yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] Pąsîąɲ:
Hi guys. My galaxy note 9 N960F abruptly got bricked as I was charging it over night. Since then the phone only boots up in download mode whenever I plug in the charger or when I plug it into a computer. So here is what I know and tried so far to fix it.

The phone boots up in download mode and its detected by the PC and odin.

I don't have any firmware information such as build number, SW Ver/CSC and Baseband version. The only helpful information I have about the phone is the one shown when in odin mode and also when I try searching for firmware using the phones Serial or IMEI number. (PHOTOS ATTACHED)

When I try to flash the phone using odin, it says RE-PARTITION OPERATION FAILED. (PHOTOS ATTACHED)

Since I don't know the exact region, I tried flashing the firmwares from the regions XSG (United Arab emirates), XXV (Vietnam), EUR (Greece), INS (India), and ITV (Italy) all with at least binary 4 but still get RE-PARTITION OPERATION FAILED.

I installed a new battery but that didn't help.

I tried different versions of odin to no avail, same error RE-PARTITION OPERATION FAILED.

I tried ticking NAND ERASE, RE-PARTITION in Odin to no avail, brought the error CAN'T OPEN THE SPECIFIED FILE LINE (.......).

I tried a different USB Cable, same error.

I tried Smart Switch and it detects the phone but gives an error right after that. (PHOTOS ATTACHED)

Might have tried many more things but just forgotten so please ask me questions. 😓

Now I'm running out of ideas guys, I'm thinking maybe the EMMC is dead or maybe I'm just flashing wrong firmwares since I don't even the right CSC????

RE-PARTITION OPERATION FAILED, HOW DO I FIX THAT??? PLEASE I COULD REALLY USE ANYONE'S HELP RIGHT NOW. 😭
[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] xabu:
Have you tried to put all parts of your stock rom in one Odin slot and not in the four different ones ?

I remember that I always had to do that for result.

AP slot: first BL then AP then etc..etc one by one in the same normal order all in AP before flashing.

Just try ... because it's not the youngest phone .... and use the latest Odin.

You never know .... it's just an idea.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] Pąsîąɲ:
thank you, i will try that and provide feedback.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] Pąsîąɲ:
Hi, so I tried this and it didn't work. However, I managed to get my phone working by replacing the motherboard with a working one.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] xabu:
When nothing works there are always the mothers ... ;)
[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] Pąsîąɲ:
😂 Exactly man, exactly. And thank you.
[Android Gaming] mehul singh:
{Mod edit}
[Android Gaming] Oswald Boelcke:
@mehul singh

I've closed the thread and removed the link to your Youtube video as a random self-promotion link that's not complying with the last bullet of rule no. 5 of the XDA Forum Rules, to which you agreed to adhere when you registered six years ago.

Generally, we don't mind video clips as long as they support the content of a thread or post and provide additional information. Therefor, please advise the moderators team (best via the report function) to re-open the thread when ready to add a thorough description or synopsis of the video. Members should already be able to retrieve the essential information from the post without a requirement to visit Youtube. Thanks for your cooperation.

Regards

Oswald Boelcke

Senior Moderator
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam Software Upgradin] jay05:
I ran the sim and cid unlock v3 on my spv it never unlocked the the sim so I ran sim unlock v2 and it worked Is there away to check if lts cid unlocked as I want to put the official o2 wm6 rom on it

thanks Jay
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam Software Upgradin] scousemartin:
try flashing the rom then, if its cid unlocked it will flash it. If it isnt it will tell you it isnt designed for your device
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam Software Upgradin] jay05:
rom flashed ok
[Google Home] ggreenwood334:
What apps have you found that work well and are useful?
[Google Home] willbilec:
Most apps should work, since this is basically android 10, but here are some ideas.

1. Aurora Store

auroraoss

None

auroraoss.com

Allows you to download apps from google play without play services installed.

2. any voice recorder, you can record audio, but I recommend turning the microphone gain up since the microphone is a little quiet. Note, that when recording Google assistant will not be listening.

3

Ultimate alexa.

Allows amazon alexa to be used. with wake word and all.

