Seeking info about software interactions, Nandroids, and a few more - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi there
I have a few questions and probably just need to be pointed in some right directions. Would be great if somebody could take the time.
I'm not a developer, but I consider myself quite experienced in modding, mainly CM. In fact, I do it for some other people as well, via an add on a classifieds-website. I don't take much money, but I learn a lot. And I stumble about problems about many different devices and rules I thought existed seem to wrong, sometimes. So I got these questions:
Q1: Please tell me briefly what I can find in which partitition on my phone. "Boot" contains the kernel, right? Does "data" contain just Apps and there data, or anything that I save on the internal storage (like music, movies...)?
Q2: I always thought that a Nandroid would be a 100% insurance for my phone. But recently I read about a device and it said something like "try not to restore stock Gingerbread from recovery if you had some higher version of CM installed, because it couldn't undo some changes that had been made within those". Why is that? Shouldn't a Nandroid be able to restore anything, no matter what? How do I know WHEN it can't restore anything other than from some tutorial?
Q3: I recently read about installing CM on the Xperia Z1 (https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_honami). Here it says: "On all 2011 model Sony devices, the kernel will not update when flashed in recovery, so the kernel must be updated via fastboot every time you flash a new build of CyanogenMod". Also they never actually used the recovery to flash anything, or at least not as often as usual. And the used the (****ing unreliable) adb backup method instead of a Nandroid. In total the customRecovery seemed pretty useless! Why is that? How can the recovery not be able to do what it usually does? And what would be a "new build"? Like from CM 12.1 to CM 13?
Q4: Do you thing that modding (especially adb, fastboot) would be better from a Linux distribution, since Android is based on Linux? Cause I had some major issues with adb backup. It showed all variaties of "Not Working" so far...
Q5: The recovery system is working all by itself, right? No kernel, no nothing. (Apart from the bootloader that starts it)
I would really appreciate some help!

Related

[Q] Dual booting and beyond!

As much as I love to experiment with new roms, it kinda becomes a PITA to to flash something and have problems immediately or just plain not like it and want to flash back to your old rom. Nandroid backups help and I do use them to their fullest capacity, but it would be nice to just select your old OS during boot and be back and running that way.
I know this sounds a lot like what you would do on a regular PC, can this functionality be duplicated on our android phones (I know it can actually, i just haven't seen anything for MY phone, T Mobile SGS3).
Now something like this is a function of the bootloader correct? OR does it go beyond that? I know the bootloader would need to be able to be unlocked on the device in question and rooted obviously. Has anyone done this recently who could chime in? Are there any glaring issues (bad stuff) that rear their ugly head when trying to dual boot (like a poor confused OS that has no idea whats going on)? If one ends up successfully installing and configuring 2 OS'es on a device, would a Nandroid backup include BOTH OS'es in its backup? All it does is basically take a snapshot of the drive, correct?

