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[Q] Constant re-downloading of OTA updates, how to disable?

Hi,
I have two Nexus 5 phones in my possession, both currently on 4.4.2 (Cataclysm and AOKP). I've recently noticed that the N5 running 4.4.2 Cataclysm has been using an immense amount of background data for 'Google Services' and did some digging to find out what it was. Turns out the phone is constantly re-downloading an OTA update, failing to flash it, then re-downloading it again, and so on.
There's a few attached images that are related - the file it's downloading, and the data used so far.
I found a couple of supposed solutions on various XDA threads and disabled the update service at startup, as well as installing FOTAKill.apk to system, but somehow it's still downloading and it's wearing me down as I can't figure out how to stop it. I understand an update to 4.4.4 would fix it, but i'd rather not as the person currently using the phone isn't all that keen on me taking time to flash & restore backups etc.
Are there any fixes for this that can be done by removing/disabling system services or the like? If it comes to it, I may just be able to block access to that particular ZIP in pfSense/SquidGuard.
Cheers.

ItsEmber said:
Hi,
I have two Nexus 5 phones in my possession, both currently on 4.4.2 (Cataclysm and AOKP). I've recently noticed that the N5 running 4.4.2 Cataclysm has been using an immense amount of background data for 'Google Services' and did some digging to find out what it was. Turns out the phone is constantly re-downloading an OTA update, failing to flash it, then re-downloading it again, and so on.
There's a few attached images that are related - the file it's downloading, and the data used so far.
I found a couple of supposed solutions on various XDA threads and disabled the update service at startup, as well as installing FOTAKill.apk to system, but somehow it's still downloading and it's wearing me down as I can't figure out how to stop it. I understand an update to 4.4.4 would fix it, but i'd rather not as the person currently using the phone isn't all that keen on me taking time to flash & restore backups etc.
Are there any fixes for this that can be done by removing/disabling system services or the like? If it comes to it, I may just be able to block access to that particular ZIP in pfSense/SquidGuard.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cn.wq.disableservice
Disable SystemUpdateService in Google Play Services + Google Services Framework.
The app itself doesn't store any data so you can uninstall it afterwards.
Or;
Open /system/build.prop, change
Code:
ro.build.fingerprint=google/hammerhead/hammerhead:4.4.2/KOT49H/937116:user/release-keys
to
Code:
ro.build.fingerprint=google/hammerhead/hammerhead:4.4.4/KTU84P/1227136:user/release-keys

I believe you can long press on the notification and just untick show notification.

nitramus said:
I believe you can long press on the notification and just untick show notification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't stop it from downloading the OTA again and again. That'll just hide all notifications from Android System, and you might miss something else.

If people don't want to be bothered by important security updates and other goodies, why should we care? I fully updated my manta last night (factory image, latest twrp, omni, restore stuff) in 30min. In my opinion, you're just being lazy with both devices.

beekay201 said:
If people don't want to be bothered by important security updates and other goodies, why should we care? I fully updated my manta last night (factory image, latest twrp, omni, restore stuff) in 30min. In my opinion, you're just being lazy with both devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ROM used is an outdated rom, Cataclysm(4.4.2), which is based on stock.
It's their preference for what they want to use.

Help! Apps constantly crashing. have to reboot phone multiple times a day

Hello all,
Having a problem with my unmodded XT926. Apps are crashing frequently during the day. Phone is usable but I get messages saying that Google Play has stopped working or Fleksy has stopped working. Keyboard app stops working multiple times a day. At first I was using the native keyboard app, but for the last three days I switched to Fleksy to see if that worked better but no dice. When the keyboard app crashes, I have to force reboot the phone. Do I need to reload firmware or something to get my phone stable again?
Phone has never been rooted (company phone). All I've ever done was disable some apps listed on the Xt926 Bloatware post on this forum and played around with Nova Launcher and Tasker.
XT926
KK4.4.2
182.46.15
kernel 3.4.42-gbd361ac
kernel date Jul 29, 2014
Any help/guidance is appreciated. Thanks in Advance

Boot into recovery and wipe cache. That has helped me in the past

Guapo613 said:
Boot into recovery and wipe cache. That has helped me in the past
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it has not resolved my problem.

