Dual Boot Flashable Zip [New! CM10 (emmc) and CM7 (SD), 28 Jul 2012] - Atrix 4G Android Development

New! Dual Boot Flashable Zip CM10 epinter (emmc) and CM7.2 RC3 (SD) ...
At least two variants of JellyBean CM10 for Atrix are now available courtesy of xda members epinter and jokersax11. So I created a Dual Boot Flashable Zip (DBFZ) with CM10 (epinter) on emmc and CM7.2 RC3 on SD card. This is consistent with the philosophy of hosting an alpha ROM on emmc and a stable ROM on SD, thus making it easier to manage dual boot when flashing alphas.
Dual-Boot-CM10-epinter-0727-CM7.2-RC3-signed.zip: http://www.mediafire.com/?grp4adjqwuhica1
I noticed that the CM10 path to SD FAT32 is now “/storage/sdcard0”. So I updated the boot switcher: ./Boot/boot-rom.sh to automatically follow this path if it cannot locate ./Boot on the /mnt path.
I also found a bug in my previous DBFZs which this version fixes: In CM7 /system/bin/backuptool.sh, redirect the “mount /system” command to SD: “mount /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /system”
That's it...
Instructions:
1. Boot to CWM and if necessary, partition your SD (you can use SmartPart, which is described further below):
2. Are you coming off a previous dual boot with a non-CM7 ROM on SD? You can ...
wipe SD /cache: http://www.mediafire.com/?mc881zjhl9oqr0q
wipe SD /data: http://www.mediafire.com/?4k4fey6gxe1nbn0
Both wipers assume that SD is correctly partitioned to host ROM.
3. Flash DBFZ.
4. Boot to CM10 and configure SD card ./Boot/boot-rom.sh in Script Manager to boot CM7 (Argument = 2).
Note: If for some reason the Boot directory did not make it over, you can manually extract it to /storage/sdcard0 (CM10 path).
5. Boot to CM7 and configure SD card ./Boot/boot-rom.sh in Script Manager to boot CM10 (Argument = 1).
6. Boot to CWM and flash CM10 gapps and gapps-for-CM7-20120316-sdcard: http://www.mediafire.com/?1c2br6sw6330lwn
You should be able to flash another CM10 alpha right over this one. And if the CM10 boot.img differs from current one, you can update dual boot configuration by copying boot.img to ./Boot/ROM1.
Cheers.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“SmartPart” Android batch script intelligently partitions your Atrix SD card to host a second ROM in a dual boot configuration
SmartPart v1.1 accommodates larger SD card-based ROMs, simplifies tweaking and slightly refines the decision logic for repartitioning.
Dry Run (allows you to see first-hand what to expect without making any changes, since all code that modifies SD card is commented out)
http://www.mediafire.com/?81uikn7ih8brcnw
Full Up
http://www.mediafire.com/?vz2q6usm2f84j8q
SmartPart Features
Eliminates the need to swap SD card between phone and computer
Takes the guesswork out of setting partition boundaries by automatically computing them while taking measures to protect your SD card's existing FAT32 partition and all data stored on it. My (pre-shrunk) FAT32 partition actually grew after running this script, lol.
Provides a “walk-through” feel as it computes and displays useful info about your SD card and internal memory --- all in “real time” on your monitor. And the intermediate results files are all stored in the CWM /tmp directory alongside recovery.log.
Option to backup your SD card's FAT32 partition before proceeding
Several options to exit midstream before modifying SD card
Uses all stock ClockWorkMod Recovery shell commands
Can be run from any ADB-enabled machine, Windows or Linux
Preliminaries
ADB-enabled computer (“adb” tool resides in the Android SDK “platform tools” directory)
CWM Recovery 5.0.2.0
Class 4 (or higher) SD card with leading FAT32 partition. Class 2 MAY work, not sure.
Fully charged battery
Instructions
1. Download "part-sdc.sh" from link at top and move to directory where "adb" tool resides
2. Boot to CWM
3. Connect phone to computer
4. At ADB command terminal, enter:
Code:
adb devices (ensure device is listed)
adb push part-sdc.sh /tmp
adb shell (to access phone's root filesystem)
sh /tmp/part-sdc.sh (run SmartPart)
5. During execution, follow all prompts, read the displayed info and wait for SmartPart to process between interrupts. See "Timing Benchmarks" below to get a feel for how long things take.
6. Done!
7. Reboot to CWM and (if necessary) wipe /cache and /data for primary ROM and flash dual boot – or maybe clone the /system partition of a working ROM to SD card.
SmartPart Algorithm
1. Analyze memory and check for three ext3[4] partitions of adequate size behind the FAT32 partition. If they exist, exit; else continue with memory analysis.
2. Check for SD card device name: "mmcblk1"
3. Check if SD card has enough free space to hold second ROM. If not, exit.
4. Provide option to safety-backup SD card FAT32 to /emmc with a timestamped backup directory. Figure on 2+ minutes per GB using Class 6 or lower SD card.
Note: I have run SmartPart several times on my Class 6 SD without backing up and in each case, all of my data under /sdcard was preserved.
5. Option to backup SD card FAT32 to /emmc, check if /emmc has enough free space to hold this backup. If not, exit; else proceed with backup at user's request.
6. Remove any pre-existing SD card partitions beyond FAT32. If coming off a previous dual boot, this will wipe the SD card-based ROM /system, /cache and /data.
7. Proposed SD card partition design is presented for review.
8. Option to repartition SD card by resizing FAT32 and creating three new “ext” partitions for ROM /system, /cache and /data respectively.
9. Upgrade ext2 to ext3 using CWM “tune2fs” filesystem tuner.
10. Final review: Mount SD card FAT32 and ROM filesystems to show used and available space
11. Unmount filesystems and exit
Note 1: Partition sizes may not be adequately robust for all ROMs. May need to increase size of one or more partitions. But the script format allows for easy tweaking.
Note 2: I tried rolling an earlier version of SmartPart into a CWM-flashable zip, but got errors at runtime. I think it is because when CWM flashes zip files, the /sdcard filesystem is mounted and stays mounted during the entire flashing process --- and partitioning tools cannot modify a device while one or more of its filesystems are mounted.
Timing Benchmarks
Platform:
SanDisk 16GB Class 6 micro-SD
Motorola Atrix 4g running ClockWorkMod Recovery version 5.0.2.0
Running part-sdc.sh with single FAT32 partition
Start: 1:13:15 Finish: 1:19:35 (6.3 minutes)
Backup 4000MB from /sdcard (FAT32) to /emmc using CWM busybox"cp" copy command
Start: 2:14:06 Finish: 2:23:09 (9 minutes, or 2.25 minutes per GB)
Same backup with CM7 running on SD card and LCD mostly OFF
Start: 5:23:30 Finish: 5:33:28 (10 minutes, or 2.5 minutes per GB)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dual Boot Information Here!
PLEASE read Dual Boot Instructions first! See below.
Dual Boot Flashable Zip v1.4
Ziplink: http://www.mediafire.com/?58pxlm9qbj5e1q2
Checksum: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?rg3bozbckzq4baq
This is my first attempt at integrating dual boot with an AROMA-based installer. It worked great on my phone after flashing my wiper zip (wipe /cache and /data on both sides).
Make sure to have a solid Nandroid backup. If you previously had dual boot and want to backup your second ROM, I can provide some direction on how to do it. (CWM Recovery will not recognize the second ROM.)
Then, CWM-flash wiper zip: http://www.mediafire.com/?yguun5clck17pdx to fully wipe /data and /cache on emmc and sdcard.
Then flash dual boot zip and select all of the AROMA defaults if you want to make sure this works before customizing.
Android should boot to the Nvidia Tegra II splash screen and hang there til it's finished loading files and building cache. Longer boot times are typical after full wipe. Then look for the familiar Welcome screen.
Since the primary goal here is to get dual boot working, you can skip Google setup for, tapping “Next” to all the prompts and then “Finish”. Then configure Script Manager using the Dual Boot Flashable Zip instructions below.
In the AOKP/CM7 zip file updater-script, I pushed the kernel you selected during the AROMA install to: /sdcard/Boot/AOKP/boot.img. So theoretically, if you boot AOKP from CM7, Android should boot that same kernel. I personally haven't had much success with overclocked kernels; my Atrix usually goes into boot loop.
Now if you want to customize from here, it's better to re-flash the dual boot version of AOKP and customize from there instead of flashing the original AOKP installer zip. That's because AOKP doesn't include Script Manager which is needed to quickly boot to the other ROM.
I did a simple test by choosing Droid splash instead of Tegra II and black keyboard instead of AOKP kb. Everything seems to work fine except for the usual CM9 hiccups with rotation, camera, etc.
CM9 beta 0.6.9.1 and CM7 RC3...
Dual Boot Flashable Zip v1.3
Ziplink: http://www.mediafire.com/?b7g7i78kzr08hcd
Checksum:http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4yue8mds4sd7zxc
Features:
Joker Beta CM9 0.6.9.1 (emmc) and CM7.2.0 RC3 (sdcard)
Zip updater now automatically backs up the boot configuration directory: /sdcard/Boot (if it exists) and generates a new /sdcard/Boot.
Script Manager free (credits to devwom https://sites.google.com/site/devwom/script-manager ) is now pre-installed in both /system partitions (emmc and sdcard).
Installation/configuration instructions are now simplified as a result of these enhancements.
Dual Boot Instructions:
1.a. Create ext4 partitions on sdcard as described here and/or in my original Dual Boot Atrix thread. I prefer to use GParted with micro-SD card connected directly to computer via card adapter. This can be done on a Windows or Linux machine using GParted LIve CD: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted-live-stable/ , Here are two videos showing how to do this. The second one (better display quality but no sound) was done on Ubuntu, but the method is exactly the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fQIQIKeIbI
http://www.mediafire.com/?ys8b07b0vpaivg5 (opens with VLC Media Player)
1.b. Remove SD card from computer and reinsert into phone.
2. Download dual boot zip to /sdcard/Download (or wherever you keep your ROMs).
3. Flash dual boot zip via CWM 5.0.2.0. If all goes well, CM9 should be on emmc, CM7 on sdcard and boot files in new directory: /sdcard/Boot
4. Reboot. CM9 should come up, though the first boot takes longer as CM9 is building cache.
5. On CM9, go to Apps, tap SManager (SM) and browse as root (no need to install widgets). With SM running, tap Menu > More > Advanced Options > Config and set home directory to /sdcard/Boot (use the select directory button at bottom). Exit and restart SM, look for /sdcard/Boot/boot-rom.sh and tap on it. Set Arg = 2, tap "Su" then "Save" then "Run" to reboot to CM7 from CM9. The first boot takes longer as CM7 is building cache.
6. Reboot to CM7 and configure SM to run /sdcard/Boot/boot-rom.sh exactly the same way you did for CM9, except this time set Arg = 1 to reboot to CM9 from CM7.
If you want a jet clean install (e.g. after previously dual booting) here is a single CWM-flashable zip that completely (and dangerously) wipes /cache and /data (ALL user apps and related data) for both ROMs (emmc and sdcard). Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?yguun5clck17pdx . I am presently working on a companion backup/restore zip.
Note: Dual Boot Flashable Zip version 1.2 and below are now deprecated.
Video Tutorial Sneak Preview! http://www.mediafire.com/?ys8b07b0vpaivg5
This video-only clip shows how to partition your micro-SD card so it can host your second ROM. You can open the video using VLC media player (free). In this video, I have my 16 GB micro-SD card connected to my computer via card adapter, and am using GParted on Ubuntu 11.10 to shrink the existing vfat partition and create the required ext4 partitions (/system, /cache and /data) for my second ROM. Note: The sizes of these new partitions are approximately the same as the existing emmc partitions. You can also boot your Windows/Linux computer with a GParted Live CD and perform these operations. I chose to run GParted on Ubuntu so I could capture this high res video with Desktop Recorder.
Bonus! CM7 GApps flashable zip ported to sdcard: http://www.mediafire.com/?dv22qnfqzj5d3la Since this version is older than Google Play, it will initially come up as Android “Market”. And you'll probably get “Problem loading widget” at top of screen. I think it's the Google search bar trying to load. I just delete the search bar as it consumes too much real estate anyway. Let Android Market update to Google Play (takes a little while), reboot to CM7 on sdcard and enjoy.
Useful info here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1642185 and http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1645344
SD card partitions should look something like this after the install:http://www.mediafire.com/i/?qseve9gppjt2bxe
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
When you reinsert your SD card to phone, Android should recognize the partitions as:
/dev/block/mmcblk1p2 (system)
/dev/block/mmcblk1p3 (cache)
/dev/block/mmcblk1p4 (data)
Troubleshooting: Copy /sdcard/Boot/CM7/boot.img to your computer. Then with phone connected to computer with fastboot tool (e.g. under Android SDK Platform Tools) enter:
fastboot devices (make sure phone is recognized)
fastboot flash boot /path/to/boot.img
fastboot reboot
Helpful link: http://www.freeyourandroid.com/guide/fastboot-guide
If CM7 does not boot, most likely one or more of your SD card ext4 partitions does not exist or is corrupted.
Please Note: The ramdisk directory embedded in /sdcard/Boot/CM7/boot.img is custom in that the embedded script file: init.olympus.rc is modified to mount /system, /cache and /data on sdcard instead of on emmc (see code below).
Code:
on fs
# mount mtd partitions
# Mount /system rw first to give the filesystem a chance to save a checkpoint
#mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /system noatime nodiratime wait ro barrier=1
#mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p16 /data nosuid nodev noatime nodiratime wait barrier=1 noauto_da_alloc
#mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p15 /cache nosuid nodev noatime nodiratime wait barrier=1 noauto_da_alloc
mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /system noatime nodiratime wait ro barrier=1
mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p4 /data nosuid nodev noatime nodiratime wait barrier=1 noauto_da_alloc
mount ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p3 /cache nosuid nodev noatime nodiratime wait barrier=1 noauto_da_alloc
SO... if you want to swap /sdcard/Boot/CM7/boot.img for another image and keep CM7 running on your sdcard, you must first: 1) unpack the new image to kernel file and ramdisk directory, 2) modify init.olympus.rc under ramdisk to mount /system, /cache and /data on sdcard instead of on emmc as described in the code, and 3) repack boot image from kernel and modified ramdisk. Along this line, I have developed simplified, more intuitive Perl scripts to unpack and repack boot image files based on: http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=HOWTO:_Unpack,_Edit,_and_Re-Pack_Boot_Images
I haven't yet posted these new scripts as they are still under test, but hopefully they will make it a little easier to unpack/modify/repack boot images.
Please Note: I've received several valid requests for customization, and I seek to respond to each while continuing my research. However please understand that this work is highly experimental. One BIG challenge is the lack of a recovery tool that will recognize the ext4 partitions for /system, /cache and /data on sdcard. So for example if you want to customize your secondary (sdcard) build, you won't be able to do it via standard zip flash. For now, customizations must be done manually e.g. by modifying/re-signing the customization zips or by pushing a nandroid backup of your pre-customized ROM to the respective ext4 partitions on sdcard. I'm looking at ways to automate certain methods. I've also considered developing a "Sendust Recovery" tool, but that would be a huge undertaking
Idea: A flashable zip that clones primary ROM and data to sdcard. Concept offered by XDA member Always_Jonezen (thanks!)
A future goal of this project (and a primary reason for building this zip) is to redirect user apps to sdcard per Joker's suggestion, thus allowing each ROM to access a common set of apps . For CM7, the /data partition is already on /sdcard as /dev/block/mmcblk1p4. I would still need to modify the CM9 paths.
Standard disclaimers apply. In short, I am not responsible for any harm you or your phone may incur by using any or all of this material.
Many thanks to epinter, jokersax11, leonardoaraujo, and the CM/Photon/Atrix/Android dev teams for their excellent ROMs. And of course, to Koush.

