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[Q] [And Narrative] Recovering from NVFlash Recovery

First, sorry if this does not belong here. I did search here and Google and there were a few posts touching on this, but for the most part they were old and the issues were unresolved.
PLEASE Skip The Following (between ** and **) at first unless you really want to read it. My questions are at the end.
**
1. I say this a lot. Though I have abstained for the past week, since I first received my GTab, I have bricked it in various ways and always recovered (thanks to all the G Masters here and elsewhere).
2. This time I really do not know what happened. I added a new program and next time i rebooted ended up in a loop. No problem: I have been very cautious about making backups in CWMod regularly (and using NVFlash ever week or so).
a. Followed acceptable procedures to restore via CWMod. Nothing. Stuck in bootloop again.
b. Turned to ADB and NvFlash. Batch restored BL and the 11 partitions. Wasn't really paying attention to the screen at the time. No errors, all success. Boot loop again.
c. Went back and tried again, this time paying attention. Though the utility enumerates and formats all 11 partitions, it does not appear to upload the part-2.img and part3.img (Boot Config Table and Partition Table).
d. Those sound important so I tried to use the rawdevicewrite command (NOTE: beokit's NVFlash version does not include this command). It would not let me proceed without installing the bootloader again along with Part-2.img. That worked ... insofar as it did write the img to the partition.
e. Move on to Part-3.img. Tried to use --resume and it told me that the bootloader was bad. Tried to reinstall bootloader with it and it failed also indicating that the bootloader was bad.
f. Reboot--nothing but black. Fortunately I knew that ADB was still there.
g. Tried to use the NVFlash Format utility followed by Stock 3558 recovery followed by NVFlash - CWMod. Best I got was back to boot loop. Various other permutations including replacing Part-9.img with the boot image from CWMod backup.
h. Finally, I broke down and repartitioned the internal SD ... which, for some reason TBD, only took about 2 seconds. Reboot Recovery --> forgot about wiping the SD and decided to flash Vegan 7 right away. Install from SD-->choose file-->flash. Reboot ---> No loop, 30 seconds later fully booted. Second recommended reboot.
i. Wait a minute --- I installed from the SD Card that I just partitioned???? Annoyed that I wasted a good 10 minutes backing up the SDcard to my computer before partitioning, rebooted into CWMod and tried to repartition again. Success in 2 seconds. So Repartitioned again with different values (not 2048/0). Success in 2 seconds. And again back to 2048/0. Reboot recovery.
j. Navigate to SD card in CWMod. Still untouched. Installed Pershoot's kernel and booted in 30 seconds again. Currently in Titanium Back up restoring my 198 items...
**
I have the correct versions of NVFlash and CWmod.
Questions:
I . Why does NVFlash format Partitions 2 and 3 if it doesn't NVFlash then Restore partitions 2 and 3?
II. The only thing that got me out of the boot loop was to repartition my SDCard. Any thoughts on how this fixed the problem even though it did not actually repartition? And maybe why it didn't repartition (or why all my files were intact)?
At this point I would just really like to understand what went on? I am currently attributing success to the supernatural.
Also: This has been said many times before on here: BACKUP and REPARTITION your SD Card when nothing else seems to be working (especially when you are stuck in boot loop or frozen boot and cannot mount DATA partition in CWMod). Maybe it will help even if it doesn't actually repartition it at all...
Thanks!

[Q] I've tried everything and looked everywhere

Hey everyone, I'm using a GT-P5100 (3G + Wifi) O2 UK rooted tablet and for the last month it has been broken. It started rebooting itself randomly every now and then, and then suddenly it wouldn't even boot up for 15 seconds before it would restart itself again.
I am able to get into safe mode and I can get into the boot options, but when I factory reset it does nothing, I've tried from the boot menu, from safe-mode options and even from the dial up code.
I tried to connect my tablet to my PC as a media device and format it but that didn't work either; I can't connect it as a disk then format it that way because they took out 'mass storage mode' on this firmware.
I then tried to flash a stock ROM in Odin but every time I tried it would fail until I used Odin.v1.3, but guess what, it rebooted itself and my entire tablet is still exactly the same.
(the option was on AP ram in v1.3 not AP nand I don't know if that makes a difference.)
If anyone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it so much. I have been trying for weeks to fix this and I just don't know what to do anymore, I tried on another forum but nobody answered me.

