Xperia Z(1) - failed update, but need data recovered. - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi there guys
Kind of in a pinch, as you may have guessed.
Updated my fiancee's xperia Z last night, after having done it many times before... this time it failed (power went out for 3 seconds, bad one).
So after the pc booted, I noticed the phone did a reboot loop (sony logo, 'update failed'... rinse and repeat).
What I did was google myself into a frenzy, and found many articles on trying the power on + vol up, volume down tricks. I really attempted everything to see if Sony PC Companion could reconnect, but it drops as soon as the reboot happens everytime.
There is a "repair" option, and it sounds like it MAY work, but then I will lose all data on the phone.
Now, the data is emotional to my fiancee, it's one of those 'forgot to backup' situations, and it's mostly photos of a holiday, with a deceased pet. I really, really want to help her with this, and get it back.
I don't know much about flashing/custom roms, and was hoping to keep Sony's stock stuff, but I am willing to do anything you could advise.
Is there a way to get it to boot (only flashing boot or system partitions?) so I can get the data off, before doing a proper hard reset ?
Being a linux user, it makes sense, but I don't know where to start or how to accomplish this. I have the Flash app, and it seems daunting. I can't use the adb stuff (since I can't boot into the phone's OS in the first place).
Hope to hear good news
Kind regards
Marlon

Related

[Q] Buggy Phone, Factory Reset, Now What to Do?

My 4G will be 2 years old in February. It is quite buggy now, it likes to lag a lot or glitch, it's definitely not the lightning machine that it used to be. I saved all of my data and am going to perform a wipe/factory reset and wipe the cache partition (hopefully I am allowed to do that, if not, oh well too late).
Is there something more potent then a factory data reset using the Android Recovery mode while not in the phone OS? It resets the phone but I have the latest OS, which I think could end up keeping all of my bugs. Can I go back to the original OS when the phone shipped and legitimately start over and re-update everything? I logged back in and an app widget was still there with writing on it, some of my pictures, and some icons I moved around. this is after I did a rest outside of the phone, then went in the phone and did another reset. So much for wiping all of my data I guess.
So, if this does not fix the buggyness of the phone, what should I do? The phone likes to press buttons randomly and I have to hit the power button to lock it, and then unlock it for the magic button pressing to stop. This is common. Apps are slow or time out a lot and it takes the phone FOREVER to reboot. It love to randomly restart, especially using pandora or spotify. It takes a long time to connect to Wifi, sometimes I have to go to the wifi settings to wait for it to automatically choose my saved network, which baffles me like crazy.I did have the most recent update of course. I think the finger print scanner also stopped working... or it never did work. Lastly, the vibrating unit doesnt always vibrate, it likes to vibrate on a few keystrokes and it randomly stops, then starts up again. **** this phone. It really makes me want to go to an iPhone... and I am a hardcore windows computer tech and I hate apple, but ****, why cant anyone build a stable OS?
So, assuming my phone works correctly, what should I do to it once it's up and running? I am ready to Root the phone and try some new apps and hacks and what not, especially if it makes the laptop dock mode faster, cause right now it's slow as ****.
Factory reset basically wipes the /data partition.
I would also recommend you do a format of the internal sd, after the factory reset (see storage in the system settings). This way, files on the sd will have no impact on apps as you reinstall things.
Regarding returning to an earlier Rom version, I would not recommend as being part of the solution. Newer Rom version are better usually. Gb by motto is solid.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Xperia Sola strange symptoms.

