Develop Bugs

[Help] Problem Rooting using the No-PC Method

Hey Guys,
Before I ramble on about my problems, I would like to thank all the amazing devs that work night an day to make our phones awesome. I have been reading these forums for a couple of weeks and have seen how helpful everyone in these forums are to us noobs.
I'm not new to Rooting (Rooted my G1 a while back and Jailbroke a 1st Gen iPhone way way back lol), but this is my first time Rooting my 3G Slide, which I have had since they were first launched.
I am attempting the No-PC Method described here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=896148
I have been trying since last night with no success. I have followed the process step by step, to the T, and continue to encounter the same error every time I try.
I succesfully flash the ESPRIMG.zip and then go to Recovery to apply the "update.zip" file so I can go into Clockwork Recovery, however instead of going into Clockwork Recovery it just gives me the following error:
E:failed to verify whole-file signature
I have searched the forums and none of the responses and solutions have been helpful as almost all of them are users who have already flashed a ROM on their phones as opposed to the Stock one, and a lot of them seem to be prior to this new AndRoot method.
Also, I am using this method as I do not have a USB cable for my phone or a PC for that matter, and havent really researched any Mac mathods of Flashing a Custom ROM to the phone.
Any help would be mucho appreciated!

i think you have to have the update.zip file in the root of your sd card

I reformatted the SD Card and only placed the necessary files in the root of the card. There is nothing else in the card at the moment except for the update.zip file, ROM, gapps, and radio updates. I have no idea why i keep ketting this error, from all the research I've done, this should be working, but clearly there is something I'm doing wrong :-/

yixmal said:
I reformatted the SD Card and only placed the necessary files in the root of the card. There is nothing else in the card at the moment except for the update.zip file, ROM, gapps, and radio updates. I have no idea why i keep ketting this error, from all the research I've done, this should be working, but clearly there is something I'm doing wrong :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, that's not good if that's all you have there. i was working with someone over at the tmobile forums who was getting the same error (http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/myTouch-3G-Slide/Easy-root-unroot-Froyo-for-all/td-p/649239/page/6) and it turned out they had the downloaded files in a different folder, and moving them to the root made it work... you may want to try using the files you need from this link instead: http://richard.gluga.com/2010/08/complete-guide-to-rooting-and-hacking.html

I'm a newbie to the whole programming side of computers, familar with using one though. I am going through the steps of the no pc rooting, and I read through step 6 and I thought it was confusing it says...
Install And Run Root Explorer then Copy and paste flash_img and mtd0.img to /data/local on android device multi-select copy then rm r/w in program in upper left on data local folder. I am confused with the rm r/w section there, I haven't gone through the steps, just want to have a general idea before I get in there and screw something up.

Yeah, that ones a lil tricky apparently. Root explorer can be found in the market for ~$4, but if you click the link for the tmobile forum, we found that another app (free) works just as good.

I managed to make it work last night. I'm pretty sure I kept downloading the incorrect ESPRIMG.zip file from several sites. I think I was getting the original stock ROM as opposed to the Engineering Build.
Anyways, mine's working now.
As for the step 6 on the instructions. It basically means that after you paste the files you need to go back to the android system (the folder where you can see everything thats on the android) and at the very top of the window you will see a button that says "R/W" next to something like "Mount as R/O". You just need to hit that button so you can write to the folders, then go back to /data/local and long press "Image_flasher" click on permissions and make sure everything is checked, then repeat on "mtd0.img" file.
I know its a long explanation for such a small step but I try to be as detailed as i can. Hope it helped.

Get
update.zip
Put iton ur SD card
and a ROM.zip that you like n the SD card as well..
see if that works

yixmal said:
I managed to make it work last night. I'm pretty sure I kept downloading the incorrect ESPRIMG.zip file from several sites. I think I was getting the original stock ROM as opposed to the Engineering Build.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ This
I just went through the same thing - I had restored my phone back to stock and then went to re-root it. I have 2 copies of ESPRIMG, file sizes as follows:
The one that was giving me problems: 145,045,641 bytes
The one that ended up working: 143,701,302 bytes
Once I used the slightly smaller ESPRIMG the process worked perfectly. When using the other one I was getting the same error as the OP.

[Q] Request: Nandroid exact steps

Hi guys, I was wondering if you could help me out something a little weird. My phone's LCD is broken but the digitizer works, so I can still sorta use it, but I can't see anything I'm doing. A new incredible is on the way from eBay, so I was hoping to just flash my recoveries from the old phone to the new one and be done with it (is that possible, btw?).
However, since I can't see the screen at all, I was hoping one of you guys would post the exact steps (number of clicks or whatever) to get to the nandroid option and navigation of the menus in the latest clockwork recovery version.
Thanks in advance

sd card
The nandroids are in the sd card you can just take the sd card out and place it in your new incredible or put your sd card in your pc/laptop and put the nandroid backups there and then move them to your new phones sd card.

