flash_image no effect - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I don't normally need help like this, but this has left me baffled.
I have done this before without any problems but for some reason it doesn't want to work now.
I put flash_image into /system/bin/ and set its permissions to 777.
I have recovery.img on my SD-Card so its path is /sdcard/recovery.img
Over ADB (I have used a Terminal Emulator too) I enter adb shell, and then get super user permission 'su'. I then enter :
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
NO errors occur, but it just seems to 'skip' to the next line so I can enter another command. Normally it gives a few rows of 'mtd: writing block 0x00000054' etc...
So I thought... ok... maby it has flashed it, so I boot into recovery to find the stock recovery (no... I'm not flashing the stock recovery I'm trying to flash CWM)
Any help?

Nobody has had this problem?

similar problem
I have a similar problem on a newly rooted htc incredible, downgraded to 2.2. I used /data/local/flash_image to back up my data into a file /sdcard/data_backup.bin (a 154MB file, so I know there is a lot there)
When I tried to recover that file for the first time, I get these lines:
Code:
#/data/local/flash_image datadata /sdcard/data_backup.bin
mtd: not writing bad block at 0x______
mtd: not writing bad block at 0x______
...
That doesn't bring back my apps or data, I still have only the factory default apps (I still have music and pictures, but not the apps). When I try to flash_image again, nothing happens.
So, being a noob, I have lots of questions:
1. are the bad blocks on my phone memory or the sd card?
2. what effect do the bad blocks have?
3. Is there a way to fix/ignore the bad blocks with a defrag or something?
4. Are the bad blocks really the issue?
5. Is there another, perhaps manual way to get the data out of my data_backup.bin file other than flash_image?
6. It looks like my datadata partition is having a problem--can I reassign the partition away from bad blocks?

Related

Can someone get....

I'm in need of the stock kernal image and the clockwork recovery.zip file thingy.
NOT the zip verson of the kernal installer.
My situation, I was stupid and installed the voodoo thing, then for someone reason I tried to flash Froyo over Bionix with the voodoo kernal thing. It didnt work so I decided to deleted everything in clockwork. Then I was like omg I cant use clock work or boot my device (stuck on vibrant screen but I can get to odin and the stock recovery).
Later I read that voodoo stopped odin on the cm forum so I couldnt use it. Thats what some dude named viralblack said and theyre a mod so I'm guessing its true.
So my last 4 ideas are:
1)Try and flash a new Kernal Image in adb and hope it gets odin to work
2)Push the cw recovery to the phone
3)Run to the library and hope my computer is the problem
4)Pretend vb is wrong and keep trying the download screen thing
Sorry if this is in the wrong section but I guessed it could go here because I need some files....
flash Eugene's froyo that does not brick via Odin. he has instructions in his thread.
...and it's kernel NOT kernal people
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
kernel, sorry I guess?
Anyhow what if my pc doesnt notice the phone when its in download mode
RPGbig said:
kernel, sorry I guess?
Anyhow what if my pc doesnt notice the phone when its in download mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the Samsung drivers, download ODIN, and then just follow the directions in the ODIN thread
Wow
You guys have nothing better to do than flame a newb?
If you spent half the time helping instead of flaming there MIGHT just be some people with a bit more knowledge than they had yesterday.
If you cant say something constructive/helpful --Why bother!
fcbarca17 said:
Download the Samsung drivers, download ODIN, and then just follow the directions in the ODIN thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Push doesnt seem to work. Permission denied or something rather.
As I said in my first odin wont work, yes I did those things like 10 or so times.
You cant expect a newborn to know how to wipe themselves.
RPGbig said:
Push doesnt seem to work. Permission denied or something rather.
As I said in my first odin wont work, yes I did those things like 10 or so times.
You cant expect a newborn to know how to wipe themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean "push doesn't work". Are you trying to push a file via adb? If you are getting permission denied errors, that is because you either do not have root access/permissions to write to the location you are trying to push to, or because the location you are trying to push to is mounted as read-only.
If you indeed have the necessary permissions (i.e., root), then `adb remount` will re-mount the device's partitions as read-write. If adb does not allow you remount the partitions in this manner, it is because you do not have the permissions to perform the duty.
If anyone is going to give any further help, though, you need to give us a bit more information. Can you access the device via adb? Can you boot into either download or recovery? (If you have adb access, you can usually boot into either of those with `adb shell reboot download` or `adb shell reboot recovery`.) Have you attempted to flash anything via Odin? What is the exact wording of the error messages you are receiving?
If you don't provide information, you won't receive any help. Vague responses such as "Permission denied or something rather" are useless because something rather can be any number of things. Also, attempting things without reading all of the information available beforehand is another way to ensure that people will be hesitant to give you help; this forum already has threads about where to locate the stock kernel image.
Also, instead of positing what-ifs such as "Anyhow what if my pc doesnt notice the phone when its in download mode", why don't you try putting your device into download mode and attaching it to a Windows computer with the proper drivers installed and Odin running, and then ask what the next step might be after you have attempted to do something?
People get angry about members flaming newbies for posting mistakes and asking for help, but if newbies looked for answers and read all of the information available before doing something they didn't understand (or only partially understood), then this wouldn't be a problem in the first place.
rpcameron said:
What do you mean "push doesn't work". Are you trying to push a file via adb? If you are getting permission denied errors, that is because you either do not have root access/permissions to write to the location you are trying to push to, or because the location you are trying to push to is mounted as read-only.
If you indeed have the necessary permissions (i.e., root), then `adb remount` will re-mount the device's partitions as read-write. If adb does not allow you remount the partitions in this manner, it is because you do not have the permissions to perform the duty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Goalush Clockwork Recovery so I can flash Bionix.
What Happens:
1. Go into recovery
2. Connect to the phone with adb
3. I type 'adb push c:\update.zip /sdcard'
4. It says 'failed to copy `c:\update.zip` to `/sdcard/update.zip` : Permission denied
I type 'adb remount' its says ' remount failed: No such file or directory
rpcameron said:
If anyone is going to give any further help, though, you need to give us a bit more information. Can you access the device via adb? Can you boot into either download or recovery? (If you have adb access, you can usually boot into either of those with `adb shell reboot download` or `adb shell reboot recovery`.) Have you attempted to flash anything via Odin? What is the exact wording of the error messages you are receiving?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I can get into both.
I've download Froyo that doesnt brick. Unziped and got had the drivers from sansumg set up.
I usually type 'adb reboot download' to get into download mode for odin. Then when the phone shows the android guy with the shovel. Then my computer says that an unrecognized usb device has been connect.
This time I type 'adb shell reboot recovery' and its said
'-exce `/system/bin/sh` failed: No such file or directory (2) -'
rpcameron said:
If you don't provide information, you won't receive any help. Vague responses such as "Permission denied or something rather" are useless because something rather can be any number of things. Also, attempting things without reading all of the information available beforehand is another way to ensure that people will be hesitant to give you help; this forum already has threads about where to locate the stock kernel image.