Greetings reader. I'm new to the forum but have been viewing threads every now and then, so after having read plenty of times that people should search before posting. I have searched and didn't find what I was looking for, so that's why you can read this now ;p.
4 days ago when I was trying to browse the web in college I wasn't able to connect to the wifi network or even open the wifi settings, so I reset my phone only to find the problem persisting. As if something locked me out of the wifi settings.
I'm perfectly able to access any of the other settings, so I think it's kinda weird.
Shortly after I realised I couldn't get to the wifi anymore my phone started to reboot itself automatically. Ever since that first reboot it just keeps rebooting at the same pace over and over again until I either power it off or until the battery dies.
The phone also get's unusually hot now. Not like, super hot, but definitely hotter than any other time I can remember.
I also get error messages since the problems started saying: 'Process system is not responding'. I then get the option to either force close it or wait. Neither seem to do much if anything at all other than taking away the error message. Sounds kinda critical if you'd ask me.
But so after all these symptoms started to appear I figured I'd just do a factory reset and be done with it, but every time I go into the factory reset settings, I put in my lock screen pattern and then at the last step (pressing the Erase all data button) it just does nothing.
I can touch the button and it does give the animation that it is being pressed, but it just doesn't do anything.
The phone doesn't freeze though, I can still navigate after pressing the button only to see it reboot again shortly after.
After that I tried to flash the rom, but for some reason my PC refuses to show my phone's internal memory in my pcor any sign of my phone's connection at all.
I haven't tried it on any other pc yet, so it might just be my pc, though I doubt it is since it was perfectly able to recognize it shortly before all this started.
The device hasn't endured any shocks lately or expsure to water or whatever, so I think that's ruled out as well.
I am running the stock rom, 2.3 Gingerbread I believe, and the warranty is already way over date (I think. I'll have to check that).
Any suggestions as on how to determine what could be causing this, or how to fix it? Because I really don't want to buy a new phone xD.
Macowski said:
Greetings reader. I'm new to the forum but have been viewing threads every now and then, so after having read plenty of times that people should search before posting. I have searched and didn't find what I was looking for, so that's why you can read this now ;p.
4 days ago when I was trying to browse the web in college I wasn't able to connect to the wifi network or even open the wifi settings, so I reset my phone only to find the problem persisting. As if something locked me out of the wifi settings.
I'm perfectly able to access any of the other settings, so I think it's kinda weird.
Shortly after I realised I couldn't get to the wifi anymore my phone started to reboot itself automatically. Ever since that first reboot it just keeps rebooting at the same pace over and over again until I either power it off or until the battery dies.
The phone also get's unusually hot now. Not like, super hot, but definitely hotter than any other time I can remember.
I also get error messages since the problems started saying: 'Process system is not responding'. I then get the option to either force close it or wait. Neither seem to do much if anything at all other than taking away the error message. Sounds kinda critical if you'd ask me.
But so after all these symptoms started to appear I figured I'd just do a factory reset and be done with it, but every time I go into the factory reset settings, I put in my lock screen pattern and then at the last step (pressing the Erase all data button) it just does nothing.
I can touch the button and it does give the animation that it is being pressed, but it just doesn't do anything.
The phone doesn't freeze though, I can still navigate after pressing the button only to see it reboot again shortly after.
After that I tried to flash the rom, but for some reason my PC refuses to show my phone's internal memory in my pcor any sign of my phone's connection at all.
I haven't tried it on any other pc yet, so it might just be my pc, though I doubt it is since it was perfectly able to recognize it shortly before all this started.
The device hasn't endured any shocks lately or expsure to water or whatever, so I think that's ruled out as well.
I am running the stock rom, 2.3 Gingerbread I believe, and the warranty is already way over date (I think. I'll have to check that).
Any suggestions as on how to determine what could be causing this, or how to fix it? Because I really don't want to buy a new phone xD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you've not modified your Sola in any way.
Give this official method a try.
http://xperiafirmware.com/component/content/article/2-uncategorised/29-sony-update-service

