Develop Bugs

[Q] Is it bad to get new roms repeatedly?

On my nexus, I have like 3 CWM backups of various roms. I go back and forth between them sometimes when I mess around with it. Each time I use ROM manager, i clear all memory options that it gives.
I guess my question is, when going to a new rom after backing up and clearing an older one, are there like, traces left over that slow down the phone or take up memory? Is it bad in any way to go to a new rom every week?
Also, question #2: I have been looking for a rom with transparent softkeys (as in, the wallpaper extends ALL the way to the bottom of the phone, aka the softkeys do not sit atop a black background). Does anyone know of one?
This is my first post on XDA in a long time, so I hope I'm in the right place. Thanks to all!

1. That's why you wipe and do clean installs.
2. I believe I saw a similar thread before, try searching the forum.

Got it... so in regards to 1) if i press clear any memory options that rom manager gives me when installing a new rom, everything is good?
Thanks for the reply by the way.

roadrunnersk said:
Got it... so in regards to 1) if i press clear any memory options that rom manager gives me when installing a new rom, everything is good?
Thanks for the reply by the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya. And if you believe it's acting up coz of ghost files, restore to stock and start clean.

MilkPudding said:
Ya. And if you believe it's acting up coz of ghost files, restore to stock and start clean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ghost files?
No, it has more to do with incompatible databases, etc. under /data partition.
You can cure most ills when flashing roms by clearing dalvik.

So I've looked everywhere... I wasnt able to find any instruction to get a transparent softkey bar.
I hate to ask, but can anyone point me to a rom that comes with this option preloaded or a simple flashable zip?
Sorry

Havent seen a rom with transparent nav bar yet - you can resize it (make it smaller) in a few roms like AOKP.

this thread was about flashing roms...right?
transparent navbar? not available yet, next time search themes and apps section
Sent from my TF201

I probably went through 8 roms in my first day of owning my gnex, just make sure you wipe dalvik cache every time you flash, I still go between three ROMs now and haven't had any problems.

Here's where I got my transparent status and nav bars.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1409540&goto=newpost

[Q] Unusual problem installing Jellytime R16

I have just flashed Jellytime R16 to my DHD but have a slightly damaged touch screen. Unfortunately the part of the touch screen that doesn't work is the bit where you have to press the start button to move off the screen where you select the language on first boot up.
Does anyone have any ideas how I could skip the first configuration screen of the Jellytime R16 ROM?

I don't think it's permanent maybe a bad zip? Did you check MD5 checksum before you flash? And did you full wipe?

Sorry, I don't think I made myself clear. I do have a damaged touch screen nothing to do with the rom. There is a section of the touch screen that just doesn't work. It is this part that sits exactly where the start button is. It is a shame these start screens don't rotate or the start button was slightly bigger.
So if I could skip this fisr language selection screen I would probably be ok for using the rest of the rom.

I had quite a bit of trouble earlier today installing R16 due to the screen not working at all after the bootup. Had to pull the battery 2 times in a row and make sure the charger was unplugged before the screen would react to touch. Maybe you're also experiencing this thing (several others are reporting it in the JT thread).

foxx1337 said:
I had quite a bit of trouble earlier today installing R16 due to the screen not working at all after the bootup. Had to pull the battery 2 times in a row and make sure the charger was unplugged before the screen would react to touch. Maybe you're also experiencing this thing (several others are reporting it in the JT thread).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said in my last post this is not a Rom problem I do have a damaged touch screen. I Just need a way of getting past the first setup screen or rotating th screen.

Skunkworx said:
As I said in my last post this is not a Rom problem I do have a damaged touch screen. I Just need a way of getting past the first setup screen or rotating th screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a horrible suggestion for any other use and goes against everything we know about proper flashing, but if all else fails maybe try dirty flashing it over another ROM in which you CAN go through the first boot settings (for example, an ICS ROM that doesn't require the START button in that location). If the unexpected problems that sometimes arise from dirty flashes don't come up, you might be able to get into Jelly Time without the first boot menus.
Obviously, all the problems with dirty-flashing different ROMs come with this "solution."

bananagranola said:
This is a horrible suggestion for any other use and goes against everything we know about proper flashing, but if all else fails maybe try dirty flashing it over another ROM in which you CAN go through the first boot settings (for example, an ICS ROM that doesn't require the START button in that location). If the unexpected problems that sometimes arise from dirty flashes don't come up, you might be able to get into Jelly Time without the first boot menus.
Obviously, all the problems with dirty-flashing different ROMs come with this "solution."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats an interesting suggestion but the question there is which ICS ROM would give the best results?
I think I would prefer to have a full wipe on installation. So having a way of skipping that first configuration screen, or remotly pressing the start button or even been able to force it to rotate the screen would do the trick. However untill you have got past those first configuration screen you are locked into not been able to run any applications.
I was wondering if there was any way via ADB command line to achive this?

