Database Develop

Help to remove disastrous apk - please android Wizards

I REALLY need some assistance, think I screwed my phone, really want to avoid a hard wipe.
I installed Lockbot the other day, has some issues with dual lock layers (i.e. the lockbot app wasn't disabling my HTC lock so I had two unlocks.). emailed dev and he sent me a beta version to hopefully correct issue. I only received an apk file from him.
FYI I am on fresh 1.1, rooted.
I used the kitchen to puch this file: "LockBotPro_1.10.0_beta.apk" to /system/app.
The install went successfully, but later after a reboot I face a HUGE issue. The lockbot app is hanging upon reboot and will not unlock. At first I thought i would still be okay, I had ATK and Advanced Task manager both running at start up, so I can enter both of them through my notification drop down menu. I used both to kill the task-to no avail it is still locked. I tried to use advanced task manager to uninstall lockbot - to no avail, it cannot be removed.
Then I tried to pull back the file through kitchen, to no avail.
I don't know what to do. I cannot get my phone to unlock and i cannot pull the file off through adb or kitchen. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA ON HOW TO FIX THIS??????

I would suggest pulling the battery and rebooting into recovery then use adb to cd to system/app and use rm to remove the apk that way and then boot the phone

wtphoto said:
I would suggest pulling the battery and rebooting into recovery then use adb to cd to system/app and use rm to remove the apk that way and then boot the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried to pull the file in both adb and in kitchen. Would it have installed as something other than the name I pushed it under?

Even if the phone is hard locking (kind of rare of android. even in all the stupid f'd up things I've done I've only hard locked my phone to the point that I couldn't even get in to adb once or twice) then the file system is still completely accessible while it's booting up. You can use the "pull any file" from the kitchen and check off that you want it to delete it after it's done. Just get it all queued up in the kitchen and then power on your phone. Once it gets passed the HTC logo wait a few seconds and then run the pull file from the kitchen. Should work just fine for you.
The alternative (if you are comfortable with adb) would be to boot your phone in to recovery (can also be done through the kitchen, even when it's in the middle of booting) and then type the following from a command prompt:
adb shell mount /system
adb shell rm /system/app/your-application.apk
FYI for future reference you should push these types of applications to /data/app. Your hard locks could either be caused by the fact that the beta just broke things, or it could be that you have a copy of it in both /data/app and in /system/app.

the problem is that you dont want to just pull the file all that does is create a copy of the file where ever you pull it to you need to use the rm cmd to actually remove the file and have you tried to do this from the recovery menu before the phone boots? I mean I am by no means an expert but commonsence says that if you do it in the recovery menu that it would be gone when the phone actually boots and the problem would be gone.
edit: sweet im not a complete noob anymore I was right about removing from the recovery. flipz explained it better though.

thanks flipz, I'm going to try this. I will try via adb first, then via kitchen. Last time kitchen gave me a message to "post" but I didn't figure I would catch you online. Hope you're still around in 15-20. thanks for the how-to!

TF1984 said:
thanks flipz, I'm going to try this. I will try via adb first, then via kitchen. Last time kitchen gave me a message to "post" but I didn't figure I would catch you online. Hope you're still around in 15-20. thanks for the how-to!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be here.

hmmm. I think I've really screwed something up.
I opened CMD, ran adb, here's where I am and what I have (fyi I get the same thing no matter in Recovery, boot or after normal start up)... and I use apps2sd
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell mount /system
mount: cannot read /etc/fstab: No such file or directory
If I use Kitchen to pull file: It says "Files Deleted".
Now on my Hero, after fresh reboot...
Well maybe it's okay. But now many of my apps are giving FC error. AHH Crap!!!
That app is demonic... LockBot, I'm gonna get my moula back!

TF1984 said:
hmmm. I think I've really screwed something up.
I opened CMD, ran adb, here's where I am and what I have (fyi I get the same thing no matter in Recovery, boot or after normal start up)... and I use apps2sd
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell mount /system
mount: cannot read /etc/fstab: No such file or directory
If I use Kitchen to pull file: It says "Files Deleted".
Now on my Hero, after fresh reboot...
Well maybe it's okay. But now many of my apps are giving FC error. AHH Crap!!!
That app is demonic... LockBot, I'm gonna get my moula back!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a nandroid backup... don't you? Actually what you can try doing is flashing fresh right on top of itself. You won't lose any settings and it will overwrite everything in /system/app.

I haven't made a recent Nandroid backup.
All of my third party apps are giving FC upon trying to execute any action within them. I think I might just reinstall each. I think something happened with my sdcard through this process trying to get rid of lockbot. Not sure.
If I flash fresh it wouldn't remove any data right, will anything change? I think I remember last time I flashed it I even retained my scenes and all, but I have a bad memory. I guess I'll give it a go.

TF1984 said:
I haven't made a recent Nandroid backup.
All of my third party apps are giving FC upon trying to execute any action within them. I think I might just reinstall each. I think something happened with my sdcard through this process trying to get rid of lockbot. Not sure.
If I flash fresh it wouldn't remove any data right, will anything change? I think I remember last time I flashed it I even retained my scenes and all, but I have a bad memory. I guess I'll give it a go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea so in general when it comes to the phone /system should remain untouched and /data is where all saved settings and market apps go. Obviously we change that by rooting the phone and creating custom roms. But that concept still applies when flashing a rom. It will only wipe /system and not /data (unless the rom dev does something wrong heh).

