downgr8
In order to install older firmware versions (downgrade) or install firmware images with a type other than "USB" (e.g., NSU images), the webOS update service needs to be in "expert mode".
- Custom firmware
- Abandoned
- High brick risk
This project hasn't been claimed by its maintainer yet, so its details come from the community. Is it yours? Claim it
Support the developer
Links from the project's GitHub. The money goes to them, not to Firmware Hero.
Before you start
- How hard is it?
- HardUses the command line or developer tools.
- What you need
- Comfort with the command line
- Another hack installed first
- Can it break my device?
- Could leave your device unusable.
- Can I undo it?
- The project doesn't say. Assume you can't.
Did it work for you?
Did downgr8 work on your LG OLED C3?
No reports yet.
One-tap reports from owners. Bricked reports are checked before they count.
Compatibility
Devices: LG OLED C3.
No compatibility information yet.
Getting started
From the project's README ("Requirements"):
- TV running LG webOS 3.0+ and firmware that has the old method of accessing expert mode patched.
- Root access to your TV.
- Homebrew Channel installed and elevated (i.e., showing "root status: ok") on your TV.
Homebrew Channel is not strictly necessary as long as you can make sure the lol.downgr8.service service is running as root.
Risk and recovery
- Brick risk
- High
- Requires opening the device
- No
From the project's README ("Recovery from failed downgrade/upgrade"):
It may be possible to recover a non-booting TV if you can get into the bootloader (U-Boot or lxboot). Bootloader access requires that the TV be in DEBUG mode.
On webOS 3.x and earlier (i.e., 2015‒2017 models), you can enable DEBUG by directly modifying the setting in NVM. While the process is relatively straightforward, it does require certain hardware tools and physical access to a chip on the TV's main board. On webOS 4 and newer, you will not be able to enable DEBUG if the system does not boot.
From the bootloader, you can manually rewrite the contents of each corrupted partition on the eMMC. Partition data files can be extracted from firmware images using epk2extract. Potential methods for transferring these files to the TV include USB drives, TFTP over Ethernet, and Xmodem.
If you have webOS 4 or later and did not previously enable DEBUG, the only option for recovery is directly reprogramming the eMMC. That would involve either soldering wires to the board on the necessary signals (if you can find them; accessing them may involve scraping away soldermask) or desoldering and resoldering the eMMC IC.
Credits, license and support
- License
- AGPL-3.0