[Q] Dual booting and beyond! - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

As much as I love to experiment with new roms, it kinda becomes a PITA to to flash something and have problems immediately or just plain not like it and want to flash back to your old rom. Nandroid backups help and I do use them to their fullest capacity, but it would be nice to just select your old OS during boot and be back and running that way.
I know this sounds a lot like what you would do on a regular PC, can this functionality be duplicated on our android phones (I know it can actually, i just haven't seen anything for MY phone, T Mobile SGS3).
Now something like this is a function of the bootloader correct? OR does it go beyond that? I know the bootloader would need to be able to be unlocked on the device in question and rooted obviously. Has anyone done this recently who could chime in? Are there any glaring issues (bad stuff) that rear their ugly head when trying to dual boot (like a poor confused OS that has no idea whats going on)? If one ends up successfully installing and configuring 2 OS'es on a device, would a Nandroid backup include BOTH OS'es in its backup? All it does is basically take a snapshot of the drive, correct?

Related

[Q] Dual Booting The Thunderbolt

I guess the question im asking is it possible to dual boot if it was devved up ??
I guess that would be a clockwork recovery option and partitioning scheme??
maybe im totally lost but it would be nice to dual boot instead of having to flash back and forth from your daily driver ROM to a experimental ROM that has bugs that need to be corrected and flashing back to your daily driver ROM
I like to toy around but once you get your everyday ROM tweaked in not much changes on it
Can someone give me insight on this maybe a break down of why it would or would not work
I know its a noob question but i would like to learn
Well I'm a n00b also and I found myself with backups I made with rom manager and I would hop back and forth between 2 or 3 setups I had. I found nothing wrong with booting into recovery to restore another rom I had then doing the same thing to a different rom the next day. It's probably a good idea to do it when you battery is at 100% though so you don't kill your battery stats.
yea but wouldnt it be cool to have three or even four booting slots pre setup when the devs really come around to where when you have the chance and time you could install this boot order 1=AOSP 2=MUUI 3=CM7 4=SENSE
and instead of flashing back and forth you could just select from boot menu and boot up to which ever flavor you feel like running that day
or maybe even a script that could run that could maybe flip through ROMS like flipping through themes and instead of rebooting it would just change boot images,system files, and apks in memory like a emulator then you could install one ROM and have the best of many devs work
LOL just thinking stupid stuff but is it possible ??? would love to hear Adrynalynes thoughts or some of these devs around here
LOL just tell me im stupid and it cant happen and ill move on
I am not a dev, but look up dual booting on the Nook color, and you can see that it is possible for Android system. Whether or not it can be done on the TB is another question.
The inc has dual booting. It's possible but will take some time. Only crazy talented devs such as r2doesinc can do stuff like this.
Sent from my thunderbolt
Yeah and the dual booting on the Inc was pretty recent. I had it basically since release and rooted about a week after root was available. Im pretty sure dual booting was just done within the past 2 months...