Also, instead of positing what-ifs such as "Anyhow what if my pc doesnt notice the phone when its in download mode", why don't you try putting your device into download mode and attaching it to a Windows computer with the proper drivers installed and Odin running, and then ask what the next step might be after you have attempted to do something?
People get angry about members flaming newbies for posting mistakes and asking for help, but if newbies looked for answers and read all of the information available before doing something they didn't understand (or only partially understood), then this wouldn't be a problem in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RPGbig said:
Goalush Clockwork Recovery so I can flash Bionix.
What Happens:
1. Go into recovery
2. Connect to the phone with adb
3. I type 'adb push c:\update.zip /sdcard'
4. It says 'failed to copy `c:\update.zip` to `/sdcard/update.zip` : Permission denied
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to be rooted.. But why would you even take the hard way to use clockwork? Just download it from the market..?
I have odin with all the files that will get u to stock of ur phone. Also the froyo files does not brick. So now i exactly dont know what u need. go cows
I messed up my phone and its stuck in a bootloop. I want to put that recovery on my phone so I can flash a new rom.
RPGbig said:
I messed up my phone and its stuck in a bootloop. I want to put that recovery on my phone so I can flash a new rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your phone is stuck in a bootloop you need to flash your phone with odin
RPGbig said:
Goalush Clockwork Recovery so I can flash Bionix.
What Happens:
1. Go into recovery
2. Connect to the phone with adb
3. I type 'adb push c:\update.zip /sdcard'
4. It says 'failed to copy `c:\update.zip` to `/sdcard/update.zip` : Permission denied
I type 'adb remount' its says ' remount failed: No such file or directory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, if `adb remount` isn't working properly, then you have to manually instruct the system to remount the system partition as read-write. This is a little different from other Android devices, because Samsung insists on using their screwy RFS. On my device, the system partition resides at /dev/block/st19. If you can get an adb shell session, opened, you can verify it by running `mount`, and seeing which /dev node is assigned to /system. Then, manually remount the system partition with `mount -o remount,rw -t rfs /dev/block/st19 /system`; this must be done as root.
It does seem a bit odd that you are getting a permission denied error on /sdcard. Are you sure that /sdcard is mounted? You can verify the same way you check what /dev node holds you system partition. On my Vibrant, /sdcard is the mount point for /dev/block//vold/179:1 (yes, that is two slashes after block). So, the command to mount the internal SD card is `mount -o remount,rw -t vfat /dev/block//vold/179:1 /sdcard`.
Now those commands should ensure that you have both your system partition and SD card mounted as read-write. Now you can copy over the update.zip that contains ClockworkMod recovery to the root of your SD card (/sdcard) with `adb push drive:\path\to\recovery.zip /sdcard/update.zip`. I recommend specifying a destination filename for update.zip. Also, sometimes an adb push command requires the trailing / of a directory.
RPGbig said:
Yes, I can get into both.
I've download Froyo that doesnt brick. Unziped and got had the drivers from sansumg set up.
I usually type 'adb reboot download' to get into download mode for odin. Then when the phone shows the android guy with the shovel. Then my computer says that an unrecognized usb device has been connect.
This time I type 'adb shell reboot recovery' and its said
'-exce `/system/bin/sh` failed: No such file or directory (2) -'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This last statement looks like either your system partition is not mounted, or that it does not have a shell installed. From an adb shell session, check the /system/bin directory and see if there is indeed a shell binary there (either sh itself, or sh linked to another shell such as bash). If there is no /system, then it means that your system partition is not mounted, and you can follow the steps I previously mentioned to mount the system partition.
RPGbig said:
I messed up my phone and its stuck in a bootloop. I want to put that recovery on my phone so I can flash a new rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you boot into recovery using the VOL_DN and POWER method, or does the adb daemon ever come online during the bootloop? If so, then either boot into recovery from a powered-off state, or use the adb shell to boot it into recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=810130
rpcameron said:
OK, if `adb remount` isn't working properly, then you have to manually instruct the system to remount the system partition as read-write. This is a little different from other Android devices, because Samsung insists on using their screwy RFS. On my device, the system partition resides at /dev/block/st19. If you can get an adb shell session, opened, you can verify it by running `mount`, and seeing which /dev node is assigned to /system. Then, manually remount the system partition with `mount -o remount,rw -t rfs /dev/block/st19 /system`; this must be done as root.
It does seem a bit odd that you are getting a permission denied error on /sdcard. Are you sure that /sdcard is mounted? You can verify the same way you check what /dev node holds you system partition. On my Vibrant, /sdcard is the mount point for /dev/block//vold/179:1 (yes, that is two slashes after block). So, the command to mount the internal SD card is `mount -o remount,rw -t vfat /dev/block//vold/179:1 /sdcard`.
Now those commands should ensure that you have both your system partition and SD card mounted as read-write. Now you can copy over the update.zip that contains ClockworkMod recovery to the root of your SD card (/sdcard) with `adb push drive:\path\to\recovery.zip /sdcard/update.zip`. I recommend specifying a destination filename for update.zip. Also, sometimes an adb push command requires the trailing / of a directory.
This last statement looks like either your system partition is not mounted, or that it does not have a shell installed. From an adb shell session, check the /system/bin directory and see if there is indeed a shell binary there (either sh itself, or sh linked to another shell such as bash). If there is no /system, then it means that your system partition is not mounted, and you can follow the steps I previously mentioned to mount the system partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried 'adb root' and then it said 'adbd cannot run as root in production builds'
By shell session do you mean 'adb shell'? No, I dont believe that works because I get 'adbd cannot run as root in production builds'
When you mean 'shell installed' you do I have it installed on the phone? If it isnt is there anyway I could do it now?
`adb push drive:\path\to\recovery.zip /sdcard/update.zip` didnt work and gave me 'c:\update.zip' to '/sdcard/update.zip': Permission denied
Can I flash /system via my pc onto my phone? or Use the external sdcard instead of the internal?
Dude, if your phone is stuck in a bootloop, you HAVE TO FLASH IT VIA ODIN. There's no other work-around.
RPGbig said:
I tried 'adb root' and then it said 'adbd cannot run as root in production builds'
By shell session do you mean 'adb shell'? No, I dont believe that works because I get 'adbd cannot run as root in production builds'
When you mean 'shell installed' you do I have it installed on the phone? If it isnt is there anyway I could do it now?
`adb push drive:\path\to\recovery.zip /sdcard/update.zip` didnt work and gave me 'c:\update.zip' to '/sdcard/update.zip': Permission denied
Can I flash /system via my pc onto my phone? or Use the external sdcard instead of the internal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why did you try `adb root`? I don't quite understand that.
A shell session would be `adb shell`, yes. On your computer's command line, invoke `adb shell`. You are now in a shell session. What does the prompt look like? Is it "#" or "$". If it is a hash, then you have root access via adb. If it is a dollar sign, then you do not have root access; try running `su` from within the shell session. If the prompt does not change to a hash, then you are stuck for the moment, because you do not have root access via adb, and therefore nearly all of the adb commands will not work.
