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Help major problems (system UI crash) *after* wipe cache partition

S

Statick

Lurker
Hi guys. Had a few minor issues with my S5 since upgrading to Lollipop, but it's been otherwise stable up until now. It's the stock OS, rooted, and re-rooted since the upgrade.

(the issues I was having - sometimes rebooting gets stuck and requires that I pull the battery, also probably more annoyingly are missed call notifications that clear when you check the call log, but return after a reboot, with every missed call ever being included in the total, so every reboot delivers a new "25 missed calls" "26 missed calls" etc. so nothing serious, but annoying problems)

In an attempt to resolve the above issues, all roads seemed to point to wiping the cache partition from recovery. I did this. Cache wiped fine, rebooted fine. Now the phone is in a proper state - half of my apps won't run at all, notifications do not display at all (I still get the vibrate tone but nothing to indicate what generated it), and I get "system UI has stopped" upon startup.

Every piece of literature I can find says that wiping the cache partition is "no downside" and "definitely a recommended step" in troubleshooting. My experience here is that my phone was working basically OK until I did this, and now it's completely borked. Help! How can this have happened? And what can I do now?
 
Statick said:
Hi guys. Had a few minor issues with my S5 since upgrading to Lollipop, but it's been otherwise stable up until now. It's the stock OS, rooted, and re-rooted since the upgrade.

(the issues I was having - sometimes rebooting gets stuck and requires that I pull the battery, also probably more annoyingly are missed call notifications that clear when you check the call log, but return after a reboot, with every missed call ever being included in the total, so every reboot delivers a new "25 missed calls" "26 missed calls" etc. so nothing serious, but annoying problems)

In an attempt to resolve the above issues, all roads seemed to point to wiping the cache partition from recovery. I did this. Cache wiped fine, rebooted fine. Now the phone is in a proper state - half of my apps won't run at all, notifications do not display at all (I still get the vibrate tone but nothing to indicate what generated it), and I get "system UI has stopped" upon startup.

Every piece of literature I can find says that wiping the cache partition is "no downside" and "definitely a recommended step" in troubleshooting. My experience here is that my phone was working basically OK until I did this, and now it's completely borked. Help! How can this have happened? And what can I do now?
Click to expand...

Statick said:
just to clarify, I did the upgrade to lollipop about 3 months ago, and the wipe cache partition just now!
Click to expand...

Hello and welcome to Android Forums Statick :)

Thank you for your post.

There are currently 41 different models of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and over 3,000 different stock Samsung firmware versions, worldwide, covering 6 different Android platforms, Android 4.4.2, Android 4.4.4, Android 5.0, Android 5.0.1, Android 5.0.2 and Android 5.1.1. Not all issues will affect all models or firmware releases and your answers to the following questions will help in the forum's answers to your specific query.

#1. Could you post your Model number and Android version...

To locate these, go to...

Settings > More > About device > Model number and Android version

This will give you the model of Samsung Galaxy S5 that you have and which Android version you are on.


#2. Your current Firmware, (not just Baseband), version .

To locate your current firmware version, go to the stock, Samsung, dial pad and type in...

*#1234#

This will give you your, "Version", details in full, usually 3 lines of information, AP: CP: CSC:, which may all be relevant.

*** If code *#1234# has been disabled on your firmware, you can download and install, free from the Play Store, Phone Info and it will give you, under Firmware... PDA, CSC and Baseband, versions as well as your Product code under the CSC CODE heading.


#3. Also helpful would be your carrier, (service provider), location, (UK, India, Russia, USA, etc: ), and if your phone is rooted or not and running a custom ROM, (give details).


Thanks. The above helps us to help you and hopefully someone will be able to reply to you shortly. :)


For more information, see, 41 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide

(TIP If you are a poster it is a good idea to mention your model number and firmware version in case this has a bearing on your problem.

Better still, if you have 25+ posts to your name, you can go to the black bar at the top of this forum and click on your Username, which will show a drop down menu. Just select, "Signature", and you can enter in the signature box the details of your phone, i.e. - "Galaxy S5 G900F".This ensures that your device details are shown in every post you make. You can update this as often as you like and will help other users immediately identify your phone and firmware.)
 
Model: SM-G900F
Android: 5.0
AP: G900FXXU1POD1
CP: G900FXXU1POD1
CSC: G900FEVR1POD1
Carrier: EE / UK
Rom: Stock, rooted
 
Statick said:
Model: SM-G900F
Android: 5.0
AP: G900FXXU1POD1
CP: G900FXXU1POD1
CSC: G900FEVR1POD1
Carrier: EE / UK
Rom: Stock, rooted
Click to expand...

