I was doing a factory reset to clean install one of the CM10.1 release candidates and I went into Mounts and Storage and I accidentally formatted ROM instead of System. Now Cyanoboot keeps going into CWM and won't boot my rom. I flashed a different rom and I also restored from backup but neither did the trick. Any tricks that can get my dear old Nook booted? Any help would be greatly appreciated. (My last resort is one of those lengthy unbrick posts if there's no way to fix it. I've done these before but if there is an easier solution I'd like to try that first.)
I am familiar with adb (and ubuntu if need be).
Do you know the serial number? Like when you use adb, and you type adb devices, it shows a serial number. Did you write it down? I have a backup of the ROM partition and it includes a few files in there containing serial and mac address, etc. The serial number is important for it to boot AFAIK, so I hope you have that somewhere.
sagirfahmid3 said:
Do you know the serial number? Like when you use adb, and you type adb devices, it shows a serial number. Did you write it down? I have a backup of the ROM partition and it includes a few files in there containing serial and mac address, etc. The serial number is important for it to boot AFAIK, so I hope you have that somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the serial number (behind the microsd card slot)..but not the mac address
Also, I only wiped the ROM and system partitions. The factory partition is still there untouched and I've read somewhere that it contains a backup of the information in the ROM partition.
adb devices shows a serial number of abcdef123456789.
Not exactly a good sign...Should I try so****e's serial number recovery thing through ubuntu?
If what you had re-formatted by mistake is /rom but your /factory is still intact then not all was lost, as /factory holds romdata.zip which is a backup archive of data files in /rom (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=37515697&postcount=31 for more elaboration).
What you can try is to flash stock recovery (e.g., flash_stock_recovery.zip from Succulent's repo https://github.com/succulent/acclaim_recovery_sdcard), then do the "8 failed reboots" to trigger a "factory reset to stock".
Can you try to use adb from CWM? Try "adb pull /factory" and see if it copies over the factory folder to your computer.
digixmax said:
If what you had re-formatted by mistake is /rom but your /factory is still intact then not all was lost, as /factory holds romdata.zip which is a backup archive of data files in /rom (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=37515697&postcount=31 for more elaboration).
What you can try is to flash stock recovery (e.g., flash_stock_recovery.zip from Succulent's repo https://github.com/succulent/acclaim_recovery_sdcard), then do the "8 failed reboots" to trigger a "factory reset to stock".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory is definitely in tact; only rom was formatted (I figured factory was important so I didn't want to format it.) I'll try this after and let you know. I'm going to manually flash partition 5 onto my nook through adb and see if that can get me up and running.
sagirfahmid3 said:
Can you try to use adb from CWM? Try "adb pull /factory" and see if it copies over the factory folder to your computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pull: building file list...
0 files pulled. 0 files skipped.
This was through command prompt/adb in Windows 7. Should I try Ubuntu?
topdawg7793 said:
pull: building file list...
0 files pulled. 0 files skipped.
This was through command prompt/adb in Windows 7. Should I try Ubuntu?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to mount the /factory partition before you can access it.
Why not do it the easy way: just flash stock recovery and let it restore the missing data as part of the "8 failed boots" factory reset process?
digixmax said:
You need to mount the /factory partition before you can access it.
Why not do it the easy way: just flash stock recovery and let it restore the missing data as part of the "8 failed boots" factory reset process?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no clue it fixed the missing data! Just did it and I'm back to a working nook. Appreciate the help everybody!
So what did you do to finally get it fixed? Flash stock recovery and do the 8 failed reboots method?
sagirfahmid3 said:
So what did you do to finally get it fixed? Flash stock recovery and do the 8 failed reboots method?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know I'm slightly late on this, but I figure I should at least respond so any poor soul who gets into the same situation and sees this thread can have some go-to solution. I never got to do the partition thing through adb (use somebody's ROM partition and change the serial number and mac address to that of my Nook) so I booted an SDcard version of some CM10 nightly and then used the touchscreen firmware flasher to restore to the factory firmware. Then I took out the SDcard and did the 8 reboots thing and that finally fixed it.
NOTE: NEVER GO BACK TO STOCK WHILE ON THE 10-TOUCH FIRMWARE. YOUR TOUCHSCREEN WILL NOT WORK AND YOU WILL EFFECTIVELY BE STUCK UNTIL YOU BOOT OFF AN SDCARD AND RESTORE THE FACTORY TOUCHSCREEN FIRMWARE.
topdawg7793 said:
I had no clue it fixed the missing data! Just did it and I'm back to a working nook. Appreciate the help everybody!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol well now i know wut to do if i accidentally format rom. cheers every1 who helped topdawg :highfive:
Hi I've been reading through the forum here for about 2 years now and got a lot of helpful advice on rooting and flashing my Android devices but this is my first thread. Unfortunately I've messed up my USA Galaxy Player 5.0 and don't know what to do that I haven't already tried. Let me start at the beginning.
I rooted my player a while ago and everything was fine untill my micro-SD card wouldn't mount in other devices but sometimes it would in my player. So, I installed AParted on my Player and proceeded to format what I thought was the SD card. I found out when I rebooted my player hours later that it had wiped my Player rather than that SD card and my Player wouldn't boot but gave a bunch of errors.
I had flashed Samsung devices with odin 1.85 before and decided to try some of the rooted ROMs from this site. They all appeared to flash just fine in odin, however when the Player rebooted it stopped at the CWM recovery screen saying it could not mount the /cache. I went into mounts and storage and tried to format /cache and got this:
E:format_volume: make_extf4fs failed on /dev/block/mmcblk0p15.
