Database Info

Wifi Tether (any fixes)?

I'm obviously new to this so bare with me.
I just rooted my Sprint HTC Hero and the first thing I would like to do is use it to tether. I've tried both versions of Android_wifi_tether (1.52, 1.6) but have had no luck in getting it functional. Basically; It broadcasts the signal (I'm at work so the only way to test it was with a Macbook) just fine. The Macbook even connects to it and my phone shows "3KB down 7.8KB up" meaning it detected something has connected. Once that happens nothing else works. The Macbook indicates it has no internet connection.
I was wondering if anyone has been able to get this to work? I'm a little hesitant on installing a custom ROM because it seems like a lot of work and I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to Linux.
Also, can my phone still be updated or is that still unkown? If I install a root app and the update kills root does that mean I lose it entirely or just for anything I try to install post update?
As a side note: Someone should make a post with step by step guides to follow. What I mean by this is put the guides in chronological order.
1) Root your phone (guide link)
2) Run Nandroid backup (guide link)
3) etc.
Anyway, really appreciate the work! This is exciting.

fatkitty420 said:
I'm obviously new to this so bare with me.
I just rooted my Sprint HTC Hero and the first thing I would like to do is use it to tether. I've tried both versions of Android_wifi_tether (1.52, 1.6) but have had no luck in getting it functional. Basically; It broadcasts the signal (I'm at work so the only way to test it was with a Macbook) just fine. The Macbook even connects to it and my phone shows "3KB down 7.8KB up" meaning it detected something has connected. Once that happens nothing else works. The Macbook indicates it has no internet connection.
I was wondering if anyone has been able to get this to work? I'm a little hesitant on installing a custom ROM because it seems like a lot of work and I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to Linux.
Also, can my phone still be updated or is that still unkown? If I install a root app and the update kills root does that mean I lose it entirely or just for anything I try to install post update?
As a side note: Someone should make a post with step by step guides to follow. What I mean by this is put the guides in chronological order.
1) Root your phone (guide link)
2) Run Nandroid backup (guide link)
3) etc.
Anyway, really appreciate the work! This is exciting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently the only phones that have wifi tethering working are the ones who installed MoDaCo's ROM...something in there is configured differently to allow it to work.

thecodemonk said:
Currently the only phones that have wifi tethering working are the ones who installed MoDaCo's ROM...something in there is configured differently to allow it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How functional is the ROM?
The one thing I'm scared of is that if I install a ROM I'll be dependent on this community to make future things work?
I mean, can you still access the Market? What about future updates? Will applications I purchased already still be available?
Like I said, I'm still fairly noobish.

fatkitty420 said:
How functional is the ROM?
The one thing I'm scared of is that if I install a ROM I'll be dependent on this community to make future things work?
I mean, can you still access the Market? What about future updates? Will applications I purchased already still be available?
Like I said, I'm still fairly noobish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No sweat! If you look at my join date and postcount, you can see I'm not exactly the veteran around here either.
The MoDaCo ROM doesn't modify very much yet...just adds functionality (it's not the heavily optimized kernel that the GSM users have for example). I'm finding it fairly stable...there's a few quirks but those have fixes pretty easily found so far.
I can still purchase from the market...the stuff you purchased already is tied to your google account, not your phone. I bought Docs2Go before I rooted and flashed and I was able to redownload and install without any hassle or added cost.
On a custom ROM, future updates do depend on the person who is building the ROM. However, MoDaCo has proven pretty reliable thus far in keeping up with releases so it's a bit of a trust thing, do you trust MoDaCo to continue that trend or would you rather place your trust in the manufacturer? (It's a preference thing and willingness to risk either way).
The upside is that once you root to a recovery image (Not even changing your OS), you can take a Nandroid backup of your phone, which is an image you can drop back on there to get back to stock/manufacturer spec (as if you never left).
Any changes to your phone since the backup will not show up but that's kindof the risk.

