Related
This is a strange one for me. Stumped. Been working on it all night, no improvement. New one for me, long-ish description (with detail), but a TL;DR too.
Last night I applied the 1.3 OTA for the K1. Being my K1 was rooted, I followed the process I have always followed by restoring the system images to stock, applying the OTA via recovery, then re-rooting. Process:
Shutdown tablet
Swap married/paired SD card with temp SD containing flashables (OTA, SuperSU)
Boot to bootloader, fastboot (re)flash tablet's current system images (recovery was already stock but flashed again for good measure, boot, system, blob -> staging)
Boot to custom recovery using fastboot boot -recovery image-
Flash OTA from temp SD, wipe caches, apply SuperSU
Shutdown, replace married SD, boot, enjoy life
This time I didn't immediately apply SuperSU, as I thought I'd flash 1.3 and let it go fully stock a bit to ensure no other updates were pending (nVidia seems to like incremental updates, so flashing to 1.1 won't give you an OTA to 1.3 directly, but to 1.2 first, then 1.3). I've also followed this process with the K1 for every update since 1.1 without a hitch, and although there haven't been many OTAs, it has still worked perfectly every time. Because of this and because I've done this a billion times on a million different devices with zero issues ever, I didn't take a backup before the update. Woe is me.
When I rebooted this time after flashing the OTA (no root), it booted up seemingly fine to the "Android is upgrading" modal, so I left the tablet alone for a bit to let it do its thing. When I came back, the tablet was HOT, was at a completely black screen save for the status bar (no wallpaper/launcher besides the clock/wifi icon which showed a connection, that's it). I tried to interact with it and couldn't (totally locked up, also a first), then it rebooted on its own. Subsequent times, during troubleshooting, I noticed that it's totally locked -- NOTHING responds, unless you can get to it before it reboots and hold power to kill it.
First thought was a bad flash. NBD, so went back and reflashed, double-checking everything and carefully following the same process. No dice. I did use a newer TWRP recovery from April of this year initially, which was a recommended version for the K1 specifically, rather than a really buggy but working one from last year. To test I did I try using the older TWRP on one of the next flashes thinking maybe the new one borked the partitions, or at least wasn't writing the partitions/symlinks properly (and the older one was the TWRP I had used for previous updates, with no issues). But, no change..
It took me a long time and many reflashes and cache formatting and digging before I realized if I pulled the married SD out, it booted just fine. Weird, and gets weirder. After leaving the married SD out and booting, and having the tablet working just as expected (except for missing the SD), Android shows a notification saying to reinsert the married SD. Once the married SD is reinserted, things seem OK for a few seconds before the whole system goes unresponsive again, heats up, and begins bootlooping. Before it sh'ts the bed, the message on the status notification asking to reinsert the married SD card doesn't change, but in the Storage settings, it shows it's "checking" the card, followed by a sudden hot death spiral into non-function. If you select the SD from Storage settings to take a look around its contents, the tablet basically locks up instantly. Inserting other SDs works fine (for the most part, still some other weirdness), it's just the married SD that totally kills the device without fail.
Obviously I'd like to avoid wiping and reinstalling the whole thing if it can be avoided, not just because my dumb ass didn't take a backup so I'd lose a ton of app/game data, but also because it's a just huge pain. A lot of the sites that offered "fixes" for these types of problems say to just wipe data, which is not a solution and is the nuclear option (like telling someone to to replace a car due to a flat tire).
Ideas? Is this as simple as recreating some symlinks that somehow disappeared and refuse to come back after all the flashes, and if so, how? I've been looking for hours and haven't found anyone with this particular issue or steps to correct.
[size=+2]TL;DR[/size]: Applied K1 1.3 OTA, married/paired SD card is no longer recognized, causes tablet to hard-lock and enter bootloop when inserted (other SDs do not cause this issue).
Other potentially pertinent bits:
Initial flash was dirty, second and subsequent flashes included a wipe of system first
Installed 1.2 images first, then tried going back to 1.1.1 and taking nVidia's OTAs to get back up to 1.3
1.1.1 does not recognize the married SD but doesn't kill the tablet, while 1.2 and 1.3 kill the tablet when the SD is inserted
When married SD is not inserted, using shell or ES Explorer or otherwise, not seeing a /storage/emulated/0, or /sdcard, or /data/media, or any other familiar storage related directories
When married SD is inserted, it dies too fast to look around much or try to do anything to check/fix the SD itself
/storage is totally empty except for a folder called "self", and inserting a working SD creates a directory under /storage labeled with the SD's serial number (not an emulated/0 directory or anything similar)
Not sure if this is expected behavior since the SD was married -- do those directories/symlinks live on the SD now since it's married, and won't show up in the device filesystem until everything's properly mounted?
Tried following these steps, which although written in the N5 forum, still seemed relevant.. no change
Tried the referenced SD permissions update with the card inserted and not, in case of the directories it touches only being visible/available with the card inserted, no change
Noticed even within TWRP, going to the "mount" menu seemed flaky, labored, and didn't show what I expected, but this could be because there isn't a "proper" or official custom recovery for the K1 yet and things are just buggy
ES File Manager still seems to think an /sdcard directory exists and tries to open to it, and just spins in an open directory.. as expected
Going to /data in ES File Manager shows me an empty directory with a message stating the SD card is missing
Using a working, freshly formatted SD in the tablet and trying to point Titanium to a directory on the SD gives me messages about the directory being unwritable, no matter where I go on the SD
Titanium's app permissions (including r/w storage) are proper, SD is not write protected (freshly formatted on the tablet)
Tried using SDFix, which also gave me an error re: "platform permission file is invalid"
There's probably more I'm missing, but can't remember it all -- I have tried everything, I feel like, and have been at it for 13 hours now (apologies if this is written spotty, fighting to keep my eyes open).