Skunkworx said:
Thats an interesting suggestion but the question there is which ICS ROM would give the best results?
I think I would prefer to have a full wipe on installation. So having a way of skipping that first configuration screen, or remotly pressing the start button or even been able to force it to rotate the screen would do the trick. However untill you have got past those first configuration screen you are locked into not been able to run any applications.
I was wondering if there was any way via ADB command line to achive this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is. You can use the "adb shell input keyevent <event_code>" command.
You'll probably want to send the DPAD_CENTER command to click that button. I think its event code is 23. Try typing "adb shell input keyevent 23".
Try the code for KEYCODE_ENTER as well.. its 66.
There is a whole list of keyevents at this link:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html
Just lookup the "Constant Value" in the description of whatever KEYCODE_xxx you're trying to simulate and use that constant value as the event_code for the command.
I've tried simulating the DPAD_LEFT and DPAD_RIGHT keypress and they're working like a charm
---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 PM ----------
Yup. I've tried working with these Keycodes and they work fine.
Use event_codes 19 for UP, 20 for DOWN, 21 for LEFT, 22 for RIGHT to navigate to whatever button you need to press and then use 23 for pressing that button.
Should solve your problem.

Skunkworx said:
I have just flashed Jellytime R16 to my DHD but have a slightly damaged touch screen. Unfortunately the part of the touch screen that doesn't work is the bit where you have to press the start button to move off the screen where you select the language on first boot up.
Does anyone have any ideas how I could skip the first configuration screen of the Jellytime R16 ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, did you flash Gapps as well? I've moved from ARHD (which has the configuration start screen) to JellyTime and never got the language or any other configuration start screen (which I'm glad to get rid of). I always full wiped, clean flashed just the ROM, then booted into the OS for the first time to check it out. No Gapps and no language/configuration screen - it would always go straight to the lock screen where I would just swipe to the right and it would ask me to choose either the Nova or Trebuchet launcher. I'd then rebooted into recovery again and flashed Gapps. Hope this helps.

if4ctOr, Thanks for your suggestion this is what I was originally looking for however I didn't get around to trying it as the idea that divche put forward was a much easier approach.
Divche: Thanks, that did the trick perfectly. I am also comming from ARHD so I thought I give your idea a try. I was flashing the Gapps at the same time but booting into the OS first then flashing the Gapps after that prevented the configuration popup.
I am currently swapping between ARHD and Jellytime using the recovery backups as I still haven't got everything installed and setup in the new ROM yet. I didn't realise but I had quite a few of my contacts as phone contacts and not google contacts so they didn't sync into the new rom. So I am looking for a soloution to that and also a way to move my sms messages over.
Eventually I am planning on using the Jelly time as my full time ROM but there are alot of updates to it at the moment, which is a good thing in making it stable. However it takes quite a while to apply all the applications and settings I use after doing a full wipe. Do you need to do this when flashing a new version of JT over a previous one or is there an easy way of doing that? As I read in a lot of places that you should always do a full wipe and that titainum backup is not recomended?

Skunkworx said:
if4ctOr, Thanks for your suggestion this is what I was originally looking for however I didn't get around to trying it as the idea that divche put forward was a much easier approach.
Divche: Thanks, that did the trick perfectly. I am also comming from ARHD so I thought I give your idea a try. I was flashing the Gapps at the same time but booting into the OS first then flashing the Gapps after that prevented the configuration popup.
I am currently swapping between ARHD and Jellytime using the recovery backups as I still haven't got everything installed and setup in the new ROM yet. I didn't realise but I had quite a few of my contacts as phone contacts and not google contacts so they didn't sync into the new rom. So I am looking for a soloution to that and also a way to move my sms messages over.
Eventually I am planning on using the Jelly time as my full time ROM but there are alot of updates to it at the moment, which is a good thing in making it stable. However it takes quite a while to apply all the applications and settings I use after doing a full wipe. Do you need to do this when flashing a new version of JT over a previous one or is there an easy way of doing that? As I read in a lot of places that you should always do a full wipe and that titainum backup is not recomended?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For moving SMS, I'd suggest this app : https://play.google.com/store/apps/...mNvbS5yaXRlc2hzYWh1LlNNU0JhY2t1cFJlc3RvcmUiXQ..
And as far as flashing the updates of JellyTime are concerned... It is recommended to always full wipe but you might get away with flashing the update over the previous version without a wipe. In some updates the author of the ROM explicitly says that full wipe is needed... in those cases you must. In other cases you can flash the ROM without the wipe which will keep your apps and data intact. However, it would still be better to wipe your cache and dalvik cache atleast.
Using Titanium Backup is not recommended at all when you're switching between different Android versions.. however I personally think it works ok when used between updates of the same ROM.

