Hi folks
I hope I am not breaking any rules. I tried my best to read up on the problem and see if it's already been fixed. So far I haven't encountered anything which is specific to my needs, but I learned enough to pose a well-formed question.
Phone: Samsung Galaxy SIII International (GT-I9300)
ROM: Stock Samsung, version 4.1.2, the update with Multi-window. Do not have the exact build number unfortunately.
Root status: Rooted
Recovery: Stock recovery. (I JUST rooted the phone, nothing else.)
So the problem is:
1. I used ES File Explorer in root mode, mounted /system as writable, and made an edit to build.prop (added "qemu.hw.mainkeys=0" to the end of the file to enable navbar) and saved the file. I rebooted the phone and now it is stuck with a looping Samsung logo.
2. I have made a backup of build.prop and placed it in /sdcard/ but unfortunately I haven't made a copy on my PC. Also note that I don't have an external SD card, I am using the 16GB space that came with the phone. So the build.prop backup is on the phone.
3. I do not have a USB cable (I have one that has a loose connection somewhere and my phone is not detected 99% of the times I've used that cable)
What I have found after 2 hours of searching online:
1. Factory Reset through recovery (I am able to boot into stock recovery by doing Vol Up + Home + Power) will not restore /system partition so that won't fix this.
2. ES File Explorer might have messed up the file permissions of the build.prop file.
3. I can use PC ODIN to flash the stock firmware (I might lose data but at least the phone would be back to normal).
4. I can use adb to push a good build.prop file and set the correct permissions (my most fav. set of instructions are from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1660596 Of course I got the idea from several other threads)
5. I can sideload a good build.prop file that someone might be generous to provide me using adb.
I don't have a data cable, so you can see how that Might be a problem. What I DO have is a USB OTG cable and a pen drive. Now, in the stock recovery, I noticed an option "apply update from external storage". Assuming I have an update.zip with the proper build.prop in it, can I load the update.zip into a usb pen drive (formatted to fat32)? Does "apply update" here work for such zip files or is it only meant to be used for full firmware images? If so, can I just download the latest stock firmware and apply it from here without wiping the /data partition?
If I can get this resolved tonight I can get my phone up and running before tomorrow's work week. I will buy an USB cable ASAP (it's 12 AM here so going out to get it is not an option now). But even if I do, I still have 5 months worth warranty left and I'd like to stick with the stock recovery and avoid incrementing the flash counter altogether, despite Triangle Away.
Thank you very much for the help in advance.
Adb pull your backup» then push it back?
slaphead20 said:
Adb pull your backup» then push it back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a working data cable, so I cannot connect to the PC. That was my first idea, though, thanks! I am currently reading about making an Update.zip. It's very unfortunate that I didn't note my firmware details after the OTA...
Just set permissions - use Properties in ES FE in root mode. RW. R.. R.. should work.
LenAsh said:
Just set permissions - use Properties in ES FE in root mode. RW. R.. R.. should work. If not try 777 for giggles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am unable to boot into the phone, it is stuck in a bootloop
I don't have a USB cable to use ADB. I don't even have a custom recovery. All I have is the stock recovery and the option to "apply update from external storage". I now remembered that I also have an SD card on which I can put an update.zip or the stock firmware. Unfortunately I didn't note down the firmware details after the last OTA from 4.1.1 to 4.1.2, so I don't know which one to download.
Can I use the option "apply update from external storage" to flash an update.zip or is that only meant for full firmwares? Thanks!
Oops - silly me.
You are running stock recovery - never use it but does it have a fix permissions option?
Failing that you may have to reflash the ROM. Stock recovery is very restrictive on what you can flash.
LenAsh said:
Oops - silly me.
You are running stock recovery - never use it but does it have a fix permissions option?
Failing that you may have to reflash the ROM. Stock recovery is very restrictive on what you can flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fix permission option on the stock recovery? I don't think so, haven't been able to find it. Here are the options I have:
reboot system now
apply update from adb
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from cache
Interestingly, when I selected the last option, it had these 3 folders:
fota/
lost+found/
recovery/
I was hoping fota/ had the files from my last OTA update but nope.
I guess you are not sure whether I can flash an update.zip through stock recovery... so I just have to wait till I get my USB cable and try out some adb magic?
