A lot of things are never explained. Its really easy to just flash a ROM but there is a lot more to the process that could help.
I have soo many questions its ridiculous.. Why not ask them all at once? Im not dumb, I would like to see someone find complete information on any of these things..
1. Nobody ever explained what we can do with Clockwork Recovery, I know that I can restore previous ROMS with it but what else? Could I easily just flash back to my original 2.1 out of the box modded phone ROM even though I am on 2.2 now?
2. When I flash these ROMS, should I be doing like a format of the internal SD card to make it all fresh and what not?
3. What about App2SD? Thought sounded way cool when I first heard about it. How can I get that working? Couldn't I just use that and never have to backup my apps between ROMS anymore? Maybe I don't get it but theres no info on it either.
4. What is Nandroid? Sounds cool.
5. What would be the best way to back everything up between flashes?
At the moment, I just use TB to back up my important apps and then restore them + data afterwards. And for contacts and stuff I just uses Google sync, easy enough. It seems pointless to back up though because the Titanium Backup folder still remains after flashing, why do things still remain? Is this a good thing?
6. What the heck is kernel swapping and more specifically, what does it do? I have a general idea what a kernel is but feel free to explain!
7. Anything else about the finesses of flashing would be awesome to read about. This is all that comes to mind but yeah, feel free to really lay on the details.
I don't really care how ridiculous this seems, its a forum. More specifically, the Q&A section. Any help would be awesome!
[Edit] Ha, go figure. No replies. Was worth a try.
Those are all very good questions.
I agree with you that so far there is not a good central repository of information to explain all this that I know of.
I recently flashed to Cognition 9.1 after reading bajillions of threads to try and piece together the proper procedure. You see people making suggestions left and right, but half the time they conflict with each other, and the other half are stated in terms that only someone that already knows how to do it would understand.
There are two wikis and a couple guides out there with good information, but they tend to be grander in scale. "How to make your Captivate take over the world" articles are great and useful. But it's very difficult to find information on the small specific bits contained in those guides.
To understand all those little bits requires lots of googling and taking notes. I can't tell you how many e-mails I've sent myself from work containing little snippets of "do this", "try this", "how to..." that I've slowly come across after scouring these forums for hours on end.
That's not to say I don't appreciate all the info given from the users here. I'm just saying it'll be nice when all that knowledge gets pooled into one central location like one of the wikis rather than scattered sentence by sentence amid thousands of pages of posts.
And the next response to me from some snarky person will undoubtedly be "Well if you want the wiki to have that info then do it yourself!". My response then would be, "I don't know that information which is why I'm saying it would be nice if..."
The next snarky response to expect would be "If you want to know stuff then search the forums you newb. That's how *I* did it!" And my response to that would be, "And wouldn't you have been incredibly overjoyed to have NOT spent hours of your free time trying to piece together knowledge out there? And why the heck didn't you then post a straight-forward guide of simple steps on how to do it. And why the heck aren't you being a good person and helping me out now rather than being snarky and telling me to figure it out myself??"
So here's my answers to your questions which won't be very good but maybe if enough of us clueless people discuss this kind of stuff we can start to hash out more specifics.
1. Clockwork Recovery? I really don't know. I've read so many cryptic discussions about Clockwork that I can't tell you what it does. I know it can be used in flashing ROMs, but in following the Cognition line it's easier to use the Odin One Click method.
The name of it however makes it seem like its purpose is to recover from something to something. I'd assume that means you can recover our phone to stock if we have problems, but I bet that assumption is wrong.
2. Flash internal SD when updating ROM? Funny story that... I found this thread because I was doing a search on that very thing. I have seen mentioned in a couple places people saying you should do it. However in most "How to flash a ROM" discussions I've read they don't have formatting the internal SD as part of the scenario. And nowhere (yet..) can I find instruction on how to do it properly. I'm assuming I shouldn't just hook it up in USB mode to my computer and having my computer run a format on it. So I won't.
I know that the Odin tool does a "Master Clear" which I assumed would wipe the internal SD. But when I look at my internal SD it still has all sorts of stuff on it from before still. So evidently to "Master Clear", which is suggested in many "How to flash a ROM" guides, doesn't format the internal SD but "clears" some other mystical information.
3. App2SD. Well when I look up App2SD at Appbrain the description says, "helps you to move apps to either external or internal storage thru' the system Settings." Ok... great... So if I have apps installed (which default to internal SD) then I should be able to run this to move those apps to my external SD.
What happens when I flash a new ROM though like you said? The apps are on my external SD, but can I instantly use the apps on the fresh ROM or do I have to use App2SD again to move them to internal SD or what?
4. Nandroid! It does sound cool doesn't it? In most "How to flash ROM" guides and just about every other guide people say "Make sure to make a Nandroid backup before proceeding". Ok, doing a search on Nandroid I find this in the G1 forums:
"* What is Nandroid Backup v2.0?
Nandroid Backup is a set of tools and a script that will enable anyone who has root on their G1 and has the engineering/dev spl bootloader [1] (or has a dev phone) + a recovery image with busybox and adbd running as root [2] to make full system backups. These can then be restored using the fastboot [3] commandline tool and your phone in SPL/bootloader mode (hold camera + power)."
Uh.. say what? Ok I get what its end result is. It backs up my system. But what's this engineering/dev spl bootloader? I remember from WinMo that a bootloader booted the phone into a state where you could load a ROM onto it. Doesn't seem to fit exactly in this context.
I don't think I have a dev phone and I know I don't have any sort of recovery image. Busybox I recognize because Titanium Backup makes you install it. Don't know what it is though. And "adbd" has to do with running the Android developer kit or terminal or something which allows you to interact directly with Android on your phone I think. I couldn't get it to work on my computer so haven't been able to play with it.
So yeah, when everyone one says "Make a Nandroid backup" like it's the most simple thing in the world that every newborn baby is born with instant knowledge of doing... I must be missing something...
5. Backup between flashes. Well, from all the discussions I've read it sounds like you're supposed to use Clockwork Recovery or Nandroid or maybe both. Possibly you're also supposed to hunt down an ostrich and ride it to your local gas station to pick up a pack of bubble gum and donate it to your local charity of choice in order to get it to work.
Titanium Backup appears to backup your Apps so you can then install them again (I wonder if using App2SD affects that?). You can also back up system stuff, but everyone says not to do that. I assume that means it backs up various system files that would just mess up your new ROM if you restored them.
6. Kernel swapping. I know in general computing terms a Kernel is the very core of an operating system. Since there's swapping going on I assume there are different versions of the Android kernel out there and each one must have something different about them or there wouldn't be any swapping going on. As to what those differences are I couldn't tell you. Personally I'm going to stick with premade bundles like Cognition. That way I don't have to worry about kernel swapping and sacrificing chickens since some awesome genius (like DesignGears) has already done all that. Minus the chicken sacrifice possibly.
7. Flashing finesse. Like I said I've recently flashed from stock to Cognition 9.1 and everything seems to work (except my battery seems to be draining faster, even though I flashed from 100% charge, and did "Master Clear". So next step will be clearing the battery stat file which is another thing I need to research and doing another full charging cycle to see if that helps).
I scoured the forums before doing the flash looking for the proper steps and I finally came upon a post from someone that actually listed each step very clearly on how to do it properly. Huzzah!
Here's what KewlRobD posted:
"- I was running 2.1.7 so I disabled voodoo lagfix
- I powered off my phone and waited for it to reach 100% battery
- I removed my SIM card
- I then used ODIN to flash back to JF6
- I then used ODIN to Master Clear
- I then used ODIN to flash Beta9
- I then used ODIN to Master Clear again.
- I then put my SIM back into my phone and began customizing"
How many hours did I spend reading thread after thread to slowly piece parts of this together into some confused possible instruction list?? Well here you go, KewlRobD was very awesome and actually listed very clearly the steps to take.
