Database Users

Recoverable custom ROM installation on APAC/WWW/ASIAN ARIA

This is for our friends using the APAC/WWW/Asian HTC Aria that do not have a factory restore image from HTC to restore their phone. This is largely a repost of an the original method we used to install custom ROMs on the Aria that we used before Unrevoked's REFLASH installed clockwork recovery for us. This method borrowed a lot from Eugene373's original mytouch slide method, with uses an exploit developed by the unrevoked team.
I am reposting it here because the original thread is locked and I can no longer edit my post. I don't want to simply link to it because we want to make sure we don't do any modification that cannot be reversed. If followed, the ARIA can be backed up, modified, then recovered fully to stock. This is not an easy method for many.
Again, what this does is allow you to load clockwork recovery without installing it, backup your original, unrooted ROM and then install a custom ROM.
OS X/Linux Users: remember to preface abd commands with ./ (./adb)
I strongly suggest using Linux or OS X to do this as these operating systems have far fewer driver issues. An Ubuntu LiveCD works well, and you can use Linux without ever installing it on your PC.
PREREQUISITE #1: You must have the android sdk installed and know how to use adb.
PREREQUISITE #2: Download Clockwork_Aria_MT3GS.zip
Process:
Format the SD card supplied with the phone like this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7029045&postcount=283 (Thanks Yoshiofthewire) in a card reader if at all possible.
Copy your new ROM zipfile to the root directory of the SDCARD. DO NOT name it update.zip. DO NOT unzip it. You must flash the zipfile later.
Copy the contents of Clockwork_Aria_MT3GS.zip to the tools directory of your SDK, along with your ROM zipfile of choice.
Power up the phone, holding down the VOL-DOWN button.
Wait about 10 seconds, until some diagnostic checking is done.
Press volume down to highlight recovery, but to do not push power to execute just yet.
Open a terminal window/command prompt and Migrate to the SDK tools directory to run the adb commands later. If you are on OS X or Linux, open the terminal window and then switch to superuser access (sudo su).
Get ready to connect the phone to the computer with the USB cable, but don't connect one end until you read the next step.
This part is difficult and it's critical, and it's inconsistent and therefore may take quite a few tries to get it right: Pushing the power button first and then approximately one second later plug in the USB cord. (Think ONE THOUSAND ONE-PLUG)
When the triangle/exclaimation over phone graphic appears, hold volume up and press power. This will bring you to stock recovery.
If this works, running adb devices command from the tools directory on the PC will list the device. If not, start from the beginning from power up. This can take a lot of tries, be patient and don't give up. Not all SD cards will work reliably.
Once devices are listed in the loop, hit CTRL-C to terminate the loop if you've started one. Hurdle one complete.
In recovery, use volume down to select Apply sdcard:update.zip and push the power button to execute (This will fail, but it's enabled write access for me.)
adb push ota.zip /sdcard/update.zip and press the enter on keyboard to execute. (No - that's not a typo)
If that pushes without error, then enter adb push update.zip /sdcard/update.zip but do NOT press enter.
In recovery, again scroll down with power down to select sdcard:update.zip but do not execute yet.
Press the power button and then watch phone to say "verifying" and then press enter IMMEDIATELY on the keyboard. If timed right, Clockwork recovery should load. If not, start back at step push ota.zip /sdcard/update.zip and repeat from there until clockwork loads.
From Clockwork Recovery, do a Nandroid backup.
From Clockwork Recovery, select install zip from sdcard, and execute, then choose zip from sdcard and execute, and then you can scroll down to your pre-rooted rom of choice and execute that to flash it. In Clockwork you can scroll with trackpad or volume buttons, and you can execute with either the power button or a trackpad button push.
To restore, follow this process again and do a nandroid restore of your original backup instead of flashing a new ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Help stuck in CWM

Tried to apply new UK update ,hid root and system found update but if failed on install and is now stuck in CWM .I have now download the CWM flashable zip for the update but as I'm stuck in cmw every time I reeboot it then I can't get the file on the unit any help would be great
Sent from the Beast that is the HTC One X in white......

