Related
I have searched through XDA and read all the threads regarding the 'suspend process' issue. The specific issue is outlined in Issue # 11126 on the Google Code/Android project home...
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=11126
I am trying to get to the bottom of this, as best as possible. For all intents and purposes, this really appears to be a mystery. Ultimately, it appears as though there is (currently) absolutely no specific reason a to why 'suspend' runs wild until the device is rebooted.
My question is (I know we can all only speculate):
Is there any chance that this could be Google account-specific?
The reason I ask is, I've been doing some "testing," just to try and make sense of this for myself. Here is what I've done/come across thus far...
- My fiancee's first MT4G was a black one manufactured in Taiwan. It had the inferior LCD-SH-C2 screen. Her battery was draining VERY quickly - i.e. before noon, without using the phone for much else other than texting.
- I enabled USB Debugging for her, to "rule out" the init process issue.
- Even though she only had Handcent, Facebook and Angry Birds installed, I removed all of them, leaving only Watchdog.
- I factory reset her phone, twice.
- For all of the above, the device was not rooted. I have since rooted her phone via the steps in this thread.
I'm in the process of creating a new Gmail account for her, exporting ONLY her contacts and then using that account for her new MT4G (Plum) that's scheduled to arrive today. I'm actually thinking of NOT using her new Gmail account at first though, so I can use her original Google account on this new, clean device and see if the suspend issue persists.
I might just be wasting my time, but I enjoy doing this and I don't think it's a complete waste to try and find SOME constant here. Am I nuts for thinking it's tied to the Google account? The Google account seems to be a black box of sorts. There is more than just contacts, apps and settings, yet there is no "window" into everything else that comes down - e.g. I can't log in to Gmail and "configure" it to not restore her wallpaper or WiFi settings. So that's why I say it's a black box of sorts, since it's doing more in the background than we have control over.
Nothing is truly random, at least not in the context of Android and the hardware affected. There has to be some reason why users of various devices, either do or do not experience this issue. Whether it's a specific action or the something that differs between one person's action vs. another person's, there has to be SOMETHING that's triggering this on her device, yet never triggers it on mine. I guess I'm just trying to flush everything out and hope that discussing it will help rule out/rule specific variables.
Let me know what you find. This is driving me crazy! I charge my phone at night, so when I head to work it's at 100%. By the time I'm heading home (4-430pm)... the phone is around 15% battery.
Watchdog tells me suspend ranges from 5%-49% at any given time. I've never had suspend drop below 5% except on fresh reboot. I've noticed, though, after a reboot that the suspend process will slowly work its way back up to using lots of CPU cycles (it starts at, say, .2%, then 10 minutes later its 3%... 30 minutes later its 5%... an hour later its 9%). Battery just gets hotter and hotter due to this.
I'll be checking back to see what you find! Thanks!
mwelliott said:
Let me know what you find. This is driving me crazy! I charge my phone at night, so when I head to work it's at 100%. By the time I'm heading home (4-430pm)... the phone is around 15% battery.
Watchdog tells me suspend ranges from 5%-49% at any given time. I've never had suspend drop below 5% except on fresh reboot. I've noticed, though, after a reboot that the suspend process will slowly work its way back up to using lots of CPU cycles (it starts at, say, .2%, then 10 minutes later its 3%... 30 minutes later its 5%... an hour later its 9%). Battery just gets hotter and hotter due to this.
I'll be checking back to see what you find! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to XDA and Issue #11126, you're not alone.
What's really bugging me is that neither my first MT4G, nor its 1st replacement or its 2nd replacement, have ever done this. My fiancee's first phone did this. She is now using my 2nd replacement while she waits for hers to arrive (today). So a device that never exhibited this issue, over the course of at least a week of normal-for-me use, started exhibiting this issue for my fiancee maybe a day or so after using the phone.
I thought I had "solved" it when I didn't see it crop up the first day she used my replacement phone. She was quick to let me know I was incorrect.
So I've got serious pressure here - all of my MT4G's haven't exhibited the out of control 'suspend process' issue while I was using the devices, but with her, it does. <queue the jokes>
We own our own business, so we're in the same room all day long while we use our phones. I was the first to tell her, "it's something you're doing." I'm only repeating myself by saying that I blamed it on an app she installed or something she "did" to cause it. After factory resetting, what...2, 3 times...I'm starting to forget; after checking the apps that are installed (and removing all of them); after verifying every setting from USB Debugging, screen brightness, account sync, etc. I seem to at least be able to say, "every single setting, shortcut, widget, app or usage pattern, does not produce the issue on any device I have used with my Google account, whereas it does with my fiancee."
That's the most difficult part to get absolute - the usage pattern. She's doing such basic things though, but I know that even the slightest of difference can produce different results.
I will most certainly report my results, futile or not.
The only common denominator I've noticed so far is that it only affects Sense UI devices.
Chadastrophic said:
The only common denominator I've noticed so far is that it only affects Sense UI devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That seems to be the constant, to a degree. I'm seeing people state that they're having this issue on anything from the Samsung Galaxy S (i9000) to a Nexus running Cyanogen 6.1. That's people stating it though, so I'm not sure if they're actually experiencing the same issue or not.
I am biting my tongue, but I think I found another common denominator...I am going to post back in a coupla days once I've seen it last for this entire week.
hi,
i'm running cyanogenmod 6.1 on a desire hd and have been experiencing the suspend process problem exactly as described in this thread a nubmer of times now over the last week. so its definately not limited to devices running sense.
the only circumstances this behavior hasnt shown is when running 2g only with all other sorts of communications and sync off
zero_oli said:
hi,
i'm running cyanogenmod 6.1 on a desire hd and have been experiencing the suspend process problem exactly as described in this thread a nubmer of times now over the last week. so its definately not limited to devices running sense.
the only circumstances this behavior hasnt shown is when running 2g only with all other sorts of communications and sync off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it didn't seem 100% related to devices running Sense, so thanks for posting back to this.
My fiancee was experiencing this across her first two MT4G devices and has yet to experience the issue on her third and final MT4G. I want to see it run the rest of the week though before I share, but the issue did pop-up for her pretty much within 24-48 hours on her first two MT4G's.
Shlongwoodian: I have been following your posts as the "suspend" process has been affecting me since I received my phone the first day available. However, I am reluctant to send for a replacement as all else is great on the unit I have and there seems no gaurantee that a new phone fixes this issue.
I have tried Tmo and HTC and both seem clueless; therefore, I appreciate your research and look forward to any "fix" short of waiting for Gingerbread.
Anyone have any wisdom to pass on? This issue is driving me crazy! I've noticed it most on my black MT4G (w/the good screen) after browsing the web, youtube or using the media player. My wife's red MT4G (w/the inferior screen) has had no issues and her battery is amazing! The first day she got her phone her battery lasted 24 hours without even conditioning it! Granted she doesn't use it like I do mine, but it is still a huge difference. When this issue comes up on mine, I'm dead within 3-4 hours. I have Watchdog set so when it alerts me I just soft reset. That clears it up until it decides to come back at random intervals. It usually doesn't come back until I open the browser, etc. With as much as I use my phone (I am constantly on the road), it becomes a major pain to have to constantly monitor battery life. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
Man, I am sorry to report that I gots nothin'. Ok, here was my original theory...
I was speculating that "something" inside the Google/Gmail account was the cause. My reasoning being, essentially, your info is stored in a database. When you get an Android device, that online database is synced locally with the phone's database. We each have different databases and there is more than just your apps, Market links, contacts, etc. I never exhibited the /suspend issue on phones that she experienced the /suspend issue on. I figured it was database-specific.
If a table contains a value, or rather, does not contain a specific value (or if columns are missing, etc.), it can cause an application to respond in a negative way. Sometimes, this causes an error to bubble up in an application. Other times, it doesn't. In my experience, I've seen much more subtle issues in databases, that don't cause errors or a crash, but instead just cause "undesirable results."
When my fiancee got her final, good replacement Plum Glacier, we started with a completely new Google account. We thought we nailed it, when a handful of days passed without seeing /suspend get out of control, leading to Android System and/or OS sucking down battery life. I think it was nearly a week into it and one day while she was out, she realized she lost battery life really quickly - i.e. left the house with 90% and by the time she got to the store, shopped for a bit and looked, her phone was down to like 30-40%. She knows how to check for /suspend and it was, of course, back.
It's still not something that can be completely ruled out, since it's not a very air-tight test. There could be something about my Google account (which I've had pretty much since Gmail beta was available) that's keeping me (and others like me) from getting it or that idea could be crap.