Exciting stuff man!
Downloading file, not sure if I have the balls to attempt this one just yet, but im FOR SURE going to learn some useful stuff from this thread.
So keep it up and ill be watchin, and learning as this progresses!

I have been trying for days to get this done on windows, but it just never works for me. My goal is to have nottachtrix on the sdcard and then be able to flash different roms to the internal. I've tried hatefuls guide and have been in contact with him about it...still can't get it to work. I hate to ask, because I know it is a lot of work (been messing with it for a few days).
But, if you would be so kind to make a zip that would put nottachtrix 1.3.1 on sdcard with the ability to flash other roms to the internal. That would be outstanding, because I think a lot of people are looking for the full functionality of a blur rom, and still be able to test the multiple cm9 roms available.
It would be nice when out on business and if the rom acts up.....being able to go back to a fully operational blur rom would be priceless!!
Thank you, and I hope you consider my request...not only for myself, but the whole atrix xda family?
Thank you sir!!!
---------- Post added at 03:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 AM ----------
ATRIXXIRTA said:
Exciting stuff man!
Downloading file, not sure if I have the balls to attempt this one just yet, but im FOR SURE going to learn some useful stuff from this thread.
So keep it up and ill be watchin, and learning as this progresses!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck! Let us know if you have success? LOL, I've been screwing with this for a few days (windows guide)...and have not bricked my phone yet. I'm sure you know,,have a nandroid backup!!

Im changing the saying "knock on wood" to "knock on nandroid" lol

ATRIXXIRTA said:
Im changing the saying "knock on wood" to "knock on nandroid" lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it should be "knock on plastic" Alright, back on topic.

If i flash without wipe anythink (suppose keep current Faux Kernel), and boot on CM7.... AND flash CM7 RC2... and flash Kernel Faux...
Work ? Don't work ?
When switch CM7 => CM9 and CM9 => CM7 ... keep adress book, and another settings ?
Thx ... Good work !!
(For ".img" do you use "mkyaffs2image" ??)

I knew it was only a matter on time before they figured out how to dual-boot on this thing

delewer said:
If i flash without wipe anythink (suppose keep current Faux Kernel), and boot on CM7.... AND flash CM7 RC2... and flash Kernel Faux...
Work ? Don't work ?
When switch CM7 => CM9 and CM9 => CM7 ... keep adress book, and another settings ?
Thx ... Good work !!
(For ".img" do you use "mkyaffs2image" ??)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Presently the /sdcard/Boot/CM directories contain specific boot image fielnames. Tomorrow I will work on making these filenames more generic. But for now you can try out a different boot image file for CM7 by replacing the current one with yours. Make sure to modify the companion "boot-rom.sh" shell script to reflect your boot image filename.

95rr900 said:
I have been trying for days to get this done on windows, but it just never works for me. My goal is to have nottachtrix on the sdcard and then be able to flash different roms to the internal. I've tried hatefuls guide and have been in contact with him about it...still can't get it to work. I hate to ask, because I know it is a lot of work (been messing with it for a few days).
But, if you would be so kind to make a zip that would put nottachtrix 1.3.1 on sdcard with the ability to flash other roms to the internal. That would be outstanding, because I think a lot of people are looking for the full functionality of a blur rom, and still be able to test the multiple cm9 roms available.
It would be nice when out on business and if the rom acts up.....being able to go back to a fully operational blur rom would be priceless!!
Thank you, and I hope you consider my request...not only for myself, but the whole atrix xda family?
Thank you sir!!!
---------- Post added at 03:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 AM ----------
Good luck! Let us know if you have success? LOL, I've been screwing with this for a few days (windows guide)...and have not bricked my phone yet. I'm sure you know,,have a nandroid backup!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't yet studied the emmc partition, but this is definitely worthwhile. Mine has 9GB free!

sendust7 said:
Presently the /sdcard/Boot/CM directories contain specific boot image fielnames. Tomorrow I will work on making these filenames more generic. But for now you can try out a different boot image file for CM7 by replacing the current one with yours. Make sure to modify the companion "boot-rom.sh" shell script to reflect your boot image filename.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx !

O great something new to learn. Great progress. Will be watching and learning.
Thanks for everything you do. Back to reading. Just thought I would chime in.

I've got a question... it might sound noobish. I have a 2gb sd card...will it be enough to hold the cm7 or do you suggest a bigger card. I'm going to try this as soon as my exams finish so I'd like to be prepared before I attempt this.
Anyways awesome work...this is exciting stuff. I'm looking forward to future development on this project. Keep it up.
PS. Joker usually discourages direct download links to zips. He says to link to his site since ads help to pay off for ads.
Sent from my MB860 running Jokersax's CM9

What happened to the links.... I was going to try it.
Sent from my Atrix with XDA Premium

Voelker45 said:
What happened to the links.... I was going to try it.
Sent from my Atrix with XDA Premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I know why. The zip is 229-240MB (depending on the scale factor), and I created a public link in Dropbox. And then today I got this message...
This email is an automated notification from Dropbox that your Public links have been temporarily suspended for generating excessive traffic. Your Dropbox will continue to function normally with the exception of Public links.
This suspension is temporary (3 days for the first time).
Please visit Dropbox support if you have any questions.
- The Dropbox Team
I'm open to suggestions

sendust7 said:
I think I know why. The zip is 229-240MB (depending on the scale factor), and I created a public link in Dropbox. And then today I got this message...
This email is an automated notification from Dropbox that your Public links have been temporarily suspended for generating excessive traffic. Your Dropbox will continue to function normally with the exception of Public links.
This suspension is temporary (3 days for the first time).
Please visit Dropbox support if you have any questions.
- The Dropbox Team
I'm open to suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried talking to joker about you somehow using his page for that dual boot zip? I will try to think of other ideas on my end. This project you have is awesome.
Sent from my Atrix with XDA Premium

Ok I think I have an idea. Well, I have a Google drive account. I could maybe hold it there with a link for xda. I have plenty of space. Do you Google will have a problem with a big zip file??? If you send the zip to me through pm, email or something... let me know.
Sent from my Atrix with XDA Premium

Voelker45 said:
Ok I think I have an idea. Well, I have a Google drive account. I could maybe hold it there with a link for xda. I have plenty of space. Do you Google will have a problem with a big zip file??? If you send the zip to me through pm, email or something... let me know.
Sent from my Atrix with XDA Premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK thanks for the info. I might use mediafire in the interim and ask Joker about getting a link on his page.

sendust7 said:
OK thanks for the info. I might use mediafire in the interim and ask Joker about getting a link on his page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok cool. Good luck. By the way if you need me to hold it for ya through Google drive at any point, just give me a holler.
Sent from my Atrix with XDA Premium

I fixed the link and reposted it. Sorry for the inconvenience.
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?0ik4u51shs5c1sa

sendust7 said:
I fixed the link and reposted it. Sorry for the inconvenience.
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?0ik4u51shs5c1sa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I having problems with download. Anyone else managed to download?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

Related

How to install apps on the SD card using JFvMOD by LucidREM

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=480582
so the only things you have to do is this??
because as i read down the thread people are talking about some 'links' or something i dont get it.
can anyone help?
LucidREM said:
a new update file was created by me utilizing JFs build environment .. you can use this to modify your update to pretty much anything you can imagine .. so long as you know what you're doing .. otherwise you might end up on the flashing android .. so here's the deal
PREREQUISITE:
1. you rooted your phone
2. you created the FAT32 / EXT2 combo partitions
SPECIAL NOTE:
EXT2 seems to have problems bigger than 2G .. recommended not to exceed 1.5G .. 500M is actually more than enough for most people
MicroSD should be 2G/4G/8G class6 .. without class6 you should not bother moving apps to the SD
this update can help you .. it contains the modified init.rc, mountd.conf files necessary to load the EXT2 partition to /system/sd .. JFs normal update contains the original files and thus your /system/sd/ folder will not show up .. good news .. if you updated with JFs update and have not wiped your /data then you can just reflash my modified update and regain your phone
NOTE: if you WIPE your phone YOU MUST have the EXT2 on your MicroSD to use this modified update.zip
INSTRUCTION:
1. Have/Create the FAT32 / EXT2 Partitions on the MicroSD
2. Download Modified Update to the MicroSD FAT32
JFv1.42_RC33
JFv1.43_RC9
JFv1.43_ADP1.1H
3. Rename To "update.zip" & Flash the G1
4. Moved /data/app, /data/app-private, and/or /data/data (optional) to the SD in Terminal:
a. $su
b. #copy.sh app
c. #copy.sh data (OPTIONAL)
5. Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh **** i just did this and all my apps are gone x(
installing a buttload of apps and using very very mininal internal memory! how awesome xD
I did this a few days ago, works great.
I downloaded the trial version of Paragon Partition Manager.
Created an EXT2 partition (it's very easy to do and intuitive once you open the program) of around 450 MB (don't think I'll ever need more than this).
Flashed the update (renamed it update.zip, booted into recovery mode and did the whatever the alt+_ command was to flash it).
Ran all three scripts in the terminal (not recommended to move data unless you have a Class 6 card).
Works well so far.
can you install themes on this?
Why are you posting another thread in the apps forum instead of posting in the original thread?

