I rooted two nooks, and made tar backups of their partitions (I also got the dd image just in case). Out of curiosity, and with the goal of keeping minimal backup and increasing the partition for side-loaded contents to maximum, I tried to compare the contents of each partition. Since I followed the same process for rooting (Touch-Formatter v2, 1.2.1 update, NookManager, NTGAppsAttack - but before booting the Nook I got the backup), I guessed quite a lot of them are the same, and found some interesting results.
1. Boot partition is nearly the same except uRamdisk. I inspected the contents of the two uRamdisk files using bootutil by Renate, and they are identical.
-> Why are they different, and can one replace the other?
2. As we all know, rom partitions are different, but it looks only a few of them can meaningfully affect the operation. Anyway, it's small and I decided to leave them untouched and keep two separate copies.
-> What is the BCB file by the way? It just has zeroes inside. Is it automatically created if not there?
-> Some files in the devconf directory seem to be modified during the normal process or firmware update, notably BootCnt (four zero bytes), Bq275020Dffs (12 in the rombackup.zip, 13 after 1.2.1 update). What are these? Any idea?
3. The factory partition, I want to bust it (empty it up and resize it to the minimum), and let me know if I'm on a dangerous path. The idea is that I don't need rombackup.zip because I can revive the rom partition with my own tar backup if something bad happens, and it's out of date anyway after 1.2.1 update (some files in the rom partition are modified). Also, with Touch-Formatter and CWM, I wouldn't need the factory.zip file.
-> What are the files in the "touch" directory? One of my nook has them, but the other doesn't. Looking at the data inside they must be related to the display or touch screen. Maybe byproduct of calibration?
-> Can I use 1.2.1 update file with CWM instead of using Touch-Formatter, bringing it to a new fresh 1.2.1 Nook? According to this post, it seems possible.
4. The system partitions are identical, as expected. but with CWM recovery, we wouldn't need a backup of it, right?
5. The cache partition is way too big. I know the firmware update uses this space (when I resized it to something like 64MB, 1.2.1 update didn't work. I needed to increase it to something like 128MB to make it work). However, for normal operation, we surely don't need it that big.
-> How small can it be? I know it depends on individual's usage patterns... but in my case, I mostly use Nook for reading side-loaded contents. I've gone down to 32MB, but I guess that's still big.
-> Do we really need the cache partition? Can we just symlink it to somewhere in the data partition?
Out of curiosity, I just deleted BCB and BootCnt in the rom partition, and rebooted. First it said "Install Failed", a screen I have never seen before on Nook. So I looked into the rom partition and found that BCB file is recreated, but not BootCnt. On the subsequent boot, it said "Installing Rom", and then quickly rebooted. Now it's back to work. So, I guess these two files are essential for normal operation. Again, this time I deleted all files in the factory partition and also deleted BootCnt. Now, it tries to do the "Installing Rom" thing, but fell back to "Install Failed" screen. I opened up the rom partition again and I saw only BCB and BootCnt files, and none else. Nook surely formatted the rom partition first before trying to recreate it.
So I wonderfully bricked my Nook, and thought this is a good time to test if the rom partition backup works. I mounted the rom partition, untarred the backup, and rebooted. There we go, the Bronte Sisters are back. So the conclusion is that
1. When the BCB file's missing, it's simply recreated after a failed boot.
2. When the BootCnt file's missing, Nook thinks the rom partition is corrupted and tries to recreate it using rombackup.zip in the factory partition. I think this may have some side effects because firmware updates only change the files in the rom partition, leaving rombackup.zip untouched. So you will go back to the old rom partition after the built-in rom recovery.
3. The best rom recovery, I think, is using your manual backup of the rom partition. And maybe updating the rombackup.zip with a new one too?
BootCnt is a 32 bit little-endian count of the number of failed boots.
Once it hits eight your Nook will boot into the recovery image uRecImg, uRecRam.
You could also echo about anything to that file to make it arithmetically greater than 8.
Code:
echo 000 > /rom/devconf/BootCnt
That is 0x0a303030 > 8
Normally this is a B&N thing that asks you about factory restore.