For some reason, I have never, ever seen this happen on my Glacier(s) running stock 2.2.1. Phones that I never saw the issue on, she saw the issue on. There is so much speculation around it, but it just seems like "some people" don't experience it and "some people" do. It's all over different devices, different skill levels, etc. No apps, same apps, whatever and it happens to some but not others.
Sorry to get anyone's hopes up. I'll keep looking for differences/similarities though and if I find anything at all I'll - or if anyone else finds anything, no matter how ridiculous it sounds (yes, we've tested the 'rock' and it doesn't appear to suffer from the /suspend issue) - post it here.
Thanks for trying! It was a good theory. So . . . now what? Is there any way to get this ranked higher with Google, HTC, etc. to get more people working on it? It is really driving me nuts! It mainly happens after I use the web browser, then put the phone on standby for some reason. I can't even use the browser any more without needing to reboot it to save battery life. There is another thread, but specifically for the Evo and I think one for the Nexus one, all with the same problem. What if a new thread were started that is not device specific? That way we can get more people to star it and maybe Google or whoever will pay more attention to it! I would hate to think that we are stuck with this problem until when and if we get upgraded to 2.3. I would suggest rooting and flashing a new ROM, but even those with custom ROM's are having the same problem, so that's not going to help. Thoughts???
jpiano said:
It mainly happens after I use the web browser, then put the phone on standby for some reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It truly is a mystery to this day. I've seen people say, "it happened right after I installed Handcent" or "it happens as soon as I do..." No one has come up with any concrete evidence thus far.
My fiancee has Handcent, I have Handcent. I used Handcent heavily, never had an issue. She stopped using Handcent - still has the issue. We've gotten so granular in our troubleshooting, we're literally tracking every step. LOL i.e. I pressed the trackpad to wake the phone, once; I unlocked the phone, I swiped my thumb once to view my Watchdog Widget on the screen to the left of my homescreen, etc., etc., etc.
So, for now, we just wait? My phone (and all previous phones) have been just fine. My fiancee however...yeah, I'm trying to find a fix pretty quickly.
One common theme that I've seen with this issue is that it only happens after I put the phone to sleep. I have never seen it crop up while actually using the phone. Maybe we're going about it the wrong way in trying to identify an app, etc that's causing the problem... perhaps it is simply the code involved in putting the phone to sleep and that's why there hasn't been any consistency with what one does to make it appear. In your experience, have you ever seen or heard of it showing up while the phone is being used? Perhaps it's just on mine that it works that way, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I know nothing about code or how android works so please forgive the noob comment if this is an obvious one. Merry Christmas!
I've got this problem big time. Returned my first phone because I thought it was the phone. First few days were good but lately its back and as bad as ever. First thoughts were angry birds twitter or wifi but I have no idea. If I can't figure this out I might have to sell this phone.
I will try to post some more thoughts. I think you're onto some good ideas here.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
(Re-posting from the developer's Google blog where others are following this issue): Interesting about using the phone without a Google account. Not sure if this is relevant or not, but I've noticed something else with consistency. Granted I wasn't able to document the behavior through system panel at the time, but this has consistently happened. When suspend goes crazy, I can get it to stop simply by charging the phone! Even if I charge the phone for a few seconds, then unplug, it stays dormant without having to reboot. Noob speaking here but perhaps the part of android that actually logs the battery usage is suspending when the phone goes to sleep? When it us charging, this log is reset and clears the process from running. If this is even possible, then could someone write an app that clears this system log? Maybe by mimicking what happens when the phone is charging, we can at least temporarily clear the issue without the need tovl reboot? Again, I know nothing about all this so sorry if this is all irrelevant. Just sharing what I've noticed to be consistent. Thoughts??
Also, I saw on another xda blog (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=870557&page=2) that someone linked this issue to a corrupt photo on the sd card. After formatting the card and restoring some files, says the issue has not returned!
jpiano said:
Also, I saw on another xda blog (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=870557&page=2) that someone linked this issue to a corrupt photo on the sd card. After formatting the card and restoring some files, says the issue has not returned!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you're on to something with the SD card. I've been thinking I haven't seen the suspend issue return on my phone in quite a while. I just realized that the only thing I've really changed is installed a new 16 gb SD card. Since then, no suspend process problems. For those who are having the problem still, I wonder if removing or formatting their cards would show any improvement? Worth a shot if at least to eliminate another possible factor.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
That's cool that this thread is flushing out other ideas and possible variables. I like the idea of connecting it to the charger for a couple of seconds, but my fiancee is so used to just rebooting her phone each morning and sometimes again by mid-day, that it's easier for her to do just that.
jpiano said:
Even if I charge the phone for a few seconds, then unplug, it stays dormant without having to reboot.
Also, I saw on another xda blog (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=870557&page=2) that someone linked this issue to a corrupt photo on the sd card. After formatting the card and restoring some files, says the issue has not returned!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the microSD Card notion. This is such a weird issue, that it's so easily associated with other items - e.g. applications, usage patterns, etc. This seems feasible though, but the only way to know for sure is to reproduce it. My fiancee experiences the suspend issue daily, if she doesn't reboot regularly. So, I should be able to take her microSD card and use it in my phone and get the suspend issue. I don't want to 'muddy' up by swapping microSD cards, so I'll try reformatting her card and see if that makes any difference. She usually sees the issue within 24-48 hours of a fresh boot, so it shouldn't be long before we see if that fixes it or not. I can check the card for errors, etc. as well.
werk said:
I just realized that the only thing I've really changed is installed a new 16 gb SD card. Since then, no suspend process problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be upgrading to a 16 GB Class 10 soon, so I can give her my Samsung if need be. I'd really like to see if this is it though. It would explain the "some people get it and some people don't" pattern.
I also noticed that the minute I plug the phone in the problem goes away. Not sure why, just confirming it happens to me too. I also should note that when I returned my phone, they popped my old SD card into my new phone. So if there is an SD card issue with a corupt file/photo that could be something as well. I wonder woody if your girlfriends phone has had the same SD card after how many times did you say you traded it in? BTW, a side note, how did you exchange it so many times? After I took mine back to the store on day 14 they told me I wasn't able to exchange it again.
I do have a 16GB SD card but just haven't had time to install it. Wanted to double check which things I need on the new one from the old one, but it might be a good way to test this issue. Let me know some ideas before I swap the cards and maybe I can help test this.
Also, one more thing, what is the app you're using to log stuff? I'm just using Watchdog Lite right now.
I've got to figure this out or this is a dealbreaker for me. I have waited 3 years to upgrade phones, first time on Android, really wanted iPhone but wanted to stick with month to month from TMob. If this continues I think I will move to Windows Phone 7 or iPhone if I have to, but I really like this phone when the battery is not draining like a leech.
Thanks.
werk,
Just wondering what process you went through when you upgraded SD cards. Did you copy any files over to the new one or just start blank?
Thanks.
royhobbs said:
werk,
Just wondering what process you went through when you upgraded SD cards. Did you copy any files over to the new one or just start blank?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just straight copied the existing files over from the old card to new one (new one in phone connected via USB, old card in SD adapter in my laptops SD card slot). I think some Angry Birds files didn't make it due to long paths, but reinstalled it and no problems since then.
Latest Thread Update :
16/04/2013 ---- Added Rob's DFG trick Method for new comers to save searching for it .
04/03/2013 ---- Added XXEMB1 as Most reliable freeze free build .
01/03/2013 ---- added advice on kernels with SDS Fix .
26/02/2013 ---- Added links to LagFix (fstrim) premium ,and DFG.
Now that the Galaxy S3 Sudden Death Syndrome has supposedly been fixed by the Update 7 by Samsung patched for Kernel and Recovery ,
There is some poping up posts about the Galaxy S3 freezing with lockups,Lockscreen not responding that requires pulling out battery
and ending up with unsual rebooting and bootlooping which is a very awkward and annoying issue, especially the Q&A section which contains
a lot of angry S3 users reporting this problem ; Ex
Galaxy S 3 keeps freezing every 5 mins (50+ freezes a day)
Galaxy S3 keeps freezing
Well i decided to make this thread in the benefit of spotting the problem and to make sure we have accurate causes and eventually elaborate a solution to this disturbing problem.
Share your experiences down by posting the ROM, the Kernel, the Recovery and the Bootloader that you are on right now, so we can filter the answers and relate them with the freezing problems on The Galaxy S3.
Reported Issue Reasons :
1) - Facebook app for Android.
2) - Google Chrome Browser.
3) - Some Samsung Based Android 4.1.2 builds/Roms causing freezing.
4) - In Some cases, Media Scanner causing lockups.
5) - In Some cases, Swiftkey Flow Bêta causing freezing.
