Related
I had my Epic in my pocket with the display asleep, and I wanted to check the time. When I pulled out the phone I noticed that the bottom row of buttons was lit for some reason, and the power button didn't appear to be doing anything. After waiting for a few seconds to see if anything would happen I finally gave up and pulled the battery.
The phone rebooted fine, but after reboot it started telling me that the internal memory was low. Since then I've deleted some applications, cleared my text history, etc....but it still gives me the warning. It claims that I now have 16 megs free....but I don't know how that's possible as I don't have that many apps installed (I'm guessing around 100-150megs).
Do the Sprint built in apps really use that much space? Is there a way for me to see the physical files that are on that chip rather than just a list of installed applications? I'm thinking it might be an app writing a bunch to internal memory...but I don't know how to determine that (new to Android).
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. I'd be fine if it just wasn't letting me install anything (like the Pre used to)....but the fact that it's rejecting my text messages is a major issue.
I uninstalled Google Earth for now and it's now at 36 megs free...but it's still complaining that the memory is low and rejecting text messages saying the text message memory is full.
How big are these text messages anyway?
Do you have any games installed? Asphalt 5 is 100M (the first time you run it, it warns about that.) Another potential offender is email, especially is you have emails with attachments.
Thanks for the reply!
I do have Asphalt 5 on here (came with the phone I believe)...but I don't see it in the application list. Where/how can I remove it if it's not there?
If I remember right the evo got over 100 mb's free with sprint software removed. You can always try one of the sd card lag fixes and use the sd card as your storage. I think this is the best method since there is not enough internal storage.
The thing that's really driving me nuts now is that its showing nearly 50 megs free at this point....yet it keeps warning me and rejecting text messages. I've tried rebooting after I deleted a bunch of apps but that didn't do any good. Does anyone know what the threshold is for free space before it will operate normally again?
I'm also confused how I can have Asphalt 5 installed...but it isn't showing up in my application list. Is there a secondary application list that I'm not seeing?
If I am not mistaken, Asphaly 5 does not use that much space on the internal memory since on the first launch it downloads a 100mb of data to the SD card not the internal memory,
I deleted a few more apps in the interest of getting the phone operational as a phone again before I contine using it as a toy.
I'm now showing 55.33 megs free and things seem to be working again...so for future reference I'm guessing the threshold is 50 megs before it starts throwing a fit (I was at about 47 megs free before). I finally got the text messages that it's been rejecting for the past 2 hours...so that's good at least.
I'm still not sure what's using all the space though....is there anyway I can look at the actual files stored in internal storage?
Gipionocheiyort said:
I deleted a few more apps in the interest of getting the phone operational as a phone again before I contine using it as a toy.
I'm now showing 55.33 megs free and things seem to be working again...so for future reference I'm guessing the threshold is 50 megs before it starts throwing a fit (I was at about 47 megs free before). I finally got the text messages that it's been rejecting for the past 2 hours...so that's good at least.
I'm still not sure what's using all the space though....is there anyway I can look at the actual files stored in internal storage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but I think it only works with root but I not sure. Let me see if i can find the commands to list internal storage apps for you.
Edit: you do need root to do this
su
mount -t rfs -o remount,rw /dev/block/stl9 /system (mount system)
cd /system (change to system dir)
cd /system/app (change to app dir)
ls (list all apps in the dir)
adb pull /system/app/filename.apk (save the file)
adb pull /system/app/filename.odex (save the file)
adb shell
cd /system/app
rm filename.apk (remove the file)
rm filename.odex (remove the file)
Example
su
mount -t rfs -o remount,rw /dev/block/stl9 /system
cd /system
cd /system/app
rm Sprint_App_Updater.apk
rm Sprint_NASCAR.apk
rm Sprint_Navigation.apk
rm Sprint_NFL.apk
rm Sprint_Promotion.apk
rm Sprint_Qik.apk
rm Sprint_TV.apk
rm Sprint_VVM.apk
rm SprintTVWidget.apk
Try going to:
Settings => Applications => Manage applications => (menu button) => Filter => all
Not all apps are listed by default.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant
shep211 said:
Yes but I think it only works with root but I not sure. Let me see if i cna find the commands to list internal storage apps for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got root so I'll give those a try. Thanks!
Stresa said:
Try going to:
Settings => Applications => Manage applications => (menu button) => Filter => all
Not all apps are listed by default.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That explains the missing apps...it was set to only show downloaded. Once I do that I'm able to see Asphalt 5 and a few others that were missing before. Asphalt 5 is only showing as 2.06mb fwiw.
Thanks so much to all of you for your help. I'm totally new to Android and my Linux skills are mediocre at best...so this is definitely a learning process for me.
Gipionocheiyort said:
I've got root so I'll give those a try. Thanks!
That explains the missing apps...it was set to only show downloaded. Once I do that I'm able to see Asphalt 5 and a few others that were missing before. Asphalt 5 is only showing as 2.06mb fwiw.
Thanks so much to both of you for your help. I'm totally new to Android and my Linux skills are mediocre at best...so this is definitely a learning process for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It takes time to get use to android. I was a long time wm user and cook and I am still trying to learn cooking for android and i have been working with it for over a year. I am sure someone will make a update.zip that will remove sprint software for you. Its a lot easier then using adb. If you do want to try to use adb before someone makes a app or update.zip to do it for you use the commands I posted and it should work. Here is some info on adb commands. If you do try to use adb to remove apps this may be useful.
basic ADB commands
adb push - sends a file to the phone over ADB thru USB - adb push c:\test.apk /sdcard/test.apk
adb pull - receives a file from the phone over ADB thru USB - adb pull /system/app/Test.apk c:\Test.apk
adb shell - starts a shell connection with the phone
adb reboot - restarts the phone
adb reboot recovery - restarts the phone into recovery
adb reboot bootloader - restarts the phone into the bootloader (white screen)
adb remount - remounts the file system
adb install - installs an application - adb install c:\swype.apk
basic Linux commands to run through ADB shell
cd - changes directories - works through stock android toolbox - cd /system/app
ls - lists all files in the directory - works through stock android toolbox - ls /system/app/
cat - copies files - works through stock android toolbox - cat /system/app/Test.apk > /sdcard/Test.apk
rm - removes files - works through stock android toolbox - rm /system/app/Test.apk
mv - moves files from one location to another - works through stock android toolbox - mv /system/app/Test.apk /sdcard/Test.apk
cp - copies files - functions similar to cat - uses busybox installed by the EVO-recovery.zip into recovery mode - cp /system/app/Test.apk /sdcard/Test.apk
mount - loads the file system (usually auto loaded except sometimes in recovery) - mount /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
unmount - unloads the file system - umount /system
So the disc space issue kept creeping up even after removing all of the Sprint crap, and I kept uninstalling other apps to compensate for it...until yesterday when I basically ran out of apps to uninstall and gave up.
