[Q] Kernel level spywares, the REAL deal... - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi guys! Long time lurker/flasher/tweaker here. Really not sure where to post this tho so mods please move to best area if this isnt it.
To start with this may sound a lil crazy but without getting too much into it I am a victim of something called "Gang Stalking". Google it if ya wanna know more, they know everywhere I am. Crazy crazy evil **** but anyways...
So I have always suspected to have trackers/keyloggers installed on any devices I have if someone manages to get their hands on it. Well I just purchased a new Dell Venue 8 the other day and had a weird experience buying it to start with. Im an American currently in Mexico (part of my journey trying to escape my persecuters) and I went to Office Depot to pick it up as they had a killer sale for it going on (a whole 1/3rd off and electronics are more expensive here)... Well i get the usual run around I get at any business if my persecuters find out im going there for something. Like "no you can only get that special online blah blah etc" when the site clearly says in store only lol. Anyway im used to management being paid off wherever I frequent to give me a hard time and such so as usual I demand the manager and when he tries to give me the run around I start asking for his boss and the number to corporate and threaten to call them there and often they cave. Well he did but says hes going to have to "pull some strings (just for me)" lmao but that to come back tomorrow afternoon and he would have me one at that price. So I say fine whatever. I come back the next day and pick it up and its not factory sealed but I dont say anything and think "well as long as it works fine then ill just take it to end the headache"... It looked brand new still.
I get it home finally and after playing with it a couple days I figure that after that weird scenario at Office Depot I would do some snooping to see if I could find anything on it out of the ordinary (like spyware) and it goes without saying that IF theres been something installed that its going to be the best of the best, probably government level software. Especially since they know Im a tech wiz. I have not got around to rooting it yet as the only method requires a PC so just havnt had a chance. When I first started it up it went through setup and updating to 4.4 as if it was factory fresh. Well I do a lil research and see that theres not much (if any) chance something of that caliber could be installed without rooting first. Well I didnt think it had been rooted, atleast I knew not by me, but I hop on the playstore to download (brother joeykrim's) root checker just to see and the WEIRDEST thing happened. I hit download, it came quick, and the INSTANT it was done and said " installing root checker" my screen went totally blank. Like I could still see the backlight so it was on still, just blacked out. Only way to cure was hit power twice and my pin screen came back up and things seemed normal, and I was able to run root checker and it said NO root but I still thought how odd is that with the screen? I knew better but checked a couple more apps out to verify they didnt exibit the same pattern, they didnt of course. I then tried installing another app called root checker and it blanked the screen out again. Tried with an app called just "root check" and all was normal. Once again with another "root checker" app and the screen blanked. This is super weird no? Almost seems like spyware thats detecting a root checker being installed and running some batch process to hide root or something. Well I also learned in one of the root checker apps that there was in fact a version of BusyBox installed, which I then verified by running. Wouldnt the phone have to be rooted for busybox? I know theres a no root version but I sure didnt install it. Any chance of it being factory installed? So what should I make of all this guys? Kernel level spyware? If so it could survive a factory reset right? How could I get it out and be 100% sure? If I flash a stock image from here would it remove ANY chance there could be spyware? Even of say a government level? Sorry for the long post but help please!

Bump. I know some of you guys know something about this kinda thing. Scared to answer jaha? Would it help if I removed the word government lol? I actually think I may have killed it anyway (fingers crossed)... It seems after doing the "installing root checker and blanking the screen" process a few times (seems like 5 times if I remember correctly) it no longer exhibits this behavior, and after this lil round of playing my tab was noticeably hot (like 3d gaming for a half hr hot). Its almost as if after going into "safe mode" a certain number of times the spyware "Self destructed" to avoid detection. Hopefully thats the case and hopefully this will help some other victim of this cruel torture one day. Knowledge is power guys! Dont let these psycho NWO pricks get you down! They want to rule and control the world but they can only rule you if you let em! Educate yourself about the BS going on in this seemingly FREE country. Heh. Much love!

Related

Phone is bricked, here's tmos take

I have a Samsung Vibrant. I had installed Assassins Creed, NOVA, Geocaching app, did the GPS fix from the secret screen. This is all pretty much stock stuff, I've only had the phone a month. This morning I woke up and it said "THERES AN UPDATE TO YOUR PHONE". I was like ****ING A RIGHT THERE IS. So I clicked next and took a shower.
Phone is stuck at the VIBRANT - SAMSUNG Screen. Since I had been in the bathroom about half an hour for the three Ss, I know it had half an hour to get this right. Rebooting the phone gives me the happy crappy jingle (yeah, still stock jingles) and then the phone hangs. Accessing the (stock) system restore screen and clearing both user and cached data did nothing, so I grabbed my kid and went to the Tmobile store. People tend to be more helpful when you're annoying them with babies.
They did the same thing, then they got on their super secret tech support line. The guy did a lot of Mmmhmming and reset the phone a few times and said it was dead. Then he handed the phone to me. They asked if I overclocked the phone with voodoo (something or other). No. They asked if I had task-killers installed (Advanced Task Killer) and if it was set to kill anything automatically. I said no. They asked me what I had installed since I got the phone. I'm not a poweruser here, I hadn't really had the time to dig into it nor the inclination figuring the update was in the pipe, so I gave them a list. I asked if they could see what was installed, she said they could not, hence the questions.
