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[Q] Recovery can't properly access /data - WTF?

Hi all,
I don't remember when it started, but recently my Photon's recovery has been acting strange when accessing /data partition. I'm now using official TWRP 2.7.0.1, and the recovery "hot reboots" itself when wiping /data, effectively making it unable to restore backups (because to restore the /data partition it has to be wiped first). I tried an older version of CWM (6.0.1.2), and it "wipes" /data in a blink of an eye, which only means it didn't wipe successfully at all.
For reference sake, I can still use my phone normally. I can install apps, restore app backups, or even directly create/delete files in /data partition once I'm booted into Android, so the problem is only limited to recovery. I even tried RSD-ing back to stock and then start all over, but still no dice.
Any ideas would be welcome. If I need to grab any logs, please tell me which and how.

AndyYan said:
Hi all,
I don't remember when it started, but recently my Photon's recovery has been acting strange when accessing /data partition. I'm now using official TWRP 2.7.0.1, and the recovery "hot reboots" itself when wiping /data, effectively making it unable to restore backups (because to restore the /data partition it has to be wiped first). I tried an older version of CWM (6.0.1.2), and it "wipes" /data in a blink of an eye, which only means it didn't wipe successfully at all.
For reference sake, I can still use my phone normally. I can install apps, restore app backups, or even directly create/delete files in /data partition once I'm booted into Android, so the problem is only limited to recovery. I even tried RSD-ing back to stock and then start all over, but still no dice.
Any ideas would be welcome. If I need to grab any logs, please tell me which and how.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Recovery logs are stored in /cache/recovery .

kabaldan said:
Recovery logs are stored in /cache/recovery .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For TWRP, I thought it was just /tmp/recovery.log...
But either way, can you post a log from recovery after attempting to wipe?

I had something similiar when I wanted to restore a nandroid from my sdcard with TWRP (earlier, about a year ago).
At the end I chose to backup and restore on the internal sd (/data/media) instead of the external sd.
I am not sure if it was the sdcard but this solved my backup problems with TWRP.
Since then I always first backup to internal sd and then copy it to the external one.
I could not read if the problem comes by just wiping /data or while restoring a backup (which should first wipe a backup).

kabaldan said:
Recovery logs are stored in /cache/recovery .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the last_log from TWRP 2.7.0.1: http://d-h.st/TKb . These 2 parts grabbed my attention:
Code:
I:Mount: Unable to find partition for path '/data'
and
Code:
I:wipe list '/data;'
I:wipe_path '/data'
Wiping data without wiping /data/media ...
[STRIKE]I:Unable to unlink '/data/bugreports'[/STRIKE]
I:Fixing /data/media/0 contexts
...What's that "/data/bugreports" all about?
And here's the last_log from CWM 6.0.4.8 (I built it via ClockworkMod Builder myself): http://d-h.st/zvK . These:
Code:
-- Wiping data...
Formatting /data...
I:Formatting unknown device.
rm: can't remove '.' or '..'
rm: can't remove '.' or '..'
Something even more strange is, although TWRP "hot reboots" / CWM "fast skips" when wiping /data, /data gets wiped anyways.
Loader009 said:
I could not read if the problem comes by just wiping /data or while restoring a backup (which should first wipe a backup).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, my problem can be triggered simply by attempting to wipe /data, so I'm pretty sure this is not relevant to my SD. For verification, I ejected my SD before booting into recovery, and attempted another /data wipe, which still "hot rebooted" my recovery.

AndyYan said:
Hmm, my problem can be triggered simply by attempting to wipe /data, so I'm pretty sure this is not relevant to my SD. For verification, I ejected my SD before booting into recovery, and attempted another /data wipe, which still "hot rebooted" my recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably I'm talking about another problem.
Sorry, I was not sure and noticed my problem to be on the safe side.

Loader009 said:
Probably I'm talking about another problem.
Sorry, I was not sure and noticed my problem to be on the safe side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if you're familiar with linux at all. But there's a simple fix to this solution. I had the same problem when I was using CM7 with my second OG Droid. But basically you use the following commands. If it's a problem with wiping the /Data clean out, and then rebuilding from a previous backup where the /Data directory is in tact, this is what you do. (WARNING! IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE ISSUING THESE COMMANDS, THEN DON'T.)
open up cmd prompt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
navigate to your adb folder where the actual adb.exe file is located. Then make sure your phone is booted into recovery.
adb shell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that will put you in a linux environment while your phone is in recovery
ls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that will list all directories and files in the root of your phone make sure there is a directory called data. as long as there is, do the following.
rmdir data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that will delete the entire current /data structure on your phone. If you don't feel safe doing this, then don't. From there just do the recovery again.
ENJOY!

dslinfreak said:
I'm not sure if you're familiar with linux at all. But there's a simple fix to this solution. I had the same problem when I was using CM7 with my second OG Droid. But basically you use the following commands. If it's a problem with wiping the /Data clean out, and then rebuilding from a previous backup where the /Data directory is in tact, this is what you do. (WARNING! IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE ISSUING THESE COMMANDS, THEN DON'T.)
navigate to your adb folder where the actual adb.exe file is located. Then make sure your phone is booted into recovery.
that will put you in a linux environment while your phone is in recovery
that will list all directories and files in the root of your phone make sure there is a directory called data. as long as there is, do the following.
that will delete the entire current /data structure on your phone. If you don't feel safe doing this, then don't. From there just do the recovery again.
ENJOY!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You really sure this could deal with my issue, since you're replying to HIM instead of ME in MY question post?
EDIT: I actually risked my phone and attempted this - I think I already know ADB commands pretty well - and although /data is totally deleted, after a reboot to recovery, wiping /data still causes "hot reboot".
AND the actions also totally wiped my internal storage (because internal storage is /data/media and deleting /data also deleted it)! Thank god I don't have anything important in there...
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11

Yes, that's what I was thinking after reading his post.
It is also a little bit different problem than the one discussed here.
In your case AndyYan I simply would flash a stock ROM with RSDLite and then redo the flash recovery and ROM steps.
Because your data is already lost, this might be the fastest way.
But this way we wouldn't figure out what the current problem is. It's your choice since I don't know how fast you need the phone. I don't know if you are able to get a shell (with OpenRecovery you surely are) but what do you get if you enter "mount"? (Search for a line with /data)
With "mount" you'll get plenty of lines so it might be better to do it on the PC with "adb shell mount".
edit: With mount you get only the mounted partitions. I forgot that nothing of that is mounted. Theoretically we should be able to mount the data partition manually and format it with the right filesystem...
But I really don't know what might break, what happens to the media folder and other soft-/hardlinks.

Loader009 said:
flash a stock ROM with RSDLite and then redo the flash recovery and ROM steps.
Because your data is already lost, this might be the fastest way.
But this way we wouldn't figure out what the current problem is. It's your choice since I don't know how fast you need the phone. I don't know if you are able to get a shell (with OpenRecovery you surely are) but what do you get if you enter "mount"? (Search for a line with /data)
With "mount" you'll get plenty of lines so it might be better to do it on the PC with "adb shell mount".
edit: With mount you get only the mounted partitions. I forgot that nothing of that is mounted. Theoretically we should be able to mount the data partition manually and format it with the right filesystem...
But I really don't know what might break, what happens to the media folder and other soft-/hardlinks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As said in the OP, RSD'd already but problem remains. As for mounting problems, I assume I can attempt to manually mount it, but I don't know the right command (Linux n00b).
I don't have any important data on the phone (it's not my primary device, as my signature says), everything's on the SD card, so feel free to throw suggestions/commands at me, as long as it doesn't have the risk of hard-bricking!
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11

AndyYan said:
You really sure this could deal with my issue, since you're replying to HIM instead of ME in MY question post?
EDIT: I actually risked my phone and attempted this - I think I already know ADB commands pretty well - and although /data is totally deleted, after a reboot to recovery, wiping /data still causes "hot reboot".
AND the actions also totally wiped my internal storage (because internal storage is /data/media and deleting /data also deleted it)! Thank god I don't have anything important in there...
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appoligize that you did this. i really was just talking to him. as for the fix, was there a stock rom already on the phone? or had you put cm10 or 11 on there? i know for a fact that their internal storage for files, pictures, music, and dowloads are stored in /sdcard on the photon q. i did enough digging on adb for the past week to memorize that file structure.
Edit: Now that /data is gone, do an advanced recovery, don't wipe data, just flash it on. this might avoid the 'hot reboot' issue. i'm about to attempt to replicate this problem on my emulator.

dslinfreak said:
I appoligize that you did this. i really was just talking to him. as for the fix, was there a stock rom already on the phone? or had you put cm10 or 11 on there? i know for a fact that their internal storage for files, pictures, music, and dowloads are stored in /sdcard on the photon q. i did enough digging on adb for the past week to memorize that file structure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/sdcard is just a symlink to /data/media...

