title: Android Phone SD Card Problem

text:
# Question
Title: Android Phone SD Card Problem
My Samsung Galaxy Admire phone is saying that an SD card isn't found when the SD card is inside the phone: it shows "Please insert SD Card".

What could be wrong?

# Answer
As there's no response anymore from the OP, a short summary from the comments for possible solutions:

## This issue can have multiple reasons:

1. broken/damaged sd card
2. trouble with the file system on the card (damaged or simply not existing), or with the partition table
3. broken/damaged sd card slot
4. incompatible sd card specs (speed, class, brand, ...)

## These are the things you should try

Best in the order of their listing:

1. Put the card into a card reader, and attach it to your computer. See if it is recognized and readable.
    * If it's readable and working fine on the computer, this elmininates reasons 1-2 from above, leaving you with reason 3-4. Continue with 2.
    * if the computer claims errors, these are most likely the same keeping the card from working on your Android device. Check what the errors are, and take appropriate actions. Skip to 3.
2. Check a different card with your Android device (either you have another one around, or a friend might borrow you one to check with).
    * If that card works fine, it eliminates reason #3. As you already eliminated #1 & #2 above, this leaves you with #4 -- Buy a new card (by now you know at least one working brand/class/size combination -- from the card succeeding here), no more checks needed.
    * If no other card seems to work, that almost eliminates reason #4 (though you won't be able to check all combinations of brand/class/size, it's unlikely to have tried 5 different combinations and none is working), which leaves you with reason #3 -- a case for the service station. Either get your device repaired, buy a new device, or live without a sd card available.
3. If you got here, you obviously have some trouble with the card itself which might be solveable. So here are several things you could try to get it working (again). Consider all data lost which have been on the card (data recovery is a different issue, but if needed, it should take place *before* you apply any of the below steps!). Stop whenever one of the following steps brought you success:
    * Try formatting the card from within your device
    * Try the same from the computer
    * It might be needed to fix the partitions. With a Custum recovery (e.g. *ClockworkMod Recovery*) on your device, this can be done from there -- otherwise you might need to do it from your computer. That done, format it again
    * check different file systems. FAT16/32 should always work, when in doubt

That should be a nearly complete How-to-fix-It. If I forgot something, feel free to mention it :)

## TL;DR -- short variant:
> 7 votes

---
Tags: sd-card
---


# Question
Title: How can I symlink the /cache folder on boot?
After rooting and installing link2sd on my **HTC Explorer**, I still have low memory issues.

On Google Play, I can't download apps larger than 10-15M. This is because the /cache folder is in the internal memory, which is desperately small. In my version, Google Play writes directly in /cache, not in subfolders.

Using adb as root, I deleted `/cache` and created a symlink `/cache -> /mnt/sdcard/cache`. This is fine, but when I reboot the phone the symlink is replaced by the old folder.

Is there a proper way to solve this issue once and for all?

Thanks for any hint, A

# Answer
Alas, that's not possible.

At least not without reflashing the HTC's partition table (which happens to be in the bootloader section, aka. hboot). There's seemingly no modded hboot out there for the explorer. I only know of repartitioned hboots for the HTC Desire.

Reason:
/cache is backed by a separate block device on all Android devices(i.e. mount-point or partition), it's needed to hold firmware update files (e.g. definitely needed for encrypted phones). So if you move it, there's no gain because that partition will still be there and not free up space for the /data partition. In case you shrink the /cache partition, OTA updates will not be possible any more (you'd have to use a custom recovery to do it).
> 1 votes

# Answer
You might want to take a look at DirectoryBind, which was developed for things like this. It takes care for the user-configured "mounts" at boot-time and also on-demand, so nothing should "disappear" on a boot.

Basically, it is intended to map things from internal/phone storage to external/sd storage -- especially for cases like yours, were internal memory is running low.

**NOTE:** According to ce4's answer, this method will not bring any profit *concerning the `/data` folder,* as `/cache` is using its own partition (this seems to apply to all Android devices -- checked with 7 different devices from 5 different manufacturers; according to *ce4* this is especially needed on encrypted devices, as an unencrypted partition is required to store firmware updates onto for execution). So if your concern is increasing storage on `/data`, this won't do with `/cache`. But if you simply need more space in `/cache`, it should be perfectly fine. You could then use the original block device (where `/cache` *was* pointing to) for something else ;)

**NOTE2:** AFAIK Google Playstore uses `/data/local` to buffer its downloads. On most devices, this should only be a directory on the `/data` partition, and thus could easily be handled by *DirectoryBind*.

**Additional hint:** check with the `df` command from within a terminal whether the directory you want to move from internal to external storage is using a separate partition or not.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, link2sd, cache, htc-explorer
---


title: Galaxy S2 not charging

text:
# Question
Title: Galaxy S2 not charging
Galaxy S2 not charging tried usb and wall charger, initially I had this problem I removed and put the battery back it and it then began to charge however on next charge it stopped in mid charge ( normally leave phone off when charging).. now its just a lump of black plastic. I tried removing the battery while plugged in , then powering on immediately after putting the battery back in , cleaning the port, even reboot does not work ...any suggestions...my guess I need a new battery although it is less than 12 months.

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you didn't change anything on your phone and it's still under warranty (you said less than 12 months), the easiest solution would be to take your phone to a Samsung service center. They might change your battery for free.

# Answer
> 1 votes
2 possible causes:

1. Faulty battery
2. USB port defect

Both of these are hardware problems. To be frank, battery charging problems seldom have to do with software defects, so the best thing is to send it to the nearest Samsung service centre and get it fixed, or maybe even a replacement.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, charging
---


# Question
Title: Why does unlocking the bootloader wipe phone?
I understand that unlocking the bootloader will wipe my Android phone, but have been looking around for why. Seems to be by design, but what is the reasoning for that design? Is it some security concern, some obscure technical reason, or just for lulz? I'm looking for something solid to chew on here, something more than because "that's how it is".

# Answer
> 45 votes
It's a security concern. The Android documentation doesn't provide a lot of elaboration, stating simply:

> The procedure must be confirmed on-screen, and deletes the user data for privacy reasons.

However, the privacy concern is relatively straightforward to extrapolate. Once the bootloader is unlocked, the device can be flashed with unsigned images. This means that it is relatively trivial to root the device, and there are actually multiple ways it can be done, such as:

* Flashing a system image with root tools built in
* Flashing a boot image that runs `adbd` with root by default (an "unsecure" image)
* Flashing a recovery image, then using that to overwrite the system or boot partitions with ones that allow root access

Once root is obtained, all of the information on `/data` essentially becomes accessible. This could be emails, contact information, or many other pieces of personal information that you likely don't want in the wrong hands. Therefore, it makes sense to wipe all of this data during the unlocking procedure to ensure that there is no off-the-shelf "official" way of bypassing the sandboxing restrictions implemented by the Android operating system, which would thereby allow someone to steal personal data.

Of course, there *may* be ways to root without wiping on some devices, but they rely on exploits rather than official methods like a bootloader unlock, meaning they are basically bugs.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Its a good question as to the motive in why they insist on this when getting manufacturers to make the handsets for carriers.

The reason, I think, why carriers enforce "locked bootloaders", is really simplistic, in the event of handsets being stolen, and a tech-savvy thief can unlock it, it wipes the personal data in place thus ensuring that contacts etc are removed.

And, in a what I would perceive, a twisted roundabout-way, the victim will not get billed for unsolicited texts/calls etc to their own contacts (i.e. billing for calls etc) made whilst the handset is stolen, that is, if it is still in original state, i.e. locked, that is, provided the relevant authorities have been informed.

So the desire for the thief to infiltrate and get at the handset to work with another carrier would force the thief to unlock the boot-loader.. I would be inclined to believe its for that reason, carriers are in fact, protecting themselves and covering their position in maintaining the contractual clauses with the customers...(*this is only hearsay based on what I have read about carriers*)

And yet carriers, still maintain their stance in selling handsets with locked boot-loaders despite uproar from the community, i.e. lack of openness, difficulties in modding etc and do try scare off using this tactic "*Unlocking boot-loader voids the warranty*".

