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Help Phone repeatedly gives error messages. Please help.

8afuzzball

8afuzzball

Newbie
Back in November of 2014 I rooted the phone and installed the SD card / memory hack, which has been working fine until this weekend.

What happens is that the phone gives the following message:

"Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped." When I press OK, the following message comes up:

"Unfortunately, System UI has stopped." When I press OK, it goes back to the message on the line above.

I removed the SD card and the phone seemed to work normally for a day and then started coming up with errors about apps not working and then it got in the same error loop as above.

I was able to break the loop by holding the power button til it did the count down and then rebooted.

The phone was then working fine again so I went and put the SD card back in and booted up. It looked like all was fine until it finished booting and then the errors returned. (Previously, I'd get errors earlier in the boot up process).

I then removed the SD card again so at least I could use my phone but the errors remain and now it is unusable.

Please help.
 
8afuzzball said:
Back in November of 2014 I rooted the phone and installed the SD card / memory hack, which has been working fine until this weekend.

What happens is that the phone gives the following message:

"Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped." When I press OK, the following message comes up:

"Unfortunately, System UI has stopped." When I press OK, it goes back to the message on the line above.

I removed the SD card and the phone seemed to work normally for a day and then started coming up with errors about apps not working and then it got in the same error loop as above.

I was able to break the loop by holding the power button til it did the count down and then rebooted.

The phone was then working fine again so I went and put the SD card back in and booted up. It looked like all was fine until it finished booting and then the errors returned. (Previously, I'd get errors earlier in the boot up process).

I then removed the SD card again so at least I could use my phone but the errors remain and now it is unusable.

Please help.
Click to expand...
With the SD hack on... Use the fsck.ondemand.fix or the wipe.dalvik.zip (flash) in recovery.... Do the fsck first.
 
I never installed a ROM manager on my phone nor have I made any ROM changes.

All I did to the phone since purchasing it was to root it and then use ADB to install the SD card hack when it first came out.

I found downloaded both fsck.ondemand.fix and wipe.dalvik.zip files but how do I use them without having a ROM manager?
 
8afuzzball said:
I never installed a ROM manager on my phone nor have I made any ROM changes.

All I did to the phone since purchasing it was to root it and then use ADB to install the SD card hack when it first came out.

I found downloaded both fsck.ondemand.fix and wipe.dalvik.zip files but how do I use them without having a ROM manager?
Click to expand...
You need twrp recovery install i dont think you can use the CM.rec because the alignment i have heard that it breaks it.
 
You must have been one of the early testers, if you used ADB to install my hack. In that case, I can provide command-line instructions for you to do fsck and/or wipe-dalvik if you'd rather use ADB. I think most people prefer installing zips in custom recovery though. Check the instructions in the other thread(s) to decide what's best for you. Let me know if you need further help. Good luck.
 
WarrantyVoider said:
You must have been one of the early testers, if you used ADB to install my hack. In that case, I can provide command-line instructions for you to do fsck and/or wipe-dalvik if you'd rather use ADB. I think most people prefer installing zips in custom recovery though. Check the instructions in the other thread(s) to decide what's best for you. Let me know if you need further help. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did it the hack when it was in the very early stages and I haven't messed with the phone since then.

It sounds like I should install a recovery manager, probably TWRP, right?

Can I install TWRP now and then run the zips or do I need to do the fsck and/or wipe-dalvik first via the command line?

If I need to do the command line first, please send me the necessary commands. Thanks.
 
The phone errors came back for a bit but after a number of reboots, I'm able to get in again.

During the reboots, I got either the same errors again or the phone got stuck in the boot cycle where it would show the MetroPCS logo then the splash screen, then back to the logo and so on.

Eventually I was able to get back in so I immediately enabled USB debugging (so I could use ADB) and downloaded TWRP. Unfortunately TWRP couldn't install as the phone was full so I deleted some stuff and was then successful in downloading TWRP.

When I ran TWRP the first time I picked the install option but got a warning about how it couldn't write to the sd card property and asked if it should be patched. I didn't know what to answer as there is no sd card presently installed because the phone crashes when the card with the hack is in there.
 
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Boot the phone without the SD. Assuming you can boot up and get ADB going, put the card back in. Be careful not to disconnect the battery. Hopefully everything is still okay at the point. So with an "adb shell", use "su" to get superuser rights. Then "e2fsck -y /dev/block/mmcblk1p2" to check and repair the ext4 volume on the SD. If you wish to do a non-destructive check first, use "e2fsck -nf /dev/block/mmcblk1p2" first (the -y option forces repairing of all errors). If the command reports errors, there could be data loss. Some settings might need to be recreated or apps to be reinstalled later.