I read the thread from the beginning to be sure what has already been tried.
It looks like the /data partition is corrupted, probably even more, the partition table (which we cannot rewrite afaik).
But I give my best suggestions I have to help.
As you might imagine, I won't be able to solve your problem but I can try to search where the actual problem is.
Please correct me if I am saying something wrong!
The following commands should be entered inside "adb shell" and the output should be posted here:
mount
ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name
ls -al /dev/block/mmcblk0p39
The first command tells us what has been mounted within the recovery. /data should be there somewhere.
The second command tells us what partitions are available. userdata is the /data partition and should be listed.
The third command is actually a confirmation. If userdata is not in the output of the second command, then this command tells us if the actual partition exists.
In the last case (userdata is not shown in the second command but the partition exists), there might be a naming issue. Theoretically a format of this partition and give it the name "userdata" should solve it.
How? Actually I know on linux the command "mkfs.ext4 /path/to/partition" with which it is possible to format a partition into the ext4 filesystem.
But how do we give it a name? I don't know. Actually this is done in the partition table and not in the partition itself.

arrrghhh said:
/sdcard is just a symlink to /data/media...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, color me purple now. Not a great thing for me and now I look like an absolute retard. I think I'm gonna go back to hs now and retake linux OS.

dslinfreak said:
I appoligize that you did this. i really was just talking to him. as for the fix, was there a stock rom already on the phone? or had you put cm10 or 11 on there? i know for a fact that their internal storage for files, pictures, music, and dowloads are stored in /sdcard on the photon q. i did enough digging on adb for the past week to memorize that file structure.
Edit: Now that /data is gone, do an advanced recovery, don't wipe data, just flash it on. this might avoid the 'hot reboot' issue. i'm about to attempt to replicate this problem on my emulator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's okay, if there were any important data there I would have backed it up before you say it. And yes, /sdcard simply symlinks to /data/media.
As I described, I can flash ROMs all I want, yet I can't backup or wipe my /data, which is needed for backup ops.
Loader009 said:
I read the thread from the beginning to be sure what has already been tried.
It looks like the /data partition is corrupted, probably even more, the partition table (which we cannot rewrite afaik).
But I give my best suggestions I have to help.
As you might imagine, I won't be able to solve your problem but I can try to search where the actual problem is.
Please correct me if I am saying something wrong!
The following commands should be entered inside "adb shell" and the output should be posted here:
mount
ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name
ls -al /dev/block/mmcblk0p39
The first command tells us what has been mounted within the recovery. /data should be there somewhere.
The second command tells us what partitions are available. userdata is the /data partition and should be listed.
The third command is actually a confirmation. If userdata is not in the output of the second command, then this command tells us if the actual partition exists.
In the last case (userdata is not shown in the second command but the partition exists), there might be a naming issue. Theoretically a format of this partition and give it the name "userdata" should solve it.
How? Actually I know on linux the command "mkfs.ext4 /path/to/partition" with which it is possible to format a partition into the ext4 filesystem.
But how do we give it a name? I don't know. Actually this is done in the partition table and not in the partition itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the full output:
Code:
~ # mount
mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p36 on /cache type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
[B]/dev/block/mmcblk0p39 on /data type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)[/B]
/dev/block/mmcblk0p39 on /sdcard type ext4 (rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1 on /external_sdcard type vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
~ # ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name
ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 aboot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 abootBackup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p31
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 cache -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p36
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 carriercust -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p35
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 cdrom -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p38
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 cid -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p28
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 devtree -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p30
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 dhob -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 fsg -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p24
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 hob -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 kpan -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p33
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 logo -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p29
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 mbl -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 misc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p26
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 modem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 modemst1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 modemst2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 padA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 padB -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 pds -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p27
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 persist -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p32
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 rpmBackup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 sbl1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 sbl2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 sbl2Backup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 sbl3 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 sbl3Backup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 sp -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p25
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 ssd -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p37
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 tombstones -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p34
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 tz -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 tzBackup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
[B]lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p39[/B]
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 utags -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2014-05-18 00:52 utagsBackup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
~ # ls -al /dev/block/mmcblk0p39
ls -al /dev/block/mmcblk0p39
brw------- root root 259, 7 2014-05-18 00:52 mmcblk0p39
As you can see, /data and userdata both exists.
Furthermore, using TWRP, I can even use its file manager to delete files, modify permissions, etc. in /data, just can't wipe it or back it up (backing up /data usually takes 20+ seconds, but now it's completed in a flash).

For me everything looks ok.
The partition is mounted and the recovery can access the partition.
It should work but it doesn't.
I am kind of clueless.
If I remember correctly, there was in TWRP an option to wipe data/internal storage (or something like that).
Could you try this one? (And post the last_log again.)
I think that it wipes in a blink of an eye because there is nothing to delete.
With the wipe data/internal storage I think it formats the partition instead of doing a "rm -R" (wipe data) on several folders. (I think it is rm -R, I don't actually know it.)
I have problems if I backup data from (external) sdcard. I have to move my backup to the internal storage (not in a recovery!) to successfully restore my backup.
It is annoying, but I haven't found a solution to be 100% sure that the recovery reads the backup correctly from the (external) sdcard.

What about a recovery.log after the failed attempt?

He already has:
AndyYan said:
Here is the last_log from TWRP 2.7.0.1: http://d-h.st/TKb.
[...]
And here's the last_log from CWM 6.0.4.8 (I built it via ClockworkMod Builder myself): http://d-h.st/zvK.
[...]
Something even more strange is, although TWRP "hot reboots" / CWM "fast skips" when wiping /data, /data gets wiped anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Loader009 said:
If I remember correctly, there was in TWRP an option to wipe data/internal storage (or something like that).
Could you try this one? (And post the last_log again.)
I think that it wipes in a blink of an eye because there is nothing to delete.
With the wipe data/internal storage I think it formats the partition instead of doing a "rm -R" (wipe data) on several folders. (I think it is rm -R, I don't actually know it.)
I have problems if I backup data from (external) sdcard. I have to move my backup to the internal storage (not in a recovery!) to successfully restore my backup.
It is annoying, but I haven't found a solution to be 100% sure that the recovery reads the backup correctly from the (external) sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the "format data" option like you said, and it seems to go nicely - the log says it recreated filesystem properly - until it "hot reboots" again. Bang it. Log attached: http://d-h.st/chh
I have always been backing up to/restoring from external SD card without any flaws. Now I can't restore my backup, but only because restoring backup involves wiping /data...

Loader009 said:
He already has:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kept looking for recovery.log... haha.
Nothing brilliant is coming to me at the moment, I will ask some people (much) smarter than I...