[Q] cwm recovery boot loop, will not acept a rom install :S

Hi all
ok so i'm a bit nervous writing this expecting all manner of attack in that i may be posting something that's been posted before lol, i've been working on this phone from start to finish about 9 hours, over two days..... i've googled just about every combination of words to do with the title and everything in between but nothing seems to come close to what i actually need to do as nothing works
i have an LG Optimus 2x / p990, it had ICS on it but was far too slow to handle this, it needs something a bit less hardware intensive to run smoothly, so i went ahead an found cyanogenmod stable ...... 7.2 i installed sdk after an hour of finding out how it works i finally got adb and fastboot working, i then needed this, that, this, that, etc etc etc.....
to cut a 9 hour story short, i've managed to get myself to the point where i wiped the phone of everything but CWM partioned for ics via the AIO software but CWM will not let me install any ROM onto the phone. to be more precise it says i have installed CM 7.2 successfully! (i've tried this via the CWM via external SD card and sideload) i reboot the phone it's as if i've never done a thing, no trace or suggestion i've even attempted it on the internal card... nothing
i'm at the point now where i'm quite happy to just have my phone back now and install ICS 404 but can't use the LG kdz install software as the pc doesn't see the phone as an LG p990 because it's recovery and i can only get it to come up as internal and external memory cards
i'm not really a noob when it comes to tech stuff but this little phone has me stumped.... please, i'm begging you, help me any operating system that can get my phone working will do, preferably the CM 7.2 if not back to ICS 404?
and i know, i know i should have backed up but i had no idea it could be so complicated just to put an OS on a tiny computer
ETA i've tried that exitrecovery.zip thing and it did nothing :/
It's quite simple
Try to reset and unroot/re-lock the phone then unlock and root, then what you need to do is get ROM Manager and get the Clockwork Recovery and the version that supports your device, although you might need to hook up your phone to your computer for the process to work.
Also put back in ICS 4.0.4 when unrooted and re-locked again like stock and make sure it's the stock file for your phone.
And after you got ROM Manger and the Clockwork Recovery
Then just in Clockwork wipe out all data on the device and don't do a factory reset in Android just with clockwork and delete everything that was made on that phone then install CyanogenMod.
After that it will seem to take a long time or just a while to boot up and then it boots faster then the original ROM.
If you have Clockwork Recovery just wipe out all the data while it's still in there and you should be set.
When it was my first time putting in CyanogenMod it was 10.1 RC1 on my Nexus 7 and it didn't work and forever bootlooped, and that was because i forgot to wipe the device. Then after going into Recovery with Clockwork I deleted all the data of my tablet and it worked but took 5 mins. to boot up which is nomal.
And if Clockwork doesn't work, do the same with TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) and download that which can be found here teamw.in/project/twrp
If you don't want to get ROM Manager or that one isn't working then try this website to get Clockwork because it has the whole list of devices and I recommend downloading from the website instead of their app. clockworkmod.com/rommanager
cheers for that, i've tried all of the above still to no avail, having a think about it the phone is partioned for ics, i'm trying to install CM 7.2 which as i understand isn't ICS so.... maybe the error is that it's a different partioning sequence/setup i'm gonna go for CM 10.1 and see if that makes a difference.
to add i'm not sure why everyone rants and raves about CWM, TWRP seems much more complete and advanced do you (or anyone else) know the main differences?
twelfty said:
cheers for that, i've tried all of the above still to no avail, having a think about it the phone is partioned for ics, i'm trying to install CM 7.2 which as i understand isn't ICS so.... maybe the error is that it's a different partioning sequence/setup i'm gonna go for CM 10.1 and see if that makes a difference.
to add i'm not sure why everyone rants and raves about CWM, TWRP seems much more complete and advanced do you (or anyone else) know the main differences?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP has a completely touch driven interface that is 100% themeable, while CWM has a touch version and non-touch version. Also TWRP has a built in file manger and terminal emulator where as CWM does not. A lot of people like TWRP because it provides a lot of good features with a simple and straightforward yet powerful user interface. I would recommend taking a look at this guide if you want more information on the differences between the two http://www.droidiser.com/2013/04/twrp-vs-clockworkmod-recovery.html?m=1.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
ok i managed to do it i can't remember exactly how but some good links and info for anyone who stumbles across this in need of help
i went for cyanogenmod 10.1 to make this work i used this AIO tool - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2020737
repartioned with OLD partion layout and BL
installed TWRP (included in the aio)
if you need to reinstall the google play store make sure you have right version if you flash it and get "unfortunately setup wizard has stopped" repeatedly you have the wrong version see this link for which one you need http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Gapps
obviously make sure you have adb and fastboot setup and drivers too.... it's a long process installing the entire sdk, personally for flashing this once and most definately not inclined to do it again i'd go with just the adb and fastboot rather than the whole sdk
also i found a keyboard error with 10.1 where i'd type 1,2 or 3 characters and the keyboard would minmise not sure if there's a proper fix (i found one thing where you disable the autocorrect but didn't want to do that) so i decided to download and install hackers keyboad which is based on the gingerbread keyboad and is much better and comes with full features and integrates nicely
coupled with the info above from YoyoscratchMC and you should be in the field
good luck to all i was ready to jump out my window with my phone first so i could land as hard as possible on it last night but i got there in the end lol

[A] i9100, ROM Manager broke it. Fixed!