Possible Direct Reason :
Originally Posted by : Rob2222
The freezes are caused by the sudden death fix. On that kind of freezes the phone unfreeze itself after 5-25 minutes.
The phone freezes when writing data to an affected eMMC block.
An eMMC block is affected, when it's internal block pararameters (as f.e. write count for that block) are in such a state, that these parameters trigger a corrupted block without SD-fix (4.1.1) or trigger a freeze with SD-fix (4.1.2).
When a phone is hitting an affected block with a writiing operation is completely unpredictable.
So these freezes can occur on almost each situation on the smartphone when it writes data.
But you have indeed a higher chance to trigger a freeze when writing much data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possible Current Solution :
I. If the phone freezes, wait until it unfreezes itself. I think this is the important part.
II. The DFG "Dummy File Generator" is only used to trigger the freezes.
III. I think you could also just wait for the freezes to be triggered by all-day-use, but this would be very impractical to wait 20 minutes to
unfreeze when you need the phone.
IV. So we write dummy data with DFG to provoke the freezes.
Highly Recommended Advice :
The write access to an affected block without Sudden Death fix seems to damage the data on this block which _can_ lead to a sudden death.
Because of that I would recommend to stay with KERNELS that have the Sudden death fix included, even if it could cause freezes.
Reported Most Stable " Freeze Free " Build/Rom :
XXEMB1 and all Custom Roms based on this build.
Dummy File Generator :
Alternate Working Solution :
LagFix (fstrim) Premium
Rob's Dummy File Generator Method to solve persistant freezes on the Galaxy S3 :
Rob's DFG Method , Please take a moment to thank him for his contribution to solving this problem.
Let me repeat it again:
Whoever has problems with freezes, please try this at least and give positive or negative feedback here. We have good experience with this method to sightly reduce and/or completely eleminate the freezes.
No, this means that the problems occur when writing the eMMC, not reading.
Try to wait for the phone to unfreeze (5-25 minutes) it seems that it helps and the freezes get less.
If you have that kind of freezes, that are caused by the SD-Fix your phone will unfreeze after that time without reboot.
To provoke the freezes you can also empty your internal storage as much as possible and then use the dummy file generator (generate all) to fill the internal memory 1-2 times.
After each run you can simply delete the dummy files with the delete button.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...nomunomu.dummy
Free up 8GB or more to have enough free space on internal memory.
If you have 8 GB free internal space, write 2 times dummy files. 2x8GB are 16GB. The internal wear leveling algorithm spreads these writes over the whole 16GB physical chip area.
There is a good chance that writing EACH sector on the eMMC resets/averages out the internal block data (f.e. write counters) that trigger the Bug and the Fix (Freeze).
If the phone freezes while writing the dummy data (it propably will), just let the phone do what it wants. It will continue to work after 2-25 minutes for each freeze.
This unfreeze after 5-25 minutes seems to have a positive effect.
You can have more than one freeze while doing this. Just let the phone do what it wants. If the dummy file generator crashs cause of a freeze, just restart the App.
When your finally able to write a amount of 16GB data (2x8GB dummy files) in subsequent runs without freezes you have a good chance that your freezes are gone for now or maybe even forever.
You need to write a minimum amount of 16GB data (or more) with this procedure! If you write less data, you didn't even need to thest this DFG method.
The idea behind it:
The SD-Fix causes freezes when writing eMMC blocks in a specific eMMC block parameter state. There parameters are for example the block write counter. Just some few blocks are affected, but when they get written, the SD-Fix freezes the eMMC. Now it seems to have a positive ("healing") effect to wait for the eMMC to unfreeze itself, which happens after 5-25 minutes. For all day use this is not very practicable. So we write just some dummy data to the eMMC to trigger the freezes when we do have the time to wait for the unfreeze. Thats all.
-- From the forums I monitor I get 80-90% positive feedback that the S3 gets again long-time-stable (usable) with this DFG-method.
I got from 10-15 freezes/day to only 1 single freeze in the last 2 weeks without factory reset.
-- Some people needed to write 60-80GB of data until the phone became stable.
In the hardest case (only 1 case) I know, someone wrote about 1TB (1000GB) of data and then the phone became finally stable. He didn't got warranty so DFG was his last resort and after that it finally got stable.
In most cases 20-60GB written data should be enough to get back the phone on a stable state.
If youre familiar with odin, you can also flash XXEMB5 or newer firmware, cause it seems this includes a new, better SD-Fix that doesn't casue freezes anymore. DFG is not needed in this case.
PIT File :
nhariamine said:
Now that the Galaxy S3 Sudden Death Syndrome has supposedly been fixed by the latest update 7 by Samsung patch for Kernel and
Recovery ,There is some poping up posts about the Galaxy S3 freezing and ending up with unsual rebooting and bootlooping which is a
very awkward and weird and annoying issue, especially the Q&A section which contains a lot of angry S3 users reporting this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a shame that this post has been mostly ignored in favour of the "SDS" one, but I do actually believe both issues are related. My I9300 is running stock - always has been - and suffered with "proper" SDS last November.
The initial symptoms were that my previously perfectly-behaved phone would would randomly FC apps that didn't before, and some of my photographs and video taken on the phone suddenly became corrupted and unusable.
Finally, one Saturday morning, I woke up to find the phone stuck in a boot loop, going from the "Samsung Galaxy S3" black-and-white boot scree to the first blue sweep of the Samsung logo, then reboot. It would power-off and power-on and I could enter ODIN or recovery modes fine, but it wouldn't boot any further.
I managed to get my photos and stuff off the phone through USB in recovery, and decided to wipe and flash the same stock ROM via ODIN.
This process failed - it couldn't partition the device correctly. None of the flash counters were reading anything so I popped it into my local Vodafone shop where they said it just needed the firmware popping back on and they'd have it ready in an hour.
I went back and they said they hadn't been able to load the software and it would have to go off for repair. *sigh*
It came back about 5 days later with a repair report stating that they'd replaced the "main board" - presumably because of the eMMC lockup bug.
It was only after this that the whole "Sudden Death" news came about and I realised what had happened to my phone. The eMMC check app says that my new controller is the same "faulty" version so I've been waiting with baited breath for "safe" official firmware.
The update system threw XXELL5 my way just before Christmas, and I thought that was that, but a coule of weeks ago the phone started hiccuping again. I knew I'd seen this before and my heart sank.
Last week another update was available, this time XXELLA. Since then, all hell has broken loose on my phone. It is locking up about 5 times a day. Initially, I was rebooting it manually (by holding in the power button). Tuesday morning I was woken by my wife saying "shouldn't you be up by now?" - glanced at my phone and it was frozen on the black-and-white boot logo - no alarm! Arrggh! It's dead!
Powered off, back on again and it booted fine. Hmmm, this isn't quite the same as before then. Having seen the advice about leaving it when it's locked, I've been doing that religiously and, so far, it's always woken up again by itself, but it's definitely indicative of a fault somewhere.
I've tried to check what's happening with adb logcat (I'm not rooted - fully stock - so can't see dmesg) and there is always some sort of I/O error when the freeze happens - often an sqlite database. Then, a couple of days ago, three photos and one video suddenly became corrupted.
I've realised that there are two issues, and only one of them has been "fixed".
The main problem, I believe, is that the flash memory is dying quite rapidly. We all know that flash memory has a limited write life, and wear levelling is supposed to extend that life beyond the typical lifespan of a device (say 5 years for a PC SSD drive?). For some reason, the flash in these devices is wearing out MUCH more rapidly.
The "faulty" eMMC controller obviously had a problem when dealing with faulty flash cells and would get stuck in a permanent loop, bricking the device. As far as I'm aware, the "fix" that has been applied prevents this permanent loop. The system still needs to try and handle disk errors with the flash memory, but it's not a permanent freeze any more and eventually (once it's finished dealing with flash faults - often unable to recover the problem) the system will break out of the freeze and carry on as before.
Sometimes this means that an app has bombed out as it couldn't read it's data correctly, but most people would either have forcibly rebooted their phone, or not notice as that app would just restart next time they used it. Sometimes, however, it means that something more important has crashed due to the disk I/O problem, resulting in the phone needing to spontaneously reboot itself.
What this boils down to is - yes, I believe that there has been a fix applied for the "faulty" eMMC controller getting stuck in a permanent, irretrievable loop. But no, I don't believe the actual original problem has been addressed - namely that the flash memory is dying at an unacceptably fast rate for ... well ... who knows what reason.