At this point they offered to ship me a new device, and lent me a new phone. The shipping, unlike other laments on the forums, is free IF you don't take their offer to upgrade.
I got off the phone with them and let my kid eat the displays for a bit - apparently I'm *phone number four* they've had come in today to be sent back. Tmobile knows they have an issue and they are replacing the phones for free so long as you're not that far off the reservation. Now, I'm guessing there's not four people who read these forums and mess around with their phones out here in the sticks, so even the stock phones are getting killed here. If it kills my wifes phone (and she is absolutely stock, GPS crap and all) then I'll know there seriously is a problem. The technician advised me not to update the phone until further notice, I'm inclined just to be a PITA and keep doing it as motivation to at very least pull the update.
Damn that is awful. I was under the impression only rooted phones with laxfixes and/or different kernels were screwing up the update. I wonder if someone, somewhere, is getting fired over this fiasco LOL. Four phones replaced in one day.....
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Chalup said:
Damn that is awful. I was under the impression only rooted phones with laxfixes and/or different kernels were screwing up the update. I wonder if someone, somewhere, is getting fired over this fiasco LOL. Four phones replaced in one day.....
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be fair to tmobile, it was rooted. I had titanium backup on there to uninstall the meego stuff, the in flight internet stuff, the sims 3 (170MB if I recall correctly), AVATAR but the goal was to uninstall the stuff that was clearly advertising and such. It wasn't taken to the level of having TEH NEXUS WON or a "Stock ROM".
tiber said:
I have a Samsung Vibrant. I had installed Assassins Creed, NOVA, Geocaching app, did the GPS fix from the secret screen. This is all pretty much stock stuff, I've only had the phone a month. This morning I woke up and it said "THERES AN UPDATE TO YOUR PHONE". I was like ****ING A RIGHT THERE IS. So I clicked next and took a shower.
Phone is stuck at the VIBRANT - SAMSUNG Screen. Since I had been in the bathroom about half an hour for the three Ss, I know it had half an hour to get this right. Rebooting the phone gives me the happy crappy jingle (yeah, still stock jingles) and then the phone hangs. Accessing the (stock) system restore screen and clearing both user and cached data did nothing, so I grabbed my kid and went to the Tmobile store. People tend to be more helpful when you're annoying them with babies.
They did the same thing, then they got on their super secret tech support line. The guy did a lot of Mmmhmming and reset the phone a few times and said it was dead. Then he handed the phone to me. They asked if I overclocked the phone with voodoo (something or other). No. They asked if I had task-killers installed (Advanced Task Killer) and if it was set to kill anything automatically. I said no. They asked me what I had installed since I got the phone. I'm not a poweruser here, I hadn't really had the time to dig into it nor the inclination figuring the update was in the pipe, so I gave them a list. I asked if they could see what was installed, she said they could not, hence the questions.
At this point they offered to ship me a new device, and lent me a new phone. The shipping, unlike other laments on the forums, is free IF you don't take their offer to upgrade.
I got off the phone with them and let my kid eat the displays for a bit - apparently I'm *phone number four* they've had come in today to be sent back. Tmobile knows they have an issue and they are replacing the phones for free so long as you're not that far off the reservation. Now, I'm guessing there's not four people who read these forums and mess around with their phones out here in the sticks, so even the stock phones are getting killed here. If it kills my wifes phone (and she is absolutely stock, GPS crap and all) then I'll know there seriously is a problem. The technician advised me not to update the phone until further notice, I'm inclined just to be a PITA and keep doing it as motivation to at very least pull the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep I just got back from TMO store. Mine was bricked PERIOD. "would not power up" Mine should be here Weds. I paid the $10 for express Ship and they gave me a loner.

[SOLVED] [Q] My new gTab won't even power up anymore. Please advise.

Got my gTab yesterday. [VERY EXCITED!]
Plugged in wall outlet, waited 4 hours to charge.
Connected to WiFi.
Updated TapnTap, as instructed.
My Vist Ultimate computer didn't see the gTab when I plugged it in, at least not so I could get to the root directory.
So I went to an old XP and tried that. It worked.
Wanted to Root it, so I installed (sorry if that's not the correct word) ClockworkMod v08.
So far so good.
Then rooted TnT Lite v 4.2
Still good.
Then rooted TnT Lite suppl 4.25
STILL okay.
Then went to gMail. Added my gMail account. (An account I use for business.) It took a LONG time to do whatever it was doing. So I went to do something else, thinking it would continue doing it's thing in the background. I was wrong. It messed up, and I kept getting error messages.
Next thing I know, I'm somehow in that infinite boot loop.
It was about 2 am, and I was tired, and... panicked!
Next thing you know I'm freaking out and went hog-wild (while following directions to the letter), to get my brand new toy to work.
