Were you able to see the bootanimation after “Try again”?
A new security upgrade is available! Check for Updates in Updater (Please note it rolls out gradually and might take days before its available to update for everyone) or apply manually from the main post.
Note for Zirconia Android 10/11 users: New 11.0.5 is available via OTA, Apply same before upgrading to Android 13.
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Do we think that the 11.0.5 might help avoid the factory reset on upgrades, or is it just providing a security update so that people who prefer to stay there feel less sad about their choice to avoid the updates?
11.0.5 doesn’t bring any new security updates. Its an intermediate build to be updated to before upgrading to Android 13. We are moving everyone to Android 13 due to security risks in Android 11 firmware.
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Just tried to update and got corrupted and my phone is out of commission until I can get some help. I am low tech proficiency (though not an idiot) and don’t know what to do and don’t want to lose my data. I see some info above about this issue with the new update but honestly am not going to read a year’s worth of comments to figure out what to do to recover my phone and not have this happen again. Please someone advise. I’m honestly tired of teracube being so user unfriendly. Unfortunately I will not buy again since it is getting old and failing anyway and it’s almost time for a new phone. Really wish there was a way to be sustainable and responsible and not have to more or less be a developer.
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You just tried to update from what prior version to what upgrade version, and what state is your phone currently in?
Without at least that information, nobody will be able to advise more.
I was on some version of Android 11. I vaguely remember it saying the last time it was updated was in May, but I commented on this same thread in June trying to figure out the update that was available then (bc it was only available from this forum via a download, didn’t come up automatically in the updater) and waited bc of all the corruption issues it sounded like were happening and was told to wait bc they were working on it. I don’t know what I was updating to, it popped up in my updater on 12/27/24. I’m assuming this 13 version that this thread about considering there was a comment that new security patches had been added through December. I thought it had already updated since I started the process within a day but apparently not as it prompted me to install the same update today. I didn’t even remember anything about all these corruption issues as I rarely check this forum and we don’t get email notification or etc. about available updates. Not sure how to provide further details when my phone is currently inaccessible. Apologies for the cold language, but hopefully you can understand the lay person’s frustration with all this.
My phone is stuck on the black screen of death with multi colored text:
“Android Recovery
Teracube/Teracube_2e/Teracube_2e
13/TQ3A.230805.001.B1/t0pr4emerniabsp
user/release-keys
Use volume up/down and power.
Can’t load Android system. Your data may be corrupt. If you continue to get this message, you may need to perform a factory data reset and erase all user data stored on this device.”
The only two options are “Try again” and “Factory data reset”
I have used the “try again” option at least 5 times and continue to get the same screen
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Its expected to require a factory reset while upgrading from A11 to A13. The new Updater in 11.0.5 also prompts backuping the data before upgrading so does the post.
This is not helpful. It cannot “be expected” unless the Updater says “this will happen.” And again, every user cannot be expected to know the entire contents of this forum. (For example my 67 y/o mother also uses a teracube 2e, does not know this forum even exists, and if she installs this update and sees the reset screen, she will probably think the phone is broken completely.) Any update recommends backing up in case of emergency, and again as far as a low tech user like myself has been able, I do have things backed up. But I honestly don’t know how to even recover that or have faith that I can get everything back to the way it was before. Which is why I am here asking for help to recover and access what may even be backed up or not.
Helpful responses on where to go from here or go back and start over to prevent this from happening again are appreciated.
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At the point it’s currently at, if you were signed into Google’s backup service, you likely won’t lose much besides the time spent trying not to do the only option remaining. You’ll need to factory reset to move on, though it’s up to you whether to accept v13 (which is better in a lot of ways) or use SPFlash to go back to 10.
If you sign in to Google as part of the post-reset setup process and let it finish installing and restoring data before trying to use the phone or doing additional reboots, many of the apps should restore their data.
After updating to v13, the only time I had it trigger the corrupted data/factory reset required afterwards is when I tried to avoid it by disabling fingerprints and the screen lock. Try to avoid disabling those since that does make it always corrupt itself; just allow it to run same major OTAs normally and that should be fine.