Need Pro Help Here, HW Issues or SW issues with this Phone

OK, Heres the scenario, This is a replacement T-959 vibrant, sent from either TMO or Samsung, really not sure! My 1st phone never had any issues with modding, and always cooperated! Until I used KIES to update one day and It bricked, because of primary and SBL corruptions. [I know!!, found out 5 mins too late about using KIES] Anyway, since Ive had this replacement phone its done nothing but fight me from the start, never has acted right I think and I feel there's something wrong HW wise with it. My problem with it now, is it wont accept any other custom ROM I try to install, and only works with either 2.1 or 2.2 stock OEM ROM's. Meaning, Anything else ROM wise, It wont go past the last part of boot sequence, and just keeps looping, and does it over and over again! Ive tried all of Simple Honeys, Toxic 8's Roms, and each time it goes thru the loading successfully, and then starts it boot-up, but every single Flash Ive done, ROM wise, it hangs up and loops at the very last part of booting up. Ive come to realize now, it isn't the ROMS, but the phone " I THINK" Each time I tried a Custom ROM install, I started with stock fresh JFD install, and wiped and cleared out everything before starting another ROM install, but with each attempt that I try to go past anything other than Froyo stock, It does this boot loop problem at the final part!! It seems like who ever sent it to me, did something to the phone to prevent this. Modding it I mean. like right now I'm on Eugenes Froyo, with the 2E RECOVERY, It was working fine, until I upgraded the Eugenes kernel, which is suppose to work with this ROM, technically the phone still runs, but as soon as I did this, I now cant get into the two drives as mass storage to tranfer files, says insert disk, like as if its a CD Rom drive, WTF!! And like I said, this phone wont accept any other ROMS now, past stock Eclair or Froyo OEM and kernels as well. I don't understand what the problem is, My guess is they flashed something to prevent modding or its just a corrupted HW issue, anybody ever seen this before. I wish I had just JTAG'd my first phone with Josh over at Mobile Tech, and saved myself all this heartbreak and frustration, but its too late for that now! So anyway, I need to determine for sure if this phones screwed, HW wise or if there is SW to get this phone straighten out, to where it'll work right like my first one used to, and begin to accept custom ROM's like it should be able to do!! I'm at my last end with this phone, and I'm desperate to get a solid reason/answer for whats happening here, because Ive followed all the instructions and standard procedures to insure that all the attempted installs of the ROMS I mentioned go correctly. And its boiling down to either HW issues or a SW issue they created before they shipped it to me, or last but least hopefully a SW fix here, that can get the HW/phone to act right again, and maybe salvage this phone, otherwise I'm thinking I need to buy another brand new phone and hope for the best. I just don't want to be stuck and limited with Froyo stock, for the rest of my time using this phone, I want my freedom to choose again, like I had before, and also It ran so much better than OEM anyways!
Go back to stock using the sticky on the q&a then root using that same methOd and when you flash a custom room make sure you wipe dalvik and cache and delete user data
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Quote" Go back to stock using the sticky on the q&a then root using that same methOd and when you flash a custom room make sure you wipe dalvik and cache and delete user data"
If you had picked up on it in my post, have already done this dozens of times!! Oh and BTW, when at JFD = 2.1 Eclair, it wont allow the 2 drives access to in Cabled USB mass storage, and therefore unable to CWM flash with zips, then I must go to 2.2 Froyo next to be able to get past that problem, but again when I go from there to any custom ROM, it fails to boot at the very end, and starts its looping. Again, the 1st phone I had, never ever, behaved like this!! Same phone but, different dates of manufacturing and also this one came from either Samsung or TMO in Plano,TX where that's all, they do is send out phones for replacement, and this one wasn't in a original box, something they worked on, grabbed off the shelf, and sent to me!! Its just a shame that 99% of all the ROMS are in zipped form, instead of TAR files, at least then I could've tried flashing some of them from, Eclair to see if that made a difference, but when they are zipped, you must use CWM recovery to flash, and thus again presents another problem as far as what I'm going thru here!
Got any thing else, Idea wise, that actually hasn't been tried yet, that makes sense??
OK, Ive made some progress, It seems for whatever stupid reason, that unlocking my phone, [jailbreaking] was the culprit of this phones renegade behavior, I simply restored it back to a locked status as a TMO provider, and Wholla, the phones now acting right!! And I have been able to get it to the ROM I wanted and flash a better kernel as well with 0 defects!!! And then I jailbroke it again, and its working flawlessly.
Personally I don't understand why that had a bearing on its behavior, but nun the less it did. And has cause me a few extra wrinkles around my eyes in stress trying to figure this out by myself, especially when all the suggestions and procedures I did was for nothing, until this phone was restored to a locked condition again!!
Go figure Right???? Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Anyway I hope mentioning this will prevent someone else in losing their hair or sanity!!
hello i think we have the problem, i also have openline my vibrant to be able to use here in our country.. i have 2.1 eclair, i just want to know what 2.2 ROM did you used coz you've said that it's ok to upgrade it to 2.2, but not other ROM, where did you get it.. can you pm me the link
thanks

HDX - Long term damage caused by running Safestrap - lack of wear levelling?

