Develop Bugs

[Q] Flashed update, now I have a blank screen

Hey all -
I have a T-Mobile Galaxy SIII with TWRP, AOKP JB Milestone 5 and GooManager. I got a pop-up for AOKP JB Milestone 6 this morning, so I downloaded it and added that file, Lean Kernel 2.9 and gapps (latest that could be downloaded) to the flash list. I set my Dalvik cache to clear before flashing anything, then rebooted the phone to flash everything. Immediately after the flash, the phone seemed to reboot, but with a blank screen. After a while, the capacitive buttons on the front started working and when I plugged the phone into my computer the file transfer program popped up.
However ... at no point can I ever get anything to display on the screen. I've tried rebooting into recovery (volume up, home button, power button) and nothing. I don't really care about the data on my phone, I have proper backups of everything. But what I can't seem to do is get it to a point where I can recover it. What are my options here if rebooting into recovery doesn't work?
Thanks!

As an addendum, the phone is clearly booted into the OS. I have a blinking notification LED that indicates a new e-mail, and calls placed to the phone cause it to ring. I just can't see .... anything on it.

I was able to get into TWRP, somehow. I took out my T-Mobile SIM card and had it plugged into USB. I held down the recovery combo and then it booted up into recovery. It also displayed the Galaxy SIII white splash screen for the first time since the bad flash. What the hell.

chuffykow said:
I was able to get into TWRP, somehow. I took out my T-Mobile SIM card and had it plugged into USB. I held down the recovery combo and then it booted up into recovery. It also displayed the Galaxy SIII white splash screen for the first time since the bad flash. What the hell.
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so was you able to use your phone again i say go back to a nandroid you have or flash a rom that you know works good on your phone without that white screen and trouble shoot from there that it very strange indeed if you get success with the other just try posting in the ROM thread that you flashed you could possibly get more help where it happened :good:

I went back to AOKP Milestone 5 after doing a full wipe. I saw a number of graphics changes in the Milestone 6 code review, so it's possible that had something to do with it. In any case, I'm no longer panicing

Does mr6 use the 3.4 kernel? If yes, then you were using the wrong version of leankernel.

Ya its all kernel related and user error.

Aerowinder said:
Does mr6 use the 3.4 kernel? If yes, then you were using the wrong version of leankernel.
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mt3g said:
Ya its all kernel related and user error.
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I assumed it was user error. I just wanted to lay out the steps I took, so I could get some help on a recovery path. I thought that a JB based ROM would work with any kernel that supports JB. Looks like I was wrong.

chuffykow said:
I assumed it was user error. I just wanted to lay out the steps I took, so I could get some help on a recovery path. I thought that a JB based ROM would work with any kernel that supports JB. Looks like I was wrong.
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Nope, JB can be AOSP, TouchWiz, 4.1, 4.2, 4.2.2, 3.0 kernel, 3.4 kernel. Just need to read and make sure you know what you're doing before just doing it. That's why I frown at people being lazy (not just you) and not reading the forums and such, and just using apps to update and flash.

mt3g said:
Nope, JB can be AOSP, TouchWiz, 4.1, 4.2, 4.2.2, 3.0 kernel, 3.4 kernel. Just need to read and make sure you know what you're doing before just doing it. That's why I frown at people being lazy (not just you) and not reading the forums and such, and just using apps to update and flash.
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Thank's for the condescension, I appreciate being called lazy. I might not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Everything Android, but between the knowledge I do have and the details I read on the AOKP release page, I saw nothing that indicated I _couldn't_ run LeanKernel, especially when it was only a point release on the same ROM I was previously using.

