I am posting here as there is not sub-forum for Xperia Pro.
I want to flash kernel using CWM already installed on my phone. Is it possible? If so, how do I go about it?
PS: I found a thread which is for Samsung phones here.
I don't think so
There is no way to flash a Kernel for SE phones faik
Were is our moderator!
Sent from my MT15i using Tapatalk
Can anyone tell me why kernel cannot be flashed via flash_image and the like. Is it because /boot partition is locked in Xperia phones? Or because the there is no proper flash_image made for Xperia phones?
That's something like ; doing a bypass surgery while you're awake
Something like that ^
Qwerty123 \m/ said:
That's something like ; doing a bypass surgery while you're awake
Something like that ^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not a complete nooby. flash_image can be used on (at least) Samsung phones, to flash kernels.
I have a nokia n900(linux kernel)...and i can flash kernels from the phone itself...dual boot maemo OS and android...restore the whole system image on the phone itself...but on neoV...it is not possible.
dont know about other android phones because neoV is my first android.
On PC you can update BIOS, on some motherboards you can do it from Windows, on others you can use some utility in BIOS setup program, on another motherboards you need true DOS and use BIOS flash program, same is with PC video cards, with PDAs...
ameer1234567890 said:
Can anyone tell me why kernel cannot be flashed via flash_image and the like. Is it because /boot partition is locked in Xperia phones? Or because the there is no proper flash_image made for Xperia phones?
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Click to collapse
Because SE xperia phones DONT HAVE recovery partitsion!
taaviu said:
Because SE xperia phones DONT HAVE recovery partitsion!
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Click to collapse
Exactly what does flashing a kernel with flash_image have to do with recovery partition?
ameer1234567890 said:
Exactly what does flashing a kernel with flash_image have to do with recovery partition?
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Click to collapse
The phone's internal memory (not the SD card) is solid-state (flash) memory, AKA NAND. It can be partitioned much like a normal hard drive can be partitioned. The bootloader exists in its own partition. Recovery is another partition; radio, system, cache, etc are all partitions.
Here are the standard partitions on an Android phone:
/misc - not sure what this is for.
/boot - bootloader, kernel
/recovery - holds the recovery program (either clockworkmod or RA recovery for a rooted Evo)
/system - operating system goes here: Android, Sense, boot animation, Sprint crapware, busybox, etc
/cache - cached data from OS usage
/data - user applications, data, settings, etc.
The below partitions are not android-specific. They are tied to the hardware of the phone, but the kernel may have code allowing Android to interact with said hardware.
/radio - the phone's radio firmware, controls cellular, data, GPS, bluetooth.
/wimax - firmware for Sprint's flavor of 4G, WiMax.
During the rooting process, a critical piece of the process is disabling a security system built into the bootloader that protects these partitions from accidental (or intentional) modification. This is what's referred to as "unlocking NAND." The security system can be set to active or inactive. S-ON means the security is in place (NAND locked). S-OFF means the security is off (NAND unlocked). When S-OFF, you have the ability to modify all partitions. With S-ON, you only have write access to /cache and /data. Everything else is read-only.
When you flash a custom ROM, that ROM typically includes a kernel and an OS. That means the /boot and /system partitions will be modified at a minimum. Some ROMs require a clean install, so a format of the /data and /cache partitions is sometimes built into the .zip that you flash. This is essentially doing a factory reset. See next paragraph.
When you do a factory reset (AKA: wipe, hard reset, factory wipe, etc.), you are erasing the /data and /cache partitions. Note that a factory reset does NOT put your phone back to its factory state from an OS standpoint. If you've upgraded to froyo, you will stay on froyo, because the OS lives in /system, and that is not touched during a factory reset. So "factory data reset," as it says under Settings > SD & phone storage, causes confusion. It's not a factory reset. It's a factory DATA reset. Now you know the distinction.
