[Q] [Android Issues] Please Help Me To Better Understand - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recently got a like new second hand Samsung Galaxy Beam GT-I8530.
- The phone is carrier/SIM unlocked. I currently am using it with SIMPLE MOBILE
- When I got the phone it already had Android version 4.1.2 installed.
- I don't install a lot of apps nor do I fall for the trending apps.
Since I got the phone these are the apps I have installed.
Xabber & ChatSecure: Both are "almost" the same thing just different look. One does MUC better than the other.
DoggCatcher
TWIT Pro
Skype
Swype+Dragon
Twitter
Wifi Analyzer
Barcode Scanner
Bank Of America App
ConnectBot: I downloaded this to make sure that the phone wasn't rooted. I only seem to have $. When I type "su" into local I get: su: uid 10134 not allowed to su. This is enough to let me now that the phone is not rooted.
DuckDuckGo App
Firefox
Google Voice
Greenify: I installed this to help me manage the phone's RAM for issues I will describe below.
Nova Launcher: Installed for same reason as Greenify.
OpenVPN Connect
PlayStation App
RealCalc
Running [Nike App]:
||I updated all the stock apps those of Google [e.g. google maps, google search, etc] as well as those Samsung apps that needed updating like Samsung Push Service.
Now this is what's happening to my phone
Sometimes while using the phone this will freeze/lockup yet the ongoing activity stays active. For example, if the freeze/lock happens while I'm watching a downloaded video podcast then I wont know till after I press the volume button or a softkey. We could argue the the press of the button is what caused the phone to freeze but these apps/features are designed to allow you to turn the volume up and down or stop video playback and/or exit application as your own will. Anyways, once the phone freezes I have to either: let the phone mitigate the issue and prompt me with a message acknoledging that said app is not responding with options to report, wait & ok [this can time 1+] OR I just force restart the phone by holding the power button.
The above has happened to me mostly during downloaded video playback but it has also happened while steaming youtube videos, using Firefox, as well as, during a phone call. For the phone call case, this happened right when I press the home button to bring me back to the locked screen. I wanted to access my contacts. No button was responding, yet phone call connection very much stable. Good thing that it wasn't someone I wanted to hang up to.
To make things more fun, I sometimes get the following error. This error happens out of nowhere.
[RST_STAT = 0x00000008]
Android logo with a voice cloud thing which inside has a loading loop but this is not looping.
Then it says: KERNEL PANIC UPLOAD MODE
This is very annoying for this automatically render the phone as unreliable. Nothing more would suck than to miss important call just because felt like going into a panic attack. [insert Dream Theater's Panic Attack song here] :silly:
What I have & have not done to this phone
I've not rooted, not even the attempt to.
I did disabled almost all the stock Samsung apps. I see not need to use them sign my soul away with the another devil when I already have with Google. Moreover, the system does allow me to disable them.
ChatOn
S Planner
S Planner Widget
Samsung Account
Samsung Apps
Samsung Backup
Samsung Backup Provider
Samsung Broswer Sync
Samsung Calendar Sync
Samsung Setup Wizard
And the rest of the like.
I did not disable those apps which names are follows:
com.samsung.app.playeradyui
com.samsung.InputEventApp
and the like.
I did disable widgets that I would never use. Widgets like: live wallpapers or weather. For weather I use Google search.
In further troubleshooting my phone I did re-enable all of the stuff I had disabled. To be honest. The Kernel Panic error happened more often during the period in which the above apps widgets were disabled. Now the phone still locks up and the kernel panic has happened only once.
Given that the phone freezing/locking-up is very similar to low RAM availability/management is how I arrived to installing:
Greenify: Said to be very good for RAM management [sadly it requires root]
Nova Launcher: For its said priority on speed & performance without eating too much resources
Questions
During my research I've ran into a vast sea of technical knowledge regarding custom ROMs to how to gain root access in my phone [source being this very forums]
Rooting
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1809784&page=1
Custom ROM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=39769056&postcount=75
Even information about a firmware update. This info is always accompany with a region/country. I have no idea how to find out my phones country.
http://www.tsar3000.com/Joomla/inde...laxy-beam-firmware&catid=57:how-to&Itemid=104
- Would doing any of the above help me fix my ongoing phone issues: Kernel panic & phone freezing/locking up?
- Would rooting the phone knowing that something is wrong if the kernel be a good idea?
- How do I know if my phone has the latest firmware?
I've read and also told to replace the kernal. To which i said "huh?"
My kernel version is 3.0.31-928810-eng [email protected] #2 some more stuff and the the date Tue Feb 5 21:42:02 KST 2013
I've been told to clear the system cache in recovery. How would I do that?
I read that, in the case of other phones models, that reflashing the stock ROM could help. When I got my phone it already had android 4.1.2 & why would I want to bring it back to gingerbread. For what I've read, the Samsung Galaxy Beam GT-8530 originally came with gingebread and later on Samsung released an update which brought it up to Jelly Beam.
Miscellaneous
I could tell my pnone was not rooted because Greenify nor Nova Launcher could gain root access. What drove me to doubt this was the fact that under BUILD NUMBER it displays "test-keys"
So it is: GT-I8530-eng 4.1.2 blah blah then it ends with test-keys.
I've not been able to find anything related to "test-keys" in Android as the operating system. I've only been able to find articles dealing "test-keys" with android app development.
Furthermore, if i were to try to check for a system update I get the following message [perhaps this is the starndard message for when there is no new updates for your system]
I go to system settings > about phoone > software update then I press Update
Software Update
Your device has been modified. Software updates are not available.
Please excuse the long first post. So much research has left me in "information overload"
Thanks