EDIT: I'm retiring for the day. Thanks for the suggestions @LenAsh and @slaphead20. I'm gonna buy a cable next week and try to set the permission to 644 (RW-R-R) using this thread as my reference (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1660596). Thanks for your suggestions, I will post back when this is all resolved.
In the meanwhile, please keep the ideas coming
PS: Oh wait, I am still curious. What is the worst thing that could happen if I try to flash an update.zip through stock recovery? I am very curious to see if it will work.
You could flash a later custom recovery (this one works well http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2002953) via Odin and then fix permissions that way. Even if that doesn't work, you could then flash anything you like without having issues that the stock recovery presents.
EDit: still need a cable though...
Trouble is he hasn't got a cable, I had same thinking, that he could use the aroma file manager in philz but he's stuffed without a cable!
Possible to make an update.zip with just the build.prop in it. Copy it to a memory card and use recovery to flash it?
I would try that first.
Edit: i just remembered i have done that a few times with my htc desire. Was running clockwork mod though.
Its really easy, find a small flashable mod in zip format and delete all the mod files and copy your build prop in. Edit the updater script to just write your /system/build.prop.
Copy the zip to you mem card. Use a usb adapter in a pc, stick it in your phone and use recovery to flash from external sd.
And after typing all that i reread your post and your running stock recovery and i think you would need a signature or something on the zip so it would not work. Ooops.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Stock recovery won't let you flash anything much... so perhaps his only option is Odin. When he has a cable.
On a side-note, how can someone not have a USB cable of any kind kicking around??
LenAsh said:
Stock recovery won't let you flash anything much... so perhaps his only option is Odin. When he has a cable.
On a side-note, how can someone not have a USB cable of any kind kicking around??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just edited my post
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
@LenAsh, @slaphead20, @ficti0n851
Hehe, yeah, I'm stuffed without a cable I lost it recently and I'm the only one with a recent phone. All my family members' phones use different cables.
Anyway, I managed to borrow a friend's cable and am currently downloading drivers for the S3. Once that's done I will use ADB to set the file permission and try rebooting my phone, failing which I will restore the backup build.prop, set permissions and reboot the phone. Failing which... well, maybe I'll reflash the stock firmware (I managed to find out the exact build details btw! )
I'll keep you posted, thanks for taking the time guys
--
EDIT:
ADB was a success! I got in and changed the permission to 644 and rebooted, done! Funny thing was that /system/build.prop file was not even there, there was only /system/build.prop.bak. I was not able to find my original backup on the sd card, but I copied the .bak file (probably generated by ES FE) and set its permissions and that worked. And now I have also have the software keys!
Thanks for your comments guys. This was fun!
----
EDIT 2:
For anybody else who has the same problem, I did it using the commands in these great ADB guides:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1660596
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=879701
Also, how do I edit the title of the topic? Want to add a [Solved] tag.
ficti0n851 said:
Possible to make an update.zip with just the build.prop in it. Copy it to a memory card and use recovery to flash it?
I would try that first.
Edit: i just remembered i have done that a few times with my htc desire. Was running clockwork mod though.
Its really easy, find a small flashable mod in zip format and delete all the mod files and copy your build prop in. Edit the updater script to just write your /system/build.prop.
Copy the zip to you mem card. Use a usb adapter in a pc, stick it in your phone and use recovery to flash from external sd.
And after typing all that i reread your post and your running stock recovery and i think you would need a signature or something on the zip so it would not work. Ooops.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I know this post is from forever ago, but is there a chance you could explain this step by step for a noob?
I have got my phone stuck in a bootloop by fiddling with build.prop, and I have the original file before playing with it. I have a rooted device with custom recovery, so how I could I use minimal ADB to push the original build.prop located on my device (sdcard) to root/system??
---------- Post added at 11:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 PM ----------
gautham_y said:
@LenAsh, @slaphead20, @ficti0n851
Hehe, yeah, I'm stuffed without a cable I lost it recently and I'm the only one with a recent phone. All my family members' phones use different cables.