The disabling lagfix part he mentions didn't apply since I was on stock and never applied a lagfix. However this is something else I'll have to research if I decide to flash to a new ROM because all "How to..." guides tell you to disable lagfix. Because again, all newborns pop out of the womb with instant knowledge on the disabling of the lagfixes.
Now the only thing he didn't mention was formatting the internal SD, nor did he mention anything about recalibrating the battery, clearing the battery stats file, bump charging etc. (besides saying to charge to 100% first)
So I'm still searching for the formatting of the internal SD information, and I remember reading somewhere about clearing the battery. I think I actually e-mailed it to myself. Yep, here's what Demented71 says about clearing the battery:
"As far as the battery, I would:
Charge your phone while it's on to 100%
Turn it off and charge to 100%
Turn it on and let it fully boot and turn it off again, charging to 100%
Then, when you unplug it, put it into recovery mode first, use CWR (the green recovery) to 'wipe battery stats' in it's advanced menu.
Then use your phone completely until it won't turn on, trying not to connect it via USB or wall charger.
When charging it up after that for the first time, try and leave it off and charge it to 100%, but let it sit for a few hours past 100%, and then use it normally. It's best to do this when your sleeping if you don't need your phone during that time. Another option is to buy the 2x battery+charger from eBay. Works great to always have a full battery."
Again, very helpful post with nice clear instructions instead of "Ur battery sux? Then reset it... duh!" However, there's one spot in there where he says to use CWR. I can only assume that means Clockwork Recovery. KHAAAAAAAAAN!! So in the end I need to do more research to figure out what exactly CWR is and how it works. *sigh*
Clockwork Recovery is a very useful tool. With it you can do many system type things before the os proper (android) is loaded.
You can install "mods" which are modifications to the system, such as zmod, or replacing your battery icon. They are given to you in zip files that have the instructions in place as scripts and such that install the mod for you. No creeping around your internal file system wondering what goes where and I hope I get it right.
You can install roms the same way.
A nandroid back up is the backup (for us) that clockwork recovery provides. If you do a rom manager or clockwork backup, you just did a nandroid backup. It lets you rollback to a point of your chosing as long as you can root your phone and install rom manager.
rom manager downloads the clockwork recovery app to your phone. As long as it's the most recent version you can move the update.zip it puts on your phone to your computer, and then you can put it on your sdcard anytime you want. Once it's there, reboot into recovery, select reinstall packages, and you should be in the clockwork recovery program.
From there you can create or restore a backup, install a mod, or rom from sdcard and quite a few utiliy scripts like formating your sd, removing battery stats, and the like. Careful. Some of this will wipe your data and leave you without apps and such. Like new.
Titanium Backup is your friend. A nandroid backup is a fallback spot, or a relatively easy way to switch back and forth between roms, sort of. If you flash a new rom you don't want to do that. Titanium Backup allows you to backup all your apps and thier data. If you pay for it, and you'll want to, it allows you to do it all as a batch operation, instead of one app at a time.
While it's beyond my time constraint's AND expertise level to answer all your questions, I hope these helped some?
Edit: Before messing with this it's a good idea to be sure you can do the button combinations to get into recovery and/or download modes. DesignGears has a thread in development that explains this and offers a fix if you can't do it. Will help keep/get you out of reboot loops if something goes fubar.
Recovery: From power off, hold both volume buttons down and push power. Hold all three until you see the at&t white screen. Hold for a second or so then release the power button while still holding the volumes. You should boot into recover there. Blue text with some choices. Move with volume up and down, choose with power.
Download: From power off, hold both volume buttons and plug in your usb cable. You should get a big yellow graphic with "Don't turn target off." That's download mode. (If you are planning to use odin or odin one click then have that program running on your computer when you do this.
(Just in case ya didn't know. Don't mean to talk down to anyone.)
Awesome response, Sulphur4724. Thank you very much.
I had no clue Clockwork Recovery was capable of doing so much stuff. I'll definitely have to check it out now.
And that answers our question on how to format the internal SD. Now we just need to find out under what circumstances it's a good idea to do so.
Along the same lines I've also heard people mentioning repartitioning the SD. I'm assuming that's only to do with the various lag fixes out there?
And thanks for clearing up the Nandroid inquiry. I always thought when people said "Make a Nandroid backup..." that they were referring to a program called Nandroid. No wonder I couldn't find an app called that!
So to simplify a little:
1. What can I do with Clockword Recovery (CWR)?
CWR backs up your ROM to an update.zip file that you can store elsewhere in case you want to restore your ROM to saved state. It also allows you to install modifications to Android such as a new battery icon. And finally, it allows you to run system utilities such as formatting the SDCard, or clearing the battery stats. CWR also works in conjunction with an App called "Rom Manager" to perform some operations.
2. Should I format the internal SD when installing new ROMs?
Not sure yet. But in order to actually DO the formatting you would use Clockwork Recovery.
3. What is App2SD and how do I use it?
Not sure yet. The description sounds simple. Move apps to the external SD card. But earching the interwebs for information is giving descriptions involving repartitioning the system into 2 partitions, flashing things, running adb commands, etc. Maybe all that information is old and it's now a simple process? We need more info.
4. What is Nandroid and how do I do it?
Nandroid is basically backing up your ROM so you can use it to restore later. To do this you use Clockwork Recovery. See question 1.
5. What's the best way to back up everything between flashing ROMs?
Using Rom Manager and Clockwork Recovery you can make a backup (Nandroid) of your current ROM. See questions 1 and 4.
In order to back up applications you will want to use an app called Titanium Backup (often referred to as TiBu). With TiBu you can make backup copies of any apps you want. Along with that you can tell it to back up any data for those apps (which would be game saves, app settings, etc.). You can also back up system files and data, but this can often lead to ROM issues if you replace a new ROMs files with old backup files so do your research and be careful.
-----
Besides the formatting internal SD and App2SD questions, does that all sound right so far?
Does anyone know if all this is universal Android stuff, or if it only pertains to the Captivate?
By the way, thanks for asking these questions, Shival!
And that answers our question on how to format the internal SD. Now we just need to find out under what circumstances it's a good idea to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also format the SD card by settings/sdcard and phone storage.
Along the same lines I've also heard people mentioning repartitioning the SD. I'm assuming that's only to do with the various lag fixes out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lagfixes will take care of themselves. I'm not real sure how this works, tho I always do it and it ain't hosed me yet. From my days as a computer geek I seem to remember that when you make a partition you should make the blocks, where stuff actually gets written, as small as possible. When a file is written to a file system it is written to these blocks. On the last one it uses, if it doesn't fill it up that space is wasted. So smaller blocks = smaller waste = more free space. Not really expert about this (hell, about any of this) so someone else may be able to clarify better, but it's workin' for me so far.
And thanks for clearing up the Nandroid inquiry. I always thought when people said "Make a Nandroid backup..." that they were referring to a program called Nandroid. No wonder I couldn't find an app called that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I spent a while lookin' for it too.
CWR backs up your ROM to an update.zip file that you can store elsewhere in case you want to restore your ROM to saved state
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An update.zip is a stored mod or rom before it's applied to your phone. Made by the developer with install scripts and such to automate the process. The actual backups you can find and inspect under clockworkmod/backup on your sdcard once you've run a backup. They are saved as img files that can be written back to your phone if you have an issue you can't recover from using cwm. But they are NOT the update.zip files. Those are the android format for installing stuff from recovery.
2. Should I format the internal SD when installing new ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The jury is out on this. Some guys swear by it, some guys say "nah." What it will do is wipe all YOUR data and stuff off the phone, leaving it with just the OS ROM as created by the dev. cwm can do it, or you can do it from settings/sdcard and phone storage.
