[Solved] Stuck on boot animation Suddenly. Solved without wiping data.

Symptoms:
Phone stucks at boot animation screen (4 color balls rolling)
adb devices command shows device is represent.
adb logcat shows no fatal error, no obvious cause
kernel message shows no fatal error

Cause:
Content inside /data/system/sync is corrupted(?)

Fix:
Rename or remove folder /data/system/sync

Below is the full story and how I figure it out:
3 days ago when I woke up, i find that my phone was rebooting and the screen showing boot animation. After waiting a long time, I find that the phone was stuck on boot animation. I can use adb shell to connect the phone and adb logcat to retrieve the log. The log shows nothing special or fatal, just some minor errors.

My phone is rooted, unlooked and relocked bootloader, CWM Recovery 6.0.4.4
The apps I installed that have root access included, but not limited to:

Xposed Framework

Android Tuner aka 3C Toolbox

GravityBox

iFont

Xprivacy

Greenify

AFWall+

BusyBox

SuperSu

com.avast.android.mobilesecurity

com.avast.android.antitheft (Root install)

After Googled a few hours, 99.9% of the result tell you factory reset your phone is the fix, and i am not satisfied with that. So I used CWM recovery to made a complete backup, and tinkering with the files and system.

At first I cleared cache and dalvik-cache in recovery as this is easiest, but no luck.

Then I suspect this might be a flash memory chip problem , so I boot into recovery, use adb shell to connect console, however, adb shows that device unauthorized, so I do a factory reset and reboot recovery, then adb shell again and success, and in recovery, restore /data backup. Then I use command

Code:

---

%path to android platform tools folder%> adb push adbkey.pub /data/misc adb/adb_keys

---

, then adb is authorized after reboots.

To check if the flash memory is okay, i used the command:

Code:

---

e2fsck -fv /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/persist
e2fsck -fv /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/cache
e2fsck -fv /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata
e2fsck -fv /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system

---

The result seems fine, and no signs of hardware failure.

After reading logcat, the system seems nearly finished the booting process, and stucked at end of System service, and never signal Boot_Completed. Using Android Device Monitor, system_process main thread is still running and doing something unknown.
At this point, i think kernel and /system should be normal.

Then I suspect that the apps i installed might be the cause, I renamed the folders like:

Code:

---

mv /data/data /data/data.old
mv /sdcard/Android /sdcard/Android.old
mv /data/app /data/app.old

---

to see if the OS can boot normally, but no luck.
I also renamed many other app folders and reboot, but none of this can solve the bootloop problem.

Then I renamed /data/system and reboot, from the logcat, i can see the system is regenerating the content inside the system, and I waited for a moment, the OS booted successfully with many "xxx process stopped" error message on the screen. So at this moment I realized that content in /data/system might be the root of all evil. As Home screen is not usable with a lot of process stopped messages, I used this command to start the apps i want.

Code:

---

adb shell monkey -p com.yourpackage.name -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1

---

(Need to use some game points;) )

Next I used command

Code:

---

find /data/system -mtime -3

---

to find out which files were altered within last 3 days. I get a list of files and folder and then I rename the folders one by one and reboot. Finally, /data/system/sync folder is confirmed as the cause of the problem.

I restored the full backup in recovery, and renamed the /data/system/sync folder to /data/system/sync.old and reboot. Phone boots normally, everything seems fine.

I don't know what, why, how exactly causing the boot problem, but the problem is solved anyway. Hope this information can help someone.

I used 40+ hrs to figure it out, and another 2+ hrs to summarize and write this.
fxxk.:eek:

[Q] How to prevent Odin ROM from wiping internal storage

Hi,

I have flashed a few ROMS with Odin and I noticed some ROMS won't wipe internal storage while some do; is there a way to prevent ROMS from wiping internal storage?

semi bricked nexus 9, error wiping cache/data/dalvik/system

so I cant seem to figure out whats going on with my 9. my 9 was rooted/unlocked, but no rom installed. I noticed I wasnt able to get into settings so I figured today was the day I would wipe everything and install a rom onto it. So I wiped the dalvik/data/cache/system, and i got assaulted with a wall of red text. so i tried booting back into the tablet, but now it just loads forever. I tried getting the log out of the tablet to show whats going on, but adb says no device is found when i try to interact with it. the best i could do is take a pic of the tail end of the wall of red text (theres a lot more) just to sorta show whats going on. It looks like a lot is still installed, but twrp cant get at it or something, but I'm not 100% sure. any advice?