You can always try to enable certain things that you have previously disabled to see if that helps. I'm not sure what you have disabled but what works for some, may not work for you.
Since your rooted, you can also use Titanium Backup to freeze apps.
Are you familiar with RSD Lite?

Guapo613 said:
You can always try to enable certain things that you have previously disabled to see if that helps. I'm not sure what you have disabled but what works for some, may not work for you.
Since your rooted, you can also use Titanium Backup to freeze apps.
Are you familiar with RSD Lite?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app crashes were happening prior to me disabling programs. I have tried enabling everything again and the results are the same. Most of what I disabled are the bloatware apps (Amazon, MC3, Real Racing, Spotify, etc.)
I am not rooted.
Have never used RSD Lite but will look into it.

You can try going into the "Apps" menu in settings and clearing the caches for individual apps. Some of them get quite large, and the cache only stores temporary data for reasons of convenience.
You can uninstall apps you don't really need (some of them run in the background and use up memory, look in "Running" apps in the system-apps listing).
Tasker is always running in the background; do you really need it?
You can try going into developer options (go into "About phone" in settings, then tap the build number many times) and reducing the background process limit.
If all else fails, you can do a factory data reset, or even more drastic, you can reflash the stock firmware.
Also bear in mind that this is an old device, and current apps expect devices with more memory and faster processors. Every time an app is updated with more features, it uses more memory on your phone and makes it run slower.

CryptZero said:
The app crashes were happening prior to me disabling programs. I have tried enabling everything again and the results are the same. Most of what I disabled are the bloatware apps (Amazon, MC3, Real Racing, Spotify, etc.)
I am not rooted.
Have never used RSD Lite but will look into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backup important data (pics, music etc.) and try a factory reset. This should cure all you problems.
If this process cures your phones problems, you can root your phone if you like. Look at this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-razr-hd/general/index-motorola-droid-razr-hd-2015-t3167557

Factory reset was done prior to my post on this board.
Don't think tasker is the problem. After the reset, I manually added apps one or two at a time... Tasker was the last one added, but crashes were happening before that.
Previously, I had been using tasker for about 6 months with no crashes at all.
Right now, I'm leaning toward flashing the firmware. My company has put a temporary ban on issuing droid phones due to that big exploit that was discovered a few weeks ago. I hate iPhones and am trying to keep this one running until they lift the ban.
Thanks for all the help so far. I'm open to trying anything to just get this phone back to a stable condition.
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

so here is the latest.
Phone rebooted itself, after an app crash and is now stuck on the Droid Eye bootup screen thingy...
Force reboot doesn't fix it. Took it to Verizon store downstairs for sh*ts and giggles and they were no help. No surprise there!
Does this sound like a hardware issues to you guys?
Guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get an iPhone from my company as a replacement.. unless someone on here has some miracle suggestion.

It sounds more like a software issue to me.
I would see if you can get into fastboot or ADB and flash a fresh copy of the firmware before giving up entirely.

A full flashing of the firmware via RSD Lite will probably fix your issues

So I was able to Flash firmware to 183.46.15 and I also rooted the phone using sd_shadow instructions. Took me quite a while to actually download a working firmware file. The only working link I found was here: http://download1520.mediafire.com/rnbmstjwc1wg/du1p88ti1esd5fk/VZW_XT926_4.4.2-KDA20.62-15.1_1FF.xml.zip
I guess I'll see if the phone is any more stable over the next few days.
Thank you all for the suggestions. Much appreciated!

Was this ever resolved?

Updates stuck at 100%, Gmail does not notify, and other issues.

