yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Ah great thing you got it working! Problem is, that you device is still in quite mixed state, half of the stuff is US and other half GB. I am quite sure that next OTA update won't work due to these issues and if you are planning to sell the device, you could get in troubles when buyer will find this out. Factory reset probably won't make vendor apps dissapear, but any upgrade will fail most likely.

Also, that empty /data is quite strange, how can your applications even work if data is empty?! All user appliactions reside on /data/app you know? I have feeling that root explorer is not getting root permiossions and thus won't see files even though they are there... Could you do manually from shell:

su
ls -l /data

You can check if your rescue-backdoor is working by runnin my xtsdump and checking incremental values from vendor.prop files - they should be something like 11..., NOT 13... Could be that you won't get system update notifications because this mixed state of your device?

But yeah, if you are going to sell your device, I would try to restore it to fully-GB status. [MENTION=422959]condi[/MENTION] would need to make flasher to accept OTA ZIP from Sony. You're here [MENTION=422959]condi[/MENTION]? How about making one option for flahser which downloads region-specific OTA from Sony, desklunvrs, rescue-backdoors and flashes? No need even for root since we have motochopper...Also somethign needs to be done for vendor apps. I think flasher / XTS will crash after system is flashed and that's why we have messed vendor apps or something like that...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Hi mate, I've attached a system dump to my post above and your right, Root Explorer is not getting root permissions, infact, no app on the tablet is - only through ADB?

Would running condi's region changer change all regions to GB?
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Thanks. One problem:

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-20 10:34 vendor -> /datapp/vendor/vendor1/gb

You need to follow insturctions to the letter, this is invalid link (Android allows you to make linkes to non-existing files)... Fix it using these commands:

mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /data/local/tmp/sysother
rm /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor
ln -s /datapp/vendor/vendor1/GB /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor
umount /data/local/tmp/sysother

Otherwise you are good. Rescue-backdoor is installed because vendor.prop files do say:

ro.sony.build.incremental=111104048

Damn, I have not enough time to create custom application to fix this Vendor thing. Anybody having some spare time? We could write simple Android-application which will fix automatically those. It could also install & verify this rescue backdoor thing by one click? Though if there are not many people with these problems then it's no use...
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
I think region changer is not for XTS, only for Tablets without Xperia, [MENTION=422959]condi[/MENTION] ?

How did you root? Or was your device rooted after using flasher? What happens if you run Play Store, will it offer update for SuperSU (update if there is updata available)? What happens if you run SuperSU, will it ***** about something? Will it offer update for su (update if it does)?
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
After these steps, am I clear to do a factory reset?

---------- Post added at 10:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:57 AM ----------

Binary update fails. No app works with the root.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
I think factory reset won't hurt, but I can always be wrong... Factory reset should not touch to system nor to vendor apps so it should not matter even if you vendor links are messes up...

Could you just run root from latest AiO? I think condi made his AiO to fix this root problem automatically...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Ran root from AiO, no change. Root Explorer still doesn't prompt or have root permissions.

Only ADB.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Well damn... Could you do this and paste results for us:

ls -l /system/bin/su
ls -l /system/xbin/su
ls -l /system/bin/tempsu
ls -l /system/xbin/tempsu
ls -l /system/bin/busybox
ls -l /system/xbin/busybox
ls -l /data/app/*uper*
ls -l /system/app/*uper*

When I get home I will update xtsdump.bat to dump everything included these. Helps debugging a lot...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Did a factory data reset, took a few reboots to get it back up but again, the vendor apps didn't work so I followed your instructions and they are no present again.

Even though the device works which is what I'm pleased with, it's never going to be in a state where it can be sold.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Give us xtsdump again :) It contains log which perhaps will tell why vendorapps were again missing. I bet it is because of this US GB thing...

