[Q] Partition becoming read only? - G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi,
A huge thanks to everyone on this forum for their incredible work. I got my G Tablet a couple of weeks ago and its been running flawlessly.
I ran into an issue a couple of days back with rapid FC's on most of my apps.
I am running VeganTab GE upgraded from the stock ROM, CWM 0.8 and Pershoot's 1.4 GHZ kernel. After facing all the rapid FC'S I decided to do a wipeall and start from scratch. I didn't realize the FC's are being caused due to the partition being read only for some reason.
I have tried everything under the sun to resolve this with no luck.
I tried using NVflash and have followed the instructions to the letter and dont it multiple times. Each time it says its successful yet when I boot in VeganTab takes over and all my settings and apps are still there.
Ive tried using NVflash to load CWM and then flash Cyanogen's ROM 7 as well the TapnTap's stock 3588 all to no avail. None of them will load. I cant delete files on the SD card nor write to it. I cant uninstall or install any apps. Everytime I try to do so, it says its uninstalled or installed and I can use the app, but the next time I reboot, things go back to exactly how they were when I started getting those FC's, almost like a restore point in Windows. Anytime I reboot it goes back to that point in time. I have also tried repartitioning the SD card to every possible combination (2048/0, 2048/256, 2048/128, 4096/256) and everytime it says its successful but nothing has changed. I have tried wipe data/factory resets, wipe Dalvik, format all (boot, cache, system, data). I have even tried the Format All zip floating around but it wont load it saying bad file. (Not a file size mismatch since I have downloaded it multiple times from different sources)
I came across this archived thread from a while back where someone had this issue but I haven't found a solution to it yet. I have followed everything in that thread but nothing seems to work. For the time being, the FC's have seemed to have slowed down but my tablet is stuck in some sorta time warp now since I cant seem to update it anymore.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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It will be of no help, but in general Linux will knock a file system into read only mode when there are too many write errors to the volume. It could be a hardware defect in your unit doing it, or a corrupted file system. However, it seems you've been doing an NVFlash on it, so that should resolve the filesystem I would think.
Maybe in CW you can format /system and /data and see if that helps?
Edit: I see you did format, sorry. I don't know what to offer

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Yup I have tried pretty much everything.
Wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks I might have missed. Surely there must be some way to convert this back into write mode.
What other options could I have?

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Try this...it puts an empty file in each partition
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=974422
Then use bekits nvflash files.
Nvflash is like a low level format. You either have a bad usb cable or your not in APX mode when you run nvflash or you have a bad tab. Make sure you are powering on using Power/Vol- not vol+. It will be a black screen and takes several minutes to run

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Ive tried that.
Since the SD card is read only, i cant actually copy the file down to the drive to load.
Is there anyway to load this via microSD?
Can CWM view the microSD card?

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Sandyjb, which partition is becoming read-only?--I'm not able to make this out after reading your post.
There are 2 distinct kinds of storage devices on the gTablet. You can see them if you type 'mount' in a Terminal Emulator window. For example, here's the output of mount on my tablet:
Code:
rootfs on / type rootfs (ro,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /mnt/asec type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
tmpfs on /mnt/obb type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
/dev/block/mtdblock3 on /system type yaffs2 (ro,relatime)
/dev/block/mtdblock4 on /cache type yaffs2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)
/dev/block/mmcblk3p2 on /data type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,errors=continue,data=writeback)
/dev/block/vold/179:25 on /mnt/sdcard type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
The output of the mount command may vary slightly depending on whether you get the system mount command or the busybox mount command, but the basic information presented will remain the same. What's of interest to us are the lines beginning with /dev/block/ and the mount flags--the stuff within ().
There are, as you can see, 2 kinds of devices listed
/dev/block/mtdblockn and
/dev/block/mmcblkn
(The /dev/block/vold/n:n is also relevant to this discussion, but, more on this later.)
The /dev/block/mtdblockn device are directly addressable NAND flash devices. These are the only devices that the nvflash utility operates on.
The other type of device, the /dev/block/mmcblkn type, are SD card devices--either internal or external. On the gTablet, the internal SD cards are identified as /dev/block/mmcblk3x, and the external SD cards look like /dev/block/mmcblk2x. The SD card devices cannot be formatted or modified using nvflash. You have to use other tools. The /dev/block/vold/n:n device is also an SD card, but it is mounted (as needed) by the vold program which is why it is named differently.
If your external SD card partitions are read-only, try inserting them into a Windows machine and see if running the SD Formatter mentioned in this thread brings it back to its normal state:
http://micosd-doesnt-work.com/
If the program fixes the card, you can put it back in the gTablet and run ClockworkMod to re-partition it again.
If it is either the internal SD card partitions or the NAND flash partitions that are read-only, then the troubleshooting process is slightly more involved. In any case, send me the output of the mount command on your tablet.