By "shell installed" I was referring to a shell interpreter installed on your handset. bash is the most commonly installed Linux shell, and sh is usually just a pointer to bash. If your handset does not have either /system/bin/sh or /system/bin/bash (or anything similar), then you have an incomplete system, and it got messed up along the way with something you did.
But, since it seems that you cannot gain root access through adb, and therefore cannot (re)mount your partitions, you are basically limited in your options. All you can really do is put your phone in download mode, and use Odin to reflash a complete system (including a kernel image). I would also recommend that you use the repartition option in Odin to make sure that your partitions are reformatted and you are essentially left with a wiped and clean handest to start with.
(Lack of root access via adb has severely limited your options. You are basically left with Odin as your only avenue of recourse, unless you are willing to disassemble your device to get to the internal SD card.)
Have you opened yours? Is it an actual (micro) sdcard that can be taken out like the external one?
I typed 'adb root because typing 'adb' showed this
adb root - restarts the adbd daemon with root permissions
so I guess that was what you ment by root.
When I type 'adb shell' all it gave was - exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: No such file or directory (2) -
You need to stop trying to do it the hard way and just use Odin. If your phone is not being recognized then you need the correct drivers. Once installed, you should be back up and running within 5 minutes. Stop lollygagging and fix your phone already.

[Q] semi-Bricked?? fix?

hi, i recieved a eris from a friend of mine with the intentions on fixing it and using it. when i power it on there's just a black backlit screen.. no splash, nothing. if i plug usb in it goes to a htc screen with 4 triangles in the corners. i've tried the ruu update and it gives an 110 error at the end saying something about files not found, i unhooked the usb and it went to a white screen with hboot 1.49 , n s-on n all that stuff.. and it showed info from the ruu, and it showed that the system and boot(or recovery, i cant remember exactly) failed and they were red. i can connect with fastboot but not with adb.. is there anything i can do to atleast get the phone working.. fastboot oem boot doesnt work for me, it just gives a long list of errors
fastboot will do nothing useful for you if you have the 1.49.0000 S-ON bootloader.
The basic definition of a brick for the Eris is this:
1.49.0000 S-ON bootloader + no recovery + non-booting OS = brick
So, let's review.
1) You have 1.49.0000 S-ON. There is no PB00IMG.zip available to you that can change that using Hboot (without performing some magic with a custom recovery first), and fastboot is worthless with S-ON. So, no go there.
2) You didn't mention (or your description was lacking detail) what happens when you try to go into the Hboot menu (cold start with Vol-Down+End). From there you might be able use the menu to try to launch the recovery boot, to see whether (a) it is the stock recovery, (b) it is a custom recovery, or (c) it fails to start. You should try that next.
If that doesn't work, try a cold start with Vol-Up + End. (You need to keep holding both the buttons down until the screen lights up). That is an alternate way to get to the recovery (when a 1.49.xxxx bootloader is on the phone).
If you have a "stock" recovery, you will see a splash screen with an image of the phone and a triangle with an exclamation point in it. (Pressing Vol-Up+End after you see that splash screen will show a blue menu). If you have Amon_RA's custom recovery, you will see a green menu.
3) If your kernel boots, but the OS is "hanging", there is a remote possibility that you can initiate a factory reset from the "hung" OS. This is a long shot, but you power up the phone normally and then press together Vol-Up+Send+End after waiting a couple of minutes. This might make it bootable. (As I said, "long shot". The fact that you have 1.49.0000 on the phone suggests that the prior owner tried some things - and apparently failed at it.)
bftb0
thanks for the response
i tried all of that just now and all i get is a black backlit screen unless i connect usb which gives me a black screen with HTC n four exclamation point triangles in the corners. and there isnt anything i can do from that screen and its bricked huh?
SoSicWiTiT said:
thanks for the response
i tried all of that just now and all i get is a black backlit screen unless i connect usb which gives me a black screen with HTC n four exclamation point triangles in the corners. and there isnt anything i can do from that screen and its bricked huh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not a very good sign. I will say, however, that it is very strange that you can get the phone into RUU mode but not have a working bootloader - those two observations are mutually exclusive.
For grins, you could check to see if perhaps your Vol-Up/Vol-Down keys are broken by doing the following:
- Cold start the phone by pressing Send + End simultaneously (make sure to press Send first so that you are not initiating a normal boot; hold both keys down until the screen lights up). Make sure you pull the battery and have the USB cable disconnected when you pull the battery before you try this (to insure that the phone is "really" off).
If that works, the phone will be in Fastboot mode. You might be able to get into Hboot (but not recovery if your Vol-Up/Vol-down keys are broken) at that point with the command
Code:
fastboot reboot-bootloader
from a USB-connected PC.
Under normal circumstances, you can navigate from Fastboot Mode to Hboot and then from there to the Recovery boot - but this requires working Vol-Up or Vol-Down keys.
There is a very, very slim chance that if you can get Hboot launched this way (that is "fastboot reboot-bootloader")... and try to apply the Leak-V3 "PB00IMG.zip" file. If I recall correctly, you don't need Vol-Up/Vol-Down to apply an HTC PB00IMG.zip file - just the trackball press.
I'm not optimistic though - I think that the Leak-V3 (and all other Leak PB00IMG.zip) files probably will just fail with "Main Version is Older Messages".
As for other avenues of approach, there are no publicly known exploits of the RUU mode (= oem-78 mode).
Good luck
well
actually after staying up n working at it for 48 hours, i'm halfway done with a solution...and maybe the first ruu exploit.
i decided to run the 2.1 RUU and after it does its install wizard thing, i navigated to the temp folder where it installed all the files. i took the root rom (pb00img.zip) n renamed it to "rom.zip" then over wrote the version in the temp folder and started the ruu (clicked next and what not).. it failed as usual with error 110.. but afterward i noticed my phone says
pb00100 xc ENG S-OFF
HBOOT-1.49.2000
and before i did the file swap and ruu it said
pb00100 XC ENG S-ON
HBOOT-1.49.0000
so now i might be able to flash a custom recovery thru fastboot since i have s-off now
if not.. still.. its progress
Hmmm, interesting.
Whether or not that qualifies as new behavior sort of depends on what your "friend" did to the phone prior to getting it into the nearly bricked state. If they had previously run the jcase "Flash any RUU" method, then the Root ROM would have "taken" with the Hboot method... although in your case, since you "couldn't get there from here", my hat's off to you for a clever way of making the best of what you have!
Since you have the S-off bootloader, you might be tempted to direct-boot Amon_Ra without even bothering to flash it:
Code:
fastboot boot recovery-RA-Eris-v1.6.2.img
to see if your phone springs to life... congrats if you see a menu!
bftb0 said:
Since you have the S-off bootloader, you might be tempted to direct-boot Amon_Ra without even bothering to flash it:
Code:
fastboot boot recovery-RA-Eris-v1.6.2.img
to see if your phone springs to life... congrats if you see a menu!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i did that right after i seen it say "S-OFF". i get to the menu but when i try to flash a rom it gives me an error after formatting system.