I think upgrade from .17 to .21 mustn't have the CWM in the first place. One need to have stock recovery for the update to take place without problem.
Anyway, isn't that zip file can be place in the microSD slot card and flash from there?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium HD app

You can get files with extern sdcard or with ADB - command "push".

when i enter CWM recovery all it shows are folders from the internal memory so i cant get to the update file to flash it

So you connect your TF with PC and send the file with ADB. Or not?
Mount sdcard in CWM recovery and:
Code:
adb push "/path/to/file/in your pc" "/data/media/"
And then you see the file in root directory in internal memory.

managed to get it rebooted via power on volume down then vol down again still on .17 going to flash the cwm .21 now
thanks for the help

Just push and hold Vol down plus power button.
Wait till you get the option of cold boot Linux or wipe data.
Choose cold boot, once your tf boot up use terminal emulator(free in market).
Open Terminal and type:
-su ( you should get a #)
next type:
-echo boot | dd of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 bs=1 seek=0
now type in:
-reboot
Note press ENTER after every line
That should get you out of the recovery loop

flashed the cwm update and it applied no problem but still have the same issue eveytime i switch it off and then back on it goes straight into clockwork mod recovery and if i press reboot system now it just loops round , only way to avoid it is power off then volume down power on then volume down and boot android?
think i have lost root

sorry still have root , updated to lastest clockwork mod and still getting it booting into recovery when powered on

baseballfanz said:
Just push and hold Vol down plus power button.
Wait till you get the option of cold boot Linux or wipe data.
Choose cold boot, once your tf boot up use terminal emulator(free in market).
Open Terminal and type:
-su ( you should get a #)
next type:
-echo boot | dd of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 bs=1 seek=0
now type in:
-reboot
Note press ENTER after every line
That should get you out of the recovery loop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks so much that worked great only thing is i still get the notification in the try to say there is a system update even though my info shows it running 9.2.1.21

combat goofwing said:
thanks so much that worked great only thing is i still get the notification in the try to say there is a system update even though my info shows it running 9.2.1.21
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just clear data for DMClient

thanks all good and all working seems a bit slicker overall
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium HD app

not sure what to call this problem

Ok, so rooted (razorclaw) ics 4.0.3 tf-101.
fully charged
when powering on, stalls at the eee pad screen. (sounds like a boot loop, but it doesn't go to recovery)
Cold boots fine, works great, no random reboots (yet)
Will not boot into recovery, has ww_epad-9.2.1.11-20120221 bootloader
stalls at "booting kernel image" I assume there is no recovery installed.. Tried to get cwm onto it but I cant get apx working, it wont recognize the device at all.
I didn't root it, someone else did and I have no idea what recovery is/was on it.
I bought the tablet used, and would like to fix it.
Once recovery is installed would this boot normally.
Ive been searching on here/transformer forums for a couple weeks and have thought I found the answer multiple times. I need a push in the right direction.
Tried to fix this for a while a couple months ago when ics first launched and gave up. (did the same thing when It had honeycomb on it)
edit::
the only solution I can come up with is using NVFLASH to try to restore it. Working on this right now, hopefully this is a sbk1//not working, cant seem to get the computer to recognize the device in apx mode. (win 7)

If your TF is rooted, you may want to give the RecoveryInstaller app a go.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1346180&highlight=recovery

I forgot to add that I have tried that (tried it again just now.. twice, just incase it happened to work but it didnt.)
following these instructions:
"click the button and the Superuser app will ask for permissions. Then the tablet reboots and to enter it you have to keep the Volume - key pressed and when it the TF writes "Booting into recovery" on the screen press Volume + once"
also tried it without holding volume buttons when it reboots.
When I run it, and click the button to install recovery, it grants superuser permissions and then reboots, sticks at the eee pad screen again and it stalls at booting recovery kernal image. Anything Im missing?

