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[Q] Can't wipe or factory reset encrypted phone

I made the mistake of encrypting my phone and am now paying the price. It is rooted and I had installed the Google Edition 4.4.2 ROM by Danvdh, Kryten2k35 & Ktoonsez. I'm using TWRP 2.7.0.1.
I first tried going into recovery and doing a factory reset and got the an "Unable to mount '/data'" error, followed by a big red FAIL. So I rebooted into the system and tried to do a factory reset from there. Went through all the steps, phone rebooted into recovery and I got the same error - unable to mount.
So I did a bit of searching on the forums here and someone had suggested using the format option in TWRP. So I did that and it seemed to work - did not get the dreaded unable to mount error. So I tried flashing the new rom (the updated version from a couple of weeks ago). Got a message indicating it was successful. Rebooted, and to my dismay, got the prompt for the encryption password. Saw the little line drawing Android, then... nothing - I found myself in brick land.
Managed to get back into TWRP and, based on another post I found, tried Advanced Wipe, selecting everything except Micro SDcard and USB-OTG. Tried installing the new ROM again, says successful, but nothing has changed - I still boot into blackness after inputting my encryption password.
Not sure what else to try. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

not_su said:
I made the mistake of encrypting my phone and am now paying the price. It is rooted and I had installed the Google Edition 4.4.2 ROM by Danvdh, Kryten2k35 & Ktoonsez. I'm using TWRP 2.7.0.1.
I first tried going into recovery and doing a factory reset and got the an "Unable to mount '/data'" error, followed by a big red FAIL. So I rebooted into the system and tried to do a factory reset from there. Went through all the steps, phone rebooted into recovery and I got the same error - unable to mount.
So I did a bit of searching on the forums here and someone had suggested using the format option in TWRP. So I did that and it seemed to work - did not get the dreaded unable to mount error. So I tried flashing the new rom (the updated version from a couple of weeks ago). Got a message indicating it was successful. Rebooted, and to my dismay, got the prompt for the encryption password. Saw the little line drawing Android, then... nothing - I found myself in brick land.
Managed to get back into TWRP and, based on another post I found, tried Advanced Wipe, selecting everything except Micro SDcard and USB-OTG. Tried installing the new ROM again, says successful, but nothing has changed - I still boot into blackness after inputting my encryption password.
Not sure what else to try. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you go into download mode, revert back to a stock rom (or flash a stock one or something) and turn encryption off? edit: on further research it looks like the only way to completely unencrypt is to reset your device. dunno if that's something you'd want to try, but considering you already wiped multiple times.. i'd say try it?
Also what carrier do you have? That's pretty important. AT&Ts i337 and Verizon's variant cannot flash AOSP roms (more specifically, kernels) due to the bootloader being locked. That might be the issue you're experiencing? I looked up the ROM and it's using ktoonsez kernel, so I imagine that'd be why. Someone just made a version that does not include the kernel and has multiple issues the ROM you're trying to use fixed here.

Rhymey said:
Can you go into download mode, revert back to a stock rom (or flash a stock one or something) and turn encryption off? edit: on further research it looks like the only way to completely unencrypt is to reset your device. dunno if that's something you'd want to try, but considering you already wiped multiple times.. i'd say try it?
Thanks - that's exactly what I've been trying to do. I haven't tried reflashing back to stock with Odin though. Hmmm...
Also what carrier do you have? That's pretty important. AT&Ts i337 and Verizon's variant cannot flash AOSP roms (more specifically, kernels) due to the bootloader being locked. That might be the issue you're experiencing? I looked up the ROM and it's using ktoonsez kernel, so I imagine that'd be why. Someone just made a version that does not include the kernel and has multiple issues the ROM you're trying to use fixed here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bell, up here in the Great White North. I don't think locked bootloader is an issue - I was on the previous version of Danvdh's ROM, and everything was hunkydory. I just made the unfortunate decision to encrypt. Big mistake.
May try flashing back to stock. Nothing to lose, at this stage...
Thanks!

Hey just wanted to mention for the benefit of anyone else who got into this bind, flashing back to stock using Odin did the trick. Still wouldn't boot, but then I rebooted into stock recovery and did a factory reset, and finally was able to reboot back into stock. What a nightmare. Ugh. Thanks for the tip though - never occurred to me to try to go back to stock. Lesson learned though - no more encryption for me!

not_su said:
Hey just wanted to mention for the benefit of anyone else who got into this bind, flashing back to stock using Odin did the trick. Still wouldn't boot, but then I rebooted into stock recovery and did a factory reset, and finally was able to reboot back into stock. What a nightmare. Ugh. Thanks for the tip though - never occurred to me to try to go back to stock. Lesson learned though - no more encryption for me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear. Should be able to flash to the rom once again no problem now that it's unencrypted!

