Related
This morning I fired up my mVideoPlayer, looking to turn on some videos to listen to while working. It froze to the point where the phone locked, so I rebooted.
When I did, suddenly there was nothing accessible on my SD Card. Root Explorer shows /sdcard/external_sd is blank (it certainly shouldn't be, but I can't figure out what has been removed).
My internal memory is fine, though I have another issue that may be related to the video files themselves (audio de-sync, gets worse as the file plays) rather than the software.
I'm not at a computer where I can check to see if everything is actually ok, but when I go to Settings > Storage the SD card is not shown and is not available to mount... That is undoubtedly the root of this issue, but does anyone know what I can do to fix it? Has anyone else had this happen?
Running Embryo 3.2, if anyone needs to know that.
Just switch to a different rom. Or go under recovery and see if its all their.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA
I plugged the memory card into an adapter and plugged it into my PC. It prompted me to format it.
Just as well. I just bought a 32GB card for the phone, and there wasn't much on the card to begin with. Just need to re-do my TiBu backups.
Hi,
Did a search but could not find anything like this.
Problem with my new Gemei G9T Android 4 Tablet. Until 3 nights ago it functioned normally, but 2 days ago I switched on and there was a problem accessing storage. File Browser and ES File Explorer cannot access internal SD, nor can QuickPic, MoviePlayer, or Music. Icon continuously shows ‘preparing SD card’. Settings accesses most functions, except ‘storage’ and ‘developer options’ which cause it to freeze. Tried factory reset – did not work. Most apps work fine, but not Camera or Gallery. Cannot access external SD or USB storage, or connect to laptop. Entering sleep mode causes power off. Normal powering on and off now require two presses with time gap between. All of these functions were fine previously. Have you any suggestions, please?
Brian44 said:
Hi,
Did a search but could not find anything like this.
Problem with my new Gemei G9T Android 4 Tablet. Until 3 nights ago it functioned normally, but 2 days ago I switched on and there was a problem accessing storage. File Browser and ES File Explorer cannot access internal SD, nor can QuickPic, MoviePlayer, or Music. Icon continuously shows ‘preparing SD card’. Settings accesses most functions, except ‘storage’ and ‘developer options’ which cause it to freeze. Tried factory reset – did not work. Most apps work fine, but not Camera or Gallery. Cannot access external SD or USB storage, or connect to laptop. Entering sleep mode causes power off. Normal powering on and off now require two presses with time gap between. All of these functions were fine previously. Have you any suggestions, please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to take out your SD card and put it in a Card reader, remember to do it while your device is off or unmount it from memory settings, try to swtich on your device later and connect it to your computer and check if it connect through USB or not.
Try some system tools?
Brian44 said:
Hi,
Did a search but could not find anything like this.
Problem with my new Gemei G9T Android 4 Tablet. Until 3 nights ago it functioned normally, but 2 days ago I switched on and there was a problem accessing storage. File Browser and ES File Explorer cannot access internal SD, nor can QuickPic, MoviePlayer, or Music. Icon continuously shows ‘preparing SD card’. Settings accesses most functions, except ‘storage’ and ‘developer options’ which cause it to freeze. Tried factory reset – did not work. Most apps work fine, but not Camera or Gallery. Cannot access external SD or USB storage, or connect to laptop. Entering sleep mode causes power off. Normal powering on and off now require two presses with time gap between. All of these functions were fine previously. Have you any suggestions, please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm guessing databaiz's suggestion to take out the card isn't an option because it's the internal sd card, right? If so, for the one-in-a-million chance that the external card is screwing with the bus, I'd take the external card out and reboot anyway, just to make sure; if it works OK then, I would check the external card as databaiz suggests. But assuming it still doesn't work, next question is, do you have a terminal app installed? Please try the 'mount' command and let us know what you see. One other question, will it still go into fastboot mode? Can you see it from your computer when in fastboot mode (the details of how to do this depend on whether you have windows or linux/macOS - I can maybe help with the latter, but not the former).
It could be bad card
It could be bad card.... Remove and test in card reader...
cannot access internal or external storage
Thanks guys, I have been booting without external memory, with problems still the same. So, cannot be problem with external SD.
The internal SD card is not accessed properly. When I go to settings>Apps>All, the line at bottom shows Internal storage 4.1 MB used, 798MB free. (I have uninstalled most apps to see if that helped – it did not.) So, something is accessing the internal SD, also apps are running which must be off the internal SD.
I do not know what a terminal app is, Urilabob. I have downloaded it but what do I do with it?
At: [email protected]:/ $ I keyed in # mount [enter] , making:
[email protected]:/ $ # mount [enter]
But nothing happened, just another line of: [email protected]:/ $
Also, what is fast boot mode – this is not the same as sleep mode? This is all new to me. Appreciate your help.