Code:
E:Can't symlink /system/xbin/arp
E:Failure at line 65:
symlink /system/xbin/busybox SYS
TEM:xbin/arp
and after hours or more reading, everything is pointing to the boot and system partitions being corrupted by a bad flash of some sort.
i think i might have hit the end of the road..
EDIT
i managed to somehow get all the regular hboot, fastboot, n recovery to work and flashed amon_ra and can get to it from volup+power.. even got the 3 skateboarding droids on normal power on..
but cant flash any roms , from amon's ( gives the error above )or pb00img from hboot (at the end has "failed-PU" next to system..)
any idea's?
I have a couple ideas (still typing them up) ... in the meantime, if you boot Amon_RA and then open up a shell from the PC ("adb shell") and then
- check the output of "dmesg" to insure that the MTD partition table is still intact; you should see something like this towards the beginning of the boot log:
Code:
NAND_EBI2_ECC_BUF_CFG: 1ff
flash_id: 5501bcec size 20000000
Creating 6 MTD partitions on "msm_nand":
0x00001ff60000-0x000020000000 : "misc"
0x000002c60000-0x000003160000 : "recovery"
0x000003160000-0x0000033e0000 : "boot"
0x0000033e0000-0x00000dde0000 : "system"
0x00000dde0000-0x000015fe0000 : "cache"
0x000015fe0000-0x00001ff60000 : "userdata"
- try mounting (in turn) each of /system, /data, /sdcard, e.g.:
Code:
mount /sdcard
mount /data
mount /system
/cache should already be mounted.
Which mounts fail?
bftb0
The scenario you describe has come up before - or at least very similar symptoms.
Note that Nandroid restore will fail because it uses standard Unix tools such as "rm" to clear filesystems, so if a partition will not mount because of a corruption issue, nandroid will fail. I suppose that the same thing is true of the /sbin/recovery utility running underneath the booted recovery kernel (but I have not read the source code to verify that it is attempting to "mount" the filesystems first - if it didn't do that, it would need to understand the raw format details of yaffs2, and I think that is a stretch).
Unfortunately the filesystem formatting tools provided by Amon_RA do not include tools for repairing the mtd (NAND flash) - they are for the SD card/ extN filesystems. It is my impression, however, that the "yaffs2" filesystem is "format free" - meaning that a clean (Flash memory) "yaffs2" filesystem is simply a bunch of zero'ed pages - no superblocks, or Inode lists, - none of that. This suggests that the equivalent of "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mtd/mtdNNN bs=..." could "repair" a yaffs2 file system by simply wiping it... but let's try something a little less crude than that (see below).
I had one of the file systems in my phone in this state at one time and I was able to repair the problem by reflashing the Root ROM - otoh, XDA user "stick" tried this and it seemed to produce a permanent brick in his case, so I am reluctant to recommend you do that. (You might, however, want to perform the jcase "Flash any RUU" hack to the "misc" partition so that you have flexibility to apply any PB00IMG.zip file)
Because the "flash_image" tool (in /sbin/flash_image in Amon_RA) writes both boot images and yaffs2 image files to arbitrary mtd partitions (and raw binary files to "misc"!), there is a chance that it is merely the equivalent of "dd for the MTD device" - so that you could "repair" a corrupted yaffs2 filesystem by simply overwriting it with a valid yaffs2 image file. The repair strategy here would be to:
- Unpack any PB00IMG.zip file and move the contents to a folder on the SD card. (Verify the md5sums of the files on the SD card before you use them - use this reference)
- Use "flash_image" from Amon_RA to flash the corresponding image file for the offending ("won't mount") partition, e.g.
Code:
flash_image system /sdcard/unpacked-PB00IMG/system.img
If this succeeds, see if you can "mount /system".
bftb0
PS Don't try flashing "system.img" using fastboot. However it is engineered (by the HTC bootloader) it will fail due to space issues. It is possible that the HTC bootloader uses the /cache partition to temporarily stage the file, which is only 130 MB compared to 159.5 MB for the /system partition - but whatever the explanation, the experimental result is that that on the Eris, you can not flash /system from fastboot. All the other partitions, no problem - but not the /system partition.
thanks,
i tried what you suggested and it let me mount all 3 of those partitions, and i tried using flash_image to flash the system.img i extracted and in return got a million and one errors..
starting with mtd: ECC error soft 0 hard 1 (continuing until about a hundred something)
then
mtd: not writing bad block at (basically the entire /system hex range)
then finally
error writing system: no space left on device
SoSicWiTiT said:
thanks,
i tried what you suggested and it let me mount all 3 of those partitions, and i tried using flash_image to flash the system.img i extracted and in return got a million and one errors..
starting with mtd: ECC error soft 0 hard 1 (continuing until about a hundred something)
then
mtd: not writing bad block at (basically the entire /system hex range)
then finally
error writing system: no space left on device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was the partition table information correct? (I have seen innocuous "write error" messages on my phone, but they only occurred on regular block boundaries - not for every page; but in that case I don't think I ever saw an "out of space" message. Assuming everything was performed correctly, your phone is behaving as if large blocks of flash memory are being skipped due to "bad blocks")
Did you unmount the filesystems prior to doing the writes?
That is very mystifying.
If you can mount /system, or /data, what happens when you go in and do a
Code:
mount /system
cd /system
rm -rf /system/*
mount /data
cd /data
rm -rf /data/*
cd /
If those succeed, unmount everything
Code:
cd /
for x in /system /data /sdcard ; do
umount $x
done
Run an Amon_RA "wipe data/factory reset", and try and flash a ROM.
???
bftb0
One other thing you could try - I have never used it, so I don't know what effect it will have - is to use fastboot mode to erase the "system" and "data" partitions, and see if that has any effect on your ability to flash a ROM.
In fastboot (boot w/ Send+End) mode:
Code:
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase data
And then afterward boot into Amon_RA and try flashing a ROM.
I suppose you could also erase the boot partition this way, but you probably ought to do them one at a time just to minimize erase operations - and then if an operation fails in Amon_RA, examine the log file at
Code:
adb shell cat /cache/recovery/log
to see if it provides further elaboration on the nature of the error(s).
bftb0
Something else to try:
The symptoms you have (esp. since it appears that /system and /data will mount correctly) appear as if you "run out of space" when flashing ROMs to NAND. I suppose that could occur if somehow a bunch of pages in flash memory got (erroneously) marked invalid. Unless there is some means to clear flash memory so that bad page indicators are cleared, there is no way to reclaim those pages. (It is my impression that brand new NAND flash chips are already programmed with bad pages pre-marked)
It would be nice if the partition erase function of fastboot actually performed the page reclaim/retesting/re-marking operation - but there is no way to know whether that happens, as the HTC bootloader acts as the interpreter of "fastboot commands" passed over the wire (USB). It is free to implement whatever bad page management strategy that HTC desires - and frankly, a "never reclaim bad pages" policy is fairly reasonable when you consider that most consumer phones are flashed perhaps only 3 or 4 times in their lifetime - if that.
