Does flashing cyanogenmod also write to the bootloader? - Shield Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm using the original shield tablet WiFi and considering flashing cyanogenmod. What I wanted to know before is what exactly does the custom ROM write to when flashing, bootloader, recovery? Thanks for the help guys!

RunicGamer said:
I'm using the original shield tablet WiFi and considering flashing cyanogenmod. What I wanted to know before is what exactly does the custom ROM write to when flashing, bootloader, recovery? Thanks for the help guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only partitions it should write to is /system and /boot (kernel) and possibly userdata
Custom ROMs (for nearly all android devices) won't touch firmware such as recovery or bootloader

demkantor said:
The only partitions it should write to is /system and /boot (kernel) and possibly userdata
Custom ROMs (for nearly all android devices) won't touch firmware such as recovery or bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that mean that I should make a backup of the Boot partition? Also, If I wanted or needed to restore from Cyanogenmod to Stock android 5.1.1 on the Shield Tablet. Would I have to restore the boot partition along with the system and data partitions, or just the System and Data partitions. Lastly, does that mean that Cyanogenmod won't/doesn't touch the bootloader on the Nvidia Shield Tablet? Sorry for asking so many questions. I want to try it but and very worried of accidentally bricking the bootloader, since it is my first and only tablet. Thanks again for the help!!!!

RunicGamer said:
Does that mean that I should make a backup of the Boot partition? Also, If I wanted or needed to restore from Cyanogenmod to Stock android 5.1.1 on the Shield Tablet. Would I have to restore the boot partition along with the system and data partitions, or just the System and Data partitions. Lastly, does that mean that Cyanogenmod won't/doesn't touch the bootloader on the Nvidia Shield Tablet? Sorry for asking so many questions. I want to try it but and very worried of accidentally bricking the bootloader, since it is my first and only tablet. Thanks again for the help!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have rarely seen issues of bricks on these, so you shouldn't have much to worry about
Nvidia is nice enough to give us full stock bootloader flashable images (similar to what google gives with nexus line) which helps in case of issue
Flashing custom ROMs is very similar as with most other android devices
General scenario goes as such
(Assuming bootloader is unlocked and custom recovery installed)
Boot to recovery, do a full nandroid backup
Save this backup to PC
From recovery wipe all
Flash ROM of choice (along with gapps or anything else you need)
Reboot
Now you are running cm, or whatever
In case you want to restore
Boot to recovery,
Wipe clean
Restore the earlier nandroid backup you had made
Reboot
Now all is the same as before you flashed

demkantor said:
The only partitions it should write to is /system and /boot (kernel) and possibly userdata
Custom ROMs (for nearly all android devices) won't touch firmware such as recovery or bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
demkantor said:
I have rarely seen issues of bricks on these, so you shouldn't have much to worry about
Nvidia is nice enough to give us full stock bootloader flashable images (similar to what google gives with nexus line) which helps in case of issue
Flashing custom ROMs is very similar as with most other android devices
General scenario goes as such
(Assuming bootloader is unlocked and custom recovery installed)
Boot to recovery, do a full nandroid backup
Save this backup to PC
From recovery wipe all
Flash ROM of choice (along with gapps or anything else you need)
Reboot
Now you are running cm, or whatever
In case you want to restore
Boot to recovery,
Wipe clean
Restore the earlier nandroid backup you had made
Reboot
Now all is the same as before you flashed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK now for now one last thing. Should In backup the boot partition from twrp, the when I want to go back to stock android I restore system, data, and boot? Or just leave boot?

