Formatted /System, Help! - Thinkpad Tablet General

Hey all,
I was trying to get OTA2 installed while retaining my root and long story short I ended up formatting my /system in CWM thinking it would rebuild the factory image. Now of coarse my system won't boot. For some reason I am also unable to mount /sdcard. Is there anyway I could restore my system?
Thanks for any help!

restore \system of your CWM backup

I don't have a CWM backup . I know, a real bonehead move. If anyone could help me out with a clean CWM backup I'd be willing to compensate.
Edit: BTW I have a 16gb US version of the TPT.

Is it even possible to flash someone else's CWM backup?
Could I use the full image that Lenovo took down, found here?
I don't suppose there's an nvflash image for this device...

While I'm not sure, it might be possible to use that full image. Certainly worth a try. You might try asking on that forum, if you haven't already.

Yes, It is possible to restore from someone else's backup. I, in the past have copied my backups to my pc when they were too much and If i needed them, I just copied them back to external_sd/clockworkmod/backup/ and voila, it would appear for restoration in CWM.
I may be wrong, I do not believe that region should have any effect but to be safe (since you already made one mistake ) restore your US version with a US backup. I have a UK version and I would have uploaded a backup for you if you couldn't find a US one but unfortunately, my tablet is at the lenovo repair centre, being treated for the dreaded micro usb port failure. Hope someone here can help with a backup.

Thanks for the advice!
I downloaded that full image, but I could not get it to flash in the traditional sense. I extracted it and copied the system directory to my system partition and the tablet actually boots now. However, wifi does not work, whenever I press any of the menu keys a red frame flashes around the screen, and I cannot go to the About section of the settings to try to download updates or anything, it just crashes. I am also unable to update to OTA1 via zip in CWM, it gives me:
Code:
assert failed: file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.buildfingerprint") == "Lenovo/ThinkPadTablet/Indigo:3.1/ThinkPadTablet_A310_02/0024_0065_US:user/releasekeys" || file_getprop("/system/build.prop","ro.build.fingerprint") == "Lenovo/ThinkPadTablet/Indigo:3.1/ThinkPadTablet_A310_02/0037_0075_US:user/release-keys"

Since you still need a lot of help anyway why don't you try manually installing all of the updates up to OTA 0076. You have to have all the updates before it flashed first. Link here:
http://download.lenovo.com/slates/think/tablet1

The nandroid backup would have to be of a factory restore, correct? Otherwise, all accounts/settings, etc would be within the backup as well.
I wasn't planning on doing a factory restore any time soon, but if the CM9 ICS port releases is soon, I can make one then as I have the same model and region as you.
I'm just really busy at the moment due to school and I rely on my tablet for school!

That would be the only safe way to let someone have a backup.

toenail_flicker, Thanks for the suggestion, I'll start from the top of the list and work my way down.
obscure.detour, being a student also, I completely understand. Luckily I just bought a Livescribe pen to offset my need for my TPT for the moment .
In the mean time, in case anyone else would be willing, you could also take a backup of your current system, do a factory restore, take a backup of the clean rom, and than restore your original image.
Thanks!

LOL You make it sound easy, but for a CWM noob it's a dicey thing. Never restored anything. Perhaps someone with more confidence in CWM than me can pull it off for you.

I know letting someone have a backup that contains personal info my be tricky, but if you've got time (couple of hours) on your hands you can backup your current system, do a factory reset, and since a factory reset only affects data, it wont wipe your root or CWM. you can then make a CWM backup of the newly reset rom, copy it off the sd card and restore your earlier system which you backed up.
This would save the OP having to start installing the OTA updates one by one.
Like I said, my tablet is away for repairs, otherwise I would have helped him. Or, maybe that's a good thing cos its certain that my tablet's main board will be changed, thus its going to be a fresh android installation on it. when I receive it in a couple of days, if you're still in need, I'll try to reroot and install CWM so I can send you a backup.

Much appreciated darkhandsome18! Installing the OTA's failed . It looks like the image I found is actually a test build. Even the earliest patches do not recognize it as a viable base to install on.

Did you ever get someone's backup? If not I can make one for you today. I am on OTA2 though, were you updated before you wiped system?

Here is a CWM backup from my 32GB US TpT.
Extract the file onto your external sd card in the folder /clockworkmod/backup/
Reboot into CWR
Select Restore Backup and select my backup (You can use advanced backup to restore individual parts or just the normal restore to restore everything, which will be factory reset US OTA2 with root)
Hopefully everything will work properly and you will never format your system partition without a nandroid backup again.
I have it on my Dropbox for now but will delete it in a couple of days because it takes up a lot of space. Let me know once you have downloaded it.
If you don't have a Dropbox account then sign up here and we'll both get an extra 250MB of storage space.

jhankinson, thanks! I was not on OTA2, would that be a problem? Also, I'm having issues backing up my current setup, I got ICS running. CWR gives me "Error while backing up boot image". Any ideas?
I'd like to backup my current (semi-working) setup before attempting to restore yours. Thanks again for uploading that!