Flipz I swear one day I am going to make a sizeable donation to you. If I can only find some extra money.
I think you have helped in every issue I have had after rooting, there haven't been many but you are always helpful when I run into trouble.

Well I flashed 1.1 again, but it didn't help to fix the FC on every app.
Guess I will just remove and install each one by one. This will make for a good time to review each app and decide which I should part with for non-use.
Thanks again, my lock issue is resolved!
Maybe I'll try the lockbot again but install to app/data as you suggested in earlier posting.

TF1984 said:
Well I flashed 1.1 again, but it didn't help to fix the FC on every app.
Guess I will just remove and install each one by one. This will make for a good time to review each app and decide which I should part with for non-use.
Thanks again, my lock issue is resolved!
Maybe I'll try the lockbot again but install to app/data as you suggested in earlier posting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be worth it for you to try clearing your dalvik-cache to see if it fixes your FC's. If that doesn't work then my guess is you are using apps2sd and the symlink got broken somewhere along the way.
And no problem.

Yes I am using apps2sd. I tried the davlik clear cache in kitchen earlier today in attempt to fix the lockbot (I don't know, figured maybe it would work since i have no idea what that does to begin with).
Question, I did pull my sd card out earlier while the phone was off. Then booted and it only went into a boot loop, is that likely to have caused the FCs?
Does that mean that I cannot ever remove the sd card at all or will always cause this problem...cause that would friggin suck a big one!

flipzmode said:
Yea so in general when it comes to the phone /system should remain untouched and /data is where all saved settings and market apps go. Obviously we change that by rooting the phone and creating custom roms. But that concept still applies when flashing a rom. It will only wipe /system and not /data (unless the rom dev does something wrong heh).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4942088&postcount=2 -- post #2 from the fresh rom thread from back in november.
The reason I don't like it is because it puts your phone at a huge risk of having problems once anything goes wrong. If you install a program that causes issues, a nandroid backup will not resolve the issue because the application is installed on your SD card not your phone. If your phone starts going crazy as reported here and here, then even just a restore possibly won't fix it. You might need to go as far as to wipe your SD card too. If you are lucky enough to have a restore fix your problems you will still need to reinstall every app, even if you didn't wipe your card. And on top of that when you try to reinstall any app it will think it's still installed, even though you restored your phone. But when you click "uninstall" it will just freeze half the time because there's nothing on the phone for it to actually install. I have also read many threads that say if you happen to boot the phone up without the SD card in then it will screw everything up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

yikes.
I guess it is a gamble, do I want the space provided while keeping apps on my card (I do have A LOT of apps) or do I go the safe route?
Hmmm. thanks again. Quick question, earlier you said I needed to install that apk in data/app, not system/app. I pushed it back via kitchen to data/app and it isn't showing up anywhere. Was there an additional step I am not aware of?

TF1984 said:
yikes.
I guess it is a gamble, do I want the space provided while keeping apps on my card (I do have A LOT of apps) or do I go the safe route?
Hmmm. thanks again. Quick question, earlier you said I needed to install that apk in data/app, not system/app. I pushed it back via kitchen to data/app and it isn't showing up anywhere. Was there an additional step I am not aware of?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you aren't forgetting the leading slash. /data/app not data/app. But no, nothing special. That should work. Although if using apps2sd you might want to push to /data/sd/app. It should work regardless because a2sd sets up a symlink but if your stuff is messed up then it might not be working right.

TF1984 said:
hmmm. I think I've really screwed something up.
I opened CMD, ran adb, here's where I am and what I have (fyi I get the same thing no matter in Recovery, boot or after normal start up)... and I use apps2sd
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell mount /system
mount: cannot read /etc/fstab: No such file or directory
If I use Kitchen to pull file: It says "Files Deleted".
Now on my Hero, after fresh reboot...
Well maybe it's okay. But now many of my apps are giving FC error. AHH Crap!!!
That app is demonic... LockBot, I'm gonna get my moula back!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Type this command in to mount:
mount -o rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
That will mount the /system volume and put it in read-write mode.
Once you are finished deleting the file, type:
umount /system
Then reboot the phone.
Edit: If you want to mount the /data volume, type: mount -o rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock5 /data

[Q] Camera Force Close after OTA

Hello Everyone,
So I unfroze all of my apps in Titanium Backup and flashed the OTA that is posted in the development forum for the Droid 3 and it seems to have worked great other than one small problem. Every time I try to use the camera or camcorder they will open for about 2-3 seconds and then they close and I end up back at my home screen. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can try to make my camera apps work again?
EDIT: Sorry, forgot to mention that I did try rebooting the phone as well as clearing the cache for the camera app, no change. Also Camera Zoom FX stays open but just has black where the camera image would normally be.
Thanks!

Maybe you... forgot to unfreeze the camera app lol.
No but id check what you do have frozen, maybe there's a service the camera app is dependent upon you might have accidentally frozen (assuming you rerooted after update)
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

I did re-root after applying the OTA update and then I froze about 15 apps that I found to be annoying/un-needed, however even after unfreezing all of them, any app involving the camera still isn't working. I also just noticed that my flashlight app that worked before the OTA is not working either.

First thing I would try is "clear data" for the Camera app and reboot.

rtbrjason said:
First thing I would try is "clear data" for the Camera app and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that a couple of times but no change. I just also noticed that the camera app flashes a small message up at the bottom of the screen really quickly stating that the camera is unable to initialize.

