[Kernel][3.0.101] MK kernel r6 - Galaxy S Advance I9070 Original Android Developmen

This kernel is based on TeamCanjica/3.0.101 branch and much credit goes to them for doing this
However not everything from TC kernel is there. I'm not happy with the new liveopp algorithm. Also there's no ddr oc as one can get hurt with this now (/data fs corruption). When @ChronoMonochrome improves the implementation, maybe I'll merge it.
Compatibility:
I suspect it should work fine for any CM-11.0 based rom. If someone tests it, I'll add info here
- Stock
- Vanir
- Carbon
- CM11
- CM10.1
- CM10.2
- CM12.1 until I get a proper ramdisk, I don't support this config, besides reboot/poweroff doesnt work on it.
For version r6 you don't need to flash extra ramdisk - it contains all previously gathered ramdisks and uses the right one based on /system/build.prop file - checks ro.build.version.sdk (https://github.com/mkaluza/Samsung_STE_Kernel/blob/master/usr/u8500_initramfs_files/init#L22)
Changes:
Kernel (https://github.com/mkaluza/Samsung_STE_Kernel/commits/3.0.101)
[r5] Full changelog
WARNING - if you have some custom uv/oc, disable it first, as now you'll be using different Vbbx by default (original one). Test your oc/uv again for stability and correct if necessary, or restore Vbbx from your uv script first:
Code:
for f in /sys/kernel/liveopp/arm_step0*; do echo vbbx=0xcc > $f; done
btw novathor settings interfere with mali UV, so I removed them completely from my phone (can't be disabled - unfortunately for them )
Download:
MediaFire all releases
A bonus - a modified torch with high power option - I was always pissed with having to use novathor settings for this...
Install:
Flash update.zip with CWM
Loading modules
There are a few ways to load modules depending on how important those modules are:
1. add module name to /system/etc/modules file (create it if it doesn't exist). Add a name without extension (like cpufreq_lionheart or logger)
(TODO: handle /data/etc/modules as well)
Those modules will be loaded just after /system is mounted
2. use KoControl app (or similar) - those modules will be loaded when system starts up, so use it only for unimportant modules
3. copy it to one of initramfs overlay/modules directory: /efs/common/overlay/modules, /efs/boot/overlay/modules, /efs/recovery/overlay/modules - these modules will be loaded before init even starts - it's useful for filesystem modules like f2fs
Dynamic governor documentation
Since it has many params that depend on each other, some doc is needed:
Dynamic governor documentation
It's a work in progress, so it'll be gradually improved. You can improve the improvement process by letting me know that you use it and whether you like it or not If "not" - then tell me why, maybe something can be done about it. Although it's unlikely that I'll accept feature requests unless I find it useful for myself, feel free to fork the kernel and modify it
LVM
Before anything else, read those and all the stuff those posts tell you to read:
https://www.howtoforge.com/linux_lvm
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-s/general/howto-combined-emulated-storage-nexus-s-t2848752
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-s/general/howto-partitioning-nexus-s-using-lvm-t1656794
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/bypass-nexus-s-storage-restrictions/
If you don't understand something, keep reading. If you still don't understand, leave it for now - It's for your safety.
Later I'll add SGA specific stuff how to make use of our empty /preload partition and get more free space on /data
NFC
The kernel has nfc modules available, so in theory it should work - you just need to load them as described in section on modules.
Load pn544 and/or pn547. You also need nfc-enabled rom (If it doesn't work, then I don't know what else... don't have nfc to test it)
Upgradeable ramdisk
See this file, it tells all the story
https://github.com/mkaluza/Samsung_STE_Kernel/blob/master/usr/u8500_initramfs_files/init
I'll add some comment later
Troubleshooting:
- my wifi isn't working
- TODO: how to report errors to make the difference
XDA:DevDB Information
MK Kernel [3.0.101], Kernel for the Samsung Galaxy S Advance I9070
Contributors
mkaluza
Source Code: https://github.com/mkaluza/Samsung_STE_Kernel
Kernel Special Features: LVM, new dynamic governor, automatic voltage calculation, 630 MB ram
Version Information
Status: Stable
Current Stable Version: r6.0.0.
Stable Release Date: 2015-06-05
Created 2014-12-19
Last Updated 2015-06-05

