With the large influx of new users due to the Woot deal and recently lowered prices from multiple vendors I've noticed a cookie cutter trend toward dealing with problems posted in these forums. In many cases symptoms are overlooked, known issues are ignored and all too often a "Nuclear Option" is applied to solving problems. We're constantly advising people to take it slow, read and learn before they mod anything but we jump right in and push them to reflash ROMs or even nvflash before we're even sure what has gone wrong.
I'm not suggesting that we should abandon the tools we've come to know will help us, just that perhaps we should start to think about less invasive methods to solve our problems. Rather than immediately suggesting a repartitioning because someone used the word "Loop" in the description of their problem, we should look at all the symptoms as well as any actions already taken by the user and take smaller steps focused on solving the issue.
For example: In my recent research I've identified three types of "Boot Loops" that I've been able to reproduce on my tablet.
The first and most difficult to address is the "APX Boot Loop." I was able to create this issue by nvflashing a corrupted image to my tablet. The most obvious symptom is the screen will either show the boot image or just the backlight and then hang or quickly go to black. This will always require the use of advanced tools (nvflash) to address.
The other two are similar to each other with subtle differences. I refer to number two as "Non-APX Boot Loop." For testing, I created a corrupted system image that would fail to load by corrupting some system data with a hex editor. In this case you'll see the screen switch from the initial boot image to the gTablet screen and back. This is an indication that the system software is failing to load relatively early in the boot process. I've successfully treated this type of loop with a Cache/Dalvik/Data wipe and/or re-installation of the currently installed ROM which can often be done with an update.zip applied through standard recovery from a MicroSD. With some experimental ROMs there were some complications in very rare cases that required more intrusive methods. This might have been due to a mismatch in the bootloaders I was using during testing (I'm still researching this).
The third type I refer to as "System Loop." The visual symptom for this would be the boot animation hanging or looping just prior to displaying the home screen or launcher. I was able to recreate this problem by introducing corrupted system data into a few different system apps. I was able to "cure" this problem with simple data wipes or even more surgically by wiping specific directories thus leaving user installed apps and data intact. I have successfully done this with a script in an update.zip applied through standard recovery from a MicroSD.
One thing that became clear in the testing was that doing a Cache/Dalvik/Data Wipe prior to installing new ROMs was nearly 100% effective in preventing Non-APX Boot Loops and System Loops. Making that a standard practice would likely reduce the occurrence of these issues dramatically.
The main points here are that we're often applying the most invasive and complex recovery procedure we have when it might not be necessary at all and many of these problems could have been prevented with better practices.
Once I've refined my "Surgical Delete" script a bit more I'll post it up here for others to try if they like.
Related
I have cyanogens latest rom installed. I tried all the previous versions as well and I keep
having the same problem.
My Touch screen on my MyTouch3g keeps, for lack of a better description, going to sleep. I can still use the multi touch zoom function in the browser,but I cannot screen flick or get the icons to respond. I can hold the bottom of the screen and turn off and on and sometimes this will repair the problem. It seems to recur randomly. Is there any place to look in the log file to see what is causing this? I'm at a total loss after 6 or so roms and still no go. I tried the stripped down rom labeled TMO-OTA-US-DRC83-Rooted_update and also the expansion pack to no avail. I can't really believe this is hardware related since it's random and fixes with a power cycle most times. I'm just finding it annoying as hell, and I hope someone might be able to point me in the right direction.
I've done the bootloader flash/delete data and re-installed each time.
Latest rom from Cyanogen isCyanogen mod 4.2.4
Kernel version is 2.6.29.6-cm42 (does this matter? I include because I'm not sure)
Thanks
Mike
Maybe this will help
look for a post on how to install cyanogen rom on your MTY3 and dowlaod the rooted rom there.
secondly,
see this thread and the last post from me.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=583683
I've done multiple re-installs. The same problem keeps resurfacing within minutes.
I can use the touch screen and then it craps out. Oddly it will many times still allow pinch and zoom multi-touch in the browser. But single touch, such as in typing web addresses etc. , does not work.
Does anyone have an idea as to why this might be happening? Is there a particular file that is escaping the wipe/ reboot and reload process that is still not being replaced.
I'm curious if the Kernel has anything to do with this.
