.1 to Android 10.

I never unlocked bootloader of my phone and i tried lots of methods and apps and all failed. I then started going deep into the process of how this flashing apps actually worked. I cracked it and i flashed Android 10 431A stock ROM. Before i start the whole process it is critical to understand the basics. I will describe the required details even normal PC user can understand.

Just like PC where we have hard disk which contains OS phones/tablets have solid state storage. The storage that is present in SSD, Pendrive etc.  The storage is split into multiple parts called partitions. Its like C, D, E etc drives of windows. If you are Linux user you will understand the phone storage much better than Windows users. Partitions are important because the files of each partitions doesn't interfere with other files of other partition. Example D drive has multimedia data and if full will not effect C drive which contains OS. If you fill media in C drive it will affect the OS.

Now coming to Phone storage & partitions. Nokia has eMMC storage. There is also UFS storage on many other devices. Knowing this storage type is critical before flashing ROM. Nokia 8.1 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chip. This is another critical information needed for flashing stock rom.

Now coming directly to the flashing process. You need below things and conditions to achieve flashing of rom.

• Phone in EDL mode. This is another big topic which varies from device to device. I will only write about Nokia 8.1. You can try EDL cables if it works. I opened the back cover of phone and shorted the TEST POINTS to enter into EDL mode. You can search internet for same its easily available how to do it.
  
• Qualcomm 9008 driver. Nokia USB driver. You can also download OST tool 6.2.8 which contains all the drivers Or download driver separately.
  
• QPST/QFIL (QPST_2.7.496) tool with firehose file. Firehose file is specific to a chip. I will share relevant files which are smaller in size here. Firehose file is available insize stock roms.
  
• Any C type cable with fast charging capability. This means cable must be able to handle 18W power which Nokia 8.1 adapter delivers. Also try to flip type c side of port horizontally because sometimes one side does not work.
  
• USB 2.0 port
  
• Windows 7/8/10. Probably 11 which i have not tested.
• Global Stock ROM PNX-431A-0-00WW-B01. Search internet to get this rom.
  
• "nb0 tools FIH Mobile v3.4.exe" tool to extract NB0 rom file.

 

Now before proceeding to flash process lets understand what these tools do.

NOTE: click on images to see them in bigger size.

Qualcomm EDL mode works with 2 communication protocols. Sahara mode and Firehose mode. Sahara mode allows user to send Firehose file to the device during EDL mode. This file understands how to communicate with device in emergency download mode. One thing to understand is during flashing process DOWNLOAD means to actually upload data to device. Device will download something not us!. This causes confusion among users who are doing it first time.

Firehose protocol works with XML format. It understands XML language and accepts file sent with xml configuration. Firehose only knows to write data to eMMC/UFS storage. Using which we write files on eMMC.

Now install the drivers, QPST, QFIL tool. Verify if drivers are installed. Turn off phone, remove battery connector from motherboard, short the test points with clip, connect phone to PC. Start device manager and check PORTS section. If you can see Qualcomm 9008 COM port everything is setup and ready to flash device. Go to QFIL tool configuration and set settings like below image.

 

The stock rom which you have download contains NB0 file. Which is extracted using nb0 tool. Run QFIL in admin mode and it should show like below.

 

 

 

 

 

Some critical notes -

- Enter into EDL mode just before taking upload/download actions using QFIL tool. EDL mode can stop responding if not utilized quickly.

- Load firehose file from extracted ROM folder into QFIL. If connected in EDL mode QFIL -> Tools -> Partition Manager will be available. Enter into partition manager. Here you can see partitions of eMMC.

- MAKE BACKUP of your eMMC partitions VERY CAREFULLY. If you lost mfd, fbo etc partitions forget your device will work again because you will need these partitions in any conditions to turn on phone. Below images shows all partitions.

- Left click on a partition then right click on it. DO NOT DIRECTLY right click because this will not select the partition your mouse is over. It will select whole disk or first partition. Click manage partitions and read image. This will create a file like below in %APPDATA%/qualcomm or QPST directory. Look at logs in QFIL where file has been extracted. Collect all partitions and save somewhere.

ReadData_emmc_Lun0_0x828_Len1024_DT_****.bin. DT is followed by date of dump. 0x???? part tell the start location of partition and Len tell length of the partition.