I bet also that your device can be restored to 100% working condition by flashing GB firmware to it, though it is going to be quite a trial'n'error thing... If you are frustrated enough not to continue, just send your XTS to me and I will continue and return it to you as fully working device OR as brick ;)
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Couldn't configure system participants.

Also tried to re do the symlink from the instructions on the previous page, but on the last one it said that file or directory didn't exist.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Couldn't configure system particiants...? xtdsump.bat says it cannot figure out partitions? Could you then give output of "mount" instead of? Then reboot and try again xtsdump... It could be that after factory reset there is somethign funny going on...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
This is the output of mount and dump attached;

rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /configs ext2 ro,nosuid,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /params ext4 ro,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=orde
red 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 /datapp ext4 ro,nosuid,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,da
ta=ordered 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /system ext4 ro,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=orde
red 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p11 /data ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,errors=panic,user_xattr
,acl,barrier=1,nomblk_io_submit,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p5 /cache ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,errors=panic,user_xattr
,acl,barrier=1,nomblk_io_submit,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 /log ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1
,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1
023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/block/vold/179:49 /storage/sdcard1 vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,rela
time,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,ioc
harset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,batch_sync,utf8,comp_uni,avoid_dlink,errors=rem
ount-ro 0 0
/dev/block/dm-0 /mnt/asec/com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer-1 ext4 ro,dirsync,nosui
d,nodev,noatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1 0 0
shell@android:/ #
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Damn. Your system has erased those links you created... Well you could try cloning those GB vendor1 apps to vendor0:

tar -c -f /mnt/sdcard2/vendor0-US-backup.tar /datapp/vendor/vendor0
mount -o remount,rw /datapp
rm -R /datapp/vendor/vendor0
cp -R -p /datapp/vendor/vendor1 /datapp/vendor/vendor0
mount -o remount,ro /datapp

Than re-create those vendor links to GB:

mount -o remount,rw /system
install -d /data/local/tmp/sysother
mount -t ext4 -o rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /data/local/tmp/sysother
rm /system/vendor
rm /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor
ln -s /datapp/vendor/vendor0/GB /system/vendor
ln -s /datapp/vendor/vendor1/GB /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor
umount /data/local/tmp/sysother
mount -o remount,ro /system

If there were any typos, please correct one the fly. You should already see the pattern about these commands :) Then xtsdump for us to see... You should now have 100% GB vendor apps...

This comes with usual dangers about bricking of course, you may want to skip this one if you accept that you cannot sell device as fully working unit and you are happy about current JB!
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Thanks mate, will give these a try later!

Have to go out for a while now.
[Sony Tablet S] dex9mm:
I dont know about anyone else but this has been an epic read for the last seven pages /two days epic debugging

Aslo check out teamviewr condi used it to remote adb an other users tablet for the aio tool

Aslo alot of trail and error but fair play jappaj you never gave up ha

Welldone lads

rooted lighting wildfire on unoffical j.b from benni

and sony XTS rooted stock j.b thanks djrbliss
[Sony Tablet S] jpm168:
I was already on rooted JB (with backdoor installed) but font installer got me stuck into a bootloop. Tried factory reset/reflash JB but cannot get past Sony logo. Then I remembered this, so I tried flashing r6b twice in a row in recovery. First time got some vendor error, then second time just some error which said install aborted, it did not looked like it flashed again. The tablet rebooted and bingo r6b booted up and I can breathe again. So maybe others stuck at logo can give this method a shot. Thanks for the idea!
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
When I do a factory data reset, the vendor apps disappear, but you can get them back by doing the ADB commands on the previous page.

Anyway to make that permanent?
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Did you copy that /datapp/vendor/vendor1 to /datapp/vendor/vendor0? So you have fully GB vendor apps? Or do you still have US + GB vendor apps...? xtsdump please ;)

I don't know why those links are disappearing. Perhaps recovery console detects that you have "wrong" links since you have US firmware... Of course you could add some init scripts which will always re-create those links, but it's not "proper solution" and if you are going to sell your device, it would be kind a fraud.
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Have attached a dump :)
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
So you still have US vendor0 and GB vendor1... I would try to copy that vendor1 to vendor0 and see if it would help if it would be my device, but since there is risks involved, you may just to keep it as it is and not do factory resets :)
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Want to sell it though mate which is the thing.

