Root Please help - bit of detective work needed

[paulpash]

Hi guys,

While in Clockwork Mod recovery I attempted to partition my sd card (yes my heart sunk when i saw the don't use Rom Manager to partition your sd card sticky at the top).

I set the phone to partition the sd card ( this was the second time I had set a partition as initially it was a 2 gb partition - I thought repartitioning it to 1 gb would wipe the firstone and I'd have a 1 gb partition instead) The partitioning seemed to work ok so I went to reboot it using the optical tracker - I am not sure but i think the selector moved down as i hit enter. It started to boot but has since hung at the white HTC screen. Can anything be done to get my phone working again? Have tried holding down most of the keys / buttons in varying orders but it has not reponded

I am a noobie and i went through the s-off, rooting process and installing miui custom rom and was really happy with myself until I did this. Any help would be really really appreciated.

Many thanks, Paul

 

[paulpash]

OK I can get the Revolutionary hboot screen up and get into clockwork mod recovery v5.0.2.0. What is the best course of action from here? My aim was to get a flashed rom phone that would give me lots of space to install apps using a2sd.

How do I check the status of the sd card I have installed? Argghh where is a fellow yorkshire man when ya need him

 

[Tyseyh]

I ain't going to lie, I didn't read all that because the very first thing that came to my head is this.

Does your ROM require part of its instalation on the sd? Re- Partitioning the sd would of probably deleted the contents of that partition including the system files for the ROM.
That is only true if it's a Sense ROM though. (only some)

Did you Nandroid? If so just restore that.
If not then just try flash the ROM again but not wiping data.


Just realised you are using Miui, pretty sure that doesn't require the SD for instalation.

 

[InfernalByte]

Am slightly confused here; check to see if everything you need is still on your SD, if it is and you still hang when you boot up, you'll probaly need to reflash recovery. then try again.

 

[paulpash]

The Rom zip isn't on the sd card any more ... I have a microSD adapter i can use. Ideally I'd like a miui uk rom that will allow me to a2sd after it is installed on the phone.

 

[InfernalByte]

The Rom zip isn't on the sd card any more ... how can i get a miui ROM (UK version would begood) onto the sd card if i can't plug it into the computer (in the phone) and copy it across that way?

If you don't have an adapter or card reader, find a friend with an android and swap cards.

 

[Hadron]

As long as you can get into recovery, attach it to a computer via usb, go into the "mounts and storage" menu in recovery and mount the card on usb.

The phone can still act as a card reader when in recovery

 

[paulpash]

Thanks Infernal - i did a little research and the penny dropped - used it ages back. So I have a card reader and need a good miui rom uk that supports a2sd and is good on battery. Any links to a good zip download?

DO i need to analyse the sd card FIRST before copying the ROM to it and possibly 'reset' it again so it has no partitions (I messed about partitioning it twice and this may have caused problems). If I do how would I remove all partitions on it and reset it back to it's original non partitioned state ?

 

[Hadron]

I'm guessing you didn't back up the card before partitioning? Generally partitioning will wipe the card.

I hope a ROM flash gets you booting, because if not you may need to do a factory reset, because if the ROM's OK then I would guess that the problem is that something it wants, such as parts of some apps, is no longer on the card. And if your backups were on the card then a wipe would be real data loss.

I hope I'm wrong, and don't wipe until other options are exhausted! But when everything else has been tried, it could come to that.

 

[paulpash]

I copied the contents of my sd card to my pc

Hi Hadron - as long as it isn't bricked I can cope with a factory reset. Can I sort of get a checklist as to what to do next ? I am new and still getting my head round things. As I understand it is this the right checklist (feel very free to correct it):

1. Copy a miui uk rom to flash my phone to the sd card (which one is best - where would I get it?) want to a2sd and also decent battery life.
2. Flash the new rom
3. Reboot
3 Make the muiu rom be able to a2sd. Go through some process of prepping my sd card to accept a2sd - this is where i messed up and need more guidance. No, 3 is probably the vaguest part of my understanding.

Any help making this checklist clearer or more precise is appreciated.

 

[Hadron]

First thing: copy the contents of your sd card back.

Having done that, I'd try to reboot.

If that doesn't work, try to flash exactly the ROM you have before the partitioning, without a wipe. Then reboot.

The procedure for prepping the card for a2sd is basically:

* back up the SD card. If I were playing really safe I'd take a nandroid, then back up the sd. Make sure you get hidden files/folders too (i.e. those whose names start with a ".", such as .android_secure).

* partition, as described in the root memory faq. GParted is recommended - CWM doesn't do a good job of this, and you are likely to have to redo it, so it's quicker to use GParted from the start.