I had a look at the changelog that's available on their page. It's pretty lame. http://gerrit.sudoservers.com/#/q/status:merged,n,z that one will probably have the kernel info. A good rule of thumb is when you flash a new rom, wait until the kernel is up to date (release date). For instance, don't flash a 3/01 kernel on a 4/24 rom - wait for kernel update.
I don't recommend flashing anything with the 3.4 kernel right now. Even if you manage to pull off stability, it's still laggy and eating about 3x the battery it should. This goes for the custom kernels, too. I'll put up with stability issues, but can't deal with bad battery. Already bad enough as it is. Need my phone during the day and not near a charger.

chuffykow said:
Thank's for the condescension, I appreciate being called lazy. I might not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Everything Android, but between the knowledge I do have and the details I read on the AOKP release page, I saw nothing that indicated I _couldn't_ run LeanKernel, especially when it was only a point release on the same ROM I was previously using.
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calm down lol, you could have read up any of the kernel threads that there are some compatible issues with kernels and roms right now.

Aerowinder said:
I had a look at the changelog that's available on their page. It's pretty lame. http://gerrit.sudoservers.com/#/q/status:merged,n,z that one will probably have the kernel info. A good rule of thumb is when you flash a new rom, wait until the kernel is up to date (release date). For instance, don't flash a 3/01 kernel on a 4/24 rom - wait for kernel update.
I don't recommend flashing anything with the 3.4 kernel right now. Even if you manage to pull off stability, it's still laggy and eating about 3x the battery it should. This goes for the custom kernels, too. I'll put up with stability issues, but can't deal with bad battery. Already bad enough as it is. Need my phone during the day and not near a charger.
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Thanks for the tip! I appreciate it.

[Q] Reboot problem, but a little different

Okay, so I have been a flashaholic for the past couple of years and been on the AOKP nightlies for a very long time.
However, since the last month or so, every time I try to flash (clean and dirty) a new ROM or upgrade to a newer nightly, the flashing process goes on pretty smooth as expected. But, here is the thing.... after booting up fine, it starts to optimize the apps and I see it going through the entire cycle of apps. When all the apps are optimized, it says "Starting apps" and this is when I feel a vibrate and the phone reboots and does this over and over. My only way out of this is to boot it back into Recovery (TWRP 2.5) and restore my backup and sadly continue using what I had before this exercise.
I have tried various combinations of wipes, fix permissions, kernels, radios, etc. and am totally stumped here!!
Help please as it bugs me to no end when I see crazy new features the newer ROMs are dishing out and I cannot taste them

by clean what are your actual steps you mind elaborating a bit more of your steps, and with which ROM this happens on have you tried a stable as oppose to a nightly to see if it will fix your errors, as far as flashing do you ever format system in mounts and storage when you flash ROMs ???

Clean: Wipe Cache, Dalvik, Format System, Data. I haven't tried formatting the Internal SD or Preload partitions yet.
This happens with quite a few ROMs... I have tried SlimBean, CM 10.1, AOKP M2, PA so far. See the same behavior on nightlies or stables. I haven't tried Stock ROM yet... maybe should give that a try as well.
Let me know if I can give you more information to help me out.

since it seems to be happening on every ROM for you i would suggest you try going back to stock and re-root and try again, it doesn't take that long it just really sucks to do everything from scratch, but its the only way you are going to know where this problem is coming from also if you are on TWRP 6 that might be the problem everyone has been having lately it sometimes works sometimes doesn't have you tried opening ROM MANAGER and fixing permissions only from within the app...see if that squashes your bugs just trying to give some ideas ....

I would hate to go back to stock and re-root all over again. But if all else fails... I guess that remains as my only option.
I am on TWRP 2.5 for quite some time now and have successfully flashed using that numerous times before this problem started... not sure what you mean by TWRP 6 (you mean 2.6?)
I do not have ROM Manager on my phone, will give that a shot as well before resorting to the "Stock" option.
Thanks for your help!

yeah i ment 2.6 lol DOOHH!! and yeah you def sound like you know what you are doing so im sure you will figure it out just wanted to give you some ideas ... and for the record its always nice to take a break but good luck bro sorry i couldn't help you more

It was an issue with the Kernel I guess!!
Flashing SlimBean b8 + gapps followed by the UBER Kernel after wiping the hell out of everything as my last ditch effort I went past the "Starting apps" while I was feverishly holding onto the Vol UP + DN to get into recovery if it fails again.... to my surprise, it went past that screen and there was the start screen I have been looking forward to.... what drama )
I guess will follow all my flashes with the UBER kernel going forward.

awesome man!! glad you got it fixed - Like i said i knew you would figure it out good stuff man, now you got more knowledge and can help others if they run into the same issue happy flashing ! take care

[Q] Various problems with phone. Completely restore phone?