I do have a theory on that too. Recently a friend of mine was looking to change his laptop hard drive for an SSD. I investigated for him and decided that the Samsung 830 series would be his best bet, if he could get hold of them. And why not the newer 840 series? Well - that's purely because the "consumer" version of the 840 uses Samsung's latest triple level cell flash memory. Newer, faster, cheaper to manufacture almost certainly but ... more importantly in this case ... less resilient. How does 1000 write cycles grab you? They claim that the wear levelling algorithm in the drives mean that their lifetime is still pretty reasonable, but I'm not convinced in the real world.
Any idea what flash they use in the S3? I have no idea, but I betcha it's something (a) cheap and (b) new(ish).
I'm now at a bit of an impasse with my phone, however. When I returned it for repair last year it was properly frozen. No-one could do anything to fix it, the flash wouldn't format or write firmware - the only recourse was replacing internal hardware (or the entire phone).
This time, however, it works ... sort of. I'm occasionally losing photos I've taken and occasionally finding it's locked up and occasionally having to wait for it to recover. No repair centre has the time to "live with" my phone for half a day, waiting to see what happens with it - and even if they did, they'd blame a rogue app or "something left over from the upgrade" - they'll just factory wipe it, maybe flash the firmware and send it back again "repaired".
It's tempting to "lose" it and pay my insurance excess ... but even then, I won't know when the problem will strike again - but that's the thing ... I'm certain it would be back.
I used to love this phone. Now I can't rely on it. I can't rely on it storing the photos I take with it. I can't rely on it ringing when someone calls. I can't rely on texts getting through to me on time. I can't even rely on it waking me up in the morning.
It's sat next to me now,lying on the desk with the screen all shiny and black. I have no idea if it's fine, or frozen. Is someone calling me right this second? I have no idea. Oh, there we go - pressed the lock buton - it's awake. I shouldn't have to check my phone every ten minutes to see if it's working or not.
*sigh* sorry - rant over.
Suffice to say, that's my take on it. If I thought it would help diagnose something "fixable", I'd root and see what dmesg is doing, but I'm convinced this is hardware and I'm also certain that Samsung aren't going to take the blindest bit of notice.
I'm pretty sure there will be more and more people complaining that their phones are misbehaving over the next few months, but it's vague enough of a problem that the "repair" will be wiping - just long enough to take them over the first year warranty...
QorbeQ said:
It's a shame that this post has been mostly ignored in favour of the "SDS" one, but I do actually believe both issues are related. My I9300 is running stock - always has been - and suffered with "proper" SDS last November.
The initial symptoms were that my previously perfectly-behaved phone would would randomly FC apps that didn't before, and some of my photographs and video taken on the phone suddenly became corrupted and unusable.
Finally, one Saturday morning, I woke up to find the phone stuck in a boot loop, going from the "Samsung Galaxy S3" black-and-white boot scree to the first blue sweep of the Samsung logo, then reboot. It would power-off and power-on and I could enter ODIN or recovery modes fine, but it wouldn't boot any further.
I managed to get my photos and stuff off the phone through USB in recovery, and decided to wipe and flash the same stock ROM via ODIN.
This process failed - it couldn't partition the device correctly. None of the flash counters were reading anything so I popped it into my local Vodafone shop where they said it just needed the firmware popping back on and they'd have it ready in an hour.
I went back and they said they hadn't been able to load the software and it would have to go off for repair. *sigh*
It came back about 5 days later with a repair report stating that they'd replaced the "main board" - presumably because of the eMMC lockup bug.
It was only after this that the whole "Sudden Death" news came about and I realised what had happened to my phone. The eMMC check app says that my new controller is the same "faulty" version so I've been waiting with baited breath for "safe" official firmware.
The update system threw XXELL5 my way just before Christmas, and I thought that was that, but a coule of weeks ago the phone started hiccuping again. I knew I'd seen this before and my heart sank.
Last week another update was available, this time XXELLA. Since then, all hell has broken loose on my phone. It is locking up about 5 times a day. Initially, I was rebooting it manually (by holding in the power button). Tuesday morning I was woken by my wife saying "shouldn't you be up by now?" - glanced at my phone and it was frozen on the black-and-white boot logo - no alarm! Arrggh! It's dead!
Powered off, back on again and it booted fine. Hmmm, this isn't quite the same as before then. Having seen the advice about leaving it when it's locked, I've been doing that religiously and, so far, it's always woken up again by itself, but it's definitely indicative of a fault somewhere.
I've tried to check what's happening with adb logcat (I'm not rooted - fully stock - so can't see dmesg) and there is always some sort of I/O error when the freeze happens - often an sqlite database. Then, a couple of days ago, three photos and one video suddenly became corrupted.
I've realised that there are two issues, and only one of them has been "fixed".
The main problem, I believe, is that the flash memory is dying quite rapidly. We all know that flash memory has a limited write life, and wear levelling is supposed to extend that life beyond the typical lifespan of a device (say 5 years for a PC SSD drive?). For some reason, the flash in these devices is wearing out MUCH more rapidly.
The "faulty" eMMC controller obviously had a problem when dealing with faulty flash cells and would get stuck in a permanent loop, bricking the device. As far as I'm aware, the "fix" that has been applied prevents this permanent loop. The system still needs to try and handle disk errors with the flash memory, but it's not a permanent freeze any more and eventually (once it's finished dealing with flash faults - often unable to recover the problem) the system will break out of the freeze and carry on as before.
Sometimes this means that an app has bombed out as it couldn't read it's data correctly, but most people would either have forcibly rebooted their phone, or not notice as that app would just restart next time they used it. Sometimes, however, it means that something more important has crashed due to the disk I/O problem, resulting in the phone needing to spontaneously reboot itself.
What this boils down to is - yes, I believe that there has been a fix applied for the "faulty" eMMC controller getting stuck in a permanent, irretrievable loop. But no, I don't believe the actual original problem has been addressed - namely that the flash memory is dying at an unacceptably fast rate for ... well ... who knows what reason.
I do have a theory on that too. Recently a friend of mine was looking to change his laptop hard drive for an SSD. I investigated for him and decided that the Samsung 830 series would be his best bet, if he could get hold of them. And why not the newer 840 series? Well - that's purely because the "consumer" version of the 840 uses Samsung's latest triple level cell flash memory. Newer, faster, cheaper to manufacture almost certainly but ... more importantly in this case ... less resilient. How does 1000 write cycles grab you? They claim that the wear levelling algorithm in the drives mean that their lifetime is still pretty reasonable, but I'm not convinced in the real world.
Any idea what flash they use in the S3? I have no idea, but I betcha it's something (a) cheap and (b) new(ish).
I'm now at a bit of an impasse with my phone, however. When I returned it for repair last year it was properly frozen. No-one could do anything to fix it, the flash wouldn't format or write firmware - the only recourse was replacing internal hardware (or the entire phone).
This time, however, it works ... sort of. I'm occasionally losing photos I've taken and occasionally finding it's locked up and occasionally having to wait for it to recover. No repair centre has the time to "live with" my phone for half a day, waiting to see what happens with it - and even if they did, they'd blame a rogue app or "something left over from the upgrade" - they'll just factory wipe it, maybe flash the firmware and send it back again "repaired".
It's tempting to "lose" it and pay my insurance excess ... but even then, I won't know when the problem will strike again - but that's the thing ... I'm certain it would be back.
I used to love this phone. Now I can't rely on it. I can't rely on it storing the photos I take with it. I can't rely on it ringing when someone calls. I can't rely on texts getting through to me on time. I can't even rely on it waking me up in the morning.
It's sat next to me now,lying on the desk with the screen all shiny and black. I have no idea if it's fine, or frozen. Is someone calling me right this second? I have no idea. Oh, there we go - pressed the lock buton - it's awake. I shouldn't have to check my phone every ten minutes to see if it's working or not.
*sigh* sorry - rant over.
Suffice to say, that's my take on it. If I thought it would help diagnose something "fixable", I'd root and see what dmesg is doing, but I'm convinced this is hardware and I'm also certain that Samsung aren't going to take the blindest bit of notice.
I'm pretty sure there will be more and more people complaining that their phones are misbehaving over the next few months, but it's vague enough of a problem that the "repair" will be wiping - just long enough to take them over the first year warranty...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really sorry for the issues you've been living with mate, sure thing is that what you said about memory lockups and blocking writing
firmware is totally true except mine doesn't freeze which is strange, mine is the affected model and is shown in eMMC brick bug check ;
-VTU00M
-06/2012
-Yes, Insane Chip.
The poll i made is permanant, but you have to post down Rom and kernel and recovery and bootloader to be more accurate to spot the problem and maybe some DEV can fix it as soon as possible.
Thanks for sharing ur experience with us mate.
I am totally stock jellybean not rooted etc. Was having bad problems with phone freezing and lagging so started uninstalling things to try and fix. I found the problem was chrome, I had chrome, chrome to phone and chrome beta on took them all off now running silky smooth again.
Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk 2
kiwiflasher said:
I am totally stock jellybean not rooted etc. Was having bad problems with phone freezing and lagging so started uninstalling things to try and fix. I found the problem was chrome, I had chrome, chrome to phone and chrome beta on took them all off now running silky smooth again.
Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First ever user to report Chrome as one source of the problem, thanks mate, if any other symptoms occur and have anything to do with freezing, let us know ok !
I made a similar thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2127443
TL;DR?
Phone started to freeze too much,every 5-10 mins.
Unrooted went to total stock after a megawipe.
Phone died after 2 days.
GOt 16 GB motherboard replaced with 32 gb.
I dont get it, you have a 2 year warranty. If it happens, and im sure the vast majority wont have any issues, take it for warranty.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:49 PM ----------
eggman89 said:
I made a similar thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2127443
TL;DR?
Phone started to freeze too much,every 5-10 mins.
Unrooted went to total stock after a megawipe.
Phone died after 2 days.
GOt 16 GB motherboard replaced with 32 gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This though seems vere interesting. Ive read that a few mention their board got replaced by a 32gb. Which prolly doesnt have the bug. So im guessing samsung is very aware of this bug.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
This though seems vere interesting. Ive read that a few mention their board got replaced by a 32gb. Which prolly doesnt have the bug. So im guessing samsung is very aware of this bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose that freezing problem is occured when a device is severly damaged even when on safe kernel and recovery, as much as i hate to admit it i think freezing S3 is the last symptom before SDS. Let's hope it's not.
nhariamine said:
I suppose that freezing problem is occured when a device is severly damaged even when on safe kernel and recovery, as much as i hate to admit it i think freezing S3 is the last symptom before SDS. Let's hope it's not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got 16gb Motherboard replaced with 32gb.
So it may not be as bad as it seems :cyclops:
nhariamine said:
I suppose that freezing problem is occured when a device is severly damaged even when on safe kernel and recovery, as much as i hate to admit it i think freezing S3 is the last symptom before SDS. Let's hope it's not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if this is true in every case (freezing S3 is the last symptom before SDS) since I have 4 or 5 freezes on 2 consecutive days about 2 months ago. After that the phone runs normally, not a single freeze since then. And another thing my SGS is the 32 Gb model which is supposed to be safe from SDS (it has a different version of eMMC)
thank goodness for this thread.
this phone has been killing itself up to 3 times in 10 minutes. i really dont know what the hell is going on with this.
i will try uninstalling chrome and see if it helps..
my phone is bone stock running 4.1.2 with the latest firmware updated just today.
data connection is maybe the problem
Hey guys,
i have these freezes too since i updated to 4.1.2.
but in my case it's only when i have mobile data connection or w-lan connection turned on. If i turn off any data connection, it works the whole day without freezing!
It's for two weeks now and today i decided to install CyanogenMod 10.1 to try if this solves my problem.
I'm about to synchronisize my apps (does it automatically when entering google account and choosing "restoren from my account") and the first freeze occured (W-Lan on). But this time the light of the touch keys is full functional. When i touch the screen, the background light of the touch keys turns on. But power button, volume up/down and the touchscreen are frozen.
What I've done:
- rooted and installed CWM
- Cleared Dalvik cache
- wiped all other cache partition and stuff
- installed CyanogenMod 10.1 nightly build 20130208
- factory reset and so on like described in the manuals for installing CFs
Original data of my phone before installing CyanogenMod:
Galaxy S3
AP: I9300XXELL4
CP: I9300XXELL4
CSC: I9300DBTELL1
Android Version:
4.1.2
Kernel-Version:
3.0.31-566833
[email protected]#1
No Branding.
So it is a bit confusing that this only happens with data connection turned on.
I've also read some threads with analytics of the update code and the SD fix so i am well informed now and think it's because of the eMMC bug where it tries to repair the corrupted sectors and freezes while doing this (cause after ~20 minutes everything is fine like nothing happened).
Has anyone an idea or a solution now besides sending it to the local dealer and change it for warranty reasons?
Thanks,
Dark Smile
Odp: **Ultimate Galaxy S3 Unusual Freezing Thread**
It happened to me once, about 2 weeks ago, just after the release of the new firmware LM2. So I have flashed back with PC Odin to the previous LLA but the problem persisted. The phone was freezing after about 5 minutes of use. Forced reboot was needed.
So then I flashed some older 3 files-low level firmware (can't remember what one) in PC Odin nd then back to LM2 again, and everything is alright since then.
Strange...
Wysyłane z mojego Nexus 7 za pomocą Tapatalk 2
After 2 Freezes it's running stable for the moment... i'll watch it over the weekend and give feedback.
Mine is freezing lots now.
First time it went to o2 repair (UK) they claimed they had fixed it, pretty sure they just did a factory reset (which I had done already 3 times). So when I collected it, it froze within 2 minutes.
I'm tracking this repair publicly at http://myo2repair.wordpress.com so you can check out how this sort of thing pans out.
Problem is it can be intermittent, so you could get a couple of hours without a freeze. So it's gone back to repair and they say no fault found. So a bit stuck now.
It will definitely happen again when it's returned. They say after 3 attempts they will give me a refurb device. Samsung themselves give you a brand new sealed device as a replacement. Recommend going through Samsung if in same predicament.
Yes mine also got replaced by a 32 gb one from samsung india today
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
good news.
after updating today (and uninstalling google chrome) my SGS3 is no longer freezing itself every few minutes!
will report if it starts doing it again. If you dont see me post, assume all is good now.
freeze after 4.1.2
I've had constant freezes when I upgraded to 4.1.2. I tried many versions. all the same.
I rolled back to 4.1.1 and the phone is freeze free for one week now.
Mine started to behave strangely and then started to freeze constantly. Didn't happen after an upgrade, just started happening out of the blue.
So I wiped it completely and flashed it with the latest wanamlite rom (I was on a rooted stock rom before).
Now it only freezes once every few days (still it NEVER used to freeze before, ever).
I think it might have some connection to the facebook app. I've noticed it only freezes shortly after I have been using the facebook app.
SiggiJarl said:
Mine started to behave strangely and then started to freeze constantly. Didn't happen after an upgrade, just started happening out of the blue.
So I wiped it completely and flashed it with the latest wanamlite rom (I was on a rooted stock rom before).
Now it only freezes once every few days (still it NEVER used to freeze before, ever).
I think it might have some connection to the facebook app. I've noticed it only freezes shortly after I have been using the facebook app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far, users are reporting Chrome and Facebook as one of the sources of the freezing in Galaxy s3.More to come, Share ur experiences down
My old (preordered in July) stock 16 GB Nexus 7 (4.2.2) which was stolen approximately 3 weeks ago was returned to me today with a flat battery. The thief said, "I could not get into your tablet to wipe its data. I'd like to return it to you and apologize for trying to make a quick buck."
During the three weeks it was missing, I remotely disconnected my Google account from the device by enabling two-step verification, and bought a new 32 GB (NO SCREEN SEPARATION ISSUES ).
He handed it to me, and promptly left the scene. Ecstatic, I rushed to the nearest outlet to charge the sucker up and use it again (I was thinking "WHOO HOO! TWO NEXUSES, NOW I CAN EXPERIMENT AND CRAP!"). However, while I was expecting to see my data, I found the device to have been wiped. The thief said that he had never had any experience with android devices, which leads me to believe that there is a wipe feature built into the Nexus.
Is there one or did this guy lie and actually get into it, steal whatever he needed and wipe? Should I be concerned? I checked the serial number and it IS the same device.
Sent from my [NEW] Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
Well I know on iPhone after 10 failed attempts it wipes data but on android, I know it can disable your device but it usually makes you enter your password. If you disconnected your account its possible it wiped the device as well
Sent from my Nexus 4 @1.72 GHz on Stock 4.2.2
The stock recovery wipes everything and you can launch it without the OS, so no screen-unlock password is needed to do that.
OTOH, starting up the boot loader and then the recovery is not obvious to someone without android familiarity, but the instructions to do so are certainly readily available on the internet (e.g. here)
The story is rather odd - if you use the stock recovery to wipe the tablet, it is no longer locked by a password or gesture, so it is not obvious why someone that could wipe the device with the stock recovery would be unable to simply start the device up and notice that it was ready for configuration.
Then again, from your story it sounds like the thief isn't the brightest bulb in the room.
Either that or he was a CIA/Mossad agent and they planted hardware bugs in your device with the intent of returning it to you all along.
bftb0 said:
The stock recovery wipes everything and you can launch it without the OS, so no screen-unlock password is needed to do that.
