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Can't install any custom roms any longer

I am lost.
I had FireFly 2.05 on my SGS (ATT US version) and was going to update to 2.1. I followed the procedure as I aways do; ODIN 1 click to stock rom, master clear, copy update.zip and rom file and reboot into recovery. This time however I get the following error
E:Can't symlink /system/xbin/su SYSTEM:bin/su
E:Failure at line 14
I checked some notes on this and found out that it might be a currupt file. So I re-downloaded FireFly2.1 again and transfered the file to the internal SD card. The outcome was the same.
Then I copied the original 2.05 version back which I know was fine and I still get the same error. Even after a full stock 1-click and master clear the above error will not go away.
Is my internal SD card messed up? Or am I missing something else?
It's running stock right now and all seems to work fine, but I cannot stand all the bloatware and other crap ATT puts on the phone and really want to try FireFly2.1.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Did you flash clockwork recovery

Did you root the phone after you flashed back to stock?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Agree with DaveyBB - sounds like you are not rooted.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

You do not need to root on stock just flash clockwork with update zip

The update.zip i use is the current clockwork recovery.
I boot into the stock e2 recovery, then apply cw recovery and update the rom. Never had to root stock before when i update via cw recovery.
I will try to root stock first this time and then apply rom via recovery.
Thx
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

anosis said:
The update.zip i use is the current clockwork recovery.
I boot into the stock e2 recovery, then apply cw recovery and update the rom. Never had to root stock before when i update via cw recovery.
I will try to root stock first this time and then apply rom via recovery.
Thx
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To install clockwork select reinstall packages twice

The issue is not with cw recovery. I am already in it, but the error that i get is after i click "yes apply this zip"... The script starts to format the system, data, datadata, etc. And then this error shows up after files ate copied
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Have you tried re download of rom package?

My only guess is that clockwork and the rom are not working well. I would try downloading a different clockwork
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

mcord11758 said:
Have you tried re download of rom package?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done that too.
So just to reiterate...
I had FireFly2.05 running and many other cooked Android 2.1 and 2.2 roms before this. I follow the instrution of the cooks to the 't' on how to update to the newest rom and never had any issue.
This time I downloaded FireFly2.1 and also Phoenix4.5 from the respective cooks and followed the instructions as usual. The issues does not show up until the 'copy files' part of the script is running (formating of the filesystem already passed).
All I can imagine are these:
1) The transfer from the PC to the Phone is corrupt (ruled out the download from the net as even the existing FireFly2.05 rom no longer loads)
2) The internal SD card is messes up
3) There is some configuration change I am not aware off that prevents the install of the cooked rom.

Maybe try to reformat sd through clockwork

Problem solved, kind of.
My desktop PC, which I always use to transfer the files is somehow responsible for the error I get in CWM recovery. I ended up using my laptop to transfer the ROM to the phone and it worked again.
Something is messing up the USB transfer? That seems very odd but I am glad it's not the phone that caused the issue.
If I find out what the issue is with my Desktop I will post again just in case this rather rare issue might happen to someone else.

anosis said:
Done that too.
So just to reiterate...
I had FireFly2.05 running and many other cooked Android 2.1 and 2.2 roms before this. I follow the instrution of the cooks to the 't' on how to update to the newest rom and never had any issue.
This time I downloaded FireFly2.1 and also Phoenix4.5 from the respective cooks and followed the instructions as usual. The issues does not show up until the 'copy files' part of the script is running (formating of the filesystem already passed).
All I can imagine are these:
1) The transfer from the PC to the Phone is corrupt (ruled out the download from the net as even the existing FireFly2.05 rom no longer loads)
2) The internal SD card is messes up
3) There is some configuration change I am not aware off that prevents the install of the cooked rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One Question:
What method are you using to enter recovery method when you attempt to flash the rom? And what color is your recovery menu (should be green)?
(Don't go into recovery via rom manager. Try entering recovery via your advanced power menu)

bames said:
One Question:
What method are you using to enter recovery method when you attempt to flash the rom? And what color is your recovery menu (should be green)?
(Don't go into recovery via rom manager. Try entering recovery via your advanced power menu)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think he's getting into Clockwork via ROM Manager, as he's said multiple times he's using the CWM update.zip; reinstalling packages in 2e recovery to get to CWM.
He's also said he doesn't believe this to be an issue with Clockwork (and I don't either). And I'm also pretty sure we're not dealing with newbie mistakes of Android Recovery vs. Clockwork Recovery.

any chance you're leaving your usb plugged into your cappy while you're trying to flash it?