As of recent, I've been having a ton of stability problems on my S2 across all ROMs. It will often get sluggish and randomly shut down, the WiFi will completely drop and I won't be able to connect unless I restart my entire phone, and various other problems. I've done a full wipe when installing any ROM and problems only came up when I installed cwm 6.0.4.3 and I was wondering if that may have been the issue. Either way, I was wondering if there was a way to completely wipe my phone and bring it all the way back to factory and how it came in the box so I can completely start over to try to fix these problems. Any other suggests would be greatly appreciated, too.
Currently running BeanStalk 4.4+, last "stable" build was with Cyanogenmod 10.1 nightly.
Thank you to everyone in the XDA Developer community, you certainly are amazing and thank you to the developers of the search function, I may not know how to use it to it's greatest potential but it's certainly helped me a TON. This is the first time I've felt I've actually need to make a post for something going wrong, sorry if the problem has happened in the past and I missed a post.

Dude i had a similar problem a while back switching from TWRP to CWM. Somehow I corrupted my Dalvik partition. I couldn't even get back to recovery.
So I went here. Followed the instructions and completely went back to stock.
Quick Note that I don't see mentioned enough, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR APPS AND SETTINGS, (hopefully thy're all backed up with Titanium), BUT YOU WILL NOT LOSE YOUR STUFF ON YOUR INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL SD CARDS. The first time I went back to Stock I was scared s***less because I thought I was losing all my pics.
When I booted up the first time, I got the "repairing" Android Icon, it rebooted and I was back in business.
Then I had previously grabbed the TWRP odin flashable 2.5.0.0. tar file from over here. I got 2.5.0.0 because I planned to flash a 4.2.2 ROM after all is said and done. I flashed that with Odin from Download Mode.
I didn't even bother logging into Google on the stock 4.1.2 ( I just can't go back TouchWiz after Cyanogenmod). I just rebooted right into TWRP 2.5.0.0 manually with Volume up and Power button.
From there I factory wiped everything, then superwiped and cachewiped ( both can be found http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2235141), just to be on the paranoid side.
And finally I flashed Cl3Kener's latest 4.2.2 version of his BlackLiquid and his latest 4.2.2 stable Uber Kernel. I personally think this is the most stable, and as close to perfect ROM thats going to come out for this phone. Of course that is just my opinion after my own experiences with 4.3, 4.3.1, and 4.4.
This is a completely streamlined version of the complete cluster f** I did researching, trial and error, and starting over, while I was in the middle of actually doing it. One last tip I can give, is to get all the files you think you might possibly need and put then on your external SD if you got it, or internal SD. Its a real pain stopping and starting cause your missing a zip you forgot.
Hope this helps
Huge thanks to the Developers threads I Linked to.

[Q] Error 7 with XM.10-2

First post, so forgive me if this isn't quite right. Been struggling with rooting/putting Cyanogenmod on my computer over the last few days/week or so. I took the OTA 4.3 update awhile back and hated it, but kinda bit the bullet and dealt with it. Rooted and put a custom recovery on it last week, everything went well enough, tried TWRP and CWM recovery and found I preferred CWM.
When I went earlier, after finally getting a nandroid backup done successfully (neither recovery could save the backup to my external SD card, but that's another issue altogether) I went to flash the CM 10.2 stable release from their website, and it threw an error 7 assert fail.
After failing to restore properly from the backup (somehow) and locking up at launch with com.google.apps has stopped working before I could even get my launcher to open, I finally just wiped the entire phone and booted from scratch to get it to "work", managed to not lose root in doing so as I've just checked and found out.
Point being, error 7 assert fail on a sprint s3 trying to flash cm10.2 from CWM recovery. I had the most up to date ROM manager and CWM (I believe). This all coming after I spent 4+ days failing to be able to have my recoveries make nandroid backups to my SD card (don't know if related).
At this point I've kind of relinquished to lose everything on my phone when I flash the new OS, so I kinda just wanna get CM on there already and remedy this issue altogether. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this issue, and how to remedy it? Like I said, I'm running stock samsung ROM with the 4.3 update taken OTA.
If anyone has any insight I'd really appreciate it, I know it shouldn't be as difficult as it has been to deal with all this stuff but after lurking for over a week to try and find an answer I just have to ask myself.
Thanks.

