Ok, backstory, picked up this Nook Color on craigslist, came with Honeycomb v4 on microSD, booted fine into that, but without uSD would boot to 'n' screen and freeze/stall. Got another uSD formatted with CWM Recovery and the clean original nook image to try and load that from scratch. While following the instructions to restore the original image I would get errors while trying to format system and data (something to the effect of Error cannot format system/!). So I tried to install both CWM to the internal and CM7 to the internal and both would say install complete from microSD, but when booting without the uSD, it would still try to boot into the original nook software and hand on the 'n'.
I tried this to see if my partitions were messed up, but I had the same partition structure and size as it should be (according to the post):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13003431#post13003431
Possibly because I ran this "repartition-boot-with-stock" from this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=914690
Please help, would prefer to run this off the internal!
Got CM7 running off yet another microSD with this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957
Assuming the partition table is in tact then try formatting /system /data /cache in Clockworkmod.
If that doesn't work if might be time to entertain the possibility that you were sold a Nook with a bad emmc.
Sent from my NookColor using XDA App
When I try to format /system /data /cache in CWM, I get an error message. What is the function of the emmc?
mattdogg02 said:
When I try to format /system /data /cache in CWM, I get an error message. What is the function of the emmc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Putting it in PC terms, the emmc functions as the ROM for the bios, and as the solid state drive for whatever you're running on internal memory.
(What is the term for the tablet/smartphone equivalent of the "bios"?)
akaCat said:
(What is the term for the tablet/smartphone equivalent of the "bios"?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bootloader.
As to the OP - It's still possible your internal flash is bad but the fact that you can list your partition table gives me hope that isn't the case.
I read through JoJa15's post you linked in "Dummies Guide to Fixing 'My Nook Won't Boot'" - It sounds like you listed your partition table per his post and found that it matched what he posted but didn't modify anything right?
The fact that your partition table appears to be in tact is good but the contents of those partitions could be complete gibberish which may explain why CWM errors out when trying to format them. What is the exact error CWM is giving?
I think the next "safe" step is to have a look at DeanGibson's post here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1094371
Dean's CWM scripts will essentially blow away partitions 6-8 (/data / cache and /emmc) and re-create them. If your problem happens to be in one of those partitions then his tool may be a quick fix without having to play with fdisk. That said, I doubt it will work since you can't format /system (partition 5) and his tool doesn't touch the /system partition.
At that point you are pretty much left playing with fdisk, unless you can sweet talk DeanGibson into putting together a CWM flash that will re-do partitions 4 and 5 (extended partition and /system partition) which he may do.
From there it boils down to how comfortable you are with the Linux commands dd and fdisk...?
Good Luck,
Martian21
Ok, followed Dean's instructions with the packages from his post, but still no go.
The error I'm getting when going to Mounts and Storage Menu and running the format /system /data /cache options are:
ClockworkMod Recovery v3.0.2.8
Formatting /system...
Error formatting /system!
Formatting /data...
Error formatting /data!
Formatting /cache...
Error formatting /cache!
Really want to try and get this resolved as I want to install stuff onto the internal!
No one with any other advice on this?
mattdogg02 said:
No one with any other advice on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your previous post showed that you were using clockworkmod recovery v3.0.2.8, that version does not have support for the “blue dot” NC. Not knowing for sure if your NC is really a “blue dot” or an original one, I would follow these steps.
1. Create a bootable CWM v3.2.0.1 SD card using the image located HERE. The instructions for it are located HERE. I know the post says v3.0.2.1, but it is miss-marked.
2. Once the card is made, download the repartitioning files located HERE, and the stock 1.2 image file “update-nc-stock-1.2-signed.zip” located HERE.
3. Put all those zip files onto the SD Card
4. Shut down the NC
5. Insert and start the bootable SD card
6. Follow the directions to flash the repartitioning files
7. Once that completes, flash the stock 1.2 image
8. When that is done, remove the SD card, and reboot the device
Hopefully at this point, you will be booting into a stock 1.2.0 system. You can now do whatever you want with the device.
Related
So I partitioned my sd card so i would be able to automatically have apps to sd like the faqs of the cyanogen mods said, but now that i have done the process and partition my sd card 500mb ext, 34mb linux swap, not only has it not worked and the apps are still taking up memory on my phone, it is not noticing the secondary partition in the settings and when i reboot my phone, after the g1 screen and android screen, my phone just goes blank. does anyone have any input? ive wiped and reflashed the rom, now im just clueless. and if it matters, i used Paragon Partition Manager to partition my sd card.
You could re-partition it by using the console in recovery mode.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=533731
Look at the 2nd code box and follow it. This is how I did it my first time.
It is really easy.
yea the only thing is it is either saying not found, or error could not stat device dev/block/mmcblk0 no such file or directory. so im stuck i cant even format my card and get back to 8 gigs its sayin 6.06 gigs. ionno im stuck.
Can't you use your partition manager to delete the partitions you made? Then just make 1 partition: fat32, then use the code on the link.
I use paragon Partition mgr. and that is an option to use.