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Hi Rajeev.
I dont think I have any issues with my external card ie. microsd. Its the drive marked as sdcard card that I have issues with.
I am not as familiar with the results that came back via the terminal.
Perhaps you can elaborate.
Here is what I got
$mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (ro,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /mnt/asec type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
tmpfs on /mnt/obb type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
/dev/block/mtdblock3 on /system type yaffs2 (ro,relatime)
/dev/block/mtdblock4 on /cache type yaffs2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)
/dev/block/mmcblk3p2 on /data type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,errors=continue,data=writeback)
/sys/kernel/debug on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,relatime)
/dev/block/vold/179:25 on /mnt/sdcard type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/block/vold/179:25 on /mnt/secure/asec type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
tmpfs on /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure type tmpfs (ro,relatime,size=0k,mode=000)
/dev/block/vold/179:17 on /mnt/sdcard2 type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/block/dm-0 on /mnt/asec/com.rovio.angrybirds-1 type vfat (ro,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,fmask=0222,dmask=0222,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/block/dm-1 on /mnt/asec/com.tripit-1 type vfat (ro,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,fmask=0222,dmask=0222,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
$

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That mount output looks perfectly normal. You said you were running VEGAnTab-GE. That is a Gingerbread-based ROM, I think, and so should have the SD cards mounted at /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/emmc and not /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/sdcard2.
Whatever the case, I want to check that /mnt/sdcard is writable. So,
1. Can you tell me if there is an /emmc or a /mnt/emmc folder on the tablet. Typing ls -l /emmc /mnt/emmc will do.
2. Try these commands in a Terminal to check if it's an application problem or an OS/hardware problem:
Code:
mkdir /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir
echo test > /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
Both commands should succeed if /mnt/sdcard is writable. Next read back the file.txt file:
Code:
cat /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
should say: test
3. Reboot the tablet and try the cat command again. It should again print: test
4. Remove the directory, and verify that it has gone both before and after a reboot:
Code:
rm -rf /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir
We'll carry on from here.

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Thanks a ton for your help Rajeev!
Here is what I got back after step 2. Seems like everything worked fine there.
$ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$ls -l /emmc /mnt/emmc
ls: /emmc: No such file or directory
ls: /mnt/emmc: No such file or directory
$ mkdir /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
mkdir failed for /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt, No such file or directory
$ mkdir /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir
$ echo test > /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
$ cat /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
test
$
However, after the reboot, it hung up once during restart. After doing another restart, it loaded into Vegantab just fine. The I ran the same command again and this is what I got
export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$ cat /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
/mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt: No such file or directory
$
Didnt do step 4 after that.

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Very interesting--it's just like you said: that partition seems to go back in time. If we can't fix this, you should send that SD card to the folks at NASA. They're sure to be interested in an entropy-negating device.
Alright, let's check to see if the other partition on that SD card--/data--exhibits the same problem. Do a reboot, so we can start from a clean slate--I want to see the kernel messages this time when we write to the SD card.
Code:
$ su
# mkdir /data/tmp.dir
# ls -ld /data/tmp.dir
# echo test > /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
# ls -l /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
# cat /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
test
#
Reboot the tablet, and check if the cat command outputs "test" again. But, before you reboot and check, run these commands so you can send me their output. We've written the output to /mnt/sdcard2, so we shouldn't have any disappearing files.
Code:
$ su
# dmesg > /mnt/sdcard2/dmesg.txt
# logcat -d > /mnt/sdcard2/logcat.txt
# ls -l /data > /mnt/sdcard2/ls-data.txt
# ls -l /mnt/sdcard /mnt/sdcard2 > /mnt/sdcard2/ls-sdcards.txt
# cat /system/etc/vold.fstab > /mnt/sdcard2/vold.fstab.txt
Zip up all those text files and attach it to your next post.

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[email protected]
Ok here is what I got before the reboot.
$ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$su
#mkdir /data/tmp.dir
# ls -ld /data/tmp.dir
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 1024 May 9 13:15 /data/tmp.dir
# echo test > /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
# ls -l /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 5 May 9 13:17 /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
# cat /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
test
#
After the reboot:
# cat /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
/data/tmp.dir/file.txt: No such file or directory
And here are the Text files.