4. Last launcher.

Last Launcher | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

Faster than Light

f-droid.org

A simple and small launcher that will show all apps on one page.

The built in browser seems to work well.

You could also install youtube vanst so that youtube could work on the clock.
[Google Home] ggreenwood334:
Mainly want to get the Google home app on there.

Need some help. Got nova launcher running. Then when I applied my nova settings, it went back to the Lenovo home screen. How do I get it back to nova? Lol

Nevermind. I found it.
[Google Home] willbilec:
If you open the home app, not assistant core. their is a app called home, this app should allow you to get back to the default launcher if you do the back gesture.
[Google Home] Etan1:
I am trying to get Ring in it!
[Google Home] nihonjin:
Any chance you can do a YouTube guide on how to do this. I would love to be able to install Auora OSS to easily install other apps. Thanks.
[Google Home] Etan1:
I am going to make a YouTube tutorial and how to connect Bluetooth keyboard! NOT USB !!!!!!DONGLE!!!!!!
[Google Home] oromo1:
How can I enable notification toggle ?
[Google Home] Hash.H:
So my issue here is how to enable the screen reader using the google home app on iOS. I think they removed it
[Google Home] supermaxkato:
So after installing Nova Launcher there will be a pop-up we always have to click? Is that the choose default launcher pop-up?
[Google Home] supermaxkato:
@willbilec Could you please list what software build version you have? Because I can get to auroraoss and nova launcher but when I click the download APK button the button flashes (so I know it was clicked), but nothing happens? No pop-up to click install. What am I missing?
[Google Home] dmorales023:
I am facing the same problem, after clicking on the download link nothing happens. Has the download capability been disabled on the latest build? I know that as soon as I turned on the device and got it connected it performed an update
[Google Home] Sonalk:
After I've added the link to my calendar and ask google to show my calendar she says she can't find anything in my calendar. Is this patched?
[Google Home] xrintintin:
I followed this guide again and it worked totally fine. I went into settings and disabled auto update and turned on OEM unlock.
[Google Home] moulder6:
This is a really cool solution that almost worked with the mi smart clock.

Unfortunately the xiaomi(or google?) guys have scraped everything that resembles a browser or could possibly open a link.

Also, went trough all the settings (using the method described above, and searching for settings, apps, etc.) Everything that's USB or Bluetooth related is severely cut down to only work as needed for the intended functionality. Can't attach a keyboard. Can't transfer a file trough Bluetooth. So, although in theory you could install anything, u can't get any new files downloaded on the device.
[Google Home] Pittsburgh Flip:
When i get to the paste section, it seems somehow "Home" has been copied instead of my event name.

When i'm copying i've checked "repeat last utterance" before i "copy last utterance" and it's correct, but when i go to paste in the search box, i get "Home"

is this happening to anyone else?
[Google Home] Nini00:
Nice work!
[Google Home] verticalfuzz:
...So what did you do? I can't figure this part out either.

edit 1:

ok for anyone else, follow the instructions again right up to install, but instead of "install" select "open". Then when I rebooted the device i was able to tell it to use nova launcher "always", and then using the launcher home to get to the android settings, I was able to connect a bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

However, short of rebooting every time the clock home screen or browser comes up, I haven't figured out a quick way to exit that and return to the nova launcher home.

edit 2: Ok with the screen reader enabled, you can swipe up and left (L shape rotated 180 degrees) to return Home, then set Nova7 as Home. If you add a bluetooth keyboard, you can also alt+F4 to return home.
[Google Home] verticalfuzz:
Has anyone been able (A) to get ride of the "muted microphone" screen overlay icon or (B) prevent the google home setup screen from taking over when trying to connect to a wifi ssid without internet access?
[Google Home] Habbie7:
I skipped this step and things worked fine. Also, thank you for this guide!
[Google Home] bonchien:
I was hoping there was a YouTube video for doing this, but I can't find one. Can someone clarify a few things?

1. Did you install Nova Launcher as the first apk?

2. If so, were you able to then get to settings to turn off updates and attach a bluetooth keyboard or is some other step involved?