I am warning you again. The above step is more important than anything else in this guide. Don't blame me if your device stops starting again. Try to delete MFD partition and your device will not boot. Delete FDP partition and you will see "Your device is corrupt..... press power button to shutdown.... shutdown in 30 seconds". FDP partition holds data to verify device. MAKE BACKUP OF EVERY PARTITION. You can ignore system, vendor, userdata but this will erase your devices present state. MAKE BACKUP of every partition if possible because you can later write them back into emmc to get your phone back into the exact condition it is now. Read button copies the partition into you PC, load button writes partition into phone.

After making backup lets proceed to preparing ROM to flash. Before writing rom lets understand what these flashing tools actually do. Below is extra information. For quick flashing go to section FLASHING ROM below.

The flashing tools like OST tool, Nokia service tool and other tools simply use sahara, firehose protocols provided by Qualcomm. They use fh_loader.exe file to write data to emmc. The login process, account verification etc all extra stuff they have added to make money from their tool. You can do flashing process from command line itself with just QPST/QFIL.QFIL must be run from within QPST installation folder. Many times QFIL doesn't work when run from its own separate package without QPST.

The first thing these tools do is send firehose programmer file to device using Sahara mode. Its done by this command -

QSaharaServer.exe -p \\.\COM4 -s 13:C:\LogData\OST\Data\PNX-0-6210-prog_firehose_lite.elf

 

This is what OST tool does. -p tells the com port. -s tells the firehose programmer file. After this you are ready to use fh_loader.exe to write data to eMMC (OR UFS).

NOTE:

if your bootloader is unlocked then these commands and tools are not needed. fastboot mode also does the same job. fastboot handles editing of the partitions.

After sahara has sent firehose file fh_loader can write partitions. A big xml file rawprogram0.xml is sent to fh_loader. It reads it and verifies the xml and starts sending the data according to xml file. What we have to do is edit this xml file to send all the partitions at once.

OST etc tools use default raw program xml to write service abl/xbl bootloaders and then use fastboot to flash partitions. This is where flashing fails when bootloader is locked. You can various errors like Error = SE_ERR_ADB_CMD_GET_FAIL_RESULT (0xC6DA), Error 0x0c3be uploading image using sahara protocol failed. These are all due to locked bootloader or other restrictions.

FLASHING ROM:

 

