[G4 Android Development] steadfasterX:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q #01: I want to report an issue. What is the proper way to do so?

I'm glad that you are asking: before doing so check the KNOWN ISSUES topic in the OP and ofc the other FAQ's listed here!

If you encountered a

kernel panic

follow FAQ #6 in this post instead.

If you have issues with "just" the

boot process

follow FAQ #7 for a very easy way to grab the boot logs.

if you have an

audio issue

follow FAQ #10 instead.

If your issue is not listed there click here to proceed:

If your issue is not listed there follow the directions here briefly and I may can fix it.

Often selinux can cause issues so try that at very first:

adb shell
su
(or "adb root" when enabled in developer settings)
setenforce permissive

Try again and if the issue is gone when in permissive mode:

provide me a logcat as described

here -> on step 3 I need the SELINUX log (option D)

If that does not solve your issue follow the logcat GUIDE to provide a valid log depending on what your issue is.

Ensure you have done a

full

CLEAN install before doing so (refer to FAQ #2 for what that means).

Warning: LIMITED to NO SUPPORT when:

- magisk is installed (known to cause issues sometimes - regardless of the ROM or version)

- Xposed is installed (known to cause issues sometimes - regardless of the ROM or version)

If you have installed any of these UNINSTALL or better do a FULL CLEAN install (see FAQ #2) before doing anything else. Often enough these above causes several issues like battery draining, problems on booting and much more. Even when they may work properly you should re-produce your issue without them first and follow the above to grab the log.

Magisk is a great piece of software and besides that it is Open Source which SuperSu never was.

I just saying I do not "support" issues with LOS when you have Magisk installed. Why? It is (like Xposed) extendable with modules (made by whoever) and those can cause billions of issues.

Other then that magisk was sometimes the reason for battery drain etc. Magisk modifies the boot "process" and sits very deep in the system (which is needed to make it work ofc) but that has the potential to make a system/ROM unstable or result in strange behaviors.

so in order to support a specific issue I have to be sure the ROM is in a "clean" state, no magisk, no xposed.

Q #02: I want to install clean, how? What is a clean install? What is the recommended way to flash a new ROM version?

A clean install ensures that there are no leftovers from any previous install. One can say that there are 2 phases of a clean flash:

1) regular

2) full - when you (still) encounter issues

Usually the regular one is fully ok when flashing a new ROM version but if you encounter strange issues nobody else is reporting or if a release post is recommending it you should do a full clean install instead.

A

regular clean

install can be done like this:

WIPE -> Advanced -> select: System + Cache

Flash the ROM

reflash root addon/magisk if you want root

reflash opengapps if you want to use Google crap

A

full clean

install needs 2 steps more then the regular:

follow the steps for regular clean

go back in WIPE -> touch the "FORMAT data" button and type "yes" to format the internal storage (you will LOOSE ALL YOUR DATA - obviously)

REBOOT -> Recovery

Flash the ROM

reflash root addon/magisk if you want root

reflash opengapps if you want to use Google crap

It is absolutely recommended to create a backup before and COPYING IT to your PC(!) before doing the above.

Q #03: Are there any plans or a chance of official LOS builds?

TL;DR answer is:

no.

Background: see FAQ 3 of the LOS 17.1 thread

Q #04: Google Play shows that my device is not "certified" - how can I fix that?

There is a lot of discussion around that. Search by google but the TL;DR is it will be likely not possible anymore these days.

Q #05: It looks like the CPU cores 5 and 6 are disabled - how can I fix that?

TLDR;

There is no fix required! it is fully ok when those are idle. they get hot plugged whenever needed.

Details:

we have 2 clusters of CPU cores resulting in a Hexa-core CPU set: (4x1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 & 2x1.8 GHz Cortex-A57)

the big one (2 CPU cores - higher performance = more battery drain, more heat which potentially causing the: bootloop issue) and the little (4 CPU cores - less battery drain but a bit slower) are handled dynamically based on the load of your device.

the big cluster will run ONLY when it is NEEDED - i.e. high load.

so when you look closer: those are not DISABLED they are IDLE which is a big difference.

Q #06: I get a kernel panic or green/purple/blue screen how to grab logs for this?

If you encounter a kernel panic and you are able to reboot

without

taking out the battery (taking out the battery will erase RAM):

1. reboot (without taking out the battery!) to either TWRP or (if you have root access) to your ROM

2. grab everything need from here: /sys/fs/pstore/: adb pull /sys/fs/pstore/

If you don't have a pc nearby you can do it directly from the device as well (requires root!):

Enable the terminal app in developer options or download any other.

Open the terminal app.

su
cd /sdcard/Download
tar czf pstore.tgz /sys/fs/pstore

Now share the pstore.tgz directly from the device or next time when you have access to a PC you can grab it like this

adb pull /sdcard/Download/pstore.tgz

Attach pstore.tgz to your post.

It is crucial important that you do this only after the reboot happened . It's not important "when" though - as long as the device never was powered off.

Developers

note:

convert PMSG log (requires a linux system):

tr -cd '\11\12\15\40-\176' < pmsg-ramoops-0 | sed 's/TENS\s/\n/g' > readable-pmsg.txt

Q #07a: How can I provide a boot log?

Q #07b: I get a kernel panic on boot or having other boot issues but the pstore log are empty! What should I do?

Since a while there is a very easy way to provide debug logs for the boot process. Before my convenient logging you had to follow FAQ #1 to grab them and it was a bit of PITA for some users.

So here you go for a much easier way:

boot Android

once booted : reboot to TWRP

when you have a bootloop instead: take the battery out just before the bootloop occurs, or better press the key combo to get into TWRP all the time to eventually get there directly

once in TWRP ensure that "Cache" is mounted in the "Mount" menu (if not mount it by ticking the box)

open a terminal on your PC and type:

adb pull /cache/debug/boot_lc_crash.txt
adb pull /cache/debug/boot_lc_full.txt
adb pull /cache/debug/boot_lc_kernel.txt

paste one by one to a paste service like https://del.dog/ , https://paste.systemli.org/ or https://paste.omnirom.org/

Q #8: upgrade your bootloader stack only?!

see FAQ 8 of the LOS 17.1 thread

Q #9: The ROM is lagging and/or the device gets very hot/warm, what can I do to help fixing that?

Ensure you read and understand about the ILAPO first.

If you encounter any overheat or lagging issues follow this:

adb shell
logcat -b all -d | egrep -i "thermal|kill" > /sdcard/Download/log.txt
ps -A >> /sdcard/Download/log.txt
free -m >> /sdcard/Download/log.txt
logcat -b crash -d >> /sdcard/Download/log.txt
exit
adb pull /sdcard/Download/log.txt

Share the log.txt as an attachment of your reply (bc txt is fine for that) or - as usual - by your favorite paste service

Q #10: issues with audio (e.g. echo's, silence on one or the other site, ..)? Read here how to provide a specific log for that:

Do the following steps:

1) Ensure you have adb set up on your PC, and have adb debugging and adb root enabled in developer options on your phone

2) Then perform the following (all one command)

On Linux:

On windows:

3) Then re-produce your audo issue and cancel the logcat from step 2 before hanging up!

4) Share the logcat output from the console screen using any paste service like paste.omnirom.org (ensure you always set a life time of several months at least!)