Removing apps from Vendor image? - Shield Android TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I've been on a journey with my ShieldTV 500. My Netflix stopped working and there doesn't seem to be a solution. I was on original firmware 5.0.2 for a long time rooted. Hadn't touched the config for almost 2 years and Netflix just stopped working with the "can't connect error."
Last night I sleepily followed various broken instructions to flash a stock non-root OEM ROM all the way up to 8.0.2. Netflix still doesn't work, can't connect and crashes instantly on a fresh system. Troubleshooting has been throughly exhausted. I cannot uninstall it because it's a "stock" app. Apparently it lives in the vendor image that is flashed amongst system, boot, recovery, etc. Is there a way to rebuild the image without certain apps included? I can't sideload a different version of Netflix because the stock one is never actually deleted, and the install always fails. Using adb commands nor a root explorer ever successfully uninstalls or deletes the files.
The Nvidia & Netflix supports are worthless in this respect. I just thought of this and maybe someone with a bit more dev experience than me can chime in. I opened the image with Ext4 Unpacker on my PC to poke around and found the bloatware "app" folder. There's got to be an index file or something telling it to install that apk and I feel like if I just delete it I'll have an error during flashing possibly corrupting the image.
Going to try using ADK to extract and recompile it then flash again. Will post updates.
Any help is appreciated. Cheers.

Related

[solved] Nexus one non responsive after google addon flash

hello.
i have run into some problems when trying to install the stable mod described in the guide from the sticky post at the top of this category. well more or less, i referenced other guides as well but they were all effectively the same.
after rebooting post installing the cyanogenmod image my phone seemed to be functioning fine. i noticed that the google apps were not available (despite having used the backup and restore proprietary google apps from the recovery menu) so i restarted the phone in recovery mode and flashed the google addon and rebooted again. as soon as the phone came up this time it started throwing up error messages:
"Sorry! The process com.android.phone has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again."
i can dismiss the error dialog but another replaces it. sometimes the process named is different. i cannot recall the other examples right now. i have tried to turn the phone off with the power button, the confirm dialog does appear but is buried under the error messages mentioned above and i cannot get to it to confirm. i have tried holding the power button down hoping there is some hardware shut down. no dice. i am getting ready to pull the battery but thought i better throw this out to the masses before i did so.
huh interesting. it just stopped doing the above. it chimed and then displayed the boot screen in a frozen state.
the only way i deviated from the general directions in the above mentioned post were to flash the google addon package after a reboot as mentioned before.
how safe is it to pull the battery and what would the next steps be? if i wipe the "data/factory reset " and then reinstall the cyanogen img will i be back where i was before the google addon install? i am not really sure what command eliminates the android installation. perhaps i need to do a more extreme wipe of the device. alternatively i can execute a nandroid restore.
now it is back to the dialogs again.
i am mostly concerned that pulling the battery may brick the phone. am i being irrational?
the phone is a nexus one. i am in the uk on vodafone if that is relevant. the packages i installed are the ones listed on posting above.
i did not flash the radio.
any help would be greatly appreciated.
e
edit- i have fixed the issue. i was able to use the adb reboot utility to boot to recovery mode. from there i was able to restore my backup image. i then retried installing the cm and addon packages and kept having the same issue. finally i tried to download a new version of the addon img and that worked. for some reason i had to unmount and remount my sd card after i got everything working again.
correction
sorry the packages i installed were not the ones listed in the post above. they were the ar recovery img (that was the same) the cyanogenmod 5.0.6 image and the google addon.

