[Q] CWM Wont Format /Data - Galaxy Tab Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have no idea what happened to this Tab but it was brought to me with no way of getting into the boot loader, it just sits on the Samsung Screen. I was able to get it to the service screen and use Heimdall to upload CWM to it and then went to enter a format of the device and I'm getting all sorts of errors. I'm guessing the /data is corrupt *very* corrupt. I'm not sure how to do a full format. I think that with everything cleared I know enough to get it going again but no matter what I do I can't get the /data to format. I've tried fixing permissions and that takes 20 minutes and then says it's completed but yet I have no option of mounting /data in any way or clearing it. I'm so frustrated, I'm just looking everywhere for a way to nuke it back to where I can load even a stock ROM to get this thing to come back to life. Any ideas??!??!

matt.wolfley said:
I have no idea what happened to this Tab but it was brought to me with no way of getting into the boot loader, it just sits on the Samsung Screen. I was able to get it to the service screen and use Heimdall to upload CWM to it and then went to enter a format of the device and I'm getting all sorts of errors. I'm guessing the /data is corrupt *very* corrupt. I'm not sure how to do a full format. I think that with everything cleared I know enough to get it going again but no matter what I do I can't get the /data to format. I've tried fixing permissions and that takes 20 minutes and then says it's completed but yet I have no option of mounting /data in any way or clearing it. I'm so frustrated, I'm just looking everywhere for a way to nuke it back to where I can load even a stock ROM to get this thing to come back to life. Any ideas??!??!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What was the last known ROM did you install? which android? froyo (2.2), gingerbread 2.3.* or ics?
were you able to mount /data and /dbdata?
what error message did you get?
-- I take it you are not able to go to download mode (Power + Volume Down)?
What happen after you press Power + Volume Down?
If you can go to download mode:
Try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=23348040&postcount=121
if not, try the above link - Retreive .rfs file in .tar and push it using heimdell.
same solution with more instructions:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13470380&postcount=8
hope it will help. If not let's try something else.

So, just for purpose of discussion (I tapped and ended up sending it in to Verizon with stock flashed back on it), it had ICS on it last. It was, jeeze, I can't remember what ROM but it was one of the ICS ROMS for the tab that are out. I used this tab like two days before with ICS running on it and had no issues when I used it but then two days later back in the owners hands it took a huge #*$&. I could mount /dbdata but not /data. It would fail a factory reset or a data wipe/format or a permissions reset every time.
I could get into the download mode for Heimdall to flash various other ROMS to it that would, according to Heimdall, successfully flash but then going in and doing a data wipe would fail to get the ROM to start up properly. I could do custom boot with CWM that is available for TAB but I couldn't get the stock boot loader to come up on stock ROMS. So odd, I appreciate the response because I wasn't sure if anyone would even be able to address such an odd thing.
Oh, on a side note, I could also not do a Dalvak wipe which I know nothing about but know it's important to wipe on occasion between ROMs - if that gives any insight into the real issue. The only thing I can surmise is that, somehow, that /data became corrupt and would not wipe. I thought of looking into ADB commands but whenever I would hook the Tab to my computer I could never get ADB to recognize it no matter what driver I used. Very frustrating to meet your match on tech.

**if it comes back and they wont help, I'll try this method you've posted though. In fact, I should be seeing it back shortly and I'll let you know what they've done.

matt.wolfley said:
**if it comes back and they wont help, I'll try this method you've posted though. In fact, I should be seeing it back shortly and I'll let you know what they've done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Please if you had ICS last, Do NOT flash the .rfs. ICS runs on ext4. But I hope VZW had it fixed for you.

Related

[Q] Interesting boot loop problem.

