Fastboot.

exe can be downloaded to your computer from Google's SDK found

HERE download the proper package depending on what system you are using.
also
you will need the proper drivers to allow your PC and phone to communicate. You will find these in your
devices specific forum or possibly you can use PdaNet

Okay i got it, whats next?

After you downloaded the SDK package to your PC see where it is located, somewhere like this for
Windows

Quote:

C:\android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools

Of course put it where you like, just know where fastboot.exe lies

*If you want to skip the SDK, you can get ADB and Fastboot by themselves with THIS HANDY LITTLE
TOOL created by shimp208
Note: After you have ADB and Fastboot you will may want to finish following this guide to add a path in
environmental variables.

For Windows:
Although not necessary, but to make it easier i really suggest doing these steps:
left click the Windows (start) button > right click on computer > choose properties > go to advanced system
settings > advanced tab > environmental variables > in the first box (user variables for _____) click new >
name it
Quote:

adb

> the value is the path from earlier

Quote:

C:\android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools

(yours may differ from this so double check it!) > in the second box (system variables) find a variable
named
Quote:

path

if one doesn't exist make one > double click on it > at the very end of the variable value add the same line
as before but with a ; in front of it. like this:

Quote:

;C:\android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools
alright click ok and you are done!

Why did I just do all that?

Well this allows you to open a command line from anywhere on your computer without changing
directories to use fastboot. Pretty much we told your PC that when you type
Quote:

fastboot

or
Quote:

adb

into CMD where to find it. As you learn how useful fastboot and adb are this will help a lot as CDing to
where you want to be is wasted time.

So I still don't know what to do or how to do it!

All right lets start simple, click the windows button and in the search field type
Quote:

cmd

you will notice a window pop up that looks suspiciously like DOS. Attachment 1980110
Here you will see a blinking cursor after your directory, lets try this type

Code:
fastboot

a whole bunch of probably unfamiliar stuff should now pop up Attachment 1386065 (for the most part this
is a list of commands that can be used in fastboot) if you get something like
Quote:

fastboot is not recognized as internal or external command operable program or batch file

then we need to troubleshoot, but for now i will assume it worked.

Now try typing

Code:
fastboot devices

...and nothing will happen, Why? because there isn't a device attached. Make sure you have android
debugging turned on in your phone (not really needed for fastboot but you do need for ADB), plug it into
your computer and boot into fastboot mode. On many phones hold volume down while powering on, if this
wont bring you to bootloader mode then see your device specific forum, if needed choose fastboot. Again
try typing
Code:
fastboot devices
this time you should have a list of attached devices, this is displayed as the serial number to each. Being
many commands will "do" things to your phone try typing

Code:
fastboot reboot

If your phone is now back and running your existing OS, congratulations! You now at least have
fastboot set up and working properly. Now lets try a few things out and see why this can be so helpful!

For many phones this is necessary to root, for others it is a poor way to root your phone as you may not
have full access.
Many HTC model phones can be rooted with various exploits, sometimes removing the radio secure flags
completely.
If you have one of these devices than I recommend this, as true radio s-off is far superior to an unlocked
bootloader.
But other phones, including the Nexus line, will be fine just unlocking and do not need to worry, Although
some phones like the Nexus One can profit from a new bootloader altogether.
To begin the rooting process you simply need to unlock your bootloader with this command from a
terminal/CMD

Code:
fastboot oem unlock

and the reverse of course is

Code:
fastboot oem lock

Be prepared for a full wipe of your phone when unlocking the bootloader!

Now that your bootloader is unlocked:

We will flash a custom recovery to your phone, then a custom already rooted ROM. To flash the recovery
go to your device specific forum HERE and find the developers section.
Look for a custom recovery option and consider reading up on it there.
Different Android phones will have different custom recovery options depending on the developers for it.
The most common is ClockworkMod, there are both touch and none touch recovery options.
some others are TWRP, 4EXT, AmonRa and Cannibal. Find out what your options are, pick one and
download it.
If possible check the MD5Sum, Windows use: THIS and Linux use a terminal and type

Code:
md5sum <filename>

of course replace <filename> with the file name.

