*I flashed a CM12.1 nightly on top of one that was a couple days old, and the new one had all kinds of force closes. This was through CM's internal update function, which sets a recovery script and reboots into recovery to install it (which BTW failed).
So I went into TWRP and flashed the backup I made not a couple hours earlier. But now I have kind of a bootloop. Most of the time, the LG logo shows up, then it just reboots back into recovery. One time it got stuck on the logo, and I was able to see it with ADB but it told me init.sh was missing when I tried to adb shell into it.
I have three backups I tried restoring, which had /boot, /recovery, /system and /data, plus I wiped the Dalvik cache and /cache, but nothing I've tried will kick this thing loose. I've even tried formatting it back to EXT4 from F2FS, and erasing and recreating the partitions in fastboot. It seems like there's a flag somewhere telling it to reboot into recovery, but I can't find anything pertinent online. I'm really at a loss as to how to fix it, and out of ideas now.
Have you tried using the lg support tool to bring the phone back to stock?
audit13 said:
Have you tried using the lg support tool to bring the phone back to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I was going to edit the OP to say I've also now tried to flash back to stock, using the 20a KDZ and the LG Flash Tool 2014. When it gets to the point where it's actually about to flash, it says "USB is not connected". I have all the latest drivers, and have tried different cords, to no avail. It has been transferring files while connected in TWRP, so I'm not sure what that's about.
What about using the lg support tool to flash stock?
LG Mobile Support Tool is what LG Flash Tool calls to actually flash the ROM (otherwise you have to depend on what LGMST decides to download). It saw the phone the last time I used it, but wouldn't show LP 5.0.2 as being an available update, even though it had been released.
This thread has the instructions I've been working off of, which was posted around the time the ROM was released. It "should" work, it just doesn't. If I'm not mistaken, there may be another tool you can use, but I haven't been able to find it.
There's one other way I suppose I could go about this, but it would be delicate. I could push all the individual IMG files from a ZIP archive I have of the KDZ, but I don't know what all the partition names are, and there are like 10 of them, including laf, aboot, etc. For example, the /data partition is actually named "userdata" when you use fastboot flash.
I didn't know about the difference between the LGMST and Flash Tool.
All I know is that the LGMST was able to download the correct LP ROM for my phone, install it, and get me back to stock after I screwed things up when trying to get root.
i have same problems , here is my solutions
- use SKR tool -> 4 .fix utility -> 5.unbrick ,
if u want go back to stock, try use TOT file to go back JB
cant use kdz way
Dễ.Thương said:
i have same problems , here is my solutions
- use SKR tool -> 4 .fix utility -> 5.unbrick ,
if u want go back to stock, try use TOT file to go back JB
cant use kdz way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+Thanks, I have never even heard of that. But I'll give it a try. By any chance were you using F2FS?
Though I am not sure, but I'm leaning towards some kind of hardware failure -- this is a refurbished phone, so there's no telling what it's been through inside. T-Mobile sent another one overnight, which I should have in a few hours, but I still need to clean up this one if it has to go back.
audit13 said:
I didn't know about the difference between the LGMST and Flash Tool.
All I know is that the LGMST was able to download the correct LP ROM for my phone, install it, and get me back to stock after I screwed things up when trying to get root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine told me I had the latest version, which is peculiar. Was your phone rooted at the time? Because I could understand it refusing in that case: I ran into a soft-brick on a D800 because of an OTA once. Otherwise, I'm not sure why one would work, and the other wouldn't.
voxluna said:
+Thanks, I have never even heard of that. But I'll give it a try. By any chance were you using F2FS?
Though I am not sure, but I'm leaning towards some kind of hardware failure -- this is a refurbished phone, so there's no telling what it's been through inside. T-Mobile sent another one overnight, which I should have in a few hours, but I still need to clean up this one if it has to go back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont use f2fs , just use SKR tool with luck but i think u need flash a stock rom first
Dễ.Thương said:
i dont use f2fs , just use SKR tool with luck but i think u need flash a stock rom first
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason I ask is that I had a debate in another thread about using F2FS instead of EXT4 for the filesystem. Most people suggested it's buggy and causes problems, so I wondered if that's what happened here.
When I used lgmst, my phone was giving me boot certification errors. I played around some more with it and then it would only go to download mode.
I connect the phone in download mode and the program downloaded and installed the latest LP rom for my 802 from UAE.
audit13 said:
When I used lgmst, my phone was giving me boot certification errors. I played around some more with it and then it would only go to download mode.
I connect the phone in download mode and the program downloaded and installed the latest LP rom for my 802 from UAE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If u can boot your phone ,try to use Tot file , lg flash tool doesnt work anymore
LGMST fixed my 802 so there was no need for a tot file.
audit13 said:
When I used lgmst, my phone was giving me boot certification errors. I played around some more with it and then it would only go to download mode.
I connect the phone in download mode and the program downloaded and installed the latest LP rom for my 802 from UAE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I had a D802 -- it's ubiquitous, and thus has more support on XDA, I think. I'm not sure why T-Mobile chose to have a customized model. Same goes for AT&T, since they both use the same frequencies... and I don't know what the hell Verizon was thinking with those hideous buttons. The only differences I see between most of them is the SAR.
I am not sure that all g2 phones support the same frequencies. My 802 will not connect to LTE in Canada.
audit13 said:
I am not sure that all g2 phones support the same frequencies. My 802 will not connect to LTE in Canada.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, they don't, especially Verizon and Sprint being entirely incompatible because of CDMA. I looked it up just now, and while there are several variations of your phone, it actually looks like it has a lot less frequencies than the T-Mobile device. I was under the impression it was the other way around, but I dunno exactly -- yours is supposed to be a D803 up there. It depends on the carrier/region, and which LTE bands they're using. It may be that you get LTE somewhere else eventually.