Hi all,
I have managed to install safestrap and a nexus rom on a 7" HDX so all appears to be working well.
I had a google and found this post: (at next post as I am not allowed to post links - you get to it by clicking here
wp.chmurka.net/?p=479
(apologies for the formatting I am a noob so cant post links)
seems to indicate that without doing some special magic (for want of a better term) which I am unwilling to do given the 'special' nature of the HDX - it will slow down over time due to a lack of wear leveling in safe strap.
Given the number of people using safestrap this may be a concern...
I keep devices for years and years (even cheap ones) so I want to make sure my kindle lasts as long as possible
Am I interpreting this right - are there any other solutions to this problem? Is it even a problem ?
I will mostly use my tablet for reading pdfs / internet browsing and running the odd app - I shouldn't accumulate a huge amount of writes on the storage - although the usual updates of android and various apps will occur.
I would appreciate informed readers views on this.
Many Thanks,
Rob
buyaodanxin said:
Hi all,
I have managed to install safestrap and a nexus rom on a 7" HDX so all appears to be working well.
I had a google and found this post: (at next post as I am not allowed to post links - you get to it by clicking here
wp.chmurka.net/?p=479
(apologies for the formatting I am a noob so cant post links)
seems to indicate that without doing some special magic (for want of a better term) which I am unwilling to do given the 'special' nature of the HDX - it will slow down over time due to a lack of wear leveling in safe strap.
Given the number of people using safestrap this may be a concern...
I keep devices for years and years (even cheap ones) so I want to make sure my kindle lasts as long as possible
Am I interpreting this right - are there any other solutions to this problem? Is it even a problem ?
I will mostly use my tablet for reading pdfs / internet browsing and running the odd app - I shouldn't accumulate a huge amount of writes on the storage - although the usual updates of android and various apps will occur.
I would appreciate informed readers views on this.
Many Thanks,
Rob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't speak for all of us but I know personally just because the fact I'm here digging into this stuff and making modifications. I can say my devices never stay the same very long or at least get backed up completely gone through wiped and a clean restore. HashCode has stated there are flaws in the theory and can eventually cause issues. I can speak for myself I usually don't keep devices more than a couple of years anyway at the most I am usually moved on to better things once development has slowed to a churn.
..I have three HDX devices ,one was a house gift from grandparents.when they were first released. I loved the hardware so much and there was talk and hear of development kicking off I bought another 7 inch and then once there was word going about the bootloader crack early last spring I bought an 8.9 32 Gb...well just say when development stopped and the bootloader unlock was not released mine collected dust almost all year I picked up my 2013 note 10. 1
Now that things are now that things are cracking..the HDX have been pulled back out of the drawer the dust knocked off of them and away I go. I am just so glad that I locked it in earlier software..
.I know eventually after messing with safestrap and flash flash flash flash and a hundred fifty flashes later you will eventually C hiccups safestrap. ie the recovery just not working well. Even what appears to be just worn out backups that will no longer work (show up as corrupted files) Safestrap is a great tool and a great bypass and I love it and I have used it for years and many many devices..
I know the best practice I have used is to occasionally go back to the stock slot and use that as stock uninstall safestrap and wipe the device,seems to even everything out.and reduce problems or I just put them down.
I know that running safestrap,just because of the way it operates is a tad slower and does use a little more battery because of the read and write. But I never intended on keep heavily used like that
. Eventually I grew a little beyond that that's why you will read about some of this flashing to our stock partitions ( personally I like to build mycustom OS on slot 1, fine tune it until I got all the bugs out of it and no hiccups do a clean backup and restore it to the stock slot).NEVER WIPE SYSTEM IN STOCK. just basic factory reset swype I never risk flashing virgin rom to stock slot either, A set up and built backup of slot 1 ,restored to stock slot was always my way ,and then removing safestrap( but it is not recommended for the noobs.) and I always had the safestrap app installed and recovery into everything I've built on the slot 1 . And always kept in copy on SD card .
