I've done a very silly thing and fear I may have bricked my phone
A little while ago my phone's USB connection kicked the bucket and in a rather foolish attempt to get rid of everything I re-formatted the lot and now have a completely non-functioning phone
I have a Samsung Galaxy S (GT-I9000) and had "ClockworkMod Revovery v2.5.1.3" installed with a "Voodoo Lagfix" when things started to go a little funky. Wanting to remove any trace of hackery before sending the phone back for warranty I booted into recovery mode and reformatted every partition I could, one after the other, only to discover that not only did this not remove the hacked boot-loader but it completely rendered my phone unusable! Now, without any image installed and not having a functioning USB connection I've been unable to flash a working ROM back again.
I do, however, still have a working ClockworkMod Recovery and have noted there is an option to "mount /sd-ext" and I am hoping there may be a way to sneak an image on to the phone through the external SD then use "choose zip from sdcard" to re image the phone. Anyone know if this is possible, and if so, would someone care to guide me through the process??
I came across this thread: Can I flash roms from external SD
Where the response was: "Yes, you can, just mount it from the CWM Recovery and you're set." which gives me hope but I'm not able to get there alone.
I have tried mounting the external SD card but get the message:
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk1p2
(File exists)
Error mounting SDEXT:!
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
You can copy rom on sd card, and flash in recovery mod
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
thanhhai8888 said:
You can copy rom on sd card, and flash in recovery mod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, I'm just not quite sure how to do it.
As I said I'm not able to mount the external SD card at the moment and even then I'm not quite sure what to do. If I do manage to mount it will it then be possible to navigate to the extranal SD with the "install zip from sdcard"?
In the mean time I have come across this nice looking tutorial for flashing to ICS but it says "Copy the downloaded ROM to your phone’s internal SD card (not microSD card)" which for me, sadly, is not an option :,-(
By the way, I'm not particularly fussed wich version of Android I managed to flash, I just want to be able to use my phone again.
Hmmm,
After more digging I've come to understand more about what I have done...
It would appear that what I did was foolishly reformat my system partition with out having another ROM to replace it - but it seems I may well have narrowly avoided formatting the boot partition.
Since doing this I have come across this extremely good advice:
Take extreme care with this option as formatting any of these partitions will result in losing all data on them, especially the boot and system partitions. Formatting the system partition will remove your ROM and leave your phone without an operating system while wiping the boot partition may brick your phone unless you restore or flash another one before rebooting your device.If only I'd read that before
I've also come to realize the "sd-ext" is not the external SD card at all and is in fact a kind of "extra" partition used especially for flashing ROMs.
So my problem gets deeper...
Is there any possible way to flash a ROM onto a phone with a formatted system partition and no working USB connection?
If there is, I'd dearly like to know how.
You can buy a micro usb card reader to transfer the ROM from your PC to your sd card then flashing it using CWM.
Kerumen said:
You can buy a micro usb card reader to transfer the ROM from your PC to your sd card then flashing it using CWM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to be so darft but I can't work out how to flash from the external SD.
- By external I mean the removable micro SD card which is actually inside the phone.
I have another phone with which I can put the image on to the micro SD card, I'm just not sure what to do with it once I have it there.
I must be missing something pretty obvious because several people have said "just use CWM to flash from the SD card" but to be honest I just can't work out how to do it :s
I can get the image onto the micro SD card fine, the problem is that once I have the micro SD card with the new image on it in my 'bricked' phone I can't find how to get access to it with CWM?
if you can enter on cwm (home+vol up) you can flash all by your sd card, download a rom for your galaxy s, prefer for the official ones, put the zip on your sdcard, put your phone on cwm and select "install zip from external sd". i hope this help.
Idk if galaxy s have usb otg, but if have you can mount external usb in cwm.
and if you stay without understanding how to do it with cwm, go to galaxy s xda area:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=656
i hope you will find a good tutorial in there.
good luck
Hmm, just read a comment some where randomly on the internet:
"Depend on your CWM version, v5 install from external SD card by default. But you can select install from internal SD card too."
Perhaps "install from external SD card" is not supported in my version of CWM (v2.5.1.3 on a Samsung Galaxy S).
Maybe I should go ask about it in the SGS specific section.
dreanmer said:
and if you stay without understanding how to do it with cwm, go to galaxy s xda area:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=656
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe, took the works right out of my mouth.
Thanks.
You essentially NEED adb access to push a rom to internal, as your phone's CWM version doesn't support external-sd card. Can you get ahold of another working cable? This would be the best route.
Thing O Doom said:
You essentially NEED adb access to push a rom to internal, as your phone's CWM version doesn't support external-sd card. Can you get ahold of another working cable? This would be the best route.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'm pretty certain it's the phones USB socket that is the problem though. It stopped responding to USB after a camping trip I went on and since then, even when it had a working ROM, I was unable to mount it as external storage. I have tried several cables and a couple of different computers and while it charges fine I was unable to get it to 'connect' as such. I have also checked the main cable I've been using with a different device and the cable worked as expected. When I started to get desperate I scrubbed it with a tooth brush and I even took the phone completely apart to sprayed the port with electrical contact cleaner but alas, it was to no avail.