Go to extracted ROM folder and create a new file "rawprogram0_RECOVER_431A.xml" and paste below into it.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<data>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-xbl.elf" label="xbl_a" num_partition_sectors="7168" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="3584.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x4000000" start_sector="131072"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-xbl.elf" label="xbl_b" num_partition_sectors="7168" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="3584.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x4380000" start_sector="138240"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-xbl_config.elf" label="xbl_config_a" num_partition_sectors="256" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="128.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0xb000000" start_sector="360448"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-xbl_config.elf" label="xbl_config_b" num_partition_sectors="256" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="128.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0xb020000" start_sector="360704"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-tz.mbn" label="tz_a" num_partition_sectors="4096" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="2048.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0xc000000" start_sector="393216"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-tz.mbn" label="tz_b" num_partition_sectors="4096" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="2048.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0xc200000" start_sector="397312"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-aop.mbn" label="aop_a" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0xc400000" start_sector="401408"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-aop.mbn" label="aop_b" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x10000000" start_sector="524288"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-hyp.mbn" label="hyp_a" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14000000" start_sector="655360"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-hyp.mbn" label="hyp_b" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14080000" start_sector="656384"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-keymaster64.mbn" label="keymaster_a" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14300000" start_sector="661504"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-keymaster64.mbn" label="keymaster_b" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14380000" start_sector="662528"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-cmnlib.mbn" label="cmnlib_a" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14400000" start_sector="663552"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-cmnlib64.mbn" label="cmnlib64_a" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14480000" start_sector="664576"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-cmnlib.mbn" label="cmnlib_b" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14500000" start_sector="665600"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-cmnlib64.mbn" label="cmnlib64_b" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14580000" start_sector="666624"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-NON-HLOS.bin" label="modem_a" num_partition_sectors="266240" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="133120.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x14600000" start_sector="667648"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-NON-HLOS.bin" label="modem_b" num_partition_sectors="266240" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="133120.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x1c800000" start_sector="933888"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-dspso.bin" label="dsp_a" num_partition_sectors="65536" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="32768.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x24a00000" start_sector="1200128"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-dspso.bin" label="dsp_b" num_partition_sectors="65536" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="32768.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x26a00000" start_sector="1265664"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-abl.elf" label="abl_a" num_partition_sectors="2048" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="1024.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x28a00000" start_sector="1331200"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-abl.elf" label="abl_b" num_partition_sectors="2048" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="1024.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x28b00000" start_sector="1333248"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-logfs_ufs_8mb.bin" label="logfs" num_partition_sectors="16384" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="8192.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x34000000" start_sector="1703936"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-BTFM.bin" label="bluetooth_a" num_partition_sectors="2048" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="1024.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x38104000" start_sector="1837088"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-BTFM.bin" label="bluetooth_b" num_partition_sectors="2048" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="1024.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x38204000" start_sector="1839136"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-dtbo.img" label="dtbo_a" num_partition_sectors="16384" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="8192.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3c022000" start_sector="1966352"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-dtbo.img" label="dtbo_b" num_partition_sectors="16384" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="8192.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3c822000" start_sector="1982736"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-persist.img" label="persist" num_partition_sectors="65536" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="32768.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3d426000" start_sector="2007344"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-010-keyinfo.img" label="keystore" num_partition_sectors="1024" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="512.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3f526000" start_sector="2074928"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-devcfg.mbn" label="devcfg_a" num_partition_sectors="256" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="128.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3f5a6000" start_sector="2075952"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-devcfg.mbn" label="devcfg_b" num_partition_sectors="256" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="128.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3f5c6000" start_sector="2076208"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-qupv3fw.elf" label="qupfw_a" num_partition_sectors="128" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="64.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3f5e6000" start_sector="2076464"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-qupv3fw.elf" label="qupfw_b" num_partition_sectors="128" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="64.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x3f5f6000" start_sector="2076592"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-storsec.mbn" label="storsec_a" num_partition_sectors="256" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="128.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x43886000" start_sector="2212912"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-storsec.mbn" label="storsec_b" num_partition_sectors="256" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="128.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x438a6000" start_sector="2213168"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-vbmeta.img" label="vbmeta_a" num_partition_sectors="128" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="64.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x4c000000" start_sector="2490368"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-vbmeta.img" label="vbmeta_b" num_partition_sectors="128" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="64.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x4c010000" start_sector="2490496"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-0010-0001-hidden.img.ext4" label="hidden_a" num_partition_sectors="81920" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="40960.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x50000000" start_sector="2621440"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-0010-0001-hidden.img.ext4" label="hidden_b" num_partition_sectors="81920" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="40960.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x52800000" start_sector="2703360"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-030-cda.img" label="cda_a" num_partition_sectors="16384" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="8192.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x55000000" start_sector="2785280"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-030-cda.img" label="cda_b" num_partition_sectors="16384" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="8192.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x55800000" start_sector="2801664"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="systeminfo.img" label="systeminfo_a" num_partition_sectors="512" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="256.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x56000000" start_sector="2818048"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="systeminfo.img" label="systeminfo_b" num_partition_sectors="512" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="256.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x56040000" start_sector="2818560"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-030-splash.img" label="splash_a" num_partition_sectors="65536" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="32768.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x56080000" start_sector="2819072"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-030-splash.img" label="splash_b" num_partition_sectors="65536" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="32768.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x58080000" start_sector="2884608"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-030-multi-splash.img" label="zplash_a" num_partition_sectors="8192" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="4096.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x5a080000" start_sector="2950144"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-030-multi-splash.img" label="zplash_b" num_partition_sectors="8192" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="4096.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x5a480000" start_sector="2958336"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-NV-default.mbn" label="nvdef_a" num_partition_sectors="8192" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="4096.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x5a880000" start_sector="2966528"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-NV-default.mbn" label="nvdef_b" num_partition_sectors="8192" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="4096.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x5ac80000" start_sector="2974720"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-00WW-001-sutinfo.img" label="sutinfo" num_partition_sectors="8" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="4.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x5b080000" start_sector="2982912"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-boot.img" label="boot_a" num_partition_sectors="131072" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="65536.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x5e081000" start_sector="3081224"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-boot.img" label="boot_b" num_partition_sectors="131072" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="65536.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x62081000" start_sector="3212296"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-system.img" label="system_a" num_partition_sectors="6291456" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="3145728.0" sparse="true" start_byte_hex="0x66081000" start_sector="3343368"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-system_other.img" label="system_b" num_partition_sectors="6291456" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="3145728.0" sparse="true" start_byte_hex="0x126081000" start_sector="9634824"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-vendor.img" label="vendor_a" num_partition_sectors="1572864" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="786432.0" sparse="true" start_byte_hex="0x1e8000000" start_sector="15990784"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-00WW-vendor.img" label="vendor_b" num_partition_sectors="1572864" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="786432.0" sparse="true" start_byte_hex="0x218000000" start_sector="17563648"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="" label="userdata" num_partition_sectors="0" partofsingleimage="false" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="0" sparse="true" start_byte_hex="0x248000000" start_sector="19136512"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-gpt_main0.bin" label="PrimaryGPT" num_partition_sectors="34" partofsingleimage="true" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="17.0" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="0x0" start_sector="0"/>
  <program SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES="512" file_sector_offset="0" filename="PNX-0-431A-gpt_backup0.bin" label="BackupGPT" num_partition_sectors="33" partofsingleimage="true" physical_partition_number="0" readbackverify="false" size_in_KB="16.5" sparse="false" start_byte_hex="(512*NUM_DISK_SECTORS)-16896." start_sector="NUM_DISK_SECTORS-33."/>
</data>

