yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
http://xdaforums.com/xperia-l/development/kernel-extended-stock-kernel-v6-t2321550
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
Thanks, already tried that too...stuck on SONY logo instead of TZ.

Tried flashing stock TFT with FlashTool again:

INFO - Selected Bundle for Sony Xperia L (C2105). FW release : 15.3.A.1.17. Customization : Customized_BE

INFO - Preparing files for flashing

INFO - Please connect your device into flashmode.

INFO - Device connected in flash mode

INFO - Opening device for R/W

INFO - Reading device information

INFO - Unable to read from phone after having opened it.

INFO - trying to continue anyway

INFO - Start Flashing

INFO - Processing loader.sin

INFO - Checking header

ERROR - Processing of loader.sin finished with errors.

INFO - Ending flash session

ERROR - Error in processHeader : 2 : The system cannot find the file specified.

ERROR - Error flashing. Aborted

INFO - Device disconnected
[Sony Xperia L] nishuksd:
Oh u messed it up by trying to take entire block....

I tried this and succeeded,

dd if=if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p31 of=/storage/sdcard1/mmcblk0.img

dd if=if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p32 of=/storage/sdcard1/mmcblk0.img
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
try to get mmcblk from tft?
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
You mean flashing one of the files inside an official ftf, like partition-image_S1-SW-LIVE-DBE9-PID1-0002-MBR ?

I don't have ADB access to the phone, only FlashMode and FastBoot...

My guess is that mmcblk0 has been wiped completely, so I need to recreate the partitions.

Any way to do that in Linux without ADB ? (I have an Ubuntu VM installed on my Win7 machine)

Also I tried to do a phone recovery with Sony PC Companion but I'm stuck on the phone detection in FlashMode just before flashing.

The phone gets recognized with the "normal" phone detection in the program, so I guess it's not a driver problem.

All drivers are Sony now and the kernel on the phone is stock 15.0.A.1.36 (found here)
[Sony Xperia L] luckyshan:
plz don't post posts dangerous like this.'Partitioning internal memory is a serious case.Trust me I learnt a BIG LESSON from doing it.Last week I did it and got bricked it.Cannot flash stock or custom rom.I dont accuse anyone for posting this thread,But this post must be removed or should be marked as 'VERY DANGEROUS CATOGORY'.

The reason is, we know even for just flashing a custom rom, we can see warninigs like below,

' Also read the disclaimers and precautions (backups etc) carefully before you start.

use at your own risk, I will not be held personnaly responsible for bricked phones, but will help as much as possible.

This thread has lots of information on backup/restore partitions and memblocks.'

But we know flashing a custom rom is not a reason for bricking a phone(even a noob can do it)

The problem is that for this thread,It is tooo tooooooooooooo far awayyyyyyyyyyyyy from that dangerous level.

We belive we can recover our phone as far as we are able to enter flashmode,fastboot,recovery mode

It is completely wrong.I experienced that from partitioning internal memory.At first I suceeded and increased size.But then bricked.BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED BRICKED

I still hate myself for doing that work,But what to do???

So I beg U ,If u love your phone,plz DON:T EVER DO THIS!!!!!!!! .

I did it and suffering now.NO ONE KNOWS HOW MUCH U LOVE YOUR PHONE AS U DO.NO ONE FEELS THE MONEY WASTE HAPPENING BECAUSE OF YOUR BRICKED PHONE LIKE U DO.....
[MENTION=5316423]Kahana82[/MENTION] , Plz think twice before u post this kind of things.I trusted XDA and still do.But when somethings hapenning like these...What can we do???

Plz understand this.I emphasize that I don't blame anyone.
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
do it via fastboot flash ...its able to flash sin
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
Which command should I use exactly to flash partition-image_S1-SW-LIVE-DBE9-PID1-0002-MBR.sin ?

I tried a few things but not working:

fastboot flash mmcblk0 "partition-image_S1-SW-LIVE-DBE9-PID1-0002-MBR.sin"

sending 'mmcblk0' (5 KB)...

OKAY [ 0.000s]

writing 'mmcblk0'...

FAILED (remote: Command not allowed)

finished. total time: 0.000s

I have extracted the .raw with FlashTool and tried the above with flash:raw also, same result.
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
you can flash partitions by name...

its one of these(picture)
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
Does not work ... partition table is totaly wrecked, seems there are no partitions left.