[HACK] mount sdcard as ext4

These patches add ext4 support for your sdcard (in the Nexus S - the internal card.) There are a number of reasons you might want to do this - performance (ext4 is faster, plus mounting ext4 is basically instantaneous, which is very nice on reboots...no more checking sdcard), it's more efficient, you get a bunch of file system security features (if you care...)
You should not apply them if you don't really know what you are doing. The patches are resonably benign. Converting your sdcard partition to ext4 is NOT NOT NOT benign and you can really hose yourself doing it.
I'm not going into great depth with these instructions. If you don't understand them, play around with building cyanogen, installing it, etc until they are crystal clear.
To swap your sdcard to ext4:
* Apply the patches and rebuild cyanogen. Rebuild it. They will change your recovery image and vold.
* Install vold and flash (and/or boot) the recovery image.
* Boot into recovery, mount your sdcard and back it up to your computer (i.e., not nandroid, copy the files.) Nandroid would be a good idea too.
* Format your media partition to ext4 (the one that is vfat, by-name is media, mine is partition 3) mkfs.ext4 can be found by googling, or you can use make_ext4fs from /system/bin. I used mkfs.ext4.
* You should be able to manually mount that.
* Push your files back.
* sync and reboot.
Et Voila, you should have an ext4 sdcard partition.
THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS.
YOU CAN REALLY HOSE YOURSELF DOING IT.
Here are the patches:
http://review.cyanogenmod.com/#change,1705
This one adds ext4 support to vold, thus allowing gingerbread to mount ext4 partitions for the sdcard (which on the Nexus S, is the 'media' partition.)
and:
http://review.cyanogenmod.com/#change,1716
This is a change to recovery, making it seamlessly mount ext4 partitions for /sdcard.
Code:
# mount
/dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/system on /system type ext4 (ro,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered,noauto_da_alloc)
/dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/userdata on /data type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=0,data=ordered)
[b]/dev/block/vold/179:3 on /mnt/sdcard type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered,noauto_da_alloc)[/b]
/dev/block/vold/179:3 on /mnt/secure/asec type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered,noauto_da_alloc)
tmpfs on /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure type tmpfs (ro,relatime,size=0k,mode=000)
....and if you turn on USB Storage, the sdcard shows up as an ext4 disk...
As expected, but this is going to be one for the Linux geeks.
Wow, it is VERY nice to have that sdcard mount instantly on boot. VERY nice.
oh the read/write speeds
If anyone is interested in playing with this, I submitted the change to cyanogen:
http://review.cyanogenmod.com/#change,1705
The tricky bit is getting the filesystem created. You can use:
/system/bin/make_ext4fs.
That leaves me with a recovery which will not currently mount sdcard as ext4 unless I fiddle with fstab and mount it myself. On to look at that.
...and, here's a patch to the recovery which will let it mount /sdcard as either ext4 or vfat, making this change reasonably seamless.
http://review.cyanogenmod.com/#change,1716
i would love to see a Quadrant or a benchmark after this
this is and awesome hack to use with App 2 SD
it'll be lag less
the only annoyance, is that if you want to MOUNT USB on a Windows PC, then you'll need a software to read EXT4
for anyone interested this will be handy
http://www.ext2fsd.com/?page_id=16
i'll definitely be doing this MOD, as i'll be running anything i can from the Internal SD
So this will only work on CM7?
Please some of the genius here may post a step-by-step tutorial or howto for this one? It will be very apreciated.
No, it will work with any build, but you need to rebuild vold in order to get it to mount. The easiest way to get them outside of the CM tree would be to build cm and then copy the vold out and use that. It should work with any ROM.
The latest versions - which are in CM's gerrit - include modifications to the sdcard utility to use fuse to mount the filesystem using FAT semantics (i.e. - bypass security). Frankly, this is a waste. It slows everything down, noticeably, and app problems are few and easily fixed if you know how to fire off a chmod.
I haven't provided step by step instructions since it can seriously hose your phone if you don't know what you are doing.
DebauchedSloth said:
No, it will work with any build, but you need to rebuild vold in order to get it to mount. The easiest way to get them outside of the CM tree would be to build cm and then copy the vold out and use that. It should work with any ROM.
The latest versions - which are in CM's gerrit - include modifications to the sdcard utility to use fuse to mount the filesystem using FAT semantics (i.e. - bypass security). Frankly, this is a waste. It slows everything down, noticeably, and app problems are few and easily fixed if you know how to fire off a chmod.
I haven't provided step by step instructions since it can seriously hose your phone if you don't know what you are doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait so it's a waste? It isn't worth using ?
Anderdroid said:
Wait so it's a waste? It isn't worth using ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If done right this would increase the read/write speeds. For example, your boot up time would be much faster and ext4 is more effecient. So it's not a waste but it has to be done correctly otherwise is could do more damage than good
Using the version I posted to CM gerrit, which bounces the file system through fuse and mimics FAT security, is still better than FAT (IMO), but it's not nearly as fast as just mounting the filesystem as Ext4 - though it is more compatible.
I've been running mine mounted as straight ext4 for a couple of weeks. Probably the single best mod I've made to any of my phones. There are occasional app bits that I need to fix manually (such Dropbox resetting file ownership), but it's worth it for the quicker boot up and faster overall operation.
Here you find the ROM CyanogenMod 7 compiled for Nexus One with ext4 sdcard mount support:
- https://github.com/diegostamigni/nexus/tree/master/one
Is the only reason to pipe it through fuse to get it to mount on m$? If so I'm not going to bother - I only use linux almost exclusively these days
diego.stamigni said:
Here you find the ROM CyanogenMod 7 compiled for Nexus One with ext4 sdcard mount support:
- https://github.com/diegostamigni/nexus/tree/master/one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No version for Nexus S?
Looking forward to this develpoing, as the ext4 conversion (done via modaco rom beta2 in recoverymode) made a HUGE difference to the galaxy tab i have (halved the loading times of everything). ^^
Unfortunately im far to noob to help out though ...will be keeping a keen eye on it all and learning
Forgive my ignorance, but why don't phones come like this?
NicholasQ said:
Forgive my ignorance, but why don't phones come like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
window$ more then likely.
window$ can't even see Linux file systems without special drivers installed.
if i mess this up would it brick my phone? i'm really wanting to try this but i don't want to turn my Nexus S into a paperweight
so if we did this, would the windows computer be able to read the mounted sd card? is there any other things that would be needed after this mod? or just format to ext4 and be done with it?

Is it possible to run stock image of sd?

Sorry if there is a thread like this somewhere but I couldnt locate. I was wondering if there is a stock 1.1 image we can run off sd. The only real reason I want to keep the stock image is I have some kids book that dont work through the app. So I would like to be able to boot froyo from internal for the speed when I am using and boot stock off sd when my kid wants to play with it. Thanks in advance
Possible? Yes. Has anybody bothered to do it yet? Nope. The demand just isn't there for the amount of work required.
There's a froyo + stock dual boot available though. You get to choose at boot up whether to load stock or froyo. Look in the dev section of the forums for the thread on how to do it.
From what I've read you should just be able to decompile the uRamdisk, and recompile it after editting the init.rc file, mapping mmcblk0p5 and mmblk0p6 to mmcblk1p2 and mmcblk1p3. Then just dd mmcblk0p5 to mmcblk1p2 (you may need to shrink it depending on the size of your sd card) and copy the new uRamdisk and uImage to the boot partition of the sd card. I assume the u-boot.bin from any of the other sd card builds would work, alongside the same partition layout
Thanks for the replies yeah I get the lack of demand issue. I just wish the nook app had support for those books. Guess I will just setup the dual boot on emmc and if I read up some more and get brave try to get it done myself.
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
Very easy to do..
-Enter adb shell and enter 'busybox fdisk /dev/block/mmcblk0 -l' to print partition layout.
-Reproduce layout on the sdcard, with gparted/easeus. Don't forget the boot flag on first partition. You can extend media partition to use the remaining sdcard space.
- use my USB mass storage utility and mount each internal partition
- make tars/zips of every partition content.
- extract tars to SD partitions.
- then, as said above, edit init.rc (if you're too lazy, i can post one here, takes 2 mins to do)
- insert and boot..
Sam
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

[GUIDE] Custom MTD Partitions for the Wildfire (Increase Internal Memory Size)