Uninstall any third-party app that uses the camera (if you have any) the try again.

kishin14 said:
Uninstall any third-party app that uses the camera (if you have any) the try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the suggestion, I hadn't thought of that. Unfortunately that did not work either. No change, still getting the same message for about a second or two and then it closes.

Try re-uploading the camera apk and odex files, might need to set permissions the same as the other system apps.
Unzip and use something like rootexplorer, delete current BlurCamera.apk and BlurCamera.odex, set write access on system/app folder then copy these.
-smc

The problem is the camera firmware, amongst other things, is first deleted and then replaced during the OTA update - if something happens, that firmware is never copied back causing the camera to fail.
The problem I had was too much stuff installed in /system and it simply ran out of space. This also caused my recovery to fail to update which then failed checksum if I tried to boot to recovery.
I had a bunch of binaries I installed in /system/xbin taking up several MB of space. I deleted them - including busybox - and reran the update. Now everything works fine.
If your recovery is hosed, I posted how to fix in the update thread.
If you need help and haven't wiped /cache yet, post /cache/recovery/last_log

limaxray said:
The problem is the camera firmware, amongst other things, is first deleted and then replaced during the OTA update - if something happens, that firmware is never copied back causing the camera to fail.
The problem I had was too much stuff installed in /system and it simply ran out of space. This also caused my recovery to fail to update which then failed checksum if I tried to boot to recovery.
I had a bunch of binaries I installed in /system/xbin taking up several MB of space. I deleted them - including busybox - and reran the update. Now everything works fine.
If your recovery is hosed, I posted how to fix in the update thread.
If you need help and haven't wiped /cache yet, post /cache/recovery/last_log
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also, one note, i'm seeing alot of people reporting issues with the stock apps AFTER they've removed bloat (any method). the first thing people should do is put the bloat back, or in worse case scenario, do a wipe to see if there's really something wrong.
i froze an email service and it cause my text messenger to stop working. you don't know what libraries are shared with what. freeze with caution.

640k said:
also, one note, i'm seeing alot of people reporting issues with the stock apps AFTER they've removed bloat (any method). the first thing people should do is put the bloat back, or in worse case scenario, do a wipe to see if there's really something wrong.
i froze an email service and it cause my text messenger to stop working. you don't know what libraries are shared with what. freeze with caution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, and would suggest to anyone to use the script for removing and replacing the bloat - it makes it much easier to do (especially from adb when you foul it up) and keeps track of what you've done.
That said, I highly doubt that is the issue here. The update script first checksums everything that needs to be patched and deletes everything that is to be replaced. So if you have anything removed, it will either cause it to fail (if the file is to be patched) or not matter (if it is to be deleted or simply isn't touched). In other words, if you have anything missing that is needed, the update wouldn't touch anything.
Furthermore, I don't think any of the commonly removed bloatware serves as a dependency for the camera. At least not as far as I can tell.
I can tell you that /system is filled to the brim with all of the bloatware. The current ROM is just barely shoehorned in there. Many 'for-root-users' apps like to install stuff to /system and since the updater script doesn't check for free space, it may very well fail to extract in the middle of execution even though it already deleted a bunch of files.
So I think more importantly than restoring bloat, you should remove anything you added.

I tried your directions and re-ran the update after fixing recovery, however my camera still doesn't work because of the same basic issue, running out of space before the update completed. Upon re-rooting and going in to my system directory with root explorer I noticed that I now only have 195k free there. I checked the xbin folder and do not see busybox or anything else there that I recognize that I could delete to free up space. How can I tell what is safe to delete and what isn't so I can free up enough to fix my recovery again and hopefully get the update to work properly?

You can see a breakdown of disk usage with this command:
Code:
du -sh /system/*
Here's mine with busybox removed:
Code:
147.6M /system/app
7.5M /system/bin
11.0K /system/build.prop
5.5M /system/etc
5.1M /system/fonts
35.5M /system/framework
75.7M /system/lib
1.0K /system/lost+found
19.2M /system/media
0 /system/preinstall
304.0K /system/recovery-from-boot.p
4.6M /system/tts
8.3M /system/usr
135.0K /system/xbin
And my free space is
Code:
$ df /system
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/system 320M 317M 2M 1024
Other than su, the only files you need in xbin are (don't worry about the symlinks)
Code:
backup dexdump drm1_func_test run_backup run_restore ssmgrd
I think the only extra bits I now have on /system is su.
I also found the system dump from this post to be very helpful.

Whenever I'm trying du It's saying that the command wasn't found. What are you using for your terminal access?

Hmm it seems du isn't a standard binary even though I have it in bin. I sure don't remember putting that in there...
Anyway, I use adb or Better Terminal Emulator Pro, depending what mood on in.
To use adb, you'll need to install busybox to /data somewhere (I have mine in /data/local/bin) and use
Code:
$ /data/local/bin/busybox du -sh /system/*
BTEP has a fairly complete set of CLI tools included - such as du - so you don't need busybox.

I figured out how to do the command through busybox and have come up with some interesting results...
I am over yours on...
Code:
153.8M /system/app
1.9M /system/xbin
I am under yours on...
Code:
4.7M /system/bin
4.9M /system/etc
71.8M /system/lib
And I match yours on...
Code:
11.0K /system/build.prop
5.1M /system/fonts
35.5M /system/framework
1.0K /system/lost+found
19.2M /system/media
0 /system/preinstall
304.0K /system/recovery-from-boot.p
4.6M /system/tts
8.3M /system/usr
This is with busybox installed in the xbin folder so that is probably why I am over on that one, however the app folder is quite a bit over as well but I can't figure out why. The only file that I can find in there that doesn't seem to belong is Superuser.apk but it is only 191k.
UPDATE: I finally found a large app that wasn't present in the system dump that you had mentioned before. I backed it up to my sd card and removed it, went through the update, and now my camera is working. Thank you very much to everyone who helped, especially limaxray!

