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Weird problem. Cannot factory Reset. Phone keeps restoring previously installed apps.

Hi There,
I have been having the Samsung Galaxy Sl for 2 months now and the software kept crashing. I went to privacy and opted for a factory reset. Funny thing is no matter how many times I do a factory reset the phone restarts, and installs all the apps which i personally installed again. This is not a google recovery problem where all data is backed up in google. But the apps just magically reappear even after formatting the internal sd in recovery mode and reflashing it to the latest firmware. I am at a loss. I got a shock that even after reflashing my firmware to the latest 2.3.4 JKPJ5 it still reinstalls apps such as AVG, the BBC News, Cool reader.. And even my old wallpaper again.
Steps I have taken:
1) Formatted internal sd
2) Used recovery mode and wiped partition and cleared cache
3) Did factory reset and even installed a new firmware.
I have done everything. Pls help. My home button is also not working and the all the corrupted data from my old installation also comes back
Even when I restart my phone, any new apps i install vanish and are again replaced by the old apps.

Kishel Raj said:
Hi There,
I have been having the Samsung Galaxy Sl for 2 months now and the software kept crashing. I went to privacy and opted for a factory reset. Funny thing is no matter how many times I do a factory reset the phone restarts, and installs all the apps which i personally installed again. This is not a google recovery problem where all data is backed up in google. But the apps just magically reappear even after formatting the internal sd in recovery mode and reflashing it to the latest firmware. I am at a loss. I got a shock that even after reflashing my firmware to the latest 2.3.4 JKPJ5 it still reinstalls apps such as AVG, the BBC News, Cool reader.. And even my old wallpaper again.
Steps I have taken:
1) Formatted internal sd
2) Used recovery mode and wiped partition and cleared cache
3) Did factory reset and even installed a new firmware.
I have done everything. Pls help. My home button is also not working and the all the corrupted data from my old installation also comes back
Even when I restart my phone, any new apps i install vanish and are again replaced by the old apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try factory resetting with the code? That should help you! And please post this in the Q&A section henceforth!

Sorry. Moving to Q&A
Thread Moved to Q&A

pls try this *2627*3855#
warning it will erase all user data.. ^^
Sent from my GT-I9003 using xda premium

Thanks.
Funny thing is i tried the reset codes. And only some work. I tried the reset code *2627*3855# . But I get an error saying its a connection probelm or invalid MMI code.
Sorry bangalorerohan. But I am not getting any replies in the Q&A section. I will just continue here for now..

Tell me the method you used to flash the new FW! I will tell you your error!

The probelm began before I even considered flashing my firmware. The sd card will be unexpectedly removed causing forced closes. Did a factory reset using the privacy menu quite a number of times for a few weeks. It helped for a while but the problem will always reocurred though. Then suddenly, factory resets stopped working alltogether. The phone will delete new apps i install every time i reinstall them and reinstall apps which i uninstall every time i restart the phone.
I thought flashing the firmware will fix the problem. But even after flashing the old apps and settings keep coming back.
Here are the steps I used to flash.
1) Removed sim card and micro sd card.
2) Restarted phone in download mode.
3) Run odin and plugged phone in Usb port
4) Checked Repartition, Auto Reboot, and Reset Time boxes.
5) Downloaded pit files.
6) Waited for it to pass
7) Pressed reset
8) Took phone out from usb port, took out battery and turned on download mode.
9) Flashed PDA, PHONE, AND CSC files. By ticking Auto reboot and reset time checkboxes.
10)Clicked Start
11) Waited for pass and started again.
I even tried using the recovery mode to wipe everything but still had the same problem. Apps and settings still keep reocurring from the corrupted android 2.2
I have done everything and am hoping for a solution for this frustrating problem. THinking of reflashing to android 2.2 and sending my phone to samsung for warranty.