Custom MTD Partitions for the Wildfire
WARNING - NOT recommended if you are using a Sense based ROM. Read Storage Requirements and Notes below.
06/10/2011 - Updated version (v1.5.8) available. Check this post by zexcrazy. The version attached to this post works fine as well. ​
Disclaimer - This procedure is given here in a "as-is" format. I have personally verified it and have it running, but, the ultimate responsibility of performing this lies on you. I will not be responsible for dead / bricked devices or any such similar unfortunate situations.
This process has been tested by me using:
- Cyanogenmod 7 Nightlies
- Clockworkmod 3.2.0.0 j_r0dd's Mod
- Clockworkmod 5.0.2.0
I do NOT claim ANY credit for this. The credits all goes to the original creators of the scripts, and daedelus82 and HebrewToYou for their original how-to guides on their respective device fora. I am just recreating the thread(s) here in the Wildfire Section, (The only difference is I am attempting to make it as simple as possible) because there isn't one.
What does this do?
As you must know, the Wildfire ships with a 512MB ROM Image. Of this, 250MB is reserved for the /system partition (This is where your ROM is installed to), 183MB for the /data partition (This is your actual 'internal' memory for apps), and 40MB for the cache.
Now, since no ROM for the Wildfire will ever get close to the 250MB limit of the /system partition, it is possible to 're-allocate' this extra space to the /data partition. If you want even more space, you can take around 20-25MB (Upto 35MB) from the /cache partition as well, implying you now have ~300MB on the /data partition for installing apps.
Advantages:
Utilizes your internal memory better
Removes the needs for Apps2SD Scripts
Gives you a potentially smoother and stabler device (Apps will always be more "stable" when in the internal memory then when on EXT)
Pre-Requisites:
S-OFF using AlphaRev X / Revolutionary
Clockworkmod Recovery (Preferably a version in which you know Nandroid Restore works without issues)
The Actual Process:
Step 1
First, make sure that you have backed up your entire SD Card somewhere else, like your PC. Also make sure your apps are backed up with an app like Titanium Backup (Just for insurance)
Now, Reboot to Clockworkmod Recovery (NOTE - Do not use ROM Manager to boot into Clockworkmod Recovery. Use HBoot)
Create a Nandroid Backup
Place the 2 attached files on your SD Card.
Create a new text file on your SD Card called mtdpartmap.txt (UPDATE - File Attached. Simply edit the values as per your needs) (This includes the file extension, so make sure you are not naming it as mtdpartmap.txt.txt, else, it will obviously not work)
In this file, type mtd followed by be 2 numbers. The first number will be the size of your /system partition, and the second number will be the size of your /cache partition.
Example: mtd 150 25 (Here, 150MB will be the size of the /system partition and 25 will be the size of the /cache partition)
There should NOT be anything else apart from the mtd text and 2 numbers in this Text file. Also, make sure that this is not placed in any folder or sub-folder.
Step 2
Once this text file is created successfully, you WILL have to format your entire device. So, perform the following one-by-one
Go to "Mounts and Storage" in Clockworkmod Recovery
Here, select format /cache
Then select format /data
Lastly, select format /system
Then, perform a Wipe Data / Factory Reset in Clockworkmod Recovery. (Not essential, but I performed it anyway)
Then, flash the attached file bravo-recovery-v1.5.3-CustomMTD.zip
Once this is done, do NOT reboot. Go to Advanced Again and select Reboot Recovery
Once Clockworkmod Recovery Reboots, Restore your previously taken nandroid backup
Once restoring is done, without restarting, flash the attached file bravo-boot-v1.5.3-CustomMTD.zip
Done, then you can Reboot your Wildfire.
The reboot will take longer than normal, it is normal
You should then see your new custom partition sizes. The command to check the partition (Before/After/Anytime) sizes in Terminal Emulator is busybox df -h. (After typing su, and also, you must have Busybox installed)
Reverting back to Stock
- Formatting all the 3 partitions. (i.e. /cache, /data, and /system)
- You will then need to flash a "Stock" Clockworkmod Recovery Image. Links (and procedure to flash) available in the Index Thread
To end, here's a screenshot:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
NOTE
When you flash a new ROM/Restore a Nandroid Backup, you WILL lose the new settings ("partially"). To overcome this, after flashing your new ROM, flash the bravo-boot-v1.5.3-CustomMTD.zip attachment immediately after flashing the ROM/Restoring the backup before restarting your device. This will again give you the new partitions. If you fail to do this step, you will be stuck on the White HTC Screen.
The standard Apps2SD Feature included in Android (Froyo and above) is unaffected. You can still move your apps to the SD Provided the app supports it. (Or use CM7's In-built App Moving Feature)
You can very well use this in conjunction with Apps2SD Scripts like DT, should your need be.
==================================================
Storage Requirements for various ROMs (/system Partition)
1: CyanogenMod 7 (And most probably it's derivatives/"based" ROMs)
- 145MB (Keeping a 10MB buffer, includes GApps)
- 10MB Cache (CM7 includes a script that automatically moves downloads (market, browser etc) to the /data partition if it is larger than the cache size)
2: Sense Based ROM's
- Sorry Guys, it seems Sense ROM's need ~210-225 MB, making this guide pretty much pointless. You can take the 40MB, but that will not make a substantial difference. Your best bet in such cases is to stick with A2SD Scripts like DarkTremor.
To build this list, please post the space needed by the ROM you use. There's 2 ways:
- Check the Graph of the "System ROM" memory usage in Titanium Backup (As you can see in the screenshot above)
- Use the busybox df -h command in Terminal Emulator (after typing su). This will list ALL partitions and you will have to hunt a bit.
It's works!!! Thanks a lot mate
Good work testing this on wildfire.
Sent from my Blade using XDA App
ok.. quick question
how do i know if i can substitute this for a2sd script... i mean i have around 400mb used of my 1gb ext... so will i be able to 'fit in' all my apps after this procedure??
pyroblazer said:
ok.. quick question
how do i know if i can substitute this for a2sd script... i mean i have around 400mb used of my 1gb ext... so will i be able to 'fit in' all my apps after this procedure??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can perform the check command (busybox df -h) and verify for yourself how much space is free in /system and /cache, and substitute that in the /data partition for apps.
But, since you have over 400MB of your EXT in use, its unlikely you can switch to this without leaving out Apps2SD (Atleast the inbuilt Froyo Apps2SD) entirely. The least values I would suggest are 150MB for /system and 10MB for /cache, thus leaving our 310MB for /data.
3xeno said:
You can perform the check command (busybox df -h) and verify for yourself how much space is free in /system and /cache, and substitute that in the /data partition for apps.
But, since you have over 400MB of your EXT in use, its unlikely you can switch to this without leaving out Apps2SD (Atleast the inbuilt Froyo Apps2SD) entirely. The least values I would suggest are 150MB for /system and 10MB for /cache, thus leaving our 310MB for /data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thnx mate... i was only talking bout a2sd not the inbuilt apps 2 sd... cool thnx... will check it out and let u know...
another question... if i dont move my cache to sd ext... as in wildpuzzle 0.8... i would get around 100-102 mb free internal.... now is this equivalent to not having a2sd atall?? and would there be a considerable change in performance if i keep the cache on phone??
pyroblazer said:
thnx mate... i was only talking bout a2sd not the inbuilt apps 2 sd... cool thnx... will check it out and let u know...
another question... if i dont move my cache to sd ext... as in wildpuzzle 0.8... i would get around 100-102 mb free internal.... now is this equivalent to not having a2sd atall?? and would there be a considerable change in performance if i keep the cache on phone??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Frankly, I will not be able to answer that, since I have completely uninstalled DTApps2SD (Along with my EXT Partition) and now solely rely on Android's (And Cyanogenmod's) built-in Apps2SD. This is something you will have to experiment yourself, and arrive at your own conclusion.
For me, when I was using DTApps2SD, I did find that keeping the cache on the phone was indeed better. Else, it led to instability, random SD Card errors etc. I got so peeved with it (And I was pretty new then to this entire thing), that since then, I have always kept the Dalvik Cache on the internal memory itself.
This is really nice.
Great tutorial, easy to follow!
Too bad i`m too lazy to s-off my Wildfire .
Alex_GP said:
Too bad i`m too lazy to s-off my Wildfire .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Initially, I hadn't thought there would be a big deal in S-OFFing my Wildfire (Apart from bragging rights, to the admittedly very few that cared), but, Fastboot is a real life saver in certain situations, and additional stuff like this thread only strengthens the stand of getting S-OFF, rather than not.
I hope you do get over your laziness one day though.
3xeno said:
I hope you do get over your laziness one day though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I think I`ll s-off my little gem in a couple of weeks, I really need my (smart)phone now...
This will be the first mod I`ll install
/off-topic
on-topic:
Any side-effects? Are 150 MB enough for, let`s say, the SFM Sense Rom ?
Alex_GP said:
Any side-effects? Are 150 MB enough for, let`s say, the SFM Sense Rom ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so TBH, but, it will really help if someone using the ROM (Or any Sense ROM for that matter) can actually confirm the amount used in the /system partition before using this mod so I can update the OP accordingly with the storage requirements of the various ROMs. I would think one will have to keep ~180-190MB for Sense ROMs. But, as stated, it has to be confirmed.
To anyone wanting to state this, there's 2 ways:
- Check the Graph of the "System ROM" memory usage in Titanium Backup
- Use the busybox df -h command in Terminal Emulator (after typing su). This will list ALL partitions and you will have to hunt a bit.
As for side effects, I have not experienced any yet.
Cannot remember it correctly since I sold my wildfire.
When I used the stock froyo ROM on my wildfire, out of the 250 MB allotted for /system partition I can see only around 25 - 30 MB free. So I think for sense ROMs the /system partition needs to be more or less unchanged. Still maybe we can add an overall 20-40 MB from /system and /cache to /data. But this would be really great for AOSP ROMS especially for cm7 (since cm7 occupies the least system partition).
Sent from my Blade using XDA App
Does not work
followed the guide to the letter, did a backup then it when restored, it hung for like 50mins till i forcebly made it shut down, then tried procedure again this time installing a fresh cm7, still no change noted (this was all dones using cwm 2.5) now i tried using 4.0.1.4 still with no results. Anybody gots any ideas they would like to share, and yes phone is S-OFF
Gonna try it as soon as my SD card is backed up
Will be doing it on cm7 nightly 168.
Well fixed, thought let me wait and see if you nice folk could help, so was fixing up my new installation to be the way i want it to be (hint: fast ) so remembered i still had to install gapps so was in recovery and thought hey let me install the bravo boot one, installed it fine, said custom mtdpart written so was like yay and it worked. key was installed the boot one after the rom had been installed instead of what the instructions said about before restore/install
working fine ;]. but to format only /system /data /cache you need to go in mounts and storage,after the process you can do advance restore for /system /data /cache , to save time
Not quite sure if this is what you're looking for, or do you need a pic from a fresh install? I'm running dk custom rom, dta2sd. Think I might switch back to cm again now, do a fresh install with this.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using xda premium
Ok, I'm doing some backups, after that I'll try it.
But there's something I don't understand. If you switch to another rom and do a factory reset, you told the partitions will be back to stock(250-40). But to restore the old partitions, you need to reflash CWM. Isn't it possible to wipe everything and reflash your old ROM?
JoeyDelp said:
Well fixed, thought let me wait and see if you nice folk could help, so was fixing up my new installation to be the way i want it to be (hint: fast ) so remembered i still had to install gapps so was in recovery and thought hey let me install the bravo boot one, installed it fine, said custom mtdpart written so was like yay and it worked. key was installed the boot one after the rom had been installed instead of what the instructions said about before restore/install
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please read it again. boot file should be flashed after you flash your ROM. The instructions state precisely this
Code:
[LIST]
[*] Once Clockworkmod Recovery Reboots, Restore your previously taken nandroid backup
[*] Once restoring is done, without restarting, flash the attached file bravo-[B]boot[/B]-v1.5.3-CustomMTD.zip
[/LIST]
darkstep said:
working fine ;]. but to format only /system /data /cache you need to go in mounts and storage,after the process you can do advance restore for /system /data /cache , to save time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, that will work as well. But, Advanced Restore is something I have not tried, so, I put the complete restore in the procedure.
Scratch0805 said:
Not quite sure if this is what you're looking for, or do you need a pic from a fresh install? I'm running dk custom rom, dta2sd. Think I might switch back to cm again now, do a fresh install with this.
View attachment 700931
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems what bharat said is correct. Sense ROM's seem to use a lot of the /system partition, making this guide effectively pointless. Still, it cant be helped though.
fifarunnerr said:
Ok, I'm doing some backups, after that I'll try it.
But there's something I don't understand. If you switch to another rom and do a factory reset, you told the partitions will be back to stock(250-40). But to restore the old partitions, you need to reflash CWM. Isn't it possible to wipe everything and reflash your old ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about the technicalities, but, the anomaly similar to radio flashing after a fresh install of CM7. The new partitions script is present, but, is somehow de-activated after performing a factory reset. Reflashing Clockworkmod will remove the script completely, not "partially" as is with a Factory Reset.
This is why just flashing the "boot" attachment works here. No need to flash the "Recovery" attachment.
Nicely done, I haven't been that involved in the android scene recently but I am impressed, good work. BTW, my config for cm7 is 150 system 40 cache.