* copy the card data back

If you flash the ROM after doing this then you have a clean install on an a2sd ROM. But if you already have an a2sd capable ROM then a nandroid restore would do fine, or you can try booting then starting a terminal emulator and typing

su
a2sd reinstall

which should ensure that everything is moved to sd-ext. Installing the ROM after setting up partition is the cleanest solution.

As for Miui ROMs, I've never used MIUI-UK. I used MIUI-XJ for a few weeks last summer, but don't really know which Miui to recommend these days.

 

[paulpash]

First thing: copy the contents of your sd card back.

Having done that, I'd try to reboot.

If that doesn't work, try to flash exactly the ROM you have before the partitioning, without a wipe. Then reboot.

The procedure for prepping the card for a2sd is basically:

* back up the SD card. If I were playing really safe I'd take a nandroid, then back up the sd. Make sure you get hidden files/folders too (i.e. those whose names start with a ".", such as .android_secure).

* partition, as described in the root memory faq. GParted is recommended - CWM doesn't do a good job of this, and you are likely to have to redo it, so it's quicker to use GParted from the start.

* copy the card data back

If you flash the ROM after doing this then you have a clean install on an a2sd ROM. But if you already have an a2sd capable ROM then a nandroid restore would do fine, or you can try booting then starting a terminal emulator and typing

su
a2sd reinstall

which should ensure that everything is moved to sd-ext. Installing the ROM after setting up partition is the cleanest solution.

As for Miui ROMs, I've never used MIUI-UK. I used MIUI-XJ for a few weeks last summer, but don't really know which Miui to recommend these days.

As I am a noob I used and flashed a downloaded rom from rom manager - it was the US version of miui (I recorded it as miui 2.4.13 in my notes). As rom manager is no longer available i will have to look where I can download this file manually then copy it to the root of my sd card If I am gonna flash anyway would it be prudent to go with MIUI-XJ or do i need to try the exact same MIUI? Do you have a link as to where to download the miui XJ zip file. Sorry for the plethora of question Hadron

 

[Hadron]

The reason for recommending the same ROM was because you can flash that without wiping. Of course if you have made all your app/data/message/contact backups and have those safe (because you copied your card) then don't worry about this, just choose a ROM and install from recovery as usual.

If you can't find the same one (and IIRC ROM Manager isn't always up to date in the ROMs it does offer anyway) but don't think your backups are as good as you'd like, then you could just pick a good MIUI and flash without a wipe and see whether it works (or at least works well enough to get the essential app/data backups done). Worst that happens is that it doesn't work and you need to wipe anyway.

 

[paulpash]

The where to find a good miui rom is the hard bit - been surfing for a link now for a while. Is there an official place to download the rom from? I am a bit distrusting of fileshare sites but i found this:

MIUI XJ A2SD 1.19 Final Signed.zip - mediafire download

How do i know if it is a kosha version? Am I being too paranoid?

I have also downloaded the MIUI 2.4.13 version - I'l copy this to the sd card and try and flash my phone and let you know how i got on.

 

[Hadron]

XDA - there is a link to the ROM list thread in the All Things Root Guide sticky post in this forum.

 

[paulpash]

I have just checked my pc back up of my SD card and it is from PRIOR to installing MIUI so it is a back-up of the sd card from the stock rom.

I have looked at the link you said leading to the XDA website then found a link to the miui XJ thread:

[ROM][MIUI-XJ] Mar 31 - 2.3.30 GB 2.3.7 EN-MULT+OTA+CM+Updater|D2EXT X-PART|A2SD+|D2W - xda-developers

Is the link to download the zip here? I have looked all the way through it (it's a massive thread) at least 3 times and am not 100% sure which one is the 'right' ROM i want. I suspect it might be this but my browser flags this as a Phishing site!

LATEST BASE FULL ROM:
MIUI XJ A2SD/A2SD+ FINAL
MIUI XJ D2EXT X-PART GS 3P FINAL
MIUI XJ D2W FINAL
ROMS : http://htcfanboys.com/download/xavie...owse&folder=64

Thanks again.

 

[paulpash]

UPDATE:

I did a Wipe & installed MIUI_XJ_A2SD_2.3.9_2.3.7_Final_Signed_rfcgt24536. zip. It has booted OK and the phone is thankfully working again. However I am still concerned about my SD card that I partitioned twice - one a 2 gb partition then another 1 gb partition. In the file explorer it reports that only 13.8 Gb is available on a 16gb card.

I have 2 requests then really -

#1 can someone say what is the best way of recouping the 3 gb lost in my first attempt to partition the card so it is effectively wiped clear of partitions so I can attempt #2 more successfully

#2 A very simple easy walkthrough of effectively partitioning your sd card (with a 1 gb only partition) so that a2sd will work seamlessly with my freshly installed MIUI XJ A2SD ROM?

Thanks a lot Hadron by the way for your time helping me this far.