The SD card can also be partitioned to include a section dedicated to storing user apps. To create the partition, your SD card needs to be formatted. Typically a user will copy all the contents in the SD card to a PC hard drive, wipe the card and partition it, and then copy everything back.
Original http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...plained-boot-system-recovery-data-cache-misc/
taaviu said:
The phone's internal memory (not the SD card) is solid-state (flash) memory, AKA NAND. It can be partitioned much like a normal hard drive can be partitioned. The bootloader exists in its own partition. Recovery is another partition; radio, system, cache, etc are all partitions.
Here are the standard partitions on an Android phone:
/misc - not sure what this is for.
/boot - bootloader, kernel
/recovery - holds the recovery program (either clockworkmod or RA recovery for a rooted Evo)
/system - operating system goes here: Android, Sense, boot animation, Sprint crapware, busybox, etc
/cache - cached data from OS usage
/data - user applications, data, settings, etc.
The below partitions are not android-specific. They are tied to the hardware of the phone, but the kernel may have code allowing Android to interact with said hardware.
/radio - the phone's radio firmware, controls cellular, data, GPS, bluetooth.
/wimax - firmware for Sprint's flavor of 4G, WiMax.
During the rooting process, a critical piece of the process is disabling a security system built into the bootloader that protects these partitions from accidental (or intentional) modification. This is what's referred to as "unlocking NAND." The security system can be set to active or inactive. S-ON means the security is in place (NAND locked). S-OFF means the security is off (NAND unlocked). When S-OFF, you have the ability to modify all partitions. With S-ON, you only have write access to /cache and /data. Everything else is read-only.
When you flash a custom ROM, that ROM typically includes a kernel and an OS. That means the /boot and /system partitions will be modified at a minimum. Some ROMs require a clean install, so a format of the /data and /cache partitions is sometimes built into the .zip that you flash. This is essentially doing a factory reset. See next paragraph.
When you do a factory reset (AKA: wipe, hard reset, factory wipe, etc.), you are erasing the /data and /cache partitions. Note that a factory reset does NOT put your phone back to its factory state from an OS standpoint. If you've upgraded to froyo, you will stay on froyo, because the OS lives in /system, and that is not touched during a factory reset. So "factory data reset," as it says under Settings > SD & phone storage, causes confusion. It's not a factory reset. It's a factory DATA reset. Now you know the distinction.
The SD card can also be partitioned to include a section dedicated to storing user apps. To create the partition, your SD card needs to be formatted. Typically a user will copy all the contents in the SD card to a PC hard drive, wipe the card and partition it, and then copy everything back.
Original http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...plained-boot-system-recovery-data-cache-misc/
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As I had mentioned before, I am not a nooby.
ameer1234567890 said:
As I had mentioned before, I am not a nooby.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then show us HOW to install kernel via recovery?
Dont talk about Samsung and HTC option to install kernel via recovery. I have HTC Desire my second phone and yes i know there is option install kernel via recover(also im tested ALL desire roms and kernel already).
SE xperia have just different partitions layout and we simply cant flash kernel via recovery.....BUT i dont want tell you its IMPOSSIBLE.
Be nice and show us how to do that
PS:im tottaly noob.
Boot holds kernel and initrd not the actual bootloader, that is what should be writable. Provided the actual bootloader is not damaged it should be possible, however because there is no recovery partition it is riskier, but s1tool can restore bootloader......
Hmm
Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk
I have S2(of course i have and xperia neo) and i dont flash with CWM i flash with odin or heimdall; CWM method is not sure.
In my opinion,and i'm NOT an expert, it easy to flash a kernel for xperia with flashtool or using fastboot from adb.
OK guys, you might have misread it. I am looking for a way to flash kernel not just using CWM (eventhough the title says so), but using any method without having to connect to a PC. One such possible method is to use flash_image in terminal, which does not work in my phone.
PS: The fact that I am not a noob doesn't make me a pro.