[USER][TIPS]Nook Color User Tips for CM7/CM9/CM10/CM10.1 From LeapinLar

At the request of a user I am creating this thread to consolidate my tips for the Nook Color that are spread out over several other threads. Check back occasionally as I may add more tips to this post. (Note: This tip post got so large that I had to split it into two posts so that XDA would let me post changes. See the next post in this tread for the continuation.) See the change log in my second post.
Most of these were developed for CyanogenMod versions 7, 9, and 10, but some may work on other ROMs. These tips are in no particular order, except that general tips are in section A and SD tips are in section B.
I know this is a long post (I have been accused by one user of being 'long-winded'), but you do not have to read all of it (unless you want to). Just scan the headings and read those that apply to your issue. I think the most useful tips for users having problems are A8, A9, A10, A11 and A12. For SD users it is item B2, which points to the latest SD image file.
A. GENERAL TIPS THAT WORK ON CM7, CM9, or CM10
A 1. Put some settings in /data to avoid losing them in a ROM flash
Many things can be added to the /data directory to customize how CM operates. By adding the things there, they survive a flash of a new ROM since new ROM flashing usually only effects /system.
You can create a new text file named local.prop and put it into /data. That file can contain anything that normally can be put into build.prop in /system. It is loaded after the build.prop file is loaded so in some cases it can override settings in build.prop.
You can create a new folder in /data/local named userinit.d. In that folder you can place script files that you want to run at boot time. An example of a script that works is the script to make the SD boot partition show up on your system for SD installed CM. That is described later.
You can put a custom boot animation in /data/local and it will override any boot animation that is included with your ROM in /system.
You can set some system properties by putting entries in a folder named /data/property. For example, if you want to skip the boot animation at boot time, create a text file named persist.sys.nobootanimation and place the value 1 in it. Then the animation is turned off. If you want to re-enable it, change the value to 0.
In some of these files it is important to set the permissions correctly in order for them to work. For example, any scripts in the userinit.d folder must have their permission set to execute or they will not execute at boot time.
A 2. Dalvik Cache, what it is, how it works.
Dalvik cache is a method that android uses to speed up operations. There are two dalvik caches. One in /cache (for system apps) and one in /data (for installed apps). Clearing dalvik cache with recovery clears both. Clearing /cache will clear the dalvik cache in /cache but not the one in /data.
In flashing new ROMs, the only one really needing clearing is the one in /cache since only new system apps are installed in a ROM flash. Also only clearing the one in /cache makes it boot faster since the nook does not need to rebuild the one in /data for your installed apps which have not changed.
I have described how the cache works and a tip on how to speed up booting for SD installs here. The tip is repeated in section B3 in the second post of this thread.
A 3. Wiping in preparation of a new ROM flash.
Ordinarily if you are moving from one nightly to another nightly of the same rom, just wipe dalvik cache with Clockworkmod (CWM) Recovery.
If you are moving from one type of rom to another, it is best to do a "wipe data/factory reset". A factory reset wipes /data, /cache and clears any apps you installed to SD. The rest of your media data on emmc or SD is left intact. Since a factory reset clears both /data and /cache, there is no need to separately clear /cache or dalvik-cache. A factory reset means you will lose all settings and installed apps. So, before you do a factory reset, you may want to backup your apps with a program like Titanium Backup so you can restore them later without re-installing. If you have one of the newer Nook Colors with the new partition layout, you need to have version 3.2.0.1 or newer of CWM or the factory reset will not complete properly.
The new rom automatically wipes /system as part of the installation, so you should not have to ordinarily wipe that.
Never wipe /boot. It will remove your stock or CWM recovery and you may end up in a bootloop. Or worse yet, since it removes the boot files, it will not turn on at all unless there is a bootable SD in the SD slot.
When flashing a stock ROM, I have found that for some reason CWM does not wipe clean enough and the new ROM stalls. I have found that I have to flash my format partitions 5, 6, and 7 zip as described in my item A15 below. In fact, anytime you are switching from one kind of ROM to another it might be a good idea to use that zip first.
A 4. Freeze/Block applications
There may be times when you want system installed apps to be removed from your system. Do not just delete them from /system. You may find later that you want them back and also deleting them may cause your system to lock up. You can use third party apps like Titanium Backup Pro (not free) or Gemini Application Manager (free) to freeze/block the apps you don't want. These apps change an entry in a system database that tells the system to ignore those apps. They will not be loaded into memory or listed in your app drawer. With these third party apps you can do this to any app. For CM9/CM10 you can do the same thing for system apps in Settings/Apps. Just open the system app and select disable. You can always enable it later. But this only works for system apps.
A 5. Sleep of Death (SOD) on CM7 and CM9
SOD has been a problem with CM for a long time. If you leave your wifi set to stay on all the time and the device goes into deep sleep, it sometimes will not wake back up. There is apparently some interaction between waking up and wifi that locks it up. The device is on but you cannot get the screen to come back on. The only way to get out of it once it is locked is to hard power off by holding the power button for like 15 seconds and then releasing the power button and pressing again to power back on. For CM7 the work around is a modified wifi kernel module (twlan_drv.ko) in /system/lib/modules. (Get it here). The devs have built in the mods to the CM9 kernel so the revised module is not necessary in CM9.
A 6. ADB on CM9/CM10
For some reason that I do not understand, the device id (which is normally 2080:0002) is changed for CM9/CM10 in Windows. That means the adb composite drivers do not install properly and adb does not work. When you turn on USB debugging and plug your USB cable to your PC, Windows says it is looking for MTP drivers, but is really looking for adb drivers. I have explained how to fix that here.
A 7. Soft Navigation Keys in CM9 in Phone GUI
In both CM7 and standard CM9 the status bar is at the bottom of the screen and has soft navigation keys built in. In CM7 when you change screen density to a higher value, the status bar does not change. However in CM9, when you change density higher than the standard 160 dpi, the GUI switches to the phone mode and puts the status bar at the top like a normal android phone. The downside is that the soft navigation keys normally displayed on the bottom of the screen are suppressed. To get them activated just add a couple of lines to your properties file. See my post here.
A 8. Recovery bootloops
There is sometimes a mysterious bootloop issue where no matter what a user does, the Nook bootloops on booting. This is usually caused by a corrupt or missing recovery itself or by missing or corrupt files in partition 2 (/rom). No matter what the user chooses in the boot menu, it tries to find a working recovery to boot to. If it finds one, it boots to it. If it cannot find a working one, it boots to a blank screen or just a stuck "loading". Even if you put one of the older bootable CWM SDs in the slot, it still gets stuck since those older CWM SDs do not contain normal recovery files, just special bootable files.
There is a flag file in the /rom partition that tells the Nook to boot into recovery. ROM Manager uses that flag file to tell the system to boot to recovery when the user selects that option. And it tries to boot there no matter what the user tells it to do in the boot menu. After it successfully boots into recovery, recovery resets that flag file as it exits normally with the menu choice. So next time it boots it boots normally.
Sometimes that flag never gets reset, usually because there is no working recovery to reset it. So it continues to try to boot to recovery.
And sometimes it could be a missing or corrupted file on your /rom partition. In a folder in /rom (/devconf), several device specific information files are stored. One of those files (DeviceID), is critical to your device booting to a rom. If it is missing or corrupted the Nook will always try to boot to recovery so that it can repair itself. See my description of this problem in item A12 below.
If you boot to a blank screen or a stuck "loading" no matter which option you choose, it usually means a corrupt or missing recovery. If you boot to recovery repeatedly no matter which option you choose, it usually means a corrupted /rom partition.
To fix a corrupted or missing recovery on emmc, use my new CWM recovery SD I have detailed in my item A10 below. This SD has been modified to include the normal recovery files in addition to the special bootable CWM files there so that it can boot into recovery in this kind of failure. Just prepare the SD as described in item A10 below and turn off the Nook and insert the SD. Boot and the new CWM should appear. Sometimes just exiting that CWM immediately with the menu choice will get you out of the loop so you can boot to your ROM. But you probably still need to put a good recovery on emmc. Flash one of the stock recovery versions I have attached to this post below, or the new version of CWM (5.5.0.4) for emmc by Racks, also attached below (thanks Racks for the CWM). I recommend that you flash my stock recovery with CWM 5.5.0.4 as alternate version. That will put stock recovery as the normal recovery and the new CWM as an alternate recovery. That way if the nook decides it needs to repair partition 2, it can (see item A12 below for a description of that). And you can still get to CWM by booting to the alternate choice with the boot menu or holding volume up/down while booting. (The only downside I can think of using this zip is ROM Manager can no longer be used to flash things, it needs CWM as the normal recovery.)
You should probably save the CWM bootable SD for future use. You can use it to nandroid backup to the emmc media partition, factory reset and flash new ROMs to emmc as well as getting out of future bootloops.
To fix the issue of a corrupted /rom partition, go to my partition repair thread here or use the romrestore utility attached to this post. See item A12 for a description of romrestore.
For those interested in the details, the recovery flag file is named BCB and is in the /rom partition (P2). It is not what is contained in the file that makes a difference, it is the file size. If the file is 512 bytes or larger, the Nook will boot normally. If the file is less than 512 bytes or is MISSING or unreadable, it boots to recovery. And the DeviceID file in /rom/devconf is a 17 byte text file containing your 16 digit serial number followed by a linefeed.
A 9. Bootable SD Cards
An SD card must be formatted in a very specific way before the Nook Color will boot from the SD. The first partition must begin exactly on the 63rd sector of the card and the flags properly set.
It is very difficult using normal formatting programs and partition managers to make that happen. That is why devs include burnable images to burn to the cards if they are to be bootable. Examples include eyeballer's bootable CWM card, verygreen's SD installer card, racks' dual boot SD card and my new bootable CWM version 5.5.0.4 in item A10 below. They have the images all set up so that when burned properly the first partition is configured so it can boot.
But even when using these images they do not always work if they are not burned to the card properly. The cards may be readable in the PC, but do not always boot in the Nook. In Windows, most devs recommend using winimage or win32diskimager (here, it's free) run in administrator mode. Also if using winimage, do not select "write disk", select "Restore Virtual Disk Image to physical drive". In Linux or OSX, use the "dd" command. And they recommend using an external USB reader rather than any built in readers in the PC. Sometimes it is just the card you are using causing the problem. And sometimes you can get them to boot if you plug your stock USB cable and powered off Nook into your PC. Wait a few seconds and it might boot.
Don't give up, keep trying. It eventually should work if you have the SD prepared properly.
A 10. New Bootable CWM Recovery SD (v5.5.0.4 and now v6.0.1.2)
I have created a new bootable CWM SD and attached a zip of the image to this post (CWM-5.5.0.4-bootable_SD.zip). It is version 5.5.0.4 and is to be used for flashing/wiping/backing up emmc. To create the SD just unzip the image file and burn it to your SD with win32diskimager (here, it's free). Since it is only 200MB it can be put on a very small SD. Also since it is so small there is no room to make backups there. However, this version of CWM will let you backup to internal (emmc) media storage. But there should be plenty of room to put flashable zips on the SD. If you want the partition larger, after burning just use a partitioning program like Mini-Tool Partition Manager to expand it. This version of the bootable SD uses the new Cyanoboot bootloader, so just let it go and it will automatically boot to CWM. When finished using CWM, be sure to exit using the menu choice so that the recovery flag is reset. When you have exited, either keep the SD for future use or reformat it to use for other purposes. Thanks to Racks for the 5.5.0.4 CWM.
This CWM SD can be used for getting out of some recovery flag bootloops as described in item A8 above.
Just added v6.0.1.2 with a little larger partition (300MB). This version should be used if you want to flash the stock ROM from item A15 below. Otherwise, use either version.
For those users that do not want to use CWM, I have make a bootable SD that has an older version of TWRP here. Newer versions of TWRP will return an error message trying to flash my older zips. The image has also been modified to get you out of some bootloops.
A 11. EMMC partition repair
Several users have complained that they get blank screens and cannot flash new roms to their Nook Color. And sometimes they end up in a recovery bootloop where it will do nothing but boot to recovery no matter what they choose in the boot menu. Sometimes this is due to corrupted partitions.
I have developed some tools to help users repair corrupted partitions on emmc. See my thread here.
A 12. B&N stock automatic repairs (Factory reset to stock via 8 failed boots and automatic partition 2 (/rom) repair)
B&N built in two automatic repair utilities for Nook Color systems that were malfunctioning. First, it has a fail safe system that allows it to repair itself if the user was unable to get it to boot 8 times in a row. Second, it has an automatic partition 2 (/rom) repair utility (romrestore).
But both of these repair functions are only available if you still have the stock recovery on emmc. If the user has replaced that recovery with CWM (or TWRP) recovery they will not work. It is OK if CM has been installed on emmc, it is only a problem if CWM was also installed there wiping out the stock recovery. But I have a solution for that. I have attached a zip to this post that will re-install the stock recovery replacing CWM on emmc. And I just added the partition 2 repair zip to it. Now both stock repairs will work. Just flash the zip with CWM recovery (either from emmc or a bootable CWM SD card). I also added a version that will put stock as the normal recovery and CWM 5.5.0.4 as the alternate recovery. Just select it with the boot menu if you want to use it.
Stock recovery looks very different than CWM. If you boot into it (either using power/n keys during boot or the boot menu choice in cyanogen bootloader), a dialog box pops up asking if you want to do a factory reset to wipe all the data on the device. If you say yes it will wipe /data, /cache, and the media partition. If you say no it will reboot.
8 failed boot reset. An image of the system as it came from the factory is stored on one of the partitions (p3). After the 8 failed boots, the stock recovery software is automatically started and wipes all data (including emmc media storage) and restores the system files to original.
This is really handy for rooted stock users who want to either sell the system or return it to B&N. And it is useful if somehow the user cannot get the system to boot to a bootable SD and they want to start over with the stock ROM.
The procedure to follow if you still have stock recovery on emmc is:
(Paraphrased from a post by Harrybub)
Start with the Nook completely powered off.
Press and hold the power button, the volume up button, and the n button until you see the screen flash. (I have found the best way to do this difficult maneuver is to press n with the thumb of one hand and the power and volume up with the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, griping the top of the device.)
Release all buttons for one second then press and hold only the power button for several seconds until the Nook powers down. (Backlight off) This works best in dim lighting.
Do this again for a total of 8 times in a row.