I also tried installing CWM recovery zip files and they installed way too fast and then didn't work. It seems like my Player cannot write all of the needed files. Any suggestions? I dual boot WinXP and Ubuntu. In Ubuntu I installed Heimdall 1.4 and the frontend but am not real sure how to use it. I did get Heimdall started ok with sudo heimdall-frontend.
Marty
What rom did you flash? Also heimdall frontend 1.4 is just weird lol. I use 1.1 instead.
Sent from my YP-G1 using xda app-developers app
obscuresword said:
What rom did you flash? Also heimdall frontend 1.4 is just weird lol. I use 1.1 instead.
Sent from my YP-G1 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I tried a lot of ROMs that I'll list. The one I have a backup from a year ago (that's from my first Galaxy Player 5 that I hard bricked before I bought this 2nd one) uses Eryigit 3.5 USA ROM and also has CWM on it. That's what is on it now, though it only boots to CWM. These are the ROMs I tried that wouldn't boot:
Odin:
Eryigit 3.5 USA
Stock ROM with PIT UEKI8_MIN
CWM:
CM7.2.0-RC1
CM9-HWA-12.5.2012
Noisy Fox GB ROM ZKP9
Supermaster CM9
Chip 1.5-1
I honestly don't think it's a ROM problem since these have all worked for me on my previous Galaxy Player 5 USA model. I think AParted messed up the partitions when it formatted the device.
How do I fix the partitions? I thought that's what a PIT file did, but it seems to just get stuck on the PIT file in odin...how long should it take?
Marty
LinuxHippy said:
Well I tried a lot of ROMs that I'll list. The one I have a backup from a year ago (that's from my first Galaxy Player 5 that I hard bricked before I bought this 2nd one) uses Eryigit 3.5 USA ROM and also has CWM on it. That's what is on it now, though it only boots to CWM. These are the ROMs I tried that wouldn't boot:
Odin:
Eryigit 3.5 USA
Stock ROM with PIT UEKI8_MIN
CWM:
CM7.2.0-RC1
CM9-HWA-12.5.2012
Noisy Fox GB ROM ZKP9
Supermaster CM9
Chip 1.5-1
I honestly don't think it's a ROM problem since these have all worked for me on my previous Galaxy Player 5 USA model. I think AParted messed up the partitions when it formatted the device.
How do I fix the partitions? I thought that's what a PIT file did, but it seems to just get stuck on the PIT file in odin...how long should it take?
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to check your partition table. flash Entrophy512's daily driver then in adb: fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0
Compare output to image in this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=44626450&postcount=33
If it doesn't match exactly then read this entire thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2398120
EDIT: FYI - When you put a pit file in Odin, all it does is flash the PIT file to the PIT partition. If your partition table is jacked and the PIT Partition is missing...???
If you check "repartition" in Odin, then Odin reads the pit from the pit partition then reformats according to what the PIT says, but if your PIT Partition is missing...???
The galaxy player 5's PIT Partition is /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
Meticulus said:
You need to check your partition table. flash Entrophy512's daily driver then in adb: fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0
Compare output to image in this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=44626450&postcount=33
If it doesn't match exactly then read this entire thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2398120
EDIT: FYI - When you put a pit file in Odin, all it does is flash the PIT file to the PIT partition. If your partition table is jacked and the PIT Partition is missing...???
If you check "repartition" in Odin, then Odin reads the pit from the pit partition then reformats according to what the PIT says, but if your PIT Partition is missing...???
The galaxy player 5's PIT Partition is /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good-then there is still hope...I thought I messed up a 2nd Galaxy Player. It boots to CWM now...can I flash Entropy´s kernel there or do I need to do that in odin?
Marty
LinuxHippy said:
Good-then there is still hope...I thought I messed up a 2nd Galaxy Player. It boots to CWM now...can I flash Entropy´s kernel there or do I need to do that in odin?
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't matter how it gets flashed as long as it does...
Meticulus said:
It doesn't matter how it gets flashed as long as it does...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I read over the threads u posted, got ADB working in Win XP, and then flashed my kernel so that it's using entropy512's kernel. All looked ok till is issued the fdisk command on the SGP and it couldn't find mmcblk0. What else would it call the root device? I issued a couple commands in the attached screenshot and it looks like I only have 376 MB rather than ~ 8 GB.
The screenshot file is attached to this post.
Marty
LinuxHippy said:
Well, I read over the threads u posted, got ADB working in Win XP, and then flashed my kernel so that it's using entropy512's kernel. All looked ok till is issued the fdisk command on the SGP and it couldn't find mmcblk0. What else would it call the root device? I issued a couple commands in the attached screenshot and it looks like I only have 376 MB rather than ~ 8 GB.
The screenshot file is attached to this post.
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its /dev/block/mmcblk0
Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk
That worked but the output didn't match yours at all. Besides there being no partitions (I was trying to format my SD card with a FAT32 filesystem) the device has 4 heads (yours had 1) and the units are cyclinder of 64 (you have 16). I attached another screenshot...I do still have 7944 MB, though!
So, with these differences should I proceed with repartitioning with fdisk??
Marty
I'm not root
LinuxHippy said:
That worked but the output didn't match yours at all. Besides there being no partitions (I was trying to format my SD card with a FAT32 filesystem) the device has 4 heads (yours had 1) and the units are cyclinder of 64 (you have 16). I attached another screenshot...I do still have 7944 MB, though!
So, with these differences should I proceed with repartitioning with fdisk??
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realized just now that I'm not root and when I try to change into root with su it cannot find that command because it doesn't have a /bin directory (in Ubuntu it's /bin/su). It may only display partitions to the root user and wouldn't let me create any without being root. Maybe it's running out of space and cannot create that directory? Could u put a link on here of the page for Entropy512's daily kernels? You had mentioned it, but the 1 I found is from 2012 and I'm not sure if it's daily.
