yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] droidiana:
A couple days ago, my Galaxy s2 i-777 (unrooted stock) would not start up past the splash screen. Today, I finally tried to do a factory reset in recovery mode, and there was a message about not being able to access some csc folder. My phone remained in bootloop, and when I tried to get back to recovery mode - I would see the dreadful "Deleting Cryption Meta data" message.

I proceeded to try the instructions in this post : http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=27368753&postcount=7

I managed to flash my phone with CWM5.0.3 using Odin (The PDA option - is that right?) It changed my splash screen to one with 9100 on the front, and a yellow triangle. My flash counter was also incremented to 1.

I then attempted to flash with the Siyah kernel again using Odin (with the PDA option). The good news is that I can now get to Siyah's Recovery mode, but the phone is still bootlooping. And I'm pretty sure my flash counter has incremented again.

Here's my difficulty:

1. I want to find a way to get my images/videos off my phone. (We just had our first kid and all his photos from birth are in there :|)

2. I plan to get a jig, reset my counter and restore to stock unrooted. Is this still possible?

How do I do these two things?

Thanks so much everyone - I've really appreciated all the posts I've been reading for assistance already!

=======

So I figured out how to get my photos/videos off - amazingly, even after a factory reset - they are all still in my phone! I decided to re-flash CWM as suggested in the post linked above. Went to the recovery menu and did a clear data/factory reset. I was about to try the format sd card option (which admittedly I had skipped earlier because I was concerned about losing photos/vids) but then decided to try mounting the sd card instead. Then I reconnected the phone to my computer and was able to use it as a USB storage device, and view all my files! Now I'm copying over my app data, pics and videos.

I just ordered a jig off amazon, and hopefully I'll be able to reset my counter and return to stock. I'm still not sure why my phone is bootlooping though. Any ideas?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] snipe2nite:
Happy to see this my dude, glad you got them back!!!! Congrats on the new baby good times! I can't really be of help but this thread has some more info you can read maybe it can help you.... The link you posted is posted in post 2 via creepyncrawly but there is more info in that post. Maybe your problem is just a random hardware failure but always best to have all the info you can get..... GL if you have more questions creepyncrawly is the coolest dude and will help you!!!

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1738663 Some info 4 you

EDIT Once you get your jig that should clear the flash counter and put the phone in to download mode then you could flash a stock package to get your phone back working!!! Of course depending if it's a hardware problem....

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=18859438&postcount=199 Here the link to the stock package or rooted stock One click Odin
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] The_Fallen_angel:
There is also another way to remove the triangle and the counter via an app i have used it several times and it works great here is the link for it

http://www.xda-developers.com/android/triangleaway-reset-flash-counter-tool/
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] snipe2nite:
You are correct but, he would be flashing KH7 GB so the jig would clear it.... Triangle Away works on ICS and has risks "!!! THIS IS A DANGEROUS OPERATION AND COULD POTENTIALLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. A USB JIG IS PREFERRED IF YOU HAVE A WORKING ONE !!!" (and by brick I mean brick - only a board replacement or a JTAG unit will be able to save you, don't mess with boot(loader) stuff unless you *really* mean it!) via Chainfire you're better never tripping the counter......
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] votinh:
AFAIK, this tool only works with ICS.

Please inform.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] Cmoore0965:
Is it a boot loop-where your screen will go black attempting to continue booting, then re initiate the previous animation? Or just a failure to boot-where it's just hanging on an animation with no black pauses to indicate any kind of process completion?

Sent from my broken screen beast machine
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] creepyncrawly:
It a boot loop if the phone tries to boot over and over again, only reaching a certain point, usually the initial (kernel) splash screen, then restarting again. However, many fail to boot scenarios are commonly lumped into the somewhat generic term boot loop.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] Cmoore0965:
Poor wordage on my part lol, that differentiation was what I was trying to ask the op

Sent from my broken screen beast machine
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] The_Fallen_angel:
I have used it with JB and had no problems I do not know if it was intended to work with JB but it did on my sgs2 ( I guess I just got lucky ) I have used it 3 times on ICS and once with JB and While I will admit it is

VERY RISKY

I too would recommend the jig but was just giving another option
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ap1618:
Hi, can someone help me find the wallpaper in this picture?

http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1301329&d=1346746972

If you cannot see the attachment, please refresh the page.

