Develop Bugs

[Q] April Fools Prank gone wrong... help please

Okay so let's start off by saying my cousin is an idiot. He tried pulling an April fool's joke on me (ill spare you the details) and ended up wiping my phone THROUGH THE STOCK METHOD (As in going to settings and resetting the phone...). And so, im left with a phone in bootloop... awesome. So I need some help reviving it. I have no freaking clue if I still have clockwork running on it (i think it is because the boot animation for the ROM i was running is still there and the unlock thing at the bottom when it first boots up is there). I was running AOKP beta 25 with lean kernel along with the lucid theme atop of AOKP. Can someone please help guide me on how to get my phone up and running?

azn android said:
Okay so let's start off by saying my cousin is an idiot. He tried pulling an April fool's joke on me (ill spare you the details) and ended up wiping my phone THROUGH THE STOCK METHOD (As in going to settings and resetting the phone...). And so, im left with a phone in bootloop... awesome. So I need some help reviving it. I have no freaking clue if I still have clockwork running on it (i think it is because the boot animation for the ROM i was running is still there and the unlock thing at the bottom when it first boots up is there). I was running AOKP beta 25 with lean kernel along with the lucid theme atop of AOKP. Can someone please help guide me on how to get my phone up and running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may have to flash the stock google factory image. If you hold down both volume buttons and the power button while the phone is off, you can get into fastboot mode (the screen with the opened up Android). Then you can use the gnex toolkit (you can get it from the development forums) to flash the stock google factory image.

Just boot into recovery. You'll then know if you have CWM. If you have CWM, just try a data/cache/dalvik wipe and reboot. If it still bootloops, do a full wipe and re-flash the ROM.
If you don't have CWM, you can flash it through fastboot and try the above.
Don't freak out. A bootloop is about the farthest from a brick you can be.

what exactly will that do..? Will I lose unlock/root? and sorry if you don't mind, could you point me to the tool?

Alright so even after wiping and reflashing the ROM, im still in a bootloop. I dont mind having to go back to 100% stock no unlock if that's what it takes but can anyone help me out?

OK the easiest way to sort this out for you but perhaps not the best way is go to http://code.google.com/android/nexus/images.html and download a factory rom and use a tool kit like mskips http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392310 to flash everything back to stock. This will wipe your entire phone so back up anything you wanted to keep but I promice your phone will work again.
I only say this isn't the best possible way as it would be best to learn about adb and fast boot as to know how to do all this manually but I don't have a good knowledge on adb but its something I'm meaning to do just don't have a great deal of time for. The tool kit will do everything for you simply by pressing keys and a few clicks and will install all the drivers you need. Good luck
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Thank you! I was able to flash to the stock image and keep my unlock! Sadly, since my cousin wiped my phone, i lost everything anyways... but I have my essential things (pictures, contacts, and some apps) already backed up. Thank you for your help!

azn android said:
Thank you! I was able to flash to the stock image and keep my unlock! Sadly, since my cousin wiped my phone, i lost everything anyways... but I have my essential things (pictures, contacts, and some apps) already backed up. Thank you for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you figured it out. Flashing the Google Images doesn't relock the bootloader (unless you explicitly do so with the oem lock command). You can now start over and load a custom ROM.

Good I'm glad you fixed it, today your learned a little bit of how to get out of sticky situations. I'm glad to of helped
Edit
Now be sure to return the favour to your cousins phone
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

My phone sometimes crashes, how can I rule out a software issue?