2 nights ago I thought I would have a go at installing ULTIMATE ROM 3.0. I have flashed many Roms on my Galaxy S before and not had a problem yet. I have ClockworkMod Recovery 2.5.1.0 installed.
However, this time- something went wrong. I don't think the installation completed properly. When I tried to reboot the system (to go back into my previous ROM) I wasn't able to. The Samsung logo appeared before the phone booted back into Recovery mode.
I tried to re-flash my previous working update.zip but had problems. I wasn't able to properly re-flash as the Installation would abort for various reasons. After doing cache clearing and data/factory reset I still had no luck. I resorted to reformatting the sdcard. Still didn't solve the flashing problem.
Throughout the whole time I was able to adb into the phone, browse the file system and I could push files on to it and take files off. But Kies wouldn't recognise the phone and Odin isn't able to complete a transfer to the phone (not sure why).
Today, I am able to successfully flash update.zip files (at least, that's what it looks like) but the phone ALWAYS boots into ClockwordMod recovery.
I am fast running out of ideas. Does anyone have any suggestion?
How can I tell if my ROMs are really 'there' but I can't access them because ClockworkMod is preventing them from booting?
hmmm... me too.. stuck in a loop, that keeps going back to the CWM recovery menu, and no matter what i do, keeps going back to it... cant even get to the download screen to flash (again).... here i was thinking no matter what happens when installing custom roms, i can always flash to my stable secure rom, but not this time... need some software that can perform surgical operations, any suggestions?
bradels said:
2 nights ago I thought I would have a go at installing ULTIMATE ROM 3.0. I have flashed many Roms on my Galaxy S before and not had a problem yet. I have ClockworkMod Recovery 2.5.1.0 installed.
However, this time- something went wrong. I don't think the installation completed properly. When I tried to reboot the system (to go back into my previous ROM) I wasn't able to. The Samsung logo appeared before the phone booted back into Recovery mode.
I tried to re-flash my previous working update.zip but had problems. I wasn't able to properly re-flash as the Installation would abort for various reasons. After doing cache clearing and data/factory reset I still had no luck. I resorted to reformatting the sdcard. Still didn't solve the flashing problem.
Throughout the whole time I was able to adb into the phone, browse the file system and I could push files on to it and take files off. But Kies wouldn't recognise the phone and Odin isn't able to complete a transfer to the phone (not sure why).
Today, I am able to successfully flash update.zip files (at least, that's what it looks like) but the phone ALWAYS boots into ClockwordMod recovery.
I am fast running out of ideas. Does anyone have any suggestion?
How can I tell if my ROMs are really 'there' but I can't access them because ClockworkMod is preventing them from booting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
myrobelle said:
hmmm... me too.. stuck in a loop, that keeps going back to the CWM recovery menu, and no matter what i do, keeps going back to it... cant even get to the download screen to flash (again).... here i was thinking no matter what happens when installing custom roms, i can always flash to my stable secure rom, but not this time... need some software that can perform surgical operations, any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats too bad guys,and i m sorry to hear that news.I would like to havean answer but i dont...
The fact is that since most people in this forum use some custom roms,and all of us think the same,that we can always go back,so it would be great if you give some more details about what happened to you,and mybe why it went wrong,and it would be even better if one of the BIG guys would give some explanation about this...
I already thinking of not updating my rom anymore,dot want to end up in looping too,so lets see if someone will find something.Good luck guys..
By the way,i didnt get it right,CWM recovery cannot load your backup????
I just got an idea,but not sure if or how it would work or not.
Since you can push file with ADB,if soeone made a clean backup with his CWM (o e mail,contacts,setting saved) and send it to you,so that you log in with CWM recovery and flash that ???
Just an idea..maybe stupid dont know...
Its not very clear if youve tried this already but cant you just boot into recovery through adb? or does that not work either?

[Q] phone stuck in boot screen, HELP!

i had network problems (3g stopped working, don't know why), and had an old version of doc's. so i figured i'd install the new version after a wipe, see if that'd fix it.
just to be safe, i went in recovery (clockwork) and restored an earlier backup. it worked, but still no internet. upon remembering that this was the backup i made just after installing docs, i went back to my previous backup, stock rom, i think 2.1.
this is where stuff went wrong. i hadn't disabled the lagfix (forgot which one, i remember i had ext4 as filesystem), and now, no matter what i do, my phone won't go past the boot screen. big lettering galaxy s, smaller gt-i9000 and at the bottom samsung, you know the one.
i tried everything i could imagine. wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache partition, re-restore to the oldest backup. only then did i remember the lagfix and remove it. retried all of those, still no dice.
i can get into recovery mode, both clockwork and 2e, and i can get into download mode.
when i connect my phone to my pc, it doesn't notice. when selecting mount in clockwork, it mounts, and shows the two drives in my computer, but when i try to open one of the drives, i get nothing.
i installed docs rom a while back, and have wiped my pc since then, so i have no files from that. i have installed the android sdk, but don't know how to use it, let alone how to use it with a phone that doesn't show.
all i want is to get back to stock, for now. try again from there.
can i? or have i ruined my phone?
edit:
wow... take about relief.
i used odin to flash xxjpu, 2.2.1, and it seems to have worked!
in case anyone else is stuck on a boot screen, download mode with odin means you're safe.
anyone with more sense than i showed in my stupidity, sorry for adding another semi useless topic.