If I can get these vendor links permanent then I'd be happy to sell.

Any help is appreciated...
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Well if you want to try, then here are the commands:

tar -c -f /mnt/sdcard2/vendor0-US-backup.tar /datapp/vendor/vendor0
mount -o remount,rw /datapp
rm -R /datapp/vendor/vendor0
cp -R -p /datapp/vendor/vendor1 /datapp/vendor/vendor0
mount -o remount,ro /datapp

Let me explain them to you one by one so you understand what you are doing:

tar -c -f /mnt/sdcard2/vendor0-US-backup.tar /datapp/vendor/vendor0

This creates tar file out of /datapp/vendor/vendor0 folder and stores it to your SD card using name vendor0-US-backup.tar. Just fo backup purposes, in case you will find out that you actually needed US vendor apps.

mount -o remount,rw /datapp

This makes your /datapp folder writable. By default it is read-only.

rm -R /datapp/vendor/vendor0

This recursively deletes your /datapp/vendor/vendor0 folder. Be CAREFUL when you type in the path, command really deletes everything you make it to delete. One space on the wrong spot will erase your whole device.

cp -R -p /datapp/vendor/vendor1 /datapp/vendor/vendor0

This copies /datapp/vendor/vendor1 folder to /datapp/vendor/vendor0. You see, your vendor0 is US because of flasher and your vendor1 is GB because you flashed GB JB from recovery and it re-wrote that vendor1.

mount -o remount,ro /datapp

And this one restores /datapp as read only.

After this you would need to re-do /system vendor link to point to GB this time. xtsdump would be great...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Have you got the code there for redoing the system vendor links please? Just so all is in one place.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
mount -o remount,rw /system
install -d /data/local/tmp/sysother
mount -t ext4 -o rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /data/local/tmp/sysother
rm /system/vendor
rm /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor
ln -s /datapp/vendor/vendor0/GB /system/vendor
ln -s /datapp/vendor/vendor1/GB /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor
umount /data/local/tmp/sysother
mount -o remount,ro /system
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
I'm now getting "mount - Device or resource busy" on ="mount -o remount,ro /datapp"
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Oops sorry, misread. Please wait...
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
I have waited for ages to get to say this... Ignore it. We'll be fine.

(red light on the second intake valve etc. ;)

Yeah just ignore it, it is not important. But give us xtsdump before you carry on so I can double check that everything is in order...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Dump attached :)
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Thanks, looks good for me. Then just create those vendor links to GB and you are done...

Edit: And dump would be great way to verify that links are correctly done before you boot...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
rm /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor

rm failed. No such file or directory...
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Ignore it. We'll be fine. That's because there is no vendor link you are trying to remove there, your recovery zapped it already. So that's why you get error and why you can ignore it. Just continue from next step.
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Dump attached:)
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Looks perfect for me. I would reboot and see what happens...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Reboot when OK, can I try a factory reset?
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Do xtsdump now, then factory reset and then again. So we will see what factory reset actually did...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Dump :)
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
This is pre-factory reset right? It has all the links properly set up, so at least boot won't erase them. But factory reset might...
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
I'll reset!
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Wow - it completely worked!

Infact, my device homescreen even returned to factory settings, all vendor apps there! whoo, thanks.

Log attached :)
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Great stuff :) Though, another system's vendor link has been erased so I think that if you try to install any OTA update, it will fail. It could be, that that link for another system should be done somehow else. Problem is, we (well, I) do not know what is the correct way. We would need to have JB device which has never been flashed using flasher! And we would need xtsdump from that device...