[Q] Google Play Store crashing in every ROM I try

Hi all,
Been having some fairly major issues with this tablet recently. Sorry for the back story, but I'm unsure whether it's related or not...
I primarily use the tablet to watch videos on while I'm commuting from an external USB stick. Always used to be 100% fine, running AOKP ROM for around a year. In the last month or so, I would watch a video and it would work for a couple of minutes, then the video would freeze and the audio soon after. To fix it I'd have to close MX Player, and unplug/plug back in the USB stick. Then it would happen again.
I therefore copied files onto the internal storage, and didn't have problems with this (a 4GB video file would copy with no issues). Then watch from internal storage with no issues.
I decided to try a different ROM and see if it helped the USB OTG issues. This is where the real problems started. I changed to a different Android 4.4 ROM (Purity I think?), and had Google Play Store crashing soon after starting, if I tried to download an app. After the initial crash, I would continually get 'Google Play Store has stopped working' messages. Rebooting etc made no difference. I would also get the same issue if I tried downloading an APK through the built in browser (it crashes).
I have since tried about 5 different ROMs (Android 4.2, 4.4 and 5.0 based) flashed through TWRP 2.8.4.0, with different Gapps, each time performing full or partial wipes/factor resets.
I have also tried restoring to stock settings through NTK, flashing factory images of 4.2, 4.4 and 5.0 builds through the 'restore stock and unroot' option (whatever it is called). I have also re-locked and unlocked the bootloader again.
Basically, I don't know what else I can do. Every time I get into a new ROM, I complete the initial setup, I can't go into Google Play store without the app force closing. I can't think of what would be causing this if it's the same between a lot of different ROMs, with the same issue.
Does anyone have any ideas..?
Thanks in advance.
scorpii said:
Hi all,
Been having some fairly major issues with this tablet recently. Sorry for the back story, but I'm unsure whether it's related or not...
I primarily use the tablet to watch videos on while I'm commuting from an external USB stick. Always used to be 100% fine, running AOKP ROM for around a year. In the last month or so, I would watch a video and it would work for a couple of minutes, then the video would freeze and the audio soon after. To fix it I'd have to close MX Player, and unplug/plug back in the USB stick. Then it would happen again.
I therefore copied files onto the internal storage, and didn't have problems with this (a 4GB video file would copy with no issues). Then watch from internal storage with no issues.
I decided to try a different ROM and see if it helped the USB OTG issues. This is where the real problems started. I changed to a different Android 4.4 ROM (Purity I think?), and had Google Play Store crashing soon after starting, if I tried to download an app. After the initial crash, I would continually get 'Google Play Store has stopped working' messages. Rebooting etc made no difference. I would also get the same issue if I tried downloading an APK through the built in browser (it crashes).
I have since tried about 5 different ROMs (Android 4.2, 4.4 and 5.0 based) flashed through TWRP 2.8.4.0, with different Gapps, each time performing full or partial wipes/factor resets.
I have also tried restoring to stock settings through NTK, flashing factory images of 4.2, 4.4 and 5.0 builds through the 'restore stock and unroot' option (whatever it is called). I have also re-locked and unlocked the bootloader again.
Basically, I don't know what else I can do. Every time I get into a new ROM, I complete the initial setup, I can't go into Google Play store without the app force closing. I can't think of what would be causing this if it's the same between a lot of different ROMs, with the same issue.
Does anyone have any ideas..?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you're using correct gapps versions? They're specific gapps packages for 4.2, 4.4 AND 5.0.
If you're sure of the above, then yes, I suggest you capture `adb logcat` output when Play Store is crashing. Then share the log with us.
Basically some of the components of play store are located in the system partition and most of custom roms don't come with gapps packages you need therefore to flash them after installing a new rom. PA provides very nice and up to date solution. PA gapps on Google.
Sent from my Xiaomi MI2s
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I had flashed correct Gapps packages for each ROM when required, but was still having the issue.
Somehow, after many hours spread over the last week, last night I seem to have fixed it.
I had suspected that it was an issue with a corrupt partition, (or permissions, or something!) on the internal storage, as it was only when I tried to download something that the browser crashed, and Play Store would generally only start crashing after a first time browsing with it. Also sometimes from within Recovery I wouldn't be able to wipe data properly (it would complete almost instantly, sometimes not removing a previous ROM...). Sometimes it did seem to work properly though.
I can't pin down exactly what I did that fixed it though. I tried 2 things at once: I manually wiped each of /system, /cache, etc through fastboot in the bootloader, and I also (from adb in recovery) manually did mkdir /data and mkdir /data/media
I'm not sure which of these worked, but I flashed a ROM and Gapps (AOKP again), and I haven't had any crashing so far...
I'm afraid to flash any other ROMs as it seems to be working now, so I think I'll leave it!
Probably should have looked at the adb logcat output, but didn't think of that while I was still having the issue.
Thanks

Help with Root and Recovery please!