SOLVED Broken Recovery after root

Hi people,
I have a bit of a problem here
Recently updated my Nexus S i9020t (unlocked uk version) to 4.0.3, all done no hassle and working fine.
Then I rooted the device following the instructions on nexushacks .com, including flashing TWRP recovery and superuser.
Again, all fine no hassle.
HOWEVER now, whenever I try to boot into recovery, i see a belly up android with a big exclamation mark
Any ideas as to how to fix this, ie re-install stock recovery?
Much appreciated in advance,
All the best

if you still have root just download rom manager and install recovery from there.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Hi Camalus,
I already tried installing clockworkmod recovery from rom manager, unfortunately the issue persists (same deal, android belly up with exclamation)

Is Root working? You can test this by using terminal emulator and typing in "su".
If it is, rename /etc/install-recovery.sh to something else (ie. /etc/install-recovery.sh.bak). This will stop stock recovery installing each boot. After this, flashing CWM or TWRP again will keep it there.

Job Done
Hi Harbb,
Thanks an absolute million, I did as you suggested and then flashed an old version of CWM recovery.
Result: SUCCESS!
Awesome job done, nice one bro

Flash the new one, save you trouble down the track. Also remember to rename that file i said so stock doesn't replace recovery
And of course you're welcome.

Hi Harbb,
Can I flash the new version of CWM recovery through ROM manager, or would it be advisable to do it manually, with fastboot (as I did successfully just now)?
Also, I have renamed install-recovery.sh to install-recovery.sh.bak just as you suggested.
Are there any other files I need to rename in order to ensure recovery works as it's supposed to, or should that be ok now?
Once again, thanks for your help

That's all you need to rename. I'd generally just advise wiping/flashing manually, ROM Manager should be fine for recovery since it doesn't actually reboot into recovery and execute commands.

[Q] [CWM] Recovery backups not working?

So, I just did a backup of my Glorious Overdose setup using the voodoo recovery it comes with and I got MD5 errors while trying to restore...
Anyone else have this issue?

I never restored from a cwm successfully, I think its not fully functional. Red nor orange... luckily I saved my apps & settings using mybackup

I have also had this problem. if anyone knows why, please let us know. I was able to restore data, but a couple funny things happened. when restoring, i get error restoring boot image or md5 sum mismatch. when restoring data, my phone stuck at restoring android_secure. i pulled the battery and rebooted. luckily that didnt brick my phone.

fiveseven808, did you flash cwm through rom manager? if so, i think that might be the problem. i flashed through rom manager and was having problems backing up/restoring. i went to this thread: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1124453 and downloaded the update.zip file in the first post, saved in my download folder. i then went to the root of my sd card and deleted the update.zip file that was there. i moved the other update.zip from my download folder to the root of my sd card. rebooted into cwm and took a backup no problem.

sidekick_fanatic said:
fiveseven808, did you flash cwm through rom manager? if so, i think that might be the problem. i flashed through rom manager and was having problems backing up/restoring. i went to this thread: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1124453 and downloaded the update.zip file in the first post, saved in my download folder. i then went to the root of my sd card and deleted the update.zip file that was there. i moved the other update.zip from my download folder to the root of my sd card. rebooted into cwm and took a backup no problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did! But I was unable to use it... or something really strange happened..
Before Glorious Overdose, I could boot into CWM 3 using the recovery boot method. After Glorious Overdose, I realized I could boot into CWM Voodoo with the three button method getting around the stock recovery, and boot into a VERY broken CWM 4 via ROM manager.
Will your advice fix whatever I did wrong?

I have no idea, but you could try it and see. if it doesnt, your no worse off than you were to start with.

Update: I now know for sure that having the right update.zip file will fix the issue. I had to restore my phone today due to issues caused by unknown sources. I tried to fix the issues before doing a restore, but no luck. so I booted into cwm and hit restore. it worked without a single hitch. So the problem (for me at least) was definitely having the wrong update.zip file.

I have never had this issue, with VooDoo or regular CWM... Bad update.zip sounds like it would be the problem, as you said

i believe the issue is in the update.zip file. when flashing cwm through rom manager, i was unable to properly backup and restore. after switching the update.zip with the one found in the dev thread, i can backup and restore to my hearts content. i am very glad to have fully functional cwm on this device, as i had it on my last phone, the tmobile comet. the comet was my first android device. i was not entirely happy with it, but it gave me enough of a taste of android to figure out i wasnt going back to blackberry. prior to android, the best phone i had ever owned was a blackberry pearl. now, the sk4g is the best phone i have ever had, even better than the blackberry pearl. for me, this keyboard has no parallel, and the setup and ui is nowhere near as tough to get used to as people had been saying it was on the forums. but i digress. cwm is the best alternative to the stock recovery, and its good to have it working on this phone.

[Q] Next problem

I upgraded manually to 4.04 coming from 4.03 rooted, i flashed the update file and then flashed Superuser, everything is working fine.
Today i wanted to make a backup with the rommanager, but it seems that the Clockworkmodrecovery isnt there anymore, when i tried to flash clockworkmodrecoveryin standard recovery i get the Signature verification fail and then the android with the exclamation mark.
For the rest the phone works fine. i am confused now, what to do
i have backups of my olders system, from a few days ago, but can i use rommanger to set things back or does that not work anymore because the clockworkmod recovery is missing now.
How can i get back clockworkmod recovery

is this working for you: http://andwise.net/?p=268 ?