OTOH, starting up the boot loader and then the recovery is not obvious to someone without android familiarity, but the instructions to do so are certainly readily available on the internet (e.g. here)
The story is rather odd - if you use the stock recovery to wipe the tablet, it is no longer locked by a password or gesture, so it is not obvious why someone that could wipe the device with the stock recovery would be unable to simply start the device up and notice that it was ready for configuration.
Then again, from your story it sounds like the thief isn't the brightest bulb in the room.
Either that or he was a CIA/Mossad agent and they planted hardware bugs in your device with the intent of returning it to you all along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, excellent theory! But my question is, what would a CIA agent want with a Canadian teenager that has a love of android?
Anyway, I'm going to try to find out more about it on Monday.
Hi,
I am thinking about encrypting my Nexus 4. I am already using encryption on all my computers but I never tried it on my smartphone, so there are three questions I hope you will answer:
1)
How is battery life affected? Well, fortunately the battery of the Nexus 4 is quite good and I hope encryption won't waste too much.
2)
How is speed affected? My Desktop CPU has AES-NI and there's a SSD, so you don't even recognize system encryption. How is it doing on the Nexus 4? I'm just doing the usual smartphone stuff, means E-Mail, messaging, phoning, checking News &Weather and sometimes playing Doodle Jump. My research on the Internet about encryption performance on Android didn't bring up things I can really rely on so I hope someone here can tell me his experiences.
3)
Which algorithm is used exactly? I know it's dm_crypt and I'm using it on my other computers, too, but on my PC I can choose which algorithm I want and on Android it's given as far as I know.
Regards,
becha
You can't use patter lock to unlock your screen, which is a pian for me right now.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
1. Barely noticeable
2. Same as 1
3. Not sure
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
1) I doesn't notice any real impact on battery life. Used the N4 several months before encrypting it.
2) Booting the phone is slowed down, and not only because you have to enter the key for accessing the encrypted drive. But opening apps and doing backup, etc. isn't slowed down. I guess I wouldn't even notice an encrypted devices and so did no one until now, while using my phone.
I was also doubtful before, because in my experience, on a laptop back in the days (5 years ago), the battery drain and performance impact was just to big. But on the other side, I do a lot more disk based tasks on my laptop, than I do on my phone.
in short, after I lost my last phone, I really wanted to give it a try and I didn't regret it until now.
Hoping to hear good answers to question 3.
@HB_Mosh
Well, that's not too bad for me because I don't use Unlock Patterns.
@Vanhoud @memleak
Thanks for sharing your experiences, I'll give encryption a shot.
becha said:
@HB_Mosh
Well, that's not too bad for me because I don't use Unlock Patterns.
@Vanhoud @memleak
Thanks for sharing your experiences, I'll give encryption a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you please tell us your experiences, i was thinking about it, i guess you can CWM, encrypt then restore backup if you want to revert without starting all over
Yesterday I encrypted my Nexus 4, it took around an half an hour. Until now (well, one day...) I didn't discover any problems apart from the fact, that my Nexus 4 did a simple restart for the first time when trying to encrypt it. Everything went fine when trying the second time. The phone itself runs fluent, so up to now I didn't see any performance problems.
Now I can't backup my ROM - any suggestions? Perhaps Recovery can mount to an external USB storage or something? What a pain! You can't un-encrypt either, and there's no way to mount encrypted storage in Recovery I wanted to backup before installing privacy protection in case it borked my phone.
Another encryption question...
Don't mean to hijack this thread, but can anyone tell me if OTA updates will still work on a stock, unrooted N4 that's been encrypted?
Can't find a definitive answer - some have had success on other devices and others haven't.
I don't see why turning on stock encryption on a stock unmodified device would make any difference?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
DroidBois said:
I don't see why turning on stock encryption on a stock unmodified device would make any difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't sure why / if this would make a difference either but as I said, I can't find a definitive answer. Some people say that you need to factory reset in order to remove the encryption before you can apply an OTA update, but others say different.
I'd be interested to know if the OTA would work after simply asking you for your encryption PIN on reboot, or if the encryption would prevent the OTA being applied because of the encrypted storage. Does anyone have any experience of this?
DroidBois said:
Now I can't backup my ROM - any suggestions? Perhaps Recovery can mount to an external USB storage or something? What a pain! You can't un-encrypt either, and there's no way to mount encrypted storage in Recovery I wanted to backup before installing privacy protection in case it borked my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to use TWRP Recovery, which is able to mount your encrypted internal storage.
No way.. I thought I'd tried every option I could think of in TWRP but I'll take a closer look.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
If you start TWRP, it should automatically ask for your passphrase to read the encrypted internal storage. Latest version of TWRP works for me, older ones had bugs regarding to encrypted devices.
Hi, I'm really sorry if this is considered cross posting, but I'm starting to get desperate here and really need help. I'm on a deadline and running out of time, I need to figure this out somehow and have been bashing away for almost 24 hours now.
My question is in this thread - and is the last post.
I am actively online and working on this. I'm starting to consider just reverting to stock from the recovery partition and then building everything from scratch, but if I can avoid that time vampire I would like to. Does anyone know what's going on, have some ideas, or anything?
Next step, I'm going to try the 1Gb 5Gb repartition that Dean originally developed. Though with my Nook broken already and my inability to restore it to a working state despite having a ton of perfectly fine Nan backups, I have doubts as to whether anything will change there.
I'll monitor both threads. Thanks in advance for any guidance/help.
Edit: Still plugging away, last steps mentioned above didn't work. Next steps: I'm reading Leaping Lar's partition fix thread and getting some ideas. am going to try:
Flash Partition > Boot to CWR
Format > Flash to CWR
Flash Dizzy Den's signed 4.1 zip > Boot to CWR
Flash my Registered Nan backup of Stock 4.1. > Boot to MMC, get a look around
I think I already did this, but left out the last step. Might work as it should restore my registration data instead of starting me from an unregistered account. If it seems worth trying at that stage, I will then flash my registered Nan of 1.4.2 and get a look at that.
Speculation: I just realized, I've been trying to restore a backup of a rooted 1.4.2 over an unregistered 1.4.1 - which is what I keep getting reverted to. I don't know if that matters, but my hope is if I flash my registered backup over what I'm reverted to, then build up to registered 1.4.2, that will help things... We'll see.
Failing all of this, I will try Leapin' Lar's partition repair.
I have finished reading the Partition thread I linked to above (where my original post is) and found that one other person reported my issue, almost to the T. His/Her user name is Blondie. Blondie seems to have quit without a fix, or if ever got a fix it was never posted. It was quite some time ago, but if any of those who helped him/her can remember if there was a fix would you let me know what it was?
Screw the original nook firmware. Go install CM7 Mirage ROM.
Rooting a stock nook is pointless. CM7 is better, faster, more efficient than stock and it comes rooted by default.
Now that your serial number is probably gone or corrupted in the /rom partition, you most likely cannot register your nook with the B&N servers, and that is probably why you can't install apps.
If you need a complete partition table wipe, follow this guide. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1759558
Next time you decide to mess around, be sure you backup your ROM and factory partition before doing anything.
sagirfahmid3 said:
Screw the original nook firmware. Go install CM7 Mirage ROM.
Rooting a stock nook is pointless. CM7 is better, faster, more efficient than stock and it comes rooted by default.
Now that your serial number is probably gone or corrupted in the /rom partition, you most likely cannot register your nook with the B&N servers, and that is probably why you can't install apps.
If you need a complete partition table wipe, follow this guide. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1759558
Next time you decide to mess around, be sure you backup your ROM and factory partition before doing anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have backups of everything. As I said above, they aren't wholly functional.
I never said I was completely unable to install apps, or that I couldn't register with B&N. I can register fine, and in some scenarios I can indeed download my apps just fine, just not if I try and restore a MN Nan backup. That is not because of a missing SN but because of a registration issue that can be caused by the MN process - otherwise I would not be able to download them at all in any scenario.
Also, if you know the MN process you know my factory partition is intact. Perhaps the partitioning messed with it a little, I'm not sure - but nowhere did I say I have yet tried to reset to stock from the factory partition, so we have no real way of knowing yet.
I understand that my OP is starting to get tl;dr because I don't want to double-post, but actually reading what has been done so far and reading the post at the original thread I linked to might be more useful in trying to give people advice. A little less snark would be useful too, I am not a n00b at this by a long shot and talking down to people tends to get hackles up instead of being productive - especially when you clearly haven't read their thread - as an example, if you had read it, you would have seen I already know about Leapin' Lar's partition fix and it's one of the next things I plan to try..
