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Root CM 11 cripples Moto G, can't use ADB/fastboot to install CM 10

M

my1stSmartPhone

Member
I installed Cyanogen Mod (cm-11-20140504-SNAPSHOT-M6-falcon.zip) on my 1st generation Moto G using TWRP. When I boot into CM, I keep getting the message that "Unfortunately, the process com.android.systemui has stopped". Every time I banish that popup, I get a split second of usage before it pops up again. After some troubleshooting and web searching, I found that I have to revert to CM 10. The details are documented at androidforums.com/threads/windows-mtb-usb-device-driver-error-when-moto-g-running-twrp.901001 and forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/windows-mtb-usb-device-driver-error-t3022946

I haven't searched for CM 10 yet, but I'm scouting out the process to push it to the device. I can't find a way to get ADB to see the device, even after enable USB debugging (www.addictivetips.com/mobile/what-is-adb-and-how-to-install-it-android and android.stackexchange.com/questions/67249/how-to-enter-usb-debugging-mode-in-cyanogenmod). Given that I only have a split second after banishing each error message, that took forever, but I confirmed that USB debugging is enabled after rebooting.

The only alternative I know to ADB is fastboot. According to forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702069, it is theoretically possible for fastboot to flash a ROM, but the zip file should contain a data.img and system.img. I checked the CM 11 zip file to see what I can expect from CM 10, and found no such img files.

Given that ADB and fastboot processes don't work for me (at least the the degree that I've explored them), what other options are there for flashing CM 10?

P.S. Does anyone know how to get exit (say) Settings or the browser and get back to the cyanogenmod start page? There is no home button, and web searching refers an icon with 3 bars on the top, which I don't have. I basically have to reboot.

P.P.S. Any time I try to enter helpful tags on my postings, they are rejected as new tags (I'm too junior to create new tags). However, they are the tags that pop up as I'm typing the beginnings of the word.
 
@funkylogik: Yes, I remember making a backup as soon as TWRP was working. I am not at home right now, but I will see whether I can find it by browsing around using TWRP.

@EarlyMon: I distinctly recall making a backup and will try to find it & restore. It will be the stock Carrier's ROM.

As for ADB sideloading, I haven't been able to get it working. My 1st and only attempt at sideloading was to install CM 11, but ADB times out. ADB can't even see the device, and from what I've read on the internet, it is due to the MTP driver failure that I see when I am running TWRP. When I boot normally, however, ADB can see the device. This is how I managed to install CM 11, by pushing to the device while it was booted normally, then booting into recovery and flashing. I can't use that method now that CM 11 is installed because the device is not visible to the laptop.

Hopefully, I can restore to stock Carrier ROM, and then I don't have to worry about sideloading.

You mentioned that http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702069 was unrelated to my phone, and I agree. I was out of options with ADB, and that was the only info I could find about using fastboot to flash. I needed some way to replace CM 11 with CM 10. I guess my way ahead now is to revert back to stock Carrier ROM and push/flash CM 10 the same way that I did for CM 11.
 
This is very odd.

I could not restore from my pre-CyanogenMod backups because when I browse to the date+time-stamped folders, it was empty. However, I had previously copied to contents of at least one date+time-stamped folder to my laptop.

I used fastboot to uprade TWRP from 2.8.3 to 2.8.4 in hopes of getting past the MTP driver problem, which would enable me to copy the files back to the device. Halleluya, it did allow the device to be seen in Windows Explorer. But I didn't need to use the copy on the laptop because moving to 2.8.4 also allowed the backups to be seen on the device.

I gleefully restored the backup. It said "failed", but I rebooted anyway. Unfortunately, the failed restoration was real, and I was still with CyanogenMod. I interrupted the boot process to get back to bootloader.

I reverted back to TWRP 2.8.3, hoping that it would still see the backup. I was hoping that 2.8.3 would properly restore the backup because it was created using 2.8.3. It did indeed see the backup, but the restoration still resulted in "failed", and a reboot still led to the CyanogenMod bootup.