Any ideas?
Mike.
try redownloading the rom and the htc image like redownloading from the source wipe the ext erior partition as well pretty much completely restart the process except keep root lol... if that doesnt work then you need to unroot and reroot the bad boy all a learning experiance
Wipe the exterior partition? Doesn't this occur when I do a wipe/data? I have never partitioned the sd card. It has been the same since I received it. Will this affect the screen behavior?
Thanks for the input
Mike
oh well I figured you would be running apps2sd which requires a exterior partition or ext2/3/4 as some may call it... most roms require a wipe of that as some storage will transfer to there and cause problems ona seperate rom for some but if yours is a fresh sdcard then the only thing I can suggest is get a redownload of the cyan rom
All,
After having used this device for more than one year (just beyond the warranty expiration), we have found two issues:
The power button does not work properly - we seem to have to press harder, and in some cases, it seems to get stuck.
The machine keeps rebooting - this just started happening and occurs most often when using MyLibrary - the major use of the machine. Note that most items are library loans, i.e., have DRM.
Some more information regarding the crashing:
I tried to clear the cache, but all that shows up under the memory size is 'calculating' and the clear cache button is disabled. Simply looking at this information, not even trying to change anything, crashes the machine (and several times, I had to hard reset it to get it goign again)..
I have tried a cold boot, but that did not help.
The only thing I can think to try at this time is:
Factory reset
Start using a different read app - strongly considering Cool Reader
Is there anything else I can try before nuking the machine and starting over?
SPECS: 32 GB, Android V4.2.1, rooted - stock ROM
groston said:
All,
After having used this device for more than one year (just beyond the warranty expiration), we have found two issues:
The power button does not work properly - we seem to have to press harder, and in some cases, it seems to get stuck.
The machine keeps rebooting - this just started happening and occurs most often when using MyLibrary - the major use of the machine. Note that most items are library loans, i.e., have DRM.
Some more information regarding the crashing:
I tried to clear the cache, but all that shows up under the memory size is 'calculating' and the clear cache button is disabled. Simply looking at this information, not even trying to change anything, crashes the machine (and several times, I had to hard reset it to get it goign again)..
I have tried a cold boot, but that did not help.
The only thing I can think to try at this time is:
Factory reset
Start using a different read app - strongly considering Cool Reader
Is there anything else I can try before nuking the machine and starting over?
SPECS: 32 GB, Android V4.2.1, rooted - stock ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are rooted, try Lagfix from the Playstore. Google built the fstrim functionality into 4.3 - this does the same thing.
Let the app run a lot longer than it indicates it needs - I would run it overnight.
Any Android device gets clogged up over time. After a year of use a factory reset would not be a bad idea either.
Since you are out of warranty, consider unlocking and running a custom ROM - you won't believe the difference.... It's like getting a new tablet for free
Hi guys,
I'm having the strangest issue that is currently effecting two of my devices.
One is an htc Glacier and the other a htc OneV
Both devices are running KitKat 4.4 and both are unofficial ports of the carbon rom by cyanogen.
Now to my problem, and as the title reads, it's to do with my login pages.
All of my apps and the OS also have a blacked out vale over sign-in pages.
The page it's self is properly loaded, but I cant see most of it, an example is the outlook app, on it's login page, I can see the top blue header saying to add this "type" account, but beneath that is complete black. If I tap around the screen I can randomly access a dialog box that opens the keyboard, but I still don't actually know what I clicked or what is typed.
Making it almost impossible to sign-in to anything.
The strange part is it came out of the blue, to both devices. Nether started out this way, but now both have it.
In my attempts to figure this out I completely crashed the OS of the Glacier to the point of not booting, so in frustration I wiped all the partitions and reflashed the rom and upon Booting into the OS for the first time, to my surprise, the setup wizard had a blacked out login page
I've googled this every way I can think of and haven't pulled a single useful result, so by now I'm totally and completely dumbfounded and have accepted I cant fix this on my own, so here I sit explaining this to you guys, hoping someone higher up the ladder of knowledge then my self can intervene before I go crazy!
Thanks in advance!
I have to admit, it's a tad alarming nobody has come forward with even an idea of what happened to my devices. starting to be really concerned I cant make it go away.
