SP Flash Tool tutorial

bencebacsi

MediaTek SP Flash Tool

Tutorial

This guide is about how to flash your UMI(DIGI) smartphone with MediaTek's SP Flash Tool utility.

Attention! the official method to update the system software of your phone is the wireless (OTA) update method, that you can receive automatically. It is highly recommended to use this tool only in case of emergency, if something went wrong with the wireless update (it cannot start, gets stuck etc.) or if your system is malfunctioning due to damaged or missing system contents.

What you need:

• VCOM drivers: Windows 10 can automatically install it. Please make sure that your Windows is logged in with administrator rights and your computer has a working internet connection when first time connecting your phone. Please do not use any drivers downloaded from third party sites.
• A compatible SP Flash Tool ROM downloaded on your PC - Find your device here: http://bit.ly/UmidigiROM
  

• A compatible version of SP Flash Tool that you can download on the same page where your ROM is available.
  

The SP Flash Tool application is compatible with 32-bit Windows XP and Vista, and with 64-bit Windows 7, 8.0, 8.1, 10 and 11. The compatibility with other Windows releases is not guaranteed. For this guide, a 64-bit Windows 10 machine was used with all the latest updates installed.

Alternatively, you can find Linux releases here: https://spflashtools.com/category/linux | Mac OS is not supported.

Let's get started step by step (the driver installation process will be skipped in this tutorial)
You have to turn off your phone before starting the flashing process and keep it turned off (don't touch it) until you finish!


1. Check whether your Windows system can properly identify and install the drivers of your phone in preloader mode.
Turn off your phone, open Windows Device Manager, then connect your phone to USB.
You should see a PreLoader USB VCOM port as on the picture below. (The full name of the port might be slightly different according to the driver you have installed). Without starting a flashing process, the preloader mode will be active for only a few seconds, then your phone will automatically switch into battery charging mode.

If everything is alright, disconnect your phone from USB. If you can't see anything or an unidentified device appears, check your internet connection, admin rights on your Windows, the USB cable, the USB port on your computer and do not use a USB hub.


2. Extract the ROM folder with all of its content from the downloaded .rar compressed ROM file.

The highlighted files will be used for flashing but that list can be different in the ROM packages of different SoC types.


3. Extract the downloaded SP Flash Tool .rar file, then run flash_tool.exe.



4. Select the Download tab, then load (choose) the MTxxxx_Android_scatter.txt file located in your ROM folder. MTxxxx represents the SoC type of your device.

Here you can see the list of flahsable partitions, and in the Location column, the loaded files containing the needed partition data. If there are missing files in the Location column, then your ROM package is incomplete and you should not use it.


5. Now you can choose from three different flashing modes.

• Download Only (default mode) - This mode will only write the selected partitions without formatting them. Only this mode allows you to flash selected partitions, not only all of them. This mode is recommended if you want to just update a well-working system with keeping your user data (uncheck the userdata partition) or if you want to flash single partitions like a custom recovery, without touching the whole system.
• Firmware Upgrade - This mode will first format all partitions in the list, then flash them. In this mode, all partitions will be flashed, so you will lose your user data and your phone will start with its factory data defaults. This mode is recommended if you want to repair a damaged system or if you perform an Android version upgrade or downgrade. Overall if you plan to erase your user data (or you don't need to keep it), it's always better to choose this mode for a cleaner result.
• Format All + Download (disabled if you downloaded the flash tool from a UMIDIGI ROM page) - NEVER USE IT!!! Not even if you get an error message in the flash tool that asks you to flash with formatting! This mode will format not only the partitions loaded from your ROM package but the whole flash chip, so even such hidden partitions like the nvram will be erased. As a result, you'll lose your IMEI numbers or even some functionality of the hardware, and you might not be able to recover everything. Flashing in Format All + Download mode will automatically void your warranty! You can use this mode only if your device is bricked (can't even power on), in very special cases if an authorized expert specifically instructed YOU to do that. Never experiment with this mode!
  You can find some solutions in the Utility section that may help you recover your lost IMEI numbers, Google key and Tee data (depending on your specific phone model) after a full flash format.
  

6. Let's continue in Download Only mode to perform a system update without erasing the user data.

Uncheck the userdata partition (always the last one in the list), then click on the Download button.

7. Now connect your powered off(!) phone to USB without pressing any button on it.
In a few seconds a red progress bar will appear showing that, your phone has been identified and is being booted into preloader mode. Then the flashing process gets started and you can check the status of each partition being written one after one. A yellow progress bar will show the flashing status of each partition.