thecodemonk said:
k on there to get back to stock/manufacturer spec (as if you never left).
Any changes to your phone since the backup will not show up but that's kindof the risk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is somewhat confusing for me. My phone is currently rooted. If I restore it factory default will it still be rooted?
If not,
Then should I restore to factory default first, take a Nandroid back up (this looks difficult), then root my phone?
The recovery image is basically replacing the "Factory reset" image, right?

fatkitty420 said:
This is somewhat confusing for me. My phone is currently rooted. If I restore it factory default will it still be rooted?
If not,
Then should I restore to factory default first, take a Nandroid back up (this looks difficult), then root my phone?
The recovery image is basically replacing the "Factory reset" image, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah ok...the recovery image is like a second mini OS you are booting into that has menu options and specializes in updating your phone with a custom ROM, running Nandroid for backups, and enabling you to mount your SDCard to your computer, so installing that doesn't actually do anything to your phone's running OS.
Nandoid takes a backup of the phone's OS (the one you use every day) as it is right now. It places the backup onto your sdcard under a folder called "nandroid" (where you can take a copy of it and put it on your computer to be safe). So whenever you Nandroid your phone, it's taking a snapshot of how your phone is currently configured (the whole thing) and if you restore from that three weeks from now after doing a bunch of things...it restores to the phone as if you hadn't done anything to it in those three weeks.
So to make an example: if you take a backup of your phone right now (rooted, right?) and then you do a bunch of things to it...then restore from that backup, it's as if you didn't do any of those things you did since the backup (but it will still be rooted since you backed up a rooted phone).
Second Example: If you nandroid your phone when it's running MoDaCo's ROM...when you restore it, it will be running MoDaCo's rom and configured however it was configured then.
I wouldn't worry about trying to get to factory default first...HTC has an official utility that can get you back to the state your phone was in when you first openned it out of the box. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=559622)

thecodemonk said:
Ah ok...the recovery image is like a second mini OS you are booting into that has menu options and specializes in updating your phone with a custom ROM, running Nandroid for backups, and enabling you to mount your SDCard to your computer, so installing that doesn't actually do anything to your phone's running OS.
Nandoid takes a backup of the phone's OS (the one you use every day) as it is right now. It places the backup onto your sdcard under a folder called "nandroid" (where you can take a copy of it and put it on your computer to be safe). So whenever you Nandroid your phone, it's taking a snapshot of how your phone is currently configured (the whole thing) and if you restore from that three weeks from now after doing a bunch of things...it restores to the phone as if you hadn't done anything to it in those three weeks.
So to make an example: if you take a backup of your phone right now (rooted, right?) and then you do a bunch of things to it...then restore from that backup, it's as if you didn't do any of those things you did since the backup (but it will still be rooted since you backed up a rooted phone).
Second Example: If you nandroid your phone when it's running MoDaCo's ROM...when you restore it, it will be running MoDaCo's rom and configured however it was configured then.
I wouldn't worry about trying to get to factory default first...HTC has an official utility that can get you back to the state your phone was in when you first openned it out of the box. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=559622)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, this really clarified things.
I love technology but, like most of these things, it's very overwhelming at first.

[Q] Comprehensive Tutorial on switching to GB / CM7

I am overjoyed to see that there is finally an official gingerbread update that I can flash, and then a CM7 for this kernel, that doesn't have any bugs that are too annoying. However, it's been a while since I became an expert on flashing my old LG Eve. Is there a thread somewhere that outlines exactly how to do this for this exact phone and mod?
I've got a D2G, with Fission ROM. the phone is unlocked and rooted. I have an original ROM saved to flash to the phone if need be. Everything I would ever need is backed up using Titanium Backup. I've downloaded the GB update and CM7. I think I'm ready to go.
Questions:
- Is there a thread that answers all this already?
- Am I going to run into any problems being unlocked or rooted?
- Does the phone revert back to being locked once the new GB is installed? That would not be good considering I'm in Canada, not on Verizon. I bought my phone unlocked so I don't know how to just unlock it again.
- I remember using nandroid before to make a complete backup of the contents of my phone so that if I screwed up I could just go back to it seamlessly. Same thing this time around?
- I'm not completely illiterate here though, so I'm going to give it a go and you can just correct me where I am wrong. First, put the CM7 and GB files on the SD card. then do a nandroid backup of the phone. Clear data, clear cache. Then use clockworkmod to flash the GB update. then use clockworkmod again to flash CM7. then use clockworkmod again to flash gapps. Start up phone, do a complete restore with Titanium and I'll have all my apps and settings, call history and texts back. I'm probably wrong somewhere in all this, but where?
If there's not already a comprehensive thread on this, let this be it!