Anyway, I managed to borrow a friend's cable and am currently downloading drivers for the S3. Once that's done I will use ADB to set the file permission and try rebooting my phone, failing which I will restore the backup build.prop, set permissions and reboot the phone. Failing which... well, maybe I'll reflash the stock firmware (I managed to find out the exact build details btw! )
I'll keep you posted, thanks for taking the time guys
--
EDIT:
ADB was a success! I got in and changed the permission to 644 and rebooted, done! Funny thing was that /system/build.prop file was not even there, there was only /system/build.prop.bak. I was not able to find my original backup on the sd card, but I copied the .bak file (probably generated by ES FE) and set its permissions and that worked. And now I have also have the software keys!
Thanks for your comments guys. This was fun!
----
EDIT 2:
For anybody else who has the same problem, I did it using the commands in these great ADB guides:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1660596
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=879701
Also, how do I edit the title of the topic? Want to add a [Solved] tag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bro, I got the same problem as you had, except that I have a custom recovery, and the original build.prop file, and a USB cable, but I still haven't figured out what to do completly. Can you please take a minute to explain this for a complete noob? You have probably forgot all about this, but I am shooting for this chance. :/
black_hawk1990 said:
Hey, I know this post is from forever ago, but is there a chance you could explain this step by step for a noob?
I have got my phone stuck in a bootloop by fiddling with build.prop, and I have the original file before playing with it. I have a rooted device with custom recovery, so how I could I use minimal ADB to push the original build.prop located on my device (sdcard) to root/system??
---------- Post added at 11:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 PM ----------
Bro, I got the same problem as you had, except that I have a custom recovery, and the original build.prop file, and a USB cable, but I still haven't figured out what to do completly. Can you please take a minute to explain this for a complete noob? You have probably forgot all about this, but I am shooting for this chance. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, are you still having problems or did you solve it yourself? Anyway... If you still don't know what to do, describe best what you did to end up in a bootloop. As far as I understand what your problem is, you should use your recovery to move the backup of the original build.prop file to the system folder.
I changed my phones build.prop and when rebooted it does not started and ended up in bootloop and when I searched for how to fix this problem it showed that clear all the data from the phone but nothing happened and when I tried to install custom ROM in my phone my pc is not detecteing my phone .so what should i do ?
@Rajsh90: pull out battery for some minutes, put it in, reboot into downloadmode. Connect with PC, start Odin and hope that a COM-flag colours. Flash latest firmware.
A little background first. Flashed stock recovery and my original first backup in order to take OTA for Marshmallow. OTA wouldn't take so I downloaded / installed MM update successfully. Currently at 6.0, 3.38.502.12. Then, re-unlocked bootloader (S-ON) and flashed TWRP 3.0.2.0. I then immediately created a full backup successfully before rooting.
Since that point, I've been unable to create another backup. I've also had countless problems trying to flash anything at all like custom ROMs and such. Keep having to revert to my unrooted backup post-MM update. The problem had to occur somewhere after my first successful TWRP backup post-MM update and now. Puzzling part is that I restored this same successful backup then without leaving TWRP, I immediately tried to do another backup and it fails the exact same way.
Recovery.log shows:
* MD5 Created.
Backing up System...
Error opening: '/system/app/Ds' (Not a directory)
I:Error in Generate_TarList!
Error creating backup.
createTarFork() process ended with ERROR: 255
Backup Failed. Cleaning Backup Folder.
I've tracked this down and it does indeed appear to be a directory "Ds". Inside as a sub-directory called 'oat' with Ds.apk inside of that, which is the Dolby Audio service.
I'm completly stumped. Any ideas?
Update, in the /system/app/ (list of apps) it looks like there is an oat subdirectory followed by arm64 then filename.odex:
/system/app/BasicDreams/oat/arm64/BasicDreams.odex
However, when I browse to the problem app "Ds"... oat does not appear as a directory.
This could be a simple fix then?? Coudn't I just obtain root again, somehow change that oat to a directory and hope I see the rest of the subdirectories and files there?
OR... could I find Ds.odex somewhere and re-create the file structure?
Better yet! Would someone out there be able to give me or post a link for Ds.odex? Would it be as easy as me making a sub-directory called oat/arm64 and placing this Ds.odex file in there??
Any help would be much appreciated.
sirvalence said:
Update, in the /system/app/ (list of apps) it looks like there is an oat subdirectory followed by arm64 then filename.odex:
/system/app/BasicDreams/oat/arm64/BasicDreams.odex
However, when I browse to the problem app "Ds"... oat does not appear as a directory.