Some carriers would even get the manufacturers to make the handsets *impossible* to unlock - for example, Orange's San Diego, which was released earlier on in 2012, circa February, Intel-based chip-set running Android - it took 8 months to get it rooted, and by then, the community declined..the detrimental side effect was that the price of that handset dramatically dropped a lot and lost its value due to zero openness and the developer community lost interest in modding for it!

All a boot-loader is - its a piece of code, and if received instructions via `fastboot -i 0x0fce oem unlock [SOME_HEX_KEY]` or similar, to unlock, the boot-loader code is instructed to wipe the `/data` partition - nothing more. It does not physically damage the screen, functionality, RAM, charging etc.. FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)

With what I have written, hopefully makes sense.

---
Tags: bootloader, bootloader-lock
---


# Question
Title: What's the security implication of having an unlocked boot loader?
Nexus devices can be unlocked using the fastboot command `fastboot oem unlock` to install a custom firmware. For security reasons, the phone is wiped when this command is executed. However after this is done, most people leave the boot loader unlocked.

Devices that support unlocking the boot loader: SonyEricsson (now Sony), Sony, newer HTC devices, ??

Is there a security problem with an unlocked bootloader?
If this is the case, what can be done?

# Answer
> 30 votes
A permanently unlocked boot loader (BL) on a Nexus device is a **big security risk**.
It's only recommended for a pure developer phone.

An insecure BL enables all sorts of fastboot commands that can be used for e.g. doing the following:

* Conduct a cold boot attack to recover the key for Android's full disk encryption
* Make a copy of the device
E.g. by booting a custom image (*adb boot boot.img*), then copying partition dumps
* Erase data using *fastboot erase*
* Flash arbitrary Android firmware, recovery images or radio firmware
*fastboot flash radio|recovery|boot|...*
* Install a root kit (boot custom recovery, then modify system files)
* Steal Google/Facebook/whatever accounts stored on the phone
* etc.

In case someone has their device encrypted, full access is not immediately possible. However there exists cracking software to brute force the used encryption PIN/passphrase. Altering the firmware is always possible (i.e. an *evil maid attack*, aka. installing a rootkit/password logger/etc.)

This is the normal process of modding a Nexus device:

* unlock the bootloader (*fastboot oem unlock*)
* boot/install insecure/open custom recovery
* install custom firmware

To secure your modded device you should do this afterwards:

* install a safe recovery image again (custom recoveries like TWRP/CWM are unsafe)
use the extracted recovery.img from Google's factory firmware file, available here
* relock the bootloader (*fastboot oem lock*)

This breaks the usual update mechanisms like RomManager. In case you need to upgrade, you can run *flash\_image recovery recovery.img* (as root on the regular Android OS, it bypasses the BL lock) to install a temporary custom recovery again and use this once to upgrade the firmware and then remove the custom recovery *again* by doing a *flash\_image recovery stock.img*. I know, this is not very user friendly right now, but let's hope the situation improves at the custom recovery front.

Some background on what's possible: http://hak5.org/episodes/hak5-1205 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM2\_CpuzQ0o

---
Tags: security, bootloader-lock
---


title: Network Error when invoking Google Now

text:
# Question
Title: Network Error when invoking Google Now
When I try to invoke Google Now by swiping up from the Home button, I get the message "Network error. Check your network connections and try again". I have a solid WiFi signal, and searches from the search bar work fine. I get the same message when I go into settings after launching Google Search and try to enable Google Now.

ASUS Transformer Prime, Android 4.1.1

# Answer
Finally found the answer. I had four Google accounts - one of them could not sync because it required domain policy to be enforced, and I hadn't allowed that. I connected the tablet to my laptop and used adb logcat to see what was being logged when the error was displayed:

```
I/GLSUser (28125): GLS error: DeviceManagementRequiredOrSyncDisabled <<account name redacted>> oauth2:https://www.googleapis.com/auth/personal_derived_data https://www.googleapis.com/auth/paths.notifications
V/GoogleLoginService(28125): Returning error intent with: ComponentInfo{com.google.android.gsf.login/com.google.android.gsf.login.LoginActivity}
E/Velvet.VelvetNetworkClient( 4564): Failed to get auth token

```

(these messages were repeated several times).

I guessed that the errant account may have been involved (even though it was not the account I was trying to active Now with), removed the account from the device and all is well.
> 7 votes

# Answer
Google Now is not available in countries and languages as yet, so you may be in a country were it is not supported. You can still search on Google's homepage, or I suppose you could try a proxy or flashing your phone in such a way to make it believe it is somewhere else in the world were Google Now works
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, system-error, google-now
---


# Question
Title: Is the "What's here?" Google maps feature known from the PC/Browser available on Android?
The PC Version of Google Maps offers a **What's here?** feature (giving grid reference in decimal degrees) which is seemingly not available on the Nexus 7.

This is very useful for navigation to locations without a specific street or house number address, e.g. rural areas.

How can this feature be accessed or is there a work around?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Just tap and hold the point of interest on the map, and then tap the location when it pops up. Then select **What's nearby?**.

---
Tags: google-maps
---


# Question
Title: How to turn off camera click sound on Samsung Galaxy S2?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 through boost mobile.

I want to get rid of the camera sounds. I bought Tasker, and set up the profile like I was told. Everything is on or off. But when I exit Tasker at first, it says "Active profile". Then, it then says "no active profile".

How do I get rid of this annoying sound? I did system sound, notification sounds, media sounds, and slient sound. But I still have the dang noise.

Please help.

# Answer
> 1 votes
1. Have a look at SilentCamera.
2. Alternatively, if your phone's rooted you can delete those files:
/system/media/audio/ui/camera\_click.ogg
/system/media/audio/ui/camera\_focus.ogg
3. XDA has a mod for devices with custom firmwares.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, camera, tasker
---


title: BlueStacks with proxy

text:
# Question
Title: BlueStacks with proxy
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How to configure BlueStack AppPlayer to use Proxy settings when connecting to Network?

I am using BlueStacks 0.7.7.813. I want to run apps like whatsapp on my laptop and the internet is connected with proxy. Is there any way to run apps like whatsapp on BluStacks behind proxy server?

# Answer
> 0 votes
This is a duplicate of: How to configure BlueStack AppPlayer to use Proxy settings when connecting to Network?

The answer is `NO`; proxy is not yet supported.

---
Tags: proxy, bluestacks
---


# Question
Title: How can I see how "Internal" storage is used
1. How can I see how apps are using *Internal Storage*?
2. How can I see percistent/constant usage?
3. How can I see how much applications on SD-card would use extra, if I moved them to the phone.

I am referring to /data, Which Link2SD calls Internal (Storage).

There is also "System" (/system) and "Cache" (/cache), which are also probably internal in the sense that they are not on the SD - but my problem is the Internal as defined above.

# Answer
For the first question (and the 3rd If I'm understanding you correctly), since you're presumably rooted, a simple method for getting a look at things would be to install busybox (if you haven't already) and a terminal emulator and use the du utility.
For example, if I want to look at how much space each app's own data is taking up, I would use `du -d 1 -h /data/data`, which gives me the contents of /data/data (where all the apps' data is stored) to 1 level deep (just the directories directly below /data/data, which are all named after the apps' package names) and give me the sizes in human readable format (Kilobytes, megabytes, etc.). This will tell you exactly how much data every app on your device is storing. You can point this wherever you like. For the 3rd question, you'd simply point it at wherever Link2SD mounts its storage.
For persistent storage, just look at /data/app, which is where the apks themselves are stored.

For further info on the usage of du, refer to the busybox manual.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, storage, link2sd, insufficient-memory
---


title: 0 ram free on ICS

text:
# Question
Title: 0 ram free on ICS
I'm new to the ICS os, coming from Gingerbread from another phone. The phone's quite nice and fast when I first used it, but just this morning it started exhibiting weird actions. Camera360 doesn't open up automatically when I click it, the Camera closes for no reason, Pocket restarts when an article has an image, and TTPod resets the song to the previous song on my widget in the middle of a new song I'm playing.

