Hey all,
First post here on XDA and I'm hoping someone with more experience than me will be able to give me a hand! Until last week or so, I was running an up-to-date version of Lollipop (5.1.1), when my tablet started randomly freezing up on me, requiring "soft resets" to get it going again, or simply shutting off on me. Thinking it was software related, I tried wiping the cache with no success, so ended up doing a full factory reset. The issues *seemed* to clear up for a day or so, but came back, and so figuring it was Lollipop related, I wiped out the OS and installed CM12.1 (which was my first experience working with ADB and fastboot, and first time installing a non-stock ROM) with a TWRP recovery. A few days later, the freezing and shutting down issues began popping up again, with the shutdowns *usually* happening during sleep, but the freezing happening at anytime from initial "Google" logo to boot animation, to the middle of running an app. I had made a backup on TWRP when I got CM12.1 configured the way I wanted it, so I performed a soft reset when it froze on me, and booted into the bootloader. The tab kept freezing in the TWRP window before I could select a restore, so out of desperation I tried just doing a factory reset from within TWRP. Long story short, something must have happened during that reset, because it kept hanging on the boot screen. I thought I may have unknowingly messed something up, so I tried downloading and flashing a stock KitKat (4.4) ROM from Google's site, but kept encountering bootloader errors during the flashing and ended up only being able to boot to the bootloader screen (apparently got a faulty 4.3 bootloader in that ROM, which gave me a headache until I was able to get straightened out). I have been able to get a stock bootloader (4.23) up and running now, along with a stock recovery (going with Lollipop now, so stock for LMY47V) going, but that's it. I've tried flashing the stock lollipop image via shell script (I'm running a Fedora 23 machine), via individual commands, and via "fastboot update -w factory_image.zip" without success. ADB sideload still works via recovery, but I wasn't able to sideload the OTA packages for 5.1 either. The common errors that pop up seem to indicate an error (corruption? fragmentation?) on the cache partition, but I'm not a dev when it comes to Android, so I'm at a loss here... I keep getting "E: failed to mount /cache (Invalid argument)", and other errors associated with accessing/opening files further down the /cache tree. Would this error be more likely to be a hardware issue, or would it be a software/firmware issue? I've had similar errors before with USB drives, when they would start to bad and partitions begin failing, but have always been able to rebuild them and get my data back. If something like this is happening on my N7 and the cache partition has indeed become somehow corrupted and failed (but not physically....), is it possible at all to rebuild partitions on Android in a similar manner? I've scoured the web, but haven't been able to find anything that can help me out with something like that, so I figured my best bet before condemning the N7 to the junk drawer was to see if any of the pros around here had any words of wisdom that *might* get me back up and running. Thoughts and advice much appreciated!!
Thanks!
(Oh, I apologize for the lengthy post, but I wanted to be sure to provide enough background info..... Sorry for the lengthy read!!)
Honestly that sounds more like a hardware problem than a software problem.
During the early stages of booting, everything that happens is extremely deterministic - meaning that it should be completely repeatable in terms of the order & timing in which activities occur.
So, for it to behave erratically during early boot suggests that it is not software, but marginal hardware. If hardware is barely meeting logic levels or timing requirements, a small amount of random noise (which is always present) can cause a fault to occur at any time - and that sounds approximately like what you are observing.
Further, you replaced your ROM entirely and the problem persists - again suggesting that the problem is hardware, not software.
The most cost effective way of dealing with repair of a $200 tablet is - unfortunately - disposing of it and buying a replacement.
Sorry.
Thanks for the reply!! Shoot, that's what I was leaning towards too. What is the life expectancy of these tablets? I mean, I got 3 good years of use out of it, so I'm not going to complain, but it seems like they should have lasted longer... Would it be worthwhile to maybe grab a cracked screen N7 off eBay for parts and try to get my tab working with those parts maybe? I'm hoping the rumors are true about Google coming out with a new tab this fall, but I'd love to get mine working before then lol...
Related
I've been trying to upgrade to ICS (root or not is unimportant to me) for two weeks. I've followed every instruction, every guide out there and then some. I think I finally backed myself into a corner and don't think I'll be able to get out of it this time.
I have a TPT 64GB WiFi US model. Despite running the thing stock, it simply refuses under all circumstances to find OTA updates. That is, since I have owned it (since 2011), not once has the regular System Update OTA app indicated that there was any sort of update. I even followed all the Lenovo KB articles that tell you how to clear the Dalvik cache, delete stale update files, etc. to try and get it to patch. Nope. It's like my device is some kind of counterfeit that isn't even a real ThinkPad. I am totally at a loss.