To wipe dalvik (files on the SD only), you need to mount the partition first. While still being the superuser, temporarily create a mount point with "mkdir /mnt/asec/sd". Mount the partition with "mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /mnt/asec/sd". If successful, the contents of the ext4 volume should be accessible at /mnt/asec/sd. To wipe dalvik cache files on the SD, do "rm -r /mnt/asec/sd/dalvik-cache/*" and "rm -r /mnt/asec/sd/dalvik-cache/.*". Then unmount and clean up with "umount /mnt/asec/sd" and "rmdir /mnt/asec/sd".

To quit the superuser mode and ADB, keep issuing "exit" until you're out of ADB. Once you reboot, the dalvik cache should be rebuilt automatically, so booting up should take a bit longer than normal. Hopefully this fixes your issues. If not, you might need to go through more troubleshooting. Do consider getting TWRP installed in you can. If you can use TWRP, you don't need to bother with the above commands. Just install the zips using the GUI, probably a bit less error-prone that way. Good luck.
 
It is ok to insert the SD card into the phone while it is on? I accidentally left SD card at my office so I can't try the ADB commands until tomorrow.

Without the SD card in it, the phone worked for a bit today then started giving me the same kind of errors.

A reboot caught the phone in some sort of loop where it would show the MetroPCS logo, then go to the splash screen video graphic, then back to the MetroPCS logo then back to the splash screen video and so on.

Taking the battery out for a while then 2 reboots later, the phone booted up but gives me the errors still.

Despite the errors, I'm able to get an ADB shell and su to root.

As I'm still having problems with the phone without the SD card installed, can you tell me the commands to check the internal memory and clear the internal dalvik cache?
 
It should be fine inserting the SD while the phone is on. Android will read the card and start media scanning after a card is detected. But since the battery can easily come loose, extra care is needed. The point of doing this is to make the hack not mount the external partition. With TWRP, you could just install -uninstall.zip to remove the hack and not bother with physically touching the SD.

There should be no need to check internal memory because it seems Android automatically checks those critical internal volumes at boot. Check logcat to see if any error messages show up. For a manual fsck scan, the partition shouldn't be active (so best done in recovery). And if the hack is not active (no SD), the internal dalvik is in use and shouldn't (and probably can't) be wiped. Normally wiping is done in recovery as Android is not running in that environment.

I am not sure what's causing the boot loop in your case. Something is probably corrupt. Like Krlypumaa suggested, fsck and dalvik seem like good starting points, but no guarantee they fix the problem.
 
Ok, so I got ADB running with a root shell then put in the SD card and followed all your instructions. The FSCK did report that some errors were fixed.

After I rebooted and the splash screen ended, it came up with a black screen with a white box in the center that said "Android is upgrading..." written in blue with "Optimizing app x of 99" in black at the bottom where x went from 1 to 99. During the process there was a circle spinning to the left of Optimizing.

Five minutes later, the lock screen came up with the date/time and said it was in airplane mode.

I unlocked the phone and it had the error on the screen:

Unfortunately, YouTube has stopped. Then I picked OK instead of report.

That left me at the screen where I had to pick the type of USB connection I wanted (because the USB cable was still plugged in). I picked charge only.

Then it went to my home screen for and I got this error:

Unfortunately, Google Play Music has stopped. Then I picked OK instead of report.

Maybe 30 seconds later, the phone showed my home screen with the expected icons and desktop mail widget (with the latest mail from 4 days ago which is when the phone last worked).

Another 30 seconds later, I got

Unfortunately, the process com.andoid.phone has stopped and I hit OK.

It came up with:

Unfortunately , System UI has stopped and I hit OK.

Now it seems to loop with the com.android.phone message with the System UI message now and then.

I'm still able to get into the phone with an ADB shell.

What would you suggest I do now?
 
Okay. My guess is some kind of corruption. Maybe some bad software update? Since the issue appears with or without the SD, fixing the file system and dalvik cache on the SD alone is probably not enough. The "Android is upgrading" thing is normal. That means dalvik cache is being rebuilt. Let me know if you need manual instructions to wipe internal dalvik, but I'd try dealing with one set of data (internal or external) first.