You will need to SBF to stock to be able to install the update.
Refer to the following for some instructions:
http://droid.koumakan.jp/wiki/SBF
http://droid.koumakan.jp/wiki/4.5.607_Firmware
http://droid.koumakan.jp/wiki/CyanogenMod

Ok, I read these all over about 5 times. So in a nutshell, these are the steps:
- use rsdlite to put your phone back to the stock firmware 2.4.330
- unroot and remove cwm
- use android recovery to install gingerbread 4.5.607
- root again and install cwm again
- use cwm to install cyanogen and gapps.
Correct?
Also, I am running fission. According to my system info it is firmware 2.4.3. I would rather skip step 1 and just install gingerbread. I am guessing I can't, but please confirm.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA App

You don't need to unroot and remove CWM after flashing the SBF.
Otherwise everything's correct.
You cannot install the official Gingerbread firmware update onto a phone that is not running stock unrooted 2.4.330 without CWM and with all bundled software intact.
Note: if you need to backup your applications and configuration data, you can do so with CWM. Make a backup under Fission, then perform all those steps above, and once you're running CM7 on 4.5.607, use CWM's advanced restore feature to only restore /data.

So here I am in Gingerbread on my D2G (already further than I thought I'd get!) and you would think it would be smooth sailing from here... except I can't root it now! Is there a different technique for rooting in Gingerbread? I used Z4 before, and it worked in seconds.

OK, I figured out how to root using another thread. and when i am in adb shell I get "#" and not "$" after entering a string of commands.
But, apps think that I'm not rooted. All I need is to install CWM, but it runs into errors, presumably because I am not rooted.
The phone is in some sort of weird half-rooted state.

really weird experience with rooting. I realized that I hadn't done the additional steps where you push superuser to the phone and a couple other commands. So I did that, and then root check said i was rooted. I rebooted, and adb shell was acting like I wasn't rooted! yet root check still said I was. I was able to flash CWM and reboot, and then install CM7. Everything seems great!
except, right from the start I was getting repeated FCs for com.android.phone.
I remember that there's an issue with needing to reboot after switching to GSM... so I'm trying that now. Let's hope that stops the FCs.

So what ended up happening was, I rebooted and stopped getting the FCs for the phone after switching to GSM. So that is good. However, aside from the two minor bugs that I was prepared to live with, this is happening now:
- I have phone and SMS service, just no data. Wireless works fine, and so do GPS and Bluetooth to my knowledge.
- When attempting to select a network to register on, I get the dreaded “Your SIM card does not allow connection to this network” message. I have tried doing this with data/roaming enabled/disabled and with “only 2G” selected. I have also tried a couple of tips I found online such as removing the battery for 15 minutes and also getting a new SIM card.
- At first I was able to enter new APNs, but they wouldn’t save. I hit menu, then save, but it goes back to the APN screen and none are listed. Now, what happens is, if I hit menu, then “add new apn”, nothing happens.
I went into the telephony.db file to manually enter my APNs, and it seems that they are already there, which is good. I re-entered them all manually using sqlite anyway. This did not work. I also noticed that Verizon was listed with a “1” in current, which probably means that Verizon is my current APN. So I removed that 1 and placed it on all my rogers APN entries. Still, nothing is saved at the APN screen in settings, and I can’t enter them through that screen, either. And no data.
Suppose it turns out that this is just a bug with CM7 right now and it’s unusable for me. Obviously I don’t want to go all the way back to Fission on Froyo when I can use gingerbread. How far back into this process do I have to go? Can I just flash GB and it will overwrite CM7?