So I ended up rooting it to try and force the updates down its uncooperative throat.
I was able to upgrade as far as 0039_0089, but every single time I try to boot up ICS, no matter what guide I followed, no matter whether my bootloader is CWM or stock, no matter whether I factory reset or wipe Dalvik, no matter whether USB charger or devices are plugged in or not, no matter whether I'm rooted or not... regardless of ANY variables WHATSOEVER, the thing just boot loops as soon as it tries to boot ICS.
I spent 24 hours trying to stop it from boot looping when it boots ICS. Things I've tried:
Tried some guy's "no-bloat" nandroid backup of 0039_0089, then to ICS after restoring stock files, using CWM with the removed asserts
Tried GodfatherIP's nandroid of 0039_0086, upgrading to 0039_0089, then to ICS using CWM with the removed asserts
Tried returning to stock recovery, which at first resulted in having no recovery kernel at all, but eventually I somehow managed to get stock recovery back, and had a non-rooted stock 0039_0089 based on GodfatherIP's nandroid plus the stock upgrade to 0039_0089
Tried installing the unmodified A310_0069_0130 on top of the above, using stock recovery, and it seemed to upgrade without a hitch
Rebooting, power cycling, wiping cache, and/or factory resetting had no impact on the ability of the above image to actually boot
Tried installing the unmodified A400_0069_0130 on top of the above, using stock recovery, and it seemed to upgrade without a hitch
Rebooting, power cycling, wiping cache, and/or factory resetting had no impact on the ability of the above image to actually boot
Basically, every single last thing I've tried has resulted in an utter failure to boot ICS -- not even once -- under any circumstances. I don't think I'm missing anything; I've literally followed instructions step by step. And just in case 99% of the developers/guide-posters got it wrong, I've followed at least a dozen guides, so statistically at least one of them is bound to be right, right....? Well, apparently not?
Right now I have a boot-looping system that's been factory reset and cache wiped, with stock recovery. All I can do is attempt to apply signed updates. I obviously can't go back to a nandroid backup.
Do I have any recourse at all, or do I have to throw my $600 unit in the trash? Right now it's basically only useful as a cutting board. I can't believe this has been so excruciating -- never in 3 years of rooting 10+ Android devices have I ever experienced anything this awful. And the problems are compounded by the fact that most of the guides out there are only for ROW or UK, leaving US devices in the dark / untested, so that may be one reason why I'm having issues.... probably nobody has even tested their methods on US builds except GodfatherIP, but even his methods proved futile for me.
I just want ICS... a unit that works... root is completely irrelevant to me, it always has been. But between the out of the box updater being completely and fundamentally broken, and the utter failure of all rooted attempts to upgrade to ICS, I am at wit's end.
Am I the only one experiencing this or has anyone overcome a similar situation?
Hi folks.
So after a sleepless night and a lot of guessing and clicking around with no luck, I finally decided to ask for help.
The story:
Yesterday, I decided to open up my lovely N4 to perform the thermal pad mod (that can be found on these forums), as it was going really hot around the CPU at time and it seemed like a good solution.
Now, I'm no stranger to disassembling microelectronics without breaking them (few weeks ago, I successfully resoldered a broken power button in my old T989 that I've been using before N4).
What couldn't let me sleep at night:
And here is where the problem emerged. After re-assembling my sweet little phone (yes, i did it perfectly right), I tried to boot up and all i could see was an endless and really annoying bootloop, but as the device booted up, I did not worry much. While doing some research, I read that there's people experiencing bootloops with 4.3, so I thought that after disconnecting the battery, it just might've had happened on its own (I was using stock 4.3 with faux kernel before the nightmare started)
At this point, I booted into recovery and tried to flash the rom over, but unfortunately nothing positive happened. Then I tried factory reset and flashing different roms, also with no luck. This is when things started to get really frustrating, as no matter what I flashed, the bootloop was (and is) still there. But then I tries to restore a backup that I did right after getting my N4, back in November, and it WORKED. Why do i still have a problem then? Because it was 4.1 and OTA was giving me error every time I wanted to flash the update, so I kept flashing till i get some results. And then one of the N4 toolkits wiped my entire internal memory and I ended up with only being able to use sideload. Then I tried ALL of the N4 toolkits that can be found in here, to wipe everything and bring my phone back to everything stock, but the bootloader is locked so it cant do it, and it cant unlock it because I cant boot into the system.