I recently had some disruptive partition troubles. I don't know how they started (must've been a bad flash, or a flash which didn't finish seeing as though i was experimenting with the leaked roms) but basically, my /cache, /system, /data, and /emmc partitions were all corrupted.
Fixing the /emmc, /cache and /system partitions was quite easy. I booted up into fastboot mode, flashed an ADB enabled recovery (the one in the Atrix Development forum works fine) and downloaded ADB.
I booted up into recovery, and in CMD i went into adb shell and used "parted /dev/block/mmcblk0p18" to get into the emmc partition, "rm 1" to remove the corrupted partition and "mkpartfs" to make a new partition as ext2, start 0, end 11.5GB (or something like that) and let it finish. Then i went into Mounts and Storage in CWM and formatted emmc. Did the same for /cache (mmcblk0p15) and /system (mmcblk0p12).
So far so good, my random reboots were fixed and my deadly FC of all apps was gone. But not for long.
I noticed after about 24 hours of normal use, i would start FC everything and multiple reboots + clearing caches (including dalvik) would fix it temporarily. This was a headache as messaging, phone and whatsapp would all crash and not recover.
I chalked this down to the /data partition (also known as /userdata, which houses the dalvik cache). I must be hitting a corrupt part of it during my daily use which messed my device up (once i hit the corrupt part, i could not do ANYTHING with the device, including just checking a partition. I would ALWAYS have to reboot at least twice to even read the partition).
I tried the same method as before (mmcblk0p16 for userdata partition) but i couldn't do it. It would always fail at around 90% and say i/o error and needed a few reboots. If i made a fat32 partition, i couldn't format over it with CWM (error near the end). Same with any kind of partition. This was the partition which couldn't be fixed...
So i decided to go all out. I knew i never flashed OTA 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), so i downloaded the Gingerbread SBF from a quick google search, despite all the warnings (i also THINK you CAN flash this SBF even though you were on OTA 2.3.4, just NOT ANYTHING LOWER SUCH AS FROYO). I booted into RSD mode and hoped for the best. Flashing went fine, but i was in a bootloop (due to data partition). Tried clearing with the stock android recovery and i would get i/o errors even though it said successfully wiped.
It was here when i got angry.
I flashed the ADB enabled recovery via fastboot and booted into it. Went into adb and parted again (first i inspected emmc partition which was mmcblk0p18). Did "print" and it said couldn't find label or something (which meant no partition table was found). ALL my partitions were missing this partition table.
So i created one.
"mklabel msdos" for emmc partition, then mkpartfs to make a primary partition, ext2, start 0, end 11.5GB" (or something like that) and let it happen.
For cache partition, i did "mklabel loop" then mkpartfs ext2, etc etc, with data i did "mklabel loop" and made a partition, same with system.
Then i tried wiping them via CWM. SUCCESS! I formatted them 5 times each just to be sure and sure enough, they were working fine now. I flashed a new ROM (couldn't risk my backup partitions having a corrupt sector or something in them) and heavily used it for a few hours. Downloaded many apps and games, did loads of texting and test calls.
No reboots. No FC, no problems for 24 hours. Hope it stays this way.
I posted this in hopes that others would find a solution with this rare problem. My data partition was the killer, no matter what, i couldn't fix it without flashing sbf. Remember, don't flash froyo sbf, only gingerbread (just to be safe).
Superwipe script for the T-Mobile HTC One.
Disclaimer: I've tested the hell out of this but I am not perfect. This should not cause any data loss aside from what's involved in a normal wipe. However you use this at your own risk.
I just came over from Sprint and I didn't see a Superwipe script available for TMO, so since I use it before ROM flashes, I decided to port it over.
What this script does:
This will wipe /data, /devlog, /cache, /system, /boot to prepare your phone for installation of a new ROM. It will also optimally format all of the above (except /data) for speed.