RunicGamer said:
OK now for now one last thing. Should In backup the boot partition from twrp, the when I want to go back to stock android I restore system, data, and boot? Or just leave boot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backup all partitions
When you want to restore
Wipe all, then be sure to restore system, userdata and boot
If you don't restore boot it probably will bootloop as you will be using the wrong kernel

Related

Corrupt internal SD Card

Hi Folks.
Ok here is my situation, I have a rooted and unlocked TF700.
I flashed Zeus 4 and all worked well, then flashed (after full wipe) PARANOIDANDROID 2.15 and again everything was great,
Yesterday I flashed Baked Bean 4 (again after a full wipe) and apart from some SD issues all seemed ok,
I then decided to restore my TWRP backup of Zeus as I needed to use my 64gig msd card.
After a full wipe and restore Zeus started up but the dpi was messed up (160) I think (way small)
I was seeing loads of FC's and file manager showed my internal SD as being empty. Rebooted to recovery and tried the "Format Data" option
It failed right away with this message "E: Unable to format data."
I have tried flashing the stock .26 rom via TWRP and I have the same issue, dpi set to 160 and internal sd not mounted.
It seems my Internal sd is corrupt
What is the procedure to reformat it via ADB or fastboot? (I have searched but the results I found relate to other devices and I dont want to simply follow instructions that might cause further harm to my TF700)
I have followed the NVflash brick proof procedure and have all relevant files backed up (I did this before flashing the last 2 roms)
Please can some one point me in the right direction
Thanks a lot
Jules
I always wipe cache, system, internal, davic and then do a factory reset.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
When you said that you tried to flash the stock .26 you meant installing not restoring a backup, right? What rom you have on your device right now?
Pretoriano80 said:
When you said that you tried to flash the stock .26 you meant installing not restoring a backup, right. What rom you have on your device right now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yip extracted the zip from the zip file and copied it to my ext sd and flashed it via TWRP
I have an unusable Zeus4,
Im about to try a full wipe again and then flash .26 again
EDIT
After flashing .26 and selecting reboot I get the "No OS installed! Are you sure you wish to reboot?" message
Looks like the system partition is corrupted, but i'm not sure. I think you should come here on IRC and maybe someone with more experience will help you - - http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=asus-transformer
Thanks so much Pretoriano80!
With his help on IRC I was able to solve the problem,
In the end I had to return to complete stock, It seems CM10 caused some problems,
You are a a legend dude Thanks!!
:good:
ZaJules said:
Thanks so much Pretoriano80!
With his help on IRC I was able to solve the problem,
In the end I had to return to complete stock, It seems CM10 caused some problems,
You are a a legend dude Thanks!!
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This same thing happened to me with my Prime when I was getting ready to send it off for RMA because of a broken HDMI port. Since I was unlocked I was advised to restore to stock before sending it in. However, before I got the chance to do that I started getting the "E: Unable to format data." error that you were. I ended up erasing all partitions from fastboot and putting a note in the box that it wouldn't boot after an OTA. I managed to get away with it and wasn't charged for fixing it
For future reference it would be really helpful to know how you fixed this. Did you do something like what is in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1803343.
Did you ever figure out how CM10 messed up your Infinity? I was running CM9 on my Prime when I got this error. Thanks!
It's hard to say if it was CM10 (or any other custom rom) or TWRP to mess the things up but we managed to get back to stock by replacing the twrp with CWM recovery and installing a modified .30 update package. Was a tricky one but we didn't had to mess with the partitions and that's good.
Pretoriano80 said:
It's hard to say if it was CM10 (or any other custom rom) or TWRP to mess the things up but we managed to get back to stock by replacing the twrp with CWM recovery and installing a modified .30 update package. Was a tricky one but we didn't had to mess with the partitions and that's good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why did you switch to CWM? Do you have any thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of TWRP vs CWM?
paddycr said:
Why did you switch to CWM? Do you have any thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of TWRP vs CWM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Switched to CWM just to make sure it wasn't twrp recovery that somehow was failing to flash the partitions correctly. Tbh so far both do their job and both share the same limitation so far, meaning both fail to restore the boot partition (kernel) so in order to restore successfully (from a nandroid backup) you need to flash the right kernel after restoring is done. Otherwise i like TWRP better and never had issues with it, but i miss the advanced option from CWM, the one that let you format each partition individually.
Pretoriano80 said:
Switched to CWM just to make sure it wasn't twrp recovery that somehow was failing to flash the partitions correctly. Tbh so far both do their job and both share the same limitation so far, meaning both fail to restore the boot partition (kernel) so in order to restore successfully (from a nandroid backup) you need to flash the right kernel after restoring is done. Otherwise i like TWRP better and never had issues with it, but i miss the advanced option from CWM, the one that let you format each partition individually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not certain what you're referring to here. I've restored many times from different TWRP backups (for each custom rom that successfully boots and is half-decent, I make and keep a backup in case I want to jump around and try new things) and I've never had any issues. I am still on the .26 firmware update because I plan to do the nvflash thing. Are you saying that between Zeus v4 (ICS) and various Jelly Bean roms I've been on the same kernel? I gues I just haven't checked.
Anyway, I really love the TWRP recovery and use it with Xoom and Nexus 7 as well. It's so easy to use and always has been reliable.
okantomi said:
I'm not certain what you're referring to here. I've restored many times from different TWRP backups (for each custom rom that successfully boots and is half-decent, I make and keep a backup in case I want to jump around and try new things) and I've never had any issues. I am still on the .26 firmware update because I plan to do the nvflash thing. Are you saying that between Zeus v4 (ICS) and various Jelly Bean roms I've been on the same kernel? I gues I just haven't checked.
Anyway, I really love the TWRP recovery and use it with Xoom and Nexus 7 as well. It's so easy to use and always has been reliable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me moving between various roms by just restoring a backup never worked like it should. Let's say i'm on CM10 and i want to restore from a stock rom backup, the restore process is done, after reboot the device gets stuck to the first Asus screen and will stay there. Now if i get back to recovery and flash an update. zip containing the stock kernel the device will boot just fine, so definitely the boot image doesn't get restored in my case (with . 26 bootloader ).
Edit: @okantomi: You are using the internal storage or a MicroSD for backup / restoring? I'm really curious how this could work for some and not work for others, i mean same device, same recovery, same bootloader version...
Pretoriano80 said:
For me moving between various roms by just restoring a backup never worked like it should. Let's say i'm on CM10 and i want to restore from a stock rom backup, the restore process is done, after reboot the device gets stuck to the first Asus screen and will stay there. Now if i get back to recovery and flash an update. zip containing the stock kernel the device will boot just fine, so definitely the boot image doesn't get restored in my case (with . 26 bootloader ).
Edit: @okantomi: You are using the internal storage or a MicroSD for backup / restoring? I'm really curious how this could work for some and not work for others, i mean same device, same recovery, same bootloader version...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I only flash a new zip from the internal storage...made myself a "Flashworthy" folder which I keep stocked with newest versions of roms/gapps. I save my TWRP backups to my external microsdcard, as well as my TiBu backups. I have never had a problem restoring from TWRP this way, honestly.
okantomi said:
Ok, I only flash a new zip from the internal storage...made myself a "Flashworthy" folder which I keep stocked with newest versions of roms/gapps. I save my TWRP backups to my external microsdcard, as well as my TiBu backups. I have never had a problem restoring from TWRP this way, honestly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, in this case i really have no clue why restoring works for some users but not for all.Dees_Troy, the dev behind Twrp recovery told me that .26 bootloader is to blame for the recovery failing to restore the boot partition, but looks like you have that bootloader version and restoring works good for you... interesting.
Pretoriano80 said:
Well, in this case i really have no clue why restoring works for some users but not for all.Dees_Troy, the dev behind Twrp recovery told me that .26 bootloader is to blame for the recovery failing to restore the boot partition, but looks like you have that bootloader version and restoring works good for you... interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a mystery. Is there any other info that might be relevant to see why the difference in results? I ask because I would like to understand this device better, as well as potentially help others.
okantomi said:
It is a mystery. Is there any other info that might be relevant to see why the difference in results? I ask because I would like to understand this device better, as well as potentially help others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, maybe the twrp version and the backup options, like if you are using compression or not, which partitions do you backup (boot, system, data, recovery, cache)...
Pretoriano80 said:
I don't know, maybe the twrp version and the backup options, like if you are using compression or not, which partitions do you backup (boot, system, data, recovery, cache)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using TWRP 2.2.2.1, I back up boot, system and data only, and I don't use compression.