My laptop is Windows 7.
Brian44 said:
Thanks guys, I have been booting without external memory, with problems still the same. So, cannot be problem with external SD.
The internal SD card is not accessed properly. When I go to settings>Apps>All, the line at bottom shows Internal storage 4.1 MB used, 798MB free. (I have uninstalled most apps to see if that helped – it did not.) So, something is accessing the internal SD, also apps are running which must be off the internal SD.
I do not know what a terminal app is, Urilabob. I have downloaded it but what do I do with it?
At: [email protected]:/ $ I keyed in # mount [enter] , making:
[email protected]:/ $ # mount [enter]
But nothing happened, just another line of: [email protected]:/ $
Also, what is fast boot mode – this is not the same as sleep mode? This is all new to me. Appreciate your help.
My laptop is Windows 7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I replied earlier but it seems I messed up so the reply didn't appear.
My problem is I know unix fairly well, and android is very similar, so I forget what is the same and what's different. Sorry, the command you need in the terminal is "df". That will show you a list of what partitions are mounted on your system. I'm guessing you're going to see /system, but not /mnt/sdcard. Why, I don't know. It's possible that the sdcard partition has got corrupted - but suspicious that the external card is also having problems. Is it possible that either the tablet or your pc crashed while you were copying files between them? Or that you disconnected the cable between them before telling the tablet to go out of connected mode? Either of those could explain corrupted partitions. Unfortunately fixing them may not be easy.
There are three different ways to connect your tablet to a computer. One is so it looks like external disks. I got the impression you already discovered this, and that it has now stopped working. The other two require you to install (parts of) the android development system on your computer. The simplest one is adb mode. Please google it to see how to use it. This might give you a chance to check the state of your partitions. The other is in fastboot mode. Fastboot mode is an alternative way of starting your computer, that goes into a fairly bulletproof, but very simple, mode that allows you to do various things on your tablet (it gives you very low level access to the tablet - powerful but dangerous). I'm pretty sure it will still be working. How you get into fastboot mode depends on your tablet; you'll need to google it. And how you access it in fastboot mode is fairly different on windows. So I'm not the best adviser. But please be careful - it's easy to brick the tablet in fastboot mode, you need to make sure you completely understand any steps you might take, especially any that might write to the tablet (of course, reading from it is safe). And of course the simplest alternative is simply to completely reinstall the tablet (sorry, I forget the android term for this). That should restore things OK, but it will mean you lose all your data and will have to reinstall all your applications.
cannot access internal or external storage
urilabob said:
Sorry, I replied earlier but it seems I messed up so the reply didn't appear.
My problem is I know unix fairly well, and android is very similar, so I forget what is the same and what's different. Sorry, the command you need in the terminal is "df". That will show you a list of what partitions are mounted on your system. I'm guessing you're going to see /system, but not /mnt/sdcard. Why, I don't know. It's possible that the sdcard partition has got corrupted - but suspicious that the external card is also having problems. Is it possible that either the tablet or your pc crashed while you were copying files between them? Or that you disconnected the cable between them before telling the tablet to go out of connected mode? Either of those could explain corrupted partitions. Unfortunately fixing them may not be easy.
There are three different ways to connect your tablet to a computer. One is so it looks like external disks. I got the impression you already discovered this, and that it has now stopped working. The other two require you to install (parts of) the android development system on your computer. The simplest one is adb mode. Please google it to see how to use it. This might give you a chance to check the state of your partitions. The other is in fastboot mode. Fastboot mode is an alternative way of starting your computer, that goes into a fairly bulletproof, but very simple, mode that allows you to do various things on your tablet (it gives you very low level access to the tablet - powerful but dangerous). I'm pretty sure it will still be working. How you get into fastboot mode depends on your tablet; you'll need to google it. And how you access it in fastboot mode is fairly different on windows. So I'm not the best adviser. But please be careful - it's easy to brick the tablet in fastboot mode, you need to make sure you completely understand any steps you might take, especially any that might write to the tablet (of course, reading from it is safe). And of course the simplest alternative is simply to completely reinstall the tablet (sorry, I forget the android term for this). That should restore things OK, but it will mean you lose all your data and will have to reinstall all your applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, Urilabob. The command df had an effect!
Shows Filesystem with figures for Size, Used, Free, and Blksize (4096), next to each of the following:
/dev, /mnt/asec, /mnt/obb, /system, /data, and /cache. The figures are all different except Blksize.
/mnt/sdcard is not shown.
Does this tell you anything useful?
I have never been able to access the tablet from my laptop with Windows 7. My son’s laptop has an earlier Windows, so I checked today and found that his Windows Explorer finds the tablet (as 2 disks, A and F) and asks “Please insert a disk into Removable Disk H:” (and same for F.