 

 

Flash process:

• Start QFIL in admin mode. Switch to flat build.
• Select firehose programmer path "PNX-0-431A-prog_firehose_lite.elf" present inside extracted rom dir. Load XML -> (All files *.* mode) -> load rawprogram0_RECOVER_431A.xml, then do same for patch0.xml. patch is already present in rom dir.
• Connect phone in EDL mode. Port will be shown in QFIL. If not then select port from select port button.
• Press download button. Flashing will start. It will takes 5-10+ minutes to write the rom.
•  Re-enter EDL mode by unplugging usb. Start partition manager and erase userdata. Click userdata then right click userdata and erase it. Same can be done from Phone by entering recovery mode. Turn off phone, press UP button then power for few seconds. When device starts release power button but keep UP pressed. When dead android robot icon is seen press power then press UP. Wipe cache and userdata. Reboot.

 

In case you are seeing "Your device is corrupt. It cannot be trusted. Press button to continue". You should enable dm-verity enforcing. Search internet for multiple ways to do it. e.g. https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/guide-fix-dm-verity-is-not-enforcing-when-trying-to-boot-error.3898526/

If everything has been done as written you must be having a good backup of device to get back into your initial condition and a working Android 10 on your device. I did it and i am enjoying Android 10.

CRITICAL information for experimentation:

Always verify if a file which has to be written into device is sparse or not. elf, mbn etc are raw and not sparse. IMG  files can and cannot be sparse. Sparse means post processed raw image to reduce size or other purpose. Always use sparse="true" in rawprogram xml when not sure. fh_laoder will test and tell itself when download button is pressed. However best way verify xml and data is to try to create xml digest. Its present in tools section in QFIL.

Why privacy is almost a hoax in internet world

If you use 20 apps and 19 of them do not show ads and only 1 shows ads. That 1 app itself is enough to give your device information to the ads network. The privacy thing is kind of hoax. However the data like photos etc which some app handles has its own privacy policy. If they keep little thumbs of the pics in their server they must tell the users. Lots of companies do not do that. This is hidden reality. An example https://www.upguard.com/blog/biggest-data-breaches.

Many times server getting hacked is an internal job and the data is sold on dark web etc places. This is old technique to sell user data and make cash. However the subject of this post is about how much privacy is there even if companies have strict policies. As example below tells why device info is shared due to just 1 app. Even if no app shares device info just browsing internet does it. The websites collect data and they do fingerprinting, cookies etc techniques to identify unique systems. The threat of data being shared for misused is not from small apps but big companies which make such apps.

Take example of apps like Truecaller. How did they collect so much information about phone numbers? Did they release the app without any beginning database?

Privacy is hoax and the best way to deal with this rampant user data misuse is providing false information. Sincere users provide their details to social media sites and sites breach the trust and sell the data.

Many users have myth of using VPN apps for privacy. VPN apps are the very first place to loose your private data. A VPN app opens a HTTPS site in proxy and can see what it is then sending it to end user. Where is privacy? Can you really trust VPN for sharing private data like password etc. 