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Hmm, the external SD card is referred to twice in /system/etc/vold.fstab. Can you try this:
Edit /system/etc/vold.fstab and comment out the last line in it. It looks like this:
Code:
dev_mount sdcard2 /mnt/sdcard/sdcard-ext auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
Just add a '#' character at the beginning of the line, like so:
Code:
# dev_mount sdcard2 /mnt/sdcard/sdcard-ext auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
You can edit it on your PC; then put it back on the tablet and reboot. After the reboot, go through the SD card test commands we did earlier.
To edit the vold.fstab file, you'll have to remount the /system partition read-write. If you know how to use adb, try these commands:
Code:
adb pull /system/etc/vold.fstab vold.fstab
[I]Edit the vold.fstab[/I]
adb remount
adb push vold.fstab /system/etc/vold.fstab
Also, after you've run the SD card test commands, run the "dmesg" and "logcat -d" as before and attach their outputs.
Another thing to try: Remove the external SD card (after you've changed vold.fstab) and see if file and directories persist on the internal SD card.

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Ok, after editing vold.fstab, loading microSD back in and rebooting, I ran the test commands.
Code:
$ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$su
#mkdir /data/tmp.dir
# ls -ld /data/tmp.dir
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 1024 May 9 23:48 /data/tmp.dir
# echo test > /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
# ls -l /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 5 May 9 23:49 /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
# cat /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
test
#
After another reboot and running of the same test command
Code:
# cat /data/tmp.dir/file.txt
/data/tmp.dir/file.txt: No such file or directory
Then I ran the the "dmesg" and "logcat -d" as before
Here are the outputs again.
Thanks again....your time in looking at this is much appreciated!
PS - I didn't understand the last line. Internal directories exist on the main drive (SDcard) when the microSD is taken out? I only started using the microSD very recently and the directory structure on the main drive remains intact irrespective.

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sandyjb said:
Ok, after editing vold.fstab, loading microSD back in and rebooting, I ran the test commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see that you've placed the '#' on the line before the last line. This makes it a no-effect change. You have to comment out the last line--put the '#' at the start of that line. The last line should look like this:
Code:
# dev_mount sdcard2 /mnt/sdcard/sdcard-ext auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
Thanks again....your time in looking at this is much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No probs. Actually, I may have good news and bad news for you... but, we'll get to that after you've fixed the vold.fstab file, rebooted, and repeated the tests in post #8, plus these additional commands via adb:
Code:
adb shell lsmod > lsmod.txt
adb shell ps > ps.txt
adb shell find / -name aufs.ko > find-aufs.txt
PS - I didn't understand the last line. Internal directories exist on the main drive (SDcard) when the microSD is taken out? I only started using the microSD very recently and the directory structure on the main drive remains intact irrespective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look at that vold.fstab file you sent me, it has a line like this:
Code:
# todo: the secondary sdcard seems to confuse vold badly
After seeing that, I thought it would be best if you removed the external microSD card while you're running the tests. You can put it back in after we're done fixing this.

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Ok after making the change to the vold.fstab file, I ran the test again and I got the same error.
$ cat /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
/mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt: No such file or directory
I dont have ADB setup so I cant run those commands. I made the changes to the text file via notepad. Any other way for me to run those commands?
I took out the microsd card and then ran the dmesg and logcat commands. Somehow I feel like I am doing this wrong....
$su
# dmesg > /mnt/sdcard2/dmesg.txt
cannot create /mnt/sdcard2/dmesg.txt: read-only file system
# logcat -d > /mnt/sdcard2/logcat.txt
cannot create /mnt/sdcard2/logcat.txt: read-only file system
#
This error looks right though since there is no microsd card anymore.
Thanks for your patience!

