Samsung S10 AVB Fail. Device is stuck in "Downloading.." screen

[BjornW]

The phone reboots into a turquoise screen "Downloading..." with errors and refuses to boot or to get into TWRP.

The errors are: (top to bottom):
MAIN MODE (AVB Fail)
recovery: Error validating footer (0)
recovery: Error verifying vbmeta image: invalid vbmeta header (6)
CUSTOM RECOVERY
VBMETA G973FXXSGHWC1. 62768582A

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Run Open Android Installer
2. Remove cable & reboot
3. Stuck in "Downloading..." screen with error messages

Expected behavior
Rebooting into LineageOS.

Log file
openandroidinstaller (copy).log

Screenshots

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04.1
• Version: Open Android Installer 0.5.1 beta

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

• Device: Samsung Galaxy S10 (SM-973-F/DS)
• OS: LineageOS (lineage-22.1-20250105-microG-beyond1lte)
• Version 22.1

Additional context
At first Open Android Installer failed to remove the bootloader. I've removed the bootloader using the following guide steps 1-9 This was succesful. I decided to retry installing LineageOS, re-ran OAI and ticked the box that the bootloader was already unlocked & followed along with the instructions.

[BjornW]

I assume this issue has to do with verified boot in combination with TWRP as my problem seems similar to this person. Apparently I should be able to "unbrick" the phone by reflashing it with the stock recovery? Can anyone confirm & tell me more about how to do this on Linux?

[tsterbak]

Apparently this is an issue for this device now...
TWRP mentions the issue now: https://twrp.me/samsung/samsunggalaxys10.html
Interestingly, the LOS install instructions also don't mention the need to flash vbmeta first before flashing the recovery, I wonder how they get around the verified boot. (https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/beyond1lte/install/)

If you can get to download mode, you could try to flash the vbmeta file from here (https://download.lineageos.org/devices/beyond1lte/builds) maybe that still helps.

To get back to stock ROM, you need to get heimdall setup (https://glassechidna.com.au/heimdall/) (or Odin, but I have no idea about that...) and get the stock rom from here: https://sfirmware.com/samsung-sm-g973f/ (make sure to find the right version and region)
If you picked a version and clicked on it, the page will show you details, the download and instructions how to install with odin.
If you want to use heimdall, boot to download mode, run heimdall to extract the partition information heimdall print-pit > pit.txt. In in print-pit output, for each entry, look at Partition Name and Flash Filename. This will help you determine which file goes with which partition name. Then boot to download mode again, and flash the partitions with heimdall. This is how it looks like for my Galaxy S7 heimdall flash --BOOT boot.img --CACHE cache.img --HIDDEN hidden.img --RECOVERY recovery.img --BOOTLOADER sboot.bin --SYSTEM system.img --CM cm.bin --RADIO modem.bin --CP_DEBUG modem_debug.bin --PARAM param.bin.
I did it often with my testing devices, and the risk is low. Worst case is, it won't boot and you need to try again with a different configuration.

@BjornW What would be a good way forward? I guess I'll just disable support for this device in the next release?

[BjornW]

Thanks @tsterbak for looking into this. I agree that it would be best to disable support for the S10 for now.
I'm happy to help out with debugging this issue so that we may be able to add it once it works with Open Android Installer again. I will check if I can get the phone to work with the instructions you mentioned. Will take me a bit longer as I'm preparing for Fosdem.