Hi,
First, thanks to the few humble people who extended their assistance to fix this issue. If anyone arrogantly answers this thread, I'll hide your profile so I don't have to look at that trash. Some of y' have personal issues. This is why I didn't bother to post anything in the forum, and thankfully found elsewhere assistance. Please put your life in balance and find happiness.
--
This i9100 was a test phone, modified before other phones are modified from stock, or are further modified. So, since there was success with an LG-P990 earlier, the phone was selected to install Rom Manager app from the android Google Play Store. The app should be deleted from there. It damaged the existing CWM Recovery by asking to update CWM as soon as I ran the app. There are no red flags on the App store to not use it on an i9100; an incredibly-common phone, which makes the lack of any warnings whatsoever, more irresponsible. Although 'you have been warned' appears in several threads after-the-fact, those are not helpful.
Second, anyone getting to this level of modifying the phone, should have at least one nandroid backup. Every rooting guide seems to responsibly have guidance to do a nandroid backup, directly after rooting. And then a second one after the custom ROM is installed and all the apps and customizations are finished. In this case, it was with CM 10.1.3 Stable, and Dorimanx kernel 9.43. If there is no nandroid backup, it's an ordinary flash afterwards, and the phone will have to be set-up manually as if a new rom was flashed.
.. After rebooting from the 'Rom Manager' 'Update of CWM', the phone could boot normally, however, booting into recovery, it looked disabled. No option to restore or backup, etc. Just a simple menu and it looked... unhappy. All methods of fixing recovery failed.
Various methods were tried including flavours of ODIN. Flash recovery command from within Android Terminal also failed with (-1) error. Whatever that means... CWM-KitKatCompatible-i9100.tar and philz_touch_6.19.3-i9100.tar.md5 were some of the files used.
Finally, from IRC someone recommended extracting the recovery.img file from philz_touch_6.19.3-i9100.zip, copying recovery.img to the phone, and, opening an Android Terminal on the phone, running 'su' to get it into root mode, and issuing the following command:
dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p5
.. Quote: "from the guy who heads TWRP's recovery development, i9100 command would be"
and it worked. Only for the i9100; the /dev/block/... location I guess would be different on different models of phones. Someone else can comment.
And this did provide Philz Touch Recovery, fixing the recovery screen boot problem. However the phone would not boot normally anymore, either.
The nandroid backup was restored, and it was a success.
If you'd done even the tiniest bit of research (which was suggested to you months ago, and which you ignored), you would have found out Rom Manager on the S2 is a no-go (this isn't exactly a secret, and I'm understating this; it's actually common knowledge), and you would have avoided this entirely.
So you want a pat on the back for firstly ignoring good advice, secondly stuffing it up, and thirdly then having to go through a bunch of unnecessary crap to fix your phone eh ?
Guess what ? Given your idiocy a couple of months back, nobody gives a ****.
^^^^^^^^^
Thats your profile hidden then T
Don't use rom manager on any Sammy device.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

[Q] I want to switch from stock ICS 4.0.3 to CM. I'm a total noob, need help.

Hi, this is my first post. I'm a total noob in customizing phones and since my phone is quite old, all the information I can find is years old, talking about file versions that don't exist anymore, or became outdated since there are so many different versions of android.
I have been trying to find a good guide to help me do the correct steps to follow to flash Cyanogenmod. I might try the latest 12.1, and then see if I like it.
This is what I have so far:
- international i9100, I live in panama if that's relevant to any help I need
- stock ICS 4.0.3 (with XWLP7 kernel)
- used superoneclick to root, it installed CMW PhilZ touch 6.0.1.7 (I think, can't remember the last digit.)
- used "galaxy s unlock" app to unlock the phone
I downloaded this: philz_touch_6.07.1-i9100 from d-h.st/hUX, sorry I can't post the links correctly for being a new user.
I just made a backup before i will attempt to load philz touch 6.07.1. I read that I need to have a kitkat compatible recovery, is this one compatible. Can I simply flash it or do I need to do anything specific before.
I am trying to follow the steps explained in wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_i9100, but the warnings scare me a bit, can someone please explain the workarounds, thanks.
So, what I'd like to know is the specific steps for my version of android to make it migrate to CM12.1, and what to do about the warnings (should i find a custom kernel, do i need to backup anything else, I read also that the recovery I have doesn't backup efs, so how can I do that?)
Thanks a lot for taking your time to help me out.
@milen_506
So when you reboot into recovery, you have philz recovery?
If yes, all you need to do is install a newer recovery such as the one from this post. Once you flash it, reboot straight back to recovery(you will get a bootloop if you try to reboot into the system). This newer recovery is compatible with the latest versions of android and gapps, so just need to have the rom .zip and gapps(if you want play store/services) .zip ready to flash before you upgrade this recovery. Do a nandroid backup before you flash the new rom/gapps
There are several ways to backup efs, HERE is a link to one option
And as far as custom kernels, you are probably better off sticking to the kernel that comes with the rom unless you are comfortable adjusting kernel settings and you know what you are doing. It would be easy to mess things up if you didin't have a basic knowledge of the changes. Also with cm12/LP roms on the S2, custom kernels are only starting to be developed and are a little unstable for some users at this stage.