The above looks straightforward enough. The international model on the latest U.K. carrier firmware for E.E. network. I am assuming that you used the CF-Auto-Root kernel to root your phone and not say, Kingo, OneClick or TowelRoot. You do not mention whether or not you have a custom recovery installed as well.

Providing that the cache partition wipe is carried out correctly, see #1.3 of S5 Lollipop Update Problems - Dummies Guide, there is no danger to the apps or user data as it merely wipes a separate partition that has cached information in it. This is the first time I have come across this in 8 years of writing these guides for the S5, S4, S2, etc: Yours seems to be more like a Factory Data Reset. Possibly a mod that you may have made has caused an issue.

As you are rooted, you may have followed best practice and made a nandroid backup. In which case you could just restore the backup. Other than that, there is little else you can do apart from re-downloading the apps and settings by sync'ing to your Google account, providing you used Google sync for apps and data originally. Alternatively, if you have Titanium Backup installed on your rooted device, you can use that to restore any missing apps and settings.
 
thanks, yes it was CF-Auto-Root. I do not recall installing a custom recovery, I'm certain I just did the most simple and basic method to achieve root as I needed one piece of software to have root access to my external SD card and nothing more. I have installed no mods or anything like that, and all my apps are still there as is my data.

detail of the symptoms I'm having - upon startup "system UI has stopped" and "package access helper has stopped".
the status bar/notification area doesn't show, that area of the display is completely blank, nor can I pull down the notification area from the top of the screen to get the buttons for wifi on/off, mobile data on/off, etc

incoming notifications do not display at all, I get the vibrate tone but no visual to show what caused it. similarly, incoming calls vibrate the phone but nothing changes on the display at all.

the fingerprint unlocker no longer appears, that was how my phone was locked, now the phone is simply always unlocked, despite the lock settings still saying it should lock with the screen timeout. further to that, attempting to open private mode (which was also secured with a fingerprint lock) does not seem do anything (and I have files there I'd like to retrieve). the slide on/off button to enable it slides to the "on" position but remains grey and does not turn green. nothing more happens.

my custom keyboard (swype) stopped appearing, instead the samsung stock keyboard appeared. thinking this to be a part of the problem I have since uninstalled it (and didn't think to actually check in the input settings that it was still being selected)

just discovered "safe mode", I've booted up in that and am having the same issues in safe mode

again... this handset was absolutely fine, excepting the two minor issues described earlier, until I did the "wipe cache partition" thing, and now it's a complete mess. I'd get on and do a factory reset except I want to open up private mode first, and get my files out of there, which I can't seem to do without the fingerprint unlocker working

just checked on the link, step 1.3, that is exactly the process I followed to wipe the cache partition. I did nothing different.
 
to further clarify, I rooted when the OS was on v4.something, and after updating to v5 it needed rooting again, it's possible I did the custom recovery thing the first time around (it sounds familiar, although I may just be remembering when I used to use HTC handsets and I regularly used to put custom ROMs onto those). Pretty sure I did not install a custom recovery when re-rooting after the 5.0 update
 
the whole issue feels like some kind of display problem - notifications not displaying, fingerprint unlocker not displaying, etc. not sure if this means anything particularly, just adding what I can

I really can't remember making any backups... it's the kind of thing I would definitely do if a guide showed me, but when I rooted 4.0 was probably a year ago now, and I don't think I did any such thing when re-rooting at 5.0

thanks again for your help
 
Personally, in your situation, I would be inclined to go for a FULL WIPE+FACTORY DATA RESET as per #2.3, #2.4 and #2.5 of the guide and then set up my phone again and re-root. That way, you have a clean, fresh, install.

Alternatively, you could download and flash the much later firmware for the Galaxy S5, on a much higher changelist than the old OD1 firmware you are on. This is un-carrier branded, stock, OK5 firmware. It would, if you still have one, void your warranty and future updates would have to be flashed to your phone manually, as per #1.11 of 41 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide
 
thanks Ironass, I was already thinking that a replacement firmware might be the way to go. I think I'll get the latest un-branded ROM. The handset is out of warranty now, but has insurance.

meanwhile, do you have any suggestions for how to retrieve my data from private mode, which is currently locked by fingerprint and won't unlock? or will that be impossible now?
 
Statick said:
thanks Ironass, I was already thinking that a replacement firmware might be the way to go. I think I'll get the latest un-branded ROM. The handset is out of warranty now, but has insurance.

meanwhile, do you have any suggestions for how to retrieve my data from private mode, which is currently locked by fingerprint and won't unlock? or will that be impossible now?
Click to expand...

No suggestions I am afraid. Lets face it, it wouldn't be much of a security feature if there was an easy way around it.
 
yeah, I figured as much. I have backups of my backups of my backups of everything else... the stuff in private hasn't been backed up though... typical!
 
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