This could be a simple fix then?? Coudn't I just obtain root again, somehow change that oat to a directory and hope I see the rest of the subdirectories and files there?
OR... could I find Ds.odex somewhere and re-create the file structure?
Better yet! Would someone out there be able to give me or post a link for Ds.odex? Would it be as easy as me making a sub-directory called oat/arm64 and placing this Ds.odex file in there??
Any help would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have any oat directories under /system/app/(app name)/oat/ARM64/...
Only thing that is in the app directory (for me) is the .apk, and at times, a lib subdirectory (webviewgoogle is like that, which has an arm and arm64 directory under that).
I'm running VenomRom which may handle this differently.. it's prerooted and whatnot.
I also disabled boomsound which I think also disabled the Dolby sound system app from running. Viper is better [emoji2]
Id back up your internal storage again, ruu, flash twrp 3.0.0-2, boot into recovery, let it make system writable, reboot into recovery again, and see what happens.
Or flash a pre-rooted sense rom instead of stock.
I honestly couldn't get this stupid AT&T varient working correctly until I s-off'd, updated Sid to developer, then run dev ruu. Works great now.
Sent from my HTC One M9 using XDA-Developers mobile app
grandpajiver said:
I don't have any oat directories under /system/app/(app name)/oat/ARM64/...
Only thing that is in the app directory (for me) is the .apk, and at times, a lib subdirectory (webviewgoogle is like that, which has an arm and arm64 directory under that).
I'm running VenomRom which may handle this differently.. it's prerooted and whatnot.
I also disabled boomsound which I think also disabled the Dolby sound system app from running. Viper is better [emoji2]
Id back up your internal storage again, ruu, flash twrp 3.0.0-2, boot into recovery, let it make system writable, reboot into recovery again, and see what happens.
Or flash a pre-rooted sense rom instead of stock.
I honestly couldn't get this stupid AT&T varient working correctly until I s-off'd, updated Sid to developer, then run dev ruu. Works great now.
Sent from my HTC One M9 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, yeah I'm having nothing but trouble since moving to MM. Each time, I can RUU back to stock ATT US and everything is fine. Not sure if it happens during my first TWRP pre-root backup, or the restore process. I looked at the recovery.log of said backup and nothing looked different regarding the /system/apps. I've since tried a few times and it just seems to throw a few /system/apps into another directory altogether, no rhyme or reason. Last try, there wasn't even a Ds directory as it disappeared. A Ds 0 byte file then appeared at /system level. This happened with 10 or so other random system apps. WEIRD! Maybe I should just S-OFF. I've never done that or changed my MID or SID for that matter. I'm still fairly new to this.
sirvalence said:
Thanks, yeah I'm having nothing but trouble since moving to MM. Each time, I can RUU back to stock ATT US and everything is fine. Not sure if it happens during my first TWRP pre-root backup, or the restore process. I looked at the recovery.log of said backup and nothing looked different regarding the /system/apps. I've since tried a few times and it just seems to throw a few /system/apps into another directory altogether, no rhyme or reason. Last try, there wasn't even a Ds directory as it disappeared. A Ds 0 byte file then appeared at /system level. This happened with 10 or so other random system apps. WEIRD! Maybe I should just S-OFF. I've never done that or changed my MID or SID for that matter. I'm still fairly new to this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So worth the 25 dollars. But you need your system up and rooted for that to work.
But yeah, the dev edition SID 01 worked for me.
Made it way easier to work with and taking that ruu was magic.
Oh, also, do you have an sdcard? There is always the rom.zip method... placing the appropriate 0PJAIMG.ZIP in the root of the sdcard then rebooting into download mode works nicely.
Sent from my HTC One M9 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Hi,
I'm running the last cyanogenmod 12.1 ROM on my S2. There is no custom kernel or recovery. The only thing I did was a repartition to 1GB system. This setup ran since 2016 feb. without problems. Tuesday morning got a notification from the play store, that there are updates to some of my apps, so I set my phone to update them all and left it there. I came back after 20min and then came the problem:
The phone is bootlooping. The booting animation finishes, then it starts optimizing my apps, every time different amount of apps. After it finishes it starts booting again... rinse and repeat. I tried to leave it there for a very long time, with no success. The phone is very hot in the CPU area and the battery gets hot too when it's bootlooping.
