As of yesterday, my CM7.1 phone won't boot - it gets stuck at the "rotating arrow" blue Android for ever. It's a Samsung Galaxy S II GT-9100.
I have been running CM 7.1.0 for several happy months now, and haven't tried to install or upgrade my ROM. The last action I took before this happened is that I made a full system backup (using CWM 5.0.2.6).
That backup is present on the internal memory. I can boot into recovery, mount drives and access devices using adb shell. So I do have an opportunity to fix what's broken, if I can work out what it is.
Given that the last thing I did was a backup, I checked to see if any of the partitions were full, but none are. (None is more than 42% full according to df; although strangely, df does not show any partition mounted on /.) I tried making another backup, watching carefully - that worked fine. I tried restoring the first backup - no improvement.
I've also tried wiping everything Recovery allows me to that's non data-destructive - cache, Dalvik cache etc. It hasn't helped.
How do I work out what's wrong? Is there a boot log file anywhere which might give me a clue as to what is wrong? I've searched for "*.log" but can't find anything obvious.
I don't want to do a factory wipe if I can avoid it, because obviously that will lose all my data. If I do a factory wipe and restore just the data partition, does that put me pretty much back where I was? If so, how do I restore just the data partition? The Restore option in CWM Recovery seems to do full backups only, and only from a particular directory.
The original CM and Google Apps zips are still on the internal SD (same versions as are currently not working). Would it be worth trying to reinstall those, without wiping? Or would that be data-destructive?
Any other ideas?
Thanks!
Gerv
SOLVED - remove 0-byte data/system/profiles.xml
I tried doing a full factory reset from Recovery. This got the phone booting again, but without any of my data . Fortunately, ClockWorkMod has a "partial backup restore" function. I restored the data partition... and the phone stopped booting again.
So this is progress. I now had some idea where the problem lay. I finally found it using a laborious 5-minutes-per-cycle manual bisection technique. Delete half the stuff on the data partition, reboot, if it still fails, delete more, reboot... once you get it to boot, restore the data partition, narrow it down further. Once you find a top-level directory, repeat the process inside it.
The result: the existence of a single 0-byte file stopped my phone from booting entirely. The file was: data/system/profiles.xml.
I have no idea what that file does (there are only a few references online), how a 0-byte version of it got created, or why having it existent but empty breaks things but if it's not present everything works fine. I have no idea if anyone else will ever see this problem, or if they will ever find this forum post. But still, here's my Wisdom of the Ancients (google the phrase for the relevant XKCD comic).
Related
How much wiping do you need to do when you are upgrading to a new ROM release? I don't really want to have to go through all of the setup every time a ROM is updated. What does every generally do?
I'm running the G-Harmony ROM.
Use Titanium backup or the like to take a backup of everything if you are upgrading from one version of the rom to a new version. At first I wasn't backing up and spent hours getting everything back to the way it was. Now, in a matter of minutes I'm back running the same way I was before, but on a newer ROM.
Take the backup -> copy the backup folder to your micro sd card or computer -> follow the steps to install the ROM (do what is recommended such as the user data, dalvik, cache) -> once the rom is up and running, copy the backup folder back to your tablet -> download titanium backup, it will see the folder you copied over containing your backup-> restore data, apps, user settings from titanium backup.
I'm not sure how it works if going from ROM to ROM, probably want to search on it.
Cool, that's pretty much what I did. Unfortunately, I hadn't copied off the TitaniumBackup folder, and the new ROM version switched the emmc and SDCard mount locations, so I had to switch them back to be able to get at my backups. I didn't have an external micro SDCard reader with me, so I couldn't easily copy the folder from the internal card to the external. Ah, well. Going through the Titanium restores right now. I really should buy this software to prevent having to approve every restore
chadness,
One of the main things I try to help people here with is boot loops and I spend a
lot of time trying to figure out the cause so we can prevent it.
IT IS MY OPINION that one of the things causing the boot loops and making
people have to re-flash and re-partition -- is the stuff leftover in flash after
flash playing with their tablets.
I'm not sure the Android file system is all that good. I don't believe in tablet formats
because it doesn't work like a hard disk. You can delete a file and go back later and
the file is still there. You can nvflash the tablet and stuff is still let there.
When stuff gets left over it can conflict with the new stuff and BAM -- boot loops.