Troubleshooting

If nothing happens in a few seonds, press and hold the power button (for max 10 seconds), then release it as soon as the flashing process (red bar) started. If still nothing happens after 10 seconds of holding the power button, go back to paragraph 1., and check your drivers, USB etc. again.


8. After a successful flashing you must see the following screen with green check mark in a window.

Now you can disconnect and turn on your phone, the flashing process has been finished.


If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section. Further details or other flashing modes can be added to this tutorial in the future, if needed.


All the screenshots are captured and edited, and the guide is written by me for UMIDIGI users. Unauthorized copy of this content is prohibited. Please let me know if you find errors or missing info.
Thank you, bencebacsi

carlosaug47

hello, I own an A9 pro and the device after updating had an error, it tells me "dm-verity corruption" and shuts down after 5 seconds
looking in the forum it says that I can flash the device to fix this error but the device reboots before it lets me do something
the computer does not have time to recognize the device

EduardoARS

Well... I had the same problem as some people here on this post, I did the entire procedure to update my Umidigi Power 5, migrating from the version (UMIDIGI_POWER5_V1-0_20210804) to the version (UMIDIGI_POWER5_4GB_V1-0_20211021) unchecking the option to delete my data and everything worked... however... when turning the device on... fastboot mode... and don't get out of it, it turned it on and off, it always went back to that mode...

The first and second answers to this publication already gave the problem and the solution, however, whenever I flashed, I came back with the problem of fastboot mode.

I tried to download the same version I had and try to go back to what it was before, but without success, I tried to download the first version of the ROM, doing the same procedure and, without success... remembering that every time I left unchecked the option to keep my data... anyway

Then I started trying with the "user data" option checked using the 3 versions available so far and without success too, after that I just had to use the "firmware update" option with all the options checked, using the latest version and thank God, it worked!

And I'm here bringing you here my experience to help others who go through this.

An important tip, if you can't make windows recognize your smartphone, in the SP Flash Tool files there is a folder named "driver" with a download link, downloading this file use the option "install drivers" after that you can try the tutorial from that publication.

Well that's it, I hope to help someone out by sharing my experience here.

jipidou

I have the same problem and fixed it.
plug the usb cable then press Power+volup, maintain it for a few secs. I worked for me on 2 computers with windows 10

henris22

my umidigi A9 Pro device shut down by itself, and when it turns on the bootloop and doesn't go into fastboot, could someone help me

YOUR DEVICE HAS BEEN UNLOCKED AND CAN'T BE TRUSTED

ORANGE STATE

tallnutt

Hi,

I have Windows 10 but there is no Ports device in the manager. I have run the driver installation, but makes no difference. When I plug in my phone (turned off) it loads a driver then says 'Android ready..' But when I run SPFT I get a message 'device not recognised'.

Any help?

Thanks,

T.

tallnutt

I have now installed the 'legacy hardware' to get the Ports device. The mediatek device now showw up when I plug it in. But when I run SPFT, windows gives a message, 'the last usb divice you connected was faulty and cannot be used' or something similar. I get no progress bar and SPFT does nothing.

tallnutt

tallnutt replied at 2018-2-6 08:09
I have now installed the 'legacy hardware' to get the Ports device. The mediatek device now showw up ...

This is a Windows 10 issue. I am using Windows 7 now and it is working properly.

bencebacsi

tallnutt replied at 2018-2-6 08:04
Hi,

I have Windows 10 but there is no Ports device in the manager. I have run the driver installati ...

Hi,
You probably have an icompatible driver installed, that doesn't even let the correct driver get installed. Try to connect your phone, then as soon as it pops up in the device manager, right click on it and remove the device, also its driver. Then try to reconnect your phone and check it again. You might need to repeat this process until success. Let your machine be connected to the internet.

bencebacsi

jipidou replied at 2018-2-7 00:20
I have the same problem and fixed it.
plug the usb cable then press Power+volup, maintain it for a  ...

Which model do you have?

jipidou

bencebacsi replied at 2018-2-7 11:16
Which model do you have?

Umidigi S2 pro, but from what I,ve seen, the combinaison of keys look standard within Umidigi

bencebacsi

jipidou replied at 2018-2-8 00:28
Umidigi S2 pro, but from what I,ve seen, the combinaison of keys look standard within Umidigi

No, if you flash an S2 Pro, you don't have to press any button. You might had a temporary contact issue or your phone was crashed. In such cases it's enough (and better) to keep only the power button pressed until the flashing process gets started.

bencebacsi

renan replied at 2018-2-19 05:10
boa tarde, nao estou coneguindo abrir o j7 aparece mensagem que deu erro, aguem pode ajudar, ele nao ...

Hi,
To get helped, you should cite the error message you receive (or share a screenshot), and use English language, please.