If you replaced those two files it could be Clockwork Mod Recovery.
So, things have massively escalated today and my phone appears to be soft bricked. Joy. I'll run through what happened.
1. I encrypted my phone using the built in tool in Cyanogen Mod. After it rebooted, it was glitchy and I lost a load of apps, the phone really wasn't working well. Rebooted again, but no improvement.
2. I went into TWRP (2.8.x) to restore my old backup, which was on the SD card. After the initial wipe of the internal storage, the log showed
E: Can't mount storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and the restore failed.
3. I reboot and phone goes straight into recovery mode as there is no OS installed (the recovery wipes the internal storage first). Internal Storage is now showing as '0 MB'. I cannot find a way of mounting this storage anymore. Have tried factory reset (doesn't work because file system isn't mounted), and rebooting a few times but no avail.
* There seem to be some options about flashing a .pit file using odin, but I do not have this file. My phone is the Note 4 SM-N910F Model. If I can do this through Odin then maybe this will resurrect the file structure and make this storage mountable?
* There may also be another option using ADB but I still don't know what commands to use.
Any help would really be appreciated as it seems there is some possibility of a fix. That being said my hopes are not that high...
I believe I may have fixed this. I would like to keep this up here in case in helps anyone in the future, I would imagine this is only useful for people who have encrypted their device. I'm not an Android expert so can't be responsible for any damage to devices or data loss etc.
It seems that the encryption must have gone wrong somewhat and this is likely to have impacted on the file system.
Although I couldn't wipe on the device, I was able in recovery to FORMAT data (not just wipe). Go to the wipe menu, then format. After this, reboot into recovery again and you should be able to mount again. It rebuilt the filesystem too.
This should be a quick fix that may help a few people with the issues with not being able to mount the file system. I hope this can help at least one person!
I managed to restore from my backup after and phone is now working. Thanks anyway!
Is there any way to set the default storage of play store apps to the sd card?
Hello everyone,
I encounter a problem when trying to restore backup in TWRP. All md5 checksums are successfully verified, backup restores "Boot" and "System" partitions, then proceeds to "Restoring Data". After about 85% the process stops, and "Restore Complete Failed" message appears. The phone reboots OK but all data is missing. Essentially, that's like a fresh install: the basic setup has to performed. All apps are there but all settings are gone.
I see that people have similar problems but unfortunately I could not find a solution how to restore data partition. Is there a way to successfully restore data? What is causing the problem?
Here is just a bit more info about the device:
1. Rooted LG G2 D801 (lollipop, Android version 5.0.2)
2. Custom recovery TWRP 2.8.6.1 installed with AutoRec.
3. After rooting and installing the device was fully functional.
4. The initial backup was done in TWRP. The process completed successfully with no warning or errors.
Hope someone could help. Thanks.
Try to update TWRP to 3.0.2-1 and check will it help. Also... do you have enough of free space on your device? TWRP zip backups so it need to have a place to unzip it.
Try to update TWRP to 3.0.2-1 and check will it help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you get TWRP 3.0.2-1 for LG G2? The TWRP website says that LG G2 is no longer updated and the latest version for D801 is 2.8.6.0.
Also... do you have enough of free space on your device? TWRP zip backups so it need to have a place to unzip it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might be the issue.
I was trying many different ways to restore the data partition. The only way I was able to successfully do it if I wiped or formatted the internal storage (/data/media) in addition to TWRP defaults (data and cache; TWRP excludes /data/media). Somehow, the internal storage interferes with the restore process. I had to backup the internal storage separately to my computer before all the wipes.
The cause might be insufficient disk space (there is less than 1GB available). However, TWRP backups are uncompressed and kept on external storage via USB-OTG. The backups for data, cache and system seem to be regular TAR archives:
Code:
$ file data.ext4.win000 cache.ext4.win system.ext4.win000
data.ext4.win000: POSIX tar archive (GNU)
cache.ext4.win: POSIX tar archive (GNU)
system.ext4.win000: POSIX tar archive (GNU)
One would think the data is directly extracted from TAR archives to the data partition. Even with compressed TAR archives, decompression can be be done "on the fly" (eg. tar xzvf) without decompressing to disk first.