I checked out the ram, and and was surprised to see 500+ mb used, 0 mb available. I looked at the list of programs and I see the usual culprits like Facebook, but the ram they're using doesn't add up to 500+ mb. Yeah, I know that the whole ram indicated isn't usable by the apps, but I don't think I've done anything to warrant the 0 mb. I close my apps. There are times when there's free 4 to 5 mb, but I think that too shouldn't be the case. I tried installing Advance Task Killer, it listed less than 10 apps, killed it, still the ram is what it is above.

I did a reboot, and now it reads 300+ mb usage, 200 something free.

What can I do? How do I ensure an app's closed on ICS? I installed GoLaucher because it has a handy task killer and I can see the ram freed in an instant, but I would like to know if there's a better way to handle the RAM.

# Answer
While it's quite unusual to really have **0 byte** free, **there is no such thing as "unused RAM"** on Linux/Unix based systems. RAM that's not used by apps themselves is used to e.g. buffer data from slower media, and caching stuff from the file system. You will see that quite nicely when running the `free` command on a command line (using a terminal emulator app, or via `adb shell`). An example (here from a rooted Android running the Terminal Emulator app) looks like this:

Note the high numbers for "buffers" and "cached" -- which are the reason why the RAM used by apps plus the amount of free RAM "doesn't add up" to the total RAM available. Nothing to worry about.

**As for Task Killers:** Kill them, they won't do you much good. True they can be useful -- but not in this context: use them to kill hanging/misbehaving apps e.g. hogging your CPU and won't quit otherwise. But it makes absolutely no sense to use them to "free RAM" or "save battery" -- to the contrary: most "killed" apps will simply re-launch themselves immediately, using the same RAM again -- but needing more battery for the relaunch then they'd used had you not killed them. To close apps, exit them via the *back* button (not the *home* button). If the dev designed them well, this should place them on the "exit list" (check for "OOM killer" and "application life cycle" if you want more technical details).

Don't worry about handling the RAM -- Android does a good job here already on its own :)
> 6 votes

# Answer
You probably have a bad app that causes this (or a bug in your phone's firmware).

Have a look at Memory Usage or enable ADB access and look through the logs (*adb logcat*) to spot the bad app/problem.

In general:
Don't use task killers on Android 2.3+ it's just fine without. Here's an article by Dianne Hackborn on Google's official Android blog. She's an Android engineer at Google.

The same happens in general with linux which Android uses. See the linux ate my ram article why 0MB free is fine.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, ram
---


title: HTC Desire Z stuck in boot-loop

text:
# Question
Title: HTC Desire Z stuck in boot-loop
*I'm a total n00b with Android, and the existing questions tagged `boot-loop` didn't help me.<br>Apologies if I missed something "obvious"!*

I've borrowed a used HTC Desire Z from my brother so I can decide whether to switch to Android. The phone was provided with CyanogenMod 7 and worked like a charm for a few days. I rebooted it today to see whether a reboot would clear up this other question and since then it keeps rebooting itself.

By "rebooting" I mean this sequence:
The device shows the `HTC` logo and then the `cyanogen(mod)7` logo with the robot on a skateboard. After that, it shows the SIM PIN entry screen while the status bar says that it's loading the SD card. Without me touching the device, the screen goes black and boots again from the `HTC` logo onwards.

It's got the ClocworkMod Recovery v5.0.2.7 and I'm guessing that this is part of the CM7 package. It's (supposed to be) a helpful way to reset and recover the device.

Here's what I've tried so far (with reboots in between), without success:

1. I made a backup and then cleared the `/cache`.
2. I restored the backup.
3. I then reset the phone with the `wipe data/factory reset` function.
4. I removed the SIM and the SD card, then did another factory reset.
5. I wiped the `Dalvik cache`, whatever that is.
6. With help, I downloaded a fresh CM7.1 zip file and installed that via the Recovery and SD card. Also wiped all caches again, just to be sure.
7. I downloaded a CM9 rom that was made for this device and installed that. It starts fine and seems to work, but the exact same problem still occurs.

The phone now boots to the welcome screen that says "touch the Android to start" and then, as before, goes black and reboots without me touching it. By the way, the battery is about 70% charged so it's not due to an empty battery, and the problem is the same while plugged into the charger or not.

**How can I get this device to run again?** I don't care (much) for the settings I had; I can begin all over if need be. But I need a working device first...

**Update:** I added the steps 6&7 above. Didn't solve the problem but it seems to prove that it's not a ROM issue. **Is the device physically defective?**

# Answer
> 1 votes
It seems that the HTC Desire models are known to have hardware that easily gets defective... :-/

I've searched far and wide, and the general consensus seems to be that if a restore and/or factory reset doesn't resolve the problem, then it's not a software issue but a hardware defect.

The device could probably be repaired, but if the warranty gone then it's probably wiser buying a new device instead.

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, cyanogenmod, reboot, htc-desire-z, boot-loop
---


# Question
Title: Android PandaBoard: Linux terminal output for debugging?
My research team is currently considering investing in a PandaBoard for Android b/c we are developing a custom kernel/sys-image and would like Linux terminal output.

Does the Pandaboard give me booting information? Such as printing kernel messages to the Linux terminal as the board loads up the system image? So for example, if the phone crashes, I can at least see how far the phone made it in the boot process.

# Answer
> 0 votes
See this link for the general idea.

For verification, do the following steps:

1. Connect DB9 to your host (PC) \<------\> Panda board (target). You need to connect with minicom and mini USB for adb shell.
```
pc$ sudo minicom
```
2. You should have adb shell for the Android SDK.
```
pc$ export PATH=$PATH://android-sdk-linux/platform-tools
```
3. Reboot the panda board.
```
pc$ adb devices # to check the device is connected or not
pc$ adb reboot   # to reboot
```

On minicom terminal, you will get logs of the reboot. At the end, it will ask you to hit a key to stop auto boot. This will tell you if the device is getting the image or not. If you want to boot manuually by using U-Boot terminal, press key so you will get U-Boot terminal.

```
 hardware_name# bootm

```

This will help you a little bit.

---
Tags: reboot, fastboot, usb-debugging
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 infinite login redirect with 2 step authentication
I've just bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and tried to login with my google (gmail) account (which has 2 step authentication) and it redirected me to the web login which I completed (with the text message for the code because it's an unrecognized device). It then returns me to the OS login which I try again which then redirects me back to the web login.

So I get stuck in this infinite loop when trying to login. I assume that this is because I've got 2 step authentication enabled. Any idea how to login in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 with 2 step authentication?

# Answer
You should try to set up an "application specific" password for your tab, and enter THAT password when you enter your account details. Now you totally avoid the second screen asking for the code. You can create an application specific password at https://accounts.google.com/b/0/IssuedAuthSubTokens (at least that's the one I use)

Kind regards

joern
> 4 votes

# Answer
You can temporarily turn off 2-step verification, and turn it back on after you have logged in.

I had the same issue with Galaxy Tab 2, and did just that.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-account, samsung-galaxy-tab-2-7, 2-step-verification
---


# Question
Title: What's my solutions if i brick my android phone?
Are there any tricks (general or not) that I can use if I brick my Android phone? e.g.: when updating android..

# Answer
As you haven't mentioned your phone related information, I can share my view.

When your phone is not responding or bricked then you can use your phone PC Compassion or PC suite or whatever depends on what your phone model gave you.

I own Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro. Sometime back while installing another ROM the phone bricked. I googled and read lots of articles to unbrick the phone.