Thanks so is it safe to move android rom to stock then once it is working there remove safestrap ?
Given I am a light user only using it for a few apps / reading / browsing is this likely to be a concern for me ? I am very nervous about bricking this thing again...
I wont be flashing 150 times - I am done.
jimyv said:
I can't speak for all of us but I know personally just because the fact I'm here digging into this stuff and making modifications. I can say my devices never stay the same very long or at least get backed up completely gone through wiped and a clean restore. HashCode has stated there are flaws in the theory and can eventually cause issues. I can speak for myself I usually don't keep devices more than a couple of years anyway at the most I am usually moved on to better things once development has slowed to a churn.
..I have three HDX devices ,one was a house gift from grandparents.when they were first released. I loved the hardware so much and there was talk and hear of development kicking off I bought another 7 inch and then once there was word going about the bootloader crack early last spring I bought an 8.9 32 Gb...well just say when development stopped and the bootloader unlock was not released mine collected dust almost all year I picked up my 2013 note 10. 1
Now that things are now that things are cracking..the HDX have been pulled back out of the drawer the dust knocked off of them and away I go. I am just so glad that I locked it in earlier software..
.I know eventually after messing with safestrap and flash flash flash flash and a hundred fifty flashes later you will eventually C hiccups safestrap. ie the recovery just not working well. Even what appears to be just worn out backups that will no longer work (show up as corrupted files) Safestrap is a great tool and a great bypass and I love it and I have used it for years and many many devices..
I know the best practice I have used is to occasionally go back to the stock slot and use that as stock uninstall safestrap and wipe the device,seems to even everything out.and reduce problems or I just put them down.
I know that running safestrap,just because of the way it operates is a tad slower and does use a little more battery because of the read and write. But I never intended on keep heavily used like that
. Eventually I grew a little beyond that that's why you will read about some of this flashing to our stock partitions ( personally I like to build mycustom OS on slot 1, fine tune it until I got all the bugs out of it and no hiccups do a clean backup and restore it to the stock slot).NEVER WIPE SYSTEM IN STOCK. just basic factory reset swype I never risk flashing virgin rom to stock slot either, A set up and built backup of slot 1 ,restored to stock slot was always my way ,and then removing safestrap( but it is not recommended for the noobs.) and I always had the safestrap app installed and recovery into everything I've built on the slot 1 . And always kept in copy on SD card .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if
normal use with safestrap installed you will not damage your device
buyaodanxin said:
Thanks so is it safe to move android rom to stock then once it is working there remove safestrap ?
Given I am a light user only using it for a few apps / reading / browsing is this likely to be a concern for me ? I am very nervous about bricking this thing again...
I wont be flashing 150 times - I am done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you follow directions closely and completely understand what you are doing first. You are safe
remember if you are in safestrap and the print is in red you are not supposed to be doing it and better have a full understanding of what you are about to do before you do it.
and remember a basic factory reset is all you will ever want to do to stock. Ever
tap wipe then swipe do not open advanced wipe panel and do not open wipe data panel unless you want to wipe all data from device.
Eventually I grew a little beyond that that's why you will read about some of this flashing to our stock partitions ( personally I like to build mycustom OS on slot 1, fine tune it until I got all the bugs out of it and no hiccups do a clean backup and restore it to the stock slot).NEVER WIPE SYSTEM IN STOCK. just basic factory reset swype I never risk flashing virgin rom to stock slot either, A set up and built backup of slot 1 ,restored to stock slot was always my way ,and then removing safestrap( but it is not recommended for the noobs.) and I always had the safestrap app installed and recovery into everything I've built on the slot 1 . And always kept in copy on SD card .