Conclusion:
The phone works fine, and it proved it. But no matter what I try to flash (other than the old backup), the persistent bootloop is still there smiling at me like an a****le.
Any ideas?
So, I have gotten myself in a bit of a pickle I however think I can get out of it by sideloading using EXT. SD, Im not sure what to flash to solve the dillemma however. So this is the situation. I have a (had) a rooted Galaxy s4 (sgh-i337 ucufnc1) with 4.4.2 android. It had safestrap installed and back ups of everything else in sd card and other locations just in case. The phone was acting buggy, so I formatted the phone with safestrap, the problem persisted, ill get into the issue a bit further down. So I booted back into safestrap, and did a complete wipe, however my sd card must've bumped out, because it didnt delete any media files or so it said, and then after the wipe it crashed. and refuses to boot into safestrap or even past the splash logo. I can get into download mode, but usb debugging isnt on anymore since i wiped it, I can get into the other mode as well ( cant for the life of me remember the name of it atm although i use it frequently) with some luck. I also happen to have all .md5 files from a backup i did about 4 months ago in tact, I cannot for the life of me get them to convert properly to apply them to the phone without safestrap however, if anyone has any insight to this please let me know also.
I can/will list any other information I have if anyone needs it, and if anyone can help it would safe a life!
The reason i reformatted it to begin with, was because media would stall, and when i plugged in the audio jack it'd freeze the entire app using it, then the whole phone would freeze. I believe it was due to lucky patcher but im unsure. The issue began when I altered the auto update file, and even after i rectified it, it persisted. At this time i have a phone soft bricked because it didnt delete all the media files and I assume something bugged onto the kernel image but Im not sure. If I can simply try to restore it to stock kernel then im fine with that.
Ghujii said:
So, I have gotten myself in a bit of a pickle I however think I can get out of it by sideloading using EXT. SD, Im not sure what to flash to solve the dillemma however. So this is the situation. I have a (had) a rooted Galaxy s4 (sgh-i337 ucufnc1) with 4.4.2 android. It had safestrap installed and back ups of everything else in sd card and other locations just in case. The phone was acting buggy, so I formatted the phone with safestrap, the problem persisted, ill get into the issue a bit further down. So I booted back into safestrap, and did a complete wipe, however my sd card must've bumped out, because it didnt delete any media files or so it said, and then after the wipe it crashed. and refuses to boot into safestrap or even past the splash logo. I can get into download mode, but usb debugging isnt on anymore since i wiped it, I can get into the other mode as well ( cant for the life of me remember the name of it atm although i use it frequently) with some luck. I also happen to have all .md5 files from a backup i did about 4 months ago in tact, I cannot for the life of me get them to convert properly to apply them to the phone without safestrap however, if anyone has any insight to this please let me know also.
I can/will list any other information I have if anyone needs it, and if anyone can help it would safe a life!
The reason i reformatted it to begin with, was because media would stall, and when i plugged in the audio jack it'd freeze the entire app using it, then the whole phone would freeze. I believe it was due to lucky patcher but im unsure. The issue began when I altered the auto update file, and even after i rectified it, it persisted. At this time i have a phone soft bricked because it didnt delete all the media files and I assume something bugged onto the kernel image but Im not sure. If I can simply try to restore it to stock kernel then im fine with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: I resolved the issue, by rooting, safestrapping, ripping the image files, from another galaxy s4 with alike descriptions. then i managed to side load it, then it booted properly, i then reformatted it completely back to 100% factory everything. Now my original problem persists, and i cant help feel that google services is causing it. (examnples of issues" proccess.gapps has stopped. anotrher process error code. phone calls can be made, but not recieved as it seems the server is too busy to n otice it, massive battery drain, audio takes several seconds to play, while video continues to play fine, audiojack is mostly unresponsive, phone calls that are made cannot recieve or send audio during call session, phone may freeze at unlock screen, or any time during operation, may even reboot from process overloading" now keep in mind. i removed every system file and app that the natural reformat will allow. so nothing applied by the user is on the phone, other than natural factory applications. Im digging a bit into the phone as i can but its a slow process whenit starts freezing. if anyone has any idea of what can be causing this, or how to fix this please inform me lol.