All of this is to say -- I SAY before every ROM burn you should nvflash to a solid
version -- bekit 1105 (2538) or 3588 -- the repartition to 2048 and 0, Fix Permissions,
Wipe Dalvik Cache, Wipe Cache and Wipe/Reset Factory Data.
I can't prove it yet -- but I bet if people would do that most of the boot loops would stop -- and probably some of the other little stuff too.
This is just my opinion -- but then I have only nvflashed either of my G-Tablets one time in five months now (involuntarily -- because of problems.)
Think about it.
Rev
Interesting! I've been flashing different ROMs this week and haven't run in to any problems as long as I've formatted system and data.
butchconner said:
. . .
All of this is to say -- I SAY before every ROM burn you should nvflash to a solid version -- bekit 1105 (2538) or 3588 -- then repartition to 2048 and 0, Fix Permissions, Wipe Dalvik Cache, Wipe Cache and Wipe/Reset Factory Data.
. . . . Rev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rev, what is your opinion about using 'Calkukin's_Format_All.zip & wiping Dalvik Cache' vs all the above steps ?
Hi,
I am trying to restore a couple of nandroid backups, but a Device Administrator app gone "quirky" seems to materialize no matter what I do. I did a CWM Wipe, restored the nandroid backup before the app went bad. However that did not work, the app was still misbehaving. So I wiped again, restored a nandroid backup from before I had installed the app. Still the app shows up again. It has in effect locked me out of the device.
Can anyone tell what can I do to get rid of the app?
Are these Device Admin app supposed to persist like this? Or am I doing something wrong?
Do I need to choose a different wipe mode (I chose the normal one, which wipes /data/, /cache etc). I did not try to wipe /cache separately, as the first wipe does that by itself. Neither did I wipe the dalvik cache, as I thought they are not relevant here. I don't see any relevant files in the sdcard either, though how the app reappears in the nandroid restore before it was installed is a mystery.
Should I mount more partitions before wiping, like the data/cache etc.
Since the wipes don't seem to make it go away, I am not even sure flashing a different ROM would get rid of this app either, however I can try that (since I was planning to anyway, before this mishap). If that doesn't work either, I might just have the most unusual case of bricking ever.
The XDA forum does not seem to be much info about device-admin apps and my search-fu is not good enough today to find anything directly relevant about the other stuff.
PS. btw the app actually modifies the lockscreen. So I don't actually see the files it has with the pre-app restore, however the lockscreen still comes up, perhaps because of some remanant of the app or because of a setting it left in there somewhere.
efs?
Just to add more info, I see some files in /efs, which look relevant to the lockscren/ They have file names like this "/efs/cryptoprop_lockscreen".
Would these files store the data this app stored. I fortunately have an EFS backup, should I consider restoring these files.
If someone doesn't know the answer, can they suggest which devs would be good to ask about this.
AnDruid said:
Hi,
I am trying to restore a couple of nandroid backups, but a Device Administrator app gone "quirky" seems to materialize no matter what I do. I did a CWM Wipe, restored the nandroid backup before the app went bad. However that did not work, the app was still misbehaving. So I wiped again, restored a nandroid backup from before I had installed the app. Still the app shows up again. It has in effect locked me out of the device.
Can anyone tell what can I do to get rid of the app?
Are these Device Admin app supposed to persist like this? Or am I doing something wrong?
Do I need to choose a different wipe mode (I chose the normal one, which wipes /data/, /cache etc). I did not try to wipe /cache separately, as the first wipe does that by itself. Neither did I wipe the dalvik cache, as I thought they are not relevant here. I don't see any relevant files in the sdcard either, though how the app reappears in the nandroid restore before it was installed is a mystery.
Should I mount more partitions before wiping, like the data/cache etc.
Since the wipes don't seem to make it go away, I am not even sure flashing a different ROM would get rid of this app either, however I can try that (since I was planning to anyway, before this mishap). If that doesn't work either, I might just have the most unusual case of bricking ever.
The XDA forum does not seem to be much info about device-admin apps and my search-fu is not good enough today to find anything directly relevant about the other stuff.
PS. btw the app actually modifies the lockscreen. So I don't actually see the files it has with the pre-app restore, however the lockscreen still comes up, perhaps because of some remanant of the app or because of a setting it left in there somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do a CWM wipe, and turn off the phone when done by selecting "Power Off"
Now enter download mode, and ODIN flash a stock ROM.
Then re-root with CF-Root and install custom ROM if desired.
pulser_g2 said:
Do a CWM wipe, and turn off the phone when done by selecting "Power Off"
Now enter download mode, and ODIN flash a stock ROM.