Reflash a recovery image .sos and bootloader .ebt if the recovery image doesn't work.
Download any cwm flashable recovery and extract it twice to get the recovery blob out:
put the recoveryblob on your computer somewhere.
adb push C:\Location\Of\Blob\blob.blob /sdcard/
adb devices
adb shell
su
dd if=/sdcard/blob.blob of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 -
reboot
--
this should fix recovery.

Thanks for breaking that down! Im going to try this once I can get adb working.
Going to try another computer now. I'm beginning to wonder if the usb cord for my tf has gone bad.

You can do it on your tf too, via terminal emulator app since you can coldboot.
Download blob somewhere on tf, download term em. and run this part:
su
dd if=/Path/to/recoveryblob of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 -notice path/to is where you placed on Tf's INTERNAL storage.
reboot

Ok, went through it on the terminal emulator. Everything seemed to go ok, but on rebook, it still wont enter recovery (held the vol button of course) just hangs on "booting recovery kernal image"

Is BusyBox installed?

That it is, just reinstalled 1.20.. should i use a different version perhaps?

Ro.secure set to 0?
see the guide to flashing an insecure boot.img if it isn't, this may be the problem.
if you're on a rom this isn't the issue..
Try a different version of BB I suppose

simplywinter said:
Ok, went through it on the terminal emulator. Everything seemed to go ok, but on rebook, it still wont enter recovery (held the vol button of course) just hangs on "booting recovery kernal image"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suggest you try method 3 in the following post.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1622628
It does not require rooted TF. If you do everything right but still not working, you may have a faulty device.

^^ My peri runs that method, so that didn't work. :/
I think borked hardware, try NvFlash

just did this
ls - l /system/xbin/su
getprop ro.secure
returned: 0
So it is indeed set to 0.
NVflash.. well I would do that if I could get the usb connection to the computer working.. Still trying that.
Also, kokopopz
I went through method 3 on the tf itself, unfortunately it didnt work. Still trying to get adb working to try it that way.

simplywinter said:
I went through method 3 on the tf itself, unfortunately it didnt work. Still trying to get adb working to try it that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The following guide will be useful for setting up ADB.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1071584
For the USB driver, you can try the naked driver.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1514942&highlight=naked
Note: I am a linux user. I set up ADB on my linux box. I did not try the above myself. I just came across them. They maybe useful to a Windows user.

Windows drivers are finicky, make sure you totally uninstall and reinstall them too. Took forever to get right on my computer.

no go with windows. I still cant seem to make this work... I have ubuntu on my laptop though. Can I even do this on Ubuntu? its 11.04

You can do this with Ubuntu no drivers required, just pick up the Nvflash wheelie for linux and get yourself a reflashed ROM.
Also you can still do this on TF. I had a very similar issue that I was able to fix by using Rayman's Blobtools (you can pickup blobunpack for windows in my bootsplash screen change guide).
Download the latest stock ROM for your device, and extract the 'blob' file out of it.
Put the blob in the same folder as blobunpack.exe, then open a command prompt and cd to the directory, then run:
Code:
blobunpack blob
After that you will see that there are now many blobs, one of them is called blob.EBT, this is your bootloader blob. What you want to do is copy that to /sdcard/ on your tf via mass storage or 'adb push blob /sdcard/' (You Have to remove the .ebt extension, it's just there as an ID, so it should just be 'blob')
Once that's there flash it through the staging partition (In terminal emulator or adb shell):
Code:
su
dd if=/sdcard/blob of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4
reboot
Then it shouldn't get stuck at the Eeepad screen anymore!
If it still does, you might have that weird problem where nothing flashed through staging partition sticks, so you'll need to run Roach2010's fix.

after trying that.. twice. It doesn't seem to stick. Roaches 2010 fix it is, searching for it right now.

