Database Users

"E: Failed to sysmapfile" during Custom ROM installation?

Hello XDA! First off I'd like to say that I'm so glad there's a dedicated community of Android users who are willing to share their experiences and help others.
Nothing like a good tech community that have their comrades backs!
So I've been trying to iron out all the issues with running a custom ROM on my Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-i337m) for a few days now.
I've soft bricked this little dude 5-10 times and have always been able to figure out what I may have done wrong or how to fix it with the help of other people's help threads.
Slowly but surely I'm grasping more and more about how android works, I'm glad for that!
The only real issue is that I managed to get stuck with an error that doesn't really have an answer that I've been able to find so far.
THE ERROR DETAILS:
Recovery: TWRP v2.8.4.0
ROM: cm-12-20150312-OPTIMIZED-jflte.zip
ROM THREAD: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/i9505-orig-develop/rom-cyanogenmod-12-t2943934
gApps: pa_gapps-modular-pico-5.0.1-20150307-signed.zip
gApps Thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/par...apps-official-to-date-pa-google-apps-t2943900
Method of installation:
Flash TWRP with odin3 via download mode
Launch TWRP
Standard TWRP wipe
Install cm-12-20150312-OPTIMIZED-jflte.zip
Receive message:"E: Failed to sysMapFile '/external_sd/cm-12-20150308-OPTIMIZED-jflte.zip' "
Full on-screen error log:
Code:
Installing ''/external_sd/cm-12-20150308-OPTIMIZED-jflte.zip'...
Checking for MD5 file...
Skipping MD5 check: no MD5 file found
E: Failed to sysMapFile '/external_sd/cm-12-20150308-OPTIMIZED-jflte.zip'
Error flashing zip '/external_sd/cm-12-20150308-OPTIMIZED-jflte.zip'
Updating partition details...
... done
My additional questions and details:
1. I used the Advanced Wipe feature in TWRP with these checked: Dalvik Cache, System, Data, Internal Storage, Cache
---- is this part of the reason why I'm having issues? (is it because I wiped System?)
2. I have reverted back to the stock ROM for this phone (Koodo Canadian SGH-i337m), I have no issues except I don't like the stock rom (ew touchwiz) but still can't install a custom ROM, WHY?!
Thanks for taking the time to read this and giving me whatever answer you have for me!

1. When you do your wipes only wipe data and the caches. If your rom was on the internal sd card when you wiped internal sd card you wiped your rom too.
2. Do you have any other issues reading from your external sd card? It looks like to me that that is the problem. You might have to reformat it and start over.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

jd1639 said:
1. When you do your wipes only wipe data and the caches. If your rom was on the internal sd card when you wiped internal sd card you wiped your rom too.
2. Do you have any other issues reading from your external sd card? It looks like to me that that is the problem. You might have to reformat it and start over.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only wiped Dalvik Cache, Cache, Data, System, and Internal Storage.
I'll revert back to stock rom, reformat my SD card, re-load my stuff on to the SD, then I'll post what happens when I try to flash the CM12 Rom with TWRP.

FIXED / SOLVED
Thank you for your help jd1639
Anyone who reads this in the future looking to fix their problem this was the solution I used:
Use Odin to flash back to your STOCK ROM (close after PASS message)
Settings -> Storage -> Format SD Card
Plug into computer, Add your files back to the SD Card (ROM, gApps, etc...)
Power OFF phone
Boot into Download Mode (Hold: Down Volume, Home, Power buttons simultaneously until you see the warning message - Press volume up and accept the dangers)
Open fresh Odin, Load TWRP or other recovery with the PDA option - Press Start)
Phone should reboot, wait for it to reboot and Odin to say PASS
Unplug phone from computer
Power OFF
Boot into Recovery mode (Hold: Up Volume, Home, Power buttons simultaneously until you see the booting recovery message)
TWRP starts
Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> CHECK BOXES: System, Data, Dalvik Cache, Cache NOTHING ELSE!
Go back to the main page when you regain control
Install -> *locate your SD card with ROMs* -> Select desired ROM -> ADD MORE ROMS -> Select compatible gApps -> INSTALL
Wait for reboot
Follow on screen ROM settings tooltip
IF YOU FOLLOWED THESE STEPS EVERYTHING SHOULD WORK!
(if it doesn't work, it's probably your ROM or gApps that caused the issue)

Full Wipe With TWRP No Rom

Hey guys
I basically did a full wipe of my S4 I9505 because I wanted to change roms the new rom is the Dirty Unicorn in the i9505 thread. Everything has gone the last thing TWRP said before I turned it off was my phone wasn't rooted and to install SU then it went off. I tried to restart the phone in download mode which works then tried to reboot normally it wouldn't go past the start screen. I am assuming I need to flash TWRP the Dirty Unicorn Rom through Odin? Is what I'm thinking right or is there alternatives?

TWRP doesn't care if your phone is rooted or not.
Can you boot into TWRP?
If not, try flashing TWRP again through Odin then flash Dirty Unicorns with TWRP.

