eMax mini CM12.1 installation guide + resources

bencebacsi

This is a guide with resources about to install CyanogenMod 12.1 on UMI eMax mini

This guide is created by UMI (original grammar), I just added the link to the TWRP install tool created by me

The development of Rootjoy compatibility of UMI eMax mini is still in progress

The process described in this guide is quite complicated and needs special attention. So, I recommend it for experienced users only. If you miss to create at least a working backup, your phone might be permanently bricked.

You are warned!

Howto flash CM12.1 of EMAX MINI?

<1> Install Driver

1.    Insert USB cable, inDial-up interface input “###2324#”to open COM Port, make sure you can seethe COM Port in your computer

PS: To process below any step if you can notturn off phone, pls press volum up (+) and power button to turn it off.

2. If still didn’t show COM Port, pls continue input “*#*#564548#*#*” in your phone toopen USB Debugging, then the computer will show the COM Port, like below

3. Downloadthe Driver first: http://www.mediafire.com/download/59hda97f5f0kb5v/TCL_Q39_New_Qualcomm_Driver_8936_20150414.rar

Pressvolume buttons (both“+”and“-”) after the mobile phone being turn off.

Insertthe data cable and release the buttons after the following red interfacepops up

Holdvolume button (+) again until the mobile phone’s screen turn black

Releasethe volume button again; the phone is already in downloading mode. Port 9008will appear in the computer. (as the following picture)

Iffailed to get 9008 COM Port, pls try to remove the USB cable and repeat thisstep again

4.    When computer show out “Other equipment”, Right click “Android” and choose “Updatedriver software”

Then click “choose fromthe list of device driver”

Click “Next”

Click “Install from disk”

Click “browse” to open thedriver file (pls attention 64-bit or 32-bit)

Choose “qcmdm.inf” toinstall driver, then succeed

Attention:

If failed to install driver, pls restartcomputer then continue to print “F8”, once Advanced options comes out, plschoose “Disable driver enforcement”, then restart computer and try to installdriver again

<2> Backup QCN File(while you flash the ROM and no signal, need this File to restore signal)

after you succeed to install driver, the correct COM Port should be 9091

Install QPST2.7.0437: http://www.mediafire.com/download/wh3rseyukrhq6gv/QPST.WIN.2.7_Installer-00437.zip

Then openQPST, choose QFIL, then click “Tools”, then choose “QCN Tools backup”

<3> Flash tool update

After succeed to install driver and backup QCN, pls use QFIL from QPST to updatephone:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/p7rcyqanm2o8dau/Q39_zhongxing_20150717.zip

Pls make sure the COM Port should be9008

OpenMenu->QPST->QFIL

Phone power off, remove USB cable, hold volume buttons(both“+”and“-”),

Insert thedata cable and release the buttons after the red interface pops up;

Hold volumebutton (+) again until the mobile phone’s screen turn black

Release thevolume button again; the phone is already in downloading mode.

Port 9008will appear in the QFIL, if can not be identify 9008, pls click “select port”

Start to flash phone:

1.   ChooseFlat Build inSelect build type

2.   ClickBrowse, and choose “prog_emmc_firehose_8936.mbn” , then click search patch

3.   Click Load XML, and choose “rawprogram0_unsparse.xml” , and continue to choose “rawprogram0.xml”

4.   Click“Download”to start

Then you succeed to flash the ROM

<4> Restore QCN

After flash, need to use QFIL to restoreQCN,

Open menu->tools->QCNbackup restore

ClickBrowse and select the file you backup one, then restore

Ifyou miss or fail to backup QCN, here is the QCN you can download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ew3w5e9bisbnob/00000000%281116%29.qcn

<5> Flash TWRP Recovery

InstallTWRP: http://www.mediafire.com/download/dhigp2xeug9ryxc/%E4%B9%88%E4%B9%88%E5%93%923S_TWRP%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87.exe

bencebacsi: You also can use my TWRP tool, which will install an English language TWRP recovery. Link: http://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1667&extra=page%3D1%26filter%3Dtypeid%26typeid%3D104

Phone power on, open USB Debugging, open “TWRP RECOERY.EXE”, computer will flashautomatic, and images as below,

The recoveryof phone is TWRP, shutdown the phone now and then press volume up(+) and power button, afterwhite interface pops up, pls change to press volume up(+), it will log in TWRPrecovery interface after almost 5’s, then TWRP recovery succeed asbelow images

<6> SD Card flash (once you finish this Card flash, the ROOT Limits will bring to your phone, then youcan feel free to flash other ROM in ROOTJOY)

After flash TWRP Recovery succeed,download CM12.1: http://www.mediafire.com/download/mxqkff21p3f7d5x/emax_mini_cm12.1_gapps_20150916.zip

Savein TF Card, shutdown the phone, press volume up(+) and power button, after whiteinterface pops up, pls change to press volume up(+), it will log in TWRPrecovery interface after almost 5’s,

InstallCM12.1 ROM, choose the ROM from SD Card, after succeed, return to home page andrestart phone

lnx09

I am very disappointed about umi because of poor Support of eMax Mini.
It was promised to update to 5.1 and rootjoy thatsfor i buyed the phone but nothing.
This will be my Last China phone for sure.

bencebacsi

elektrofreak replied at 2016-4-26 13:00
Wow this is a huge detail to leave out of the original post.. now that I have bricked my phone try ...