Finally I have ADB access now after flashing twrp-2.8.6.0-taoshan.img !

This is what I get when looking for partition information:

parted:

umount /storage

umount: can't umount /storage: No such file or directory

parted /dev/block/mmcblk0

GNU Parted 1.8.8.1.179-aef3

Using /dev/block/mmcblk0

Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.

(parted) print

Error: /dev/block/mmcblk0: unrecognised disk label

fdisk:

fdisk /dev/block/mmcblk0

Command (m for help): ←[6np

p

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7818 MB, 7818182656 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 950 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 1 951 7634943+ ee EFI GPT

Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):

phys=(0, 0, 1) logical=(0, 0, 2)

Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:

phys=(1023, 254, 63) logical=(950, 129, 11)

Command (m for help): ←[6nv

v

Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):

phys=(0, 0, 1) logical=(0, 0, 2)

Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:

phys=(1023, 254, 63) logical=(950, 129, 11)

Partition 1: cylinder 1024 greater than maximum 950

Partition 1: previous sectors 15269887 disagrees with total 16450559

Total allocated sectors 15269888 greater than the maximum 15261750

cat

cat /proc/partitions

major minor #blocks name

179 0 7634944 mmcblk0

I deleted that mmcblk0p1 partition with fdisk as it seemed bogus, but parted still gives same error.

Any ideas on what to do next ?
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
can you flash original partition or not? (sin)
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
How do you want me to do that exactly ?

Tried flashing stock .ftf with FlashTool but still same error:

29/016/2015 21:16:22 - INFO - Device connected in flash mode

29/016/2015 21:16:23 - INFO - Opening device for R/W

29/016/2015 21:16:24 - INFO - Reading device information

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - INFO - Unable to read from phone after having opened it.

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - INFO - trying to continue anyway

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - INFO - Start Flashing

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - INFO - Processing loader.sin

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - INFO - Checking header

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - ERROR - Processing of loader.sin finished with errors.

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - INFO - Ending flash session

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - ERROR - Error in processHeader : 2 : The system cannot find the file specified.

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - ERROR - Error flashing. Aborted

29/017/2015 21:17:23 - INFO - Device disconnected

Deleted partiton mmcblk0p1 again after that as it was recreated by FlashTool process.
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
Ok did something stupid in fdisk after deleting mmcblk0p1:

command: w (write table to disk and exit)

The partition table has been altered.

before:

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7818 MB, 7818182656 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 950 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

after:

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7818 MB, 7818182656 bytes

4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 238592 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes

Device doesn't respond to anything now -_- probably bricked completely
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
argh thats bad.... gparted?
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
Phone does not power on, does nothing when connecting USB cable either ... for me it is RIP as far as I can tell.

Thank you so much for trying to help me out since I got into trouble...

Sadly I believe I will have to return the device in a Sony Service center and see what happens.
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
sony center cant find out it was rooted this way lol.... if they ask just act like stupid ^^
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
lol indeed :) it's just like if the mmc got fried ... it should go smoothly like this :silly:
[Sony Xperia L] Kosa02:
luckyshan said:

Kahana82 is not responsible that you messed up something. There was manytimes written that you can brick your device.. you are the only responsible for bricking your phone.

But I understand that you are angry because of that and I'm so sorry for that. Did you tried to flash stock ftf? If you can enter flash mode.

I've done rechanging twice to "fit" perfect size and everything is just fine.

Changing partitions is really dangerous process and everyone who haven't used command line ever shouldn't even try to repartition your phone.

Thank you [MENTION=5316423]Kahana82[/MENTION] :)
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
[MENTION=5832687]luckyshan[/MENTION]

Yes indeed, there are warning enough in the OP. But that doesn't mean I don't feel sorry when someone gets into trouble...

Also it worked perfectly for me a number of times, problems came when I tried to extract an image of mmcblk0 to help someone here.

I was probably going to be able to recover after gaining ADB access (flashed TWRP recovery) but did something wrong in fdisk and I'm the only one to blame for that.

Sh!t happens :)
[Sony Xperia L] Akihikoryusuke:
Bricked the phone :'(

Without noticing this. When using command Print: it didn't show partition number 1 (it starts directly from 2) so when creating new partition, it created one in place of sbtl0 and deleted it. now the phone doesn't even start. (Red Blink of death :p ) and only fastboot mode is detected (Flashtool) anyone can share his mmcblk0p.img with me please! really need it to save my phone.
[Sony Xperia L] Kosa02:
And how about flashmode could you get in? Try to flash stock ftf file. It might help
[Sony Xperia L] Akihikoryusuke:
Nothing helped, stuck at gathering device informations
[Sony Xperia L] malebat:
I beg you, please send me the original .img file . PLEASE!!

