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Root Kernal Panics in MIRaGE

C

CmplxAdSys

Newbie
Hey, all:

Switched to MIRaGe 07132013 build from BACKSide a while back and have been suffering from what I presume are kernal panics ever since I restored all my apps - when I use certain apps (it's always within an app that this happens - almost always YouTube and Google Maps, although weirdly it happened once with Google Calendar), the system abruptly reboots and a significant drain on the battery is registered. Alternatively, sometimes the screen just freezes and I have to pull the battery.

I'm not noob-y enough to not know what a kernal panic is, but am noob-y enough to not know how to trace its source effectively. I've heard nothing but good things about MIRaGe and recognize that these putative panics could very well be caused by the myriad other things I've done with my phone (Link2SD's many apps, overclocked the CPU, etc.).

So: any tips or suggestions on how to trace and correct these crashes? Having a phone with a 50/50 chance of crashing when using Maps severely hampers the phone's utility.

Thanks in advance!
 
What are you overclocked to? This has a bearing on if and when an app messes up.
Safe overclocking is 480MHz min. and either 748MHz or 764MHz max depending on the quality of your processor.
Another thing that has some bearing is how well you did the pre installation wipe and format and with what recovery.
Typical pre installation wipe and format:
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partiton
wipe dalvik cache
format boot, data, cache, system, and sd ext (if you have a sd partition).

The BobZohme modified ClockworkMod recovery (VM670NH_recovery.img) and the Touch Screen ClockworkMod recovery are the two best for our phones and all ROMs newer than Froyo.
 
+1^…
I have mine set at 480 min.and 806 max. ,normally i run the max. at 768 .

If i run higher than 806 that's when i get fc's and reboots.

I can run max. at 864 if the charger is not plugged in.

But when i am at home i set max. to 768 because i'm usually plugged in. Terrible 3g at home so battery life suffers big time. (no wifi) :(
 
I was using the interactive governor with min 245 and max 806. The first step I'll take is changing those settings to 480 and 748 and waiting a few days to see if that does the trick. I'll report the results back here, and if it doesn't work, I'll move on to the next step.

Thanks!
 
Min at 245MHz and Max at 806MHz is your problem. The CPU is working to hard to get up to the Max setting.
If everything looks good after a couple of days with the min at 480MHz, bump the max up one setting at a time until the phone auto reboots (make sure set at boot box is unchecked). Then set back down two settings. This is where you will get the best battery off charge times and performance. Then check the set at boot box.
 
After initially thinking that the CPU settings may have been the problem, I think that's no longer the case.

The crashes have been maybe less frequent, but are still occurring fairly regularly. I've decreased my max speed to 729 and kept min at 480, but I'm still crashing in similar ways - while in an app, usually YouTube or Maps.

Any additional advice to track the problem would be appreciated.
 
Download a fresh ROM.zip and Gapps.zip. Check the MD5 sum to verify that the zips didn't become corrupted in the download process.

In the recovery (use the BobZohme modified ClockworkMod VM670NH_recovery.img or the CWMT Recovery_5.0.2.7-th7_thunderc.img)

Wipe:
wipe data/factory reset
cache partition
dalvik cache (found in the advanced section)

Format:
(in the mounts and storage section)
format boot
format cache
format data
format system
format sd ext (if you have a partition on the sd card)

No you can flash the ROM and Gapps.
Once it boots up, do nothing. Wait a couple of minutes, then reboot.
Sign in to your google account, then reboot.
Set the Governor to Interactive, the min to 480MHz, the max to 768MHz and check the set at boot box. Then reboot.

No you can enjoy the ROM.

If the phone starts messing up after you install some apps, its probably a problem with the an apps permission or the app is bad.

To fix permissions safely: Open up a terminal emulator and type in:
Code: 
su
fix_permissions
If your problems get worse it is a bad app. Delete all that you downloaded just prior to the problem. Then add one by one, giving a few hours in between to see if it messes things up or not.

Note: Sometimes a corrupted SD card can cause the same problems.
If the phone is messing up after setting the CPU settings it might be the SD card.
Unmount the SD card in the storage settings. Put in computer. Transfer contents to a folder on the computer. Right click on the SD cards drive letter in: Start/Computer. Select the format option. Select the Format To Default Setting option.
Click on the icon in the task bar that allows you to safely remove the USB device. Pick the drive letter of the SD card. Remove when it says it's safe to do so. Put back in phone and allow it to remount. Reboot phone. Unmount the SD card again and put into the computer. Transfer data back to the SD card. Put in the phone and let it remount.

If the phone is still messing up you will need to do a DOD wipe of 3 passes using Mini Tool Partition Wizard (this will take several hours to all day depending on how much RAM your computer has).
Once done select to make a new partition. Select primary and FAT32.
When done go back to Start/Computer and format the SD card. If all went well it will be able to complete the formatting of the SD card. If it doesn't you will need to create a new partition table.
If for some reason you get to this point let me know and we will go from there.
For now, you should be completely armed to solve the problem.
 
That's a lot of great info! Thanks!

I actually forgot about fixing permissions, and have decided to try that before starting your procedure. I just did it a day ago, and so far, no crashes, but I'll know in the coming days if that worked or not. If crashes continue, I'll undergo your procedure step-by-step. Thanks!

P.S. One question about your procedure: you state "If the phone starts messing up after you install some apps, its probably a problem with the an apps permission or the app is bad." When I flash a completely new ROM, I download Titanium Backup from Google Play and then RESTORE the apps using that - I don't install them from other sources. So if I start using your procedure, you would suggest RESTORING a few at a time from Titanium backup, or could it be my restoration procedure that could be part of the problem?
 
The biggest thing to remember: Never restore anything other than app and app data. Anything else could corrupt the ROM.
The only time this is not a problem is if you mess up and delete something from the system that's needed and you have it backed up from that system.

I use Root Uninstaller (you can use App Tyrant as well as their both from the same dev). This saves all my apk's that I download to a folder on the SD card. Over two and a half years I have quit the collection of useful apk's (app's).

Once I have everything setup in a ROM, and I trust that the ROM is good, I delete the Titanium Backup folder on the SD card. I then delete the Titanium App from my V.
I then go back to the PlayStore and download a new one (I have the Pro Key which allows me to do batch operations). I then choose to backup everything. If I mess something up I have only system apps and data from that particular ROM to restore.

If during a restore of apps from Titanium Backup, an app restore hangs, I just reboot phone and restore that app from the Root Uninstaller folder on the SD card. Then continue with the restore from Titanium Backup.
 
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