Note 8: How to proceed with a reset????????????????? - General Questions and Answers

I’m dealing with random reboots (every few days) when my Note 8 is idle. This happens every few days and not every day. When I set it up I used Smart Switch to move things over from my Note3. Called Samsung and they suggested a reset, which I think I’m going to do. However, they suggest I use Smart Switch to back up and restore everything to my reset phone. I asked how is this making it any different from what I have, basically copying a theoretically corrupted phone to a backup and then restoring that corrupted backup to a reset phone. The call center lady hung up after I posed that question.
So my question is what can I restore selectively with Smart Switch? Obviously, I am going to restore all apps and settings manually. Any other suggestions by someone who has done this would be appreciated. Basically I want a clean installation.
Other factor is I don’t have Oreo available yet. Am using a dual SIM unlocked version of the phone and I guess the update will have to come from Samsung directly. Do you advise waiting to see if Oreo clears up the idle restart issue or going ahead and doing the restart?

Related

Factory reset within Bliss?

Yo-yo~
I want to do a factory reset inside of Bliss so that I can try to recover some backups that I had on an android device that bricked itself a couple of days ago. Issue is that once I get into Bliss live mode I cannot make it factory reset. I get to the option to do so, but I cannot select it, any time I click the button I hear the sound trigger that a button has been pressed but there is no reaction on my device.
If you know that this wont work, maybe you can give me some ideas on where to go next with my full story. Basically my pixel started acting up a few days ago, while trying to resolve that I made sure that I had everything backed up really well. Well, soon after the whole phone started refusing to charge and I found myself buying a new one. I decided to swap back to apple and got one of the iphones. While turning it on I saw that it has the option to restore from android devices! Only problem is that you have to be able to sign into some website on that android device to do it.
So my full plan is to do the factory reset on the Bliss OS Live in my laptop, recover my information through backups saved to the cloud, sign into this apple website, then use the Bliss Live to push whatever data it can to my new iPhone. Can anyone help me get this process started? Or maybe point me in the direction of a better way to accomplish this?
Thanks <3