3. What is App2SD and how do I use it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most phones have a finite amount of storage that the system can use. Most of them have a relatively small amount actually. As cappy owners we have a whopping 2 gb of that storage. But the other guys usually have considerably less. Applications get written to that space and it quickly runs out on other platforms. so app2sd moves apps to the external sd. Or the internal for us, since our total storage is 20 gb. (i think.) The unreserved space is formatted by the phone to look like an external SD card to the phone. anyway, it's not as big an issue for us as 2gb is a LOT of space that will take a while to fill up.
You can also back up system files and data, but this can often lead to ROM issues if you replace a new ROMs files with old backup files so do your research and be careful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For backups this is fine. If you flash a new rom do NOT restore system settings from an older backup. It will restore stuff that may not work with what your flashing and will gum it all up but good. FC hell. You are pretty safe restoring apps+data as that just restores the apps data itself and doesn't overwrite any system files.
-----
Does anyone know if all this is universal Android stuff, or if it only pertains to the Captivate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dunno! This is my first android phone!
Sulphur4724 said:
You can also format the SD card by settings/sdcard and phone storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah cool, thanks!
From my days as a computer geek I seem to remember that when you make a partition you should make the blocks, where stuff actually gets written, as small as possible. When a file is written to a file system it is written to these blocks. On the last one it uses, if it doesn't fill it up that space is wasted. So smaller blocks = smaller waste = more free space. Not really expert about this (hell, about any of this) so someone else may be able to clarify better, but it's workin' for me so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah if I remember correctly small blocks mean less space wasted, but it also means more I/O which slows performance. And bigger blocks mean more potentially wasted space but faster performance since there is less I/O going on because you're writing bigger amounts of data at once rather than a bunch of tiny writes. In today's computers where space is cheap you want to make bigger blocks to enhance performance. Not sure what's suggested for NAND. And my memory could be faulty on all that, but that's what I remember from back in the day of tiny hard-drives.
An update.zip is a stored mod or rom before it's applied to your phone. Made by the developer with install scripts and such to automate the process. The actual backups you can find and inspect under clockworkmod/backup on your sdcard once you've run a backup. They are saved as img files that can be written back to your phone if you have an issue you can't recover from using cwm. But they are NOT the update.zip files. Those are the android format for installing stuff from recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh, ok. So update.zip is literally the file Android uses to make updates with whether it's a mod or ROM. The backed up ROM then will be a .img file?
Yeah if I remember correctly small blocks mean less space wasted, but it also means more I/O which slows performance. And bigger blocks mean more potentially wasted space but faster performance since there is less I/O going on because you're writing bigger amounts of data at once rather than a bunch of tiny writes. In today's computers where space is cheap you want to make bigger blocks to enhance performance. Not sure what's suggested for NAND. And my memory could be faulty on all that, but that's what I remember from back in the day of tiny hard-drives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never thought of it like that, touche'. Now I gotta try changing sizes.
Ahhh, ok. So update.zip is literally the file Android uses to make updates with whether it's a mod or ROM. The backed up ROM then will be a .img file?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Roger that. Now ya got it.
WOW!
This thread RULES! Sulphur4724 and sschrupp, many thanks, I learned a lot. If I have the time this weekend I'll try to edit this information into a backup / memory FAQ, if you think that would be useful.
sschrupp check out this guide if you haven't seen it before, it's pretty idiot proof; I had no trouble and I am an android n00b.
edit: nevermind the forum isn't letting me post links because I'm new here. It's a great guide though, so if you want, go to the website android police, and under the guides tab, read the guide called "complete guide how to fully back up and restore your android phone using nandroid backup and clockworkmod rom manager"
Glad I could help. I'd let this stand a few days and see if there are any corrections. I'm going by what I know which may or may not be 100% correct. I came to this phone from a Blackberry. Everything I'm trying to pass on I learned from reading the cognition thread and branching from there. Yes. All of it! Even before the 4k post cleansing it got a while back.
But see I can't code, and I wanna participate. So I'm doing what I can to be part of this community and if it takes some weight off the guys that DO code... well that's full of win.
/shrug
Sulphur4724 said:
But see I can't code, and I wanna participate. So I'm doing what I can to be part of this community and if it takes some weight off the guys that DO code... well that's full of win.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's how I see it too. Also I almost always buy the pay version of apps that really help me that independent devs here on XDA write.
Why does ROM manager run after startup? Is it okay if I disable this through autostarts? I don't run pre-scheduled backups so I can't think of any reason for it to be running in the background all of the time.
This thread is epic!
So worth it =]
I really hate that the phones storage is called internal SD, I get soo confused reading thing that say "do something to the SD" I am like, WHICH ONE!? and then I explode.
I tried to install a lagfix on a Cognition ROM once, it failed. Did it right after flashing, created the file system then I tried to do the lagfix and it failed. I never tried again. Don't know if its worth it anyways.
Battery has been a super drain! It is incredibly hard for me, a light user who is mildly OC, to let the battery get below 80% and yet, within ten minutes off the charger it starts going down lol. I keep it clean and everything, nothing is running and I always disable background data. I probably do need to redo the battery bin file. Wish I had time, either at work or I am in class.
Phone runs fine I think so I guess I'll just forget formating the internal SD. Maybe I'll try it someday though. I'd imagine the device would clog up eventually.
I just wish I was smart enough to make use of some of the more advanced facets of Android.
I guess there are just too many devices and technology moves so fast that its almost impossible to make a guide. Searching for the info is sort of fun and I do try.
I love it when you are searching for something specific but you learn so much more along the way and I, usually forget what I was searching for in the first place.
This CyanogenMod thing sounds cool. I want it, when its finished, I know barely anything about it though.
I cannot keep up at all with the Cognition releases. I barely know what the changelogs are even talking about when I do lol.
Do our phones work more efficiently with a linux distribution? I just use my Windows Vista partition mainly but I have Ubuntu. Screw windows 7, I am sticking with Vista lol. I'd imagine it would be super hard to find the same tools we use to mod our phones via windows, for Linux.
Komodo Rogue said:
Why does ROM manager run after startup? Is it okay if I disable this through autostarts? I don't run pre-scheduled backups so I can't think of any reason for it to be running in the background all of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be careful in your thinking. Just because an app is loaded in memory does not mean it is actually doing anything. This is not windows with hundreds of processes going on. Android actually prefers to have things in memory to make accessing them faster and consuming LESS battery power as a result of not having to load them every time you want to access them. Each activity is assigned a number corresponding to its priority which determines what gets kicked out when you want to load something that is not already present and more memory is needed than what is available.
You can see this in action by utilizing a system monitor that tracks cpu activity for each process. Most apps that are in memory use ZERO cpu time unless/until you open them. For the ones that do, such as an email app, they will only use cpu time when retrieving messages which takes little energy. If you endlessly kill these with a task manager, you willuse MORE battery as a result of these having to be reloaded by the os instead of accessing them from ram, not to mention the battery drain caused by the task killer constantly polling to see what is in memory.
Sent telepathically using vulcan mind meld app.
newter55 said:
Be careful in your thinking. Just because an app is loaded in memory does not mean it is actually doing anything. This is not windows with hundreds of processes going on. Android actually prefers to have things in memory to make accessing them faster and consuming LESS battery power as a result of not having to load them every time you want to access them. Each activity is assigned a number corresponding to its priority which determines what gets kicked out when you want to load something that is not already present and more memory is needed than what is available.
You can see this in action by utilizing a system monitor that tracks cpu activity for each process. Most apps that are in memory use ZERO cpu time unless/until you open them. For the ones that do, such as an email app, they will only use cpu time when retrieving messages which takes little energy. If you endlessly kill these with a task manager, you willuse MORE battery as a result of these having to be reloaded by the os instead of accessing them from ram, not to mention the battery drain caused by the task killer constantly polling to see what is in memory.
