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Gtab w/ VEGAN won't boot (help!)

Hi,
My gtab has been running very well with vegan for a couple of months but two nights ago it crashed and now won't boot. I suspect that while using aldiko in bed, and resting the gtab on my body, I accidentally depressed the power button for a fairly long time and it shut down uncleanly.
When I try to boot I get the normal three splash screens (ViewSonic, g-tabdevs and >VEGAN-TAB), After the last one the screen blanks for a couple of seconds and then returns to the >VEGAN-TAB splash. Repeat ad infinitum.
Based on threads here, I tried several different things to recover but nothing has worked:
* Connected via USB MSD (via CW) to try to back-up my sdcard. Fedora sees the device and activates /dev/sdg but nothing can read it (even fdisk).
* Wipe cache and dalvik-cache.
* abd shell: /sdcard appear empty (it certainly was not before!); fdisk appears to show a valid FAT32 partition
* Ran backups with CW, which appeared to succeed, but /sdcard is still empty.
* Reformat sdcard. Unfortunately, I made an error at this point that may have doomed my recovery. I mistakenly used "Partition Internal SD Card", thinking that this was the correct thing to do. I immediately felt that something was wrong when I didn't get prompted for the size. This didn't fix it. I then tried "Partition SD Card" and got the expected prompts but this still didn't fix it.
I suspect my only recourse at this point is to re-flash but I'm hoping that some smart person here may be able to offer a better alternative.
Also, can anyone tell me what the effect of "Partition Internal SD Card" is (in terms of lost data)? What is the difference between "Internal SD Card" (/emmc?) and "SD Card" (/sdcard?)? Or is /emmc actually the external sdcard? (I was expecting /sdcard2?)
Thanks in advance for your help!
~ray
UPDATE: I just confirmed for myself that /sdcard is the external?! Does that mean that /emmc is the internal? Does the android shell re-mount these or something? I could've sworn that /sdcard was the internal. I may have lost my chance to take a backup because of this confusion. damn...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950
Most likely not what you want to hear but.... Start from scratch. Its probably your only hope at this point.
Good luck

Mantara said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950
Most likely not what you want to hear but.... Start from scratch. Its probably your only hope at this point.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. Disappointing but not surprising.
Do I really have to go all the way back to stock? I was thinking that I only had to re-flash vegan...
Also, I'm still confused about what exactly happened here. Was it the power button snafu that killed the machine or was it something I did?
Also, I'd love it if someone could clear-up my confusion regarding /emmc, /sdcard, /sdcard2, "Internal SD Card", "SD Card", etc. I'm probably missing some basic info about the architecture of this thing.
Thanks!
~ray

Hey... I just tried a factory reset from CW (figured I was hosed anyway) and it worked! I'm back. Of course, all my stuff is gone but I was expecting that anyway...

Awesome you got it back up. I set my tab in my school pack and it somehow was pressing the power button down intermittently as I was walking. Found mine bootlooping and hot as hell, probably had been doing it for an hour or more. Mine would boot to cwm so i formatted internal sd and then it would only blackscreen. Glad you worked it out. Its handy to know your way arround nvflash but its a steep learning curve.

Probably you have a corrupted memory, it's alway good to try Fix Permission within the CWM recovery menu

Memory and Stock Recovery Info

Everyone,
I've written this a bunch of times but and putting it in
it's own thread so folks can read and use it.
Memory and Storage:
/sdcard -- internal memory of the tablet
/sdcard2 -- microSD card in the external slot
/usbdisk -- USB key slot
Stock Recovery Info:
Main method: Put your recovery folder and update.zip on /sdcard, turn off the tablet, the press power and volume + to initiate standard recovery.
Second method: Put your recovery folder and update.zip on a microSD card. Edit the command file in the recovery folder with Notepad to change the location from /sdcard to /sdcard2 and save it with the name "command" (NO
.txt or other file extension). Then boot recovery with power/volume + and the OS will use the sdcard (assuming you don't have a live recovery/update.zip file in /sdcard).
Third method: If you can boot recovery to CWM but can't get your ROM to work, go in recovery to the mount menu and go down to the mount USB memory option and choose it. Then plug your connector cable from the miniUSB port to your PC. When you plug into your PC an Explorer window should open and you should have a drive letter representing the G-Tablet (it's G: on mine) on your menu. You now can select that letter and you have access to your tablet memory (/sdcard). I've even had a time or two when not a single file showed!!! I added update.zip and recovery and loaded
a ROM!
The tablet boot process apparently checks /SDCARD. If it doesn't find a recovery file there it does the same check if you have a miniSD external card installed. The large USB slot is not useable for booting or recovery so far as I have determined or read.
I hope this helps you.
Rev
EDIT: I didn't put one fact in here about recovery that everyone should know. When you run a recovery operation, the system deletes the command file so you can't accidentally do it again. If you have to run a recovery or
attempt to load something again, make sure you have a command file in the recovery folder with the correct command in it!!! Sorry I omitted this first time around.