GApps not working

First of all, hello all!
I'm a new member here.
So, what's the problem? Well, I recently rooted my Galaxy Tab 4 SM-T530 (WiFi only version) with Kingroot. Then I installed Cyanogenmod from the thread listed at the ROM section. All was working fine up until I decided to flash the GApps.
I chose the newest versions (both Zero and Mini for 6.0) but none of them worked.
Flashing went well. The problem was after booting.
After the first boot, I'd get caught in an endless loop of errors stating that "Unfortunately, Setup Wizard has stopped working". I couldn't do much other than rebooting. But then, I was greeted with yet another problem: it was stuck in a boot loop. Basically, after saying that it "Prepared Google App" and some others, the tab would repeat the process in an infinite loop. I left it for half an hour to do so, but the problem persisted.
Keep in mind the fact that I installed the newest version of Mini GApps package provided from that thread.
If any of you can help me out with this, I'd be very thankful, since this is the same time I install a custom ROM, and I really don't want to come back to the old Samsung ROM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/tab-4/development/rom-slimrom-5-0-1-alpha-0-7-t2963906
This is from where I installed all things needed.

Try again, this time flash both zips at the same time and not doing anything in the middle of both flashes. The usual cause of the same error in my other s3 is booting the ROM up, going back to recovery, then flashing GApps.

I never did anything else. Now I wiped data/dalvik/system/cache, reflashed the ROM and now just finished reflashing both zips in TWRP (first Mini then Zero, can't do them at the same time).
Now, I'm pretty much 'fingers crossed', as this is what an error told me. Pretty much tried to flash the zips without wiping anything/reflashing the ROM. That's why I went for a clean install.
EDIT: it didn't work at all. Still caught in the same "Preparing app x" boot loop. Now I'll let it run for 6 hours and see if not my own impatience is the problem.
EDIT 2: For some reason it took ages to boot up. Now, when I finished booting, I saw that the Play Store, Quick Search Bar and the Google Services weren't working at all. I tried to manually update them, but ended up in an agonizing loop of "Unfortunately, Google Services Framework has stopped" errors. Again, this leads me into thinking that the GApps from that thread aren't working.

I think I softbricked, but only CM13 seems to fix on my N7. What did I do/how to fix

Guys,
I'm not even sure where to start with what I'm seeing, but maybe you can help me.
I have had Timur's ROM on my N7 2012 for a couple years. It's been crashing randomly, even though I have few things installed on it, and a good power supply. I took it out of my car and put it on an iPad 2 amp supply, and it still crashed a bunch so I knew I needed to wipe and reinstall. I also wanted to go from 4.2.2 to 5+, which I know takes away a lot of the good features I need (like power on/deep sleep).
I booted into TWRP and wiped my tablet, which appeared to softbrick it (I think I have the usage right from searching). I downloaded the Pure Nexus 6.0.1, CM13, and already had Autodroid ROMs to use. I tried to install Pure through ADB sideload, and got it installed. When I finished and tried to reboot, it said I had no OS. When I rebooted, I got the boot animation, and nothing else.
Long story short, I tried Autodroid and CM13, and using CM13 I got it back going. Unfortunately, every time I try to flash another ROM over it, it will no longer go past the boot screen. With CM13, it boots properly, but doesn't like the gapps pico I tried to install (error message when booted, keeps returning to the same pop up error).
I'm quite sure there's something I'm missing, but I don't know what it is.
Thanks!
Eric

Ok, before anyone goes nuclear on me, I think I better understand what happened. When I got ANYTHING to work, I stopped doing anything. As I understand, it wasn't functioning...it was just in a temporary mode of some sort.
After not being able to get it to work properly, I used this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1781250 to try and restore the system. I followed all the directions, except for using the 5.1.1 version of the ROM, and used the corresponding file name for the zip file used.
After doing so, the bootloader won't go to TWRP, but goes to the pic as seen below. I did reboot the tablet, and after waiting quite a while, the tablet came on, but I don't understand what that picture means.
Thanks!
Eric

Ok...I realized that I lost root. I'm fixing it now. I had read before, but didn't understand what I saw.
Thanks,
Eric