[Q] Odd Problem - Soft Brick

Hi,
I installed Galaxian Soup 1.5.1 beta a week ago and all has been running fine. This morning the tab was blank like it had run out battery so I put it on charge and found it wasn't dead. Tried to reboot and it's just stuck at the "Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9" screen. I was using it fine last night and haven't changed anything!
I've tried ODIN to restore Stock Recovery which said it passed and worked, but still the same problem. It has removed CWM though. When I try to do anything in Stock Recovery it complains about not being able to mount the /data directory.
Is there anything else I can try, do I need to use ODIN to flash a ROM again? If so, can you tell me which file to use as there are hundreds in the Galaxian Soup zip.
Thanks!
Flash stock rom with Odin. Unfortunately you also need to wipe data in stock recovery for this to work, so you will loose everything.
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately this hasn't worked, it passes in Odin but then on the tablet it says E:failed to mount /data, and "your storage not prepared yet, please use UI for format and reboot actions.
Trying to factory reset fails.
Any other ideas?
OK, a bit more detail. I use ODIN to flash the stock rom found here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1483168
It passes and goes into recovery but complains in red letters about not being able to mount /data, can't access /system/csc/XEU/system in yellow and can't mount /cache or a few other subdirectories.
I select wipe data which appears to work although it complains about make_extf4fs failing on /dev/block/mmcblk0p8. It then complains about not being able to mount /cache and other subdirectories again.
I then select reboot, it complains again about not being able to mount /data and /cache and switches off, not reboot. If I turn it on again I'm straight back to recovery.
Got to be something I'm missing here!
Any input appreciated.
It seems your partition tables are messed up, but i have no idea how this could happen if you didn't flash anything that could cause this, maybe a hardware problem?
There is a way to repartition the tables, you need a PIT file for this. I have not done this myself, so unfortunately i don't know much about it. Try to search for a PIT file, but make sure it's for your tab model, otherwise you can mess it up completely.
Many thanks - that fixed it! For future reference and for anyone searching this thread I found the pit file here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1406137&page=9 and flashed it with ODIN together with the standard firmware I mentioned in the earlier post.
It's not all good news though. The tablet now keeps freezing. Even in recovery while I was trying a factory reset for the freezing. This leads me to believe it may be a hardware problem that caused the original brick and ongoing freezing issues. What do you think? Does it save a dump anywhere when it crashes?
Glad to see it worked. Maybe try to flash the stock rom again, now without the pit file. Also try factory reset in stock recovery. If you are still having problems, then im afraid its a hardware problem.
Yeah, I came to the same conclusion. It was hanging even whilst in stock recovery which means it had to be a hardware problem. Took it back to the shop and got a refund, new one is on it's way.
Bit nervous about ROMing the new one! The only thing I can think of is maybe overclocking damaged the cpu, although I only set it to 1.4Ghz. Or I was attaching a card reader and it was complaining about a service crashing when I removed it. Maybe it would have happened whether I messed with it or not!
Mbuxton said:
Yeah, I came to the same conclusion. It was hanging even whilst in stock recovery which means it had to be a hardware problem. Took it back to the shop and got a refund, new one is on it's way.
Bit nervous about ROMing the new one! The only thing I can think of is maybe overclocking damaged the cpu, although I only set it to 1.4Ghz. Or I was attaching a card reader and it was complaining about a service crashing when I removed it. Maybe it would have happened whether I messed with it or not!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been flashing different roms, kernels and recoveries on my tab for more then 200 times probably. And i have been using Galaxian-Soup AOSP ICS rom with molteys kernel for almost two months. Never had any problems (that i didnt create myself). Never used overclock, but havent heard of anyone who has had problems with it either.