Especially XDA Forum helped me in unbricking the phone. Sony Ericsson has SEUS(Sony Ericsson Update Service). Using this we can unbrick the Sony Ericsson phones. I am guessing the similar kind of set up is there in all the other phones also.
> 3 votes

# Answer
I Hard Bricked my phone yesterday when I went to flash a custom ROM. I think I was trying to flash a ROM for the wrong model or something, not sure. Whatever, totally bricked. I had two options as I saw it:

## Option 1

Go to AT&T, play dumb, and see if they would give me a new phone. (it worked) **Since it was hard bricked, they could not even turn it on, they simply gave me a new one. My default 1-year warranty covered it.**

## Option 2

Send my phone into the Mobile Techs. They came highly recommended and said they could unbrick a hard bricked Galaxy s3 (my specific model).
> 1 votes

---
Tags: unbricking
---


# Question
Title: Can't connect an already booted device to adb
Every time I want to connect my phone to `adb` via USB I need to turn it off, plug the cable and turn it back on.

Is this the right way to go or am I missing something?

Documentation doesn't seem to explicitly state that.

Some details:

* Samsung GT-B5510 Galaxy Y Pro (Android 2.3.6)
* Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.29
* Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy)

# Answer
> 1 votes
This is the real issue cYrus had (we tracked it down via interactive chat):

The phone has obviously some race condition between **plugging USB in** and **USB ready**. Plugging in basically gives 2 events:

* Power connected event (start charging battery)
* USB connected event (enumerate devices etc.)

If the Host system asks for USB enumeration too quickly (before the power-connected event has settled probably), then that operation fails and the device stays invisible.

The workaround is to slowly insert the USB cable.

Reason: USB has 4 pins, the 2 outer ones are +/- and protrude longer than the inner 2 data pins. If inserted slowly, there's a time gap between the power-connected event and the data-connected event

# Answer
> 1 votes
I have had similar trouble with a different device. After you plug you device in try:

```
adb devices

```

If your phone is not listed, try restarting ADB:

```
adb kill-server
adb start-server

```

Lastly, check if there are any driver updates for your phone. A good place to start looking for drivers is Google's OEM page and Samsung's support page. Additional tips might be found on this SO question.

---
Tags: usb, adb, connection-issues
---


# Question
Title: Displaying age of contact on birthday calendar events
When entering birthdays on a Galaxy Ace S8530i (e.g. Tim 1993), how can I get the calendar to show Tim 1993 20 where the 20 on the end is Tim's age?

# Answer
First of all, remember that you can only do this with your birthdays and events that are in your *google account* contacts. *NOT* phone contacts.

1. Go to google.com/calendar from a computer.
2. Under Other calendars in the left pane, click add.
3. Click `Browse interesting calendars`
4. Click `More` (the More next to Sports).
5. On Contacts' birthdays and events, click subscribe.
6. Sync your contacts and calendar with your google account.

After sucessful syncing, the events should appear in your handsets calendar.

If you need to add the event details of your **phone contacts**, you need to export your phone contacts to your google account (or to your Gmail)

See this link for more info
> -1 votes

---
Tags: calendar
---


# Question
Title: How can I determine if my device has USB Host Mode (OTG) support?
Some Android devices can act as a USB host, so that you can use other USB devices attached to them. For instance, browse or import the photos stored on a camera from your phone, or copy files onto a USB memory stick attached to your tablet, plug a full-size USB keyboard or mouse into a tablet, or use an external GPS or wifi device.

How can I tell if my device can do this?

# Answer
> 56 votes
To use an attached USB device you need to have:

* A USB OTG (USB On-The-Go) cable
* USB Host Mode drivers loaded on your device
* A version of the Android operating system loaded on that device that supports USB Host Mode
* An Android device (eg phone or tablet) that has built-in hardware support for USB Host Mode
* And finally there need to be drivers on your device, for whatever USb device you're plugging in.

## Operating System

USB Host Mode support was introduced in Android version 3.1 (Honeycomb), so if you have Android 3.1, or newer installed on your device then you should have the necessary support for it in your OS, Android 4 also adds additional USB and OTG support. Also, many third-party ROMs add support for USB Host Mode to phones that have the hardware support, but don't have the necessary OS or driver support in the official operating system release.

## Host Mode Drivers

Most devices that have both hardware support and a new enough OS will have the necessary drivers loaded to enable USB Host Mode, but some don't. You can find driver apps on the Play Store for some models that don't have built in drivers. Some models with 3rd party instructions and drivers available are:

## Cable

You can't just use a normal USB cable. As these devices can act as both a USB "slave" device (for instance so that you can plug them into a PC and copy music onto your phone, or copy pictures off the phone) and a USB "host" (for example so that you can plug a USB memory stick into your tablet and copy files on or off it) they need some way to tell which they should act as at a given time.

A USB OTG (USB On-The-Go) cable is what is used to tell your device to act as a host, this is like a normal USB cable but it has one of the internal pins connected to Ground at one end to let that device know that it should act as the host (technically pins 4 & 5 are shorted to ground in an OTG cable).

Additionally, as most phones have micro-USB sockets, but most USB dongles have "full-size" USB plugs, as below many OTG cables have a male micro-B USB plug at one end, and a female USB-A plug at the other to convert between the different sized connectors.

*The Motorola Camera Connection kit, which is a USB OTG cable*

USB OTG cables can be bought fairly cheaply on places like eBay or the Amazon marketplace, as well as many small electronics shops. You may also find that your device's manufacturer sells an official, branded one, often called something like a "Camera Connection Kit" or "USB Memory Stick Connection Cable". If you're brave you can also find various tutorials on the web on how to make your own OTG cable from a standard USB cable.

## USB device drivers

When you plug your USB device into your Android phone or tablet it needs to know what that USB device is and what to do with it. For common devices, like USB memory sticks, or cameras that support PPTP or USB Mass Storage, these will often already be built into the OS. For other USB devices, like Wifi, 3G or Bluetooth dongles there may not be drivers pre-built into the OS, or only drivers for certain specific devices.

## How to test everything together

There are some apps that can help you test whether you have all of the necessary hardware and software to do this, such as USB Host Diagnostics. Using it to test your device's capabilities is very simple

* Install USB Host Diagnostics from the Play Store
* Run it
* Tap the Start Diagnostics link, and following the directions first ensure that you have nothing plugged into USB on your device and then plug a device (such as a USB flash drive) in when prompted

If everything works you should end up with a summary screen like this, showing firstly a few details about your device and the running OS, then letting you know whether or not your device says that it supports USB Host Mode, and then the all important final Verdict that lets you know whether testing the Host Mode access worked or not:

If everything is working and the app successfully detected your USB device (showing that your USB Host Mode is working) you should have "Yes"s in the ringed sections, and some details showing how much access 3rd party (ie non-built-in) apps have to the device. If not, there should be details there to help you track down where the problem is.

**Alternatively**, Chainfire, the author of USB Host Diagnostics, has a (long) listing of all the reports that people have submitted after running the test on their devices. You can look your device up in the list and see if people with your device and operating system version have passed all of the tests, or not. Have a look for your device here: http://usbhost.chainfire.eu/

---
Tags: usb-host-mode, usb-on-the-go
---


# Question
Title: What are "Manual Updates" in Google Play Store?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Why do some of my apps show “Update” and some show “Update (manual)”?

I have been using Android for a long time now, updating the apps regularly (but not in the "Allow Automatic Update" mode).

Today, for the first time, I came across this:

So, my question is as to what exactly are these "Manual Updates" and how do they differ from just "Updates"?

# Answer
> 1 votes
It seams that Apps with updates are shown under "Manual Updates" when the update requires more permission that it's previous versions.

A speculative answer to the difference between "Manual Updates" and just "Updates" would be that "Allow Automatic download of updates" does not applies to "Manual Updates".

---
Tags: google-play-store, updates
---


# Question
Title: Why the battery need to be loaded before to root?
I read in some tutoriel that for the root to be working, battery needed to be loaded around 70 at at least.

Why is it so? Does it endanger the phone, or it just prevent the root to be working for some reason?

# Answer
> 4 votes
It's a safety factor. Depending on the exact method, the rooting process can take a hour or more and if you run out of juice in the middle of the process, your phone can wind up bricked.