Hello everyone,
First of all my problem. Since about 2 weeks I started getting random crashes. The phone is unresponsive and the screen goes from really bright to a greenish/grey color (hard to explain). I googled but I didn't find an answer. If anyone here knows the problem that'd be great but I doubt it since there are so many this that could cause this. So now my question is, how can I be certain it's not an software issue? Further info: My phone is rooted, and I didn't change the ROM. However, I don't actually have root permissions and when I open SuperSU it asks me to update the binary which always fails. I tried to Root it again with the Galaxy Toolkit and it says it's already rooted. Also, Under the google logo is a unlocked lock sign.
Thanks

I would recommend you to try some custom stable ROM, based on 4.1.2. CM, AOKP are among top ones.
better make a backup using recovery, and flash a new ROM. It will give you a fresh start with SU too.
If you dont like using a custom ROM, restore an earlier backup if you already have..
marcusabu said:
Hello everyone,
First of all my problem. Since about 2 weeks I started getting random crashes. The phone is unresponsive and the screen goes from really bright to a greenish/grey color (hard to explain). I googled but I didn't find an answer. If anyone here knows the problem that'd be great but I doubt it since there are so many this that could cause this. So now my question is, how can I be certain it's not an software issue? Further info: My phone is rooted, and I didn't change the ROM. However, I don't actually have root permissions and when I open SuperSU it asks me to update the binary which always fails. I tried to Root it again with the Galaxy Toolkit and it says it's already rooted. Also, Under the google logo is a unlocked lock sign.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

ahsanali.pk said:
I would recommend you to try some custom stable ROM, based on 4.1.2. CM, AOKP are among top ones.
better make a backup using recovery, and flash a new ROM. It will give you a fresh start with SU too.
If you dont like using a custom ROM, restore an earlier backup if you already have..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only expercience with custom roms got me into a boot loop, so I don't prefere that. I actually want a "out-of-the-box" phone without any modifications. Therefore I tried a factory reset but that keeps the root and unlock.

marcusabu said:
My only expercience with custom roms got me into a boot loop, so I don't prefere that. I actually want a "out-of-the-box" phone without any modifications. Therefore I tried a factory reset but that keeps the root and unlock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, if you want to get the total old look, relock the bootloader, and install official GNex image that comes straight from Google. Hope this sorts the issue out.
Yes, Custom ROMs are a bit time taking to setup in the start, but thats the whole point - a lot of options. I flashed alot of ROMs and luckily, I have had no boot issue still. I think following the proper instructions(which are simply wiping and formatting data, cache, and dalvik) are easily gonna keep the boot loops away.

You can rule out a sw issue by starting fresh.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1626895
Sent from my i9250

[Q] PA Won't Reboot After Latest Update

So I updated to the most recent version of PA for the Note 2. After every reboot I get stuck at the Galaxy Note II screen. Only way to get past it is to do a complete wipe of the phone and re-install. Anyone else having issues like this? Any advice on how to get around it?
Thanks.

Ok, so I finally got it to boot after several tries. Not sure what I did this last time, but it managed to boot.
The issues in Android now are kind of weird, not sure if they are the issues that just come with 4.3 right now or are just me.
The home button doesn't work. Hard or soft key. No lockscreen. No notifications and can't get to quick panel. I'm sure there are more, but just trying to get through the day at this point.
Any ideas on how to fix these? Or is it like I said, these are just issues with 4.3 right now?
Thanks.

Either a corrupt ROM download or an incomplete wipe would be my guesses. Your issues are not the norm of 4.3 as of now IMHO... Ofc I can't claim to be an expert on whatever PA build you're trying.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4

Alright, thanks for the response. I'm not sure where either of those may have happened... I did a factory reset from TWRP and nothing showed up on the internal before I flashed. I may be the ROM, but no one else had claimed to have any issues with it in the PA thread. Guess I will have to keep trying.
Thanks again.

mutanttoaster said:
Alright, thanks for the response. I'm not sure where either of those may have happened... I did a factory reset from TWRP and nothing showed up on the internal before I flashed. I may be the ROM, but no one else had claimed to have any issues with it in the PA thread. Guess I will have to keep trying.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is likely your problem. You're not wiping the system partition. Factory reset only clears data and caches.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4

I was saying the wrong thing. It is the total wipe in TWRP, nothing gets left on the internal storage.
I just reflashed and the initial boot into Android is fine. Everything is like it is supposed to be. Quick panel works, have a lock screen, every problem is gone. I reboot the phone and everything falls apart. All the issues come back. At this point I think I'm just going to have to flash back to 4.2.2.
The really confusing thing is after the install I only have 5 gigs left on the internal storage, in TWRP it shows the 11 gigs its supposed to have after wiping it. Then its all gone.
Thanks for the help regardless. Obviously this is just an issue with me.