If you partion your card after flashing your rom, then you must reflash your rom for changes to take effect. You have to do that so the system can change the way it runs
Oops sorry, I just reread your first post and saw that I missed that you did reflash. Try going into your recovery console and type ums_enable to mount your card and than try downloading gparted and try to reformat that way, when you are done type ums_disable to unmount. Have you tried taking your sd out when you try to boot up just to see if you can get past, it is possible that your sd corrupted
its ok thank you both, i used the recovery erase all partitions and im gonna read the second box and partition threw the console instead of on the manager.
I just had the same thing happen to me earlier today. I have the 404 Cyanogen MOD and now my SD card is stuck. I can't figure out how to get rid of that partition. All of the directions are not step by step. And this rookie is stressed out. Please let me know where or which directions you used to format your SD.
surfereddie said:
I just had the same thing happen to me earlier today. I have the 404 Cyanogen MOD and now my SD card is stuck. I can't figure out how to get rid of that partition. All of the directions are not step by step. And this rookie is stressed out. Please let me know where or which directions you used to format your SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To get it back to just a fat32 partition.... THIS WILL WIPE ALL DATA ON YOUR SDCARD!!!! MAKE A BACKUP OF FAT32 also this will only work with 1.3.1 and up cyanogen recovery image
boot into recovery and go to the recovery console and type
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
rm 1
rm 2
rm 3 (if you have a linux-swap partition)
print (after the 4th or 5th line there is a number after a line that reads disk size or something and that will be the end value for the next command. Sorry on my g1 now)
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 xxxx(substitue with number above)
quit
reboot recovery
Then reflash your rom. That will clear all partitions of your sdcard and leave you with one whole partition that is fat32.
Just a heads up: The instructions for @samuelhalff 's Honeycomb emmc ROM include this:
Boot with SD inserted, go to 'mounts and storage', and:
- format system, then data and THEN format boot (CWR may crash, simply hard reboot, format should have worked).
If you do format /boot, you will lose the ability to boot into CWR. That may be okay with you, but after trying Honeycomb on my emmc I went back to Froyo, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't boot into recovery.
See this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=883175&page=103
if you want to restore the original /boot files.
Q: do I have to start over per the thread above or can I just push files to my /boot via ADB? or just boot from SD and restore that way if files are available?
Thanks!
you can boot to cwr via sdcard. that's how those of us on HC do it to make backups and such. works perfect.
Yep I *can* boot to CWR on SD. That's how I installed Honeycomb to the emmc. What I'd like is to restore CWR to /boot
Thanks though.
ahh. sorry, misunderstood.
you could try it... though from what i've read, it's risky. they say it's safer to just run it from the sd card.
if it works out well for you, please post up!
Ran it for a day. Too many force closes for me, but really cool that it runs at all!
Sent from my Nook Color (zoom2) using Tapatalk
My main concern is that I followed the instructions to install Honeycomb via CWR and it worked fine, but I didn't know that reinstalling from scratch ie. nook 1.x would be required since just reinstalling @cicada's Froyo port does not replace all of /boot
No tragedy. Restore just takes a bit longer.
If anybody can tell me how to restore /boot without wiping my current Froyo install that would be pretty nifty.
@xawen to the rescue!
Thanks!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=958748
Several users have complained that they get blank screens and cannot flash new roms to their Nook Color. And sometimes they end up in a recovery bootloop where it will do nothing but boot to recovery no matter what they choose in the boot menu. Sometimes this is due to corrupted partitions on internal memory.
DizzyDen has prepared some .img files that can be burned to emmc to repair some of these issues, and they work well. But some of the files are very large and it takes a little knowledge of adb commands on the part of the users. And some users cannot get adb working on their machines. So I started investigating other solutions, and I have made some tools that work that I hope are user friendly.
Dean Gibson has a thread that describes how to repartition emmc to set the partition sizes for data and media to the user's preference. He repartitions partitions p6 (data), p7 (cache) and p8 (media). In studying his zip, I figured out how to make his tool repair partitions p4 (extended), p5 (system), p6 (data), p7 (cache), and p8 (media). And I was able to add additional commands to also repair partition p1 (boot). I asked Dean's permission to post his tools as modified by me and he agreed. Thanks Dean!
So that takes care of partitions 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Partitions 2 and 3 are very special and one must be very careful with them. Partition 2 is 'rom', which holds information that is specific to the user's device (serial number, etc.), and it is used by the system to set flags for deciding whether to boot to recovery or not and set the boot count that is used to decide whether to do a reset to factory conditions (8 failed boots). Partition 3 is 'factory' and holds the factory.zip file used by the 8 failed boot reset (if you want to learn more about the 8 failed boot reset, go to my tips thread linked in my signature). It also holds a backup of the device information in partition 2. So it is possible to repair partition 2 if partition 3 is still intact.