By the way, this problem started when I downloaded the (automatic) firmware update direct to the tablet, not via laptop. But the wifi signal was weak, and files may have been corrupted. I have since downloaded the complete, latest firmware to the laptop (with strong wifi signal), but do not know how to get it into the tablet!
Have not yet done anything on adb or fastboot modes. Will Google adb tonight.
Not worried about losing data or apps.
Thanks again, Brian.
I'm guessing that your tablet is rooted? If so, do you have an app like superuser? I remember having to go through some options to give my file explorers access to my SD card. You may have accidentally set you SD card to be off-limits or something. If you haven't already done it, see if giving an app like ES File Explorer superuser access will help.
Also see if you can enable USB debugging. For my nook color, I have to enable in order to access usb mass storage for one of my memory units. See if you can access your internal SD card content through USB debugging.
cannot access internal or external storage
SacTappingUni said:
I'm guessing that your tablet is rooted? If so, do you have an app like superuser? I remember having to go through some options to give my file explorers access to my SD card. You may have accidentally set you SD card to be off-limits or something. If you haven't already done it, see if giving an app like ES File Explorer superuser access will help.
Also see if you can enable USB debugging. For my nook color, I have to enable in order to access usb mass storage for one of my memory units. See if you can access your internal SD card content through USB debugging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your thoughts. My tablet is not rooted. And I cannot enable USB debugging, because Settings freezes when I tap Developer Options to get to USB debug. I am just learning about Android - seems to be 2 partitions on the internal storage, one about 2.6GB with apps and other things on (which is accessible), and the other partition must be about 13GB, but has not been accessible since the automatic firmware update.
Sounds like the update caused you issues. If you have everything backed up with your Google account I recommend that you do a factory data reset and see if that fixes your issue.
cannot access internal or external storage
MissionImprobable said:
Sounds like the update caused you issues. If you have everything backed up with your Google account I recommend that you do a factory data reset and see if that fixes your issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset would be great, if it worked, but it does not function.
Can you exchange the device?
Brian44 said:
Factory reset would be great, if it worked, but it does not function.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so from your df listing, it's clear that sdcard is not getting mounted. That's a pretty low-level function that is failing. The fact that factory reset also doesn't work suggests (doesn't prove) that the sdcard partition at least has a corrupted filesystem, and quite possibly the partition itself has been corrupted. Could a spotty OTA update do that? I'm surprised - I would have thought they would use fairly high level functions for OTA updates, precisely because any drop-out could cause corruption if you use low-level disk access. But who knows - the mysteries of google? Another possibility is that the sdcard is physically bad, and maybe the update just caused you to get into the bad region (with the dynamic memory mapping in flash memory, once something goes wrong it's almost impossible to figure out what). At this point, I'd be going back to the distributor if possible (you said it was new, right)? I think even if you were an android guru, and knew exactly how to do a complete rebuild from scratch, you would be risking that the device itself is faulty - and that the rebuild would mean you couldn't prove that the device was at fault (rather than your rebuild)...
Best Wishes
Bob
cannot access internal or external storage
urilabob said:
OK, so from your df listing, it's clear that sdcard is not getting mounted. That's a pretty low-level function that is failing. The fact that factory reset also doesn't work suggests (doesn't prove) that the sdcard partition at least has a corrupted filesystem, and quite possibly the partition itself has been corrupted. Could a spotty OTA update do that? I'm surprised - I would have thought they would use fairly high level functions for OTA updates, precisely because any drop-out could cause corruption if you use low-level disk access. But who knows - the mysteries of google? Another possibility is that the sdcard is physically bad, and maybe the update just caused you to get into the bad region (with the dynamic memory mapping in flash memory, once something goes wrong it's almost impossible to figure out what). At this point, I'd be going back to the distributor if possible (you said it was new, right)? I think even if you were an android guru, and knew exactly how to do a complete rebuild from scratch, you would be risking that the device itself is faulty - and that the rebuild would mean you couldn't prove that the device was at fault (rather than your rebuild)...
Best Wishes
Bob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, Bob for all your help. This seems like the end of the line with this tablet. I expected this might be the case, and emailed DinoDirect two days ago for a refund, as I am heading overseas next week and want to resolve the matter before I go. They responded that "we will contact our related department to process your case priority". I have been aware that any actions I might take could invalidate the warranty, and this has inhibited me a bit. I will forward your latest comments in support of my refund claim.
I learned some basics of Android from all this!
Good wishes, great talking to you.