---

AFAIK the kernel panic mode happens when incompatible kernel modules are there inside the kernel. Changing to a custom kernel might fix the issues. The Software Update saying device modified is because flash counter is raised in Download mode(for more info search triangle away thread)
Its Going to be LEGEND--wait for it--DARY!-Barney Stinson(How I Met Your Mother)

---

d
Ironman38102 said:
AFAIK the kernel panic mode happens when incompatible kernel modules are there inside the kernel. Changing to a custom kernel might fix the issues. The Software Update saying device modified is because flash counter is raised in Download mode(for more info search triangle away thread)
Its Going to be LEGEND--wait for it--DARY!-Barney Stinson(How I Met Your Mother)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you are right. I've wondered what the constant "triangle" references that I've run to were all about. I had come to assumed it was some kind of terminology. I turns out that there really is a triangle
With that said. Frak!, this phone has indeed been flashed before. Putting the phone on download mode volume-key down+Home button+Power does show a yellow triangle with an exclamation point inside. As far as a count of how many times it has been flashed, that is not shown.
Now this has me not fully trusting the current ROM. Is there a possibility that the Triangle is a result of the upgrade from Gingerbread to Jelly Beam? The Samsung Galaxy Beam GT-I8530 was originally shipped with Gingerbread 2.3.6 and later Samsung released and update which brought it to Jelly Beam 4.1.2
With the above question in mind, if I were to re-flash the original Samsung release of Jelly beam 4.1.2 for GT-I8530 would I still have the triangle issue?
I was not able to find any official downloads at the Samsung website. The best I've found is on this website
http://www.mobiada.com/06881/update...-4-1-2-xxamf1-firmware/?ModPagespeed=noscript
What I don't like about the article is that the download link clearly says Jellybeam 4.1.1. Firmware Update Package. Whatever happened to 4.1.2?
OK, now all I need is to be sure of what to do next
- Can I just reflash the official Samsung release of Jellybeam 4.1.2 for GT-I8530 [if I can find it somewhere] back to to the phone? Would automatically remove the Triangle or would I still have to make use of Triangle Away?
I prefer the above for it just might fix the Kernel issue I'm experiencing.
Btw, just to be sure I need confirmation that I found the right Triangle Away thread [Triangle Away being an app].
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1494114
Thank you for your help :good:

---

SevenFactors said:
Of course you are right. I've wondered what the constant "triangle" references that I've run to were all about. I had come to assumed it was some kind of terminology. I turns out that there really is a triangle
With that said. Frak!, this phone has indeed been flashed before. Putting the phone on download mode volume-key down+Home button+Power does show a yellow triangle with an exclamation point inside. As far as a count of how many times it has been flashed, that is not shown.
Now this has me not fully trusting the current ROM. Is there a possibility that the Triangle is a result of the upgrade from Gingerbread to Jelly Beam? The Samsung Galaxy Beam GT-I8530 was originally shipped with Gingerbread 2.3.6 and later Samsung released and update which brought it to Jelly Beam 4.1.2
With the above question in mind, if I were to re-flash the original Samsung release of Jelly beam 4.1.2 for GT-I8530 would I still have the triangle issue?
I was not able to find any official downloads at the Samsung website. The best I've found is on this website
http://www.mobiada.com/06881/update...-4-1-2-xxamf1-firmware/?ModPagespeed=noscript
What I don't like about the article is that the download link clearly says Jellybeam 4.1.1. Firmware Update Package. Whatever happened to 4.1.2?
OK, now all I need is to be sure of what to do next
- Can I just reflash the official Samsung release of Jellybeam 4.1.2 for GT-I8530 [if I can find it somewhere] back to to the phone? Would automatically remove the Triangle or would I still have to make use of Triangle Away?
I prefer the above for it just might fix the Kernel issue I'm experiencing.
Btw, just to be sure I need confirmation that I found the right Triangle Away thread [Triangle Away being an app].
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1494114
Thank you for your help :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Newer samsung phones dont show the flash counter but they do show that the phone is Custom(CURRENT BIN: CUSTOM ,SYSTEM MODIFIED etc) in download mode and even if u flash the original firmware ur phone will still have the flash count. Although Im not sure if ur device is supported by Triangle Away and if isnt install the Triangle Away app and launch it(it will obviously say not support) and choose the option create triangle away dump file and request for support in the triangle away thread.

---

Official
Ironman38102 said:
Newer samsung phones dont show the flash counter but they do show that the phone is Custom(CURRENT BIN: CUSTOM ,SYSTEM MODIFIED etc) in download mode and even if u flash the original firmware ur phone will still have the flash count. Although Im not sure if ur device is supported by Triangle Away and if isnt install the Triangle Away app and launch it(it will obviously say not support) and choose the option create triangle away dump file and request for support in the triangle away thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for following up.
Under ODIN mode, my phone did indeed say "CUSTOM"
Because of this I decided to go ahead and cross the unknown waters of the Flash Rom ocean. I found several other post about Jelly Beam for GT-I8530. All of them point to the same download link [isn't that something. I wonder who copy who]
Anyways, Flashing the ROM went very smoothly and my phone is now more responsive than before.
The Built number no longer includes "test-keys"
The Software Update message now has changed to "The latest Updates Have already been insalled"
Under ODIN mode now it does clearly says that the device has been flashed once "Yes (1 counts)" Furthermore, it says Current Binary: SAMSUNG OFFICIAL
Triangle Away
I'm not yet able to post on the development forums. I will have to stay active for a while before being able to ask a questions on the thread. Furthermore, I need to buy a USB jig [already on its way from amazon]
Now what i need to find is a way to gain root [SU] this phone. The one I previously found is meant for android Gingerbread, not Jelly Beam =(