Not sure what exactly happens. The restore sort of works now (I do have to backup internal storage prior to this, which is a big inconvenience). I should have examined recovery.log after failed restore.
sakej said:
Also... do you have enough of free space on your device? TWRP zip backups so it need to have a place to unzip it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just did few more experiments and insufficient disk space is certainly the issue. This time I did nothing to the internal storage (/data/media). I have two backups: a larger one (includes an initial state of the device) and a smaller one (in which a lot of pre-installed LG G2 stuff was purged from the device). The larger backup consistently fails, the smaller one works like a charm. Of course, it would be great to know in advance whether the backup is going to fail during restore
Thanks for the help!
I've had bad backups in the past, despite completing successfuly.
ursus107 said:
Where do you get TWRP 3.0.2-1 for LG G2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will find it here on XDA
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g2/development/twrp-twrp-2-8-0-0-kernel-f2fs-tools-t2898705
But if you using it, KEEP IN MIND THAT: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=70091412&postcount=9
ursus107 said:
One would think the data is directly extracted from TAR archives to the data partition. Even with compressed TAR archives, decompression can be be done "on the fly" (eg. tar xzvf) without decompressing to disk first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's more the case of how recovery works I think, it cannot directly override files from backup in case if anything went wrong, so rollback is possible.
Turbine1991 said:
I've had bad backups in the past, despite completing successfuly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Restoring from the larger backup only fails if I do not wipe '/data' entirely (including '/data/media'). Otherwise, everything completes successfully. So it has something to do with the available disk space.
Hello.
I was recently updating from the stock oxygen os (5.0.1) from an android 7.1.1 version of oxygen OS (23 OTA) to the newer android version 8.0.0 , from which I received an error 7. I have a custom recovery and an unlocked bootloader. I used the zip file I downloaded through the stock oxygen os rom, and got an error. My recovery files are encrypted, so I can't flash/restore anything from the phone. I'm trying to install either the xXx_No_Limits rom or the oxygen os android 8.0.0 rom through my usb OTG. The toolkit installs recoveries properly, but the xXx_no_limits file doesn't exit the aroma installer. I can force it to reboot after it attempts to exit the aroma installer, but then it gets stuck in a bootloop.
I can still see my phone in the fastboot devices list. The fastboot menu has productname: QC_reference_phone, my serial number, secure boot = yes, and device state = unlocked. Using the all in one tool kit I can boot into twrp. When I boot into twrp all my system files are encrypted, but my USB otg is not. I have a backup of my 7.1.1 version of android I can restore, but I can't restore it without decrypting.
I have been trying to adb sideload through twrp and the stock oneplus recovery, but regardless of which rom I try I get the following error. I can flash smaller zips like the no verity file, but I don't think that will help this late into the problem.
cannot read 'filename.zip'
Pretty lost as to what options are left.
Thanks in advance
" I have a custom recovery "
Error 7, The problem is that, your Recovery is compatible with Oreo? You must use TWRP compatible, the best is [RECOVERY][cheeseburger] TWRP 3.2.1-0 for Oreo (8.0 and 8.1) by codeworkx
because this TWRP version is universal 5/5T and also can decrypt 8.0/8.1 Oreo versions
Ok, I downloaded the universal version provided by codeworks. I then run this command:
"fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.2.1-0-universal-codeworkx-cheeseburger.img"
I get a confirmation. And then i proceed to boot into the recovery with:
"fastboot boot twrp-3.2.1-0-universal-codeworkx-cheeseburger.img"
Here is a link to my cmd commands: https://pastebin.com/ARGP6yqw
I accept the allow system modification on twrp 3.2.1-0.
My data is still encrypted throughout, so my recovery file names and file folders are unrecognizable. I then select source, and switch to my usb otg with the OnePlus5Oxygen_23_OTA_028.1.zip (1.6gb)
I get a successful installation message, install the twrp app, and reboot.
I don't think I need to flash gapps on an official OTA. I then leave my phone plugged in and charging for a while while the dots are spinning in the boot up process.