TIPs:

- Sometimes people share their login id and password at same place. Like sharing both in a chat. This is highly unsafe. Share ID by mail, share password by message. Split the information. Many think this level of security is too much or time waste until some loss occurs.

- Use personal encryption utilities. Share data in encrypted form and end person gets the data and decrypts it. Do not rely on the encryption of the service provider.

- Many users click banking related images in phone. Phones are highly sensitive than PCs regarding privacy. Having saved bank details in images, text files in storage. Its better to use sandboxed/encrypted folders, personally customized apps if possible etc.

 - Keep extra accounts for not so important things like entertainment services etc. Do not use main/primary email, phone for registering to these types of services. use personal/primary accounts for banking only.

Convert images in batch using free tools then make PDF from them.

I was trying to collect public domain PDFs published by Gita Press Gorakhpur from archive.org but the sizes of pdfs are huge. They are unnecessarily high in size. Instead of pdf I downloaded JP2 files and batch converted them to jpg in lower quality setting without loosing any readability. Using this saved me huge space. If published PDF was of 2GB mine was <100MB and perfectly readable.

Above was an example to convert images in batch using free tools. Below are steps to do the same.

- Download ImageMagick-7.1.0-29-Q16-x64-static.exe from https://imagemagick.org/script/download.php

- Install it and try to run magick.exe from cmd.exe. cmd can be run from search box in windows 10.

- Put all images in some folder for example IMAGES. Open cmd.exe and change directory to the IMAGES folder. To do this copy address of this folder from file properties or address bar of windows file explorer. Go to cmd and type cd CTRL+V. Now type drive letter with colon. Example cd D:\folder1\folder2\IMAGES and then D:. This will move us inside the IMAGES folder.

- Type dir command and it should list all images. This shows we are inside the IMAGES folder.

Commands to convert images. Suppose images are jp2 files downloaded from archive.org and we want to convert them to jpg format inside JPG folder in IMAGES. Create JPG folder and run below command.

magick.exe mogrify -path JPG -quality 25% -resize 1500x1500 -format jpg *.jp2

quality option can be removed if not required. I needed it to reduce jpg size. Now it will take time and convert images to jpg format in JPG folder. Now convert these all JPGs to PDF with this command. Change directory to JPG folder using command cd JPG.

magick convert *.jpg -quality 25% 1.pdf

quality option can be removed. I just kept it in case various size PDF are to be tested.

To automate the process make a text file batch_convert.bat and paste below text into it.

mkdir jpg

magick.exe mogrify -path jpg -quality 25% -resize 1500x1500 -format jpg *.jp2

cd jpg

magick.exe convert *.jpg 1.pdf

Copy this file into folder which contains all jp2 files. Run this file double clicking it. When everything works fine it creates a PDF file 1.pdf. All jp2 and jpg files can be deleted later if not needed. To change quality of pdf -quality % value in bat file can be increased. If not sure just use 90%. Its default in most of JPG files.

Instead of using image magick we can also use Fast Stone Image viewer from https://www.faststone.org/FSView.erDetail.htm. This is really good image viewer and has batch conversion, rename tools. Go to Tools - Batch convert images to convert images in batch if you don't like ImageMagick. However ImageMagick is fast and has lots of options and works on Linux, Mac, Android etc. Learning to work with it will make you familiar with multiple OSes.

Cheapest, simplest method to record Binaural sounds using 2 recorders, phones etc.

 

Binaural sounds are almost like what we hear with natural source. If someone says hi behind us and we record audio in mono, stereo and binaural the best output with realism is recorded in binaural. This article makes a basic quality binaural recorder. The quality is not great because of limitations and manual steps required causing further inaccuracies. You can check the sample quality at end of article to check what it feels like.

As picture above shows we need 2 audio recorders. I used 2 Samsung devices with same official recorder app. Phone acts as left ear and tab acts as right ear. MIC are at top of the devices and therefore top is kept at middle of a box. Box acts are head reducing audio from both sides. Recording on both devices should begin at the same time!. If recording time is not same on both we have to shift the playback timing of one track to match both tracks.

IMPORTANT:

2 recorders must be of same hardware/model, same software and same settings to get same audio data. Different devices can work but many times volume levels & dominating frequency can differ e.g. high frequency/volume on left, lower on right etc.

