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5.9.902 is official!

5.9.902 is not being pushed out OTA everywhere. 5.9.902 has not been released.

There is something called 5.9.902 that apparently is in soak test and has been pushed to a number of soak test participants.

There are copies of that 5.9.902 kicking around.

There is no general release of 5.9.902 at this instant being pushed to everyone. The response that you get that says no update is available is correct.

(5.5.893 was in soak test for 10 days before it was released.)

... Thom

There are numerous reports of people who are not soak test participants that have received the OTA 902 update (via push, not manual install) . Also VZW has officially announced it on their website (see the link in the OP of this thread). On the other hand, an email went out to soak test participants around the same time, so there is some ambiguity about the status. Personally I consider it "officially released" when VZW posts the announcement with the changelog, as they did Tuesday, and it starts rolling out to non-soak-test users.
 
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So the zip file will not install for me.

I get: assert fasiled: getprop ("ro.product.device")=="cdma_targa" II


My phone is rooted.
I booted to recovery
Choose to "install zip from sdcard"
then it fails.

Any thoughts?

All of these updates are gigantic patch files. They assume that they are being applied to a pristine base that has not been diddled with.

All of these updates check for the existence of specific software and if they don't find it hey bomb.

One of the traditional problems has been someone root-ing their Bionic and deleting what they think is bloatware. The next update comes out with a patch to that bloatware and fails because the bloatware is not present.

The solution is to "freeze" the bloatware and "thaw" it before applying an update. You then get to "freeze" it again.

You assumed responsibility for this when you root-ed. So ... what is the error message you are getting?

... Thom
 
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OTA updates are pushed out in batches, and until your turn comes it will continue to say "no update available." You don't have to keep checking (unless you are OCD about it like me) because it will notify you. There doesn't seem to be any way to predict when you will get it, either geographical or date of purchase -- it just seems random, which is why people resort to downloading the file and updating manually.

I once read a theory that it is pushed by the last number of your MEID - all the 0s get it first then 1s, etc. It's a good way to randomly choose phones to get the update spread over a geographic area. My last phone had a high last number and I always received OTAs on the latish side (well, it was only twice, not "always".)

That could easily be wrong, though. Still, it makes as much sense as anything.
 
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All of these updates are gigantic patch files. They assume that they are being applied to a pristine base that has not been diddled with.

All of these updates check for the existence of specific software and if they don't find it hey bomb.

One of the traditional problems has been someone root-ing their Bionic and deleting what they think is bloatware. The next update comes out with a patch to that bloatware and fails because the bloatware is not present.

The solution is to "freeze" the bloatware and "thaw" it before applying an update. You then get to "freeze" it again.

You assumed responsibility for this when you root-ed. So ... what is the error message you are getting?

... Thom


Freezing bloatware?? I haven't done any of that, not sure how to. This is a new phone I just got, it downloaded the 893 update from verizon then I rooted it.

I get this error:

assert fasiled: getprop ("ro.product.device")=="cdma_targa" II
 
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There are numerous reports of people who are not soak test participants that have received the OTA 902 update (via push, not manual install) . Also VZW has officially announced it on their website (see the link in the OP of this thread). On the other hand, an email went out to soak test participants around the same time, so there is some ambiguity about the status. Personally I consider it "officially released" when VZW posts the announcement with the changelog, as they did Tuesday, and it starts rolling out to non-soak-test users.

The soak test is not just people who registered for the early update. It also includes up to 20,000 "regular" users.
 
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There are numerous reports of people who are not soak test participants that have received the OTA 902 update (via push, not manual install) . Also VZW has officially announced it on their website (see the link in the OP of this thread). On the other hand, an email went out to soak test participants around the same time, so there is some ambiguity about the status. Personally I consider it "officially released" when VZW posts the announcement with the changelog, as they did Tuesday, and it starts rolling out to non-soak-test users.

Two things ...

1. If you visit the Verizon Website you will see that the page says "Coming Soon" as of a few minutes ago.

2. The reason I am being so precise is ... if it has not been released then it is not supported. They made a mistake with 5.9.901 by sending it to about 100,000 people and are taking the responsibility for getting those people from 5.9.901 to 5.9.902.

I think it is very important to know what it is you are agreeing to before you do it. What is kicking around right now as 5.9.902 may end up being identical to what is released. It may never be released.

If you are looking for a guarantee ... wait until it is released. It will be clearly started on the Verizon website that it is released.