Glad I was able to help!

This is a great example for why we should always wipe data/cache before any rom update.

dsw361 said:
This is a great example for why we should always wipe data/cache before any rom update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That wouldn't have helped here at all. If anything, it would have made it impossible to use adb in case of a boot loop.
These are not like community ROM updates and don't need anything wiped.

limaxray said:
That wouldn't have helped here at all. If anything, it would have made it impossible to use adb in case of a boot loop.
These are not like community ROM updates and don't need anything wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. the last thing I would do is wipe data/cache if we encountered a bootloop. Adb is so important to us right now because we don't have a custom recovery or an sbf.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

[BOOTSTRAP] Custom Safestrap v1.08f Released - 4-16-2012

Huge thanks to Hashcode for all his hard work thus far, what with the totally ingenious Safestrap and his latest victories with CM9. I hope this helps somebody out and that at least *someone* out there thinks this is as cool as I do.
Pushing OK+Backspace will force the console to kick you out back into the recovery, in case you get stuck. Keep in mind that the console is pretty powerful but also really dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Although, you'll never learn how to do anything awesome unless you get your hands dirty.
The Microphone button is now ESC, command history works, tab-autocompletion works via either the hardware Tab key or by pushing OK+i, and you can scroll back up through the text one line at at time with Alt+Up or Alt+Down or in chunks of 8 lines with Shift+Up and Shift+Down. Home is the home softkey, or the Search button on the keyboard, and End is the Power button. You could also push OK+A or OK+E for Home and End, respectively.
Make sure you uninstall Safestrap and then remove the application before you install this one. I just jacked Hashcode's .apk and stuffed my new binaries inside the .zips, if you don't want to bother with uninstalling and reinstalling the .apk, you can extract the recovery.zip and 2nd-init.zip from the archive and push them both to /system/etc/safestrap and reboot. Enjoy.
..............................................................
EDIT: I finally got my act together and put my modified sources on github:
http://github.com/buddyrich/android_bootable_recovery
............…………………………………………
EDIT: Just finished up my latest update to this branch of Hashcode/Koush's work. Added:
-Use numbers on the hardware keyboard to select menu entries. Got really tired of scrolling around and thought this would make things a bit quicker.
-Scrolling/repeating keys. Holding in for longer than about half a second will repeat even faster now, similar to a real terminal on a PC for instance.
-vim statically compiled to avoid the need for any external libs (ie: having /system or /systemorig mounted). Full color support and syntax is working great now; the only thing missing is background colors, which will be tricky to implement.
-a $HOME directory is now made at /emmc/safestrap/home. This is set up when the .apk is installed; it isn't necessary so it can be deleted if you want, but it is required if you want to have a persistent command history in bash as well as the ability to customize your .bashrc and .vimrc files. Most of you won't really know what this means, but if you do you'll probably appreciate it.
-Revamped all the menus and made everything look a little cooler. Let me know what you guys think! I got rid of the highlighting box that shows which menu entry is currently selected and changed it to simply highlight the text in white to distinguish from the green/yellow menus; I think it's a little easier on the eyes but some feedback would be cool. It wouldn't be very hard to allow the users to customize the menu colours themselves via external files placed on the sdcard/through a menu option.
-Fixed the issue some people were having with restoring to /systemorig; there aren't any more issues mounting/unmounting /systemorig or /system during a restore
-Probably many more things I've forgotten
-.bashrc tweaks, fixed a few aliases, nothing major
-You can flash updates from either safe or non-safe mode now, look in the advanced menu. Really though, be careful and remember to make backups of your /systemorig partitions. Don't say I didn't warn you! Guaranteed, someone out there will complain that they broke their phone so I was pretty hesitant to let that out in the wild, but I know I've found myself in the situation where I could've used it so there you have it.
Let me know if anyone finds any issues, I've done a pretty thorough job testing this over the last few weeks but there's always something to be missed. The new .apk is over the size limit to be posted in the forum due to the new bash and vim binaries and the vim runtime files, so you can download the new version from my dropbox here:
Safestrap (Tweaked) v1.08e for Droid 3
http://db.tt/CArenxr7
EDIT:
----------------------
Just finished thoroughly testing my latest release and think it's ready for human consumption! Another batch of sweet additions:
1) Proper implementation of /systemorig flashing while in non-safe mode... without any modifications needed to the updater-script present in any flashable zip. Even if the updater-script inside the. zip file you are flashing targets "/system", if you confirm it about three times in non-safe mode it will know to copy the files onto /systemorig to replace your stock system.
You can install Gingerbread-based ROMs such as MavROM 3.5 to the stock /system partition while in non-safe mode via the Advanced menu. Safestrap will backup and afterwards restore it's own files needed to ensure you can still get back in after a flash of the /systemorig partition. Note that flashing your original /system partition with an ICS ROM won't work yet because they need custom init.*.rc scripts in place during the 2nd-init process; this isn't hard to do but I was getting anxious to get something out so it'll have to wait until next time.
2) Redesign of the layout for the menus, much more organized
/* 3) Allow for rebooting directly into the recovery, either via the shell command "reboot recovery" or through the Reboot Menu */
// EDIT: Seemed to be causing some users to persistently boot straight into the recovery so on the backburner for now
4) Allow for custom colors for either safe or non-safe mode; to change the colors for now you have to execute a few little shell commands. Here's an example to change safe mode colors to a blue-grey and then non-safe mode colors to maroon:
Code:
s_rgb 139 137 137
ns_rgb 127 34 10
cc
Basically, "s_rgb" sets the colors for safe-mode and the three arguments (139 137 137 in the above example) are the codes for the red, green and blue components of the end result; you can look up rgb color codes for your own custom colors. "ns_rgb" is the command for non-safe colors. "cc" just tells the recovery to update the colors to whatever they've been changed to. If you don't like what you've done and just want to revert back to the stock ones, you can just wipe your /cache partition and they'll go back to normal.
Eventually I thought it'd be cool to be able to do this via the recovery UI but I haven't been able to envision how it would work yet.
5) Added background colors/highlighting in the console now, makes vim look a lot prettier. If there's anyone out there who cares, I preinstalled a few plugins (MiniBufExplorer, MRU (most recently used files), bash-style path completion, etc.)
Also, changed the cursor from the big ol' ugly white block to an easier-on-the-eyes one-character underline.
Yeah, it's overboard.
6) Much faster backups and somewhat quicker restores now. I clocked full backups (including /systemorig and ~350mb /data partition) at around 2 mins and full restores at around 7 minutes. Also fixed up the progress bars so they give a more accurate representation of how much longer the backup/restore will be.
7) Moved $HOME and other misc. Safestrap files to /cache instead of the /sdcard
8) Probably half a dozen other OCD details that I've already forgotten.
Test it out and let me know what you guys think!
As always, sources are posted on my github:
https://github.com/buddyrich/android_bootable_recovery
You can get the new .apk here:
Safestrap (Tweaked) 1.08f for Droid 3
http://db.tt/u4vAwv2u