Seeking info about software interactions, Nandroids, and a few more

Hi there
I have a few questions and probably just need to be pointed in some right directions. Would be great if somebody could take the time.
I'm not a developer, but I consider myself quite experienced in modding, mainly CM. In fact, I do it for some other people as well, via an add on a classifieds-website. I don't take much money, but I learn a lot. And I stumble about problems about many different devices and rules I thought existed seem to wrong, sometimes. So I got these questions:
Q1: Please tell me briefly what I can find in which partitition on my phone. "Boot" contains the kernel, right? Does "data" contain just Apps and there data, or anything that I save on the internal storage (like music, movies...)?
Q2: I always thought that a Nandroid would be a 100% insurance for my phone. But recently I read about a device and it said something like "try not to restore stock Gingerbread from recovery if you had some higher version of CM installed, because it couldn't undo some changes that had been made within those". Why is that? Shouldn't a Nandroid be able to restore anything, no matter what? How do I know WHEN it can't restore anything other than from some tutorial?
Q3: I recently read about installing CM on the Xperia Z1 (https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_honami). Here it says: "On all 2011 model Sony devices, the kernel will not update when flashed in recovery, so the kernel must be updated via fastboot every time you flash a new build of CyanogenMod". Also they never actually used the recovery to flash anything, or at least not as often as usual. And the used the (****ing unreliable) adb backup method instead of a Nandroid. In total the customRecovery seemed pretty useless! Why is that? How can the recovery not be able to do what it usually does? And what would be a "new build"? Like from CM 12.1 to CM 13?
Q4: Do you thing that modding (especially adb, fastboot) would be better from a Linux distribution, since Android is based on Linux? Cause I had some major issues with adb backup. It showed all variaties of "Not Working" so far...
Q5: The recovery system is working all by itself, right? No kernel, no nothing. (Apart from the bootloader that starts it)
I would really appreciate some help!

Just a few general questions about putting a custom ROM on my HD 6.

I love my KF HD 6 and use it daily, but after almost two years I've grown tired of the UI and was thinking about switching over to a custom ROM. That, and the fact that Amazon seems to have abandoned development for my device since it's a couple generations behind so it's not likely to get updated past its current 5.1.1 lollipop.
I did some digging, but the only official ROM I could find for my device is CM11. A bit disappointing since it's not only an incomplete port (not all features work), but it would be a downgrade to 4.X KitKat. Not really what i'm looking for. I did find a video showing how to put CM13 Marshmallow onto a KF 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0GwGthOfh8 and I thought this may work for the 6 as well. I know they're not the same device, but I've seen it mentioned several places that the HD 6 and HD 7 that were released in 2014 are identical under the hood with the only difference being the screen size.
Anyway, I have a working TWRP recovery for my device, along with properly installed ADB and fastboot drivers. So if I use ADB to pull my partitions and copy them to my PC just in case, then make a Nandriod backup in TWRP and transfer it to my PC (again, just in case) then do a cache wipe and a system wipe, then flash CM13 along with the appropriate Gapps, then another cache wipe to avoid bootloops, then reboot I should be good right?
Either it will work, or it won't. In case it doesn't work I should be able to boot back into TWRP and restore from my Nandroid. If for some reason I can't get back into TWRP, I do have a fastboot cable that can at least get me access to fastboot mode where I can push all my partitions back manually. Either way I should be good in the event that it all goes pear shaped?
Sorry if these are basic questions, but I am still new to all this and I just want to make sure I have all my bases covered before I start anything. I feel it's better to ask for clarification and advice first, than to jump the gun and come here afterward with a bricked device asking for help trying to fix it because of my own stupidity.
For all you who are pros at this sort of thing, did I miss anything or should I be good to go? Thanks.
Necro bump - so what did you end up doing? I have a KF 6HD gathering dust and I'm getting an itch to ROM

Categories

Resources