Database Users

Partition damage? Not sure whats wrong...

Hey all,
I have an S4 i337m model. I've installed a custom ROM that is essentially a rooted stock ROM (I do not remember the exact build/version of the ROM). I realize having this info would be useful, but at the moment, I cannot access this info.
While running this ROM, everything was fine. Last week Friday, I attempted to install FoxHound 1.6. Had to play around with the installation options, but I got FoxHound to work. However, I need to get back on my old ROM as I needed some files that were deleted during the FoxHound install. So I wiped my phone, and restored my nandroid backup of my rooted stock ROM. again, everything was fine. No issues.
Here is where the problem is; after restoring my rooted stock ROM, I could boot into the phone and access the files needed. However, when I reboot/shut down phone, upon restarting/powering up, my phone is stuck at the 'Samsung Galaxy S4' logo right after power on. So, I boot into recovery (the latest version of TWRP) and I navigate to 'file manager' to take a look at my storage/files. And this is where I believe the issue to be; I see virtually no files at all. I can see many folders/partitions, but there are virtually no files anywhere (i.e. the system and data partitions are empty). I am assuming this is the reason why my phone doesn't boot past the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo. Now, when this happens, I wipe my phone again and restore my working nandroid backup. Everything works fine. I can get back into Android without issues. Until I reboot/power off my phone. Then this happens all over again.
I believe I may have damaged(?) the partition(s). When I installed FoxHound, I also installed an option during installation titled 'EXT4'. I know linux uses ext2/3/4 partition tables. Did I damage my storage/partition by installing EXT4 from FoxHound? Do I need to repartition my phone via Odin PIT file or something similar? Am I totally wrong with my analysis? Any help/advise/insight would be very welcomed.
Thanks

Additional info
Baseband: I337MVLUAMG1
Build number: JDQ39.I337MVLUAMG1
ROM: Rooted stock ROM 4.2.2 (with some bloatware removed)
While my phone was in the it's 'logo stuck' state, I entered into TWRP and selected the Wipe option, then Format Data. I must select 'Format Data' in order for my phone to work on it's next boot. Manually formatting System, Data, etc... will not allow my phone to boot up at next boot. And, my phone will only work on the next boot. If I power off/restart phone, it will get stuck at the logo again. So my phone is only good for 1 boot up after a wipe.
And, after I restore a working backup and boot into the phone, everything works until next power down/reboot. Once I power down/reboot phone, I must go into recovery since it will not boot into Android. When I get into TWRP, I see that my Internal Storage has 0MB free and I am unable to see any files. I can see folders/partitions, but there is nothing in any folder/partition. My external SD card shows nothing as well. My external SD card however is unaffected as all the data is still there once I get into Android and look around.
Also, I just restored a backup I had before I was having this issue. After restoring and rebooting, the same thing happens. I get stuck at the 'Samsung Galaxy S4' logo.
So I'm guessing there is some partition troubles here. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm scratching my head as to the cause of this problem.

It could be some hardware issues too. I'd Odin back to stock and see if the problem persists. If it does its hardware.

jd1639 said:
It could be some hardware issues too. I'd Odin back to stock and see if the problem persists. If it does its hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the same thing. I'm downloading the stock ROM now and will give it a try.
One other thing I noticed during my last restore/fix attempt... After I perform a wipe -> Format Data (from TWRP), I notice that it reverts to my rooted stock ROM without me restoring anything. So, after I do a full wipe/format, and reboot my phone immediately after the full wipe/format, my phone will boot into the rooted stock ROM. I thought that wiping/formatting via TWRP totally cleans the internal storage of all data. So how can I be booting into any ROM after a wipe?
Unless I'm mistaken in my thinking and the full wipe/format option in TWRP just reverts back to the stock ROM I had installed prior to installing further custom ROMs?

If you wipe system and data there shouldn't be any rom it would boot. Don't try that though unless you have a nandroid because it shouldn't boot
What version of twrp ate you using?