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Thanks to @Reinkaos for beta testing
His report:
Reinkaos said:
OK so here's a report, I use min 200mhz max 1000mhz, continuous usage with wifi on all the time from 100%-4%.
liveopp:
200 = 0x0c
300 = 0x0d
400 = 0x0e
500 = 0x1d
600 = 0x1f
700 = 0x20
800 = 0x21
900 = 0x28
1000 = 0x2c
mali (I use idx 1 and 5)
250mhz = 0x17
400mhz = 0x1b
From BBS dump:
Deep Sleep (): 2 h 15 m 16 s 43.3%
Awake (): 2 h 57 m 4 s 56.7%
Screen On (): 2 h 56 m 28 s 56.5%
Phone On (): 27 s 0.1%
Wifi On (): 2 h 54 m 2 s 55.7%
Wifi Running (): 2 h 54 m 55.7%
No Data Connection (): 5 h 12 m 21 s 100.0%
No or Unknown Signal (): 5 h 12 m 21 s 100.0%
Screen dimmed (): 2 h 56 m 28 s 56.5%
1 GHz (): 36 m 44 s 11.8%
900 MHz (): 8 m 18 s 2.7%
800 MHz (): 9 m 51 s 3.2%
700 MHz (): 11 m 17 s 3.6%
600 MHz (): 12 m 47 s 4.1%
500 MHz (): 14 m 30 s 4.6%
400 MHz (): 16 m 24 s 5.3%
300 MHz (): 5 m 37 s 1.8%
200 MHz (): 1 h 1 m 33 s 19.7%
Deep Sleep (): 2 h 15 m 16 s 43.3%
Just to compare, here are the last 2 test that I did on previous kernel, with the same usage pattern, on interactive:
1
Deep Sleep (): 3 h 52 m 51 s 57.9%
Awake (): 2 h 49 m 36 s 42.1%
Screen On (): 2 h 47 m 57 s 41.7%
Wifi On (): 2 h 43 m 41 s 40.7%
Wifi Running (): 2 h 43 m 39 s 40.7%
No Data Connection (): 6 h 42 m 28 s 100.0%
No or Unknown Signal (): 6 h 42 m 28 s 100.0%
Screen dark (): 2 h 47 m 57 s 41.7%
1 GHz (): 45 m 25 s 11.3%
800 MHz (): 8 m 23 s 2.1%
600 MHz (): 46 m 31 s 11.6%
400 MHz (): 9 m 22 s 2.3%
200 MHz (): 59 m 54 s 14.9%
Deep Sleep (): 3 h 52 m 51 s 57.9%
2
Deep Sleep (): 3 h 58 m 48 s 60.6%
Awake (): 2 h 35 m 12 s 39.4%
Screen On (): 2 h 34 m 32 s 39.2%
Wifi On (): 2 h 32 m 1 s 38.6%
Wifi Running (): 2 h 32 m 38.6%
No Data Connection (): 6 h 34 m 1 s 100.0%
No or Unknown Signal (): 6 h 34 m 1 s 100.0%
Screen dark (): 2 h 34 m 32 s 39.2%
1 GHz (): 33 m 4 s 8.4%
800 MHz (): 9 m 27 s 2.4%
600 MHz (): 49 m 48 s 12.6%
400 MHz (): 9 m 42 s 2.5%
200 MHz (): 53 m 9 s 13.5%
Deep Sleep (): 3 h 58 m 48 s 60.6%
No random reboots. I'm not sure about how fast screen turned on when receiving a call though, since I never pay attention to it in the previous kernel, so can't really compare.
And mtp doesn't work, not sure if that's on my side.
Anyway those dynamic tunables, is there any doc or explanation of each? Will definitely play around with it. Gonna test it again today to see if I ran into problems. Haven't had any problems yet, so far so good :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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mkaluza said:
Thanks to @Reinkaos for beta testing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, glad I could help