If you prefer, GTK Hash is a nice program as well.

Now this should be an image not a zip, so if the extension is .img your good, if its in a .zip or .jar or
whatever extract the image.
Take this image and (for simplistic sake) name it

Quote:

recovery.img

**if using windows be sure to pay attention if your file extensions are hidden, don't name it
recovery.img.img!
So be sure your phone is in fastboot mode and connected to PC, open a terminal/cmd in the same location
that recovery.img is in
(cd to that directory or windows users can hold shift > right click in the folder it's in > choose open
command here)

Code:
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

**erase recovery is not necessary but i am OCD about wiping...

now if you get an okay! then your good

Code:
sending 'recovery' (4930 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.521s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 0.489s]
finished. total time: 1.10s

If not let me know what the output is and ill help you fix it. (I will also make a troubleshooting section in
my final post)

Great! Now Let's Flash a ROM

In that same developers section for your phone, you should pick out a ROM of your licking. If possible i
would suggest an older version of CyanogeMod as these builds tend to be quite stable.
Also some phones may have newer ROMs requiring you to do various things to your phone. Such as
changing radios or bootloaders or other things we haven't gotten to yet.
So for now try to read the OP of the ROM you like and make sure you meet all requirements.
So Im not going deep into how to flash a ROM from recovery as this is not part of a fastboot guide.

But pretty much just pick a ROM and anything else you may need (gapps, kernel, etc) and put on root of
SDcard (no other folder)
Then boot to recovery, wipe all you can (I'll teach you fastboot wiping soon!) and then flash ROM +
whatever else you need to and then reboot.

Flashing a ROM through Fastboot

So Why Do I Need To Do This?

You don't, normally you would flash a ROM through recovery, but why not have another way? Maybe your
recovery partition on your phone is corrupt?
Maybe you just want to say "I learned something new!" whatever your reason here are the simple steps:
To start:
Quote:
Quote:

We need to download the ROM of choice to your computer. Once complete find the folder that ROM is in
and open terminal/cmd to that directory
(quickest way for windows; just hold shift and right click within that folder > open command window here)
of course make sure your phone is plugged into computer and in fastboot mode.

Lets see how quick and easy this really is...

In the command line type:

Code:
fastboot devices

Seeing your serial number means we know all is good

Now lets type these commands:
Code:
fastboot erase system -w
fastboot erase boot
fastboot update superawesomerom.zip

Of course replace <superawesomerom.zip> with the correct file name

and last but not least:

Code:
fastboot reboot

*Its been a little while since i did this but the phone might automatically reboot after flash so no need to
run the reboot command

As your phone boots into the new ROM, pat yourself on the back...

A Note on Erasing/Formatting
Quote:
Quote:

You may have noticed earlier that I had you erase your recovery before flashing a new one,
now here I had you erase system and boot, you may be wondering why.
I find that a large amount of complaints in developer threads are due to people not properly wiping before a
flash.
Of course there is times when a 'dirty' flash is fine, but if you're ever not sure, wipe as cleanly as possible.
fastboot allows for about the cleanest of wipes by the way. And each partition can be done separately too.

Code:
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase data
fastboot erase cache

can all be done individually, but to do these all in one command

Code:
fastboot erase system -w

If possible I recommend to do these steps before flashing a ROM, and now that you know you can do this
all within fastboot mode i suggest to try it out, its quick and painless!
Don't forget to wipe your kernel too! (fastboot erase boot)

~Important~ If your device uses an emulated SD card (as in no removable micro SD but an SD partition
on phone)
Then be careful wiping data/userdata as this will erase all contents of internal SD - you are forewarned!

