# Partially bricked? - constant looping, cannot flash cdma radios



## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Backstory:
Ok, i flashed a 4.2 rom and it must have been a bad d/l or something cuz it didnt connect to anything other than wifi on startup and wouldn't let me even finish the log in part in the begining. So i decided to wipe everything and go back to 4.1.2. I did decide to wipe data this time (as I usually do for a full wipe), but i did not realize that it included the new 0 folder with all of my sdcard stuff. That sux, but i can live with it if I can get back to a working phone. To sum up where I am now, I can boot to recovery, fastboot, and even the OS for about 1-2 mins before a reboot (bootloop).

Stuff i've tried so far:
Flashing in fastboot all the files to get me back to complete stock - i get stuck when writing the cdma files (30+ mins of waiting on this step)
Flashing the radios in recoveries (both)- the phone reboots everytime when flashing the cdma radios
I've factory reset, wiped caches, systems and reflashed bootloaders, working roms and still get a reboot after 2 mins in OS
Fastboot flashed 2 different sets of cdma radios to make sure one wasnt broken (same result)
Pulled the sim and battery for 25 mins (hoping this would help, lol)

So where do i go from here, being that i can get to all three stages i have faith that i'm not totally screwed here. But what do i do next? I've never had problems flashing anything before now everything I try does not get me anywhere. Am I missing an easy step or something? (hopefully)


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## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

Have you tried just adb pushing a ROM to your sdcard, the booting into recovery and flashing it? Wasn't clear on whether you tried that or not.

Edit: nvm I guess "working ROMs" means you've tried that. Not sure that it makes a difference, but if your OS boots for two minutes, try formatting/clearing internal storage, then rebooting long enough to adb push a rom, reboot recovery, wipe data/cache flash. Idk. Good luck!


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Yep, roms/gapps flash fine, but then once I get to the OS about 2 mins in, it just reboots. Almost like its trying to connect to the towers and cannot do it, then reboots. Not 100% sure about that, since i've put it in airplane mode, and been on wifi. It always has the triangle where your bars would be...


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

I have the same problem!! I am starting to panic! I am NO NOOB!! I have no idea why after 2 days on a beautifully working mROM 4.2, it bootloops and cannot flash stock with Outler's Toolkit! WTF do i DO?! Already called and got a new phone on the way, but need to get this bad boy back to lock stock.


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## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

See edit ^


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

Basically the entire install process of a new ROM in recovery works without fail, just to boot back into 4.2 and crash after about 10 seconds on the lockscreen. Also, I have tried every which way of flashing a stock ROM in the toolkit, which all processes clear without fail, and even the phone in fastboot shows the process bars at the bottom moving right along and seeming to work, then it just boots right into 4.2. I also am not getting TWRP to mount USB so I can grab my files.


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## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> Basically the entire install process of a new ROM in recovery works without fail, just to boot back into 4.2 and crash after about 10 seconds on the lockscreen. Also, I have tried every which way of flashing a stock ROM in the toolkit, which all processes clear without fail, and even the phone in fastboot shows the process bars at the bottom moving right along and seeming to work, then it just boots right into 4.2. I also am not getting TWRP to mount USB so I can grab my files.


Try booting a non 4.2 rom, and don't use a toolkit.


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## mentose457 (Aug 26, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> Basically the entire install process of a new ROM in recovery works without fail, just to boot back into 4.2 and crash after about 10 seconds on the lockscreen. Also, I have tried every which way of flashing a stock ROM in the toolkit, which all processes clear without fail, and even the phone in fastboot shows the process bars at the bottom moving right along and seeming to work, then it just boots right into 4.2. I also am not getting TWRP to mount USB so I can grab my files.


So you are trying to fastboot back to 4.1.1 but it boots back into 4.2? That is a WTF. May I suggest you fastboot manually. That way you will know if it is actually failing and on what part.

Edit: I see Barf is on top of things.