Ghujii said:
UPDATE: I resolved the issue, by rooting, safestrapping, ripping the image files, from another galaxy s4 with alike descriptions. then i managed to side load it, then it booted properly, i then reformatted it completely back to 100% factory everything. Now my original problem persists, and i cant help feel that google services is causing it. (examnples of issues" proccess.gapps has stopped. anotrher process error code. phone calls can be made, but not recieved as it seems the server is too busy to n otice it, massive battery drain, audio takes several seconds to play, while video continues to play fine, audiojack is mostly unresponsive, phone calls that are made cannot recieve or send audio during call session, phone may freeze at unlock screen, or any time during operation, may even reboot from process overloading" now keep in mind. i removed every system file and app that the natural reformat will allow. so nothing applied by the user is on the phone, other than natural factory applications. Im digging a bit into the phone as i can but its a slow process whenit starts freezing. if anyone has any idea of what can be causing this, or how to fix this please inform me lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best solution must be installing the stock firmware via odin. Since you are on NC1 , You can installed the stock NB1.
Here is guide explaining you using odin, installing NB1, root with towel root, updated NC1, install the safestrap. The guide was not specifically written for that but you can find those steps in the guide.
I will attempt to do this, since nothing since has work. I am about to get a new logic board for the system in the next 2 weeks. Towel root DOES typically work on this system, however the last time I attmpted it it failed to work outright. Im not sure what has changed with the device, but i believe reflashing stock is the best method. The phone now, will boot up, then skip the lock screen and go straight to the home screen, which is black with no pull down bar, or with no signal and there is no way to rectify it. Even if there were, it boots back down and launches back up and becomes locked at the ATT logo.
After a fair bit of messing with it, and recovery mode it will sometimes boot normally where it tells me that processes has failed and askes me to cancel the ''app''. This is the best option to update the phone and attempt root, but getting it here is so difficult because it reboots itself and the mode is rare to acquire. This problem either is due to the kernel, or the rom i believe. I also am to believe the powercell may have some issue, as i replaced the battery a few weeks back and it worked fine for about 1 week.
Booting into safemode doesnt work either as it skips over the lock screen straight to the home screen. Outsidce of replacing the logic board, or attempting another flash im at the end of the short rope i was already on in terms of options.
sway8966 said:
The best solution must be installing the stock firmware via odin. Since you are on NC1 , You can installed the stock NB1.
Here is guide explaining you using odin, installing NB1, root with towel root, updated NC1, install the safestrap. The guide was not specifically written for that but you can find those steps in the guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: I found therein two methods to flashback to stock. I did so, then proceeded to attempt to flash from nb1 to nj4. Progress stopped there when it flung an error 7 at me. So this means either something in my phone is corrupted or the file i downloaded from the above mentioned forum is corrupted. I also attempted flashfire, but seen as it STILL crashes at random due to process errors thats almost impossible to attempt.
Hey all! I'm having a strange issue regarding boot looping that I can't seem to find an answer to on here or anywhere else, I hope you guys can help.
So my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900T), purchased in May 2014, while perusing Facebook the other day, randomly shut down in the middle of perfectly normal use and started bootlooping. I had never had the problem before. The device had been rooted for months (I forget what method I used) but it was running a stock Lollipop rom. The first thing I did was factory wipe and cache wipe through Android stock recovery. It worked!... for a couple hours. Then the bootloop started again.
I went and sought a new stock rom, believing that somehow mine had been corrupted, and flashed it via Odin. I also flashed TWRP. Clean wipes, new rom, dalvic/etc. wipes, and booted into stock Marshmallow. It worked!... for a couple hours. Then it started bootlooping again. I went into TWRP and tried to wipe just caches and whatnot, but it wouldn't start again. Long battery pulls sometimes allowed the phone to boot, but it started looping again after ~5-10 minutes.
So I installed the Twisted Lollipop but couldn't even get that to boot. I went back and found the earliest available firmware for my device (as I bought mine right after it came out) and flashed it. Wipe wipe flash wipe whatever, and a succesful boot. It was looking good! I was able to install a number of OTA updates. I was at Android 5.1 when I decided to call it a night and hold off on the further OTAs for today. Today I got up and got ready for work, all's well. As I'm getting ready to leave, I allow Google to update some apps, and begin installing Facebook, Spotify, Cap Metro (for my area's public transit system) and maybe something else, I don't remember. Anyway, as the updates are downloading or installing and I'm checking my email, boom, crash, bootloop.