When recording is done below steps are to be done to create final sound.

- Start Audacity app.

- Import Left audio recording from whatever device acted as left. If imported file is stereo it has to be converted into mono. Audacity can do that easily. Now this mono track should be set to Left Only track. There is a slider to set panning between Left and Right. Slide it to leftmost.

- Same as above right track is imported. Slider is shifted rightmost.

- Now Check the waveforms and using this the shifting of track can be done to match the timing issues happened during starting of recorders. Suppose started recording with a clap. Using the clap as reference we can do shifting of Left or right track until the timing error caused during recording is diminished.

- NOTE: Lets assume both track have been set to perfect time match i.e. a sound is heard at both ears at same time. This is actual wrong setup for binaural!. When sound comes from right it reaches right ear first and then left. The time travelled between right left ear MUST EXIST between the tracks. This is important for accuracy of audio source positions. Below is technical information and can be avoided if you cannot understand the topic but it tells the importance of time difference between Left and Right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaural_time_difference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_localization

After shifting of tracks sound can be tested and it will surely sound like binaural. The above method is very cheap and prone to lots of errors. This article is for giving understanding of binaural and some experimentations for advance work. Below is the recording I created.

Sample recording file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/140yaOUVX4ptCyBduURUFXzGjx3Nrwl7o/view?usp=sharing

I hope this article has helped you in binaural recording. I also made an Android app in 2016 with automated process and create binaural recording easily. However I could not keep developing the app. Below are some links to the app -

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/binaural-3d-sound-recorder-app-using-2-devices-as-mic.3361953/

backup apks for old android devices only. -

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PP1N1HsOfLVqaMEMj77g0giLON9ecNuV/view?usp=sharing

Sample i recorded using my android app

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PftsM9XHOUJB8vzL4cB4vUV5mGZ-28v3/view?usp=sharing

Adsense, Admob, Playstore fast inward remmitance to State Bank Of India with minimun charges

DISCLAIMER:
Article links to official SBI page which must be read to get more updated information. Blindly using this page while ignoring official page can cause you problems if swift code etc things change in future.


Article will be very short and to the point. If you earn money via Google services like AdSense, AdMob or Playstore publisher Or other services which send money only by wire transfer then you are required following details

- Account Name
- Account Number
- IFSC
- Swift Code
- other bank dependent details if required.


Take highest care in verifying account number because if its wrong you may loose your money. Since this article is about SBI you should use this swift code if your transfer amount is less than USB 10,000.

Swift Code for amount < USD 10,000 => SBININBBFXD

If amount is higher use swift code of your local bank branch. If swift is not available use SWIFT of main branch of city or capital of state if city not available. For more details referer to this page:


https://retail.onlinesbi.com/nri/remittances/sbinri_rem_us.html



Charges: SBI charges Rs.50 + Rs.45 after credit of money. Debit is done as cash withdrawal by bank. Charges are for conversion of foreign currency to Rupees and service fee.


Time: Within a week, sometimes one or two days. Sometimes it can take more than 7 days. Depends if there are holidays.

Fix Windows 10 freeze of switching to fullscreen on PCSX2 (and other apps)

While using PCSX2 whenever i switched between windowed and fullscreen sometimes windows got freeze and will never respond to whatever keys i press. Had to shutdown laptop using power button. I found this problem is windows problem and faced by many users in various apps. Below is the fixed that worked for me -

Go to Windows 10 Settings -> Gaming

Disable Game Bar fully and now this problem may not occur. If possible disable most of game settings and use only those which don't cause freeze issue. I have disabled all of them as i can use AMD relive to record PC screen. This fixed free on my AMD (A10-9600P APU) laptop

JPG Image size reducer. How to reduce jpg to desired size without changing resolution on PC and Android?

When we click a photo it contains lot of colors which our eyes cannot differentiate. Higher colors means higher image size and with evolving camera chips images are getting bigger and bigger in size. There are many methods to reduce photo size. Lets look at some methods of reducing image size.


I recently backup my images on Google drive. The images were bigger in size and were in GBs in size which i reduced to ~700MB (deleted few repeated images). Among size reduction methods most of us reduce the image resolution i.e. number of pixels are reduced. For example Full HD images are reduced to qHD or 720p. But i didn't reduced the number of pixels but number of colors!