If you want to assume responsibility and choose to install the unsupported software ... do so.

What you can not do is install the unsupported software, run into a problem, and expect that Venison or Motorola will correct it for you.

... Thom
 
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The soak test is not just people who registered for the early update. It also includes up to 20,000 "regular" users.

First I've heard that ... do you have a link to a source? If true it explains some of the confusion that always seems to surround the timing of these updates. My wife had the .893 update pushed OTA to her Bionic the same day that the soak test was announced, and she definitely never signed up to be a tester. That was when I decided to go ahead and download the thing, because I figured if they are pushing it out to random people then they have either released it officially or at the very least they can't just abandon it.

Two things ...

1. If you visit the Verizon Website you will see that the page says "Coming Soon" as of a few minutes ago.

2. The reason I am being so precise is ... if it has not been released then it is not supported. They made a mistake with 5.9.901 by sending it to about 100,000 people and are taking the responsibility for getting those people from 5.9.901 to 5.9.902.

I think it is very important to know what it is you are agreeing to before you do it. What is kicking around right now as 5.9.902 may end up being identical to what is released. It may never be released.

If you are looking for a guarantee ... wait until it is released. It will be clearly started on the Verizon website that it is released.

If you want to assume responsibility and choose to install the unsupported software ... do so.

What you can not do is install the unsupported software, run into a problem, and expect that Venison or Motorola will correct it for you.

... Thom

It's my understanding that manually flashing ANY file is unsupported and will void your warranty, whether the update is official or not -- much like rooting. So in that sense it's a distinction without a difference to me. But I do want some sense that I will remain on the upgrade path, which is why I never installed .901 -- VZW never announced it, and when they finally did they said it had been released by mistake. To me .902 is different in that it has been officially announced, and it's already been pushed to more people than .901 was so at the very least I would expect them to provide a patch to .903 or whatever if they end up pulling it for some reason. I agree with you though that there are no guarantees, I think this applies to every scenario except for waiting until the OTA is pushed to you by VZW. I'm just not that patient after waiting all these weeks while rave reviews of .901 poured in.

I had assumed it went without saying but I hope everyone realizes that manually flashing files, rooting, etc. is not supported by VZW. You do it at your own risk.
 
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Mistakes happen. If you look at the MEID numbers you will see that they are remarkably similar. Perhaps someone in the last soak test had a typo and your wife's MEID got used by mistake.

I have talked to a lot of people who are confused about what root-ing is and what they are taking on the instant they do it. It isn't the intentional changes that are causing the grief it is the dumb errors that EVERYONE makes when they are tired that result in hours or days of work to recover from.

... Thom
 
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Freezing bloatware?? I haven't done any of that, not sure how to. This is a new phone I just got, it downloaded the 893 update from verizon then I rooted it.

I get this error:

assert fasiled: getprop ("ro.product.device")=="cdma_targa" II

I can't tell anything from that message.

Why did you root? What Apps are you using where you granted SU access? Does anyone else have access to your Bionic ... ever?

... Thom
 
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Mistakes happen. If you look at the MEID numbers you will see that they are remarkably similar. Perhaps someone in the last soak test had a typo and your wife's MEID got used by mistake.
... Thom

Actually, Moto only wanted/USES the 14 digits of the MEID numbers and they lop off the 15 digit for their purposes.

I guess it's possible that many people SHARE the 1st 14 MEID numbers thus when a test update is sent out it explains WHY some regulars receive updates too. Just me guessing. :thinking:
 
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My experience seems to differ from what some are posting (that have NOT installed 902), I'm surprised how definitive they can be without doing it!

Here is a repeat of my previous post.....

I was on forever rooted, sideloaded 901, lots of frozen bloat, hacked camera, different boot animations, etc., using the file linked at droidforums.net:

Blur_Version.5.9.901.XT875.Verizon.en.US.zip
MD5 81AA48EA8D67B830A11FF727E6DA284F
(this file is only good going from 901 to 902)

Put it on my EXT-SD, booted into stock recovery, installed from SD and retained root, hacked cameras, frozen bloat, etc. and am scooting along on 902.

So, in my case, I was FAR from stock and updated without a hitch.
 
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Actually, Moto only wanted/USES the 14 digits of the MEID numbers and they lop off the 15 digit for their purposes.