On the other hand, I may take your suggestion about installing CM7 Mirage. Honestly, I had my reasons for not doing that in the past, but those reasons are largely moot today. I will get a look at the thread. Thank you for the suggestion.
You're right, I apologize for not reading thoroughly. I had a derp moment.
No worries Sagirfahmid, I owe you an apology too. I'm sorry to have jumped on you, I am a little bit... stressed, and tired. Not that it's any great excuse. I need to take my own advice about talking to people. Sorry.
And fwiw, I believe you are right and the original partition did mess with the factory partitions, I've just been avoiding facing it. I really ought to get off the fence and run the repair and then follow Dean's guide to using fdisk on the emmc, but I'm getting OCD about trying every other thing first - even down to considering a flat reset to factory and rebuild from scratch. Stupid, I know.
Thing is, there is at least one other person out there who had this exact problem, and it didn't sound like her issue ended up being a corrupt partition as the partition repair didn't help her. Unless it was too corrupted. I know there were a lot of people running the same system as me, and it was very stable. Someone besides me and one other person has to know what this is and how to deal with it. That's what I'm hoping anyway. LOL
And seriously, thank you again for the reminder that there are other options out there that might better suit me now. The more I read the more I think if I can just reset the darned thing to a fully working state, I may well just do an SD CM10... or should I just stick with Mirage? Is there an advantage to Mirage over 10.2?
Yes definitely. It's faster--that's the most obvious advantage. (I disabled all the fancy animations and removed a lot of useless system apps like the phone, contacts, calendar, camera, and GPS app via adb).
Also, CM7 Mirage has USB host mode, so if you get a male microUSB to female standard USB port, it is very possible to use a keyboard or mouse, or a flashdrive or harddrive (if you get a powered hub). AFAIK, the max current it can supply without a powered hub is 100mA (enough for a flashdrive or keyboard/mouse that isn't too fancy--skip the ones with LEDs; each LED uses around 15mA).
Oh yeah, CM10 runs in phone UI (there's an extra bar on top taking up space).
In CM7, there's only 1 bar, so you have a bigger area on the screen. Of course, there is a patch to get CM10 into tablet mode, but I don't like all the hassle.
On CM7, you can overclock the CPU to 1.2GHz, but on CM10, it's limited to 1.1GHz AFAIK.
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Right now, I'm hoping to get Debian ARM natively installed on the Nook Color. I've been making progress thanks to the devs and users here. Android is still required, but it will be on top (instead of the other way around, which is Android on top and Debian chrooted). SInce they'll be using the same kernel, I think I can get Debian to use the Nook Color's USB port to connect devices like printers or scanners (that would be so awesome...).
If you're interested in running full blown Debian on the NC, and assuming that you are able to fix yours, you can check out this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2422518
Solved
Sorry for the double post. Need to separate this from the wall o text above. Problem is solved and since I never did find a spelled out definite answer while I was reading the last 2 days, I want to post it here where someone who might be looking in the future might easily find it.
To reiterate the problem concisely for those who don't have time for the diatribe above:
My device is a Green dot Nook Color:
* Running a stable Manual Nooter 5.08.20 over a Stock B&N 1.4.2 ROM, and using > This < method to block OTA Updates - basically use a SQLite Editor for Andriod to modify the fota mode in the nook's registry.
I recently started getting the Low Memory message asking me to please archive some of my apps to SD. Am about to go on a long trip abroad and I not only needed what apps I had but also need a couple more. Solution: Repartition the Data and Media partitions.
Full backups: have a whole slew of backed up NC B&N Update zips, Flashable updates created by several awesome people here, and step-by step Nan Backups of every single time I have re-rooted my device after a B&N Update - signed and registered stock configs, roots and final images, and finally a whole store of dated backups of my Tibu backups off of my SD card.
So, I repartition following steps exactly.
* At first reboot, CWR freezes on load. This makes me thing something went horribly wrong.
* Reboot again, everything seems to Format fine, reboot into Nook
* Unlike most people, my nook has reverted to an unregistered stock 1.4.1, no root.
* Flash my latest Nan-backup of my rooted NC, doesn't take properly and B&N is a mess because (duh) I didn't register it before flashing - But I shouldn't have needed to because all of those settings were in my Nan Backup. Okayyyy... weird.
* Flash back to a Registered stock NC nan backup of 1.4.2 since that was the last version I used. I was able to DL books and read them, and could DL apps - but my apps couldn't install at all and there were a couple of new B&N Apps that were stuck in a DL/Install loop too. Hm.
* Flash an earlier root Nan over that. Now my Nook can't download anything, I get an error message that it cannot execute. Lovely.
* Bash around in this fashion trying to make it work, occasionally trying different partition schemes in the process, while reading every thread I can find on the subject of what issues I'm having.
I begin to suspect that my partitions might be all messed up, especially considering the original freeze from CWR, but have no real way to check that and don't want to give up, so I post in the instruction thread and later here to see if anyone has any guidance or knows what this is.
A whole slew of people have endorsed this method and had no problems.
A few people had some problems, but only one user has reported exactly my problem off of the exact build I was running, no less. (1st link is that user's first post and 2nd is the page where her posts begin). However, that thread ended with no real answer - or so I thought.
At once point before the issue ended with no further response from the poster with the issues, Leapinlar (who had been assisting her, or at least trying to) tells her that if his Partition Repair didn't solve anything, then it likely wasn't the problem. If she cannot get her B&N Apps to DL & Install, then it's most likely the version of the B&N Stock that she is on and she needs to flash to the most recent - he even points her to a signed CWR Flashable one that he created for 1.4.3. She argues that can't be the issue - and I get that, because the apps installed and worked before in 1.4.1 right? So why all of a not now simply because she's back on 1.4.1 again?
I don't know why B&N would have made it so that you can't install any older apps on your device even though they installed on older ROM versions, forcing people to move up to 1.4.3, but it appears to me that this is exactly the case and Leapinlar is once again correct.
Took me a long time to internalize that and have it click. After running his Partition Repair with the same results as her, I left it on a registered 1.4.1 Stock, put the NC down and stepped away for a while to do other things. when I came back I was fixated on what Leapinlar said about flashing to a newer version of B&N Stock. So I did. And when that didn't really fix it I flashed up to the next ans last version, 1.4.3.
Hallelujah, problem solved!
For my own apps to download, I had to wait for a couple of new ones sent to Nooks from B&N for version 1.4.3 to download and install - and they were not able to do that on earlier versions. I propose that their inability to install was what was blocking my other apps. but it could be that the others were also made version specific once B&N stopped making NCs in favor of HD's and the Tablet, and released the final update.
Regardless, that is the final answer. If you are on MN and repartition, and then find when you boot you are taken to unregistered stock, and upon registering you can access your books but your apps will not install after downloading and you have a couple of new ones that seem stuck at dlownload and install, all you need to do is Update your NC to the final release, 1.4.3, and the re-root. I think you will need to re-root from scratch, unless maybe your last root backup was from 1.4.3 - which mine was not.
Next dilemma: Stick with root or start running a CM ROM from SD...
I'm a cheapskate, that's the truth. I am a geek, I want to do **** with my devices and I don't care if I end up bricking them so long as there are ways to recover. I also care about my privacy. I don't stick with the stock firmware because:
1. B&N wants you to REGISTER with your CREDIT CARD to be able to actually USE the Nook Color. Why the hell?
2. B&N possibly has BACK DOORS to your Nook Color. They might DRM lock apps or something. They can obviously force updates onto their users unless they root. They might also decide it's time to brick your tablet if they wanted, so you would go buy another one (yes, this is more of a conspiracy theory, but hey, if they can force updates, they surely can also do this).
3. B&N's custom Android is crippled unless you root. You can't use the 5GBs of space. Why the hell not?
etc etc...there are more reasons I don't stick with any stock firmware, be it for a tablet or phone.
(I use Debian on my computer most of the time now because Windows is a piece of crap. You can't do whatever you want on it, except game. Did I mention the useless startup services and apps you need, especially antivirus, for Windows to function without worries of getting a keylogger or some nasty virus? Valve has made Steam for Linux very usable, and I rarely use Windows for gaming now. Linux is tons faster, and I can do almost anything on it).
Have you ever used a T-Mobile smartphone? the apps that come installed are numerous! It makes me want to puke every time I use a stock Android phone from a phone company. I like and want my devices to only contain the apps I want. That means NO BACKDOORS, NO FISHY BACKGROUND PROCESSES, NO **** APPS, NO RESTRICTIONS.
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Backup the documents and whatever you have on your B&N firmware. Install CM7.2 Mirage onto INTERNAL SD card.