So is it totally hosed, or is this recoverable? Is there a way to fix the tablet to recognize the SD, or fix the SD itself if that's the issue (but I'd wonder how it got corrupted in the first place, since it has only been removed once fully powered down)? Is there at least a way to check the married SD for corruption or issues?
Thoughts?
EDIT: Formatting
You removed the sdcard that was set as internal storage? Well you probably broke it/the data on it because that's not what you should do at all
GtrCraft said:
You removed the sdcard that was set as internal storage? Well you probably broke it/the data on it because that's not what you should do at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And why is that? When the OS is running, sure, you can't. It'd be equivalent to just deleting /data while the OS was running. It seems pretty unlikely that removing and reinserting it while it's powered off, though, would make it suddenly unable to read the SD or forget its pairing. Adopted storage is "married" to the device via a generated encryption key, which is stored on the device's internal storage. It's all handled in software, not like the SD fuses itself to the device Removing the SD (while off) would not (and does not) break this pairing method, unless the internal storage or SD decides to spontaneously erase itself while the device was off.
The process outlined is the recommended process for upgrading rooted devices with adopted storage. I've followed this process on multiple tablets/phones with adopted storage with zero issues, including this one several times, like I mentioned.
If it WERE the case that simply removing it (again, while off) made it forget the SD, I could understand the tablet reading the card and saying "nope not going to accept it, you done f'd up" and spitting out a dialog telling me to format it or whatnot.. lesson learned, if that were the case. However it's completely hard-locking the device (again, NOTHING works, no physical buttons, screen is unresponsive, only holding power to kill it works) when it's just reading the SD, and apparently pinning the CPU when doing so (hence the absurd heat)..? It's not just a matter of the tablet forgetting the SD
grivad said:
When the OS is running, sure. Maybe that is the case, but it seems pretty unlikely that removing and reinserting it while it's powered off would make it spontaneously unable to read the SD or forget its pairing.
This is the recommended process for upgrading rooted devices with adopted storage. I've followed this process on multiple tablets/phones with adopted storage with zero issues, including this one several times, like I mentioned.
If it WERE the case that simply removing it (again, while off) made it forget the SD, I could understand the tablet reading the card and saying "nope not going to accept it, you done f'd up" and spitting out a dialog telling me to format it or whatnot.. lesson learned, if that were the case. However it's completely hard-locking the device (again, NOTHING works, no physical buttons, screen is unresponsive, only holding power to kill it works) when it's just reading the SD, and apparently pinning the CPU when doing so (hence the absurd heat)..? It's not just a matter of the tablet forgetting the SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still, you better off formatting it
Sent from my XT1562 using XDA Labs
Been running adopted storage in my mxpe since mm was released and have never removed the card to flash.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk
lafester said:
Been running adopted storage in my mxpe since mm was released and have never removed the card to flash.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool.
Regarding the YOU CAN'T REMOVE IT belief (which is categorically false), if this were a serious issue like people speculate it is, Android would simply not ALLOW you to remove it. Meaning if it was ever detected as being removed or missing, first time, Android would tell you "too bad, now it's unpaired", and would also make it REEEEALLY clear not to remove it at all, ever, during the pairing process, which it does not. Nor would it let you eject adopted storage, which you can, safely. Like I mentioned above, when booting without the SD present, the system runs fine and has a persistent notification asking you to reinsert the paired SD, and begins to check the SD as soon as it's inserted so it can be remounted. If you select the notification before putting the SD back in, it takes you to a panel explaining how the SD has all your apps, so you really should put it back in, or you can choose to "forget" the SD and you're back to square one. If you REALLY weren't supposed to remove the SD EVER, none of this would exist.
Additionally, pretty much every piece of documentation around adoptable storage says it can be removed just fine (but is only readable/usable by the device it was paired to), but the system kinda needs it to, you know, run all the apps you put on the thing, and will persistently remind you to reinsert it, unless you choose to break the adoption. So there's that.
Storage adoption isn't this magical, complicated thing. It mounts certain directories to your SD instead of internal storage (e.g., /storage/emulated), generates a key, then encrypts the card to prevent it from being read outside of the device it was paired with. That's really pretty much all there is to it. None of those things necessitate a or even imply that removal of an adopted SD would lead to sudden disaster. That's like believing if you take your hard drive out of your computer, but then plug it right back in, that it's going to be unbootable and dead. Doesn't work that way.
I appreciate you guys trying to help, but the problem is not simply that I removed the SD so now it's broken.
The thing that should get your attention is that when the SD is inserted, it begins to scan the SD and subsequently HARD-LOCKS. And PEGS THE CPU. Also that I cannot write to a working SD with Titanium. These things are pretty abnormal for Android devices, to say the least. There is something else going on here besides "You took the SD out and you weren't supposed to."
grivad said:
Cool.
