Develop Bugs

[Q] Why does Froyo require a data wipe?

I've been doing a lot of reading on this forum trying to find the best way to update to Froyo... seems like every ROM says it requires me to wipe my data. I'm curious why that is? The official OTA update can update to Froyo without wiping my data, so why can't any of the ROMS on this site do that?
I'm just looking to update to Froyo and then customize it how I prefer.
I am already rooted, removed all the sprint/htc bloatware i dont want, customized my boot up animation, and changed the sprint banner... Certainly I will have to re-do some of this after the upgrade, but I would prefer not to have to re setup all of my home screens, re-install apps, lose my app data, etc...
I understand that titanium backup can help make this a lot easier, but the question remains... if the official OTA update doesn't require a data wipe, why do these un-official updates?
Thanks,
~ Andy

ydnandy said:
I've been doing a lot of reading on this forum trying to find the best way to update to Froyo... seems like every ROM says it requires me to wipe my data. I'm curious why that is? The official OTA update can update to Froyo without wiping my data, so why can't any of the ROMS on this site do that?
I'm just looking to update to Froyo and then customize it how I prefer.
I am already rooted, removed all the sprint/htc bloatware i dont want, customized my boot up animation, and changed the sprint banner... Certainly I will have to re-do some of this after the upgrade, but I would prefer not to have to re setup all of my home screens, re-install apps, lose my app data, etc...
I understand that titanium backup can help make this a lot easier, but the question remains... if the official OTA update doesn't require a data wipe, why do these un-official updates?
Thanks,
~ Andy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) This should be in the Q&A section.
2) I can't speak for the Evo, but my wife's Moment, when it was upgraded to the official 2.1, did not require a data wipe either.... Because the official update did the data wipe for you. Either way, she lost all her data. I suspect this is the same for the official froyo.
3) If you want things to go smoothly, always do a backup (nand, TB, etc) and always do a full wipe before flashing a new ROM. In some cases, this applies to themes and other upgrades. If you don't, it's on your hands if things go awry.

this is as i understand it. perhaps we'll get lucky and one of devs will come in and clarify this point for us.
quick answer:
when you call your IT guy with a problem what is the first question they ask? "when did you last reboot?" and then they have you reboot anyway. does that solve all problems? hell no. but if you knew how many times it did you'd understand why we do it.
... "did you wipe" seems to be that same kinda question.
what i think:
There are several partitions used by Android. and much like its big brothers the Linux OS's...the use of these partitions is well guided but not law. hence, some folks feel that dataX should be here and others feel it should be there.
there can also be configs that would conflict (things like HTC Sense are very deeply intertwined into the Android OS so an AOSP build would have conflict).
hence, to ensure that you (the end user of whichever ROM) have the best experience it's best to have you start with a clean slate. (it's plain old step one troubleshooting especially when dealing with so many non-techie folks)
once you have more familiarity you'll notice some folks don't wipe...but if they have issues, you'll often hear them go do a full wipe and report the issue was resolved. this is more true when upgrading...not so much when transitioning.
since the OTA was developed by the same organization that developed the existing OS...no wipe is needed.
the same can generally be said for those of us using CM6 and then flashing the nightly builds
the same can generally be said for those using Fresh ROMs and flashing updates provided by Flipz.
the same cannot be said for someone coming to CM6 from Fresh. much difference.
basically, the rule of thumb is "when in question...wipe". why? because if you don't and if you experience issues you may assume the ROM is bad or the dev is an id10T. then the non-techie may erroneously post such comments...causing a stampede. the board gets filled up with 'this rom sux' and 'plz help' for things that would have been a non-issue had a wipe been done.
I am already rooted, removed all the sprint/htc bloatware i dont want, customized my boot up animation, and changed the sprint banner... Certainly I will have to re-do some of this after the upgrade, but I would prefer not to have to re setup all of my home screens, re-install apps, lose my app data, etc...​you can try using Titanium. it worked well for me when moving between Sense based ROMs. it will save most of your settings. it had issues when i transitioned to CM6...so i had to reconfigure my email, IM, desktops, etc.
when you flash a new ROM, expect your custom boot animation to be reset to whatever the dev chose...but using PushBoot makes it very easy to fix.
if you use adw (mabye launcherpro) you can export your settings and then import them after the flash
you won't loose the pics/movies/mp3/etc by doing a sd:ext wipe. (just in case you were concerned)