Whatsapp backup restoring

I'm actually in a very serious problem as I have a problem with restoring my whatsapp messages please help me asap I uninstalled my whatsapp on 16th July and last I backed up it on 7th July. Now when I try to restore the messages after reinstalling it shows my google account but it doesn't show the size of backup and also it says no Internet connection please help me. Also my whatsapp images and whatsapp videos folders have disappeared. I really want to get back my chats. Hope someone will really help me as it means alot to me now
Connect to a wifi or a hotspot, or get better signal then H+
Kenora_I said:
Connect to a wifi or a hotspot, or get better signal then H+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm already using WiFi and I tried using mobile data as well both didn't help and I tried reseting network settings and all still it didn't work out
ruinaaaa said:
I'm already using WiFi and I tried using mobile data as well both didn't help and I tried reseting network settings and all still it didn't work out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you check your google account the backup.
It could be app problem, try resetting and other stuff.
Kenora_I said:
Did you check your google account the backup.
It could be app problem, try resetting and other stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey yes I checked it as well in google drive it shows the backup I can't restore it locally because I deleted the whatsapp databases like or two months ago will it affect this
Try clearing the data and cache of whatsapp or reinstall it.
Kenora_I said:
Try clearing the data and cache of whatsapp or reinstall it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this too and tried so many things.I watched so many youtube videos and searched a lot in google as well still couldn't find any possible way to recover
Albert83BCN said:
Hi guys!
I have been facing this issue this whole week while trying to move all my chats to a new phone I just bought as with the old one the charging port was dying and I could not bear it anymore. So almost everything restored smoothly from Google Backup and it was like being in my phone again with a few wizard steps but then I Installed WhatsApp (WA) and gone through the typical activation and restoring process and. as many, I got stuck at the 24% sometimes, some others 31% and 39%, and never got past the 39%.
I Tried almost everything: restoring from Google Drive, transfer all WhatsApp directory to internal storage and trying to restore from there, etc. Going back to the old phone to create fresh backups just in case they were corrupted as many people suggests, getting every time more delay to be able to activate WhatsApp again up to 12h for both SMS and call activation... just to mess again and feel back at square one, I guess you all feel the pain.
Well, the good news is that I finally managed to restore all the chat history!!! (well, cannot be certain that 100% was restored but I do not miss anything ATM and I can go back up to 2012 chats so I guess that qualifies as "everything" hehe).
So, I'm posting here because I've been searching a lot on the forums and the reddit and for all the people that is having this issue recently, almost no body came back to report success and I know it feels really discouraging It certainly gives the impression that this issue has no fix at all, and that you should accept losing all the chat history and starting from the start again. But from all the data I've been gathering during this week, at least two or three people reported to eventually being able to restore the chat; they fell in one of these two categories: they either transferred to a different phone where the backup seemed to restore okay, and then exported and restored in the target phone with success (something like a "bridge" restore mode, most of the cases I've read did it this way) or they finally succeeded by sheer brute force by trying again and again and again.
I fall in this 2nd category. In the most recent attempt I was doing what I've been doing again and again and again with just minor variations in the workflow and finally succeeded. TL; DR; I think in reality in many cases attempts could succeed by just letting the phone restore the backup endlessly, by not giving up and assuming the restore process went wrong when it has been stuck forever at either 24, 31 or 39% and force closing..
But I know in the midst of desperation OCD kicks in and you want step-by-step success case scenario reproduction so I will tell you all the steps that I followed that I can remember that got me to finally have the backup to end successfully:
0. First of all, in the winning attempt I had already uninstalled WA from the new phone and removed totally the WA folder in the internal storage / sdcard storage. Not sure this is mandatory but just to tell this was the case.
1. Since I got WA working perfectly on the old phone at every moment, I backed up locally for the Nth f%!?&·( time. This left me with the latest local backup plus a few others in the databases folder as a result of keep messing up.
2. I copied the full WhatsApp directory from the internal storage of the old phone to a safe place. This could be the PC or whatever, but PC transfer via USB seems too sloppy. You maybe could do it via ADB, whatever, I went by the route of coping it to the external SD with some random explorer utility like ES File Explorer. It does not matter, the point is to be able to backup the full WhatsApp folder in order to restore it as similar as possible as the original. What we are more interested right now is in the database folder but having all images, videos etc in place will help in getting it like before the easiest way. (Disclaimer: Ok guys sorry if some steps are too obvious to XDA users which usually are highly educated in the matter, but I was thinking of sharing/linking this text on the reddit and others, so please bear with it).
3. I installed latest WA in the new phone, opened the app (I intended to not open but I somewhat forgot) and got to the welcome screen, immediately closed the app at that step.
3. I restored the full folder to the new phone internal storage, pure copy/paste style (as said, in my case via the SD since both phones have SD slot and was very convenient, but via USB, cloud, etc. can be done).
4. I went to the databases folder and only kept the msgstore.db.crypt12 file and the latest backup with a date (ie: msgstore-2019-11-21.db.crypt12), deleted the rest. Honestly I do not think this is crucial but I somewhat wanted to make it easier for WA to know which one to target, I thought about keeping only the msgstore.db.crypt12 but some random dude pointed that the one with the date was needed. I was under the assumption that file structure is identical in both but just wanted to get done with this and keep both, just in case.
5. Before opening again the WA to try to activate and restore with this full local copy, I opened the Android settings app and went to applications > whatasapp > storage, as suggested by user redweaver, thanks for the tip! by keeping looking at the storage usage of the app during the restore process we could get insight about if it was really doing something or the app was really stuck. Keep open for now. In my case, I saw also on the old phone that my data used for the app was 780+ MB, so I had an idea of what should be on the new phone by the time it finished (if it did!).