I did a full wipe back to the stock image, installed the Andromeda rom, and restored all of my apps from Titanium...and now I'm showing 350megs free (with all of the same apps installed plus some extras that I've reinstalled after removing them for space before).
So basically there was either something majorly wrong with the space calculations before, or there was some program in the background using up a ton of space and not reporting it to the app manager. It seems like this first started to happen after I did the one click root when it first came out...not sure if it could be related or not though.
Just thought I would mention this in case anyone else is having the same issues.
I had this same problem with the Epic 4g's internal memory. But it also caused a myriad of other issues beside just the notification:
- Android Market wouldn't download any new apps, just stuck on Starting Download....
- I couldn't receive any text messages, I got the error message Couldn't receive the text message because there is no memory space (or something like that...)
- General laggy slowness
I've been on the fence with flashing the phone with a custom ROM but after reading Gipionocheiyort's post that doing so might solve my issues I attempted to do so. However, I couldn't because I couldn't download the update for Titanium Backup so I could back up my apps. I uninstalled some of Sprint's bloatware and it still didn't help. My free "memory" (I'm almost positive it's talking about storage and not RAM) was at about 24mg which seemed fine to me but apparently that's not enough to fit the 1kb of a 140 character SMS.
Anyway, I just bit the bullet and uninstalled a bunch of apps, got my free storage up to 64mg, rebooted and bam! My download queue started up instantly and I got all my day's text messages in a flood.
If Gipionocheiyort was having problems with 50mg free, maybe around 65mg free is the sweet spot? There must be a gross miscalculation of storage space for the storage, or maybe the OS just needs a lot of space to stretch it's legs? I have no idea...
Just wanted to put this up to help people if they are having this problem as well.
I woulda wiped the cache and the dalvik if i were you guys and experienced this problem though i never have. But you did have some calculation error and wiping the cache prolly woulda fixed it easily. these phones are suppose to use a lot of the ram. it helps it to be faster as the stuff you access the most is sitting in ram and it can recall on it very quickly.
you might also check your facebook sync if you have it...ive fixed several phones that had like 150 megs worth of data in Contacts, which im guessing was a result of like 15k friends, it downloaded all their pictures and stuff and took up all that space. you might look out for that as well.
[size=+1]Introduction[/size]
What is GenTop2?
GenTop2 is a full-fledged Gentoo Linux able to replace the original Motorola Webtop. It is faster, fully-customizable and gives you the power of a complete Linux system on a mobile phone. It is a peek into the future of mobile computing!
Thanks goes to kholk, who did the original GenTop, otherwise I would have long given up.
Why use Gentoo Linux as WebTop?
Programs are fully optimized for the ARMv7a CPU contained in the Atrix.
Thus the whole system is faster and more responsive.
No shackles put around the WebTop by Motorola.
You can install any program (which compiles on ARM).
All software (except X11) is fully up-to-date.
You remember old times with desktop computers having far slower CPUs and less RAM than your phone and you wonder what you can do with this pocket computer.
Why NOT use Gentoo Linux as WebTop?
Gentoo is huge because it must install all development files.
The system and all programs must be compiled on the phone. How crazy is that?
Firefox could not be built. But, there is a smaller replacement.
Why bother using a phone, when you already have a notebook?
Working and Installed Applications
X11 via WebTop or HDMI (with hdmi-hack)
Xfce4 with thunar file manager
midori web browser with Flash player
claws-mail client
audacious
evince (pdf viewer)
ssh daemon
rxvt terminal
aiw Android In-A-Window!
Sound output via Android media system.
All are very light-weight Linux applications perfect for a small system.
Not Working:
webtop-panel (system status bar on top)
non-flash video playback ?
Installable as binary packages:
firefox (renamed to Aurora due to trademark stuff), approx 30 MB.
thunderbird (renamed to Earlybird due to trademark stuff), approx 44 MB.
libreoffice, approx 250 MB.
abiword, pidgin, emacs, texlive,
and many more, drop a note for more wishes here. However KDE is just too large.
[size=+1]Installation Instructions[/size]
Prerequisites:
Motorola Atrix
[size=+2][highlight]BACKUP.[/highlight] This will break your device![/size]
Okay hopefully it won't. A full restore will of course overwrite the webtop.
root privileges.
unlocking is not necessary.
adb and Linux knowledge.
webtop2sd is not supported (!)
CM7 is NOT supported
GenTop2 Space Requirements, Disk Speeds and a Note About WebTop2SD
Gentoo is very large because packages contain all development files. This cannot easily be changed, therefore one must work around the space limitation of the /osh partition in some way.
I did some "disk" performance measurements using bonnie++ (see [1] for full info). Here the through-put results in short: /data (ext3) 20,800 KB/s read and 6,200 KB/s write, /sdcard (fat32) 21,500 KB/s read and 8,000 KB/s write, /sdcard-ext (ext3) 12,300 KB/s read and 4,200 KB/s write, /sdcard/loopback.img (ext3) 16,150 KB/s read and 4,400 KB/s write.
One way to go would be to require webtop2sd, however, GenTop2 does not support webtop2sd because the read/write speed of the internal sdcard is much faster than on the external sdcard. Thus I tried to install as much on the /osh partition as possible and move directories onto other partitions as necessary, leaving symlinks behind. WebTop2SD also requires dpkg for some reason, which Gentoo does not have.
Therefore, it's pretty unavoidable that you do some space management yourself.
I have decided to utilize the /preinstall partition for /var. I'm not fully sure that this partition is unused on every Atrix released, but I guess in most cases it contains only provider specific bloatware that people don't want anyhow. On my Atrix it contained some car racing game, which I find hilarious to play on a mobile phone.
Anyway, the /preinstall partition is 300 MB and perfect for /var if reformatted to support many small files. The /var/db/pkg/ directory contains lots and lots of small files describing the installed packages. See the installation instruction for the mkfs line.
I also decided to require some extra ext3 partition for further program, data and portage files. It is needed anyhow to install further programs, which is what most people want to do. The /data partition would be the obvious choice and for that reason the first GenTop2 put files in /data/osh/. However, /home/ is also on /data by default and it gets pretty annoying when your home directory is full.
The only alternative to /data is either a partition on an external sd-card or a loopback mounted file-partition on /sdcard/, both are not as fast as /data (/cache cannot be used as it must be wipeable). So there really isn't much choice left except for external storage.
The main GenTop2 tarball puts 630 MB in /osh (leaving 145 MB free) and 178 MB in /preinstall (with 150 MB free), which must be mkfs formatted.
The portage GenTop2 tarball puts 1460 MB into /mnt/gentoo/ of which 475 MB are data files from /osh/usr/ and 810 MB are the portage tree.
