Hello, fellow gTablet users!
I'm kinda newbie here, so first of all my apologies to everyone if that was already asked, 'cause I did some research on the matter and couldn't find all the necessary info for solving my particular issue.
Ok, so here's the deal. I was using my gTab for about half-year now. When I received it, I installed VeganTab-7 Ginger Edition on it (thanks for the devs - very nice ROM!) and it worked flawlessly until yesterday. But then something not good happened and the tablet stopped booting. Now it starts from birds screen, goes on to G-Tabdevs screen, after which VeganTab GingerEd boot screen appears, it has flashing letters for a couple of seconds and then tablet goes black and tries to boot again. I guess it's a boot loop so it's kinda soft brick and I'll have to do wipe data/factory reset through CWM to solve the issue. So this isn't the biggest problem - I've already found all the instructions.
The real problem is that I didn't make backup of my data (guilty!), but I don't want to lose some of it, especially the browser data. I was using Opera Mobile, so I guess that its data should be on /data partition. So I'll need an advice on how I can dump the necessary data before doing factory reset!
I've already tried connecting to desktop, using guide from this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1010943) thread (third method from it), but it didn't work, at least on my Win7 Pro x64 SP1: the tablet shows as removable disk, but I can't access it. I tried to mount /data or /sdcard partitions through CWM recovery menu, but it tells me that it can't find /dev/block/... - I guess that's block device, associated with those partitions. So what are my best options of backuping data?
And the last question: I'll probably install some other ROM just to try something different, but unfortunately I don't remember what loader I have. I'm nearly sure that I installed VeganTab for 1.1, 'cause I did it back in May 2011 and there wasn't one available for 1.2 yet. But just to make sure: how can I find my loader version before I do reset? Or maybe I just have to do the reset and look for it when back on stock ROM?
Seriously, guys, doesn't anybody know how to solve these problems?
Boot into CWM first, then try mounting both /data and /sdcard using the CWM menu. Note down the exact error message displayed in each case. Then connect the USB cable and run these ADB commands on your PC:
Code:
C:\> [B]adb shell dmesg >dmesg.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk3 > fdisk.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk2 >> fdisk.txt[/B]
Post the error messages and those 2 .txt files here.
Thank you for reply, rajeevvp.
When I'm trying to mount /data and /sdcard it says respectively:
Code:
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk3p2
(No such file or directory)
Error mounting DATA:!
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk2p1)
(No such file or directory)
Error mounting SDCARD:!
Unfortunately I didn't have ADB installed. Now I'm trying to use the guide from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=902860, but fail on step 4, cause there is nothing like "Nvidia harmony" appearing under other devices in my dev manager, just "Nvidia Tegra 2 USB Device" under Disk Drives and "USB Mass Storage Device" under Universal Serial Bus Controllers. I guess these devices are gTablet's internal memory presented as disk drive...
I'll try to install ADB and then write back how it worked.
Interesting error messages. Now I really have to see those text files.
If you're having problems installing ADB on Windows, try using Linux.
Ok, thanks you very much! I'll try that, but unfortunately tomorrow, as it's already too late here.
Btw, I read your post about linux - you're suggesting Knoppix Live CD there. Is it mandatory to use it? I mean I already have PartedMagic live CD burned, maybe I could use it instead...
anary said:
I mean I already have PartedMagic live CD burned, maybe I could use it instead...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If sudo and adb work, then no problem.
rajeevvp said:
Boot into CWM first, then try mounting both /data and /sdcard using the CWM menu. Note down the exact error message displayed in each case. Then connect the USB cable and run these ADB commands on your PC:
Code:
C:\> [B]adb shell dmesg >dmesg.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk3 > fdisk.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk2 >> fdisk.txt[/B]
Post the error messages and those 2 .txt files here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I finally managed to do it. Sorry for the delay.
The files are attached. Did everything how you told me.
Actually I don't think that I understand too much in Android inner mechanics But having looked through these files, I thought that inner sdcard device (mmcblk3) doesn't seem to produce any strange behavior...
