Root Boot loop after restoring Nandroid backup - help?

[formicae]

Today I tried to revert to my previous configuration after trying out a new kernel. I made a Nandroid backup immediately before flashing the kernel, and changed nothing else after installing the kernel (I only tried it for about an hour).

Tried to restore my Nandroid backup, and I make it past the boot animation, then everything starts force closing and I get the boot animation again...repeats forever.

I'm running Leedroid 2.3D with Apps2SD+, which was running just fine, I don't know why I bothered messing with the kernel, but there you are.

Any thoughts on what I might have done wrong? Here are things I've tried:

Wipe everything, restore nandroid.
Reflash LeeDroid 2.3D from the original ZIP, it boots fine, then restore nandroid
Restore a different nandroid

I suspect the problem might be that the SD card isn't mounting before the OS loads all the things it needs off Apps2SD? Is that possible?

Anyway I'd love to not have to start over from a fresh LeeDroid install -- so, so much customising -- so any help would be appreciated.

 

[shauny13]

did you do a ti backup aswell? If you did, just reflash leedroid and restore ti backup

 

[formicae]

I haven't done a Ti backup in quite a while.

I pulled the SIM, figuring if I maybe gave the phone a little less to 'think' about while booting, I might make it farther... and I do, I manage to get to a home screen, but then I get an endless cascade of force closes, most which go away, except then I'm stuck with a GMail force close over, and over, and over. It reloads the homescreen every time that crashes.

 

[InfernalByte]

When you say wipe everything; what exactly have you wiped?

 

[shauny13]

is the card ok? can you copy paste things to and from it on your pc?

 

[formicae]

When you say wipe everything; what exactly have you wiped?

From recovery, I did wipe data/factory restore, then wiped the cache.

And shauny13, the card seems fine, I can copy/read files to and from it.

 

[shauny13]

Reflash LeeDroid 2.3D from the original ZIP, it boots fine, then restore nandroid
Restore a different nandroid

so i take it from this, it cant restore any nandroids then?

 

[InfernalByte]

Goto; in recovery, mounts and storage; Format system, format data, format cache. Then goto advanced; wipe Dalvik cache, reboot recovery. Once recovery has rebooted wipe user data then wipe cache. This should wipe everything! You need everything wiped.

Now try flashing again; Do not flash a nandroid ontop of a rom as you have done previously, flash one thing at a time, reboot the system and see if it works, if you have more to flash you can go back again.

 

[formicae]

so i take it from this, it cant restore any nandroids then?

From the two I've tried, this appears to be the case. I only have two on my phone currently, I keep the others backed up at home.

 

[formicae]

Goto; in recovery, mounts and storage; Format system, format data, format cache. Then goto advanced; wipe Dalvik cache, reboot recovery. Once recovery has rebooted wipe user data then wipe cache. This should wipe everything! You need everything wiped.

Now try flashing again; Do not flash a nandroid ontop of a rom as you have done previously, flash one thing at a time, reboot the system and see if it works, if you have more to flash you can go back again.

Trying this now, waiting for the flash.

So the wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache options in the main CWM menu don't do all of the wipes you mentioned?

 

[InfernalByte]

Trying this now, waiting for the flash.

So the wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache options in the main CWM menu don't do all of the wipes you mentioned?

The factory data wipe is normally enough when there are no problems.

 

[formicae]

Still waiting for boot...

If I wipe the Dalvik cache, it rebuilds on boot, correct? I wonder if that would help my phone 'find' the apps after it boots the nandroid restore.

Willing to try another few things, even though the restores/reboots take a good 5-10 minutes each time -- it would take me DAYS to restore my phone to the state it was in this morning.

Good reminder to run plenty of Titanium Backups.

 

[formicae]

End result so far is that I still run into GMail (com.google.android.gm) constantly force closing.

So infuriating as I can see my home screen behind the force close, with all my widgets running properly and everything, but as soon as I tap Force close, it pops up again and refreshes the home screen.

 

[InfernalByte]

How did you originaly partition your ext? Rom manager? It might be a good idea to it again using Gparted, I had a simular problem with a Miui distro, re partitioning the sd sorted it.

 

[formicae]

I originally used GParted, actually. Maybe I should redo it.

Will recreating the partition trash the fat32 part? I mean, I'm going to back up anyway, but it'd be good to know.

 

[InfernalByte]

Its a good idea to delete both partitions and start from scratch. Resizing can cause issues.

 

[formicae]

All right, wiped everything in GParted, recreated the partitions from scratch, copying stuff back over to the FAT32 now. Thanks for all your help, InfernalByte, whether I am screwed or not.

 

[formicae]

Well, hours and hours later, everything is back. F'k knows what I did, none of the helpful steps on their own seems to have done it. GParted, Nandroid, boot loop. Try again, stuck at HTC screen. Re-GParted, format both partitions, try again.

Anyway, everything is back now, and the phone seems more responsive than ever. Bizarre.

 

[InfernalByte]

Anyway, everything is back now, and the phone seems more responsive than ever. Bizarre.

Are you saying your phone is now working?

 

[formicae]

Yes, several reboots (holding my breath each time once the lock screen showed up) and everything is as it was before I flashed the kernel I wanted to try out.

I'm inclined to say the repartitioning did it, but the first couple of restores didn't work. The one that did work, in the end, was the same one that had failed dozens of times yesterday. It is a mystery.

I also flashed down to CWM 2.5.0.7 from the 2.5.1.8 that AlphaRev flashed, since I've heard 2.5.0.7 is the most stable/reliable. Made a new backup using the lower version, just in case.

 

[SUroot]

good call.