[Completed] Restore OS After Wiping System Partition - Galaxy S5

Due to problems with Google Services on my rooted Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F) I opted for a reset from TWRP and it returned to a condition where after some initial screens it was just stuck at "Checking for Updates" so I went back into TWRP and told it to wipe the other partitions. Whoops - now I have no OS (I was sort of assuming that the factory reset OS was somewhere else)
Which is the stock ROM for my Region - UK, unbranded - where do I get it from and how do I load it using Odin and/or TWRP?
TIA
Hello,
Did you make a nandroid backup of your stock ROM or a nandroid backup of a custom ROM if you installed one? If you have a nandroid backup of either of those then you can restore them in TWRP by choosing the restore option and then your nandroid then swipe the slider at the bottom of the screen. If you installed a custom ROM at any time before this and you still have the ROM file then you can reflash the ROM and Gapps.
If you don't have a custom ROM stored anywhere but can still get to recovery, then you can download any of the custom ROMs compatible with your device and a Gapps package that matches it and put them on your extsdcard then boot to recovery and flash the ROM and gapps, do the normal wipes in recovery after flashing, the normal wipes(wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache), DO NOT CHOOSE THE ADVANCED OPTIONS THAT LET YOU WIPE PARTITIONS.
Check this thread to see if it is your stock firmware, it SHOULD be but double check first, it also has instructions for rooting again and installing recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/development/stock-rom-root-recovery-sm-g900f-t2967725
If that doesn't work then go to Sammobile.com and search for your stock firmware by using your device model number.
The firmwares can sometimes be found at samsung-updates.com also.
Find the right firmware for your exact model number and flash through Odin.
For further assistance, post your question in the forum linked below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help
Good luck.
Droidriven said:
Did you make a nandroid backup of your stock ROM or a nandroid backup of a custom ROM if you installed one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly not - wasn't expecting to need it, thought it would revert to factory default - I have Titanium backup of apps and data.
I am hopefully a few minutes away from downloading the stock ROM and hopefully can reflash that using ODIN.
KD
colehill said:
Sadly not - wasn't expecting to need it, thought it would revert to factory default - I have Titanium backup of apps and data.
I am hopefully a few minutes away from downloading the stock ROM and hopefully can reflash that using ODIN.
KD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Making nandroid backups in recovery is the most important and valuable function of custom recovery, flashing ROMs is its' secondary purpose Android is not like PC with a recovery partition that restores a factory IMG, on PC that factory IMG is stored in a recovery partition. The factory reset feature in stock android does not restore an IMG, it deletes all data from the user partition and leaves everything in system partition the way it is, if you delete a system app and then do a factory reset then you will still not have the system app that you deleted. Anything you modify in system remains the way you modified it if you use the factory reset option. You should only use the factory reset in recovery, not the factory reset in system settings when you have a rooted device with custom recovery.
I'm sure that when you found the recovery, the directions had to have mentioned making a nandroid backup of your stock ROM before flashing anything, your present situation is why you do that, so that if anything goes wrong then you can easily restore to the one ROM that you know for sure works with no issues.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
I'm sure that when you found the recovery, the directions had to have mentioned making a nandroid backup of your stock ROM before flashing anything, your present situation is why you do that, so that if anything goes wrong then you can easily restore to the one ROM that you know for sure works with no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed the TWERP recovery as part of the rooting operation and I didn't pay any attention to the backup option - I thought that's what Titanium did.
I am learning and will make sure that I take a Nandroid backup once I have it back up and running. Life would be so much simpler if only Samsunng didn't stuff their 'phones with bloatware that can't be deleted in stock mode.
KD
colehill said:
I installed the TWERP recovery as part of the rooting operation and I didn't pay any attention to the backup option - I thought that's what Titanium did.
I am learning and will make sure that I take a Nandroid backup once I have it back up and running. Life would be so much simpler if only Samsunng didn't stuff their 'phones with bloatware that can't be deleted in stock mode.
KD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup can only backup data that you installed or downloaded, it does not backup anything that comes on the phone itself, that is what custom recovery is for.
When following guides to mod your device, read and understand ALL instructions before you even make the first move to touch your device. Get used to being thorough about reading and understanding first or you'll end up in a mess, possibly even hard brick your device, all it takes is one wrong move. Not all mistakes are fixable with android devices.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Flashing Roms and partitions (A-B)