I am able to go in recovery and download mode. My recovery is the stock cyanogen recovery unfortunately. I tried putting it in download mode and since I have Android Studio installed on my pc, I tried to establish an adb shell (with adb shell command) with the adb tool that came it. Unfortunately it does not find my device (neither with adb devices). I might do it wrong though. Fortunately Odin 3.04 seems to recognize my phone, so I might be able the flash something, but I'm afraid that my internal memory is starting to fail and that is causing all these issues, so the flash would fail. First I'd like to try to save data without flashing if possible.
I have most of my user data on my sd card, so the most important thing would be to save is my contacts, messages and call history. No, I don't sync it with google, yes I know it's stupid. It used to mess up my contact list so I dropped using it.
Any help and advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
N7Gabe said:
Hi,
I'm running the last cyanogenmod 12.1 ROM on my S2. There is no custom kernel or recovery. The only thing I did was a repartition to 1GB system. This setup ran since 2016 feb. without problems. Tuesday morning got a notification from the play store, that there are updates to some of my apps, so I set my phone to update them all and left it there. I came back after 20min and then came the problem:
The phone is bootlooping. The booting animation finishes, then it starts optimizing my apps, every time different amount of apps. After it finishes it starts booting again... rinse and repeat. I tried to leave it there for a very long time, with no success. The phone is very hot in the CPU area and the battery gets hot too when it's bootlooping.
I am able to go in recovery and download mode. My recovery is the stock cyanogen recovery unfortunately. I tried putting it in download mode and since I have Android Studio installed on my pc, I tried to establish an adb shell (with adb shell command) with the adb tool that came it. Unfortunately it does not find my device (neither with adb devices). I might do it wrong though. Fortunately Odin 3.04 seems to recognize my phone, so I might be able the flash something, but I'm afraid that my internal memory is starting to fail and that is causing all these issues, so the flash would fail. First I'd like to try to save data without flashing if possible.
I have most of my user data on my sd card, so the most important thing would be to save is my contacts, messages and call history. No, I don't sync it with google, yes I know it's stupid. It used to mess up my contact list so I dropped using it.
Any help and advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, did you try dirty flashing the ROM using CyanogenMod recovery?
And then wiping cache and dalvik cache?
MigoMujahid said:
Ok, did you try dirty flashing the ROM using CyanogenMod recovery?
And then wiping cache and dalvik cache?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thanks for the advice, I didn't think of that. I assume this means there is probably no solution without flashing. Do I need to flash gapps too?
N7Gabe said:
First of all, thanks for the advice, I didn't think of that. I assume this means there is probably no solution without flashing. Do I need to flash gapps too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, no need for that, just the ROM, and it won't delete anything.
MigoMujahid said:
No, no need for that, just the ROM, and it won't delete anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I went to recovery, pressed apply update, searched for the cm12.1-20160203-nightly rom (same I had installed), flashed it without error messages, then I pressed wipe cache partition, then reboot system now. Now the phone starts to boot, the boot animation is playing for a few minutes, then the phone turns off. Tried it multiple times, with and without charging. I can still get into recovery.
N7Gabe said:
So, I went to recovery, pressed apply update, searched for the cm12.1-20160203-nightly rom (same I had installed), flashed it without error messages, then I pressed wipe cache partition, then reboot system now. Now the phone starts to boot, the boot animation is playing for a few minutes, then the phone turns off. Tried it multiple times, with and without charging. I can still get into recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, we will try another thing, can your phone be recognized using adb in recovery?
If so you can pull the data(contacts, sms) using adb pull command.
The data usually is stored there:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
And there:
/data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts.db
If you were able to do it then fine, if not, there is luckily another solution!!
You have the latest cm12.1 build which is Feb 3rd build, so your build support iso-rec TWRP recovery, so you can flash TWRP recovery zip provided by the.gangster using CM recovery and reboot recovery so it will replace the CM recovery with TWRP, in TWRP you can mount system and data using "mount", and using the file manager there you can access the above mentioned directories and copy the files manually in the external sdcard(or the internal sdcard), then you can clean flash and copy them again after that.
That would be the ultimate solution
MigoMujahid said:
Ok, we will try another thing, can your phone be recognized using adb in recovery?
If so you can pull the data(contacts, sms) using adb pull command.