Skunkworx said:
Divche: Thanks, that did the trick perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never encountered the config screen, so it was more of a guess based on what I did, so I'm glad it helped!
I am currently swapping between ARHD and Jellytime using the recovery backups as I still haven't got everything installed and setup in the new ROM yet. I didn't realise but I had quite a few of my contacts as phone contacts and not google contacts so they didn't sync into the new rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also had all my contacts as phone contacts too. I chose to convert my contacts (and my calendar as well) to google for ease of syncing later on, so I have no tried and tested suggestions on how to maintain them as phone contacts. What I did was let HTC Sync synchronise with Outlook (I created a new PST file for this, then specified it in HTC Sync), then used GO Contact Sync Mod (sorry I can't post links yet) to sync it with my gmail account.
If you really wanted to leave as phone contacts, you could try Titanium Backup - but since your phone contacts are saved as system data it's a bad idea - so I'd recommend against it. If you're backing up your nandroid for ARHD, you could always try TiBu and let us know how it went - I think it was labeled Dialer Storage - filter to system data and just look through all the green-colored items for something that says "CONTACTS" or "PEOPLE".
However it takes quite a while to apply all the applications and settings I use after doing a full wipe. Do you need to do this when flashing a new version of JT over a previous one or is there an easy way of doing that? As I read in a lot of places that you should always do a full wipe and that titainum backup is not recomended?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to what if4!ct0r said regarding wiping before flashing.
There will always be some system settings that you will have to re-enter manually if you customize them a lot even when updating builds of the same ROM (probably because these are the system items that you shouldn't be restoring). These will depend on the ROM, but for me and JellyTime, the ones I had to redo were developer, lock screen, system/status bar, sound, display, language, as well as ringtone/sound notifications for alarms, messaging and calendar. Also you'll have to manually set up your widgets again - typically ones that require you to configure it as you place it.
As for TiBu not being recommended - personally I didn't have a problem with it when moving over to JellyTime. I actually purchased the Pro version just for this and for flashing new JellyTime builds. There are two things to consider when restoring via TiBu: 1) system data; and 2) app and app data.
System data: The main concern here is, when changing to a completely different ROM, do NOT restore any system data (unless you're aware whether it was updated in the new build or just experimenting). Even when you're updating to a new build of the same ROM, you should at least avoid restoring the red-coloured items and just stick to green and yellow items that may contain useful data such as contacts, sms, call logs, saved wifi access points, bookmarks, etc.
App and app data: I personally think it's ok to restore your apps themselves, but you could always record a list of what you had and download them manually again just to be safe - not a big deal unless you have over a hundred apps. When switching ROMs, try to avoid restoring the app's data unless you really wanted/needed it for certain apps - in that case, be conservative with what you choose. I'm not a programmer or developer, so I don't know how this would affect your system/app if switching to a ROM with a different Android version. Restoring app data between builds of the same ROM should be fine, as I've done it between all my JellyTime flashes with no issue even when it updated to Android 4.1.2.
Tip: after flashing the ROM, and doing your typical post-ROM-flash stuff (like fixing permissions, rebooting, wiping cache+dalvik, flashing Gapps, etc), and you've tested it and are happy with its stability, download TiBu again (or if you had the apk stored somewhere after you purchased it, just install it manually), boot to recovery and make a nandroid of the new ROM as it stands: nice and clean before any apps are installed. This way you've got a recovery option without having to go through the hassle of re-flashing the ROM build again, setting it up, etc if all you did was stuff up while experimenting with restoring data on TiBu.
As always, make a nandroid backup before flashing. As I mentioned, if you're initially happy with the ROM, I recommended also doing one after you flash while the system is fresh and clean. Sorry if this post is a bit wordy, but I thought more info would help, as it helped me in the past.
Skunkworx said:
So I am looking for a soloution ... to move my sms messages over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if4ct0r said:
For moving SMS, I'd suggest this app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for SMS Backup & Restore; I also used it, but keep in mind AFAIK it doesn't save MMS. I also used Call Logs Backup & Restore, in case you're interested in backing this up too. But since I started using TiBu, I don't need either of these apps any more.

Maybe changing the digitizer could help asd
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Storage issues help

I'm suddenly having storage issues with every ROM that I flash after running a ROM with some script that isn't widely used.
First I'll give you a brief idea of my problem. I"m running out of storage and get notifications from the market saying as much after I download and reasonable amount of apps. The thing is... It show's I have used 738MB of ext4 out of 1.5 so that isn't the issue. The problem is internal memory. My phone won't move dalvik cache for some reason. When I run any ROM with a2sd or m2sd they both say that there is a problem and leave the dalvik cache where it is.
I think my internal folders are jacked up from 40ad2sdx or a zip that was used to clear memory before the ROM. There was a ext4 superwipe cleaner to load before the ROM. I did that without researching first. When I did go looking for the thread about it, it plainly said that it was for one phone only, and it wasn't my phone. I believe it was the Galaxy S3, but I can't be certain. It was a week ago. It was advised not to use it on any other phone because part of what it did was reset the internal folders. Does this mean I can now flash a ROM for the galaxy s3? Lol Just kidding.... Seriously, the second part is all my speculation and I have been wrong many times concerning android. Will somebody help me get my phone back in oem condition please?