[size=+1]Steps to install GenTop2:[/size]
There are some complications involved when using faux123's kernel, because it only contains ext4 filesystem modules and explicit mounting of ext3 will fail. The ext4 module will however mount ext3 filesystem without problems.
use adb shell and get root:
Code:
$ su
# cd /osh
# mv etc etcx
# reboot
Reboot. The above will disable the webtop.
Download http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120509.tar.gz (275MB) and put it onto /sdcard via USB or adb push.
use adb shell to overwrite the existing WebTop:
Code:
(first we delete /osh)
# cd /
# ls bin
bin: No such file or directory
(this tests whether the old webtop is disabled)
# rm -r osh/*
# ls osh
(should be empty)
(next we disable and reformat /preinstall)
# mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /system
# mv /system/bin/load_pia.sh /system/bin/load_pia.sh.disabled
# umount /preinstall
(depending on your ROM this might fail. ignore this problem if the following format works)
# mke2fs -m 0 -i 2048 -j /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
# mount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p17 /preinstall
(for faux kernel: replace ext3 -> ext4 in above line)
(now we unpack the main tarball)
# df
(/osh and /preinstall should be almost empty)
# cd /
# tar xvzf /sdcard/GenTop2-20120509.tar.gz
# sync
(begin extra for faux kernel: we change ext3 -> ext4)
# sed -i s/ext3/ext4/ /osh/ubuntu.sh
(end extra for faux kernel)
# sync
# reboot
Once rebooted you will get an X11 login on the HDMI connection or you can access the phone via ssh.
Account Passwords:
root / atrix
adas / atrix
To make GenTop2 more useful and to compile/install further packages you currently must have an external sd-card (or someone must devise a method to use a loopback device).
I have partitioned my external sdcard using a desktop computer into the following two partitions:
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1 (remainder)
/dev/block/mmcblk1p2 (4.0 GB, formatted ext3)
Advanced: (Actually most of this stuff is advanced.) You can also use the new GenTop to partition the external sd-card. Open a terminal, and use something along the lines of:
Code:
# fdisk /dev/block/mmcblk1
(partition it, see further description of fdisk on the net)
# mkfs.ext3 -m0 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2
The boot-up script /osh/ubuntu.sh will mount /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 to /mnt/gentoo. This place is referenced by /usr/portage, /var/tmp and /preinstall/usr and will enable emerge if you install the second GenTop2-portage-20120509.tar.bz2 tarball.
Download http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120509-portage.tar.bz2 (124MB) to /sdcard/ using any method.
Use adb shell or a terminal on the desktop
Code:
$ su
# cd /
# tar xvjf /sdcard/GenTop2-20120509-portage.tar.bz2
Note: If you trust your network connection, you can also download and unpack simultaneously (without saving) it using:
Code:
$ su
# cd /
# wget -O - http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120509-portage.tar.bz2 | tar xvj
[size=+1]Installing further software[/size]
How do I install applications in Gentoo?
- Read http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=2&chap=1
- Read http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=3
I have set up a portage overlay "atrix-overlay" which unmasks many packages and includes some custom patches required for compilation on arm. It is included in the main tarball and automatically synced alongside "emerge --sync". Most updates will now be performed via this overlay.
See https://github.com/gendol/atrix-overlay for details.
Furthermore, for large binary packages like firefox, thunderbird and libreoffice I have set up a binary package repository with the same USE flags as the atrix-overlay. These are built using cross-compilation on my desktop computer.
See http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/packages/
To force installation from binary packages use emerge -G <package>. See the list of "Installable as binary packages" above.
[size=+1]Miscellaneous Questions[/size]
Why no thumb instructions?
- I did a speed test of cryptography functions and thumb instructions were approximately 10% slower than usual ARM code.
Where was GenTop2 compiled?
- Most of the system was fully compiled on my own Atrix. Larger binary packages are compiled on my desktop using cross-compiling.
Why is X11 not up-to-date?
- The only xorg driver I could get working is the one on the original Webtop, and that requires an older version of X11.
Why is udevd not running?
- If you look at logcat there are lots of the following messages, some of which are due to udevd. Disabling udevd reduces (but does not eliminate) these messages and probably also some unnecessary background process that draws battery.
NetlinkEvent: NetlinkEvent::FindParam(): Parameter 'UDEV_LOG' not found
NetlinkListener: ignoring non-kernel netlink multicast message
NetlinkListener: ignoring non-kernel netlink multicast message
[size=+1]Reinstalling the old WebTop[/size]
Some people on the forums struggled to reinstall the old webtop for some reason. It shouldn't be that difficult and I created a tarball of the original Webtop WT-1.2.0-133_38. These instructions were not tested by me:
Download http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/WT-1.2.0-133_38.tar.gz to /sdcard/ using any method.
Use adb shell or a terminal to disable mounting of webtop:
Code:
$ su
# cd /osh
# mv etc etcx
# reboot
Use adb shell to unpack original tarball into /osh:
Code:
# cd /
# ls bin
bin: No such file or directory
(this tests whether the webtop is disabled)
# rm -r osh/*
# ls osh
(empty)
# cd /
# /sdcard/WT-1.2.0-133_38.tar.gz
# sync
# reboot
[size=+1]Downloads[/size]
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120509.tar.gz (275MB main tarball)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120509-filelist.txt (Filelist of tarball for your reference)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120509-portage.tar.bz2 (124MB portage tree for /mnt/gentoo/, see above)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120509-portage-filelist.txt (Filelist of tarball for your reference)
Old Downloads
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120428.tar.gz (369MB main tarball)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120428-filelist.txt (Filelist of tarball for your reference)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120428-portage.tar.bz2 (44MB portage tree for /mnt/gentoo/, see above)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120424.tar.gz (364MB main tarball)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120424-filelist.txt (Filelist of tarball for your reference)
http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/GenTop2-20120424-portage.tar.bz2 (44MB portage tree for /mnt/gentoo/, see above)
Changelog
From 20120428 to 20120509:
Added atrix-overlay for pulling in updates using layman.
Reorganized /etc/portage/ to symlink into atrix-overlay files.
Removed mplayer from default install.
Added xarchiver, leafpad and some customization for the terminal.
Reorganized directory structure to use /preinstall.
From 20120424 to 20120428:
Readded resolutions to xorg.conf like in original webtop. Nevertheless you can switch using Xfce's settings dialogs.
Installed Flash: copied libflashplayer.so and emerges nss nspr.
Readded lots of the original .desktop files and corresponding icons. These launch Android apps.
[1] http://kristallsturm.de/GenTop2/docs/atrix-bonnie.html
It is a good job. I try this. Thank you.
This is a very agressive aproach. /osh dose have some Moto magic sauce in it. How well can you drive the screnn with a stock X system? Most of the cutesy features from WT I can live w/o, but the "phone"app really is usefull. Seams like this would be worth the effort to figure out.