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sandyjb said:
Ok after making the change to the vold.fstab file, I ran the test again and I got the same error.
$ cat /mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt
/mnt/sdcard/tmp.dir/file.txt: No such file or directory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The vold.fstab looks OK now. Incidentally, I just downloaded VEGAn-GE-7.0.0-RC1-Harmony-signed.zip and checked the pristine vold.fstab inside it. Your original file is exactly the same as the official one. So, it looks like I've been barking up the wrong tree in this case. Oh, well...
I dont have ADB setup so I cant run those commands. I made the changes to the text file via notepad. Any other way for me to run those commands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since we're able to store files on /mnt/sdcard (the internal SD card), at least until the next reboot, just use /mnt/sdcard/ instead of /mnt/sdcard2 in the command lines. You can use the Terminal Emulator for now to run the commands if you don't have adb set up. But, we'll have need of adb soon, so you should get it set up if you can: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=902860
Questions:
1. You are running VEGAn-TAB 7.0.0 RC1 (aka VEGAn-TAB Ginger Edition), correct?
2. Do you have ClockworkMod installed? And if so, which version? Ideally it should print this when you're in it: ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8. This seems to be the safest CWM for our gTablets according to the posts on the board.
3. You have tried the standard techniques to fix the SD card problem? Namely,
a) In CWM, formatted the internal SD card again (CWM > advanced > Partition Internal SD card).
b) Ran Fix Permissions (CWM > advanced > Fix Permissions)
4. Do you have anything of value on the internal SD card (/mnt/sdcard), because we might have to blow it away completely soon (or, atleast try to ). So, back up the stuff from /mnt/sdcard to /mnt/sdcard2.
You can insert the external SD card (/mnt/sdcard2) back into the tablet and move, not copy, the stuff from /mnt/sdcard into /mnt/sdcard2. We're doing a test along with backing up your sdcard data. After you move your files and folders, check that they are no longer present in /mnt/sdcard. Then shutdown, remove the external SD card, reboot back into VEGAn 7.0.0-RC1 and again check if the stuff you moved has indeed disappeared from /mnt/sdcard.
But, before you do all this, send me the output I requested in post #14.
5. Your gTablet is not a refurbished or second-hand piece, right? Because, I see a difference in the make of the internal SD card between your tablet and mine.
Here's the relevant portion of the difference in kernel messages (the dmesg output) between your tablet and mine:
Code:
- mmc1: new high speed SDHC card at address 1234
- mmcblk2: mmc1:1234 SA16G 14.8 GiB
- mmcblk2: p1
- mmc2: new high speed SDHC card at address aaaa
- mmcblk3: mmc2:aaaa SE16G 14.8 GiB
+ mmc1: new high speed SDHC card at address aaaa
+ mmcblk2: mmc1:aaaa SU16G 14.8 GiB
+ mmcblk2: p1 p2
+ mmc2: new high speed MMC card at address 0001
+ mmcblk3: mmc2:0001 MAG4EM 14.9 GiB
The lines prefixed with '-' are from your kernel; the ones prefixed with '+' are mine. We can skip the lines which mention "mmcblk2"--this is the external SD card. The lines containing "mmcblk3"--which is how the Linux kernel names these SD cards (MMC block devices as the name suggests)--are interesting because they refer to the internal SD card. I, and 2 other people I've talked to on the board, have the same internal SD card: MAG4EM 14.9 GiB, which is an MMC card. You, however, have a different internal SD card: SE16G 14.8 GiB, which is a SDHC card instead of a MMC card.
So, you have a slightly different kind of gTablet as far as the internal SD card goes. However, from what I've been able to find out, SDHC cards are (normally) freely inter-changeable with MMC cards, so I'm not sure if this is the cause of your problems. But, keep this in mind anyway.

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1. You are running VEGAn-TAB 7.0.0 RC1 (aka VEGAn-TAB Ginger Edition), correct? YES.
2. Do you have ClockworkMod installed? And if so, which version? Ideally it should print this when you're in it: ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8. This seems to be the safest CWM for our gTablets according to the posts on the board. YES. Version 0.8.
3. You have tried the standard techniques to fix the SD card problem? Namely,
a) In CWM, formatted the internal SD card again (CWM > advanced > Partition Internal SD card). YES. Pretty much every trick there is on the forums, I have tried. Multiple times at that.
b) Ran Fix Permissions (CWM > advanced > Fix Permissions) YES
4. Do you have anything of value on the internal SD card (/mnt/sdcard), because we might have to blow it away completely soon (or, atleast try to ). So, back up the stuff from /mnt/sdcard to /mnt/sdcard2.
You can insert the external SD card (/mnt/sdcard2) back into the tablet and move, not copy, the stuff from /mnt/sdcard into /mnt/sdcard2. We're doing a test along with backing up your sdcard data. After you move your files and folders, check that they are no longer present in /mnt/sdcard. Then shutdown, remove the external SD card, reboot back into VEGAn 7.0.0-RC1 and again check if the stuff you moved has indeed disappeared from /mnt/sdcard. Nope, nothing I care about it on the SDcard. I have tried to manually format it using nvflash, accessing it via USB and just hitting delete on the PC. I even tried to do what you mentioned about, move the file over. It said it successfully did it and the file wasnt present when I checked, but open rebooting, as usual it went back in time.
But, before you do all this, send me the output I requested in post #14.
Here are the attachments from running it on the SD CARD. I will try and get ADB setup as well.
Also, no, I dont believe this is a refurb. I ordered it off Amazon and there it was specified as new.