Any way to update XtreStoLite without wiping? (getting bootloop if I don't)

Hi

I tried to dirty flash XtreStoLite 2.2 from 2.0, but I got a bootloop, so restored to 2.0.

But I got so many things on my phone that it takes an hour or two to set up, so is there any way to update without doing a factory reset every time an upgrade is available?

Thanks in advance

Manual upgrading Nexus 6 without wiping data.

A little how-to on upgrading your nexus phone without having to wipe your data if you rooted and installed some stuff onto system partition.

WARNING!
DO NOT USE THIS METHOD IF YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT USING COMMAND LINE! THIS HAS A POSSIBILITY OF BRICKING YOUR PHONE TO WHERE IT WONT BOOT.

Note:
You will loose the following when using this method:
-Custom Recovery
-Custom Kernel
-ANYTHING that is installed on the system partition including but not limited to: SU (root), Busybox, Xposed, etc.

What is needed:
-ADB (1.0.32+) and Fastboot
-Factory Image of Nexus 6 (https://developers.google.com/androi...s/images?hl=en)
-- MUST BE THE SAME BUILD VERSION AS YOUR CURRENT VERSION!
--- Check under System > About Phone > Build Number

Step 1 (Catch the update url):
Open up command prompt/terminal and type in

Code:

---

adb logcat

---

.
From here you will get a lot of debug lines, dont worry about any of it.
What we are looking for is the url to the update file.
When adb logcat is ready, start the update for your phone. (Dont worry about restarting or whatnot, you wont be using the file it's downloaded anyway).
From the url, use that to download the update file to your computer.

Step 2 (Backup):
This is important as a just in case **** happens thing.
BACK UP YOUR PHONE if you have a custom recovery.
Don't think that this update method is foolproof.
Don't even think.
BACK IT UP!

Step 3 (Restore to "Factory"):
This is where it gets hairy.
Using the factory image you downloaded open up the "image-shamu-<build>.zip" file and extract "boot.img", "recovery.img", and
"system.img".
Restart your phone to bootloader either with adb or pressing and holding power + vol down.
From here, in a command prompt/terminal, type:

Code:

---

fastboot flash boot <boot.img path>

---

Code:

---

fastboot flash recovery <recovery.img path>

---

Code:

---

fastboot flash system <system.img path>

---

System image will take the longest and will be streamed to the phone so just wait until it's finished.

Step 4 (Upgrade):
ok, now that we are in "Factory" settings, start up your phone in recovery mode.
From the recovery screen you should see the little android with the red exclamation point icon thing.
Press and hold power and click the volume up button. Release power button.
From here, select

Code:

---

apply update from ADB

---

now in command prompt type:

Code:

---

adb sideload <update.zip path>

---

Step 5: ???
Step 6: Profit!

I have done this method twice and haven't experienced any problems myself. As stated above, this does have the possibility of mucking something up so be sure to have backups.

After everything is done, you are using your phone in stock mode.
flash your custom recovery and custom kernel if you'd like. Also reinstall root via custom recovery (twrp will let you know) and busybox.

Troubleshooting:
- Update says system partition has unexpected contents.
-- Reflash system.img.
- Get adb sideload error (xxx)
-- Make sure you have the latest version of adb and that your drivers for your phone are installed. Sometimes you have to manually install the adb drivers when in sideload mode.

Wiping process before selling

I've been offered a decent price on my note 3 and due to upgrading to the note 5 in October I'm interested.

I want to encrypt before wiping but had some questions.

If i encrypt then do a factory reset, then input his sim in and start it up, will it then ask for the encryption key before he can use it? Or does wiping it also remove the request for a key while still keeping the original data scrambled?

Also something i can't remember from before. When i have done the reset, does it give the option to turn off ready for the first boot being when his sim is in? Or does it automatically restart so i have to allow it to boot then tell it i dont want to log in my details?

Thanks guys

Will wiping /system remove Multi ROM?

So I have a Nexus 4 With Stock 5.1 as my primary (Internal) ROM And CM12.1 as a secondary ROM. I was hoping to be able to wipe /system and then use CM as my primary ROM. I can't swap Primary and Secondary via TWRP due to limited space. Because if I was able to wipe /system, that should give me enough space make CM my primary.

Also, would a factory reset also wipe my 2nd ROM too? Because I was thinking of factory resetting my phone to make space so I could swap but I was just wondering if it wipes my 2nd ROM because I have already copied my data over with Titanium Backup.

P.S. I have backups stored on my PC just in case something goes wrong.
P.P.S. I'm 13 so please try not to get too technical :D :good:
Thanks in advance