A few users have somehow managed to flash Nook Tablet ROMs to their Nook Colors and really messed up partition 4. (Edit: and now I know how it happened, some idiot recommended that they remove the first line of the updater script. NEVER do that! That line is a safety check to make sure you are flashing to the right device. You can also defeat the safety check by using an old CWM that has the toggle, 'disable asserts'. Never do that either.) And since partition 4 is the extended partition that holds partitions 5, 6, 7, and 8, they get messed up too. To repair those partitions along with partition 1, use CWM recovery to flash the two zips attached below. Be warned that everything in emmc media (p8) will be wiped out, so you may want to back that up first if you still can. The first zip to flash is 'NookColor-emmc-repair-partitions-1-4-5-6-7-8.zip'. It will recreate those partitions on emmc. As soon as you have sucessfully flashed that zip, you must reboot the Nook Color back to CWM so that the updated partition table is read by CWM. Then you need to flash 'NookColor-emmc-format-partitions-5-6-7-8.zip' (partitions 1 and 4 do not need formatting). It will format the newly created partitions to the correct structure. Now you can use CWM to restore an earlier nandroid backup or flash your favorite ROM (including stock, get version 1.4.3 that I have modified to be flashable with CWM here, or DizzyDen has posted some excellent 1.4.1 stock ROMs here). If you are going to flash a stock ROM, you must be sure to use the format zip or the stock ROM will not boot properly.
If you are in a recovery bootloop, the first thing I recommend trying is to use my CWM version 5.5.0.4 bootable SD that is discussed in my tips thread linked in my signature and has been modified to help get out of some kinds of recovery flag bootloops. If you are in a recovery bootloop that just hangs, it may get you out of it after exiting my CWM with the 'reboot' command in the menu. But if you are still in the loop after doing that, it may be because your device info is missing or corrupted in partition 2. It will not boot to a ROM without this info. (Specifically, it needs a file in /rom/devconf named DeviceID. It is a text file with your 16 digit serial number in it followed by a line feed, 17 bytes.) Try flashing with CWM my 'NookColor-emmc-repair-partition-2.zip' attached to this post to recreate that info. But I recommend this as a last resort, since messing with that partition is risky. That zip will recreate the partition, reset the flags and copy your device specific information from partition 3. But your partition 3 must be intact for this to work. If it is not, the zip will abort and do nothing.
Additionally, for those that do not want to use CWM, I have made a bootable SD that has an older version of TWRP here. Newer versions of TWRP will return an error message when trying to flash these zips. It also has been modified to get you out of some kinds of bootloops.
Two points of information. First, I have included a temporary copy of CWM 5.5.0.4 on the boot partition of my repair so that if tries to reboot to emmc before you put a ROM on it, it goes to CWM. It will be removed as soon as you restore a backup or flash a ROM. Second, the new partition scheme created with my zip is for the original Nook Color's 1GB data and 5GB media. If you want one of the other schemes (5GB data/1GB media or 2GB data/4GB media) go to Dean Gibson's thread and flash his zips after you have repaired your system with mine. See his thread here.
I'm adding a little extra information about emmc partition structure for those interested. With any MBR disk there can be a maximum of four primary partitions. So to have more than four partitions the last primary partition is created as an extended partition so multiple logical partitions can be made inside it. The emmc structure is: p1 (boot, fat, primary), p2 (rom, fat, primary), p3 (factory, ext3, primary), p4 (extended, going from end of p3 to end of the disk), p5 (system, ext2, logical, inside the extended), p6 (data, ext3, logical, inside the extended), p7 (cache, ext3, logical, inside the extended) and p8 (media, fat, logical, inside the extended).
You save my nook color
Thank you so much. My serial number and other information were recovered successfully. Without those information I could not boot into any rom. If you cannot boot into ROM after following the first 2 steps, try recover partition 2. It works for me.
:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
Thanks
My nook has been stuck in a "will not boot" state for about a week. I could run CWM and cyanoboot, but when ever I tried to boot CM I would get stuck at the "loading..." screen. I tried loading both CM7 & CM9 but neither one would boot.
I ran both repair scripts, reloaded CM7.1 and success!
Thanks Leapinlar! :good:
THANK YOU!!!!!!
Right from my 1st install I couldn't get the bar at the bottom of the screen, which made using the Kindle app more than a little difficult. This finally cleared everything off so I could start with a clean slate, and BINGO! I know have the bottom bar on all the screens. I assume when I go in to the Kindle app it will be ok now also (I just have to format a 16gb microSD and put in the Nook Color 1st).
I can't thank you enough!!!!