MTSL_Mantra said:
First post, so forgive me if this isn't quite right. Been struggling with rooting/putting Cyanogenmod on my computer over the last few days/week or so. I took the OTA 4.3 update awhile back and hated it, but kinda bit the bullet and dealt with it. Rooted and put a custom recovery on it last week, everything went well enough, tried TWRP and CWM recovery and found I preferred CWM.
When I went earlier, after finally getting a nandroid backup done successfully (neither recovery could save the backup to my external SD card, but that's another issue altogether) I went to flash the CM 10.2 stable release from their website, and it threw an error 7 assert fail.
After failing to restore properly from the backup (somehow) and locking up at launch with com.google.apps has stopped working before I could even get my launcher to open, I finally just wiped the entire phone and booted from scratch to get it to "work", managed to not lose root in doing so as I've just checked and found out.
Point being, error 7 assert fail on a sprint s3 trying to flash cm10.2 from CWM recovery. I had the most up to date ROM manager and CWM (I believe). This all coming after I spent 4+ days failing to be able to have my recoveries make nandroid backups to my SD card (don't know if related).
At this point I've kind of relinquished to lose everything on my phone when I flash the new OS, so I kinda just wanna get CM on there already and remedy this issue altogether. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this issue, and how to remedy it? Like I said, I'm running stock samsung ROM with the 4.3 update taken OTA.
If anyone has any insight I'd really appreciate it, I know it shouldn't be as difficult as it has been to deal with all this stuff but after lurking for over a week to try and find an answer I just have to ask myself.
Thanks.
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Click to collapse
Status 7 doesn't have anything to do with your choice of recovery, it is because your bootloader is not listed in the get prop of the older ROM releases. You need to modify the assert lines to match your current bootloader or delete them altogether for something like CM 10.2 or any other ROM based on AOSP 4.3.x; realistically, I would just recommend jumping straight to KitKat 4.4.x, the asserts will reflect your current bootloader. Also, I would very highly recommend switching to Philz Touch recovery, it is based on CWM, but it is really like CWM on steroids.

Mr. Struck said:
Status 7 doesn't have anything to do with your choice of recovery, it is because your bootloader is not listed in the get prop of the older ROM releases. You need to modify the assert lines to match your current bootloader or delete them altogether for something like CM 10.2 or any other ROM based on AOSP 4.3.x; realistically, I would just recommend jumping straight to KitKat 4.4.x, the asserts will reflect your current bootloader. Also, I would very highly recommend switching to Philz Touch recovery, it is based on CWM, but it is really like CWM on steroids.
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I was going to just jump right into using one of the nightly CM11 builds but I saw a few places people were having some bugs (as is expected with a nightly) and wanted to try to stick with a stable release for right now.
So if I go into the updater-script and change/remove all of the get-prop commands it should work? There's no chance of that causing any other issues?
I had philz when I first rooted the thing, and someone suggested that I switch to twrp when I started having the not-being-able-to-make-a-nandroid-on-my-external-SD-card problem, but I didn't care for it and ended up getting the most current CWM recovery just to leave it. I don't have any complaints about it as is, except the frustration I have with the entire process so far of trying to get this thing situated.