Did you make a CWM backup of your freshly installed Gingerbread? If so, just restore.
If not, I don't see how you're going to “just flash Gingerbread” without SBF'ing to 2.4.x.

Well, I have done a lot of testing and troubleshooting. I went back to the start of this whole process, and I backed up my APNs and fully tested the phone at every turn, and my conclusion is that CM7 is not friendly to APNs. There was no problem with stock Froyo or stock Gingerbread. With the working APNs that I had, I was able to use data on both. Once CM7 was installed, it was a no go.
I used a couple of apps to backup my APNs both in Froyo and Gingerbread prior to installing CM7, and when CM7 inevitably didn't allow me to use data, I tried to restore my APNs using these programs as well. They say that they worked, and it's true that if you go into root explorer the APNs are there as you entered them or restored them using a program. But it seems these APNs are not going to work unless you actually see them at the APN page in settings. And nothing I have tried up to this point has been able to make any APN show up at that screen.
I think the “Your SIM card does not allow connection to this network” message at the network operators screen, as well as my inability to enter APNs, are 100% related. I also bet there is a simple solution to it!
If anyone has any ideas about how to make an APN stick, and how to force a phone to start using it, please let me know. I'll also post this at the CM7 forum.

Dropping data and no calls/texts. Advice please.

Just in case this post gets moved, I want to identify my device as the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 (i535).
To give a little background on my issue, I have an issue with the device. When I first got it back in July, first thing I did was root the device. Naturally, since it was a new device, I was working with experimental methods... a couple weeks ago I thought to download CyanogenMod 10.1 (nightly build) to flash it with 4.2 and rid myself of the persistent OTA update that as we all know could not effectively install because of the measures I took to root. So, I boot into recovery and flash my custom rom. BAM! As it turns out, I did not have an unlocked bootloader and my phone was now teetering on the verge of being a $600 paperweight. I got that dumb yellow triangle saying unofficial firmware detected or some nonsense like that... Anyway, I look around the internet and decided that I was going to revert back to a stock rom using Odin, and then proceed to unlock my bootloader and root the device (I followed method 3 here) I used some touch recovery console that I have never heard of before (backups incompatible with ClockworkMod recovery) and something must have failed because my back up would not flash. I took the hit on losing most everything and reflashed successfully the custom rom mentioned earlier.
After about a week, I noticed the device began to drop data. 4G would just stop at random parts of the day, and I would have to disable and enable the data to get it to reconnect. At this point I was still able to make and receive phone calls and texts. After about 3 days of this, I concluded it was more than likely a bug in the custom rom, and that I could not live with it... so I redid the a fore mentioned tutorial and left the phone as a stock/unlocked/rooted device. The data issue continued, but with a twist. I was now unable to make or receive phone calls or texts. No matter what I did, I could not do anything and the 4G would only stay connected for a matter 5 minutes or so. When I logged into my vzw account, it identified my device as an unknown non-verizon device. Customer service walked me through various soft/hard reset techniques and nothing worked. They also suggested I try a new SIM card, which failed to work.
So, I turn to the bright minds of the android community. I have already decided not to invoke the Verizon warranty offered, where the result is they take my malfunctioning phone in flawless cosmetic condition and replace it with a "like-new" phone in working condition, because I think it's garbage that a warranty would give out used crap (should fix or replace). I have not contacted Samsung customer support yet because I wanted to see what my options were. I've already attempted flashing different radios and nothing seem to make any difference. If I have to, I will revert it back to stock again and invoke Samsung's warranty program, but I would much rather keep the phone. As it sits, I am stuck with my Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, and that just doesn't cut it.
So I ask, is there anything that can be done? Anyone know of a fix for my situation? I saw something about this in my quest for an answer and I don't know if my situation is a fit for this fix. If anyone has any knowledge of my issue and a work around for it, it would be greatly appreciated. I am at my whits end.