 

[Hadron]

Firstly, do you currently have a 1GB partition on the card? I ask because the real capacity of a "16GB" card is 14.9 GB, so if you take out 1GB (which won't show up on Windows, and perhaps not all android file explorers) then 13.8GB sounds about right.

There are a few apps you can use to check. If the ROM has an a2sd script, Ti Backup or Quick System Info should show you the ext partition size and usage. ES File Explorer can show the ext partition (hit the "Favourites" button, then select "/", and look for "sd-ext"), and of course Root Explorer will show you everything.

As for partitioning, GParted is recommended. The root memory faq explains this, and SUroot wrote a guide to using this via a virtual machine - both are linked from the sticky post.

Edit: Why is a 16GB card only 14.9 GB? It's because there are 2 conventions for the prefixes "k", "M", "G". In ordinary mathematics these refer to 10^3, 10^6 and 10^9, but in computing it is normal to use the binary versions, 2^10, 2^20 and 2^30. Now a binary k is actually slightly larger than a decimal one, 1024 rather than 1000, so cube that and a binary G is 7.4% larger than a decimal one. So of course all storage device manufacturers use the decimal versions when quoting the capacity of their devices, because this makes the capacity sound larger. :banghead:

 

[SUroot]

In the file explorer it reports that only 13.8 Gb is available on a 16gb card.

Awesome, this is my favourite question (not joking).

16GB of files is 1024x1024x1024 x16. There are 1024 Bytes in a KiloByte, There are 1024 KiloBytes in a MegaByte and there are 1024 MegaBytes in a GigaByte. Pretty straight forward, but makes maths a little bit more difficult.

Now all software reports this as above. So you have 13.8GB of available space.

However, (and this is REALLY annoying), HARDWARE manufacturers dont see 16GB as 1024x1024x1024 x16. Oh no no. That would be too rational.

They see it as: 1000x1000x1000 x16

So take the 16GB as the card states it is

1000x1000x1000 x16

And break it down into its smallest component (Bytes) = 16000000000

Now take those Bytes (16000000000) and convert them into What they should be:
16000000000/1024/1024/1024 = 14.9GB

So what does this actually say?

It says that your SD card of 16GB is not REALLY 16GB, but it is 14.9GB. You can only fit 14.9 GB of data on it.

Now in conclusion, You take a 14.9GB SD card, and take 1GB off it, what are you left with?




Edit > Ninja'd by Hadron, who should know better by now.

 

[Hadron]

Edit > Ninja'd by Hadron, who should know better by now.

If I'd spotted you were online I'd have left it for you

But it's so rare I manage to ninja you...

 

[SUroot]

If I'd spotted you were online I'd have left it for you

But it's so rare I manage to ninja you...

Touche

:fight:

 

[paulpash]

Hi Hadron,

"Firstly, do you currently have a 1GB partition on the card? I ask because the real capacity of a "16GB" card is 14.9 GB, so if you take out 1GB (which won't show up on Windows, and perhaps not all android file explorers) then 13.8GB sounds about right."

In my SD card settings there is an A2SD+ section. It reports there that total space available = 0.94gb, with available space of 896mb.

The only thing i have on my sd card at the mo is the MIUI Rom zip which is 95mb.

By Ti Backup I presume you mean Titanium BAckup (will I need busybox installed too?) - i am a noob Hadron and am still learning - I was like what is Ti Backup then looked for it on Market and (I hope) the right penny dropped

Hi SURoot (Super Leeds lol) I am from Doncaster the upper echelons of Yorkshire don't ya know.

Again another very noob question - how will I know if my rom is using a2sd+. I've installed Ti BAckup and busybox but the a2sd+ settings record that the same available free space is available (896mb) so it hasn't shifted Ti Backup there ??

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, "Ti" = "Titanium" (see the Periodic Table )

It does need Busybox (which basically gives you a larger linux command set than android comes with by default), but that's not a problem. You install Ti, try to run it, and if it complains about needing Busybox you press the "Problems" button in Ti and it will download and install it for you.

Installing Ti is one of the first things you should do when rooted.

So it sounds like you have an ext partition which is being recognised as such. And not many apps installed by the sound of it. Install a couple and see whether the space on the partition goes down. If it does not, start a terminal emulator and type the commands

su
a2sd reinstall

Don't be surprised when the phone reboots!

If it is working, you can get some more space by moving the dalvik cache to sd-ext. To do this type "a2sd cachesd" in the terminal emulator (after the "su" command - that's short for "superuser"), and the phone will reboot then come back with more free internal storage

 

[paulpash]

Grrrr Ti Backup keeps reporting it can't acquire root priveleges

 

[SUroot]

I am from Doncaster

I used to hang around Epworth and the Isle of Axholme. Also, Used to work at Polypipe

Actually, in retrospect its quite funny that there is a village in IoA called "Wroot".