i need this about 6 hrs ago lol.

Quite useful mate cheers.
=smc

Thank you so much for sharing this file. Your work is greatly appreciated.

This is a nice little(big)addition to safestrap! Thanks for adding it in!

I can't think of any better use for Christmas Eve than coding a bash console into recovery! Merry Christmas to the D3! Thank You!

Sounds good. I haven't grabbed it yet (as I need to keep my own customised Safestrap for ME863 nandroid support) but one thing I'd note is that the "OK" button (i.e. trackball click) is used for "Control" in Console+, and the console in Amon_RA's HTC Dream recovery. That saves you losing the @^ key.
Edit: Also: Source? Sounds like something that could be pushed upstream. I always found the console in Amon_RA's recovery very useful, missed it on my current device, when I didn't have a computer with ADB handy.

TBBIe,
I have an XT860, so I'm curious to see if this would work on your ME863. I remember seeing a post of yours a few months ago mentioning issues with the preinstall and data partitions (I think it seemed that the data partition was extended into the first bytes of the preinstall partition, rendering it unmountable during init) that should also have affected the XT860, but I have never experienced any issues with the partitions since Hashcode released v1.06.
I'll commit my sources to github shortly so you have take a look.

I am trying to get through the preinstall problem myself after flahing xt883 and I was wondering if I could fix it with this?
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

Hey there guys, Village Idiot here...I've been successfully using Hash's SafeStrap for a while now and wanted to try this one out. What's the difference here? Just by looking at it, I can't tell. It seems better from what everyone is saying, but I have no idea how to utilize it. Would you mind dumbing it down for Simple Jack over here? Thanks.

redsox985 said:
Hey there guys, Village Idiot here...I've been successfully using Hash's SafeStrap for a while now and wanted to try this one out. What's the difference here? Just by looking at it, I can't tell. It seems better from what everyone is saying, but I have no idea how to utilize it. Would you mind dumbing it down for Simple Jack over here? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has a console option included, allowing you to run shell commands, which could potentially save your butt if used right.
Otherwise it the same
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Endoroid said:
It has a console option included, allowing you to run shell commands, which could potentially save your butt if used right.
Otherwise it the same
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which it just did lmao..hash really needs to include this in his release!
Once again thanks for this mod it is PERFECT!

ovelayer said:
Which it just did lmao..hash really needs to include this in his release!
Once again thanks for this mod it is PERFECT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I'm sure I'll be damn thankful at some point. Made a point of installinng it
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Rick#2 said:
I have an XT860, so I'm curious to see if this would work on your ME863. I remember seeing a post of yours a few months ago mentioning issues with the preinstall and data partitions (I think it seemed that the data partition was extended into the first bytes of the preinstall partition, rendering it unmountable during init) that should also have affected the XT860, but I have never experienced any issues with the partitions since Hashcode released v1.06.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The difference is the other way 'round. The /data partition is extended backwards over the end of the /preinstall partition.
It doesn't cause problems during init, it was causing nandroid to fail mounting /system, and presumably would make switching to safe-mode fail (although I never tried)
My patch to fix this for nandroid was based on 1.06. The only way this could be 'fixed completely' in safestrap was if safestrap had had repartitioning code added at some point to resize /data back down and grow /preinstall to be large enough to hold a safe system. And Hashcode'd said he didn't have time or real inclination to do that, I thought.
I'm fairly strapped for time at the moment, so I don't know when I'll have a chance to look at the source and/or try out your build. But it's definitely somewhere in my TODO list. ^_^

orry for dumb question...ok, i wanr root my friends drodi 3,i think i know how to do it using the one click software the same i used to root my bionic,now to order to go into custom recovery i need install this apk file am i right,i mean is the same as in bionics bootstrap???? sorr y for noob qustion ,just that i dont speak english very well so i need be 100% sure what am doing thanks again,,btw do u know if the last wifi tethering works on this droid 3???