Okay, I'm not even sure what you did here, because not knowing the script, anything could have happened.
Try wiping everything and flashing stock rooted here, then go from there with other roms after that.
If that doesn't work. Here's what I would do. It might be a major pain, but it is almost a surefire fix.
Unroot and return to stock, then root again.
[UNROOT]
[ROOT]
For future reference, NEVER flash anything that is meant for another device. (Obviously, if it's a port then you're ok.)
ALSO EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Backup your SD card, and wipe that puppy clean!! Only partition using Amon-RA recovery, otherwise it will screw you up quite often. I repeat, if you do not have the partition done correctly, then odds are that A2SD or equivalent won't work.

nate234 said:
Okay, I'm not even sure what you did here, because not knowing the script, anything could have happened.
Try wiping everything and flashing stock rooted here, then go from there with other roms after that.
If that doesn't work. Here's what I would do. It might be a major pain, but it is almost a surefire fix.
Unroot and return to stock, then root again.
[UNROOT]
[ROOT]
For future reference, NEVER flash anything that is meant for another device. (Obviously, if it's a port then you're ok.)
ALSO EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Backup your SD card, and wipe that puppy clean!! Only partition using Amon-RA recovery, otherwise it will screw you up quite often. I repeat, if you do not have the partition done correctly, then odds are that A2SD or equivalent won't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the wipe and flash to stock earlier today, then flashed the Pac man ROM but the issue is still there. I had looked at unrooting my phone earlier today also. I'm glad to read this because it lets me know that I do have some idea of what to do. Thanks for the reply. I'll post here again with the results. Check back soon.
EDIT----> Man, my phone is okay. I loaded up a fairly recent ROM by Tronit, and it worked fine. It was the ROMs. Just to be sure, I went back to the last two ROMs just to see, and they did the same thing again. Now I'm on the AOKP Unnoffical and it's working just fine. The a2sd is working perfectly like it should, and my dalvik cache is moving to ext4. It was just coincidental that the last three ROM's I loaded all have issue with the a2sd. It's funny how nobody else see's problems but me. I looked in the bin file of one of them and it's missing part of the a2sd file. The other two have weird init.d files that I don't know anything about. I'm assuming the a2sd problem is related to that. It's funny how I see lots of problems, and report them, but I get blown off by some people as a noob who is making mistakes. I am a noob, and I do make mistakes, but I know some of my theories about problems are correct...... I gotta get me some respect by compiling my own ROMs.

Status update..... My phone is jacked up for sure. It does work with the AOKP Unofficial by Tronit, but this morning when I cleared my cache with Smelkus Recovery, it had major problems with almost every app. Clearing the cache in recovery is something I've done with every ROM and this has never happened. I uninstalled all the apps and reinstalled them. Got them working again. Everything seemed to be okay. However, when I cleared my cache with Android Tuner, again it ruined every app. I've used android tuner every day for two months to clear the cache and never had problems like this. Something is very wrong.
*****edited and deleted for the sake of peace*****
Long story short, I flashed something made for another phone. I can't explain why I did this without taking up lots of pages, and it doesn't even matter really. Lets just focus on the solution. Here is the link. I flashed both of the zips in the link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1477955
So I think my permissions for the files on my phone are out of whack. Is that what I"m reading is the possible outcome of flashing these if your phone is not the one listed? Please post your thoughts. I need them.

Try backing up your SD card on a computer and format you SD card and repartion it
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

g2435 said:
Try backing up your SD card on a computer and format you SD card and repartion it
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did that. Both with Smelkus, and Mini partition wizard. Same problems. I just tried to fix permissions with smelkus 4.3 on the AOKP Unofficial ROM and it took a minute for it to do it's thing. The line of dots was two full rows. So when It loaded back up, I suddenly see the same disk Icon in my notification bar, and now this ROM says it it out of memory. Man, it was working fine. I had twenty more apps on it too and I uninstalled them. It was working fine then, so with twenty less apps, it shouldn't suddenly say "Running out of Storage space."

I have told you this already: Please do not flash things meant for other phones, it could mess up. If it's meant for another device, it might screw yours up. To stay on the safe side: If it's not generic (works for every Android phone) or phone specific (exclusive to the Evo 4G) then don't flash it.

nate234 said:
I have told you this already: Please do not flash things meant for other phones, it could mess up. If it's meant for another device, it might screw yours up. To stay on the safe side: If it's not generic (works for every Android phone) or phone specific (exclusive to the Evo 4G) then don't flash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed this about a eek ago, when I was looking for the ext4 wipe. I thought it was the same thing as another zip despite what it said. Stupid... I know. I think this may be the cause of my problems, but I can't be sure. I don't know at all really. Just speculations. I reflashed the CWM touch and used to flash a stock ROM. Gonna try that again. I ran the test on CWM touch and it said that the
/sys/class/android_usb/android0 was missing and unable to perform the test. Can this be the cause of my problems?

Don't beat yourself up man, it was an honest mistake, just learn from it and you'll be alright.
Now the optimal recovery for this device would be the Amon-RA recovery, and I recommend redoing what I said in my first post once you have Amon-RA installed. Amon-RA is an awesome recovery, and it's super easy to install. Check out this easy-to-follow video on how to install by clicking here.
Do that, then do what I said in the previous posts. Let me know what happens, because I'm almost certain this should work.

nate234 said:
Don't beat yourself up man, it was an honest mistake, just learn from it and you'll be alright.
Now the optimal recovery for this device would be the Amon-RA recovery, and I recommend redoing what I said in my first post once you have Amon-RA installed. Amon-RA is an awesome recovery, and it's super easy to install. Check out this easy-to-follow video on how to install by clicking here.
Do that, then do what I said in the previous posts. Let me know what happens, because I'm almost certain this should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried loading the Pacman ROM again with CWM and it wouldn't even load. It gets stuck in a bootloop. After that I flashed smelkus and went back to the Stock Rom.
*****edited and deleted for the sake of peace****