It sounds like you've done your homework on your problem.. The only thing in your post I didn't see was your sim card.. Maybe pulling it wait 2min restart. Shut down and insert,, or maybe a reprovision of the sim may be in order..
Ahaaaa....!!!

If your IMEI is intact, I would say to flash to ICS and reprovision the phone as suggested above. If it is not, you need to restore it with that backup that you made some time ago.
If it were me, I would reprovision, that is easy to do and I honestly think that it will work for you. If that works for you, reroot and restore your backup for TW ROM and you will be fine.

HHF2 said:
If your IMEI is intact, I would say to flash to ICS and reprovision the phone as suggested above. If it is not, you need to restore it with that backup that you made some time ago.
If it were me, I would reprovision, that is easy to do and I honestly think that it will work for you. If that works for you, reroot and restore your backup for TW ROM and you will be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's just it... I don't know anything about the IMEI and how to determine if that is the issue. If by reprovision you mean reflash back to stock, that is it's current state, and that did not resolve the issue.
As for the other comment in regards to the SIM card... I have already attempted that method, and it did not work. Also, a new SIM card was also tried, and had no success.

mkruluts said:
Well that's just it... I don't know anything about the IMEI and how to determine if that is the issue. If by reprovision you mean reflash back to stock, that is it's current state, and that did not resolve the issue.
As for the other comment in regards to the SIM card... I have already attempted that method, and it did not work. Also, a new SIM card was also tried, and had no success.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google reprovision, it is a number combination that you enter on the keypad that resets your phone. I had a similar problem that you are having and that fixed our for me. You also need to know that when you do this, it will erase all of your information on the phone. It will be just like it was when you unpacked it and powered it on the first time.
You will have to be on ICS because they removed the option to do this with JB. Just search for the code to enter and you will be fine.

HHF2 said:
Google reprovision, it is a number combination that you enter on the keypad that resets your phone. I had a similar problem that you are having and that fixed our for me. You also need to know that when you do this, it will erase all of your information on the phone. It will be just like it was when you unpacked it and powered it on the first time.
You will have to be on ICS because they removed the option to do this with JB. Just search for the code to enter and you will be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. So I tried the reprovsioning mentioned above. When my phone rebooted I was on data and able to make phone calls. Score! However, I checked the IMEI and it said 0. So, thinking that it was just a matter of time before my device began to stop working again... I did the IMEI fix. Now my phone is placing calls and holding data without issue. The OTA updates are flooding in and installing without issues.
I would like to point out, while I feel better having done the combination of both reprovisioning and IMEI fix, ultimately the initial reprovisioning did appear to resolve the issue.
Thanks to everyone for the assistance provided.

[Q] Samsung Galaxy S3 Derp.

First I'd like to say hello to all. I've been looking for the most comprehensive android discussion forum, and I think I hit the jackpot here. Anyway to the point. As it is known by the pros here, The S3 comes from your telecom company loaded with your personal connection info. From what I've read recently, the carriers either don't know how, or simply wont backup the nv and efs data to the onboard chips to preserve it in case of software failure, or mod failure. I did find an article with google explaining that a couple of devs discovered the fix for this inside the bootloader that we can use to force that backup to happen like it should, and it works. I've flashed several times since that backup and not lost the data from the phone. When I install cyanogen mod 11, it does not read those 2 particular memory blocks on booting, thus cyanogenmod does not recover the imei data from the onboard backup, even after a factory reset. I really would like to see if there is a workaround for that because unfortunately for me, any other method for backup is illegal where I live. If I flash back to stock rom, It reads the data back out of the chip, and restores my connection data for the carrier to the efs partition as well as the other 3 displayed in EFS Backup Pro. But I really like cyanogenmod, and since one of it's developers worked at Samsung, I'm really hoping my question finds an answer here.
So my question is is anyone familiar enough with the Cricket version of the S3 and cyanogenmod to tell me of a workaround for that problem if it exists. Thanks in advance for the community's responses.