Regarding the DON'T REMOVE IT belief, if this were an issue like people speculate it is, Android would simply not ALLOW you to remove it. Meaning if it was ever detected as being removed or missing, first time, Android would tell you "too bad, now it's unpaired", and would also make it REEEEALLY clear not to remove it at all, ever, during the pairing process, which it does not. Nor would it let you eject adopted storage, which you can, safely. Like I mentioned above, when booting without the SD present, the system runs fine and has a persistent notification asking you to reinsert the paired SD, and begins to check the SD as soon as it's inserted so it can be remounted. If you select the notification before putting the SD back in, it takes you to a panel explaining how the SD has all your apps, so you really should put it back in, or you can choose to "forget" the SD and you're back to square one. If you REALLY weren't supposed to remove the SD EVER, none of this would exist.
Additionally, pretty much every piece of documentation around adoptable storage says it can be removed just fine (but is only readable/usable by the device it was paired to), but the system kinda needs it to, you know, run all the apps you put on the thing, and will persistently remind you to reinsert it, unless you choose to break the adoption. So there's that.
Storage adoption isn't this magical, complicated thing. It mounts certain directories to your SD instead of internal storage (e.g., /storage/emulated), generates a key, then encrypts the card to prevent it from being read outside of the device it was paired with. That's really pretty much all there is to it. None of those things necessitate a or even imply that removal of an adopted SD would lead to sudden disaster. That's like believing if you take your hard drive out of your computer, but then plug it right back in, that it's going to be unbootable and dead. Doesn't work that way.
I appreciate you guys trying to help, but the problem is not simply that I removed the SD so now it's broken.
The thing that should get your attention is that when the SD is inserted, it begins to scan the SD and subsequently HARD-LOCKS. And PEGS THE CPU. Both of those things are pretty abnormal for Android devices, to say the least. There is something else going on here besides "You took the SD out and you weren't supposed to."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you tried with another sd and there is no problem. So the cause of the freezing problem is your sd.
But be my guest and find another solution. I just gave an answer to your question and a solution for the problem. If you don't believe that then you shouldn't ask it in the first place
GtrCraft said:
Well you tried with another sd and there is no problem. So the cause of the freezing problem is your sd.
But be my guest and find another solution. I just gave an answer to your question and a solution for the problem. If you don't believe that then you shouldn't ask it in the first place
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not that I don't believe the solution, I don't believe the premise because it is provably false There is absolutely nothing unsafe about ejecting adopted storage, which is why the OS lets you do it, even while it's running and using the storage. Even less of a risk if the thing is off. The "solution" offered wasn't much of a solution, and in the OP it was stated that I wasn't looking for that answer (already know that's an option, which is why I mentioned in the OP).
I appreciate you trying to help, but simply saying "format it", again, is the nuclear option. Not what I'm looking for. Either information as to what's happening (if anyone else has dealt with this) with a justification as to why it's irrepairable, or things to try based on the information I gave. Spending a lot of time being thorough just to get a "format it" response, to be frank, isn't very helpful It's like telling someone to reinstall their entire OS because they can't figure out how to install a driver, or to raze their house because a painting fell off the wall.
The SD didn't spontaneously corrupt itself in the 5 mins it was out of the device. No gamma bursts or EM storms in my area that I know of, either Because the only thing that changed was installing the OTA, this really seems to be a software problem (albeit a bit bizarre, to me) so it should be fixable via software. The fact it's pegging the CPU when the SD is inserted makes me wonder if it's getting stuck in a loop, maybe due to partition changes (looking for a file or partition it can't find). If that's the case, again, that should be fixable via software, with instruction from someone knowledgeable on how the Android FS and mounts work.
Again thanks for trying to help. I know formatting is an option (the easiest one), but I'm looking for just that -- options.
You did update the firmware with the sd out, nothing to do with lightning or gamma bursts.
Did you try downgrading firmware back to where it was?
lafester said:
You did update the firmware with the sd out, nothing to do with lightning or gamma bursts.
Did you try downgrading firmware back to where it was?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, the SD was out, however this is how I've both read to do it in multiple places, and how I've applied every OTA so far without issue (with the same adopted SD every time). As part of my troubleshooting, I did try flashing the OTA with the adopted SD inserted, though. It didn't make a difference.
I did try downgrading.. When I started the tablet was on 1.2, OTAd to 1.3. Every time I'd reflash I would do so to 1.2. I did try flashing down to 1.1.1 (the "recovery OS image") and OTAing back up, and like I mentioned that allowed me to use the device with the SD inserted, but it wouldn't recognize it as the adopted storage.. just kinda did nothing, as if the card wasn't inserted at all. This happened in 1.2 as well (OTAd from 1.1.1), and once it got up to 1.3 from 1.2 it all started all over again.
I'm creating an image of the SD right now (using dd) to try restoring it to another SD. I've read that doing this preserves the pairing information, so if it's a bad SD, this would hopefully fix it. I also wanted to try flashing directly to 1.3, but the images aren't available yet Only 1.2 and 1.1.1..
Honestly I would divorce the card before update then redo it after this whole method is janky anyway no reason to remap the data links like they do and all it would be required is if app devs were forced to comply with a data space method... The feature of installing to SD card should be available to non married storage.
Old thread, haven't been on in a while, but thought I'd post an update.