RADIO EDIT------
Sent from my PG86100 using xda app-developers app

edited and deleted for the sake of peace

As I stated in my pm give me a day or so till I get back home and I will check into a fix for you. Only don't expect any one on one help. If the fix works cool if not I will dig further. TNN strives to help with any issue no matter who is at fault. I will look at the wipe script you flashed and see if it can be undone. Just be prepared of the possibility that your phone may never work correctly again.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda app-developers app

I was finally able to get my phone straightened out. I loaded up a stock ROM then decided to use my SD Maid to look around. I found a file with completely different dates on it, but it wouldn't let me remove it. I ended up copying everything else in the subfolder and then deleted the parent folder. Then added everything else back. Wah lah.... magic. I don't know what that file was or where it came from but it was killing my internal memory. I'm wondering how it stayed from ROM to ROM. I dunno, but it's gone, and the Pacman ROM is lovely now. BOOM!!!!

jlmancuso said:
As I stated in my pm give me a day or so till I get back home and I will check into a fix for you. Only don't expect any one on one help. If the fix works cool if not I will dig further. TNN strives to help with any issue no matter who is at fault. I will look at the wipe script you flashed and see if it can be undone. Just be prepared of the possibility that your phone may never work correctly again.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever I did only fixed part of the issue. I'm left with in a situation where every time I go into recovery my downloaded apps stop working. It is cutting part of them off whether I clear cache or not. All I have to do is power off into recovery, and when I reboot, all of my downloaded apps begin giving messages that "Unfortuately such ans such has stopped." My phone becomes inoperable. The only way I can keep it working is to send a new launcher to my phone from the market, let it install, then open it up and uninstall all the downloaded apps. I'm pretty sure this is an easy fix for someone like you Mancuso. I have a logcat and it show LOTS of errors that I have never seen before on any of my other logcats. What are my options? Tell me what to do to get my phone back to absolute OEM and then I'll reroot. UNLESS you know of some fix.
I've supplied a logcat from Catlog if you or anybody else wants to have a look. I'd really appreciate some help here. I love my Evo and I love learning this stuff. If somebody can help me positively identify the problem, I can most likely figure it out from there. Please give me your suggestions here. I'm nothing without some guidance on this. It's way out of my scope.
I've included a link to the ext4 script wipe that I used. How I got to this page, I do not know. However, I ran it because this page said it COULD POSSIBLY work on other phones despite the fact that it was made for another phone.
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/darkside-super-wipe-easily-wipe-partitions-when-flashing-roms/
And I flashed both zips from the thread that the story links users to. Here is the link for the two zips.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1477955
I'm not sure this is the problem. I'll try to find the Vold.fstat thread that I tried on my own before you came up with the 40ad2sdx solution for the MIUI ROM.
This is the memory fix I tried as mentioned above.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2246909
Please note that you see before and after pics of sd storage. You can see that my pics clearly resemble the after pics shown in this thread. I believe this is my problem. How can I undo this?
This post reflects the only things I did outside of normal flashing. My problem is here somewhere...

The fix you used is for samsung devices. That could have caused your problems.

[Q] Can't Last One Day with a Custom ROM

Hey everyone,
Whenever I decide to step away from stock and try a new custom ROM (latest being cm11), my phone won't go a day(well, more like 5 hours) without rebooting and hanging at the boot animation. I'm not sure if its the number of apps i install (like 30 including gapps), or something I'm missing, but its not limited to just one rom. I've tried miui, dirty unicorns, revolt, paranoidandroid, all great ROMS, but they don't LAST!
I'm really sorry if I seem like I'm repeating an already-asked question, but I've researched this problem and tried suggestions such as going back to stock and retrying, using Darkside scripts to wipe, wiping cache and dalvik cache and rebooting, wiping android.secure or moving apps away from sd card, etc. Nothing works. So for now I'm back on stock and not enjoying it I just wanted to know if theres anyone that might have any idea how to fix this?
Thanks!
EDIT: To sum up the thread so far, now instead of wiping completely everytime this occurs, i just need to do a battery pull to fix it. However, its really annoying to do 3-4 times a day. Another thing I might note is that my device is refurbished(mentioned below). I did more research and found some fix perms script reccommended by Real_Pariah, which was supposed to fix the issue. It didn't. Also same problem does happen with stock, I've just never stuck with it long enough to find out. At UltimaniumX's suggestion, I did a logcat, which is attached on the last post. Thanks UltimaniumX for your help so far!

So the way I understand it, you've flashed different custom ROMs and they work fine, but after an unspecified amount of time they decide to reboot and hang?
What is the exact process you're using to flash the custom ROMs? As well, each ROM has a specific method to get it working on your phone.
What recovery are you using and what version is it?
What radio are you using?