Placeholder

Placeholder
Hope everybody who needs this has seen it. I won't kick it up again.
Rev

Can you also add information about partitioning of /sdcard and why would one need it?
Is there another "hidden" flash memory available for firmware or all mods and custom ROMs go into /sdcard only?

Thanks so much, I thought I'm dead cuz I wiped out everything.

This may have been asked before, but how does one perform a full data wipe w/o using CWM? Thanks.

HackaMathecian said:
This may have been asked before, but how does one perform a full data wipe w/o using CWM? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to use nvflash (nvidia tegra SoC flashing utility). There are alot of posts about it. Do be carefull if you go this route, as even though you will not damage your tablet, it may be difficult to put it back to a bootable state if you don't do it properly.

thanks!
thanks great. simple and to the point. should help people that get confused. thanks again!

Vlad_z,
It has been my experience that when somebody gets boot loops, it often involves a
partition problem. Also, sometimes the G-Tablet does flaky things. I have one I
just shut down. Restarted it with boot looping and had to rebuild.
The three locations listed above are the three memory places you can store stuff
unless you find software that custom sets up something else.
Rev

Os Money:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950
This thread completely explains the NVFlash process.
Rev

That's kind of odd, my removable sd card ended up with the label ex-sd. Doesn't seem to be messing anything up though.

sixtofive,
I've never seen or heard of that with the stock ROM. Are you running a different ROM?
Some of them do change the directories.
Rev

So simply put, we should copy and backup the recovery folder and update.zip in /sdcard (or tablet storage) and when things get f'ed up, we move the recovery folder and update.zip back into the /sdcard?
Maybe it's just me, but I looked into the recovery that was already in the tablet and there's nothing in it; is that normal? If not, can anyone provide the back up recovery folder and update.zip just in case?

sam,
Recovery is simply a folder which holds a file named "command" in it. Command is a file
that has the command line in it with the command and parameters to "recover" or "load" files onto your G-Tablet.
Sometimes when your tablet gets messed up, you can still use recovery and are lucky. But sometimes the recovery partition gets damaged and then you have to look
for other ways to get in and fix things.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1010943
Many of us keep telling people there is a lot to learn here -- and Android doesn't have
all the stuff built into it Windows does. Nor is Android known for it's great documentation!
If everyone would read all the stickies at the start of the forums, it would provide
probably 80% of everything they need to know.
Rev

If OP also put links to stock ROMs, that would be great

interesting...even though I don't have a microSD card in mine /sdcard2 seems to be a valid directory within "root explorer"
what partition and memory structure should I be seeing on my brand new g-tablet? any suggestion on "mount" and "df" output?

Question, which is the best method or quicker to backup before attempting other rom installs?

Deleting CWM
How would one delete CWM so that the tablet can be returned?

Got my gtablet last evening. Seems there is a lot to learn.
thanks butchconner...
Thanks all the people who are contributing at xda. You are doing a wonderful job. In fact I bought this device because of you ( I think Viewsonic owes you guys a lot. At least they avoided a big loss because of you. )

Two questions:
1) Is it recommended to flash back to stock before changing roms?
2) Is there a link to the stock Rom files that I am missing?
Thanks

[Q] g2x reboot loop

Hi techie friends,
My unrooted g2x is stuck in a reboot loop. Before I do a hard reset (power/volume down), I would like to retrieve my photos, which are stored in the internal memory. Is there a way? [Here is what I tried so far: I tried a soft reset (battery out) with no success. I connected the g2x to my PC but it is invisible. I tried holding just the volume down key and got a "s/w upgrade, please wait while upgrading..." screen. Is there any hope to retrieve my photos? I googled the issue and found nothing useful.] Thank you in advance for trying to help me! Catherine

Im having the same issue on a friends G2X... nobody has the answer?