The problem ended up being a hardware issue. I contacted nVidia after absolutely nothing I tried resolved the issue (different SDs, different OS versions, different process to set up, etc.). I simply explained the problems I was having and my troubleshooting attempts, asked if it was a known issue or if they had any suggestions, and they immediately responded with RMA info, no questions asked. The replacement turnaround time was very fast (within a week IIRC), and the new K1 has had zero issues.
Hi all, I have had my S8+ for several months now, everything was fine until this morning when I woke up to unlock my phone, it unlocked as per normal. I enabled wifi and opened google chrome and checked the weather. The, the phone shutdown and within a few seconds the blue screen appeared with a message (erasing). It took a while for the phone to boot up and go through the initial setup like a brand new phone.
Now, all the data on the phone and my 32GB micro SD card are gone. I have tried half a dozen recovery software on my PC but none can see any files on the micro SD.
I have no idea what happened and why it has wiped the micro SD card. I have lost images and videos of the last few years, I know silly not to have them backed up.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Wow, that is a great disappointment losing all that personal info. I suspect you are running a recovery software app from a PC or a Mac? If you are not getting any meaningful results from the data restore apps, and you know those apps to be of good/high reputation, then I am wondering of your phone uses a type of 'wipe' function that performs a military/DOD sort of erase?
If that is the case, that stuff is likely gone forever. If that is not the case, hopefully you can find another app to try and restore your stuff.
Now, on the other note, that's an odd behavior for your phone to just reboot and do it's thing, wiping your system. Do you have any type of security going where it might have thought the phone had been stolen, and performed a wipe as protection for the owner. . . (you)?
Good luck.
I do have company email on my phone and I have agreed to their security policy which wipes all your data. This could be one of the reason, however could they erase data from SD card?
I had over 60GB of personal files on it and I thought the SD card will not get wiped in any case.
I have been reading around but can't find any solution. Stuffed to the max.
gunner007dc said:
You can check the phone's memory - sometimes it has a "SD RESTORE" folder if it backed up anything.
By chance is this a company phone, or had a company e-mail on it? Sometimes those e-mails require device administrator and can be remotely wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good info.
gunner007dc said:
You can check the phone's memory - sometimes it has a "SD RESTORE" folder if it backed up anything.
By chance is this a company phone, or had a company e-mail on it? Sometimes those e-mails require device administrator and can be remotely wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, where would I find this folder? I have checked by can't find it.
My Note20U5G has had this small glitch for a while:
When I am using it, especially it I am opening an app window or typing inside one, EVERYTHING on my screen disappears for like 1 second. The only thing left is the homescreen wallpaper (without icons on it) and after that 1 second everything comes back to normal, if I was typing the screen where I left of, I am taken back to continue typing, etc... Now, even though this happens only once or up to twice a day, I figured it could be a sign that something is wrong.
So what I did was, is that I deactivated all apps that (in my opinion) could've contributed to this; onehand operation plus, live wallpapers, some apps in the background such as wireless power sharing, that I really never use.
However, no help. The twice a day glitch continued.
Next, I wiped cache using the "safe mode" or whatever it is called. I did this 2 days ago. And yesterday the whole day phone operated without glitches. But as day passed today I got one again.
As I am clueless what to do next I figured to do a hard reset, that is set the phone to factory settings.
Since I've owned this phone since November, there's some preparation to do before reseting to factory settings, so I thought to ask you guys if someone else had this glitch, as I was unable to google for it.
Thanks
Looks like a system UI crash and spontaneous recovery.
Do you have any apps put to sleep /standby or enlisted in deep sleep esp system apps
Also do you have power saving turned on.
Any thing that you changed in developers options.
I would update my phone to latest firmware and factory reset it.
Update all apps
Report back with an update
fizzingbees said:
Looks like a system UI crash and spontaneous recovery.
Do you have any apps put to sleep /standby or enlisted in deep sleep esp system apps
Also do you have power saving turned on.
Any thing that you changed in developers options.
I would update my phone to latest firmware and factory reset it.
Update all apps
Report back with an update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I don't have power saving on.
Here are my deep sleep apps. Nothing worth mentioning there IMO, all of them are some apps I might use but I don't ever need them running in the background.
If I go for factory reset, what is the best way to do it and no lose any personal data by chance. Obviously, I would back up photos to my computer... But other than that, what should I be careful about?
Try clearing the system cache.
Factory reset time, may be malware or maybe the OS or a vital system apk got corrupted.
Almost always caused by a 3rd party app especially launchers.
You got an SD card slot, use it!
It's a data drive; you have a dual drive PC
OS, download folder and apps go on internal storage.
Critical data, user files, music, vids, DCIM (move images here once a week or so) and backup copies of apps, app settings backup, phone contact backups, etc go on the SD card.
Use ApkExport to copy all your apps... no Playstore needed for a reload.
Everything you need for a full restore should be on the SD card. Think it through completely to avoid unpleasant surprises.
The Lexar 512 gb V30 card works well $75.
Other cards may be faster; only use a name brand card with at least a V30 rating.
Note: backup the SD card to at least 2 hhds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other!
blackhawk said:
Try clearing the system cache.
Factory reset time, may be malware or maybe the OS or a vital system apk got corrupted.
Almost always caused by a 3rd party app especially launchers.
You got an SD card slot, use it!
It's a data drive; you have a dual drive PC
OS, download folder and apps go on internal storage.