Do not format data in twrp.

jd1639 said:
If you wipe system and data there shouldn't be any rom it would boot. Don't try that though unless you have a nandroid because it shouldn't boot
What version of twrp ate you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear ya... I have several nandroid backups. All work (minus this 'stuck at logo' issue I am having). I am using the newest TWRP version 2.6. It's very strange... after I perform a full wipe, I am able to boot into my rooted stock ROM that I flashed shortly after acquiring the phone. This was a bit over a month ago now. I do not know how this is possible.
xBeerdroiDx said:
Do not format data in twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not?
_____________________________________________________________________
**Should I try using CWM instead?

Talabis said:
I hear ya... I have several nandroid backups. All work (minus this 'stuck at logo' issue I am having). I am using the newest TWRP version 2.6. It's very strange... after I perform a full wipe, I am able to boot into my rooted stock ROM that I flashed shortly after acquiring the phone. This was a bit over a month ago now. I do not know how this is possible.
Why not?
_____________________________________________________________________
**Should I try using CWM instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use twrp 2.5.0.2 or cwm. The newer twrp has issues.

jd1639 said:
Use twrp 2.5.0.2 or cwm. The newer twrp has issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is TWRP 2.5.0.0 ok to use?

Ok... It's really starting to look like my partition table has been damaged. Every time I flash a new ROM or restore a nandroid backup successfully, and then restart my phone, I get stuck at the S4 logo. Upon starting recovery, my internal storage reads 0MB free. It seems like my partition table is becoming corrupt after a reboot, or it has already been corrupted.
I tried flashing the stock ROM for my phone (I337MVLUAMDJ_I337MOYAAMDJ_I337MVLUAMDJ_HOME.tar is the one I used), but that didn't help at all. After installing this stock ROM, and I go into stock recovery, I get an error: E:failed to mount /data (invalid argument).
This really is looking like a partition problem. Is there some way to re-partition my phone? I remember a PIT file was used to partition my old Galaxy S i9000. Is there a PIT file for the S4 i337m?
I would also like to try CWM but I am having a hard time finding a ODIN flashable version.

I wouldn't mess with a pit file and I haven't seen one anyway. It's sounding more and more like your memory is bad. I'd keep it stock and see if you can get an exchange on the phone under warranty.

Further investigation has lead me to the culprit... sorta. It's my /data partition that is screwing everything up. If I format /data and then reboot, I can get into my phone. But if I reboot again, then my /data partition becomes corrupt and my phone hangs at the S4 logo. And then if I go into recovery, I can see that my internal storage is at 0MB free.
However, after formatting/restoring /data partition and rebooting into android successfully, everything works fine. If I reboot from this point and enter recovery, I am still able to see my /data partition and files. At this point, everything seems to be fine. Once I reboot out of recovery and let the phone boot into Android, I get stuck at the S4 logo and my /data partition screws up/becomes corrupt. It looks like my /data partition is only becoming corrupt after the 1st successful boot into Android. If I enter recovery after the 1st successful android load, I am still able to see all files and partitions. It is only trying to load android after the 1st boot that my /data partition becomes corrupt. Very strange...
So, I can always boot into my phone as long as I format my /data partition prior to loading Android. Anyone experience this before? Any ideas? I realize my memory may be damaged, but I'm leaving that as a last resort possibility since my phone was working fine up until I started installing FoxHound with the EXT4 option as well as installing 1 or 2 of the kernel's FoxHound provides. Namely Adam kernel is the one I tried.

All good... I think/hope
Well, I think I got the problem solved. After toying with this thing all day. It seems like TWRP 2.6 was the problem in some sense. Looks like TWRP 2.6 does not format the /data partition correctly. I had to get restore/install a working ROM, boot into my phone and install ClockworkMod Recovery via ROM Manager. I then used CWM to format /data. Once I did this, and loaded back into my phone, and went through the setup process since /data was formatted, everything was working fine. I just rebooted 5 times and shut down twice and my phone booted back up into android without issue.
So as one user in this thread had mentioned, formatting /data with TWRP 2.6 was the problem.
Hope this helps others avoid a similar issue.
Thanks everyone for all the help. It pointed me in the right direction.

Glad you got it fixed.

I'll be giving these steps a try, having somewhat of the same problem!

i've been having this exact same problem but with TWRP 2.5.0.2 since July. Its been driving me insane and I have not been able to find any one else having this issue until now. I think i might finally try CWM instead as a last measure before I finally give up!