Anyone, do you have XTS device which you did not flash using flasher? You just used OTA to update to JB and then you rooted using motochopper? Please please please please could you help us? Just run this xtsdump.bat so we can get debugging information we need! Thanks :)
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Got dump and yeah, correct vendor files are symlinks like this:

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-03 22:54 vendor -> /datapp/vendor/vendor0/FI

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-08 11:52 vendor -> /datapp/vendor/vendor1/FI

If they are set up properly and if region codes etc. matches, they will stay as is and everything works. If something is out of order, non-matching regions codes or something like that, factory reset from recovery will remove these links, after which installing OTA updates no longer works (great booby trap Sony, THANKS!), vendor apps won't work etc. Links can be set up manually like seen in this thread, but if there are inconsistencies with region codes, they will be deleted and again, nothing works. I think recovery itself won't delete these links, perhaps it is Sony's welcome screen application which starts only after factory reset.

It is weird thing though, I have recovered-by-Sony tabet, which SHOULD have full Nordic all partitions and everything, but still my vendor1 link deletes after factory reset (after which OTA udpates won't install). NO IDEA why this is. Hard to sell device like this anymore :/
[Sony Tablet S] saf4xdadev:
I've been following this thread and quite a read indeed. Like some kind of CSI story or something. Anyway, great work and I have several questions.

As you can seen in my signature my device and what I have done to it so far to get to 4.0.3 R6b. I was going to use condi flasher 3.0 when all the problems reported so I went on hold. I want to go to 4.1.1 now and trying to figure out best way to go.

I thought I would just use ota from sony updates now since 4.1.1 can be easy rooted? or should I unroot first using AiO? or something else?

I already used the AiO and installed rescue-backdoor tweak and I also used your xtsdump.bat and attached the dump file from my device in case you have a second to check if my device would be in trouble if update to 4.1.1 without doing some prevention first.

Thanks for any help you have time for.....
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
So you have US device is seems? At least flasher uses US firmware which is good. But yeah, I would definitively go OTA route since I think there is not yet consensus what about flasher causes bricked devices, is it region or what...

I can see from your xtsdump, that you have that vendor link all set up on your current system, but it is missing on other (I am starting to think that perhaps it should be missing... perhaps doing OTA update works even when trying to manually flash using OTA zip won't...). So I would do this:

install -d /data/local/tmp/sysother
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /data/local/tmp/sysother
ln -s /datapp/vendor/vendor1/US /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor
umount /data/local/tmp/sysother/vendor

And then I would try to install OTA update (using Sony's updater or manually try to flash from recovery, perhaps I would first try Sonys Automagic UI, then recovery if it does not work). And after upgrade, re-root with motochopper.

But I cannot guarantee that this won't brick your device! I don't have enough information about how's Sony's flashing procedure works!

Edit: I would not even unroot. I am not 100% if motochopper works with r6b, so if you unroot and then there is some problems (like something wrong with those vendor apps and flashing fails because of that), you cannot fix them anymore! There is no indication that rooting should harm anything, Sony's update zip will just overwrite system partition, everything in it...
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Btw. latest version of xtsdump.zip attached. It dumps some more prop files like region.prop etc.
[Sony Tablet S] saf4xdadev:
Thanks for taking time to look at this....I'm sort of new so could you explain what that code does please?

I was thinking the same thing basically just run the ota from sony and keep fingers crossed.

The only thing I did that could have modified any files was use Flasher 2.5 to go from 4.0.3 R3 to R6b. So if the Flasher did something abnormal then that would have been the point at which it would have happened.

But now recalling when I ran the Flasher 2.5 I had to run factory reset afterward to get back my vendor apps and I did it from Settings/Factory data reset. It worked and all vendor apps returned but I lost all my personal settings which was no big deal because I had them all backed up. So that leads me to think I'm ok to ota jb.

So does that info provide more insight?