Btw, thanks a lot for your advice about using Knoppix - it's really very easy and handy!
anary said:
But having looked through these files, I thought that inner sdcard device (mmcblk3) doesn't seem to produce any strange behavior...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have lost your /data partition altogether. You are supposed to have 2 partitions on that internal SD card: a 14GB FAT32 partition and a 2GB ext3 partition. You only have a single FAT32 partition spanning the entire SD card now.
I may be able to help you get both partitions back if you give me these details:
1. How and when did this happen?
2. Current ROM.
3. Current version of CWM.
4. Did you try to repartition the (internal) SD card recently?
5. Have you ever repartitioned the internal SD card? If yes, then using which version of CWM?
6. After you noticed the problem what steps did you take to fix the problem?
Yeah, I remember I was curious where it stores OS's kernel if all it has is FAT32 partition - now I get it...
Ok, here are the details:
1. I don't really know what has happened, but I guess that it happened when I tried to use tablet like cardreader for microsd card. During that I sort of formatted external sd - maybe that actually was internal memory? I checked through file manager though, and all the files seemed intact...
2. VeganTab GingerEd from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1031250. I'm pretty sure that I didn't install anything except for it.
3. Don't know. But it says ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8 in recovery menu, so I guess its version is maybe 0.8.
4. No I didn't, at least intentionally.
5. I think I did it just once, when installing the ROM. I'm pretty much sure that I used this instructions for repartitioning: http://viewsonic-gtablet-for-dummies.webs.com/repartition.htm (not exactly this, but I did the same as it's written there). To install the ROM I used the instructions from the ROM thread, mentioned above. I didn't whant to do a lot of modding, just wanted the device to work at least better than with stock ROM, so didn't try to change any other low-level things.
6. I just tried to mount partitions through CWM recovery and I tried wiping out cache partition and Dalvik cache. Nothing else.
anary said:
Yeah, I remember I was curious where it stores OS's kernel if all it has is FAT32 partition - now I get it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OS kernel is not stored on the SD cards. They're stored on a "boot" partition on the NAND flash. And, if the OS was messed up you would get hung up on the initial splash screen (the one with the 3 birds)--you wouldn't go into a boot loop.
1. I don't really know what has happened, but I guess that it happened when I tried to use tablet like cardreader for microsd card. During that I sort of formatted external sd - maybe that actually was internal memory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what caused this problem. CWM-2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8 does not work on the external SD card (but, CWM-2.5.1.3 and CWM-4.0.1.5 do).
Did you format the internal SD card using CWM?
I checked through file manager though, and all the files seemed intact...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Files where? The internal SD card or the external one? And, how did you check this? After formatting the internal SD card, the very next boot into the ROM would've put you into a boot-loop because the /data partition is missing.
I think I may be able to get stuff from /data, but, everything on /sdcard is most likely gone. (Actually, the files are most likely all there, but, without direct access to the tablet, it's very difficult to get the retrieve any of them.) Just don't touch the tablet until I've figured out the commands you will have to use.
That's what caused this problem. CWM-2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8 does not work on the external SD card (but, CWM-2.5.1.3 and CWM-4.0.1.5 do).
Did you format the internal SD card using CWM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I was going to format external SD card and I tried to do it through Android (or maybe VeganTab) menu. I think that doing this, I could accidentally format internal SD, but I'm not sure this could be done from within the OS. During the same logon session I checked files on internal SD with file manager and all of them were where they should have been. So I thought that all was ok. But when I rebooted next time, it wasn't booting... That's why I told you that maybe it was because of formatting.
And just to be clear: I didn't do anything using CWM after it stopped booting, apart from wiping system and Dalvik caches.