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mkaluza said:
This kernel is based on TeamCanjica/3.0.101 branch and much credit goes to them for doing this
Compatibility:
I use it with Vanir ROM and I don't know how/if it'll work on other roms, but I suspect it's fine for any CM-11.0 based rom. If someone tests it, I'll add info here
Changes:
Ramdisk (https://github.com/mkaluza/ste-ramdisk-vanir/commits/master):
- don't turn zram swap by default (can be turned on via init.d) - it just eats cpu and rarely gives
- removed cm performance profiles - they interfere with init.d/setcpu
- run adb as root by default - it annoyed me to constantly type su, esp. that this su version is a bit lame and su -c "command" doesnt work
Kernel (https://github.com/mkaluza/Samsung_STE_Kernel/commits/3.0.101)
- more liveopp freqs 100-1000 with 100 MHz step
- improved liveopp and mali_boost algorithms (compared to original Vanir Kernel, which is by Team-Exhibit)
- Dynamic cpufreq governor (my design) - brings good performance and battery life together. It's a part of Project Zen (GitHub)
- LiveOPP automatic voltage calculation based on AVS data - It should reduce probability of random reboots, but beware - if you have some custom uv/oc, disable it first, as now you'll be using different vbbs by default (original one). Test your oc/uv again for stability and correct if necessary
- killed u8500 hotplug - it caused problems with audio and didn't bring any more battery time
- disabled highmem - it's not needed with only 768 MB RAM
- added Joel RCU
As a bonus - a modified torch with high power option - I was always pissed with having to use novathor settings for this...
btw novathor settings interfere with mali UV, so I removed them completely from my phone (can't be disabled - unfortunately for them )
However not everything from TC kernel is there - I didn't like the new liveopp algorithm. Also there's no ddr oc as one can get hurt with this when used badly...
Download:
MediaFire
Install:
No update zip for now (if somebody want's to create it then by all means do)
Flash zImage with either Universal Kernel Flasher or just dd:
Code:
dd if=zImage of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p15
unpack modules.zip to /system/lib/modules/
Source:
GitHub
XDA:DevDB Information
MK Kernel [3.0.101], Kernel for the Samsung Galaxy S Advance I9070
Contributors
mkaluza
Kernel Special Features:
Version Information
Status: Stable
Current Stable Version: r1
Stable Release Date: 2014-12-19
Created 2014-12-19
Last Updated 2014-12-19
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wi-fi isn`t working properly. After 1 or two reboots, I can`t switch wi-fi to on . ( commonly problem seen before on other builds )

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pictorul20 said:
Wi-fi isn`t working properly. After 1 or two reboots, I can`t switch wi-fi to on . ( commonly problem seen before on other builds )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It happens when there's kernel-module mismatch - have you extracted modules.zip into right place? check this again... It works fine for me and @Reinkaos. What does dmesg say just after you try to enable wifi?

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There might be some subtle problem with this kernel that is causing random reboots from time to time. For now set your deepest sleep state to 4 (it defaults to 5 now), as I suspect this might be the cause (I removed all oc/uv and mali stuff and it still happens, now testing deepsleep=4).
If a reboot happens, save /proc/last_kmsg somewhere and look for "Unhandled fault: imprecise external abort (0x1c06)". Actually every time a crash happens, save last_kmsg You can use this init.d script to collect it at every system startup (saves them to /data/local/log/last_kmsg

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mkaluza said:
There might be some subtle problem with this kernel that is causing random reboots from time to time. For now set your deepest sleep state to 4 (it defaults to 5 now), as I suspect this might be the cause (I removed all oc/uv and mali stuff and it still happens, now testing deepsleep=4).
If a reboot happens, save /proc/last_kmsg somewhere and look for "Unhandled fault: imprecise external abort (0x1c06)". Actually every time a crash happens, save last_kmsg You can use this init.d script to collect it at every system startup (saves them to /data/local/log/last_kmsg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, I might said that wrong. I wanted to say that I don-t have wi-fi network at all. I can-t switch it on at all from settings menu. any help would be more than welcome. Ohh, and one last thing. U seem to always do a great job when it comes to " under the hood" customisation and enhanced features . Good work .

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pictorul20 said:
sorry, I might said that wrong. I wanted to say that I don-t have wi-fi network at all. I can-t switch it on at all from settings menu. any help would be more than welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You said it right and my response is probably correct - you try to tap the wifi button or turn it on in settings and either it turns on for a very brief moment or not at all. That's a sign of module-kernel mismatch. Check again if you extracted those modules (or even better, just do it) - your old modules from vanir won't work with this kernel, there are too many changes.
I'll try to make update.zip later to make install easier.
pictorul20 said:
Ohh, and one last thing. U seem to always do a great job when it comes to " under the hood" customisation and enhanced features . Good work .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you