@rick#2
I'm running CM9 for daily use, but it's a bit wobbly at times, so I run 7.1 as the "non-safe" system. The big limitation to this is that I can't maintain the 7.1 fallback properly as hashcode deliberately disabled installing zips in non-safe mode.
If the wife has forgiven you by now - any chance of adding the ability to install .zips when in non-safe mode?
The alternative is to keep swapping bootstraps all the time, and all it takes is one late night sleepy mistake to stop the device booting one system or both.

I'm in favor of this as well, and have even mentioned it in the main SS thread. Could you add flashing to non-safe, but say with like 3 layers of warnings saying something like "THIS IS YOUR NON-SAFE, MAIN SYSTEM. FLASHING HERE CAN BRICK YOU."
This would be really nice because it's a PITA to keep switching strappers, albeit it easy, just a burden.

This is a great hack! I was considering doing this myself but you beat me to it! BTW, is your modified source code on github or somewhere like that, or can you send it to me if not? Thanks again!

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates to this thread. Been buuuusy.
I made an account on github about two weeks ago, but still haven't gotten the chance to upload the sources there, for those of you who are interested. I'll do that shortly.
I've got a new version I'll put up pretty soon, just need to do some more testing. I've enabled scrolling (ie: holding a key down to repeat it as opposed to requiring you to push it each time) but have to iron a few things out, and I'd like to add another menu enabling some of the (somewhat dangerous although useful if you know what you're doing) features some of you have requested.

Rick#2 said:
Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates to this thread. Been buuuusy.
I made an account on github about two weeks ago, but still haven't gotten the chance to upload the sources there, for those of you who are interested. I'll do that shortly.
I've got a new version I'll put up pretty soon, just need to do some more testing. I've enabled scrolling (ie: holding a key down to repeat it as opposed to requiring you to push it each time) but have to iron a few things out, and I'd like to add another menu enabling some of the (somewhat dangerous although useful if you know what you're doing) features some of you have requested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude you rock!
Sence you introduced your mod i have used nothing else..
The scrolling feature would be a HUGE improvement i agree ..
Also it would be nice if you could flash on the non-safe system as well..
Hope you can get er done..
I allways seem to watch this thread for updated..i really hope you can continue this adventure without the wife killing you lol..stay real!
---------- Post added at 12:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 PM ----------
denpad2010 said:
orry for dumb question...ok, i wanr root my friends drodi 3,i think i know how to do it using the one click software the same i used to root my bionic,now to order to go into custom recovery i need install this apk file am i right,i mean is the same as in bionics bootstrap???? sorr y for noob qustion ,just that i dont speak english very well so i need be 100% sure what am doing thanks again,,btw do u know if the last wifi tethering works on this droid 3???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey bro if you want wifi teather look up android-wifi-teather..it works!

Samsung site link affects S7

Here's a odd one!
I was using my S7 to research an issue with my Samsung LED Smart TV. I found a How To, noticed a file path at the top of the page and backed up one page. It had several links, one of which was "How to Power Cycle a Customers Network". That sounded interesting so I clicked on it.
As soon as I clicked on the link my S7 turned OFF. I turned it back ON and it was stuck on the Dell logo. I pinned holed and tried again. It stuck again.
I booted into the recovery menu and tried to boot from there but it again got stuck. I had to do a factory reset. I use My BackUp Pro with a external SD card, it wasn't that painful and other than my email to setup, I'm back up.
Anyone see anything like this before?
Here a link to the nasty page for the brave to try: http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?idx=151038&modelname=&modelcode=&session_id=P7mLwJcB60VpLrLWp3vgvhhXtfh2XSS3p78q2QlvhT3McsST29T1%21-1964052360%211228160092%211329276619709

Went to all the links on that page with no ill effects. You're Streak was just ready for a clean install

cdzo72 said:
Went to all the links on that page with no ill effects. You're Streak was just ready for a clean install
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did a full factory reset around 1/7/12. Is the Android OS so fragile that it requires frequent resets? Your not running a stock S7 as I am, are you?
I suppose it was that it just shut off instead of a normal power off sequence that did the damage.

wptski said:
I just did a full factory reset around 1/7/12. Is the Android OS so fragile that it requires frequent resets? Your not running a stock S7 as I am, are you?
I suppose it was that it just shut off instead of a normal power off sequence that did the damage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not fragile at all, it's about maintenance, just like a PC... you regularly need to wipe your app and dalvik caches just like you do disk cleanups and defrags on a PC.
You should clean up obsolete databases on your internal and external sd cards.... all those types of things. Many of us don't know what it is to have one single install of a ROM running for that long on our devices as we are constantly flashing updates and fixes, and a after a couple of those come around you naturally combine those into a package and flash clean from a factory reset.
But to answer your other question is no, I have never had stock ROM on any of my devices for no longer than it took me to go in and just have a peek at it to compare it to what I would be about to flash.

cdzo72 said:
It's not fragile at all, it's about maintenance, just like a PC... you regularly need to wipe your app and dalvik caches just like you do disk cleanups and defrags on a PC.
You should clean up obsolete databases on your internal and external sd cards.... all those types of things. Many of us don't know what it is to have one single install of a ROM running for that long on our devices as we are constantly flashing updates and fixes, and a after a couple of those come around you naturally combine those into a package and flash clean from a factory reset.
But to answer your other question is no, I have never had stock ROM on any of my devices for no longer than it took me to go in and just have a peek at it to compare it to what I would be about to flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure that a reset must wipe everything out, true? A reset barely a month ago. Your saying that monthly maintenance is needed?
I don't reinstall Windows monthly as that's a last resort at any time.