Brian
Just for a great justice :victory:
Got same bug on my Gemei G6, guess it hapens after i connect dc cabel to a fully charged pad that was charged in off mode and turn on. So i just download last firmware fro Gemeitech.com, unzip it on SD card and tnen turn on pad with pressed Home and Power buttons that must be pressed untill robot with green rotating belly appears what mean start of flashin` Thats it.
Got the same issue in Huawei Ascend P-7, I just switched off the mobile, removed the SD card and turned it back on after 5 minutes ....... and that was it, all issues resolved. Just the thing was that once SD card was re-inserted, problem came up again. So i have decided to copy SD card data to PC via Card Reader and format it or get new SD card
Could someone give me a theory as to what happened?
I had screwed up my Huawei again.
I had sorted out a problem I had with an app after changing primary storage from internal to sd when I was installing any new apps.
After it got done, I noticed a little box kept coming up saying I only had 1.88g left.
Like 1.88gigs is a miniscule amount.
Well the system reports the internal 16g had 5+g open, the sd 32g had 27g or so open and my 128g usb thumb drive had the 1.88g.
I don't understand why it seems to be thinking it's putting installs on the usb because it's set for the 32g sdcard to be the primary storage.
So I went through my apps and started using the ICS settings to move apps to the sd.
I must have moved some that don't like the sd. One that doesn't (I know now) is google play services.
I went round and round trying to fix that and finally did by restoring a backup from 3-4 weeks ago but it didn't fix everything.
The services worked again along with the play store....... well the play store works when I DON'T have the usb drive mounted.
When it's mounted the play store app opens but won't connect.
Oh. And it also restarts over and over.
When the usb's mounted it restart after about 30 seconds. When it's not it restarts after about 2-2.5 minutes.
After almost a day trying to fix this, I got irritated with it so I decided I was going to try to use the automatic recovery.
I grabbed the firmware from Huawei's website on my PC and took out my SD card.
I did not see a 'dload' folder so I put it in the 'Download' folder. Put the card back in the tablet and tried to start the recovery.
I had the unlmt.cfg in there too but it did not automatically start so I tried again while keeping the volume pressed and it started.
But after about 3-5 seconds it came up with the FAIL message.
So I figure that maybe it DOES need to be 'dload'. So when it finishes rebooting I make a 'dload' folder and copy those files in there before it rebooted again.
Which while I'm doing I also notice that under 'mnt' the files are in the 'sdcard' folder and not the 'sdcard2' folder which is where I thought it was mounted before.
I guess when I switched primary storage to the sdcard it made the card mount under sd instead of sd2?
So I had pulled the card out and was going to investigate that, but before I did, I decided to put it back in.
When it rebooted this time while I was starting the file manager when I noticed it was connecting and download app updates which it was doing before but when it tried to install them
before it kept failing but this time it was successful.
So I kept watching it and everything seems to be corrected now.
It's not rebooting by itself. It connects everytime. Installs are all successful.
What the hell happened?
Did the few seconds that recovery mode was active maybe fix some kind of file system problem?
Does Android have some sort of 'healing' code built in that makes it eventually repair itself if it finds problems?
Is the Android system alive and had seen that I was going to redo the system and got scared so it started behaving? (Joke of course)
I don't get it.
Can anyone give me some kind of theory as to what might have happened? Please?
Because I'm afraid to reboot it again for fear of it being some sort of fluke.
ANY ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Stephen
I am getting an error, old as android itself, with my new s7 Exynos. "The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected". This happens when I try to copy my 25 gb music library on external sd card. I tried all usual stuff like:
- Use different cables
- Reinstall samsung drivers via Kies
- Transfer using MTP or PTP
- Use USB Debugging on and Stay awake option on
- Tried pushing folder via ADB push command, but it says "Read-only file system" when I typed location as /sdcard1 (which I think is an extSdcard right? It did copy a .txt file if I typed just /sdcard but that is internal storage)
- Tried with Samsungs own SmartSwitch but the bloody thing doesn't even have an option to copy files to device (only backup and restore), and Kies is not supported for S7.
On side note, the same sd card worked perfectly with my S3 and gave no errors. When I inserted sd card into S7, I formatted it inside the device. What other troubleshooting stuff should I do? I can't believe that this crap is still an issue. Why can't we have our USB Mass Storage back?
-----------------------------
Big edit:
Ok my phone doesn't seem to like this sdcard. I inserted microsd card to my s3 and copied 17 gb of files, to check if there is a problem with MTP connection or sdcard, but it copied all 17 gb of files without any errors or problems. I checked on phone if it reads correctly, and all music plays fine instantly without any lag or freez. But when I inserted this micro sdcard back into my s7, there was a massive lag/freezes. When I click "MyFiles" or "SolidExplorer", or any other file manager, there is a big lag/freeze, and file manager never opens (it is always stuck). Also, when I go into settings and when I press "unmount" under storage, nothing happens. When I press home, it doesnt go to home screen, and says that touchwizz is not responding (if I change default applications to Nova launcher, it does go to the homescreen though). When I try to open Shealth app, it doesnt open it. Also when I put my phone to sleep, I have to wait like 10 seconds for screen to turn off sometimes. When I pop out sdcard though, all the problems go away INSTANTLY. Everything is smooth again and responsive, file manager opens, shealth opens, everything works like it should. If I insert sd card back in, same problems happen.
