It’s like I said before… in theory manufacturers could make it a clicky,clicky, mousey, mousey windows style operation if they really wanted to but they like things just the way they are. Planned obsolescence to keep sales up, with lots of spyware thrown in just to keep the phone paying its way throughout it’s brief lifetime. Open sourcing any phone just turns their business plan on its head. As manufacturers go Sony is fairly open source friendly (relatively speaking that is). There is more than one way to unlock the BL. You can do it using fastboot mode (which is Sony’s preferred method IIRC) or you can flash it. Which method are you using and at which stage is the process stalling?
One thing that could be catching you out is that in fastboot (blue led) mode you need to be prefixing the unlocking code that you get off the Sony site with ‘0x’ that is a zero not a capital o. So the final code should look something like 0xAB48264GG7076FRD7 for example.
Hi.
Thank you for helping, The following is where I am at.
- Activate adb and type
adb reboot bootloader, or pressVol+and plug phone while it’s shut down - Type
fastboot oem unlock 0x<unlock code>
For linux I presume that I don’t have to activate ADB. I just type the command part of line in paragraph 1.
I have already manually done the OEM unlocking. Should I have left it locked and just typed the command in paragraph 2.
Regarding your phones on Ebay. Are you promoting the switch to Iode for a particular reason.
I normally use the Vol+ then ‘fastboot oem unlock 0xAB48264G7076FRD7’ command on Sony’s but if you have already carried out the unlock I’m not sure as to why you are asking me if you should have left it locked. The installer will only install the OS with the bootloader unlock enabled. As for the phones on ebay I am promoting iode by lending out a phone for people to try whilst trying to promote the OS in the general sense. So far I have sold a few too at the kind of prices that they would expect to pay for the same phone in it’s original state. Since I listed the demo phone I have sold four phones, 3 x XA2’s and an Xperia 10.
Now you have unlocked the bootloader you should find the installer will do the rest.
Not unlocked the bootloader yet because I am confused. The Iode instructions state
Type fastboot oem unlock 0x<unlock code>where the 0x is separated from the sony unlock code by <, and then to follow the unlock code with ‘>’ whereas you appeared to suggest just preceding the unlock code with 0x.
Sorry mis type. the > shoukd be >
Had to go back a couple of posts to recap and this is where I believe you are at. You have enabled ‘allow bootloader unlock’ in Developer Options and you have also ticked ‘allow USB debugging’ in same. You have not yet received the Okay return message to your unlocking command. So…
Switch off phone.
Open a terminal in Platform Tools
Volume + and plug USB in. Wait for blue LED before releasing volume button.
Type ‘fastboot devices’ then Enter, to check your PC is communicating with phone. You will receive a device code in response if all is well.
Type ‘fastboot oem unlock 0xSONY_CODE’ and wait for the Okay response which takes a little more than a second.
The iode instructions are intended for all manufacturers but the command I’m offering here is Sony specific. One other thing that you might want to do is check that there is nothing preventing the bootloader unlock from being activated in the firmware. To do this switch phone on and go to dialler. Dial star hash star hash7378423hash star hash star and wait as it sometimes takes a few seconds. Then tap ‘Servce Info’ and then ‘Configuration’ Then look down the list for 'Bootloader Unlock Allowed? and just hope it says Yes! Can’t see any reason why not if this a new phone.
Hi. completed your instructions then tried auto install again. The installer stops at the bootloader unlocking page. The display on the phone said ‘deleting data’ then the colour changing xperia loga appeared followed by a picture of a man waving at me and some chinese text with a blue oblong box about 2.5cm from the bottom.
Forgot. Just before that the phone display said’please relock bootloader’
The message about the relocking of the bootloader is routine but the truth is that on Sony’s you cannot relock the bootloader unless you backed up the TA files prior to unlocking and you have reinstalled the stock OS. So at least we know you cracked the first stage and the bootloader is now unlocked. Which version of iode was it trying to install?
How do I find out.
It tells you on the installer after it has identified your phone. Have you tried to do another install yet because as things stand you are still running the original OS wth the bootloader unlocked so now it should complete the install. That would be my next move but on the one time I used the installer it completed the install with no interuptions. Just run it again and see how it goes.
One thing… just check you still have ‘allow USB debugging’ enabled in settings cos it won’t complete if it hasn’t.
Can’t do anything because the phone has factory reset so I have to do all the setup but I dont understand chinese. The advice on the web is to go to language settings but no idea how.
You just have to tap on the chinese language in between the waving chinaman and the blue box and a drop down box will appear for you to select your preferred language and the rest is as you would expect from there onward.
Thinking about it, if the phone has factory reset you will deffo have to go to settings and re-enable allow USB debugging for sure before the installer will run.
Tapped the screen, scrolled down to ‘English’ tapped it and the word ‘English’ is displayed top left. There is a chinese character bottom right which I then tapped. The phone remains in chinese even after reboot. Tried again but did not tap chinese character bottom right but phone remains in chinese even after reboot.
sorted.
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Excellent!
Run installer again. Does not detect phone.