I did nvflash windows, still infinite boot loop. I tried putting the vanilla recovery 3588 on there. Still infinite boot loop.
Kept at things, trying everything I read, and STILL... infinite boot loop.
Then I figured it was time to try to get my Vista computer working so I wouldn't have to keep transferring stuff from the Vista to the XP to the miscroSD card to the gTab, and followed directions about APX mode.
I was delirious, exhausted and scared, and kind of went postal (in a frenzied OCD sort-of way), trying everything and anything to get rid of the infinite boot loop.
Now it won't even power up. (AT ALL!) I think I gave it a heart attack, or possibly a stroke. And that's with not even owning it for 24 hours!
I've tried the long 45 second power hold, then the short one. [Did that about 37 times.] I've tried power and Vol+. Nope. Then did a few power and Vol-, just to really freak the poor sick, dead thing out. [Like kicking the proverbial dead horse, I guess. Trying to see if there was any life left in it.] I even read to turn off the lights to see if there was a faint glow. But nope. No glow.
I will now follow the directions from another post, and will let it just sit for 24 hours (if I can survive the wait) to let the battery discharge and then see if it will boot. [After this nightmare, there is no WAY I will take off the back and hit the reset button--thereby definitely voiding my warranty.] But I hope I'm not like the woman from the forum thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=968177
If I am, and can't get this thing to power up, do you think WOOT will let me return it???? I'm so upset that I broke my new toy so quickly. If anyone has any suggestions about getting this thing to boot up, I'd appreciate it. [at this point, I'd be happy to have it boot up in the infinite boot loop!]
Oh, and one last question, how does having it turned off (because I can't turn it on) and sitting there drain the battery to the point that it needs to start fresh after a mere 24 hours with no activity? Is that typical for tablets?
THANK YOU to anyone who can offer advice on what to try next or how to remedy this problem. Please keep in mind that I am good with PCs and laptops/netbooks, but am VERY new to this whole android and tablet things, so if you send instructions, please give implicit directions (as though you are instructing a 3-year-old), without feeling as if you are insulting me. [Please believe it's what I need, and will appreciate. As will the other wooters who just turned their gTabs into brinks] And know that you will be helping Roebeet by answering my questions, because the poor guy must be exhausted from all of us lay-peoples' foibles and mess-ups. [The man seems to be a God at this site!]
Did you do what is mentioned right after step 10 in this thread?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=865245
"If your tablet bootloops…Also may be required to get market running correctly on some ROMs...
Press and hold the power button to shut the device down. Boot back into Clockwork. Select the advanced option at the bottom, then go to “partition SD card”, for the first option select 2048, and for the second option select 0. Then, redo steps 7-10. This erases all data on your tablet, including backups."
But first... switch to decaf and get some rest... ;-)
Panic doesn't help.
It might actually be powering up but staying in APX mode. I've seen one do that. If that's the case you can still nvflash it back to normal. Let it charge for 15-20 minutes and leave it on the charger. Try to start it up and see if your pc can see it.
You maybe got the bootloop because your tab had sleep death while syncing. Was the error you got by chance something like process.acore? If so that is a classic error that happens after syncing contacts, sometimes there are empty contacts with no data that make the tab go nuts. Simply deleting the bad contacts solves the problem.
A simple wipe data/cash/davlic would have been the first place to start. Breathing helps when stuff goes wonky.
If you can get it to recovery a repartition is totally necessary. Deffinetly... and maybe some whiskey ....
Good luck.
good luck with woot return, dont even think they do it.
I wouldn't worry about the warranty. You already voided it when you rooted the device.
I'm so sorry, guys, I didn't check off the subscribe notification, so I didn't know that anyone had written.
cdavisccs28, I didn't do that while the tablet was boot looping, but somehow it went from bootlooping to complete death.
K J Rad, it wasn't charging, and wouldn't boot. [And you can probably guess, I tried numerous times.]
Mantara, the death in the middle of syncing certainly didn't help it, and, as you suggested, might have been the last nail in the coffin. The whiskey suggestion was funny! Actually I, personally don't drink, but as you might have deduced, I'm a carrier. [AKA: I've been told that I drive people to drink.]
spike378 & filterking: Yup, I think you are both correct. How I managed to spike from "excited as a schoolgirl" to "completely tanking" in less than 24 hours amazes even ME! [And I know me, and am used to me! I think that was a personal record!] [If I don't laugh about it, I'll cry!]
THANK YOU ALL for replying! Your time and concern meant a lot to me, but I think this baby is totally bricked! Elvis has DEFINITELY left the building! If I do get another one (I'll have to start saving again), I might be too afraid to play with it. I really am good with PCs and notebooks, so I might just keep staying with what I know. YOU GUYS ROCK, for trying to help me, and I really appreciate it!