Ugh! Tried this method too, and I still cannot get the nook to boot into CWR or CWM. I tried the 8 boots thing too, but I don't know if I ever did it right because I have cyanogen mod installed on emmc. Not sure how to repair the partition if I cannot even boot into anything that allows me to flash the zip to the chip. I thought it may be the sd, but the sd cards work on my other nook. I have now basically dissembled my nook color trying to find any other solution I wish I knew what happened in the first place.
czarofthefrozentundra said:
Ugh! Tried this method too, and I still cannot get the nook to boot into CWR or CWM. I tried the 8 boots thing too, but I don't know if I ever did it right because I have cyanogen mod installed on emmc. Not sure how to repair the partition if I cannot even boot into anything that allows me to flash the zip to the chip. I thought it may be the sd, but the sd cards work on my other nook. I have now basically dissembled my nook color trying to find any other solution I wish I knew what happened in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try my version of the CWM bootable SD card? It is on my tips thread and has been modified to boot in certain types of recovery bootloops. Unless you get CWM running you cannot flash things to internal memory. And depending on where in the boot process it hangs, you may not be able to get adb working to put things there either. And the 8 failed boots will not work unless you have stock recovery still on emmc.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
leapinlar said:
Did you try my version of the CWM bootable SD card? It is on my tips thread and has been modified to boot in certain types of recovery bootloops. Unless you get CWM running you cannot flash things to internal memory. And depending on where in the boot process it hangs, you may not be able to get adb working to put things there either. And the 8 failed boots will not work unless you have stock recovery still on emmc.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Tried the card. I believe I replaced the emmc with cyanogenmod back in the day. Starts, goes to loading, turns black, then done. Cannot do anything after that. Bummer, sounds like it is actually toast.
czarofthefrozentundra said:
Yup. Tried the card. I believe I replaced the emmc with cyanogenmod back in the day. Starts, goes to loading, turns black, then done. Cannot do anything after that. Bummer, sounds like it is actually toast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can get adb working while it is sitting there black, you can push the stock recovery files to partition one. Then you may be able to do the 8 failed boots. You can extract the stock recovery files from my zip in my tips thread.
leapinlar said:
If you can get adb working while it is sitting there black, you can push the stock recovery files to partition one. Then you may be able to do the 8 failed boots. You can extract the stock recovery files from my zip in my tips thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worth a shot. Have nothing more to lose other than time. Maybe adb will work with you card in it. It didn't work with everything else I tried.
OMG OMG thank you soooo much for this thread , you saved my reading addict self from going insane ......
You've done a great job on collecting all of these useful things, especially for those who are stuck with their Nook Color boot looping. (I was once that guy) Dean helped me out with his data zips as well way back! Thanks for all this! :good: :victory:
Much thanks, leapinlar. Restored a nandroid with TWRP that was corrupted and lost my boot partition. I used your first 2 repair zips and I'm back in business. Your many contributions are greatly appreciated.
Mike T
OMG! Thank you so much for putting this up! Back at the beginning of the year I was having problems with my NC not going into USB Mode and only showing a black arrow when trying to load books and following this finally fixed it. Great write-up and instructions, thanks for the hard work.
I've been trying to restore my NOOK for about 2 weeks and this post has gotten me the farthest but i'm stuck at the point where my nook will start up, the "Read Forever" splash screen will come up and then it attempts to recover the system since i see an greenish Android screen come up for a second and then i get an error screen saying "Install Failed" with an image of a nook with an exclamation point in it's screen. I'm assuming i've really messed the nook up but here is where I am.
I've reformatted the partitions using your 1-4,5,6,7,8 zip
Rebooted to recovery
Formatted partiions 5,6,7,8 with your zip
Flashed your 1.4.3 stock rom
At this point I can't get any further since it appears something else is wrong and i didn't want to attempt the reformatting of partition 2 without asking if there is anything else i should try. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
jmiklus01 said:
I've been trying to restore my NOOK for about 2 weeks and this post has gotten me the farthest but i'm stuck at the point where my nook will start up, the "Read Forever" splash screen will come up and then it attempts to recover the system since i see an greenish Android screen come up for a second and then i get an error screen saying "Install Failed" with an image of a nook with an exclamation point in it's screen. I'm assuming i've really messed the nook up but here is where I am.
I've reformatted the partitions using your 1-4,5,6,7,8 zip
Rebooted to recovery
Formatted partiions 5,6,7,8 with your zip
Flashed your 1.4.3 stock rom
At this point I can't get any further since it appears something else is wrong and i didn't want to attempt the reformatting of partition 2 without asking if there is anything else i should try. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do the partition 2 repair. That is what is messed up and causing the reboot.
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk
leapinlar said:
Do the partition 2 repair. That is what is messed up and causing the reboot.
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried the partition2 zip and received an error trying to mount the factory partition. Status 7 was the error code. Is there a way to fix this?
jmiklus01 said:
I've tried the partition2 zip and received an error trying to mount the factory partition. Status 7 was the error code. Is there a way to fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, that is really bad news. That means your partition 3 is corrupted and there is no way to retrieve your device info, like serial number, etc. PM me and maybe I can help you get it partly working, but much of the device info is lost if that partition is truly corrupted.
Sent from my BNTV600 using Tapatalk
Restore NC back to stock
View attachment 1500490
leapinlar said:
Oh, that is really bad news. That means your partition 3 is corrupted and there is no way to retrieve your device info, like serial number, etc. PM me and maybe I can help you get it partly working, but much of the device info is lost if that partition is truly corrupted.
Sent from my BNTV600 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been trying to restore my daughter NC back to stock for couple months now and no success.