Something to try: if you perform a manual wipe of either /system or /data (after mounting them), do a "df" to see how much free space the kernel thinks they have - for a normal phone, that should be pretty darn close to the partition size. E.G.
Code:
> adb shell
# mount /system
# df /system
# mount /data
# df /data
# umount /system
# umount /data
# exit
>
If it seems "short" by a substantial amount, try installing a "small footprint" ROM, such as CELBFroyo 3.2 - it only uses about 100216 KB (97.9 MB).
Just a thought; I realize this is grasping at straws, but there is little for you to lose (which you knew right from the get-go).
bftb0
wow seriously i appreciate all the help you've provided , you need a donate button lol.
the system partition is 66% used (bad blocks im guessing) after a format leaving 59,648 useable
but the data partition is fine with 1% used. and 162,176 usable
but i havent lost all hope yet and this is entertaining me.
custom mtd maybe..swap /data to mtdblock3 (the bad one, system) and and /system to mtdblock5 (where data currently is).. or use a memory card idk?
here's where i got the idea
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=717874
SoSicWiTiT said:
the system partition is 66% used (bad blocks im guessing) after a format leaving 59,648 useable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy crap!
For grins, could you do a "cat /proc/yaffs" and post up the section for the "system" partition? (You need /system to be mounted when you run that command).
Here's what mine looks like after performing an erase with fastboot, booting into Amon_RA, and then mounting it:
Code:
Device 1 "system"
startBlock......... 0
endBlock........... 1359
totalBytesPerChunk. 2048
nDataBytesPerChunk. 2048
chunkGroupBits..... 0
chunkGroupSize..... 1
nErasedBlocks...... 1359
nReservedBlocks.... 5
blocksInCheckpoint. 0
nTnodesCreated..... 0
nFreeTnodes........ 0
nObjectsCreated.... 200
nFreeObjects....... 96
nFreeChunks........ 86976
nPageWrites........ 0
nPageReads......... 0
nBlockErasures..... 0
nGCCopies.......... 0
garbageCollections. 0
passiveGCs......... 0
nRetriedWrites..... 0
nShortOpCaches..... 10
nRetireBlocks...... 0
eccFixed........... 0
eccUnfixed......... 0
tagsEccFixed....... 0
tagsEccUnfixed..... 0
cacheHits.......... 0
nDeletedFiles...... 0
nUnlinkedFiles..... 0
nBackgroudDeletions 0
useNANDECC......... 1
isYaffs2........... 1
inbandTags......... 0
I wonder what your "nRetireBlocks" count is.
I only poked around in the HTC "msm_7k" kernel code a little while ago for some clues, so I'm no expert. There does not seem to be any useful knobs to turn by using mount options.
Because Flash filesystems have to deal with new bad pages as they develop, I'll bet the phone could be completely fixed if there was a way to clear the bad pages - ( if they were actually bad, then on the first write use the write would fail, the pages would be marked bad, and the FS driver would recover gracefully - just as normally happens).
But as you say, that would probably require a custom kernel at the minimum with patches to the mtd driver. I do wonder if the kernel driver for the MTD device exposes any hooks (ioctls, etc) that would let you write a (privileged) userspace app which could wipe the raw pages status info.
This YAFFs doc suggests that certain tuning operations can be performed by writing options to /proc/yaffs, including control of tracing. One of the things that seems possible to control is the number of write attempts per page.
I'll have a look at your URL; no promises, though.
bftb0
[ Edit ] PS - do you have any idea what your friend did to get the phone in this state? Maybe flashing a ROM with really, really low battery? It seems hard to believe that an actual hardware problem occurred - moreover, this is not the first phone where very similar symptoms were exhibited.
I'm wondering if a busybox with mtd-utils compiled in might be of some assistance; in particular the "flash_eraseall" tool. (Perhaps use it with the "-N" option?)
lookit recent versions of the "flash_erase.c" code (excerpted from above Git link):
Code:
static void display_help (void)
{
printf("Usage: %s [options] MTD_DEVICE <start block> <block count>\n"
"Erase blocks of the specified MTD device.\n"
"Specify a count of 0 to erase to end of device.\n"
"\n"
" -j, --jffs2 format the device for jffs2\n"
[COLOR=green][B] " -N, --noskipbad don't skip bad blocks\n"[/B][/COLOR]
" -u, --unlock unlock sectors before erasing\n"
" -q, --quiet display progress messages\n"
" --silent same as --quiet\n"
" --help display this help and exit\n"
" --version output version information and exit\n",
PROGRAM_NAME);
}
(I don't have that version of busybox - I see references made to it in a few posts here on XDA, but I don't know it's origin or where to get it)
bftb0
[ Edit ] looked around for a bit and couldn't find anything pre-built; looks like you might have to build mtd-utils using the NDK for Android. Time for bed for me; here's the link to the mtd-utils project.
i found out that my friend installed rom manager n clockwork recovery and did a flash that failed then ran the 2.1 ruu thinking it would fix it. and that's how the phone got to the state i started with.
i actually got a rom to flash (kinda) with some info from that link i posted. i patched my recovery with files from that link which gave it a custom mtd (table) , i shrunk cache and used the extra space to make up for the bad blocks in system and bind mounted cache to and ext partition on my sd card... and all would be great BUT i realized that the boot partition is corrupt too.. ( which makes sense, since clockwork is known to corrupt both)
so my solution was to flash boot.img to recovery and just boot normally with volup+powerand use amon ra by "fastboot boot " if i need to.
but i cant flash the zip file that patches the kernel to boot using the custom mtd because it's script copies,unpacks,patches then repacks boot.img from /boot but my boot.img is on recovery so im either going to have to edit the .sh in the zip or have someone do the whole custom mtd thing and use the same mtdpartmap.txt and have them nandbackup then give me the boot.img from the backup folder so i can flash it to recovery.
OR have someone manually patch my boot.img file... but i highly doubt i'm going to be able to figure that out or find anyone todo it.
and i'll post the system section of that command in a second.
SoSicWiTiT said:
i found out that my friend installed rom manager n clockwork recovery and did a flash that failed then ran the 2.1 ruu thinking it would fix it. and that's how the phone got to the state i started with.
i actually got a rom to flash (kinda) with some info from that link i posted. i patched my recovery with files from that link which gave it a custom mtd (table) , i shrunk cache and used the extra space to make up for the bad blocks in system and bind mounted cache to and ext partition on my sd card... and all would be great BUT i realized that the boot partition is corrupt too.. ( which makes sense, since clockwork is known to corrupt both)
so my solution was to flash boot.img to recovery and just boot normally with volup+powerand use amon ra by "fastboot boot " if i need to.
but i cant flash the zip file that patches the kernel to boot using the custom mtd because it's script copies,unpacks,patches then repacks boot.img from /boot but my boot.img is on recovery so im either going to have to edit the .sh in the zip or have someone do the whole custom mtd thing and use the same mtdpartmap.txt and have them nandbackup then give me the boot.img from the backup folder so i can flash it to recovery.