Stop being a wuss :silly: and start enjoying a better Android experience.
sagirfahmid3 said:
I'm a cheapskate, that's the truth. I am a geek, I want to do **** with my devices and I don't care if I end up bricking them so long as there are ways to recover. I also care about my privacy. I don't stick with the stock firmware because....
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I completely understand! I have many of the same concerns and make workarounds and otherwise try to frustrate the usual 'Big Brother' tactic that are becoming so prevalent. I don't think you've gone into the realm of conspiracy theory at all, what you're talking about is a long term goal I think. Think of the marketing and capital profit possibilities of that kind of control over a still largely unregulated market - 'largely unregulated' because the technologies and the possibilities they allow are evolving so quickly.
I also am a 'computer geek', prefer control of my own devices and am very strict about personal security. So then why does B&N have my personal data? Largely because they had it far earlier than there was ever a blip on the tech radar of 'e-readers'. I'm also incredibly bookish and there haven't been a whole lot of B&N in my region, but I prefer their company as a book retailer, so I was a member that had begun ordering from them online as soon as they had a website to order from. So, it wasn't a huge loss for me to keep the stock and use it as intended. here are some things about this that do grate with me, yes, but they wouldn't have lost my data history anyway, so wth, I might as well get a really elegant e-reader interface from a company I mostly like and support. This is definitely not a situation that applies for everyone, I know.
I use windows on a secondary boot partition and funnily enough, largely for gaming. I also use it on a work laptop because I have to. I run Suse most of the time, myself.
As far as DRM, it' something we need to fight in the courts and through making our own backups for experimentation, and that's all I can really say.
When I bought my NC over two years ago, tablets were still pretty uncommon and e-ink readers all the rage. I splurged on this even though I was still using a flip phone because I felt it would serve multi needs well:
a) The need for an e-reader (I travel at least 1ce a year and I read a lot while traveling. Books are HEAVY! and I'm getting oilder...)
b) The desire for an e-reader that could read color and comics - so I could DL comics and fan creations and manga as well as books on the same device - and one that isn't an Apple (I dislike Apple as much as I dislike MS).
c) The desire to have a good interface in a size that is more readable than most phones on the market, to surf the web on or read the above during my long commutes.
d) The desire to have all of the above in one item that would also not tie me to a single seller - in other words I also wanted to run the Kindle App and Google books.
At the time, Kindle Fire had not been released and the next best machine (actually, tied as of the time I bought this nook) was an iPad. Other tablets out there were more expensive and glitchy and without that quality - some didn't even expect to ever update their android ROM. There was nothing on the market close to the NC in that price range - and I knew I could root it or otherwise replace the original ROM if I didn't like it, to do what I wanted, and essentially never brick it!
I chose MN over CM or Nightlies because I didn't have to mess with the factory partition at all or ever worry about replacing it, and it let me use my nook directly from system in a two-sided boot that had a tablet on one end and a Nook on the other. Very neat. I got the 3 yr warranty when I bought it because at that time they stated that you could return the NC within that time for a lower price on the next new thing. I plan to use that, so I wanted the original factory partition intact.
There are only two things today that would keep me from running a CM install or SD right now. The most important of those two is Battery Life.
The trip I'm about to go on is to India from the east coast of the US. We'll be gone about a month and my NC/Rooted or flashed tablet will be my ONLY mobile device. I need something stable, and that if I am not already familiar with it will be fairly intuitive, and most important - Good Battery Life. As far as I know, the CM ROMs for NC are energy hogs - is that still the case? We will have a lot of devices to try and keep charged, one plug adapter, and the NC will have a central role in our keeping in touch with family and friends. We we go for a day without a charge but with about 8 hours of use including wifi time on a MN root, I know I will still have enough charge the next day till we get to the next location where we can try and charge everything.
My other concern is more about running apps and what apps will work with the setup I'm planning - which I already know would work on my NC had I not hit the "Low Memory" wall and started all of this.
I am still interested in running CM, can you point me to info on these? For the second, I need to link to Canon Image Gateway wirelessly and also a Bloggie. I love that CM7 can run a USB interface! That's a huge advantage that I could use!
Even if I don't use it for this trip, I may change it when I get back to a CM7 sd boot to play with till I'm used to it. Also, I am rooting a NC for a Niece before I leave, and I think I'm going to change tactics and put CM on it instead.
As to smartphones... LOL. I still have a pay-as-you-go flip phone, wanna talk about being cheap and having security paranoia? XD Seriously, I spend a lot on my computers - which I prefer to build - and spent a lot on my tablet back when I bought it and when I replace it will consider carefully and spend on that again. =) Smartphones? I will get one eventually, it's a matter of time, but I'm holding out as long as I can. LOL
...I need something stable, and that if I am not already familiar with it will be fairly intuitive, and most important - Good Battery Life. As far as I know, the CM ROMs for NC are energy hogs - is that still the case?
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Nah, CM ROMs have great battery life these days. I get 10 hours on my Nook Tablet (CM10, 4700mAH battery AFAIK); 8 hours on my Nook Color (CM7, 4000mAH battery. Obviously, it's going to have a slightly lower battery life). Also, keep in mind the li-ion battery is almost a year older than the Nook Tablet, so it has a decreased charge capacity. Li-ion's have a lifespan of 3 to 5 years--after than, you're gonna get crappy runtime on battery. Good news is li-ions are very recycle-able and non-toxic. I think most major electronics stores accept li-ions for free.
The only issue with stability is that, if you have wi-fi set to "always on" in CM7, sometimes you'll get a SOD (screen of death) after an extended period of sleep. Basically, your screen will fail to turn on--you must force power off and restart the NC. The guaranteed workaround is to set the wi-fi setting to "only when screen is on." You can safely overclock your CPU to 1GHz (+200MHz past stock 800MHz) guaranteed, and 1.2GHz almost guaranteed (I have mine at 1.2GHz, no freezes or crashes at all, and I run Debian chrooted in it currently, which takes a lot of power).
My other concern is more about running apps and what apps will work with the setup I'm planning - which I already know would work on my NC had I not hit the "Low Memory" wall and started all of this.
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All CM builds can transfer apps' storage location to the external microSD if you wish. I have all my games and non-essential apps on my 32GB class 10 microSD, both on my NC and NT. Again, don't forget, the CM7 build for NC has USB host mode (so if you were really crazy, you could possibly plug in a 3TB+ mechanical harddrive, with a powered hub of course). Don't forget, the Nook Color also has bluetooth (which isn't there on B&N software). I have successfully transferred files between my netbook and my NC via bluetooth (but you have to be within 1 to 2 feet distance lol, unless you tear apart the NC and mod an antenna or something). You can also use an external bluetooth GPS receiver and bluetooth headset. Go look on the NC accessories thread if interested.
Even if I don't use it for this trip, I may change it when I get back to a CM7 sd boot to play with till I'm used to it. Also, I am rooting a NC for a Niece before I leave, and I think I'm going to change tactics and put CM on it instead.
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Good idea. Install CM7 on your niece's NC (INTERNALLY :silly: ) and see how you like it. I guarantee you'll like it, and so will she. Since you messed with the partitions, I would suggest you visit the CM7.2 Mirage thread and post if the changes in partition sizes should make any problems with flashing.
Thank you for all this great info! I had read about the SOD issue, but I usually keep my wifi off when not using it, so I'm not too worried about that - it helps battery life some too. Interesting, I hadn't realized lion batts had that limited a lifespan. I haven't noticed a whole lot of change in my own NC's life, but to be honest I haven't looked either. I should.
Regardless, great to know CM is better at battery life.
sagirfahmid3 said:
I have all my games and non-essential apps on my 32GB class 10 microSD, both on my NC and NT.
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Actually, that brings up the issue of class 2 vs class 10 cards and stability. There are a few threads that have benchmarked SD cards for running CM ROMS and have found the best and most stable - especially for large cards - is a 16 Gb Cl2 SanDisk... it looked by recent discussions that this is still the case, have you noticed this at all? My card is also Cl10, and as of now I think I would want to run CM off of an SD, at least until I'm used to it.
Turns out I didn't mess with my partitions after all. Gotta love computer systems! LOL Turns out the issue was version of stock I was running, and only that. I re-registered, updated to 4.3 stock and all is fine. You would think I would learn one day to read, step away and consider, instead of banging my head against a wall repeatedly. I should have figured it out much sooner, Leapinlar basically spelled it out for the other member who had this problem. And it completely explains the issues I had too. I may end up messing with them correctly again though.
I did not know the NC ended up having a blue tooth after all! I remember the speculation but the teardowns had only begun then and I never followed up on them. Now that IS interesting!
My Niece's on the other hand does have a corrupted partition, but from something she did to it. I think I will flash CM to the emmc, nice idea!