Try TWRP 2.6.3.1 version. It works pretty well even though it's unofficial http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2262996
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Help understanding what I did wrong in twrp

So I was experiencing weird battery behavior so I decided to reflash cleanrom 1.1 but first wiping my device. Apparently just wiping the device wasn't enough or I did it wrong. I selected advanced and selected system,cache,dalvik cache. I installed rom and when I rebooted I noticed my apps were all there, nothing changed from the cleanrom 1.1 install I had on there before. I rebooted back to recovery and this time I selected format data and wiped again. This time I went to try and relflash rom and yep, I deleted all my data so there was no roms or any backups to restore from. I figured my device was completely formatted/wiped and I had no rom installed. I started to panic lol, I even rebooted twrp into bootloader hello. I just tried to get back to recovery at that point, so weird thing was when I was in the "bootloader mode" and it was asking for some pin code a call came through. Someone was trying to call me? Anyway out of curiosutiy I held the power button and selected power off and restart and when it loaded into cleanrom 1.1 asking me to enter my settings and I started installing my apps since I had no tb to restore from as I formatted earlier. My question is, what did I do wrong? I just wanted to wipe my device and install a fresh cleanrom 1.1, not actually format my device completely.

advanced wipe
I wouldve just advanced wiped everything but internal storage. Your backups should be on internal storage so I'm not sure why formatting deleted them. Whenever I install a fresh ROM I do an advanced wipe of system data cache and davlik. Never done a non advanced wipe. Hope this helps.

[Q] Problems restoring a backup of the stock rom

I recently made a backup of my stock rom using TWRP, I then flashed cyanogenmod 12.1 and due some random reboots I wanted to restore my stock rom.. I went into TWRP, did a wipe on everything but the external sd card then restored the backup of the samsung rom boot, data, system. When it booted it said it was upgrading all the android apps then starting apps then all the apps it tried to start crashed and was left with a blank screen. Is there something you have to do, to be able to restore a stock rom after flashing cyanogen?

No, that should have worked, but I have seen that crash black screen after clearing caches in TWRP, I pulled the battery, booted again and it was fine

*Detection* said:
No, that should have worked, but I have seen that crash black screen after clearing caches in TWRP, I pulled the battery, booted again and it was fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wierd, yeah I tried a couple of reboots and it always crashes once it starts apps after a restore.

Try flashing a stock ROM with ODIN to get the phone back to 100% stock
Then root and flash TWRP again and see if you can restore the backup then, if not, try restoring the backup without restoring DATA which is where the apps are
If that works, you could use Titanium Backup to restore the DATA partition iirc, see if you can get around it that way

Help with TWRP Restore !

I just got a s5. And I got it succesfully rooted and also got TWRP working on it.
All the data from my previous phone was transfered to the s5.
Now I made some backups with TWRP with the default settings: Partitions boot, system and data.
With the backups in mind I was thinking I could easily restore it to a previous state.
Thinking I backed up all the data and wanted to make it fresh again, I wanted to restore it.
In the menu I chose the restore option with the same settings as the backup: Partitions boot, system and data.
And it gives a message restoring system succesfull.
But when rebooting, it keeps hanging and at the moment of loading the android system every bit of the system keeps 'hanging'
It keeps saying
'Unfortunately touchwiz startup unsuccesfully'
'Unfortunately youtube startup unsuccesfully'
'Unfortunately greenify startup unsuccesfully'
'Unfortunately app whatever startup unsuccesfully'
And so on and so on
Eventually it starts with a black screen with nothing loaded. Complete blackout.
So this backup doesn't work. And I try my second backup.
Unfortunately also the second backup gave these errors.
And also the third backup!
So the backup files seem the right size, it's some gigabytes, and it alway's keeps saying backup/restore succesfully.
But now it fails to restore and boot the backup
The things I tried.
-Trying three different backups
-Wiping cleaning data/dalvik/cache etc etc
-Restoring a part of the backup. First system, then data, then boot, no succes.
So i'm totally lost! Does somebody know how to fix this? Or have some tips to try??