Thanks for that GDReaper it doesn't boot into TWRP now. I'll try that as soon as possible.
With the Dirty Unicorns rom it said do a full wipe I'm assuming that's the standard TWRP wipe even though it said do internal and external sd card wipe?

Kripz123 said:
Thanks for that GDReaper it doesn't boot into TWRP now. I'll try that as soon as possible.
With the Dirty Unicorns rom it said do a full wipe I'm assuming that's the standard TWRP wipe even though it said do internal and external sd card wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you never have to wipe external, if you did and also wiped internal as well you'd be deleting all your user files including the new rom you intended to flash. that would leave you needing to download the rom and gapps again on a computer and then transferring them to your external SDcard before you could continue.
click on wipe, then advanced wipe and tick
dalvik/art
cache
data
preload
and system... then swipe to start the process
actually there is a time when you might wipe all your memory including internal and external memory but it should be telling you that you have to backup all your files somewhere first I'm such cases...

Thanks for that 3mel!
That's what happened. I'm assuming I need to put my sd card in a card reader and transfer that way?

yes or if you have an adaptor for it, it might go into an SD slot if your laptop has one...

It's booting up now I can't thank you guys enough for your quick responses and sound advice!

Installation:
You must have flashed a Android 7.0 Samsung Firmware with Odin.
TWRP recovery
Format data in recovery
First installation needs a full wipe! (Updating to newer releases a dirty flash will do)...
First installation needs a full wipe! (Updating to newer releases a dirty flash will do)" what i must to do pls?

There is no way to flash Android 7.0 to this phone with Odin.

factory reset on custom rom

I haven't been able to find an answer upon searching and haven't come across this in my time reading forum posts.
So if I go to settings - backup and reset and do a factory reset from there.
I will lose all my data on internal storage, yes. But will the Android system boot into the same rom with Gapps and all just without any data at all? Allowing me to set it up as a new phone completely.
I'm on official Resurrection remix.
Edit - here's what I did. Thanks @Sam Nakamura
1. Clean flashed the ROM I wanted to use. (wipe everything except internal storage)
2. Booted into the ROM and set up Google account.
3. Booted into twrp and wiped internal storage.
4. Rebooted into system.
Everything is good as new. Setting it up from scratch now.

Isn't better doing it from recovery?

fabrquila said:
Isn't better doing it from recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying to find out how. Want to delete all data including internal storage.
Want to lose all apps, files. Basically exactly as a new phone, just with a custom ROM.

pranayysharma29 said:
Trying to find out how. Want to delete all data including internal storage.
Want to lose all apps, files. Basically exactly as a new phone, just with a custom ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use wipe data/factory reset function in TWRP and use the advanced wipe options.

fabrquila said:
Just use wipe data/factory reset function in TWRP and use the advanced wipe options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And check everything, swipe to delete and reboot? But that way I won't have any rom or Gapps installed, will i?

pranayysharma29 said:
And check everything, swipe to delete and reboot? But that way I won't have any rom or Gapps installed, will i?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if you don't wipe system partition, where ROM and Gapps are located. Just if something goes wrong, you should have a way to flash these zips. You can use TWRP to transfer them.

Basically I'm not sure which partitions to wipe. As I don't know what is contained in which partition. Which is what I'm trying to understand
How to use twrp to transfer them? I lost you at that.

pranayysharma29 said:
Basically I'm not sure which partitions to wipe. As I don't know what is contained in which partition. Which is what I'm trying to understand
How to use twrp to transfer them? I lost you at that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wipe data, cache, dalvik, and internal storage partitions. Don't wipe system.
Data contains your apps. Cache works as cache for apps and dalvik has a similar function afaik. Internal storage stands for the internal memory, where files that you download, transfer or receive, are located.
I'm trying to say that you should have a backup of ROM and gapps just in case something bad happens, which I don't think. If that happens, just boot the phone in TWRP and plug it to a computer. Then transfer zip files of ROM and Gapps to internal storage, and then flash them. Voilá, clean ROM and full operative Gapps.
Sorry for taking so much to reply, I didn't see notifications in the forum.

fabrquila said:
Wipe data, cache, dalvik, and internal storage partitions. Don't wipe system.
Data contains your apps. Cache works as cache for apps and dalvik has a similar function afaik. Internal storage stands for the internal memory, where files that you download, transfer or receive, are located.
I'm trying to say that you should have a backup of ROM and gapps just in case something bad happens, which I don't think. If that happens, just boot the phone in TWRP and plug it to a computer. Then transfer zip files of ROM and Gapps to internal storage, and then flash them. Voilá, clean ROM and full operative Gapps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the explanation about the partitions.
I managed to achieve what I set out for.
Did a clean flash of my ROM. Then went on to wipe internal storage in twrp. Now have a new rom and everything. But clean slate for internal storage.

Reduced internal storage to about 450 mb after installing twrp.