[Q] VERIZON Samsung Tab 2 10.1 sch-i915 Hardbrick help

I have an incident that I have accrued myself so no need for those comments. The history of the hardbrick i created. If any information regarding anything feel free.
First of all i rooted my device using towelroot. It works for alot of devices and runs as 3rd party apk installer. Created by the infamous Geohotz. Godbless. https://towelroot.com/ for those of you who do not know.
2nd i was looking and trying to swap my extSdCard with my internal /sdcard. I edited the vold.fstab and the vold.conf files thinking hey i can use the external as full internal to have the devive install apps on properly w/o manually moving and use the internal remaining sdcard memory as virtual Ram. I have not completed this process yet. Ill explain.
After mounting the internal as external and vice. I ended up being stuck in a boot loop. NOTE: i did not have custom recovery(was one of the oopsies) so was stuck with basic android recovery. Reset device did not fix. Was going to Odin flash the stock rom and/or CWM Recovery, but there is absolutely NO STOCK or LEAKED rom anywhere for the verizon model. I also pulled those 2 files off of my other tab 2 10.1 NON VERIZON *vold.fstab and vold.conf and places it into zip file and signed it using signapk.
which now i feel like an idiot finding this link "http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/themes-apps/tutorial-making-flashable-zips-edify-t1611615"
NOTE: I used a different post somewhere that didnt explain to have the right binary so it gave me a signature mismatch error when trying to flash. Use above post to make sure you use propery binary.
Luckily i did some research and knowledge of what i actually did to fix it and plus my addiction to play around and learn things. I manually duplicated the vold.fstab/vold.conf files from my one device to the bricked one
Boot up device in Android recovery.
installed and loaded up ADB.exe from command line.
Code:
adb shell
su
echo *yourlinehere*> /system/etc/vold.fstab
echo *yourlinehere*>> /sytem/etc/vold.fstab
the first > rewrites the file from start black document and inputs the first line
the 2nd >> note the double >> appends to the next line.
i rebooted and VOILA FIXED!!! but wait....theres more ><
So knowing the troubles i had to fix my lil play around mistake. I wanted to get custom recovery partition installed. Used Rom Manager to install CWM Recovery. I picked the wrong rom for my device and flashed it. The one i used was for the international Tab 2 10.1 the gt-5100. It said it successfully flashed so i figured wth it couldnt hurt right? WRONG i clicked reboot to recovery to check it. and here is where I lie. HARD BRICK. No boot up at all. Plug in charger to outlet or PC i dont even get the charging device battery image. So now here we go more research fun!!!
I looked up some information on how to fix a hard bricked device. some posts say using a jig to bypass it and get into download mode. Ok this is a 30 pin connector not a 4 pin like most the android devices. I could do some research on this and probably rig a jig to convert and match the pin layouts but meh my problem still lies within not having stock firmware for this model. I also learn of Jtag methods. Oh all well and handy but buying the Riff Box and all this gets your device bootable, but hey guess what? it would allow me to boot into that download mode or android recovery. Which still bottom line fails as i dont have a stock rom to flash. OH the dilemna.
What ive come up with. I plugged in my device into my pc. Well what do you know i can actually get recognition. but this is where i am stuck at.
I figured out that the device is recognized and i needed drivers. I found this handy site
https://developer.qualcomm.com/forum/qdevnet-forums/general-discussion/9428 Which also explains that i messed up my boot partition.
I download and installed the QPST program and installed the drivers on win7. I had to reboot and use advanced options to disable the unsigned drivers check. OK sweet connection is up!
I tried using ADB shell but device isnt connected that way.
In the QPST program it shows my device on com10 in download mode. I tried to retrieve some data or partition information from the device but it says i cannot when device is in download mode. So no pulling files and fixing and reflashing them. Back to the same problem before NO STOCK ROM.
So here are the questions I have regarding my situation. The android device im playing with has the base partitions. As an example of this http://www.all-things-android.com/content/review-android-partition-layout
I do not have my partition layout for my device as its bricked. I dont even know if it needs to be repaired yet. If any of you with a verizon tab 2 10.1 sch-i915 has a rooted device and can get me this table or a pit file for this device it would be appreciated
2nd firmware vs firmware. As previously stated I do not have firmware for this verizon tab. HOWEVER i did find firmware for the Sprint version of this exact tablet. My question is, could these stock firmwares be exact duplicates with the exclusion of the boot up screen bs and the /misc partition containing the imei phone stats and carrier information?
3rd Flashing just certain partitions of this firmware. Is it possible if the above is feasible considering i know my /boot partition is messed up and my /recovery partition is messed up to only flash those 2 partitions with the one from sprint. The stock kernal should be the same in both devices for the /boot and the /recovery partition should hold the same android recovery should it not?
4th. If anyone has a rooted sch-i915 device would you be willing to make dump of the partitions using this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2450045. That would be appreciated.

Let Me Work On That
You Are Possibly In Luck. I Know Somone That Has That Tablet. Problem Is It Is My Mom's And Well She Rather Beat Me With It Then Let Me Touch It. I'll See What I Can Do And Will Post Back.. Wish Me Luck i Will Need It :fingers-crossed:

][NT3L][G3NC][ said:
You Are Possibly In Luck. I Know Somone That Has That Tablet. Problem Is It Is My Mom's And Well She Rather Beat Me With It Then Let Me Touch It. I'll See What I Can Do And Will Post Back.. Wish Me Luck i Will Need It :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciated good luck.
If not possible and i get it fixed ill post how i did it and such. and also post up a JB 4.12 stock/updated leaked rom of this device which apparently seems to be missing in the world for some damn reason.

I Got A Question
Sorry I Been Busy, & Google Has Not Been Kind 2 Me. I Did Find The California Lottery Vulnerability Report Generated By Nessus. But If Someone Could Please Point Me In The Right Direction Or Just Break It Down For Me As Quickly And Light As You Could, Short, Straight Forward, The LIghtest Kliff Notes Ever Would Be Appreciated.
Verizion SCH-I915 [ 4.1.2 ]
I Only Had A Few Minutes With The Tablet But I Already Rooted It, Installed BusyBox, I Barely Started To Get Into The FIle System.... I'm Using Kali LInux
1. What Partitions/Blocks Do I Need To Obtain To Create An Odin Flashable Recovery Image
2. Is There A Droid Binary, Or Script I Can Use To Dump The Rom While Creating The Above For Odin?
Just Found Something I Downloaded At Some Point Called: ROMGEN Any Idea On That Binary??? And phantomphr33k Any Request.
Forgive Me I Work Nights, Two Kids, So I'm Up Days + On Call During The Day.
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 aboot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 ???
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 backup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 cache -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 efs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 fota -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 fsg -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 grow -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 modem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 modemst1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 modemst2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 pad -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 param -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 persist -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 sbl1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 sbl2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 sbl3 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 ssd -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 tz -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-10-27 01:41 userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15

Should Post The Rest Tomorrow
I Have Attached Some Text Files With The Output Of A Couple Commands To Get The block/partition layout.
I Have Dumped The system.img which is 1.6gb In SIze
Tomorrow I Should Have : Modem "firmware" , Boot , Recovery
QUESTIONS:
What Is aboot?
Which Is The Kernel?
What Is Modemst*?
And More Important, Which Ones Do I Need To Pull For A Complete ROM Dump?
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 aboot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 backup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 cache -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 efs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 fota -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 fsg -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 grow -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 modem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 modemst1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 modemst2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 pad -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 param -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 persist -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 sbl1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 sbl2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 sbl3 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 ssd -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 20 Nov 2 1970 tz -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 21 Nov 2 1970 userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15

Sorry its the Holidays so its understandable. Cant really twist your arm to rush it Im by far not an expert on this i do research myself. Ill do my best and if anyone else can shed light please do.
][NT3L][G3NC][ said:
QUESTIONS:
[*]What Is aboot?
[*]Which Is The Kernel?
[*]What Is Modemst*?
[*]And More Important, Which Ones Do I Need To Pull For A Complete ROM Dump?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Aboot partition is basically your "Odin Downloader" protocol. while booting pressing power + Vol Dwn will put your device in this mode.
2) The kernel/ramdisk is stored in the /boot partition
Note Primary Bootloader and SB* are secondary bootloaders 1,2,3 those are loaded up as well to set certain params + setup/initialize hardware as far as im understanding. and loads up the kernel/ramdisk.
3)Ill quote from another thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2582811
][NT3L][G3NC][ said:
- backup and restore important device partitions - EFS (Samsung), TA (Sony), MODEM (Exynos devices), MODEMST1 & MODEMST2 (Qualcomm devices),
- root is required
- easy to use
- many localizations
- see paths to important partitions of your device using Menu -> Device Partitions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as im understanding these partitions hold carrier information/imei and all other sorts of GRPS information in regards to connecting your devices radio to Service. Sorta like your network card drivers and Mac Address
I looked at another persons rom dump and I seen only these partitions in the archive. Sadly I dont remember where i found this but is from a guy who JTAGS devices. So im pretty sure its legit. Its from the Sprints version of this device.
/system.img.ext4(going to be the biggest dump)
/recovery.img
/cache.img.ext4
/boot.img
[QUOTE=']
1. What Partitions/Blocks Do I Need To Obtain To Create An Odin Flashable Recovery Image
2. Is There A Droid Binary, Or Script I Can Use To Dump The Rom While Creating The Above For Odin?
Just Found Something I Downloaded At Some Point Called: ROMGEN Any Idea On That Binary??? And phantomphr33k Any Request.
[/QUOTE]
So basicallly special request if you could is mainly dump those partitions above
This Romgen seemingly looks to dump what is needed for the rom. It also makes and update-script flashable Odin file. Never tried it myself. ive used cygwin/kitchen personally.
If you would do that would be sufficient as a stock rom. Granted if the rom is updated its not stock.....BUT at least it will be an updated stock vwz sch-i915 out there in public finally.
AND...extra special request is a pit file. Reason being is i need to attempt to flash by other means not via odin.(more personal use than general public) and i need the block information to flash partitions to the chip at the certain points. Im extracting the *.img/bin files and compiling *.mbn files and going to attempt to flash directly to the chip. As far as ive seen its worked on a few other devices and i might as well try considering this is a Qualcomm device and it is recognized in QPST. Maybe the security on the bootloader may not allow it but what could it hurt? its already hard bricked right? lol
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1916936
program here for windows. I never checked for any linux based tools cuz i use cygwin if i absolutely need linux.
Much appreciated ][NT3L][G3NC][ your making my day :laugh:

happy new years intelligence since it seems ur the only one to view this thread.

so did you ever get a good romdump? I have been trying all night to do it to mine but can not get it to work.