I don't know why the hell they don't just make the phone with all the bands you expect to encounter on a continent, but I'm sure it has to do with lock-in. Because the SoC should already have that stuff baked in.
I actually have an 802 (International version, unlocked) that I bought off a guy on Kijiji. It was an incredibly cheap price because it had some scratches on the screen which are not very noticeable. Once I applied a tempered glass screen protector, you could only see the scratches from an oblique angle. The guy even included an official LG flip case which wakes and sleeps the phone This phone even has a stock LP ROM.
I love the glass protectors! That gel adhesive just melts on the screen and leaves not a single bubble. And yeah, it gets into scratches and improves them, too. I'll never use film ones again. I've personally never broken a screen, but Gorilla Glass can be scratched under the right conditions. Hey, as long as it's working for you, cheap is always good. HSPA+ isn't anything to sneeze about either -- I've had some amazing speeds on T-Mobile with it, for years now. It's a great fallback for LTE.
Okay, I managed to recover the original phone!
Something in my previous build was triggering the boot loop into recovery. This happened when the CyanogenMod updater tried to flash a new nightly, so there's a possibility it set a flag that kept it looping. But it's also possible Xposed went haywire somehow, and/or a module did. I'm not really sure why it decided to fail like this, when I had been using it without issue.
All my backups did the same thing, yet those builds ran okay when I backed them up. And I don't know why I could see the COM41 port, but not use it -- the drivers were perfect, I went to a lot of trouble to uninstall and replace them. That meant no LGFlashTool, and manual restoration (ye olde commande line).
So, what I did was use fastboot to flash every partition I could get my hands on, not just the ones you can format in TWRP. I used the 20c files from here. You basically do:
fastboot erase aboot
fastboot flash aboot.img
fastboot erase laf
fastboot flash laf.img...etc. Then you format the /system partition, and flash a Cyanogenmod nightly into there. I also flashed the /data partition, but left /data/media alone, which saves the internal storage. Then I erased and flashed /recovery just for good measure.
This is a somewhat specific fix, but maybe if someone else comes across it, it can help.
Related
I figured with the amount of bricked LS980s with Justins rom I've been seeing at my shop I might as well make some sort of tutorial to help some people out. Searching doesn't bring up too many threads but there are a couple and hopefully a few of the guys in those chime in. My goal is to make this visible and save many of you hours of trouble. Many thanks to Justinswidebody for building the rom. I won't post the link as most can use the search to find it just fine.
Why does the LS980 brick with Justins rom?
It updates.
I think the majority of people flash the rom and forget to take the necessary steps to prevent an update and when it does it will try to reboot into recovery and wipe the system resulting in a soft brick. Most of the time TWRP will remain, which is good, but reflashing the rom will do no good.
Right after this happens what do I do?
Imeadiately plug in you usb and adb push the stock ZVA rom onto the sdcard
use this command:
adb push nameoffile.zip /sdcard
It will take a while.
Once it finishes you need to wipe everything but internal and flash. Once done, power off and boot into download mode.
Prepare LG Flasher and correct TOT file with DLL. I may post a link later.
In my personal experience with installing justins rom it's best to start fresh with ZV7, trust me you will have less headaches. Once it finishes you're ready to redo the whole thing.
I dicked around with the phone and now I can't get into recovery?!
You have to have recovery on there.
If you can't get into download mode then your journey ends here, not sure there is a fix for that, however, you probably already have it in DL mode and getting a fail "wrong DLL" or some ****. Your phone now thinks it's a T-mobile D801. Forget the sprint files, you're gonna flash the tmobile files just to get it to boot. I actually had a customer bring me the phone and managed to flash the right combo to get it to boot but he didn't know what he did, I'll have to find them.
Now, once booted up you'll notice wifi and data will not work along with keyboard and other things thus making it impossible to download flashify and reflash recovery. The phone, in some cases, will only stay booted for 20 seconds and then reboot over and over. It's like this phone is actively tying to make your life difficult. Relax, and let the adb drivers install. Test it by opening a command prompt and write: cd/
/adb
/adb devices
Allow the rsa key. You won't have time to transfer the stock sprint ota file so we need to transfer it in recovery.
Download the simpletool flasher by OptimusRS, this will flash recovery to your phone and remember to choose d801 not ls980. Reboot into recovery. Once the adb drivers have installed you're going to adb push the stock zip back onto the sdcard like you did before. Wipe everything and flash, then power off. Once you boot into download mode it should recognize the phone as an LS980 once again and you are free to flash the correct tot and dll files.
Congrats! You did it!
How do I prevent this from happening in the future?
I've been fighting with this for a while and I think finally know how to be 100% successful in turning off the OTA, if anyone has something to add please do
Go into the app manager and find google services framework and uncheck or disable or both
Use a file manager to go up to CACHE and delete the update that will most likely be hiding in there
Go up to system/app and rename any service that looks like it would provide an update- LDdownload provider is one. I wish I had a list of all of them but I really don't know what the exact app is.
Special thanks to all the guys contributing in these threads:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2641831
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2682926
Exactly at this point
I am exactly at this point, but not turned on usb debugging, so i don't have adb access to the phone. When I try to flash the phone with ls980 TOT it says, the device is D801 and if I try D801 KDZ file, it shows an error message "previousLoad()". I have both download mode and Recovery mode. I have tried sideloading rom on recovery, but I get an error like "E: footer invalid, E: signature invalid"
What can I do to unbrick it. I am trying desperately for the past few weeks.
Anoop S S said:
I am exactly at this point, but not turned on usb debugging, so i don't have adb access to the phone. When I try to flash the phone with ls980 TOT it says, the device is D801 and if I try D801 KDZ file, it shows an error message "previousLoad()". I have both download mode and Recovery mode. I have tried sideloading rom on recovery, but I get an error like "E: footer invalid, E: signature invalid"
What can I do to unbrick it. I am trying desperately for the past few weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, this kind of brick is a *****. I had a customer bring in one that he actually used Flashtool to put on the original t-mobile dll and tot file, and adb does not work in order to get recovery on. Sucks.