Do you have a large capacity micro SD card (anything larger than the maximum amount of data that's currently on the internal SD card) that you can use to save retrieved data into?
rajeevvp said:
Do you have a large capacity micro SD card (anything larger than the maximum amount of data that's currently on the internal SD card) that you can use to save retrieved data into?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Won't be any problem.
anary said:
Yep. Won't be any problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. Format that micro SD to contain a single DOS partition; then we'll proceed.
rajeevvp said:
OK. Format that micro SD to contain a single DOS partition; then we'll proceed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. That's done.
Boot into CWM, go into the "mounts and storage" menu, unmount all mounted partitions, connect the USB cable, and run these commands using ADB--do not back out of that "mounts and storage" menu while we're fixing this. We're trying to see if the data on the current /sdcard partition can be retrieved.
Code:
$ [B]adb shell[/B]
~ # [B]mount -r /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 /sdcard[/B]
~ # [B]ls -l /sdcard[/B]
If the ls listing looks OK, then we force a filesystem check before copying the data to the external micro SD card:
Code:
~ # [B]mount -r /system[/B]
~ # [B]umount /sdcard[/B]
~ # [B]/system/bin/fsck_msdos -f -y /dev/block/mmcblk3p1[/B]
If the listing doesn't look OK, then the data on /sdcard is lost.
Post the exact output of each command.
Ok, mount says this:
Code:
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 on /sdcard failed: Invalid argument
and ls after that gives no output - I think it shouldn't give any, 'cause I didn't mount anything...
Does this mean I'm screwed?
Try this mount command:
Code:
~ # [B]mount -r -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 /sdcard[/B]
The same result.
i yesterday install a new rom to my rooted s3(intl) today i try to reboot another rom i was stuck in cwm recovery...i wanted to install another rom from my sd card. but it says cant find any file in sdcard.... i cant back restore cz i dnt have back up file in phone as i moved my back up to laptop...when i search abt thz i found out this hapn because my sd card having some issue.
You most probably have an unpartitioned sdcard, clockworkmod however assumes that is partitioned and wants to mount the first partition (/dev/block/mmcblk0p1).
You can fix this by repartitioning your sdcard so that it has a mountable fat-formatted first volume and then retry.
If you don't mind using the commandline, boot to recovery and connect via adb shell to it, then mount your sdcard manually: mount /dev/block/mmcblk0 /sdcard and retry.
Technical explanation:
cat /proc/partitions lists:
/dev/block/mmcblk0 is your FAT formatted volume (no more partitions at all)
should be:
/dev/block/mmcblk0 (whole device)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (1st partition, FAT formatted)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 (sd-ext partition, only for those that use SD2ext and such)
im new to rooting and these stuffs plz explain what is adb shell and how i can mount my sd card....
btw i also tried factory reset it didnt wrk too....i dnt want any files i just want my phone back cz i badly need it....plz help me on this guys :crying: plzzz :crying:
In cwm under mounts and storage there should be the option to format sd card...
Adb is android debugging, it's used to connect to, pull/push files, get logs and more from your phone using a terminal or command prompt window.
http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html this site shows the adb commands available including shell which is connecting to your phone via the terminal to allow you to enter commands.
Also maybe try mount USB storage through cwm and see if you can connect you phone to your pc and transfer the files needed.
If I helped you in some way, take a second to hit the Thanks button.
So my phone is in a bootloop. I flashed CWM recovery via Odin to try to mount the internal storage since i have some things i need to recover before flashing new rom. in CWM under "mounts and storage" i tried everything, but nothing would show up in a computer. Also, mounting system says "Error mounting system" and adb devices doesn't recognize my device now with CWM. it did with stock recovery though, when put in adb mode
edit: flashed original revocery, got adb working, found some adbfileexplorer.jar file from the forums, that shows my device and some files/folders, eg /efs, /preload , cache etc. so they are not the files i'm looking for.
And when writing adb shell in cmd, i get "- exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: No such file or directory (2) -" error
Try philz recovery and aroma file manager to access the data partition.
A sudden boot loop in normal use usually means one or more of the partitions are corrupt, so you may not be able to access data.
boomboomer said:
Try philz recovery and aroma file manager to access the data partition.