OR have someone manually patch my boot.img file... but i highly doubt i'm going to be able to figure that out or find anyone todo it.
and i'll post the system section of that command in a second.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to say, holy crap that's a lot of work - but then I've been struggling for a couple hours trying to build mtd-utils (or at least "flash_erase"). I've got all the Makefiles happy (by dropping non-essential parts of the build that require "libuuid"), but now I'm struggling with the linker/toolchain issues to try to avoid the hassles of dynamic link libraries for Amon_RA.
I still think that whatever it is that Clockwork does to get all those flash pages marked as if they are bad is a software error or some sort - so that if you can get
flash_eraseall -N
to do its thing on mtd3, you will recover all those "bad" pages in the system partition. (It is hard to believe that massive physical damage to eeprom would only show up in one or two logical partitions).
Cheers.
bftb0
FWIW,
SoSicWiTiT said:
OR have someone manually patch my boot.img file... but i highly doubt i'm going to be able to figure that out or find anyone todo it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have a look at this android-dls.com tutorial if you haven't already seen it. Use "split_bootimg.pl" to split apart the boot image into the kernel and compressed ramdisk, and then the ramdisk is just a gzipp'ed "cpio" archive.
The hardest bit about this is finding a verstion of "mkbootimg" - there are some floating around on XDA, or you can build it from the github sources.
It's not too bad, the only secret sauce is the load address for the Eris, which is 0x11200000
This is an excerpt from a shell script I use for repacking boot images - it's the essential part (everything else in the script is just glue).
Code:
mkbootimg --kernel ${_KFIL} --ramdisk new-${_RAMDGZ} --cmdline 'no_console_suspend=1 console=null' --base 0x11200000 --output new-${_BNAM}
i edited the shell script thats supposed to patch it to the best of my abilities (changed all boot.img txt to recovery.img) and it has mkbootimg and everything it needs in the zip, so im going to replace the script in the zip and try flashing it...
and something weird just happened.. i forgot i put boot.img for my rom on /recovery . so in shell just now, i typed reboot recovery expecting amon RA and the phone booted into the os???
even though i patched amon ra with custom mtd to install the rom ( system :300,000 - enough to skip bad blocks, cache: 30,000 ) my boot.img is mtd is set to see 176,000 right?
EDIT
i think i flashed that zip with my version of the script earlier to see what happened and i guess it worked..
Code:
C:\droid\tools>adb shell
sh-3.2# df /system
df /system
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/block/mtdblock3 307200 229296 77904 75% /system
sh-3.2# df /cache
df /cache
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/block/mtdblock4 61440 36500 24940 59% /cache
sh-3.2# df /data
df /data
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/block/mtdblock5 101888 2608 99280 3% /data
sh-3.2#

[Q] Clockworkmod hanging on backing up system...

I apologize if this has been covered in another thread but I have been doing multiple searches on XDA and in google trying to find a solution but so far no luck. Long time reader of XDA but first time poster.
Details -
I successfully used NVFLASH, loaded Clockworkmod 0.8 and loaded Vega-Ntab gingerbread edition (stable RC1 I believe its called). I have been running this for a month or so with no major issues but I want to test out Vega-Ntab 5.1 and Brilliant Corners. Thinking of going with 5.1 for the hardware acceleration for gaming etc. Oh I also received my new Gtab with bootloader 1.2 and I downgraded that to 1.1 successfully before loading Vega-Ntab gingerbread. I think I can handle loading the new roms etc (may have to switch to 1.2 for Brilliant Corners I believe) but I want to do a full backup before doing so with clockworkmod so I can go back to gingerbread if I decide I liked it the best. But clockworkmod will not do a backup for me. I have tried multiple times and it always freezes/hangs at the same point. On the screen I see
ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8
SD card space free: 9697MB
Backing up boot...
Backing up recovery...
Backing up system... and here it will go no further
I have let it set at that point for hours but nothing changes. I checked the clockworkmod backup folder and it has a folder dated the current date of the backup but the contents is only boot.img and recovery.img and nothing else so I think that confirms it really isnt completing the backup.
I am unsure what the cause or solution to this is. I thought about reloading clockworkmod 0.8 but I don't think I can do this since it's already loaded. I thought about loading a newer version but from what I have read gingerbread and the other 1.1 roms will not work with anything but 0.8. I could just do a melt and repour and just go back to stock level and load 5.1 or Brilliant Corners but then I lose any apps I have loaded. I am not concerned about the majority of them but I have loaded a couple good ones as of late from Amazon that were the free app of the day and I am unsure whether I can "reload" these at a later date without being forced to pay. I have also paid for a couple games but I am assuming I can reload those without issue. I did back up all of the apps I paid for and amazon games that I loaded that I got for free (normally have to pay) with titanium backup. So assuming I can restore these with titanium backup after loading brilliant corners or vegan 5.1 then I guess the only thing that I lose by not being able to do a full backup/restore with clockwork is that if I want to go back to gingerbread then I have to start from scratch for reloading the rom.
So is the problem I am having running the back up successfully a known issue that I just can't seem to find a discussion thread about?
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
Boot into ClockworkMod Recovery and get me a dmesg output (kernel messages) using adb. See this post for how.
Attach the dmesg.txt to your next post.
thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I am not having any luck getting the dmesg.txt file for you. I downloaded the iso image for Knoppix 6 but when I boot off the disc it starts processing everything but then it gives an error "the file /mnt-system/knoppix/knoppix is broken. then after about 30 secs it gives the following
/sbin/init: line 76: syntax error near unexpected token '/usr/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts/a010013l.pfb'
/sbin/init: line 76: '/URWGothicL-Book (usr/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts/a010013l.pfb);
I will try and download the iso from a different site and burn another disc.
I also tried a different route and loaded SDK manager to get to ADB by that route. I am running windows 7 if that makes a difference. I am not 100% sure when I am supposed to run the adb command line you listed. Do I have my gtab running clockworkmod and then mount USB so it will show up on my pc? Do I have to try and perform a backup and then run the adb command when it freezes? I don't think I can do that because if I navigate away from the mount USB it automatically unmounts it. Anyway adb doesn't appear to be seeing the gtab anyway. When I run the SDK manager it does not find any android devices. If I run the "adb devices" command it comes back with no devices. So I am not sure what basic thing I am missing to get adb or SDK to recognize the gtab.
I apologize for my lack of knowledge on adb. Your first link says if I have adb already set up to run adb shell dmesg > dmesg.txt while in clockworkmod so I am assuming I do this after mounting USB to get the pc to recognize the gtab.