The last time a screen will come up saying it is clearing your data and installing the factory image (which is stored as factory.zip on partition 3). You will be back to what it was when it came out of the box.
If you mess up the timing and it starts to boot up you will have to power it down again and start over at count one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course if you can still flash things using CWM, it is probably easier to just flash a stock zip than to do the 8 failed boot procedure. But I wanted users to understand the process in case it was their only option. See item A15 below for flashing stock ROMs with CWM.
Automatic partition 2 repair utility. This repair utility will automatically repair partition 2 (/rom) if it thinks it is necessary. In partition 2 is a folder (/devconf) that holds vital system configuration files that the Nook needs like serial numbers and boot counts to help it decide to do the 8 failed boots described above. Every time the Nook boots, it checks the integrity of that folder and if it thinks it needs repair, it tries to repair it.
The test that it uses is it looks for a specific file in devconf named DeviceID. It is a text file that contains your 16 digit serial number followed by a linefeed (17 bytes total). On boot, if the that file is corrupted or missing, stock recovery is automatically invoked and runs a zip file named romrestore.zip that is in /boot. That zip looks in partition 3 (/factory) for a file named rombackup.zip. That file is a backup of your devconf folder from partition 2 that was made at system manufacture. If the backup file is found, the repair zip first formats partition 2 and then copies those backed up files from partition 3 back to your partition 2. It then continues the boot process booting to the installed ROM.
Partition 2 repair bootloop. This last repair utility is how some recovery bootloops happen. The user replaces the stock recovery with CWM recovery as part of putting a new ROM on emmc. Then when the system boots, it checks for integrity of partition 2 and if it thinks it needs repair, it tries to boot to stock recovery to do the repair. But stock recovery is no longer there. So it boots to CWM recovery and does nothing. No matter what the user does, it keeps trying to find stock recovery. Hence a bootloop.
There are three ways to get out of this loop.
You can flash a new stock rom on emmc. It will reinstall the stock recovery and repair zip as part of the installation. Then it can find that stock recovery on boot and repair itself. But you have to use a stock zip file that has been modified so that CWM can flash it. See my item A15 below for a link to a version of stock 1.4.3 that has been modified to be CWM flashable.
Or you could flash my stock recovery zip mentioned above. I just modified it to include the repair zip. In fact, you might want to flash my stock recovery zip that has CWM as an alternate recovery. I have included the CM bootloader with it so that you can use the boot menu to get to the alternate CWM. By using the stock recovery as normal recovery, the Nook can repair partition 2 any time it thinks it is necessary. And it is ready any time someone wants to use the 8 failed boot procedure.
Or you can flash one of my versions of the partition 2 repair utility. I have two. Romrestore (CWM flashable) is attached to this post. This romrestore zip is the stock version modified so it is flashable with CWM. It does not recreate the partition, it just repairs the files there. The other version is in my EMMC partition repair thread here and actually recreates the partition before it repairs the files. Once either of these are flashed successfully, and the Nook boots, the system should not find any errors in partition 2 and it should boot normally.
A 13. Nook Color Charging/Battery
The Nook Color charging adapter and cable have been custom made for charging the Nook. First the charging block has the data pins (d+/d-) shorted. Second the charging/USB cable has a special connector on the Nook Color end of the cable. It sort of looks like a standard microUSB connector but it is not. It has been elongated to add a second row of pins behind of the standard microUSB pins. Those extra pins mate with similar extra pins in the connector inside the Nook Color. Among other things, those extra pins give the cable more charging capacity. (For those interested, the pinout has been recently traced by a user and documented here.)
The charging circuitry inside the Nook Color looks for those conditions of the charging block (shorted d+/d-) and the extra pins in the connector. If it finds both of those conditions it allows for full charging capacity of the Nook Color (about 1.9A). The Nook Color will charge quite rapidly at that current. However if it does not find both of those conditions, it will think it is connected to a USB port and limit charging current accordingly (about .5A). This can take a while to fully charge the Nook Color (especially if the screen is on at the same time.) The charging circuitry does this for all ROMs. (Edit: There is also a third possibility. If you use a shorted d+/d- charger and a standard microSD cable it will charge at about half rate (about 1A). Thanks bobtidey for that tip.)
It is possible to use third party charging blocks with the data pins shorted along with the stock cable and you can still get full charging capacity.
But standard microUSB cables work great for data transfer between the Nook Color and your PC. And they can be used for limited charging with the USB port of your PC. Your PC usually limits that to .5A anyway.
Using the stock cable frequently sometimes leads to cable failure issues since the stock cable is so fragile. I got one replaced under warranty by B&N. But I finally bought a spare B&N power charging kit at Office Depot for $25. It included the charging adapter and cable. I have since found that the B&N kits are available online by many vendors. I have seen them as low as $12.95. Do a search for ADP-H01 and you will see many.
Several users have complained of battery problems. Their percentage varies all over the place and the device shuts down unexpectedly. My advise usually is to try a wipe battery stats from CWM. There is a lot of controversy in the community whether that really does anything useful. A few "experts" have said it does nothing and is only a placebo. And it has been removed from newer versions of CWM and TWRP. Another thing to try is to delete the max17042.bin file from /rom. Don't worry, it will get rebuilt on the next boot.
One of the users on this forum (catawalks) ran across an article about use and care of lithium ion batteries. There is a lot of good advice there that is not common knowledge. The user learned that how he was treating his battery was almost guaranteed to make it fail. (He was leaving it discharged for long periods of time then recharging fully and storing again.) You can read the article here (thanks catawalks for the link).
For those having an unusual battery drain while the unit is sleeping and want to find out what is causing it, get BetterBatteryStats here. This app is free if obtained here on XDA but costs on the Play Store. It tracks what are called "wakelocks". Those are applied when specific applications want to keep the Nook awake while it performs tasks in the background. They bring the system temporarily out of deep sleep. Of course your system uses more battery while this happens. Look at the wakelock information this app displays to get an idea what is keeping your Nook awake.
A 14. Skip Oobe (Out-of-Box Experience) for stock Nook Colors
If people are having trouble registering their stock Nook Colors, mateorod discovered a documented procedure where you can skip the registration step including setting up wifi. Just go here and follow the instructions. It even explains how to factory reset so that all data is wiped from the device. Thanks mateorod!
A 15. Flashing stock ROMs with CWM
Ordinarily stock ROM zips downloaded from B&N cannot be flashed to emmc with CWM. You must use the stock recovery to flash them. However, the zip can be modified to make it flashable with CWM. You can get a stock version 1.4.3 zip that I have modified to be flashable with CWM here or DizzyDen's older 1.4.1 stock zips here. The zip files are so large that it is best to use either the 6.0.1.2 CWM or the 2.1.8 TWRP bootable SDs from item A10 above. If you are coming from a CM ROM, I have found that I first need to format my partitions with the format 5-6-7 zip (formats /system, /data and /cache) that I attached to this post. If I just did a wipe with CWM, the stock rom would hang on boot for some reason. (And if you are interested in putting the stock ROM on SD, I have instructions in section B below).
A 16. Swapping Internal and External Media Storage
In CM7 there used to be a setting that would allow users to swap internal and external SDs. This was useful for users that had no external SDs and wanted their apps to use internal memory as SDCARD. Starting with CM9, CM changed it so the setting was no longer in settings, but was moved to the CMParts app. And now the CMParts app has been removed. But users can make manual modifications to activate the swap.
There are two ways to do it. One is to edit /system/build.prop to add this line:
persist.sys.vold.switchexternal=1
The second way is to add a property file to /data/property. That way it sticks with a ROM upgrade. Add this file:
persist.sys.vold.switchexternal
And insert the value 1 (with no carriage return) in the file.
After making one of these edits, just reboot and they should be swapped. To return to normal just change the 1 to 0 and reboot again.
But there is a problem with some early versions of CM10.1 and CM10.2 that prevents this from working properly. It has been fixed in the current builds. But if you are running an older version, you can fix it yourself by editing this line:
ro.vold.switchablepair=/mnt/emmc,/mnt/sdcard
to
ro.vold.switchablepair=/storage/sdcard0,/storage/sdcard1
-----
Go to my next post in this thread for Section B. TIPS THAT APPLY TO THE VERYGREEN SD INSTALL OF CM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-----
If you have questions or comments just respond to the thread.
Change Log and SD Tips
CHANGE LOG
09/22/13 - Added A 16 Swapping Internal and External Media Storage
11/23/12 - Added description in B1 on how to use my SD formatting zips
11/02/12 - Added 1.4.3 Stock ROM modified for verygreen SD installation (B11)
10/29/12 - Added verygreen SD formatting zips to the attachments in post two
10/26/12 - Retitled section B3 "Dual Booting" and added more information
10/23/12 - Updated Alternate CWM for SDs to v6.0.1.2 in item B5 and added a v6.0.1.2 bootable SD to item A10 and attached them both.
10/20/12 - Added information about not powering up after a wiped /boot partition to section A3
10/17/12 - Added link to updated SD installation instructions to section B2 and updated the SD installation image to Rev 5 to fix a CM10 issue
09/16/12 - Split out 'Flashing stock ROMs with CWM' to it's own item A15
08/21/12 - The verygreen SD installation image was updated to Rev 4 to accommodate JB zips and larger /data partitions in section B2
08/10/12 - Added a corrected version of the Alternate CWM for SD installs to section B5
08/09/12 - Added BetterBatteryStats link to section A13 and link to Taosaur's simplified SD installation guide to section B1
08/04/12 - Edited section A8 to clean up and include the latest information about recovery bootloops
08/03/12 - Added a modified version of the stock romrestore utility
07/30/12 - Added description of stock automatic partition 2 repair utility (romrestore) to section A12
07/28/12 - Added Skip Oobe (Out-of-Box Experience) for stock Nook Colors to section A
07/24/12 - Added Nook Color Charging to section A
07/11/12 - Added Factory reset with 8 failed boots to section A
07/08/12 - Added Emmc partition repair to section A, split tips into two posts
06/26/12 - Added How the verygreen SD works to section B
06/16/12 - Updated 'SDboot" to Rev 2 to make it easier to use Goo Manager with verygreen SD installs
06/13/12 - Released Rev 3 of the verygreen image for installing CM to SD, correcting an error introduced in Rev 2
06/10/12 - Described how to get out of some recovery flag bootloops (item A8)
06/03/12 - Added CWM 5.5.0.4 bootable SD
06/01/12 - Added Bootable SD cards
05/28/12 - Softkey patch no longer needed
05/18/12 - Added info about customizing navigation bar in phone gui mode.
05/14/12 - Added Recovery Flag bootloops
05/13/12 - Added warning about needing to use new CWM with newer Nook Colors
05/09/12 - Edited Revised SD Image for CM9 to indicate new script prepared
05/02/12 - Added Verygreen SD vs. Racks dual boot SD
04/30/12 - Added NookColorUMS for CM7 and CM9
04/27/12 - Added Using ROM Manager with SD installs
-----
B. TIPS THAT APPLY TO THE VERYGREEN SD INSTALL OF CM
B 1. Installation of CM on SD vs EMMC
How CM is installed for verygreen SDs is significantly different than for installing to internal memory (emmc).
Emmc (Embedded MultiMedia Card) installs are controlled by an installation script built into the zip itself. The zips are hard coded to install to specific partitions on emmc. CWM recovery is used to install to emmc and CWM turns over installation of the zip to that script built into the zip.
For verygreen SD installs there is no CWM recovery, just verygreen's script built into the boot partition. A properly named install zip (update-... cm-.... diff_... or gapps...) must be copied to the boot partition. Installation is controlled by his special script. It takes over installation of the zip, mostly ignoring the script built into the zip itself. It does not backup gapps or format /system. It just copies the new system files over the top of the existing files. Therefore if gapp or other files not in the zip were already there, they are still there and not modified.
Since the script installer does not format anything before installing a new ROM, sometimes it is a good idea to clear things out first. Or maybe your installation is acting up and you want to start fresh without formatting the whole card and losing your media files. You could use the modified Alternate CWM for SD (see item B5 below) to do it, but not everyone has installed that on their SD. So I have prepared and attached some zips as an alternate (and I think cleaner) way to wipe your SD partitions. They can be flashed with any recovery (on emmc or SD) since they are hard coded to format those partitions on SD that are named in the zip title. They have safety checks built in to make sure that you have your partitioned verygreen SD in the slot before they will attempt to format anything. If you are just installing a fresh nightly and you want to keep your data, just wipe system and cache (but that means you need to re-install gapps too). If you are having operational problems and want to keep the same ROM, just wipe data and cache. Or if you are putting on a completely different ROM, wipe system, data and cache.
If you do somehow get into CWM recovery on emmc, be warned that most things you do with it (like flashing or wiping) will happen to emmc, not the SD (except for those zips I just mentioned above). And if you are using older versions of CWM, it will try to place any nandroid backup files to the boot partition of the SD. There is not room there so it will fail. A work around is to use the new CWM recovery (version 5.5.0.4) that allows you to back up to the emmc media partition. Get a flashable zip to install the new CWM to emmc here or attached to the post above. The TWRP recovery also saves backups to internal storage. Get the latest version here. Or you could flash the stock recovery with CWM 5.5.0.4 as Alternate also attached to the post above.
For more information on SD installs, look at my post here.
For those wanting a simplified guide for installing CM7 to SD go Taosaur's excellent blog here. It also works well if you want to install CM9 or CM10 to SD. Just substitute CM9 or CM10 wherever it says CM7. I also have an updated SD installation instruction thread for CM9 and CM10 linked in my signature.
B 2. Revised verygreen SD image file for CM9/CM10
The original image file created by verygreen is an amazing thing. But for CM9/CM10 it has three problems. First, the boot partition is too small to accommodate the larger CM9 install zips. Second there is a problem of duplication of apps included in CM9 and gapps.And third, the naming standard by CM has changed. It no longer begins with update-. That means the existing install script will no longer recognize or install a new nightly when it is copied to the boot partition. Users must rename the file to start with update- if they want the existing install script to work. I have modified the install script to now also install nightlies if they begin with the new standard (cm-). I also added to the script the ability to recognize the new prefix (diff_) that is used by the new Goo Manager program to make an incremental update to an existing ROM. The new script will continue to recognize and install zips beginning with update- to provide backward compatibility. My modified image/script now fixes all these problems. I updated the image to Rev 5 to make it 300MB to accommodate the larger CM10 and JB gapps zips and to make the /data partitions larger for 8 GB and larger SD cards. You can read more about this here. Updated installation instructions for putting CM9/CM10 on SD have been posted along with the latest image here.
B 3. Setting up dual booting on the Nook Color
Dual booting is a really nice feature of the Nook Color. There are three ways that I know of to accomplish dual booting.
a. Leave emmc with one ROM and put one ROM on SD using verygreen's method. This is the scheme I use and recommend for users. This is the one that most of these tips in section B apply to.
b. Leave emmc with one ROM and use a dual boot SD install by Racks where two ROMs are installed on SD. I have discussed that scheme in section B8 below. Actually this scheme is triple booting because there is one ROM on emmc and two on SD.