Sent telepathically using vulcan mind meld app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response, that's helpful information to know. I don't use a task killer but I DO have quite a bit of apps disabled at boot through the app "autostarts" that I am going to turn back on now. Quickoffice comes to mind as an example; I use that maybe two or three times a week so I didn't see why I should have it "running" all of the time, but now I'm going to re-enable it.
Nevertheless, the only time I see myself using ROM Manager is before a system flash... and sadly if you read the thread I wrote about flashing to a new ROM, it turns out I may NEVER be flashing a new ROM. So in THIS case, shouldn't I just disable it from startup?
I tried to install a lagfix on a Cognition ROM once, it failed. Did it right after flashing, created the file system then I tried to do the lagfix and it failed. I never tried again. Don't know if its worth it anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer to this is... sometimes. The phone can get pretty laggy if there are a lot of os writes and reads. A lagfix helps out with this. It depends on your patience and how fast/cool you want to be. (I do it just for the geek factor! RAWR!)
Battery has been a super drain! It is incredibly hard for me, a light user who is mildly OC, to let the battery get below 80% and yet, within ten minutes off the charger it starts going down lol. I keep it clean and everything, nothing is running and I always disable background data. I probably do need to redo the battery bin file. Wish I had time, either at work or I am in class.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried every thing I could find/read/think of and my battery life still sux. Why? It's not a phone, it's an ENTERTAINMENT CENTER! Seriously, the Amoled screen on this puppy is pretty as hell but it's also hell on a battery. When it's open, it's eating energy as fast as it can put it away. My philosophy after hours and hours of trying to figure this out is this: Enjoy the phone and keep a charger handy. Try this tho, next time you flash something rom wise pull your sim card. DG says that when the modem.bin file flashes with it in it can cause it to keep the modem open all the time causing massive battery drain. I tried this last flash and it does seem to make a difference. /shrug
Phone runs fine I think so I guess I'll just forget formating the internal SD. Maybe I'll try it someday though. I'd imagine the device would clog up eventually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done a master clear or format in several flashes and I've had no ill effects. I can imagine a point down the road where issues may ensue, but not recently.
I just wish I was smart enough to make use of some of the more advanced facets of Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't we all!
I guess there are just too many devices and technology moves so fast that its almost impossible to make a guide. Searching for the info is sort of fun and I do try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some guys trying, they just aren't advertising well!
This CyanogenMod thing sounds cool. I want it, when its finished, I know barely anything about it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CDE is about as close to CyanogenMod as we have right now. Want a sneak peak? There's your huckleberry.
Do our phones work more efficiently with a linux distribution? I just use my Windows Vista partition mainly but I have Ubuntu. Screw windows 7, I am sticking with Vista lol. I'd imagine it would be super hard to find the same tools we use to mod our phones via windows, for Linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are coding or plan on coding i'd say yes. If not? nah. winders works just fine. Or as fine as it ever works.
Related
I might be a senior, but we're all still learning
So my question is, when you wipe/reflash something, is there a way to keep all the Protected/Paid apps installed when you start up? Normally, a wipe will break all of your protected/paid apps and list them in the launcher as "com.XXXX.XXXX" or even "org.XXX.XXX". Launching them results in the infamous Force Close box.
This is indeed on Apps2SD and with Cyan's new 3.9
Have you tried running the fix_permissions script?
I'll reboot and run it now
Didn't fix them, unfortunatly :/
lukekirstein said:
Didn't fix them, unfortunatly :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back up all your apps using MyBackupPro or Backup for Root Users. I have all mine on my sd so they re-install automatically. I don't have to do anything, and they don't load up as com.xxxxx.htc.. blah. But I use Backup for Root Users when I do have to format my ext2 and this brings them back no problem.
Hmm interesting. I've never used Backup for Root Users with apps, just the data. Takes too long for me with all my apps...but I managed to find the spare time to re-install, that was fun . Thanks guys!
my advice to anyone on here who is going to play with anything on their phone:
before you do it, make sure you have enough time allotted to fix EVERYTHING, as if you were starting from scratch. that way, before you begin, you can have the peace of mind to know that if anything goes wrong, you've got all the time you need to fix it.
murphy's law: whenever you think you're in for a quick fix, theres a long road ahead of you.
kusotare said:
my advice to anyone on here who is going to play with anything on their phone:
before you do it, make sure you have enough time allotted to fix EVERYTHING, as if you were starting from scratch. that way, before you begin, you can have the peace of mind to know that if anything goes wrong, you've got all the time you need to fix it.
murphy's law: whenever you think you're in for a quick fix, theres a long road ahead of you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't hurt to have a backup unlocked GSM phone too. That's one of the nice things about GSM-based technologies... if your phone dies for whatever reason, pop the sim out and put it in a backup phone. You'll still be able to be contacted while you fix the primary device.
I had this issue too with the same Rom and with the previous version. This is how I solved it.
First I deleted all apps, etc from my SD card while it was connected to my Mac, just made it easier. (I was also running a previous Apps2Sd, not the one built into the mod, which I believe was the root of the issue. I didn't use the old apps2sd once I upgraded the ROM, and I may be way off but I find it suspect.
Then I wiped and reinstalled the ROM. Yea I had to reinstall my apps but...
...before doing all that I had tried removing and then reinstalling an app. A reboot/power cycle of the G1 would result in the icon being gone again and that ugly error message in regards to the app.
When I did the step I mentioned prevously, delete, wipe, etc I've not had any further issues.
I've also since updated by fs from ext2 to ext3 but that was after the fact.
Cyan's mod is by far my favorite and consistently stable and well documented. I'm glad I was able to correct my issues.
kusotare said:
my advice to anyone on here who is going to play with anything on their phone:
before you do it, make sure you have enough time allotted to fix EVERYTHING, as if you were starting from scratch. that way, before you begin, you can have the peace of mind to know that if anything goes wrong, you've got all the time you need to fix it.
murphy's law: whenever you think you're in for a quick fix, theres a long road ahead of you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to agree completely with the above. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.
lukekirstein said:
I might be a senior, but we're all still learning
So my question is, when you wipe/reflash something, is there a way to keep all the Protected/Paid apps installed when you start up? Normally, a wipe will break all of your protected/paid apps and list them in the launcher as "com.XXXX.XXXX" or even "org.XXX.XXX". Launching them results in the infamous Force Close box.
This is indeed on Apps2SD and with Cyan's new 3.9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you manage to find a solution to this problem? If you did, could you please post it. I flash different ROMs often. Having to reinstall my paid apps over and over again is starting to get very annoying.
Haven't tried yet. I might try the MyBackup Pro option, as I heard it's a great app anyways. But I know what you mean
I'm sorry, I tried.
I have been looking all day. Timed search functions are not working in my favor, and again i mean ALL day. I have looked, but I don't believe the information i've found applies to my scenario.
Girlfriends phone is running cyan 4.2.5
I wanna change roms, but not lose the data with the apps.
I've gotten backing up and restoring/reinstall apps with DroidExplorer down to a science, but for some reason I can't find the right way to transfer the data with it.
I read somewhere to just do a nandroid backup, and pull the data file from that nandroid and to put it in a new one(after flashing new rom and creating a nandroid), etc that whole thing. It didnt work for me, and that was me trying it on my phone with the same rom for before and after.
Again for her's, its going to be cyan 4.2.5 going to superd 1.9 -- should I also be expecting some things not to work just because the way it links into other files?
any insight? please anyone? i would send my Chrome history to prove I've been searching ALL DAY.
thank you!