Critical data, user files, music, vids, DCIM (move images here once a week or so) and backup copies of apps, app settings backup, phone contact backups, etc go on the SD card.
Use ApkExport to copy all your apps... no Playstore needed for a reload.
Everything you need for a full restore should be on the SD card. Think it through completely to avoid unpleasant surprises.
The Lexar 512 gb V30 card works well $75.
Other cards may be faster; only use a name brand card with at least a V30 rating.
Note: backup the SD card to at least 2 hhds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LoL I didn't know there was a memory slot, didn't need to think about it since I switched from a 128gb phone to this 256gb. Yeah, gonna get an sd card. Thanks
vdamir78 said:
LoL I didn't know there was a memory slot, didn't need to think about it since I switched from a 128gb phone to this 256gb. Yeah, gonna get an sd card. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah once you get use to it, you'll demand it.
All my PCs and laptops are dual drive. It saves a lot of time, pain and boosts performance.
I can do a full reload on my Note 10+ in about 2 hrs and have it back to about 99% fully operational with no internet connection.
Without the card it becomes a gruelling 8+ hour process including having to load over 240 gb of data.
Backup everything now as once an Android OS starts exhibiting instability it's one boot away from a boot loopâ
They are very rare but that's how they start many times
Alright, I have just done one more thing: I completely disabled Nova Launcher (stopped using it anyways after I bought this N20U). If that doesn't help, I am proceeding with the reset.
vdamir78 said:
Alright, I have just done one more thing: I completely disabled Nova Launcher (stopped using it anyways after I bought this N20U). If that doesn't help, I am proceeding with the reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Samsung launcher is better anyway, rock solid stable, fast with little battery usage.
Clear the system cache.
A 3rd party launcher can definitely crash a Samsung. One boot looped my Note 10+ twice, back to back over a year ago. I was seeing red.
Still running on the OS from that 2nd reset... still fast and stable less the 3rd party launcher
No essential app in deep sleeping apps.
Boot to safe mode and see if the problem persist, otherwise it's one of your apps responsible for this anomaly.
Copy entire internal drive data to SD card it flash drive via otg adapter
Use smart switch to backup Samsung notes.
Use swift backup or alpha backup app for contacts logs, messages and apps ( external data not saved fully on non-root devices)
Backup whatsapp on Google drive.
Afterwards, either flash factory firmware via odin to completely remove all traces of bugs ( recommended, use csc instead of home csc to wipe internal storage and all data)
Or factory reset from settings.
Then boot to recovery and wipe internal storage +factory reset again.. Its a bit extra but would eliminate any software related issues.
Report with update
blackhawk said:
The Samsung launcher is better anyway, rock solid stable, fast with little battery usage.
Clear the system cache.
A 3rd party launcher can definitely crash a Samsung. One boot looped my Note 10+ twice, back to back over a year ago. I was seeing red.
Still running on the OS from that 2nd reset... still fast and stable less the 3rd party launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen this issue with good lock app on my note 4.. Uninstalling it caused system ui to crash repeatedly making phone unusable
vdamir78 said:
Alright, I have just done one more thing: I completely disabled Nova Launcher (stopped using it anyways after I bought this N20U). If that doesn't help, I am proceeding with the reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange.
I have been rocking nova launcher since completing setup wizard. No issues so far.
fizzingbees said:
I have seen this issue with good lock app on my note 4.. Uninstalling it caused system ui to crash repeatedly making phone unusable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wonder if it was the Lockstar module?
I never use any apps like that... once bitten, twice shy Other than it's goofy lame main page Good Lock gives me zero issues.
It wasn't Nova that boot looped the 2 OSs
It was slower and used more battery though then One UI... Samsung has made big improvements to their native launcher. The most customizable stock Android platform in existence too. It runs very well, uses very little power and is rock solid stable at least on my Note 10+/Pie variant. It has never crashed.
blackhawk said:
Wonder if it was the Lockstar module?
I never use any apps like that... once bitten, twice shy Other than it's goofy lame main page Good Lock gives me zero issues.
It wasn't Nova that boot looped the 2 OSs
It was slower and used more battery though then One UI... Samsung has made big improvements to their native launcher. The most customizable stock Android platform in existence too. It runs very well, uses very little power and is rock solid stable at least on my Note 10+/Pie variant. It has never crashed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it was 2017 version of Samsung good lock app that changed the lockscreen and quick panel.
Not like the modules now.
Update:
I decided to go for a samsung microsd, but I had to order a 256gb on ebay. So while I am waiting for it, I disabled good lock (nicelock to be precise) and I completely uninstalled Nova launcher.
No glitches since then.
Update:
After going back & forth with sd card purchase for my phone, I finally got a 256gb sd card that is the same size as my note20ultra's internal memory. So I was thinking, is it possible to completely mirror the phone's storage to sd card, and after I factory reset the phone, to copy that mirror back to the phone.
I used to do this with some PCs at my work a long time ago, using some sort of "ghost software"... so anyways, my sd card is capable to take every single data from the phone, what is my best backup/restore option to go for after a factory reset?
(Btw, the problem that I described in the opening post still persists, however it has become less frequent, like 50% less of a "hiccup" than it used to be)
vdamir78 said:
(Btw, the problem that I described in the opening post still persists, however it has become less frequent, like 50% less of a "hiccup" than it used to be)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which OS and Samsung UI are installed on your N20U?