3. Does the device still show the clock face after installing a launcher? If so, how do you get to your apps from the clock face, by saying "Hey Google, open xxx app?"
[Google Home] Habbie7:
I'm working on a longer writeup with at least a few photos, a video would also be cool though!

As for your questions:

1. I picked F-Droid as my first APK, but once that opens, you really do want to install a launcher and set it to launch by default (but see (3)). Inside F-Droid, I picked Lunar Launcher to install, but I trust Nova Launcher is a fine choice too.

2. Yes, Settings appeared as an "app" in Lunar Launcher, and I managed to pair a BT keyboard. Note that connecting/disconnecting the BT keyboard caused crash reports from the Chromecast app or something (I did not take exact notes). I did not look at turning off updates.

3. I haven't found a trick yet for starting a Launcher from the clock face. Getting to the clock face from a launcher is easy (it's called "Home"). Getting back from the clock face -to- the launcher can then be done with the same Talkback trick (and the Back gesture). In settings (on the clock!) you can bind Talkback to "hold volume up+down for a few seconds". I did find that Talkback would sometimes randomly turn on and off.

For (3), I indeed would also love to boot the clock into the clock face as normally, then do something simple to get to the launcher. Perhaps we can find some Android intent that we can hook. Note that if you have a BT keyboard, at least [Win]-B (might not be called [Win] on yours) opens a functional browser, and worst case you can get back to a previously installed app via Downloads. Bit cumbersome.
[Google Home] bonchien:
Thanks for these answers. Does the device start the Lunar Launcher when you power cycle it or the clock?

FWIW, when I had two launchers on my Nook Simple Touch Glowlight (Android 4.4), the device would ask me each time I power cycled it which launcher to use and whether to use one as a default. I never selected to use one as a default, so it would always ask me which launcher to use upon power cycling.
[Google Home] bonchien:
BTW, I got one but it's a Xmas present, so I won't work on it until after Xmas. I'm wondering if something like button savior would work on the clock to give an overlay of buttons to get to the launcher.

Button Savior Non Root - Apps on Google Play

Same great Button Savior without needing to root your device!

play.google.com
[Google Home] Habbie7:
It starts Lunar Launcher if you told it to become the launcher.

Oh, that's an interesting trick. Note that many usual Android UI elements are missing from this thing, so I don't know if this would work, but it's worth a try.
[Google Home] Habbie7:
mm, or how about something that triggers off the proximity sensor? I believe Tasker can do that.

And, I wonder if besides Google Assistant, another app could also be listening for audio commands.
[Google Home] pim:
I have received a new smart clock 2. I don't know if they have updated the firmware but I don't see any " talkback settings" options when I do the L gesture.

Edit : after some time I figured out that I had to swipe better :-)
[Google Home] bonchien:
Thanks for everyone's comments. It took me a few times to figure out the talkback settings operation to install a launcher, but I eventually got nova launcher installed, simple keyboard, aurora store and navigation bar for android to give me a back and home button. It seems I need to start the navigation bar every time I reboot the clock.

The home app was playing an alarm when I asked for a music alarm to play a radio station. After I turned off the alarm, it then played the radio station, so I tried installing Radio Alarm Clock, but it could not get permission to display over other apps. Settings told me this feature was disabled. I'm trying again with the home app to see if I can get it to just play a radio station as an alarm.

I'm not very happy with the clock face and may install a different app for that. The default one is too bright for me using the weather background at night. I'm trying some other backgrounds to see if they are better at night.
[Google Home] crashnburnMDA:
Can they be used to display weather and other similar info in Widgets?
[Google Home] bonchien:
Most apps seem to work, but I can't find an app that will reliably play a radio alarm with the station I want. The navigation bar seems to be over ridding other apps, like an alarm app from displaying a stop or snooze button. This along with my dislike for the clock face backlighting makes me think I will take it back for a refund. It's just not worth the trouble.
[Google Home] SanctimoniousApe:
Just ordered the clock since it's on sale for $20. I don't know it these work on it, but for the clock you might try: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bojankogoj.giantclock