MTSL_Mantra said:
I was going to just jump right into using one of the nightly CM11 builds but I saw a few places people were having some bugs (as is expected with a nightly) and wanted to try to stick with a stable release for right now.
So if I go into the updater-script and change/remove all of the get-prop commands it should work? There's no chance of that causing any other issues?
I had philz when I first rooted the thing, and someone suggested that I switch to twrp when I started having the not-being-able-to-make-a-nandroid-on-my-external-SD-card problem, but I didn't care for it and ended up getting the most current CWM recovery just to leave it. I don't have any complaints about it as is, except the frustration I have with the entire process so far of trying to get this thing situated.
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Yes, you will be able to flash 4.3.x AOSP ROM's by modifying/deleting the assert (get prop) lines. The reason those lines exist in the first place is so that someone on TMobile doesn't flash a ROM meant for Sprint, when the phone is the same but available on multiple carriers. As long as you choose a d2spr ROM you are fine. I am personally loving CM11 and CyanFox 4.4.2, they have both been very stable and awesome for me, but I also don't use things like Bluetooth, and my area has no LTE yet, so I wouldn't even notice problems of those types in the first place. And again, I recommend (extremely highly!!) Philz Touch recovery, I have yet to see anyone complain about issues with Philz that I have seen complained about from CWM or TWRP.

Mr. Struck said:
Yes, you will be able to flash 4.3.x AOSP ROM's by modifying/deleting the assert (get prop) lines. The reason those lines exist in the first place is so that someone on TMobile doesn't flash a ROM meant for Sprint, when the phone is the same but available on multiple carriers. As long as you choose a d2spr ROM you are fine. I am personally loving CM11 and CyanFox 4.4.2, they have both been very stable and awesome for me, but I also don't use things like Bluetooth, and my area has no LTE yet, so I wouldn't even notice problems of those types in the first place. And again, I recommend (extremely highly!!) Philz Touch recovery, I have yet to see anyone complain about issues with Philz that I have seen complained about from CWM or TWRP.
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I did what you suggested and removed the assert statements at the start of that script. This time it didn't throw the assert but still failed. It said "installing update" and then immediately threw "installation aborted" a second later without any other information..

MTSL_Mantra said:
I did what you suggested and removed the assert statements at the start of that script. This time it didn't throw the assert but still failed. It said "installing update" and then immediately threw "installation aborted" a second later without any other information..
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Did you install Philz as well or are you still using CWM?

Mr. Struck said:
Did you install Philz as well or are you still using CWM?
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No, it was still on CWM. I don't see how philz would change that behavior, philz wasn't able to perform backups on the external SD card either when CWM and TWRP couldn't, so I'm almost expecting them all the have the same issues, but I suppose I could be wrong.
Is there anything else worth trying? I feel like it shouldn't be this complicated, I have the right ROMs in the right places..

MTSL_Mantra said:
No, it was still on CWM. I don't see how philz would change that behavior, philz wasn't able to perform backups on the external SD card either when CWM and TWRP couldn't, so I'm almost expecting them all the have the same issues, but I suppose I could be wrong.
Is there anything else worth trying? I feel like it shouldn't be this complicated, I have the right ROMs in the right places..
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Philz doesn't call your external SD by that name, it is called sdcard1. SDcard is the internal. All I can say is that, in my opinion, Philz is far superior, I would say give it another shot.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Mr. Struck said:
Philz doesn't call your external SD by that name, it is called sdcard1. SDcard is the internal.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
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I misspoke, I meant sdcard1 (or ext_sdcard or however the other recoveries reference it). None of them have been able to do it with their respective names. But that's (possibly) another issue, I just mean that's why I'm not positive switching would help. I could definitely be wrong though, I can try it if nothing else next time I get to a computer with Odin send it over.

There is a flashable zip as well just FYI. As to your backup location issues, I don't know what to tell you, I've never experienced that problem.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 08:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:42 PM ----------
Also, I know some users have had better luck renaming one of the bootloader assert lines to match the MK3 boot loader instead of deleting all the lines.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Maybe I'll try philz out then but if not I'm stumped.. I know it sholdn't be this difficult to do this crap, I'm glad that I'm learning some of the pitfalls, but some of these pitfalls don't seem like things other people have been encountering so I don't know what the deal is.

Need help wiping EVERYTHING!!!