thanks
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Mega Man12:
I want to rom my phone but I am scared. My phone root with Amit bagaria cf root http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=19442301. since month ago now when I open tweaks or cwm or ext4 show this message please help
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] nikhil18:
try reflashing the kernel
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Mega Man12:
you mean cf root i tried that twice but nothing change
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Rentaghost:
Which rom u r using ?
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Mega Man12:
i use stock rom

Firmware version-2.3.6

GINGERBREAD.JPKPH

Baseband Version I9003JXKP3
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Rentaghost:
That was my stock rom and i was using urniversal cf-root by amit.bargnia. And there was no problem at all. Ok try reinstalling the frimware
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Mega Man12:
any links for this firmware
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Rentaghost:
Which fw?
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Mega Man12:
Firmware version-2.3.6

GINGERBREAD.JPKPH

Baseband Version I9003JXKP3
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Rentaghost:
Ok. This is the latest middle east fw-

http://samsung-updates.com/fw/Samsung-Updates.com-GT-I9003_XSG_1_20120611145431_zlbeo656pj.zip
[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] Mega Man12:
good man
[Galaxy Tab 8.9 General] sum-xda:
Guys,

I have serious issues with Motorola H710 (Bluetooth headset) + Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (running official ICS 4.0.4). Same Bluetooth headset is working fine with my other devices like Samsung Galaxy s2, Sony Vaio Laptop, no problems at all.

Pairing with Tab is not a problem at all, it is pairing/connecting without any flaws but I can not hear any music or do skype calls from the Bluetooth headset.

Please help..

Cheers,
[Galaxy Tab 8.9 General] Caffeine Fever:
Hey, I'm using a Phillips BT headphone, and I occasionally have the same issue: it is paired but I can't hear any audio. However for me the solution is simple, just manually disconnect the headphones, pair it again with the tablet and the audio works. I'm running stock ICS too, so you might want to give it a try.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] mistamikel:
So I just got an S2X from Koodo and am using it with wind mobile.

I just want to know if any one would know whats the best radio to use ?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] sylikc:
Unfortunately, modems vary. Most just seem to work well... latest is not always better.

Anyway, to get at least some guidance, you need to specify where you are located, and what baseband you're currently using...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] mistamikel:
Im in Calgary and am using the stock koodo baseband.

Funny thing is, when it was on stock I got a decent signal, when I flashed Jedi Mind Trick the signal seemed a bit weaker (still the same stock baseband)
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] sylikc:
When I last flashed JMT, it said "unknown" for baseband. From what I hear, it may be worthwhile to re-flash a modem after doing a ROM switch.

I'm currently using TDJ's RILS-removed LC8 build. The LG3 build I understand has been pretty good for others. I'm in USA though, so I don't have any info in your area.

And when you say stock, what are you on? ICS stock: UVLE1?
[Android General] hg42:
I think this thread is obsolete now, please go to

[DEV][REF] El Grande Partition Table Reference

instead, which contains more facts

Hi,

I want to create a list of Android partitions, to collect information for different purposes.

My current cause of investigation is about repartitioning emmc bricked Samsung phones, but the guide could collect all kinds of information (in short form, eventually with links to deeper investigations).

I want to format this as a living post, with new information added where appropriate (I assume the wiki would fit better, but I don't see a section to put this, also I don't know if fitting to Samsung only or Android in general until enough information is collected).

So let's start:

So let's visit partitions one by one:

GANG

* has zero size in PIT, seems to be hidden in the following unused area

* no real partition, but included in PITs

BOOT

* has zero size in PIT, seems to be hidden in the following unused area

EFS

* mounted on /efs

* contains many personalized information

* IMEI

* bluetooth MAC etc.

* restoration only possible with JTAG

* should be backuped!!!

SBL1, SBL2

* BL = boot loader

* S = Secondary?

* why do we have SBL1 *and* SBL2?

PARAM

* currently I don't know anything about this

KERNEL

* contains kernel (obviously)

* also contains recovery on some/many Samsung Galaxy phones (e.g. N7000)

* read only

RECOVERY

* seems to be unused on Samsung Galaxy N7000, KERNEL comes with recovery integrated

* read only

CACHE

* mounted on /cache

* temporary data

* can be cleared without loosing any important data

MODEM

* modem software for cell phone

* can be flashed from stock file

* read only?