UltimaniumX said:
So the way I understand it, you've flashed different custom ROMs and they work fine, but after an unspecified amount of time they decide to reboot and hang?
What is the exact process you're using to flash the custom ROMs? As well, each ROM has a specific method to get it working on your phone.
What recovery are you using and what version is it?
What radio are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that's correct. As for exact process, usually I just full wipe everything but sd, then flash.
For my kitkat roms(paranoidandroid, cyanogenmod 11, beanstalk), i flashed used cwm recovery 6.0.4.3. For jelly bean i used either twrp 2.4.4.0 or cwm 5.x(this was in earlier attempts as that was the recovery a guide on galaxys2root instructed me to flash to root stock in the first place). All used radio UVMC6.
Even on stock it happened, but I was able to fix by wiping cache and dalvik plus removing external sd.
When I first rooted, my major issue was getting the rom to get past the animation screen while hanging, and that still occurs, though lately I've been having some success using rom manager from stock to get to cm11(without ext sd). However that does reboot eventually. The first time I was able to fix it by wiping system, android.secure, cache, and dalvik and then reflashing, but it just happened again and that method doesn't seem to be working...

It's interesting that it's happening to all different ROMS that you install. There's a possibility that it's hardware related and not software related. Though I may not be the best to offer advice (since I've only been here for about a year), I recently installed Beanstalk after going through several troubleshooting steps that I finally resolved.
I know that my friend and I both have an SG2. We installed Jedi Knight 6 (which is an older ROM now) but one of the most important steps that he missed, was that he didn't leave his phone idle for 10 minutes after booting it up for the first time. I recall he had issues with apps not working, force-closing, and irregular reboots on his phone. This may or may not been an issue for you, but for awareness sake I leave it here.
If you want you can give Beanstalk another try since I have some experience trying to get it to work. Beanstalk requires you to use a very specific recovery, and I used TWRP 2.6.1.0 straight from the author's post. I wouldn't suggest using a higher version just because KitKat is new.
- I used INFAMOUS wipe cache to clear everything, and then I did a full wipe (including preload) using TWRP.
- Install Beanstalk 4.4 and the 4.4 GAPPS
- Boot and let sit for 10 minutes.
Once you know for sure that it's been 10 minutes, run the "Android Terminal Emulator" and do a logcat. Here's how to do it:
- Type su
- Type logcat -d -f /sdcard/logcat.log , it will save a .log file where your sdcard is.
- At this point, I guess you would have to leave it running until your phone decides to reboot. Then take that file from your SD and examine it on your computer.
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_debugging_with_logcat
See if that helps. Fixing Permissions may also help reset some of your system settings. If it does the reboot loop, try rebooting into recovery, Fix Permissions, and reboot it again.

Alright I'll try Beanstalk, nothing to lose except my cookie clicker progress
Funny same thing happened in stock but was fixed in stock recovery with simple data wipe. I remember about hearing someone downgrading to ics because of "jelly bean bugs", so if beanstalk doesn't work out I'll try that!
(Couldn't straight reply/quote cause I can't post links yet)
EDIT: can't find beanstalk thread, at least cant find one mention twrp, so i wasnt sure if i was on the right one

Alright Beanstalk up and running, waited 10 minutes, and ran logcat command, however, it went back to prompt after running, so I'm not sure if its running in the background or if it dumped the current log and stopped. I kept terminal running just in case.
Quick side question, do you know if beanstalk disables long press home for recent apps? When I try long-press home it brings up the bottom menu instead.
Also, thanks for your help

So Beanstalk was running all fine and dandy as usual when a random reboot occured. However this time it actually got past the bootanimation. But, it asked me to set the default launcher again and terminal wasn't working(no text on screen). So I rebooted and whaddya know, stuck at bootanimation. Tried fixing perms, didn't work.
I tried wiping cache and dalvik, and reinstalling(which after restarting twrp asked if i wanted root and i said no, maybe thats significant?), nope, now no bootanimation. :'(
I forgot to mention that it is refurbished, so maybe that's of significance? Honestly though, now I'm at a loss of ideas.

avbluestar14 said:
Alright Beanstalk up and running, waited 10 minutes, and ran logcat command, however, it went back to prompt after running, so I'm not sure if its running in the background or if it dumped the current log and stopped. I kept terminal running just in case.
Quick side question, do you know if beanstalk disables long press home for recent apps? When I try long-press home it brings up the bottom menu instead.
Also, thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you followed the logcat instructions, the file logcat.log is now saved in your sdcard. The Terminal Emulator would not show anything other than that the logcat has been created. Now all you need to do is go to your SD card and grab that file "logcat.log", it will contain a lot of information regarding the state that your phone is in. It's good that you kept the terminal emulator running otherwise the file would not populate with anything. If you can, attach the logcat so we can see it.
Beanstalk long-press home button should show recent apps like normal. I can't remember if the default launcher shows it, since I use Nova Launcher and can confirm that long-press still brings up recent apps.
avbluestar14 said:
So Beanstalk was running all fine and dandy as usual when a random reboot occured. However this time it actually got past the bootanimation. But, it asked me to set the default launcher again and terminal wasn't working(no text on screen). So I rebooted and whaddya know, stuck at bootanimation. Tried fixing perms, didn't work.
I tried wiping cache and dalvik, and reinstalling(which after restarting twrp asked if i wanted root and i said no, maybe thats significant?), nope, now no bootanimation. :'(
I forgot to mention that it is refurbished, so maybe that's of significance? Honestly though, now I'm at a loss of ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, it seems like if this is occurring on all your ROMs, that may indicate something hardware-related. Again, it's difficult to diagnose. What happens when you go back to the stock rom? Is it T-Mobile's version and it works fine?
This may seem like a stupid question, but you have rooted your phone right?