After MUCH testing and nuking of my internal storage (SD Card), I have now fixed this script so that no harm will come to any data on your internal storage. It will wipe everything else. As always I recommend backing things up (including external storage) before running any kind of wipe, whether it be within TWRP/Clockwork, this script, or any other script.
Please report any issues or errors to me and I'll fix them asap.
Original thread (Sprint Forums):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=40346656&postcount=1
Hey Guys,
As an alternative to ROM slots, what you can do is,
1. Boot into 1st ROM, configure and download all the apps you want.
2. Take a Nandroid of; /System and /data and optionally; cache. But I don't use the latter.
3. Wipe Data, System, Cache, and dalvik.
4. Install 2nd ROM, boot, configure, install all the same apps (just for now)
5. Take Nandroid of /system only
To switch to ROM 1, restore the backup of its /system (should only take about 6-10 seconds as opposed to flashing data too.
To switch to ROM 2, restore the backup of its /system ""
The reason you MUST install all the SAME apps on the 2nd ROM is to rebuild the necessary data folders.
In
To install a new app, boot to rom 1 and install it, then switch to ROM 2 and wipe cache and boot or vice versa.
Have fun,
While this may work, be aware there are problems that could arise by doing this. They likely wouldn't effect much but some ROM's are picky. That aside your still partitioning your device and will lose X amount of space even with this method.
NighthawkXL said:
While this may work, be aware there are problems that could arise by doing this. They likely wouldn't effect much but some ROM's are picky. That aside your still partitioning your device and will lose X amount of space even with this method.
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Click to collapse
I agree, especially with Xposed, some problems could definitely arise. But I switch between Hyperdrive and GPE via this method about 2-3 times a week. Over time, constant flashing takes its toll on the Drive, but I don't mind it much.
Actually... you aren't partitioning though... you can just take the backups to your SD Card and it wont take up any internal storage other than what the ROM is taking
So a friend of mine recently gave me this YP-G70, asking me to fix it for him. His cousin had promised to put KitKat on the device, no problem, as a replacement to the stock software. This is all I know.
When I received the device, it would not boot into any ROM, only into recovery (CWM was flashed). In CWM, I could see that /system, /data, /emmc, and /sdcard partitions were all unmounted. I tried to remount them in CWM, but alas, this did not survive a reboot, even just back into recovery.
I have tried to flash the stock firmware for this device (obtained from sammobile) through odin, which was a success... until it booted up, and found that again, the proper partitions were not mounted. From there, I went on to flash CM9, which ended me up to where I am now.
As it currently stands, /dbdata, /data, /emmc, and /sdcard are all unmounted and are stuck that way. Does anyone know how to solve this, cause I am lost right now.
nicholician said:
So a friend of mine recently gave me this YP-G70, asking me to fix it for him. His cousin had promised to put KitKat on the device, no problem, as a replacement to the stock software. This is all I know.
When I received the device, it would not boot into any ROM, only into recovery (CWM was flashed). In CWM, I could see that /system, /data, /emmc, and /sdcard partitions were all unmounted. I tried to remount them in CWM, but alas, this did not survive a reboot, even just back into recovery.
I have tried to flash the stock firmware for this device (obtained from sammobile) through odin, which was a success... until it booted up, and found that again, the proper partitions were not mounted. From there, I went on to flash CM9, which ended me up to where I am now.
As it currently stands, /dbdata, /data, /emmc, and /sdcard are all unmounted and are stuck that way. Does anyone know how to solve this, cause I am lost right now.
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Click to collapse
I would try to find out what the log files say. If you can still make a full backup under CWM, I suppose this should include the last log written by android. This is where I would start my investigation. It is of course strange that android fails to mount the /data partition. I have no clue what /dbdata is for. My gut feeling is that your friend messed up the partioning, but I think it is key to find out what happens during boot time.
Finally, since you didn't write about this: Did you try wipe the cache and dalvik cache in CWM?