[Q] Phone won't sleep, process won't go away

Hey guys.
Had some trouble on my Z2 and thought I'd create an account here and ask for your advice before I did something stupid. Have no experience with rooting or modding whatsoever, so bear with me please.
I bought a Z2 whose screen never slept. I found out that the responsible was com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2, who would always run when I turned the phone on and remained on my notification area with no text, just an icon resembling two blue screens superposed. If I force stopped the process, the phone would sleep normally until I powered it off. When I turned it on, the process would be there again preventing sleep.
I did some research and learned how to flash a different ROM, wipe cache, wipe dalvik... Did all that and the process would still be there. Rooted my phone, bought Titanium Backup and froze the process... it worked fine, but would I reset to factory settings, there was the process again.
And finally I come to my question: would un-installing the process and wiping its data with Titanium backup work? Would I be at risk of bricking my phone?
I'm running out of options on what to do and returning isn't really an option!
Thank you very much!
Phone: Xperia Z2 D6503
Android v: 4.4.2
Build number: 17.1.2.A.0.314
Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide you with in order to find a solution. Thanks again!
busseto said:
Hey guys.
Had some trouble on my Z2 and thought I'd create an account here and ask for your advice before I did something stupid. Have no experience with rooting or modding whatsoever, so bear with me please.
I bought a Z2 whose screen never slept. I found out that the responsible was com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2, who would always run when I turned the phone on and remained on my notification area with no text, just an icon resembling two blue screens superposed. If I force stopped the process, the phone would sleep normally until I powered it off. When I turned it on, the process would be there again preventing sleep.
I did some research and learned how to flash a different ROM, wipe cache, wipe dalvik... Did all that and the process would still be there. Rooted my phone, bought Titanium Backup and froze the process... it worked fine, but would I reset to factory settings, there was the process again.
And finally I come to my question: would un-installing the process and wiping its data with Titanium backup work? Would I be at risk of bricking my phone?
I'm running out of options on what to do and returning isn't really an option!
Thank you very much!
Phone: Xperia Z2 D6503
Android v: 4.4.2
Build number: 17.1.2.A.0.314
Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide you with in order to find a solution. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting questions... I've also experienced this.
After about 30 mn of waiting, startupflagservice had finished its job (I don't know what it is doing).
Anyway, I don't recommend to uninstall it.
See if flashing the .402 FTF solves this? Maybe it is a random bug in the .314 firmware. I haven't got this process running so I can't comment on it. Have you got power saving features enabled? If so, is the battery drain still bad with the process running?
I know I am asking a lot of questions but there are multiple things that could be causing the issue. When you factory reset the stock ROM, does it occur after you have installed apps or before? There could be a rogue app keeping the phone awake. Install either:
Betterbatterystats (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asksven.betterbatterystats)
Wakelock detector (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector)
Hopefully either app should give you a better insight as to what is keeping your phone from deep sleep.
EDIT: Also, according to quite a few lists, that particular thing (com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2) is safe to delete. If you are rooted and have a custom recovery, make a nandroid backup (ask if you don't know what it is or how to do so) and then go ahead and delete it using ES file explorer. Worst case scenario your phone reboots/gets stuck in a bootloop or something and you can just restore the nandroid.
Thanks for the replies, guys!
I'll try flashing the .402 FTF next weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to tinker with the phone on weekdays anymore. I have reasons to believe the current firmware is not the responsible though, as this problem occurred on the firmware that came on the phone (don't remember which one it was), and continued after I updated to .314 through the PC Companion.
Answering your questions, Devzz:
I have no power saving features enabled.
I haven't noticed any battery drain, as I didn't allow it to happen... I usually turned the screen off with the power button, which worked... the only problem was the phone not sleeping by itself after the inactivity period I set.
The problem occurs right after I turn the phone on. As soon as I turn it on after a reset and every time thereafter, I'm greeted by a black screen with a big black button that reads: POWER OFF. If I click it, nothing happens. When I press Back or Home, I'm on my home screen with the icon I mentioned on my original post on the notification bar.
I'm starting to think I just had bad luck and got a defective piece of hardware. There's another problem now that didn't happen before the update: the volume of the notifications now is always low, regardless of how much I set on the slider on Settings > Sound > Volumes. I've noticed some people had this problem as well, and I could temporarily fix it by enabling Dynamic normalizer and xLoud on the Sound Effects, although that is hardly an ideal solution.
Thanks very much again for your help! I'll look into the nandroid backup and try that next weekend.
P.s.: another piece of information that I haven't mentioned and may be relevant: I was never able to access recovery mode, despite my efforts to do so. I had to install XZDualRecovery to be able to boot into recovery mode.
busseto said:
Thanks for the replies, guys!
I'll try flashing the .402 FTF next weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to tinker with the phone on weekdays anymore. I have reasons to believe the current firmware is not the responsible though, as this problem occurred on the firmware that came on the phone (don't remember which one it was), and continued after I updated to .314 through the PC Companion.
Answering your questions, Devzz:
I have no power saving features enabled.
I haven't noticed any battery drain, as I didn't allow it to happen... I usually turned the screen off with the power button, which worked... the only problem was the phone not sleeping by itself after the inactivity period I set.
The problem occurs right after I turn the phone on. As soon as I turn it on after a reset and every time thereafter, I'm greeted by a black screen with a big black button that reads: POWER OFF. If I click it, nothing happens. When I press Back or Home, I'm on my home screen with the icon I mentioned on my original post on the notification bar.
I'm starting to think I just had bad luck and got a defective piece of hardware. There's another problem now that didn't happen before the update: the volume of the notifications now is always low, regardless of how much I set on the slider on Settings > Sound > Volumes. I've noticed some people had this problem as well, and I could temporarily fix it by enabling Dynamic normalizer and xLoud on the Sound Effects, although that is hardly an ideal solution.
Thanks very much again for your help! I'll look into the nandroid backup and try that next weekend.
P.s.: another piece of information that I haven't mentioned and may be relevant: I was never able to access recovery mode, despite my efforts to do so. I had to install XZDualRecovery to be able to boot into recovery mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exact same problems with my phone not going to sleep and the big "power off" button. What the heck does it mean? Anyone fix this problem yet?
matase said:
I have the exact same problems with my phone not going to sleep and the big "power off" button. What the heck does it mean? Anyone fix this problem yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In spite of my efforts, I couldn't find a way to get rid of the problem. Currently I have the phone rooted, installed Titanium Backup and deleted the files related to the process.
It's working, although if I ever revert to factory settings, the problem will be there again.
Best of luck to you and please let me know if you find a fix.
busseto said:
In spite of my efforts, I couldn't find a way to get rid of the problem. Currently I have the phone rooted, installed Titanium Backup and deleted the files related to the process.
It's working, although if I ever revert to factory settings, the problem will be there again.
Best of luck to you and please let me know if you find a fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which process/es did you exactly delete? What are those files for the process are even doing? When did this problem start for you? Thanks
On mine that service displayed a persistent notification and on every reboot it prompted to power off or use phone. Anyway, as soon as I saw that I rooted and froze com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice in titanium backup. Problem solved! As far as I've tried it's not essential and can be uninstalled as well. I really don't get how they overlooked this, it's a huge annoyance for anyone that can't root the phone I imagine.
Solution!!!!!
I had the same issue on a Z2 I bought off a guy. It was on 4.4.2 and it kept saying no update available. I downloaded and flashed the 5.0.2 update via Sony Flashtool. At first boot the issue appear again after a few seconds. It got very intense with the screen becoming unusable. The phone shut itself down and rebooted without the issue. Gone and nowhere to be found. I immediately got another prompt to update to a newer Android version - same 5.0.2 (17MB file).
So flash away, guys!!!