I have destroyed the partition table, like yours and I dont have any money to send to service ceenter.

PLEASE, SEND ME THE FILE

PLEEAASEEE
[Sony Xperia L] psychoelmo:
I'm still looking from the internet for attempt to recover my hard brick device

but now I'm stuck in search for MPRG8230.hex and 8230_msimage.mbn

anybody got that file?

I've already bought a new device

so either to send it to services center, I'd rather to using it as my experiment device for attempting to recover from a hard brick state.

If someone had the files that I'm looking for, please inform me.

although I really don't know what I'll doing, but at least it give me a hope after many times searching on internet.

;)
[Sony Xperia L] seventy6soul:
No dev/blocks/ on my device

I don't see a /dev/block/ on my device, I'm on cm12 lollipop. xperia L. I can't seem to make this work. Please help me. =)
[Sony Xperia L] Kosa02:
If you don't see them don't try to change partitions. Sorry, but you have to do something wrong already and you will brick you phone like some other users.

But I'm curious .. what recovery do you use?
[Sony Xperia L] seventy6soul:
I use Philz Recovery sir. Yeah, before I do something, I research about it. I'm just curious why I didn't see the folder /block/ but there's a /dev/ folder in my device.
[Sony Xperia L] Kosa02:
That's what I thought. You have to use CWM recovery to edit partitions. Other recoveries don't work (You can use extended stock kernel V6 that have CWM. You can download it in Android section here). But as first copy zip file with your ROM to external SD card. Because after changing partitions you have to install ROM again.

Good luck :)
[Sony Xperia L] seventy6soul:
Thanks for that, I'll inform you when I'm done with it. :good:
[Sony Xperia L] Marcepo21:
awesome, but one question

unlocked bootloader needed for this?? i have locked bootloader on my xperia L thats why im asking... thanks in advance! :D
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
Image of mmcblk0

My phone got back from service, 100% stock.

I managed to take the image from the memory chip now (see download link at the bottom of this post)

This is what I did prior to that to prepare the phone:

Backuped the TA data

Unlocked bootloader (stuck at bootlogo after this)

Reflashed stock C2105_15.3.A.1.17_Customized_FR.ftf with FlashTool

Flashed ThunderZap 4.15 kernel

Performed Full cleanup as to install a new ROM

Formatted the external SDCard as EXT3 to accomodate the 8GB image file

Partition table and all the rest on the phone is still stock

Then I made the image of mmcblk0

In Recovery go to mount & storage and mount /storage/sdcard1

Then in command window:

adb shell

stty raw

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/storage/sdcard1/backup.img bs=4096

exit

adb pull -p /storage/sdcard1/backup.img %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\backup.img

In reverse, to restore the image the commands are :

Remark: be patient. Transfer times between the PC and the phone's external SDCard take up a long time.

In Recovery go to mount & storage and mount /storage/sdcard1

Then in command window:

adb shell

adb push -p %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\backup.img /storage/sdcard1/backup.img

stty raw

dd if=/storage/sdcard1/backup.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0 bs=4096

exit

Hope this will save a few pohones :)

269Mb rar archive with inside 7,8GB mmcblk0.img file:

mmcblk0.rar
[Sony Xperia L] zenaufa:
Report, after trying this now my phone stuck in flashmode and i can't turn it on normally ._. also i can't flash ftf it show "Error in processHeader : 2 : The system cannot find the file specified. "

so.. does this mean we can't restore one phone mmcblk0 file to another? ._.?
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
please try flash ta backup with flashtool
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
That's bad :( I don't understand why this would not work :/

Maybe it is my phone information like IMEI and so on that is not allowing your phone to boot ?

