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Help SMS problems

rb5227

rb5227

Newbie
Hi all, first post, so be gentle please! ;)

HTC Desire, currently S-OFF, ClockworkMod Recovery 2.5.0.7 and rooted running 2.3.3 Supernova ROM. Previously it was running the stock Froyo 2.2.2. The following problem(s) existed before I recently rooted my Desire, so it hasn't been caused by the upgrade.

I regularly use the backup features within GOSMS.

What I've been finding for some time now is that the number of SMS restored from a backup is less than the number quoted as being available. e.g. a thread going back a few years shows 6075 messages available, but when restored only 5652 are available. Other smaller message threads also show discrepancies.

Another issue is that some messages appear out of order in respect of date/time. Often my reply is before the message I was replying to.

I'm pretty sure there's no flux capacitor involved here. :rolleyes:

I've tried SMS Time Fix, which didn't... :(

I wonder if anyone else has experienced similar issues? Any thoughts on a possible solution to get all messages restored, and in the correct time/date order?

:cheers:, Martin
 
This sounds like an issue with the back up/restore program you're using. Have you contacted the app developer? There should be a link for that on the app's page on the play store.
 
Thanks for the reply nicka3200.

So far I haven't contacted GOSMS. Just wanted to get thoughts from people first.
 
One thing I have done is to look at the backup files which are in xml format. They contain messages which aren't displayed in the message thread within GOSMS, or for that matter, in the stock SMS app either. This indicates that the backup file does contain all the messages and they're not being read correctly.

I also understand that SMS messages are actually in some kind of database file within the Android system, so I'm wondering if there is some sort of corruption in date/time stamps somewhere.
 
I've never used Go SMS's backup feature. There are several good SMS backup apps in the Play Store, and Titanium Backup Pro can back up SMS to an XML format which you can restore between different ROMs. So my advice is to use a different backup tool in future.

Of course that doesn't help with restoring the missing messages. If it had just happened after a recent ROM flash (flash ROM, restore, find messages missing) I'd suggest restoring a nandroid to get the messages back, then making a backup with a different tool, then flashing the new ROM again. But as this has been happening for some time any nand backup will contain the same problem. So I can't think of anything except hoping there's a fix for the Go backup. The one good thing is that it's in XML, so if someone can work out why certain messages aren't restored the file (or safer, a copy of it) can be edited, whereas if it were a binary there'd be little hope.
 
Hadron said:
The one good thing is that it's in XML, so if someone can work out why certain messages aren't restored the file (or safer, a copy of it) can be edited
Click to expand...

This is what I'm hoping might resolve the issue. I've a feeling that message id's may somehow be duplicated within separate message threads which might explain why some messages aren't showing.

There is also a timestamp within a message, the format of which I'm unsure of, which may also be the culprit.

Initially I'm trying to renumber the message id's and see how things pan out that way.

The following is an example from the xml backup file:

<GoSms>
<SMSCount>17</SMSCount>
<SMS>
<_id>2945</_id>
<address>mobile number appears here</address>
<date>1353098545814</date>
<read>1</read>
<status>0</status>
<type>2</type>
<reply_path_present/><body>SMS text appears here</body><locked>0</locked>
</SMS>
 
As previously mentioned, what's happened is that message id's in different SMS threads have become duplicated. I've edited each of the xml backup files to sequentially renumber the message id's contained therein, ensuring there are no duplicates.

If anyone else encounters this sort of issue, what I did was:

  1. Open the xml backup file in Micro$oft Word
  2. Do a Find & Replace so that the message id's are changed to a unique character e.g. <_id>2945</_id> becomes <_id>
 
It would appear corruption to one of the database files was the culprit for the other missing messages.

I deleted three smsmms files found in:

"/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/".

Then, after a reboot and restore of the freshly renumbered sms xml files, all message totals are reported correctly. :cool:
 
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