Hello.
My Galaxy S4 was dying so T-Mobile just replaced it with an S5. It came with:
LMY47X.G900TUVS1FOJ4
I clicked on Software updates in About device and it did whatever updates, but the version stayed the same. Then I went to autoroot [dot] chainfire [dot] eu and downloaded the correct file to root. I unzipped the file and ran Odin 3.10.6 that came with it. I was able to root the device no problem.
What seemed like a problem afterward was that I couldn't find SuperSU in the Application list. I know the phone was rooted though because I could launch Titanium Backup to restore all my stuff from the S4. I went to the Play Store to download SuperSU. It kept complaining that I needed a new binary, but it would fail every time to update. I even tried downloading the latest SuperSU zip to install in the recovery mode, but that failed too. I really wasn't too worried about this.
While looking up how to root the S5, I saw some posts where people mentioned their root access stopped after 24 hours. I just experienced this when I launched Titanium Backup to begin uninstalling bloatware. I was informed that I didn't have root access anymore.
I figured I'd try to reflash the auto-root through Odin. According to Odin, everything passed, but looking at the device, it said it's already patched and the restore failed, so it aborted.
Now the device is stuck in an infinite reboot loop. I can access both the download and recovery modes, but that's it.
I'd really really like to not have to do a factory wipe as it was a pain to get everything copied over from the S4.
Can I flash it with something else?
Once I can get back in the device, how do I keep the device rooted? Do I have to flash TWRP or CWM?
The only root program I use is Titanium Backup and would really really like to keep using it to makr regular backups.
Thanks a lot.
Try booting into recovery and wiping the CACHES
If it still won't boot, grab a stock ROM from sammobile .com for your model S5 (G900T by the looks of the ROM name) and flash it with ODIN from download mode
That won't wipe your data or anything you've restored, as long as you don't reset
If it still won't boot, you might have to suck it up and factory reset after flashing stock
Was the TiBu backup you restored, rooted? Maybe restoring the backup restored an old version of SuperSU and broke the CF AR version
Might need to go down the TWRP and SuperSU from TWRP recovery route to get it rooted properly if CF AR isn't woprking 100%, which it doesn't for a fair few people
I tried clearing the cache, but that didn't work.
Is there a way to download the stock ROM without having to create an account on the download site?
The Titanium Backup I restored was rooted. Everything was totally fine, until I went back to TB and it suddenly told me I wasn't rooted anymore.
I did try TWRP after I made the original post. I think messed up the device, but I can get in now. I flashed the latest version and booted into Recovery Mode. I clicked on Fix Permissions and possibly one other thing. It let booted farther before the infinite bootloop. It'd show my lock screen and give me 1-2 seconds before rebooting. If I swiped quickly, I could see the home screen with most of my icons gone. Clicked on Apps shows most of the apps are gone. When I removed the SIM card, I stopped getting the infinite bootloop. Here are the list of important programs I have left:
Contacts (all cleared out), Gallery (all present), Messages (all present), My Files (shows files from previously installed programs that I can no longer access), Phone (works when I put the SIM card back in), Settings
Unfortunately, TB and the Play Store are both gone. I might be able to install stuff using adb or by copying files over. I haven't tried, but it doesn't look good. I tried reflashing the CF ROM. It didn't change anything. I suspect I may be looking at a factory reset at this point. I'm happy to try any other suggestions.
Thank you.
whynoteel said:
Is there a way to download the stock ROM without having to create an account on the download site?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wut? lol, just make one, it's free...
XDA does not spoon feed
I created an account and downloaded the stock ROM. I flashed the device and got most of the programs to appear again though the Play Store was still missing. I decided to cut my losses and just do a factory reset. I rooted again and put everything back in place. Now I'm experiencing the problem where I lost root after a day or so of use. I'll start a new thread.
Thanks for your help.