[Q] Going to pass my phone to someone else

Hi guys, I recently bought a Galaxy SII and am about to pass my Wildfire to my mum. How do I wipe and reformat it such that it's like giving her a brand new device?
I have my very first backup ROM of Android 2.1 stock sense which I want flashed back into the phone because of the chinese keyboard support on it. How do I clean up everything and get rid of all my extra settings like DTApps2SD partition and stuff like that?

i think a factory reset should be fine for that, it erases user data and gives you the basic rom, once you then flash the new one, you'll have all its features but not the ones from the previous rom. wipe everything and make sure you don't erase the backup of the stock rom

Virus???? Idk but phone is messed up

Ok here it goes. my network service is off so i use my droin inc for games and such. running custom rom wildstang83 IceCream Scencless 1.0. im not sure what happened to my phone but i left for 3 days and come back to my phone being totally jacked up. It wot dl apps the google play reverted back to the old market icon. wont save my passwords for google sighn in. every time i go to youtube it says to re dl the google play services. im sure other stuff is messed up too. i have tried to flash another rom but when it gets loaded back up it keeps saying process. whatever failed and there a bunch of those that loop and i have to pull battery. when i try to factory reset it says everything was formatted but when i reboot phone its the sme as it was before apps and all. So is there anyone out there who can help me with this. Sorry if i posted in the wrong place or what not. i wasnt sure where to post it cuz its kinda an advanced question but not really a question just need help.

not a virus but it does sound like your phone might have exhausted all the space in the /data folder. I had a similar thing happen to me before I rooted and fixed my phone where i exhausted the space, itt went a factory reset and put the phone into an unusable state.
i don;t know anything about the rom you are running but are rooted and have CWM installed? if so, you should be able flash a new ROM to your device, GAPPS and optionally, the low space disk fix.

tekweezle said:
not a virus but it does sound like your phone might have exhausted all the space in the /data folder. I had a similar thing happen to me before I rooted and fixed my phone where i exhausted the space, itt went a factory reset and put the phone into an unusable state.
i don;t know anything about the rom you are running but are rooted and have CWM installed? if so, you should be able flash a new ROM to your device, GAPPS and optionally, the low space disk fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i do have cwm but i tried to flash a new rom via the recovery section. after i choose the zip to flash everything goes as expected untill after the reboot and it goes into the setup part where u have to put gmail password and stuff in then it basically freezes up with unlimited process failures. but i will try again. cant hurt from where it is now.

if you are not doing so already, i would wipe cache and dalvik cache after flashing the rom. that may fix the FCs.
I would also suggest you run a newer jelly bean ROM like Tiny;s 5-16 with his version of GAPPS(4-05) version plus the low space disk fix so you can maintain parity with what is the latest.
I am currently using evervolve 6-25 and it is working well for me.
the reason I say that is these newer JB roms have the ability to let you skip the activation easily. I don;t know if it was some feature of GB roms but the activation wizard in the JB roms seem to be better my opinion.

When switching to a different ROM, it is crucial to wipe /system. This can be a source of FCs. Also, if switching, it is also a good idea to do factory reset.

tekweezle said:
if you are not doing so already, i would wipe cache and dalvik cache after flashing the rom. that may fix the FCs.
I would also suggest you run a newer jelly bean ROM like Tiny;s 5-16 with his version of GAPPS(4-05) version plus the low space disk fix so you can maintain parity with what is the latest.
I am currently using evervolve 6-25 and it is working well for me.
the reason I say that is these newer JB roms have the ability to let you skip the activation easily. I don;t know if it was some feature of GB roms but the activation wizard in the JB roms seem to be better my opinion.
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I just flashed another rom i used in the past by the same dev and so this is my step by step. 1. choose zip from sd. 2. factory reset. 3. wipe dalvik cache. 4. wipe cache partition. If this doesnt work i will try jb roms but i would hate to have to dump the dev that im useing. there the most stabe roms i have come across so far

PonsAsinorem said:
When switching to a different ROM, it is crucial to wipe /system. This can be a source of FCs. Also, if switching, it is also a good idea to do factory reset.
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Click to collapse
what do u mean wipe /system. where do i find that. only reason i ask is cuz maybe ive never done that. but i have never had a problem withthe other 15 roms i have flashed before so thats why im so confused about what happened to my phone. all i did was shut it off and leave it home. nothing changed from my daily use before that and it was working top notch before i shut it off

im getting settings fc. youtube fc, my uploads fc, market fc, clock widget fc, internet fc, rss reader fc, htc sence fc, all those off of a fresh flash ad new sd card
Just lost my bckups that were saved on sd card so now i cant even get on it i dont get it. its not bricked but yet it i unstabe to run any rom but the preivious saved backup (now there deleted)

maybe the rom you downloaded is corrupt. worst case scenerio is that your phone is on it;s last legs.....
i would suggest you try downloading the JB rom and Gapps plus the low space fix.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2050930
it;s kind of proven to work in my opinion. the 5-16 build is pretty stable.
what I do is flash the rom zip, gapps zip and low space zip, then wipe cache and dalvik. it probably should not make a difference but I am using TWRP as my recovery instead of CWM.
goodluck!