It's been about 75 minutes, and it's still doing the whole dots spinning. When I did this yesterday, it sat on the boot process for 35+ minutes and didn't get further.
Even after I do flashed the recovery file, it occasionally boots into oneplus recovery
I think everything you can do is to format all partitions including internal storage and start from scratch by flashing codeworkX TWRP, stock OxygenOS or any ROM you want, then wiping internal storage again and proceeding. Some1 correct me if I'm wrong.
Do you know if I can do that with, the all in one tool kit?
I can get into the adb sideload parts of the phone not sure if I can do anything with that.
Whenever i try to flash something from my usb otg through twrp, I get ERROR: 7. "Failed to mount '/data' (invalid argument)"
So I can go into twrp >wipe > advanced wipe> select Data > repair or change file system.
Here it tells me that mount point: /data, file system: ext4, present: yes, removable: no, size:0mb, used:0mb, free:0mb, backup size: 0mb.
Should I repair file system, resize file system, or change file system?
I think i found the problem:
Whenever i try to flash something from my usb otg through twrp, I get ERROR: 7. "Failed to mount '/data' (invalid argument)"
So I can go into twrp >wipe > advanced wipe> select Data > repair or change file system.
Here it tells me that mount point: /data, file system: ext4, present: yes, removable: no, size:0mb, used:0mb, free:0mb, backup size: 0mb.
Should I repair file system, resize file system, or change file system?
You must:
1/ Connect your OP5 to your computer
2/ Make a backup of your data on your desktop (Pictures, DCIM, Download, etc)
3/ In TWRP > WIPE > "Format" Data partition, you will have a warning message (all your date will be erased), confirm with tape "yes"
4/ Reboot directly in TWRP (> Reboot > Recovery)
5/ Now wipe all partitions (Dalvik/Cache - Cache - System)
6/ Put your Rom on your internal storage and flash it !
Depend if you want a official stock rom or xXx (custom rom) you must flash Magisk for keep your Custom Recovery and allow root permissions
Just wipe internal storage, don't touch file system.
When i goto wipe the internal storage it says:
"Failed to mount '/data' (invalid argument)
Updating partition details....
Failed to mount '/data' (invalid argument)
...done"
and it says "Wipe complete: failed"
I don't think it can wipe /data because there's nothing in it.
My phone now shows up through the mtp protocol in recovery through the computer. The only file in the internal storage is the TWRP folder
Hello.
I did this, but skipped the first two steps (I already have my data backed up) and it gives me an error 7.
In bootloader my system reads out:
"Product Name: QC_reference phone
Variant: MSM UFS
Bootloader version:
Serial number: (my serial number)
Secure boot: ues
Device State: unlocked"
TWRP prints out:
"Installing zip file /usbstorage/oneplus5oxygen_23_OTA_028.1.zip
Checking for digest file....
Skipping digest check: no digest file found
Warning: No file_contexts
E3005: This devices is unlocked; bootstate: ""; sdk version "25".
Updater process ended with Error: 7
Error installing zip file '/usbstorage/oneplus5oxygen_23_OTA_028.1.zip'
Updating partition details....
...done"
Is there anything else I could try?
My phone now shows up through the mtp protocol in recovery through the computer. The only file in the internal storage is the TWRP folder
You don't understand:
1/ You have FORMAT data partion or just Wipe?
2/ Your rom is where? On internal storage or on a usb key?
3/ Verify your ROM file, your rom seem to be corrupted, check MD5? Where have you downloaded this rom, it's not the legit name
1) Ok. so i goto wipe > format Data > type in "yes", and then reboot directly into recovery.
2) I have my rom on an external usb drive. I can move it onto the phone through the twrp mtp.
3) I downloaded the file from here http://downloads.oneplus.net/oneplus-5/oneplus_5_oxygenos_5.0.1/
I just renamed it. I will download it again. My new file is named "OnePlus5Oxygen_23_OTA_028_all_1801031502_109fde3709984ec8.zip"
This gives me this error:
"E3005: This devices is unlocked; bootstate: ""; sdk version "25".