Nope not just you I had issues with the tablet 220 where my status bar disappeared rebooted got past lock screen force rebooted then got stuck on the note 2 sign wiped everything tried to restore it failed then just flashed a different ROM now I'm back.

What the What?!

Moderators, please forgive me in not in the right place...
Came home from a glorious week of camping and decided to check out some 4.4.4 ROM's on my phone...
Already running older version of C-ROM, so backed up and flashed the KK 4.4.4 version. That's where it the wheels came off my bus..
Phone booted so damn slow, then there were hundred's of FC's, rendering the phone unuseable. Rebooted, cleared Dalvik and Cache but same difference. The phone died, the battery would NOT charge! No matter what! Try as I may...NO GO!!! For hours! Feared it was that issue wherein the S3 motherboard dies and the phone has to be replaced by Samsung. Kept trying...finally get the phone to boot into TWRP. Whew!!! Still the phone kept complaining that the battery was dead. WTF?!
Restored the back up I had made...accidentally grabbed another backup from december of last year (Cyanogenmod), so had to recover my C-ROM back instead...RESTORE FAILS! Tried a few times but still failed. Tried to re-flash the latest C-ROM, but STILL fails...everything I'm trying fails.
I read the output and see an error, "Unable to wipe /system" ...found a thread where a user, using TWRP, had the same error with their ROM they were trying to flash. Eventually, the fix was to delete the make_4fs (or whatever it's called) from /sbin directory. Did so and was able to flash my Cyanogen, but could not restore my C-ROM backup. That STILL fails, however, no error in the live output while it's restoring. Just ends up Failing at the end of the restore process. The live logs indicate that it's using the 2fs (or whatever it's called), which was successful in flashing my Cyanogen ROM...why will it not restore my C-ROM back? :crying:
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

kojam said:
Moderators, please forgive me in not in the right place...
Came home from a glorious week of camping and decided to check out some 4.4.4 ROM's on my phone...
Already running older version of C-ROM, so backed up and flashed the KK 4.4.4 version. That's where it the wheels came off my bus..
Phone booted so damn slow, then there were hundred's of FC's, rendering the phone unuseable. Rebooted, cleared Dalvik and Cache but same difference. The phone died, the battery would NOT charge! No matter what! Try as I may...NO GO!!! For hours! Feared it was that issue wherein the S3 motherboard dies and the phone has to be replaced by Samsung. Kept trying...finally get the phone to boot into TWRP. Whew!!! Still the phone kept complaining that the battery was dead. WTF?!
Restored the back up I had made...accidentally grabbed another backup from december of last year (Cyanogenmod), so had to recover my C-ROM back instead...RESTORE FAILS! Tried a few times but still failed. Tried to re-flash the latest C-ROM, but STILL fails...everything I'm trying fails.
I read the output and see an error, "Unable to wipe /system" ...found a thread where a user, using TWRP, had the same error with their ROM they were trying to flash. Eventually, the fix was to delete the make_4fs (or whatever it's called) from /sbin directory. Did so and was able to flash my Cyanogen, but could not restore my C-ROM backup. That STILL fails, however, no error in the live output while it's restoring. Just ends up Failing at the end of the restore process. The live logs indicate that it's using the 2fs (or whatever it's called), which was successful in flashing my Cyanogen ROM...why will it not restore my C-ROM back? :crying:
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried using ODIN to restore back to stock? If you can get the phone up and running, you may be able to restore from your old backups.