UltimaniumX said:
If you followed the logcat instructions, the file logcat.log is now saved in your sdcard. The Terminal Emulator would not show anything other than that the logcat has been created. Now all you need to do is go to your SD card and grab that file "logcat.log", it will contain a lot of information regarding the state that your phone is in. It's good that you kept the terminal emulator running otherwise the file would not populate with anything. If you can, attach the logcat so we can see it.
Beanstalk long-press home button should show recent apps like normal. I can't remember if the default launcher shows it, since I use Nova Launcher and can confirm that long-press still brings up recent apps.
Right, it seems like if this is occurring on all your ROMs, that may indicate something hardware-related. Again, it's difficult to diagnose. What happens when you go back to the stock rom? Is it T-Mobile's version and it works fine?
This may seem like a stupid question, but you have rooted your phone right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, stock works fine. about the logcat..I had restarted to try and fix that home button issue like an hour after starting the logcat, which means i inadvertently stopped terminal. whoops. so, i will try beanstalk again, making sure to keep terminal running i guess. sorry about that! might as well see whats in the current logfile for now. also, yes phone is rooted.

I think we're out of options at this point. My last and only recommendation that I can think of is to just install TWRP 2.6.1.0 (and it HAS to be this), and do a full wipe of the phone.
That means:
- factory reset,
- wipe data
- wipe SYSTEM
- wipe cache
- wipe dalvik
- reinstall the same UVLC3 radio (you're on Tmobile I think right?)
- install Beanstalk, install the 4.4 GAPPS (make sure it's the 4.4 apps)
- reboot the phone from recovery.
- let sit for 10minutes
- run logcat to your sdcard,
- observe and post the logcat if the system reboots itself.

UltimaniumX said:
I think we're out of options at this point. My last and only recommendation that I can think of is to just install TWRP 2.6.1.0 (and it HAS to be this), and do a full wipe of the phone.
That means:
- factory reset,
- wipe data
- wipe SYSTEM
- wipe cache
- wipe dalvik
- reinstall the same UVLC3 radio (you're on Tmobile I think right?)
- install Beanstalk, install the 4.4 GAPPS (make sure it's the 4.4 apps)
- reboot the phone from recovery.
- let sit for 10minutes
- run logcat to your sdcard,
- observe and post the logcat if the system reboots itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right, isn't UVMC6 the latest? i already have beanstalk running after full wipe, if it don't work, im going to repartition with one of old gb roms and pit file and go from there. no reboot on beanstalk yet, logcat is running though. Googling it, a lot of gs2 have problem with this sort of thing it seems.

avbluestar14 said:
right, isn't UVMC6 the latest? i already have beanstalk running after full wipe, if it don't work, im going to repartition with one of old gb roms and pit file and go from there. no reboot on beanstalk yet, logcat is running though. Googling it, a lot of gs2 have problem with this sort of thing it seems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well beanstalk restarted on friday, can't find anything significant in logcat except for sometimes a long list of apps with perm issues,,,even stock has this reboot problem, but a battery pull+cache wipe fixes it(i hope). After googling, many have this problem with jb... maybe ill try an ics rom or something

hmm, back on cyanogenmod 11, and when it stuck at boot, a battery pull did the trick...running logcat overnight.

Well, here's the logcat, perused through, not sure if the errors I'm seeing are normal or not...honestly I wouldn't know what's contributing to the random reboot, and I'm not reporting it to cyanogenmod because I'm not sure if its a fault of their rom, my phone, or me lol

I took a look at the logcat, and there doesn't seem to be anything that would show a fatal error of some sort. Unfortunately there isn't a guide on how to read logcats, so I'm going off of the little experience that I know. Did the logcat run up until the phone reboot?
Again this may seem like a stupid question, but you are sure that you're using an SGH-989 samsung galaxy s2 and not the I-1900 right?

UltimaniumX said:
I took a look at the logcat, and there doesn't seem to be anything that would show a fatal error of some sort. Unfortunately there isn't a guide on how to read logcats, so I'm going off of the little experience that I know. Did the logcat run up until the phone reboot?
Again this may seem like a stupid question, but you are sure that you're using an SGH-989 samsung galaxy s2 and not the I-1900 right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, logat was running up to reboot. It is a SGH-t989, ordered straight rom tmobile site refurbished. I still think its weird how a simple battery pull fixes it though, is it corrupted memory? or partitions? or some hardware on the device?

Sorry man, looks like there really isn't any other suggestions that I have.
There is another user who seems to be having the same issue as you.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2573854
It looks like he was able to resolve it by slowly flashing ROMS starting from 4.1.2. You will have to ask him exactly how he did it, but his story of ROM issues seems exactly the same as yours.