Question Boot loop (at g animation), factory image does not solve the issue

Hi!
Finally I got stuck in a boot loop on my Pixel 6 running QPR2.
It's looping after the G animation (vibrates a few times at that point when attached to a PC).
Reflashing the latest QPR factory image (without -w) by using SDK 33.0.3 does not solve the issue.
The ROM was running fine before, but it rebooted due to a faulty custom kernel version and now I'm stuck.
My theory is, that the launcher (nova) can't load and therefore it reboots.
Anything I could do using fastboot?
Never flash a custom kernel on a stock ROM, If not suggested by the dev.
I understand that you flash without wipe?
Done that for years without any issue.
The last version of the custom kernel had an issue and caused reboots.
Not sure if this is the ulprit, but normally that should be solved by flashing factory image without -w.
So the question is: Is there any other option than doing a factory reset?
Sui77 said:
Done that for years without any issue.
The last version of the custom kernel had an issue and caused reboots.
Not sure if this is the ulprit, but normally that should be solved by flashing factory image without -w.
So the question is: Is there any other option than doing a factory reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the kernel broke your actually ROM, nope. You could backup the file stored locally via adb in the recovery, but not anything more.
Wipe all is the best, better than have to handle with an hard brick.
Sui77 said:
Done that for years without any issue.
The last version of the custom kernel had an issue and caused reboots.
Not sure if this is the ulprit, but normally that should be solved by flashing factory image without -w.
So the question is: Is there any other option than doing a factory reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I were you I'd maybe get some logs and go through them and see if you can find anything that way. Maybe add logs to your op here.
There aren't many ways to backup things nowadays for pixel 6 but what I have used to backup apps + app data that works well when restoring is Neo app from Fdroid store. As far as backing up goes, at this time I've used nothing that is/has been as solid as Neo. I miss the days of just being able to boot one of a few various custom recoveries, making a nandroid backup to a USB thumb drive with my OTG cable and restore it whenever it was needed but things change. Sounds like maybe something was left behind from your kernel install. If you really dislike formatting I'd stay away from whatever you installed here to get in this loop but definitely backup using Neo once you get going again and put your backups on thumb drive or you PC or somewhere other than your device so you can restore them when you need to. I don't flash nowhere near as much as I used to but I used to flash my device(s) many times a day , everyday for many years but I remember years ago on another device I looped and wiped my cache and system and reflashed rom and ended up booting up. But that was another device years ago. Maybe try adb sideloading instead of factory image flash without wiping data. Try that and after it's done installing reboot to others slot and sideload it again... These things probably won't work but you never know until you try. Did you have magisk installed before and not now? Maybe flash stock kernel patched with magisk to both slots if so. Hate to say it but you will probably end up having to format data but idk because I don't know exactly how you installed the kernel "in detail" or exactly what kernel it is or if anything else was changed from before you looped ... No logs...
I've been using Android since the beginning (G1) and I've been tinkering with my devices since back in the Nexus S days on a regular basis and I've found that the best way for to get the help I need is to try like hell to figure whatever it is out myself by searching for the problem I'm having, I mean like really searching, sometimes for hours , sometimes maybe searching for things related to the problem I'm having that show up in my searches, sometimes the answer can be in another devices forum, piecing together bits of info from various places to try and solve whatever it is... etc ... etc... But the best way to get help is do research on it, take some notes, try various things to fix it, then if I still can't figure it out make a post about it here and in op attach every log I can possibly gather from said device, include all the things I tried to fix it with myself "in detail..." My exact installation process, you know like: reboot bootloader, was on slot A, executed ./flash-all.sh for factory image xxxxx, rebooted system ... The more details you provide the more accurate people will be when answering and the more people you will