5b. I don't think this is really necessary but I did it just in case. I was planning to go to work and let the thing running as long as it would need, and I would make sure that the process would get maximum uptime and nothing would get in the way. So I went to Applications > WhatsApp > Battery usage (or something like it) and disabled the battery optimizations for this app. I also went to the developer mode settings and enabled do not lock the phone while it is charging and everything that looked like it might be relevant. Again, most likely this has nothing to do, but reproducible steps, right?
6. Now open WA and activate it as usual, but when it seems that the activation step ended and you go to the next screen, immediately put the phone in air plane mode or disable data/WiFi, whatever. The goal is that it cannot reach Google Drive to look for the online backup. Honestly maybe in the end is not the culprit of GDrive but many people states that the GD backup is broken at this time and suggests going the local route, so we will do it like this.
7. WA should tell you that looking for the backup is going too slow and to skip this step (sorry to not have exact message, I have it in Spanish, but something in these lines, BTW excuse my somewhat limited English ). The point here is to click on the link that says skip the step and when you are prompted with a popup, click also on Skip.
8. WA will display the typical restore / transfer-like screen where the process starts. At this point you have to enable again data plan / WiFi at least or exit air plane mode, don't know really but even if restoring from local it complains about not having internet connection, maybe needs it to encrypt with the key or something? don't know.
9. Now is the feared moment! Even this time, I got somewhat stuck at 31% again. I left it do its thing, and some time later, it prompted for the popup that has a progress-bar from 0 to 100 (honestly, what is the difference between both?!) which also got stuck at 31%. If you let it be, it starts going back and forth many times, I guess maybe its going chat per chat and the progress-bar represents each one? Dunno. Thing is, even in the prior attempts I got at this point and the backup did not finish successfully. But this time I was decided to let it do its thing as much time as it would take, until the end. In the process the phone might display a pop up saying that WA does not respond. I clicked a few times in the 'keep waiting' option, then I just forgot because I did not have time to mess with it and hoped that it was still working on the background, which bring us to step 10.
10. While we are contemplating the backup process, we can go to the settings app again and look how the internal data is going for the WA. In my case, after some time under the restore process, when I went there I saw WA had occupied 0.91 GB of data space. After going back and forth again between WA and settings, the usage keep growing: 0.96, 1.03, 1.10... I thought it was on the right track, and encouraged me to keep waiting. Maybe in the end the process is too slow for old databases. Note that some people speculates that having messages from very long ago might be the culprit here due to changes in the table structure and that this might be the reason breaking the restore process. And maybe it is the case, but even if it is, in my case I finally succeeded where previously I didn't and without deleting anything, so this does not seem to be a deal-breaker or I would have never succeeded. I say it because some people reported that deleting old conversations and trying again finally made them succeed. Now I suspect the true reason was simply that by making the database smaller the process finished earlier, but YMMV.
11. Cannot be totally sure, but in my case, I noticed that leaving WA on the background and clicking on the WA icon again might stop the process for true and bring a message about not being able to recover the chats, I got this previously, do not try to open the WA normally, only leave it temporally to look to the space usage in the settings to get back to it by swyping between recent apps to keep the same instance open and working, this was a key point in my success trial that did not happen during the previous ones.
12. And finally, while I kept switching between WA and the settings and when I last saw like 1.30GB of space used (almost twice the space compared to the old phone, maybe it leaves a lot of temp data) I don't know if I either messed with the app-switching or it really finished, but then I got prompted to the screen where you enter your name or nickname. And when I completed this step, I finally got to the chats screen and everything was like in the old phone! Where previously I would get to a lot of empty chat rooms with maybe 40 total messages restored according to WA. Hurray!
Notice that in my case it was still reporting 31% on the WA background screen under the progress bar popup when it finished!! so it seems that is not really mandatory to experience the 100% complete to have it work in the end, but YMMV.
OK, maybe not the most elegant "guide" out there but I wrote it in a hurry and my english sucks, I just hope it might help someone to not lose their WA chats forever.
Good luck!
Edit: I almost forgot but, for the sake of completeness. I also tried a certain script that can backup WA from the phone and retrieve the encryption key, it will also leave an unencrypted copy of the chats database that can later be viewed with a WhatsApp viewer like this. The script is called WhatsApp Key/DB Extractor, and it still works as of 2019, just look at the latest posts in the thread. Guys here on XDA most likely know about it but if not, you might give it a try. I tried it because I assumed that maybe I could circumvent the restore issues by going that route and pushing the backup via ADB, but turns out the legacy WA won't prepare the database due to the time out of sync issue, or at least the data seemed to be lost after performing the restore process, and the unencrypted database on the PC cannot be digested by WA latest versions by just putting it into the internal storage directly according to what other users commented. But, if you finally give up trying the restore process, it still could be relieving to know that you keep a local copy in the PC that can be viewed with another PC tool, at least you get a backup and the conversations are there, in a different way though. Maybe in the future there's a process that can restore them again to a different phone, and you could then merge the new chat database with the older backup with tools like Merjeapp.
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This has the solution
Kenora_I said:
This has the solution
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Click to collapse
Thank you but today I read this in the afternoon. This guy has solved it through whatsapp databases but I don't have a way go backup locally as I deleted my whatsapp databases two months ago. All I can do is recovering from google drive but the thing in this guy's scenario his chat was actually being restoring but I can't even do that since it says that I have an Internet connection problem