[INFO] ANDROID DEVICE PARTITIONS and FILESYSTEMS

NOTE:
I'm not a developer or something even near to that. I'm a newbie and will be, seems so. All information provided here is copied and compiled from different internet sources like this and many others.
This information is according to best of my knowledge and comprehension and is just for curious souls like me who want to understand things in quite simple words. It might be wrong and I will open-heartedly welcome any correction or addition from anyone.
I'm not responsible for any harm to you or your device resulting from this.
1. PARTITION TABLE
The Phone's Internal Memory (eMMC or UFS; not the SD card) is solid-state (flash) memory, aka NAND. Raw NAND, as it's called, is basically a pure flash memory dependent on CPU to control it. But in order to use flash memory just like a traditional hard drive (block device), NAND is equipped with an (embedded multimedia) micro-controller. It's called eMMC.
eMMC can be partitioned much like a hard drive on PC. PC's have traditionally been partitioned with BIOS compatible Master Boot Record (MBR) scheme in which first sector of disk contains the details of partitions called Partition Table. Limited size of boot sector (512 bytes) puts a limitation of at maximum 4 (primary) partitions listed in MBR. Extended partition has been used for 4+ partitions.
GUID Partition Table (GPT) was introduced with UEFI booting system which isn't dependent on first boot sector and hence may contain up to 128 partitions. GPT also does CRC check, has backup GPT, identifies partitions by GUID and partitions have a label.
Android devices use GPT. We can view and manipulate GPT using Linux tools such as parted and gdisk while fdisk is the traditional tool for MBR partitions.
To view partition table on internal memory:
Code:
~# parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
(parted) p free
~# gdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0
(The external SD Card can also be partitioned to include a section dedicated to storing user apps (like Link2SD does) or to create partitions for secondary or tertiary OS on Android device using some multiboot kernel and recovery system). Even we can put whole OS/ROM on an SD card.
2. BRIEF INTRO
Contents of Android partitions can be partially or completely modified by flashing an image (filesystem .img or executable binary or a flashable zip) to them. But we never need to modify most of them and whatever manufacturer wrote on them, resides there unmodified (read-only) for the whole of device life. A user uses only one partition /data to save personal data like photos, music etc. All the other are for device to run. There are typically in the range of 50 partitions on an Android device but only a few partitions are modified for the purpose of adding new features or upgrading the device. A custom ROM or minor upgrade is also limited to modify /boot, /system and /data partitions usually. Most of the partitions are almost intact, containing bootloaders, firmwares, settings etc. Here is a "summarized" detail to these partitions which matter to a common but interested user.
On most devices /system and /data are larger partitions (on some devices /custom or a similar partition too) covering almost 90% of eMMC. All others are smaller ones of a few KB's or MB's.
3. SoC / CHIPSET / PROCESSORS RELATED PARTITIONS
SoC is the first component when we start a PC or Mobile phone which initialzes hardware and processors and loads bootloaders in memory to bootstrap OS. It's an integrated chip containing multiple things e.g. CPU, GPU, modem, wifi etc. It varies for device manufacturers and SoC vendors (chipset plus processor).
Some partitions are specific to SoC, most of them are closed-source executable binary blobs (like aboot, sbl, rpm, tz, cmnlib, devcfg, keymaster, lksecapp and others on a Qualcomm device), loaded step-by-step by bootloaders.
MODEM or RADIO - the phone's radio
Also called baseband, it is responsible for signals and on older devices may control wifi, bluetooth, and GPS (on most newer devices, these are handled by the kernel and ROM). Upgrades are country dependent and may improve or diminish battery performance, network signal strength, and roaming capability. It is also sometimes required to have a minimum Baseband version to use a ROM so that the RIL will play nice with the Baseband.
Modem firmware is a mini-OS for the cellular radio chip which has its own processor. Firmware is a general term, firmware exists for a lot of things on phone. The wireless chip for WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth often has a firmware as can the GPU core among other things. These firmware files are usually located inside the SYSTEM or VENDOR partition. The modem firmware is special because it has its own separate Baseband Processor (BP) so the firmware is left out of the system image in its own partition.
Modem is not an Android-specific partition. It is tied to the hardware of the phone, but the kernel has a code allowing Android to interact with the hardware. But the baseband processor (BP) - which runs modem and is responsible for all communication through mobile networks e.g. call, SMS and internet - is totally isolated from Application Processor (the one we call CPU) and is not governed by Android kernel; it runs an independent RTOS.
RIL/Radio Interface Layer
This is not a separate partition, but a part of the ROM and is like a driver for the Radio. RIL daemons provides telephony and cellular data i.e. adds phone to smartphone. There is a matching RIL for each Baseband version and you can flash it to match your Baseband after flashing a ROM. Having mismatched RIL and Baseband can range from having no effect at all, slight battery drain, loss of roaming, or even no connection to the cell network. Many ROMs keep their RIL updated to the latest. Job of the RIL is to translate all the telephony requests from the Android telephony framework and map them to the corresponding AT commands to the modem, and back again. AT set of commands is used to communicate with modem i.e. baseband processor (BP) which is a must have processor on Android devices in addition to normal CPU i.e. Application Processor (AP).
TZ (TrustZone) - used by ARM processors as an additional lock to security features. It combines user's encryption key with a hardware specific key generated by encryption processor (like TPM on Windows) to make security breaching more difficult. It can also be used to implement Trusted Execution Environment (TEE).
RPM (Resource/Power Management) which starts executing Primary/Primitive BootLoader (PBL) in BootROM - controls power to radio, modem etc.
DSP (Digital Signal Processor) - by Qualcomm to assist in things like smooth video playback (realtime media and sensors processor) as well as runs RTOS for modem
HYP (Hypervisor) - Virtual Machine Monitor, to enable Virtual Machine platform
4. BOOTLOADERS
Bootloaders - in many steps - hand over charge to kernel after loading in RAM. These are mostly standalone ELF executable files becuase at this stage no filesystem is loaded and only executable code may work. These are all closed source components on Android device, provided by SoC vendors - either built-in or as binary blobs.
SBL - Secondary bootloader loaded by SoC, loads ABOOT in memory, also provides (Emergency) Download Mode (EDL) on many devices, a Firmware Update Protocol.
ABOOT (bootloader.img or aboot.mbn file in Factory Firmware) - Applications Bootloader is the main bootloader responsible for loading kernel or recovey and fastboot - a Firmware Update Protocol - as well.
Kernelflinger is a similar bootloader on Intel devices.
Read ANDROID BOOT PROCESS to know more about bootloaders.
5. CORE AOSP PARTITIONS
BOOT - Kernel and initramfs (modern form of of ramdisk and ramfs/tmpfs)
A kernel is a layer of code that allows the OS and applications to interface with your phone's hardware. The degree to which you can access your phone's hardware features depends on the quality of code in the kernel. Several kernel code improvements give us additional features from our hardware that the stock kernel does not. When you flash a custom ROM, you automatically get a kernel. But you can also flash a standalone kernel on top of the existing one, effectively overwriting it. These days, the difference in custom kernels is less about new features and more about alternate configurations. Choosing a custom kernel is basically choosing one that works best with your ROM.
Device Tree Blob (DTB), along with hardware drivers, are baked with kernel source in boot.img. DTB is loaded by bootloader at boot time and passed to kernel so that it can discover hardware and create node points accordingly.
On a Linux system init along with scripts, binaries kernel drivers and modules (in initrd.img), kernel (vmlinuz executable) and bootloader configuration along with modules, they all reside on root or a separate partition (mounted) at /boot. While on Android, init along with a few binaries and configuration files and kernel reside in a separate partition named "boot" with a special filesystem. Boot.img is created using tools like mkbootimg after building kernel.
This is how kenrel and DTB are built:
vmlinux > Image > zImage / Image.gz > Image.gz-dtb
vmlinux: Large sized non-bootable Linux kernel (executable) with debug symbols, just an intermediate step to producing vmlinuz
vmlinux.bin: Same as vmlinux binary but with removed symbols, produced by 'objcopy'
vmlinuz: Compressed and bootable Linux kernel file; one of zImage or bzImage formats; compressed using zlib, LZMA, gzip or bzip2 etc.
zImage: Smaller format, for old kernels
bzImage: Big zImage
Image: vmlinux.bin of embedded devices
Image.gz: zImage or bzImage of embedded devices
.dts (multiple) < > .dtb (1 or more)
Converted using dtc (device tree compiler)
.dtb is appended to zImage / Image.gz i.e. zImage-dtb / Image.gz-dtb (simply concatenate)
zImage-dtb > dtb Can be extracted using split-appended-dtb
Packed as a part of kernel, "--dt" option is not needed when creating boot.img
mkbootimg --kernel *.Image.gz-dtb --ramdisk *.cpio.gz --base . . . --offset . . . --tag-address . . . --cmdline . . .
.dtb is extracted as a part of kernel by unpackbootimg
.dtb < > dtb.img
Converted using mkdtimg
dtb.img is for dtb partition or second stage of boot.img
boot.img is created by using --dt option:
mkbootimg --dt dt.img --kernel *.Image.gz --ramdisk *.cpio.gz --base . . . --offset . . . --tag-address . . . --cmdline . . .
dtb.img is extracted separately by unpackbootimg
Further Reading: Device Tree Overlays and Android Boot and Recovery Images
SYSTEM - ROM / OS
Contains system applications and libraries that have AOSP source code. During normal operation, this partition is mounted read-only; its contents change only during an OTA update or when flashing a new OS. Most ROM's don't allow root level (Admin rights in Windows) access by default. So, "rooting" is required to modify the contents of this partition. This is the actual User Interface we use on our phone i.e. system apps are installed on this partition on /system/app directory. Another important directory is /system/bin which contains executable binaries to perform each and every action by OS in background (as daemons) or by user in shell (bash) scripts or CLI (command line interface). These are native binaries (developed in C / C++ mostly) as opposed to Android apps which are developed in Java. A minimal form of Linux commands is also included in AOSP as toolbox or toybox (or user can add busybox or individual static binaries). /system/lib directory contains native libraries (shared by applications commonly) with .so extensions just like .dll on Windows.
VENDOR
This partition is replaced with a shortcut (symbolic link in fact) to /system/vendor directory. It contains system applications and libraries that do not have source code available on AOSP but added by vendors (OEM's). During normal operation, this partition is mounted read-only; its contents change only during an OTA update. It also contains SoC firmware images i.e. hardware specific libraries and binaries (OpenGL, ISP...).