NOt a montly factory reset, but every week or so I wipe app caches and dalvik caches and let them rebuild themselves from use.... On Froyo for the S7 this is easily done through Clockwork Mod, but in Honeycomb and ICS I use SD Maid to clean app caches and another app called DroidTeaker to wipe the dalvik cache.

cdzo72 said:
NOt a montly factory reset, but every week or so I wipe app caches and dalvik caches and let them rebuild themselves from use.... On Froyo for the S7 this is easily done through Clockwork Mod, but in Honeycomb and ICS I use SD Maid to clean app caches and another app called DroidTeaker to wipe the dalvik cache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both for rooted devices and no good for me.

wptski said:
Both for rooted devices and no good for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) well I have to tell ya, an android device that aint rooted just about isn't much more than a paperweight, so I have to ask why haven't you rooted?
2) I can't remember what version you're running on your S7, freshen my memory please

cdzo72 said:
1) well I have to tell ya, an android device that aint rooted just about isn't much more than a paperweight, so I have to ask why haven't you rooted?
2) I can't remember what version you're running on your S7, freshen my memory please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read, read and read then I read about some that appeared to have bricked theirs! They ask questions, get answers that are maybe too techy for the average user. Never hear that they solved the issue and I have to "assume" that they had to sent it back for service.
I've never read to date a real "Whatever for Dummies". Anyone can create a post full of links to other posts. What may seem simple to one isn't simple to another. Some have forgotten when they knew nothing.
There are probably more non-rooted S7's out there than rooted ones with perfectly happy users. Of course, there are the ones that get rooted, etc. right out of the box and a few that don't work after that too.
Like my signature states, I have a stock HC 3.2 with build 21700.
Getting back to the Android OS not being fragile. I had a misunderstanding of sdcard meant as in doing an update from sdcard which really means sdcard2 or external. I put the 514 update.pkg in the S7's internal memory. It errored and got stuck on the Dell logo. That was one factory reset because it couldn't handle that error or recover from it properly. Get a SD card and put update.pkg on the SD card. Get a file name mismatch error this time but it does reboot. Read up a bit and find something to rename to Update.pkg. Worked like a charm. Why was it case sensitive for me but maybe not for others??

wptski said:
I've read, read and read then I read about some that appeared to have bricked theirs! They ask questions, get answers that are maybe too techy for the average user. Never hear that they solved the issue and I have to "assume" that they had to sent it back for service.
I've never read to date a real "Whatever for Dummies". Anyone can create a post full of links to other posts. What may seem simple to one isn't simple to another. Some have forgotten when they knew nothing.
There are probably more non-rooted S7's out there than rooted ones with perfectly happy users. Of course, there are the ones that get rooted, etc. right out of the box and a few that don't work after that too.
Like my signature states, I have a stock HC 3.2 with build 21700.
Getting back to the Android OS not being fragile. I had a misunderstanding of sdcard meant as in doing an update from sdcard which really means sdcard2 or external. I put the 514 update.pkg in the S7's internal memory. It errored and got stuck on the Dell logo. That was one factory reset because it couldn't handle that error or recover from it properly. Get a SD card and put update.pkg on the SD card. Get a file name mismatch error this time but it does reboot. Read up a bit and find something to rename to Update.pkg. Worked like a charm. Why was it case sensitive for me but maybe not for others??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) rooting any android device WILL NOT brick it... what the user does AFTER rooting may render it useless and them have to start all over
2) rooting the S7 is as easy as putting the Superuser7.zip file on the external sd, flashing it through Clockwork Mod and that's that, takes about 2 minutes
3) have no idea why for some their recoveries are case sensitive, but the general consensus is that the update.pkg was corrupt to begin with more than likely. I have had problems downloading zip files and update.pkg files in Chrome and Internet Explorer, Firefox consistently gives me a clean file and checksum so I have never experiences the problem. The other issue is not using the correct stock recovery for the package being flashed.
4) when you tried to flash the 514 package and it got stuck on the Dell logo, then it sounds to me you have a glitch in your inner sd, it should not have flashed anything that would make it stick at the Dell logo if there was a problem with the file, thus that may be your entire problem, you have a problem internally that just hasn't truly reared it's ugly head...
5) my personal suggestion would be to flash DJ Steve's Honeycomb R2 ROM via NVFlash, that will wipe clean the innerSD and it's partitions, so any problem there may have been would get cleared up by the process. Then if you still want to remain stock you can flash the factory recovery and flash the 514 package again after your innerSd has been reformatted by the NVFlash
6) all that sounds like a lot, I understand your point, but all in all it all takes about 30 minutes

