Root Rooting GT-S5839i says E: cant mount /sdcard

[Benjamin2102]

I have downloaded root.zip file and copied it to my SD card. When I boot in recovery mode and try to apply the update I get the error message "E: cant mount /sdcard".

There are several solutions to this problem but I've seen none which are specific to my phone model (Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5839i) and OS (Mac OSX 10.8.5).

I want to root the phone so that I can move apps to the SD card becuase the internal memory is so small it's barely able to hold more than a few before running out of space.

How to I fix this mounting issue with the phone? Help.

 

[James L]

What is the Android version?
If it's still 2.3.6- 4.1.2 than Cydia impactor for Mac should work. Run it and if you get no errors install SuperSU.

As far as the SD card not mounting it could be alot of different things, hard to say from here.

 

[Benjamin2102]

What is the Android version?
If it's still 2.3.6- 4.1.2 than Cydia impactor for Mac should work. Run it and if you get no errors install SuperSU.

As far as the SD card not mounting it could be alot of different things, hard to say from here.

Thanks James,

It's Android 2.3.6. I'll try Cydia and SuperSU.

The mounting issue was due to the SD format not being recognised by the phone. I reformatted the SD card using SDFormatter and than seems to have solved the "E: cant mount /sdcard" error message. I can now browse files after selecting "apply update from sdcard" but when selecting the root.zip file I get:

E: Can't open /tmp/sideload/package.zip
(bad)
Installation Aborted

So not solved this yet.

 

[James L]

No problem here's a link for Cydia impactor. http://www.cydiaimpactor.com/ there is a version for Mac, Linux and Windows.

 

[Benjamin2102]

I've downloaded Cydia Impactor but don't know what to do with it. When I run it I'm presented with a drop down box containing various options the first and default one being:
# drop SuperSU su to /system/xbin/su

Clicking start shows error message "no device found".

I'm pretty lay when it comes to this. Can you explain what both downloads are meant to do and how I should use them.

 

[James L]

Do you have Kies for Mac installed? Probably not since your getting the no device found. Enable USB debugging on the phone. Settings, applications, development then enable USB debugging.

Download Kies for Mac from here. http://www.samsung.com/in/support/usefulsoftware/KIES/
Run the install and then reboot the Mac. Then the drivers should be fine.

Open impactor and press start, if you get no errors you're good to go.

 

[Benjamin2102]

I didn't have Kies installed.

I just enabled USB debugging on the phone. I downloaded Kies for Mac OS and plugged the phone in after It installed. The phone was recognised by Kies so I opened Impactor and pressed start. Impactor seemed to do something this time, it displayed "installing package" briefly before an error message occured: "INSTALL_FAILED_INVALID_APK".

 

[James L]

Hmm odd i have never seen that error before with impactor. Do you have allow unknown sources/apps check marked under security?
Or antivirus apps on the phone as it's still an exploit and maybe blocked by antivirus.
One thing that comes to mind would be Framaroot app, as far as an alternative.

 

[James L]

Question where did you get the root.zip from and since your using a Mac are you sure the file extension didn't change to .dmg for example? And when you say you used a tool/app to format the SD card what is the format you used Fat32?

 

[Benjamin2102]

On the phone Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources was unchecked. I checked it and retried but had the same error message.
I haven't knowingly installed anti-virus on the phone.

I'll download Framaroot.

 

[James L]

I see this supports your device.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/so...gingerbread-root-unroot-2-3-3-2-3-7-plus.html

Or this, but this sounds like what you used. Post #7
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1642895

 

[Benjamin2102]

I got the root.zip from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1642895. Post #7 has it linked with a description for GT-S5839i which is the same model phone as mine.

Just checked, the file extension is still .zip (root.zip).

I used SDFormatter. Mac version available from https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_mac/index.html.
It didn't specify which format it would reformatted to I just selected complete format which seemed to get me past the initial problem with the card not mounting.
In disk utility the SD card is listed as MS-DOS FAT16 (see my upload of screenshot).

Let me know if this helps.

 

[James L]

It could be ok i guess to use fat 16, i'm more used to seeing it as fat32. Does the phone have an option to format the SD when you go to storage?

Trying to think as the last time i seen one of these devices was quite some time ago and the person was in Africa.
Do you have anyone in your household with a SD card you can use to eliminate it being the SD card itself?
Have you tried this instead?
http://forums.androidcentral.com/so...gingerbread-root-unroot-2-3-3-2-3-7-plus.html

I have a couple more ideas as far as apps.
This was a popular PC tool but now is in apk/app format.

http://root-apk.kingoapp.com/

Last but not least rootmaster app or maybe Kingroot. I'm unsure if Kingroot works on 2.3.6 but i do know Kingo root supported 2.3.6

 

[Benjamin2102]

I tried:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/so...gingerbread-root-unroot-2-3-3-2-3-7-plus.html

but had the same error message on the phone as before:
E: Can't open /tmp/sideload/package.zip
(bad)
Installation Aborted

 

[Benjamin2102]

It does have an option to format on the phone, yes.

I don't have anyone in the house who has another SD card to test against mine unfortunately.

Let me try http://root-apk.kingoapp.com/

 

[Benjamin2102]

The Format SD card option is greyed out though probably requires root privileges .

 

[Jfalls63]

Are you using stock or CWM recovery?

 

[Benjamin2102]

Hi Jfalls63,

Not sure what you mean. I've heard of ClockworkMod from reading other forums about this issue but I've never used it and I don't know what it's used for. Not sure what you mean bu stock recovery either :S

 

[Jfalls63]

I looked at your post earlier today and did some searching. Not familiar with early Samsung phones but interested. Found and read this

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1891162

 

[Benjamin2102]

Thanks, I tried the http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1891162 link and downloaded both the files.

I managed to get the phone to apply the update in recovery mode from the root.zip but then when it completes and I reboot the phone I am still not given root privileges. Moving apps to SD from phone internal phone memory is still not possible (which I think is possible if you have root access).
Kingo Root is also listing me as Not Rooted. The rooting function also fails each time I attempt to root through the app.

I thought I had it when the phone seemingly successfully applied the root.zip and CWM_5839i.zip but I guess not. What a stubborn problem.

Any more ideas?

 

[James L]

Are you able to boot into cwm?

 

[Benjamin2102]

Yes.

 

[James L]

Put a Superuser or SuperSU zip on your SD card. Then boot Cwm and choose install zip and look for the Superuser/SuperSU zip and select it and install it.

 

[Benjamin2102]

I get the following options in yellow text.

Clockwork Mod Recovery v5.0.2.6
- reboot system now
- apply update.zip
- wipe data / reset
- wipe cache partition
- install zip from sd
- backup and restore
- mounts and storage
- advanced

 

[Benjamin2102]

I applied the update.zip using Cwm from the http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1891162. It seemed successful given the phone stated rooting was complete. But when rebooting I was listed as NOT being root nor could I move apps from internal mem. to SD card.

Can you recommend a verified SuperSU zip file? I'll try that.