I finally got it to work by remounting my sdcard in rw using ADB in clockwork recovery. That backup seems to have worked flawlessly jhankinson, I can't thank you enough!

This is great news! I knew I couldn't help you, but so glad GodfatherIP was able to help you. He helped me a great deal, too, recently.

Who is GodfatherIP?

Related

[Q] Force clockwork restore?

I while preparing to flash a new ROM I scrolled one to many selections in the format menu and selected "format sdcard" by mistake. (anyone else think the little warning notice up top should inform you which area you are about to format and not just a generic "formatting can not be undone" warning... I have thought this before but never voiced it to anyone and it seems my fears were well founded)
So now I have lost my app data backups and ROM backups, along with various other data.
I have used a couple programs to recover the data on the sdcard and have managed to get the clockwork backups back. Problem is, I want to do a partial restore of just /data (from the advanced restore menu) but the md5 sums are not matching. As I as just restoring /data and from the same ROM currently on the phone, I am not overly concerned by that. I just need to get as much of the original app data back as I can so I can do a new backup of the app data and then do a proper wipe and flash of a new ROM.
I know there was a way to force a restore with ADB when I had my old N1, is there a way to do so with the current recovery on this phone?
Thanks in advance... I been up way past my normal time so I am dead and can't focus well. So its off to bed and hopefully will come back to some good news after work.
Nobody.. anything?

Im having problem with installing a CWM flashable addon...