Marty
I wrote my new partition table!
Well, I installed Entropy512's kernel from 01222012 and that gave me root. Then from ADB shell I was able to gain all the functions of fdisk. I still did not have any partitions. However, I could not follow your guide exactly because my Galaxy Player has 4 heads...this meant that each block was 32 bytes. So I had to use trial and error to try to get the Start and End blocks close to the number of blocks in each of your partitions. In fdisk I had to display the table after every new partition with P and if it wasn't the right number of blocks I would delete it with D and then try again keeping in mind that each block increased or decreased the size of the partition by 32 bytes.
I may be explaining this wrong and went about this the wrong way. I wrote the table and attached another screenshot. Before I wrote any ROMs to it, I wanted to make sure it looked good enough for ROMs to write to it.
Marty
Unpartitioned space
There is unpartitioned space at the end of this "drive".
Meticulus has 969728-969528=200
I have 242432-242373=59
This space is almost equal if u consider each head to use 50 and there are 4 heads...200. Each block takes 32 of these (bytes?).
I hope u can follow my reasoning since I don't know the units. If this space is unused, I'm wondering if 1 of these partitions could be increased by 32 bytes? If this space isn't used by a ROM, I could re-do this pretty easily to prevent my SGP from locking up again.
It looks like Samsung put out at least 2 USA geometries of their SGP5. Perhaps somebody else could post ADB outputs of fdisk -l /dev/blk/mmcblk0?
LinuxHippy said:
There is unpartitioned space at the end of this "drive".
Meticulus has 969728-969528=200
I have 242432-242373=59
This space is almost equal if u consider each head to use 50 and there are 4 heads...200. Each block takes 32 of these (bytes?).
I hope u can follow my reasoning since I don't know the units. If this space is unused, I'm wondering if 1 of these partitions could be increased by 32 bytes? If this space isn't used by a ROM, I could re-do this pretty easily to prevent my SGP from locking up again.
It looks like Samsung put out at least 2 USA geometries of their SGP5. Perhaps somebody else could post ADB outputs of fdisk -l /dev/blk/mmcblk0?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please read the ENTIRE thread. Changing the heads is explained and you must change the head first. There is only one U.S.A "geometry".
Meticulus said:
Please read the ENTIRE thread. Changing the heads is explained and you must change the head first. There is only one U.S.A "geometry".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I missed something. I'll read the posted threads again (there are threads inside of threads here) later. It's good to know that Samsung only put out 1 version of their USA SGP5...I was gonna comb the web later for partition table screenshots and that woulda been a complete waste of time.
Can u post the EXACT posting that I should re-read?
Marty
LinuxHippy said:
Oh, I missed something. I'll read the posted threads again (there are threads inside of threads here) later. It's good to know that Samsung only put out 1 version of their USA SGP5...I was gonna comb the web later for partition table screenshots and that woulda been a complete waste of time.
Can u post the EXACT posting that I should re-read?
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=45458589&postcount=55
Have a better partition table!!
Meticulus said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=45458589&postcount=55
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, thanks for the last link...that was helpful! I hadn't read that & didn't know after 12 years of Linux use that there was an expert mode for fdisk...now I can fix my computer disk that I re-partitioned years ago and has 4 heads (that's working, though and like I've always been told, "if it aint broke, don't fix it!" I now re-did the partition table with 1 head and it ALMOST looks like your table. I attached a screenshot of your table and mine side by side so u can easily compare. What's on your table and missing from mine are 2 lines:
Omitting empty partition (18)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
Are these important or am I ready to flash this puppy with the Low Level Russian ROM u suggested?
Marty
LinuxHippy said:
OK, thanks for the last link...that was helpful! I hadn't read that & didn't know after 12 years of Linux use that the was an expert mode for fdisk...now I can fix my computer disk that I re-partitioned years ago and has 4 heads (that's working, though and like I've always been told, "if it aint broke, don't fix it!" I now re-did the partition table with 1 head and it ALMOST looks like your table. I attached a screenshot of your table and mine side by side so u can easily compare. What's on your table and missing from mine are 2 lines:
Omitting empty partition (18)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
Are these important or am I ready to flash this puppy with the Low Level Russian ROM u suggested?
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically: fdisk in Entropy512's Daily Driver is the busybox version, which does not have "expert" mode but newer version of fdisk (not in busybox) do have an "expert" mode that you can select with the option "x" at the prompt. However the busybox fdisk does have the ability to change the heads which is in the "expert" mode in newer (non-busybox) versions of fdisk. But that isn't really relevant at this point. Just an FYI.
I don't know how relevant those 2 lines are...
All I can say is give it a go...:good:
All fixed
Well, I didn't have to flash another ROM after I had redone the partitions. Once I had shut down the SGP5 after doing the partitions, I left it on for a half hour or so and then shut it down. When I restarted the SGP5 it booted just fine into the last ROM I flashed. I think it's running Eryigit 3.5 but it may be another one. I'm gonna restore a backup in CWM that I made a year ago and that should be running Eryigit 3.5.
How can I find out which ROM it is running and any idea why there were 4 heads on the device? I bought it as a refurbished SGP5 so somebody else may have done it months ago or maybe the AParted app I was using to format an SD card did that.
Thanks for your help
Marty
LinuxHippy said:
Well, I didn't have to flash another ROM after I had redone the partitions. Once I had shut down the SGP5 after doing the partitions, I left it on for a half hour or so and then shut it down. When I restarted the SGP5 it booted just fine into the last ROM I flashed. I think it's running Eryigit 3.5 but it may be another one. I'm gonna restore a backup in CWM that I made a year ago and that should be running Eryigit 3.5.
