Guide: XTEINK Unable to Flash Custom Firmware / Fix

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Great news! The XTEINK X4 is now available direct on Amazon.com
Next day delivery for Prime. Faster shipping than AliExpress!

If you’ve bought an XTEINK X3 recently, you might have found that USB flashing of custom firmware has been disabled. This seems to be across both the XTEINK X3 and X4.

How to tell if you might have a firmware locked XTEINK X4/X3?

It seems like a crapshoot at the moment, but posts across reddit suggest:

X3/X4 boxes with a barcode sticker on the outside of the box
X4 units shipped in plain brown packaging may also correlate

None of this is guaranteed. TTEINK claims that orders shipped internationally by them are not locked (or bought direct from Amazon). It seems this is really an issue for grey market imports from AliExpress. Truth be told, right now, there is no reliable way to know which one you’ll receive until you plug it in and try and flash. My recent orders of X4s on Amazon for friends have been fine – but your mileage may vary.

Why did XTEINK make this stupid decision?

XTEINK claim that it’s because users are breaking their screens by flashing custom firmware. This feels like an excuse in search of a reason. There have been some quality issues with X4 devices recently, people receiving units with broken screens (filmed broken out of the box). It’s never clear if these are shipped by AliExpress and it could be that XTEINK is frustrated that AliExpress shipments are hurting their reputation. That said, the “screen issue” as a reason to block is not believable, because I have flashed and reflashed again and again devices and had zero screen issues.

What to check if you can’t flash your XTEINK device

If you’re trying to flash and get errors, always make sure your 1. XTEINK device is on, 2. try a different USB cable first and 3. make sure you’re using Chrome before you assume you have a non-flashable unit. I’ve flashed more than a few XTEINK devices and helped friends, and sometimes people can’t flash because they miss something in the 1-3. If it still fails, then you’re likely to have a non-flashable XTEINK device.

There are 2 current working solutions.

Option 1: Alpha-Crosspoint MacOS/Windows Fix
Option 2: Flashing the Korean OS to your X3

Option 1: macOS / Windows Crosspoint XTEINK Fix

The team behind Crosspoint have a macOS and Windows solution (Linux coming soon) that essentially serves as a man-in-the-middle (MITM) method, where you create a WiFi network and intercept firmware checks. You can find that workaround here.

Again, I take no responsibility if you brick your device. But I have tested it and it works for me.

If you want to avoid this, then your best option is to buy the X4 or X3 direct from XTEINK or hope that they hurry up and sell X3s on Amazon. And again, X4’s sold on Amazon are currently able to flash custom firmware without any issue.

Option 2: Korean Crosspoint X3 Workaround

IMPORTANT – READ THIS FIRST: This is an X3 workaround only, it will not work on the X4. Do not try on the X4 or you will brick your device. This workaround is also NOT RISK FREE and I take NO RESPONSIBILITY if you brick your device. You do this at YOUR OWN RISK and DO NOT ASK ME FOR HELP OR SUPPORT. If you are not comfortable with this risk DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WORKAROUND. There are plans to fix this permanently in Crosspoint, but this is the solution for X3’s now.

First this is done using the Korean firmware (it’s OK, English language is supported) and a reminder, I accept no responsibility if you brick your X3. Please make sure you’re using a reliable microSD card before you attempt this i.e. don’t use the stock microSD.

Visit the KO Crosspoint fork on Github and download the KO fork of Crosspoint, you want the firmware.bin file.
Rename firmware.bin to update.bin and save the file to the root of your X3 microSD card.
Insert the microSD card into your X3.
Important: At the same time, hold both the LEFT side button and the POWER button. The XTEINK OEM bootloader will recognize the .bin file and start the update.
If something goes wrong, hold the UP and Power button simultaneously to go into microSD firmware picker recovery mode.

I’ve tested this on my X3, in fairness it’s not flashing locked, but I restored to factory then flashed using the above method and it did work. There are also reports from reddit users this works, and it is also officially listed as a flashing method on the KO Crosspoint Guide.

Good luck!

FYI, the XTEINK X4 is now available direct on Amazon.com

Please feel free to link back to this page or any of my other XTEINK posts.

Some of my other posts about XTEINK devices:

XTEINK X4

XTEINK X4 V2 Pro