[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] ijoshv2:
True.

The eMMC chip is basically what controls your Internal Data Partition. Anything to do with writing (or for this case, deleting) data from your internal partition is going to involve this chip!

In a basic explanation, the eMMC chip doesn't mesh with ICS kernels as perfectly as GB kernels do. There were some issues with the firmware inside of the eMMC chip, and the ICS kernel would trigger it to (in a sense) meltdown if a partition wipe script was initiated. There may be a way to fix the firmware, but as of today, we are unaware of it and are awaiting the answers.

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So, until the eMMC bug has a permanent fix, I'm going to make a comprehensive guide to flashing new ROMs, backing up, restoring, and any other helpful tips. ;)

My goal is

simple

: Collected, organized, informative, and clean.

Disclaimer: Don't blame me when you do this incorrectly. I will laugh. :rolleyes: You knew what you were getting into when you first rooted, my friend.

If any of my information is wrong, please PM me and I will correct it ASAP. Even spelling errors.. :p

CREDIT GOES TO:

Chris41g for his EL26 kernel. :D Thank you very much!

Tell me of others I'm missing.

Read all steps and make preparations BEFORE starting this tutorial! You better be prepared before undertaking these processes!!

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Guide Part I: Flashing new ROMs.

For users who already have an ICS kernel on their phone. Or for those who don't know, and want to be safe!

It's really basic. Because of the bug in the ICS kernel recoveries that crash the eMMC chip during Wipe Data scripts, you must use the EL26 kernel, and flash it from ODIN before making any changes.

Make sure you READ these instructions BEFORE starting, and prepare accordingly!

(files also attached at the bottom of this thread, extract the .md5 kernel from the .zip first before using it in ODIN.)

First, flash the EL26 Kernel + Recovery through ODIN.

Step 1: Download the EL26 kernel, ODIN, and install AND setup completely KIES, to make sure the drivers are there and ready!

Step 2: Once ready, put the phone into Download Mode by holding down the VOL DOWN + POWER buttons, until you see a Warning!! screen with a triangle at the bottom. Press VOL UP to continue into Download Mode.

Step 3: Plug the device into your Windows PC and wait for the drivers to say they're full installed, then open ODIN.

Step 4: Wait for ODIN to show a yellow, lit up bar with "0:[COM?]" under the "ID:COM" section.

Step 5: Once ODIN is ready, go to the PDA box and browse for the StockCWM-EL26.tar.md5 file you downloaded earlier. DO NOT CHECK ANY OTHER BOXES. Messing around with settings in ODIN will get you into trouble.

Step 6: Press "Start", and wait for it to finish its thing. WATCH YOUR PHONE, and be ready to go into Recovery Mode.

Step 7: Don't allow your phone to boot! Hold down VOL UP + POWER as soon as your screen shows the Samsung Galaxy S II splash screen, until you see the blue CWM screen. (should be ver. 5.0.2.7, if I'm not mistaken.) (You may notice the yellow triangle, we'll get to removing that later!)

We are now in EL26 Recovery, where you can wipe till your heart bursts with joy. ;)

But, you might wonder.. Why are we using a GB recovery for flashing an ICS ROM?

After you flash the ROM in this recovery, it will flash an ICS recovery over it, so that after you reboot, you'll have your ICS recovery and kernel. We only need the EL26 recovery to do the in-between work.. :cool:

Now, onto flashing your new ROM! This one's easy..

Step 8: Wipe data/factory reset by using the option on the main screen of recovery, Wipe cache using the option a few clicks below it, and Wipe Dalvik cache using the option from the Advanced menu.

Step 9: Once you've wiped those listed, prepare to flash your ROM. If you haven't downloaded the ROM to your SD card yet, now would be a good time. Either remove your SD card and load the ROM onto it from your PC, or back up and go to "Mounts and Storage", then mount your SD card and load it through your USB connection that way.

Step 10: Go to "Install from zip file" and go through the needed directories to locating and selecting your ROM.

Step 11: Flash your ROM, like usual. (Also flash GAPPS, or any other after ROM installation zips at this time, if that's when they're supposed to be done normally.)