What about just flashing a single partition?

Quote:
Quote:

Sure this can be done, hell you can restore a nandroid if you want!
well first you need to make a nandroid back up (unfortunately fastboot cant make a nandroid for you )
Put it some where on your computer.
Personally I only keep maybe 2 or 3 nandroids on my phone's SD card as why waste space. I do however
keep almost all my nandroids on my computer separated into different folders for different phones. So my
path to a nandroid backup would be something like:

Quote:

android/htcg2/nandroids/<nameofnandroid>

But here's the catch, most newer recoveries do tar backups I believe TWRP uses .win, these can not be
flashed in their current form!
However most older recoveries use yaffs2 format for their backups, these will always work. Pretty much if
you get a backup with various partitions as .img you're good to go!
**Hypothetically speaking here: you installed a new recovery and want to flash a nandroid made in old
recovery but the two recoveries used different formats...
Well you can flash the images with fastboot, then make a new nandroid and you got them back!
...Maybe I'm stretching... oh well, here's how to!

Now the obvious stuff:

Have phone plugged into PC via USB and in fastboot mode, open terminal/cmd and change directories to
that folder where your nandroid is in (or again just hold shift and right click > open command window here
if using windows)
Now in terminal/cmd type:

Code:
fastboot devices
all is good when serial number is displayed, now type:
Code:
fastboot erase system -w
fastboot erase boot

*This isn't 100% necessary but I'm a firm believer in wiping before any flash, even a backup
Code:
fastboot flash userdata data.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot reboot

(of course change the image names if needed)

And you did it! now you are almost a pro at using fastboot!
keep playing around, you'll get the hang of it and will quickly see that this is one of the best tools in the
Android SDK.
It makes things much faster and easier and in many cases safer than the alternatives. Any questions... feel
free to ask!
Happy Flashing!
What About Flashing Firmware?

Flashing any firmware to your phone can be dangerous but if possible the best and safest way is with
fastboot.
Hypothetically you flash a new Hboot through recovery and this Hboot was corrupt in some way, if the
flash takes you will have a bricked phone, hard bricked, only JTAG can bring it back.
But with fastboot you get to input your command to terminal/cmd an see the output, if something goes
wrong, just DO NOT REBOOT until you fix the problem.
And again, checking MD5sums is nice when flashing software but a must when flashing firmware.
I will again recommend THIS for windows and using the terminal for Linux

Okay, Time To flash A New Bootloader!

Quote:
Quote:

Some phones will not allow bootloader flashes unless you remove the radio secure flags, if you have a
phone like this check the developers thread for a how to.
To begin, find the appropriate bootloader (sometimes referred to as an Hboot or SPL) for your phone,
Now download and check MD5sum, have your phone in fastboot mode and open a terminal/cmd in the
location your Hboot.img is stored.

Code:
fastboot devices
fastboot flash hboot hboot.img
and of course replace 'hboot.img' with whatever you titled your image
**Do not reboot if you see 'sending.... failed' need to see the 'okay!'
I am not trying to scare you as these instances are so rare, but knowing what to do ahead of time is just
common sense.

Not all devices use the same terminology for partitions, so if the above does not work than consider
changing to this command:
Code:
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img

Again replacing <bootloader.img> with the name of your image

Now flashing a new bootloader will more than likely repartition your phone, so from here you probably
should flash a new recovery, then flash a new ROM.
Be prepared to do all this before flashing a new Hboot!

I'm ready to flash a new radio!

Quote:
Quote:

Flashing a radio can also be dangerous, but again the safest way to do so is within fastboot. So if possible
always flash radios in fastboot mode!
**I am not referring to the FM radio in your car, rather your cellular Radio, you know where you get
reception... don't ask me how to add a FM radio to your phone!
Also know OEMs commonly use baseband and radio as interchangeable terms, for the most part this is the
exact same thing

First things first, know why you are flashing a new Radio. Is it because you have poor reception? Poor data
speeds? Poor battery life?
Yes a new radio can cure all this, but NO ONE can tell you which radio is best for your phone, not even
someone living in the same city.
The best radio for my phone will not for sure be the best for yours, even if you live down the road from me.
Don't ask what Radio is best! and only flash a radio meant for your device!