The data usually is stored there:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
And there:
/data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts.db
If you were able to do it then fine, if not, there is luckily another solution!!
You have the latest cm12.1 build which is Feb 3rd build, so your build support iso-rec TWRP recovery, so you can flash TWRP recovery zip provided by the.gangster using CM recovery and reboot recovery so it will replace the CM recovery with TWRP, in TWRP you can mount system and data using "mount", and using the file manager there you can access the above mentioned directories and copy the files manually in the external sdcard(or the internal sdcard), then you can clean flash and copy them again after that.
That would be the ultimate solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In recovery I can see my device with adb, but every command runs into a device unauthorized error.
Code:
D:\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
0009bd0863c43f unauthorized
Code:
D:\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb shell
error: device unauthorized.
This adb server's $ADB_VENDOR_KEYS is not set
Try 'adb kill-server' if that seems wrong.
Otherwise check for a confirmation dialog on your device.
etc.
So I assume I flash TWRP with odin. Is it possible to save data to a PC through USB connection with TWRP? I'm asking, because I'd still prefer a full backup if possible (I don't have the space for it on my external sd). Second question, if I'm able to save mmssms.db and contacts.db, how do I extract the data from it, or maybe reimport it (even to a different phone/ROM)? I don't entirely understand isorec, but let's say I manage to flash TWRP and save my data. Can I flash the latest LOS 14.1 and keep the isorec TWRP? Or after the LOS flash, I need to flash TWRP again? As I mentioned I already have the 1GB system partition, so that shouldn't be an issue. It would be a nice two birds with one stone, saving my data and updating my obsolete ROM to a isorec TWRP+LOS 14.1 combo.
Lastly, this is the recovery you mentioned, right?: recovery-the.gangster-IsoRec-TWRP-3.1.0-0-i9100.zip
N7Gabe said:
In recovery I can see my device with adb, but every command runs into a device unauthorized error.
etc.
So I assume I flash TWRP with odin. Is it possible to save data to a PC through USB connection with TWRP? I'm asking, because I'd still prefer a full backup if possible (I don't have the space for it on my external sd). Second question, if I'm able to save mmssms.db and contacts.db, how do I extract the data from it, or maybe reimport it (even to a different phone/ROM)? I don't entirely understand isorec, but let's say I manage to flash TWRP and save my data. Can I flash the latest LOS 14.1 and keep the isorec TWRP? Or after the LOS flash, I need to flash TWRP again? As I mentioned I already have the 1GB system partition, so that shouldn't be an issue. It would be a nice two birds with one stone, saving my data and updating my obsolete ROM to a isorec TWRP+LOS 14.1 combo.
Lastly, this is the recovery you mentioned, right?: recovery-the.gangster-IsoRec-TWRP-3.1.0-0-i9100.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, TWRP won't be flashed with Odin, it will be flashed with CM recovery that you already have, and yes i meant the one you mentioned.
Second, the contacts.db and mmssms.db won't take that much space, and anyway it's OK to copy them to internal sdcard, not obligated to external, and no need to access them, after you flash another ROM like LOS 14.1, you can re copy them back to their directories.
Third, if you flash the latest LOS 14.1, you can keep the iso-rec TWRP it won't be removed.
MigoMujahid said:
First, TWRP won't be flashed with Odin, it will be flashed with CM recovery that you already have, and yes i meant the one you mentioned.
Second, the contacts.db and mmssms.db won't take that much space, and anyway it's OK to copy them to internal sdcard, not obligated to external, and no need to access them, after you flash another ROM like LOS 14.1, you can re copy them back to their directories.
Third, if you flash the latest LOS 14.1, you can keep the iso-rec TWRP it won't be removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, so I need to find an SD card reader then, to put the recovery on it. Or is there another way to get it on the phone?
By the way, thank you for taking your time and helping me, I'm really grateful!
N7Gabe said:
Okay, so I need to find an SD card reader then, to put the recovery on it. Or is there another way to get it on the phone?
By the way, thank you for taking your time and helping me, I'm really grateful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No pb bro, you're welcome.
Yes, you will need to get the recovery in the phone somehow, or you can put your memory card in another phone and use the phone to put the recovery in the sdcard, then place it in your phone again.
That would be an alternative if you don't have a sdcard reader.
MigoMujahid said:
No pb bro, you're welcome.