tekweezle said:
maybe the rom you downloaded is corrupt. worst case scenerio is that your phone is on it;s last legs.....
i would suggest you try downloading the JB rom and Gapps plus the low space fix.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2050930
it;s kind of proven to work in my opinion. the 5-16 build is pretty stable.
what I do is flash the rom zip, gapps zip and low space zip, then wipe cache and dalvik. it probably should not make a difference but I am using TWRP as my recovery instead of CWM.
goodluck!
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Click to collapse
Thank u and its still not working. probably just takeing a dump on me now it is just bootlooping.

when i do a factory reset i get a wipe completed. but it says "no app2sd partition found. Skipping format of /sd-ext" could that be part of the issue?? ive never noticed that before

i don;t know if switching to TWRP might help you but it might be worth a try. maybe a coincidence but the last time I had a screw up on my Dinc installing a ROM, i was using CWM. I switch right after that. I think i did read something about TWRP specifically supporting the EXT4 Low space fix.
maybe someone more knowledgable can chime in.

tekweezle said:
i don;t know if switching to TWRP might help you but it might be worth a try. maybe a coincidence but the last time I had a screw up on my Dinc installing a ROM, i was using CWM. I switch right after that. I think i did read something about TWRP specifically supporting the EXT4 Low space fix.
maybe someone more knowledgable can chime in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i will try it but it is doing the same thing on every rom i have tried to flash. ive tried 6 different roms so far and i have ran them all in the past so im incined to think its jacked. and is there a specific twrp for the different roms or can i just dl the latest version and it will work

[Q] Restoring Nandroid to different phone

I have two of these things. One for me and GF.
I'm a flash addict, shes flashed too but several builds old. Thinking of the easiest ways to get her "up to speed" with me. Obviously, we're on the same family plan and what not, so same carrier.
What would happen if I wiped out my user accounts, did a nandroid of that and restored just /system & /data?
Would she have a fully operational phone w/ all of my ROM settings and such, phone functioning with all services & ready to add her google/fb/whatever?
Or would I brick something in the process?
Obviously I wouldn't want to flash EFS or anything.
Thoughts?

Sputnikk23 said:
I have two of these things. One for me and GF.
I'm a flash addict, shes flashed too but several builds old. Thinking of the easiest ways to get her "up to speed" with me. Obviously, we're on the same family plan and what not, so same carrier.
What would happen if I wiped out my user accounts, did a nandroid of that and restored just /system & /data?
Would she have a fully operational phone w/ all of my ROM settings and such, phone functioning with all services & ready to add her google/fb/whatever?
Or would I brick something in the process?
Obviously I wouldn't want to flash EFS or anything.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't... just seems dangerous. likely wouldn't brick it, but you would probably have to wipe and reinstall anyway, because that would probably act really wonky... you can try, but like i said i wouldn't lol

Sense crashing, data trapped

Today I tried updating my ARHD from 31.2 to 33.1. Before and during the process I made few beginner's mistakes:
- didn't back up important data
- didn't do ful wipe (it is not mandatory :silly
After reboot I got constant Sense crashes, and I practically can't use HOX as a smart phone (calls and messages are still usable :good. I am aware that most probably I will have to do the full wipe to make my phone woking properly.
What I am looking for is a way out of this situation, with keeping the most important data. Basically, I need data from few apps only (SMSes mostly, and some notes that were note backed up).
I was thinking of making a nandroid and extracting them out of there. Might be dirty, but I do need this data.
Where these could be located? How coulld I access them? Is there a way that I can access this data through CWM?
Every advise that will help is appreciated

I made a CWM bakup, and in a data partition, I found a file "hc_sms.db" in data\data\com.handcent.nextsms\databases\ that is some 200+k.
Is this what I am looking for?

Problem solved, thanks to wajahebat.
Data from cwm backup was ok, system was not. So, after full wipe I restored data only, and now my phone is working fine.