Now, once you click reboot, EL26 RECOVERY WILL NO LONGER EXIST ON YOUR PHONE. Once again.. DO NOT PLAN ON WIPING DATA AGAIN, WITHOUT A FIXED KERNEL AND RECOVERY. Once rebooted, the affected ICS kernel and recovery (the one that came in your ROM .zip that you flashed while using the EL26 temp kernel) will be back into place. Doing any sort of hard reset, data wipes, LARGE FILE DELETES, or factory resets MAY result in a bricked phone. Please, be careful!

Step 12: Reboot and enjoy your new ICS ROM!

CONGRATS! You got to dry land safely. You should now be in your new ROM, with no crashes to the eMMC chip! If you're not.. Well, you didn't listen.

Now, about that Yellow triangle during boot.. Check the end of the post. :)

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Guide Part II: Backing up your existing ICS ROM.

Just like flashing a new ROM, we're going to need the EL26 kernel and recovery to do this. Once the backing up has taken place, we'll need to restore your old kernel. I'll show you how.

Step 1: Go here and download a kernel that corresponds to the CURRENT ROM that you're going to be backing up. The choices are AOSP/AOKP, CM9, or TOUCHWIZ, mainly. Make sure that you find the kernel that is associated with your current ROM (ex: FE21, FE16, FE14, and so on..), because we will be wiping that kernel away, and will need to restore it again later. Check for current kernel version in System > About Phone > Kernel Version.

Step 2: Once you've downloaded your corresponding kernel, put the phone into Download Mode by holding down the VOL DOWN + POWER buttons, until you see a Warning!! screen with a triangle at the bottom. Press VOL UP to continue into Download Mode.

Step 3: Plug the device into your Windows PC and wait for the drivers to say they're full installed, then open ODIN.

Step 4: Wait for ODIN to show a yellow, lit up bar with "0:[COM?]" under the "ID:COM" section.

Step 5: Once ODIN is ready, go to the PDA box and browse for the StockCWM-EL26.tar.md5 file you downloaded earlier. Do not mix the kernels up! EL26 is for before backup, and the kernel you downloaded that matches your currect ROM is for after the backup process. OKAY? DO NOT CHECK ANY OTHER BOXES. Messing around with settings in ODIN will get you into trouble.

Step 6: Press "Start", and wait for it to finish its thing. WATCH YOUR PHONE, and be ready to go into Recovery Mode.

Step 7: Don't allow your phone to boot! Hold down VOL UP + POWER as soon as your screen shows the Samsung Galaxy S II splash screen, until you see the blue CWM screen.

Now, you're in EL26 recovery. Let's backup your old ROM, then flash the new kernel!

Step 8: Proceed to the backup and restore options, then backup as you normally would.

Note: Make SURE that you understand that this backup is going to contain the EL26 kernel. This kernel WILL NOT WORK with ICS ROMs. Just because we are using it during recovery, doesn't mean it's friendly with ICS. If you ever wish to restore this backup, you'll need the kernel that matches it. I suggest renaming it afterwards with a clear and distinctive name, and placing the kernel inside the backup folder with the backup itself, to avoid confusions. :)

Step 9: After you've finished the backup, Wipe cache and Wipe dalvik cache, using the main menu of recovery and the advanced menu, respectfully.

Don't skip this step!

Step 10: Now, you'll need to flash the kernel that you overwrote when you flashed EL26 with ODIN at the beginning. You can do this with the EL26 recovery. Go to "Flash a zip file" and find the kernel that you downloaded from this page, then

flash it

. If you haven't placed this file onto your SD card yet, please do so by either removing the SD card and using your PC to load it on, or use the "Mounts and Storage > Mount USB" option, then load it through your USB connection.

Step 11: Once the kernel that matches your existing ROM has been flashed, you can safely reboot and your phone should start up as normal. It will take longer this time, since you've flashed a new kernel, so be patient and don't fret.

You now have successfully backed up your current ROM! Like I said earlier, "Make SURE that you understand that this backup is going to contain the EL26 kernel. This kernel WILL NOT WORK with ICS ROMs. Just because we are using it during recovery, doesn't mean it's friendly with ICS. If you ever wish to restore this backup, you'll need the kernel that matches it. I suggest renaming it afterwards with a clear and distinctive name, and placing the kernel inside the backup folder with the backup itself, to avoid confusions."

I cannot stress this enough.

If you're going to use this process to backup, you need to make sure you label your backup with details of what kernel it needs, since you've backup your ROM with an EL26 kernel that's not usable with this ICS ROM.