[i9505] Cannot enter Recovery after Format Data

My i9505 was running stock KitKat from Samsung and I tried to install CM13 ROM.
So I used Odin to root the phone and installed TWRP 2.8.6.0. After that I flashed the CM13 ROM and the Gapps Nano.
I got as far as rebooting into CM13. But then the "Google Play Store has stopped working" message keeps popping up starting from the initial setup phase. I ignored the message and went on to setup the wifi but couldn't progress any further. The wifi was detected and connected but then it was stuck on the Checking Connection/Software Update step.
I tried to reflash the rom and gapps again to no avail. The third time to Format Data from TWRP before reflashing - still didn't make a difference.
What's worst is now I cannot even get into TWRP! Whenever I press Vol Up + Power + Home, it will show the small 'entering recovery' message momentarily on the top left corner but then it phone simply restarted again.
I tried re-flashing TWRP using Odin, but still didn't work.
I'm stuck now, cannot get into the OS nor the recovery. Any suggestion as to what to do?
Thank you.

vizavalk said:
My i9505 was running stock KitKat from Samsung and I tried to install CM13 ROM.
So I used Odin to root the phone and installed TWRP 2.8.6.0. After that I flashed the CM13 ROM and the Gapps Nano.
I got as far as rebooting into CM13. But then the "Google Play Store has stopped working" message keeps popping up starting from the initial setup phase. I ignored the message and went on to setup the wifi but couldn't progress any further. The wifi was detected and connected but then it was stuck on the Checking Connection/Software Update step.
I tried to reflash the rom and gapps again to no avail. The third time to Format Data from TWRP before reflashing - still didn't make a difference.
What's worst is now I cannot even get into TWRP! Whenever I press Vol Up + Power + Home, it will show the small 'entering recovery' message momentarily on the top left corner but then it phone simply restarted again.
I tried re-flashing TWRP using Odin, but still didn't work.
I'm stuck now, cannot get into the OS nor the recovery. Any suggestion as to what to do?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Format Data from twrp sometime corrupts the file system and brick the phone. (It's happened to me once)
The best way is to flash official firmware via odin and start from there.

I see - I'll try re-flashing the official rom. Btw, would you recommend CWM recovery instead then? Honestly, I'm not very proficient with this whole thing. The reason why I formatted was because I still could see all of my old folders in the phone memory. So I thought Factory Reset didn't really clean up my old rom data.
What do I have to do if I want to start with a really clean slate with CM13 (after reflashing the official one first)?
Also, I still have the issue of CM13 setup being stuck at the Software Update step (right after Wifi setup). Any clue why that happened?
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

vizavalk said:
I see - I'll try re-flashing the official rom. Btw, would you recommend CWM recovery instead then? Honestly, I'm not very proficient with this whole thing. The reason why I formatted was because I still could see all of my old folders in the phone memory. So I thought Factory Reset didn't really clean up my old rom data.
What do I have to do if I want to start with a really clean slate with CM13 (after reflashing the official one first)?
Also, I still have the issue of CM13 setup being stuck at the Software Update step (right after Wifi setup). Any clue why that happened?
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CWM is outdated. Your best bet is TWRP. Try version 3.0.0.
Factory reset doesn't wipe your internal memory, if that's what you mean, you will have to do it manually.
Also, I recommend wiping data, cache, dalvik and system partitions manually from the advanced wipe menu. Factory reset only wipes data and caches, not system.
Oh, and about that stuck at setup issue, just skip that step if possible, you can still change that crap later

If you are unable to set up the ROM, you could flash back to a completely stock ROM and start over.

OK, I'm back on stock Android now.
Before I try flashing CM13 again, I just need suggestions about these two issues I had from previous try:
Unfortunately, Google Play Store has stopped
I have searched for similar issues but can't quite pinpoint the cause. I used the correct GApps for my device and I also removed my SD card prior to installing.
Stuck on Check Connection/Software Update step
Last time I was stuck at this point and, responding to GDReaper, this step couldn't be skipped. The option was grayed out.

vizavalk said:
OK, I'm back on stock Android now.
Before I try flashing CM13 again, I just need suggestions about these two issues I had from previous try:
Unfortunately, Google Play Store has stopped
I have searched for similar issues but can't quite pinpoint the cause. I used the correct GApps for my device and I also removed my SD card prior to installing.
Stuck on Check Connection/Software Update step
Last time I was stuck at this point and, responding to GDReaper, this step couldn't be skipped. The option was grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sd card has nothing to do with it.
Sometimes gapps don't work on certain roms.
Just try another package.
If you use A-Gapps, the whole first time setup step will be skipped altogether. So that means that you won't run into the risk of getting stuck at that step again.
Or, after flashing the rom, you could use the recovery file manager to delete the setupwizard.apk after you flashed gapps. That should also prevent the initial setup process from initializing at first boot.