Then re-root with CF-Root and install custom ROM if desired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help pulser_g2. I am still concerned about the files i saw in /efs related to the lockscreen (see my second post). Would the stock ROM overwrite settings/configuration inside /efs (I guess since the IMEI etc are all in there, that might not be the case)?
Got through finally.
pulser_g2 said:
Do a CWM wipe, and turn off the phone when done by selecting "Power Off"
Now enter download mode, and ODIN flash a stock ROM.
Then re-root with CF-Root and install custom ROM if desired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK this worked.
However after I Odin flashed the stock rom and rebooted, I got this
1. First got a different kind of lockscreen.
2. I entered the wrong password five times (after trying the Device Admin alternate password, my Google password, a new 2-step auth password from google) .
3. it said something about wiping sd card. I couldn't catch it (I should probably have videoed this using my point and shoot camera, but this did not strike me then as it was 2am).
4. I was hoping that the stock ROM will boot, cause it stayed on the Samsung logo for too long. (I had already ordered my USB Jig on ebay anyway, but it could have taken time because of my being far off from the seller.). Finally I got the Android Welcome screen and I let out my breath.
In any case, things seem to ok right now. I feel a slight slowness in the rooted stock ROM from my earlier rooted stock ROM, but I am gonna flash a custom ROM later anyway. Thanks a lot for your help pulser.
Hello, I'm running RR 2.6.1 with Dorimanx's latest kernel and I've run into a huge problem.
I'm not sure what the trigger is but I think it could be updating the SuperSU app, or it could just be that I'm super unlucky. In any case, I really really hope someone will be able to help me here.
I was facing random freezes and SODs on the kernel but I was in the midst of tweaking my settings to see if I could fix it. I updated the SuperSU app on the bus on the way home, went home & tried to power my phone on but it wouldn't work so I force-restarted by holding down the power button. When it rebooted, I had all sorts of FCs so I went to CWM Recovery & cleared cache & dalvik & fixed permissions. Nothing worked. Here's what I've tried so far:
- reflashing the kernel
- reflashing the ROM
- re-rooting via Odin
- flashing another kernel (I tried fluxi but it was stuck at the animation screen & wouldn't boot)
- Googled for how to fix process.acore and Gapps FCs, tried to clear all the Google-related apps' data but they wouldn't clear
- trying to delete the apparent offending files from /data/data/... via adb and Android Explorer but it didn't work, kept saying it was read-only or something, even though I followed all the instructions to SU and mount as RW
By this time, exTweaks didn't recognise the kernel as compatible, Whatsapp and TB FC'd, just about everything FC'd.
I went into CWM Recovery to try and make a Nandroid but it said "Error while making a backup of /data".
I am truly at my wits' end. My phone wouldn't even let me access it after the right passcode was input. At this point, I just want to go in and backup my Whatsapp and relevant TB apps.
Please, if anyone is able to help me, PM me or something. I'm on Skype if you're so kind as to be willing to walk me through anything you think may help.
Thank you.
Flash a clean ROM, wipe cache and dalvik, do a factory reset and start from scratch.
Multiple fc can be caused due to several reasons like:
-wrong phone.apk
-wrong framework
-wrong ROM
-too much undervolt
Sorry for telling but my first sentence might be your fastest approach.
Tapatalked from my Samsung GT9100
Tyrol said:
Hello, I'm running RR 2.6.1 with Dorimanx's latest kernel and I've run into a huge problem.
I'm not sure what the trigger is but I think it could be updating the SuperSU app, or it could just be that I'm super unlucky. In any case, I really really hope someone will be able to help me here.
I was facing random freezes and SODs on the kernel but I was in the midst of tweaking my settings to see if I could fix it. I updated the SuperSU app on the bus on the way home, went home & tried to power my phone on but it wouldn't work so I force-restarted by holding down the power button. When it rebooted, I had all sorts of FCs so I went to CWM Recovery & cleared cache & dalvik & fixed permissions. Nothing worked. Here's what I've tried so far:
- reflashing the kernel
- reflashing the ROM
- re-rooting via Odin
- flashing another kernel (I tried fluxi but it was stuck at the animation screen & wouldn't boot)
- Googled for how to fix process.acore and Gapps FCs, tried to clear all the Google-related apps' data but they wouldn't clear
- trying to delete the apparent offending files from /data/data/... via adb and Android Explorer but it didn't work, kept saying it was read-only or something, even though I followed all the instructions to SU and mount as RW
By this time, exTweaks didn't recognise the kernel as compatible, Whatsapp and TB FC'd, just about everything FC'd.