A sudden boot loop in normal use usually means one or more of the partitions are corrupt, so you may not be able to access data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok well now i got to use adb and via command "adb pull /" i pulled everything there was (This is the right command to do it, right?)
but only two folders, sys and tmp were pulled, none of which contain any relevant data, it would appear
SOLVED! See 2nd Post
Hi,
Galaxy S II 16GB 2.5 Years old.
I friend came to me with a problem : Waze can't start because it complains no access to sdcard (internal, no external present)
A bit fiddling and I see /storage/sdcard0 is mounted as RO!
I remount as RW, and I can now start waze, but as soon as I use the phone further, the mount reverts to RO.
I try to format it via recovery (philz) but it fails deleted odd named files in DCIM/Camera/cache.
So I try to delete the files myself but it fails.
Next up, I mount usb storage in recovery, and run windows Checkdisk, it finishes while fixing some stuff, the format still doesn't work.
Eventually using Minitool I am able to format it. BUT, now, when I boot android, it says the internal storage is damange, and attempt to format it via Android fails always.
Still, when I boot into philz, and mount usb storage, i can browse it via my W7 PC, copy and delete files freely. So I guess something is not mounted or formatted correctly. I decide to reinstall stock rom with Odin + repartition.
So I take pit file from a thread that aims to increase /data at the expense of internal storage, and I find the stock pit there and use it.
Rom flashes fully, but sdcard still not working.
What I want to do is :
Boot into Recovery and use Android commands to properly mount/map this so the phone recognizes it.
I have linux knowledge, I know how to get around a linux shell and use VI and permissions etc. I also messed sometimes with fstab on a pc to set up mount points, so I am not a complete stranger. I am rooted and need help
Any help would be appreciated.
So, I searched the net for quite a few hours, and found this post :
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2147315&p=-1&#bottom
Which solved my problem
I registered on that forum to thank the dude!
This command solve my problem :
newfs_msdos /dev/block/vold/259:3
I knew it will work the moment I saw the 259:3 which I saw in logcat that android cannot format.
Good work finding a fix yourself Hopefully other people in the same situation will find it useful
Hi all.
I goofed and didn’t completely unroot before applying an OTA update on my Zenpad 10 Z300C and I’ve got the classic “stuck on the boot screen” problem. I loaded up an elevated command prompt and applied the mod-recovery-z300c.img recovery image. Now when I try to apply the latest firmware update from Asus, I’m told that my file system is read only. I’ve google’d around and tried the usual fixes like
$ su
# mount -o remount,rw /system
but nothing seems to work with the internal storage or a SD card. Here are the errors I get.
Internal Storage Error
adb push "C:\adb\UL-P023-WW-4.7.5.0-user.zip" /data/media/0/ failed to copy 'C:\adb\UL-P023-WW-4.7.5.0-user.zip' to '/data/media/0//UL-P023-WW-4.7.5.0-user.zip': Read-only file system
SD Card Error
adb push "C:\adb\UL-P023-WW-4.7.5.0-user.zip" /sdcard/
failed to copy 'C:\adb\UL-P023-WW-4.7.5.0-user.zip' to '/sdcard//UL-P023-WW-4.7.5.0-user.zip': No space left on device
I’m following the instructions left by InvisiBot here and got stuck on step 3. I’ve gotten myself out of messes like this before on my phone, but I’m stumped this time. The SD card is completely blank. I've tried NTFS and exFAT file systems with no luck. Even when copying the firmware zip to the SD card from my PC, I'm unable to apply it with adb shell updatezip /sdcard/UL-P023-WW-4.7.5.0-user.zip
I sure would appreciate any help.
Thanks!
I've been banging away on this tablet for about ten hours now. Does anyone have any tips or ideas? I'm open to even the most far fetched ones at this point.
For anyone who has a similar issue in the future, I found the files I needed for flashing here. It resolved my issue.
How did you root it in the first place?