Thanks again.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
It creates vendor symlink to your other system partition, which points to /datapp/vendor/vendor1/US.

I think flasher always messes up something related to vendor apps, but I cannot say for 100% sure. Condi has not commented this and I do not know XTS works well enough.

From your xtsdump I can see, that your current system partition has working vendor apps:

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-03-21 13:06 vendor -> /datapp/vendor/vendor0/US

But your other system does not have this vendor link at all. I think this could cause flashing to fail. It did for me, I could not flash to JB because of this. But I also think trying won't brick your device, flashing just get's aborted, though cannot be 100%.

Well, I think I would just try JB OTA update and see if it works. If yes, then great (and please provide us xtsdump se we can see why it worked :). If not, THEN create those symlinks and try again.

As always, YMMV, do not held me responsible if your device is bricked during this.
[Sony Tablet S] saf4xdadev:
Everything is perfect....Thanks. I did ota 4.1.1 and then used motochopper and rerooted. I didnt do anything before applying ota update. I just went for it. After rooting with moto I restarted about 100 times to make sure working and then applied rescue backdoor and it seemed to work as well. So I think I'm good. Thanks for your help and advice.

I tried to do another xtsdump but your script isn't working with 4.1.1 for some reason. This is what I can pull from a temp file it makes:

* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *

* daemon started successfully *

/dev/block/mmcblk0p4

Anyway thanks again.....
[Sony Tablet S] condi:
removed.

no need. pity my time.
[Sony Tablet S] saf4xdadev:
Did you figure out why the xtsdump wont work with JB 4.1.1? or is it something I'm doing wrong? I posted what it logged before stalling if that helps any.... if you need any more info just ask......thanks again.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
No, it really should work since it's working with mine. There must be bug of some kind which does no occur on my device and thus I cannot find out what's the problem... So if you run that bat from command line, you will get this:

* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4

Right? This is quite weird... Could you just try again and see what happens? If it was just temporary problem of some kind, I've seen problems with adb itself every now and then?

Thanks :)

Edit: Actually, I can imagine what causes this. I will do some changes and post new version...
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
New version attached...
[Sony Tablet S] saf4xdadev:
No changes needed.....It was my fault or well it was ms win vista64 maybe??? not know, either way I ran it from cmd line like you suggested and it worked perfect. I don't know why it wouldn't have worked yesterday, except that I used the win double-click method yesterday and today it was by cmd line. Maybe xperia just needed to sleep on it??

So curiously, I then tried to double click the .bat like I did yesterday to see if it was the cmd line that made it work or what, and it worked just fine by the win dbl click method as well. So I guess xperia just fixed itself?

Attached is the dump file for your review. Thanks again.
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
Naah, probably just some temporary glitch, not anybody's fault or any fault on your device. Should not matter if you double click bat or run it via command line. If you browse all the discussion threads related to rooting etc, you will see million times people complaining that "adb something" does not work etc. Restart everything and everything works smoothly again. Do not know why, probably some kind of communication failure between components involved (you know, there is at least three components involved every time you run some adb command, adbd on your adnroid device, adb server on your copmuter and adb command line client). Just ignore small glitches like this...

I checked your dump and for me it seems you're device is all good, all the vendor links etc. on place as they should be!
[Sony Tablet S] saf4xdadev:
Sounds good....Thanks again.
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Any idea how I could un-root my device?

Tried the full un-root with SuperSU, but didn't work!
[Sony Tablet S] jappaj:
You are preparing your device to be sold?

Could you download latest xtsdump.zip from the FIRST post of this thread (yeah I decided to attacht always latest version to first post so it can be found out easily) and run it? I added some stuff to it which helps us to see what root-related files you actually have on your device.

There is un-root option in AiO also, haven't looked into it so I do not know what it does... Take dump before, then try and and dump after, then I we will see if it remoed everything!
[Sony Tablet S] SWFlyerUK:
Attached :)