one plus nord accidental wipe of phone\ query about rooting to get data back

Good morning XDA really after some advice. I managed to wipe my phone last night by ending up in the boot options when putting it into my phone holder in the car. Unfortunately it set itself to Chinese and then i must have said yes to reset.
For some inexplicable reason it has not been backing up lots of my data (I'm sure i set that to backup to google drive) such as whatsup chats google photos etc since upgrade it in Jan by the looks of it. I've looked at a number of recovery software but they don't seem to bring much back or to do a deep scan they need to be rooted.
Is rooting the only way to look at the physical storage. As I'im pretty sure I'm correct in thinking that the data is not physically wiped as such. just removed the data table?
On my old oneplus 3 i rooted it and that stopped me getting updates. I'm hopping that some of you guys can help me with these question?
1) is there any software to get this back and if so what do people recommend
2) if I was to root my phone as (dr.phone wants to do for a deep scan) would this stop me getting updates.
3) and or would it be easy enough to re root back to how it would have been prior to rooting so that oneplus would update normally

Why didn't my apps install on my new U11+ ?

I just bought a U11+ as an upgrade to my U11 and am configuring it, which is taking longer than I expected because neither of the two backups I did (htc's and Backup Your Mobile) installed most of the apps (or their data). Also, I've had two System updates in the last two days.
I got my custom background, the Keep Notes app (plus its data) and Facebook; that's pretty much it.
What did I overlook?
Oh, yeah... I cannot find a setting to keep the display on when powered. Anyone know how to do that?
If you did a jump to a new OS version or device that may be why.
If you did any major firmware updates on the new device, it's factory reset time.
Otherwise clear the system cache.
Manually loading them may be your only option.
Welcome to the fking planet
blackhawk said:
If you did a jump to a new OS version or device that may be why.
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Click to collapse
That occurred to me when I (finally) checked the OS version and saw that it was 8.
I've been getting update notices for the last two days and the most recent one (the third) was the Android 9 OS (update # 2.19.401.2). Where can I check on official updates so I can get an idea when this will stop (because manually looking for updates this morning got me nothing, then I saw the update prompt a couple hours later).
Updated to 9, rebooted and verified that Google Drive is connected, but I'm still not getting Backup & Restore to work. Will have to experiment with the others.
Jeff in 92833 said:
That occurred to me when I (finally) checked the OS version and saw that it was 8.
I've been getting update notices for the last two days and the most recent one (the third) was the Android 9 OS (update # 2.19.401.2). Where can I check on official updates so I can get an idea when this will stop (because manually looking for updates this morning got me nothing, then I saw the update prompt a couple hours later).
Updated to 9, rebooted and verified that Google Drive is connected, but I'm still not getting Backup & Restore to work. Will have to experiment with the others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I learned long ago that if your OS is fast, stable and fulfilling its mission, let it be.
I've been on Pie for 2 years, my last reload was 1.5 years ago, still fast and stable with minimum maintenance. What's not to like?
Unless you start screwing with the firmware and bring in new issues that need fixed.
Security generally isn't an issue unless you do something stupid.
There's no saving dumb bunnies... be careful what you load and download.
blackhawk said:
If you did a jump to a new OS version or device that may be why.
If you did any major firmware updates on the new device, it's factory reset time.
Otherwise clear the system cache.
Manually loading them may be your only option.
Welcome to the fking planet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did a Factory Reset (but it stayed Android 9). I did this because I had 'restored' a lot of files from Backup Your Mobile's (aka BYM) work on my U11.
Two things are bothering me:
1) The HTC Transfer Tool is not working this time (it transfers the PIN Code, but never gets to CONFIRM. After repeated attempts following reboots, etc., I have noticed that the PIN Code sometimes flickers off and back on again; what's up with that?).
2) BYM transferred my SMS and MMS to my U11+, but clicking on a text message that includes an MMS just makes the message thread avatar flicker and stay on the message thread listing (not even a flicker of the thread is displayed).
You mean screen lock codes?
First I don't password lock devices. You're the most likely one to end up getting locked out.
If you do use one I wouldn't attempt to back it up and transfer it. If it gets corrupted what follows won't be fun.
Pie's a good OS.
Clearing the system cache never hurts to try when experiencing glitches.
blackhawk said:
You mean screen lock codes?
First I don't password lock devices. You're the most likely one to end up getting locked out.
If you do use one I wouldn't attempt to back it up and transfer it. If it gets corrupted what follows won't be fun.
Pie's a good OS.
Clearing the system cache never hurts to try when experiencing glitches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I did not mean screen lock codes. The HTC Transfer utility worked the first time I tried it before the Factory Reset, but it's not working now. The PIN Code is displayed on the source phone, but it doesn't activate the confirmation button to do the transfer.
I have since learned that many of the apps that were copied over via Google Play's utility also transferred the data, but not all the apps were transferred.
More research to be done, it seems.
Jeff in 92833 said:
No, I did not mean screen lock codes. The HTC Transfer utility worked the first time I tried it before the Factory Reset, but it's not working now. The PIN Code is displayed on the source phone, but it doesn't activate the confirmation button to do the transfer.
I have since learned that many of the apps that were copied over via Google Play's utility also transferred the data, but not all the apps were transferred.
More research to be done, it seems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad... I use Google search a lot and it doesn't need to be that specific model or OS version most times. Many of the issues are long standing. I even use solutions for other manufacturers models. Whatever comes in handy.
And/or just play with it until I work it out.
I haven't used that app. If you upgraded the firmware or are transferring data from another device these kind apps can screw up especially with app settings.
If you're doing a factory reset because of an issue or a crash they can inadvertently reload the root cause of the issue.
It's nice to save the homescreen, theme, icon setting on a reload using these though. Most apps I hand reload/configure or use the app's backup setting file like with Poweramp or DIGI Clock which are very intensive to set from scratch.
Critical data I save in a master backup folder(s) as files. Be ready to reload at any time as most crashes while rare give little or no warning. Redundantly backup critical data to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Most times a factory reset is to give the device a clean slate. Looking over app settings while setting them up helps to spot things you may have previously missed. It helps a lot to be familiar with the nuts and bolts at the user interface level. Many times when troubleshooting this is where the answers lurk.
I consider my first load or two on a new phone trail runs. After which it's pretty well sorted out for a clean load. I do the same on PCs. Android's are very forgiving but poorly written apps or the user can still skew hidden user settings that are hard to find/access on a stock device. A stable, fast load is a pleasure to use and will run well for a long time with only simple maintenance on a stock Android.