Same problem. I booted the device up, and connected it to WiFi. Then it gave a popup where it asked to update to the newest version. I said okay, and let it do its thing. Then it restarted into a bootloop. So, I turned the device off, and tried to turn it back on, except -- nothing. With the USB plugged in, it's not recognized by the computer at any time after I press the power button. I've been trying to get it to boot for an hour now and it's still just sitting there with a black screen. Not even a backlight is showing. Anyone know of any solution? Or is it time to ask for an RMA from Woot!?
h.nocturna, WOW, you didn't even get to the part where you started doing everything and anything (in a frenzy) to get it to work properly! That might be a good thing, h.nocturna, because you haven't voided your warranty! You might need to send it to Viewsonic to be fixed (since it messed up while you were doing their update), but at least you can do THAT! I mailed my brand new brick to my son up in college and gave him this site, and told him to have a blast, and do whatever he wanted with it. [He's known me his whole life, and said even HE "can't fathom my destroying something so completely in less than 10 hours."] I wish you luck!
Oh, one more question that will help the masses, I'm sure. So how do you get your computer to recognize the device as a hard drive, when it is plugged in to a Windows PC (without voiding the warrenty, of course)? [Vista Ultimate does not recognize it, and neither did Windows 7.] Please give step-by-step instructions for the lay-person. [By answering this question, at least we will solve THAT problem for folks!]
badtypist,
I wrote you a fix last night and when I went to save it the Forums had been shut down and do it didn't save to post --
and I had been on the road and was exhausted and just couldn't stay up long enough to redo it if and when they came back up. Sorry.
You simply needed to find one solution and then let us get down the procedure to follow to fix it.
Several people in the past have gotten to the point where you were. I read two fixes.
One was some people were able to get the tab to start again by playing with the
power switch -- hold it for long, long times and then press a short startup, etc. Somehow they got that to reset and start.
Somewhere else in the forums -- and I have never done this with either of my tablets --
there are a few threads where someone in this kind of situation opened up
the tablet card and simply unplugged the battery for 10- or more seconds. There also
is a reset button inside the case as shown in an old thread where someone opened a
G-Tab up and took pictures.
If any of those three choices get to where you can either use power / volume - to get
into NVFlash more ---- or to where we can load CWM -- then you are in fair shape.
LOTS AND LOTS OF BOOT LOOPS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH PARTITIONING. Simply
getting into CWM and re-partitioning to 2048 and 0 and then using CWM to "Fix
Permissions" will get it working. CWM also will let you wipe the cache and wipe the
factory data, which sometimes will allow and NVFlash to come on up and work right.
You see, we were not dead by any stretch.
You might pass this on to the recipient of the tablet.
Also, so many people are trying to do so much that is over their heads -- and so many
people are borking their tablets -- that this site and the folks that can help -- just can't communicate. Sad day.
I wish you luck. Hope this helps.
Rev
EDIT: Well, I guess we missed the boat completely. Evidently she mailed of the G-Tab and checked
out for good!!!
Hi Rev! Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I TRIED to get back to you sooner, but I think this site was down, because it kept timing out and wouldn't let me get to the site OR the conversation thread! I tried a few times, then tried later, and now just tried again!
I think you guys are getting BLASTED with desperate lay-people from the over 10,000 tablets sold on Woot who have "borked" their tablets. (That's a funny word, Rev! I hope I'm using it properly! And please note, although the WORD is funny, the actual situation is NOT funny!)
Yes, I mailed the offending frustration-linked object to my son, and can't "take it back," but perhaps I will beg for and borrow enough money to try again, sometime soon! If I do, I will come back here again sine I feel I have bonded with the wonderful, sharing folks on this site. (I'm a she, by the way, not a "he.") I admire (okay, worship) the folks who help us lay-people out so we don't sit alone crying and trying to power/Vol+ in solitude!
I've read your other posts previously, Rev, and you are so wonderful to help us n00bs! So please remember "badtypist" (hopefully with good thoughts) and when you hear my name again, let's hope it's to say... THIS TIME I ROOTED IT CORRECTLY!!!!
Thanks again, for your time, Rev AND the rest of you, which wasn't wasted, because I sent my son this link and he will (in his spare time) read through it to fix HIS new tablet. [I think he kind of liked that his mom messed up! He got a VERY expensive new toy, if he can fix it.]
Perhaps I'll talk with you soon...
badtypist (and bad ROOTER. Or is it ROOTERIST? Or maybe ROOTIST? Whatever the proper term, I think we can all agree that I AM bad at it!)
Gtab Update Problems
So, I would agree with some of the posts above. I would also point out that you have two options (or some combination of the two):
1. Try to return the tablet, or put in a warranty claim (the warranty specifically does not cover modification\rooting)
2. Try to fix it yourself
I tend to choose #2 f I think the chances are better than 50/50 in my favor. Also, if the hardware is okay, you can have it fixed in 20 minutes.
The experience that the OP went through is EXACTLY why I discourage newer g-tablet owners from rushing in and flashing alternate firmware to their tablet. I am often chided for this recommendation, but I believe that it is unwise to modify a brand new tablet.
If you still want to mod it, you should have a backup plan. I save my update file to an external USB drive. You should then be able to re-install the stock update by placing it on a microSD card. You need to rename it to update.zip, and add a file that tells it to look at the microSD card for an update. I am a but fuzzy on the specifics, but that file is named "command", and I found it somewhere here in the forums.