If the app binary is bad, you'd replace/reinstall the app. To fix bad app data, you make the app regenerate its data. I am not sure which in your case. Are you able to use the GUI at all to get into system settings? Take the "phone" issue. In Setttings->Apps->All->Phone, you can clear cache and/or clear data. I am not sure what settings or data are lost if you do this. If you can't use the GUI at all, you can access the folder at /data/data/com.android.phone with ADB. Let me know if you need manual instructions. From googling, it looks like sim toolkit could also cause the com.android.phone issue, so clearing that cache/data might also be needed. Reboot to see if that problem goes away. You can try to clear cache/data for other problem apps. Clearing cache is safe, but clearing data likely means losing settings and history. So try clearing cache first to see if that fixes things.

Edit: just had a thought. If the SIM card could cause the com.android.phone error, maybe try booting the phone without the SIM and SD to see whether the error messages go away?
 
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Because the errors continually pop up, I'm unable to use the GUI except momentarily (between error messages) to change screens left or right. However, I'm not able to run any apps as that instantly causes the error messages to pop up. So I'd need ADB instructions.

As you suggested, I took both the SD card and SIM card out but when I power up the phone it gets stuck in the boot loop. I then held down the power button til it rebooted and it broke out of the boot loop. Now I'm back at my desktop with the looping error messages.

Please let me know how to clear the cache/data from ADB. Using a root shell under ADB, I went into the /data/data/com.android.phone directory. Now what, erase the files? Note: the /data/data/com.android.phone directory looks to be empty.

Should I just do a factory restore (by pressing power and volume down) and wipe the phone, then install TWRP (plus any changes needed to reuse my existing SD card)?
 
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Doing a full reset is an option. If you don't care to deal with the issues individually and are willing to go through the process, that's one way to go.

I would not recommend modifying a folder/file while it's in use by a live process. So I'd change the SD while you're using internal memory and change the internal memory while using the SD. So with the SD's /data not in use, wipe the SD's dalvik as previously described. With the SD's /data in use (thus leaving internal /data idle), we could modify the internal /data files similarly by mounting the appropriate partition with "mount -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata /mnt/asec/some_folder".

To clear cache/data of the phone app, try renaming its folder with "mv /data/data/com.android.phone /data/data/renamed.com.android.phone". Reboot and see what happens. If that doesn't work, you can delete the new com.android.phone folder and rename the old one back. If it works, you can delete the renamed folder. To delete the folder, use "rm -r /data/data/renamed.com.android.phone". Unfortunately, I don't know where the sim toolkit keeps its data.

So putting things together:
Code: 
mkdir /mnt/asec/sd
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /mnt/asec/sd
rm -r /mnt/asec/sd/dalvik-cache/*
rm -r /mnt/asec/sd/dalvik-cache/.*
mv /mnt/asec/sd/data/com.android.phone /mnt/asec/sd/data/renamed.com.android.phone
umount /mnt/asec/sd
rmdir /mnt/asec/sd
Code: 
mkdir /mnt/asec/int
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata /mnt/asec/int
rm -r /mnt/asec/int/dalvik-cache/*
rm -r /mnt/asec/int/dalvik-cache/.*
mv /mnt/asec/int/data/com.android.phone /mnt/asec/int/data/renamed.com.android.phone
umount /mnt/asec/int
rmdir /mnt/asec/int
Do one and see what happens after reboot. If the error messages stop, then you can use a file manager to delete the renamed folder /data/data/renamed.com.android.phone. I hope that makes sense.
 
I followed the instructions to use the internal memory to modify the external and it went just like it did before where it said android is upgrading... Optimizing app x of 99.

Then I shut the phone off and followed the instructions to use the external to modify the internal memory and rebooted. When it came back up it said android is upgrading... Optimizing app x of 22.

When it finished, I still got the errors. :(

I rebooted by holding down the power button til it did the countdown and did a hard reset. When the phone came back up it didn't have the errors but I'm expecting them to come back as it has been like that two times before.

I think I'm going to have to do the factory restore to get the phone back to normal. I just hope that when I renable the hack, I'm able to plug the SD card in and have it all work.

At this point I've about had it with the phone and can't keep playing with too much longer. If I can't get it working again soon with a factory restore, I'm about ready to get another phone. The LG Leon seems like a comparable phone and the price is right but I will surely miss having buttons in the current locations.

Anyway, a few quick questions:

First, what commands do I need to give ADB to renable the hack (but not have it wipe out my SD card)? (Or should I install TWRP and use a zip for installation?)

Second, as the phone seems to be working at this moment, I tried to install TWRP. I downloaded it from the Play Store. When I go to run it, it comes up with a message about not being able to read the SD card and wants to know if I want to do a patch to enable the SD card and then something about busybox (but I didn't write that message down). What should I answer those questions?