Yes, you will need to get the recovery in the phone somehow, or you can put your memory card in another phone and use the phone to put the recovery in the sdcard, then place it in your phone again.
That would be an alternative if you don't have a sdcard reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I managed to get it on the phone and flashed it. The phone was plugged in to my pc, and I could acces my internal SD so I managed to back that up. But here's the thing, TWRP file manager showed my /data to be empty, and not long after, the phone just shut down. My battery is only a few months old, so that should not be the issue, and the phone was also charging from the PC.
After this shutdown, I had a very hard time to get into recovery, because the phone thinks the battery is dead. I couldn't start booting normally either. Only download mode was available, but it only said, it can't get into download mode, because the battery is low. (when I plug in the charger the phone shows 100% battery) I changed my battery to my old weak one, I managed to get into recovery with it, after multiple tries. (I think it had nothing to do with the battery but was lucky) Now I check my /data through adb and it shows empty aswell:
Code:
D:\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
adb: error: remote object '/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db' does not exist
D:\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb shell
~ # [6n
~ # [6nls
and-sec init.recovery.service.rc selinux_version
boot init.recovery.smdk4210.rc sepolicy
boot.txt init.recovery.usb.rc service_contexts
cache license sideload
charger mnt supersu
data proc sys
default.prop property_contexts system
dev recovery tmp
etc res twres
file_contexts sbin ueventd.rc
fstab.smdk4210 sdcard0 ueventd.smdk4210.rc
init sdcard1 usbotg
init.rc seapp_contexts
~ # [6ncd data
/data # [6nls
/data # [6n
Do I have to mount it somehow maybe? (Oh and twrp always ask at start to mount sys in read-only or R/W. I always mounted it in R/W.) I'm afraid if I start moving in TWRP the phone will shut down as it always did. If I use adb or windows explorer to acces the phone it does not shut down.
N7Gabe said:
I managed to get it on the phone and flashed it. The phone was plugged in to my pc, and I could acces my internal SD so I managed to back that up. But here's the thing, TWRP file manager showed my /data to be empty, and not long after, the phone just shut down. My battery is only a few months old, so that should not be the issue, and the phone was also charging from the PC.
After this shutdown, I had a very hard time to get into recovery, because the phone thinks the battery is dead. I couldn't start booting normally either. Only download mode was available, but it only said, it can't get into download mode, because the battery is low. (when I plug in the charger the phone shows 100% battery) I changed my battery to my old weak one, I managed to get into recovery with it, after multiple tries. (I think it had nothing to do with the battery but was lucky) Now I check my /data through adb and it shows empty aswell:
Do I have to mount it somehow maybe? (Oh and twrp always ask at start to mount sys in read-only or R/W. I always mounted it in R/W.) I'm afraid if I start moving in TWRP the phone will shut down as it always did. If I use adb or windows explorer to acces the phone it does not shut down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should go to "mount" in TWRP, and tick "data" and "system", i said that already earlier.
MigoMujahid said:
You should go to "mount" in TWRP, and tick "data" and "system", i said that already earlier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After I sent the message and before I read yours just now, I managed to mount, save and even make LOS run. So I was wrong, the battery is probably dead. I guess the lot of heat it produced while bootlooping killed the battery. I switched back to my old original wore out battery which is humpy and everything, but I managed to do everything with the phone. Now my problem is after I put back the .db files in their place, when the phone start it constantly crashes android.process.acore, the messaging app and the caller app. I think it might be a permission issue, but I have no idea how to fix it.
N7Gabe said:
After I sent the message and before I read yours just now, I managed to mount, save and even make LOS run. So I was wrong, the battery is probably dead. I guess the lot of heat it produced while bootlooping killed the battery. I switched back to my old original wore out battery which is humpy and everything, but I managed to do everything with the phone. Now my problem is after I put back the .db files in their place, when the phone start it constantly crashes android.process.acore, the messaging app and the caller app. I think it might be a permission issue, but I have no idea how to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download ES file explorer from play store and grant root access for root explorer and set permissions to the 2 files as (rw- rw- ---) as described in screenshot, then reboot.
MigoMujahid said:
Download ES file explorer from play store and grant root access for root explorer and set permissions to the 2 files as (rw- rw- ---) as described in screenshot, then reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This method worked with the contacts db, but not with the messages db. Actually I did not find any databases when I first copied it there, even made the databases folder. Thanks though, I'm almost done!