If I was using a less "pure" setup (spinning up X and the phone app in Motos osh) then bringimng up the desktop in Gentoo, how would that compare to oither the same concept with other distros?
Please post on. I think this is the first time somebidy has run a non /osh X. Would love to see if it really can be done.
exwannabe said:
This is a very agressive aproach. /osh dose have some Moto magic sauce in it. How well can you drive the screnn with a stock X system? Most of the cutesy features from WT I can live w/o, but the "phone"app really is usefull. Seams like this would be worth the effort to figure out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, the approach is radical, but not as aggressive as you may think. All the "magic sauce" in /osh lives in /osr/usr/local/ and all of that is retained. The only problem is that some dynamic link libraries are missing, but most of these problems can be fixed.
They actually had to be fixed because the GenTop2 does need to send some magic signals to Moto's PortalApp/DockService to work correctly. This is done using the /usr/local/bin/rmtest tool via the "fbcp" instance of dbus.
Other than /osh/usr/local/, /osh is really just Debian.
With the phone app, you mean the green phone button? I just tested that, it can be added. The phone button is nothing but a .desktop mime file, which calls one of the magic apps /usr/local/bin/androidlauncher. And it popups up in the aiw display.
I even tested the HD Media Center laucher and that too worked without problems. That really should be included in the next GenTop2 tarball.
exwannabe said:
If I was using a less "pure" setup (spinning up X and the phone app in Motos osh) then bringimng up the desktop in Gentoo, how would that compare to oither the same concept with other distros?
Please post on. I think this is the first time somebidy has run a non /osh X. Would love to see if it really can be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I don't understand what you mean with a non /osh X. GenTop2 does run X11 and you really need to replace the system libaries to get a well-working Gentoo.
Greetings,
Gendol
Great job! Does this work with cm rom's aswell or only with blur based ones? As another fact, we could use distcc or crosscompile distcc to compile most of the stuff, actually even a crosscompile binhost would be doable for several packages. One more thing, we could probably use an .img file on the internal sdcard partition, that would be ext3/4 formatted instead of using the external sdcard (but probably its better and safer to sue the external card, due to the flash wear)
edit: so i tried it on my atrix with nottachtrix rom installed, it starts fine and seems to work rather well, i only saw two to me rather annoying bugs:
1. somehow the X server thinks that my tv (1080p lg) has a virtual size of 1366x768 and will not allow to use the 1920x1080 resolutions that are in the TV's EDID and that the system puts into the xorg.conf file aswell as it shows in the Xorg.0.log
2. the atrix's screen stays on all the time in the "normal mode" and if one uses the mouse on the gentop its moving and functioning on the atrix's screen aswell (ie you can launch apps by accident with the mouse in android)
I do not know if these are issues with nottachtrix or something else, but for me on the "normal webtop" 1080p worked on this same TV.
here the xorg log: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24268926/Xorg.0.log
Really nice, installing it right now!
Does flash work on Midori?
I don't know about CM7, you'll have to try to replace the Linux system like moto does it.
The X11 screen size defaults to WebTop resolution 1366x768, but you can change that to 1920x1080 by editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf. The first thing to try is to comment out all Modelines and let EDID detection do the work. But for that a monitor must be present, so you need to Zap (Ctrl+Alt+Bckspace) your X, and that brings up the dual input problem.
I also use nottach's ROM. The dual input problem happens when something in motorola's magic communication goes wrong. I have not been able to figure out how in particular moto disables input on the touchscreen. For me it works most of the time. I also have all the Modelines in xorg.conf enabled, because they fit my monitor.
I didnt really focus on Flash, yet. But as it works on the original Webtop, you should just be able to copy the plugin files.
Gendol
Can't get Midori working .. Got network (via ping), but no web browsing
EDIT: Solved by disabling proxy settings inside Midori
i haven't run gentoo in over 10 years but this is tempting!!!!!
Hello! I am a bit newbie in linux and i have 2 questions
1) Could someon please tell me how to install GenTop2-portage-20120424.tar.bz2 tarball?
2) Is there any way to install synaptic so i can install other linux apps?
snik38 said:
Hello! I am a bit newbie in linux and i have 2 questions
1) Could someon please tell me how to install GenTop2-portage-20120424.tar.bz2 tarball?
2) Is there any way to install synaptic so i can install other linux apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) use ADB and first post
2) Gentoo Portage - it's command line but very easy
Hmm, anyone using this with webtop over HDMI? I get the login screen, but the webtop touchpad thingie doesn't come up so it's impossible for me to log in.
nalorite said:
Hmm, anyone using this with webtop over HDMI? I get the login screen, but the webtop touchpad thingie doesn't come up so it's impossible for me to log in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you need to use a hd dock, lapdock or a modded powered usb hub with mouse + kb
Vazay said:
1) use ADB and first post
2) Gentoo Portage - it's command line but very easy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) After the reboot i used
adb shell
# tar xvzf /sdcard/GenTop2-portage-20120424.tar.bz2
but it gave me an error, am i using the correct command or i should use something else?
Yes. The touchpad thingy is also an open end. I have no idea why it doesnt come up. The GenTop2 tries to do everything in the same way as the original one, but for some reason that doesnt appear.
I guess the touchpad is some Android program part of DockService or PortalApp, which drive the Webtop switch. But I havent debugged how to activate it.
@snik38
To extract a .tar.bz2 you use tar xvjf ...
Gendol
three items one that caused some grief, but other than that this has lots of cool potential!
I have a stock rom with root.
1. resolution was pretty screwed up. I did try to adjust the resolution, but it was locked into one setting.
2. flash isnt installed on the browser so many websites where disabled.
3. I could not get AIW to start.
I see you answered #1 in a previous post. But I think all three of those items are minimum requirements to replace webtop. BTW great job again! Its seemed much faster than the webtop app.
2. Try to copy the flashplugin from original webtop(not sure if it works with midori)
3. aiw works fine try to reboot the phone
Took me a while to get this all running, but it's great now it is. Have this over Nottachtrix 1.3.1. Everything installed and works fine!
Cheers!
When my phone turns on and gets to the preparing sd, it takes forever. Does this happen to anyone else?
anyone tried to emerge chrome/chromium?
Hello!
This is my first time posting, i normally am able to solve problems by looking through the forums, but this time not so i created an account and posted.
Any help that could be offered would be greatly appreciated.
The Story:
I have had the nook for around a year running CM7 or CM9, and last semester i took a programming class and programmed apps for android and ran them on my nook. i got acquainted to adb and am somewhat familiar with it. i remember when i started the serial number which adb used to Id the device was normal, but then around halfway through it simply became a string of zeros. so that is when the device lost its serial number I assume. Sadly this is not the main issue.