I installed twrp using adb in my lenovo k4 note (A7010a48) after which the internal memory of my device reduced to 450 mb from 16 GB and I installed official resurrection remix in it. Though the storage option from settings shows 16 GB memory out of which 14 GB is used by system while in twrp it shows only 450 mb. Now due to this I would like to reinstall my stock ROM and stock recovery and get my storage and volte back. Please tell me if there are any ways. Also when I try to open my recovery there is a black screen only. Thanks in advance.

Actually that happened for me too.. I found that it happens when I unlock the bootloader, boot to recovery , deleting "boot_from_recovery.p" and WITHOUT flashing super su nor booting to system, directly flashing any other twrp recovery or wiping the Dalvik cache, system, data, the recovery finds our sdcard (internal storage) partition as 774 MB or in your case 450 MB. So to get rid of these things, flash s232 firmware again unlock bootloader, boot to recovery, delete the file "boot from recovery.p", flash SuperSU, clear Dalvik cache and cache, let the phone boot to system ( normal startup) and then reboot to recovery and voila! You will find internal storage as usual .:good:

Vijay Jadaun said:
I installed twrp using adb in my lenovo k4 note (A7010a48) after which the internal memory of my device reduced to 450 mb from 16 GB and I installed official resurrection remix in it. Though the storage option from settings shows 16 GB memory out of which 14 GB is used by system while in twrp it shows only 450 mb. Now due to this I would like to reinstall my stock ROM and stock recovery and get my storage and volte back. Please tell me if there are any ways. Also when I try to open my recovery there is a black screen only. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
perform factory reset in twrp recovery, to fix that issue

akurativinod said:
Actually that happened for me too.. I found that it happens when I unlock the bootloader, boot to recovery , deleting "boot_from_recovery.p" and WITHOUT flashing super su nor booting to system, directly flashing any other twrp recovery or wiping the Dalvik cache, system, data, the recovery finds our sdcard (internal storage) partition as 774 MB or in your case 450 MB. So to get rid of these things, flash s232 firmware again unlock bootloader, boot to recovery, delete the file "boot from recovery.p", flash SuperSU, clear Dalvik cache and cache, let the phone boot to system ( normal startup) and then reboot to recovery and voila! You will find internal storage as usual .:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there any way I can skip flashing the firmware and do this with the custom rom installed? Also, where is the "boot_from_recovery.p" file located? xda says /system but I can't find it there.

dubdex420 said:
Is there any way I can skip flashing the firmware and do this with the custom rom installed? Also, where is the "boot_from_recovery.p" file located? xda says /system but I can't find it there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try factory resetting from twrp as mohan mentioned above.. if it did not worked, probably that's the only way.

Figured out how to get rid of this issue: After installing stock rom, unlocking bootloader and flashing TWRP through ADB: you have to reboot into system (stock ROM), go through the setup and only then are you able to go back into TWRP to wipe and flash the custom ROM of your choice (in this case RR, without having full internal storage).

regarding internal storage issue
Is your solution will fix my internal storage problem

Fixed it for me so yes

While flashing RR, I also ended up in the same position. Here's how I fixed it:
1) Post flashing RR, goto bootloader and flash recovery-mohan-n.img
2) reboot to recovery
3) click on wipe and then select format data (option next to advance wipe).
4) Once format is complete, go back to main screen and Reboot to system.
Hence the problem shall be resolved.

PLS HELP!!!
pkimtani said:
While flashing RR, I also ended up in the same position. Here's how I fixed it:
1) Post flashing RR, goto bootloader and flash recovery-mohan-n.img
2) reboot to recovery
3) click on wipe and then select format data (option next to advance wipe).
4) Once format is complete, go back to main screen and Reboot to system.
Hence the problem shall be resolved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I formatted it now i have more space free.....But internal storage is not detected.....I cannot take screenshots and all ....i cannot open camera ....and when i open file manager its failing to detect internal storage.........

TWRP 3.1.1-0 error 7 while flashing ANY rom

Hi guys, i tried today to install some roms(lineage 14.1, official and unofficial, latest nightly) , rr 5.8.3 with my twrp but i get error 7 , i tried to delete the first 2 lines(the assert getrpop thing) on all of them with noresults(same exact error) .
My oos version is 3.6.0, kernel is stock and SU is not installed(forgot to install after 3.6.0 update).
Any idea about how to solve that?
I don't want to wipe so don't suggest it, please

Did you "wipe everything except internal storage" before install?

burza_ said:
Did you "wipe everything except internal storage" before install?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't, to avoid troubles with backing up 15gb of things, takes ages to do.
Can't i just dirty install those roms?
If i do that my internal storage will be untouched, right?

You won't (theoretically) loose your stuff. Just wipe the data, system and cache. Don't touch internal memory, then you will not loose anything.
Look at attached picture.
Then install choosed rom with gapps (if you want).
Of course, backup is always recommended.

burza_ said:
You won't (theoretically) loose your stuff. Just wipe the data, system and cache. Don't touch internal memory, then you will not loose anything.
Look at attached picture.
Then install choosed rom with gapps (if you want).
Of course, backup is always recommended.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if i only backup those partition i should be fine, right?
I'll probably somehow backup the internal memory just for safety(even tho are 20gb+).
I'll try and see what happens