FACTORYFS, system

* mounted on /system

* main OS code

* system apps

* read only

DATAFS, data

* mounted on /data

* user apps

* read/write

UMS, userdata

* mounted on /sdcard, sometimes /emmc

* sometimes called internal sd

HIDDEN, PRELOAD

* mounted on /preload

* purpose?

FOTA

* F = Factory?

* OTA = Over The Air

* may be used for Updates by stock ROM

Here are also some general thoughts about repartitioning these partitions to be mixed into the list later if it fits (just as a reminder):

* if you have a brick in a partition you cannot create a backup to restore afterwards

* partitions which have stock contents (not personalized) will be easy

* EFS cannot be restored without having a backup,

it contains nearly all really personalized information, with the most important data being the IMEI, which is unique to your phone. You find it printed on a sticker on your phone, but currently no one seems to be able to patch it into a generic copy of the EFS.

* some partitions will be needed to boot into recovery and/or download mode

I would assume BOOT, SBL1 and/or SBL2 are involved.

Some may be needed to boot into both recovery *and* download mode.

Some may be needed only for one of them.

If a PIT would move these, you cannot enter download and/or recovery again, thus your phone is nearly dead and only recoverable by JTAG.

* what about PARAM?
[Android General] k02a:
First of all, great initiative!

I have a SE Xperia Arc and the file structure differs a lot from your Samsung device.

Here is a list of the partitions, their current mount point(s) and filetype. I have put some useful references to the list. This will probably provide more accurate descriptions, rather than giving a brief explanation on each file system.

rootfs / rootfs [1]

tmpfs /dev tmpfs [2]

tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs

tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs

tmpfs /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure tmpfs

devpts /dev/pts devpts [3]

proc /proc proc [4]

sysfs /sys sysfs [5]

/dev/block/mtdblock0 /system yaffs2 [6][8]

/dev/block/mtdblock1 /cache yaffs2

/dev/block/mtdblock2 /system/vendor yaffs2

/dev/block/mtdblock3 /data yaffs2

/dev/block/vold/179:1 /mnt/sdcard vfat [7][9]

/dev/block/vold/179:1 /mnt/secure/asec vfat

References:

[1] rootfs

[2] tmpfs

[3] devpts

[4] proc

[5] sysfs

[6] yaffs2

[7] vfat Virtual FAT

[8] mtd

[9] vold

I also found two more links that could be useful in this thread.

Atrix HD Partition Research, How to use QUALCOMM eMMC MBR/EBR Partitioning plugin

F = firmware, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOTA_%28technology%29
[Android General] hg42:
Thanks, nice contribution.

Can you provide a dump of 'parted print' for your device?
[Android General] k02a:
Unfortunately, the parted partition command is not included among the Xperia Arc's stock binaries, nor in BusyBox 1.20.2 (but hopefully in the future).

Do you have a pre-compiled binary to share?

Here is what I can contribute to your collection for now:

app_103@android:/ # busybox fdisk -l
Linux localhost 2.6.32.9-perf #1 PREEMPT Wed Jul 4 12:32:24 2012 armv7l GNU/Linux
app_103@android:/ # busybox fdisk -l
Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512)

Disk [URL="http://shmilyxbq-compcache.googlecode.com/hg/README"]/dev/zram0[/URL]: 62 MB, 62914560 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 0 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 4096 = 65802240 bytes

Disk /dev/zram0 doesn't contain a valid partition table
[Android General] hg42:
you can try the attachment to this post

but I'm not sure if an exynos processor (Samsung Galaxy Note N7000) has the same executable format than your phone, at least both have armv7l.
[Android General] k02a:
The parted binary worked fine, but the file system on the LT15i needs to be explored some day.

shell@android:/ # parted
parted
GNU Parted 1.8.8.1.179-aef3
Using /dev/zram0
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
print
print
Error: /dev/zram0: unrecognised disk label
(parted)
[Android General] hg42:
can you post the output of " adb shell ls /dev/block/ "?
[Android General] k02a:
Sorry for my ambiguousness...

After having a bad nights' sleep, I made some re-thinking.

I dd'ed the /dev/zram0 (62 914 560 bytes). This value also corresponds to the content found in /sys/block/zram0/disksize and I find it unlikely that the OS keeps the entire amount of mtdblocks within this memory constraint, even if they are compressed. I have not tried to mount the zram-image on a Linux system, so I cannot tell anything about its content. My belief is that this image carries some RAM contents and perhaps some cache information.