Can you verify if the partitions are restored ? (parted, print)

Restoring a TA backup seems like a good idea...
[Sony Xperia L] zenaufa:
well, the problem is after restoring my phone can't turn on or go to fastboot. already tried the button combination and it's not work ._. it keep detecting on flashmode whenever i plug it in, and when it's not pluged it show no reaction and vibration when i press the power button ._. already tried to remove the battery and charge it on wall charger and still no luck ._.
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
what error gives flashing stock?
[Sony Xperia L] zenaufa:
"Error in processHeader : 2 : The system cannot find the file specified. " already tried both 4.1 and 4.2 ftf, still can't flash ._.
[Sony Xperia L] mechanickeen:
Nice guide bro I was successful repartition with this guide

but unfortunately I was doing stupid thing Flashing Xperia M Dual FTF to my Xperia L and Voila I cant reboot, stuck on bootloop, and can't be flashed anymore :(
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
can you reach fastboot mode or recovery?
[Sony Xperia L] mechanickeen:
yes but there are some error said E: can't found

and I can not mount /storage/sdcard0 so I cant restore using my backup mmcblk0
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
you have a mmcblk0.img backup? then

adb push mmcblk0.img dev/block/mmcblk0
[Sony Xperia L] mechanickeen:
I can't. It said /dev/block/mmcblk0 unrecognized label

Now I can't use print command too

umount /storage

parted /dev/block/mmcblk0

print and it said /dev/block/mmcblk0 unrecognized label
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
you messed it up...its hard to come out of that half-hardbrick....

get a sdcard....do mmcblk0 on it and then try with dd
[Sony Xperia L] mechanickeen:
LOL stupid me :D

how could I restore when I could not mount storage it said error mounting?
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
simply try

do mmcblk0 on sdcard1 (external sdcard)

adb shell

su

dd if=storage/sdcard1/mmcblk0.img of=dev/block/mmcblk0
[Sony Xperia L] mechanickeen:
LOL i did it

but I dont see any progress waiting for a few minutes and voila no more recovery and no more start up #BRB SERVICE CENTER :v
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
did you shutdown the phone while transfering? -.- transfering 8GB would have taken 30-45min.... and if you have broken up before it was finished you killed the phone.... why couldnt you wait? :(
[Sony Xperia L] mechanickeen:
LOL i didn't see any progress I thought I did wrong so I turn off and voila

my phone is dead :silly::silly:
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
yea you just had to wait....thats bad....REALLY bad...phone is dead :(

(next time more breath :-O)
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
The transfer time was indeed very long ... I said to be patient in the post, and by that I mean it took me a about 4 hours to take the mmblk0 image to /storage/sdard1 and then from there to the computer desktop :eek: without any progress indication, just had to wait it out.

Also I followed my own guide again step by step (on the phone that came back from Sony service) and it went OK. Only difference is that I left only 1GB for sdcard0 this time.

I had some warnings when doing the steps with parted (when re-creating the partitions) because sdcard0 was mounted in recovery. Unmounted and did it again without a hitch.

I'm still quite perplexed on how it goes south with some peoples phones :(

Running Varun's CM12.1 now, works well except for the BSOD's avery now and then, which seems to be normal with current builds.
[Sony Xperia L] Flashing_Expert:
many hardbricked devices

I've seen in past at least 10 users who already bricked their devices thanks to this manual...

So if it is possible, I know OP already written that he is not responsible for bricked devices, I think it will be better to at least write warning with big red letters that there is high chance that anyone can kill his device with this...

Today another user cried in fb page about that he tried this and got hard brick...

So how many XL must be bricked before there will be warning?

Thank you.
[Sony Xperia L] sks1897:
I think it should be noted in the first post, that reverting to stock rom after doing this mod bricks the device. That is how I got my phone bricked and I had to replace the mainboard.
[Sony Xperia L] Kosa02:
So guys.. bad things had happen. I've tried to flash stock ftf after I set original size of partitions.

Partitions were resized sucessfully but after flashtool got stuck at writing data partition without any progress. After 20 minutes of waiting without any progress I've quited flashtool and disconnected phone. Now mmcblk0 is damaged I can't flash anything.. even if I can get into CWM recovery it can't do anything.

To those who sucessfully resized their partitions.. do not try to flash stock ftf ever again or you'll end like me with dead XL.
[Sony Xperia L] sks1897:
That's unfortunate... I thought that setting the original sizes won't be an issue when flashing stock. So the conclusion is that if you do this mod, you have to stay on custom rom forever.
[Sony Xperia L] Mazzen.kh:
If i backup mmcblock, repartition, and restore mmcblock, will i be able to flash ftfs again?
[Sony Xperia L] richsoon:
hello. i'm restore this img file

and get this in command line

before this i can get to recovery, but now no recovery, no fastboot mod, just light green-red and connect only in flashmode. i tried to flash stock rom in flashtool and get

. Is it breacked forever? Sorry for my english.
[Sony Xperia L] mukulatri:
Repartition internal memory

after Repartition internal memory.