Not many people have experience with this stuff and flashtool is a pain when this happens
2strokenut said:
Honestly, this kind of brick is a *****. I had a customer bring in one that he actually used Flashtool to put on the original t-mobile dll and tot file, and adb does not work in order to get recovery on. Sucks.
Not many people have experience with this stuff and flashtool is a pain when this happens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I'm having this issue with one of my customers and it fails. I unlock these things and pass them on but I ALWAYS disable the Google Play Services firmware update in order to avoid this and clearly warn them NOT to factory reset.
This one guy got his elsewhere and the guy gave him no warning on the update. So he contacted me and his is worse than my first experience with the T-Mobile rom OTA brick. Seems like his seller didn't use AutoRec which is more reliable. Basically, mine still had TWRP, this one does not. Mine would boot into the LG logo with those wonderful white words on the top left. His is completely discharged, NO TWRP or anything. Boots the LG logo breifly and basically kicks it directly into Firmware Update mode.
So basically I have to restore the D802? I used the T-Mobile 4.4.2 kitkat based rom on mine, not sure what this had, but I know it was a T-Mobile rom as the customer described. Question is, how do I install a custom recovery then? I know that mine would get detected as a T-Mobile, but since I had the luck of having TWRP, I simply wiped everything, and it would then flash via flashtool as a normal LS980.
Any ideas on how I get TWRP on it? Should I experiment using the AutoRec for the T-Mobile variant?
To start, I'm using the Verizon VS980.
While trying to get a custom recovery working on the latest OTA version, VS98026A, everything I tried seemed to fail. I used twrp manager to install the latest twrp into my recovery, but at the step where it reboots into recovery I got sent to fastboot instead. No problem, just try again right? Same problem. I did a little digging and it seems the 26A update locked down the bootloader tight, can't even get loki working, but flashing the 12B aboot was supposed to be a workaround. So I flash the 12B aboot through fastboot. Oops. I must have missed a step SOMEWHERE, even though I'm fairly experienced and careful, because now it won't boot.
At this point I'm thinking I'll just bite the bullet and restore it. Nope. Recovery mode is dead now, as is fastboot. I try to connect download mode, and it appears to work (download mode shows on the phone) but the computer doesn't recognize the phone even exists.
I'm a week away from my next paycheck to find a phone to pull the guts out of, and I have a full TWRP backup of all partitions, including EFS. What are my options, if any? Help... please?
(I also read - too late - that freegee is supposed to automatically downgrade bootloader)
No one has any ideas on fixing it?
I'll settle for ideas that will make it impossible to tell if it's rooted, like make it so it won't turn on or at least remove that ugly warranty-breaking "rooted" flag on the recovery warning. I'll just take it in for warranty claim after.
Anyone have any ideas? Maybe wiring the USB to short it out?
I seriously just need to break it, and soon because my employer can't contact me.
As a revelation that may fix/break the phone, I got the computer to recognize the phone. It came up as a bunch of unformatted drives, and one that was readable that contained an "image" folder.
since your computer can detect it now, why dont u try flash kdz using LGFlashtool ?
zekurosu said:
since your computer can detect it now, why dont u try flash kdz using LGFlashtool ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion, but it wouldn't work. It was detecting it as qhusb_bulk, not download mode.
I followed the steps here, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2582142, and partway through dd'ing the aboot my phone shut off. I guess the battery died. Now it won't turn on again AT ALL. Just what I wanted, kind of. At least now I can replace it under warranty.
Hello my fellow XDA Members. I am stuck in a tight spot and after reading and re-reading some things the situation doesn't look very promising. I hope this is the moment that Karma shows up and I can get some help on this. Here it goes.
Specs - LG G2 D801 Variant > TWRP V2.8.3.1 > NO OS Currently
I was running Cloudy G3 Rom smoothly and got bored and decided to flash that new rom that is a 5.0 Rom all variants. Did the usual back ups and flashed it. Something happened when I flashed the rom. It went through the Aroma installer and then said "successful" but stuck in a bootloop. I tried it again and nothing happened. Then I tried to wipe everything again and started getting an E: Cannot mount (data or system I forget which as that error went away after I completely formatted data, wiped everything and reflashed Cloudy Stock. )
> Cloudy stock bootlooped and nothing is happening in TWRP. I Am using the USB OTG method of getting files on the phone and getting it charged but anytime I try to do anything (flash a rom, an older version of TWRP) it just immediately restarts TWRP and thats that. I have No OS at all.
> I tried to use one of the methods to get into download mode and flash a stock KDZ but the phone acts like it is going into DL mode (shows the little blue transition screen) but never gets into the ACTUAL download mode where the PC or flash tool can recognize it.
So in a nutshell > No OS > I can get into TWRP but it does nothing > No Download Mode > Don't want a new phone > Don't want to take it apart and try to short circuit anything if possible. LOL.
I am totally stuck here. I am done alot of work and even helped friends and family out with their devices over the years. I am just not sure if I need to consider it a done deal and get a new phone or maybe one of you guys know of something easy and obvious (please let it be the latter) I am missing. Thanks for any help you can offer. I Will be standing by.
Have you tried to reflash bootloader? If not, do that and reflash cloudy right away
wisefreakz said:
Have you tried to reflash bootloader? If not, do that and reflash cloudy right away
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't thought about flashing a bootloader. How would I flash the bootloader if I can not the phone into either DL mode and or TWRP doesn't do anything either? Is a bootloader file just a flashable file like any other .zip file?
jcnbama said:
I haven't thought about flashing a bootloader. How would I flash the bootloader if I can not the phone into either DL mode and or TWRP doesn't do anything either? Is a bootloader file just a flashable file like any other .zip file?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@jcnbama
Have you tried this or this?
euphoria360 said:
@jcnbama
Have you tried this or this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first one I can not do as I do not have any knowledge at all of Ubuntu, Linux, or any of that. It would take forever to get a working knowledge of that software in order to get things going again. I would probably just have to either take it to a cellphone repair shop or get another phone before I could do the first link.