Did you find anything similar in your Samsung device?

The mmcblk:s seem to represent the MicroSD-card device and I assume the mmcblk0p1 is the (only) partition.
[Android General] hg42:
we have these block devices:

app_151@android:/ $ ls -lF /dev/block/
brw------- 1 root root 7, 0 Sep 6 08:28 loop0
brw------- 1 root root 7, 1 Sep 6 08:28 loop1
brw------- 1 root root 7, 2 Sep 6 08:28 loop2
brw------- 1 root root 7, 3 Sep 6 08:28 loop3
brw------- 1 root root 7, 4 Sep 6 08:28 loop4
brw------- 1 root root 7, 5 Sep 6 08:28 loop5
brw------- 1 root root 7, 6 Sep 6 08:28 loop6
brw------- 1 root root 7, 7 Sep 6 08:28 loop7
brw------- 1 root root 179, 0 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0
brw------- 1 root root 179, 1 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p1
brw------- 1 root root 259, 2 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p10
brw------- 1 root root 259, 3 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p11
brw------- 1 root root 259, 4 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p12
brw------- 1 root root 179, 2 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p2
brw------- 1 root root 179, 3 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p3
brw------- 1 root root 179, 4 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p4
brw------- 1 root root 179, 5 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p5
brw------- 1 root root 179, 6 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p6
brw------- 1 root root 179, 7 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p7
brw-rw---- 1 system radio 259, 0 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p8
brw------- 1 root root 259, 1 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk0p9
brw------- 1 root root 179, 8 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk1
brw------- 1 root root 179, 9 Sep 6 08:28 mmcblk1p1
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 0 Sep 6 08:28 platform/
brw------- 1 root root 1, 0 Sep 6 08:28 ram0
brw------- 1 root root 1, 1 Sep 6 08:28 ram1
brw------- 1 root root 1, 10 Sep 6 08:28 ram10
brw------- 1 root root 1, 11 Sep 6 08:28 ram11
brw------- 1 root root 1, 12 Sep 6 08:28 ram12
brw------- 1 root root 1, 13 Sep 6 08:28 ram13
brw------- 1 root root 1, 14 Sep 6 08:28 ram14
brw------- 1 root root 1, 15 Sep 6 08:28 ram15
brw------- 1 root root 1, 2 Sep 6 08:28 ram2
brw------- 1 root root 1, 3 Sep 6 08:28 ram3
brw------- 1 root root 1, 4 Sep 6 08:28 ram4
brw------- 1 root root 1, 5 Sep 6 08:28 ram5
brw------- 1 root root 1, 6 Sep 6 08:28 ram6
brw------- 1 root root 1, 7 Sep 6 08:28 ram7
brw------- 1 root root 1, 8 Sep 6 08:28 ram8
brw------- 1 root root 1, 9 Sep 6 08:28 ram9
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Sep 6 08:28 vold/

The ram* may be what is zram in your device.

The 'z' may indeed mean compression.

There are several tmpfs in our device (e.g. /tmp and /dev, perhaps they use these ram disks).

Also the root file system where everything is mounted runs in ram.
[Android General] k02a:
The zram0 seems to act like some kind of swap RAM and was obviously added to the latest SE 2011 firmware version [1].

My guess is that Sony Ericsson decided to pick the compressed alternative, due to the smaller flash memory in their Xperia 2011 devices. This solution probably costs some clock cycles, but I assume it gains in overall internal storage capacity.

I found an interesting thread where sirkay showed how to initiate/alter the zram size.

[1] questions/problems with 4.1.B.0.587 firmware
[Android General] kuisma:
You guys are confusing. :)

The Xperia NAND disk device is translated to an MTD block device in the Linux world. The partition boundaries are hardcoded in the bootloader passed to the kernel via the ATAGs parameters. You can see those partitions via /proc/mtd

# cat /proc/mtd
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 19000000 00040000 "system"
mtd1: 00600000 00040000 "appslog"
mtd2: 06580000 00040000 "cache"
mtd3: 1a400000 00040000 "userdata"

Still those are only the partitions the bootlooader chooses to expose to the kernel. In reality, there are more, unknown to the kernel.
[Android General] hg42:
Thanks for clearing up, this fits my conclusions.