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## AdamNexus (Jun 5, 2012)

Use alternate USB port

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Just did barf's suggestion of factory resetting and still the same result. I get back to the google sign in and still freezes up in about 1ish minutes then reboots...(this is a 4.1.2 rom)


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## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

AspenSTi said:


> Just did barf's suggestion of factory resetting and still the same result. I get back to the google sign in and still freezes up in about 1ish minutes then reboots...(this is a 4.1.2 rom)


Are you on twrp? I meant formatting internal SD, not factory reset. Then pushing a ROM to your newly formatted SD then trying to flash it in recovery.


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Currently on CWM, I will try that...

Edit: forgot while at work i dont have adb or fastboot setup on my comp...will try when i get home shortly...


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

This has something to do with the the 4.2 ROMs placing everything internally into '0' folder and using the old TWRP recovery, 2.2.0 or something like that. There has since been a TWRP recovery to support 4.2 ROMs, however, this is seriously messed up. It is behaving as if there are 2 different partitions on my internal storage. Behaving like SafeStrap for Moto phones. This is too bizarre to explain.

Oh, did I mention that I tried everything including wiping the entire the device, re-locking the bootloader and unlocking again, temp flashing other recoveries, including CWM.


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## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> This has something to do with the the 4.2 ROMs placing everything internally into '0' folder and using the old TWRP recovery, 2.2.0 or something like that. There has since been a TWRP recovery to support 4.2 ROMs, however, this is seriously messed up. It is behaving as if there are 2 different partitions on my internal storage. Behaving like SafeStrap for Moto phones. This is too bizarre to explain.
> 
> Oh, did I mention that I tried everything including wiping the entire the device, re-locking the bootloader and unlocking again, temp flashing other recoveries, including CWM.


4.2 renaming sdcard to sdcard/0 does not make your phone crash/bootloop. And 2.3.1 is the newest twrp and doesn't solve the problem of the sdcard rename or access to backups.


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## shag_on_e (Aug 1, 2011)

I've dumped the pit file for the toro galaxy nexus, you could try using Odin to re-partition your device with a full factory .tar and pit file. Good luck!

https://www.box.com/shared/15vl7p5ig4l9plxh90h1

~~~~There is no spoon~~~~


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## shag_on_e (Aug 1, 2011)

Barf said:


> 4.2 renaming sdcard to sdcard/0 does not make your phone crash/bootloop. And 2.3.1 is the newest twrp and doesn't solve the problem of the sdcard rename or access to backups.


2.3.2.1 is the newest TWRP recovery for us, and I'm sure it supports 4.2, don't quote me though.

~~~~There is no spoon~~~~


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## andrewjt19 (Oct 27, 2011)

Safest thing to do is restore to factory ICS and start over, noting every step you do. You'll find the answer. Also note sure if you checked this, but like others said, you need a recovery that suppers 4.2 and also need JB bootloader..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## andrewjt19 (Oct 27, 2011)

Also probably would use fastboot to restore instead of Odin

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Well still no go, formated the sd, wiped everything i could again, flashed a 4.1.2 rom/gapps and still the same result. I also went back after that and re-wiped everything again and started with the "return to full stock" method and still getting stuck at the cdma radios...


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Is there not a way to erase or verify what you have installed? For all i know there is a conflict with the cdma radios or something.

And in my situation what do i have to do to be able to flash EVERYTHING brand new again? Or is fastboot flashing overwriting everything anyway?


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

I just skipped the install of the cdma radios (just to see what would happen). And i got
"archive does not contain boot.sig"
"archive does not contain recovery.sig"
"archive does not contain system.sig"

What am i missing that i didnt get those installed?

Edit: I just tried to flash a set of radios in twrp and got a different message than any other time:

assert failed: samsung.update_cdma_moded(package_extract_file("radio-cdma.img"))
E: Error in /sdcard/gnex_radios_toro.ff02-fg02.zip (status 7)
Error flashing zip /sdcard/gnex_radios_toro_ff02-fg02
Updating partition details...

Does that help anyone?


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

AspenSTi said:


> I just skipped the install of the cdma radios (just to see what would happen). And i got
> "archive does not contain boot.sig"
> "archive does not contain recovery.sig"
> "archive does not contain system.sig"
> ...