Restore FireTabletSettings.apk without adb?

tl;dr -- How do I restore my original FireTabletSettings.apk to /system/priv-app/FireTabletSettings without adb? --or-- How do I enable adb without the settings panel?
Hi all. I'm reaching out to the amazing braintrust here on xda-d in hopes that maybe someone has some guidance. My most recent adventure has been de-amazon-ing my kids new HD10. And for the most part, I have been quite successful thanks to the wealth of knowledge here in this forum. I've managed to get it rooted, de-bloated, replaced the launcher, and even re-enabled a critical feature not found in the Amazon version of Android (screen pinning, essential for 2 year olds!).
But..... (there's always a 'but'..)..... but.. I have discovered I have somehow managed to lock myself out of adb on this particular device. I did search the forum first, finding nothing helpful for this. In order to get screen-pinning back I rolled the dice and used DragonFire1024's rewritten FireTabletSettings.apk, against the recommendation to avoid it with OS versions after 5.6.2.0 (I'm unfortunately running 5.3.7). I accept full responsibility, it was my gamble. The result is screenpinning resurrected (yay!), but also my settings panel is a mine field of broken links. Apparently much has changed in the settings after 5.6.2. Including how they refer to adb. So tapping on the enable box for USB debugging (here called 'enable adb') crashes the settings panel.
The situation is far from hopeless though, because I am rooted, and I had backed up the original FireTabletSettings.apk to the downloads folder on the tablet. However, when I try to copy it to the /system/priv-app/FireTabletSettings folder, CX tells me it's read-only and can't copy it over. I have it in root mode, and even tried enabling adbd insecure for good measure. But no joy. I do not currently have a recovery (twrp or other) installed.
So I need guidance on how to either enable write permissions (temporarily) on the settings folder or on how to install a recovery, all without adb. Or if there's some backdoor way to enable adb, that would work too.
Thanks for any advice.
UPDATE: Hey friends, I just wanted to update this thread with my progress (albeit negative progress, unfortunately). It seems my gamble with this ill-advised mod has failed pretty hard. I'm updating as a cautionary tale to others considering modding their settings file outside the recommended OS versions. I can say pretty confidently: DON'T DO IT.
EDIT: After initially getting stuck after a hard reset, I was able to manually flash an Amazon rom using adb sideload. This did the trick. It is now full factory stock, including the settings panel. I have to do everything over again (except messing with the settings panel), but I have control of my tablet again. The moral of the story is, unless your os version is supported, don't mess with the settings panel. It will rob hours of your life you'll never get back.

Unbricking a Moto G7

Hi there XDA. So after installing Magisk and after attempting to install a couple modules it seems that my device just craps out and I'm no longer able to boot, although it does boot me to the fastboot menu and I can access recovery as well. I can't seem to find a definitive answer to how to fix this, since I've tried uninstalling Magisk and even deleting all the modules I downloaded too. What all can I do to get my device back up and running again?
EDIT: So I went to try an experiment with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njXQYn53SPc and basically this guy shows how to create a batch file from an servicefile.xml from the copy of my downloaded firmware for my phone. I went and created a flashable .bat for the RIVER_RETAIL_9.0_PPOS29.114-16-5-2_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC firmware. I'd highly recommend watching the video however just so you have a good idea of where to put the .bat file to flash to your bricked Moto G7 River. Also to note if you end up having the same problem I did, this method will restore your phone and you won't lose your data. However, using this method will uninstall TWRP and also your root. Another note I need to mention is that what happened with me also could happen by trying to uninstall Google Chrome, Google Play Games, Google Play Music, and Youtube.

Categories

Resources