Everyone else gets replies and I get zilch; amazing. I don't know what it is that is preventing my tablet from wiping itself but it refuses to clear the current data no matter what way I try (ROM, factory reset, computer format). If someone could just tell me what that is and what I have to do about it that would be grand.

You mention "rooted " but you don't mention what current rom or past roms that you may have flashed, you could have some sort of rom cluster [email protected]$k going on in your tab but NO one else will ever be able to help because of lack of INFO or history.
Pp.

I standard rooted it from Odin. This is my first ROM I am trying to flash. I just need to know what would prevent a tablet from rebooting itself properly. Factory reset, format and flash is not working so I must assume that rebooting is the issue here.

If you are running stock rooted rom and having issues like this the only way out is reflashing the stock firmware complete (not just a rom) and see if that fixes it before you try any other roms.
If you can get into download mode thats the fix.
Pp.

To flash it completely do I need more than an MD5 file? (I also have the partition file for my model). Another question, if the tablet is having issues with the reboot after a flash, will updating from a microSD with a zip help? Thanks for the advice.

Problem with BlissPop: Stuck at "BlissPop is starting..."

Hello to everyone, posting this here as I don't have access to ask in the forum post for BlissPop - I.E fresh user
I'm having issues with my "recalled" shield tablet (wifi), I had it flashed to BlissPop successfully previously but when I tried reflashing it the other day I was met with a major roadbump: It just won't load the ROM.
The tablet freezes at the screen following the installing and optimization of each application - basically my screen is stuck at a small wall of text saying the following:
"BlissPop is starting...
Powered by Team Bliss
Starting apps.
Please wait for the optimization process to finish."
And before you ask, yes I have waited long enough (left it on through the night just to be sure - this thing won't load).
My procedure is as follows.
Bootloader is CWM and it is rooted beforehand.
1st off going into recovery mode.
#2 Wipe data/cache/dalvik cache - done
#3 Installed BlissPop via sideload, then gapps_pico afterwards (I've tried wiping cache+dalvik before installing gapps to no help.)
#4 Rebooting from CWM, here I've tried both allowing and denying CWM to "fix" root settings.
I've tried the first ROM I installed (when wifi/lte versions were available) and the newer releases - same problem with both.
After this I am met with this screen that won't budge, anyone got a possible solution to this issue?

Hey I just received my replacement tablet and was going through this process too. I did some digging around and found / remembered that having an external SD card socketed can cause this problem. So I powered my device off, removed the card and then rebooted without major issue.
Hope this helps.

I don't have any SD card in my tablet though, thanks anyways.

Did you format system?
If not then do format system/data/cache
Sent from my P4S using Tapatalk

Tried doing a format of system as well as data/cache/dalvik, still getting same result :/

Not sure its still helpful or not...i saw the xda thread regarding to this thread and whoever tried to flash the last zip got stuck at boot. So I'm guessing if you will flash a different one (by this time maybe they upload a new one) maybe you could get rid of it..
Sent from my P4S using Tapatalk

When I switched to BlissPop I had to format /data because TWRP was unable to wipe it. TWRP offers that option unter "advanced wipe". Might be the same with CWM.

any help my phone stuck on this boot loop and i dont know what to do now , any fix ? i dont wanna have broken phone i did everything that u guys said nothing works

[Q] GT-P3100 boot loop, no recovery, I need information about this.

I am probably facing a very common issue, please clear my doubts regarding the issue. I have flashed my tab with cm10.2 and used it for about a year, then switched to cm11 nightly. 2 months ago i flashed TWRP and unofficial cm12 and my tab became weird. Boot loops, over heating were the symptoms. I did a wipe switched back to cm11. It was fine for few hours and then all apps and process started failing, my tab went into 3 min boot loops. It would over heat and go on and on until the battery gives out. I thought I can fix it, but the recovery was gone. When I go into recovery mode it just stays on Samsung Logo. I can access download mode, so I tried to flash cwm recovery, odin prompted PASS but the 'Custom Binary Count' stayed 2, I tried with TWRP, same, odin says PASS but counter stays the same. I searched for similar issues here, and found that the cause might be emmc bug. So my tab is in a read-only state. To verify that I tried creating folders in the 3 min boot loop sessions, it was gone at next restart. Being convinced that my tab is dead or the read-only state made it an invincible brick I deleted the system folder. It crashed, but when I restarted everything was normal.
So is it emmc related issue? Since my tab is in read-only state all apps are crashing, I tried installing new apps and it never succeeds, there are no JTAG services nearby, also I need to be sure if it's the superbrick bug or a hardware fault. Please provide me some clarification. I can try experimenting with it as I have recovered my data. If it can be fixed then it would help other tab owners as well. Any ideas, clarifications or instructions are much appreciated.
Thanks
Note : It all started after I flashed twrp-2.8.7.0-p3100.img and unofficial cm12 by Android-Andi. I flashed the rom knowing the risks and Bricking my tab is my fault not the rom-builder's.