No it does not work .

what does not work exactly ??

there is an missing dll in your fastboot exe,
pulled the battery and flashed thru rommanager, then its ok, recovery is there but when i want to make a backup, clockworkmod recovery is gone again after reboot, not sticky i think

Rename "/system/etc/install-recovery.sh" to "/system/etc/install-recovery.sh.bak". All Stock ROMs replace the recovery on each Boot if it isn't the stock one. Renaming this script stops that. After you do this, flash CWM one more time and it'll stick.

Ok thanks, i am just back to 4.03 using a nandroid backup, when i am going back to 4.04 i will try your solution

6.0.3.2 CWM/ No Custom Icon!

So I was messing around with my phone and I discovered that you can get CWM 6.0.3.2 Recovery installed, No Custom Icon at bootup, and run a custom rom with custom kernel. Maybe this is all covered somewhere but I have not had that combination of things working all at once. I first screwed up my phone as I was going to a fresh install of Omega Rom 5.0 (GT-i9505) from OUDHS Recovery . I was about to flash the custom kernel before booting up, but I hit reboot by mistake. I ended up with that dreaded AT&T warning of detected custom software with the yellow triangle and red lettering saying kernel problem. Anyhow,I couldnt get back into recovery so the only thing I could do was flash with Odin the stock rom and start over. Once I was back to stock, I used Motochopper to root, installed SuperSU, updated the binary and then removed the superuser from application manager, not when SuperSU said it detected another superuser app. Then I tried like crazy to get back into stock recovery but for some reason it just never would go. At this point I really only wanted to get back into recovery in order to restore my Nandroid backup of Omega 5.0 I had previously done a couple days ago. Well needless to say I couldn't get any recovery to work for some reason, so I said Eff it and downloaded Rom Manager from the Play Store. It says that the S4 AT&T device was supported and that there was a recovery available. CWM Touch 6.0.3.2 (jfltetmo). So I picked it and allowed it to get installed. I Used Rom Manger to reboot the phone into recovery. Yay! 6.0.3.2 CWM Recovery. Now, here I did have some bugs trying to get to my files. Some stuff just wouldnt do anything when selected. Im not sure but it does appear that my internal sd card may have been wiped out from flashing the stock rom. I could not use the Recovery to restore files or flash files at this time. I reboot back into the phone, used stock File Manager and went to my external card where I found my Nadroid backup of Omega. I copied it from external Sd card to internal. Then I booted back into Recovery with Rom Manager and hit Restore. This time it saw my backup and allowed me to restore it. I reboot and am now back in Omega 5.0.
Bottom line, I have Omega 5.0 (GT-i9505) on my SGH-i337 AT&T phone with Ktoonsez kernel, CWM 6.0.3.2 recovery, and No "Custom" with the padlock at bootup. The reason I thought this was special was that my understanding was that you could get rid of the custom icon doing what I did, however if you installed a recovery that the icon would come back.
Not sure if problems will arise from this, but pretty cool so far. FYI this is just my excerpt of what I did that got me to this stage, **I am in no way responsible for what happens to your phone if you try to duplicate this**

Wow....This is the longest post ever..
Is it a perm fix, all the other methods have failed..sooner or later.
Also, I have seen the yellow triangle numerous times, all you had to do was get into recovery and flash your kernel back.
I know you said you tried, did it also remove recovery completely?

Lol, yeah its long. Though so far I have reboot 6 times, shut it off and swapped out the battery and SD card. Still no custom icon.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

TheAxman said:
Wow....This is the longest post ever..
Is it a perm fix, all the other methods have failed..sooner or later.
Also, I have seen the yellow triangle numerous times, all you had to do was get into recovery and flash your kernel back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my problem, I couldnt get recovery to work, I would see the blue writing in the upper left, then the phone would reboot again .
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

If you install any of the custom recoveries OUDHS (CWM), TWRP, or CWM correctly, you shouldn't have "custom" anything showing. You have to make sure you use the correct Super user app and make sure the binaries are up to date.

Call me crazy, but I still find it endearing to have the "Custom" status pop-up. It's like a status symbol in and of itself.

Well the biggest thing I wanted was a recovery that didn't label my backups as December 1979, lol
Sent from my GT-I9505 converted SGH-I337

Check out this thread - we know exactly what's causing the "custom" status. It's just a matter of dealing with it.

If you want CWM that has everything (including the kitchen sink), you might want to check this out...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2322682

This is the absolute best recovery I have seen so far. The developer is deserving of a donation. -- Well, all you guys are.
Anyway, I just wanted to remind anyone who uses it on their S4 that it is NOT auto-loki. If you flash non-loki roms with it, you will have to flash loki-doki.zip immediately after flashing the rom -- with the exception of lokified roms, of course.
Don't forget. =)
A lot of you guys need to start putting donation buttons in your signatures.
scott14719 said:
If you want CWM that has everything (including the kitchen sink), you might want to check this out...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2322682
Click to expand...
Click to collapse