---
ah hell. while looking into her phone, i realized/remembered i didnt finish the job the very first time i upgraded her phone and just kept up-flashing the cyan builds
her phone has a 2gig, probably class 2 card, so i never set up a partition on it, and there is no apps2sd going on there, that i know of at least [does it do it automatically without a separate partition?]
and to top that, it wont let me do an nandroid backup - was in CF 1.4, i flashed Amon152 on it and it still wont let me
perform a nandroid backup, just gives me the run from console error. im down for reading, i do that, but pages, on pages.
again if anyone can spare a lil bit of time, and just simply help for a minute, not only will i appreciate it, ill donate. moneys money.
i work in computers, i know troubleshooting **** isn't simple, or cheap. I code other stuff, and cant get enough time to learn ALL of this.
just trying to pull apps + data off of her G1 as easily as possible..
Hello everyone,
I have recently upgraded from Windows mobile (tilt2) to Samsung Captivate (att)
I am pretty upset that they are taking forever to release the update and I would like to install a custom rom with Froyo, and without the bloatware!
So my questions are: (ive tried to do a ton of research so far so but am confused with this cant get definite answers)
I know it comes down to preference, but I would like to know which Rom is the most stable, best battery life, and good performance out of all the roms. I was considering the Firefly or the andromeda, or cognition...but maybe a better option? Which would be best for me, im not big into themes, just want best reliability, battery life is a huge thing for me as well. So which is best for me?
Also, I am confused with all these modem versions, my 3g currently is slow as ish on my 2.1 stock rom download speed is sad in my area and i get atlest 3-4 bars.
I rarely break 200kbps. meanwhile i see ppl getting 1mbps speed with their iphone sitting right next to me!!! So speed is important for me too. (internet and OS)
My last concern is will it be possible to do a complete backup of my current stock rom just incase i need to revert for warranty purposes?
I read the guide to upgrade the roms, watched the videos, nd plan to do it again b4 i attempt then follow directions very very carefully as i do it....
I was ok with flashing WinMo roms...but android is very different and it seems alot more confusing to me (maybe because i am new to it)
Im scared to brick my beautiful new phone...i love it so much.
but i feel i am held back with 2.1...no flash, crappy gps, and the custom roms im seeing are amazing looking!!!
So please help me with answers to my couple questions...
basically best rom for reliablilty, battery life, performance with best modem too.
Least amount of bugs, and theme isnt too big for me. the other things much more important!
And if im able to revert to stock no problem for warranty (if necessary)
so far my phone is AWESOME! but 2.2 is way better with flash and better gps.
Sorry for long post...THANKS SO MUCH IN ADVANCE FOR ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS!!! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!
(u guys have dozens of versions of Froyo for captivate, and ATT cant even put out one! go figure!)
Well stock is in my 4shared...link in my sig. As for ROMs it always varies. Flash any you want. Only thing you need to check is if your 3 button recovery works. If it does your golden and flash away.
Sorry i am on my phone and its after 2am..... so no links
If you have really researched you would know there is no definitive answer to your question. Each rom has the chance to react differently between phones. Asking which rom is the best depends on YOUR phone and the combination of kernel/modem vary as well. Read up on how to properly installation rom. Read how to recover your phone from a bootloop/semi brick state. Readhow to use odin to flash to stock if you get that soft brick. Also learn how to make a jig if all else fails. Once all that is in placestart flashing roms to see which one is best for your phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
i knew i was gonna get that answer lol....
I have read the guide...i plan on reading again and again...
its not easy stuff for a noob...
and i am very computer literate.
But anyway...I have a Captivate, and i was watching rom reviews i remember josh saying that the firefly was good for day to day use.and that is what i would like.
I was just hoping for ur guys opinions. what worked best for u.
I saw alot of ppl were sayin the andromeda was saying it was a favorite among alot of people, great battery life too...
so i hope i can get some good answers from everyone...i would like to flash once with a great rom, and just chill wit it...
I did do research. alot of research. but i guess u must have learned everything over a period of months...but for me im tryin to cram everything i learned so far in 2-3 days.
i wanna flash but i dont want to mess anything up.
seems like it is not likely to hard brick the phone....and usually it can be recovered no problem...
i will continue my research, i was just hoping to get answers from much more experienced people than me...
I have a ATT Samsung Captivate (us version)
Which would the best rom for me to start with. (battery life, performance, and reliability/least bugs) are 3 most important things to me.
Themes are not as important to me.
Im goin to lay down. hopefully get some good answers when i wake up!
Keep in mind guys, IM BRAND NEW HERE. I APPRECIATE EVERYONES BRILLIANT MINDS!
and i appreciate ur hospitality in advance!
thanks guys!
It takes more than a couple days of reading to get a understanding on how all of this works on the Captivate.There really isn't any crash course to take to accomplish what you want.Time is your friend..not your enemy on this..The more time you take..the more information you have before you.
Each phone (this includes yours) reacts differently to all the various themes..kernels..modems..and roms. Each person that does this..needs to find the best combination that will give them what they are hoping to achieve...ie: looks..speed..stability..battery life..download speed..gps..ect...
What you have to do..is find a rom you are interested in..read the thread from start to current..and then decide if what is being said about it will match your wants & needs.Then find out what modem works best on your phone ... in your area... to give you the best signal reception.. download speeds..voice clarity..and battery life. Same for the kernels..which one will work properly with the modem..that gives you good stable performance without changing your download speed..Both must work in conjunction with each other.
Everyone has favorites..on each item..and just because a certain combination works superbly for my phone..doesn't mean it will work for you..The beauty of Android..is you have the chance to change each part to make your phone perform as you want it..You have a multitude of choices...so..where to begin...
For a starting point..here is what I would do..Ensure your phone has the 3 button recovery..If it does..download the correct Odin..If it doesn't..download the Odin with the 3 button recovery fix in it..Download and install the correct drivers for your phone..Read the entire Odin threads for each..from start to finish..and memorize the proper sequence of how to properly flash back to stock..Download the update.zip file to your PC..as well as the 1 click root program..this way you have both...the update.zip file gives you root very easily..and having that file will save you a lot of time..and the 1 click root/un-root if you need to return to 100% stock for some reason..It's a real good idea to learn how to do all of this before you flash any custom rom..Then you can start prepairing to change your phone..flying blind on doing this can lead to messing up your phone..so..be prepared to invest a lot of time reading everything you can first..
Make several folders on your pc/mac that will contain different roms...theme...kernels...modems..gps tweaks...wi-fi fixes..then start filling those folders up..
Then you can learn how to flash themes..roms..kernels..and modems..and you do that by reading and studying how to on each of those threads..There is a ton of information to go over...
Now you have a idea of why folks won't just say what you should do...There is so many different combinations to choose from..and for a n00b it is overwhelming..but you have to start by having an idea of what you want..what you want it to look like..and how you want it to perform..and then assemble the various items..and then assemble it yourself..Many of the Custom roms..have attempted to do this for you..and many prefer having someone do it for them..than attempt to learn how to do it for themselves....Some are full featured roms..others are stripped down version..that you have to download what you need for it..In the end..many of us have take a little from each..and mix and match to get our phones where we want them to be..because of what I underlined above..There is a lot more to learn..but..in time..you will..cause we all do learn new stuff about them everyday we work with them..The more you learn..the more you can change..
Hope this helps
Mac
All of the ROMs are different even though they are kinda the same (I don't know if that makes sense), but I would do as smoke said, verify your 3 button recovery works and find one of the many roms out there that sounds like it appeals to you. I started out using Cognition until one Saturday I woke up and looked through the forums and I found another rom that looked good. I didn't know how it ran or anything, I just liked the look of it. That weekend I flashed 4 different ROMs until I found the one that I liked best. Since then I stuck with the same 2-3 devs. It took me a while to get comfortable flashing but after a while you'll find yourself flashing in the middle of afternoon traffic.