Proprietary blobs (HALs) usually live in (/system)/vendor as shared libraries (.so files) which are loaded by Android binders when processes call a hardware component. HAL (hardware abstraction layer) is userspace alternative to traditional Linux's system calls for drivers and is a kind of Google's standardization for OEMs/hardware vendors, though being abandoned by mainstream Linux.
PROJECT TREBLE
In an ideal world, there should be a generic AOSP OS and a single kernel for all Android devices, not tied to hardware and vendors. But unfortunately it isn't so because unlike PC world, there is no standardization in mobile world. AOSP is heavily modified on silicon vendor (SoC) as well as phone vendor level. One of the worst outcome of this situation is almost no Long Term Support (LTS). There are delayed or none updates once the consumers have phone, making it vulnerable to security issues and missing new features. Project Treble (starting from Android-8) addresses this issue somewhat by creating a separation between hardware specific code and generic AOSP code.
Previously, phone vendors used to get AOSP code from Google, mixing it with their own cutomizations (UI, apps etc.) and the hardware specific code from SoC vendor. If a minor fix needed to be applied to AOSP code, the whole process had to be repeated because code was intermingled and fixing one thing broke the other. Google resolved this issue by specifying /vendor partition for hardware specific code, /system containing only generic code. Interaction with AOSP code will be through HIDL interfaces, thus making it possible to upgrade the both codes independently. /oem and /odm partitions were added previously for the same purpose.
USERDATA
User applications are installed in different folders under /data. Apps data (user and system) is stored in /data/data. User personal data and some apps data is stored in /data/media. /data/media is also emulated as internal SDCard at /storage/emulated and symlinked at /sdcard. Personalized and apps settings are also stored in this partition. A folder /data/dalvik contains, in simple words, extracted apps to boost loading process. Java bytecode of Android apps is converted to executable code (.odex) by Dalvik Virtual Machine, separate instance of which is launched by zygote (an Android init daemon) for every app.
This partition is not normally touched by the OTA update process. A Factory Reset wipes this partition, normally excluding /data/media i.e. personal data.
When you do a factory reset (AKA: wipe, hard reset, factory wipe, etc.), you are erasing the /data and /cache partitions. Note that a factory reset does NOT put your phone back to its factory state from an OS standpoint. OS upgrades will stay because the OS lives in /system, and that is not touched during a factory reset. So it's not a factory reset. It's a factory DATA reset actually.
RECOVERY
Holds alternate boot partition and the recovery program that lets the device boot into a recovery console for performing advanced recovery and maintenance operations. It contains a second complete Linux system i.e. independent OS, including a user-interface application, kernel and the special recovery binary that reads a package and uses its contents to update i.e. flash or wipe itself or any other partition particularly during OTA updates.
Recovery is also the most commonly used method to flash custom ROM's.
ADB sideload mode through PC is a replacement of flashing files (usually .zip) through Recovery. ADB works when phone is switched on in Recovery (or ROM). ADB/fastboot setup is to be made on PC to use this mode.
CACHE - cached (frequently accessed) data from OS usage and contains the firmware update package downloaded from server during OTA updates. Temporary holding area used by a few applications with the expectation that files can disappear at any time. Major use is by recovery and OTA updates. Recovery last_log is also written to this partition.
6. OTHER PARTITIONS
CUST - also CUSTOM or PRELOAD on some devices, it's used by stock ROM's, holding some preloaded system apps and regional settings which are installed on first use.
MISC - also FOTA on older devices
It's a tiny partition used by recovery to communicate with bootloader store away some information about what it's doing in case the device is restarted while the OTA package is being applied.
It is a boot mode selector used to pass data among various stages of the boot chain (boot into recovery mode, fastboot etc.). e.g. if it is empty (all zero), system boots normally. If it contains recovery mode selector, system boots into recovery mode.
It may also carry some necessarily required information in the form of switches to control hardware or settings related tasks such as CID (Carrier or Region ID) information and USB configurations etc.
PERSIST - contains data which shouldn't be changed after the device is shipped, e.g. DRM related files, sensor reg file (sns.reg) and calibration data of chips; wifi, bluetooth, camera etc.
Some package installers such as OpenGapps also make use of this partition to read configuration file.
EFS, MODEMST1, MODEMST2, FSG, BACKUP
These all are related to IMEI; a unique number used by GSM networks to identify and trace a mobile phone.
EFS may contain hardware info like configuration files, WiFi/BlueTooth MAC’s, IMEI (or ESN for a CDMA based device) etc.
EFS and MODEMST1 may be a single partition on some phones.
FSG (FileSystem Golden copy) and BACKUP are backups of MODEMST1 and MODEMST2 respectively. If MODEMST1 or MODEMST2 are erased (by wrong factory flashing say) and phone notices an invalid partition, FSG and BACKUP will be restored.
MODEMST1 and MODEMST2 also contains modem firmware files.
PARAM - stores a number of parameters, variables and settings of the hardware. It contains info whether MODEMST partitions are backed up or not. Also debug settings, custom ROMs flash count, current stage boot process etc.
OEM - like VENDOR, it incorporates OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer i.e. hardware manufacturer or Mobile Phone brand) small customization (modifications) to original Android (AOSP) during OTA updates such as customized system properties values etc.
PAD - related to OEM
OTA, FOTA - OTA updates
DDR - Double Data Rate RAM
FSC - Modem FileSystem Cookies
SSD - Secure Software Download, a memory based file system for secure storage, stores some encrypted RSA keys
DEVINFO - device information including: is_unlocked (aboot), is_tampered, is_verified, charger_screen_enabled, display_panel, bootloader_version, radio_version etc. Contents of this partition are displayed by "fastboot oem device-info" command in human readable format. Before loading boot.img or recovery.img, bootloader verifies the locked state from this partition.
CONFIG/FRP/PDB - saves state of Factory Reset Protection (FRP), "Allow bootloader (OEM) unlocking" . (Developer Options), asks already associated account info. This partition is erased/reset if Factory Reset done from Settings.
DEVCFG - used by TZ for upgrades
LKSECAPP - "LK (Little Kernel) Security App", related to RPM, TZ online verification / update
LIMITS - Qualcomm Limits Management Hardware (LMh) driver in SBL writes the data in this partition to use for later reboots
SYSCFG - Qualcomm CPR (Core Power Reduction) Regulator for better performance and power saving of application processor by voltage control
DIP, MDTP - boot verification, use Qualcomm SafeSwitch technology to lock and track theft phones
CMNLIB, KEYMASTER - verified boot
SEC - contains fuse settings, mainly for secure boot (signing bootloaders for chain of trust) and oem setting
KEYSTORE - related to /data Full Disc Encryption (FDE)
MCFG - (Modem Configuration Framework) - on dual SIM devices, loads MBN (modem binary) files depending on SIM/carrier
SPLASH - splash image or boot logo which appears when device boots (at ABOOT stage).
CHGLOGO - charging screen that appears when charger is connected to powered off device.
MSADP, APDP, DPO - related to debug policies
GROW - empty for future expansion
7. FILESYSTEMS
Supported filesystems by your kernel can be viwewd by:
Code:
~# cat /proc/filesystems
Partitions with Mountable Filesystems
Following partitions are mounted during boot process:
system, vendor, odm, userdata (mounted at /data), cache, cust, persist (mounted at /persist or /mnt/vendor/persist), modem (mounted at /firmware or /vendor/firmware_mnt), dsp (mounted at /dsp or /vendor/dsp)
Modem is formatted as vfat while all others are usually ext4 or f2fs on newer devices.
All of these are listed in /fstab.* file which is processes by init. Starting with Android 8.0 (Treble release), fstab.* is moved to /vendor/etc/ and system, vendor and odm entries are included in dtb.
Other partitions don't contain a mountable filesystem. However, we may try to get an idea of the contents by reading smaller partitions e.g.:
Code:
~# cat /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/config | strings
~# cat /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc | strings
Pseudo / Virtual / in-Memory Filesystems (Kernel space)
These filesystems don't rely on a physical persistent storage but just live in RAM, to provide kernel services interfaces in user space.
rootfs (/) - mounted by kernel before calling init. More details here
sysfs (/sys) - information related to devices, populated by kernel
devpts (/dev/pts) - character device files representing slave side of pseudo terminal pairs
proc (/proc) - information related to all processes, updated as processes are started / killed
tmpfs (/dev) - all device nodes updated from sysfs, accessible from user space
configfs (/config) - intergrated with userspace sdcardfs, controls apps permissions to directories on internal/external sdcard by VOLume Daeomon, a replacement of fusefs
pstore (/sys/fs/pstore) - persistent storage, a replacement of /proc/last_kmsg, saves last kernel console messages on panic / crashes / sudden reboots, solution to volatile nature of pseudo filesystems
cgroup - cgroups manage hardware resources allocation to processes as per load
selinuxfs (/sys/fs/selinux) - implementation of Security-Enahanced Linux, a mandatory access controls (MAC) to manage file permissions, better than traditional Discretionary Access Control (DAC) mechanism (Read-Write-eXecute) of Linux
debugfs (/sys/kernel/debug) - to monitor and debug kernel space implementations from user space
tracefs (/sys/kernel/debug/tracing) - debugfs with better security
functionfs (/dev/usb-ffs/adb) - integrated with configfs, manages USB gadgets, ADB is implemented through functionfs on Android
FILESYSTEM TREE MOUNTED BY INIT: ANDROID vs. LINUX
8. Factory Firmware and Flashable ROMs:
When you flash a custom ROM, that ROM typically includes a kernel and an OS. That means the /boot and /system partitions will be modified at a minimum. Some ROMs require a clean install, so a format of the /data and /cache partitions is sometimes built into the .zip that you flash. This is essentially doing a Factory Reset.
Read here to know more about flashing partitions.
Factory Firmware contains original iamge files of almsot all important partitions. It's provided by OEM's, usually as a package which also incude a flasher software for PC. Or a general flasher software may be uses such as QFIL.
ROM Development
A ROM developer downloads AOSP source code from Google while device tree, driver binaries and kernel source code is provided by (ODM's through) OEM's, if they are generous enough. OEM's manufacture and sell devices themselves while ODM's sell to white-labelers who brand them under their own names. Original Android kernel tree is provided by Google which in turn is taken from Linux and then modified by Google for Android-specific needs.
RELATED:
An Introduction to Android Firmware