Lastly, should I go with Clockwork Mod instead of TWRP?

WarrantyVoider, thanks again for your help.
 
You're welcome. Though it'd be more meaningful if your problem is resolved.

If you are still having the problem after a factory reset, you might consider trying KDZ to reset some of the other partitions. I find it odd that you ended up with a boot loop when you started the phone without a SIM and the SD. Maybe the problem is in the /system partition or the modem/radio partition. Hopefully not.

Once you get back to a working device, I'd suggest TWRP. I've been using installable/flashable zips as deployment mechanism and a lot of effort has gone into making things easier for my users. Plus, you're more likely to find people familiar with TWRP than with ADB in case you need help. Still, if you prefer an already familiar way, let me know and I can help you with that.

Don't use the TWRP from the play store. As far as I know, the only TWRP for our F6 is hroark13's build. You can find the link to his thread in my stickied thread. Once you get the apk, install it, open it, "install recovery", and then "reboot recovery". The zip you need to get the hack back is -install.zip. No need to use -copy.zip as you already have your SD. Check my SD hack thread for details. Let me know if you need help figuring out which step you need or don't need. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and all your data are intact.
 
The phone still gives me errors but they are less frequent. During one of the periods with no errors, I downloaded hroark13's TWRP and successfully installed it.

Since I'm out of options and need a phone, I then did the factory reset and the phone goes into a boot loop. If I hold down the power key for a bit, when it comes up, the phone runs the original setup program but I can't get through it as I keep getting errors that alternate between System UI has stopped, the process com.android.phone.com has stopped and LGsetupWizzard has stopped and I can't get past the first screen.

How can I do a complete wipe and reset of the phone?

I believe I can still get into TWRP by doing another factory reset.

Should I load the 12b kdz vai TWRP or just do it via the LG tools and a USB cable?

Edited to add that I did a hard reset by holding the power button and it booted into TWRP, where I've left it, so I can install something if need be.
 
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So the problem spot is probably somewhere else, not in the userdata partition. My suspicion is it's somewhere in the system partition or the modem partition (mounted at /firmware) because you keep getting the com.android.phone errors.

If the problem is in /system, you can try flashing GameTheory's Xperion rom or any new rom. Make a backup of you stock rom in TWRP if you want to try that. If the problem goes away, then it's likely some binary file in your original rom is bad. You can restore the backup and I can help you replace the bad file. I kinda doubt this is the case because the system partition is normally read-only. If the problem is in /firmware, I can help you do some checksums to see which files are bad. If the problem is still elsewhere, then right now I don't know where to go next.

If you have the patience, we can hunt for the trouble spot by verifying partitions and/or files to find the culprit. But at this point, maybe you'd rather to do the KDZ unbricking procedure. To do so, find GameTheory's unbricking guide. You need to use a PC. You would need to re-root and do all that stuff afterwards.
 
Sounds like the quickest way to get working again is to try the GameTheory unbricking method on a computer. I don't care if I have to re-root as it was easy.

One quick question I have. Would it be possible to take my SD card and run it in another F6 (and have all my apps, data and settings? I'm asking because my kid has a F6 with your SD hack and he wants a new phone and I was thinking that if he got a new one, maybe I can pop my card in his.
 
If you do decide to go through with unbricking, please let me know if the problem (the com.android.phone error) goes away.

Yes, I think if you take your SD to another F6 running the same rom, it should work. But I've never tried it myself though.
 
WarrantyVoider said:
If you do decide to go through with unbricking, please let me know if the problem (the com.android.phone error) goes away.

Yes, I think if you take your SD to another F6 running the same rom, it should work. But I've never tried it myself though.
Click to expand...
It does work. Make sure wipe cache n use the wipe.dalvik.zip you provided...
 
GameTheory, thanks for chiming in and pointing me to your site.

However, between the time I posted my message and you posted yours, I followed the unbricking guide that I quoted.

Is there any difference between the results from the guide I followed and yours?

In the one I did, I installed the LG tools, and I plugged the phone in. The program said I had the latest software (12b) so I then picked the Restore option. It took about 10 minutes including the download and the phone was restored.

This time I wasn't getting any of the same errors and I made it through the setup program. I then rooted the phone using TowelRoot and installed SuperSU.

I see that the GameTheory guide says to install BusyBox before installing TWRP. What does BusyBox do?

I'm done messing with the phone for tonight as I need to be up early in the morning but it looks like the phone is working normally. I say looks like because I needed a phone earlier today so I had to temporarily switch to my wife's old phone so I'm getting a message about the SIM not being valid as that phone no longer has service.
 
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