How can I find out which ROM it is running and any idea why there were 4 heads on the device? I bought it as a refurbished SGP5 so somebody else may have done it months ago or maybe the AParted app I was using to format an SD card did that.
Thanks for your help
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To find out what ROM your running, the best evidence is going to be in the "About Phone" area, or the build.prop. I think ( not really sure ) that there was a time that the "heads" property did represent the physical number of heads that the storage device had but with more modern forms of storage, it's just a number that part of an algorithm for organizing the space into units. I might be wrong there. It's just the impression that I get. Most likely it was a result of the way AParted partitions disks....
On a personal note, if you look @ the build.prop for Eryigit's rom, you'll probably see my name. "Meticulus". It's sort of an easter egg...:laugh:
Actually the backup I had wasn't working with google play so I wound up flashing with the LLF Russian ROM & then flashing a rooted stock gingerbread ROM and wiping data and caches. Then it was new and I had to login to google play. Now everything works.
Marty
Sent from my YP-G70 using xda app-developers app
[Q] stock unrooted at&t sgh-i777 stuck in boot loop. can I pull contacts, sms, memos
Hello folks,
I have a stock, unrooted AT&T SGH-i777 which is stuck in a 'boot loop' - on power on, I see 'Samsung Galaxy SII' blink infinitely.
The good news is that I can go into download mode as well as recovery mode. I can also connect via adb from my win7 machine.
I was able to pull camera files (pics/vids) from /sdcard/DCIM and whatsapp data (/sdcard/WhatsApp/) using adb pull.
I want to backup (or pull) my contact and sms data (it wasn't synced on phone) as well. However I'm not able to. Do I need to root the phone to use adb for this? If so, how do I root the phone?
Alternatively is there is another way to restore the phone to working condition without losing my contacts and sms data?
I tried rooting it using the 'Easy Rooting Toolkit' v2.0 by DooMLoRD modified by Max Lee @ GalaxyS2Root.com but the runme.bat starts adb and then hangs there indefinitely.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Hammad.
...Whether this works on an Unrooted device, I am not sure, but the goal is to install custom firmware onto a stock device without formatting the data partition (where your sms/contacts/other data are kept)...
Use desktop ODIN to flash a custom kernel/recovery
perform a nandroid backup (via custom kernel/recovery)**
install Samsung-based firmware (cooked or shostock) via custom recovery***
**creates a snapshot of the nand memory module, where everything is stored. Once a working setup is established, Titanium backup (among other tools) can extract contacts, wifi settings, sms & mms messages, etc from this nandroid backup even if you have to conduct a factory reset, in the process of restoring the device.
***this "dirty flash" approach which will hopefully allow you to boot into the device, and backup what you need.
This process has been used recently in a similar scenario, and is fully detailed in another thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2-att/help/phone-wont-boot-to-restore-deleted-file-t2827622
-Cyril
hsophie said:
Hello folks,
I have a stock, unrooted AT&T SGH-i777 which is stuck in a 'boot loop' - on power on, I see 'Samsung Galaxy SII' blink infinitely.
The good news is that I can go into download mode as well as recovery mode. I can also connect via adb from my win7 machine.
I was able to pull camera files (pics/vids) from /sdcard/DCIM and whatsapp data (/sdcard/WhatsApp/) using adb pull.
I want to backup (or pull) my contact and sms data (it wasn't synced on phone) as well. However I'm not able to. Do I need to root the phone to use adb for this? If so, how do I root the phone?
Alternatively is there is another way to restore the phone to working condition without losing my contacts and sms data?
I tried rooting it using the 'Easy Rooting Toolkit' v2.0 by DooMLoRD modified by Max Lee @ GalaxyS2Root.com but the runme.bat starts adb and then hangs there indefinitely.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Hammad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Cyril279 for your response. I had a few questions/clarifications since I'm a complete newbie when it comes to flashing/ROMs/rooting/android:
My Android version is Gingerbread 2.3.x. I never upgraded it since I bought it in mid Feb 2012.
cyril279 said:
...Whether this works on an Unrooted device, I am not sure, but the goal is to install custom firmware onto a stock device without formatting the data partition (where your sms/contacts/other data are kept)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm new to this stuff so I want to make sure that I state things correctly. By unrooted, I mean my device has never ever been rooted. It is stock in all ways from AT&T. Does that change anything?
cyril279 said:
Use desktop ODIN to flash a custom kernel/recovery
perform a nandroid backup (via custom kernel/recovery)**
install Samsung-based firmware (cooked or shostock) via custom recovery***
**creates a snapshot of the nand memory module, where everything is stored. Once a working setup is established, Titanium backup (among other tools) can extract contacts, wifi settings, sms & mms messages, etc from this nandroid backup even if you have to conduct a factory reset, in the process of restoring the device.
***this "dirty flash" approach which will hopefully allow you to boot into the device, and backup what you need.
This process has been used recently in a similar scenario, and is fully detailed in another thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2-att/help/phone-wont-boot-to-restore-deleted-file-t2827622
-Cyril
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read through the thread that you linked to. I want to make sure I understand what I need to do is in:
A. message #5: get ODIN and siyah kernels.
Questions: The Siyah website says that the kernel is for i9100 on JB. Should I still use that one even though my phone is the SGH-I777 and on Gingerbread? Will this upgrade the kernel to JellyBean?
B. message #7: do steps 1,2,3,6,7; (skip 4,5).
Question: Step 6 states '...rooted android'. My phone is not rooted. Will it get rooted as part of A?
Thank you for your patience with me.