As I plan on modding my newer woot tablet (or maybe my older Sears one). I will first set this up, and will work out the details.
Hi buzzzard, thanks for the great info! VERY helpful. I did see that video while researching the gTab, but didn't bookmark it, so I appreciate your adding it here! My son will see all your posts and will use all of your suggestions to try to raise my brand new gTab from the dead! [It wasn't even in zombie mode when I shipped it to my son, so we'll see what happens! I'll keep ya'll informed.]
wasserkapf, you are probably right about not jumping in with both feet for us n00bs. And I most certainly don't mean to be disrespectful in ANY way, but I have a (serious) question... if I'd kept the tap-n-tap and played with it for a while, how would that have changed things for me if I eventually decided to root it to a faster, better OS? [I'm not meaning this sarcastically, I really want to know what I'd have to learn in order to change the results I had, in case I ever do this whole process again, or in case others out there are (hopefully) learning by my mistakes.] What would you suggest lay-people should be learning about the gTab BEFORE attempting to root it? [The answer to this question wil help a LOT of folks!]
buzzzard,
I have always understood -- and I don't want to know bad enough to spend the time
researching it -- that the warranty is void when you load non-standard software.
And even if it were not, I have real questions about messing up a computer and then
taking it back to the seller as if it were faulty. Seems to me there is a dishonesty
component in that equation.
I think modders SHOULD accept the risk that they can trash their tablets -- and that
if they do then the loss is theirs.
Rev
P. S. -- I've tried to say this much without starting a flame war -- if you do I won't
answer you and will ask the moderator to close and hide the thread.
badtypist said:
wasserkapf, you are probably right about not jumping in with both feet for us n00bs. And I most certainly don't mean to be disrespectful in ANY way, but I have a (serious) question... if I'd kept the tap-n-tap and played with it for a while, how would that have changed things for me if I eventually decided to root it to a faster, better OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For one, this will give you time to read up and learn more. I can tell that you are confused by all of this. You don't "root it to a faster OS". Rooting is a method to gain root privileges on the tablet. To you windows users, root is the equivalent of Administrator. There also is only one OS available for this tablet, and that is Android. Some have made modified/customized versions of Android, but it is still Android.
[I'm not meaning this sarcastically, I really want to know what I'd have to learn in order to change the results I had, in case I ever do this whole process again, or in case others out there are (hopefully) learning by my mistakes.] What would you suggest lay-people should be learning about the gTab BEFORE attempting to root it? [The answer to this question wil help a LOT of folks!]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There seems to be the misperception that you have to install a custom firmware to get root privileges or Android Market access. This can be done on the stock firmware, and then makes the tablet much more useful.
butchconner, I know you weren't talking to me, but I am taking full responsibility, and am hoping my son can resurrect my gTab, and I DO hope there will be no flaming, as well. ["There's no need for flaming. It's unsportsmanlike, kind-of rude and unproductive," said the mom to all reading this thread. So please don't flame so this won't get deleted for other poor people who "bork" their gTabs.]
badtypist,
wasserkapf was around when I got my first G-Tablet -- when we were all getting started last November.
You have no idea how bad the software was back then and the things we had to do to make things work.
It wasn't a question of 10 different ROMS and whether it was fast or not -- it was a question of making it work.
But I agree with wasserkapf (and I don't mean this comment particularly at you ) that
people are trying to do too much to fast. In addition to being a minister, I also was
an exec in the IT field for 30 years. I learned to read the docs, to move slow, to make sure each step was
successfully completed before moving on, to test things that
I'm not sure of -- and a whole host of other things that IT people use to operate their
company's systems without crashing it and losing data.
I helped a guy along the way who said he was inexperienced and that his tablet was in
the same kind of situation yours ways. He had gotten his G-Tab, charged it up, and had loaded EVERYTHING he could find on it.
Three or four different ROMS including an
experimental ROM he had been warned was risky. Yet he was having to ask what
recovery was and where to look for files and other basic questions.
I think everybody should get their tablet, upgrade to the latest version of stock, install z4root and
Titanium Backup and learn to use them, then install the latest version of Angry Birds and whatever useful software they need -- and then enjoy
that for a while while they learn the ins and outs of modding.
I help people because of the kind of person I am and because I am retired and have
some time to devote. But I also will be honest and tell you this -- I don't suffer
obnoxious, foolish people well -- and there are folks I just don't help because someone gave them good advice
and they didn't listen........I help folks who need and deserve to be helped.
The alternate ROMs are nice. And it's neat to add market and other useful stuff to
your tablet. But none of those kinds of things are so important that they are worth
what some folks do.
Nuff said. I don't respond to flames. And when you have been helping people as long
as I have, then you can have your opinion.
Peace,
Rev

1.41/amazon app store warning

I thought perhaps some would learn from my stupidity. I have had my wi-fi off to keep away 1.41. The only time wi-fi has been on is if I wanted to check something as soon as I was done I would turn wi-fi off immediately as I understood the update happened when idle. All of a sudden my battery was draining very fast when on stand-by with wi-fi off. I'm surmising that B&B did a partial something when I was online but wasn't able to finish up because I was turning wi-fi off and thus causing the battery to get used very fast as it does when not registered. Like a fool I set the nook down for a moment knowing I needed to finish up in a second realizing it went into stand-by and I was 'caught' 1.41 was now installed. I growled snarled and cussed a lot but knew it was my own fault (to a point). Amazingly my battery usage is really great again.
