How to Root the Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus (Windows)

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Thoreau

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.

Beware of all enterprises that require new operating systems.

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by Renate

Beware of all enterprises that require new operating systems.

I agree with you 100%, but can you think of anything else to try? I cannot.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by dcarvil

I agree with you 100%, but can you think of anything else to try? I cannot.

I like my EDL client, but I'm not infallible. If there is something wrong I'd like to fix it.

There is the Python EDL client. That runs on Windows too.

We've had indeterminate reports on this thing. "No loader works", "All loaders work". It's hard to proceed by that unless the phase of the moon enters into it.

If you try a loader and it doesn't work 100% (even if it reboots itself and seems ok) you must do a manual reboot before trying another loader.

[ramensoup150]

PAIN
okay this is frustrating now I'm getting stupid shit like this app cant run on your pc.
Would someone be willing to root this for me, depending on the price?

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ramensoup150

PAIN
okay this is frustrating now I'm getting stupid shit like this app cant run on your pc.

Usually that is a case of incompatible libs. But (usually?) the new Onyx is 32/64 bit.
You need to run an ADB logcat while you try to install and get some info on what's wrong.

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by ramensoup150

PAIN
okay this is frustrating now I'm getting stupid shit like this app cant run on your pc.
Would someone be willing to root this for me, depending on the price?

There is an update for NovaAir2 that contains a boot.img. If you have this update already installed, the boot.img from the update file should work for you. Go to http://data.onyx-international.cn/ap...t%22:%22%22%7D

Check all the info and make sure it matches your device. Find the downloadUrlList in that output, and download update.upx.

See Renate's instructions in this thread for debooxing it and extracting boot.img. Skip the install update part if you already have the update installed.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=357269

[ramensoup150]

Originally Posted by dcarvil

The EDL GitHub page (https://github.com/bkerler/edl) offers a LIVE DVD that contains a complete, ready to go Linux environment. Since you've tried everything else, that may be your last resort. I haven't tried it, since I am already on Linux.

I would try a different USB cable first, though. Cables can develop problems. You should also try different USB ports, although you pretty much covered that when you tried a different computer.

okay so i tried this method and there was some progress. But i think I fucked up in the bootloader part, because when I tried to install the temp root, it said too many links failed

now my device is booting on and off and on and off. Its stuck in a cycle.

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by ramensoup150

okay so i tried this method and there was some progress. But i think I fucked up in the bootloader part, because when I tried to install the temp root, it said too many links failed

now my device is booting on and off and on and off. Its stuck in a cycle.

Sorry, but "fucked up in the bootloader part" provides no information on what happened. Do you still have the Live DVD running? If so, execute "dmesg > dmesg.txt" and "history > history.txt". Post the dmesg.txt and history.txt files so we can see what happened. The console output would also be helpful. You'd have to use cut/paste to get that.

It sounds like the boot.img is now damaged. If you can get the device into recovery or fastboot mode, we should be able to fix that.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ramensoup150

It said too many links...

I'd like to hit the programmer who wrote this error message with 50 pounds of sausage links so that they'd know what too many links is.

When something bad happens in fastboot an error code is generated.
In Windows, when a device is disconnected or failed that error code is:

C:\>mctest 0x1f
System message code 0x0000001F
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

If we were sane we'd type out that last line.
But no... 0x1f is 31 decimal. 31 interpreted as a Linux error code is:

31	EMLINK	Too many links

(That error is when you have a chain of symbolic links too long and the system suspects that maybe the links are circular.)
It's been like this for over a decade.

In any case, to address your problem.
You have wonky USB. Blow the dust out of connectors, try different cables, different ports.

[ramensoup150]

So I got my device into bootloader mode. I also installed the Fastboot in there. What exactly do I do here. I saw another guide but it says its for the note 2 air. And the guide said download the firmware and then after some steps flash a file from the firmware into the system. But when I checked the site that has the firmware, we'll it turns out the links are dead. Meanwhile way back machine method to get the file doesn't work.

I will also try testing different usb ports. Maybe that could be the problem

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by Renate

I'd like to hit the programmer who wrote this error message with 50 pounds of sausage links so that they'd know what too many links is.