Kishel Raj said:
The probelm began before I even considered flashing my firmware. The sd card will be unexpectedly removed causing forced closes. Did a factory reset using the privacy menu quite a number of times for a few weeks. It helped for a while but the problem will always reocurred though. Then suddenly, factory resets stopped working alltogether. The phone will delete new apps i install every time i reinstall them and reinstall apps which i uninstall every time i restart the phone.
I thought flashing the firmware will fix the problem. But even after flashing the old apps and settings keep coming back.
Here are the steps I used to flash.
1) Removed sim card and micro sd card.
2) Restarted phone in download mode.
3) Run odin and plugged phone in Usb port
4) Checked Repartition, Auto Reboot, and Reset Time boxes.
5) Downloaded pit files.
6) Waited for it to pass
7) Pressed reset
8) Took phone out from usb port, took out battery and turned on download mode.
9) Flashed PDA, PHONE, AND CSC files. By ticking Auto reboot and reset time checkboxes.
10)Clicked Start
11) Waited for pass and started again.
I even tried using the recovery mode to wipe everything but still had the same problem. Apps and settings still keep reocurring from the corrupted android 2.2
I have done everything and am hoping for a solution for this frustrating problem. THinking of reflashing to android 2.2 and sending my phone to samsung for warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you have done everything correctly. Maybe it's a hardware problem because your sd card keeps unmounting. Have you dropped it? They best way is to send it to service center for repair.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

reflashing back to froyo
Hey guys thanks for your help. but the problem seems to be related to the hardware. I am reflashing my phone back to froyo and sending it to get the warranty. But after reflashing there seems to be another problem. I cant receive calls anymore. But i can make calls..
I need to know if samsung can find out if I have reflashed my phone because I am afraid that my warranty will be void. Is there anyone with experiece regarding samsung warranty?

Kishel Raj said:
Hey guys thanks for your help. but the problem seems to be related to the hardware. I am reflashing my phone back to froyo and sending it to get the warranty. But after reflashing there seems to be another problem. I cant receive calls anymore. But i can make calls..
I need to know if samsung can find out if I have reflashed my phone because I am afraid that my warranty will be void. Is there anyone with experiece regarding samsung warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
play dumb, dont mention you flashed, tell them you tried to update with kies and since then the FW is acting up, you can't make calls anymore etc

Interestingly... i have exactly the same problem. I have had this problem for abt 4 months now and i have tried everything (except sending it back to the repair centre). I don't think its a hardware problem but more of a bad flash somewhere in between.
i have been searching the net for ages for a solution... have yet to find any.

Hi all:
I've got the same problem!!
Has any one a solution? I'm crazy with this.

Why do i keep posting on threads that have already been resolved!!

BassBlaster said:
Why do i keep posting on threads that have already been resolved!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what's been resolved?

[Q] Unfortunately, settings has stopped

I get that message when I go into Settings>Application Manager and tap on the All tab. If I try this several times, the phone starts rebooting when I just try to go into Settings. I tried wiping cache in the stock recovery, but that didn't help? Any ideas?

wipe data

droidstyle said:
wipe data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Wiping data is the same as a factory reset in that it will revert phone to original state when purchased, correct?

Wingnuts said:
Thanks. Wiping data is the same as a factory reset in that it will revert phone to original state when purchased, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes and it will reformat your internal sd, so back it up first.

OK, thanks for you help.

I've backed up my IMEI with adb nvbackup and QPST. The Synergy backup .zip doesn't work unless I'm rooted and unlocked, correct? Should I root / unlock and flash the Synergy zip before wiping data? Any chance rooting and unlocking will fix the 'settings has stopped' issue? I assume wiping data will cause me to lose root and unlocked state. Thanks for your help.