And as a cherry on the cake, I put sdcard back into my s3, and everything still works fine. All files are readable, music playes, etc.
When I was searching online, this is the closest thing I have found that explains my problems, but there was no solution: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-4/542854-sd-card-freezes-note-4-a.html
Anyone ever experienced anything similar?
EDIT: Luckly, it was not my phone fault. It was my sd card. Even though it worked fine on s3 and my friends s5, it didn't work in s7 for some reason. I purchased samsung evo+ and it works flawlessly.
try format as exfat ?
Can't, it is 32gb card and it is not allowing me. Also, sometimes when I insert it, the whole phone freezes complitely. Once I even had to use volume down + power button for 10 seconds reset method since it froze complitely. Card is in fat32.
edit: I also tried copying files from USB flash drive (adata 64gb exFat) to sdcard directly on my phone, via OTG cable. It also stopped the process midway and phone wouldn't enter into any file storage (it froze). I had to remove sdcard again and insert it back in to remove that freezing.
edit2: I copied 17gb folder full of subfolders to internal storage, and it transferred without any problems and pretty fast (about 20 minutes). That means MTP connection and drivers are fine. When I tried copying the same 17gb folder to external sd card, "device stopped responding or has been disconnected" error again.
It seems like this is a lot bigger problem, as this is not really an issue about "device stopped responding" anymore. I edited first post. Still looking for solution.
Search the forums, this is a known issue with some phones. You can try other cards, sometimes that will help. Or get your phone replaced as it's a hardware defect. My first S7 was like that. This one reads sdcard without issues (but has radio issues).
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
phoenix_rizzen said:
Search the forums, this is a known issue with some phones. You can try other cards, sometimes that will help. Or get your phone replaced as it's a hardware defect. My first S7 was like that. This one reads sdcard without issues (but has radio issues).
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Luckly, it was not my phone fault. It was my sd card. Even though it worked fine on s3 and my friends s5, it didn't work in s7 for some reason. I purchased samsung evo+ and it works flawlessly. So happy I don't have to hassle with warranty!
This is a strange one for me. Stumped. Been working on it all night, no improvement. New one for me, long-ish description (with detail), but a TL;DR too.
Last night I applied the 1.3 OTA for the K1. Being my K1 was rooted, I followed the process I have always followed by restoring the system images to stock, applying the OTA via recovery, then re-rooting. Process:
Shutdown tablet
Swap married/paired SD card with temp SD containing flashables (OTA, SuperSU)
Boot to bootloader, fastboot (re)flash tablet's current system images (recovery was already stock but flashed again for good measure, boot, system, blob -> staging)
Boot to custom recovery using fastboot boot -recovery image-
Flash OTA from temp SD, wipe caches, apply SuperSU
Shutdown, replace married SD, boot, enjoy life
This time I didn't immediately apply SuperSU, as I thought I'd flash 1.3 and let it go fully stock a bit to ensure no other updates were pending (nVidia seems to like incremental updates, so flashing to 1.1 won't give you an OTA to 1.3 directly, but to 1.2 first, then 1.3). I've also followed this process with the K1 for every update since 1.1 without a hitch, and although there haven't been many OTAs, it has still worked perfectly every time. Because of this and because I've done this a billion times on a million different devices with zero issues ever, I didn't take a backup before the update. Woe is me.
When I rebooted this time after flashing the OTA (no root), it booted up seemingly fine to the "Android is upgrading" modal, so I left the tablet alone for a bit to let it do its thing. When I came back, the tablet was HOT, was at a completely black screen save for the status bar (no wallpaper/launcher besides the clock/wifi icon which showed a connection, that's it). I tried to interact with it and couldn't (totally locked up, also a first), then it rebooted on its own. Subsequent times, during troubleshooting, I noticed that it's totally locked -- NOTHING responds, unless you can get to it before it reboots and hold power to kill it.
First thought was a bad flash. NBD, so went back and reflashed, double-checking everything and carefully following the same process. No dice. I did use a newer TWRP recovery from April of this year initially, which was a recommended version for the K1 specifically, rather than a really buggy but working one from last year. To test I did I try using the older TWRP on one of the next flashes thinking maybe the new one borked the partitions, or at least wasn't writing the partitions/symlinks properly (and the older one was the TWRP I had used for previous updates, with no issues). But, no change..