I did flash the P 1-4-5-6-7-8.zip and got this message after reboot:
"CWM-based Recovery v5.5.0.4
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/command
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E: Can't open /cache/recovery/log
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E: Can't open /cache/recovery/last_log
during the reboot, there is a menu option to hit "n" for reboot mode option. when i hit "n" it gives me (attachment).
but it won't let me move up or down to select except for the 1st option
Help would be very appreciated
big64dave said:
View attachment 1500490
I've been trying to restore my daughter NC back to stock for couple months now and no success.
I did flash the P 1-4-5-6-7-8.zip and got this message after reboot:
"CWM-based Recovery v5.5.0.4
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/command
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E: Can't open /cache/recovery/log
E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E: Can't open /cache/recovery/last_log
during the reboot, there is a menu option to hit "n" for reboot mode option. when i hit "n" it gives me (attachment).
but it won't let me move up or down to select except for the 1st option
Help would be very appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
During reboot it should automatically go to CWM because everything else is wiped. The boot menu only lets you make the first choice because that is all that is there, everything else is wiped. You need to continue to use the CWM to flash the format zip next. Then you can flash a ROM. If the CWM that pops up is not working, use the bootable CWM SD.
leapinlar said:
During reboot it should automatically go to CWM because everything else is wiped. The boot menu only lets you make the first choice because that is all that is there, everything else is wiped. You need to continue to use the CWM to flash the format zip next. Then you can flash a ROM. If the CWM that pops up is not working, use the bootable CWM SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for replied, the Nook just stock on loading and it won't let me do anything except for power up and down
Question: I want to wipe everything from my HD+ and start completely fresh. What is safe to wipe and how do I do it in TWPR or CWM? A "factory reset" isn't good enough. It leaves old data around. But I've read too many stories about bricking a device by formatting /data using CWM.
Background: I've been running CM 10.2.1 for a few weeks now. Given what Jon Lee posted about Google and security, I thought I'd try a clean install of CM 10.2.1 without installing gapps, just to see what that's like. (And what services don't run.)
So I did the usual "factory reset" from TWRP and reinstalled CM 10.2.1. To my surprise, when I booted, the latest version of Google Play was still showing on the launcher!
I had used Link2SD to integrate the latest version of Google Play with the OEM system app. So apparently, that this was not wiped. And of course, internal media data is not wiped (not by TWRP, anyway) in a factory reset. But I thought /system was.
The TWRP FAQ has a page about wiping. It says
Depending on your device and its configuration, you may have options for wiping internal storage, external storage, sd-ext, android_secure, and/or an option for formatting data. There's almost no reason that you would ever need to use these items. These options are there for convenience. For instance, if you're getting ready to sell your device, then it's a good idea to wipe everything on the device so that the new owner doesn't get your private data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But they don't tell you which to select.
TWRP makes it confusing by offering to 1) wipe data, 2) internal storage, 3) SDcard or 4) SDcard data in Advanced Wipe. Which is it for wiping your media stuff?
From what I've read, "internal storage" should be the same as "SDcard." So why both? And how is "SDcard data" distinct from those two?
To make matters worse, in the Nook I thought there was an additional element of confusion because the Nook doesn't call the internal SDcard memory what everyone else calls it.
So let's say I am selling my HD+. Would I select all of the above and still be able to install a ROM clean?
Or would I brick?
I know that on a desk top computer if you want to start bare metal, you format the hard drive, wiping everything, and install onto that. But judging from what Succulent wrote in his blog about recovering from an EMMC crash, you can't start totally clean with Android. Apparently, Android needs some preexisting files on the "drive" in order to install. (Like the devconf folder, which contains your MAC and your serial number.)
[Am I understanding him correctly? He was talking about recovering from a tablet wrecked by the EMMC brick bug. Perhaps no /data partition at all, as he offers a script to rebuild/expand that partition?]
I have read stories of people bricking their tablets by formatting /data from CWM. I don't understand why that should brick it. Why couldn't you boot into recovery? How can the /data partition affect the /recovery partition?
So - has anybody done a complete wipe on their Nook HD+? Please explain, for those of us who are obsessive compulsive, exactly how you do it.
To wipe your device with CWM go to mounts and storage and format /system, /cache and 'data and datamedia'. A normal factory reset only wipes /cache and the portion of /data that does not hold your media files. It does not wipe /system. Usually the ROM install does that, but the install script has a feature that saves gapps if you are installing the same version of the ROM (eg, CM11 over CM11). So to get rid of everything, including media files and gapps, do what I said in the first sentence. Of course after formatting /system you must put a ROM back on it for it to boot.
And it is not /data formatting that is the brick problem, it is formatting the /bootdata partition. They are different things. Don't format that.
And succulent was talking about /rom partition which is different yet that needs to be left alone. That is where the devconf folder is. It contains things you need to keep.
If you want to understand the partition structure of the HD/HD+ go to my HD/HD+ Tips thread linked in my signature and read item 16.
And please read my PM to you about removing those assert removal instructions from my dummies thread.