---
Tags: rooting, battery
---


# Question
Title: Facing Xperia U problems after updated to ICS
1. I had updated my Xperia U to 4.0, after updating my phone am unable to use otg... one app was showing that drive unavailable.
2. Can't use call recording softwares it will record only my voice without opponents.
3. Getting too slow while using Chrome and few social working apps even camera.
4. How to downgrade to 2.3, & can we use pattern lock,music player, data softwares of 4.0 in 2.3?

# Answer
If your mobile is slow try to get a task killer from play store. It will kill apps that are open in your background and are not needed. (**addendum** not needed! - *edit*)

And to answer your last question I recently had to downgrade my Xperia U from 4.0.4 to 2.3.7. It's actually easier then it sounds, the process is the same when upgrading, you just have to download a few things ;D

**Remember**: Flashing will delete everything on your phone so make sure you backup your mobile.

**Note**
Back up your phone via Sony's *PC Companion Suite* before proceeding

Follow the steps:

1. Get the following:

1. Flashtool, found on github
    2. Your Xperia Firmware
    Xperia U Firmware 2.3.7: found on 4shared site (put this one in a place that is "clean" best option desktop)
2. Install flashtool
3. go to your Phone's Settings \> Developer options/USB debugging (and check that option)
4. Connect your phone to the PC (USB)

**Before you continue**
Go to the folder where you installed Flashtool, open Flashtool's drivers folder and run the installer. (Flashtools\Drivers)
In that installer select your phone and click next.
**WARNING**:
Xperia U is next to Xperia P it is not hard to find but you can easily miss it.
After installing proceed to step 5.
5. Open Flashtools (click yes if anything pops up, it could take a few second sto open)
6. Click the thunder-like symbol
7. Select Flashmode and click Ok. (*NOT FLASHBOOT MODE!*)
8. Click the (...) in front of the first line of the windows that will pop up
9. Select the place where you saved file from the above step II on. (This could be a bit tricky if you can't find the place on that Explorer copy/paste the file to the desktop to make it easier. The file won't appear in the window - don't worry it will detect it and load it automatically.)
10. Make sure everything on the wipe area is checked and that on the exclude area nothing is checked. Misc should be checked too (this is to prevent errors during the downgrade)
11. Follow the on-screen instructions. It will ask you to press a back button, on the Xperia U it's the VOLUME DOWN button. For some reason you have to unplug the cable from the PC too. After you turn off the mobile plug back in the USB to the PC and then press and hold the VOLUME DOWN key on your phone (keep it pressed and when you plug the USB back in the led's will light up green.) You can stop pressing the button when the process starts on Flashtool's window.
12. Wait until it's over, you can leave it. It should only take a few seconds
13. Your mobile will reboot when it's over.

**Don't panic if you can't understand what it says**
The file your installing is from T-Mobile's HU region. After it starts and you enter your SIM pin, it will take you again through the configuration. You will have some apps on your mobile from T-Mobile, just uninstall them if you want.

**Remember**: Flashing will delete everything on your phone so make sure you backup your mobile.

Hope I helped!
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, sony-xperia-u
---


# Question
Title: Getting "E:Error in /sdcard/.zip (status 7)" while upgrading Android Nexus 4.0.1 to 4.1.x (Jelly bean)
I tried to install Jelly Bean (4.1.1) onto the Nexus S handset following the instructions from here.

Later, I noticed that the Nexus should have at least 4.0.3 to upgrade to 4.1.x.

So I tried to install 4.0.3 following the instruction from here.

But each and every time I'm having the error -

> E:Error in /sdcard/filename.zip (Status 7)

How can I fix that?

# Answer
The explanation is simple, as I have suspected, there's a verification mis-match in the `build.prop`, see below,

```
Starting recovery on Fri Jan  4 20:43:32 2013
can't open /dev/tty0: No such file or directory
framebuffer: fd 3 (480 x 800)
ClockworkMod Recovery v5.0.2.0
recovery filesystem table
=========================
  0 /tmp ramdisk (null) (null)
  1 /sdcard vfat /dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/media (null)
  2 /system ext4 /dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/system (null)
  3 /cache yaffs2 cache (null)
  4 /data ext4 /dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/userdata (null)
  5 /misc mtd misc (null)
  6 /boot mtd boot (null)
  7 /recovery mtd recovery (null)
  8 /bootloader mtd bootloader (null)
  9 /radio mtd radio (null)

W:Unable to get recovery.fstab info for /sd-ext during fstab generation!
I:Completed outputting fstab.
I:Processing arguments.
Fixing execute permissions for /cache
mtd: successfully wrote block at 0
I:Set boot command "boot-recovery"
I:Checking arguments.
I:device_recovery_start()
Command: "/sbin/recovery"

ro.secure=0
ro.allow.mock.location=1
ro.debuggable=1
persist.service.adb.enable=1
ro.build.id=GRJ22
ro.build.display.id=GRJ90
ro.build.version.incremental=121341
ro.build.version.sdk=10
ro.build.version.codename=REL
ro.build.version.release=2.3.5
ro.build.date=Mon Sep  5 11:04:10 PDT 2011
ro.build.date.utc=0
ro.build.type=eng
ro.build.user=koush
ro.build.host=Koushik-Lion.local
ro.build.tags=test-keys
ro.product.model=Nexus S
ro.product.brand=google
ro.product.name=soju
ro.product.device=crespo
ro.product.board=herring
ro.product.cpu.abi=armeabi-v7a
ro.product.cpu.abi2=armeabi
ro.product.manufacturer=samsung
ro.product.locale.language=en
ro.product.locale.region=US
ro.wifi.channels=
ro.board.platform=s5pc110
ro.build.product=crespo
ro.build.description=soju-user 2.3.4 GRJ22 121341 release-keys
ro.build.fingerprint=google/soju/crespo:2.3.4/GRJ22/121341:user/release-keys
rild.libpath=/vendor/lib/libsec-ril.so
rild.libargs=-d /dev/ttyS0
ro.sf.lcd_density=240
keyguard.no_require_sim=true
ro.opengles.version=131072
wifi.interface=eth0
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=15
dalvik.vm.heapsize=32m
ro.rommanager.developerid=cyanogenmod
ro.url.legal=http://www.google.com/intl/%s/mobile/android/basic/phone-legal.html
ro.url.legal.android_privacy=http://www.google.com/intl/%s/mobile/android/basic/privacy.html
ro.com.google.clientidbase=android-google
ro.com.android.wifi-watchlist=GoogleGuest
ro.setupwizard.enterprise_mode=1
ro.com.android.dateformat=MM-dd-yyyy
ro.com.android.dataroaming=false
ro.config.ringtone=Playa.ogg
ro.config.notification_sound=regulus.ogg
ro.config.alarm_alert=Alarm_Beep_03.ogg
ro.ril.enable.managed.roaming=1
ro.ril.oem.nosim.ecclist=911,112,999,000,08,118,120,122,110,119,995
ro.ril.emc.mode=2
ro.modversion=CyanogenMod-7.1.0-RC1-NS-KANG
ro.kernel.android.checkjni=1
ro.setupwizard.mode=OPTIONAL
dalvik.vm.dexopt-flags=m=y
net.bt.name=Android
net.change=net.bt.name
dalvik.vm.stack-trace-file=/data/anr/traces.txt
ro.factorytest=0
ro.serialno=3334E1630CFF00EC
ro.bootmode=unknown
ro.baseband=I9020XXKI1
ro.carrier=ATT
ro.bootloader=I9020XXKL1
ro.hardware=herring
ro.revision=16
init.svc.recovery=running
init.svc.adbd=running

I:Checking for extendedcommand...
I:Skipping execution of extendedcommand, file not found...
mtd: successfully wrote block at 0
I:Set boot command ""

-- Installing: /sdcard/VQ8PQk_V.zip
mtd: successfully wrote block at 0
I:Set boot command "boot-recovery"
Finding update package...
I:Update location: /sdcard/VQ8PQk_V.zip
Opening update package...
Installing update...
script aborted: assert failed: file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/soju/crespo:2.3.6/GRK39F/189904:user/release-keys" ||
       file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/soju/crespo:4.0.3/IML74K/239410:user/release-keys"
assert failed: file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/soju/crespo:2.3.6/GRK39F/189904:user/release-keys" ||       file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/soju/crespo:4.0.3/IML74K/239410:user/release-keys"
E:Error in /sdcard/VQ8PQk_V.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.
mtd: successfully wrote block at 0
I:Set boot command ""

```

The `ro.build.fingerprint` contains this **google/soju/crespo:2.3.4/GRJ22/121341:user/release-keys** but the update performed a verification check on the fingerprint which resulted in mis-match and there-by producing `Error code 7`.