It took me a long time and many reflashes and cache formatting and digging before I realized if I pulled the married SD out, it booted just fine. Weird, and gets weirder. After leaving the married SD out and booting, and having the tablet working just as expected (except for missing the SD), Android shows a notification saying to reinsert the married SD. Once the married SD is reinserted, things seem OK for a few seconds before the whole system goes unresponsive again, heats up, and begins bootlooping. Before it sh'ts the bed, the message on the status notification asking to reinsert the married SD card doesn't change, but in the Storage settings, it shows it's "checking" the card, followed by a sudden hot death spiral into non-function. If you select the SD from Storage settings to take a look around its contents, the tablet basically locks up instantly. Inserting other SDs works fine (for the most part, still some other weirdness), it's just the married SD that totally kills the device without fail.
Obviously I'd like to avoid wiping and reinstalling the whole thing if it can be avoided, not just because my dumb ass didn't take a backup so I'd lose a ton of app/game data, but also because it's a just huge pain. A lot of the sites that offered "fixes" for these types of problems say to just wipe data, which is not a solution and is the nuclear option (like telling someone to to replace a car due to a flat tire).
Ideas? Is this as simple as recreating some symlinks that somehow disappeared and refuse to come back after all the flashes, and if so, how? I've been looking for hours and haven't found anyone with this particular issue or steps to correct.
[size=+2]TL;DR[/size]: Applied K1 1.3 OTA, married/paired SD card is no longer recognized, causes tablet to hard-lock and enter bootloop when inserted (other SDs do not cause this issue).
Other potentially pertinent bits:
Initial flash was dirty, second and subsequent flashes included a wipe of system first
Installed 1.2 images first, then tried going back to 1.1.1 and taking nVidia's OTAs to get back up to 1.3
1.1.1 does not recognize the married SD but doesn't kill the tablet, while 1.2 and 1.3 kill the tablet when the SD is inserted
When married SD is not inserted, using shell or ES Explorer or otherwise, not seeing a /storage/emulated/0, or /sdcard, or /data/media, or any other familiar storage related directories
When married SD is inserted, it dies too fast to look around much or try to do anything to check/fix the SD itself
/storage is totally empty except for a folder called "self", and inserting a working SD creates a directory under /storage labeled with the SD's serial number (not an emulated/0 directory or anything similar)
Not sure if this is expected behavior since the SD was married -- do those directories/symlinks live on the SD now since it's married, and won't show up in the device filesystem until everything's properly mounted?
Tried following these steps, which although written in the N5 forum, still seemed relevant.. no change
Tried the referenced SD permissions update with the card inserted and not, in case of the directories it touches only being visible/available with the card inserted, no change
Noticed even within TWRP, going to the "mount" menu seemed flaky, labored, and didn't show what I expected, but this could be because there isn't a "proper" or official custom recovery for the K1 yet and things are just buggy
ES File Manager still seems to think an /sdcard directory exists and tries to open to it, and just spins in an open directory.. as expected
Going to /data in ES File Manager shows me an empty directory with a message stating the SD card is missing
Using a working, freshly formatted SD in the tablet and trying to point Titanium to a directory on the SD gives me messages about the directory being unwritable, no matter where I go on the SD
Titanium's app permissions (including r/w storage) are proper, SD is not write protected (freshly formatted on the tablet)
Tried using SDFix, which also gave me an error re: "platform permission file is invalid"
There's probably more I'm missing, but can't remember it all -- I have tried everything, I feel like, and have been at it for 13 hours now (apologies if this is written spotty, fighting to keep my eyes open).
So is it totally hosed, or is this recoverable? Is there a way to fix the tablet to recognize the SD, or fix the SD itself if that's the issue (but I'd wonder how it got corrupted in the first place, since it has only been removed once fully powered down)? Is there at least a way to check the married SD for corruption or issues?
Thoughts?
EDIT: Formatting
You removed the sdcard that was set as internal storage? Well you probably broke it/the data on it because that's not what you should do at all
GtrCraft said:
You removed the sdcard that was set as internal storage? Well you probably broke it/the data on it because that's not what you should do at all
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And why is that? When the OS is running, sure, you can't. It'd be equivalent to just deleting /data while the OS was running. It seems pretty unlikely that removing and reinserting it while it's powered off, though, would make it suddenly unable to read the SD or forget its pairing. Adopted storage is "married" to the device via a generated encryption key, which is stored on the device's internal storage. It's all handled in software, not like the SD fuses itself to the device Removing the SD (while off) would not (and does not) break this pairing method, unless the internal storage or SD decides to spontaneously erase itself while the device was off.