Well, the creator of this tutorial is definitely not an expert. I've provided it here (since it came from UMI) however, I'm sorry to say that but I didn't take the effort to work with this crap and my mind won't change in the future.

enrique

halaska replied at 2016-4-1 00:19
then recapping drain rom for emax mini rootjoy and install TWRP with?
current rootjoy rom are compat ...

A s far as i know rootjoy is not fully compatible with the emax mini yet , you can still use some of the features but not flashing a rom. I wish there was an easier method to do this . Umi should not be advertaising  the emax mini with cm12.1  that was the only reason I went with the emax mini and not the tcl i though there was going to be more support

bencebacsi

seniorbp49 replied at 2016-1-13 21:12
Edited by seniorbp49 at 2016-1-13 21:16 \n\n Edited by seniorbp49 at 2016-1-13 21:15 \n\nMaybe it w ...

Unfortunately, your request is not a possible way. A recovery update can only update an existing firmware but can't replace its whole content. Reconstructing the flash tool application would be a possible and acceptable way, since that's still quite a simple and safe method of updating and that contains all parts of the firmware.

Rangarid

Ignore the rawprogram0.xml, i think its a typo in the instructions. Just select the rawprogram0_unsparse.xml and after that the patch0.xml. Then click download and thats it.

johnnyjoe

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bennyturok replied at 2016-1-18 03:17
Edited by bennyturok at 2016-1-18 05:20 \n\n

New problem, Anybody having trouble installing apps?  ...

I was having trouble installing apps on playstore too, with the CM12.1 rom provided by Umi - same 504 error. Once I've tried another rom I could install any app from playstore.n

I'm on Mokee now. The only thing that was not working was the clock app - I couldn't set an alarm, it force closes. I had to install it from the playstore, and deactivate the system clock app - wich I prefer since it has the shake to stop the alarm option.

Some minor problems, like led notifications and tap to wake up not always work proper, but overall it's working great! Hope to see more development for our phone, and CM13 shortly. : )

I keep thinking why our phone doesn't perform as it should - lags and stuttering. How can Xiaomi Mi4i, which has the same specs, scores almost 40000 on antutu, and our phone hardly scores 30000? Could this be related to the roms? How could that be fixed?

One think I've noticed is that the internal storage is real slow, compared to other phones. Did some androbench tests, and the results were poor, compared to my Samsung S3 Neo and with Xiaomi Mi4i. I'll attach some photos to show the differences. Changed i/o settings, but I could not improve the results.

eMAX mini (Mokee Updated)


Samsung S3 Neo GT-I9301I (stock rom)


Xiaomi mi4i

bencebacsi

I answered questions of multiple users in my last post.
Did you try to install the twrp created for TCL M3G? Link: http://www.needrom.com/download/twrp-recovery-for-m3g/
The twrp provided by me works perfectly with original UMI ROMs but I haven't yet tested it with TCL ROMs. The different partition structure can cause problems.

seniorbp49

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seniorbp49

On Needrom we can find this ROM - I think the sane version (according to date 2015.09.16)

It is written under the introduction:

"UMI confirms that CM12.1 ROM is unusable, DO NOT INSTALL. Wait for the update" – is this still valid ?
What is the present situation ?
I am confused.

WoRm

Hi,

great work! can i install with this instructions are the MoKee ROM for TCL M3G (CM12.1) / http://www.needrom.com/download/updated-mokee-rom-for-tcl-m3g/

seniorbp49

1. I already have an installed TWRP + rooted phone (following former instructions)  
can I just flash the cm12.1 zip after the usaual wipes ?

2. Where can we see a review about this version of cm12.1 - or is it stock ?
This would be helpful before deciding.

Thanks for post - but I am still looking for UMI.

FzumD

Just for my personal interest: What's the difference between your instructions here and just installing a ROM over Custom Recovery?
'cause for me it looks like you just install TRWP on a very complicated way (Step 1 to 5) and after that you flash the ROM over TRWP (Step 6)

And furthermore:
Is the ROM correctly converted for the EMax Mini?
If somebody tried this guide, I would love to read some experiences with it.

Thanks for your work again, Ben!

Oh, sry. seniorbp49 was a little bit faster.

bencebacsi

seniorbp49 replied at 2016-1-13 18:24
On Needrom we can find this ROM - I think the sane version (according to date 2015.09.16)

It is wri ...

Yes, it is the same version. The QCN backup-restore makes it useful with the eMax mini.

bencebacsi

WoRm replied at 2016-1-13 16:21
Hi,

great work! can i install with this instructions are the MoKee ROM for TCL M3G (CM12.1) / http: ...

Hi,

Yes, after flashing the content of the Q39_zhongxing_20150717.zip file and restoring your original QCN file, you can install any kind of TCL M3G recovery updates.

bencebacsi

seniorbp49 replied at 2016-1-13 17:55
1. I already have an installed TWRP + rooted phone (following former instructions)  
can I just flas ...

1. No, you can't install this CM12.1 or any other versions without transforming your phone into a TCL M3G. Flashing the content of the Q39_zhongxing_20150717.zip file makes that job done. After that process, you have to restore the original QCN backup of your phone, since the baseband is the difference between the two models and that part of the firmware is not included in recovery updates.

2. This stuff comes directly from UMI, so we can treat it as an official release in cooperation with TCL. That's already declared, both the hardware and software of this model are developed by TCL, so this is a legal use of their works here.