OK so now that Roms are officially being released for our device, even with a RC TWRP. I am wondering how and if I have to flash a bootloader to my non primary partition (B) or if I can install TWRP to main partion A and then install Carbon worried before I do it would prefer to not brick phone, thanks in advance guys
ne0ns4l4m4nder said:
OK so now that Roms are officially being released for our device, even with a RC TWRP. I am wondering how and if I have to flash a bootloader to my non primary partition (B) or if I can install TWRP to main partion A and then install Carbon worried before I do it would prefer to not brick phone, thanks in advance guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you install TWRP it installs to both partitions. Both partitions should have a bootloader on them already, I would however flash a factory image first them flash twrp, rom etc. The rom will install to the opposite partitions that you are currently on.

Flashing 6039Y to MM advice

Hi All,
I have an o2 UK 6039Y on Lollipop and want to upgrade to MM. OTA won't work with this version. So far I managed to root, install TWRP and recover fastboot commands (they were missing). I have not seen any official MM roms on the forum, there are some like:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-3/development/rom-android-6-0-1-marshmallow-t3397546
https://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-3/general/rom-6-0-1-version-010-01-kernel-3-10-49-t3518041
Can someone explain to me please if I'm going to lose root, TWRP and fastboot by using the above? I assume you do with the first link and then it is hard to get these back, but I would not with the second link? I am after as stock experience as possible, using the phone for work and I need stuff to just work. Also if anything goes wrong or I can't use any apps I will need, will I be able to restore the backups of Lollipop I have taken with TWRP to roll back to Lollipop?
Many thanks in advance, if this has been covered somewhere please send me links, I've been reading the forum for about 24 hours and getting dizzy now
Ps Does anyone know how to get rid of the ugly o2 splash screen on boot?
Hi!
If you use the second link ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-3/general/rom-6-0-1-version-010-01-kernel-3-10-49-t3518041 ):
*need twrp 3.0.0-0 or above to flash it
* fastboot - ok
* Loose root but can be rooted thrue TWRP
*It have TWRP
.
Thanks for confirming, I'll give it a go later on today. Btw if I need to restore the old system, do I need to restore the system image partition or only system and data? not sure which partitions are being overwritten when flashing a different os version...
nyx007 said:
Thanks for confirming, I'll give it a go later on today. Btw if I need to restore the old system, do I need to restore the system image partition or only system and data? not sure which partitions are being overwritten when flashing a different os version...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backup those two in Recovery. If you want your data back, Backup /data. If not just backup /system. You might have to factory reset the phone though. Again, might.
ended up using Person78 script to do the full backup. Flashed his Rom, all working well.
Thanks folks

Can I backup & restore including appdata with TWRP?