Sent from my BN NookHD+ using XDA Premium HD app
Best Answer
leapinlar said:
To wipe your device with CWM go to mounts and storage and format /system, /cache and 'data and datamedia'. A normal factory reset only wipes /cache and the portion of /data that does not hold your media files. It does not wipe /system. Usually the ROM install does that, but the install script has a feature that saves gapps if you are installing the same version of the ROM (eg, CM11 over CM11). So to get rid of everything, including media files and gapps, do what I said in the first sentence. Of course after formatting /system you must put a ROM back on it for it to boot.
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Thanks for the thorough answer. And explanations. I always find it easier to remember something when I understand the reason for it. So I didn't know before that the install scripts keep gapps.(But that's what I was deducing.)
I know to stay away from /rom and /boot. Hopefully, TWRP would not let one format those in their numerous choices for Advanced Wipe.
From what you've written before in one of your other threads, I know that you're not a fan of TWRP. So I still don't know what the similar commands are in TWRP for a total clean. But for now I can delete /system in TWRP and do the reinstall without gapps. When I'm ready for a total wipe, I'll revert to CWM.
Can we trade /factory for /swap?
leapinlar said:
If you want to understand the partition structure of the HD/HD+ go to my HD/HD+ Tips thread linked in my signature and read item 16.
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Read it. (And made an image of my factory partition. And then moved it to my extSDcard for safer keeping.)
So, the Nook HD+ partition structure is a bit different from the stock Android partition stuff I had found on the web.
So, for those of us running a custom ROM, I presume the factory image doesn't do us much good anymore. Will the HD+ automagically restore after 8 failed boots?
If not (or even if it will), is there a way to take that 448MB in the /factory image partition and use them for, say, a /swap partition instead? I think an xda developer is doing something like this for the Galaxy Tab 2, where he's using some memory that Samsung uses for animations and uses them for ZRam instead. Since I've backed up the factory image, and since I already have your factory 2.0.2 ROM, I really don't need the image any more. Seems like wasted space.
PMikeP said:
Read it. (And made an image of my factory partition. And then moved it to my extSDcard for safer keeping.)
So, the Nook HD+ partition structure is a bit different from the stock Android partition stuff I had found on the web.
So, for those of us running a custom ROM, I presume the factory image doesn't do us much good anymore. Will the HD+ automagically restore after 8 failed boots?
If not (or even if it will), is there a way to take that 448MB in the /factory image partition and use them for, say, a /swap partition instead? I think an xda developer is doing something like this for the Galaxy Tab 2, where he's using some memory that Samsung uses for animations and uses them for ZRam instead. Since I've backed up the factory image, and since I already have your factory 2.0.2 ROM, I really don't need the image any more. Seems like wasted space.
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You can play with the partitions all you want. Just don't ask me to help you fix it. You don't seem to heed my warnings anyway.
But other users be warned that factory partition has vital backup information there (it has more than just the factory zip there) and if you lose it, your device is as good as a paperweight. That is why I recommended all users back that partition up. Not for the factory zip, but for the backup files there. The device has other safety backup routines other than just restoring the stock ROM. An example is, I told you and succulent told you that devconf has vital files all ROMs need in /rom. Well, /factory has a backup of /rom there and if the device discovers /rom is messed up, it tries to repair itself. No /factory and no repair. Paperweight!
Sent from my BN NookHD+ using XDA Premium HD app
leapinlar said:
You can play with the partitions all you want. Just don't ask me to help you fix it. You don't seem to heed my warnings anyway.
But other users be warned that factory partition has vital backup information there (it has more than just the factory zip there) and if you lose it, your device is as good as a paperweight. That is why I recommended all users back that partition up. Not for the factory zip, but for the backup files there. The device has other safety backup routines other than just restoring the stock ROM. An example is, I told you and succulent told you that devconf has vital files all ROMs need in /rom. Well, /factory has a backup of /rom there and if the device discovers /rom is messed up, it tries to repair itself. No /factory and no repair. Paperweight!
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Thanks for the quick response.
I am sorry that I seem to have gotten on your bad side. I did what you asked and moved my previous comment out of your thread. And I warned everyone that you don't think it's a good procedure.
And I did heed your warning. I made a backup of the factory partition and even moved the copy to my ext SD card for safer keeping. Especially since we were talking about wiping the sdcard. (Unless you're trying to say that storing the /factory img on the ext SD card is a bad idea because I won't be able to get it back to the internal SDcard if/when I need it.)
As for the devconf files, they're in the /rom partition. I don't understand how using the /factory partition for a /swap is going to ruin the /rom partition.
From what you're saying, the HD+ still has a "safety routine" built in, even when running custom recovery and a custom ROM? Does that mean that its safety routine is hard coded somewhere? Or part of the /rom code itself? How does the HD+ know to look in /factory when its running a non-factory OS? Does CM tell it to do that?
You're the expert. I'm just guessing here. If the /factory partition were used as a /swap, and if the system turned into a paperweight because it needed the /factory image later someday, then couldn't one go into recovery and copy the /factory partition back over, per your instructions? As a minimum, couldn't one use succulent's emmc recovery procedure to get back to factory status?