Never saw such fixed devices before.
[Android General] kuisma:
I'd say this is the way it's most commonly done in Android devices, using a raw NAND device with the MTD translation layer. It's far more uncommon using block devices, such as MMC devices as the primary internal memory.
[Android General] k02a:
Thanks for this. :good:

I am still curious about the possibility to gain boot or root partition access in Xperia?

Many other devices come with this feature, e.g. HTC Incredible S, HTC Vision, Acer Liquid Metal and on the widely spread article HOWTO: Unpack, Edit, and Re-Pack Boot Images).

Oh, by the way...

I found a collection with recovery images on OnlineNandroid.
[Android General] kuisma:
In Xperia, the boot partition is not visible to the Linux kernel, so you can't simply dd it to an image file. The easiest way is running Sony Update Service reflashing your phone with the current firmware, and then copy the temporary files it downloaded, recreating the FTF file using Flashtool. Unzip the FTF and you've got the boot.img. Now split it, do whatever you want to change and flash it using fastboot. There's a YouTube video showing this in detail. Search for it. Or download the firmware FTF directly from a trusted source.

I looked in fota0.sin and found a few more partition names on the Xperia (Active):

amss
amss_fs
fota0
fota1
dsp1
boot
system
userdata
cache
image_backup
amss_log
vendor
ramdump
[Android General] k02a:
Thanks a lot for this, a really valuable post!
[Android General] Hammerfest:
I know I wont find the help I need to do what I want here, but ill provide the stuff from my Galaxy Note tomorrow (partition layout/vold)...

My Galaxy Note is nice, but 2GB is a joke for apps, and damnit I want my sdcard to actually be mounted as /sdcard! (PITA for apps that utilize /sdcard for game data and backups, not to mention having a 32GB or 64GB makes the joke 10GB internal... a JOKE!) :D
[Android General] basha.ram:
From the above list is it possible to know the boot paritions.

on S2_lte_I9210 /proc/partitions list the system partition as /dev/block/mmcblk0p24 /system but not the boot partition.

I'm eagerly waiting to do boot.img backup using via dd command

---------- Post added at 04:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------

partition list on samsung galaxy S2_lte I9210
[Android General] hg42:
from a PM I got, which is interesting for others, too:

did you also try internal sd? As I mentioned in the first post of my PIT thread (see my signature), some recoveries have internal and external sd exchanged, so your real external sd might be offered as internal sd.

Your real internal sd may be affected by the brick, too, this might be the reason for the mount failure.
[Android General] E:V:A:
Hi! I just found this thread after having searched for my own!

Seem like we have had the same idea about the same time.

I just started my own thread in this same spirit, but I have posted in the hardware forum, as it is certainly more hardware connected, than software...

"[DEV][REF] El Grande Partition Table Reference"

There you will also find many answers to your questions and uncertainties in OP.

Cheers.
[Android General] hg42:
Nice, your thread contains more facts, so I will redirect readers by adding a link to your thread in my thread starter (I hope this evening).
[Dell Streak 7] leighv:
I'm trying to install the latest ROM - I have followed the instructions, but when I try and run setup to install the drivers, Windows tells me that it has found fastbook, I get the windows driver install prompt - I select next, it obviously looks for the driver - and then I get the message - Cannot Install this Hardware. This therefore means that the drivers do not install and I get the message "Please Plug-in your Device!!" I hit OK - it tells me the same again and again - and the rollsback the driver install. Any ideas on how I can overcome? Thanks.
[Dell Streak 7] ElfinJNoty:
I really hope your on a mobile device that is auto correcting "fastboot" as "fast book":thumbdown:

You have to manually point windows to the folder you have the drivers unpacked onto your computer

Search the forums...... even read the stickies section. This has been described in full detail several times.

This took me a minute to search, copy, paste:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1395964

There is a link there to install drivers, do some reading, the streak is not as common a development as other more popular devices.

The drivers should be located in the nvflash package you say you are trying to install. Again, point windows to the folder the drivers are in.

I will not provide step by step instructions as I myself and many before me have already done so. Give yourself a half hour of reading through the posts and you will more then likely find exactly what you are looking for.
[Dell Streak 7] Nocturnal_50:
you're being way too lenient with the n00bs, half an hour of reading through forums? seriously, this is the same guy who apparently put a 128gb sdcard in a streak 7 and made it apparently work, I deem this thread closed as the amount of others that contain information to the questions asked
[Dell Streak 7] Archer:
Question answered above. Please search thoroughly in future before creating threads.

Thread closed.