You can't restore system and boot from a different model phone
That would be like trying to flash a ROM for one model phone to another without porting it
If it was an S5 you backed up, was it the exact same model (ie: G900F etc?)
Flash back to stock, then try restoring only DATA
Or use TiBu to restore your apps from the TWRP backup

*Detection* said:
You can't restore system and boot from a different model phone
That would be like trying to flash a ROM for one model phone to another without porting it
If it was an S5 you backed up, was it the exact same model (ie: G900F etc?)
Flash back to stock, then try restoring only DATA
Or use TiBu to restore your apps from the TWRP backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! It was a backup and restore on the same phone. So that is why I thought it was supposed to be a easy restore.
But I found the solution hidden somewhere in one message on XDA:
"Originally Posted by Dr. Fed
Would you happen to know why, when restoring a TW 4.4.2 nandroid using TWRP 2.8.1 or 2.8.4, after running an AOSP lollipop ROM like CM12, the TW ROM boots but then the whole system force-closes? Before restoring the nandroid, I advance wipe system, data, cache, and dalvik. Then I restore the nandroid. It boots, but then some daemon crashes. Then all processes and apps. The screen goes black after a few crashes.
So, what I do is pull out the battery, boot into recovery, advance wipe system, data, cache, dalvik, flash a CM11 ROM, reboot. I let CM11 start up, skip the set-up, then I boot back to TWRP (2.8.1 and now 2.8.4), advanced wipe, restore TW nandroid, and now it works just fine.
It seems like TWRP doesn't fully wipe."

Here the steps for if other people will run into the same problem:
Problem: Android 5 is running, with twrp 2.7 performed a back up = Restoring the backup is difficult because it problably doesn't do a clean wipe somehow.
1. I downloaded a cyanogen 11 rom, a Android 4 version.
2. Installed it with TWRP. Somehow it 'wipes' it more efficiently.
3. From cyanogen 11 back to booting TWRP.
4. In TWRP trying the Android 5 restore.
And Amazingly this worked!! = Celebrate!!

chokolademan said:
Thanks for the reply! It was a backup and restore on the same phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confused me with this line
chokolademan said:
All the data from my previous phone was transfered to the s5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to see you solved it

In TWRP I'm encrypted. No viable password.

I've got an issue where I can't flash rom's in TWRP because the phone's been magically encrypted that can't be undone with any useful passwords. I've searched google for solutions and besides a wipe/reformat, it looks like all other alternatives have not been helpful. I've removed any passwords/pins, set new passwords/set a new pins, flashed different versions of TWRP and even tried "default_password" as a possibility but nothing seems to work. Has anyone else run into this and resolved without going to the nuclear option?
Btw, on a related note...if I reformat or wipe my phone in twrp, does that mean the entire SD is wiped clean of everything or is just the "data" such as personal folders, settings and apps removed?
Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

everything is wiped, like a clean flash. I had the same issue so I did the wipe, after that everything else worked fine. Also, removed encryption after first boot so this wont happen again

Try the navigator TWRP.
V6 (3.0.3) : https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B9ZMWt4u_wSDVkp3UlMxS1liMUE&export=download
V7 (3.1.0) : https://mega.nz/#!YMojxQgI!Pa1kh_p2dRwTMdPPG-xEpCGeVdtqMvritlp8cH9zpp8
(MTP doesn't work on v7)

TheDethEgineer said:
everything is wiped, like a clean flash. I had the same issue so I did the wipe, after that everything else worked fine. Also, removed encryption after first boot so this wont happen again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick Question: after the full wipe, how did you remove the encryption? I'm rooted, TWRP installed, LineageOS installed, and everything is running fine, but i cant update/flash roms without a USB OTG cable and a flash drive at this point. Whenever i boot into recovery, it asks for a decryption password. I'm willing to wipe, i just dont know how to kill the encryption afterwards.

PurpleCowMan said:
Quick Question: after the full wipe, how did you remove the encryption? I'm rooted, TWRP installed, LineageOS installed, and everything is running fine, but i cant update/flash roms without a USB OTG cable and a flash drive at this point. Whenever i boot into recovery, it asks for a decryption password. I'm willing to wipe, i just dont know how to kill the encryption afterwards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you wipe it will delete everything including the encryption password