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mkaluza said:
You said it right and my response is probably correct - you try to tap the wifi button or turn it on in settings and either it turns on for a very brief moment or not at all. That's a sign of module-kernel mismatch. Check again if you extracted those modules (or even better, just do it) - your old modules from vanir won't work with this kernel, there are too many changes.
I'll try to make update.zip later to make install easier.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U`re welcome., and yess that-s exactly the problem I`m facing. It`s not quite a hazardous problem but it-`s just a bug somewhere in the kernel probably. It happens. And one last question, first time I had overwrited the modules to the sistem folder ( that-s when i saw 4 the 1st time that my wi-fi isn-t responding at all ) , then ........ I thought I might delete all the modules from lib/modules to prevent any incompatibility with the copyed ones. Now my question is : Everytime i-m installing cm 11 roms or vanir rom , Do I have to copy/paste modules and overwrite them to lib/modules folder, or do I have to wipe all content inside of that folder and only after that paste the modified modules that you posted in this thread?
L.E :. I can-t switch from internal to external also usb connection doesn-t work in windows ( can-t access my internal / external storage from usb cable )even with proper usb drivers installed )

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pictorul20 said:
U`re welcome., and yess that-s exactly the problem I`m facing. It`s not quite a hazardous problem but it-`s just a bug somewhere in the kernel probably. It happens. And one last question, first time I had overwrited the modules to the sistem folder ( that-s when i saw 4 the 1st time that my wi-fi isn-t responding at all ) , then ........ I thought I might delete all the modules from lib/modules to prevent any incompatibility with the copyed ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That shouldn't matter. What "lsmod" says? what happens when you do "modprobe dhd". If it shows some error, do "modprobe dhd; dmesg | tail -n 50" and pm me the output.
pictorul20 said:
Now my question is : Everytime i-m installing cm 11 roms or vanir rom , Do I have to copy/paste modules and overwrite them to lib/modules folder, or do I have to wipe all content inside of that folder and only after that paste the modified modules that you posted in this thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Overwrite should be enough and yes, you have to do it every time you reinstall rom
pictorul20 said:
L.E :. I can-t switch from internal to external
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand...
pictorul20 said:
also usb connection doesn-t work in windows ( can-t access my internal / external storage from usb cable )even with proper usb drivers installed )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, than MTP is screwed. I never use it so I didn't see it, and @Reinkaos wasn't sure if it's the kernel or his phone, but now we know it's the kernel.

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@mkaluza it would be great if you make a stock kernel too, since cocafe has almost stopped to support our device
Most of us are on stock JB but it would be really nice if you implement a stock kernel that can enhance the performance of our phone
Hoping you'll do it

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@pictorul20 I just remembered something - apart from modules mismatch there was some problem with I think firmware paths, but I haven't got slightest idea what was it... @Reinkaos any thoughts?
The funny thing is - I flashed boot.img from original vanir nightly (and copied modules) and wifi ISN'T WORKING After flashing my kernel (not my particular source - just any one build on my machine) it works
I can remember having once the reverse problem (it wasn't working on my kernel) - I know I fixed it somehow and never had it again. I haven't noticed that wifi stopped working on dist kernel because I never again used one...
DAMN... I know it was something simple to do, but hard to find... Anyone? @cocafe maybe you can remember?
Guys, what does command find /system -iname "*bcm*" show?
For me it's this:
Code:
/system/bin/bcm4330.hcd
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_apsta.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_mfg.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_p2p.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_sta.bin
/system/vendor/firmware/fw_bcmdhd.bin
/system/vendor/firmware/fw_bcmdhd_apsta.bin

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jadega said:
@mkaluza it would be great if you make a stock kernel too, since cocafe has almost stopped to support our device
Most of us are on stock JB but it would be really nice if you implement a stock kernel that can enhance the performance of our phone
Hoping you'll do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But there's actually not much more to be done Cocafe's kernel is very good. It's actually very similar to 3.0.101 kernel in terms of features. As for power/performance, when dynamic gov is field tested a bit more, I'll merge it and send a pull request to Cocafe. There's no point in keepeng two kernels...
Another thing is, for all of you still on JB - install Vanir. It's ****in awesome. Stable, fast and doesn't drain batt. And when issues with wifi are solved, it'll be even better I'm happy with the speed even on JIT, and on ART it's even faster (I don't use it not because it's unstable, but because while developing performance features I want to be able to see any improvements, and it's hard below some threshold )