Many of the people are helpful here and are more than happy to help. Just keep in mind that what works for me, may not work for you and vice versa. A lot of the threads have 100s if not 1000s of posts and that can be pretty intimidating but honestly I just catch up on the last few pages and I'm kinda tracking. Also many of the devs have IRC rooms to chat for any questions.
Check this thread out here and this one here for some additional help.
Happy Flashing!!
This is a basic tutorial I wrote up a few months ago for the basic flashing back to stock. It has the link for Odin 1 Click, and for Windows drivers, which you'll need:
Flash to Stock JF6:
1. Download Odin One Click from: http://www.mediafire.com/?0w2y31maz8mdom4
2. Download your Windows Drivers from:
Windows 64bit: http://www.mediafire.com/?3dh4d6up72me9re
Windows 32bit: http://www.mediafire.com/?0b45zo7o75rc5d5
3. Make sure your USB cable is connected directly to the back of your computer, not a USB hub or to a front connection and all of your drivers have been properly installed
4. Do not connect your USB cable yet.
5. On your phone, go to ; Settings/Applications/Development/and check “USB Debugging”
6. Turn your phone off
7. Remove your SIM card and Micro SD if you have one
8. Open Odin One Click
9. On your phone, press and hold the Volume up and the Volume down buttons. Do not touch the power button
10. While holding them, insert your USB cable, wait for a couple of seconds and a yellow triangle with the Android figure will show up
11. You’ll see in Odin, that your phone has been discovered
12. Press “Start”
13. Do Not mess with your phone at all
14. When it is done, your phone will reboot and Odin will display “Removed”
15. Unplug your USB cable from your phone
16. If you are proceeding to Master clear, you must close Odin BEFORE Master Clear
Master Clear:
1. Ensure you have backed up all of your information onto your Micro SD or your desktop BEFORE doing this. IT WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON YOUR INTERNAL SD!!
2. Make sure to remove your SIM and Micro SD if you have one
3. With your USB cable disconnected from your phone, open Odin One Click
4. On your phone, go to ; Settings/Applications/Development/and check “USB Debugging”
5. Connect your USB cable to your phone
6. You’ll in Odin, that your phone has been discovered
7. Click “Master Clear”
8. When the Master Clear has completed, your phone will reboot
9. You’ll need to re-enable USB Debugging again
Remember to take what you read with a grain of salt; like it's been said before, your device can act very differently than someone else's in the thread you are reading. So your milage may vary. Also remember not to be turned off by the negatives you read in a thread, some people just like to nitpick and complain. For ME, I find that if you take the theme, and set it aside, that what you're looking for is a ROM that works for your device. At the core they are pretty much the same, and any thing you don't really like as far as the theming is concerned, can be changed. So what I think you need to find is a ROM/Kernel/Modem combo that gives you good marks on the basics; call quality, WiFi, BT, signal, if the signal/call quality isnt quite right, take a look at a new modem, if there is a little hickup in the functionality, try a different kernel.
My own piece of advise, stay away from the kernels that are OC'd until you are well versed in the flashing and so on. They can cause some problems, and I personally find aren't needed.
I'm partial(as you can see by my signature) to the Phoenix ROM. It's 2.2.1 i9000 based, where as Adams other ROM Firefly, is Rogers 2.2. Over and above all things, they are great threads, and most everyone is really, really helpful
Good luck and happy flashing
thanks so much for the reply. i def read ur tutorial before!
i actualy was wondering if that would set back to stock rom, woul that be stock so i can send back the phone if i need to for warranty purposes?
thanks for all the replies!!
i did alot of research, i think im going with the cognition rom....
seems to be the best for what i want for...
just straight up reliability, performance an battery life. but reliability above all.
maybe if that isnt good for my phone, then i will try firefly.
i already got all the ddriverrs, software, etc...
im just nervous to go thru with it because im scared of breakin my beautiful phone!! (i was also scared bout doin custom roms to my winmo phones in the past, but once i get past the fear and actually do it, i usually find it to be a simple process...)
please excuse my errors, my keyboard on my laptop is retarded...
Thanks again guys!
If anyone has any tips for a first timer, please feel free to let me know!!
Thanks!
Ok, I have been a little confused with this, and pretty much this is my major concern before i go ahead and flash...
Pretty much my worry is backing up the nvdata information...
I feel this is by far the most important step. And if it is at all possible i would like to extract this data somehow and store it on my computer hard drive, on a cd, and thumb drive (to be redundant- just incase i ever need it again).
once i figure out how to be safe with that vital data, i plan on goin ahead and flashin!
I was readin up on the phoenix rom too...
looking at all these roms makes me feel like im at a restaurant and i cant choose!
nv data is only important if you use kies.
Dl either
Root explorer
Super manager
Android mate
Find efs folder on your phone, copy and paste on your sd
Mount phone move to pc
I don't think you can go wrong with any of the popular custom roms. Virtually all of them are better choices than stock. Your choice for Cognition is a good one. I have enjoyed it in the past. I'm currently running Perception 10.3 from the same developer (DesignGears). His work seems consistently high...but many others do great work, too.
Titanium Backup (market) is a good application for backing up key apps + data. Also, it can sync with a dropbox account if you have one. Once you install your new rom, you can then use Titanium backup to restore missing apps and data. (just don't restore system data to avoid messing up a new rom). It might be a good thing to practice with Titanium prior to flashing a new rom just to make sure you can delete and restore a critical application and its data.
ok so i rooted my phone, i backed up everything with titanium as per the guide.
so if i just use the clockwork recovery to install cognition rom then it will carry over the imei number and EVERYTHING else?
I ccant figure out how to save this data the efs folder or w/e...its really too complicated.
it seems like im just about half way done. since i have stock rom already, i dont need to use the odin to restore.
So clock work to install and restore with titantium.
So if i just install cognition as per instructions on the sticky thread, then i wont have ANY problems as far as my phones 'identity' (droid id, imei, etc..)?
Im guessin cwm will restore this autommatically, or it will just carry over?
i have a feeling that today i will finally have 2.2!
i just need to clear this one last concern up!
THANKS EVERYONE!
I am lazy so I did not read all the post.
Did you use android id changer to save your current id?
I have never backed up my efs file.
Only restore user apps with titanium
no i didnt do that. lol
this is why im sooo nervous about flashing this rom...
cuz i read the instructions on the sticky forum and it seems straight forward...
then i start reading posts about how u need to back up nvdata, efs folders, now im hearing about android id changer....
im glad i didnt flash it yet, cuz i might have avoided a mistake!
Pretty much i just rooted my phone, backed up apps and data like said in the instructions on the sticky topic. I downloaded cognition rom...
and i am hesitant to proceed...
i dont want to make a serious mistake!!!
is this android id changer a nessisity?
i been reading all over the boards and it is confusing the hell out of me!!!
Deep breath
You are flashing a rom not recreating the wheel.
Android id changer is soo easy to use that it makes no sense not to back up your id. App is free, open it, save id, done.
How about you're contacts, have you backed them up? If you have an external sd, go to contacts, menu, export/import, save to sd
it is not hard, it just takes some reading and getting used to. In a month you will be flashing with your eyes closed.
If you want help along the way drop me a pm
Hey mcord, since you're being so helpful, can you tell me why we should backup the android id? What is it used for?
xdahgary said:
Hey mcord, since you're being so helpful, can you tell me why we should backup the android id? What is it used for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android id is a unique identifier for your phone. When you flash a custom rom it gets changed. It can cause some issues with downloading from the market, and some games identify your device using that id.