That is exactly what I am getting! I am chalking it up to the '0' folder, I may be wrong, but I believe the right part of the file system is not being accessed. I have tried using the SDK and the Toolkit, manually writing everything, and nothing.,,

This is frustrating to say the least....humbling, but frustrating.


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## razorloves (Jun 7, 2011)

have you tried following this guide step by step to flash 4.1.1? http://rootzwiki.com...oot-and-relock/

fyi...the sig errors are normal. dont worry about those.


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

I have tried everything. Odin. ADB and fastboot direct flashing. Flashing the new 4.2 recoveries, which don't stick BTW. The Toolkit from XDA. All point right back to 4.2 bootlooping, showing me the 4.2 lockscreen for a split second and then rebooting again. I see that my files are still on the phone, but I cannot access them via PC. They only show for a few seconds as the phone is showing the lockscreen. I cannot get USB to mount in the TWRP recovery that my phone is stuck in. My files are in the '0' folder, then inside another '0' folder. mROM was the only 4.2 ROM I flashed. PLEASE HELP!!! I only have about 6 days to work this out before VZW takes me for a shatload of monies.


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Yep Razor i tried that write-up multiple times with all the factory images i could find... No luck

And unfortunately (or fortunately, however you wanna look at it), I am getting my replacement from Verizon tomorrow to start fresh again... This being the 3rd phone, i'm definitly going to do things a little slower and better this time, just to make sure lol. Can you not get a replacement Campbell?


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

Yep, tomorrow as well. Called in Friday. My goal is to hopefully create as much awareness about this, so maybe a Dev can figure it out. It's almost as if there are multiple 'system' partitions. I will wait the allotted 5 days before I send this one back, just in case there is a fix. If not, I got a huge magnet just waiting to be unleashed on this piece of shit.

As for the taking it easy part, I am doing the same. I have had many Android phones, mostly Moto, been there and seen it all, not to mention I own an A500 and Nook Color, so I know bugs and bricks. This, however, is nothing I have ever seen before.

I plan on purchasing a Nexus 7 and 10 after the new year and the demand goes down. When I receive my replacement Gnex, I am going to make sure I install the new CWM or TWRP that supports 4.2 and also do my homework on how this whole '0' folder works and how to move around it.


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Couldnt agree more with you! I thought i felt comfortable enough to do anything to this phone and worse case senario start from scratch and do it again, but that is not proving to be the case with us i guess.... And as far as returing mine all it will do now (after i set it up to this point), is boot to stock recovery, or fastboot and thats it, just like i explained to the verizon peeps. They seemed ok with that, but if your magnet trick works i say have fun and do that, lol.

And if there is ever a fix someone finds please post it up!!


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## mentose457 (Aug 26, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> I have tried everything. Odin. ADB and fastboot direct flashing. Flashing the new 4.2 recoveries, which don't stick BTW. The Toolkit from XDA. All point right back to 4.2 bootlooping, showing me the 4.2 lockscreen for a split second and then rebooting again. I see that my files are still on the phone, but I cannot access them via PC. They only show for a few seconds as the phone is showing the lockscreen. I cannot get USB to mount in the TWRP recovery that my phone is stuck in. My files are in the '0' folder, then inside another '0' folder. mROM was the only 4.2 ROM I flashed. PLEASE HELP!!! I only have about 6 days to work this out before VZW takes me for a shatload of monies.


So you have fastbooted the 4.1.X images and when you reboot it is on 4.2 still?


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## 00negative (Jul 25, 2011)

AspenSTi said:


> Is there not a way to erase or verify what you have installed? For all i know there is a conflict with the cdma radios or something.
> 
> And in my situation what do i have to do to be able to flash EVERYTHING brand new again? Or is fastboot flashing overwriting everything anyway?


If your pc is recognizing your device (adb) you could use ddms in your sdk platform-tools and it will show the debug info for your phone, might give someone more ideas to try if they can see the fatal error that is causing the reboot


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

mentose457 said:


> So you have fastbooted the 4.1.X images and when you reboot it is on 4.2 still?


Precisely. I have fastbooted all available images on the Google tree. 4.0.2-4.1.1. Comes right back to 4.2 boot ani and lockscreen comes up, I can even unlock it for a split second, then it has a screen glitch and reboots consistently.