A week or so ago i was attempting to return my nook back to the stock Rom, and got it booting fine but it would not register because it was missing the serial number and Mac address. I looked through the forums and tried to fix it. i figured out it was stored in partition 2. looking in to it i could easy reflash other roms and they would work fine, and i tried restoring an old backup i had, which did not fix the problem ( i didn't think they affect that partition at all). eventually i stumbled upon lepinars repair partitions zip, and with nothing else working, i flashed the repair partition 2 zip in hopes the backup from partition 3 would have the correct serial number in it and restore the serial number. This put my device in a recovery bootloop. i am able to boot into cwm and talk to the device over adb, and i can flash new roms, but it will ONLY boot into recovery, no matter what rom it is ( i have tried CM7, CM9, sdcard install of CM7, and stock 1.0.1) . i figured out that it is because of a file on the mmcblk0p2 which i think was BCB, but there might be some other things affecting it.
So now you know what has happened, can anyone help me? I would like to get a Rom to boot into the normal mode, and then restore serial number / mac address so that it could be registered.
Once again, Thank you so much.
The problem is that without a valid serial number on partition 2, no rom will boot even if the recovery flag is set properly. It will just keep going to recovery.
If you have adb working, look at p2 and see if you have a devconf folder. If you do, look in it to see what files are there. There should be simple text files that have data in them. Like SerialNumber that has a 16 digit serial number in it (but the file is 17 bytes long so must have a linefeed on the end.) MACAddress is another, with a 12 digit number and no linefeed. 17 files total. All of them with rw-rw---- permissions.
Those files are usually backed up in partition 3 in a file named rombackup.zip. Unzip that zip manually and place them all in the devconf folder in partition 2. Set permissions as above.
Also you said you flashed my repair zip. Did it give you the message that it completed successfully? I have it set to abort if everything is not right.
Edit: Your serial number is stamped on the little flap that covers the micro SD card. It is also on your box the NC came in. If you cannot find the SerialNumber file in the backup zip, you could try manually creating it and putting in the right place.
Thanks. A week ago i was more familiar with this because i had just done a day or two of reading, but sadly a bit has slipped my mind.
ADB is working just fine when i boot into CWM, but i am having trouble finding partition 2. For some reason I recall a rom folder on the root level, but when i do an ls while in adb shell, all i see is this:
boot etc sd-ext
cache init sdcard
data init.rc sys
datadata proc system
default.prop res tmp
dev root ueventd.goldfish.rc
emmc sbin ueventd.rc
more random info still in adb shell)
when i do an fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7944 MB, 7944011776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 965 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 * 1 9 72261 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 10 18 72292+ c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 19 56 305235 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 57 965 7301542+ 5 Extended
/dev/block/mmcblk0p5 57 114 465853+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 115 236 979933+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 237 281 361431 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p8 282 965 5494198+ c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
just in case any of that helps.
i have heard of partition two being /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 but that is not a directory, or at least it appears so to me and i cannot get any files from it. I recall when the nook was booting fine i did look into the rom folder and the serial number was there and was correct, but in the settings/about Tablet it was simply a string of zeros.
when i try to pull the rombackup.zip from p3, i get the error message "adb pull /dev/block/mmcblk0p3/rombackup.zip
remote object '/dev/block/mmcblk0p3/rombackup.zip' does not exist" , so i am assuming i am barking up the wrong tree there.
when i flashed the repair zip there were no error messages and i am fairly certain it completed successfully as i was not alarmed and simply tried to reboot it as normal. after I flashed the repair zip it would not boot into anything but recovery, and this is when the more serious issue ( it seems to me) arose.
I probably am simply doing something wrong here, still the same situation on my end.
you have to mount the partitions...
rom should have been automatically mounted to /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 but you can try to manually do it:
adb shell busybox mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /rom
adb shell mkdir /backup
adb shell busybox mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /backup
adb pull /backup/rombackup.zip
unzip rombackup to a folder..
push the files to /rom/devconf
DizzyDen -
Thank you for telling me about the partition mounting. this explains a lot.
i had to create the /rom folder as it was not there. when i mounted it and did an ls -a command, in /rom there was only a BCB file. in /backup there was only factory.zip and an empty folder called lost+found. so there was no rombackup.zip for me to pull and extract.
sert57 said:
DizzyDen -
Thank you for telling me about the partition mounting. this explains a lot.
i had to create the /rom folder as it was not there. when i mounted it and did an ls -a command, in /rom there was only a BCB file. in /backup there was only factory.zip and an empty folder called lost+found. so there was no rombackup.zip for me to pull and extract.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That probably is why my repair failed. Try creating the SerialNumber file I mentioned in my last post and put it in the folder devconf. You may have to make that directory first. Mkdir /rom/devconf.
leapinlar said:
That probably is why my repair failed. Try creating the SerialNumber file I mentioned in my last post and put it in the folder devconf. You may have to make that directory first. Mkdir /rom/devconf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I successfully created the file SerialNumber and it was 17 bytes, i moved it to /rom/devconf and looked at its permissions, and for some reason a chmod wouldn't let me remove rwx from others and x from user and group, so the permissions were rwxrwxrwx (not sure if this would create an issue). i tried to re-install the repair zip. the text displayed is
(after finding, opening, and installing update)
Repair /rom partition (P2)
found /factory - be patient this could take a while
Done.
This is the same message i received earlier when i did this. so no failure message but i guess it aborted or something. After this is done the devconf folder is gone. rom is still there and i mount it, and once mounted the only file in Rom is the BCB file.
I did some testing and the SerialNumber file by itself is not enough to get it going. There are 16 others and one or more may be critical. I will keep playing and see if I can find which one it needs. I don't know why you don't have that backup file. It is really critical. I modified my partition 2 zip to give a little more information to the user.
Edit: I did some more testing and it booted only to recovery when I removed a file named BootCnt. It is a file with four bytes in it which are all null (00's). Try making one and pushing it to /rom/devconf and see if it will boot. There is also another file named BootCount also with four null characters, but it is still there and it is not booting to the rom. I think that is the one for 8 failed boots. (When I rebooted again it was ok, that file was back).
Edit2: I think I found it. There is a file named DeviceID that is identical to the SerialNumber file. When I delete that file it will no longer boot to a rom, only recovery. Try putting that file in /rom/devconf. I deleted everything in that folder but BootCnt and DeviceID and it booted to the rom.
Thank you so much!! The nook is finally able to boot successfully to a ROM. Major problem finished! I was originally intending to return it to stock, but I am not sure if that is now possible as I am missing all but 2 of the very important files. I'll give an update when I get closer to getting stock back. Hopefully it will work, but we will see. Thanks for helping me get at least this far.