If you can get adb shell access (I'm assuming yes) PERI has the fix bootloop option. Otherwise run roaches fix AFTER flashing a new recovery and EBT partition but BEFORE rebooting.

how do i run roaches fix. i Dont understand that part. I understand the rest though.

stock firmware update w/ root

Hey guys.
So I rooted my Nexus 10, running stock firmware. I want to install the stock update from google but it's not working.
I downloaded it (or rather the system automatically downloaded it), and then i pressed restart and install.
It rebooted into CWM Recovery and I pressed 'install zip'. There's an error thou. It says
assert failed: apply_patch_check("/system/app/BrowserProviderProxy.apk" . "eea9b34d255faa1088912
more weird number blab blah blah
E: Error in /cache/07ac4f5d6c30.signed-mantaray-JOP40C-from-JOP40C. 07ac4f5d.zip
(status 7)
installation aborted
I have a feeling that something is wrong with my browser provider proxy apk i'm guessing?
I honestly have no idea, but if someone could maybe give me a working browserproviderproxy.apk and i can try replacing mine and see if that works?
Does anyone know where this stock update zip file is saved to? Maybe I could try it manually.
Anyways, any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Yep. It sounds like BrowserProviderProxy.apk is modified in some way. The deal with OTAs is that they are deltas, meaning they contain only the data that was changed in an update. If a file was changed, the delta will not work.
Basically, you need to restore to stock, apply the OTA, then re-root. The procedures I have outlined will restore the system to stock without wiping your data.
You will need working drivers and the fastboot command. These can both be obtained from Google's Android SDK. The installation instructions differ depending on what OS you are running.
I apologize if this is a little complicated. I like to use the command line instead of graphical toolkits for tasks such as these. If your graphical utility can do a stock restore without wiping your data, then try it.
Download the 4.2 mantaray factory image from Google. Also, download the 4.2.1 OTA.
Dig through the factory image and extract the boot.img, recovery.img, system.img, and cache.img. (They are in another zip inside the tgz archive.)
Do not run the script that automatically flashes everything. This script will wipe all data on the device. Instead, flash the images individually. Power the device off, then hold all three buttons at once (power and volume up/down). If done successfully, your device will have some text on the screen with an android in the background. (This is bootloader mode.) Run the following:
Code:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
Now your device has the stock firmware, but your data is still intact. Boot into recovery by selecting "Recovery Mode" with the volume buttons and pressing power.
When the "dead android" appears, immediately press and hold power. While holding power, press vol. up. Release vol. up then power. If done correctly, the recovery menu should appear. (If you did not succeed, press and hold all three buttons until you are back in bootloader mode.)
Select the adb sideload option in the recovery menu. Run
Code:
adb sideload <OTA package name>
inserting the name of the OTA package.
You are now upgraded. Now, you need to root your device again. This can be done using any method of your choice.
Whew! I know it's a little complicated, so please ask questions. I will do my best to answer.

Need Help, No OS

Hi,
The N4 of my wife has big problem.
I wiped in "custom recovery" (TWRP) some stuff for return all in factory settings (this was stupid, I know)
Now, when she reboots on recovery, there is a message "No OS installed !"
How fix this, please ?
Edit: I tried with a toolkit, everything seems good, but when I boot, I have only the google screen.
Edit 2: I send with adb: image-occam-jdq39.zip, but when it failed when I try to install it.
Thanks.

https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#instructions

^^ negroplasty has given you the link to download the latest factory image. You can flash that to your phone no problem as long as you can boot into the bootloader (from off state, hold power + vol down)

Connect phone to pc, go to bootloader
Throw the image you want to flash to the same folder where your adb tools are
Open terminal, change directory to that folder
Then write: ./adb push EXACTNAMEOFROM.zip /sdcard/
Example of me trying to adb push Xylon
Then go to "Install" on your phone, sdcard, select the image, swipe to flash and that's it, hope this clears it.