hi
I have a samsung note which i rooted when i bought it. when i go to recovery mode sig cwm and trying to install this auto brightness mod from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1373008
I get the error
E: failed to verify whole-file signature
E: signature verification failed
any ideas what could be causing this? Im pretty new to android... used to have an Iphone
ps: when I start CWM it says "This version of CWM manager should be used with CF-Root v5.0 or newer.
It appears you are running a different kernel. Various features has been disabled."
and also when entering recovery mode I get an error which says "Can't access to '/system/csc/XEF/system/"
my phone is a mess now ((
ive flashed kernel with cd-root 5.0 ..then seemed like cwm issue was fixed
then i added auto brightness update and now the phone is totally messed up :O
when phone started it didnt ask for pin... i keep hearing the samsung boot sound and the screen goes on and off with menu showing..
please someone help the noob (
i am able to go to recovery mode...any chance i can redo the last mess i did??
Ok, hope you have made a backup (nandroid or Titanium), because now that you are in this situation the best way to recover is to flash an other ROM (custom or stock) and wipe cache & Dakvik-cache, depending if you use a WIPE or NON-WIPE Rom, you might get back your "stuffs". Try first to flash a Stock NON WIPE ROM for your country for ex. and clear cache and dalvik and see how it goes, you might have to manually clear data from som apps that will FC (or even uninstall and reinstall them if clear data is not enough) but has long that you have access to CWM your note is not brick you can always "repair" it good luck.
When you wanted to try patch/mod apk:
- first verify it apply to your build (KKA or such)
- second do a nandroid, and if anythings goes wrong you can always restore to previous state
Good luck
PS: for the kernel missmatch it is not that big of a deal, some kernel have been built in order to have access to some features from CWM from the running OS itself while other does not, but has long that you can go manually in CWM you can do manually all things from there
jayGGjay said:
Ok, hope you have made a backup (nandroid or Titanium), because now that you are in this situation the best way to recover is to flash an other ROM (custom or stock) and wipe cache & Dakvik-cache, depending if you use a WIPE or NON-WIPE Rom, you might get back your "stuffs". Try first to flash a Stock NON WIPE ROM for your country for ex. and clear cache and dalvik and see how it goes, you might have to manually clear data from som apps that will FC (or even uninstall and reinstall them if clear data is not enough) but has long that you have access to CWM your note is not brick you can always "repair" it good luck.
When you wanted to try patch/mod apk:
- first verify it apply to your build (KKA or such)
- second do a nandroid, and if anythings goes wrong you can always restore to previous state
Good luck
PS: for the kernel missmatch it is not that big of a deal, some kernel have been built in order to have access to some features from CWM from the running OS itself while other does not, but has long that you can go manually in CWM you can do manually all things from there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply..
another noob q... when I rooted it the first time I just put the stock rom onm y sc card and flashed, but now since it wont go to the phone menu, my pc cants see my phone...
so the question is, how do i put the rom file on the phone to flash it?
I dont have a microsd reader either
btw
i did take a titanium back ..its on the phones sd card
Ok, do you have another phone or sdcard reader somewhere, in order to transfer the ROM in it then you can put it back in your NOTE and flash it. If not you are in a not so good situation, you can always go to CWM plug the usb cable, go to advance settings mount the sdcard and with adb you can push the ROM in your sdcard.
For adb, you have to install KIES to have to right driver, then download adb from android sdk then from a command prompt go to your adb folder (put the ROM in it) and then from the command "adb push MYROM /sdcard/" and you you should see it transfer to your sdcard.
For the titanium, it will be use only if you use a WIPE rom and once booted OK install Titanium and restore everythings. GL
jayGGjay said:
Ok, do you have another phone or sdcard reader somewhere, in order to transfer the ROM in it then you can put it back in your NOTE and flash it. If not you are in a not so good situation, you can always go to CWM plug the usb cable, go to advance settings mount the sdcard and with adb you can push the ROM in your sdcard.
For adb, you have to install KIES to have to right driver, then download adb from android sdk then from a command prompt go to your adb folder (put the ROM in it) and then from the command "adb push MYROM /sdcard/" and you you should see it transfer to your sdcard.
For the titanium, it will be use only if you use a WIPE rom and once booted OK install Titanium and restore everythings. GL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used odin to flash the stock rom, rooted & now restoring now with titanium everything seems fine & dandy ..
Im not gonna touch anything until the ICS is out ..hehe
Merry xmas to you!
This little issue should not scare you that much, the things you should remember from that is to always make a nandroid backup before falshing anythings or changing things.
Do not stop "messing" around your phone because a that experience, go for it but REMEMBER ALWAYS HAVE A VALID BACKUP.
Merry Xmas to you and all the other too
jayGGjay said:
This little issue should not scare you that much, the things you should remember from that is to always make a nandroid backup before falshing anythings or changing things.
Do not stop "messing" around your phone because a that experience, go for it but REMEMBER ALWAYS HAVE A VALID BACKUP.
Merry Xmas to you and all the other too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well ..titanium backup screwed me pretty good... apparently sms/contacts was not backed up by default
For contact use google sync and your google accounts
For sms use SMS backup and restore or some other backup (some apk can backup your SMS in your gmail account also)
Sorry to hear for your "lost"
That is why you should always have a nandroid to be able to extract what (backup the working one, restore the old one backup your contaact and email, then restore your new ROM and restore your missing stuffs) is missing and restore to your new ROM
GL
jayGGjay said:
For contact use google sync and your google accounts
For sms use SMS backup and restore or some other backup (some apk can backup your SMS in your gmail account also)
Sorry to hear for your "lost"
That is why you should always have a nandroid to be able to extract what (backup the working one, restore the old one backup your contaact and email, then restore your new ROM and restore your missing stuffs) is missing and restore to your new ROM
GL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was my own fault. I took for granted that titanium backed up everything by default I acrtually had sms backup/restore on the phone.. hehe
well... these stuff happen when Im on new platforms. Im gonna go trough this forum to figure more about flashing costume roms.

[Q] Is a Nandroid backup of Nexus devices really necessary?

I was reading FadedLite's Guide to root the Nexus 7, and one of the commentors posted that you should create a nandroid backup and bootable image after installing CWM but before adding SU. I'm not entirely sure what the purposes of these backups would be, but anyone can download the factory image from google here. So is a nandroid backup really necessary?
This is my first post on xda (although I've been here since March and have rooted 2 devices already) so I'm really hoping I posted this correctly.
I would say, and a lot of XDA users will tell ALWAYS make a backup. Although there might be factory image at Google backing up your own system is a very good idea.
Well, it's not necessary but it's always that just in case notion. I mean what about that slim chance that your USB port was not working and it suddenly stopped working properly?
I make nandroid backups only when I'm testing new ROMs and PLAN to go back to my original. I made a nandroid backup of my Galaxy S III stock ROM and then tried out jelly bean, once I was sick of it I switched back to the stock ROM because it worked obviously
I was just thinking that a backup stored locally would take up a lot of the tablet's very limited space. As long as you can boot into recovery, couldn't I just store it on another device and move the file over while in recovery? While there is a chance of usb malfunction, it is a slim chance... then again I have already perma-bricked one of my devices already, but that was an issue trying to install cwm so I couldn't have made a backup anyways.
Well, if your USB port goes, wifi or Bluetooth transfer would allow you to transfer your backup over. Unless you also don't have a bootable rom at the same time.
Nandroids are huge but it might be a good idea to have a working flashable build on internal memory at all times so you can boot up and transfer stuff.
Koush is developing a new CWR that creates TINY backups, I have no clue how he does it but he does.
unless you are running pure stock from google or a full final rom like cyanogen final, you should always have a backup.
You can download the image, but you lose ALL of your data. A nandroid backup keeps your apps and data.
A nandroid backup of ICS/JB is around 1.5-2GB in size. and yes that is a huge file size. And yes you can remove it from the device and put it back on. i STRONGLY recommend copying the entire directory and then erasing the individual files from your device so you don't forget where they're suppose to go.
If you are planning on doing custom roms or any root activity a nandroid is basically required.
Going to update to a new release? nandroid.
going to install a new theme, boot animation, metamorph? nandroid.
Are the chances small that something will go wrong? yes. But if it does, do you really want to have to redo EVERYTHING on your device?
I do a backup once a week on my galaxy nexus through clockwork mod that way i don't ever have to worry about something going wrong. restore the backup and at the most i'm back to where i was 7 days before.
Also, with USB-OTG you can connect the nexus 7 to a portable hard drive and store your backups there.
Not all flashable zips wipe the device. I actually find it very annoying when devs add wiping to their zips. I flash without wiping a lot and rarely have problems.