Thanks for the clarification, but what I guess I meant was that I'd like to do a nandroid backup of the phone right now because I've received texts/calls etc. and still want to see them, so I was hoping you could just post the exact steps to nandroid backup (after getting into HBOOT) so that I can do it "blind."

If you're going the route of restoring nandroids from your old phone onto the new one, be sure to destroy your old phone. Do not sell it or give it away, as both phones will share the same android_ID.

Yeah, since I can't see the screen, there's no real way for me to wipe it; I'm probably just gonna hang on to it for parts; thanks for the heads up

This is for CWM 2.5.1.2
I am not responsible if you mess up your phone. Directions may be different for another version of CWM
Once in recovery press Volume Down 5 times - this will put you over "-backup and restore" menu. Press joystick button to enter it.
Now "Backup" is already selected as a current menu item. Press Joystick button again and backup will start. Took about 6 minutes. I don't have a lot of app/data to backup

Let us know if it worked. Just a thought: if you don't know what version of CWM you have you may still be able to run a remote shell using Android SDK. From there you can try browsing files or smth like that - not sure how to actually find the CWM version this way or if it is even possible.

Ok, trying out the steps now, kinda hard to do it blind
But I appreciate it, and I'll check the SD card to see if the backup is made, thanks!
Also, about remote shell to browse files, I think I'm a bit too inexperienced with the SDK itself to try, but I may look it up if nandroid doesn't work.

Meemat said:
Ok, trying out the steps now, kinda hard to do it blind
But I appreciate it, and I'll check the SD card to see if the backup is made, thanks!
Also, about remote shell to browse files, I think I'm a bit too inexperienced with the SDK itself to try, but I may look it up if nandroid doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you get to remote shell I don't know how useful it can be for backup/restore purposes unless CWM has some kind of command line interface to run backup (I wouldn't be surprised if it does).

OK, so I tried it a bunch of times, but I suspect that I'm maybe moving the selector before getting to nandroid/backup in the recovery screen, or perhaps it's because I know I'm on at least clockwork recovery 3, and maybe stuff has moved around :/
Also, I looked around for ADB nandroid methods, and it only seems to show ways to restore backups, but not ways to create them :/ Oh well...
EDIT: I later got it to work using the steps mentioned, but I had forgotten that it goes into HBOOT then CWM recovery...editing so people read that it works.

Meemat said:
OK, so I tried it a bunch of times, but I suspect that I'm maybe moving the selector before getting to nandroid/backup in the recovery screen, or perhaps it's because I know I'm on at least clockwork recovery 3, and maybe stuff has moved around :/
Also, I looked around for ADB nandroid methods, and it only seems to show ways to restore backups, but not ways to create them :/ Oh well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well maybe someone else can give instructions for later versions?
About adb: if you have some really important information on your phone it may help you get it off the phone, not necessarily to restore on the new phone but at least to view it. In a nutshell you can retrieve any file from your phone but you may need to mount /system and /data folders manually to access files there. From what I understand a lot of Android applications use standard Android storage which is some kind of database (I think some lite version of SQL). Once you get them off your phone you may be able to open them in other application. You just need to figure out what files you need.
Another option is get this phone fixed (screen replaced) but I am sure you thought about this already.

ClockworkMod. 3.0.0.8 Instructions
Not responsible if you mess your phone more than it already is...
Once in CMR press Volum - 5 times and you will be in Backup and Restore option
Then press the Optical Joystick
That would take you to backup Option
Finally press the Optical Joystick one more time and that will start the backup...
Hope it helps.. after just check your sd card and see if it was created...

Okay you guys, so it actually worked, thanks so much! The trick was that it boots into HBOOT first and not recovery, so I was just missing that. Once I got my replacement, I just did the steps (the same actually, for both versions) and it worked finally.
Again, I really appreciate it you guys!

[Q] Did I brick my phone already? HELP PLEASE!

I was having errors with my SD card reporting low space ( ihad been running the ext2-ext3 trick) for a while. So I figured I could just reformat it back to stock, that part didnt go well. My phone boots and I can see wifi signal, missed calls, etc on the info bar across the top, I can even hear the phone ring but no buttons to anwser, no menus and no apparent OS buttons at all. I have BU on my MAC and connect tthrough the USB but none of the files seem to make any difference, am I fried?????

Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller? please....

so just reflash a rom...

iwin2000 said:
so just reflash a rom...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DId that, same thing, I can hear the phone getting emails and text messages it even rings when called but there are NO programs or working buttons, and I can just see the desktop background and the status bar when its on.