I went into CWM Recovery to try and make a Nandroid but it said "Error while making a backup of /data".
I am truly at my wits' end. My phone wouldn't even let me access it after the right passcode was input. At this point, I just want to go in and backup my Whatsapp and relevant TB apps.
Please, if anyone is able to help me, PM me or something. I'm on Skype if you're so kind as to be willing to walk me through anything you think may help.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the following:
-Download this: Ultimate kernel cleaning script
-Reboot to CWM recovery
-Flash Ultimate kernel cleaning script
-Under kernel specific option, Reset extweaks settings
-format /system (under Mount and storage)
-Flash ROM (RR 2.61)
-Flash Gapps
-wipe cache partion
-wipe dalvik cache (under advanced)
-fix permissions (under advanced)
-Reboot your phone
My above steps will not wipe your and should definitely fix your problem
good luck
Thank you both for your suggestions!
Unfortunately, I didn't get to try them but I'll definitely be checking this again if (touch wood) this happens again. Hopefully it'll be useful to someone else facing similar issues, I know I couldn't find clear answers on what to do.
@jokesy If the /data partition is somehow stuck at read-only, I'm not sure formatting /system will help. I could be wrong, I apologise if I sound ungrateful ('cause I do appreciate your help) but wouldn't reflashing a ROM kind of overwrite the existing /system files already?
I'm not aware of the details and technicalities of what exactly happens during a ROM flash but according to the AROMA installer, it seems like /system is wiped first.
What I did
Gave up on backing up apps & WhatsApp through the normal ways, most of my TB apps are backed up daily anyway, just lost some data like that for Sleepbot.
Pulled WhatsApp database files from /data/data/com.whatsapp via ADB, restored the previous day's Nandroid backup & copied the database files to the relevant directory. I guess it may seem minor, but as everything was melting down on my phone, I kept getting messages from friends about project work in school & other stuff that I couldn't read so I really wanted to not lose all the new messages that had come in.
Restoring my Nandroid (thank God I backup daily) fixed everything, fortunately, but there are little quirks I'm still ironing out. Eg. My Godville app can't seem to connect to the main server & retrieve details of my character despite clearing data, uninstalling & reinstalling. Not too sure why.. :/
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サンソングガラクシS II からタパトクで書いた。
@Tyrol
Ididn't know you were using aroma installer though, but formatting /system has nothing to ago with /data sms vice versa
Following my wouldn't have hurt though, ur would only ensure a clean system partition before install.
I'm happy for you
Better luck next time
Swyped from my Samsung Galaxy SII
I recently had a very similar problem. The only way I could resolve it was to also format /data during the usual full wipe re-install
Karl.morteo said:
I recently had a very similar problem. The only way I could resolve it was to also format /data during the usual full wipe re-install
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tough luck man. I don't know why the data corrupts spontaneously, it happened once to me when I was playing Plague, everything started FC-ing all of a sudden while I was in-game. Bizarre. Didn't want to do a full wipe so I just restored the /data partition from my latest Nandroid.
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サンソングガラクシS II からタパトクで書いた。
This error is still not answered on the forums so im starting a new thread.
i get the error as the title.
sd card space is not the problem.
i tried formatting the sd card.
i have less than 50 apps installed.
wiped dalvik cache, and all other sorts people say on other posts.
(my phone is LG P936 so "fix permission" screws up the phone. all text disappears)
have latest cwm recovery.
and still get the error.
any answers please?
and please dont reply if you are going to write an opinion.
only answers please.
sorry for my rude behaviour but I'm sick and tired of reading posts full of opinions and "maybe"s.
Not sure if you ever got this fixed but I 'm suffering from the same error. I tried pretty much everything you tried (even fix permissions) and I have about 20GB free on my SD card so space shouldn't be an issue. I have not yet tried formatting the SD card since it has always worked and CWM is able to write to it because the following files are created:
- boot.img
- data.ext3.tar
- recovery.img
- system.ext3.tar
The files that are missing are (based on older backups):
- .android_secure.vfat.tar
- cache.ext3.tar (probably because I wiped it first?)