I have not tried the second one but it is a viable option. I was looking at it online and trying to talk myself down from having to do that. I would reallllllllly rather not have to take my phone apart if I can keep from so that's kind of what this post is all about. Just trying to see if anyone knows of ANYTHING else before I go taking apart my phone.
Can you describe more about "twrp doesnt do anything"?
Does twrp boot up?
Can u see/wipe partitions?
Can u install any rom in twrp? Does it finish?
euphoria360 said:
Can you describe more about "twrp doesnt do anything"?
Does twrp boot up?
Can u see/wipe partitions?
Can u install any rom in twrp? Does it finish?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP boots and I can go into wipe, advanced wipe, and format data and it says it's successful. I can use file manager and move items back and forth from USB OTG. If I try to flash anything it just reboots TWRP immediately so I can't install any .zip files at all.
My guess is that your bootloader is damaged.
The only option i can see for you is that Ubuntu thing i shared with you. So, lets stop acting lazy and do what needs to be done. Dont scare since there is nothing to loose. LG G2 is unbrikable
Booting up ubuntu or any other linux os is so easy. And there is nothing much to learn. Trust me.
Go to ubuntu website and download their newest iso file. Burn it on dvd and boot it up. You dont have to install it, just choose "live mode" and it boots up. Just like that. Then yiu can proceed with tutorial mentioned above and it shouldnt take more than an hour from you. Its all typing some commands in terminal (remember CMD in windows!).
Just make sure to download the files mentioned in that tutorial before proceeding.
euphoria360 said:
My guess is that your bootloader is damaged.
The only option i can see for you is that Ubuntu thing i shared with you. So, lets stop acting lazy and do what needs to be done. Dont scare since there is nothing to loose. LG G2 is unbrikable
Booting up ubuntu or any other linux os is so easy. And there is nothing much to learn. Trust me.
Go to ubuntu website and download their newest iso file. Burn it on dvd and boot it up. You dont have to install it, just choose "live mode" and it boots up. Just like that. Then yiu can proceed with tutorial mentioned above and it shouldnt take more than an hour from you. Its all typing some commands in terminal (remember CMD in windows!).
Just make sure to download the files mentioned in that tutorial before proceeding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all calling people lazy is not nice. I'm not lazy I am trying to play it safe. I wouldn't want to brick it to the point to where I don't even have recovery and it can not even be charged any longer. I have Ubuntu on my desktop upstairs. I have used it a little. It's not that I am completely ignorant to Ubuntu I am just a total novice. Also the issue described in that post doesn't exactly match my situation. I am not in a black screen. It's more like a bootloop that I can not get out of because TWRP is not doing what it needs to do and I can not flash TWRP a ROM or get into DL mode at all. Also that post says,
"VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!! You must use the img files that correspond to the ROM you have installed before getting the problem to avoid breaking your phone."
I don't have a rom on my phone soooo...
You didn't answer my question well. If on TWRP you can finish installing rom without any error, and you keep coming to twrp after restarts, that's another situation. Try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2451696
But if you cant even finish install in twrp (twrp gives you errors or just restarts before giving you "successful", either you have problem in rom you try to flash or you need to build everything up from start.
That lazy thing was for encouraging you to do it.
And you cant brick your device. There is always a way on G2.
For img files: find them from last stock rom that was working on your phone.
Deleted
Some basics - About bootloader, kernel, recovery, rom, /system and some other partitions.
There are many noobs out there and sometimes even I am one. Two days ago @Closed Force asked me, where I know my stuff from and why things are like they are... So I finally decided to write this little guide about how Android devices basically work and what are the special things about our G2.
If you find wrong facts or any other mistakes (grammatical, language, contentwise), please bear with me. That's how I read it in the forums. And of course not everything written on XDA is correct. So please tell me by PM, or by posting in this thread if you have additions, corrections or any other concerns about this OP.
Where I got to know all this stuff? Reading, reading, reading. I first started modding my old HTC desire like 4 years ago. Since then and even before I'm reading. Mainly here on XDA but also on some german forums and wikis. It might have taken me easily 200 hours or more. So the only way to learn for a newbie (and everyone else too) is reading.
Personally I own a D802 variant. I know about some things that were different in details for the US variants, but things should be right as they are.
Finally thanks to
@d00lz for some extra research/additions and a quick read through.
@Art Vanderlay for some additions.
So let's get started:
When you press the power button, your device will load the Bootloader. The Bootloader afterwards wil load either the Recovery Image (recovery.img), the Kernel (boot.img) or the Download Mode Bootloader (laf.img), depending on the keys you press. At the moment there are three different bootloaders; The Jellybean one, the KitKat one, and the new Lollipop one. Not one of these Bootloaders can be unlocked yet, so there are workarounds which allow us to boot custom ROMs (specifically Kernels, but more about that later) and custom Recoverys. At the beginning there was the Jellybean Bootloader. The Developers (sorry, I don't know which ones) found out how to get around the locked Bootloader pretty early. They called this workaround Loki. It's intergrated into nearly every ROM except the ones which require the KitKat Bootloader (but that's usually not the reason they don't support the JellyBean one). Anyways, soon the KitKat update came and so did the new KitKat Bootloader. Sadly, LG patched the Loki exploit with this new update. However, the Developers found a new way to get the Bootloader booting files which weren't signed by LG. They called this workaround Bump. Bump basically imitates the LG signature so the bootloader thinks this file was really signed by LG. Obviously this workaround works with the JellyBean Bootloader too. In the Lollipop Bootloader this exploit has been closed and no one knows how to get around the new Bootloader, yet. In conclusion to Bootloaders, as long you have a working Bootloader, your device is not dead. You can usually recover it in some way.