hmmmmm, this is an interesting one. the very first thing i would do is get that phone backed up. you will need to flash a custom recovery(clockwork mod) in order to make a backup. search the development section. once you have a backup on your sdcard, i'd copy it to my pc. thinking.......
from recovery, you can try "fix permissions".
reboot. if that doesn't work, go back to recovery>advanced>wipe dalvik cache. reboot. if that doesn't work, try recovery again>mounts and storage and mount everything listed. see if the drives open up under "my computer" on your pc. for me, that last option doesn't work. but it could just be my pc or my recovery version.

or, you could flash any rom you want, and then mount the phone to your pc. then try running a data recovery program on the internal sdcard.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
forget the link i posted above. it seems it has trouble reading the internal sd. but i'm running get data back right now. it seems like it's working fine. if these pictures are absolutely worth saving, you might have to dish out some cash for a data recovery app. but always use a trial version first to make sure it works. and once you flash a new rom, keep the phone off until you are ready to run a recovery app. the less that gets written to the drive, the better your chances for retrieving those pics.

or, you can try this... https://market.android.com/details?id=com.hexamob.hexamobrecoverypro&feature=search_result . you'll need to be rooted and have superuser app on your phone. but this looks like the cheapest alternative. i have never used it though. reviews look good though.

I'm pretty sure a hard reset doesn't touch anything located on the sdcard. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it should only format the 1GB partition where the android system is installed and apps are stored. You will basically be starting with a fresh install, but should still have anything stored on your sdcard still intact.
G2X CM7

Hmmm,
Can't you just mount the internal memory via the latest Clockwork Recovery which is as I recall 4.0.0.2?
It worked the last time (the same option with the same trouble) on my Vibrant 3G

phburks said:
I'm pretty sure a hard reset doesn't touch anything located on the sdcard. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it should only format the 1GB partition where the android system is installed and apps are stored. You will basically be starting with a fresh install, but should still have anything stored on your sdcard still intact.
G2X CM7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, you are right. HR will not erase the SD content and I also think that it will leave the the internal NANDs partition intact. But I dont know where the pics in this case are stored.
Correct if I'm wrong.

Antigen said:
Actually, you are right. HR will not erase the SD content and I also think that it will leave the the internal NANDs partition intact. But I dont know where the pics in this case are stored.
Correct if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera pics are stored under DCIM on the sdcard. Really any user created content/files (pics, music, videos, documents, etc) are on the memory card and shouldn't be touched by a hard reset. So I think youre in the clear if that's the route you go.
G2X CM7

[Q] Questions on sd-ext vs. .android_secure and procedure

Hello, Folks- Apologies for the questions that are to follow, but I've pored forums, how-to's, etc., and have not been able to find a clear all-in-one post that addresses the questions I have. I've been able to cobble together information from various posts, but some of the information seems to conflict and some of the information I just plain can't put together, especially when comparing older posts with newer. I have a rooted EVO 4G, use ROM Manager, Clockwordmod, and primarily CM7 daily builds although I like to play with other ROMS. I'll try to put the questions in what I consider the order of importance.
1. Is it even preferable to use sd-ext over the standard .android_secure location for apps moved to the SD card? I've noticed that Clockwordmod backs the .android_secure, data, etc. folders when doing a ROM backup and they restore just fine whenever I'm playing around with different ROMs. Also, I recall seeing that some ROMS don't support sd-ext application storage which makes me feel a bit hinky.
2. I'm a very experienced Linux user and would prefer to use GParted to resize the current fat32 partition to keep the data already existing there, and then add and ext3 partition. Just to be safe I plan to move all sd card apps back to the phone beforehand. Is it advisable to do it this way or will the data remaining on the fat32 partition screw things up once I start using the ext3 partition?
3. When using GParted (if that's advisable), do I need to specify the mount point for the new ext3 partition or would a ROM/Clockworkmod/ROM Manager automatically recognize it and mount it appropriately for SD app usage without my specifying the mount point?
4. If I do need specify a mount point in GParted, what should the mount and folder be called?
5. And finally, do I need to use a third-party app along with all this to get the app storage to sd-ext working? CM7 appears to have its own setting for using ext3, hence this question.
Once again, apologies for these basic questions, but I've run into so much old/new and conflicting/incomplete information on these topics that I can't tell what info is outdated or valid. Thanks to anyone willing to wade through this long post!
John

Worked fine, but CWM backup still says "No sd-ext found. Skipping."
Being the fiddle-monkey I am, I went ahead and did what I described above.
I did not label the partition in GParted. I used S2E and everything seems to have gone quite well. I have tons of free on-board memory now.
The only remaining question I have is this:
I did a Clockwordmod backup, and it appeared to be backing up all the apps I have installed judging from the file names that flew by. However at the end of the backup the familiar message "No sd-ext found. Skipping." appeared. I seem to recall reading something about this but did not understand why that message still comes up for some people. I know (?) that the apps have migrated because of the free space on board.
Can someone explain this? Am I headed towards trouble in the future?