First off, don't need be like your never be a dev, lol you never know. Secondly it's a good share. Appreciated

Drivers Partition
What are partitions responsible on drivers like sound and camera,
I restored ROM using TWRP but now, Sound and Camera don't work,
any help?

saprey said:
What are partitions responsible on drivers like sound and camera,
I restored ROM using TWRP but now, Sound and Camera don't work,
any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera and sound are related to your rom i.e. system partition. Do factory data reset or clean install rom

Thanks, but why is my phone talking about a primary partition and a secondary partition?
Tia,
A real newbie

TommyWhite said:
Thanks, but why is my phone talking about a primary partition and a secondary partition?
Tia,
A real newbie
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At what point talking about primary / secondary partitions? Are you creating new partitions or using some tool / app to view partitions?

Oh, I misunderstood.
It was about public storages (so whats accessible without root, right??).
It said
Public storage (primaire): /storage/emulated/0
Public storage (secondaire): /storage/94F1-34D8 (I didnt realise that was my sd card ...)
RootFs: /
System: /system
Like a said 'a real newbie'

TommyWhite said:
Oh, I misunderstood.
It was about public storages (so whats accessible without root, right??).
It said
Public storage (primaire): /storage/emulated/0
Public storage (secondaire): /storage/94F1-34D8 (I didnt realise that was my sd card ...)
RootFs: /
System: /system
Like a said 'a real newbie'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something like this attachment?

mirfatif said:
Something like this attachment?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, sorry for the very late response.

While on some devices there is no bootloader partition at all and bootloader(s) resides on SoC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great post btw! With the bootloader section mentioning like the above, I have a question: I'm having a device with Snapdragon 810 SoC and wasn't able to find the bootloader partition (or at least I didn't know it has because I couldn't get it to boot into that mode). So does that mean the bootloader is on the SoC? How do I figure it out if it exists on the chip?

Hi @mirfatif , what a post! Hats off to you. By the way, where does the blobs/ HALs go when we flash a new ROM zip?

argon9898 said:
Great post btw! With the bootloader section mentioning like the above, I have a question: I'm having a device with Snapdragon 810 SoC and wasn't able to find the bootloader partition (or at least I didn't know it has because I couldn't get it to boot into that mode). So does that mean the bootloader is on the SoC? How do I figure it out if it exists on the chip?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Booting in bootloader (or it's equivalent; like fastboot) mode is dependent on the phone manufacturer. Though most of the hardware manufacturers allow users to access bootloader for repair/maintenance or modified boot chain, some may restrict this for Digital Rights Management or to gain forced customer loyalty , irrespective of where bootloader resides. On most phones it's a partition. You may check your partition table to know about all partitions.