Either place the kernel it needs in the same folder as this backup, or rename it with specifications

. (ex: 5.24.2012.NEEDS.FE16.AOKP.KERNEL.zip)

Now, let's move on to restoring! Very similar process. :)

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Guide Part III: Restoring a backup made using this totorial.

Just like backing up, we're going to temporarily use the EL26 kernel to restore your old ROM, which will contain the EL26 kernel as well. After restoring, we must flash the kernel that your backed up ROM requires to operate. Let's start, shall we?

Step 1: You should already have the kernel that matches your backup, since you used this method to backup in the first place. But if you don't, here's a link to the available kernels. Go find and download your kernel here. Make sure that you find the kernel that is associated with your backed up ROM. (ex: FE21, FE16, FE14, and so on..)

Step 2: Once you've downloaded your corresponding kernel, put the phone into Download Mode by holding down the VOL DOWN + POWER buttons, until you see a Warning!! screen with a triangle at the bottom. Press VOL UP to continue into Download Mode.

Step 3: Plug the device into your Windows PC and wait for the drivers to say they're full installed, then open ODIN.

Step 4: Wait for ODIN to show a yellow, lit up bar with "0:[COM?]" under the "ID:COM" section.

Step 5: Once ODIN is ready, go to the PDA box and browse for the StockCWM-EL26.tar.md5 file you downloaded earlier. Do not mix the kernels up! EL26 is for before backup, and the kernel you downloaded that matches your currect ROM is for after the backup process. OKAY? DO NOT CHECK ANY OTHER BOXES. Messing around with settings in ODIN will get you into trouble.

Step 6: Press "Start", and wait for it to finish its thing. WATCH YOUR PHONE, and be ready to go into Recovery Mode.

Step 7: Don't allow your phone to boot! Hold down VOL UP + POWER as soon as your screen shows the Samsung Galaxy S II splash screen, until you see the blue CWM screen.

Now, you're in EL26 recovery. Let's restore your old ROM, then flash the required kernel!

Step 8:

Unlike backing up

, we need to wipe before the restore. Wipe data/factory reset by using the option on the main screen of recovery, Wipe cache using the option a few clicks below it, and Wipe Dalvik cache using the option from the Advanced menu.

Step 9: After wiping, like instructed above, proceed to the backup and restore options, then restore as you normally would.

Note: Make SURE that you understand that this restore is going to contain the EL26 kernel. This kernel WILL NOT WORK with ICS ROMs. Just because we are using it during recovery, doesn't mean it's friendly with ICS. We will be restoring the kernel that belongs with this after we restore the backup itself.

Step 10: Now, you'll need to flash the kernel that you overwrote when you flashed EL26 with ODIN at the beginning. You can do this with the EL26 recovery. Go to "Flash a zip file" and find the kernel that you downloaded from this page that matches your backed up ROM, then

flash it

. If you haven't placed this file onto your SD card yet, please do so by either removing the SD card and using your PC to load it on, or use the "Mounts and Storage > Mount USB" option, then load it through your USB connection.

Step 11: Once the kernel that matches your existing backed up ROM has been flashed, you can safely reboot and your phone should start up as normal. It will take longer this time, since you've flashed a new kernel, so be patient and don't fret.

You should now be back into the old ROM that you used this method to restore! Not too hard, was it? :p

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Now, as promised! The Triangle on boot up issue! :eek:

This happened because you used ODIN to flash the EL26 recovery kernel. There's an EASY fix. ;)

Go here and download this to your phone. I HIGHLY recommend this app! It's WELL worth the $1.99, and the DEV really honestly deserves it. If you really want that annoying looking triangle gone, and to get that flash count reset, this app will be perfect.

Here's an excerpt from the description:

So, go download it. It's called Triangle Away, and it saves you the headache. :D

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Well, my eyes hurt. Brain hurts. And it's well past my bedtime. But I sure hope this guide helps someone get what they need! :)

If ANYONE has any questions, please, comment and let the community help you as much as they can! If this thread helped you, please rate it and send a thanks my way!

I will not, nor ever will, accept donations for my write ups. This knowledge was pulled from tens of threads around on XDA, and I thank them for helping me create this thread. Will credit, if asked. Just PM me. ;)

If anyone thinks this write up needs clarifications, or is missing any detail, please PM me and I will fix it accordingly!

Happy flashing, XDA! Live long and root on!