I have a CWM flashable 1.4.3 stock zip here:
http://d01.megashares.com/index.php?d01=CiYdDmP
sert57 said:
Thank you so much!! The nook is finally able to boot successfully to a ROM. Major problem finished! I was originally intending to return it to stock, but I am not sure if that is now possible as I am missing all but 2 of the very important files. I'll give an update when I get closer to getting stock back. Hopefully it will work, but we will see. Thanks for helping me get at least this far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I .have a complete recovery.zip file available when I get my PC monitor working again... complete with infllo about what files are edited... and how to edit them
I think they are in my deposit files share
That would be spectacular if you could provide that. I'm still attempting leapinlars download ( 3 failed times, WiFi here is VERY slow right now). Let you know what happens.
So I installed 1.4.3 to the nook. it got stuck at the silver n screen, so i did a volume up, power, and n button reset. after this it reset to factory and intalled an update. it booted sucessfully to the stock firmware. now when i try to register it it is missing the model number and mac address. im assuming i am just supposed to create the two files for the nook and place them in /rom/devconf. Could some more assistance be had for me about what goes into the files and such? Mac address has been missing since the problem began, so that is nothing new, but this is the first time ive booted to stock that model number was not there.
Model number is BNRV200 in ModelNumber. Product ID begins with P11 and ends with a linefeed and is 11 bytes total in ProductID. Event Type is Manufactured in EventType. Date manufactured is just a date. Mine was 01/29/2011 in DateManufactured. Device attribute is New in DeviceAttribute for me. MAC address is a 12 digit number in hex in MACAddress. Main board serial number is a 12 digit alphanumeric number in MainboardSN. Mine starts with QI11M. Backlight is a 6 digit alphanumeric number in backlight. Mine is 1476AY. Ean is a 13 digit number in ean. Mine starts with 97814005. There is an empty Platform file. There is BootCnt and BootCount, both with four nulls (00). There is a SerialNumber file identical to DeviceID. There are three other files. WiFiBackupCalibration with 468 bytes, PublicKey with 333 bytes and HashOfPrivateKey with 28 bytes.
Some of these you can make and some you can put phony info in them. Others, I don't know.
Could you provide more info on obtaining the Mac address and how to write it? After that I should be good, but we will see.
[edit]
install cm7.2 and it was in the settings, so i copied it down and put it on the device. reverting back to stock, i will see if it takes. i am assuming by your description the semicolons are not placed in the MACAddress file, so i did not do it.
[edit2]
looks like all i need is the hashprivatekey. when i went to the factory area a few were null, but that one said Not Okay. is there any way i can create this file? i tried registering but it would not, so i am assuming this is needed.
Unblock your private messaging on XDA. I want to send you a message. Or send me a private message with your email address in it.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
ok. it boots fine. when i register it will not let me, with the typical error, i look into the details and everything is green except battery percentage (which is low) and username which is nonexistant. when i check the factory tab it says that the battery type and backlight are !null, so i dont thing that would affect it. besides that i have everything.
One more thing to try. You can reset some of your settings like wifi calibration, etc by following this procedure. It may just re-populate some of those files in devconf. Use the one that resets things. Back up devconf first though.
http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_Factory_Mode/Skip_Out_of_Box_Experience
done that a few times. it doesnt really do anything but erase known wifi networks. would the fact its missing battery type and backlight mean anything for registration?
I would not think so. But I have a Nook Tablet that has different things in devconf, like BatteryType is MCNAIR and Backlight is 070B16730338ZN4AC15-4J8D6Y01577C5. (Notice it has a capital B in the name. I think I made a mistake in the earlier post.) The Tablet I think has the same screen as the newer Nook Colors.
I did something stupid. Got an A200 that could not get OTA 4.0.3, so I managed to get it updated manually. However, I then proceeded to try to root it using the "SimpleRoot" scripts on Acertabletforum, and at this point, the thing is bricked. In Recovery, I cannot get anything to mount. /SDCard, /data, etc
Bootloader is Unlocked
I tried with some different Recoveries with slightly different results:
1) Hbwelch CWM v5.5.0.4 (the one that comes with SimpleTool) - All mounting attempts fail
2) nics-TWRP_stable (twrp v 2.1.4) - Seems to be able to mount System and Cache, but not DATA or SDCARD (Internal or External)
3) thor v 5.5.0x (thor2002ro rev1.7) - errors mounting data, sdcard and /mnt/sdcard. Is able to mount system, cache, flexrom and flex.
Any idea how to fix it? I am afraid that if I try to return the tablet where I bought it as it is now, it will get rejected. (even though the damn thing was supposed to be ICS upgradable in the first place, but wasn't... long story)
Thanks
Jerry
I finally got the tablet working again. Was very close to sending it back. Got bits and pieces of info from various other posts on this forum and on acertabletforum. For the sake of anyone else that may find this thread, here are a few things that were wrong, and how to fix them
(I cannot post outside links, so just google the file names when relevant)
1) /SDCard would not mount. Solution - PARTITION the SD card. NOTE: The card worked on a PC, and even on that tablet when Android was fully booted. However it would NOT mount in recovery until I explicitly partitioned it. Doing a FORMAT on the PC does NOT count. I had to partition it within Recovery.
NOTE: This may also be why people are unable to get the update.zip thing working.
2) /Data would not mount - I have no idea how this got screwed up, but the solution was:
* Connect the tablet to the PC in RECOVERY. At this point, ADB should work. If not, check the drivers on the PC - I had to manually specify the Acer ADB Composite driver.
* Open a Command prompt window
* Start ADB shell by typing:
ADB SHELL
* Now execute the following:
mke2fs -j -b 4096 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index -C 1 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
e2fsck -fy /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
After this is done your file system on /data will be fixed. (solution posted by spoupard on XDA-Developers.com)
3) Putting it all together:
* Flashed the BOOT partition with Honeycomb 3.2.1_boot.img
* Flashed the RECOVERY partition with nics-TWRP_stable.img
* At this point, I noticed that the Bootloader was once again LOCKED. So, start into FASTBOOT mode and execute the following from the command prompt again:
fastboot oem unlock
* Re-Start in Recovery and select MOUNT and make sure that everything is mounted. If /SDCARD or /DATA refuse to mount, fix that issue first (step 2 above)
* Now I select to INSTALL Acer_AV041_A200_1.037.00_PA_CUS1.zip
Upon reboot, I noticed that it said "Updating Bootloader", then got the Acer screen and locked up. I restarted again into Recovery and again selected the option to install INSTALL Acer_AV041_A200_1.037.00_PA_CUS1.zip and reboot. This time it restarted, indicated that it has a new version of bootloader (previously was 3.1.3) and proceeded to boot up into Android 4.0.3. At that point, I think my neighbors heard me scream YES!, considering I spent 2 days on this
I hope I got all the steps. Most of it is from memory and some notes, since I did not want to experiment and go through this hell again.
Jerry
Great info but you might want to add fixed to the title. For the time being doesn't look like I will be rooting till these issues are sorted out. I am see too many people saying they are bricking with this root method.