I will try download and burn another iso image from a different location and see if I can boot off a disc. Assuming this time it is successful do I run the ADB command you listed in the second link while the GTab is mounted to USB and recognized by the pc? Hopefully ADB will see it if I can get this to work.
*update* I downloaded the ISO image from a different location. When I went to the folder it was downloaded to I noticed that the first ISO image I downloaded was only approx 100MB in size instead of 700+ mb. So I am re-burning another disc. Hopefully this will allow me to boot properly.
*update #2* I was able to successfully boot off of the new disc. Now I just need to figure out how and where to enter the adb command line in your link ($ sudo ./adb shell dmesg > dmesg.txt) i tried this using the Shell option but it says command not found. If I choose the File Manager option and navigate to where the adb file is that was in your linked zip file it just prompts me to edit/copy/move/rename or delete the file. I am out of time tonight so I will work on it more tomorrow. The good news though is that when I use File Manager the Gtab is listed so it is at least recognized. Now I just need to figure out how to get the dmesg.txt file you request but making some progress... I think
ashton555 said:
*update #2* I was able to successfully boot off of the new disc. Now I just need to figure out how and where to enter the adb command line in your link ($ sudo ./adb shell dmesg > dmesg.txt)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Step by step instructions in this post.
thanks a bunch. Those instructions were easy to follow and made sense. I have never used linux before but alot of it reminded me back of my old unix days (terminal commands that is).
Anyway I think I did everything correct and I am now attaching the txt file.
Thanks again for your help and patience with this Linux newbie let me know if I need to provide any additional information.
ashton555 said:
Anyway I think I did everything correct and I am now attaching the txt file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You did indeed. And I can't see any obvious problems with the NAND-flash device, judging from the kernel messages.
Since you've already tried to take backups using CWM before, that action should've created a log file. This file might be useful. Retrieve it. Inside an xterm window on Linux, run:
Code:
hostpc$ [B]sudo ./adb pull /cache/recovery/log recovery.log[/B]
Attach this "recovery.log" file.
Next, try to read, one by one, the NAND flash partitions that CWM usually backs up. Here's an example run on my gTablet:
Code:
hostpc$ [B]sudo ./adb shell[/B] [I]Get into the shell in CWM[/I]
~ # [B]dump_image boot /dev/null[/B]
~ # [B]dump_image recovery /dev/null[/B]
~ # [B]dump_image system /dev/null[/B]
mtd: read error at 0x029a0000 (I/O error)
mtd: read error at 0x02da0000 (I/O error)
~ # [B]dump_image cache /dev/null[/B]
~ #
Type in only the commands in bold.
As you can see, my "system" partition on the NAND flash has errors (and the kernel also report this when it boots), but, the command will not hang. According to the kernel message that you just supplied, you don't have any errors on your onboard NAND flash, so, theoretically, you shouldn't get any errors at all. But, we'll see if the dump_image command hangs when reading system just like CWM does.
And if the dump_image command does hang somewhere, we can see if formatting just that system partition will get it working again. There is a utility on this board which we could use for doing that, though I've never tried it.
I successfully completed the next two tasks. I am attaching the recovery.log file. Note I had an issue copying the .log file to where I could access it in win7 (for some reason I cant attach a file while in linux). I opened it with a word processor and then saved it to my c drive which messed up the formatting. So I opened it in Word to get the formatting correct and saved it as a txt file so thats why the attached file is recovery.txt. Let me know if it messed it up to where its not useable.
On the second task
~ # dump_image boot /dev/null
this worked fine and quick
~ # dump_image recovery /dev/null
this worked fine and quick
~ # dump_image system /dev/null
this worked but took maybe 10-15 seconds
~ # dump_image cache /dev/null
this one gave an I/O error but completed the dump
mtd: read error at 0x00080000 (I/O error)
ashton555 said:
Let me know if it messed it up to where its not useable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The file is just fine... and I can't see any error messages in it.
~ # dump_image system /dev/null
this worked but took maybe 10-15 seconds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is normal -- "system" partition is ~200MB.
~ # dump_image cache /dev/null
this one gave an I/O error but completed the dump
mtd: read error at 0x00080000 (I/O error)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This also looks like normal behaviour, but, I'm puzzled that the kernel did not report any bad blocks on this partition. Check if this is a transient error:
1. Repeat the "dump_image cache ..." command a few times and see if the I/O error location is the same.
2. Try to "fix" the error on the cache partition by using the "wipe cache partition" menu item in CWM. Do this a couple of times.
3. Run the "dump_image cache ..." command again.
4. Attempt another full system backup using CWM.
If step 4 fails, we'll see if the writing of the backup to the sdcard is the problem, because the reading seems to be completing without any hangs as of now.
BTW, the most important partitions are all being read fine. The "cache" partition is not that important -- it can be empty (but not corrupt) each time the system boots and only the initial bootup might go a little slower.
And, if, in the end of all this, you can't use CWM at all, you can still make a full system backup using nvflash and a few Unix commands.
1. Repeat the "dump_image cache ..." command a few times and see if the I/O error location is the same
....i did the dump 4 times and it always gave the same I/O location
2. Try to "fix" the error on the cache partition by using the "wipe cache partition" menu item in CWM. Do this a couple of times
.... I wiped the cache 4 times successsfully
3. Run the "dump_image cache ..." command again.
.... same I/O error location
4. Attempt another full system backup using CWM
.... still freezing at backing up system
So I guess I need to try and do the backup with NVFlash and unix/linux commands? If you have a link on how to do that I will give it a try or I can search for it and see if there is a discussion thread on it.
Thanks again for your help and trying to resolve this
Question - if I started over from scratch and went back to stock and then loaded vegan gingerbread would this issue possibly correct itself? Also more importantly if I back up some apps using titanium backup before I go back to stock can I then restore them with Titanium once I have vegan ginger back loaded? Also if I loaded vegan 5.1.1 could I restore the same apps I backed up in vegan ginger? Hopefully that made sense. I don't mind starting from scratch if I need to I just wasnt sure if I would permanently lose certain apps I have loaded. It's only about 10 apps I care about
*update* - well I think I am going to be forced to start over anyway. After wiping the cache a couple times and attempting another backup (froze again at backing up system) I now can't get the gtab to boot completely. It is stuck at the flashing vegan ginger edition screen. It flashes for awhile then the screen goes black then it goes back to the flashing screen again. I know you said it would take longer to boot up the first time after wiping the cache but was doing the flash cycling for over an hour which I assume is too long? I tried wiping the cache again and I also wiped the davlik cache as someone suggested in another thread but it is back to being stuck in the flashing screen loop. Assuming I do have to start over can I at least boot to CWM, mount ext USB and copy off the titanium backup files I made so I can restore some of the paid for apps?
ashton555 said:
3. Run the "dump_image cache ..." command again.
.... same I/O error location
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like a permanent I/O error in the cache partition, then. But, I don't understand why it is "system" which is hanging on backup.
4. Attempt another full system backup using CWM
.... still freezing at backing up system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get me the recovery.log.