Did you wipe EVERYTHING except sd before reflashing?
Sent from my nike hating evo!

I would pull the SD Card, and format it on your computer.
Then I'd find the RUU for your phone. The PC36IMG version, since you're on a MAC.
Make sure the file is named PC36IMG.zip
Just like that. I'm not sure how MAC handles extensions, but that's how it has to be named. Put it on the SD Card, not in any folders.
Boot into bootloader, it will scan, find the file ask you to update, say yes, and let it run. This will return your phone to out-of-the-box.
I'm not sure if that will give you S-On or keep you S-Off, but you'll know when you reboot back to bootloader. If S-Off, do the exact same thing with the PC36IMG.zip for Amon Ra. It's in the Development section, with instructions, and reboot to bootloader, let it scan, say yes, and when it's done, try to get into recovery. If it works, you can reboot to system so it writes the necessary files to your SD Card,

merdav said:
DId that, same thing, I can hear the phone getting emails and text messages it even rings when called but there are NO programs or working buttons, and I can just see the desktop background and the status bar when its on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how many different roms have you tried flashing? this most likely is just a problem with the operating system and not with your phone. Make sure you FORMAT all data on your phone using clockworkmod BEFORE installing a new ROM. Otherwise things might get left behind and interfere with your new installation.

Uhh, scrap CWM and Use Amon Ra. MUCH better at wiping everything.

Thank for ALL the responses, after trying to fix it myself for 5 hours yesterday, I PM to rocsolo got me up and running !!

[Q] Glide suddenly stopped recognizing any SD cards

Hi all!
I am having this issue with my AT&T i927 and I hope you guys can bring some light to the matter.
I was using OsiMood 2.2.14 (which is great!), for about a week, when out of nowhere I got a message saying that the SD was removed or something similar. I was just charging the phone, I wasn't using the phone at all when I got the message.
So far I tried:
1. Tested 3 different SD cards, whith no lucky.
2. Tried to restore only sd-ext under CWM (advanced option), but it did not work.
3. Restored the original AT&T settings that were backed up with CWM and the problem persisted.
Is there any way to mound the ext-sd with CWM or any other way to make sure that it's not a hardware issue?
I read about a so called "usb brick" on other Android phones, but couldn't find anything specific to our model. This may be the case?
Thank you!

Change the volds. fstab file from mmc1 to mmc2. That will redirect the kernels path to the external SD. Problem solved
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium

Thank you for the reply, but how exactly am I suposed to do that?

Seemingly, you must edit this file located at /system/etc/vold.fstab on your phone, with a text editor or if you prefer a shell.

Right, I have got to the following line:
dev_mount sdcard1 /mnt/sdcard/external_sd auto /devices/platform/sdhci-tegra.2/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1
Should I change it to the following?
dev_mount sdcard1 /mnt/sdcard/external_sd auto /devices/platform/sdhci-tegra.2/mmc_host/mmc2/mmc2
Another issue is that the file is read-only, how do I edit it? Also there is another identical file under /etc ... should I change the /system/etc one only?
Thanks!

/etc is a link to /system/etc, so this is exactly the same file.
You can edit it with a file manager like "ES File Explorer" which provides root access and write rights on mount.

Thank you. I've managed to change that line as in my previous post, but the issue persists.
By now, I've also flashed the original firmware with ODIN and also tried to flash the kernel only, but still no go.
Any other thoughts?

No ideas? Please guys, I haven't got my sd slot access back yet
Could someone please paste here the original vold.fstab so I can check if something is messed up there?
Thanks

After you flashed the firmware through odin, did you do the "Firmware Upgrade and Initialization" through kies, its under "tools"
(This will wipe your device)
After I did odin stock, I had problems untill I did this.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927 using XDA

Ok I will try that now as a last resort and I will post how it goes.
Well, maybe the real last resort would be the emergency recovery option, but it requires a code.
Fingers crossed...

Um, its been a while! How's it goin'?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927 using XDA

Thanks for the idea, but it didn't work. Still no SD card access.
Any other ideas? What about this emergency option on Kies, is it worth a try?
Any chances to be a hardware issue? like a sudden SD slot defect on the phone? There was no damage or falls or anything like that, for sure.

Well, now it's unrooted with stock recovery... take it to AT&T. They will test it and likely replace it right then. If they don't replace it they will mail you a replacement and you mail the defective one back.
We had to do this when my Dad's Atrix bricked from an ota from Motorola. (it was unmodified too, pure stock.)