What's going on here? I've never heard of hardware causing boot loops, but could it be that? I dropped my phone (although protected by a Spigen case) earlier this summer and it cracked the screen-- could it have messed with the motherboard in some substantial way? I had noticed it getting hotter and the battery lasting less than usual, but I attributed that to the device's age.
Any help, any advice, any direction you could give would be extremely appreciated. I don't have the capital to replace the phone right now, and I use it all the time. Thanks folks!
Hey folks,
I did not find anything on this issue, seems to be rather unique. Let me describe the problem.
This is my father's Axon 7 and he wanted me to get him a different ROM on there, which I did, and it worked smoothly until today. It kept crashing, freezing and was literally unusable for unknown reasons.
So since he was going to be gone for the next few days, I had no choice but to remove the ROM and data and reflash it. HOWEVER I did not delete the internal storage since I did not think it would be necessary. Sitting in the setup, I had issues getting through it, it will not pop up the keyboard to let me type the wifi password neither does it let me pass through if I wanted to use mobile data. It simply gets stuck. Sometimes random android processes tend to crash and put me at the start of the setup and I can't get to the settings which does prevent me from enabling USB-debugging or OEM unlock.
If I try to get into the recovery (which is still on there) it will simply get stuck on the screen that says ZTE, did not work through fastboot either, same issue.
(I do personally think that some app data is corrupted and causes the issue, since I wiped everything except internal storage and I still have major issues)
So here am I, stuck. I hope someone can enlighten me, or tell me how stupid I am and point me at something completely obvious. Thanks
OmegaFighter said:
Hey folks,
I did not find anything on this issue, seems to be rather unique. Let me describe the problem.
This is my father's Axon 7 and he wanted me to get him a different ROM on there, which I did, and it worked smoothly until today. It kept crashing, freezing and was literally unusable for unknown reasons.
So since he was going to be gone for the next few days, I had no choice but to remove the ROM and data and reflash it. HOWEVER I did not delete the internal storage since I did not think it would be necessary. Sitting in the setup, I had issues getting through it, it will not pop up the keyboard to let me type the wifi password neither does it let me pass through if I wanted to use mobile data. It simply gets stuck. Sometimes random android processes tend to crash and put me at the start of the setup and I can't get to the settings which does prevent me from enabling USB-debugging or OEM unlock.
If I try to get into the recovery (which is still on there) it will simply get stuck on the screen that says ZTE, did not work through fastboot either, same issue.
(I do personally think that some app data is corrupted and causes the issue, since I wiped everything except internal storage and I still have major issues)
So here am I, stuck. I hope someone can enlighten me, or tell me how stupid I am and point me at something completely obvious. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, you can use EDL maybe?
The fastest way out is downloading the A2017G_FULL_EDL file from our Russian friends and use MiFlash while in EDL mode to flash the cluster**ck of a phone that you have.
The closest thing I've seen was a friend's Galaxy Grand 2 (like 5 years old) that maybe had a part of the system corrupted or a slightly dead eMMC. a bunch of stuff just crashed for no apparent reason. I reflashed the system and it got fixed for some time, then it started doing some weird sh!t again (after booting, you have an 80% chance that it will just freeze forever, hard reboot needed). But let's hope for the best and see if you can recover it by reflashing stock totally. If it still doesn't work you might be able to relock the BL and claim the warranty
Choose an username... said:
well, you can use EDL maybe?
The fastest way out is downloading the A2017G_FULL_EDL file from our Russian friends and use MiFlash while in EDL mode to flash the cluster**ck of a phone that you have.
The closest thing I've seen was a friend's Galaxy Grand 2 (like 5 years old) that maybe had a part of the system corrupted or a slightly dead eMMC. a bunch of stuff just crashed for no apparent reason. I reflashed the system and it got fixed for some time, then it started doing some weird sh!t again (after booting, you have an 80% chance that it will just freeze forever, hard reboot needed). But let's hope for the best and see if you can recover it by reflashing stock totally. If it still doesn't work you might be able to relock the BL and claim the warranty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
After a long day I managed to fix it, I was able to use the adb in fastboot and could reinstall the recovery and managed to run it, deleted internal storage and reinstalled everything. Seems to have done the trick. I hope it will keep working now.
OmegaFighter said:
Hey,
After a long day I managed to fix it, I was able to use the adb in fastboot and could reinstall the recovery and managed to run it, deleted internal storage and reinstalled everything. Seems to have done the trick. I hope it will keep working now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good