Did You used the "cricket" Version of cyanogenmod?
Sent from my loved HTC One S using buggy Tapatalk 0.o

LS.xD said:
Did You used the "cricket" Version of cyanogenmod?
Sent from my loved HTC One S using buggy Tapatalk 0.o
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the cyanogenmod installer to install. From what I've read, the universal installer detects my phone and installs the correct version. Also I think that all s3 builds are now unified, so that's not an issue. Tried 10.2 after that, and caused my self more problems than I needed to fix, so I flashed back to stock. But I am going to attempt the mod again after backing up efs and nv if I have to. I can only run 4.3 or 4.4 android, which means I can only run 10.2 or 11 on my phone, or it will nuke the bootloader and hard brick my phone.

Corny007 said:
I used the cyanogenmod installer to install. From what I've read, the universal installer detects my phone and installs the correct version. Also I think that all s3 builds are now unified, so that's not an issue. Tried 10.2 after that, and caused my self more problems than I needed to fix, so I flashed back to stock. But I am going to attempt the mod again after backing up efs and nv if I have to. I can only run 4.3 or 4.4 android, which means I can only run 10.2 or 11 on my phone, or it will nuke the bootloader and hard brick my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=d2cri
Sent from my loved HTC One S using buggy Tapatalk 0.o
---------- Post added at 05:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:50 AM ----------
This is the cricket Version
Sent from my loved HTC One S using buggy Tapatalk 0.o

Versions are correct. Its not a version problem, it's an implementation problem where cm10.2 or 11 does not read the memory blocks that store the eps and nv data. Stock rom from cricket will read them and restore nv data from the chips. (I am not referring to the efs folder that can be seen as root. Im referring to the data stored in the 2 chips that Samsung and Cricket don't tell you about. Normally a corrupted efs folder is backed up from there because no one backs it up first. Google "Samsung derp" and you will find the article I found that explains this. People lose their efs because they don't know this about the knox system, and that it's not backed up properly. When you do not do " su nvbackup" then you lose your number. You do he nv backup procedure correctly and it backs up your current efs, then it's automatically restored whenever you flash a rom that reads those blocks. Cyanogenmod does NOT read those blocks to rebuild the efs/nv data. If it did, then when I do the factory reset after flashing, my phone would work right after the reset, but it does not. Neither version 10.2 nor 11.x reads those blocks.on reboot.

Corny007 said:
Versions are correct. Its not a version problem, it's an implementation problem where cm10.2 or 11 does not read the memory blocks that store the eps and nv data. Stock rom from cricket will read them and restore nv data from the chips. (I am not referring to the efs folder that can be seen as root. Im referring to the data stored in the 2 chips that Samsung and Cricket don't tell you about. Normally a corrupted efs folder is backed up from there because no one backs it up first. Google "Samsung derp" and you will find the article I found that explains this. People lose their efs because they don't know this about the knox system, and that it's not backed up properly. When you do not do " su nvbackup" then you lose your number. You do he nv backup procedure correctly and it backs up your current efs, then it's automatically restored whenever you flash a rom that reads those blocks. Cyanogenmod does NOT read those blocks to rebuild the efs/nv data. If it did, then when I do the factory reset after flashing, my phone would work right after the reset, but it does not. Neither version 10.2 nor 11.x reads those blocks.on reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looked at this already? --> Backup + Restore EFS SIII