Humm... I am afrraid it won't be possible as I livein Rio, and there's no ATT over here. I had to take the risks, as I need a physical keyboard (had a n900 before).
'There's samsung however, but my flash counter is not nil, and I am not sure that they would sort it here, as it's not sold here. To make things worse, I would need the purchase invoice from.US, not sure they sent me that.
Any thoughts are very welcome.

Humm... I am afrraid it won't be possible as I livein Rio, and there's no ATT over here. I had to take the risks, as I need a physical keyboard (had a n900 before).
'There's samsung however, but my flash counter is not nil, and I am not sure that they would sort it here, as it's not sold here. To make things worse, I would need the purchase invoice from.US, not sure they sent me that.
Any thoughts are very welcome.

Oh, that's a bummer. I really don't know, I'm sorry.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927 using XDA

Is there anyway for us to boot into fastboot mode? As I've found on google a way to restore sd brick, it's a fastboot command that you use on windows cmd, having the phone on the usb.
Any clues?

Had this happen to me the other day on my stock rom. Was fooling around in a game and got kicked back out to the home screen where it told me both the internal storage and the sd had been ejected. Took about an hour of turning the phone on and off, but I did manage to get it to work by booting with no sd card inserted, then inserting it after media scanner ran the first time.
Good luck hope this helps

Thank's for the advice men, I will try it and post the results here.

I tried what you said but id didn't work, so I put it back on stock using Odin and updated using Kies. So it was almost back to the original state (only the version was 2.3.5 rather than 2.3.6).
As I had tried everything, I was convinced it was a hardware issue, however, out of nowhere, it recognized the sd that was inside it.
I have no clue how I did it, so I could help other people. I only know that I have installed a animal sounds kids game, that had a counter and some ads and it apparently cleared the recent apps tab (if you hold the home key) and it was back to life then.
Anyone knows, what sort of command would clear the recent tab and in some way force the device to mount or unmount the ext sd?

[Q] Woes of the S4 mini SCH-I435 (several questions about it)

I was recently given a new SCH-I435 from a family member. This is my first time having an android in a very long time(Switching from an iPhone 4s). I have a few questions about it. (this may be a lengthy post)
First I know that you cannot flash custom ROMs to it, as the bootloader is still locked. I have heard that there are some de-bloated stock ROMs out there, but have entirely failed to find any. I can probably get by without it, as I already have it rooted, but there are several things I am attempting to do, and every time I look up how to do it, step one is having a custom ROM.
If anyone can point me to a de-bloated stock ROM I would greatly appreciate it (or at least one that is compiled to not be a "production build" as I keep running into "adbd cannot run as root in production builds" and it is severely limiting what I am trying to do, and what I am going to want to do in the future)
What I am trying to accomplish next is taking over the "connected as installer" feature that Verizon has on it when you plug it into USB (I am using linux exclusively so have absolutely no use for their software). I figured I may as well put this feature to good use. I am attempting to swap the ISO file in /system/etc for a CrunchBang LiveCD.
This has only been a partial success, apparently /system is it's own partition, and there is not enough room to fit the whole ISO (It is 739mb and it stops at 423mb) Even though it does not get the whole ISO copied, if I reboot my computer the ISO does indeed boot into the options, but fails to load the live session (no brainer there) so I know I am on the right track. I don't want to use DriveDroid for this, as it is very very finicky, and only seems to work 1 out of 6 times (and that is a kind guesstimate) My guess it that the "connected as an installer" is messing with it, so I would hope to turn the problem into the solution.
So I either need to find a de-bloated ROM that can free up ~ 400mb on /system, find a way to link the ISO from elsewhere on the device (I tried a soft symlink from my SD card and that did not work, it opens the ISO as an archive and not a file system), find a way myself to free up ~400mb on /system, or find a way to re partition /system to be larger (I have the 16gb S4, so I have plenty of room to spare).
I would prefer the debloated ROM(I don't know if that will free enough room), but finding a way to re-partition would be a close second (Every guide I have found for re-partitioning starts of with "First you need cyanogen(or another custom ROM)") I may need to re-partition it anyway. (Honestly I would like to learn how to do all of these, as they would be valuable tools in the future)
I had more questions, but got kinda lost writing this up, I will append them to this post later when I remember them... Thank you in advance for any help you may send my way.
**edit**
Oh yea, my other issue is accessing the files on the phone under Debian Wheezy. I have tried mtpfs, jmptfs, ptp mode, mtp mode, go-mtpfs (that one somewhat works, I can see *some* of the files, and probably take them off the device, but I attempted to add a file to the SD card and it corrupted the entire card, had to reformat it, just glad I did not do that to the phone)
ADB partially works, but only for taking files off the device, or putting them onto the device in non root areas, I get stuck with "adbd cannot run as root in production builds". I have tried almost everything I can find under the sun in regards to USB access.