My Hardware Journey: From ThinkPad Survival to ZBook Power-Up

FixeQ — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 08:04:44 +0000

Once upon a time, I had a loyal ThinkPad T470.

Specs?

💻 i5-6300U

🧠 16 GB RAM

💾 ADATA LEGEND 710 512GB on a M.2-to-SATA adapter (because native M.2 wasn’t a thing, and yes, no screw, classic ThinkPad moment).

Still, it worked - barely held together, but it did.

Then, after one of those nights, the ThinkPad decided it had enough.

No power, no signs of life. Just... silence.

Enter: a new hope.

🖥️ HP ZBook 15 G6

💪 i7-9850H

🧠 32 GB RAM

🎮 NVIDIA Quadro T2000 Max-Q
⚡ WD BLACK 512GB NVMe

💸 1699 zł (~$400), bought via Allegro Smart from Malanet.

It arrived, it booted, everything looked good.

Until...

I tried installing Arch Linux (of course),

but the BIOS was locked down like a government server.

Secure Boot enabled, BIOS options greyed out, no way to disable anything.

And I had no chip flasher, no mood for soldering.

So I messaged Malanet.

They said:

"Ship it back, we’ll unlock it for free. We’ll cover shipping both ways."

📦 I sent it.

2 days later - it returned.

But then...

🤡 No SSD.

The WD BLACK? Gone.

Just a sad, empty M.2 slot.

No big deal.

I grabbed the ADATA from the dead ThinkPad,

unscrewed a random screw from its motherboard (because yes, it fit),

slotted it into the ZBook, and installed Arch Linux like it was nothing.

Then I contacted Malanet:

"Hey, your SSD didn’t make it back."

They replied:

"Whoops, sending it now."

2 days later, InPost delivered again.

They used a regular small parcel instead of a mini one -

💸 InPost got that extra 5 zł (~1.20 USD) for no reason.

While installing it, I discovered something magical:

💡 "WAIT… there’s a second M.2 slot?!"

Boom.

✨ DUAL SSD MODE ACTIVATED ✨

ADATA for Arch Linux.

WD BLACK for whatever else I want.

And yes, the ThinkPad screw is still holding strong.

Big thanks to Malanet for BIOS unlock + SSD fix.

Shoutout to InPost for delivering my packages without crashing them lol.

And eternal respect to the ThinkPad screw, still doing its job in a completely different machine.

My adventure with Samsung Galaxy A26 5G

FixeQ — Mon, 26 May 2025 15:35:21 +0000

Chapter 1: The Broken Motorola Edge 50 Fusion

I had been using my Motorola Edge 50 Fusion for a while with a modified kernel and an unlocked bootloader. One day, out of the blue, the bootloader relocked itself, and the system failed integrity checks. I tried to unlock the bootloader again, but I couldn't—OEM unlocking had also disabled itself automatically, and the toggle was no longer accessible.

I reached out to Motorola support, but all they offered was an ADB-based workaround—hardly a solution for EDL mode recovery this solution was useless because I couldn't even turn on the system lol

I decided to send the phone to the official service center. The shipping cost me 16 PLN (about $4). After inspection, they wanted to replace the motherboard for 1013 PLN (around $250). I declined and asked for the device to be returned. They did send it back, but I still had to pay a 116 PLN (about $28) "service fee" just to get my phone back.

Frustrated but undeterred, I decided it was time for a new challenge. I bought the Samsung Galaxy A26 5G (SM-A266B), eager to see if I could push it even further: root it while preserving STRONG Integrity and keeping OTA updates functional.

Chapter 2: Unrooted Beginnings

For the first few days, I used the A26 just like a stock device—no root, no modifications. I familiarized myself with One UI 7 on Android 15 and made sure everything ran smoothly. Meanwhile, the countdown to root day was ticking.

Chapter 3: Upstream Contribution

Roughly a month after buying the phone, I noticed that many Samsung users on One UI 7 relied on kernel version 5.15.153, yet support wasn’t available in WildKernels/GKI_KernelSU_SUSFS. So, I submitted a pull request:

Add build for 5.15.153 kernel version

Many Samsung users on OneUI 7 rely on kernel version 5.15.153. Adding this version ensures better compatibility and support for devices using the latest Samsung firmware.

A few days later, maintainer TheWildJames accepted and merged my change. Now, GKI_KernelSU_SUSFS had out-of-the-box support for 5.15.153.

Chapter 4: Rooting the A26 5G

Armed with KernelSU-Next and SuSFS, I set out to root my phone. I used the following modules and tools:

susfs4ksu
PlayIntegrityFix [INJECT]
TrickyStore + TrickyAddon
BetterKnownInstalled
LSPosed
- KnoxPatch
KnoxPatchEnhancer

I based my method on the classic gist by rafareborn (gist.github.com/rafareborn/4531390f14e9821a8fd88976f6180252), integrating KnoxPatch to hide root from Samsung services.

To configure TrickyStore, I used its Web UI by simply clicking buttons—no manual editing needed:

Tap the ≡ (hamburger menu)
Press Mark all
Uncheck unnecessary items
Tap Save
Tap Set critical key

Chapter 5: Achieving STRONG Integrity & OTA

After reboot, SafetyNet and Play Integrity both returned MEETS_STRONG_INTEGRITY. Samsung OTA updates still worked, thanks to:

No modifications to /system (SuSFS overrides)
A patched boot.img built from KSU sources, preserving signatures
Restored or repatched vbmeta to satisfy dm-verity

Still, I recommend manual OTA flashes to stay in absolute control.

Chapter 6: Manual OTA Updates

Here’s my streamlined manual update process:

Download the full firmware package from SamFW.
Flash everything in Odin except for the AP file.
For AP:

Rename .tar.md5 to .tar and extract contents.
Remove boot.img.lz4 and add it from WildKernels/GKI_KernelSU_SUSFS
Extract vbmeta.img.lz4, patch vbmeta.img, then discard original.
Optionally delete userdata.img to preserve user data.
1. Repack modified files into a .tar archive.
2. Flash the repacked AP via Odin alongside the rest.

This method keeps root intact, preserves STRONG Integrity, and avoids OTA errors.

DEV Community: FixeQ