FIXED - Acer A200 - BRICKED, cannot mount /data /sdcard
agapecs said:
Great info but you might want to add fixed to the title. For the time being doesn't look like I will be rooting till these issues are sorted out. I am see too many people saying they are bricking with this root method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't see a way to edit the title. As for rooting, note that after all was said and done, I am still not rooted. I just managed to get updated to 4.0.3, which should have been done OTA anyway. I may try again now that I am a bit more confident that I can get it back to working state, but will do a full backup in ADB first. Too much of a pain in the *** to have to reconfigure everything again once the OS is installed.
I cannot get the device to connect to my PC at all, or get the correct driver selected. Any tips?
crazyjimbo said:
I cannot get the device to connect to my PC at all, or get the correct driver selected. Any tips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what state is the tablet in when you try to connect? Fastboot, Recovery, or fully booted up and operating?
What do you see in the device manager when the tablet is connected?
ext3 oder ext4?
1) /SDCard would not mount. Solution - PARTITION the SD card. NOTE: The card worked on a PC, and even on that tablet when Android was fully booted. However it would NOT mount in recovery until I explicitly partitioned it. Doing a FORMAT on the PC does NOT count. I had to partition it within Recovery.
Try to do this with twrp v.2.1.4: do I use ext3 or ext4 for the Partition? And which size needs the ext Partition?
Thanx
teacherHH
teacherhh said:
Try to do this with twrp v.2.1.4: do I use ext3 or ext4 for the Partition? And which size needs the ext Partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think it matters. I picked the defaults.
mke2fs -j -b 4096 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
Thanx j_medved for yor reply!
So I did and just faced the next problem: I can conect my Tablet to the PC and can finde it with adb devices and can start the shell with adb shell.
But then when I start: mke2fs -j -b 4096 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
nothing seems to happen....waited about 30 minutes....
in the next turn I get the reply, that mmcblk0p8 is allready in use....next turn again: nothing seems to happen....
any ideas? .-(
teacherhh
teacherhh,
If I remember correctly, that command should finish pretty quick. You may want to try leaving it for a bit longer, but it seems that you may have something else wrong. I am not that familiar with this area. Haven't dealt with Linux much. Sorry.
Okay. Thanx anyway!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
again mke2fs
Once again j_medved...
did it look likes this, wenn you run mke2fs ?
Regards,
teacherhh
teacherhh said:
Once again j_medved...
did it look likes this, wenn you run mke2fs ?
Regards,
teacherhh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't remember what it was for me (was a month ago ) , but another couple users that ran it had the following:
Code:
~ # mke2fs -j -b 4096 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
mke2fs -j -b 4096 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
mke2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
Warning: 256-byte inodes not usable on older systems
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
1831424 inodes, 7311872 blocks
365593 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=0
224 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8176 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000
Writing inode tables: 52/224
Couple users that were hosed, were stuck at this point. Did not see any indication of resolution for those users
Driver Problems
Hi Guys,
I've the same problem. I can't wipe the Data, so I've found this instruction. unfortunenately will my PC not found my Tab. I've installed the drivers many times, but it will not work. Can anybody help, how to install? btw. fastboot is working, but not adb.
I'm using an Samsung Netbook with Win 7. THe PC's trying to install drivers, altough they are already installed, but can'T find any drivers.
If you need more informations, just let me know.
@Benninator,
If you look in Windows 7 Device Manager, does the device show up there OK? Or does it show up as unrecognized device, or as some device code with a yellow triangle and exclamation on it? Or not at all?
Yes, their is a yellow triangle. I've tried to install the driver manually, but with no success. In my driverlist were the Acer driver not listed. furthermore I've tried to configure the usb-adb.ini with also no success. I have absolutly no idea what I can do.
In device manager, and does it show up as a200 or unknown device?
Is the device I am recovery at the time?
And also, and which recovery?
Tab is missing recovery and won't boot in to android
FASTBOOT WORKS BUT I GET THIS MESSAGE EVERY TIME I TRY TO FLASH RECOVERY.IMG says unknown partiton 'C:\James\Downloads\recovery.img'
error: cannot determine image filename for 'C:\James\Downloads\recovery.img'
Please help me
jram0421 said:
FASTBOOT WORKS BUT I GET THIS MESSAGE EVERY TIME I TRY TO FLASH RECOVERY.IMG says unknown partiton 'C:\James\Downloads\recovery.img'
error: cannot determine image filename for 'C:\James\Downloads\recovery.img'
Please help me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you may be mistyping the command. What is the exact command that you are typing in that gets you this error?
cant get adb drivers installed in my pc
adb driver seems not to work at all when i try to boot my tablet on cwd when i boon on fastboot only fastboot recognice my device and when i let my acer a200 try to boot itself it gets stuck on acer screen whit this on top ( bootloader version 0.03.06-ics ) but windows recognice it but fails when installing the mtp usb drivers.
what can i do to get adb working so i can fix my mount issues so i can install my room again ?
hope you can help me tnks
Hello, I think I have did a big mistake.
I was trying to install CWM via Terminal Emulator with this command:
dd if=/sdcard/cwm.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7
Then I know what mmcblk0p7 was not the recovery partition, but it is a PER partition.
Until now, my device is still on because I didn't reboot/turn-off it. I'm afraid if I reboot it, then it will die because mmcblk0p7 was flashed with wrong image.
Does anybody know how to fix it, or is it safe if I reboot my device? It has been 4 days of no reboot until I'm sure it's ok for reboot.
Thanks in advance!
What exactly lies in the mmcblk0p7 partition?
MOVZX said:
Hello, I think I have did a big mistake.
I was trying to install CWM via Terminal Emulator with this command:
dd if=/sdcard/cwm.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7
Then I know what mmcblk0p7 was not the recovery partition, but it is a PER partition.
Until now, my device is still on because I didn't reboot/turn-off it. I'm afraid if I reboot it, then it will die because mmcblk0p7 was flashed with wrong image.
Does anybody know how to fix it, or is it safe if I reboot my device? It has been 4 days of no reboot until I'm sure it's ok for reboot.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PER - Per device provisioned data or per device calibration.
A cursory scout around XDA suggests this contains sensor calibration and such like.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739119
(edit: checkout the last posts by osm0sis - this guy knows his stuff when it comes to partitions).
I'm pretty sure it isn't the BOOTLOADER partition...
I would tentatively suggest you're OK for a reboot. I can't think of what else you can do, to be honest.
-----------
If you must flash a recovery using the dd command use the by-name syntax...
su
dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
Rgrds,
Ged.
@GedBlake
Thanks for the info. I was asking, because if it didn't vary from device to device I could probably dd up a backup of the partition and upload it here for the user to dd into his partition in his tablet.
That being said, I'll keep an eye on this thread for further consequences or the like.
@MOVZX
Please state whether you have a Grouper or Tilapia device, and the approximate manufacturing date, if known.