get to reply.. I'm not trying to sound like some asshole or anything at all. Im just speaking what works best here to get answers. Sometimes you just don't get any answers even if you post 18 paragraphs with a chart and a line graph, things you tried, what all you tried it with and links to it all. But anyone here who does this will most definitely stand a much better chance at getting some replies on whatever it is. I sometimes read over on Reddit and Tele groups , sometimes answers can be found that way. Sometimes people just give you the silent treatment.. Even if you do your homework. That's just a thing with anything related to development that happens. I always used to think when I would get no replies that the other guys and gals who know the answer are thinking to themselves, "oh look at this idiot here!" "He clearly didn't graduate from Harvard top of his class with a PhD like we did. " " Such an imbecile!!! " But what could have been going on and more than likely was/is is life , kids, bills, sleep, relationships, covid19, and tons of other things..
Some of this development stuff is a real beech to get and everyone works hard to get it and many aren't too fond of just giving random people answers that took them many sleepless nights to get. But if and when a dev sees someone with a detailed post , things tried.... etc ... etc .. Theyre much more likely to throw some knowledge your way. That's been my experience anyway.
@flash713
Wow, thx for thw write up, appreciate!
I was on latest QPR2.1 with Radioctive Kernel, Magisk installed.
Since the device got stuck in the boot animation, I tried a lot and flashed different factory images using the flash-all method. w/o success.
Also tried the Flash tool in the google website, also w/o success.
When the device boots while it's connected to the PC, it beeps/vibrates 3 times and the reboots.
My guess is that it has problems to load the launcher, Nova was set as standart.
I'm using android since years, tinkering a lot, but I'm not a pro in doing so.
Meanwhile i set up my new Pixel 7 and restored it via Google backup and a few apps by using a SWIFT backup.
Fotos were restored by Google, but all whatsapp pictures are messed up ow, cause the date of restore.
How do I gather proper logs?
Did a last attempt and sideloaded the OTA to both slots...same outcome...
Doesn't magisk have a remove all modules.zip? I mean oriole doesn't have TWRP available yet.
I presume that when it's bootlooping you don't have any ADB?
You did have ADB enabled, right?
Depending on system and setup you may have ADB started by init or started by Android.
Your problem could be as simple as a bad Launcher.
I don't know if the P6 has a UART console. Does it?
Hi Renate,
thx for your reply.
Yes, that is what i thought. The Pixel boots up into the G-animation and then loops 3 times (beeping/vibrating if connected to PC) and than reboots in total.
I think I had something like that in the past when I accidently deleted the launcher apk (don't ask )
Anyway, Nova launcher was set as standart, so the only idea could be to set the genui Pixel launcher as default, but I don't know how to do that in fastboot or adb mode.
Sui77 said:
Anyway, Nova launcher was set as standard, so the only idea could be to set the genui Pixel launcher as default, but I don't know how to do that in fastboot or adb mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still not clear if you have ADB ever available.
If you do you could:
Code:
adb uninstall com.nova.whatever.launcher
If the /data/data that Nova is using is corrupt or missing it could cause failure.
Android will switch to whatever else belongs to android.intent.category.HOME automatically.
If there is nothing there you can install another launcher.
Have adb (after booting into recovery mode), will report back asap
I habe adbd device connected via recovery/rescue mode, but that's not working.
In bootloader, I can't use adb, no device connected.
Hw can I use adb while the device is not booted up?
Can you mount data in recovery (and it's unecrypted)?
Feeling a bit dumb, but I can only boot into fastboot or into the boot loop, don't know how to mount data in recovery mode (the one with the andoird robot)
When you're in the boot loop you don't get adb even for a few seconds?
This are the last lines of the recovery.log
2 new items by TheMrSui
photos.app.goo.gl
Checked that by opening a cmd and using "adb devices", but nothing showed up
When you're viewing that log, don't you have ADB working then? It says that it is.
I had this weird issue on Raven, first try using android flash tool through a chrome based browser. If that still loops then wipe, and flash an older image. For some reason I had to flash an image from the previous month and that would boot.

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