Bass_Man25 said:
Have you tried using ODIN to restore back to stock? If you can get the phone up and running, you may be able to restore from your old backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks bud.
Oh, I got the phone up and running on the Cyanogen dated dec/2013.
ODIN? Never thought of it. Been such a long time. I do need to get stock on here so I can all the latest official radios etc, then put custom ROMs.
Been such a loooooong time since used ODIN though. Shouldn't be hard to get back on the horse.
Thanks for the suggestion!!!

any idea why this happened? anyone?
as an fyi, I tried to put the lastest SlimROM on but same difference. (i'm really pressed for time always. so I decided this is the quickest thing to try). seems the only thing that will flash is my Cyanogen from December. Strange...
Will have to give ODIN a try if I can ever get the time some day..

Odin shouldn't be a much longer process. Start flash, walk away. When you return 10 minutes to a few hours later, it'll be sitting there waiting for you, all nice and stock!
Anyway, one thing I dont recall seeing you tried is a factory reset. Chances are, that's what caused all your FC. Roms will always take a while on first boot. But all those FC were likely due to incompatible data. Then you may have encountered more data corruption as the system worked overtime trying to resolve all those conflicts.
Its purely a theory, but there's a good chance you will never be able to find exactly what caused all of your issues. Dont lose sleep over it is my best advice! A couple of tips though....
Never wipe/format system! Had you been able to successfully do so, and then nothing would still flash, there would no longer be an o/s to boot into! All roms will format your system partition as the first step in the flash, so there's just no need to do this manually. Most flash failures occur before the flash actually starts, meaning if there's a problem, most times you'll still be able to reboot normally.
Update your firmware. If its been a while since taking an ota or updating via Odin, you're probably on an older firmware build which is known to cause problems with many more recent roms. Most simply will not flash if not updated.
Also, by flashing your up to date firmware in Odin, you will likely fix any corruption which may have occurred on some of those partitions. Good chance you'll be able to flash whatever you want after an Odin firmware update and factory reset.
Hope that helps! Good luck!

DocHoliday77 said:
Odin shouldn't be a much longer process. Start flash, walk away. When you return 10 minutes to a few hours later, it'll be sitting there waiting for you, all nice and stock!
Anyway, one thing I dont recall seeing you tried is a factory reset. Chances are, that's what caused all your FC. Roms will always take a while on first boot. But all those FC were likely due to incompatible data. Then you may have encountered more data corruption as the system worked overtime trying to resolve all those conflicts.
Its purely a theory, but there's a good chance you will never be able to find exactly what caused all of your issues. Dont lose sleep over it is my best advice! A couple of tips though....
Never wipe/format system! Had you been able to successfully do so, and then nothing would still flash, there would no longer be an o/s to boot into! All roms will format your system partition as the first step in the flash, so there's just no need to do this manually. Most flash failures occur before the flash actually starts, meaning if there's a problem, most times you'll still be able to reboot normally.
Update your firmware. If its been a while since taking an ota or updating via Odin, you're probably on an older firmware build which is known to cause problems with many more recent roms. Most simply will not flash if not updated.
Also, by flashing your up to date firmware in Odin, you will likely fix any corruption which may have occurred on some of those partitions. Good chance you'll be able to flash whatever you want after an Odin firmware update and factory reset.
Hope that helps! Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's up, Doc? Sorry for that...
I downloaded Odin this morning. I should have gotten the link from XDA. The site i got it from looked official, however, tons of endless pop-ups after I installed it. Freak!!!
Then found the xda links. Not sure which version to get because i didn't see which one handles the S3. The latest version (3.09) should, no?
As well, where do i get the stock ROM from? Forgive me for all these questions. Been extremely busy with work these past few months. No time to play around with my phone everything. I'm forgetting more than I know.
A full wipe was done. In TWRP, system was check (it's always checked) automatically when wiping to flash a new ROM.
Thanks again!

Everything you need is in my sig. Go to the firmware thread and the stock or root66 firmware listed there us what you flash in odin. Version 3.09 is fine btw.

DocHoliday77 said:
Everything you need is in my sig. Go to the firmware thread and the stock or root66 firmware listed there us what you flash in odin. Version 3.09 is fine btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!