anshu_6187 said:
I am probably facing a very common issue, please clear my doubts regarding the issue. I have flashed my tab with cm10.2 and used it for about a year, then switched to cm11 nightly. 2 months ago i flashed TWRP and unofficial cm12 and my tab became weird. Boot loops, over heating were the symptoms. I did a wipe switched back to cm11. It was fine for few hours and then all apps and process started failing, my tab went into 3 min boot loops. It would over heat and go on and on until the battery gives out. I thought I can fix it, but the recovery was gone. When I go into recovery mode it just stays on Samsung Logo. I can access download mode, so I tried to flash cwm recovery, odin prompted PASS but the 'Custom Binary Count' stayed 2, I tried with TWRP, same, odin says PASS but counter stays the same. I searched for similar issues here, and found that the cause might be emmc bug. So my tab is in a read-only state. To verify that I tried creating folders in the 3 min boot loop sessions, it was gone at next restart. Being convinced that my tab is dead or the read-only state made it an invincible brick I deleted the system folder. It crashed, but when I restarted everything was normal.
So is it emmc related issue? Since my tab is in read-only state all apps are crashing, I tried installing new apps and it never succeeds, there are no JTAG services nearby, also I need to be sure if it's the superbrick bug or a hardware fault. Please provide me some clarification. I can try experimenting with it as I have recovered my data. If it can be fixed then it would help other tab owners as well. Any ideas, clarifications or instructions are much appreciated.
Thanks
Note : It all started after I flashed twrp-2.8.7.0-p3100.img and unofficial cm12 by Android-Andi. I flashed the rom knowing the risks and Bricking my tab is my fault not the rom-builder's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=63868220&postcount=27
It's strange that this has happened mostly to the tab 2 owners, even those who were at stock rom, and changed nothing in their tab. So, it's not rom developers mistake neither its yours. Blame it on the emmc and Samsung.
QUOTED Android-andi "All latest Roms & Recoveries have MMC_CAP_ERASE disabled kernel side, to
prevent 16GB Tabs from damage because of
MAG2GA EMMC which is known for TRIM BUG."
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/EMMC_Bugs
If this is true, the latest versions you have the better.
I too have been keeping my tab updated and never gone stock again after upgrade.

billysam said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=63868220&postcount=27
It's strange that this has happened mostly to the tab 2 owners, even those who were at stock rom, and changed nothing in their tab. So, it's not rom developers mistake neither its yours. Blame it on the emmc and Samsung.
QUOTED Android-andi "All latest Roms & Recoveries have MMC_CAP_ERASE disabled kernel side, to
prevent 16GB Tabs from damage because of
MAG2GA EMMC which is known for TRIM BUG."
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/EMMC_Bugs
If this is true, the latest versions you have the better.
I too have been keeping my tab updated and never gone stock again after upgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, this TRIM bug appeared like an epidemic. I guess JTAG is the only option or the emmc in my device has reached it's end. I think it is time to put my tab to rest. Thanks for the link billysam.

I can access the shell even when my device is off. The device connects as OMAP4430 USB Device for a second and vanishes, after that in "Device Manager" it shows as "Samsung Android adb interface", though the internal storage can not be accessed this way, but I can see the filesystem, is there anyway to change the readonly mode so that I can attempt some sort of way to recover my tab?