I have flashed and not restored my id without issues before, but it is real easy and is a way of troubleshooting before a problem happens
Thanks, now I know why the Chase app says your phone is not registered after flashing a new rom. lol.
xdahgary said:
Thanks, now I know why the Chase app says your phone is not registered after flashing a new rom. lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can grab it if you go back to stock or if you have a nandroid of stock there is a way to get it
thanks mcord....so i dont need to worry about anything else then?
i backed up wit titaanium...all contacts are saved on my gmail...
i am goin to back up the id then ill proceeed with the flashing..
my main concern was the imei and stuff like that...but it doesnt seem like it will b an issue...
thanks buddy!
Holler y'all, I'm hoping you might be able to lend me a hand with these here droid troubles, you see I was fiddling with my Streak and I seem to have broken something kinda important. My droid now tells me my internal storage has a total space of 0.00B on which 2.15GB of applications are installed, contradiction I know. What's kinda weirdypants is that I seem to be able to install new apps fine, but when I try to use the camera I get the "Please insert an SD card before using the camera" nonsense. I should probably note that I also have an external SD plopped into the slot. So there's actually two SD cards, why the camera doesn't see either I ain't got a scoob.
So how did I get here? Well... I had been using that CM10.1 rom, which was quite shexy and all, but the lack of camera and the constant crashing that required a reset made it too unreliable for my use. I decided to downgrade back to Honeycomb and everything seemed to point towards StreakDroid-HD7-R8, but things went a little sideways and I ended up in a boot loop. Perhaps I shouldn't be fiddling with things when I'm so shleepy. Anyways I got my paws on a stock rom and managed to install it with fastboot and recovery. Everything looked fine and I went ahead with setting it up and installing apps, until I got errors about the SD not having enough space to install some apps when it really should've had plenty. I rooted it, tried clearing caches, formatted it, but there was no change except for me having to install all my apps again. Oh yeah, I couldn't backup in Titanium either. So here I am.
Perhaps the SD is dying, perhaps I corrupted it with my fiddling, maybe it's something to do with the partitioning, maybe it's something else? If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please share.
Also, if the SD is to be retired, is there anyway of redirecting apps which would normally use the internal SD use the external instead, for example the camera app?
Thanks in advance.
That is becuase CM10.1 changes the partition tables.
Does not anyone read around here? There is like 10 people who have posted the exact same thing.
You need to restore to Android 2.2 and then upgrade from there.
giveen said:
That is becuase CM10.1 changes the partition tables.
Does not anyone read around here? There is like 10 people who have posted the exact same thing.
You need to restore to Android 2.2 and then upgrade from there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Offt, that was a tad fiesty. My apologies hombre, I do read and I've ready plenty on this forum, but I guess I haven't read the right threads, perhaps I didn't know the right combination of words to search for. Slap me with a wet fish and shower me in stale coco pops - I am a daftie! You're a mighty fellow, so I shant be cheeky, you've spent a great deal of time making the streak more awesome for all of us, which I do appreciate greatly. Thank you.
Now when you say restore to Android 2.2, are we talking stock ROM here? And do I have to do anything special beforehand or is it just a case of plopping the ROM on my SD and restoring? Thanks kindly for your help captain.
You need to grab the NVFlash pack to restore to Android 2.2, which will also restore the Dell crappy partition tables.
Look at TheManii's DevHost page, he should have it.
Partition tables had to be changed as Dell did not correctly do Android, resulting in the sdcard daemon being broken, so they created something called like "oem_sdcard". If they had just done it right the first time, we would be in this predicament.
Oh and anytime you need to be slapped by fishes, I'm more than glad to. If you had merely scanned the General section, before you posted, you would have seen at least, three threads, where people were having the same problem, and where each time I already stated the exact same thing that you needed to do.
I'll take the slap. I think I spent most of my time in the Dev section, yet I post here in General, you see, that is why I am daftie! My internal compass is corrupted.
Many thanks for the help and info, perhaps someone should slap Dell with a fish? Anyways I best go correct my wrongs now.
I have read many threads and I have the same problem. However, I already used nvflash to repartition my Dell and revert back to 2.2.2. I then updated back to Honeycomb 3.2 and I still have this issue. I ran it a couple times... repartition and restore back to 2.2.2 but still no luck. Any thoughts? Sorry to respond to such an old thread, just fishing for any ideas.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
xcover2 Same issue
I am facing same issue with my xcover2 , any solutions ?
EXPLANATION THREAD:
TL;DR: There is no TL;DR, I expect anyone who wants to take this seriously to read all of this. If you want to skim, don't bother posting replies.
DISCLAIMER: ANY THING POSTED BELOW WON'T FOR SURE FIX OR EVEN EXTEND YOUR PHONE'S LIFETIME. IT IS NOT FOR SURE THOUGH, IT MAY EVEN SHORTEN YOUR PHONE'S LIFESPAN EVEN SHORTER.
I would like to start out by saying thanks to all the other people with eMMC read issues and their testing to help find out what works and what doesn't works. I can't list you all, but I would like to say thanks anyways.
What is this about? [You may be asking me as you are reading this.]
This is about the issues with Note 4's starting to lag, crash, stutter, and downright refuse to boot.
.
Why bother with the thread, here to rub it in their faces that your phone works?
No. In fact, my phone also has these issues, that's why I bothered researching into it.
Well, then? What's the point?
Be quiet and I will get to that.
Note 4's have started having eMMC issues quite recently, the whole shebang probably started around April of this year. (Not quite sure, just an estimate.) This results in storage lags that are really bad, to the phone crashing entirely, to the phone even failing to boot system, or even read the bootloader. The problem is that this is affecting anyone who owns a Note 4, be it rooted or not rooted, someone who has been on stock the whole time to someone who flashes every other day. There isn't even any signs to look out for before it starts happening, it just happens.
Can I fix it using [XXXXXXX] Rom or Software Fix?
No. At least from what we all have seen, you can't fix this with software, it is a Hardware issue.
But wait, NYiCoN made a thread about how he fixed his issue with software.
Personally, everyone's case can be slightly different, I have tried his method, but it didn't work for me sadly. I am not saying his method doesn't have a chance of working, go ahead and try it if you haven't. I linked his thread just in case. If it works for you, great, rejoice in your working phone, if not, keep reading. I will cover some other things to try.
Some of the causes to the problem that people are thinking of, I have compiled together. I wanted to point some of the more major ones out first. These responses are my testing, not anyone else's.
● Battery being an issue? (People tend to believe this because a battery pull can fix boot issues.)
I have bought multiple batteries off of Amazon from Anker and Samsung, and haven't seen a difference with different batteries.
● Rom being an issue? (I and others, including this thread by forbidinjustice have been observing this.)
I myself have found that a stock rom does improve if not entirely fix all the issues. This may have something to do with the kernel. My recommendation: Try wiping the entire NAND with a re-partition PIT file, a stock image of Marshmallow or Lollipop, your choice, and Nand erase all selected in ODIN, I will explain this process later.
● Kernel being an issue? (Maybe something to do with power management?)
I have found that most eMMC issues happen to me on roms with custom kernels, like CM, or device ports. I have also observed that my eMMC only crashes when it goes from a low-power state to high-power state too quickly. Which would explain why it can crash during doze, or when the phone isn't using the eMMC too heavily.
● SIM and/or SD Card (SD bus doing something to eMMC chip? Not an expert with storage types. Forgive me.)
I haven't found my phone to be any more or less stable with my SD Card and SIM Card both in. This honestly has left me drawing blanks.
There are way more speculations to the problem, but those are the major ones to pay attention to. But now, onto bigger and better things to do just in case your phone hasn't died yet. Things to do first will be on the second post.
THINGS TO DO FIRST:
NOTICE: This post will mainly pertain to those that still have a phone that boots up and works.
This post will cover what you should do first before experimenting or messing around with software fixes.