When something bad happens in fastboot an error code is generated.
In Windows, when a device is disconnected or failed that error code is:

C:\>mctest 0x1f
System message code 0x0000001F
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

If we were sane we'd type out that last line.
But no... 0x1f is 31 decimal. 31 interpreted as a Linux error code is:

31	EMLINK	Too many links

(That error is when you have a chain of symbolic links too long and the system suspects that maybe the links are circular.)
It's been like this for over a decade.

In any case, to address your problem.
You have wonky USB. Blow the dust out of connectors, try different cables, different ports.

And that would explain why you have problems with both your windows environment and the Live DVD. Since you also had problems with a different computer, the problem is likely the cable or the USB port on the NovaAir2. The USB on your computer cannot be completely ruled out, though, since the Live DVD is also using the same port. The second computer could have had an entirely different problem.

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by ramensoup150

So I got my device into bootloader mode. I also installed the Fastboot in there. What exactly do I do here. I saw another guide but it says its for the note 2 air. And the guide said download the firmware and then after some steps flash a file from the firmware into the system. But when I checked the site that has the firmware, we'll it turns out the links are dead. Meanwhile way back machine method to get the file doesn't work.

I will also try testing different usb ports. Maybe that could be the problem

You can download the boot.img file from the update.upx I mentioned earlier from https://carville.tech/files/boot.img. Do you know if that is the update you are running? If it is not, you probably don't want to flash that image.

Do a "fastboot boot boot.img", then check everything out to make sure it is working. If you are satisfied, you can flash it with "fastboot flash boot boot.img". That should get you back to normal.

Then you can patch the boot.img with Magisk. Do the same thing with the patched image - boot it first, without flashing to make sure it works, then flash it.

[ramensoup150]

Originally Posted by dcarvil

You can download the boot.img file from the update.upx I mentioned earlier from https://carville.tech/files/boot.img. Do you know if that is the update you are running? If it is not, you probably don't want to flash that image.

Do a "fastboot boot boot.img", then check everything out to make sure it is working. If you are satisfied, you can flash it with "fastboot flash boot boot.img". That should get you back to normal.

Then you can patch the boot.img with Magisk. Do the same thing with the patched image - boot it first, without flashing to make sure it works, then flash it.

Okay, before your comment, I did something that I think was incredibly stupid. I did do something like you recommend, but following the guide earlier. It said flash the system with the firmware. I tried to do that with the boot but there was no partition(I think) recognized. So what I did was check a video and see if there was an alternative. And following that video, I flashed the boot into boot_b. And now I cant access the recovery menu (but I can still access fastboot commands). And I think the device is stuck in bootloader mode...im unsure?

Uh did I fuck over my device because even if i go through fastboot and follow your commands I ecounter this FAILED (remote: Failed to load/authenticate boot image: Load Error)
(and yes i changed the usb cable and moved it into a different usb port. I also installed a different ssd into the laptop with a fresh copy of windows 11)

[ramensoup150]

Originally Posted by ramensoup150

Okay, before your comment, I did something that I think was incredibly stupid. I did do something like you recommend, but following the guide earlier. It said flash the system with the firmware. I tried to do that with the boot but there was no partition(I think) recognized. So what I did was check a video and see if there was an alternative. And following that video, I flashed the boot into boot_b. And now I cant access the recovery menu (but I can still access fastboot commands). And I think the device is stuck in bootloader mode...im unsure?

Uh did I fuck over my device because even if i go through fastboot and follow your commands I ecounter this FAILED (remote: Failed to load/authenticate boot image: Load Error)
(and yes i changed the usb cable and moved it into a different usb port. I also installed a different ssd into the laptop with a fresh copy of windows 11)

Also I did the stuff in the first paragraph before reading your comment.

[ramensoup150]

Originally Posted by ramensoup150

Okay, before your comment, I did something that I think was incredibly stupid. I did do something like you recommend, but following the guide earlier. It said flash the system with the firmware. I tried to do that with the boot but there was no partition(I think) recognized. So what I did was check a video and see if there was an alternative. And following that video, I flashed the boot into boot_b. And now I cant access the recovery menu (but I can still access fastboot commands). And I think the device is stuck in bootloader mode...im unsure?

Uh did I fuck over my device because even if i go through fastboot and follow your commands I ecounter this FAILED (remote: Failed to load/authenticate boot image: Load Error)
(and yes i changed the usb cable and moved it into a different usb port. I also installed a different ssd into the laptop with a fresh copy of windows 11)

okay nvm I fixed the problem by switching the slot to a and then flashing the boot there.