Notice the last few lines of the `recovery.log`, i.e. the update was expecting the handset to have this version of Gingerbread - **google/soju/crespo:2.3.6/GRK39F/189904:user/release-keys** OR expecting Ice Cream Sandwich **google/soju/crespo:4.0.3/IML74K/239410:user/release-keys**

This is meaning, that the version of Gingerbread on your handset is too old for the update to work. (Its Gingerbread 2.3.4 that is on it!) *am not 100% sure how this recovery is showing the fingerprint as GB 2.3.4 if the OP states in the comments that the handset is running ICS 4.0.1*

So to resolve the issue, you need to flash to ~~Gingerbread v 2.3.6~~ Ice Cream Sandwich v.4.0.3 first, then apply the update and it should work then.

# Edit

It transpires the OP is running ICS v. 4.0.1, the update script was performing a check for either 2.3.6 or 4.0.3 which is something that I have missed inadvertently.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, 4.1-jelly-bean, samsung-nexus-s
---


# Question
Title: Galaxy S not responsive after an aborted firmware update
I just bought this Samsung Galaxy S, installed the Kies software, then it automatically downloaded an update for my phone. I plugged in my phone and it began the update.

After a few seconds the client said something like 'Error: DLL not found.' (I can't remember exactly what it said.) The update stopped. (In the client.) On the phone's screen, it said "Downloading...". It said this for around 2 hours before I eventually decided to take the battery out and attempt the update again. But, when I restarted the device, the following symbol was displayed on the screen:

I plugged the phone into my PC, and Kies and it said "update failed, Emergency recovery." The client couldn't connect and told me to refer the the manual on how to boot my phone into recovery mode. I tried it and nothing happened. The same symbol is still on the screen, all I can do with it is turn it on and off.

Is there any way I can use my phone again? I don't care if I have to do a factory restore and lose all its data.

# Answer
The below assumes you have the GT-i9000 (international Galaxy S).

---

Go to this XDA thread and download the newest 2.2 firmware for your region. Download Odin for Windows (search for "Heimdall" if you are on Linux). Then do the following:

1. Put your phone into Download mode
    1. Remove the battery
    2. Hold VolumeDown plus the Home key plus Power. While holding,
        1. Reinsert the battery.
        2. Release the Power button, still holding the others, about 1 second after the white "GT-I9000" text appears.
        3. After a few seconds a yellow triangle with an android in it should appear, this is Download Mode. If it doesn't, try this again while holding Power the whole time.
2. Start up Odin.
3. Attach the phone to your PC via USB so that Odin recognizes it.
4. Load the .zip file you downloaded (the ROM/firmware) into the PDA field of Odin.
5. Load the 512 .pit file into the PIT field of Odin.
6. Check "Re-partition".
7. Hit Start. Odin will tell you when it's done; if it fails, reboot your phone and try again. (This happens occasionally).

Note that you do this at your own risk; Odin is very powerful and misusing it can damage your phone. I've used it dozens of times myself safely.
> 5 votes

# Answer
1. Connect to kies in this mode as shown in your photograph.
2. Follow instructions for emergency firmware recovery.

It worked for me.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, updates, samsung-kies, device-firmware, recovery-mode
---


# Question
Title: How to remove apps from android market website?
There are a few apps that even though I uninstalled them (through android market mobile app) still remain present as 'installed' when I go to my website market account (they are not on my phone any more).. I tried installing and removing them again, but it didn't help.. Did anyone have the same problem? Is there a way to fix this so that they don't show up any more?

# Answer
> 5 votes
Well, **Now you CAN remove** the unwanted apps from your market website as well as from the market history. All you have to do is delete from your all apps list.

Goto your play store app and select `My Apps` Then swipe the screen to your left to see the `ALL` apps list.

Just click the crossed circle icon (pointed with the green arrow) to remove the desired app.

Make sure you have uninstalled the app before removing. You can uninstall the apps directly from the All apps list as well.

Note: It seems that this list only contains market installed apps. (i.e. apps other than user installed `.apk` apps)

# Answer
> 2 votes
If you want them removed from the Market app list of previously installed applications, you will have to clear the data in Settings -\> Applications -\> Manage Applications -\> Market.

To get them to not show as installed on the Market website, I would think that this will "clear" once your device does a sync and then the site processes that sync. You have no control over how the website shows applications that are installed. I'd say way a few days and if they are still showing as installed, you can try contacting google about the issue.

# Answer
> 1 votes
> ***edit: this answer is outdated, please see Sid's answer***

I reported this to Android Team, and got this reply:

> Hi,
>
> Thanks for writing in. I understand that some apps are still showing on your account even after being uninstalled.
>
> Keep in mind that all the apps you download will always show on the Android Market website for history purposes. Uninstalled apps will be removed from the Android Market app on your device after a few days.
>
> Regards,
>
> The Android Market Team

So, that means they will never go away from the Android Market website...

---
Tags: google-play-store
---


title: Remove Device from Market Account?

text:
# Question
Title: Remove Device from Market Account?
Hear me out. I know that this has been asked before, but I am hoping that there might be a workaround or some new information.

My boyfriend has a \[Phone X\] that has been sent in for replacement twice, and he now has two \[Phone X\] registered to his google account, and neither one of them is his newest phone.

This is the weird part: somebody has one of his old phones and is using it. He can see everything they download and install onto the phone.

What is going ON here? I know it is possible to "hide" that phone, but it just does not seem good enough, from a security standpoint. His android market account is connected to a google wallet account.

((I am the one asking because I am more interested in tech and more patient about troubleshooting.))

# Answer
> 3 votes
First, I wouldn't be that worried about 'hiding' the phone. I would be worried that if he can see what they download, his account is still attached to that phone. which means they can see EVERYTHING he downloads, emails, chats, etc.

He needs to change the password on the gmail account. Maybe, for extra security, turn on 2 step verification.

You can't, at this time, remove a device from the market. What you can do is go to your Play settings and you can hide the device so they don't show up in the menus.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Not exact but alternate solution is change google account password so it will automatically sign out and ask for new password in device. After that register the device with your username and new password so you are the only user using it. The other is not able to use your account any more as that one doesn't have new password. :)

---
Tags: google-play-store, accounts
---


# Question
Title: How come I can't install Google Maps in Israel?
Google Maps doesn't seem to be available in the market when I'm in Israel. When I travel to Europe it appears. How come?
(I'm on CyanogenMod 7, but that shouldn't matter right?)

I have more or less the same problem on my iPhone!

**UPDATE:**
What I meant was that when in Europe I can *install* Google Maps and then it works great in Israel. Google Maps covers Israel weather you're there or not, the only hurdle is that within Israel you can't install it.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Google probably disables Google Maps in Israel largely for security reasons.

Google Street View in Israel was enabled only some time in 2012. Older news reports say that Google Maps for Israel was totally blank from some areas (especially areas that may attack Israel).

BTW, I can see Israel in Google Maps from my place (Philippines).

Related information:
Why Google Earth Pixelates Israel

---
Tags: google-maps
---


title: Quick NOTETAKING with Android

text:
# Question
Title: Quick NOTETAKING with Android
I often resort to pen and paper for quick notes like telephone-numbers, because I feel using my phone will take to long.