Because I am still trying to understand all of this about rooting, and so on. I don't feel I'm qualified to root my system yet, especially when I see others having trouble with it. That's ok I will continue learning and do it eventually...... Well golly I might as well remove amazon app store from the nook so it doesn't tease me being there......wrong thing to do. Any apps I got through amazon, it doesn't matter if they were free or ones I bought, no longer work because the amazon app store is no longer installed. So for what it's worth if 1.41 gets you do not take the app store off or you will be screwed too.
I'm holding onto my nook, for now, while I try to learn how to do the things you all talk about. If I get down to the end of the month and I am no further along than I am now I'm sad to say it will go back and I will get an Acer.
This all reminds me of way back when commodore 64 came out. Hubby bought me that and a little tv to go with it as a monitor. Hubby said to me they are under warranty I don't care what you do give them a work out blow them up well yeah in less then a week I found out that they break easy.
GreenFuzzer said:
I thought perhaps some would learn from my stupidity. I have had my wi-fi off to keep away 1.41. The only time wi-fi has been on is if I wanted to check something as soon as I was done I would turn wi-fi off immediately as I understood the update happened when idle. All of a sudden my battery was draining very fast when on stand-by with wi-fi off. I'm surmising that B&B did a partial something when I was online but wasn't able to finish up because I was turning wi-fi off and thus causing the battery to get used very fast as it does when not registered. Like a fool I set the nook down for a moment knowing I needed to finish up in a second realizing it went into stand-by and I was 'caught' 1.41 was now installed. I growled snarled and cussed a lot but knew it was my own fault (to a point). Amazingly my battery usage is really great again.
Because I am still trying to understand all of this about rooting, and so on. I don't feel I'm qualified to root my system yet, especially when I see others having trouble with it. That's ok I will continue learning and do it eventually...... Well golly I might as well remove amazon app store from the nook so it doesn't tease me being there......wrong thing to do. Any apps I got through amazon, it doesn't matter if they were free or ones I bought, no longer work because the amazon app store is no longer installed. So for what it's worth if 1.41 gets you do not take the app store off or you will be screwed too.
I'm holding onto my nook, for now, while I try to learn how to do the things you all talk about. If I get down to the end of the month and I am no further along than I am now I'm sad to say it will go back and I will get an Acer.
This all reminds me of way back when commodore 64 came out. Hubby bought me that and a little tv to go with it as a monitor. Hubby said to me they are under warranty I don't care what you do give them a work out blow them up well yeah in less then a week I found out that they break easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd never had an android device before this, let alone root anything. I figured it out in an hour. Also, don't worry about breaking it, because you can always factory restore.

Advice for proving RAZR Maxx is broken?

I've got insurance for my cell phone through my credit card. If it breaks, they'll send me $250 to buy a new one. And my RAZR Maxx is definitely messed up.
The problem is, the problems are intermittent. And for me to make a successful claim, I have to get a technician to look at the phone and write a letter saying it's broken. I had to go through this process a couple of years ago with a Motorola Atrix that was clearly, obviously broken. And the technicians are always like, "what? what do you mean? what good is a letter like that going to do?" No matter how many times I try to explain to them. It's like they think I'm trying to trap them.
Anyway, is there anything short of throwing the phone off the top of my house that I can do to my phone that makes it easy to show to a technician and have him verify there are issues with it? I'd like not to destroy the phone in case my claim is denied. There are other criteria other than just proving phone is broken. And if the claim is denied, I may need to use the phone for a few more months till I can afford to buy a new one.
The phone is rooted. So I can install whatever software that needs the phone to be rooted. And I have asked in the past, rooting the phone does not cancel my insurance. The case is basically the cell phone insurance department doesn't seem very technologically savvy and don't have a lot of clauses you see when cell phone company's are describing cell phone warranties. Then they have other clauses that you would never see in a cell phone warranty.
If you want to know what's wrong with my phone, like occasionally, nothing it can do will it lock onto the GPS satellites, and I'm stuck somewhere trying to navigate my way to some place.. Occasionally it'll pop up on my screen saying "HDMI cable detected" and orient my screen sideways like if the phone were in a dock. It does this even though there's clearly no HDMI cable connected and I have turned HDMI detection off in the settings. Plus, the phone is just god awful slow a lot of times. Trying to use Chrome on the phone, a lot of times it'll hang and eventually I'll get the message "Chrome is not reponding", then I have options like do you want to wait for it, or go ahead and kill it.
levander said:
I've got insurance for my cell phone through my credit card. If it breaks, they'll send me $250 to buy a new one. And my RAZR Maxx is definitely messed up.