Help needed to install the stock rom back

Hi,
First I want to say that although I am not a total newbie, I can be considered as a newbie. I have windows 7 32 bit. I am starting from the beginning.
Until about 1.5 years ago, I was used to connect my phone to Kies and do a "firmware upgrade and initialisation" after feeling that it is time to do so in order to speed up the phone back. Does it speed up the phone back? I'm not sure, but as a guy that still formats his pc from time to time maybe it's a habit.
But about 1.5 years ago when Kies told me that my phone is not supported any more I couldn't do that. Then I made some search and found out cm.
I first installed cwm 6.0.4.3 to my phone by heimdall 1.4.0 then installed cm 10.2.0 and gapps-jb-20130813. I thought it would be good and my phone would be faster since I wouldn't have the unnecessary att apps. It also supported Turkish whereas the stock only supports English and Spanish.
I actually liked it at first except for some parts. Then a few months later the phone switched its language to English itself and started to behave abnormally, so I switched back to latest att stock rom by using odin3-v1.85.
Then about 3 months ago my phone got some water inside when I was under the rain with my phone in my pocket and my pocket not being sealed enough. The phone at first said please insert sim card when it was actually inserted, then I noticed it got wet. I immediately turned it off and removed the battery. Then opened it up and let it dry for a few days.
The phone got back to normal except for a single issue. When I charge the battery the screen behaves abnormally. The abnormality increases with time during the charging, I thought it is related with the phone getting warmer during charging. After the phone turns the screen off after timeout, It does not always turn it on after I press the power button. It starts at first by turning on after a few trials up to not being able to turn on during the charging process. When I unplug the charging cable, I can turn the screen on after a few trials. The phone gets back to nearly normal after 10-15 minutes. Although the screen does not turn on it still responds, for example I can answer a call. And sometimes the screen turns on with being upside down and flickering but responding as if its not upside down.
I hope I could describe the problem well. So this may be a hardware or hopefully a software problem. So I decided to first go back to factory settings. The problem with the screen continued. Then I installed the stock rom by odin. The problem continued but I noticed that the two applications I installed after resetting to factory settings remained in the phone. odin either not installs the rom or installs it by copying files, not formatting the system partition. I thought maybe formatting and reinstalling stock would solve the problem with the screen.
I made some research and noticed that I could actually increase the system partition, which is awesome since I always encounter filled memory problem when I try to install an app so I uninstall some apps to install the new ones. If I manage to repartition the system drive, it also has to format it.
Then I installed the stock rom using the pit file someone uploaded (6GB system partition), I did it but got an error from cwm upon first boot saying something like "unable to mount F", when I ignored the error the phone seemed to turn on but got stuck with att sign. When I pull the battery and turn it back on the phone got stuck at the same place without an error from cwm. Then I installed the stock rom with the original pit file, now the phone turns on but I still have previous apps. I repeated thes a few times (6gb pit file, original pit file) but nothing changed.
Then cm came to my mind, it would format the system drive. I repeated the same procedure I did 1.5 years ago. The phone turned on. I noticed that the internal sd drive had the previous folders,so I wiped the sd drive with cm. Everything was fine but the problem with the screen continued which stated that the it was a hardware problem. There was no reason to stay with cm so I installed the stock rom.
The phone asked a password from me since it had encrypted folders ???. I didn't provide a password, I think it did not recognise the sd drive wiped by cm.
I couldn't install cwm 6.0.4.3 with heimdall, it gave an error at the end. I decided to install a recovery with odin so I installed twrp 2.8.7.0.
I installed cm with 6gb pit, with original pit, installed stock rom with 6gb pit, with original pit with random order and how many times I don't remember that I brought the phone to a state that it won't boot. It turned on with odin mode though. Even the twrp did not recognise the drives. So I wiped all with ext4 format.
Now I have cm with 6 gb system but I want to go back to stock rom. cm drains up my battery. I also noticed that I really got used to the stock rom. I would appreciate it if I have 6 gb system like now. But if I have to reduce it back to 2 gb I don't care.
Can someone please help me?
Sorry for the long post, I wanted to state the problem as good as possible.

Not getting even a single reply probably means I am facing a really extraordinary problem.
I'll try to reformat the partitions. Maybe the OS thinks the unrecognised partition as encrypted. I previously made them both FAT.
Can someone please tell me what should be the filesystems of the system and the internal sd? Are they the same or different?

bloodcurdler said:
Not getting even a single reply probably means I am facing a really extraordinary problem.
I'll try to reformat the partitions. Maybe the OS thinks the unrecognised partition as encrypted. I previously made them both FAT.
Can someone please tell me what should be the filesystems of the system and the internal sd? Are they the same or different?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong but Ext4 is the most common filesystem so try that