I'm affraid i'm going to have to resolve this one sans USB
Why don't you buy a new cable ? An USB cable is always useful for daily use..
Kerumen said:
Why don't you buy a new cable ? An USB cable is always useful for daily use..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit: Oops just realised I'd made the same post twice
I'm cretin the cable is fine.
i've got this weird problem after following some cache partition to use as RAM through swapper2.i enabled some of features like same mound and some others' now after sometime i am not able to MOUNT SD CARD THROUGH PHONE...
my sd card is working fine i checked it using card reader i formatted SD card and phone both flashed ROM tried all of settings as per my knowledge un-installed the app (swapper2) and also did perform factory reset.i've also tried mounting sd card from recovery though no response.
my data cable is properly working and also the USB port of my PC
though my pc isn't mounting my sd card... i am using same OS as before and didn't change anything.
PLEASE help me with this and provide solution ASAP if in your knowledge i will be help ful
NOTE: when i connect phone with PC in USB connection icon it shows (...) in connected device.
CAUTION: i've tried all simple solutions and PC troubleshooting so please don't mess thread with those solutions.
help me....
Yesterday I tried to partition my internal storage using minitool because I was getting a insufficient memory message from the google app store. Everything worked out fine and the partition had been created, I turned usb storage off and when I went to pull the usb cord from my nexus s I got a message saying that my internal sd card had been damaged and asked me to reformat. I dismissed the error message because I did not want to format right there but after that my phone can't detect my usb storage (16gb internal) and neither can I connect to my computer and access the files on my phone. I'm using paranoidandroid 3.00. Even when my Android debugging is on the phone still can't connect to my computer. And I've tried to unmount and mount using cwm a number of times but that isn't working either. I also tried to factory reset the phone but I still can't detect my usb storage. My phone basically says I have 0.98gb total space. I have no access to my internal storage at all. I can't flash any different roms or flash anything for that matter. My photo gallery is also saying that I have no external storage available. I need to fix this ASAP. What can I do to fix this problem?
Similar problem
I'm having a similar problem. Switched to a different phone and gave my wife NS4G, so I wiped everything, including the external storage via TWRP v2.4. No problem connecting to my PC, but on the phone in settings>storage, there was only 0.98 in Internal Storage and 2GB in USB Storage. No clue what could've caused that. Currently searching the web for answers, and will report back if I come across anything
bdragon46 said:
I'm having a similar problem. Switched to a different phone and gave my wife NS4G, so I wiped everything, including the external storage via TWRP v2.4. No problem connecting to my PC, but on the phone in settings>storage, there was only 0.98 in Internal Storage and 2GB in USB Storage. No clue what could've caused that. Currently searching the web for answers, and will report back if I come across anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fixed the problem using Wugs Root Toolkit. I didn't want to just sit around and wait till a different fix just magically appeared. Basically just had to flash back to stock Jelly Bean 4.1.2 using the toolkit and unroot the device and then do a factory reset. The SD card got formatted after doing all that. You should try it out. :good:
Hi everybody, i am a new member (a noob) so i really need your help. I am using a Samsung Galaxy Wonder GT-I8150, i rooted it and flashed the cm9 rom using cmw recovery 5. Now when i want to download something or take a picture (i installed a camera app because cm9's camera is not working) it tells me that i need to insert my sd card. I go back to cmw recovery 5 - Mounts and Storage - Mount Usb Storage, it says: Usb Mass Storage Device Leaving this menu unmount your sd card from your pc. I tried using this option while my phone is connected to the pc but nothing happens, any help plz?:crying:
Maybe, you should try to format sdcard.
gameboy20131 said:
Hi everybody, i am a new member (a noob) so i really need your help. I am using a Samsung Galaxy Wonder GT-I8150, i rooted it and flashed the cm9 rom using cmw recovery 5. Now when i want to download something or take a picture (i installed a camera app because cm9's camera is not working) it tells me that i need to insert my sd card. I go back to cmw recovery 5 - Mounts and Storage - Mount Usb Storage, it says: Usb Mass Storage Device Leaving this menu unmount your sd card from your pc. I tried using this option while my phone is connected to the pc but nothing happens, any help plz?:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be something as simple as your SD card being not properly inserted into the slot - maybe because you accidentally dropped it. Try opening the phone's back and removing the SD card and then reinserting it. make sure it properly sits in its slot. If the problem still persists, wait for someone with better knowledge to come along.
Sorry for the title but I didnt know how could I describe it more precisely.
Problem is. I rooted gf`s htc explorer and I didnt have sd adapter so I tried to format micro sd via minitool partition wizard while it was inside phone connected via usb to pc.
After that I lost possibility to change usb mode from charging to file transfer since my card doesnt show up on pc/mobile/cwm anymore. EXCEPT "mount usb storage" in cwm. With that I see the card in pc, I can reformat it or transfer files. But I cant use it its not visible at all..only in that cwm mount usb storage.
I was browsing web/xda for like 2 hours and im quite desperate.
Any help how to make it visible again?
Its only unlocked-rooted-stock..was preparing it for link2sd.
thank a lot for a help