In the past I've always backed up my complete ROM incl. appdata with twrp. I didn't have to competely setup my device if flashing went wrong and reverted to stock. I had some bad luck flashing roms because the A/B slots are new to me. I now have my bootloader unlocked and everything setup on stock OOS, and made a twrp backup of super, recovery and data.
Before flashing another ROM I just want to make sure I can revert easily to the previous OS without doing a complete setup of app settings and stuff
My question is
Can I wipe/factory reset and then just restore with twrp?
Do I restore when in the active slot where current os is?
Are there any issues with password/encryption when restoring?
Expected scenario;
I'm on stock OOS, wiped and want to restore appdata, settings, homescreen, etc...
I failed to install custom ROM and want to revert to stock OOS without having to redo the entire setup
I did search google and this forum for an answer or guide but couldn't find one (please correct me if I missed a thread)
yusisushi said:
In the past I've always backed up my complete ROM incl. appdata with twrp. I didn't have to competely setup my device if flashing went wrong and reverted to stock. I had some bad luck flashing roms because the A/B slots are new to me. I now have my bootloader unlocked and everything setup on stock OOS, and made a twrp backup of super, recovery and data.
Before flashing another ROM I just want to make sure I can revert easily to the previous OS without doing a complete setup of app settings and stuff
My question is
Can I wipe/factory reset and then just restore with twrp?
Do I restore when in the active slot where current os is?
Are there any issues with password/encryption when restoring?
Expected scenario;
I'm on stock OOS, wiped and want to restore appdata, settings, homescreen, etc...
I failed to install custom ROM and want to revert to stock OOS without having to redo the entire setup
I did search google and this forum for an answer or guide but couldn't find one (please correct me if I missed a thread)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you read the first 3 posts of https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...recovery-project-8t-kebab-2022-03-09.4302449/ ?
BillGoss said:
Did you read the first 3 posts of https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...recovery-project-8t-kebab-2022-03-09.4302449/ ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI, yes I did
I am still confused because it says before a restore I have to disable screenlock, if my phone is softbricked or has no OS does that count as not having fingerprint/lockscreen enabled?
yusisushi said:
HI, yes I did
I am still confused because it says before a restore I have to disable screenlock, if my phone is softbricked or has no OS does that count as not having fingerprint/lockscreen enabled?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you start TWRP, does it prompt you for a password/pin/pattern?
If Yes, then you have a lock screen password set. And if you can't get into the system to disable it, you'll have to format data (completely wipes all data).
If No, then you're good to go.
BillGoss said:
When you start TWRP, does it prompt you for a password/pin/pattern?
If Yes, then you have a lock screen password set. And if you can't get into the system to disable it, you'll have to format data (completely wipes all data).
If No, then you're good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, first of all; thank you for taking time to help me!
I managed to completely wipe the phone including data, and afterwards I restored it by copying the backup (which was now on my computer) and restoring it. SUCCESS! All appdata seems to be there, homescreen, and after second reboot my fingerprint still worked as before.
I just have one more question if you don't mind;
Below partitions I backed up;
Data
Boot
DTBO
Super
However, I'm not able to copy over the "super" partition from my computer to my phone, is this normal? it's almost 8GB and I was convinced I wasn't going to get to the OS without restoring it but apparently I didn't need it (?)
I suppose with the Fastboot Enhance Tool I'll be able to also restore this?
You really only need to backup the "system" partitions (boot, dtbo, super) if you're changing to custom ROMs. If you're always on OOS then you can forget about backing them up.
You should be able to copy the full backup, including super files from your PC to your phone using ADB. I've done that lots of times.
I've never used the tool you referred to. But I do know that you can't use fastboot to flash the super partition - it's too big.
However, if you break it up into chunks (I did it in 512MB chunks) using SparseConverter (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/tool-sparseconverter-v1-0-1.2749797/) then you can successfully flash it.
Just to confirm, if a ROM bootloops and I don't have access to a computer, there's no way to restore the TWRP backup? Seems like this defeats the point of even making on-device backups (AFAIK encryption can't be disabled for many roms)
tech.central said:
Just to confirm, if a ROM bootloops and I don't have access to a computer, there's no way to restore the TWRP backup? Seems like this defeats the point of even making on-device backups (AFAIK encryption can't be disabled for many roms)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can enter TWRP (even if your rom bootloops) there is a great chance you can restore backup in TWRP.

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