Help with unbreaking and then rooting UMX U683CL

[somnomania]

I've been getting help on this over at Hovatek, but it's extremely slow going; I first posted there on December 11 and it's still not resolved. This phone is a former Lifeline phone, and I've been trying to get it rooted so that I can use the Tello SIM I obtained. The problem the phone was having is that it refused to do any updates, so Tello's troubleshooting as to why it wasn't detecting the SIM was completely halted.

I did finally get to the point of rooting it. The major problem I have now is that it will only boot to fastboot mode. I can get it into recovery mode, but I get the dead android with "no connection" under it, and I've tried everything the internet has suggested to get past that, and it won't. Additionally, any fastboot command (apart from "fastboot devices") I try in ADB returns "FAILED (remote: 'unknown command'). I don't know how to get it into EDL mode from fastboot. I've tried every button combo possible, and the only one that does anything different is power + volume up, which changes it to a bright white screen. At this point I just want to do a hard reset so I can take another go at the rooting process, but the phone doesn't seem to want to allow me to. I would appreciate any help with this; I don't have a working phone at the moment because of these issues.

 

[ocnbrze]

I've been getting help on this over at Hovatek, but it's extremely slow going; I first posted there on December 11 and it's still not resolved. This phone is a former Lifeline phone, and I've been trying to get it rooted so that I can use the Tello SIM I obtained. The problem the phone was having is that it refused to do any updates, so Tello's troubleshooting as to why it wasn't detecting the SIM was completely halted.

I did finally get to the point of rooting it. The major problem I have now is that it will only boot to fastboot mode. I can get it into recovery mode, but I get the dead android with "no connection" under it, and I've tried everything the internet has suggested to get past that, and it won't. Additionally, any fastboot command (apart from "fastboot devices") I try in ADB returns "FAILED (remote: 'unknown command'). I don't know how to get it into EDL mode from fastboot. I've tried every button combo possible, and the only one that does anything different is power + volume up, which changes it to a bright white screen. At this point I just want to do a hard reset so I can take another go at the rooting process, but the phone doesn't seem to want to allow me to. I would appreciate any help with this; I don't have a working phone at the moment because of these issues.

can you post a screenshot of the adb commands? and also are you asking the adb command in the right folder?

 

[svim]

If your phone is stuck in a boot loop and all you can do is start up in Fastboot mode that's an indicator the installed Android OS has been corrupted to the point it's not functional anymore. Whatever rooting process you used didn't work out.
https://www.devicesfaq.com/en/characteristics/umx-u683cl
Given this is a very low-end, below spec Lifeline phone, you're options to restore it back into working condition are few. You might want to try flashing the appropriate stock ROM:
https://www.getdroidtips.com/stock-rom-on-unimax-umx-u683cl/
Flashing a ROM is essentially the similar to using a Restore disc with a Windows PC, it overwrites the installed OS with a clean OS.
I wouldn't get your hopes up too much doing further 'hacks' to this model. it's only marginally functional anyway. By something at least newer, a phone with even a little more system resources will be better to experiment with.

 

[somnomania]

can you post a screenshot of the adb commands? and also are you asking the adb command in the right folder?

I launch ADB from its own folder, as you can see.

If your phone is stuck in a boot loop and all you can do is start up in Fastboot mode that's an indicator the installed Android OS has been corrupted to the point it's not functional anymore. Whatever rooting process you used didn't work out.
https://www.devicesfaq.com/en/characteristics/umx-u683cl
Given this is a very low-end, below spec Lifeline phone, you're options to restore it back into working condition are few. You might want to try flashing the appropriate stock ROM:
https://www.getdroidtips.com/stock-rom-on-unimax-umx-u683cl/
Flashing a ROM is essentially the similar to using a Restore disc with a Windows PC, it overwrites the installed OS with a clean OS.
I wouldn't get your hopes up too much doing further 'hacks' to this model. it's only marginally functional anyway. By something at least newer, a phone with even a little more system resources will be better to experiment with.

Except that I have no way to flash it if I can't get it out of fastboot mode, to my knowledge. I already had QPST installed, but I failed on step 6 of that guide; no port shows up, I assume because it's in fastboot. In device manager the phone shows up as Kedacom USB Device > Android Bootloader Interface. I'd love a better phone to do this with, but I'm using it because it was free. My mom has the household Lifeline phone, this is one from last year that wasn't working (due to the issues with updating). My entire household is on extremely limited fixed income, I can't just buy a phone. I also have a different former Lifeline phone, a Schok Volt SV55, but I've looked into rooting that one as well, because it's a better phone, but there are even fewer resources available for it. That's why I'm so determined to get this one working again.