I'm not sure how, but I'm up and dialing.
LS.xD said:
Looked at this already? --> Backup + Restore EFS SIII
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I didn't get back here. I have an update. Corny007 1, Samsung Galaxy S3 0. I won :highfive: The first time I installed cyanogen I did it with the installer, and like I said, the blocks weren't read. Not sure how or why yet as I'm just starting out, but I did about 2 or 3 days research, kept hitting dead ends, so I decided just to go back and use the installer again. For some reason, and I still have no idea why, as I mentioned my IMEI data would not restore. This time, it did, no backing up required. I do have them just in case, except I never went through the trouble to get them onto my Ext/SD, and I couldn't figure out how to work around version mismatches after Philz was overwritten. I could have installed the SDK, and took a couple more days probably to get it that way, but for some reason, that I still don't know, maybe it was a bugfix between last time and this, not sure. Bottom line is I am modded, and calling. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll hit the thanks button too. By the way, I never answered your question. I did look where you recommended. It just seemed like I was the one exeption to everything I found. EFS Pro for example couldn't make the .tar file, just little headaches like that. Thanks again.

[Completed] Corrupted backup? Big problems

Hi guys, wasn't sure where to post this and I've been searching the web for hours without coming up with an answer with the best way to fix the problem I've got.
So yesterday my sister gave me her phone saying it was shat and slow and generally rubbish (S4 i9505 running 4.4.2). So I had a brief look at it and she had absolutely no room on the phone at all, it was completely clogged. So I deleted all the cache data (4 gigs!!), as soon as I did this the phone came back to life and started updating everything it could, then made a backup in CWM. Thought while I'm here I may as well put the official Lollipop firmware on it from Sammobile. All was good until I realised that she has never backed anything up to google or any other cloud storage (pretty dumb!) and all of her important stuff I couldn't get back.
So I then had to try and extract some data from the CWM backup... couldn't do it. I just couldn't find the files that she wanted restored. Mainly whatsapp messages and pictures and also Smemo. These are all she needs, there's really important memos apparently, why the hell she never backed them up or had another copy of them is beyond me if they were that important!
So I tried restoring just the data part of the 4.4 CWM restore to the 5.0 rom, looking back now I see this is where I went wrong and was asking for trouble.
So I then tried rolling back to the full CWM backup, all went well so I assumed and it said it was successful. This was until the phone booted. Constant spamming of gapps has stopped working, and no matter what I did I couldn't get it to stop, the phone was unusable with it constantly pinging up, every app was failing, and then it would turn itself off and reboot.
So I Factory reset again and wiped everything, installed the backup again, same thing happened again. Even tried flashing the latest version of gapps, but nothing had any effect.
So now I'm thinking oh feck... I didn't make a backup of the Lollipop install as I thought the rollback would have just cured it, and she had already started messing about with it, making it look pretty and getting people to send her some of the important files she had.
So I thought balls, tough luck and you'll have to start again, your fault for never backing anything up. So I reflashed Lollipop, and for some reason it wouldn't boot. Would just hang at the Samsung logo, this was 4am, I was panicking as I'd effectively bricked her phone. So after lots of boot loops and countless flashes I was looking on ebay for a new phone for her, then suddenly it finally boots on one of the flashes.
Anyway after a lot of faffing about, flashing 4.4 which worked, so flashed 5.0 again, and luckily it booted, I don't know what happened, maybe I missed something as I was so tired, so I signed her into google and let all the apps download while I slept.
Now the question is, I seem to have found a site that explains how to extract individual files vaguely, I just need to get the smemos and whatsapp files and I'm not entirely sure where to look and extract these files. Also, will they corrupt if I try to install them on the 5.0 firmware?
Any help would be much appreciated as I'm really in the stinky brown stuff.

Morning bump if anyone can shed some light on this :crying:

Hi
Thanks for writing to us at XDA Assist. Have you tried using this tool?
[Tool] Cwm nandbackup file Extractor ( .img/ .tar files )
It should extract exactly what you need. If you're only reinstalling those specific apps with their data you should have no issues, just don't restore any system data, that's what caused your problems after restoring the KitKat backup on top of the Lollipop ROM.

No response in two days, thread closed, thanks.