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## mentose457 (Aug 26, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> Precisely. I have fastbooted all available images on the Google tree. 4.0.2-4.1.1. Comes right back to 4.2 boot ani and lockscreen comes up, I can even unlock it for a split second, then it has a screen glitch and reboots consistently.


Fastboot each image at a time to see where it fails. I know you said it doesnt show any errors but obviously its not working.


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## xfighter1188 (Oct 6, 2011)

try to format your entire sdcard if you haven't done that, seems like its booting into something besides what you flashed


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

I cannot format the entire SD card. Inside the recovery I have it seems to work just fine wiping internal storage, but nothing actually wipes. I wish that was something I could achieve through an ADB command, wipe the entire device storage. I think then it would actually let me restore to stock.


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## iwasaperson (Sep 4, 2011)

Try using Odin/Heimdall.


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## xfighter1188 (Oct 6, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> I cannot format the entire SD card. Inside the recovery I have it seems to work just fine wiping internal storage, but nothing actually wipes. I wish that was something I could achieve through an ADB command, wipe the entire device storage. I think then it would actually let me restore to stock.


I would think fast boot flashing system should do the trick...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

Just out of curiosity, i'm not sure if i saw you post it up or not campbell, but what recovery where you using when you had the original problem? I was using TWRP 2.3.1.0 (not setup for 4.2 at that point...). Just wondering if my issue was caused from the recovery not being current with the 4.2 rom.

And just to clarify are the most current versions (working with 4.2) of the recoveries TWRP 2.3.2.0 and CWM 6.0.1.5 for the verizon nexus?


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## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> I cannot format the entire SD card. Inside the recovery I have it seems to work just fine wiping internal storage, but nothing actually wipes. I wish that was something I could achieve through an ADB command, wipe the entire device storage. I think then it would actually let me restore to stock.


Fastboot update -w wipes everything. I had to do it before jellybelly 10.0 would boot. Kept getting a status 7 error.


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

AspenSTi said:


> Just out of curiosity, i'm not sure if i saw you post it up or not campbell, but what recovery where you using when you had the original problem? I was using TWRP 2.3.1.0 (not setup for 4.2 at that point...). Just wondering if my issue was caused from the recovery not being current with the 4.2 rom.
> 
> And just to clarify are the most current versions (working with 4.2) of the recoveries TWRP 2.3.2.0 and CWM 6.0.1.5 for the verizon nexus?


The recovery that is stuck on my Gnex is TWRP 2.2.whatever. Definitely NOT setup for 4.2. I also used it to wipe cache and dalvik, which is what I believe caused the problem. All would have been well if I would have flashed the newest CWM or TWRP that was setup for 4.2 and THEN wipe or reinstall a newer 4.2 ROM. I believe this was a negligent user error that normally doesn't occur because the ONLY thing I can't do with Android is code. Which I think it is time to learn.

Hopefully I can get this phone in working order before next week when Big Red will start sending me notifications. LOL. Oh, and BTW, I have been using my bro's Droid X since Friday and I never knew what I had until it was gone. CM9 on this thing is abysmal and all my better devices are being used by family.

Worst Android-related weekend ever.


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## xfighter1188 (Oct 6, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> The recovery that is stuck on my Gnex is TWRP 2.2.whatever. Definitely NOT setup for 4.2. I also used it to wipe cache and dalvik, which is what I believe caused the problem. All would have been well if I would have flashed the newest CWM or TWRP that was setup for 4.2 and THEN wipe or reinstall a newer 4.2 ROM. I believe this was a negligent user error that normally doesn't occur because the ONLY thing I can't do with Android is code. Which I think it is time to learn.
> 
> Hopefully I can get this phone in working order before next week when Big Red will start sending me notifications. LOL. Oh, and BTW, I have been using my bro's Droid X since Friday and I never knew what I had until it was gone. CM9 on this thing is abysmal and all my better devices are being used by family.
> 
> Worst Android-related weekend ever.