The G2 has about 30 partitions (for a more detailed explanation, look here, thanks @d00lz). Each partition has its own purpose. One of them is the Recovery partition. Imagine: A Recovery partiton and a working Bootloader are everything you need to keep your phone working. It's kind of an Operating System in itself, completely independent from Android or anything else stored on your Mobile. The great thing about the Recovery partition is that it's so small that it can be run directly in the RAM. This means it's capable of modifing EVERY goddamn partition on your Mobile, including the Bootloader and the Recovery partition itself (means you can flash a new recovery.zip in your current recovery). Attention: if you are using the Recovery with a 4.4 KitKat Bootloader, it needs to be a Bumped Recovery. If it isn't bumped the Bootloader realizes that the Recovery is not genuine and generates a "Secure Boot Error".
Same thing goes for the Kernel. The Kernel is located in your /boot partition (found gzipped inside your boot.img) and is loaded by the Bootloader when you only press the Power Button and you let your Mobile boot normally. This is the reason why your Kernel also needs to be Bumped if you want to get your system booting on a KitKat Bootloader. When 4.4 KitKat came out, most Developers switched over to using LG's 4.4 KitKat sources for their projects. After a while it was realized that 4.2 JellyBean sources were a lot more reliable for AOSP baed ROMs. This is why most AOSP ROMs use the 4.2 JellyBean Bootloader and the 4.2 JellyBean Kernel sources while Stock based ROMs use the 4.4 KiKat Bootloader and 4.4 KitKat Kernel. There are different Kernels for AOSP ROMs and for Stock based ROMs. This is because Stock Kernels support some ROM functionalities that AOSP ROMs don't have, for example; Knock Code. (Note: Knock Code isn't open source, which is also another big reason why it isn't available for AOSP ROMs.) So there are huge differences between Stock and AOSP based ROMs/Kernels. The Kernel (without factoring in the AOSP and Stock issue) can be switch at anytime you want.
Now about the /data partition... All your personal stuff, including Apps, System Settings, App Data and so on will be stored there. The reason why you should clear it every time you change the ROM is that there are many variables set by the ROM you are coming from. Your current ROM may have some tweaks the new one doesn't have which means the new ROM doesn't know how to handle them which leads to crashes and instability.
Now let's get to the ROM... Having a 4.2 JellyBean Bootloader and a 4.2 JellyBean Kernel doesn't mean the top layer has to be 4.2 too. Most of the AOSP based ROMs are based on Googles KitKat or Lollipop sources. And this is true KitKat or Lollipop, with all its functionalities. Those huge version differences cause some problems in development. No wonder some things do not work properly today, but it's still the best working combination at the moment. It's kind of a wonder how it works as it is, but let's be happy with it. I'm very curious how AOSP ROMs with Lollipop Kernel sources will work. Your ROM and your entire existing Operating System is found in the /system partition. This is why it's the main partition which is modified while flashing. Which partitions will be modified and (how) is written in the updater-script file of the file you're going to flash. Theoretically, running a updater-script of a ROM which changes the Bootloader (/aboot partition) can brick your device. That's also the reason why you should only flash stuff made for your device only!
As already said an updaterscript can modify every partition through the recovery. All ROMs bring their own kernel, so you basically don't have to care about it, except you want to use a non-bumped ROM (with kernel) together with the KitKat bootloader.
Finally something about the baseband/modem (these terms are interchangeable). I noticed that the Developers or rather the Original Posters sometimes don't know which baseband the user should use with the ROM. In earlier days the wrong baseband could make the ROM bootloop. Today most ROMs work with most basebands. It's obviously best if you stay on the one you currently are on and just flash another one if something doesn't work (auto-rotation for example). The baseband can be flashed at any time and is on it's own partition.
Okay Download Mode time. It's part of the laf partition (laf.img). This partition is used by LG and it's PC software to recover the phone and bring it back to Stock. It's a partition in itself, but not completely independent of the Bootloader. It's because of this that you can of course have a fully working Bootloader, but a dead Download Mode. This means you will not be able to flash a .KDZ/.TOT file the next time you are in big trouble! ^^
Okay to wrap up I should mention the EFS partition. The EFS partition stores your device's IMEI (and the serial number as far as I know) of your device. NEVER wipe it. With a empty EFS partition you can use your mobile as a brick, ok maybe you can use it as a media tablet, but that's it (WiFi still works, @Art Vanderlay tested; see below).
Again: if you got questions/additions/correction or see a mistake, post below, or PM me, I'll edit this post...
reserved
Great post. A thread like this should be the first thread you read as soon as you enter the LGG2 sub forum.
Expect a private message soon.
Also, reserved for possible future additions .
d00lz said:
Great post. A thread like this should be the first thread you read as soon as you enter the LGG2 sub forum.
Expect a private message soon.
Also, reserved for possible future additions .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you could modify your signature now^^
Sunandroid said:
And you could modify your signature now^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice write up Sunny. You can credit Dan Rosenburg for creating loki. I can also confirm that wifi still works without modemst1 and modemst2 aka efs. My phone suffers for this thread.
@Sunandroid
Perfect! This was all I was looking for. Now I finnaly understand how my G2 works and I'll most likely not need to ask more "noob questions" in this matter.
But I would like to ask some questions because I've left with doubts after reading the OP.
As long as I have /recovery/ and /aboot/ working, I can recover my device exclusively with software. Is this right?
I've concluded that you need /aboot/ to be able to enter in /recovery/ and with recovery you can mess up with any other partition.´
How can I tell if /modem/ found here is compatible with my device? Are all /modem/ partitions the same in the same models? For example, I'm from Portugal so I have a Portuguese D802 LG G2 (if I type its IMEI in a site, it recognizes it as portuguese). If I flash a German D802 modem or English or even American, considering that they are all from D802 would they work flawlessly with my device?