Updater process ended with Error: 7
Error installing zip file '/sdcard/OnePlus5Oxygen_23_OTA_028_all_1801031502_109fde3709984ec8.zip'
Updating partition details....
...done"
I found this thread which may solve my problem: https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/how-can-i-fix-this-twrp-update-process-ended-with-error-7.501934
My phone doesn't have a build.prop file on it, so it might not be able to read the ro.display.series causing it to abort?
Will this work?
3. The rom from oneplus MD5 matches exactly with my file's md5.
So the problem is caused by your external drive, YOU MUST PUT your rom directly on your internal storage.
TWRP sees the oxygen23OTA location as: /sdcard/OnePlus5Oxygen_23_OTA_028_all_1801031502_109fde3709984ec8.zip
I can use the twrp file manager to move it to the storage folder on the root. I currently have copies of the zip in /usbstorage, /sdcard, /storage. Is there a specific folder I should move it into? (my options are: acct, boot, cache, config, data, dev, etc, firmware, license, mnt, oem, proc, recovery, res, root, sbin, sdcard, sideload, storage, sys, system, tmp, twres, usbstorage, and vendor.
Installing off the sdcard, usbstorage, and storage folders. All give the following error:
E3005: This devices is unlocked; bootstate: ""; sdk version "25".
Updater process ended with Error: 7
Error installing zip file '/sdcard/OnePlus5Oxygen_23_OTA_028_all_1801031502_109fde3709984ec8.zip'
My computer see's the file in Oneplus A5000>Internal Storage> OnePlus5Oxygen_23_OTA_028_all_1801031502_109fde3709984ec8.zip
Could the problem be that that the bootloader shows the phone as QC_reference_phone?
I downloaded the xXx no limits rom, to check if it was an error with my download file from oneplus. The xXx no limits rom didn't give me any errors when installing, except for:
I rewiped again. Formatted my storage and flashed the xXx.
It worked.
Just flash the no Verity zip and you would be ready to go
I have the same problem as you do.. thanks for putting it out there...
I have quite an unusual problem with my Huawei Honor Note 8 EDI-AL10.
On the Surface it boots up OK, functions OK and you would not know there are any issues.
The Bootloader is unlocked via DC-Unlocker code (confirmed by software) and the phone is rooted (confirmed).
I have TWRP installed via ADB (it's a version modded for this phone since there is not a specific version for it).
I am able to create and restore a Nandroid backup.
The phone is on on Android 7 and was trying to upgrade to Android 8, or perhaps try a custom ROM when I found that TWRP literally can't do anything with the Data folder/partition.
It can't mount it or wipe it. A Google search found a common problem which only needed for me to change to fat and then back to ext3 but like I said it let's you do nothing.
Things i have tried so far are:
Wipe/Advanced wipe/data/FAILED UNABLE TO MOUNT DATA
Wipe/Format Data/type yes, press Enter, begin erase, fails because
FAILED UNABLE TO MOUNT DATA
Wipe/Advanced wipe/repair or Change File System/Resize File
System/FAILED UNABLE TO MOUNT DATA
Wipe/Advanced wipe/repair or Repair File System/Resize File
System/FAILED UNABLE TO MOUNT DATA
Wipe/Advanced wipe/Change or Change File System/Resize File
System/FAILED UNABLE TO MOUNT DATA - Unable to convert to Ext2, Fat,
Ext3 or exFat FAILED UNABLE TO MOUNT DATA
Basically Data is bullet proof and you cant touch it.
The size of data shows as 0 in TWRP, yet it is not? It may be corrupt but I can't clear it.
Within the Android OS if I I go to Factory reset and follow it, it just takes me to TWRP then when I reboot all is unchanged.
Could it be TWRP? But all else seems OK so unlikely. I have tried other versions some claiming to be modded for this phone but they don't work - they crash the phone and then I have to reinstall the original TWRP via
the PC and ADB.
I tried following some guides to format data using ADB but it didn't work.
I have not encrypted the phone.
Any ideas anyone?
If you are suggesting anything technical please put in layman's terms.
Many thanks.
Eric.