azoksky said:
Hi @mirfatif , what a post! Hats off to you. By the way, where does the blobs/ HALs go when we flash a new ROM zip?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for mentioning. I have added this to my post. By "blolbs" you mean DTB or hardware drivers? Well AFAIK, the blobs are included in every ROM where "ROM" is boot.img and system.img at least.
A ROM developer downloads AOSP source code from Google while device tree (map of hardware components), driver binaries and kernel source code is provided by (ODM's through) OEM's, if they are generous enough. OEM's manufacture and sell devices themselves while ODM's sell to white-labelers who brand them under their own names. Original Android kernel tree is provided by Google which in turn is taken from Linux and then modified by Google for Android-specific needs. DTB and drivers are baked with kernel source in boot.img though DTB may live on a separate dtb partition as specified by AOSP (and was the proposed solution for ARM based embedded Linux devices before Android's birth) but I don't think that is widely practiced. DTB is loaded by bootloader at boot time and passed to kernel so that it can discover hardware and create node points accordingly. Proprietary blobs (HALs) usually live in (/system)/vendor as shared libraries (.so files) which are loaded by Android binders when processes call a hardware component. HAL is userspace alternative to traditional Linux's system calls for drivers and is a kind of Google's standardization for OEMs/hardware vendors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hello everyone. I tell you that one day flashing my oneplus 5 lost the wifi. The MAC address shows me the typical 02: 00: 00: 00: 00: 00 address. The way to fix it is updating the Oreo but I could never do it, it is always in bootloop, I read all the forums and there is no case, do what I always do the same. It happens in many oneplus 5. So I forgot to fix it in that way. The other thing I saw is hundreds of forums with that problem but I could not fix it either, I've been doing it for three months now. What I am trying now is to erase all the partitions except recovery or bootloader but the phone does not start anymore. What I want is to delete all the partitions associated with wifi, delete modem1, modem2, persist, fsg but nothing, I just managed to lose the imei that does not matter to me because I have back up of the efs folder and even the qcn file of the phone. I know it's a lot of work but if someone tells me that they control each partition, I could erase it, load everything from scratch and that's it. Would someone give me a hand so I can fix that damn wifi on the phone ?. Thank you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1440 1970-05-03 14:23 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 1600 1970-05-03 14:23 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 LOGO -> /dev/block/sde18
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 abl -> /dev/block/sde16
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 ablbak -> /dev/block/sde17
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 apdp -> /dev/block/sde31
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 bluetooth -> /dev/block/sde24
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 boot -> /dev/block/sde19
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 boot_aging -> /dev/block/sde20
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 cache -> /dev/block/sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 cdt -> /dev/block/sdd2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 cmnlib -> /dev/block/sde27
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 cmnlib64 -> /dev/block/sde29
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 cmnlib64bak -> /dev/block/sde30
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 cmnlibbak -> /dev/block/sde28
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 config -> /dev/block/sda12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 ddr -> /dev/block/sdd3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 devcfg -> /dev/block/sde39
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 devinfo -> /dev/block/sde23
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 dip -> /dev/block/sde14
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 dpo -> /dev/block/sde33
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 dsp -> /dev/block/sde11
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 frp -> /dev/block/sda6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 fsc -> /dev/block/sdf4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 fsg -> /dev/block/sdf3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 fw_4g9n4 -> /dev/block/sde45
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 fw_4j1ed -> /dev/block/sde43
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 fw_4t0n8 -> /dev/block/sde46
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 fw_8v1ee -> /dev/block/sde44
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 hyp -> /dev/block/sde5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 hypbak -> /dev/block/sde6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 keymaster -> /dev/block/sde25
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 keymasterbak -> /dev/block/sde26
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 keystore -> /dev/block/sda5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 limits -> /dev/block/sde35
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 logdump -> /dev/block/sde40
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 logfs -> /dev/block/sde37
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 md5 -> /dev/block/sdf5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 mdtp -> /dev/block/sde15
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 mdtpsecapp -> /dev/block/sde12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 mdtpsecappbak -> /dev/block/sde13
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 minidump -> /dev/block/sde47
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 misc -> /dev/block/sda4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 modem -> /dev/block/sde10
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 modemst1 -> /dev/block/sdf1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 modemst2 -> /dev/block/sdf2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 msadp -> /dev/block/sde32
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 oem_dycnvbk -> /dev/block/sda7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 oem_stanvbk -> /dev/block/sda8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 param -> /dev/block/sda9
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 persist -> /dev/block/sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 pmic -> /dev/block/sde8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 pmicbak -> /dev/block/sde9
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 recovery -> /dev/block/sde22
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 reserve -> /dev/block/sdd1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 reserve1 -> /dev/block/sda10
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 reserve2 -> /dev/block/sda11
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 rpm -> /dev/block/sde1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 rpmbak -> /dev/block/sde2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 sec -> /dev/block/sde7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 splash -> /dev/block/sde34
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 ssd -> /dev/block/sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 sti -> /dev/block/sde38
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 storsec -> /dev/block/sde41
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 storsecbak -> /dev/block/sde42
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 system -> /dev/block/sde21
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 toolsfv -> /dev/block/sde36
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 tz -> /dev/block/sde3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 tzbak -> /dev/block/sde4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 1970-05-03 14:23 userdata -> /dev/block/sda13
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 xbl -> /dev/block/sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 1970-05-03 14:23 xblbak -> /dev/block/sdc1

thank you
This is one of the best posts that I've ever read. I'm a hobbyist and reverse engineer learn. My primary phones are Samsung S 6 7 and 8 and I've soft bricked phones them more times than I can count (but recovered) justifying it as a learning experience. Sort of like putting your hand in the fire several times and calling it a learning experience. your post opens up more questions which are great. I root all my phones and I have a fear of new security patches disguised as updates disabling what methods work last week so to speak
So if I understand finally there is a section in bootloaders which is the first bootloader that is static yet upgradable but not downgradable as you referred to like the BIOS on PCs which acts as a verification process so you can't flash downgradable security patches. Much like I've encountered with partcyborg great work on rooting the S8 snapdragon however once you upgraded to the bootloader 2 you couldn't go back to the bootloader one. This is in reference to the build, not the partition.
If someone does reply, I'd like to know can you mod a certain file and Odin in the bootloader section when flashing an update to ensure that you stay at a certain bootloader level while the other files such as AP CP and CSC remain intact from the sam mobile stock firmware.(which I assume the term combo firmware file originates)
My most recent encounters are the device and binary are not the same which I attribute to this problem.
In theory from what I understand the phone has a section that is not Factory resettable which is the NAND that contains read-only but system upgrade information? However, it can be modified by a power Superuser rooted? This obviously risking hard bricking a phone
When upgrading firmware specifically the bootloader file in Odin what file(s) {bin} are essential to the new modification patches and can those files be substituted?
Any comment is considered very helpful. Odin itself is coming out with different versions for structures (prince cosmey) for example.
I explore the system file structure often wondering what I could change or alter as simple as a 0 or 1 or a true or a false to enable or disable my ability to access what I feel I need to access.
I could buy the z3x Samprotools but it defeats my intentions to learn the details.
If you do have a suggestion on a GUI Windows-based tool it would be great. Don't know Linux just as a footnote
Once again what a great post and definition of the different sections of terminology it's just enough to educate me and confuse me at the same time keep doing what you're doing. Any tricks or tips will be very appreciated.

partitions
What are partitions responsible on drivers like sound and camera,

Curious Q.!
what about these two ?
Code:
rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
rpmbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
my phone is MOTO-G5-PLUS (potter)
whole partition table is here:
Code:
←7←[r←[999;999H←[6n←8potter:/ # ls -l /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 DDR -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 aboot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 abootbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 apdp -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p45
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p37
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 cache -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p52
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 carrier -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p34
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 cid -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p32
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 cmnlib -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 cmnlib64 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 cmnlib64bak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 cmnlibbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 devcfg -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 devcfgbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 dip -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p42
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 dpo -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p47
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 dsp -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 frp -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p31
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 fsc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 fsg -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p29
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 hw -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p50
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 keymaster -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 keymasterbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 kpan -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p36
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 limits -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p40
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 logo -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p33
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 logs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p44
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 metadata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p35
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 misc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p39
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 modem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 modemst1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p27
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 modemst2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p28
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 mota -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p41
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 msadp -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p46
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 oem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p51
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 padA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p48
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 persist -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p30
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 prov -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 provbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p38
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 rpmbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 sbl1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 sbl1bak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 sec -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p24
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 sp -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p49
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 ssd -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 syscfg -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p43
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p53
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 1970-08-28 23:29 tz -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 tzbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p54
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 utags -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p25
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 1970-08-28 23:29 utagsBackup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p26
potter:/ #

GEEKOFIA said:
what about these two ?
Code:
rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
rpmbak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
my phone is MOTO-G5-PLUS (potter)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RPM (Resource/Power Management) or Primary BootLoader (PBL); controls power to radio, modem etc.

koler386 said:
What are partitions responsible on drivers like sound and camera,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kernel and system

mirfatif said:
what about these two ?
RPM (Resource/Power Management) or Primary BootLoader (PBL); controls power to radio, modem etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a script from a xda thread in which OP mentioned that this script is for wiping dalvik/ART cache.
Before flashing it i decided to analyse it,what i found that it was erasing my RPM partition on mmcblk0p2.
Is it really for dalvik cache ?

K1 Not booting after flashing stock image

Yesterday I flashed BitO-KU kernel with dtb and blob file provided in this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/sh.../tweaked-kernel-nvidia-shield-tablet-t3069776 on my Shield Tablet K1. Since then the problem started and my tab didn't boot.
How problem started?
Flashed BitO-KU kernel https://forum.xda-developers.com/sh.../tweaked-kernel-nvidia-shield-tablet-t3069776
Reboot (working fine)
Flashed dtb file "tegra124-tn8-p1761-1270-a04-e-battery.dtb" (provided in same thread)
Reboot (stuck on bootloader)
Flashed blob file (provided in same thread)
Reboot (stuck on bootloader)
After that I flashed factory images provided on Nvidia official site for K1 Tablet but still not booting. Although many times I have successfully flashed firmware images before, but only this time it's not booting. I think that the dtb and blob files I flashed previously with BitO-KU kernel were for Original Shield Tablet not for K1, that's why my tablet bricked.
What's working and what's not:
Bootloader is working and able to flash files using fastboot. But it's niether showing any error nor booting after flashing firmware images.
Recovery Not Working. Flashed various versions of TWRP from official website, none of them is working. Even tried directly booting to twrp recovery instead of flashing, still not working.
Any help is appreciated.
Sorry for my bad English!