[Q] Need some Help, possible file system issue

I have a Verizon Galaxy tablet 7 inch the original one. I have had many custom roms on it in the past. Recently I had AOKP on it...I am not sure what build. For some reason my kids were playing with it and it would not boot up. I went into recovery and tried flashing AOKP and it would stay locked up on the boot screen. I eventually tried flashing all ICS roms with no success. I eventually ended up trying to go back to stock. I can get into download mode with and communicate with Heimdall and/or Odin. The problem is that every thing I flash goes into a boot loop. when I go into recovery I get an unable to mount error like E: unable to mount cache and one for kernel and about 6 more. I figure that there is something wrong with the file system so I have used a pit file when I flashed with no success. I am not sure if there is an issue with the file system being the wrong type or if I have to many partitions now. I know that the mount error in recovery is where the problem has to be. If someone could please point me in the right direction. I have been all over these forums.
Thanks,
Leroy
In order to determine if it is file related. Try to do a full wipe right after the Odin.
That is all 3 Wipes (Cache,Dalvik,Data)
Also check all the boxes on the right side of the Odin screen to flash the stock rom.
Well I got a little further now it boots up after 5 minutes and states encryption unsuccessful and asks to reset tablet. There is some threads on this so I will get to trying to resolve this. In fact I just realized this is how everything started off I didn't read the message and powered it down. So it must have started on its own or from the kids playing on the tablet.
Is there any way to determine if your internal memory is shot. It seems like there is a problem mounting my internal memory > emmc?

can't flash. Hangs on all writes during flash.

I have a droid bionic that I acquired used that had some major stability issues when I got it. It appeared to be on stock ICS when I got it, so I tried to reflash through rsdlite. The flash just stuck on step 1 of the flash. I've tried HOB method, and every other method I've come across, but all writes to the phone just hang indefinitely. All of the erase steps complete though, and when I've unplugged the USB cable after hanging and plug back in, it will move on to the next erase, copy, write step and hang on the write. So now I have a phone that appears to have every thin wiped during the deletes, and no system of any kind. From day one, when entering recovery I would get several lines about not being able to mount cache etc. The only thing that flashed successfully was a radio flash.
I appreciate any help, but please don't direct me to any more guides unless it is relevant to the can't mount... errors I'm getting. I need to find the reason why no write operations complete and just hang. That's where my problem really lies.
Genaugmen said:
I have a droid bionic that I acquired used that had some major stability issues when I got it. It appeared to be on stock ICS when I got it, so I tried to reflash through rsdlite. The flash just stuck on step 1 of the flash. I've tried HOB method, and every other method I've come across, but all writes to the phone just hang indefinitely. All of the erase steps complete though, and when I've unplugged the USB cable after hanging and plug back in, it will move on to the next erase, copy, write step and hang on the write. So now I have a phone that appears to have every thin wiped during the deletes, and no system of any kind. From day one, when entering recovery I would get several lines about not being able to mount cache etc. The only thing that flashed successfully was a radio flash.
I appreciate any help, but please don't direct me to any more guides unless it is relevant to the can't mount... errors I'm getting. I need to find the reason why no write operations complete and just hang. That's where my problem really lies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i recently had issues with rsdlite but eventually got it working with jb4.1.2.
i am using 5.7 and erased a couple things from the xml file to get it working. if you dont care of root install 4.1.2
podagee said:
i recently had issues with rsdlite but eventually got it working with jb4.1.2.
i am using 5.7 and erased a couple things from the xml file to get it working. if you dont care of root install 4.1.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried to flash individual parts of the the fxz but it still hangs on every write operation no matter what method I try. I'm becoming convinced it's a hardware fault. I've tried several versions of rsdlite. I can't get one package to complete a write operation. I've seen others with similar problems, but none that couldn't get make at least some progress with a flash, even if they had trouble getting it fully flashed. Unfortunately, the erase commands for the different methods I tried did complete without issue, so now I have no system at all it seems.

Categories

Resources