Try flashing a new recovery?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

campbellchunkies said:


> The recovery that is stuck on my Gnex is TWRP 2.2.whatever. Definitely NOT setup for 4.2. I also used it to wipe cache and dalvik, which is what I believe caused the problem. All would have been well if I would have flashed the newest CWM or TWRP that was setup for 4.2 and THEN wipe or reinstall a newer 4.2 ROM. I believe this was a negligent user error that normally doesn't occur because the ONLY thing I can't do with Android is code. Which I think it is time to learn.
> 
> Hopefully I can get this phone in working order before next week when Big Red will start sending me notifications. LOL. Oh, and BTW, I have been using my bro's Droid X since Friday and I never knew what I had until it was gone. CM9 on this thing is abysmal and all my better devices are being used by family.
> 
> Worst Android-related weekend ever.


Ummm... Read my above post. It WILL truly wipe your SD.


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## AspenSTi (Jan 3, 2012)

campbellchunkies said:


> The recovery that is stuck on my Gnex is TWRP 2.2.whatever. Definitely NOT setup for 4.2. I also used it to wipe cache and dalvik, which is what I believe caused the problem. All would have been well if I would have flashed the newest CWM or TWRP that was setup for 4.2 and THEN wipe or reinstall a newer 4.2 ROM. I believe this was a negligent user error that normally doesn't occur because the ONLY thing I can't do with Android is code. Which I think it is time to learn.
> 
> Hopefully I can get this phone in working order before next week when Big Red will start sending me notifications. LOL. Oh, and BTW, I have been using my bro's Droid X since Friday and I never knew what I had until it was gone. CM9 on this thing is abysmal and all my better devices are being used by family.
> 
> Worst Android-related weekend ever.


Thats funny, i also have been using the droidx since my phone went down, lol. Definitely hard to get used to...

To get mine to "stock" i did it all from fastboot. Wiped recovery (put stock one on), also wiped everything else so all it can do is get to fastboot and recovery with a locked bootloader. What did you tell them that your phone was doing to get the replacement?


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## campbellchunkies (Sep 10, 2011)

AspenSTi said:


> Thats funny, i also have been using the droidx since my phone went down, lol. Definitely hard to get used to...
> 
> To get mine to "stock" i did it all from fastboot. Wiped recovery (put stock one on), also wiped everything else so all it can do is get to fastboot and recovery with a locked bootloader. What did you tell them that your phone was doing to get the replacement?


I have replaced this phone 6 times already. Never for anything development related. So this is the first time ever that I have a phone that I cannot return to stock. I have tried all of those things. It will not wipe recovery or anything else for that matter. I have tried flashing stock recovery, locking the bootloader and wiping partition with fastboot and Odin. I have also attempted Odin flashing as well. It passes with no error, it's as if the device is literally locked in 4.2. The gipper is why the hell am I not getting installation errors all over the place?!? I am well versed in adb and Odin, I have never seen anything like this.


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## altimax98 (Jul 14, 2011)

Have you tried this:

Fastboot erase boot
Fastboot flash boot boot.img - boot IMG from the Verizon package
fastboot erase system
Fastboot erase userdata
Fastboot erase recovery
Fastboot flash recovery recovery.img - TWRP newest

Fastboot reboot

You should be left hanging at the Google screen if so then continue below

Fastboot reboot bootloader
Choose recovery and attempt to flash a ROM after wiping syste,/data through recovery.

Honestly I don't think the system couldnt work after those steps. That will wipe everything but the boot loader and start fresh. Don't use any toolkits or shortcuts. I've re-fastbooted my phone many times without any issue and flashed a dozen working/nonworking 4.2 Roms. Unless you really borked something I else it should work.


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## HobHayward (Nov 18, 2012)

I also did not use the latest recovery when installing 4.2 and ended up with weird partition shenanigans after a few installs.. now my sd card shows usage that doesn't make sense. Could be unrelated, could be related.. My andoid knowledge/skills are definitely no where near either of yours so its mere speculation. Astro has some weird nonsense, shows 4 local storages that all direct to different locations (two in /mnt and two in /storage).. note the data used and space available.

















I have a more detailed post farther up, but it certainly seems the /0 issue creates some weird shit in the file system. Luckily my phone seems to have problems other than the strange memory usage issue.


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