I realised way after I posted this question that I put it in the wrong section, could that be why I'm not finding the help I'm looking for?
If so could a Mod please move the thread, I hate creating dups in a forum.
I suppose by this point help is never coming so I'm throwing in the towel and starting from scratch on both devices.
It was without a doubt something I did that caused my issues. I suspect probably one of the sys apps I removed was being leveraged to display those pages, but I cant figure out which one it was.
Since the standard wipe reflash didnt fix it last time, I'm hoping that a full wipe of the system partition and remaining partitions then reflashing the os will restore what I so quickly destroyed.
Lots learned because of my own stupidity, mainly, dont be stupid, stupid.
Thanks.... oh wait, for nothing... see ya on my next blunder
This mean bug hit us twice, so that it might be helpful do document it in order to help other persons with the same problems.
Symptoms:
Home button does no longer work.
Notifications and notification pulldown menu do not work (as consequence, data transfer via USB cable is impossible).
Quick settings do not work.
Factory reset does not work.
Developer mode cannot be enabled (as a consequence, no adb connection possible).
Automatic orientation disabled after every reboot.
Mobile data enabled (!) after every reboot (very funny if you pay 0,23 EUR per megabyte and do not notice...)
When changing volume using the physical keys, the device sometimes reboots.
This list is not necessarily complete, as there might be more symptoms.
According to various investigations (see links below) the system thinks that the Setup Wizard is still running. This bug presumably was introduced with some Android version (Oct 2015), came to the Moto G, and when the bug was removed, the Moto G did not get the corrected OS version.
When does the problem appear?
There are strong indications that the problem always occurs whenever the device runs out of (flash) memory. Note that our device did not have an SD when the problem appeared.
How can one heal the device?
There have been some recommendations how to repair the phone (see links below):
Change user
Run the SetupWizardTestActivity via adb
Run some additional command (see below) via adb.
Run the SetupWizardTestActivity via Nova Launcher.
Factory reset via Recovery.
What did really help?
In fact all methods 1 .. 4 failed, because no adb connection could be established (see Topic 5. of the symptoms), and the Setup Wizard got to an endless loop when I started it via Nova Launcher. So finally I used the Recovery system to reset the device.
If anybody ran into the same trap or has a better solution, please tell!
See also:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g/help/moto-g3-properly-t3449495
http://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g/help/status-notification-bar-pull-t3435441
http://forums.androidcentral.com/an...me-button-not-working-many-more-problems.html
http://forums.androidcentral.com/mo...sing-huge-problems-moto-x-2nd-gen-2014-a.html
http://infomash.net/home-button-not-working-after-updating-to-android-marshmallow/
How to reset the Moto G
Reflash stock image via fastboot... if it continues to fail and you followed all instructions EXACTLY, your handset is defective, get it repaired or replace it.
The "setup wizard" bug is a known, but extremely rare, issue... but the symptoms are not the same as what you are experiencing. Home/Back/Recent buttons do not work -AND- the notification pull down do not work, in every case reported simply re-running setup wizard corrects the issue.
symptoms same , root reason may differ
Tenebrous sound thy words, and partially enigmatic is their meaning.
In fact:
- I forgot to mention the non-working notification pulldown menu, so I added this in post #1.
- Thus the noticed symptoms exactly match those described in the links I provided.
- However, the root reason might subtly differ, and, additionally, all proposed therapies except factory reset failed in our case.
- It might help to re-flash the stock or flash an alternative image to cure the device, but it was not necessary in our case, so it's not really a better solution.
I found this Lenovo Moto G3 forum dealing with the same problem:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/MOTO-G...cations-and-lock-screen-not-work/td-p/3255406
Post #9 mentions "my storage was running out".
Here is another one, for a slightly different device:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/MOTO-X...on-notifications-lock-screen-not/td-p/3354948
hey to chime in, I've got the same situatrion as of a few days ago on my Motorola Droid Maxx 2. WISH I could find a root exploit for this damned thing. I hate dealing with issues on it. Who has time for this garbage? I plan to do a factory reset (or try while expecting a failure as noted in original post here.)
Thanks for documenting your issue Ahkah as it at least has helped me feel OK about myself here. Excellent choice of wording. To the other poster, why do you speak so authoritatively to say that if _____, phone is defective? That's annoying and not true unless somehow here at android-is-still-interesting.com "defective phone" means "I dont know what happened."