I'd be willing to trade that off for more performance.
How does one know when the HD+ goes into this safety routine? Does it tell you? Or is it transparent to the user? It would be interesting to know how often that happens. Does the safety routine then repair the /rom partition once booted if it detects a problem in /rom?
PMikeP said:
Thanks for the quick response.
I am sorry that I seem to have gotten on your bad side. I did what you asked and moved my previous comment out of your thread. And I warned everyone that you don't think it's a good procedure.
And I did heed your warning. I made a backup of the factory partition and even moved the copy to my ext SD card for safer keeping. Especially since we were talking about wiping the sdcard. (Unless you're trying to say that storing the /factory img on the ext SD card is a bad idea because I won't be able to get it back to the internal SDcard if/when I need it.)
As for the devconf files, they're in the /rom partition. I don't understand how using the /factory partition for a /swap is going to ruin the /rom partition.
From what you're saying, the HD+ still has a "safety routine" built in, even when running custom recovery and a custom ROM? Does that mean that its safety routine is hard coded somewhere? Or part of the /rom code itself? How does the HD+ know to look in /factory when its running a non-factory OS? Does CM tell it to do that?
You're the expert. I'm just guessing here. If the /factory partition were used as a /swap, and if the system turned into a paperweight because it needed the /factory image later someday, then couldn't one go into recovery and copy the /factory partition back over, per your instructions? As a minimum, couldn't one use succulent's emmc recovery procedure to get back to factory status?
I'd be willing to trade that off for more performance.
How does one know when the HD+ goes into this safety routine? Does it tell you? Or is it transparent to the user? It would be interesting to know how often that happens. Does the safety routine then repair the /rom partition once booted if it detects a problem in /rom?
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If you want to know more how the automatic repairs work, go to my Nook Color Tips thread linked in my signature and read item A12. The partition numbers are different but the repair process works exactly the same way on the HD/HD+, including the need for stock recovery to be installed. There are two ways to get your device automatically repaired if you have CM and CWM/TWRP recovery installed on internal memory. One is to flash stock recovery back per my item 5 in my HD/HD+ CWM thread, and the second is to flash the plain stock zip from item 6 there. That puts stock recovery back. Then it can repair /rom if need be.
And there is no real drawback of removing the factory.zip file from /factory partition since it is basically the same as a plain stock zip I have published. But the other files there are vital and should not be touched.
You got on my bad side by publishing that assert removal procedure on the help forum after I asked you to remove it from my thread. I don't want to make it easy for any user to do that as I consider it dangerous for noobs to do. See my response to your posting of that procedure.
Sent from my BN NookHD+ using XDA Premium HD app
leapinlar said:
You got on my bad side by publishing that assert removal procedure on the help forum after I asked you to remove it from my thread. I don't want to make it easy for any user to do that as I consider it dangerous for noobs to do.
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Thanks for letting me know. Later last night, I saw a post of yours on the Nook Color (I think it was) where you thought that anyone who would remove the updater-script safety check was an "idiot."
Okay, so I'm an idiot. But I am free to be an idiot and start my own thread in the Help forum, right? Just as you are free to respond there as you did. That's what makes the forum go 'round.
PMikeP said:
Thanks for letting me know. Later last night, I saw a post of yours on the Nook Color (I think it was) where you thought that anyone who would remove the updater-script safety check was an "idiot."
Okay, so I'm an idiot. But it's my right to be an idiot and my right to start my own thread in the Help forum, right? Just as it's your right to respond there as you did. That's what makes the forum go 'round.
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As I recall, I did not say the person that removed the assert was an idiot, it was the person who recommended it that I said was an idiot. The user was a noob and knew no better. He was trying to flash a Nook Tablet ROM to his Nook Color and the assert kept failing (doing what it was designed to do). The idiot was the one that told him just to remove the assert. He did that and bricked his Nook Color.
Sent from my BN NookHD+ using XDA Premium HD app
Perhaps someone can help. I've read a lot of the great content here but I've hit a wall.
A few weeks ago my ovation device was running cm11+cwm but began random rebooting. Clearing the cache+dalvik only helped briefly.
I tried an upgrade with a twrp 3.0.0.0 (using the amazing multiboot recovery SD), but it hung formatting the cache partition (I waited about an hour). Tried again, same thing.
I used adb shell to fix a blank file system type on the cache partition but was only successful in creating an ext2 partition there. I got cm13 booting but it trebuchet kept crashing. I tried twrp again and flashing a different image and tried a factory reset. Big mistake.
Now when I try to boot any recovery SD it doesn't boot all the way. Using adb shell, my dmesg shows that umount is hanging. No emmc partitions seem to be mounted. The partition data exists in dmesg but calls to parted hang. Mkfs.ext4 also hangs (naturally).
So I've lost the ability to fully boot recovery SDs (they are probably hanging when they try to mount the emmc partitions). As such I can't flash a recovery. I have a clockwork backup that has a system.ext.tar file in it, but I don't know how to use it at this point.
I can't mount /rom so I'm worried.
Is my emmc shot? Is there any way to tell?