[Q] Smooth Rom 4.4

Hi
As you've prob guessed I'm a noob, hence the help.
Ive just recently rooted and unlocked my nexus 7 with wugfresh 1.6.2 and am now looking at putting a custom rom on it.
Ive followed the advice and put titanium backup on and backed up my apps and system data.
Having read the instructions for installing Smooth Rom 4.4, it states 'Please do not restore a 'system' data backup as it would overwritte some important files'
does this mean I cannot restore my apps from titanium backup as I cant restore system data as they where backed up together or is there some other way for me to do it ?
does titanium backup get wiped as well ?
All Help appreciated, this is my first rom install and I dont wanna **** it up.
Robbie_UK said:
All Help appreciated, this is my first rom install and I dont wanna **** it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most important thing to do is to make a FULL nandroid backup before you begin.
The 2nd most important thing to do is to get that backup copied someplace else besides the tablet. (PC, USB key, etc) Screw-ups involving accidental erasure of the psuedo- SD card area on the tablet are commonplace with folks that are new to this. It won't do you any good to make a backup if you immediately erase it while fooling around with a custom recovery (or toolkit) that is new to you.
I suggest you learn to make backups using the custom recovery rather than relying on a toolkit.
If you are happy with the tablet in it's current configuration, then a back-up allows you to survive any ****-ups that inevitably follow as you can return back to a known state and proceed again having learned from your mistakes.
FULL NANDROID BACKUPS. COPIED SOMEPLACE SAFE (OFF THE TABLET)
As for TiB, the only thing that is 100% safe is to only restore apps & their data that are NOT pre-installed in whatever ROM you are installing. Note this means not restoring any of the Google gapps as well, as you may have had a different versions of those apps running on your current ROM than on the to-be-installed ROM, whether pre-installed or updated later.
Yeah it's a bit of work restoring apps one by one and re-configuring things. There probably are System apps that can have their data safely restored to the wrong version of the app - but there are absolutely no guarantees that correct operation of the app will follow that.
cheers and good luck

Full Nandroid Backup

Hello friends,
I have a question about my ZE520Kl, before i flash custom roms, can someone tell me how i can do a full Nandroid Backup with TWRP ( a ready to flash initial configuration )
I have tried with this initial configuration ( see atachement ) but when i restore the phone doesnt want to boot and i flash the original Asus rom and lost all my files.
If someone have a howto or tutorial link he save my life.
Thanks in advance friends and have a nice day.
DeKs1 said:
Hello friends,
I have a question about my ZE520Kl, before i flash custom roms, can someone tell me how i can do a full Nandroid Backup with TWRP ( a ready to flash initial configuration )
I have tried with this initial configuration ( see atachement ) but when i restore the phone doesnt want to boot and i flash the original Asus rom and lost all my files.
If someone have a howto or tutorial link he save my life.
Thanks in advance friends and have a nice day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't back up your personal files, see in the pic you attached "Data excluding storage". That storage is your personal data.
I've ran into similar issues, I think it has to do with the partitions being encrypted by default. I have found that, for me anyways, it usually works if I perform a factory reset, then flash the nandroid backupand then wipe dalvik + cache, it works. But as you said, you lose your personal data. One of the perks to having an external sdcard, just back it up to there.
You can try it now, factory reset and flash your nandroid and see if it works.
Edit: doubt it matters but I usually back up the other small partitions as well, it's only an extra 50megs
Thank you very much for answer, I will try it later.
Firstly looking a good alternative for Asus rom.
I never faced this problem with other phones just do a basic TWRP backup and easily flash.
One more time thank you very much.

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