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BorisTheSpider

Got a weird one for you folks, but first a bit of back story.

Got an Xperia ZL (C6506) from Amazon second hand last year. When I received it, it still had Jelly Bean on it. I love the phone. It's great for pranking fans at sports bars (turn the TV off, change channel to Discovery, etc.). I had trouble with the mic not responding. I sent it in, Sony fixed it (not replaced).

I rooted it, and put the Xposed Framework on it. When an update came OTA, I unrooted it, and installed the OTA update. When 10.5.1.A.0.292 came out, I had a bit of trouble. Again, I unrooted the phone before I ran the OTA.

It kept failing to install OTA, so I installed .292 via PC Companion. I didn't reroot it. Just didn't feel like it.

About a month later, I got another update notification: it's for 10.5.1.A.0.292. I looked in the settings of my phone, and that's the firmware version presently on my phone. I figured it may be some bug fix, so I attempted to run it OTA: no luck. Tried to use PC Companion: won't work. That's where I am now.

I've called Sony twice about this, and both CSRs told me they would escalate my condition to a tier 2 rep, but I haven't heard back from them.

I just bought an Xperia Z2 Tablet (again, gotta have that IR blaster), and went through 6 updates to get to Lollipop. This taught me something: my ZL is due for Lollipop, but I'll never get the notification as long as Xperia Update thinks my phone needs .292.

Today, I tried a factory reset. Again, no luck!

Had anyone else had this condition?

BorisTheSpider

Got er done!

From Greece, I decided "I have a working phone, and I'm overseas. Let's not push it", but by the time I got to Bucharest, I had a plan. Ship my work laptop to me to relock my bootloader.

It was crazy getting it shipped here. I had to provide import/export documents, and a declaration that I'm not selling it here or using it to make money here.

Once I got it, I hooked it up in flash mode, hit the BLU button, and low and behold, the unlock code was still there. I pressed relock and it was done.

When I rebooted, and the service menu configuration line said "Bootloader unlock allowed=Yes", I knew I was ready to go. However, my phone was still yelling me that fw.292 is available.

I visited the update center on my phone and pressed the download arrow, and nothing happened. So, I rebooted my laptop in windows (Ugh!) and hooked my phone up to PC Companion. Yay, PC comp says I need fw.454!

The upgrade went without a hitch. This closes the book on this interesting problem.

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Thommo

Have you tried a system repair?

BorisTheSpider

I forgot to mention: I'm from the states, and my phone is provisioned there as well. However, presently I am in Egypt.

Uliwooly

Could you try a different computer?

BorisTheSpider

I suppose I could try. As I continue my travels into more English speaking parts of Europe, I may be able to visit a phone store that does some servicing that may be willing to help me with this.

In the back of my mind, i don't think I ever performed a software repair with PC Companion. Perhaps I'll get an opportunity to try this as well, along the way.

I was, however, really hoping to hear from someone on here that may have had a similar experience.

Uliwooly

@BorisTheSpider

Keep us updated

BorisTheSpider

The internet here is really slow, but I hear my next destination (Greece) is even slower. Presently, I am downloading PC Companion to a public use PC in my hotel. Once installed, I will attempt to perform a software repair.

I sure hope it works...

BorisTheSpider

Well, that didn't work. The PC in my hotel suffers from the same problem as the Wi-Fi: it's a wired connection, but on ADSL. It takes to long to download, and fails before it is fully downloaded.

Yesterday, I went to a very popular internet cafe in Zamalek (district in Cairo) and the staff was gracious to allow me to install PC Companion. I upgraded my Z2 Tablet to lollipop, but my phone gave me the same error I've been getting (not verbatim): your installation is modified software and cannot be updated. I looked in the software, and didn't see "Software Repair", but I've seen that before. Did I see it in FlashTool?

An administrator at the cafe directed me to a Sony shop nearby. Said the guy there is smart, and may be able to help. I left my phone with him for the evening. I doubt he will be able to do anything, but we'll see...

BorisTheSpider

I figure it out!

I went back to the internet cafe in Zamalek, and then to the phone store around the corner. The guy at the phone store said he couldn't fix it 'cause the phone is for a different region. I knew that wasn't the reason, but i didn't argue. He didn't charge me for the attempt.

I went back to the cafe and did some research. I read a few forum threads on xda developers, and discovered the problem: my bootloader is unlocked. I had relocked it when I performed the last update at home, and then I guess I must have unlocked it again for some strange reason. I actually, vaguely remember doing this.

My first thought was to download the required software and attempt to relock my bootloader, but that's pushing it. These guys at the cafe have been nice, but I'm not about to destroy my welcome by loading a bunch of crap on their PCs. Plus, I've read how there's just so many steps to making Flashtool work on windows. I have Flashtool installed on my Linux box at home, and that works pretty much outta the box.

I'm just gonna wait 'til I get home to fix this. Thanks to all who wrote in response.