Why does /modem/ cause auto-rotation to work? What exactly is /modem/?
I have a backup of all the partitions in my laptop (made via TWRP). But what happens if I accidentaly lose my /efs/ partition? Can I flash another phone's /efs/?
Rayaxe said:
@Sunandroid
Perfect! This was all I was looking for. Now I finnaly understand how my G2 works and I'll most likely not need to ask more "noob questions" in this matter.
But I would like to ask some questions because I've left with doubts after reading the OP.
As long as I have /recovery/ and /aboot/ working, I can recover my device exclusively with software. Is this right?
I've concluded that you need /aboot/ to be able to enter in /recovery/ and with recovery you can mess up with any other partition.´
How can I tell if /modem/ found here is compatible with my device? Are all /modem/ partitions the same in the same models? For example, I'm from Portugal so I have a Portuguese D802 LG G2 (if I type its IMEI in a site, it recognizes it as portuguese). If I flash a German D802 modem or English or even American, considering that they are all from D802 would they work flawlessly with my device?
Why does /modem/ cause auto-rotation to work? What exactly is /modem/?
I have a backup of all the partitions in my laptop (made via TWRP). But what happens if I accidentaly lose my /efs/ partition? Can I flash another phone's /efs/?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I could help you this way...
about /aboot and /recovery: yes you are right. It is even better, if you have an intact laf too. That's the download mode. But as long the other two work, you can fix the laf partition easily. But if you get into the situation, that only those two are working, better don't flash a bootloader (=/aboot). If it's the wrong one your device is bricked.
Aboot is the key to your device. Everything else is fixable. At least with a little bit of knowledge and time. But better don't try it out.
No, the modems are not all the same. There are (sometimes depending on the branding) extremely small differences between the basebands/modems. I personally never had the problem, that I couldn't get any connection at all. But that's not fatal. Just flash another one and try again if it works. Btw: I once made a test in some german forums with different KK basebands. I'm not sure anymore, but the differences were minimal and I think killed my connection totally.
If you loose your efs stuff, your device is a brick with extended functionalities. The IMEI and some other data stored in the efs partition is worldwide unique. So you can't just pick the one of another phone (except the other G2 is bricked or whatever). You need the IMEI for general network connection. So it will still boot up, but you won't be able to text or call anyone with this phone.
Okay ^^
So this is a full backup of all the needed partitions right? http://prntscr.com/76edu4
Should I convert these files to something like .img to be able to flash in the phone just in case I get something that disables my TWRP access?
Rayaxe said:
Okay ^^
So this is a full backup of all the needed partitions right? http://prntscr.com/76edu4
Should I convert these files to something like .img to be able to flash in the phone just in case I get something that disables my TWRP access?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I guess so. As long as you ticked everything when you backed up (with blastagators TWRP!; the official one doesn't allow to backup the efs stuff), this should be fine.
Well you could. But tbh I have no idea how to convert those files into .img files. But it isn't necessary anyways: It's unlikely that you loose the efs data on your phone unless you brick it somehow. If the phone stays recoverable, The first thing you are going to do is: flashing bootloader, laf and boot.img. Then you will go back to stock through the download mode. Once you've done this it's an easy one to install twrp again and restore the efs backup. No one is gonna flash ~32 partitions by hand. There are "easier" and more usefull ways to recover the device.
Oh and btw: no backup contains the bootloader, laf and boot (recovery developer don't implement this for some reasons). But this doesn't matter. The only thing you really need is the efs backup (which partitions exactly you can see here). Everything else isn't unique and can be extracted out of kdz files and restored this way.
Edit: the two partitions mentioned here are
Sunandroid said:
Okay Download Mode time. It's part of the laf partition (laf.img). This partition is used by LG and it's PC software to recover the phone and bring it back to Stock. It's a partition in itself, but not completely independent of the Bootloader. It's because of this that you can of course have a fully working Bootloader, but a dead Download Mode. This means you will not be able to flash a .KDZ/.TOT file the next time you are in big trouble! ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My PC doesn't install any driver when my phone is on download mode,
On recovery mode (twrp) i have MTP access but on download mode i'm not having any access,
does that mean my download mode is dead?
GoPogoOreo! said:
My PC doesn't install any driver when my phone is on download mode,
On recovery mode (twrp) i have MTP access but on download mode i'm not having any access,
does that mean my download mode is dead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has nothing to do with this thread here. The issue is different. But I have no clue what it might be... If I can elaborate a maybe working answer I'm gonna answer you in the noob thread.
Sunandroid said:
This has nothing to do with this thread here. The issue is different. But I have no clue what it might be... If I can elaborate a maybe working answer I'm gonna answer you in the noob thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh btw i tried your (noob friendly) no download mode, no recovery mode ..... using slax,
when i typed ls /dev/sd* it's only showed my PC (only one sda) and there is no sdb, not even one
Weirdly i can access TWRP, but i can't make any custom rom boot,
Man this is frustating
I have a phone, G2 D802 Int., which probably has a corrupt EFS partition. I guess the owner broke it flashing incompatible things into it. As a result of the corruption, ESN/IMEI is lost. It shows null. But very interestingly, the EFS partition mustn't have been wiped because by chance of a boot among a hundred, it shows up the ESN. If by chance you come across to ESN, everything operates normally. And if you reboot the phone, ESN is gone again..
I managed to make recovery work again, by upgrading the phone to lollipop. (It was another time I came across ESN.) But no download mode, USB is never identified (unkonwn usb device), USB modes cannot be changed, unless by chance you come across, USB debugging is no more either.
I was thinking to backup some necessary partitions from a working phone of the same variant, but since it's "unknown device", I cannot query it as a disk. Neither it works in Ubuntu. ls /dev/sd* doesn't show the phone. It even doesn't show the working phone.