Are any applications listed in your Care report "Application history" in the Samsung Battery and device care section?
I had major "issues" with the System UI crashing after updating to Android 11/One UI 3.0 until the bugs were fixed with an update.
Surely hope you find a fix and do not have to factory reset your phone.
vdamir78 said:
Update:
After going back & forth with sd card purchase for my phone, I finally got a 256gb sd card that is the same size as my note20ultra's internal memory. So I was thinking, is it possible to completely mirror the phone's storage to sd card, and after I factory reset the phone, to copy that mirror back to the phone.
I used to do this with some PCs at my work a long time ago, using some sort of "ghost software"... so anyways, my sd card is capable to take every single data from the phone, what is my best backup/restore option to go for after a factory reset?
(Btw, the problem that I described in the opening post still persists, however it has become less frequent, like 50% less of a "hiccup" than it used to be)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know of any app that can mirror Android drives real time. That not to say there isn't.
You would definitely take a performance hit if you could do it.
Like I said before the best solution is to use the SD card as the data drive. Just make sure to backup it up redundantly.
The lag your describing is bothersome. Track it down. It may be malware.
Clear system cache and do a hard reboot.
Do a network reset and clear the sim card tool kit data. Toggle Developer options off to clear it's settings... you can reenable then.
Disable all animations.
Is it still there?
Does it happen in safe mode?
If a 3rd party app is the cause either correct it or uninstall the app.
If you can't resolve the issue consider it malware and do a factory reset.
See if it's there after the reset before loading apps. If still present reflash the firmware.
If still present it may be a hardware issue.
This phone should be rocket fast with no lag.
There's near zero lag on my 10+ which has a slower memory and CPU.
blackhawk said:
I don't know of any app that can mirror Android drives real time. That not to say there isn't.
You would definitely take a performance hit if you could do it.
Like I said before the best solution is to use the SD card as the data drive. Just make sure to backup it up redundantly.
The lag your describing is bothersome. Track it down. It may be malware.
Clear system cache and do a hard reboot.
Do a network reset and clear the sim card tool kit data. Toggle Developer options off to clear it's settings... you can reenable then.
Disable all animations.
Is it still there?
Does it happen in safe mode?
If a 3rd party app is the cause either correct it or uninstall the app.
If you can't resolve the issue consider it malware and do a factory reset.
See if it's there after the reset before loading apps. If still present reflash the firmware.
If still present it may be a hardware issue.
This phone should be rocket fast with no lag.
There's near zero lag on my 10+ which has a slower memory and CPU.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that it is so random. I could not pinpoint any app to relate to it. I unistalled some apps in the meantime, but it still persists (less frequent). If I restarted in safe mode I would probably have to keep the phone in safe mode for at least 3 days to be sure.
Is there a malware detecting antivirus for android that works efficiently?
vdamir78 said:
The problem is that it is so random. I could not pinpoint any app to relate to it. I unistalled some apps in the meantime, but it still persists (less frequent). If I restarted in safe mode I would probably have to keep the phone in safe mode for at least 3 days to be sure.
Is there a malware detecting antivirus for android that works efficiently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reload time if the steps I mentioned don't work or if you did a major firmware upgrade without a factory reset.
Malwarebytes is good but there are always new undetectable infections floating around.
With odd behavior that cause can't be determined a virus or rootkit is a real possibility. They are very rare if you're careful but can happen.
I caught a trojan preloader on my 10+ about a year ago in the download folder with Malwarebytes. Fortunately I found/deleted it before it could download it's payload package and install it. It self downloaded through the Samsung browser... a nasty little bugger.
Malwareb. detected one malware app today, some photoediting app...deleted it, so let's see...
Hey folks,
Bit of a long story, short version is "Phone seems wiped, did I mess up? If not how is it possible?"
I've been passed a device with a report that it had an important video file on it that was accidentally deleted, and tasked with seeing if the file was recoverable. I was also later passed the only SD card (2gb) in the owner's possession.
Phone first. I followed instructions to root the device and rip an image of the data partition. This did mean uploading the root zip to the phone, a risk I undertook before discovering you can get a temporary root. I don't think that act accounts for what I found.
I used these two [1] [2] links for guidance. Ripping the data took many attempts but I did eventually get a 32gb-ish image down the wire. The image seemed to mostly be zeroes viewed in hex editor. Video-wise, recovery software found only operating system background videos of clouds. There didn't seem to be any user data on there at all. Recovery seemed to run very quickly with image stored on an SSD. As I say, even if I'd overwritten the video file header with the root zip, there'd have been other data on there, seems to me. Other photos. Other videos. Perhaps I ripped it wrong. Ripped on a windows machine. Is ripped even the right word, I'm not very good at this and a bit stressed
Did I get the wrong partition? Wouldn't be 32gb then though, right? I ripped mmcblk0 and mmcblk0p37 or whatever seemed to be mounted as the data partition, various times, and got similar results regardless of the resultant file size (i.e. stop half way through, data is mostly zeroes, get the whole image, it's mostly zeroes, all ripped images contain the OS video files).
Did rooting / flashing recovery wipe the data? Seems unlikely. I did start the phone by accident at one point (reboot from recovery seemed not to acknowledge my holding down the volume / power combo to get back into recovery) and OS claimed to be "upgrading all the apps" so I powered it down straight away. This is the terrifying moment for me, did something I do kick off an OS process that wiped the phone?