Hammad.
Hey guys I'm looking for help with the same issue.. If I had twrp or cwm I'd be good but this phone is my daughters and has not been brought over to the dark side..
This is the problem. Yesterday she came to me and her phone was bootlooping the samsung logo. So I've tried to pull the battery, master reset and call att with no luck. :thumbdown:
I'm wondering since I'm in bootloop and no custom recovery can I maybe flash a custom rom or stock rom to this with the same method..
Thanks Any advice is well appreciated...
I need to get this fixed ASAP. My daughter is two young to be home alone with no phone.....
Sent from my SM-G900A using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
In this case, we are only using the recovery portion of the kernel, so it doesn't matter that it's for an i9100. There are other .tar versions that are designed specifically for the i777, I just didn't search for them.
I haven't tried this procedure on a never-rooted device, but I expect that it works. Perhaps one of our peers will chime in if they know better, otherwise if you're willing to wait a couple days, I will try the complete procedure out on my own i777, starting from gingerbread.
As long as you can get into download mode, and you DO NOT perform a factory reset, then the prognosis for data recovery is good.
In the meantime, in may be helpful to familiarize yourself with the use of desktop odin.
-Cyril
hsophie said:
Thank you Cyril279 for your response. I had a few questions/clarifications since I'm a complete newbie when it comes to flashing/ROMs/rooting/android:
My Android version is Gingerbread 2.3.x. I never upgraded it since I bought it in mid Feb 2012.
I'm new to this stuff so I want to make sure that I state things correctly. By unrooted, I mean my device has never ever been rooted. It is stock in all ways from AT&T. Does that change anything?
I read through the thread that you linked to. I want to make sure I understand what I need to do is in:
A. message #5: get ODIN and siyah kernels.
Questions: The Siyah website says that the kernel is for i9100 on JB. Should I still use that one even though my phone is the SGH-I777 and on Gingerbread? Will this upgrade the kernel to JellyBean?
B. message #7: do steps 1,2,3,6,7; (skip 4,5).
Question: Step 6 states '...rooted android'. My phone is not rooted. Will it get rooted as part of A?
Thank you for your patience with me.
Hammad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------
"master reset"? = factory reset?
If so, then you're not worried about the recovery of any data, and the easiest path is to use desktop Odin to flash the stock i777UCMD8 firmware onto your I777. That firmware can be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20229527&postcount=46
JEZZEJAMEZ said:
Hey guys I'm looking for help with the same issue.. If I had twrp or cwm I'd be good but this phone is my daughters and has not been brought over to the dark side..
This is the problem. Yesterday she came to me and her phone was bootlooping the samsung logo. So I've tried to pull the battery, master reset and call att with no luck. :thumbdown:
I'm wondering since I'm in bootloop and no custom recovery can I maybe flash a custom rom or stock rom to this with the same method..
Thanks Any advice is well appreciated...
I need to get this fixed ASAP. My daughter is two young to be home alone with no phone.....
Sent from my SM-G900A using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cyril279 said:
In this case, we are only using the recovery portion of the kernel, so it doesn't matter that it's for an i9100. There are other .tar versions that are designed specifically for the i777, I just didn't search for them.
I haven't tried this procedure on a never-rooted device, but I expect that it works. Perhaps one of our peers will chime in if they know better, otherwise if you're willing to wait a couple days, I will try the complete procedure out on my own i777, starting from gingerbread.
As long as you can get into download mode, and you DO NOT perform a factory reset, then the prognosis for data recovery is good.
In the meantime, in may be helpful to familiarize yourself with the use of desktop odin.
-Cyril
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you once again Cyril279. I'll familiarize myself with ODIN. I'm not in a hurry since I have a replacement phone. I just want to make sure I can get my data and restore my device. Where can I find kernel for i777?
Hammad.
Thanks, my wife is all over my azz. School is about to start, with our busy schedules she's(daughter) home alone alot. As many others we don't have a land phone.. ...
Sent from my SM-G900A using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
hsophie said:
Where can I find kernel for i777?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Siyah for 2.3.x. There is a tar version.
hsophie said:
Thank you Cyril279 for your response. I had a few questions/clarifications since I'm a complete newbie when it comes to flashing/ROMs/rooting/android:
My Android version is Gingerbread 2.3.x. I never upgraded it since I bought it in mid Feb 2012.
I'm new to this stuff so I want to make sure that I state things correctly. By unrooted, I mean my device has never ever been rooted. It is stock in all ways from AT&T. Does that change anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that does not change anything for this excersize.
hsophie said:
I read through the thread that you linked to. I want to make sure I understand what I need to do is in:
A. message #5: get ODIN and siyah kernels.
Questions: The Siyah website says that the kernel is for i9100 on JB. Should I still use that one even though my phone is the SGH-I777 and on Gingerbread? Will this upgrade the kernel to JellyBean?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The initial kernel flash (step 1) is only for the custom recovery. It will be overwritten by a more appropriate kernel later, when we flash the firmware.
Regarding kernel choice, there are usually two major considerations: what device, and what firmware version is it designed for. An i9100 kernel will boot an i777 into recovery without issue. Since this process won't be using the initial kernel to boot into android, we are not limited to specific versions of i9100 or i777 kernels. We only need to find a .tar version for use with desktop Odin.
--that said--
If you do use an i777 version that is designed for android 2.3.x (thanks @creepyncrawly), then you have the option of booting into Android once the kernel is flashed.
hsophie said:
B. message #7: do steps 1,2,3,6,7; (skip 4,5).
Question: Step 6 states '...rooted android'. My phone is not rooted. Will it get rooted as part of A?