I am desperate, I can't find the issue here. I have a S10 (Xfinity unlocked on Verizon) , I can't seem to update apps, they get stuck at 100% or 99%, AND some things like Gmail and Instagram do not seem to notify that I am getting messages.
Here's the kicker, I factory reset the phone some 5 times now, and still have the issue. The Reset fixes it for a few days (if even a day) and then the issue starts up again!
the phone was just upgraded to 10, but it was happening on 9 also!
no clue what the problem is ! it kills me! Please anyone have any idea? I even had an authorized Samsung dealer do a "software refresh" and then wiped out the phone again, and I'm still having the same issue..
HELP! please.
thank you

eatonjb said:
I am desperate, I can't find the issue here. I have a S10 (Xfinity unlocked on Verizon) , I can't seem to update apps, they get stuck at 100% or 99%, AND some things like Gmail and Instagram do not seem to notify that I am getting messages.
Here's the kicker, I factory reset the phone some 5 times now, and still have the issue. The Reset fixes it for a few days (if even a day) and then the issue starts up again!
the phone was just upgraded to 10, but it was happening on 9 also!
no clue what the problem is ! it kills me! Please anyone have any idea? I even had an authorized Samsung dealer do a "software refresh" and then wiped out the phone again, and I'm still having the same issue..
HELP! please.
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot into safe mode, it will only load your system apps and not your user apps. Then try to update your apps, if it works then you know the issue is being cause one of your user apps. Then you just need to identify which user app is the offending app.
It also might be caused by a conflict between various settings or maybe you have some things disabled or turned off that are causing this.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Boot into safe mode, it will only load your system apps and not your user apps. Then try to update your apps, if it works then you know the issue is being cause one of your user apps. Then you just need to identify which user app is the offending app.
It also might be caused by a conflict between various settings or maybe you have some things disabled or turned off that are causing this.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That kinda works.. but again, as said, I have reloaded the phone over and over, and it works fine, until a few days later and stars over.. And updating is not the only problem, Geolocating is slow, sluggish or not working sometimes, Push updates of emails are slower or not happening. just weird things..
I am not sure what it could be! its like the phone is the problem!

eatonjb said:
That kinda works.. but again, as said, I have reloaded the phone over and over, and it works fine, until a few days later and stars over.. And updating is not the only problem, Geolocating is slow, sluggish or not working sometimes, Push updates of emails are slower or not happening. just weird things..
I am not sure what it could be! its like the phone is the problem!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, everything I posted went completely over your head, I'll try again.
If it is working like it is supposed to while in safe mode(which is only loaded with system apps and system settings and not any of your user apps or data) that tells you that the issue is caused by some user app that you have installed or something in your user settings. In other other words, it is very likely something that you, as the user, have installed or setup/selected, it is probably not the device. It keeps happening after resetting because you are not changing what you are doing that it is causing it, it is something that you keep returning to after resetting the device. You just need to figure out which user app is causing the issue or whatever settings are causing the issue.
The way to do that will be trial and error. Uninstall one of the apps that you have installed, then use the device for a few hours, if the issue continues, that wasn't the app causing the issue, reinstall that app then choose another user app to uninstall and then use the device for a few hours, if the issue continues, that is t the app, reinstall that app, and so on and so on, etc... Get the picture? When you uninstall an app and the issue stops, the last app uninstalled is probably the app causing the issue.
I suggest resetting the device again. Then, only install one of your usual apps but don't install any others and don't change any settings, use the device a while, if the issue does not occur, install another one of your usual apps but don't install any others, basically, install one app at a time until the issue occurs, when it does, the last app installed is probably the offending app.
Or, if you don't find it that way and you get all of your usual apps installed without triggering the issue during the trial and error process, then you need to go through settings by trial and error. Changing one setting at a time and using the device a while to see if the issue occurs, if it does, it probably has something to do with the last setting that you changed before the issue occured.
Slowly changing one thing at a time over an extended amount with time between each change, will allow you to isolate exactly which app or setting is causing the issue.
Or maybe you need to flash your stock firmware via PC tools to start over with a clean installation.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