Thanks Maymne, is there any point or further information about the adb stuff mentioned above? We tried plugging into several different laptops today to attempt or see if we could transfer something but nothing ever happened. Not sure where I would even type in the instructions given. Or should I just accept the reset and see what happens?
Dear Teracube Team,
how cool is it that we are getting these updates now on a regular basis!! Thank you Teracube team! Great to see how you devoted yourself to stick to this task after so many setbacks and obstacles (mainly by Google I suppose).
Just wanted to point out these efforts, cause this is rare to be seen these days.
Cheers from Germany,
Frank
BTW: OTA update from 13.1.0 went smoothly, no issues!
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The adb logcat stuff is trying to get info about how it’s failed so that maybe someday upgrades from 11 to 13 can happen without the factory reset. It won’t help you recover without wiping, unfortunately. Even flashing 10 or 11 back won’t recover without the wipe. Sorry.
It seems I was somewhat successful in restoring from backup after a reset, but there are odd holes. For example Messages only restored images, not actual texts; none of my previous files/downloads/screenshots etc. are in the “Files by Google” app, some device settings including in Chrome weren’t saved, and many app settings and logins are off too. I’m thankful for what has been restored, but it would really be nice to get the above back as well. I will probably avoid future major updates on my teracube/get a different phone soon considering this major setback and risk. Please let me know if you have any ideas.
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I actually use Pulse SMS both for its cloud backup ability, as well as the option to send text messages (though my phone) using the website. Before doing major updates, I manually force a general phone backup through Google, then doing WhatsApp and my fitness band’s app saved to the cloud. Most anything else either has its data sync through the Google backup or its own account or ended up being deemed unnecessary. Files directly saved to the device will never be restored from factory resets of any device, not just the Teracube, but that’s because that’s the point of the full data wipe of a factory reset.
Once I updated to v13, I haven’t had any data loss issues except for when I manually disabled encryption through turning off screen lock/fingerprints. I still do my standard backup process just in case, but…
That being said, I love that the TC team actually tries to keep things updated and have done so much better in continuing to release updates, even if the size of their team means it’s relatively slow. While they’ve passed the three years of updates that they promised, they’re continuing to keep delivering updates slowly but surely. It’s not the greatest sign that there isn’t any hardware still available for sale, as it’s out of stock on their own site and no longer listed on the murena /e site, but as long as they keep delivering updates, I’ll keep enjoying using what feels like the last phone released with functional ‘external’ storage. Every other phone that’s had sdcard support I’ve tried since hasn’t supported actually formatting the sdcard as internal and application-ready, only as photo/file storage instead. Makes me wonder what’s the point, but… meh.
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I’ve done this so far:
- downloaded latest platform-tools from official site
- hold vol+ and power button
- selected fastboot
- connected phone to PC, using a USB cable that I’m sure worked in the past (phone was recognised and all)
- opened terminal as admin, navigated to the folder where adb is
- tried to give
adb devicescommand → no devices found - tried to give
fastboot devicescommand → no output either
I can’t shut down my phone, it just keeps reloading into TWRP
It’s the first time I hear about SPFlash, so I don’t know how to proceed, do I just follow this guide?
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Yes, pretty much!
It uses the vendor’s recovery communication which is lower-level than adb or fastboot.
I was able to reset and subsequently update to v13 
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Quick sidenote as well - having TWRP as your recovery will usually mean that you can’t use the built-in OTA/Update functions. I haven’t verified that this is the case updating between versions of Teracube Zirconia 13, but this was the case for earlier Teracube updates, as well as on my prior Android devices from a variety of manufacturers for over a decade. If TWRP is installed, updates will generally only be flashable through it. As the Teracube TWRP cannot decrypt the system, that means that every TWRP update requires a full data wipe. As such, I have stopped putting TWRP on most of my phones unless it’s actually needed or recommended for the specific custom ROM I’m using at the time.
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