The PER partition is formatted as a FAT filesystem**. It seems to contain measurement data created during factory testing procedures. See here.
Note that there seem to be differences from device to device (compare the two posts in the above link). Here are the two critical questions:
1) What is the exact FAT format? (There are a couple of different FAT variants)
2) Does the bootloader read this partition during hardware initialization?
I seem to remember a thread here in the Nexus 7 forums where someone was claiming to adjust the ambient light sensor by altering a file in the PER partition. If that is correct, then indeed this partition *could* be critical to correct operation of the device.
I think you are being prudent about not rebooting. I also think that you should find someone to volunteer to give you a raw image dump (dd) from a device that is as close to yours as possible. Note that like many other devices, the N7 has hardware variants, and the PER partition seems to reflect that.
The calibration data for your device is now permanently lost, and you are the unfortunate experimenter who will find out the consequences of that.
**If you can not get someone to help you, the issue of the filesystem formatting can be solved by one of us by:
- raw dumping our PER partition, loopback mounting it, removing all files, unmounting it, and then giving that to you.
At least you would then have the correct filesystem formatting, but empty.
Also, please do a
dd bs=1024 of=/dev/null if=/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/PER
to let us know what size your partition is.
@MOVZX
I did a little more poking around. What I had recalled about the lightsensor thing was users reporting mods to a setting in
/data/lightsensor/AL3010_Config.ini
not the file of the same name in the PER partition.
The file in PER (of this same name) appears to have the same value (1382) on my tablet in both the above location as well as the file in PER. I don't know if that really means anything though.
I looked through the ASCII strings in the bootloader image (v 4.18) to see if there was any evidence of the bootloader using the file names in the (intact) PER partition. There was no evidence of this happening whatsoever. Does that mean that the bootloader does not read the PER partition? No, but at least there is no direct evidence of that nature that it does. That is certainly hopeful for you.
I dumped my own PER partition to have a look at it. It is definitely FAT32, but probably was not created with a variant of 'mkdosfs' - more likely a BSD tool, as it has a "BSD 4.4" OEM name. I tried to erase/remove files from a copy of my PER image; unfortunately the linux "shred" utility doesn't really do it's job correctly. I failed trying to create an identical (blank) image using 'mkfs.vfat' - I couldn't get the FAT header data identical to the FAT32 headers in the from-the-factory image in the PER partition on my device.
None of this might be important, though. It is possible that the only reason that there is manufacturing data on the tablet is if Asus wanted to look at aging effects for units returned for RMA (or subjected to shake-n-bake testing).
good luck with your tablet - let us know how everything turns out.
bftb0 said:
@MOVZX
I did a little more poking around. What I had recalled about the lightsensor thing was users reporting mods to a setting in
/data/lightsensor/AL3010_Config.ini
not the file of the same name in the PER partition.
The file in PER (of this same name) appears to have the same value (1382) on my tablet in both the above location as well as the file in PER. I don't know if that really means anything though.
I looked through the ASCII strings in the bootloader image (v 4.18) to see if there was any evidence of the bootloader using the file names in the (intact) PER partition. There was no evidence of this happening whatsoever. Does that mean that the bootloader does not read the PER partition? No, but at least there is no direct evidence of that nature that it does. That is certainly hopeful for you.
I dumped my own PER partition to have a look at it. It is definitely FAT32, but probably was not created with a variant of 'mkdosfs' - more likely a BSD tool, as it has a "BSD 4.4" OEM name. I tried to erase/remove files from a copy of my PER image; unfortunately the linux "shred" utility doesn't really do it's job correctly. I failed trying to create an identical (blank) image using 'mkfs.vfat' - I couldn't get the FAT header data identical to the FAT32 headers in the from-the-factory image in the PER partition on my device.
None of this might be important, though. It is possible that the only reason that there is manufacturing data on the tablet is if Asus wanted to look at aging effects for units returned for RMA (or subjected to shake-n-bake testing).
good luck with your tablet - let us know how everything turns out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting stuff, bftb0, as always...
So what, in your opinion, is the worst case scenario?
If the bootloader is still accessible, couldn't the OP just fastboot flash back to stock?
(Assuming a simple reboot doesn't fix it).
Or does this not touch the PER partition? I would have thought that running the flash-all.* script would reset all partitions back to their default values.
I'm probably missing something here, so apologies - just a suggestion.
Rgrds,
Ged.
@GedBlake
The factory install procedure doesn't touch anything but the "usual suspects".
We sort of already know what the worst case is. As to whether to bootloader "needs" the PER partition or not, I don't really know. At this point my bet is that it does not, but that is purely an educated guess.
@MOVZX
I am attaching a "PER-empty.zip" file to this post. It is tiny because it is an almost empty FAT32 filesystem image (PER.img), so it compressed by nearly 100%. (When you unzip it, the "PER.img" image file should be 5,242,880 bytes, or 5120 kB) If you want to, feel free to un-zip it, and then flash the extracted "PER.img" file to the PER partition on your device.
Assuming you are using adb from your PC with the custom recovery still running:
Unzip PER-empty.zip, then
Code:
adb push PER.img /sdcard/PER.img
adb shell dd if=/sdcard/PER.img bs=1024 of=/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/PER
What this will do is install an almost empty FAT32 filesystem which was created with the exact parameters used on my device. (I assume that your device also has a 5120 kB PER partition, but you have not replied.) The almost part is that I truncated every file in my image to zero length.
That's not much, but at least you will have a valid filesystem and most files of the correct name, even if they are zero length.
Note that once you have a filesystem in the PER partition, you are free to mount it using the custom recovery, and do whatever you please, e.g.:
Code:
adb shell mkdir /data/local/tmp/permount
adb shell mount -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk0p7 /data/local/tmp/permount
adb shell
$ cd /data/local/tmp/permount
... do whatever you want in here...
$ sync
$ exit
adb shell umount /data/local/tmp/permount
adb shell rmdir /data/local/tmp/permount
good luck with your tablet - let us know how everything turns out.
.
I'm using Nexus 7 WiFi 16GB.
I almost have all the required files. The sensors and lightsensor directories were found mounted at /data/sensors and /data/lightsensor, so I copied it.
Here is the content of my sensors & lightsensore files:
lightsensor/AL3010_Config.ini
1476
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sensors/AMI304_Config.ini
921368
2048 2048 2048
0 0 0
600 600 600
210 42 -256
0 0 0
0 0 0
103 100 101
0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sensors/KXTF9_Calibration.ini
1071 -1035 1034 -1030 -1097 1213
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The FAT partitions is now Ok.
Now, I'm missing these files:
adc-rawdata.csv
ISN
KXTF9_Calibration.ini
prom-filter-rawdata.txt
rawdata.csv
rek-prom-rawdata.txt
SSN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having no confidence to reboot this device yet