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mkaluza said:
@pictorul20 I just remembered something - apart from modules mismatch there was some problem with I think firmware paths, but I haven't got slightest idea what was it... @Reinkaos any thoughts?
The funny thing is - I flashed boot.img from original vanir nightly (and copied modules) and wifi ISN'T WORKING After flashing my kernel (not my particular source - just any one build on my machine) it works
I can remember having once the reverse problem (it wasn't working on my kernel) - I know I fixed it somehow and never had it again. I haven't noticed that wifi stopped working on dist kernel because I never again used one...
DAMN... I know it was something simple to do, but hard to find... Anyone? @cocafe maybe you can remember?
Guys, what does command find /system -iname "*bcm*" show?
For me it's this:
Code:
/system/bin/bcm4330.hcd
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_apsta.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_mfg.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_p2p.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_sta.bin
/system/vendor/firmware/fw_bcmdhd.bin
/system/vendor/firmware/fw_bcmdhd_apsta.bin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea, does different firmware had anything to do with it?
Anyway, here's mine
Code:
/system/bin/bcm4330.hcd
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_apsta.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_mfg.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_p2p.bin
/system/etc/wifi/bcmdhd_sta.bin
/system/vendor/firmware/fw_bcmdhd.bin
/system/vendor/firmware/fw_bcmdhd_apsta.bin

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@pictorul20 one more thing - can you make sure permissions on modules are 644? because that's what caused wifi not to work (I extracted modules from zip file with total commander to sd card, where default perms are 770), and when I copied them to /system/lib/modules, they remained that way and that was the problem.

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mkaluza said:
@pictorul20 one more thing - can you make sure permissions on modules are 644? because that's what caused wifi not to work (I extracted modules from zip file with total commander to sd card, where default perms are 770), and when I copied them to /system/lib/modules, they remained that way and that was the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I need each module file to set with 644 permission, right? I`ll try and report back if that solved the problem. Thanks

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pictorul20 said:
So, I need each module file to set with 644 permission, right? I`ll try and report back if that solved the problem. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe just flash the update.zip from post #1 - it should fix everything and if not, I'll give you instructions how to debug that stuff.

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mkaluza said:
Maybe just flash the update.zip from post #1 - it should fix everything and if not, I'll give you instructions how to debug that stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed this kernel on my slimsaber and wifi doesn't work.
If can help log just says WifiStateMachine E: Failed to load driver

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Wifi problem debugging
hastalafiesta said:
I flashed this kernel on my slimsaber and wifi doesn't work.
If can help log just says WifiStateMachine E: Failed to load driver
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does. Logcat is important - it's good you checked there. We'll try to make it compatible with other roms, but you must help me debug it, ok?
@pictorul20 - can you do those steps too?
(all the stuff below has to be done via adb as root). copy/paste all commands, because all the quotes there are important and it's easy to make a mistake
Code:
cd /system/lib/modules
ls -l
check that all modules have 644 permissions (rw-r--r--)
Code:
lsmod
It should say something (for me it's). If nothing is shown, continue anyway (but tell me about it).
bthid 4267 0 - Live 0x00000000
param 10593 0 - Live 0x00000000 (P)
j4fs 66945 1 - Live 0x00000000 (P)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code:
insmod /system/lib/modules/dhd.ko
lsmod
It should not return an error and lsmod should then contain a line similar to this
dhd 430856 0 - Live 0x00000000
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if however it return some error, do this and send me the output and the error
Code:
insmod /system/lib/modules/dhd.ko; dmesg | tail -n 20
If so far everything is fine, it's time for hacky stuff now
Code:
rmmod dhd
mkdir /tmp/strace
cd /proc/`pidof system_server`/task
for p in `grep -i wifi */comm | cut -f 1 -d '/'`; do n=`cat $p/comm`; strace -tt -p $p -o/tmp/strace/${n}.strace& done
then tap wifi button in quick settings at least twice (not too fast - wait at least 1 sec) and then
Code:
killall strace
zip -r /mnt/sdcard/wifi.strace1.zip /tmp/strace
if you want to look for an error, do
Code:
cd /tmp/strace
grep "= -" *.strace
this will show all failed syscals with (hopefully) some useful info. If it helps you solve the problem, than ok (share it here), if not, continue
Code:
mkdir /tmp/strace2
strace -ff -tt -p `pidof system_server` -o /tmp/strace2/system_server
tap the wifi button as before and press Ctrl-C to kill the command above
Code:
zip -r /mnt/sdcard/wifi.strace2.zip /tmp/strace2
Mail me (mk at flex.pm) both wifi.strace*.zip files from the root of your internal memory.

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@mkaluza
EDIT: I messed up with modules for various tests, i restored the original modules, followed your guide and all went fine.
WIFI works with this! Thanks for your work, till now kernel works pretty well.
Just tried the r3 (630mb) and all is good and very smooth.