UltimaniumX said:
Sorry man, looks like there really isn't any other suggestions that I have.
There is another user who seems to be having the same issue as you.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2573854
It looks like he was able to resolve it by slowly flashing ROMS starting from 4.1.2. You will have to ask him exactly how he did it, but his story of ROM issues seems exactly the same as yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah I saw that thread, new plan of action:
1. Hard reset, go to stock, try it for a day, see if it randomly reboots.
2. If it does, get a replacement after Christmas since 90-day warranty. If it doesn't, try AOSP 4.1.2.
3. If AOSP 4.1.2 doesn't reboot, go from there.
Well, I'll make sure to update after I get through. Thanks again!

Well, RMA'ed and now everything's working fine, running latest beanstalk, so i guess some partitioning or hardware issue? Oh well, thanks for your help!

[Q] Tablet is melting down

I went to use my tablet before bed, and I found it on, very dim, with the standard Samsung logo displayed. It was stuck, so I had to hold the power button and volume buttons down to reset it. After that, it would take close to 3 minutes to boot, be at a black screen, and come up with a standard Android error box saying: "Process system isn't responding." with the "Wait" or "OK" options. Pressing wait made the box go away, the screen stay black (albeit with the time and battery visible), and nothing happened. Pressing "OK" made the system reboot and start the whole process over.
After a couple times of this, I took out the SD card to see if it was the culprit, and then started in safe mode. Safe mode started properly, and everything worked fine (minus all my applications being gone because they're on the card). I turned it off, inserted the card, and restarted. It loaded properly again, however this time, it wouldn't load any widgets and several of my icons were just missing. There was no corrolation to what was appearing properly and what wasn't that I could find. I restarted from the menu again, and it started the black screen error screen process again. I'm kind of at a loss, because I have no idea what this means.
I'd obviously love to go without wiping the device, but even more obviously am willing to before accepting defeat. It's on the stock 5.0.4 image (the Korean one ¬_¬), and I'm unlocked and rooted, though nothing fancy has been done. Is this hardware? Software? Anyone run into this before? Every search I did ended up with someone having it be a ROM issue, but since I'm not on a ROM, I don't know where to go from here. :-/ Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I couldn't take a screenshot of the black screen, but I've attached what it looked like when everything failed to load. Facebook and Google Play Books should be on the bottom menu, and a lot of my drawers are missing a ton of apps. However, Hearthstone and Fenix still show up, both of which are on my SD card. I'm so confused.

It looks like the os has become corrupt somehow. Reflash the stock firmware from sammobile or samsung-updates.
By the way a Rom is the operating system software.

ashyx said:
It looks like the os has become corrupt somehow. Reflash the stock firmware from sammobile or samsung-updates.
By the way a Rom is the operating system software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know how that would happen? Is it random? I'm trying to figure out what caused it. :-/ Are there any good 5.1 ROMs you would recommend? May as well go there if I have to reflash everything anyway.

The widget errors on your picture, have you moved the apps to you microsd, when you remove your microsd and reboot, the widgets cannot find the data as it was on the microsd.
John.

Tinderbox (UK) said:
The widget errors on your picture, have you moved the apps to you microsd, when you remove your microsd and reboot, the widgets cannot find the data as it was on the microsd.
John.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This picture was taken while the SD card was in and functioning. Several of the games and apps I have show up on there as well. The top widget in the picture is just a clock widget, which is on the main device.

If it starts ok in safe mode then you probably need to do a data partition wipe as something is corrupt.
Back up everything you need and then wipe data/reset in recovery.

ashyx said:
If it starts ok in safe mode then you probably need to do a data partition wipe as something is corrupt.
Back up everything you need and then wipe data/reset in recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll have to try that in the morning. I'm a bit noobish at the detailed workings, if I do a nandroid it will just copy whatever is corrupt, right? I'd need to do a legit wipe?

greycobalt said:
I'll have to try that in the morning. I'm a bit noobish at the detailed workings, if I do a nandroid it will just copy whatever is corrupt, right? I'd need to do a legit wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Better to back everything up with titanium backup then restore what you need from that.

ashyx said:
Better to back everything up with titanium backup then restore what you need from that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All right. I'll probably do that now. Is there any decent 5.1 image anyone can recommend? As long as I can use it to read books and connect it to my stereo, I'm good waiting for bugs to be fixed.

greycobalt said:
All right. I'll probably do that now. Is there any decent 5.1 image anyone can recommend? As long as I can use it to read books and connect it to my stereo, I'm good waiting for bugs to be fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wipe data/reset won't affect the system partition so no need to reflash.

ashyx said:
Wipe data/reset won't affect the system partition so no need to reflash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I tried a couple ROMs out, and I'm having a few problems:
- None of them account for a tablet-sized screen, so the pull-down part of status/notification bar is teeny-tiny and my sausage fingers mash all the buttons. I don't suppose there's any way to make it the same size as the stock bar?
- When I'm playing a game (not even anything graphic-intensive) the back of the tablet gets insanely hot. Specifically the top-right portion of it. This never happened before...is this a general problem?
- When I'm playing music or noises through bluetooth, the sound is delayed by as much 5 seconds. If I tap play, the tablet will play it, but it won't start coming out of the speaker for 5 seconds.
Are these fairly common? Any advice? I was thinking of just going back to stock 5.0.2 so I don't have to whine.