- nandroid.md5
I have attached the log from CWM in the hopes that someone can tell me what is wrong. The error occurs at the end of the progress bar of 'backing up /data'.
hey just use TWRP Recovery. It's way better than CWM. normal backup on cwm took me like an hour but twrp was never longer than 10minutes.
Today I have formatted the SD card and tried again, but as expected it did not change anything.
ceoleaders said:
hey just use TWRP Recovery. It's way better than CWM. normal backup on cwm took me like an hour but twrp was never longer than 10minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I will give this a try. Can I just install it over CWM or can they run side by side?
different reciveries cannot be run side by side as they are installed on a different partition. so it will always be installed over your current one.
ceoleaders said:
different reciveries cannot be run side by side as they are installed on a different partition. so it will always be installed over your current one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I tried TWRP and it also fails at backing up my data partition. The log is a bit more clear though and it seems to get stuck on "/data/data/com.android.vending/cache/images" which is the last line before it gives an error. I checked the "images" folder and it seems empty but I cannot delete it. Tried ES File Explorer and Terminal Emulator but no way to get rid of it. The folder appears to be related to Google Play, so I cleared all data and cache from Google Play, even uninstalled the updates but there 's simply no way to get rid of it. I 'm not sure if this is the reason why the backup fails, but I CAN copy the folder and even rename it.
Pff looks like I 'm going to have to do a clean install after all .
Hello, I too have this problem and unfortunately TWRP is not available for my phone.
I used to be able to do CWM backups fine on my old phone, and they work great on my tablet. But they consistently fail at "/data" on my Galaxy Ace II x. Might it be because I'm using Link2SD? I don't see why that would cause a problem, but maybe it's having trouble with the symlinks?
Hmm. Seems the issue was that, despite having only 1.28 GB total available storage space on stock, the backups wanted more than 4 GB. Cleared some room on my microSD card and suddenly backups worked fine! Of course, shortly after I installed CyanogenMod, which has much smaller backups...
Sent from my GT-S7560M using Tapatalk 4
I forgot to report back here but the only way I found to fix the problem was by doing a clean install. After that, I was able to backup my data partition again. I then restored my apps ' data with TB and was unable to backup the data partition again. I 'm guessing one of my apps had corrupt data, but never got to find out which one it was.
maybe your partition not match with recovery, like something wrong vold.fstab
Just in case anyone still wants to know how to fix this, I managed to solve it by running these commands:
1. run adb shell in recovery.
2. unmount data partition (umount /dev/block/mmcblk0p26). -> this one failed so I skipped it
3. run e2fsck /dev/block/mmcblk0p26
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48659092&postcount=868 for original post.
I got a few HTREE errors and a bunch of duplicate names which I renamed when prompted. Booted the phone and rebooted into TWRP and now I am able to backup my data partition again. :good:
EDIT: Problem reappeared so I tried the above commands again but it said that the filesystem was clean. Ran 'e2fsck -f /dev/block/mmcblk0p26' instead and had to fix a bunch of HTREE errors from Facebook again and duplicate names from Xprivacy but now I 'm able to backup my data partition again.
Dude just selest the backup format as both zip and tar filea
Hey guys.Im kinda a noob, so bear with me. I have a SGH i747 (att galaxy s3) and I rooted it on my mac using motochopper. I backed up all my apps and system data with titianium backup to my SD card, and i also backed up my stock ROM to my internal storage using ROM Manager. I then downloaded liquid smooth using my phones browser, and then I selected it within ROM manager and clicked "reboot and install' (keep in mind, i didn't wipe memory or anything) So it was stuck at the boot screen. Then i realized what i did and went and wiped data/factory reset, dalvic cache, and the other cache, within Clockworld mod recovery (vol up + power + home). After that, it worked, but only to find that all my apps were gone, and the play store and browser app didnt work. so basically softbricked however I can make phone calls and text (lost all contacts). Then i went into cwm and tried to restore my phone, at first it came up with two backups (neither of which had the name I named my backup) but said no files found and then when I mounted my storage, the bottom one said md5 mismatch but the top one worked. the top one would work for about 6 min then while it was restoring data it would reboot into liquid smooth and i would have like 3 apps i didnt have before (other times i would get stuck at the boot screen). I also tried restoring it right after I wiped data/ factory reset and cleared the caches, but then it would get stuck at the liquidsmooth boot screen. Tried pretty much everything.
I just want my phone back the way it was before root or anything, with all my data. But I backed up all my stuff besides apps to KIES, so willing to reset it to stock firmware if possible
need all the help i can get. thank you all very much