Are there any apps for android that will let me be just as quick (freehand), without beeing "just" a drawing application?

Need to somehow sync into cloud or web.

Ideally it should be possible to quickly open the mick and attach the input (Like evernote)

# Answer
There are plenty of note taking apps on the Play Store :
> 1 votes

# Answer
If it's possible, and when I'm feeling lazy, I just use my camera.

Otherwise, I use ProDo (it's a task manager). I have a widget on my homescreen, and I just touch it when I want to make a quick and short "note" (or task). *Notes or Tasks, it doesn't matter*. When I'm done with them, I delete the "note", or move the data to other apps like Evernote or Contacts, if necessary.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: notes
---


# Question
Title: Where is the code for the Bootloader stored in an Android phone?
Where is the bootloader program on an Android phone stored ?

# Answer
The boot-loader code is stored within the `/boot` partition. Majority of Android handsets uses the Qualcomm's Boot Loader, called LK (Little Kernel), barring Samsung, which uses their own form of boot-code.

LK has the following:

* Variety of nand devices for bootup
* USB driver to enable upgrading images over usb during development
* Keypad driver to enable developers enter ‘fastboot’ mode for image upgrades
* Display driver for debugging and splash screen
* Enable Android recovery image and image upgrades

**This applies to only, Qualcomm chipsets hence the exemption of Samsung based handsets**

There is a website blog that cites this from source

The actual source code, if anyone is curious enough, can be found on CodeAurora site. This is known as CAF, in which a lot of Qualcomm specific code for kernels can be found in.

***As a side-note***: Google releases source to AOSP, CAF, pulls from them, modifies it to make it fit within Qualcomm chipsets, then the Manufacturers pull those down and add their own bits, it is that for the reason there's, AOSP, CAF and CyanogenMod that are the main three flavours of Android.

The actual source code to the boot-loader can be found on CAF's git repository, and has not changed much, it can also be found in CyanogenMod's source, specifically in, `/bootable/bootloader` also.
> 12 votes

---
Tags: bootloader
---


# Question
Title: How can I make it so that any user can chmod in my fuse-mounted ext4-formatted /sdcard?
I have an ASUS Transformer Pad TF101. I finally got round to rooting it just now.

**Important:** `/sdcard` is *not* FAT32. It's a fuse filesystem based in ext4. So it *is* capable of using `chmod`.

So that I can work on it optimally, I'd like to be able to place executables in `/mnt/sdcard`. (Note that while it is called `sdcard` it is not, in actual fact, an SD card; it is internal storage.) I'd also like `chmod` in general to succeed, as it causes problems with certain things in Mercurial when it fails (even when I've patched the things in the main codebase to make it work at all, a few things in Python standard library calls still break).

I presume that the problem is something to do with the mount flags, but I don't know what, so here they are:

```
$ mount
...
/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 on /data type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodiratime,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,nodelalloc,data=ordered)
...
/dev/fuse on /mnt/sdcard type fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other)
...

```

I'm not sure what happens with the FUSE stuff, but I know that `/sdcard`'s contents are stored in `/data/media`.

Here, then, is the baffling thing about it all:

* As 10126 (terminal) in /sdcard, I *can't* chmod.
* As 1023 in /sdcard, I *can't* chmod.
* As 0 in /sdcard, I *can* chmod.
* As 10126 in /data/media, I *can't* chmod.
* As 1023 in /data/media, I *can* chmod.
* As 0 in /data/media, I *can* chmod.

Having applied `chmod a+w /data/media`, 10126 can then chmod appropriate files in /data/media, but still neither 10126 nor 1023 can chmod in /mnt/sdcard, which is what I ideally want. (Because it sorts out all the rest of the permissions so that you don't end up with fragmented file ownership.)

Also, if I create files in /sdcard, they will be owned by UID/GID 0/1015 (1015 being `sdcard_rw`), while if I create them in /data/media, they will be owned by the UID/GID of the user (0/0) rather than 1023/1023 in /data/media (they will still be owned by 0/1015 in /sdcard—I don't understand that but am not drastically worried by it).

So then, my question: how can I make it so that any account can successfully `chmod` in /mnt/sdcard, rather than just root?

*I have been using /mnt/sdcard and /sdcard interchangeably in this question; /sdcard is symlinked to /mnt/sdcard.*

# Answer
Chmod will never be supported. That's on purpose according to comments in the source code.

Here's a reference to the FUSE implementation on Github pointing to a comment that says this.

And the original head on Googlesource (a bit harder to navigate than Github).

Even root cannot bypass it:

```
shell@android: # id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root)
shell@android: # touch /mnt/sdcard/x; ls -l /data/media/0/x
-rw-rw-r-- media_rw     media_rw        0 2013-01-05 17:35 x
shell@android: # chmod 777 /mnt/sdcard/x; ls -l /data/media/0/x
-rw-rw-r-- media_rw     media_rw        0 2013-01-05 17:35 x
shell@android: # chmod 000 /mnt/sdcard/x; ls -l /data/media/0/x
-rw-rw-r-- media_rw     media_rw        0 2013-01-05 17:35 x

```

Note that ownership is hardcoded to media\_rw:media\_rw (below /data/media). PS: /data/media is another story, all the regular permissions apply here, it's ext4 and root is allowed to do whatever it wants.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: mount, file-permissions, ext4
---


# Question
Title: Can't transfer file from Ubuntu to Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1
when connecting my Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1 (USB debugging off) to my PC running Ubuntu 10.10 the device seems to be mounted properly, but I can't transfer any file (I always get "Error creating directory: -1: Unspecified error").

I googled the issue, installed mtp-tools and mtpfs, tried several recommended methods, but I still can't use my tab as a mass storage device.

Anybody can help?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Install SSHDroid on your phone and mount it on your Linux box using sshfs. Even if a wifi network is unavailable, you can still manage a transfer just by setting up *wifi tethering* on your phone (this will even work without a data connection, say when you're travelling).

Connect your laptop to the wifi tether and then turn on SSHDroid. After that it's just like copying to a server. You can use a command like:

```
scp /home/daniel/Music/* 192.168.48.1:/mnt/sdcard/Music/

```

Or even mount that remote sftp server to a local path. Just google for `sshfs fstab`. Just note that the ip mentioned here will likely be different for you.

Note that data will move *between your laptop and your phone* on the local network, not using up your mobile data connection (if you even have access to one), so there's no need to worry about data fees.

# Answer
> 3 votes
I have a Galaxy S2 and I resolved a similar problem using the phone just as a mass storage device (and not using MTP), following this tutorial from askubuntu (it worked nicely):

> * go to the settings
> * under Wireless and network click on "More"
> * select USB utilities
> * click the "Connect storage to PC"
>
> Now you can plug in the USB cable and use USB mass storage.
>
> On more modern versions of Android, you may need to click the "More…" item in settings. This contains the "USB Utilities" item, mentioned above.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Just bought a Galaxy Note 10.1, and ran through same problem to transfer file through USB with my Ubuntu 12.04 PC.
Now, it seems that using 'connect as a camera' is smoother... No need of any other software.
Go to Settings / Developer options, and check 'USB debugging'
Then open the main menu (where you get the notifications) and tap on "Connected as..." to open the 'Storage settings/USB PC connection' menu (can figure out how to access it another way): 2 options 'Media device (MTP)' and 'Camera (PTP)'. I checked the Camera(PTP).
Then connect the device to the PC, cancel all messages that may appear on the PC, and normally the device should mount automatically: 2 icons should appear on the desktop: 1 is the main card, the other the extension card.
Now you can copy and past files from the PC to the device cards via Nuatilus like for any other device.
BUT...