c. Put two ROMs on emmc. I do not recommend this method as it means having to repartition emmc and that is risky since glitches might happen during set up. Vital information is stored on partition three and you can totally brick your device if you mess that one up and have not made a backup of it. I do have an emmc partition repair thread linked in my signature to help you repair if it messes up. But many users have used this scheme and seem to like it. If you are going to use it follow Taosaur's excellent thread here.
Use the boot menu to select the system you want to run. If you hold the "n" button just after the first tiny screen flash during boot, you will enter the boot menu which allows you to select the system you want to boot.
Below are some specific tips to make your verygreen dual boot work better.
Using the same SD media partition with emmc and the verygreen SD
By default, all ROMs installed on internal memory (stock, CM7, CM9, etc.) always use the first fat partition on your SD as "sdcard". That usually is partition 1. When ROMs are installed to SD using verygreen's method, the default for that ROM is changed to partition 4 of the SD.
If you want ROMs installed on emmc and installed on SD to use the same SD card for storing your media, you need to modify the emmc installed ROM to also use partition 4 of the SD. Go to /etc when booted to emmc and there will be a file named vold.fstab. Open that file in a text editor and look for a line that has 'sdcard auto' in it (without the quotes) and change it to 'sdcard 4' (and for CM10 it will say 'sdcard1 auto'). Save the modified file and reboot. Now both emmc and SD will use the same media partition on SD to save its data. No need to swap SD cards. Use the boot menu to select which system you want to boot up.
For modifying stock emmc you still modify the vold.fstab file but there are two auto's in that line in the file. Change the first one. If you have not rooted your stock, you will need to use one of the flashable zips I have attached below. One zip modifies stock to use partition 4 on the SD for media storage and the other zip returns it to stock settings. Use CWM to flash these zips. If you do not have CWM on emmc, use the bootable CWM SD I have discussed in item A10 above. Be sure to make the CWM SD on a different SD than your ROM is installed on or you will lose everything there. These zips are only to be used on systems that have stock on emmc.
Speeding up booting by modifying the dalvik cache setting.
The verygreen SD installation is set up to share the cache partition with the ROM on emmc. And since normally part of the dalvik cache is stored on the cache partition, every time you boot from one ROM to the other, the system is forced to rebuild the dalvik cache because the system apps are different for each ROM. I have discussed the dalvik cache in section A2 in my first post of this thread. To speed up booting by eliminating this rebuild, make a change to the dalvik configuration. When booted to the SD, create a local.prop file as I discussed in item A1 above and put this line in it:
dalvik.vm.dexopt-data-only=1
This forces the ROM on SD to store the entire dalvik cache on the /data partition. Then when it boots after being on the other ROM, it does not have to be rebuilt.
B 4. Access to the SD boot partition inside CM
One of the annoyances of the SD install was the need to remove the SD and place it in your PC if you wanted to copy a new install zip to the boot partition for installation of a new ROM. I have developed a script that will mount the boot partition in CM so that you can download the new zip directly to the nook and copy it to the boot partition without removing the SD. See my post here to get the script and learn how to use it.
[Edit 6-16-12:] I just added Rev 2 of the script to my original post. This version adds a symlink so that it shows up in the root directory as 'sdboot' as well as under /data/sdboot. This makes it easier to use Goo Manager to download new ROMs. Just change your download directory in Goo Manager to /sdboot/ and it will download the ROM directly to your boot partition. Before you reboot, I would suggest you look in sdboot to be sure it downloaded successfully.
B 5. Using a modified Alternate CWM recovery for SD installs
Usually CWM recovery cannot be used with SD installs because CWM usually modifies emmc, not the SD. But I have modified a CWM recovery (v6.0.1.2) that can be used as an alternate recovery for SD installations. It can be used to modify the SD for everything CWM does EXCEPT FLASHING NEW ROMs to SD. (If you do try to flash a ROM with it, the ROM ends being installed to emmc.) But you can flash other zips (like gapps) as long as it has a generic installer script (and that is almost all install zips except ROM zips and zips that flash new kernels or new recoveries). For flashing new ROMs zips, continue to copy the install zip to the boot partition like you always have and the script in the boot partition will do the installing for you. This CWM will nandroid backup the SD, wipe dalvik-cache or cache, fix permissions, etc.
I am attaching a file to this post (AlternateCWM-SDInstalls-Rev2-v6.0.1.2.rar) which contains the files you need. To install to your SD card, unrar the file and you will have two files, uAltImg and uAltRam. Insert the SD card into your PC and copy those two files to the boot partition. Put the SD card back into the Nook. Installation finished. You can boot to the Alternate CWM for SD by using the boot menu and selecting SD/Alternate or holding the Volume Up/Down keys together while booting. Note that when the CWM is loaded it has "for SD" appended to the title so you can tell it is for the SD install.
B 6. ROM Manager and SD installs
When you install CM to SD, the app ROM Manager (RM) is installed with it. It should not normally be used with the SD install. It generally is geared toward doing what it does to emmc. If you tell it to install a new CWM recovery, it will install it to emmc (but if you want a new CWM recovery on emmc, go ahead and do it). It will find and download ROMs and gapps for you, but if you tell it to install them, it will try to boot into emmc CWM and install the zip to emmc. But it ends up booting into the verygreen SD recovery instead and doing nothing. Then the next time you boot into CWM recovery on emmc, it will finish the install it wanted to do originally (to emmc).
B 7. NookColorUMS for CM7 and CM9/CM10
One of the more useful apps I had for the SD install was NookColorUMS by Samuel Halff. I have a dual boot setup with CM7 on emmc and CM9 on SD. Before I developed the SDboot mount script in item B4 above, I would boot into CM7, run NookColorUMS and I was able to mount my SD boot partition so my PC could see it. That way I could copy the new ROM zip directly from the PC without taking out the SD card. I don't need to do that anymore since I developed the script. But NookColorUMS was still very useful if the ROM download was done on the PC or for looking at any partition on emmc or SD. Or, in my case, after building a new ROM on Ubuntu, I could copy it directly to the Nook's SD boot partition using UMS.
But NookColorUMS would not work on CM9, first because UMS was not enabled on CM9 and later, after the devs added support for UMS, because the lun file locations on CM9 were different than CM7. I started to play with the coding in NookColorUMS and figured out how to patch it to work on CM9. It worked so well I wanted to share it with the community. I contacted Sam and asked for his permission to post my modified app to XDA. He agreed. Thanks Sam!
The app as developed by Sam works perfectly on CM7. The CM9 patched version works very well, but has one quirk. After you go to settings and enable UMS and plug in your USB cable, the "Turn on USB storage" dialog always pops up. If you want to use NookColorUMS you must dismiss that pop-up by hitting the back key. Then you can mount any partition you want with the app. (If you do select that pop-up button, sdcard and emmc are unmounted in CM and mounted in your PC and you must turn off USB Storage in CM to get sdcard and emmc back on CM.) Once you have finished with the PC (with either version of the app), be sure to use the "eject" command in Windows (right click on the drive) to make sure it has finished any writing it may have been doing to the drive. Then you can use NookColorUMS to finish unmounting the drives.
In order for this to work on CM9 you must be running a recent (4/22 or newer) nightly and enable Mass Storage by going to settings, storage, menu, USB computer connection and select 'mass storage'. If that setting is missing or greyed out, your nightly is too old.
I have attached to this post a rar file that contains both the original app for CM7 and my modified app for CM9. The CM9 version also works great on CM10. Install the appropriate version and enjoy.
B 8. Verygreen SD vs. Racks dual boot SD.
These two versions of SD installations are very different. Many people are confused since Racks' new scheme is so popular now. The verygreen install is what I have been describing in the above paragraphs. Racks has prepared a much different setup. He has an image file that has all the partitions already set up to accept two systems on the SD. And he puts a modified version of CWM on his for backing up and flashing new ROMs to them.
How ROMs are installed is very different between the two systems. The verygreen script in the boot partition installs the ROM, correcting the zip install script so that it installs properly on his SD. With Racks' you use his modified CWM to install specially modified ROMs that Racks has prepared. You have to get the ROMs for flashing from his special web site. He has modified each ROM so that the installation script built into the zip puts the ROM on the partitions on his SD. He has the CM7 ROMs configured to go on his system1 and the CM9 ROMs configured to go on his system2. If you by mistake downloaded a CM ROM from somewhere else and try to flash it with his CWM recovery, it will get put on emmc, since all CM zips are configured to do that by default.
(Edit: Racks now has a thread set up where the user can use one of his scripts to modify the standard ROM or gapp files found on other sites so that they install properly on his setup. Look here.)
B 9. How to upgrade your SD installed CM to a larger SD.
You may have installed CM to SD on a relatively small SD and would like to upgrade it to a larger SD without having to lose everything you have set up on the smaller SD. You can do that with disk imaging software. I will give an example of someone who originally installed to an 8GB SD and wanted to upgrade to a 32GB SD. If your sizes are different, just substitute your sizes in the example below.
Get win32diskimager free from the web. Put your 8GB SD in your card reader and open win32diskimager in Windows. Choose the drive that has your SD in it. In the image file box pick a location on your hard drive and give it a name to save the image to. Then click 'read'. It will read the card and create an 8GB image file where you told it to. When it has finished, eject the 8GB card and insert the 32GB card. Select 'write' in win32diskimager and it will burn a clone of the 8GB card to your 32GB card.
Then get the free Mini-Tool Partition Manager software and use it to expand partition 4 on your SD to fill the rest of the empty space.
You should be able to boot that in your Nook just like you did with the 8GB card and all your apps and data will be intact.
(This should also work on Racks' Dual Boot SD. Just expand partition 7 instead of partition 4. I have not tested this though.)
B 10. How the verygreen SD works.
The verygreen image when first burned to the SD makes a single bootable partition on the SD. It is 117MB for the original verygreen image and 300MB in my latest revised image. It contains four files. MLO and u-boot.bin which are bootloader files and uImage and uRamdisk which are the verygreen installation script files.
The first time it is booted, the verygreen script starts with the penguin on the screen and a bunch of scrolling text. It looks at the SD to see if it has been partitioned yet. If it has not, it partitions it into those additional partitions necessary for installing ROMs. In addition to p1 (boot, fat, primary), it creates p2 (system, ext4, primary), p3 (data, ext4, primary) and p4 (sdcard, fat, primary). The sizes of these partitions are determined by the size of the whole SD with the larger sizes being for the largest cards (SDs larger than 16GB). P1 is either 117MB (original verygreen) or 300MB (my updated version). P2 varies between 300MB and 920MB. P3 varies between 500MB and 1,950 MB. And p4 takes up the remainder of the SD. In case you are wondering about the cache partition, the verygreen install uses the existing cache partition on emmc, which it shares with the ROM there.
After partitioning, it looks for a zip to install. If it does not find one, it stops and tells you to put one on the SD. The next time it boots it does the same checking and, since it is now partitioned, it just looks for an installation zip to install. If it finds one, it installs it, dynamically correcting it to install to and use the partitions on the SD, deletes the install zip, then powers off. The first time it installs a ROM, it renames those uImage and uRamdisk verygreen files to uRecImg and uRecRam and they become the verygreen recovery files. And it copies new MLO, u-boot.bin, uImage, and uRamdisk files from the zip. The new MLO and u-boot.bin are updated versions of the bootloader files which has the new boot menu. uImage and uRamdisk become your ROM kernel and ramdisk. These are what normally will load in the future to start the ROM.
So if you look at the boot partition now in the PC, it has six files in it. The new MLO, u-boot.bin, uImage and uRamdisk from the latest installed ROM zip. And it will have uRecImg and uRecRam which are the renamed original script files that are now your SD recovery.
Now, with the disk partitioned and the ROM installed, ordinarily, after the cyanogenmod or Cyanoboot logo comes up, it boots by default to CM via the uImage and uRamdisk files. If you intercede with the boot menu and tell it to boot to SD recovery, it looks for uRecImg and uRecRam and loads the verygreen recovery. The penguin comes up again and the script does it's checking and looks for a zip to install. If it finds one, it installs it and deletes the file when finished and powers off. If it cannot find one, it just powers off.
So anytime you want to install new ROMs, gapps or other zips, just copy those files to the boot partition and boot to SD recovery and the verygreen script will install them and delete the zips when successful. In the original verygreen script, install zips must be named beginning with update- or gapps-. In my newest revised image and script, they can be named beginning with update-, gapps-, cm- or diff_ and the script will recognize and install them.
B 11. Stock 1.4.3 ROM on verygreen SD
I have some good news for a few users. I have successfully modified the 1.4.3 stock B&N ROM zip to be flashable to a verygreen SD. That means you can put CM on emmc and still have your stock ROM available if you want to boot to it. Or you can just put it away for future use. Then you can use another SD to run a different version of CM on SD.
The modified ROM zip must be installed with CWM or TWRP recovery to the SD. Don't use the verygreen boot partition installer. A newer version of TWRP or CWM recovery (newer than 3.2.0.1) must be used. Those older versions require that you have normal SDs in the slot and you will have your verygreen SD there. The newer versions can find the installation zips on internal memory (emmc media). The recovery can be on emmc, bootable SD or Alternate CWM on your verygreen SD. Version 5.5.0.4 for emmc and version 5.5.0.4 and version 6.0.1.2 of a bootable SD are all attached to my post above.
The ROM zip is hard coded to install to the partitioned verygreen SD. I have built in checks in the installer to make sure you have the verygreen SD in the slot and it has been partitioned. It can even have an old CM ROM on it as the installer will format the system and data partitions on the SD in preparation of putting the stock ROM on it. But anything you have on the SDCARD partition (p4) is left intact.
After flashing the stock ROM, you will have to go through B&N registration just like you would if it were installed to emmc. But be warned if someone else previously registered the device with B&N, you can't register it yourself unless the prior owner has de-registered it. The prior user can de-register it by logging into their B&N account on the web and selecting "erase and de-register" for that device under their account settings. B&N tracks the device by serial number and it will display the same serial number as it would on emmc. If you can't or don't want to register with B&N, see my item A14 above for instructions on how to skip registration. It just means you will not be able to buy books or apps from B&N.
After you have successfully registered the software on SD, you can move the SD to another device with a different serial number and it still works. I'm not sure of the long term implications with B&N of doing that. You may run into trouble when ordering new books or software through their store.
And here is even more good news. I was able to modify GMPOWER's Manual Nooter 5.08.20 zip to also work on the verygreen SD. So now you can have rooted stock on SD. I have contacted GMPOWER and he is ok with me posting a link to a server where I have placed the modified zip. Thanks, GMPOWER.
And I have prepared a zip to add the dalingrin OC kernel and apps2SD support to rooted stock on SD. And I added a zip to block updates even if you choose not to root.