cdzo72 said:
1) rooting any android device WILL NOT brick it... what the user does AFTER rooting may render it useless and them have to start all over
2) rooting the S7 is as easy as putting the Superuser7.zip file on the external sd, flashing it through Clockwork Mod and that's that, takes about 2 minutes
3) have no idea why for some their recoveries are case sensitive, but the general consensus is that the update.pkg was corrupt to begin with more than likely. I have had problems downloading zip files and update.pkg files in Chrome and Internet Explorer, Firefox consistently gives me a clean file and checksum so I have never experiences the problem. The other issue is not using the correct stock recovery for the package being flashed.
4) when you tried to flash the 514 package and it got stuck on the Dell logo, then it sounds to me you have a glitch in your inner sd, it should not have flashed anything that would make it stick at the Dell logo if there was a problem with the file, thus that may be your entire problem, you have a problem internally that just hasn't truly reared it's ugly head...
5) my personal suggestion would be to flash DJ Steve's Honeycomb R2 ROM via NVFlash, that will wipe clean the innerSD and it's partitions, so any problem there may have been would get cleared up by the process. Then if you still want to remain stock you can flash the factory recovery and flash the 514 package again after your innerSd has been reformatted by the NVFlash
6) all that sounds like a lot, I understand your point, but all in all it all takes about 30 minutes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same PKG file was used both times. I'll throw another oddity at you. I was unable to edit update.pkg to Update.pkg either using File Expert with the S7 or while connected to my PC. I'd edit, hit return and it always reverted back. I actually deleted it from the S7, changed the name from Windows then connected and copied it back. Later on while trying this from ES File Explorer a thing popped up, something about try different name or other. Sure enough, it doesn't allow just case changes. You have to rename it different and back again if you just wanted a case change.
I'm going to save your suggestions.

wptski said:
The same PKG file was used both times. I'll throw another oddity at you. I was unable to edit update.pkg to Update.pkg either using File Expert with the S7 or while connected to my PC. I'd edit, hit return and it always reverted back. I actually deleted it from the S7, changed the name from Windows then connected and copied it back. Later on while trying this from ES File Explorer a thing popped up, something about try different name or other. Sure enough, it doesn't allow just case changes. You have to rename it different and back again if you just wanted a case change.
I'm going to save your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you definitely had/have a corrupt package and the renaming is a sign of a read only problem trying to surface sounds like to me

[Q] upgrade to 2.0.6 and re-root?

All,
I have an HD+ running 2.0.5 and its rooted. When I've turned on wifi, half the time it tries to update to 2.0.6. It always goes through its process then dies at 99% and drops back telling me that something is wrong. The first time I freaked out and thought something really WAS wrong.
Boy was I relieved to see that I still had my stock root.
I was just thinking that maybe I should update to 2.0.6 just to keep it current. I use the Nook side for reading and stuff as it is. Can I just rerun the root process like I did for 2.0.5?
Also what is the best way to make it not fail the update?
I did the white-on-white fix, but changed it back.
Please don't tell me I need to do the 8 boot factory reset.
Thanks,
-Jeff

How did you change back the white on white? I suspect that is what is wrong.
Sent from my Nook HD+ running CM10 on Hybrid SD

Since the fix made a backup of the original file, I just renamed the original back to it's proper name.
I moved the orig to a new temp name. Then I copied the active "fixed" one to a something.bak or something like that.
Then I renamed the original one (with the temp name) back to the original/active name.
Upon renaming it crashed, and rebooted. The w-o-w fix was gone.
BTW, looking back at that description it's a bit messy. If it doesn't make sense I'll just put the commands down (as I recall them)
-Jeff

js5752 said:
Since the fix made a backup of the original file, I just renamed the original back to it's proper name.
I moved the orig to a new temp name. Then I copied the active "fixed" one to a something.bak or something like that.
Then I renamed the original one (with the temp name) back to the original/active name.
Upon renaming it crashed, and rebooted. The w-o-w fix was gone.
BTW, looking back at that description it's a bit messy. If it doesn't make sense I'll just put the commands down (as I recall them)
-Jeff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I understand what you did. You left the symlink in /system and just manipulated the files in /data. That works to get rid of white on white, but does not put framework-res.apk back in /system. And the update zip needs framework-res.apk there. That is why it was failing.
Did you do a back up of your system before you added white on white like I recommended? If so, restore that and then update. If you did not, you can try putting that original framework-res.apk back in /system/etc via ADB. Doing it with ADB prevents that crashing you experienced the first time.
As a last resort go back to 2.0.0 with my plain stock zip in my HD/HD+ CWM thread. You can flash that and it will not erase your media files. You should backup your system with CWM first. Then wipe /data, then flash the zip. Then sign on, register and it will update you to 2.0.6. Then go to CWM and do an advanced restore of /data. Then flash again the zips you want, like root or gapps. Then you should be ok.
Edit: If you want to keep 2.0.5 and not be bothered by those attempts to update, I just added to both my Tips thread and my CWM thread linked in my signature a method to stop those updates.
Sent from my Nook HD+ running CM10 on Hybrid SD

Thanks for the reply.
I expected the crash from what I had read. I just decided that ADB was more hassle than it was worth for a quick change. That and I like to live dangerously
Ok, the symlink vs the data file makes sense. Now I understand why it wasn't working. Thank you, because I thought all was back where it should be.
As for backups, I did one before rooting, and I've done a couple since just to make sure I've got backups. That plus titanium, I figured I should be able to recover if the worst happens.
Thanks for the tips, and for all the work you've done on rooting these devices. It was the option to root that tipped me over the edge to buy one, and I'm glad I did.
-Jeff