S.O.S!!!
kojam said:
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Downloaded the rooted firmware from your link and the ODIN (3.09)...
Flashed the firmware (making sure to get the correct one for WIND)...ODIN did it's thing...got a green pass...the phone rebooted...got the Samsung symbol, little swoosh animation, and the accompanying sound effect that goes with the swoosh-thing...THE PHONE NEVER BOOTED UP AN O/S!
Did it at about 11:30 last night, left it, got up this morn, and phone STILL in same status!
Found out that site where I downloaded the firmware had an issue last night. They posted this morn, apologizing to people about a D.O.D attack that may have caused dropped downloads. I downloaded the firmware again this morn, flashed with ODIN, got a pass....SAME THING!!! Phone
Had to quickly pack up my laptop to bring with me to the office. Will try the official, non-rooted firmware to see if I can get it to go.
Problems' that my team went from 12 to 2 people...my partner's off today...and I got a LOUD MOUTH across from me who WILL NOT leave me alone, no matter what I say or do. LOL.
Any suggestions?

In the words of George Costanza:
"I'm BACK, babyyyyyyy!!!!!"
The official firmware worked!
Phone's back online. Thanks for all your help. Will have to see about rooting later...as well, want to see how the battery operates on stock firmware. I've tried EVERYTHING under the sun to preserve batt life and NOTHING worked!!!
Tried EVERY KERNEL noted to be good on battery life, tried TONS of apps that were supposed to help, turned off as much as I could, etc....
batt still not good. I give up. Every diagnostic app says batt is very good. I dunno...

Earplugs! Lol! I definitely feel for you about your work status! Been there!
About the firmware though, if the download had been corrupted, it would've failed the initial check done by Odin. You are probably ok. Dont worry just yet!
If it is hanging up at the Samsung screen, you probably just need to factory reset. Almost always fixes this. (It happens due to incompatible data left from your previous rom)
This will wipe internal sdcard though, so if you haven't backed up yet, the next thing to fo is flash TWRP via Odin. You can then use its built in file manager to copy whst you need first. Or you can then flash an insecure kernel and use adb if you're familiar with that.

The Doc is in!
if the download had been corrupted, it would've failed the initial check done by Odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's EXACTLY my thought too. That was really perplexing...
I am up again...
Facotry Reset? How do I do that if stuck at the Samsung splash though?
Now that i know the official firmware works, maybe i'll, try again with the rooted firmware, try to factory reset when stuck, and continue to flash TWRP as you described above. Don't mind factory resetting. I've taken everything I need.
Oh!!!!
I noticed that all the apps I had before flashing the firmware are STILL on my phone. I would have thought that they would have been wiped out completely when lord ODIN was doing her thing.

....and battery life is STILL pretty bad...
Phone's been charging...became fully charged...unplugged it..it was down to 84% after only about 30/mins.
Will see how it goes after doing the factory wipe.
Again, how do i do a factory wipe if stuck at the Samsung swoosh after I re-flash the rooted firmware ?

Maybe your battery is dying. it happens. That would explain a big drop from the start.

To factory reset if you're stuck at boot up, turn the phone off, then boot up into recovery. Hold volume up, home and power. After it vibrates, release power only, continue holding the other two until you see recovery booting up.
If stock recovery is installed, choose factory reset.
In TWRP (probably similar in cwm) go to Wipe and choose factory reset there. In TWRP and CWM, factory resetting does not wipe your internal sdcard. Stock recovery will.
And as for Odin, it doesn't actually touch the user data partition, so all your apps and data are preserved. This is great when just upgrading from one build to the next, but is the reason a factory reset is required if coming from a non touchwiz rom.
---------- Post added at 03:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:53 PM ----------
How old is your battery? The S3 is at the age where people who bought it when it was first released will start to notice the battery is beginning to degrade.
You can also get an app called Better Battery Stats here on xda (paid version in the play store). Its the goto utility for investigating problems with battery drain. Run it for a day after a full charge and then check its logs for persistent wakelocks. The app thread should explain its use better than I can, but if you are having trouble you can always post your bbs log here for one of us to look over. (This isnt my strongest area, but there are a few others around that may also be able to help. )