Thanks!
Would a noEMMC SD be safe?
I guess what I was hoping to do was use adb to completely wipe and restore the device to a sane state, which would include repartitioning and formatting the emmc partitions. Is that possible? Maybe not at this point.
I guess another question would be: if my NookHd+ emmc is technically working but currently unrecoverable, is it possible for me to safely use a NOemmc SD card? There seem to be some warnings about those wrecking emmc but I can't find any technical explanation as to why.
Based on further diagnostics, my emmc is one of the faulty Samsung models and so I think the crashes and ultimate recovery failures were the failure of the emmc.
I've successfully installed 10.1 noEMMC on one microsd. Runs Okay but a lot of apps I am interested in don't work on android from this vintage.
I tried to install 4.4.4/CM11 noEMMC but it can't mount the necessary partitions as per the install process on the iamafanof Wordpress page. I also see SELinux errors in the twrp recovery log. Does anyone know how to overcome this mount issue that apparently impacts some people.
Assuming there are others out there who find this useful, I have some updates.
I was determined to figure out why the CM11 NoEMMC was not working for me but CM10.2 noEMMC works fine. I get the error that many others get: unable to mount /boot, /data, /system.
I used adb shell to connect to the twrp 2.8.0.0 that runs when you boot the CM11 noEMMC SD boot/install image and compared the Linux system differences between that and the system you can see connected to the cwm 6.0.4.? That runs when you boot the CM10.2 noEMMC SD boot/instal image.
First things first: cm10 noEMMC remaps the internal emmc as /dev/block/emcblk1 and the external microsd card slot as blk0 (this is swapped from the norm and correct for a situation where you want to install to the SD as though it were the internal device).
CM11 noEMMC does not do this. I think that the author assumed that if your emmc is bricked then the system won't see your /dev/block/emmcblk0 at all so your external sdcard will take over that number. Clearly that's true for some, but it's not true for me.
I also began poking around the post boot script (in /sbin) to see how the cm11 noEMMC prepares the partitions on the Sd card and to see what Command it uses to create the data partition
Here's the kicker. I was able to mount my emmc rom partition and copy off all that data with an adb pull. I was able to initialize the cache partition (9) as a blank ext4 partition. I was even able to initialize the user partition (10) as ext4... Though I'm not sure that's right. I began mounting partitions and got greedy and tried to mount the whole partition map and it failed.
So, there's something wrong with (at least) one of my partitions. When recovery tries to mount the partitions, mount hangs and recovery fails to fully load. The noEMMC sd card got me around this because it doesn't try to mount any of the emmc partitions let alone all of them.
So, does anyone know if I can make new file systems on every partition and if by luck I'm able to get a twrp or cwm to fully load, will flashing a stock recovery put data on all those partitions?
Thanks
Sorry to resurrect this thread, But it exactly speaks to my issue. You mention that the blk0 and blk1 devices need to be switched for cm11 image to mount partitions properly. Does anyone know specifically where this might be done. Can files of the existing nov4 cm11 image be altered to reverse these two devices?
CalculonsTalent said:
Assuming there are others out there who find this useful, I have some updates.
I was determined to figure out why the CM11 NoEMMC was not working for me but CM10.2 noEMMC works fine. I get the error that many others get: unable to mount /boot, /data, /system.
I used adb shell to connect to the twrp 2.8.0.0 that runs when you boot the CM11 noEMMC SD boot/install image and compared the Linux system differences between that and the system you can see connected to the cwm 6.0.4.? That runs when you boot the CM10.2 noEMMC SD boot/instal image.
First things first: cm10 noEMMC remaps the internal emmc as /dev/block/emcblk1 and the external microsd card slot as blk0 (this is swapped from the norm and correct for a situation where you want to install to the SD as though it were the internal device).
CM11 noEMMC does not do this. I think that the author assumed that if your emmc is bricked then the system won't see your /dev/block/emmcblk0 at all so your external sdcard will take over that number. Clearly that's true for some, but it's not true for me.
I also began poking around the post boot script (in /sbin) to see how the cm11 noEMMC prepares the partitions on the Sd card and to see what Command it uses to create the data partition
Here's the kicker. I was able to mount my emmc rom partition and copy off all that data with an adb pull. I was able to initialize the cache partition (9) as a blank ext4 partition. I was even able to initialize the user partition (10) as ext4... Though I'm not sure that's right. I began mounting partitions and got greedy and tried to mount the whole partition map and it failed.
So, there's something wrong with (at least) one of my partitions. When recovery tries to mount the partitions, mount hangs and recovery fails to fully load. The noEMMC sd card got me around this because it doesn't try to mount any of the emmc partitions let alone all of them.
So, does anyone know if I can make new file systems on every partition and if by luck I'm able to get a twrp or cwm to fully load, will flashing a stock recovery put data on all those partitions?
Thanks
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Could you please teach me how to mount EMMC partitions and retrieve data specially /factory partition with ADB?
I can only boot my Nook HD+ with with bootable SD card with TWRP or CWM.
Thanks.