sordswi seems
Same thing with me on Samsung GT-I9300 with Android 4.1.1
I came across this problem 2 times.
The first time it happened when I installed a game "Waking Mars". The game was working fine, I played for around 20 minutes and then wanted to check free storage left after installing. But when I opened Application manager swiping was very laggy and after a few (5-10) secs it crashed with "Unfortunately, Settings has stopped" error or just closed. At that time I didn't know that it was because of "Waking Mars" and started to delete unnecessery applications I installed that day and yesterday, but problem vanished only after uninstalling "Waking Mars". Also, while this app was installed, phone's screen was glitchy and became bleached (the glitch disappeared after rebooting), like when "Natural" screen mode is activated, but it wasn't. When I had tried to install the game again, the problem came back.
The second time it was because of "Galaxy On Fire 2" installed. Same problems appeared: crashing Application manager and glitchy screen.
Both games contained their data in ".apk" file, but another Waking Mars version with separate data (cache) caused the same problem too.
By the way, funny thing is that both games are about space
P.S.: Sorry for my English, it isn't my native language.

Nexus 5 not working after 4.4.2 update

So, got the 4.4.2 update , downloaded it and then it asked for a reboot. I did reboot. I am completely stock , no root nothing. Now the update was installing but in the end I got error :/ the image was robot kinda looking like he had heart attack... anyways, it gave me 4 options, so i cliked volume button .. I don't know all the options but from the 2 of them, one was reboot and other was clear cache or something. I thought clearing cache may **** up something on phone so I tried scrolling back on the top.. but to my surprise from volume buttons phone didn't let me go up at all :/
I didn't had any choice but to choose clear cache.. I thought it may help. But it didn't... so I forced reboot it with power button hold for 10 seconds.. Now phone is working but no sim on it starts.. no signal whatsoever. If I try to open my gallery, it doesn't open. says "No storage, no external storage available" .. when I try to connect usb to phone and try to backup my pics and stuff from pc it doesn't open anything. PC does show "Internal memory" but there's nothing in it. My phone doesn't let me even use wifi. So I thought it was time to factory reset, but to my surprise when I click erase everything, it does nothing. So, I thought of rebooting and clicking "power+volume down" , still nothing.. it shows the same robot pic having heart attack... I doesn't have knowledge of root and stuff for now, I am a simple user of nexus 5 who is still on stock. Any help please? I am worried here now

Think you're gonna need to follow one of the guides to flash stock system again
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

nevermind. Working again.

What did you do to get it Woking I got mine in a box ready to RMA if you got a suggestions I'm open to try one more time beforrv I be without my phone for s long time
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

How did you get it working?? F**k mine has no signal at all too! Damn I am really pissed!
---------- Post added at 04:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:59 AM ----------
I did a factory reset and its working now. What a headache Google!

Mistake 1: not allowing the phone adequate time to clear the cache when finished installing the ota. If you force the phone to restart during this process, it will corrupt your cache which causes all of those issues listed above (loss of signal, no baseband info, loss of access to mountable storage, etc).
Cache clearing takes considerably longer than on any other device I've owned prior to this phone, so messing with the phone during that important cache clearing process is the issue.
Mistake 2: reflashing the entire phone to stock. In the event you become impatient and decide to force your device to restart, you DONT HAVE TO revert to stock to get the phone working. What you have to do is restore functionality to the cache portion of the phone. All of your files are in fact still on the phone and accessible, you just have to unbreak your phone. You do this by procuring cache.IMG from the stock image of the phone (available on googles websites), and then you fastboot flash the file in the boot loader (look up adb commands to do this). Once this is done, reboot the phone and everything should be hunky dory after your applications cache is rebuilt and android boots.
Note: you might need to check for root again. Also if you corrupted your cache you will have to set all of your ringtones and notifications again because this cache corruption process unlinked the ability of yours apps that use notifications to "see" the sound files you have on your SD card.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

delete

What a savior ... wiped the cache again , gave adequate time this time and it booted again fine