[...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desktop Odin uses root-level access to install firmware (whether stock or custom), so establishing root-access prior, or as a separate step is not necessary when using this method to install custom firmware.
Our process will be different than that shown in message #7, since we are not trying to manually repair the system. We will be attempting the dirty-flash method which involves the first few steps of message #7, and more from message #11.
Process:
0.5) Save custom Samsung-based firmware (cooked v2.2 or shostock3) onto internal memory or sdcard
1) Use desktop Odin to flash Siyah kernel
^^ Installs a kernel/recovery that will allow you to perform a nandroid backup, and flash firmware.
^^This WILL change the initial boot screen (can be corrected later, but does not affect the function of the firmware), and will notch the flash counter (simply doesn't matter).
2) Boot to recovery
3) Create nandroid backup
^^ If things go sideways, you have a snapshot of where you are. If you have to start from scratch, there are apps that can restore Apps, settings, and more, from a backup.
4) Install custom Samsung-based Firmware
^^ Restores the original file-system, without overwriting the /data partition.
5) Attempt boot into android
-Success?
Thank you for your detailed response Cyril279.
For confirmation, I will:
0. use the shostock3 v2.3a firmware from here. I'm assuming that getting it onto the device will require connecting via adb, use adb shell to mkdir and then push the unzipped contents to a directory such as /sdcard/shostock3v23a/
1a. install Desktop ODIN 1.85 or 3.07.
b. use Odin to flash the Siyah-v2.6.14-att.tar mentioned by creepyncrawly [have to read how to do this]
2. boot to recovery
3. create nandroid backup.
Q: Is there a way to exclude the DCIM folder during backup or delete all my pics from the camera before backup since I already have backed all content from /sdcard/DCIM (camera). It was 5.5gb? I'm also assuming that the backup will be created on the phone itself so it has to have enough space on it to hold the backup.
4. Install shostock3 v2.3a [have to read how to do this]
5. hopefully boot successfully into my phone.
cyril279 said:
Process:
0.5) Save custom Samsung-based firmware (cooked v2.2 or shostock3) onto internal memory or sdcard
1) Use desktop Odin to flash Siyah kernel
^^ Installs a kernel/recovery that will allow you to perform a nandroid backup, and flash firmware.
^^This WILL change the initial boot screen (can be corrected later, but does not affect the function of the firmware), and will notch the flash counter (simply doesn't matter).
2) Boot to recovery
3) Create nandroid backup
^^ If things go sideways, you have a snapshot of where you are. If you have to start from scratch, there are apps that can restore Apps, settings, and more, from a backup.
4) Install custom Samsung-based Firmware
^^ Restores the original file-system, without overwriting the /data partition.
5) Attempt boot into android
-Success?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Close, you're close.
Regarding getting the firmware onto the device, the easiest method is to save the files on a micro sd card via PC (formatted as fat32), then insert the card into the device. Otherwise yes, adb push will get it there as well.
0 Use the shostock from the first post of that thread (420mb). The "version 2.3a" that you mention is just a kernel.
1a. install Desktop ODIN 1.85 or 3.07
1b Use Odin to flash the siyah.tar mentioned by creepyncrawly.
desktop Odin use: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=53669365&postcount=360
2. boot to recovery
3. create nandroid backup.
Don't worry about DCIM, the nandroid does not backup the internal memory partition (aka internal sd card) where your photos are stored.
A factory reset also does not touch this partition. <-- BUT DO NOT FACTORY RESET
You are correct that the backup is stored on the device, so it IS important that there is enough space for the backup.
4. Install shostock3 v4.0 [have to read how to do this]
^^It's fairly straight forward while in recovery. If not, we're here to help.
5. hopefully boot successfully into my phone.
hsophie said:
Thank you for your detailed response Cyril279.
For confirmation, I will:
0. use the shostock3 v2.3a firmware from here. I'm assuming that getting it onto the device will require connecting via adb, use adb shell to mkdir and then push the unzipped contents to a directory such as /sdcard/shostock3v23a/
1a. install Desktop ODIN 1.85 or 3.07.
b. use Odin to flash the Siyah-v2.6.14-att.tar mentioned by creepyncrawly [have to read how to do this]
2. boot to recovery
3. create nandroid backup.
Q: Is there a way to exclude the DCIM folder during backup or delete all my pics from the camera before backup since I already have backed all content from /sdcard/DCIM (camera). It was 5.5gb? I'm also assuming that the backup will be created on the phone itself so it has to have enough space on it to hold the backup.
4. Install shostock3 v2.3a [have to read how to do this]
5. hopefully boot successfully into my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Cyril279 once again.
I started the process last night... have some more questions. Please see below:
cyril279 said:
Close, you're close.
Regarding getting the firmware onto the device, the easiest method is to save the files on a micro sd card via PC (formatted as fat32), then insert the card into the device. Otherwise yes, adb push will get it there as well.
0 Use the shostock from the first post of that thread (420mb). The "version 2.3a" that you mention is just a kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For step 0:
I downloaded the full shostock rom as specified. Since I don't have a microSD card available I'm going to copy shostock to the internal sdcard (/sdcard) using adb push.
Do I need to copy the unzipped contents of shostock or just put the single zip file there?
cyril279 said:
1a. install Desktop ODIN 1.85 or 3.07
1b Use Odin to flash the siyah.tar mentioned by creepyncrawly.
desktop Odin use: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=53669365&postcount=360
2. boot to recovery
3. create nandroid backup.
Don't worry about DCIM, the nandroid does not backup the internal memory partition (aka internal sd card) where your photos are stored.