Did you flash the stock system file and the stock blob? I think the instructions (recovery image) say to flash a few other things (recovery, userdata) but I was able to just flash the system and blob (flashing stock recovery might not hurt either).
Also, please don't apologize for your bad English. Your post is very well written, and I never would have guessed you are not a native English speaker.

redpoint73 said:
Did you flash the stock system file and the stock blob? I think the instructions (recovery image) say to flash a few other things (recovery, userdata) but I was able to just flash the system and blob (flashing stock recovery might not hurt either).
Also, please don't apologize for your bad English. Your post is very well written, and I never would have guessed you are not a native English speaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi @redpoint73, thanks for your response. Yes I did flash the stock system file, stock blob file and stock boot file. Still it wasn't booting.
And thanks for your compliment about my English.

Hello,
I was in a similar situation but finally managed to fix this boot issue on my K1.
What I have, Nvidia Shield Tablet K1
What I did wrong, flashed via fastboot a stock ROM image from Nvidia GameWorks - SHIELD Open Source Resources and Drivers
But not the correct one for Shield K1
I had the following steps for this recovery ROM (not for K1 tablet...):
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot flash dtb tegra124-tn8-p1761-1270-a04-e-battery.dtb
fastboot reboot
Flashing them failed on userdata (not enough space) and results in K1 to be stuck on boot and the Nvidia logo for ages.
(For a K1 tablet, you don't have a userdata and dtb flash image steps). I think what messed up my K1 is the dtb flashing step because formating, erasing and flashing recovery, boot, system and userdata partitions didn't have any effects on being stuck at boot.
What I did to get out of this mess and what you need:
Stock ROM K1: nv-recovery-image-shield-tablet-k1-factory0_0_0
fastboot + adb
twrp for K1 for revovery partitions
And know your K1 partitions
Via adb shell:
cd /etc
cat recovery.fstab
shieldtablet:/etc # cd /etc
shieldtablet:/etc # cat recovery.fstab
Result:
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP /system ext4 ro wait
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC /cache ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,data=writeback,nodelalloc wait,formatable
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX /boot emmc defaults defaults
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MSC /misc emmc defaults defaults
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA /data ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,data=writeback,noauto_da_alloc wait,check,formatable,encryptable=/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MDA
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/RP3 /usercalib ext4 noatime,data=writeback wait,formatable
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/USP /staging emmc defaults defaults
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MDA /metadata emmc defaults defaults
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS /recovery emmc defaults defaults
/devices/platform/sdhci-tegra.2/mmc_host* auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=sdcard1:auto,encryptable=userdata
/devices/tegra-ehci.0/usb* auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=usb:auto
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.2/by-num/p1 /sdcard vfat defaults recoveryonly
Via adb shell:
cd dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/
ls -al
Resust:
shieldtablet:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name # ls -al
total 0
__bionic_open_tzdata: couldn't find any tzdata when looking for GMT!
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 520 2019-11-19 08:27 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 600 2019-11-19 08:27 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 APP -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 CAC -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 CHG -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 DTB -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 EKS -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 FB -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 FBP -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 FCG -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 FCT -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 GPT -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p24
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 LBP -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 LNX -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 MDA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 MSC -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 NCT -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 RP1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 RP2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 RP3 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 RP4 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 SOS -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 TOS -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 UDA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2019-11-19 08:27 USP -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2019-11-19 08:27 WB0 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
MAP boot, system, blob (staging) partitions with corresponding memory block
Ex: boot -> LNX -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
Via adb shell and using the images from K1 ROM nv-recovery-image-shield-tablet-k1-factory0_0_0 (check if your tablet k1 has the same partitions)
dd if=boot.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p12
dd if=system.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p13
dd if=blob of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p16
By getting from another ROM: tegra124-tn8-p1761-1270-a04-e-battery.dtb (renamed tegra124.dtb)
dd if=tegra124.dtb of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11
Still failing... and stuck at boot so I decided to restore nv-recovery-image-shield-tablet-k1-factory0_0_0 via fastboot a last time but cleaned everything first:
twrp wipe all system cache data
then
fastboot flash system
fastboot erase boot
fastboot flash boot
fastboot erase staging
fastboot flash staging blob
fastboot reboot
And my Shield Tablet K1 was working again!! And very happy to have my Nvidia Shield K1 back (with latest LineageOS 15.1 ROM and working like a charm)!
I did a lot of stock ROM erase / format / restore on these partitions before and they all failed before. But I thing here the main difference is around the DTB partition.
May be the dd if=tegra124.dtb of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11 step did properly restore the dtb info and partition or actually "corrupt" it in a way that cause the K1 to properly boot back. I don't know.
Hope that can help someone in the same situation!

[GUIDE] Rooting the Ioutdoor X using Magisk man

Using Magisk for rooting is currently a good option for a simple way to root your device reasonably safe, special if it has been done once before. I will NOT work out every step in full detail as there are many good guides around
Warning: you risk your warranty and you might brick your phone if you make an error! It is your own responsibility!!!
Step 1: Make yourself developer in the setup screen
Step 2: In the developer menu allow your bootloader to be unlocked
Step 3: Reboot in the bootloader (power off and keep volume up and the power on until you see the bootloader)
Step 4: choose the fastboot option
Step 5: From your ADB directory type: "fastboot flashing unlock"
Step 6: Confirm on your mobile with the volume up button
Step 7: Download Patched boot image for Ioutdoor
Step 8: Type "fastboot flash boot <filename of patched boot image>"
Step 9: Type "fastboot flashing lock"
Step 10: reboot
Step 11: Install Magisk manager. Your phone is rooted now.
Enjoy your rooted phone!!!
Paul
P.S.: First of all: I myself ALWAYS create a full backup from my phone with the flash tool before doing ANYTHING of this nature. If you backup with the flash tool you need to use the "Readback" option. WARNING: with the DOWNLOAD menu of the flash tool you UPLOAD to your phone, better be warned!!!! Second: If you prefer to create your own patched boot image you need some more steps:
- Find the MT6763 scatter file
- use the flash tool to download the bootloader
- use CarlivImageKitchen to make the bootloader image the right size (unpack and repack)
- Install Magisk manager on your phone and choose the "patch bootloader image" option

More information for those who want to hack this phone
Preloader 00000000
BOOTPARA 00008000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
Recovery 00108000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
PARA 0212B000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
EXPD 02188000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
FRP 03588000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
NVCFG 03688000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
NVDATA 05688000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
METADATA 09688000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
PROTECT1 0B688000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
PROTECT2 0BE88000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
PROINFO 0D200000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
MD1IMG 0D500000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
MD1DSP 11500000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
SPMFW 12500000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
SSPM_1 12600000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
SSPM_2 12700000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
GZ1 12800000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
GZ2 13800000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
NVRAM 14800000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
IK 18800000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
IK2 18900000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
Boot 18a00000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p24
LOGO 1AA00000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25
ODMDTBO 1B200000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p26
VENDOR 1D000000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p29
SYSTEM 5D000000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p30
CACHE 103800000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p31
USERDATA 110800000 /dev/block/mmcblk0p32
FLASHINFO 1D1DBFBE00 /dev/block/mmcblk0p33 Length 16mb
I have a version of TWRP running for this phone, but I am not satisfied with it yet. However, anyone who like to try, send me a private message.

bootloop
UPDATE: fixed boot img:
s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=18085276003223938832
Flashing your ioutdoor_patched_boot.img resulted in boot loop for ioutdooor X
Any chance you could post the stock backup?
Any update on TWRP?
cheers

wildwildwoods said:
UPDATE: fixed boot img:
s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=18085276003223938832
Flashing your ioutdoor_patched_boot.img resulted in boot loop for ioutdooor X
Any chance you could post the stock backup?
Any update on TWRP?
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I only read your message today. Do you still need help? Send me a PM with your emailaddress I might be able to help you to obtain the stockbootrom. I was able myself to fix any bootloops by resetting the phone using the default recovery rom and do a full reset. Not sure what went wrong in your case but I did notice that the way you reset the phone matters. Anyway the TWRP I have is not fully perfect and you have to be carefull using it: some functions might cause bootloops.