How to backup current firmware on Huawei E5885

huawei-e5885-backup.md

Huawei E5885 current firmware backup manual.

1. Download modified usbloader, which will copy proper busybox into /system/busybox and enable telnetd on your device (will add additional line into /system/autorun.sh). Use it only on E5885, not on other device!
2. Load it using balong-usbdload. Refer to this disassembling manual.
3. After loading, wait about one minute, disconnect device from the computer and power off the device holding power button for ~15 seconds.
4. Insert MicroSD card to the device and power it on.
5. telnet 192.168.8.1 2323

/system/busybox sh
mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
cd /sdcard

mkdir mtdblocks
cd mtdblocks
for i in `seq 0 27`; do cat /dev/block/mtdblock$i > mtdblock$i; done

cd ..
mkdir nanddump
cd nanddump
for i in `seq 0 27`; do nanddump -f mtd$i /dev/mtd/mtd$i; done
for i in `seq 0 27`; do nanddump -o -f mtdoob$i /dev/mtd/mtd$i; done

cd ..
tar cf files.tar /system /app /data /root /modem_log /modem_fw /online /mnvm2:0
cat /proc/mtd > procmtd
cat /proc/kallsyms > kallsyms
mount > mount

cd /
umount /sdcard

7. That's it. All files should be on MicroSD card.

@mahmood666, that's tricky. You need to write saved flies to the MTD device again, using nandwrite command (or copy files directly to mtdblock devices). If you have your router bricked, the best way is to flash a firmware using USB crisis boot, load modified usbloader which enables telnet once, and then perform restore steps with telnet.

@ValdikSS is there any chance to get somewhere modified usbloader with busybox and telnetd for B528?

@testuser7, As far as I know, B528 has different architecture.

please how to backup in pc the device is E8372h-153 my device not reading memory card

@saqi755, if you have telnet/adb shell access already, you can setup netcat on the host and execute something like tar somefiles | nc hostip:hostport on the router.

I have access through putty and total commander please can you provide me complete code or procedures?

I want to copy firmware and webui of the device on my pc as a backup please help

i want to get backup firmware file for my current unlocked zong bolt 21.333.64.000.1456 is there any solution that i can extract files for current unlocked device

Is it possible to dump the stockfirmware of a b310s-925 the same way?

Hey @ValdikSS, How can I backup and restore Huawei B5 Talkband firmware?

Hi @ValdikSS,

I am having an E5775s-925 Mifi.
The router is bricked right now and I could not find a usblaoder / uabsafeloader file for that device.

There a 99 firmware available here but I have no idea how to generate the usbloader bin from the firmware.

Any help from your side to generate a usb bootloader would be greatly appreciated.
Also, could not find any custom ROMs for E5775s-925.

I tried the usbloader bin for E5372, and after that, while trying to install the firmware, it always fails at about 80% with Error code 19.
Most of the ROMs would not flash and it would show Error 10.

Please help!

@SherwinVarghese

Any help from your side to generate a usb bootloader would be greatly appreciated.

You can't "generate" it.

it always fails at about 80% with Error code 19.

I assume that the partition table is different. You need to replace the partition table in E5372 usbloader with E5775 table, you can get it in the firmware 00-00000100-Ptable_R1.bin file. Copy&paste everything in between pTableHead and pTableTail.

Everybody, please do not write your questions here for which you expect to receive a reply.
This message is about E5885 backup how-to, I don't expect discussions here, especially of other devices, or unrelated questions. I can't disable comments on github gist, I would if I could.
If you have a question, the best is to ask it on a thematical forum.
If you want to contact me, use email for that. But better ask your question anywhere on the internet first. I'm not your personal consultant.
I'm only slightly interested in Huawei devices or LTE routers in general, don't see me as a deep tech-savvy researcher.