The process outlined is the recommended process for upgrading rooted devices with adopted storage. I've followed this process on multiple tablets/phones with adopted storage with zero issues, including this one several times, like I mentioned.
If it WERE the case that simply removing it (again, while off) made it forget the SD, I could understand the tablet reading the card and saying "nope not going to accept it, you done f'd up" and spitting out a dialog telling me to format it or whatnot.. lesson learned, if that were the case. However it's completely hard-locking the device (again, NOTHING works, no physical buttons, screen is unresponsive, only holding power to kill it works) when it's just reading the SD, and apparently pinning the CPU when doing so (hence the absurd heat)..? It's not just a matter of the tablet forgetting the SD
grivad said:
When the OS is running, sure. Maybe that is the case, but it seems pretty unlikely that removing and reinserting it while it's powered off would make it spontaneously unable to read the SD or forget its pairing.
This is the recommended process for upgrading rooted devices with adopted storage. I've followed this process on multiple tablets/phones with adopted storage with zero issues, including this one several times, like I mentioned.
If it WERE the case that simply removing it (again, while off) made it forget the SD, I could understand the tablet reading the card and saying "nope not going to accept it, you done f'd up" and spitting out a dialog telling me to format it or whatnot.. lesson learned, if that were the case. However it's completely hard-locking the device (again, NOTHING works, no physical buttons, screen is unresponsive, only holding power to kill it works) when it's just reading the SD, and apparently pinning the CPU when doing so (hence the absurd heat)..? It's not just a matter of the tablet forgetting the SD
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Click to collapse
Still, you better off formatting it
Sent from my XT1562 using XDA Labs
Been running adopted storage in my mxpe since mm was released and have never removed the card to flash.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk
lafester said:
Been running adopted storage in my mxpe since mm was released and have never removed the card to flash.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk
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Cool.
Regarding the YOU CAN'T REMOVE IT belief (which is categorically false), if this were a serious issue like people speculate it is, Android would simply not ALLOW you to remove it. Meaning if it was ever detected as being removed or missing, first time, Android would tell you "too bad, now it's unpaired", and would also make it REEEEALLY clear not to remove it at all, ever, during the pairing process, which it does not. Nor would it let you eject adopted storage, which you can, safely. Like I mentioned above, when booting without the SD present, the system runs fine and has a persistent notification asking you to reinsert the paired SD, and begins to check the SD as soon as it's inserted so it can be remounted. If you select the notification before putting the SD back in, it takes you to a panel explaining how the SD has all your apps, so you really should put it back in, or you can choose to "forget" the SD and you're back to square one. If you REALLY weren't supposed to remove the SD EVER, none of this would exist.
Additionally, pretty much every piece of documentation around adoptable storage says it can be removed just fine (but is only readable/usable by the device it was paired to), but the system kinda needs it to, you know, run all the apps you put on the thing, and will persistently remind you to reinsert it, unless you choose to break the adoption. So there's that.
Storage adoption isn't this magical, complicated thing. It mounts certain directories to your SD instead of internal storage (e.g., /storage/emulated), generates a key, then encrypts the card to prevent it from being read outside of the device it was paired with. That's really pretty much all there is to it. None of those things necessitate a or even imply that removal of an adopted SD would lead to sudden disaster. That's like believing if you take your hard drive out of your computer, but then plug it right back in, that it's going to be unbootable and dead. Doesn't work that way.
I appreciate you guys trying to help, but the problem is not simply that I removed the SD so now it's broken.
The thing that should get your attention is that when the SD is inserted, it begins to scan the SD and subsequently HARD-LOCKS. And PEGS THE CPU. Also that I cannot write to a working SD with Titanium. These things are pretty abnormal for Android devices, to say the least. There is something else going on here besides "You took the SD out and you weren't supposed to."
grivad said:
Cool.
Regarding the DON'T REMOVE IT belief, if this were an issue like people speculate it is, Android would simply not ALLOW you to remove it. Meaning if it was ever detected as being removed or missing, first time, Android would tell you "too bad, now it's unpaired", and would also make it REEEEALLY clear not to remove it at all, ever, during the pairing process, which it does not. Nor would it let you eject adopted storage, which you can, safely. Like I mentioned above, when booting without the SD present, the system runs fine and has a persistent notification asking you to reinsert the paired SD, and begins to check the SD as soon as it's inserted so it can be remounted. If you select the notification before putting the SD back in, it takes you to a panel explaining how the SD has all your apps, so you really should put it back in, or you can choose to "forget" the SD and you're back to square one. If you REALLY weren't supposed to remove the SD EVER, none of this would exist.
Additionally, pretty much every piece of documentation around adoptable storage says it can be removed just fine (but is only readable/usable by the device it was paired to), but the system kinda needs it to, you know, run all the apps you put on the thing, and will persistently remind you to reinsert it, unless you choose to break the adoption. So there's that.