What I have in common to your described condition:
- ran "low" on storage according to pop up.
- used some feature offering to "clean" hard disk or whatever. This may have been in FX file browser or else a native android feature or else a motorola app feature. Unfortunately dont recall. One of the few options it gave was to clear cache of all apps. Seemed risky to me but I hit it any way. This may have been the root cause.
- notification pull down reads only "no notifications."
- circle and square softkeys do nothing but give the visual feedback or sometimes vibration feedback that acknowledges the button press.
- pulling down from top of screen while bnotification area is already pulled down does nothing whereas normally it would open quick actions.
- searching /system for "wizard" comes back with a lot of results for apks, all of which do nothing, throw error, or install more of themselves.
- clicking developer options tells me that dev options are not available for this user. As far as I can tell there are no other users on my phone.
- clicking build number or whichever item in about phone multiple times to enable dev options does nothing.
- volume buttons to act funky and while fiddling with the phone that was one of the few things i was doing. simultaneously the phone was repeatedly rebooting. maybe correlated but i dont know i was messing with everything i knew to try.
Additional observations:
- phone takes a long time to boot up on some power off/ power ons.
- phone largely works if i could somehow ignore all the above.
- phone sometimes reboots mid-boot animation
- all above is observed after freeing up 3 gb on internal memory and i've had multiple gb free on sd card throughout issue.
I hate you motorola. I hate you google. I hate you verizon. I hate you CIA and NSA. I hate you United States. I hate you capitalism. I hate you imperialism. I hate you western world. I hate you ideology. I hate you technology. I DONT EVEN WANT A PHONE and this is how i get to spend an hour today.
I have a Sony Miro mobile,
It was working just fine, until one day I threw it gently on the bed
( I'm guessing when I threw it; the battery was shortly disconnected and returned to its position )
and now when I power it on I get Xperia Logo, and it's stuck on it
I tried removing the battery, and putting it back. with no use
I also tried using Volume Up/Down while pressing Power on. also with no use.
The battery bar shows it's being charged when I plug it to power source.
So I don't think there's any battery malfunction.
I'm guessing it's perhaps corruption of the Android OS /or/ bootloader
I'm a newbie in mobile troubleshooting,
is there an easy way to solve my problem
Please guys... your help is really appreciated
Note. Sorry if I posted my thread in an incorrect location, I'm new to your forums
aroma_kt said:
The battery bar shows it's being charged when I plug it to power source.
So I don't think there's any battery malfunction.
I'm guessing it's perhaps corruption of the Android OS /or/ bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue that Android gets stuck on startup screen could be caused by many reasons:
- You download and install some applications from unknown source. These applications might be malware or be incompatible with your Android version.
- Bugs, glitches and viruses may take control of the Android system.
- The running system might be corrupted or scrambled due to an interrupted or improper update process.
- You flash a custom ROM, kernels or stock firmware
- It is possible that the problem is caused by the hardware problem.
Additionally sometimes your casual clicks or downloads may result in this issue.
My recommendation: Re-flash phone's Stock ROM.
jwoegerbauer said:
The issue that Android gets stuck on startup screen could be caused by many reasons:
- You download and install some applications from unknown source. These applications might be malware or be incompatible with your Android version.
- Bugs, glitches and viruses may take control of the Android system.
- The running system might be corrupted or scrambled due to an interrupted or improper update process.
- You flash a custom ROM, kernels or stock firmware
- It is possible that the problem is caused by the hardware problem.
Additionally sometimes your casual clicks or downloads may result in this issue.
My recommendation: Re-flash phone's Stock ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I haven't been using it for months, since it's my backup phone.
When I threw it gently on the bed; I was just checking out the battery level.
This definitely rules out the first four reasons, (for the fifth one I'm not quite sure)
This is mainly why I am leaning towards the interrupted power (battery was most likely disconnected for a split second )
Could you kindly point me to how I can re-flash it.
Can a newbie at mobile-troubleshooting do it; or is it not a straight-forward procedure?
(I mean if for some reason something went wrong, can it lead to the phone being bricked)
Thank you for your reply dear