A factory reset also does not touch this partition. <-- BUT DO NOT FACTORY RESET
You are correct that the backup is stored on the device, so it IS important that there is enough space for the backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanted to make sure I have enough space for step 3 so I connected via adb and checked disk space using df. I get this:
Code:
D:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb shell df
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/dev 418M 76K 418M 4096
/tmp 418M 56K 418M 4096
/system 503M 472M 31M 4096
/mnt/.lfs: Function not implemented
/cache 246M 4M 241M 4096
/sdcard 11G 8G 3G 32768
Questions:
1. Which filesystem will get backed up from above using nandroid?
2. Do I have enough space given the information above?
3. I wasn't able to figure out whether you can specify where to save your nandroid backup from my research. Does it allow you specify a backup location? [I would want to put it under the /sdcard partition since its got the most space].
cyril279 said:
4. Install shostock3 v4.0 [have to read how to do this]
^^It's fairly straight forward while in recovery. If not, we're here to help.
5. hopefully boot successfully into my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the encouragement, I'll probably try the process tonight. Will post update once done unless I have other questions.
Hammad.
hsophie said:
[...]
For step 0:
I downloaded the full shostock rom as specified. Since I don't have a microSD card available I'm going to copy shostock to the internal sdcard (/sdcard) using adb push.
Do I need to copy the unzipped contents of shostock or just put the single zip file there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Copy the entire zip file onto the device.
hsophie said:
I wanted to make sure I have enough space for step 3 so I connected via adb and checked disk space using df. I get this:
Code:
D:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb shell df
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/dev 418M 76K 418M 4096
/tmp 418M 56K 418M 4096
/system 503M 472M 31M 4096
/mnt/.lfs: Function not implemented
/cache 246M 4M 241M 4096
/sdcard 11G 8G 3G 32768
Questions:
1. Which filesystem will get backed up from above using nandroid?
2. Do I have enough space given the information above?
3. I wasn't able to figure out whether you can specify where to save your nandroid backup from my research. Does it allow you specify a backup location? [I would want to put it under the /sdcard partition since its got the most space].
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. A nandroid backup will typically backup /system, /data, and /boot(/kernel) partitions (Your partition report is missing a few items). -stock i777 partition table-
2. 3GB is enough for a nandroid
3.Typically, from the first screen of ClockworkMod recovery you would select {backup & restore}, and the submenu will provide options to {backup to internal sdcard} or {backup to external sdcard} (among others)
hsophie said:
Thanks for the encouragement, I'll probably try the process tonight. Will post update once done unless I have other questions.
Hammad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:fingers-crossed:
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 PM ----------
I have never used that shell df command, and I'm not yet sure about all of what it returns, but I certainly got different results when booted into android, than when I was booted into recovery. Were you booted into the stock 3e recovery when you performed the shell df command?
Code:
List of devices attached
001952750d598e recovery
C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb shell df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 404636 136 404500 0% /dev
tmpfs 404636 12 404624 0% /tmp
/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 251968 4276 247692 2% /cache
/dev/block/mmcblk0p11
11901568 6185360 5716208 52% /emmc
/dev/block/mmcblk0p11
11901568 6185360 5716208 52% /and-sec
Code:
List of devices attached
001952750d598e device
C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb shell df
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/dev 395.2M 136.0K 395.0M 4096
/sys/fs/cgroup 395.2M 12.0K 395.1M 4096
/mnt/asec 395.2M 0.0K 395.2M 4096
/mnt/obb 395.2M 0.0K 395.2M 4096
/mnt/fuse 395.2M 0.0K 395.2M 4096
/system 503.9M 320.2M 183.8M 4096
/cache 246.1M 4.2M 241.9M 4096
/efs 19.7M 9.2M 10.5M 4096
/data 2.0G 1.0G 941.5M 4096
/preload 503.9M 293.6M 210.3M 4096
/mnt/media_rw/sdcard0: Permission denied
/mnt/secure/asec: Permission denied
/storage/sdcard0 11.4G 5.9G 5.5G 8192
cyril279 said:
1. A nandroid backup will typically backup /system, /data, and /boot(/kernel) partitions (Your partition report is missing a few items).
I have never used that shell df command, and I'm not yet sure about all of what it returns, but I certainly got different results when booted into android, than when I was booted into recovery. Were you booted into the stock 3e recovery when you performed the shell df command?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I was in the stock 3e recovery when I connected via adb and ran the command. Since I'm not root perhaps its not showing me the /data partition. I can cd into /data but ls doesn't show anything.
I'll send you an update tonight. Thanks for all of your help so far! I really appreciate it.
OK, here is what I did:
1. I wasn't able to copy/push shostock to my phone via adb. I kept getting "failed to copy ? to ?: Read-only file system."
I tried remounting, but it also failed, probably because I don't have root access.
So I've deferred this step to later.
2. I ran ODIN 1.85 desktop, put the phone in ODIN mode and flashed the siyah kernel. ODIN ran successfully and my phone rebooted successfully!
The boot screen shows a yellow triangle and I9100 on it though.
At this point I have access to my phone again. I was able to copy whatsapp history using the guide on their website.
I decided that I'll just sync contacts to google, but lo and behold, I just discovered that wifi isn't working. When I turn it on, it turns off after a few seconds. It doesn't bring up any wifi networks on scan.
Is there a way to make the wifi work again?
Thanks
Hammad.
Update:
1. I copied the shostock ROM through USB/windows
2. I created a nandroid backup from CWMR Touch Recovery onto internal sdcard. I got the following messages on backup:
Code:
SD Card space free: 8645MB
Backing up boot image...
Backing up system...
Backing up data...
[I]No /sdcard/.android_secure found. Skipping backup of applications on external storage.[/I]
Backing up cache...