Refer to Thread 1338708
I was also searching for the answers to the questions raised in your first post. I think they are well answered in the post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1338708
Not sure about the second post though :-(
I will post my results once I do a backup via CWM-recovery to see if they match.

I've lost everything, including backups. Now starting over . Where's the SD card?

Hello,
Background story:
Yesterday, YouTube app wasn't working, so I made a Titanium Backup and Nandroid backup. I went to "Factory reset" and assuming Google is sane, and still only reset the internal storage not the emulated SD card, I proceeded with the reset expecting to be met with a tick field to choose whether or not to wipe the SD card. Surprisingly, my expectations weren't met. So turning on my phone afterwards revealed the hard truth... the very hard truth. I lost everything. The damn thing wiped the SD card as well.
Question:
Now to the question, after accepting what happened, I'm now in the process of restoring everything from scratch. Though I see that some apps are storing their data on /storage/emulated/legacy/ directory and others are choosing /storage/emulated/0/... I remember I always used storage/emulated/0 before the accident. So I want to confirm, which of the two is the emulated EXTERNAL SD card? Where do I store my "Data" stuff?
Clarification:
Here's the folder structure:
/storage/
has /storage/emulated/ AND /storage/sdcard0 (shortcut)
/storage/emulated/
has /storage/emulated/0 AND /storage/emulated/legacy
/storage/emulated/0
has /storage/emulated/0/(folders include another 0 and also regular SD card files). Accessing the second /0/ shows clockworkmod/
/storage/emulated/legacy
has has /storage/emulated/legacy/(folders include another 0 and also regular SD card files). Accessing the second /0/ shows clockworkmod/
So legacy and 0 has the same inside folders. Deleting one file also deletes it from the other. So what's the difference?
info:
Nexus 5
KitKat 4.4
Rooted
CWM recovery

They're all links to the same place. Go to general and then "sticky roll-up". In there i wrote a nexus 5 data thread that explains them all
If you have a 0 folder within a 0 folder, that means you had a problem which I discuss briefly in my /sdcard problems thread, also in general

rootSU said:
They're all links to the same place. Go to general and then "sticky roll-up". In there i wrote a nexus 5 data thread that explains them all
If you have a 0 folder within a 0 folder, that means you had a problem which I discuss briefly in my /sdcard problems thread, also in general
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll check that out.
UPDATE:
I saw this thread here, and it seems like case 5 is closest to mine. Though the wording is a bit confusing or not an exact replica of my case since I see ALL of my SD card files in the /emulted/0/ and /emulated/legacy/ not just a 0/ folder.
When I open /Data/ I find absolutely nothing! /Storage/emulated/ has everything. Do I move stuff (copy-paste) from /emulated/0/ to /data/media/0 (i.e. I'd have to create media/ and then 0/ myself)? I think I'm wrong, so a bit more help would be much appreciated. Also, stating the final destination of the SD card would help (the desired result) so I can move stuff around to get that result.

devil snake said:
Thanks, I'll check that out.
UPDATE:
I saw this thread here, and it seems like case 5 is closest to mine. Though the wording is a bit confusing or not an exact replica of my case since I see ALL of my SD card files in the /emulted/0/ and /emulated/legacy/ not just a 0/ folder.
When I open /Data/ I find absolutely nothing! /Storage/emulated/ has everything. Do I move stuff (copy-paste) from /emulated/0/ to /data/media/0 (i.e. I'd have to create media/ and then 0/ myself)? I think I'm wrong, so a bit more help would be much appreciated. Also, stating the final destination of the SD card would help (the desired result) so I can move stuff around to get that result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best thing you could do to get you're device working correctly is to flash the factory image again. Right afterwards do a factory reset. You'll have to resetup your device again but it should work correctly
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app