So the procedure to get this working is to prepare a verygreen SD using the image file attached to my SD installation instructions thread here (generic-sdcard...). Then boot it at least once with the SD in the Nook so the SD can partition itself. If you have an existing verygreen SD prepared, you can skip these two steps.
Download and copy the zip files linked below to your internal storage (emmc media). Boot to recovery and insert the prepared verygreen SD into the Nook. Find the ROM zip on internal storage and install it. It will automatically get put on the SD. It will first format the system and data partitions on the SD and then install the ROM. Boot to the SD and the new stock ROM should load.
Follow the directions to register with B&N. Once you have registered you can stop there if you are satisfied with plain stock. Let B&N finish uploading their free books to you before you do anything else. This could take several minutes depending on your internet speed. If you decide to stay with unrooted stock, be warned that if B&N decides to automatically update you to a new version in the future, it may mess up whatever you have installed on emmc. Therefore I recommend that you install the Block Updates zip which blocks OTA updates. If you install Manual Nooter you do not have to install Block Updates separately since it is included in Manual Nooter.
To install Block Updates, Manual Nooter or OC/apps2SD support, install the zips to the SD with recovery just like you did the ROM. If you install Manual Nooter, it has gapps and Market with it so you must register them with Google. And you need root if you want to use the OC and apps2SD support, plus you will need a program like SetCPU to adjust the processor.
You can get the modified 1.4.3 B&N stock ROM zip here, the modified Manual Nooter zip here, the modified OC/apps2SD zip here, and the modified Block Updates zip here (all four modified for verygreen SD installation).
B 12. SD Card Quality
There has been a lot of discussion among Nook Color users about quality of SD cards needed to run a ROM. The consensus has been that SanDisk Class 4 cards work the best. (I have also found that the new SanDisk Ultra Class 10 cards work really well too.) The issue is that the card needs fast random small file read/write ability. And other brand cards, even if rated a higher class, do not fair well with this attribute. The symptoms of a bad card are sluggish performance, apps force closing and general lock-ups. There has been a lot of benchmarking of various brand and speed classes in a thread here.
After I burned your modified Verygreen image file I used EaseUS Partition Master to set the partition to whatever size you need. I then copied the CM9 zip and the gapps zip into the boot directory as well as your modified CMW files. Worked great.
A couple of things I've found recently:
1. To make ADB over USB work with the NC on Linux, I needed to run
Code:
mkdir -p ~/.android && echo 0x2080 > ~/.android/adb_usb.ini && adb kill-server && adb devices
(Found at nookdevs)
2. To modify a stock image so you can flash it from CWM and still have CWM on the emmc, you need to modify one file in the zip: META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
First change line 1 to
Code:
assert(getprop("ro.product.device") == "zoom2" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "zoom2" || getprop("ro.product.overall.name") == "NOOKcolor" || getprop("ro.product.device") == "encore" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "encore") ;
Then from the bottom of the file, delete the lines
Code:
package_extract_file("kernel-recovery", "/boot/uRecImg");
and
Code:
package_extract_file("ramdisk-recovery.img", "/boot/uRecRam");
I found the first edit here; the second I figured out for myself after I missed it the first time and needed to re-install CWM.
Hope this is useful to someone.
Thanks for your many posts all over the forum.
I am a noob, and you've helped. I had a question about your post here.
I see you did this in April. Do newer builds of CM9 automatically fix the naming problem with the nightlies?
As far as I know, I downloaded a January version, and then added a nightly, and I think the nightly installed correctly.
Thanks!
I just keep hacking away...
RevTom said:
Thanks for your many posts all over the forum.
I am a noob, and you've helped. I had a question about your post here.
I see you did this in April. Do newer builds of CM9 automatically fix the naming problem with the nightlies?
As far as I know, I downloaded a January version, and then added a nightly, and I think the nightly installed correctly.
Thanks!
I just keep hacking away...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on where you get your nightly. If you get it at sphsolutions, it is named properly (update-) and will install with the January edition of the image. If you get it at techerrata, they are named cm- and will not install unless you rename to update- or use my new image.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
I was able to bring a new nook color out of a boot loop using your CWM (5.5.0.4)! Thanks so much for taking the time do document / post this information and the clear/concise way it is done.
Thanks again.
I have no idea what happened. One day my NC was fine. Next time I tried to use it, it varies from bootloop to a dead screen. On rare occasions it will boot, but I get various gapps throwing me f/c right and left.
Let's see, I'm on an older CM7 nightly from a couple months back ... I believe nightly cm_encore_full-253m.zip.
Anyway, I've tried various things from formatting system, cache, etc ... but all fail. I've tried the New Bootable CWM Recovery SD (A10) as well as the CWM update (A8), but not solving anything. Though the CWM update appears to install, it changes nothing as when I get back into recovery, I'm still on the old 3.2.0.1. I've tried to install 7.2 and though it appears to go through the install process okay (i.e. no errors), when I'm infrequently able to reboot nothing has changed.
I've tried the 8 interrupted boots to no avail ... possibly because the boot process fluctuates from going to recovery or bootlooping or black screen or succeeding ... so the 8 step process just doesn't work.
Its though something (system, emmc, or ???) has corrupted and locked me into where I was without allowing anything new to install or change?
Any other suggestions on what I can do to wipe, go back to factory 1.0.1 stock, and start over? The restore procedures that I have seen require formatting system, cache, etc. but as far as I can tell, noting is actually formatting anything.
I'm usually able to back my way out of any problems, but since I don't know how this issue happened when my NC was fully charged and off ... turning into a battery dead NC for unknown reasons, not sure what next since I'm not making any headway.
cvhovey said:
I have no idea what happened. One day my NC was fine. Next time I tried to use it, it varies from bootloop to a dead screen. On rare occasions it will boot, but I get various gapps throwing me f/c right and left.
Let's see, I'm on an older CM7 nightly from a couple months back ... I believe nightly cm_encore_full-253m.zip.
Anyway, I've tried various things from formatting system, cache, etc ... but all fail. I've tried the New Bootable CWM Recovery SD (A10) as well as the CWM update (A8), but not solving anything. Though the CWM update appears to install, it changes nothing as when I get back into recovery, I'm still on the old 3.2.0.1. I've tried to install 7.2 and though it appears to go through the install process okay (i.e. no errors), when I'm infrequently able to reboot nothing has changed.
I've tried the 8 interrupted boots to no avail ... possibly because the boot process fluctuates from going to recovery or bootlooping or black screen or succeeding ... so the 8 step process just doesn't work.
Its though something (system, emmc, or ???) has corrupted and locked me into where I was without allowing anything new to install or change?
Any other suggestions on what I can do to wipe, go back to factory 1.0.1 stock, and start over? The restore procedures that I have seen require formatting system, cache, etc. but as far as I can tell, noting is actually formatting anything.
I'm usually able to back my way out of any problems, but since I don't know how this issue happened when my NC was fully charged and off ... turning into a battery dead NC for unknown reasons, not sure what next since I'm not making any headway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really does sound like nothing is taking. You should have been able to go to the new CWM on emmc. But you are still on the old CWM and your formats fail. So, I suspect that one or more of your partitions got corrupted somehow and everything is read only. I do not know a lot about how to fix those. But others here are very adept at that. DizzyDen for one. You might search xda nook color for info on repairing partitions. I know adb is often used for that. Sorry if I'm not much help, but maybe someday when I learn a little more on how to fix them I can help someone.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk
Thx ... I'll continue searching and try to find something to fix the partitions.
One question. What is meant by the term " hard shut down "? I take it that refers to shutting system down using power button ? How else would one accomplish this shut down of the NC ? Uggg I'm such a NOOB !
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA
icemanwbs said:
One question. What is meant by the term " hard shut down "? I take it that refers to shutting system down using power button ? How else would one accomplish this shut down of the NC ? Uggg I'm such a NOOB !
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard powering off means holding the power key for like 15 seconds until the device goes completely off, not just to sleep. A short touch does not turn it off, it just puts it to sleep. If you are in a ROM, the proper way to turn the power completely off is to hold the power button until a menu pops up and you select 'power off'. If you are in CWM you should go to the menu item that says 'reboot' and it will. You want to shut your devices down properly so they finish any tasks they have running before shutting down. It's just like on your PC, you don't unplug the power cord on the PC when it's running, you tell it to shut down with the start menu. Hard powering off is just like pulling the plug on a PC. Sometimes it is necessary if things are locked up, but it is not the preferred way to do it.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk
Ahh OK. Gotcha ! Love your guide, been using it since I got my NC
I'm pretty good at android flashing with phone ( Samsung fascinate running ICS 4.0.4 ! )
One more thing, do I need to do anything special now that I have flashed the CWM 5.0.0.4 recovery ?
Thanks a million. People like you make XDA a treat !! :thumbup:
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA
icemanwbs said:
One more thing, do I need to do anything special now that I have flashed the CWM 5.0.0.4 recovery ?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, just leave it there in case you need it in the future. Any time you tell your nook to go to recovery, it will be there waiting.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk
Okay, I'm REALLY a noob at this...
I have tried my hardest to follow the threads about loading CM7 onto my mSD card in order to allow dual-booting stock (via emmc) and CM 7.2 stable via mSD (an 8GB Samsung class 6), but I feel I really f'd things up.
How I got to here:
1. I tried following this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957
Got to where it should have run the cm-7.2.0-encore.zip, but wouldn't find it.
2. Tried renaming to update-cm-7.2.0-encore.zip, as well as udpatei-cm-7.2.0-encore.zip.
3. Started reading more (didn't do that at first because it seemed complete enough).
4. Found your posts towards the end saying things have changed and to go to your tips page, so I did.
5. Read that I should use CWM 5.5.0.4-bootable_SD.img instead WITH SDCard-BootFiles-Rev3.
6. Ran Win32DiskImager with CWM 5.5.0.4...img to image the mSD.
7. copied the Rev3 files into the mSD as well as the cm-7.2.0.encore.zip.
8. inserted the mSD into the NookColor.
9. Booted into CWM.
10. selected the cm-7.2.0-encore.zip and said I'm sure.
11. It installed, i rebooted.
12. It looks like it installed onto the emmc as all my old settings are still there (wireless networks, etc.).
13. Immediately started force closing some process apps.
Now what? I feel I'm in a bad place and need to get back to having a stock 1.4.2 NC on the emmc and CM7 (stable) on SD. Maybe I missed a step (as great as the effort has been to get all this automated and setup, I feel it's still not straight forward enough for me ). Any and all help is appreciated.
P.S. Also, Is see CM9 mentioned, but no links as to where to get it for the NC (No encore build either). Is this still beta? If so, I'll stick with CM7 for now.
Thanks again in advance.
corvair64 said:
I have tried my hardest to follow the threads about loading CM7 onto my mSD card in order to allow dual-booting stock (via emmc) and CM 7.2 stable via mSD (an 8GB Samsung class 6), but I feel I really f'd things up.
How I got to here:
1. I tried following this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957
Got to where it should have run the cm-7.2.0-encore.zip, but wouldn't find it.
2. Tried renaming to update-cm-7.2.0-encore.zip, as well as udpatei-cm-7.2.0-encore.zip.
3. Started reading more (didn't do that at first because it seemed complete enough).
4. Found your posts towards the end saying things have changed and to go to your tips page, so I did.
5. Read that I should use CWM 5.5.0.4-bootable_SD.img instead WITH SDCard-BootFiles-Rev3.
6. Ran Win32DiskImager with CWM 5.5.0.4...img to image the mSD.
7. copied the Rev3 files into the mSD as well as the cm-7.2.0.encore.zip.
8. inserted the mSD into the NookColor.
9. Booted into CWM.
10. selected the cm-7.2.0-encore.zip and said I'm sure.
11. It installed, i rebooted.
12. It looks like it installed onto the emmc as all my old settings are still there (wireless networks, etc.).
13. Immediately started force closing some process apps.
Now what? I feel I'm in a bad place and need to get back to having a stock 1.4.2 NC on the emmc and CM7 (stable) on SD. Maybe I missed a step (as great as the effort has been to get all this automated and setup, I feel it's still not straight forward enough for me ). Any and all help is appreciated.
P.S. Also, Is see CM9 mentioned, but no links as to where to get it for the NC (No encore build either). Is this still beta? If so, I'll stick with CM7 for now.
Thanks again in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, your first mistake was copying the rev 3 boot files to the CWM SD. You should have copied them to the verygreen SD. That way it upgrades the older version to my newest version so it reads the newly named files correctly. And if you wanted CM 7.2 on SD you should have copied that zip there too. (You probably wiped out your verygreen SD to make the CWM SD and that caused your confusion.)
The second mistake was when you used my CWM SD to flash the CM 7.2. It put it on emmc replacing your stock. And if you do that you should have done a factory reset first as the apps as installed on stock do not work well on CM7. That's why you are getting the force closings.
If you want to keep CM7 on emmc, just boot to my CWM card and do a factory reset. That clears out the apps as installed by stock. That also means you will have to install all your apps again. Also you should install gapps. Go to goo.im/gapps and select the latest gingerbread version, download it and flash with my CWM card.
If you are happy with CM7 on emmc, you should flash CWM to your emmc so you don't need my card anymore (see the last paragraph in my item B1 for instructions 'get the flashable version here') Then you can reformat the CWM card to use as a data card for your emmc installed CM 7.2.
If you truly want to return to stock on emmc and CM7.2 on SD, let me know and I will walk you through it. It is a lot more work.
Also CM9 is available but is still in development. If you want that I can direct you to that too.
New question. In settings/battery use.....it shows " PHONE IDLE " 40%....and "CELL STANDBY" 30%.....since obviously we don't need these, how do I get rid of them ??? Lol;
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA
icemanwbs said:
New question. In settings/battery use.....it shows " PHONE IDLE " 40%....and "CELL STANDBY" 30%.....since obviously we don't need these, how do I get rid of them ??? Lol;
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to. Those are false readings. Just leave them there.
Help. I flashed cm9 onto SD card. ( from cm7 ). Said was successful, then when I went to re boot, on boot menu, I chose" SD Card Normal" and now its just stuck there.
OK....I got it to boot into cm9...! . Now screen becomes unresponsive while in use and I have to keep re booting.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda app-developers app
icemanwbs said:
Help. I flashed cm9 onto SD card. ( from cm7 ). Said was successful, then when I went to re boot, on boot menu, I chose" SD Card Normal" and now its just stuck there.
OK....I got it to boot into cm9...! . Now screen becomes unresponsive while in use and I have to keep re booting.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes it is necessary to wipe things when going from CM7 to CM9. That is difficult to do with the SD install. I recommend you go to my item B5 in my tips thread and install the alternate CWM that has been modified to work with SD installs. You can do a factory reset with that and it cleans up the SD. Also wipe system with it. It will not effect emmc. You may want to backup with Titanium Backup first to save your installed apps. Then reinstall the rom and restore your apps with Tibu.

Categories

Resources