vizavalk said:
OK, I'm back on stock Android now.
Before I try flashing CM13 again, I just need suggestions about these two issues I had from previous try:
Unfortunately, Google Play Store has stopped
I have searched for similar issues but can't quite pinpoint the cause. I used the correct GApps for my device and I also removed my SD card prior to installing.
Stuck on Check Connection/Software Update step
Last time I was stuck at this point and, responding to GDReaper, this step couldn't be skipped. The option was grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You probably used Opengapps. That also gives me a lot of errors.
Use Bankgs Gapps instead. They always work for me.
http://download.dirtyunicorns.com/files/gapps/banks_gapps/

GDReaper said:
The sd card has nothing to do with it.
Sometimes gapps don't work on certain roms.
Just try another package.
If you use A-Gapps, the whole first time setup step will be skipped altogether. So that means that you won't run into the risk of getting stuck at that step again.
Or, after flashing the rom, you could use the recovery file manager to delete the setupwizard.apk after you flashed gapps. That should also prevent the initial setup process from initializing at first boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used Open GApps, as was recommended in the CM13 post. So are you saying that my two issues were caused solely by the GApps? Because I thought me being stuck at Software Update was due to something else.
Lennyz1988 said:
You probably used Opengapps. That also gives me a lot of errors.
Use Bankgs Gapps instead. They always work for me.
http://download.dirtyunicorns.com/files/gapps/banks_gapps/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two files - one says Dynamic. But the file sizes are exactly the same. Is there any difference?

vizavalk said:
I used Open GApps, as was recommended in the CM13 post. So are you saying that my two issues were caused solely by the GApps? Because I thought me being stuck at Software Update was due to something else.
There are two files - one says Dynamic. But the file sizes are exactly the same. Is there any difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I know. Just pick the one without Dynamic.

vizavalk said:
I used Open GApps, as was recommended in the CM13 post. So are you saying that my two issues were caused solely by the GApps? Because I thought me being stuck at Software Update was due to something else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The initial setup process is related to gapps. And I don't recall there being any software update requests during the initial setup. It tells me to wait while it scans for network and WiFis, but I always skip those steps.
Open gapps sometimes work and sometimes they don't. It varies from day to day, since they are updated daily.
Just find a gapps package that works and stick to it until another version of android.

I just want to report back that my CM13 works perfectly with Banks GApps. Thanks to everyone who has helped!

LineageOS May 22 Build: After reboot, 10min usage then sudden bootloop

I have a problem with using LOS: I install the ROM and it boots properly, so I do initial setup (setting name, google account, etc). However, if I reboot the phone, it goes into a bootloop thing where it stays on the boot animation and doesn't show up in ADB. This seems to persist on other ROMs as well. Can anyone help me out? I'm pretty desperate for a solution. I can't provide a logcat, since I can't access adb, but I will say that this issue persists after wiping data, system, cache, and dalvik. I have only installed the rom and SlimGApps 7.1.2. I have not installed any other apps in the recovery or from the Play Store. If it helps, the problem originated when I flashed Quark Kernel. After that, if I reboot, voluntarily or not, I never get to the lock screen. On the very first reboot, It looks as if it might have finished, as I get a black screen, but it just returns to a boot animation and stays there. Finally I noticed that if I touch the fingerprint sensor during this infinite boot, I feel a vibration.
I tried installing Vegito Kernel, and it let me in to the home screen, but the screen went black 10min later and it began bootlooping. Finally, if I try to reinstall LineageOS, the bootlooping still continues. If I install a different ROM such as AOSPExtended or RR, boot into setup, then install lineage again, I can boot.

It seems like your device is actually ducked. Try flashing stock N. goodluck :good:

tywinlannister7 said:
It seems like your device is actually ducked. Try flashing stock N. goodluck :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed RevivorOS and everything works aside from some buggy GApps. Thanks

Covalex said:
I installed RevivorOS and everything works aside from some buggy GApps. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update them from the PlayStore and everything will work great :good:

tywinlannister7 said:
Update them from the PlayStore and everything will work great :good:
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Click to collapse
That's actually my problem, some apps are refusing to install such as Chrome and the Google App.