Storage adoption isn't this magical, complicated thing. It mounts certain directories to your SD instead of internal storage (e.g., /storage/emulated), generates a key, then encrypts the card to prevent it from being read outside of the device it was paired with. That's really pretty much all there is to it. None of those things necessitate a or even imply that removal of an adopted SD would lead to sudden disaster. That's like believing if you take your hard drive out of your computer, but then plug it right back in, that it's going to be unbootable and dead. Doesn't work that way.
I appreciate you guys trying to help, but the problem is not simply that I removed the SD so now it's broken.
The thing that should get your attention is that when the SD is inserted, it begins to scan the SD and subsequently HARD-LOCKS. And PEGS THE CPU. Both of those things are pretty abnormal for Android devices, to say the least. There is something else going on here besides "You took the SD out and you weren't supposed to."
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Well you tried with another sd and there is no problem. So the cause of the freezing problem is your sd.
But be my guest and find another solution. I just gave an answer to your question and a solution for the problem. If you don't believe that then you shouldn't ask it in the first place
GtrCraft said:
Well you tried with another sd and there is no problem. So the cause of the freezing problem is your sd.
But be my guest and find another solution. I just gave an answer to your question and a solution for the problem. If you don't believe that then you shouldn't ask it in the first place
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It's not that I don't believe the solution, I don't believe the premise because it is provably false There is absolutely nothing unsafe about ejecting adopted storage, which is why the OS lets you do it, even while it's running and using the storage. Even less of a risk if the thing is off. The "solution" offered wasn't much of a solution, and in the OP it was stated that I wasn't looking for that answer (already know that's an option, which is why I mentioned in the OP).
I appreciate you trying to help, but simply saying "format it", again, is the nuclear option. Not what I'm looking for. Either information as to what's happening (if anyone else has dealt with this) with a justification as to why it's irrepairable, or things to try based on the information I gave. Spending a lot of time being thorough just to get a "format it" response, to be frank, isn't very helpful It's like telling someone to reinstall their entire OS because they can't figure out how to install a driver, or to raze their house because a painting fell off the wall.
The SD didn't spontaneously corrupt itself in the 5 mins it was out of the device. No gamma bursts or EM storms in my area that I know of, either Because the only thing that changed was installing the OTA, this really seems to be a software problem (albeit a bit bizarre, to me) so it should be fixable via software. The fact it's pegging the CPU when the SD is inserted makes me wonder if it's getting stuck in a loop, maybe due to partition changes (looking for a file or partition it can't find). If that's the case, again, that should be fixable via software, with instruction from someone knowledgeable on how the Android FS and mounts work.
Again thanks for trying to help. I know formatting is an option (the easiest one), but I'm looking for just that -- options.
You did update the firmware with the sd out, nothing to do with lightning or gamma bursts.
Did you try downgrading firmware back to where it was?
lafester said:
You did update the firmware with the sd out, nothing to do with lightning or gamma bursts.
Did you try downgrading firmware back to where it was?
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True, the SD was out, however this is how I've both read to do it in multiple places, and how I've applied every OTA so far without issue (with the same adopted SD every time). As part of my troubleshooting, I did try flashing the OTA with the adopted SD inserted, though. It didn't make a difference.
I did try downgrading.. When I started the tablet was on 1.2, OTAd to 1.3. Every time I'd reflash I would do so to 1.2. I did try flashing down to 1.1.1 (the "recovery OS image") and OTAing back up, and like I mentioned that allowed me to use the device with the SD inserted, but it wouldn't recognize it as the adopted storage.. just kinda did nothing, as if the card wasn't inserted at all. This happened in 1.2 as well (OTAd from 1.1.1), and once it got up to 1.3 from 1.2 it all started all over again.
I'm creating an image of the SD right now (using dd) to try restoring it to another SD. I've read that doing this preserves the pairing information, so if it's a bad SD, this would hopefully fix it. I also wanted to try flashing directly to 1.3, but the images aren't available yet Only 1.2 and 1.1.1..
Honestly I would divorce the card before update then redo it after this whole method is janky anyway no reason to remap the data links like they do and all it would be required is if app devs were forced to comply with a data space method... The feature of installing to SD card should be available to non married storage.
Old thread, haven't been on in a while, but thought I'd post an update.
The problem ended up being a hardware issue. I contacted nVidia after absolutely nothing I tried resolved the issue (different SDs, different OS versions, different process to set up, etc.). I simply explained the problems I was having and my troubleshooting attempts, asked if it was a known issue or if they had any suggestions, and they immediately responded with RMA info, no questions asked. The replacement turnaround time was very fast (within a week IIRC), and the new K1 has had zero issues.