I guess it's possible that many people SHARE the 1st 14 MEID numbers thus when a test update is sent out it explains WHY some regulars receive updates too. Just me guessing. :thinking:

Sorry, I should have posted this earlier. They want 14 digits for a pretty good reason - MEIDs are 14 digit hexadecimal numbers. If there is a 15th hex digit shown, it is a checksum. Actually, it would probably be a good idea to ask for the checksum, as it exists precisely to check for typos (though crossed hex digits would, of course, not be detected as a checksum error.)

If there are 15 shown, the first 14 are the MEID.
 
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My experience seems to differ from what some are posting (that have NOT installed 902), I'm surprised how definitive they can be without doing it!

Here is a repeat of my previous post.....

I was on forever rooted, sideloaded 901, lots of frozen bloat, hacked camera, different boot animations, etc., using the file linked at droidforums.net:

Blur_Version.5.9.901.XT875.Verizon.en.US.zip
MD5 81AA48EA8D67B830A11FF727E6DA284F
(this file is only good going from 901 to 902)

Put it on my EXT-SD, booted into stock recovery, installed from SD and retained root, hacked cameras, frozen bloat, etc. and am scooting along on 902.

So, in my case, I was FAR from stock and updated without a hitch.

901 to 902 is a different animal than moving up from 8xx
 
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First I've heard that ... do you have a link to a source? If true it explains some of the confusion that always seems to surround the timing of these updates. My wife had the .893 update pushed OTA to her Bionic the same day that the soak test was announced, and she definitely never signed up to be a tester. That was when I decided to go ahead and download the thing, because I figured if they are pushing it out to random people then they have either released it officially or at the very least they can't just abandon it.

I remember reading that as well. Don't remember there being a # of people mentioned though. I also think I remember it saying the non soak testers that could get it would be selected from a list of people that signed up to be testers. I can not however link to the source as it was private Motorola area. As far as I know we are still under the confidentiality agreement we accepted as testers. At least until it does go public for sure.
 
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So the zip file will not install for me.

I get: assert fasiled: getprop ("ro.product.device")=="cdma_targa" II


My phone is rooted.
I booted to recovery
Choose to "install zip from sdcard"
then it fails.

Any thoughts?

Which recovery are you using? I got this same message trying to run the update from Clockworkmod recovery. Once I booted to stock recovery, I was able to install the update successfully.
 
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was rooted on 5.5.893.. thought i did forever root when i rooted but installed .902 and lost root. i dont feel like using rsd and reverting and then rooting again so ill just have to wait for someone to get the exploits for .902 to work. oh well :)

i guess i get to see all the bloat i froze for a little while..

That happened to a friend of mine at work. Thing is, I KNOW he had Forever Root because I helped him do it, and I even checked the mount_ext3.sh file for the three lines of code right before we flashed the update. Same method as mine. He lost root, while I kept it. Very strange. Fortunately he's not a big user of root apps, just had a few things frozen (which we unfroze before the update). Hopefully the geniuses at XDA will come up with a new root exploit now that .902 is official.

This made me wonder if we're all gonna be stuck without root for a long time when the ICS update comes out. Seems likely. ICS has a native "bloat freezer" feature, but what are the odds that VZW/Moto allows it in Blurwich? It will probably be disabled "for our customers convenience" with both companies blaming the other, a la the encrypted bootloader fiasco. :mad:
 
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That happened to a friend of mine at work. Thing is, I KNOW he had Forever Root because I helped him do it, and I even checked the mount_ext3.sh file for the three lines of code right before we flashed the update. Same method as mine. He lost root, while I kept it. Very strange. Fortunately he's not a big user of root apps, just had a few things frozen (which we unfroze before the update). Hopefully the geniuses at XDA will come up with a new root exploit now that .902 is official.


This made me wonder if we're all gonna be stuck without root for a long time when the ICS update comes out. Seems likely. ICS has a native "bloat freezer" feature, but what are the odds that VZW allows it Blurwich? It will probably be disabled "for our customers convenience." :mad:


I didnt think I was crazy and was 99.9% positive I had forever root as well. I'm sure our friends at XDA will have something quickly.

I was a bit bothered, (ok bothered enough to consider using one of my upgrades to order a different phone that wasnt so locked down but realized I wasnt being rational....) to learn that I lost root but all I was doing was freezing bloat. I havent loaded any roms before losing root but none of them seemed like anything special.

I doubt that VZW will allow for that bloat freezer.. especially after they added some with this update. I dont even really mind bloat to be honest because its not using resources, i just dont want to see that crap in my app drawer. That could be remedied with a different launcher but whatever...
 
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