For an alarm that plays your preferred radio, you might try this app which simulates a Bluetooth command to the app of your choice to start playing whatever it was last set to play. It also sets the volume to one of three levels before doing so, which you can set by clicking the speaker icon (not documented feature). https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ie.appz.unrelialarm
[Google Home] tk_13:
After fiddling with the accessibility settings, I was able to get the clock to launch Nova by default. Couple things I have found after some more digging is that this is running Android 10 go, so the option to enable on screen overlays (navigation bar apps) are disabled & cannot be enabled without adb. Another forum post shows some promise to soldering up leads and getting the usb up & running to send commands but I have yet to test myself. Another quark is that even though the Home Assistant app can be launched (+ runs), the app sometimes exits back to the homescreen after a while. Not sure if this is because it is overheating or timing out on home assistant side.
[Google Home] SanctimoniousApe:
Might just be the limited RAM. The HA app itself appears to be small enough, but it might need significant memory to track all your devices or something. 1GB is rather tight nowadays. Few apps are written with efficiency as a priority anymore.
[Google Home] jay0lee:
You probably want the minimal version of HA which doesn't require Google Play Services:

Android Flavors | Home Assistant Companion Docs

The Android Android app is being offered in 2 different flavors as either full or minimal. The full flavor of the app is offered via the Play Store and has the full set of features offered as it requires Google Play Services. The full flavor is offered for both production and beta releases.

companion.home-assistant.io
[Google Home] gossipninja:
thanks for this, i got it working, not sure what i'm gonna do with it (as i have a facebook portal as a psuedo web browser by the couch).

Is there a way to operate the toggles (such as nightlight) from a third party launcher?

What apps can "fake" traditional google home (such as the ambient wallpaper with weather and possibly recieving video casting)?
[Google Home] TigerSharkTM:
After a lot of trial and error I finally made it work as well.

I don't have an Android device so the only way I could enable the screen reader was by running Android in a virtual machine, then installing the Google Home app, which would then show the accessibility options required.

For some reason these options are not available through the iOS Google Home app.

Anyway, this is really cool, but it's also crazy frustrating having to re-enable the screen reader at random when the UI doesn't have a back button.

I'm not an Android expert so does anyone know if I can get a gesture or overlay for a back button?

Edit: I thought I read the whole thread, but apparently not. Looks like I'm not the only one with this question.
[Google Home] Sasswell:
You can use the below app to map back and home to the volume buttons. Not perfect, but works. Make sure you enable the app to run in the background by going to Settings > DuraSpeed and then turnin on "Buttons remapper" otherwise it will stop working eventually.

https://m.apkpure.com/buttons-remapper-map-combo/com.irishin.buttonsremapper

If anyone has a way of getting google play services to work, please post it...i tried microg to no avail

Cheers
[Google Home] Sasswell:
To "get rid of" the mute icon you can, assuming you are ok losing all Google Assistant voice functionality, do the following

Settings > Apps > Permission Manager > Microphone

Press ... button > show system.

Disable mic permissions for Chromecast Built-In and Google Home or any other relevant apps that will let you

Do the same for Phone permission

Go to Settings > App > ... show system > Home. Disable the app.

Google Assistant should now not respond so you dont need to mute the mic
[Google Home] Sasswell:
I've made a video on how to do this, as well as some extra recommended steps. I plan on another video to showcase some use cases of various apps on the clock
[Google Home] nihonjin:
Can you share the link here?
[Google Home] Sasswell95:
It should be embedded in my reply, but here it is plaintext

https://www.youtube[dot]com/watch?v=t0hp2xTHsqk
[Google Home] nihonjin:
Thank you @Sasswell95 your video helped me get it all working. I now have keyboard, buttons remapped, new launcher and other apps working on it.
[Google Home] angerized:
Hello,

Thanks to everyone for the hints and especially to @Sasswell for his very useful video.

I have managed to install AnySoftKeyboard, and move on from that.

I used Lanceur Discret instead of Last Launcher, which allows for pinning favorites and add a clock.