I had the exact same problem! Cleared cache in recovery mode in 4.4.4 and then thought it stalled because it was running for 1 minute (which normally took 2 seconds in previous devices) so I forced a restart. Then I had all sorts of errors: couldn't connect with my SIM card, couldn't download our see my pictures, screen rotation but working, constant Google Playstore crash popups, and more.. I thought I'd bricked it. A few more attempts to clear cache in recovery mode, still took longer than 1 minute (also the same errors in my recovery mode like stated above: "E: failed to mount /cache" ... that sort of things)
A few days later I'd had it. My steps for the SOLUTION:
1. Cleared cache in my settings: settings -> storage -> cache (don't know if this has influenced the outcome but I did it).
2. Went back to recovery mode, errors still displaying, but tried again to clear cache. The only difference now was that I left it running without touching my Nexus 5 for about 10 MINUTES(!).
..........To my surprise it ended with "clearing cash complete" WOW! So I rebooted and everything worked fine again! The only thing was that I had to set some notification sound again. That wasn't too hard
Let me know if it helped in your case

xybur said:
Mistake 1: not allowing the phone adequate time to clear the cache when finished installing the ota. If you force the phone to restart during this process, it will corrupt your cache which causes all of those issues listed above (loss of signal, no baseband info, loss of access to mountable storage, etc).
Cache clearing takes considerably longer than on any other device I've owned prior to this phone, so messing with the phone during that important cache clearing process is the issue.
Mistake 2: reflashing the entire phone to stock. In the event you become impatient and decide to force your device to restart, you DONT HAVE TO revert to stock to get the phone working. What you have to do is restore functionality to the cache portion of the phone. All of your files are in fact still on the phone and accessible, you just have to unbreak your phone. You do this by procuring cache.IMG from the stock image of the phone (available on googles websites), and then you fastboot flash the file in the boot loader (look up adb commands to do this). Once this is done, reboot the phone and everything should be hunky dory after your applications cache is rebuilt and android boots.
Note: you might need to check for root again. Also if you corrupted your cache you will have to set all of your ringtones and notifications again because this cache corruption process unlinked the ability of yours apps that use notifications to "see" the sound files you have on your SD card.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did that. The fastboot flash cache.img and still have the error...

Try flashing a stock rom, including the userdata.img file. Flash the userdata file last, right after flashing, boot into recovery and perform a factory reset.

. You do this by procuring cache.IMG from the stock image of the phone (available on googles websites),
where to get the cache.img from.
i have searched the folder of the stock rom after extraction,couldn't find one.
and my phone is soft bricked.
also its a asus zenfone 5(501 cg) with 4.4.2 not a nexus but with similar problem(rebooted phone without waiting for cache wipe to finish )
please reply asap
thanks

[Completed] Zopo ZP820 OS Corrupted-cannot reflash or reset

Ill try to be as descriptive as possible
Zopo ZP820 running 4.2.2
Phone worked fine the other day, went to use it yesterday morning, kept saying all running processes forced quit over and over, all google services, etc.
If i reboot the phone, it keep showing the same 4 Gmail emails, the same 4 text messages. If i go in and physically delete all of the emails and text messages, they are gone. If i reboot the phone, they all come back.
Also went in and uninstalled every single app on phone that was allowable, basically it went back to stock apps, even uninstalled all updates to all google services, etc.
Reboot the phone, everything is back to the way it was, apps and all, and this is after removing the SD card and powering off and rebooting.
Tried to do a factory reset from the settings screen, it reboots into recovery mode, the only options i had were to wipe cache and reset data/cache, when done, i reboot, and yet again it goes back to the same exact way.
It is almost as if the entire phone restores itself every reboot to the same setup.
Also tried using newest SP Flash Tools with 3 different versions of the ROM for my phone, the original stock one, the updated stock one and a custom MIUI one. I go thru the entire process for the two stock ones, it says it formatted and reflashed, but reboot again and it is back to same one that is corrupt.
If i try to use the MIUI one using the recovery option holding power and vol down, when i choose the zip file for the MIUI, it says installation aborted.And what is ieven more odd is that if i reinstall all of the programs or even new apps, if i reboot they are all gone as if they were never installed.
Is there a way that the phone can be totally wiped so that no trace of any files on the phone exist at all? in SP Tools there was an auto format and manual format i did both, but got the same results
Any help would be greatly appreciated