N7Gabe said:
This method worked with the contacts db, but not with the messages db. Actually I did not find any databases when I first copied it there, even made the databases folder. Thanks though, I'm almost done!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, i seem to know the problem here, i looked at my own mmssms.db file and found it in this path:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
(not the same path for the contacts.db file)
So you should move it there and add the same permissions that you added to the other file, that will do the job for you
MigoMujahid said:
Ok, i seem to know the problem here, i looked at my own mmssms.db file and found it in this path:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
So you should move it there and add the same permissions that you added to the other file, that will do the job for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the path you told me the first time, and this is where it doesn't work. That databases folder was not even there, until I made it. I don't even have any other files in the folder but the mmssms.db that I copied there.
N7Gabe said:
This is the path you told me the first time, and this is where it doesn't work. That databases folder was not even there, until I made it. I don't even have any other files in the folder but the mmssms.db that I copied there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what is the problem...I've ran out of ideas here
At least you got your contacts back :silly:
MigoMujahid said:
I don't know what is the problem...I've ran out of ideas here
At least you got your contacts back :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, I got lucky, run a search in the data partition for mmssms.db and it appears that now it is located in /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases. I backed it up, then overwrote it, fixed the permission, rebooted and now it seems to work, so all is well.
In the end I managed to not only save my data, but to fix my phone and even upgrade it to the latest LineageOS, thanks to you! I wish you a good life!
N7Gabe said:
No problem, I got lucky, run a search in the data partition for mmssms.db and it appears that now it is located in /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases. I backed it up, then overwrote it, fixed the permission, rebooted and now it seems to work, so all is well.
In the end I managed to not only save my data, but to fix my phone and even upgrade it to the latest LineageOS, thanks to you! I wish you a good life!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip, i have a marshmallow ROM right now, it seems that the location was changed in Nogut, I'll keep that in mind.
Have a good life too.
Ok, so my wife has a BLU R1 Plus, rooted w/Magisk. She never gets around to telling me what goes on and what problems she's having, but today I had her phone and when I went to charge it, watched a browser window pop up...never a good sign. So I checked it out with MalwareBytes, and yes, kids, there's a trojan, the (in)famous Preinstall Data2, probably installed by BLU itself (although I've had her phone before and never noticed it). Ok, thinks I, this is simple. First freeze it, then rip it from the bowels of the /system directory by the roots (pun intended).
But I can't.
Tried using the paid version of Titanium Backup to freeze it. It reports frozen, but the app is still running and a reboot shows it not frozen. Used Titanium Backup's "open system details" (it doesn't appear in the list of installed apps in the Settings) and used Disable there, with the same results; everything thinks it's frozen until a reboot when it's not again.
So I tried using Root Explorer to make the /system mount R+W, and it couldn't - first time I've ever seen that, and I gotta tell you that concerns me. Next I booted into TWRP recovery and mounted /system there...in this case it WAS writable, which I verified by using TWRP's file manager to move a folder from /system/app to the sdcard partition, checking after a reboot to make sure it was there, then moved it back to /system/app again checking after a reboot to verify it returned. Tried remounting /system with a root terminal, but since there are so many different mount command changes now for the different phones, this one may have been my error.
So apparently I have two separate, and possibly unrelated, issues. Which leads to two questions:
1) Short-term: Since it's intentionally hiding, anyone know what the "Preinstall Data2.apk" is hiding as? (Or does anyone know how to find the location of an APK in the file system from Titanium Backup, either in the UI or inside the backup itself? I poked it pretty hard and can't find it.) If I know it's bogus name, in /system/app or /system/priv-app, I can use TWRP to get rid of the d*mned thing one and for all.
2) Long-term: WTF can I do to fix this thing not allowing me write access to /system ? That's just...wrong, isn't it?
Ok, handled the virus APK...as the folks from TitaniumBackup gently showed me, clicking on the "Current" line in the backup window will show the path to the APK...in this case it was in /data/app, so I didn't need the /system filesystem unlocked to kill the sucker.
Still, would love to know why I can't mount /system R+W...
Even if the app creates something in /data/app/, the real APK is /system/app/preinstallprovider-***_blu_***.apk. You might want to remove it through TWRP.