I have installed Spotify and TuneIn, but both force rotation to portrait, so I installed "Rotation" (https://m.apkpure.com/rotation-orientation-manager/com.pranavpandey.rotation) which works somehow to force landscape mode, but keeps on asking for permissions that the clock does not have enabled ("Draw over other apps" I think it is, in english) so it's not reliable enough.

The button remapper still changes volume on top of the back/home remapping, so it's also something that needs to be changed because it's not really convenient.

I have a couple questions, maybe someone can help:

1/ Did someone find a way to hide the mic muted icon on the top left without removing Mic permissions?

2/ I would like a widget or shortcut that allows to stop all playback and go back to "Clock mode" (Home). Do you think something like MacroDroid or Tasker could do it?

It's a good starting point, but it really needs fine tuning to make it a "set up and forget" clock. But I'm sure we will find a way to make it the perfect clock :)
[Google Home] angerized:
I ended up removing "Rotation" because it really has a permissions problem.

I used "Shortcut Maker" to create shortcuts to some of my favorite Spotify playlists and TuneIn Radios and added these shortcuts as "favorites" in "Lanceur Discret".

They are always visible and are almost 1-click actions (TuneIn auto plays but Spotify requires a press of the play button), so it's really nice.
[Google Home] avogadro6022:
I'm not sure what's going on with my smart clock, but when I check the accessibility settings in the home app, all that appears is "Play start sound" and "Play end sound". Could there have been an update to block this method? When I ask it to enable talkback, it states that is it not available on the device.

For reference the model number is CD-24502F and I bought it a couple days ago from Lowes online. I'm using the google home app on IOS.

Build version: 1.2.2.627

Software version: 11.51.6.416171605

Firmware version: 1.56.285116
[Google Home] a1ex4:
I also bought one for a Home Assistant dashboard, and I manage to provision it with an iPhone, by downgrading the Google Home app version. Then the screen reader toggle will be under Device settings > Display > Accessibility.

If your device jailbroken is jailbroken, use the tweak AppStore++ from Cokepokes to downgrade the app.

If you are not jailbroken you have to find the Google Home IPA online and sideload it, using Sideloadly, Altstore, Xcode...

Unfortunately I don't have the exact version where the settings were removed, I tried a couple of them and I think I used the 2.47, but now that I've done all the steps the display settings on the app are empty, so I can't check.
[Google Home] a1ex4:
Also I have found a way to hide the mic muted icon somewhat reliably - after first booting you can open the Assistant Core app, that will then launch the Home app (main Lenovo clock). If you exit out the icon will disappear from the overlay.
[Google Home] krkli:
Doesn't anyone have a way to prevent the device from updating itself?

I have the side loaded apps working, and I thought I could just block the device from all Internet access with a firewall rule. This is possible but the screen gets a dark 'overlay' and an icon signalling "no wifi" in the top left corner making it hard to use as a home assistant dashboard or other local working apps.

I see two way of preventing self updating:

1. Identifying what domains or IPs the device tries to reach to check for Internet connectivity. Then allow ping (or other relevant requests) to those places and block all other WAN traffic.

2. Find a way to disable/remove the dark screen screen 'overlay' and the "no wifi"-icon. The I can keep it totally block from all internet access.
[Google Home] theolondon:
Has anyone tried connecting via ADB
[Google Home] a1ex4:
1. The domain used to check for connectivity is connectivitycheck.gstatic.com, the one for Lenovo OTA is (most likely) smartdm.lenovo.com. This is just from configuring the clock to use my own DNS and monitoring the requests. So you can just whitelist the first one if you want to get rid of the 'no-wifi' icon.

But honestly I got the method to hide the icon overlay working 100% reliably:

Force close the Home app

Reopen the app

Spend some time in it until the top left icon disappear

I usually use a clock that hides it, the go on the right Alarm panel...

After some time the icon does not reappear

Exit out of the app using a "Home button" keyboard shortcut.
[Google Home] a1ex4:
Ok and there is another better way, enable developer options, go to System Settings > Developer options > Services and kill Assistant Core, lenovoAdminAgent, com.google.assistant.oemapp.

Now the icons are gone for good!
[Google Home] krkli:
Awesome. Thank you so much!