Any idea about how I can fix the corrupted EFS partition?
pisisler said:
I have a phone, G2 D802 Int., which probably has a corrupt EFS partition. I guess the owner broke it flashing incompatible things into it. As a result of the corruption, ESN/IMEI is lost. It shows null. But very interestingly, the EFS partition mustn't have been wiped because by chance of a boot among a hundred, it shows up the ESN. If by chance you come across to ESN, everything operates normally. And if you reboot the phone, ESN is gone again..
I managed to make recovery work again, by upgrading the phone to lollipop. (It was another time I came across ESN.) But no download mode, USB is never identified (unkonwn usb device), USB modes cannot be changed, unless by chance you come across, USB debugging is no more either.
I was thinking to backup some necessary partitions from a working phone of the same variant, but since it's "unknown device", I cannot query it as a disk. Neither it works in Ubuntu. ls /dev/sd* doesn't show the phone. It even doesn't show the working phone.
Any idea about how I can fix the corrupted EFS partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I luckily never had to try it, but scroll down a bit over here: http://www.droidviews.com/how-to-backup-and-restore-lost-imei-on-lg-g2/
I wish you luck!
Sunandroid said:
I luckily never had to try it, but scroll down a bit over here: http://www.droidviews.com/how-to-backup-and-restore-lost-imei-on-lg-g2/
I wish you luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know that, but since I cannot take the device to USB debugging mode, it's not the first step I could take. "USB device descriptor is failed", this is what I get when I plug the phone.
pisisler said:
Yes I know that, but since I cannot take the device to USB debugging mode, it's not the first step I could take. "USB device descriptor is failed", this is what I get when I plug the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what is the current state of your phone? You have twrp installed. Can you push stuff through adb when you are in the recovery (this is pretty important, since we maybe can fix the download mode this way)? Does it boot into android?
@Sunandroid, device operates normally except the voice call & data, since these depend on IMEI. The phone boots normally, and everything is working, only the IMEI shows as "null". Additionaly, cannot enter to download mode, no recovery installed, original recovery is working, which is used to do a factory reset only. No USB debugging, it says "USB device descriptor failed". Thus no adb.
pisisler said:
@Sunandroid, device operates normally except the voice call & data, since these depend on IMEI. The phone boots normally, and everything is working, only the IMEI shows as "null". Additionaly, cannot enter to download mode, no recovery installed, original recovery is working, which is used to do a factory reset only. No USB debugging, it says "USB device descriptor failed". Thus no adb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've read about this issue (device descriptor...) just now, it is not software but hardware related.
I've heard of people solving that issue but I couldn't manage to do. Gave the phone to my customer back after 4 days. Importer service put the phone out of warranty and offered him a motherboard replacement for 75 $ and it's pretty fair I think. After all it comes funny when he says he's gonna file a case about returning the phone and take his money back. Well, it's up to him to end up with nothing in hands after months of waiting for a case.
Shortly, this file has been closed without a reasonable solution.
Thanks for your effort @Sunandroid.
pisisler said:
I've heard of people solving that issue but I couldn't manage to do. Gave the phone to my customer back after 4 days. Importer service put the phone out of warranty and offered him a motherboard replacement for 75 $ and it's pretty fair I think. After all it comes funny when he says he's gonna file a case about returning the phone and take his money back. Well, it's up to him to end up with nothing in hands after months of waiting for a case.
Shortly, this file has been closed without a reasonable solution.
Thanks for your effort @Sunandroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear that. Hitting the thanks button doesn't hurt.
Hi, I need the ROM for this phone, more specifically, the boot.img file, as the current kernel is for the older, Indian revision of the On5, and my revision, the USA version SM-G550T1, seems not to have any copies of its firmware floating around. I'm running an OS for the SM-G550FY, which has no audio or camera support. Even if the version isn't an exact match, if you bought this phone in the USA, new, in 2016, your boot.img will probably work. I need this kernel guys. Please, if someone has an On5 in the USA, can I please get a copy of your boot.img and possibly system.img? I really care about the boot.img.
Thanks guys
-Subsentient
Firstly, did you try the updated ones at these locations:
http://www.theandroidsoul.com/galaxy-on5-stock-firmware-2-86761/
http://firmwarefile.com/samsung-sm-g550fy
Secondly, why exactly do you need the boot.img, what problem do you think it'll solve? Is there any specific issue with your current ROM that you are trying to solve?
Yes, I did, but as you can see, those are for the SM-G550FY, not my SM-G550T1, and the camera and sound (including phone calls) don't work!
This makes me strongly suspect a driver issue, which could most likely be fixed by getting my hands on a copy of the factory boot.img.
Running Android 6.0.1 right now, compiled for the SM-G550FY, but I can't get it working.
Subsentient said:
Yes, I did, but as you can see, those are for the SM-G550FY, not my SM-G550T1, and the camera and sound (including phone calls) don't work!
This makes me strongly suspect a driver issue, which could most likely be fixed by getting my hands on a copy of the factory boot.img.
Running Android 6.0.1 right now, compiled for the SM-G550FY, but I can't get it working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
>> and the camera and sound (including phone calls) don't work!
Did they not work from day one or did they just stopped working after a passage of time or due to rooting or an OTA upgrade? If you didn't root or install a custom ROM, there is just no room for a software/driver issue to happen. Did you try wiping the cache partition and doing a factory reset?
EDIT
In any case, boot partition is the last place you look for actual component issues like camera or sounds. All the boot partition does is just kickstart your android OS and then the control is passed on to the system (as soon as the logo animation starts).
prahladyeri said:
>> and the camera and sound (including phone calls) don't work!
Did they not work from day one or did they just stopped working after a passage of time or due to rooting or an OTA upgrade? If you didn't root or install a custom ROM, there is just no room for a software/driver issue to happen. Did you try wiping the cache partition and doing a factory reset?