problem disabling system update notifications on oneplus 8 pro

Hi. Thought I could get a little help with something. I got my 1+8pro and I rooted it with Magisk only. It was a little tedious but my root check app says it is rooted. I had trouble with my bank apps. One was so stingy that I had to redo the root using a different app name instead of Magisk. Finally got that working. Then I started getting notifications for a system update. Well, in order to update I had to wait until that version was posted on 1+ website so I could download it and patch it in. I finally did that and eventually got everything back up and running with the update. It was tedious and the phone is finally working again, just like I want it to.
About another week later it began nagging me again to do yet another update and I did not want to go through all that all over again. I went into the settings for that system app to disable the notifications but the switch was greyed out, locked in the on position. I live by important notifications and having that up in my notification area constantly is distracting. So I contacted support and asked how to disable the system updates or the notification. They told me to do what I already tried and I had to send them a screenshot showing that it was greyed out. Then they were trying to talk me into resetting my phone which is scary considering it took me many weeks to set everything all up.
So I said "uncle" and ended up going through the update baloney all over again and getting it rooted like before. Tedious. I checked after doing so and the notification setting switch was still greyed out. So, now it started nagging me to update again only this time wants me to go to OS11 which I am certainly not even ready to try as it is still in its infancy and not interested in taking a chance that something stops working properly on the phone.
I have a root uninstaller app on the phone that disables apps, but it is so old that it is no longer supported and apparently doesn't work with this newer Android version like it did on my old phone. It just brought the app over when I transferred everything from the old phone to this new one. It has app disabling features that apparently do not work for this version of Android. So I cannot use it to disable the System Update app. Now, I can probably install the Pro version of Titanium Backup which has an app freeze feature but not sure if it will work after paying for it. So before I do such a thing I wanted to see if there are any other options to maybe get this switch un-greyed so I can block these notifications. I know also that I can clear the cache and data for the app and it stops for a few days, but then I have to keep doing that once or twice a week and that is just a pitb to keep doing. Besides, 1+ said that it shouldn't be greyed out.
Anybody got any ideas for me to try without jeopardizing having to lose it all and start over? If I knew what I was getting into with Magisk, I would have installed TWRP first so I could have backup images to roll back to. But that is an afterthought now. I don't think Titanium Backup can create an actual flash image of the phone like TWRP. Maybe I should start over and just do it right with TWRP, then Magisk in the first place. But I want to leave that as a last resort.
Ideas, thoughts?
Thanks if you can.

Disable Updates?

Sorry for potentially asking a dumb question, but im at my wits end here.
Is there any way to completely disable OTA updates, with the stock ROM on the Pixel 4a?
Asking because i have turned automatic updates off in settings and it STILL checks and STILL force updates the phone after a week or so. This is extremely frustrating as i have very specific versions of certain apps installed, eg Google Keyboard, Vanced YouTube, Pre stories Twitter etc. They are all configured exactly how i want and when it updates it installs the latest versions and consequently ****s all the settings up at the same time. This means i have to spend a few hours uninstallling, reinstalling and re configuring the whole ****ing phone again.
So yeah, is there a way? I am rooted with magisk if thats of any benefit. Ill do anything, even if it fundamentally breaks google play store/services and requires ghetto apps like LP/Autostarts etc. I just want my device how I want, not what some trillion dollar company wants.
My last device was a Mi A2 Lite and it behaved itself perfectly before i destroyed the screen. Starting to regret this upgrade.

When you say "I have turned automatic updates off", did you do this in the play store app? If so, good.
But, you can also try these extra steps:
1) Turn on "Developer Mode" on your phone (do search for how to do this). Then go into developer options and turn off "Automatic System Updates".
2) Then do the changes I did in this post:
How do I stop update notices?
I'm rooted with Android 10 on my pixel4a. I don't want to upgrade to 11 just yet, but I keep getting the annoying update notices. Is there an app or module I can freeze with titanium to turn off the notices?
forum.xda-developers.com
Since doing these, I have not seen an "Upgrade to Android 11" (I'm on A10) message and I have not noticed any apps being forced updated.

yeah google play updates are disabled. which is interesting because after the phone updates, it re enables them, as well as a bunch of other permissions in settings!
and yeah ive disabled auto system updates in developer options, which is what im pissed about because it still updated the phone without my permission whilst i was asleep last night.
ill try and force freeze those components you listed, see if that kills it.
i might have a poke around the autostarts app later and see if i can do something there, thats if it even works with android 11.
the last time i had to do this was on my nexus 7 running kitkat lol