● Backup your important files, if you don't, YOU WILL LOSE THEM. Do not take that warning lightly.
● Next, this will require that you have a custom recovery, there may be a way to do this within a terminal with root, or something along those lines, but don't count on them.
● You will need to download this Unbrick Creator from this AndroidFileHost link courtesy of hsbadr. Give him thanks at the origin thread here.
● Then, copy the zip to your Note 4 and "install" the zip. This will require TWRP however as it relies on BusyBox commands to backup the bootloader and package it. Your bootloader backup will then be copied to the internal SD on the phone. Proceed to copy it back to your computer and hold onto that image.
● If you have a spare SD, you can go ahead and get Win32DiskImager from here. If you are on Linux or Mac however, you should be able to dd the image file to a Micro SD card. Make sure to unzip it from it's gzip archive though, otherwise it won't write properly. Proceed to write the image file to the SD card, then whenever your phone can't load the bootloader, pop this SD card in and BAM! You can get back into ODIN to reflash the right bootloader.
That was pretty short relative to my first post above. Anyways, things to try will be Post 3.
THINGS TO TRY:
This post will cover what you can consider trying to help alleviate your issues.
NOTICE: WHAT I COVER BELOW IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, NOT MINE:
I will try my hardest to give you clear, concise instructions on what to do, but you are responsible for carrying them out, if your phone bricks, makes funny noise, catches on fire, kicks your dog, or even joins ISIS, it isn't my responsibility, so if you brick your device, don't blame me.
● First up, because I feel it is one of the safest methods to try is NYiCoN's method.
This is his method, not mine, I am only paraphrasing it here because I want to keep the post continuous.
● He provides the files you need to download at this Google Drive link here.
● You need to download all the files from that link and hold onto them.
● After downloading files, proceed to put the phone into Download Mode.
● Open the ODIN binary provided in the Google Drive and connect the phone to your PC.
● Click on the CP button to choose the "N910TTMB1COD6_Modem_CP.tar" file.
● Proceed to click on the AP button and choose the "N910TUVU2EPE3_N910TTMB2EPE3_N910TUVU2EPE3_HOME_AP.tar" file.
● Go ahead and click the Start button to begin flashing.
● Once flashing is complete, pull the battery on the phone and immediately go back into Download Mode.
● Click on the CP button and choose the "N910TUVU2EPE3_CP.tar" file.
● Click the start button to begin flashing.
● Once ODIN is finished, pull battery and open Samsung Kies.
● Proceed to perform an Emergency Upgrade in Kies to force phone to EPG2 Stock firmware.
● Once Kies is done, let your phone start up as normal and play around, see if this helped.
● Second thing to try is justforgot's method which involves wiping all the partitions in TWRP each in a row before flashing a rom.
● The only thing I will mention is the eMMC tends to run smoother when all partitions are wiped before flashing, but this also tends to wear out chip worse. I only recommend this if you don't care about life span of phone, or you aren't worried. If you need the phone to last, be weary as this can speed up deterioration of the memory provided the eMMC chip is the problem.
● Last method for right now is something I thought up with the help of maxrfon's logcat output which involved /efs write errors.
● I should point out that this method also adds to deterioration on the storage chip, albeit to a lesser extent, a risk still exists. Also, this only works on TouchWiz roms as on CM roms, TWRP won't let you backup the EFS partition.
● It simply involves backing up /efs at least once and then restoring about 7-10 times, around 2-3 time, it will take up to 2 entire minutes to write 14 megabytes, afterwards restore should be quick again. That should help a little, but it isn't to as great an extent as the upper methods do.
● BONUS!!! World War 3 Atom Bomb method. This was something I mismashed with other methods along with my own knowledge of ODIN. This method will wipe your chip as clean as you can possibly get it without brick. This also has the highest rate of deterioration, be careful, this method is a doozy.
● First, get ahold of PIT files for your device, I won't post links because malhandling these files can be bad. You can get bricked if you aren't careful. SamMobile is a pretty good place to find PIT files.
● Second, get ahold of a stock firmware you want to use, or you can tie this in with NYiCoN's method above for extra chance of a good flash.
● Open ODIN and connect the phone to the PC in Download Mode
● Click the Pit button and chose the PIT file you downloaded.
● Proceed with NYiCoN's Method except checking re-partition and Nand Erase All, during the first flash session.
● Once you are ready to boot, you will be taken to recovery to flash the system image, but after that, you are stuck at the bootloader screen forever. You need to go back into recovery, wait for Installing System Update to pass, then do a factory reset because the Nand Erase removes the data partition. A factory reset recreates this data partition, reboot and you are golden.
Last post will be what you can do to help diagnose the issue further. If you so please.
END POST:
Due to the thread not being that popular, I have decided to remove the post explaining about what you can do if you wish to help. That and some people believe this thread was useless, it probably is, due to this being a hardware bug (most likely). I guess that the only advice I can give you now is that if none of the above worked. You will have to buy a new phone or find a way to fix this one. I will keep the thank you message below as I still thank those who took the time to read it. This thread was made to be a one stop learn 'em session about the NAND chip issue, and if it could be stickied, I would appreciate it. Other wise, the thread is useless as of now and it can be closed.
As always, if you read through all of this, I thank YOU. Even if you don't contribute anything, I thank you for bothering to read this, which shows that it meant SOMETHING. If I sounded bossy, forceful, mean, rude, strict, or even harsh, I was only trying to express seriousness on the subject, don't take me as leader of the Note 4 crash bug or anything like that, I am just a guy with a bugged phone like you probably are who is trying to fix it.
No need to write a book. The emmc issue is the nand chip dying a slow death. Its a ticking time bomb and will have to be fixed. Just accept it
ciscostud said:
No need to write a book. The emmc issue is the nand chip dying a slow death. Its a ticking time bomb and will have to be fixed. Just accept it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to sound so negative. The eMMC issue may just be a slow failure, it may be just a ticking time bomb, but you can't blame people for trying to extend the time on that bomb, like me. Even if it has to be a hardware fix, that is all-in-all a cheaper solution than a new phone entirely. This thread can also serve the purpose of ensuring it's the storage chip failing. Plus, I already HAVE accepted the eMMC failing being an outcome, the first post went over your chances of fixing it with software and I said they were possibly was NO chance of fixing it with software. The post covering things to try is LITERALLY called THINGS TO TRY: This thread also hopes to achieve educating people in the fact that their hardware may not have failed, and it was a software issue. And if I helped even one person, it would of been worth it.
Besides, the thread name doesn't say "LAST BIT OF FALSE HOPE FOR DELUSIONAL NOTE 4 OWNERS IN DENIAL." It says it is a follow up to all of the Note 4 issue threads.
I will summarize.... If you're getting the emmc error, no amount of tinkering, flashing or battery changes will fix it. The more you use your phone the worse it will get.
Backup your phone while it still works and make a plan to replace your mainboard or get a new one phone.
ciscostud said:
I will summarize.... If you're getting the emmc error, no amount of tinkering, flashing or battery changes will fix it. The more you use your phone the worse it will get.
Backup your phone while it still works and make a plan to replace your mainboard or get a new one phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand what you mean about the inevitable hardware failure with this error, and I am not trying to tell people that flashing, tinkering, or battery changes WILL fix it. I am only stating that you might be able to fix it or extend the phone's lifetime. Because plenty of people, including myself, can't afford to get a new phone off the bat. You also can't trust mainboards as they can come from other used phones and can have the same issues. This thread may just be a bunch of myths that don't help, but there is real experiences behind them. People who want to try will try this, if it helps is up to them. I understand it is hardware and you aren't saying anything new by pointing it out. But this is meant to help people who have this phone and need/want to try anything to get it in working shape, even if just for an extra day.
But for record's sake, I will add a disclaimer.