Now that that's out of the way, lets do the same steps as before:
Download appropriate radio
Extract if needed (should be in .img format)
For simplistic sake name it 'radio.img'
Plug in phone to PC and open a terminal/cmd in the same location as your radio.img

Code:
fastboot devices
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader

Again only reboot if all goes well (It will if you follow all direction)
Upon rebooting your bootloader you will notice your radio version has changed, congrats! You're
becoming a pro!
*note, occasionally OEMs package another image called rcdata.img along with a firmware release, if they
do I also recommend to flash this along with the radio
Code:
fastboot flash rcdata rcdata.img

**another note, if possible try to match the ril libraries between your ROM and radio, this is device specific
and you will need to see your developers thread for this info.
It is not always possible or necessary to do so, but many do say it help quite a lot

Flashing a Kernel
Quote:
Quote:

Earlier I went over flashing kernels as part of HTC Unlocked Bootloader Flashing, the process is the same
for anyone else as well.
Locate the Kernel you want to flash
navigate to the folder it is in (should be in .img format and lets name it boot.img)

Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img

But lets say you are a developer and have worked on a new kernel for your device, a quick and easy way to
test it out may be to fastboot load the kernel:
Code:
fastboot erase boot
fastboot boot kernel ramdisk

As usual replace file/image names accordingly

If you do not want to erase the current kernel, just skip erasing.
But I would just have a working kernel.img handy and erase, this way I know there are no residual effects
from previous kernel - choice is yours

Code:
fastboot flash:raw boot kernel ramdisk
fastboot reboot

Test it out and see how things go! Good luck!

As always, if you have questions or comments feel free to leave them here!
Happy Flashing!
Submit to XDA Portal Quick Reply

What Are Some Other Things That Fastboot Can Do?

A Whole lot really... This guide would be forever long going through all of this. But I'm trying to
progressively go through as many options as I can in order from simple to complicated.
I mainly am making this guide for beginners but I want the Advanced Android user to learn something too!
Hope we can all learn from each other!
RUUs or HTC's ROM Utility Updates
Quote:
Quote:

This can be a way of returning to stock or updating to an official OEM update.

To do this make sure your bootloader is locked
(as far as I know RUU's fail if unlocked, but depending on phone engineering SPLs or having radio s-off
can be safe - but not always so check device forum)
So boot into fastboot mode, open cmd/terminal in location of RUU then
If needed:

Code:
fastboot oem lock

then to get into RUU mode

Code:
fastboot oem rebootRUU

Then you will flash the zip, change command to correspond to proper name
Code:
fastboot flash zip rom.zip

If it gets stuck and you see a message like flush immediately! just do the above command again, often first
try fails for some reason
Always know if you need to or should be flashing an RUU, some people do more damage to their phone
just because they thought they were bricked and tried 'everything'
And if you're looking for OTA's (over the air updates) or RUU's for your phone HERE is a great source!

Some Useful Information About Your Phone

Quote:
Quote:

Lets say you want something basic like your device's model number, type:

Code:
fastboot getvar mid

the return output is your model number. Some phones are locked into only allowing new versions of an OS
to be flashed, to check yours type:
Code:
fastboot getvar cid

Quote:

cid: 11111111
If your return value looks like this then you have superCID, meaning you are allowed to flash older and
newer versions of Android OS. And depending on phone you can just use this command:
Code:
fastboot oem changeCid

or possibly a common cid (SuperCID)

Code:
fastboot writecid 11111111

If you want to get a bunch of info quickly try this:

Code:
fastboot getvar all

Here you will receive an output of much of your devices specifics, such as bootloader and radio versions,
devices name and if its locked, IMEI # and so on.