Owner claims never to have done a factory reset, and in any case that doesn't wipe data anyway right? Only file table. So data would still be there. But like I say they don't claim to have wiped phone, only accidentally deleted files. Even automatic OS upgrade would leave data intact. Flashing a mod would do it I guess but that's not happened.
SD card next, it's labelled "BLACKBERRY" and owner did have a bb once. They say the card was in the phone, I figured maybe phone was using sdcard instead of internal memory for user data but the card is essentially blank, it's like it has never been used since it was formatted by the blackberry. No data on it, just 6 folders. Recovery software finds literally nothing. Seems like a dead end. Ripped on a mac using dd.
Possible that the owner had another sdcard at some point but they cannot recall having one.
Also possible I ripped the data wrong? I used sudo dd to get it, then ran Disk Drill on the mounted .dmg, which is 2gb, the size of the sd card.
dd would not substitute zeroes for unallocated filetable areas, right?
So this leaves me with so many questions about how we got to this point with no data, but mainly I want to sanity check what I've done here so I can be more confident I haven't wiped the data I'm trying to recover myself. Then it'll be a case of digging deeper into what happened to this phone between the video being taken, the video being deleted, and the phone arriving in my hands.
Thanks in advance to anyone for literally any input!!
I've asked the owner to trawl their cloud drives for HTC backups, hopefully they had daily backup linked to one of their clouds. Otherwise, I guess I'm at a loss...
If the lost data cannot be scanned by the recovery tool, they has been overwritten. But fortunately, the owner to cloud drives for HTC has backup file.
Thanks bobii. What's confusing is that the data I retrieved seems mostly to be zeroes, which wouldn't be the case if it had been overwritten. Unless it was overwritten with zeroes, which as far as I know would only happen if you flashed a brand new OS or intentionally wiped the data partition, both processes I think that the owner would remember doing.
SOLVED
Found the thing!
This bug is caused by activating the option Disable permission monitoring in the Developper Options.
This is an option that is specific to a handful of phone manufacturers (Oppo in my case).
Enabling this option is needed for using some tweak apps such as Shizuku. However, if it is enabled on phone boot, SD card will be unaccessible.
FIX
Disabling this option and rebooting the phone fixed it.
If you still need to use this option, you can enable it while the phone is on and disable it before rebooting. It will work fine despite this minor inconvenience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solution answer
So this one is weird.
Everything was working fine untill I rebooted my phone earlier today.
For some reason, since this reboot, apps are unable to access my SD card storage. As far as I know, no update was applied with this reboot. I do not recall tinkering or changing anything related to this recently.
Symptoms
SD card is still visible in the storage tab of the settings (there is no available option to unmount or eject it) or in select cases when choosing a folder from an app, however the content does not show up past the root.
My music player (Oto music) sends an error message "Cannot play this file" while trying to play a song from the SD card
File explorer will not show the SD card directory at all
Resillio Sync has a synced folder on the SD card. It now says "Can't open the destination folder". If I try adding a new synced folder on the SD card and select the root of the SD card, I get the message "Android OS restricts access to this folder"
Google file is stuck in a loop trying to get permissions to access the card
SD card works just fine on another phone.
Other SD cards have the same problem with my phone, not just this one
SD card does not show up when using file transfer with a Windows PC
Rebooting the phone did nothing
Removing the card and putting it back in again did nothing
Formatting the card did nothing
I factory reset the phone. It worked, but the problem came back at the first reboot.
Current state of investigations I have reset the phone a second time and reboot it every time I install an app, uninstall or disable a system app or change some settings. So far the SD card is still accessible so I know what it's not:
it's not the fault of disabling system apps
it's not related to using a work profile (Insular)
still haven't found an app that causes it
Apps I have not tried re-installing on my second reset and that might be the curlprit:
Shizuku (I have my suspicions on this one, let me know if this one is known for causing similar bugs) Not Shizuku per se but a developper option needed for it (see solution answer)
I have no idea what could cause this, all I know is it's related to my phone in particular and it appeared out of nowhere.
I am using Android 13 on ColorOS.
Thanks to anyone who can help.
Format card in phone before using. Do Not share the card with other devices; upload/download to the card through the phone.
Hardware or firmware issue. Inspect phone sd card contacts.
blackhawk said:
Format card in phone before using. Do Not share the card with other devices; upload/download to the card through the phone.
Hardware or firmware issue. Inspect phone sd card contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering.
I did format the card to no avail.
I did not use the card on other phones before it stopped working.
As I previously mentioned however, the card WAS working fine until now, and unless I am mistaken you seem to address the problem as if this is a new card or something. The card has been in this phone working fine for months.
It seems pretty clear to me this is a permissions issue so firmware perhaps indeed.
How would I go about checking the phone SD card contacts?
Iune said:
Thanks for answering.
I did format the card to no avail.
I did not use the card on other phones before it stopped working.
As I previously mentioned however, the card WAS working fine until now, and unless I am mistaken you seem to address the problem as if this is a new card or something. The card has been in this phone working fine for months.
It seems pretty clear to me this is a permissions issue so firmware perhaps indeed.
How would I go about checking the phone SD card contacts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome.
If other cards don't work... regardless just stating things that can cause issues.