So I guess I need to try and do the backup with NVFlash and unix/linux commands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll think this over during the weekend. In the mean-time, read through this thread. You can safely take a complete backup of your tablet while I do a bit of experimentation on a clockworkmod-like solution. But, I suspect that you may not be able to backup "cache" using nvflash going by the I/O errors. I have errors on my "system" partition and a nvflash backup fails on it, but CWM doesn't have any problems backing up and restoring.
Question - if I started over from scratch and went back to stock and then loaded vegan gingerbread would this issue possibly correct itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably not. But, see this thread. It shows you how to wipe all the partitions on the NAND flash device. We don't need to format the entire NAND flash. We can see if doing a few repeated formats of the "system" and "cache" partitions gets CWM working again, if you're willing to wipe "system"--you will have to load Vegan-Ginger right after this.
Also more importantly if I back up some apps using titanium backup before I go back to stock can I then restore them with Titanium once I have vegan ginger back loaded? Also if I loaded vegan 5.1.1 could I restore the same apps I backed up in vegan ginger? Hopefully that made sense. I don't mind starting from scratch if I need to I just wasnt sure if I would permanently lose certain apps I have loaded. It's only about 10 apps I care about
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't used Titanium backup so I can't say how well it works, but, judging from the reports that other users have made, what you're suggesting should work without any problems. User downloaded applications are stored either on /data or on /mnt/sdcard (for apps moved to SD card). Since your SD cards don't seem to be affected, you can go ahead with Titanium backup.
ashton555 said:
Assuming I do have to start over can I at least boot to CWM, mount ext USB and copy off the titanium backup files I made so I can restore some of the paid for apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, copy the files in CWM, then just do a "wipe data/factory reset" and see if it boot loop goes away.
But, before you do that, gimme a half-hour and I'll send you commands which you can use to save the files in /data and /sdcard. I just have to compile and test a new version of busybox. The tar command already present in CWM doesn't seem to work properly for me.
Attaching the recovery file
I am running the nvflash back up right now.
It successfully did part-1.img through part-11.img with no errors. The last thing it said though is
"rem CACHE PARTITION BACKUP NOT NEEDED
"nvflash.exe" -r --read 12 part-12.img
press enter to continue
Is this maybe because I wiped the cache and it's empty?
I looked on my ext SD card and the titanium backup files are there (except for a couple I had forgotten do ....) so I think I am okay for going back to square one if need be.
I will go ahead (tomorrow probably) try doing what is described thread about wiping partitions on the NAND device and just formating the system and cache partitions. I am assuming that at this point I guess its okay to go ahead and try to load vegan tab 5.1.1 instead of ginger again since I wanted to try out 5.1.1 anyway or if you have any experience with it would you recommend Brilliant Corners instead since its a newer rom. I think I will have to reload the 1.2 bootloader which is okay.
ashton555 said:
Attaching the recovery file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No errors in there.
The last thing it said though is
"rem CACHE PARTITION BACKUP NOT NEEDED
"nvflash.exe" -r --read 12 part-12.img
press enter to continue
Is this maybe because I wiped the cache and it's empty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think so. The cache partition isn't that important anyway, so it can be skipped.
I will go ahead (tomorrow probably) try doing what is described thread about wiping partitions on the NAND device and just formating the system and cache partitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would suggest that you copy the Titanium backed-up apps safely away immediately, then format just the system and cache partitions as per that thread. You will need to be in APX mode to use nvflash.
Immediately after the nvflash, (since the system partition is now gone), boot into CWM, then do a factory reset, repartition the internal sdcard, copy the Vegan-5.1.1 update file onto the now clean sdcard through the PC and then flash it. This should give you a clean slate.
Then check if you can do a backup using CWM. If you still can't, then I'll see if a solution can be devised to do partial backups.
And, I have tried neither Vegan* nor Brilliant Corners, so the choice is up to you.
Sorry, my test commands aren't working so I can't send you those commands I promised to back up your /data and /system--I suspect a bad USB cable.

Help performing data recovery after self-inflicted wipe

Greetings all,
This is a fully should-have-had-more-coffee-before-attempting scenario, but hoping there's still a way I can get data back.
*Backstory*
Have a Pixel 2 XL. Decided to try out Android P beta through the opt-in. Used it for a while, decided there were too many bugs that affected my daily usage, opted-out of Beta. What I didn't realize was that after downgrading back to Android O, the phone would perform a factory wipe on the /userdata folder. There's a specific subfolder on that partition that I'm hoping I can do a data recovery on.
*The Story so Far*
After spending a day googling and coming up to multiple XDA posts & few blog entries about data recovery on android, I have done the following.
- gain root devices using Magisk to flash patched boot image
- found that the /userdata is located at /dev/block/sda13 symlinked from /dev/block/platform/soc/.../by-name/userdata
- see that the most probable way of getting files back is to pull the entire partition over as a raw file, then use TestDisk (or qPhotoRec) to try and perform a data recover on the file as you would a normal drive, since there are few, if any, tools that will run recovery directly on the device.
*The Problem*
The research led me to attempting to run the following command as a binary safe transfer of the partition.
Code:
adb exec-out "su -c 'cat /dev/block/sda13'" > userdata.raw
However when I run that, while it does start creating the userdata.raw file on my local machine, it gets to ~4gb, then the file just stops getting any larger and I've let it sit for over an hour. The command in adb never times out or returns to a prompt, it's like it just stops transferring the output from adb into the file. I know the size of the userdata partition is ~65gb from going into shell and looking at it.
I've also tried various chmod hacks of temp setting 777 on the file just to see if I can do an adb pull on it, however nothing I'ved tried so far yields anything other than a Permission Denied when I try that.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get a complete transfer of the userdata partition over to my local drive so I can run data recovery on it?

Recover files from internal memory

So basically, twrp recovery was not mounting my internal memory(phone was perfectly working) and I made the crucial mistake of not backing up my stuff before following a guide to fix it which consisted going in twrp recovery and repairing/changing system files. That resulted in everything being gone. Now, i used my phone as little as possible and have tried using phone recovery programs like dr.fone without any success. I've tried by following this answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/41397418 and I got a mmcblk0p66.raw file which is userdata after i used the commands and is around 55gb and the whole mmcblk0.raw file itself which is around 61gb. All this by forwarding from a cygwin64 terminal to another cygwin64 terminal through adb.
Code:
adb shell
ls -al /dev/block/platform/*phoneSpecificFolder*/by-name
I've tried mounting it with osfmount and then using recovery programs and using linuxreader to mount it and no success. I'm baffled how this 55+ GB files contain either empty folders or no files found and such. Am i doing something wrong or is it just me that actually STUPIDLY deleted everything? Also, I would do
Code:
adb shell
su
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p65 of=/sdcard/userdata.img
but I would effectively overwrite any remains of files left due to it being 55gb in space. Much thanks. Every answer is appreciated.
Note: I mainly care about recovering my photos,videos
Xiaomi Mi Max 2 64BG

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