[HELP] Samsung Galaxy J5 stuck in safemode, RFP locked.

Hello to all genius mind.
I am writing here, to find a solution for my problem. I will start from beginning, to be as clear as possible.
This summer, during my vacation time, while diving, I found SG J5 in the bottom of the lake (sorry for the person who lost it like that...). Since I never had android smartphone in my hands before, I was wondering, can this device still work, since I have no idea how long it was under water and what can I learn from this process.
After opening it up, cleaning with 96% alcohol and drying it, devices finally showed some signs of life. Actually, almost everything was working, amazing...
Once I got this device running, I started to deal with software. Following some tutorials online, I was on the process to bypass RFP, but could not finish it, since I had other important matter to attend to. After I was back, and turned device on, for some reason, it booted into safe mode. I have been tried again SideSync method, but it was not working, since device did not reacted, after I plugged in to PC. Computer can recognize device and I can even browser the files in it. Weird thing is, that lower volume button stopped responding (I had theory that it could be jammed, once I removed it and cleaned contact, no changes was in the system, still in safe mode, so its not jammed button...), it was working before and all other buttons are working fine. Because of that, I cannot load recovery mode.
OTG method also did not worked, since nothing happen when I plunged usb into phone (safe mode block all external apps). I have tried to flash new ROM, with a help of "Samsung 300K Tool" I can launch download mode, but new ROM did not gave any result either, and RFP blocks all custom ROM's, that could modify system.
ADB do not find the device, since USB Debugging is probably off, and I don't know a way how to activate it from PC. The trick to disconnect WiFi, when it checks info for google account, did not worked either, since its not possible to select a text for sharing it.
After trying all the methods that I could find, I hit the brick wall. Phone works fine, but its completely locked. I am thinking, that new Samsung protection system is designed like this, to force phone in to safe mode after one hard reset and lock all posiblities to byass RFP, not sure though, it could be hardware problem to, but no idea where...
Does anyone here could help me out with this case
THANKS!
Best regards to all,
HG

Need help with Bootloop on Xperia XZ1 (info inside)

Hello.
First of I'm a fan of this forum for a couple of years now but never had a chance to have an account until now (Still a total newbie), anyhow I tried to fix it myself for weeks now searching and looking for almost everything I can both Google and here but no avail. desperate as I'm now I decided to start this thread.
My phone is Sony Xperia XZ1 G8342, the problem is boot looping as I stated the possible reason I think it's because of low internal storage (64GB) I used around 90%, and yes I did clean up the cache from time to time but its keep building up back again. I have had experience with this problem before (only once) around 5 months back it kept looping so I force shut down > turn it on again repeat this process for the whole morning and suddenly it's back to normal.
How it started.
I charge the phone and Google play probably automatically updates all the apps, which is really dumb of me to turn this function on, then it freezes and starts restarting.
My goal.
I know people will tell me just be done with it and re-flashing or use a Sony PC companion. but in this phone, there's a data that hold dear to me, I know this sounds stupid in some aspects and yes it's totally my fault for not backing up some of these data and still relying on a 5-year-old phone. But I hope to fix it without losing all of these data and at least be able to access it for backing up.
More info on my phones.
None root.
The phone can turn it on normally but it's will restart itself once it reaches the Xperia logo (FYI: booting > Sony logo > Xperia logo)
When connecting to the PC and holding volume up the led light will turn blue (I'm not sure if this is Fastboot mode or something else) PC will detect as Android devices when checked on Device Manager.
When holding volume down + power then keep holding volume down the phone will vibrate after reaching the Xperia logo but still to no avail.
Sim card and Sd card are removed, same result.
The battery is replaced about 2 months ago.
All other parts except the battery are original.
It can charge normally.
USB debug mode is off. (very unfortunate)
I don't think XZ1 has recovery mode which really sucks since older models have it and newer ones also have it.
Any solution or suggestion is very welcome here, I'm not a native speaker my apologies for that.
I don't want to list what I have done so far because the way I have tried might not be correct, I might miss some tiny details or maybe I could try it again if you guys suggest.
Regards.

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