XDA Visitor said:
Ill try to be as descriptive as possible
Zopo ZP820 running 4.2.2
Phone worked fine the other day, went to use it yesterday morning, kept saying all running processes forced quit over and over, all google services, etc.
If i reboot the phone, it keep showing the same 4 Gmail emails, the same 4 text messages. If i go in and physically delete all of the emails and text messages, they are gone. If i reboot the phone, they all come back.
Also went in and uninstalled every single app on phone that was allowable, basically it went back to stock apps, even uninstalled all updates to all google services, etc.
Reboot the phone, everything is back to the way it was, apps and all, and this is after removing the SD card and powering off and rebooting.
Tried to do a factory reset from the settings screen, it reboots into recovery mode, the only options i had were to wipe cache and reset data/cache, when done, i reboot, and yet again it goes back to the same exact way.
It is almost as if the entire phone restores itself every reboot to the same setup.
Also tried using newest SP Flash Tools with 3 different versions of the ROM for my phone, the original stock one, the updated stock one and a custom MIUI one. I go thru the entire process for the two stock ones, it says it formatted and reflashed, but reboot again and it is back to same one that is corrupt.
If i try to use the MIUI one using the recovery option holding power and vol down, when i choose the zip file for the MIUI, it says installation aborted.And what is ieven more odd is that if i reinstall all of the programs or even new apps, if i reboot they are all gone as if they were never installed.
Is there a way that the phone can be totally wiped so that no trace of any files on the phone exist at all? in SP Tools there was an auto format and manual format i did both, but got the same results
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for using XDA assist!
First, please create an account so you can post in other forums.
There's not much information on your device here on XDA but you may post your question here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2257421
The experts in that thread may be able to help.
Good luck!

cannot enter twrp recovery mode. please help

I tried to remove Uc browser from my system. For some reason when i uninstalled it it fully crashed my system. Previously i had inadvertantly removed some of the cached files in its internal app folder. I tried then to uninstall it by using an app called Root Application. Still did not work. So tried reinstalling by directly going to website to get the apk file. Reinstalling was success but uninstalling or launching the app still crashed my system. Even going to app manager under setting to force stop it would cause system reboot.
Then i found out that i could not even go into recovery mode of twrp v.3.0.2-1. So i downloaded latest twrp for my p5110 v3.0.3 to try out. It seemed that it has replaced my older version since i could see the new version number but it still would not go into it. Right after i saw the splash screen it would go back to boot.
I tried going to setting and reset my tablet but everything seemed to come right back to original state. Nothing got wiped or cleaned, which i suspected it crashed before even getting to that operation.
Everything else seems to work with the machine. I could uninstall other app. I really do not know how to approach this problem. If i cannot go into recovery mode. What could i possibly do to revive my tablet.
Should i just use odin to flash a stock rom back? Would that wipe out twrp as well?
Please give me some suggestion.

are you going into recovery by holding the power button and volume down just checking

I did some experiments and here what i have found so far.
1. Uninstalling ub browser app will reboot it by any means.
2. I have managed to replace twrp with cwm. When i go and try to reformat /data partition it will reboot it as well. No factory reset can accomplish
3. Bring up application manager and while it computes statistics of memory usage it will reboot it
4. Test memory using emmc brickbug check app says all 16g healthy and problem free and it found no emmc bug saying it is sane
My next trial would be to flash back the stock rom but i am so afraid it will crash it while being flashed given my experience above.
Right now the machine seems to function well in all aspects. I suspect it is infected or some nand flash is damaged but not sure what that would be.

I won my battle. Here is what i have done. Revert to stock kernel to wipe over old system partition then whereupon i was able to factory reset the data partition. I suspect oc browser is playing havoc here since i had no way to eliminate it before i did all that. I advise against deploying it on your android