What about trouble shooting?

Quote:
Quote:

There have been various devices over the years which have used inferior parts. like the HTC DZ/G2 or
Glacier.
These phones, like some others, had two different emmc's installed; one worked great and one was prone to
failure.
I found the easiest way to check which emmc was in the phone was with a few fastboot commands:

Code:
fastboot oem list_partition_emmc
fastboot oem check_emmc
fastboot oem check_emmc_mid

Of course this couldn't prevent a phone from the mysterious random hard brick, but it could tell you if your
hardware was prone to failure or not.
There are also a serious of tests that can be performed depending on the bootloader you have installed:
Code:
fastboot oem list_partition all
fastboot oem partition_test all

Both of these commands you can substitute 'all' for 'system' 'cache' or whatever if you just need info or test
a single partition.
You may have noticed that some of these commands require knowledge of hex editing, which of course no
one is good at but the info is there if you want to search for it! So here is some more!

Code:
fastboot oem heaptable
fastboot oem imgcrc
The second command here will run a checksum for your hboot, recovery, boot, and system partitions.
I find it helpful to know the value of what the should be when phone is working good and can use this
against another checksum if i have issues down the road.
System and boot will change of course, but recovery and hboot wont unless i flash a new recovery or
bootloader, this can help check for bad blocks.
Speaking of bad blocks, lets look for some:
Code:
fastboot oem rbchk

Now having some bad blocks in your nand is not always going to cause your phone to be unusable,
sometimes its a partition thing too.

Some of these commands don't do anything...

True, various devices and bootloaders will allow for various fastboot commands. two tests you can do to
see what yours supports
Quote:

fastboot

or
Quote:

fastboot oem ?

typing just this into a terminal/cmd will give you an output of available commands for your device. I hope
to add a bunch more soon but i need to finish my papers and studying for finals!

A Bit More Helpful Tips For Booting

Quote:
Quote:

Sometimes you may have issues booting, earlier we went over booting a kernel you made yourself as well
as flashing a kernel
What about just booting a kernel without flashing it to your device?

Code:
fastboot boot boot.img

The above, when executed properly, will boot a kernel from pc on your phone without flashing directly.
There are times we need to force boot or just test.
What may be even handier is to boot a recovery without flashing it, this is done in the same manner as
above and can let you use a recovery on your device without installing it.
Plug phone into PC, connect with USB cable and have phone in fastboot mode, now open CMD/Terminal
in the same directory as your recovery image
Code:
fastboot boot recovery.img
Of course name image correctly to fit command or vise versa
Now you are in recovery of choice within your device without it being flashed to your recovery partition.
There is a time and a place for everything, can you think of ways this may help you? Sure you can!

as always... Happy Flashing!

Is There Anything Fun I can Do With Fastboot?
Quote:
Quote:

How would you like to go from this:

to this to this to this to this

Or really just about anything you want?
Quote:
Quote:

Of course I'm referring to the splash screen, the one that appears when you first boot your device, before
the bootanimation.
This is a static image put there by the OEMs and often is real boring. True some phones have some neat
ones, others little gifs, but really why not change it if we can?

Well in order to do this we need to know where our device in question stores the splash screen. If it has its
own partition, your rooted, and your bootloader has fastboot capabilities we are good to go!
...well almost, remember when i talked about s-off earlier? This is low level firmware stuff, at least the way
many device see it. Having root access doesn't mean we can do anything unfortunately.
I would suggest checking your phones forum to see if anyone know specifics to your device and where this
partition is stored, if you need help other than from this guide feel free to post and ill see what i can do!

Ok, so I'll use HTC as an example here, we are rooted, we have an engineering bootloader, and security
flags are removed. Now we need to find partition location.