This is already a reduced image of size ~900KB. I captured this image in my garden in 2016 summer using my Nubia Z9 mini phone. Its already reduced in size to load faster on website.

 

Original: 942KB

 Half resolution: 711KB

Reduced Colors: 268KB

Looking at images its clear that reducing number of colors has greater size reduction than reducing resolution only. Do check the images by downloading them and zoom. Decide yourself which one is better!

Now coming to the tools used for size reduction. Without taking much time below are some tools to reduce size of jpg.

• ImageMagick's convert tool. This s a commandline tool which can reduce jpg size to desired size. Example: convert -define jpeg:extent=500kb nubia_bks_camera.jpg out.jpg. This will reduce original image to ~500KB without changing resolution.
• jpegoptim: this tool is same as imagemagick with desired jpg size.
• IrfanView. This is a windows only GUI software which can reduce jpg files to desired size.

I have created my own Android app which can do above size reduction and is very easy to work with. Here is the link to my app Jpg Image Size Reducer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.greh.imagesizereducer. A quick usage example of this app is you share your selfie which is 2MB and want to reduce size quickly without editing the image. Share it with any image app and select jpg image size reducer and reduce to whatever % or KB and then share the copy to wherever you want!. It can also reduce many files in batch. Its also an image converter and can convert non-jpg files to jpg and reduce its size.



The software above reduce number of colors which reduces size of image even more than reducing size does. However Using both methods can give very small size images. Reducing total colors to few thousand or hundreds can be noticed easily by zooming. Another method to reduce image size is to change image mode to INDEXED from RGB. Indexed mode means all colors are collected at a place/table and index/position of a color from table is used. This can reduce size. However this is not always better.

Audio Visualizer using libGDX for multiple platforms

This article & project is about visualizing audio as waveforms on screen. Before starting let's understand few terms and minimum requirements related to the project. Most of details about app is inside the source code. This article is only about audio section.

Requirements:

• A device supported by libGDX library. 
• Device must support microphone. 

Sample Rate:

Total number of samples of audio to be captured per second. We will use standard 44100 samples per second i.e. 44.1KHz.

Audio Sample:

Size of 1 sample. 1 sample is signed 16 bits in size and therefore can represent total 65536 volume levels. Negative samples have value from -1 to -32768 and +ve samples have value from 0 to 32767. We will use Mono samples only. Please refer to Audio documentation on Wikipedia, website or a book for further information on samplerate etc.

Working:

This project uses libGDX audio recorder interface to capture audio from MIC. Code is extremely simple to understand and implement on multiple platforms. Functions to create & delete recorder.

public final void make_recorder() {

        if( m_rec == null ) {

            m_rec = Gdx.audio.newAudioRecorder(44100, true);

            m_samples = new short[ (int)(44100f / FPS)];            

        }

    }

    public void destroy_recorder() {

        if( m_rec != null ) {

            m_rec.dispose();

            m_rec = null;

        }

    }

Below code is used for capturing audio samples in a buffer for drawing purpose.

m_rec.read(m_samples, 0, m_samples.length);

// plot samples by moving from left middle of screen to right middle. Delta is how

// high the resolution of plotting is.

for( float i = 0; i <= 100f; i += delta ) {

        …

}

m_sample is a short buffer of size 44100/FPS. This is because in this project we draw screen at 25FPS and every frame plots audio data. So we divide 1 second of audio into 25 parts and sync with screen. Total samples we need per frame is 44100/FPS.

Pseudo code of drawing audio data:

• Capture 44100/FPS number of samples into SAMPLES buffer. 
• Loop from left middle of screen i.e. x=0 to x=100% of screen width plotting audio sample related to the % value. Means x=0% means 0% position of sample in SAMPLES. x=35% = 35/100 x SAMPLES's SIZE. Formula: Audio Sample = PERCENT_POS/100 * SAMPLES's SIZE. 
• Take amplitude of sample as per your choice and plot audio using pixel. Plot line between current and last sample. 

Visualizer snapshot:

Download link for java only source code of project.

MylibGDX-articles-14-Oct-2016.7z


With same logic i built my Sound Visualizer which renders beautiful design using voices. It can be called Rangoli Maker or simple Mandalas or Cymatics kind of plotter. Cymatics needs lots of calculation in 3D but this app is good for flower like designs.


Download link for Android app:
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.greh.sacredsound