 

[svim]

Since buying a new phone isn't an option, I'd focus just on restoring this phone back to working condition and give up trying to root or otherwise manually force a version upgrade. Rooting and using third-party ROMs always involve an increased amount of risk.
You're better off having a working, functional phone available for daily usage. Teach yourself about rooting and experiment with flashing firmware with a secondary phone that isn't going to be a problem when it's unusable for a few days.

 

[somnomania]

To root, I backed it up, I used Magisk, and then I flashed the patched boot.img. (Roughly; it's been so long since I did that I've forgotten the steps, but I was following guides and answers to my specific questions to the letter.). There was nothing third-party involved, to my knowledge. I still don't even understand all this stuff about custom ROMs and how they work and what they work ON in terms of devices.

And that's the problem, it wasn't a working, functional phone, except to run apps, which is all I've ever been able to do with a smartphone the last six years. My previous phone was an Alcatel potato that I got for $20 at Walmart open box without understanding about carrier locks. That one was never usable as a phone either, because I couldn't afford the $25/month for three months to unlock the carrier. I still have that one available for my sleep tracker app, which is about all there's room for on it. This current one has been completely useless for almost a month because of how slow the replies are over on Hovatek. I hadn't sought help elsewhere until now because I thought I was (slowly) getting somewhere.

 

[svim]

Well there are a lot of people in similar situations that are using their Lifeline phones every day. Perhaps you need to set your expectations a lot lower regarding what you use a phone to do. Low-end, budget-class phones have limited resources so it's just not possible to force them to work like a more capable phone. But if you can't even do basic tasks like phone calls, email and text messaging, web browsing, etc. there's something else that's the real problem.

 

[somnomania]

This one was doing perfectly fine for apps and what little web browsing I do until I got into the rooting process and got it stuck in fastboot. I just want assistance with getting it out of fastboot, ideally into a working recovery mode so I can do a full hard reset and try again.

 

[svim]

Well it's worth trying a Factory Reset to fix a boot loop but typically a FR pertains to a working, installed Android operating system. A boot loop is typically when the Android OS is so corrupted and damaged that the device can't go through the normal boot up process.
https://www.hardreset.info/devices/unimax/unimax-u683cl/recovery-mode/

 

[somnomania]

Yes, as I said, I can get into recovery mode, but I have the dead android with "no connection" under it, and no button combo the internet has to suggest does anything to change that except that power + volume up gets me a white screen.

 

[svim]

Just to clarify, are you trying to do a Factory Reset using your phone's Recovery Mode or instead trying to do so remotely via ADB?

 

[somnomania]

I was trying through recovery mode because nothing via ADB was working. In looking up how I might find the test points for this phone, I found a video on factory resetting this exact model, which contained the revelation that to get past the "no connection" android, I needed to hold the power button and TAP volume up once, rather than hold it like I've tried before. So I got into recovery mode, but I wiped the data and the cache and it's still only booting into fastboot. If I hold the two volume buttons and then plug it into the computer, I get the white screen, so maybe that's EDL mode as the phone stands right now? QPST's detecting it now, at least, as Q/QCP-XXX (Sahara Download). So I guess I'm going to try reflashing the stock firmware and see if I can get it unstuck, if I can remember how.

 

[mikedt]

I was trying through recovery mode because nothing via ADB was working. In looking up how I might find the test points for this phone, I found a video on factory resetting this exact model, which contained the revelation that to get past the "no connection" android, I needed to hold the power button and TAP volume up once, rather than hold it like I've tried before. So I got into recovery mode, but I wiped the data and the cache and it's still only booting into fastboot. If I hold the two volume buttons and then plug it into the computer, I get the white screen, so maybe that's EDL mode as the phone stands right now? QPST's detecting it now, at least, as Q/QCP-XXX (Sahara Download). So I guess I'm going to try reflashing the stock firmware and see if I can get it unstuck, if I can remember how.

You may need to contact UNI, the manufacturer, for the stock firmware for this device. As I don't think they make it available online.
http://www.unimaxcomm.com/contact.html

 

[somnomania]

I have the firmware from like three different sources, and also the backup of the phone itself from before I started this process, that's not a problem. I'm not sure how I'd contact them, anyway, as I don't see an email there and I don't speak Chinese to be able to call them.