I want back to stock rom can i flash stock via cwm backup?

i have backup of my stock rom.

Is that Safe or Will brick my device.?

ic don't want to flash .ftfs
[Sony Xperia L] sks1897:
Don't do it!!! It will brick your device.
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
why you want to flash stock?
[Sony Xperia L] mukulatri:
I want to increase internal storage.

if i do with this guide.

then it will brick my device?

or

when flashing stock?

is this safe to do on custom rom.

I m on Cm12 with stock cm12 kernal and p touch recovery

and i don't want to back on Stock after this mod.
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
if you didnt have done this yet...dont go for it.... use link2sd or foldermount ...see xperia L development and discussion facebook group for a detailed guide
[Sony Xperia L] mukulatri:
So this guide also make problems for those who wants to stay on custom Rom.

Thanks.
[Sony Xperia L] .::Ash::.:
Where can I find the crash dump files to remove them?
[Sony Xperia L] Kahana82:
That would be on the internal memory (SDCard0) at the root or in a directory named crashdump
[Sony Xperia L] mukulatri:
is this guide usefull to increase internal storage,I want to stay custom rom forever.

or anyone who got success with this guide.
[Sony Xperia L] n78 shadow:
I suggest not to go on this guide because it's the best way to make your phone hard brick:o
[Sony Xperia L] kennyFF92:
Is there a way to move apps to sdcard0 instead of external sd?

If not, i'll try the guide
[Sony Xperia L] drsharukh:
Looks very tempting.. Please help.

I want to try doing this, but am a total novice. Can you walk me through step-by-step of doing it? I managed to unlock my xperia l and install cm 12.1 using flashtool, but I am unable to install any apps, apart from Gapps. Your thread seems to be the solution, but I am unable to follow your command, and don't have experience using ADB or whatever that needs to be used. I have a laptop, and an unlocked xperia L. Now what do I do?:eek:

Please help.
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
Use foldermount or link2sd but please not this!!!
[Sony Xperia L] drsharukh:
Okay, maybe I'm better off that way. Thanks!
[Sony Xperia L] :
HELP

I typer commants in, but it shows "invalid argument" and parted : not found . I get flipped off !

Please give me proper drivers for adb in recovery mode.

UPDATE : Sorry, it was fault of drivers and boot configuration of my OS. I did everything just like you shown and it worked like magic. Now end of deleting everything to install games. Thank you friend.
[Sony Xperia L] :
Stock ROM after this experiment ? Yes !

Guys, all you need to do before installing CM and Partitioning (to restore stock after all if you need), is to use Philz Recovery to make backup of stock. First wipe data/factory reset , then make a backup. For me it took around 630 MB only (High compression, no MD5, Central Europe version). I can upload it if you want. (If i have some free time)
[Sony Xperia L] EternalXDA:
Hello killers! :D

The day I used this thread to re-partition my phone, it was mentioned in OP, that flashing stock rom would revert the partition table to stock, NOT that "flashing stock rom would hard brick your beloved phone"!

But I totally understand and I'm not blaming anyone except myself for feeling extra geeky the day I used this guide! (Heck, even OP himself did hard brick his phone.)

Anyway, It happened. and I need help.

* I have adb access to the phone while it's booted in recovery-- CWM v6.0.5.1. (Haven't tried adb access anywhere else.)

* I can mount the /sdcard1 but that's it.

* I can boot in flashmode and the fastboot mode.

* I can open adb shell.

I thought maybe just trying to change the partition table to what it looked like before repartitioning is the way to go but when I type unmount /storage in adb shell it says:

can't umount /storage: invalid argument

What are my options? Can I fix it myself or should I straight go to sony service? Or is the phone completely dead?

Edit1: Changed unmount >> umount and the err...

Edit2: In the meantime it would be great if some one post the entire stock partition table (in a .txt file or SCREENSHOT it from command line) here as a reference, just in case I found a way to re-create every partition from scratch. (wish me luck!)
[Sony Xperia L] BOLEK_PL:
thanks, it's working
[Sony Xperia L] Amstro:
Is there a video tutorial for this?
[Sony Xperia L] SdtBarbarossa:
Just google "how to hardbrick xperia L"

WARNING this is a joke