The problem is, the problems are intermittent. And for me to make a successful claim, I have to get a technician to look at the phone and write a letter saying it's broken. I had to go through this process a couple of years ago with a Motorola Atrix that was clearly, obviously broken. And the technicians are always like, "what? what do you mean? what good is a letter like that going to do?" No matter how many times I try to explain to them. It's like they think I'm trying to trap them.
Anyway, is there anything short of throwing the phone off the top of my house that I can do to my phone that makes it easy to show to a technician and have him verify there are issues with it? I'd like not to destroy the phone in case my claim is denied. There are other criteria other than just proving phone is broken. And if the claim is denied, I may need to use the phone for a few more months till I can afford to buy a new one.
The phone is rooted. So I can install whatever software that needs the phone to be rooted. And I have asked in the past, rooting the phone does not cancel my insurance. The case is basically the cell phone insurance department doesn't seem very technologically savvy and don't have a lot of clauses you see when cell phone company's are describing cell phone warranties. Then they have other clauses that you would never see in a cell phone warranty.
If you want to know what's wrong with my phone, like occasionally, nothing it can do will it lock onto the GPS satellites, and I'm stuck somewhere trying to navigate my way to some place.. Occasionally it'll pop up on my screen saying "HDMI cable detected" and orient my screen sideways like if the phone were in a dock. It does this even though there's clearly no HDMI cable connected and I have turned HDMI detection off in the settings. Plus, the phone is just god awful slow a lot of times. Trying to use Chrome on the phone, a lot of times it'll hang and eventually I'll get the message "Chrome is not reponding", then I have options like do you want to wait for it, or go ahead and kill it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried returning the phone to bone stock with a stock recovery image and rsd lite? Be fore warned, you will lose root but, you can get it back. Afterwards it will be like a new phone(faster, a lot less buggy and force closes) unless it is truly a hardware issue. I have a motorola xoom that started having serious issues, I went through the whole process, and it was like a completely new tablet when was done, battery life I hadn't seen in over a year, very responsive, it was like I had just unboxed it from the store.
Truthfully the technicians probably DO think you are trying to trap them when you are talking about intermittent problems. Intermittent problems are hard to diagnose with anything unless you can tell them a specific action or pattern of actions that leads up to the problem. I am sure they get a lot of people all the time with "it doesn't work right" claims to try to get money for a new phone.
IMHO it would be worth the shot to see if it legitimately has a goofy problem, or can be easily fixed at home.
Draxin said:
Have you tried returning the phone to bone stock with a stock recovery image and rsd lite?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thanks Draxin. I've tried restoring to a factory image. And it seems to work okay for a couple of days before small things start back up. A couple of months later, the phone is as flaky as it ever was. It could just be software, that is possible. But it's not like I can go in and fix the software myself or anything. And I think hanging around the internet, looking for tweaks and fixes any more than I already have is really an unreasonable request by the insurance company.
What you say about an easily repeatable pattern, that's what I was hoping to figure out by posting here.
But getting no responses, I think I'm just gonna start my claim and when it gets to the point of proving it's broken, I'm just gonna microwave the phone. Googling all over the Internet that's the only advice people seem to offer.
Basically as it is now, I'm gonna have to pay for a new phone and hope this clumsy phone insurance through my credit card company makes good on my claim. I know I meet the criteria because I've read the policy. It's just the hoops they put you through to prove you meet the criteria that I'm worried about.
levander said:
Yeah, thanks Draxin. I've tried restoring to a factory image. And it seems to work okay for a couple of days before small things start back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With a full wipe and stock motorola firmware? Or just a factory reset?
Either way wish you the best of luck
Yeah try using rsd to fully restore. I fixed a lot of my problems that way .
Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk
tydiamond11 said:
Yeah try using rsd to fully restore. I fixed a lot of my problems that way .
Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true. It is funny/sad. Spend some time on a site like this and it seems like everybody knows these things. Talk to your friend or the typical consumer of smartphones and it is foreign to them. They feed into the advertising that the newest and greatest will solve all their problems, not realizing they are falling into the same viscous circle. They will actually disbelieve you, cause... well come on, the phone is two years old! "The guy at my carriers store is surprised my phone still works. Sure he got the job two months ago, won't be there five from now and has no idea what a OTG cable is, or a independently powered usb hub but, still he works there.. so he must know what he is talking about! I am sure it has nothing to do with commission of sales!" (that was facetious, by the way)
I am curious how many people have thought that their smartphone was dying or to old because a factory reset didn't work(not talking about you lavender, I don't know what you have done to fix your device( guess I am semi-hijacking your thread)).
Motorola(or any device manufacturer for that matter) isn't going to tell the typical user that a firmware reflash is required to get a couple more years out of their device when they can sell a user (that won't waste the time to Google)another device. Certainly won't advertise it right next to their latest and greatest device. Really how many people outside of the power users or gamers REQUIRE a quad core processor with 1500-1800 mhz, or 2-3 gb of RAM. When typically, it will end up the same way in a years time, depending on how much they use it.
Porn doesn't require those specs!!!