Phone soft bricked

So I recently had the great idea to root my razer phone after a friend talked me into it, I get the root on but I can't get wifi to turn on, I spend a few hours trying a bunch of different methods to get it working but none of them work. I read magisk can cause an issue, so I delete that and someone says wipe the cache as well in twrp so I do that, switch my slot from b to a and the thing boots straight back to twrp after sitting on the first boot logo for a good 10 minutes. Try the other slot same issue except it boots straight to twrp. So I try and use my backup I made, low and behold its corrupt, at this point I go straight to ****.exe. I try literally everything I can think of and I can't get this thing to take a custom rom, not even a nexbit rom, or a one plus 5t rom. Anyone have any ideas? I've contacted razer and I asked them if there was some way they can fix this without me buying a new phone.

Boltrag said:
So I recently had the great idea to root my razer phone after a friend talked me into it, I get the root on but I can't get wifi to turn on, I spend a few hours trying a bunch of different methods to get it working but none of them work. I read magisk can cause an issue, so I delete that and someone says wipe the cache as well in twrp so I do that, switch my slot from b to a and the thing boots straight back to twrp after sitting on the first boot logo for a good 10 minutes. Try the other slot same issue except it boots straight to twrp. So I try and use my backup I made, low and behold its corrupt, at this point I go straight to ****.exe. I try literally everything I can think of and I can't get this thing to take a custom rom, not even a nexbit rom, or a one plus 5t rom. Anyone have any ideas? I've contacted razer and I asked them if there was some way they can fix this without me buying a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, roms from other phones are not compatible with phones other than what it was designed for. If you tried others, that's why it won't boot up. Secondly, if you read all the posting about how do install twrp, it also said there wasn't any way back EXCEPT for your backups. Unfortunately there is no factory images for the Razer phone released as of yet. If you are unable to restore from your backup (or skipped the step and didn't create one) your only choice is to attempt to restore via the backups Xshooter726 made and posted, and if they don't work, you need to wait till the factory images are released and we don't know when they will be out other then a vague "soon" from a community manager on their forums.

Boltrag said:
So I recently had the great idea to root my razer phone after a friend talked me into it, I get the root on but I can't get wifi to turn on, I spend a few hours trying a bunch of different methods to get it working but none of them work. I read magisk can cause an issue, so I delete that and someone says wipe the cache as well in twrp so I do that, switch my slot from b to a and the thing boots straight back to twrp after sitting on the first boot logo for a good 10 minutes. Try the other slot same issue except it boots straight to twrp. So I try and use my backup I made, low and behold its corrupt, at this point I go straight to ****.exe. I try literally everything I can think of and I can't get this thing to take a custom rom, not even a nexbit rom, or a one plus 5t rom. Anyone have any ideas? I've contacted razer and I asked them if there was some way they can fix this without me buying a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're flashing roms for other Devices but now much experience do you have with flashing etc? Ignoring that fact unless backups from other devices work then youve no choice but to wait for razer to put up full factory images in January and flash those. Razer won't help you as you've voided your warranty.

Roxas598 said:
If you're flashing roms for other Devices but now much experience do you have with flashing etc? Ignoring that fact unless backups from other devices work then youve no choice but to wait for razer to put up full factory images in January and flash those. Razer won't help you as you've voided your warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a decent bit, we only tried to flash another rom after we couldnt find the stock image, it was a last ditch effort.

Boltrag said:
I had a decent bit, we only tried to flash another rom after we couldnt find the stock image, it was a last ditch effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you're lucky none worked it could have made your problem a lot worse. When factory images release you can flash those if the backup doesn't work but until then you're out of luck unfortunately.
Side note if razer ask for imie etc don't give them it. Might be able to list the device as have being unlocked etc.