Frustrated Causual User With New Device

I couldn't find this online, or it seems the method no longer applies, and I couldn't get it to appear in a search here.
The last time I upgraded was from an S9 to the Note 20 Ultra. When I did, it asked me if I wanted to copy from the old phone, and everything was moved over, including all of the apps. The only things missing were the older texts from my side and some of the data inside some apps.
This time is used Smart Switch, and it only transferred data and a few of the apps. It was better before!
Is there a way to get everything or almost everything moved over?
I just want to get switched over quickly.
Thanks!
A clean load is best for stock phones. Do it right the first time...
SmartSwitch can screw up bad. A different device and OS version can cause issues. Potential data loss is also a possibility.
Never use SmartSwitch as the only backup... keep at least 2 copies on hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Copy/paste critical data, then verify size, file count and if readable. If you have an SD card it should already be there on the old phone.
Otherwise develop a plan/organize your data so you can reload as quickly, accurately and painlessly as possible with zero critical data loss.
After 2 back to back boot loops in 3 days I learned that lesson
Clean Load? Do you mean don't use SmartSwitch, and just set up the new phone manually?
Maybe this device is too different for SW to work? Are there any alternatives?
Myk_Myk said:
Clean Load? Do you mean don't use SmartSwitch, and just set up the new phone manually?
Maybe this device is too different for SW to work? Are there any alternatives?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeap. Always the best option. A good load can last for years if you don't do firmware upgrades/updates. This stock Note 10+'s load will be 3 yo this June, still fast, very stable with minimal maintenance. Still running on Android 9. Android loads can be very long lived, a great OS.
A clean load means when you do find issues (and you will) you won't be wondering if you imported the problem with SmartSwitch. The last thing you want to do is a factory reset because the issue is likely to reoccur*. Instead find the root cause. Knowing you have a good base load helps with troubleshooting.
If SmartSwitch screws it up a factory reset maybe the only realistic solution. It may be lagging, system instability or subtle issues. My second N10+ may need this done because I inadvertently used more SmartSwitch options than I had wanted. So are the issues from SmartSwitch or because of Android 10? Only one way to know for sure... You get the idea.
*a boot loop or malware that can't be eradicated are the exceptions. With a boot loop you still need to track down the root cause, usually a buggy 3rd party app.

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