[I]No sd-ext found. Skipping backup of sd-ext.[/I]
Generating md5 sum...
Backup complete!
Are the two messages in italics a problem?
Update #2:
I decided to install shostock. Installation went smoothly. My wi-fi issue was also resolved with the upgrade and I have Android 4.1.2 on my phone.
Thank you Cyril279 for all of your help on this. I couldn't have done it without your guidance!
hsophie said:
[...]
1. I wasn't able to copy/push shostock to my phone via adb. I kept getting "failed to copy ? to ?: Read-only file system."
I tried remounting, but it also failed, probably because I don't have root access.
So I've deferred this step to later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I tried the process, as soon as I rebooted to the siyah kernel, I was able to ADB push to the device, but I don't know what command you issued, or what path you chose.
Code:
adb push c:\path\to\file.zip /storage/sdcard0/
Code:
adb push c:\path\to\file.zip /sdcard/
Ultimately this didn't matter since you were able to boot into android, and the file could be copied via USB.
hsophie said:
2. I ran ODIN 1.85 desktop, put the phone in ODIN mode and flashed the siyah kernel. ODIN ran successfully and my phone rebooted successfully!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Darn right it did!
Thanks again @creepyncrawly, using this specific kernel made this portion of the process possible.
hsophie said:
The boot screen shows a yellow triangle and I9100 on it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The method of recovery that we used tripped the device's custom-flash monitor (voids service under warranty). It doesn't affect the functionality of the firmware at all, but if you prefer to have the correct initial boot animation, then you'll need to follow an additional procedure.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...to-restore-deleted-file-t2827622/post54521059
hsophie said:
At this point I have access to my phone again. I was able to copy whatsapp history using the guide on their website.
I decided that I'll just sync contacts to google, but lo and behold, I just discovered that wifi isn't working. When I turn it on, it turns off after a few seconds. It doesn't bring up any wifi networks on scan.
Is there a way to make the wifi work again?
Thanks
Hammad.
Update:
1. I copied the shostock ROM through USB/windows
2. I created a nandroid backup from CWMR Touch Recovery onto internal sdcard. I got the following messages on backup:
Code:
SD Card space free: 8645MB
Backing up boot image...
Backing up system...
Backing up data...
[I]No /sdcard/.android_secure found. Skipping backup of applications on external storage.[/I]
Backing up cache...
[I]No sd-ext found. Skipping backup of sd-ext.[/I]
Generating md5 sum...
Backup complete!
Are the two messages in italics a problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No they are not a problem at all. Both of those messages are the result of the fact that you simply didn't have an external sd card installed, so it's informing you that it skipped the backup of the cache files there-on. /boot, /system and /data are what really matter.
hsophie said:
Update #2:
I decided to install shostock. Installation went smoothly. My wi-fi issue was also resolved with the upgrade and I have Android 4.1.2 on my phone.
Thank you Cyril279 for all of your help on this. I couldn't have done it without your guidance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our pleasure, although the process wasn't quite as expected, I'm certainly glad to hear that it worked out.
As mentioned earlier, if the i9100 bootscreen bothers you, then there's another (easier) adventure with your name all over it!
Happy flashing
-Cyril
cyril279 said:
When I tried the process, as soon as I rebooted to the siyah kernel, I was able to ADB push to the device, but I don't know what command you issued, or what path you chose.
Code:
adb push c:\path\to\file.zip /storage/sdcard0/
Code:
adb push c:\path\to\file.zip /sdcard/
Ultimately this didn't matter since you were able to boot into android, and the file could be copied via USB.
-Cyril
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, I tried adb pushing it before flashing the siyah kernel. The phone wasn't rooted so thats why it didn't work.
My next challenge is to figure out how to copy my calendar to google calendar and then sync it so that it copies to my replacement phone (HTC One M8). I was using the samsung calendar, without it being linked to my google account.
Whatsapp data transfer was a cinch. Just copy the folder to the same location on new phone and install whatsapp and you're done.
I transferred memos from the S2 to M8 but I think the memo files are samsung proprietary format. I'll need to figure out how to transfer that info.
The other issue would be transferring my sms as well.
Any recommendations on tools for this would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Hammad.
hsophie said:
Just to clarify, I tried adb pushing it before flashing the siyah kernel. The phone wasn't rooted so thats why it didn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it, makes sense.
hsophie said:
My next challenge is to figure out how to copy my calendar to google calendar and then sync it so that it copies to my replacement phone (HTC One M8). I was using the samsung calendar, without it being linked to my google account.
Whatsapp data transfer was a cinch. Just copy the folder to the same location on new phone and install whatsapp and you're done.
I transferred memos from the S2 to M8 but I think the memo files are samsung proprietary format. I'll need to figure out how to transfer that info.
The other issue would be transferring my sms as well.
Any recommendations on tools for this would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Hammad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't recommend titanium backup highly enough for backup and restoration of apps and their data -including contacts, calendar content, wifi connections, sms/mms, etc. It might not be able to get the memo data to a different program, but remember, all of this info is captured in your nandroid backup as well, and titanium backup can extract it directly from the nandroid into the new firmware.
-Cyril
cyril279 said:
I can't recommend titanium backup highly enough for backup and restoration of apps and their data -including contacts, calendar content, wifi connections, sms/mms, etc. It might not be able to get the memo data to a different program, but remember, all of this info is captured in your nandroid backup as well, and titanium backup can extract it directly from the nandroid into the new firmware.
-Cyril
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could have sworn that I've read on here multiple times that restoring data to apps, even with TIB, results in problematic operations. If I jumped ROMs but had backed up my apps and data with TIB, if I restore the data ONLY in the new ROM, that should be no problem?