Code:
mmcblk1p2 - "sd-ext"
mmcblk1p1 - "sdcard"
mmcblk0p31 - "misc"
mmcblk0p29 - "pdata"
mmcblk0p27 - "devlog"
mmcblk0p26 - "modem_st2"
mmcblk0p25 - "modem_st1"
mmcblk0p24 - "cache"
mmcblk0p23 - "userdata"
mmcblk0p22 - "system"
mmcblk0p21 - "recovery"
mmcblk0p20 - "boot"
mmcblk0p19 - "adsp"
mmcblk0p18 - "radio_config"
mmcblk0p17 - "radio"
mmcblk0p16 - "misc"
mmcblk0p14 - "splash1"
mmcblk0p12 - "bootloader" hboot

So this device keeps the splash screen in mmcblk0p14, this is very important to know and will change with
most devices.
We will know extract original splash before we change it. Again I cant stress how important it is to
know what you're doing when using dd commands!
So open a terminal/cmd
Code:
adb shell
su
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p14 of=/mnt/sdcard/splash.img

This will now pull the original splash and place it on your sd card named splash.img
***remember the above command differs for every phone!!
Now that we have this, keep a copy somewhere just in case.
You can now use a tool like FFmpeg to extract the image, use gimp to make a new one, and follow this
simple guide if your confused. Or ask here and I can help.

You may have noticed none of the above used fastboot... huh, and here this is a fastboot
guide!
Quote:
Quote:

Ok we'll just say you have a new splash image all ready and you want to flash it, but how? In the case of
this phone fastboot is the way to go

Code:
fastboot flash splash1 splash.img
fastboot reboot

And done! way to easy I know, put you're a pro at fastboot now so what did you expect!
Quote:
Quote:

And for future reference you can use dd commands to flash to your phone as well, but the don't call the
"disk destroyers" for nothing!
Also its possible to flash in recovery, to the best of my knowledge I'm the only one to create flashable .zips
for this (not bragging just saying I'd like to see more)
HERE Is an Aroma flashabe I made for the HTC Doubleshot
HERE Is an Aroma flashable I made for the HTC Vision
Both recovery flashable.zips allow the user to flash one of many custom splash screens and bootanimations
with the easy UI Aroma brings
It is not as safe as fastboot, but I have never seen an issue when the code is done right.
I plan to make more for other phones as I have time, want one for your phone? Go through my scripts, feel
free to copy and paste, I need no credit, just glad to see more people with more options!
If you need help making them, again just ask. I prefer in this thread over pm though as my inbox fills to
quick...

Old stuff... in the process of editing to make things more clear....

Come one, like the previous stuff isn't fun!

Well many aren't aware that they can change the splash screen on their phone or tablet, this is just another
partition most often like system, or cache.
Yes some phones will have it built into params or locked elsewhere in the firmware but often fastboot is a
simple way of flashing a new splash screen.
To find out a list of your device's partitions i would advise to check you sites development thread here in
XDA. But we can quickly do it as well with some simple ADB commands.
This guide does not go over ADB and for a better understanding search out one of many guides in XDA
and elsewhere. (I am considering making one here as i have yet to see a comprehensive yet easy to follow
guide)

Having said this, here are a few things you need to know. If you followed this guide and have fastboot
working, ADB should also work just fine.
Know that fastboot is to be used in bootloader mode and ADB is used when booted into the OS or in most
recoveries.
So now boot to your OS, make sure debugging is turned on, android 2.x and older this is found under
settings>applications. 4.x and up it will be under developer options in settings.
Now connect your PC and phone via USB (wireless options are also a possibility here) You should notice a
symbol in your status bar confirming debugging is on. (unless disabled) open a terminal/CMD and type:
Code:
adb devices

If you see your serial number lets proceed, if not post in this thread and i'll help.
Code:
adb shell
cat /proc/partitions