Okay this is really getting on my nerves and I've never had this much problem from a phone. I've been modding and helping develop for years, but I've never had this issue. So for five days now, I've been playing around with my old DINC that my daughter messed up somehow, and I can't install a ROM and make it work to save my life. I've run countless ROM's on this thing in the past with no issues. The problem now is, no matter what recovery I use or what I wipe, all of the old apps keep showing up on boot and crashes the phone. Meaning while it says "Android is upgrading" it shows every app that has ever been installed on this phone, even though I wipe and format every partition, and I haven't installed a single app. Heck... I can't even get into the system to install an app. The furthest I've gotten on a clean install is to pick a launcher in Carbon, but then it reboots.
Someone please help with a solution if you know one. I would hate to make a mess on the concrete outside with this phone, but I'm almost to that point. Thank you in advance!

ludeawakening said:
Someone please help with a solution if you know one. I would hate to make a mess on the concrete outside with this phone, but I'm almost to that point. Thank you in advance!
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Click to collapse
What recovery are you running?
I've been using CWM 5.0.2.0 since 2011 and haven't had an issue, and I still flash things on it. I found an active mediafire link with it from a post on Rootzwiki that is flashable through HBOOT. Just put it on the root/top level of an SD card formatted FAT32 and it will load the recovery image, press volume up to flash it, then you should be on an up to date recovery and you can try wiping from there. I had issues with some of the older ones and TWRPs earlier versions.
I'd also recommend CyanogenMod 7.2 stable, but that's just what I've ran the last few years. Never had an issue with it and it is stable as can be. Always a good start. In fact, it's more stable than stock on my phone, plus I over clock a bit.
It's a good device to have around when you have to send in your current device for exchange or damage it etc. I used it full time not long ago while exchanging my M8.

BrettApple said:
What recovery are you running?
I've been using CWM 5.0.2.0 since 2011 and haven't had an issue, and I still flash things on it. I found an active mediafire link with it from a post on Rootzwiki that is flashable through HBOOT. Just put it on the root/top level of an SD card formatted FAT32 and it will load the recovery image, press volume up to flash it, then you should be on an up to date recovery and you can try wiping from there. I had issues with some of the older ones and TWRPs earlier versions.
I'd also recommend CyanogenMod 7.2 stable, but that's just what I've ran the last few years. Never had an issue with it and it is stable as can be. Always a good start. In fact, it's more stable than stock on my phone, plus I over clock a bit.
It's a good device to have around when you have to send in your current device for exchange or damage it etc. I used it full time not long ago while exchanging my M8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried every recovery you can think of for this device. All versions of the CWM and TWRP touch and non-touch, including CWM 5.0.2.0. And I use HBOOT to flash all of the recoveries. It doesn't matter what ROM or recovery I flash, I still get the same results. And the ROM I used the most on this phone was Condemned CM7.2, but like I said, it won't matter how stable a ROM is, I can't get it to boot to even use it now. For some reason there is a partition somewhere that will not wipe. I've used VR Superwipe, which was recommended on some ROM's in the past, but it doesn't help at all either. No matter what, while booting for the first time, it still shows every app that has ever been installed to this device over the years, which causes everything to crash or just immediately reboot. All of the apps crash even if I go back completely stock by flashing a PB31IMG of stock firmware with HBOOT. That includes trying it with S-ON and S-OFF. As you can tell, this isn't my first rodeo at all. Lol
I've been doing this for years and have helped develop ROM's on a couple of sites, but I've never seen or heard of anything like this. Thanks for the input though.
I guess I'll risk completely bricking it, and manually re-partition the device and push the bootloader and everything else to it with ADB Shell. I've got nothing to lose, it's already a paperweight that just lights up. Haha

ludeawakening said:
No matter what, while booting for the first time, it still shows every app that has ever been installed to this device over the years, which causes everything to crash or just immediately reboot.
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Click to collapse
Sounds like a bad NAND to me (like one partition is fried and is now read-only). Good luck with the repartitioning. If you're feeling adventurous, you could try this. If you're feeling really adventurous, I seem to remember reading a post from someone who had actually unsoldered the NAND chip and got the phone to boot using only an sdcard. I can't find the post right now though.