Draxin said:
Very true. It is funny/sad. Spend some time on a site like this and it seems like everybody knows these things. Talk to your friend or the typical consumer of smartphones and it is foreign to them. They feed into the advertising that the newest and greatest will solve all their problems, not realizing they are falling into the same viscous circle. They will actually disbelieve you, cause... well come on, the phone is two years old! "The guy at my carriers store is surprised my phone still works. Sure he got the job two months ago, won't be there five from now and has no idea what a OTG cable is, or a independently powered usb hub but, still he works there.. so he must know what he is talking about! I am sure it has nothing to do with commission of sales!" (that was facetious, by the way)
I am curious how many people have thought that their smartphone was dying or to old because a factory reset didn't work(not talking about you lavender, I don't know what you have done to fix your device( guess I am semi-hijacking your thread)).
Motorola(or any device manufacturer for that matter) isn't going to tell the typical user that a firmware reflash is required to get a couple more years out of their device when they can sell a user (that won't waste the time to Google)another device. Certainly won't advertise it right next to their latest and greatest device. Really how many people outside of the power users or gamers REQUIRE a quad core processor with 1500-1800 mhz, or 2-3 gb of RAM. When typically, it will end up the same way in a years time, depending on how much they use it.
Porn doesn't require those specs!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. Just the last part is not really relevant to this form by the way.
Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

S9+, Android 10, Nova Launcher, Recents button isn't working..

So I run the S9+ on Xfinity Mobile. When I got the phone I uninstalled just about everything Samsung (per bloatware removal instructions here). Everything is great. With each update some stuff may come back so I uninstall it again.
Android 10 came, and everything works fine except the recents button on my home screen. I usually open recents to either close a program or quickly switch to another program. I also use it to split screen 2 apps at once.
Any ideas what to do?
I guess you uninstalled stock launcher/samsung experience/one ui.That would be why this happens.
ordeniz said:
I guess you uninstalled stock launcher/samsung experience/one ui.That would be why this happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've always had them uninstalled and it worked before.
yuppicide said:
I've always had them uninstalled and it worked before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is the cringiest thing people say when troubleshooting. Ive been in leadership positions at 2 different companies in the tech support dept and when helping customer service reps, if someone told me that a customer told them exactly what you responded with, i would either just walk away (jokingly, then turn around and explain that it doesnt matter) or (if they were new) id gently tell them that people say this all the time and that it having worked prior is normally irrelevant. Uninstalling those is the same as uninstalling touchwiz on a touchwiz based ROM, youre begging for trouble doing that.
Youdoofus said:
this is the cringiest thing people say when troubleshooting. Ive been in leadership positions at 2 different companies in the tech support dept and when helping customer service reps, if someone told me that a customer told them exactly what you responded with, i would either just walk away (jokingly, then turn around and explain that it doesnt matter) or (if they were new) id gently tell them that people say this all the time and that it having worked prior is normally irrelevant. Uninstalling those is the same as uninstalling touchwiz on a touchwiz based ROM, youre begging for trouble doing that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cringy - Usually classified by seeing something and feeling extremely embarrassed.
Why would you be embarassed? That's a stupid word to use.
Anyway, I know it can be risky, but I'm not begging for trouble. I've been using this phone since 2018 without 99% of the Samsung stuff using this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...-bloatware-youd-recommend-to-rid-off-t3759500
Anyway, I'ma get ready to factory reset the phone, run update, then remove everything and be back to normal.
Definitely not irrelevant. That's like saying "Gestures used to work, but now they don't".
Anyway, I did a factory reset, update, proceeded to uninstall everything again.. all good. Just takes a few hours.. to set every setting back up again, etc.
yuppicide said:
Anyway, I did a factory reset, update, proceeded to uninstall everything again.. all good. Just takes a few hours.. to set every setting back up again, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you uninstall stock launcher/samsung experience/one ui again?
yuppicide said:
Cringy - Usually classified by seeing something and feeling extremely embarrassed.
Why would you be embarassed? That's a stupid word to use.
Anyway, I know it can be risky, but I'm not begging for trouble. I've been using this phone since 2018 without 99% of the Samsung stuff using this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...-bloatware-youd-recommend-to-rid-off-t3759500
Anyway, I'ma get ready to factory reset the phone, run update, then remove everything and be back to normal.
Definitely not irrelevant. That's like saying "Gestures used to work, but now they don't".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its far from a stupid word to use, and youre reply now falls into that same category. Go to urban dictionary and read their definition of cringey. And read past the first sentence where examples are given. it goes a little something like this "Cringy Someone or something that makes you embarrassed to be a part of the human race. Usually classified by seeing something and feeling extremely embarrassed, throwing your head back and closing your eyes to block your view of the cringy media, and biting your lip to keep in your scream of utter disgust. In some cases, a person viewing cringy media may also feel an almost unbearable feeling of wanting to (insert horrible act here). The first example shows usage of the word that defies the first definition. When attempting to help someone with anything really and the person youre helping says "well ive always done it this way and its never been a problem before", i guarantee you that 99% of the helpers in those situations have either facepalmed or very much wanted to. Cringey, plain and simple. Something or someone that usually makes one cringe.

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