This will list all your partitions and their size, but this wont give you what each partition stores. There are
different ways to do this for different devices, so you may need to try a few commands
Code:
ls -l /dev/block
ls -l /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name

the last command is for a device with a tegra 3 processor, of course will only work if yours has one (you
may need to type 'su' to get commands to work)
you can also try:
Code:
df
busybox df -hm

Really all this isn't 100% necessary as someone probably found this out for you already. If not we just need
to know the location and proper size of the image to flash.
I will help further if requested but as of know I'm going to assume we have this.
Alright lets flash the new splash screen already!
So we have a new image in .img format and it is the proper size. we will name it splash.img And as most
phones that allow flashing a new splash we will call the partition its it splash1
**If your phone is different than whats listed here commands may very or not be allowed without changing
bootloaders.
Back in fastboot mode, plug in phone... the usual
Code:
fastboot flash splash1 splash.img
fastboot reboot

Now that initial boot screen (before animation is replaced!) congrats!

**As you can see this section is poorly written, it is hard to universally apply a command to all phones as
this command differs between them.
There are dd commands to flash just about anything, including splash screens, but dd commands can be
dangerous and I would not recommend them to anyone who doesn't fully understand what they are doing.

Troubleshooting and FAQs

Some Common Questions and Answers

Quote:
Quote:

Q: When I open terminal/cmd and type fastboot devices i just get a blank line...
A: Well there are a number of reasons why this could happen, but here are the things you should check:
*Is the device powered on in fastboot mode?
*Is the USB cable in good shape (not a junky .99 cable)
*Do you have the proper drivers installed (Windows) Android Rules (Linux)?
*Do you have fastboot.exe on PC?
*Have you set up a path in environmental variables (Windows) or the path in .bashrc (Linux)?
****If not then what if you open the terminal/cmd in the location of adb/fastboot?

Quote:
Quote:

Q: When I type in command fastboot <whatever command> I get < waiting for device >
A: Then you are either not in fastboot mode on phone, bad connection to PC, missing drivers (or android
rules) - fastboot is installed and working just your devices isn't communicating

Quote:
Quote:

Q: When I type in command fastboot <whatever command> an error message like

Code:
...
(bootloader) [ERR] Command error !!!
OKAY [ 0.016s]
finished. total time: 0.016s
A: This means the fastboot command you are trying to use isn't supported by your current bootloader, to
find the list of commands available to you type in one of these two commands:
Code:
fastboot
fastboot oem ?

Q: When I type in a command to flash <XXX> it starts to work but then I get this error:
FAILED (remote: Download size too large) finished. total time: 0.002s
A: Chances are this is not the proper image for your device or your are trying to flash to the wrong
partition, double check that this is the correct .img (md5sums help)
Quote:
Quote:

Q: When I tried to flash <XXX> I keep getting this error

Code:
sending 'recovery' (3518 KB)... OKAY
writing 'recovery'... INFOsignature checking...
FAILED (remote: signature verify fail)

A: This is because you don't have the proper permissions, you are trying to flash an unsigned image to a
write protected partition. You will need to unlock bootloader or flash and engineering SPL, or find an OEM
image.
This error is very device specific in the sense that I would need to know more about what you are trying to
flash and what bootloader you have to answer properly
Quote:
Quote:

Q: When I tried to flash <XXX> or fastboot boot <XXX> I keep getting this error

Code:
downloading 'whatever here'....
FAILED (status malformed (1 bytes))
finished. total time: 0.000s

A: This is often because of a few things:

first, make sure you have a high quality USB cable, and USB port is good. Just because the cable works for
charging does not mean it is a good cable.
second way I've seen this issue, user is in bootloader mode but not fastboot mode. yes I often say this is one
in the same, but double check, some devices specifically have a fastboot mode within bootloader!

*Note I have found many errors are due to not running fastboot with elevated privileges, try running
fastboot as administrator (Windows) or su/sudo (Linux)

As people post errors or questions I will try to add more Q&As

Happy Flashing!