Light and magnification if needed to inspect the contacts. Use anhydrous isopropyl alcohol to clean if needed.
I sort of doubt it's firmware. Try a hard reboot and clear the system cache if possible.
blackhawk said:
You're welcome.
If other cards don't work... regardless just stating things that can cause issues.
Light and magnification if needed to inspect the contacts. Use anhydrous isopropyl alcohol to clean if needed.
I sort of doubt it's firmware. Try a hard reboot and clear the system cache if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason I believe it is firmware is that when setting permissions the SD card IS shown in the list. For instance in my music player if I use the option to authorize access to the SD card it is here. It just does nothing when I authorize it.
I am leaning towards a permissions issue because when I use one of these permission windows to try and create a folder on the SD card, I get an error message that says "Android OS restricts write access to this folder". Hence the problem is not that the SD card is not detected, but that apps are somehow not allowed to use it.
I currently not have what it takes to check the contacts (neither the tools nor the knowledge). This phone is only a couple months old so I also doubt the contacts are damaged as they have been working fine until now and I had never removed the card or opened the tray since day one.
A hard reboot should be last resort, but anyway I did it. It worked and my SD card was accessible again, so I reinstalled all my stuff. But then at the first reboot the problem was back. I am now pretty sure this is a software issue as on my second phone reset, the SD card is still usable as long as I don't isntall the wrong thing (still trying to figure out what that is). I added my investigations to the main thread.
SOLVED
Found the thing!
This bug is caused by activating the option Disable permission monitoring in the Developper Options.
This is an option that is specific to a handful of phone manufacturers (Oppo in my case).
Enabling this option is needed for using some tweak apps such as Shizuku. However, if it is enabled on phone boot, SD card will be unaccessible.
FIX
Disabling this option and rebooting the phone fixed it.
If you still need to use this option, you can enable it while the phone is on and disable it before rebooting. It will work fine despite this minor inconvenience.
Iune said:
The reason I believe it is firmware is that when setting permissions the SD card IS shown in the list. For instance in my music player if I use the option to authorize access to the SD card it is here. It just does nothing when I authorize it.
I am leaning towards a permissions issue because when I use one of these permission windows to try and create a folder on the SD card, I get an error message that says "Android OS restricts write access to this folder". Hence the problem is not that the SD card is not detected, but that apps are somehow not allowed to use it.
I currently not have what it takes to check the contacts (neither the tools nor the knowledge). This phone is only a couple months old so I also doubt the contacts are damaged as they have been working fine until now and I had never removed the card or opened the tray since day one.
A hard reboot should be last resort, but anyway I did it. It worked and my SD card was accessible again, so I reinstalled all my stuff. But then at the first reboot the problem was back. I am now pretty sure this is a software issue as on my second phone reset, the SD card is still usable as long as I don't isntall the wrong thing (still trying to figure out what that is). I added my investigations to the main thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A hard reboot is not a factory reset! It simulates pulling the battery... It's always better to find the root cause of a problem than to factory reset because the problem is likely to reoccur
Sounds like a trashware 3rd party app is to blame... try in safe mode. If it fails to function in safe mode start uninstalling the 3rd party apps one by one until (if) the problem resolves to find the app that screwed up the hidden user settings*. If that fails to work, another factory reset and start over, being careful what you load, then rebooting and checking after each install.
Meh, you got a real can of worms to play with...
*poorly coded apps can alter hidden user settings and fail to revert these settings to default even after the offending app is uninstalled. Alternatively see if the behavior caused by the offending app can be corrected using the settings in that app.
ADB editing could maybe be used to correct to hidden user settings misconfiguration but finding that setting may prove difficult. Beyond anything I ever had to do.
blackhawk said:
A hard reboot is not a factory reset! It simulates pulling the battery... It's always better to find the root cause of a problem than to factory reset because the problem is likely to reoccur
Sounds like a trashware 3rd party app is to blame... try in safe mode. If it fails to function in safe mode start uninstalling the 3rd party apps one by one until (if) the problem resolves to find the app that screwed up the hidden user settings*. If that fails to work, another factory reset and start over, being careful what you load, then rebooting and checking after each install.
Meh, you got a real can of worms to play with...
*poorly coded apps can alter hidden user settings and fail to revert these settings to default even after the offending app is uninstalled. Alternatively see if the behavior caused by the offending app can be corrected using the settings in that app.
ADB editing could maybe be used to correct to hidden user settings misconfiguration but finding that setting may prove difficult. Beyond anything I ever had to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I searched on Google about hard reboots and the explanations literally described a factory reset haha. I have yet to understadn the difference. Wipe all data VS wipe all data ?
Anyway I investigated and found the cause of the problem, so marking this post as solved! Thanks for the help
Iune said:
Well I searched on Google about hard reboots and the explanations literally described a factory reset haha. I have yet to understadn the difference. Wipe all data VS wipe all data ?
Anyway I investigated and found the cause of the problem, so marking this post as solved! Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yay! Well done. So many settings...
Traditionally a hard reboot is killing the power to the mobo... I believe, or maybe I just watched too many sci-fi movies You do it by holding the power button (or combination of buttons) down for 20-30 seconds.
On cams and older phones you simply remove the battery for a few seconds. It clears any volatile memory settings in the chipsets or semiconductors by cutting to power to everything.