Oddly, CyanogenMod booted properly this time without the repeated systemui popups. It's great! Though I wonder if I somehow affected CyanogenMod with the failed attempts at restoring the stock carrier's ROM. Not that I care right now. CyanogenMod awaits exploration.

But there are a couple of things that I hope someone can comment on. What might cause CyanogenMod to boot properly after upgrading TWRP and reverting back, failing to restore the stock carrier ROM with both versions? Could CyanogenMod now be corrupt? And why won't my backups restore? How can I ensure that I create good backups?

P.S. I'm a bit (or rather, quite) unsettled by the randomness with which things work...
 
When the backups fail to restore, dies it say md5 mismatch or something?
If so, uncheck the box for md5 verification and try again. That's worked for me many a time, especially in twrp :thumbsupdroid:
(make a backup of your working cm setup 1st)
 
I downloaded the CyanogenMod nightly for Moto G, cm-12-20150213-NIGHTLY-falcon.zip. I got it working. Pretty robust so far, so I want to enjoy it a bit before clobbering it by attempting to restore the Carrier stock ROM. I admit that I will have to do that at some point because I need to ensure that my backups are good.

I would like to take this opportunity to recount how I got around the problems I faced. I think that others may run into this, and my story may help them get back to a working phone when it looks like it is bricked.

The problem was that CM 11 was crippled by the repeated systemui popup messages. I thought it went away, but it came back. I still don't know what triggers it. And my backups of the carrier OS either failed to restore (twrp 2.8.3) or were not visible (twrp 2.8.4). I had spent so many days trying to think of a way ahead that simply didn't care about bricking the phone anymore. After all, it wasn't doing a whole lot of good as-is. So in one of my attempts of trying something, I erased the OS in the process of re-installing CM 11. And the re-install failed. Not a good situation, since ADB worked only when an OS was running (not when a recovery was running), and the MTP driver errors prevented the device from being accessed from windows when recovery was running. It didn't matter whether I was running twrp 2.8.3, 2.8.4, or CWM. So sideload didn't work in any of those recoveries.

There was basically no way to push *any* new OS to the phone. I forgot the details, but the CM 11 imag file that was on the phone might not have been visible to the one or more of the recoveries I tried. I was so out of options that I even tried fastboot to flash to OS, and that did not succeed.

Here is what I found worked. I don't know what particular detail was responsible for the success, so it requires experimentation.

First, I un-installed re-installed the SDK tool set for installing custom ROMs, making sure that I included Google USB drivers. The subsequent update required many more things to be installed, so that might have been part of the solution. I then looked for Motorola driver apps in Windows's Programs menu, uninstalled both, and re-installed. I don't know what contribution it had to the success, as I never got the Device Manager running. Whenever I launched it, it searched for updates, came back and reported no updates and that my device was uknown, then quit. Maybe because no OS on the device was running.

The one thing that seemed to help was that, even though the device was otherwise incommunicato from the laptop, I was able to fastboot flash recoveries. After the above re-installs, a re-install of twrp 2.8.4 allowed the computer to see the device in Windows Explorer. I believe it had something to do with better-functioning MTP USB drivers in the re-install, but I can't be sure. So I was able to copy the nightly CM 12 to the device, then use one of the recoveries to install it.

But the story didn't end there. Even after the CM install, I was still getting repeated popups. This time, however, it was something other than systemui, but otherwise, the symptoms were the same. At that point, I had pretty well concluded that my experiment with Moto G was at its end, and that I would look at Blackberry (now that they committed to stay in the handset market). But I did half-heartedly experiment a bit more. Good thing, too, because the 2nd attempt at re-installing CM 12 seems to have worked. No repeated popups so far. What I made sure that I did was to wipe out anything for which there was a check box, e.g., any cache, data partition, OS, etc. Since it was a virgin phone, I could do this with impunity, so I'm not sure how well this "solution" would fit someone else's situation. Also, I did try to wipe things in past attempts, just not with so much thoroughness.

So there you have it. I hope this helps someone.
 
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