EDIT
In any case, boot partition is the last place you look for actual component issues like camera or sounds. All the boot partition does is just kickstart your android OS and then the control is passed on to the system (as soon as the logo animation starts).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did install a custom ROM. None of the ROMs I can find support the camera or audio, not at all, ever.
Subsentient said:
I did install a custom ROM. None of the ROMs I can find support the camera or audio, not at all, ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There you are! I just cannot emphasize enough that why don't you guys backup your existing ROMs before flashing a new one? It hardly takes five minutes with CWM/TWRP recovery.
In any case, what happens when you flash the Indian ROM (5.1.1)? I guess that could be your only option.
Otherwise, you can put a request on the CyanogenMod thread for your particular Samsung model.
For future reference, perform device backups and all the research before flashing a custom ROM, not after the fact.
EDIT
If you can contact Samsung support, see if you can manage to get a stock ROM from them that you can flash using ODIN or something.
I contacted them already, they basically told me to go **** myself. The missing ROM is a result of bad parameters I accidentally put in to Heimdall/ODIN flasher. I wanted to back up, but ironically, my first attempt at installing TWRP is what destroyed my ROM.
I've downloaded the kernel source code from Samsung and I'll try compiling it myself. If I create a working boot.img, I'll post it here.
prahladyeri said:
In any case, boot partition is the last place you look for actual component issues like camera or sounds. All the boot partition does is just kickstart your android OS and then the control is passed on to the system (as soon as the logo animation starts).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
boot.img is where the kernel is stored. I know, I decompressed it.
Subsentient said:
boot.img is where the kernel is stored. I know, I decompressed it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, boot.img has the monolithic kernel, however, a lot of drivers are available as separate modules in /system/lib/modules/, so you need to make sure that one is proper too.
In case of Samsung, I think it was probably a mistake to use TWRP/CWM to backup or flash ROMs since they don't tend to work as well with Samsung devices as ODIN/heimdall.
Yes, do post the result of your output once you are done, so its helpful to others.
prahladyeri said:
You are right, boot.img has the monolithic kernel, however, a lot of drivers are available as separate modules in /system/lib/modules/, so you need to make sure that one is proper too.
In case of Samsung, I think it was probably a mistake to use TWRP/CWM to backup or flash ROMs since they don't tend to work as well with Samsung devices as ODIN/heimdall.
Yes, do post the result of your output once you are done, so its helpful to others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The kernel on this device does not have loadable module support. It's entirely monolithic. And, I'm having one hell of a time building a kernel this thing is willing to boot.
I really would love just to get a ROM from someone else's SM-G550T or SM-G550T1.
locked out by frp so i cant even turn on my sm-g550t1 so if you find the rom please let me know
bandtab said:
locked out by frp so i cant even turn on my sm-g550t1 so if you find the rom please let me know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found a copy of the MetroPCS version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_VtvT1vGmlsMjNnR2JvYzk0MFU/view?usp=sharing
You flash this with TWRP recovery, because those are tarballs and can't be flashed with Odin etc.
You flash TWRP for the On5 onto your recovery partition, and then restore from that.
Subsentient said:
I found a copy of the MetroPCS version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_VtvT1vGmlsMjNnR2JvYzk0MFU/view?usp=sharing
You flash this with TWRP recovery, because those are tarballs and can't be flashed with Odin etc.
You flash TWRP for the On5 onto your recovery partition, and then restore from that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you!
however, i can't install twrp to my recovery partition anymore because i got FRP locked, and i can't go into my settings to disable it now. so i think my only option really is via odin. i'll see what i can do with this though, thank you very much. i did have twrp on there before but after i got frp locked i can't go into recovery mode at all.
I've been losing my mind trying to make this work.
I think if I installed the stock recovery.img it may work, but I can't find it in the files you sent. Would you or anyone else be able to make a copy of it for me? I would be eternally indebted to whoever could.
If you want to go back to stock then use the official samsung software. I got a s6 tht a friend of mine straight up deleted the rom (idk how they managed that) and it wouldnt take to being flashed in odin. I put it in download mode and provided samsung smart something with all the info it wanted and it installed the stock rom and everything.
holydude92 said:
If you want to go back to stock then use the official samsung software. I got a s6 tht a friend of mine straight up deleted the rom (idk how they managed that) and it wouldnt take to being flashed in odin. I put it in download mode and provided samsung smart something with all the info it wanted and it installed the stock rom and everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately smart switch is incompatible with this model phone for the time being.
I got four of these from T-Mobile when we switched from Verizon ($120 for 4 lines). Three of our Verizon phones worked well on T-Mobile (after a few APN tweaks), but my dad's old Galaxy S3 barely worked at all, and when it did, only got Edge for data. So I set one of the On5 phones up for him.
Everything was going great. I put the TWRP recovery on it, rooted it, froze all the bloatware, and backed up/restored his apps from the old S3. However, he wanted me to see if I could restore all his SMS/MMS. I tried restoring that, and the stock Messaging app started FC'ing. I installed Textra, which worked (and saw the old messages), but he never received new texts (even though he could send). So I tried removing Messaging and Textra, as well as the SMS cache (which seemed to be in "Dialer Storage (Phone SMS/MMS). I removed it, but now I'm getting an error every five seconds about "com.android.phone" and can't seem to get rid of it. I tried to restore the dialer storage backup again, but it just seems to sit forever without installing.
I've looked far and wide for a stock ROM... hoping I could just put this mess behind me, but I'm surprised to find it is nowhere to be found.
My other alternative would be to fix the com.android.phone error, but nothing seems to fix it.
Which cynogenmod or any custom os suits for Samsung Galaxy on 5.......please tell me guys.....I am bored with this official os
I was really hoping to come back to this forum and finally see stock ODIN files for this phone. I really, really want to get rid of the MetroPCS ROM I used to fix it.
Has anyone been able to find it?