1. you do not have access to the files on the cards: ie,the directories appear empty (if they appear at all). So you may need to shuffle the files around afterwards on the device directly to re-arrange the locations etc... Appart from that, drag and drop files on the extSD card does work: the files are copied, no pb.
You do have access to the files and directories you just copied though.
2. Some characters seems to be forbidden in the names of files and directories that you copy. Do not use: " or : or ? and perhaps some others. the . - _ and ' are ok. But having a forbidden character in the file or directory name causes an error as reported in the original post :"Error creating directory: -1: Unspecified error" if pb is in the name of the directory you want to copy, or "Error copying file xxxx: -1: Unspecified error" if it's in the file name.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The best hassle free way to transfer files between Ubuntu and your device is by using and ftp client like FileZilla on Ubuntu and Software Data Cable for your android device. You can then transfer files via FTP. Works for me. Hope it helps.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Ubuntu 10 requires manual editing of your udev config in order to recognize an Android device's SD card.

As root create the text file "/etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules” and add this line for a Samsung device:

```
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="04e8", MODE="0666"

```

Save the file and exit the editor, then set the permissions of the file and restart the udev system:

```
$ sudo chmod a+rx /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
$ sudo restart udev
udev start/running, process xxxx

```

If that doesn't work, you can also install an app for file xfring as other answers have recommended. Personally I favour Samba Filesharing.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I did what @Logos suggested. If you are looking for solution for your Galaxy Tab (tablet, not Galaxy phone), then upon plugging usb data cable to your linux computer you will see a usb connection icon. Tap on notification aera, then on usb connection, then tap on check-box that is non-MTP connection option. Then you will see your Galaxy tab's SD card mounted on your desktop. If you browse folders - you will find them empty, content is not shown. Just transfer your files where you want them to be. The opposite direction is not working, I guess.

---
Tags: linux, 3.2-honeycomb
---


title: Contact Organizer

text:
# Question
Title: Contact Organizer
I just bought an android phone a few days ago, and I love it. There are a few things that bother me, but most of the time I find that there is a better way to manage things.

What bothers me the most at this point though is that I can't store Email addresses on the People app. I was looking for a one stop place where I'd be able to store all the information about a person including email, date of birth, profile picture etc. I'd receive reminders when their birthday comes up and stuff like that.

Is there a single app that does all that?

# Answer
I don't know which device you are using? But normally every Android phones People app should support the functionality of at least the basic information (meaning the emails, because it is Android ~ Google ~ Gmail). So are you really sure you can't add at least the email address to your contacts? As mentioned already by eldarerathis, you should normally even see your contacts online status.

Maybe you can test it by logging in on your Gmail account on a pc. Add some email addresses to your contacts via the pc. Make your Android device synchronize the information you just entered (Settings \> Accounts&Sync \> Sync all; or something like that). Then have a look back at your People app and check if the email addresses are entered. If they are visible on your phone, that probably means that your phone supports this, but you haven't found the good way to add this information via your People app. Maybe you can search the site of the manufacturer for more information (or maybe have a look at something like a Help or Get Started app on your phone).
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, contacts
---


# Question
Title: What is google's policy regarding the images of the apps?
I want to use the Images of the apps that are shared by the developers for displaying on the Google Play Store (The app/game screenshots).

Am I allowed to use them? Can they be reproduced?

# Answer
Please read the terms and conditions of the site, specifically, under sub-heading **6. Rights and Restrictions**, and I'll quote:

> ***No Public Performance.*** You agree not to display content contained in Products in whole or in part as part of any public performance or display even if no fee is charged (except where such use would not constitute a copyright infringement). Use of a tool or feature provided as an authorized part of Google Play (for example, “Social Recommendations”, as defined in the Music terms below) is permitted, provided that as you use the tool or feature as specifically permitted and only in the exact manner specified and enabled by Google.
>
> Capturing of Streams. You may not use Google Play or any Product in conjunction with any stream-ripping, stream capture or similar software to record or create a copy of any Product that is presented to you in streaming format.
>
> Sharing. You may not use Products as part of any service for sharing, lending or multi-person use, or for the purpose of any other institution, except as specifically permitted and only in the exact manner specified and enabled by Google (for example, through “Social Recommendations”).
>
> ***Proprietary Notices.*** You may not remove any watermarks, labels or other legal or proprietary notices included in any Product, and you may not attempt to modify any Products obtained through Google Play, including any modification for the purpose of disguising or changing any indications of the ownership or source of a Product.

The italic-ized and bolded heading is my emphasis and thus would lead to OP's intention to be in violation!
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store
---


# Question
Title: Is the setting OFF/ON of the security flag different from enabling/disabling of fastboot?
I am following the book **XDA Developers Android Hackers Toolkit 2012**.
In the beginning chapters , it says that :
The **second-stage bootloader** checks to see if the security flag is *on* **(S-ON)** or *off* **(S-OFF)** and depending on that , it checks for the signatures in kernel and OS that is to be loaded . The book says that if the security flag is **S-OFF** , then the bootloader no longer checks for signatures and also makes the entire system writable .
Now , coming to **fastboot** :
Fastboot is a protocol that allows low level commands to be sent to a device to do such things as write files to the OS . Most manufacturers , therefore , disable the fastboot protocol at the factory .

Can the security flag be **S-OFF** and fastboot be disabled ? Can anyone elaborate on the relation between the security flag and fastboot protocol ?

# Answer
S-OFF is mainly found in HTC devices, and is a separate security mechanism whereas the `/system` directory cannot be mounted RW across boots.

It also restricts other features.

If S-OFF is enabled, fastboot can't be disabled, as fastboot would have to be enabled to turn S off. As such, fastboot would most likely be enabled, unless it was re-locked in some way (which would in turn lock S to ON).
> 1 votes

---
Tags: security, fastboot, bootloader
---


title: htc one s android update - how?

text:
# Question
Title: htc one s android update - how?
I have a new HTC One S, which is now running 4.0.4. Although I understood that HTC released the update to 4.1, when I check for updates (Settings -\> About -\> Software updates -\> Check Now) it returns "There are no updates available for your phone".

Do the guys in HTC push the update in chunks of devices? Can I advance myself in the queue? Can I ask for the update?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Software updates are released by the mobile network of the device as well as the device manufacturer.

It normally goes like this:

* Google release a new Android version.
* Manufacturers take this new Android version and modify it to work on their devices.
* *Manufacturers test the version, and push it out to unlocked devices first via desktop software update and then via OTA update if available*.
* Mobile networks/Carriers then take the Android version modified by the Manufacturer and modify it themselves to add carrier specific apps/features.
* Carriers pass it onto the manufacturer to release to the public \[OR\] carriers release it to the public via their custom OTA app.

As such, it can take some time to get the update, however I would advise you check using the desktop program if there is one.

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, htc-one-s
---


# Question
Title: What is the difference between USB Mass Storage and USB Debug mode?
I am familiar with USB Mass Storage mode . How exactly is USB Debug mode different from it ?

# Answer
> 3 votes
An Android device in "Mass Storage" mode behaves just like a USB flash drive: It presents itself as a block device that can be mounted (i.e. "used") by the host PC. Just like a USB stick does.

Additionally "USB Debug Mode" can be enabled, which creates a new USB endpoint for the Android Debug Bridge (`adb`). This allows a user to get in-deep access to the connected Android device and furthermore it allows the debugging of apps. This is the reason why you should never attach an Android device with Debug Mode enabled to an untrustworthy PC. As USB is able to provide more than one endpoint per USB device, these "services", Mass Storage and `adb`, can be used simultaneously.

# Answer
> 0 votes
USB Debug Mode is used by developers to test their apps. If they connect using USB Debug Mode, they will get debug information about how their app is working on the device.

---
Tags: usb-connection-mode, usb-debugging
---


# Question
Title: How to turn off talkback feature on Galaxy S2 ICS 4.03
I have turned on Talkback to see if it worked on My Galaxy S2.That also disabled my touch screen scrolling .Now I cannot turn off talkback because I cannot scroll through the setting menu. What should I do?

# Answer
In this post, it says to: double tap and scroll with two fingers.
Let us know if it works.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Use 2 fingers to scroll through menu.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: settings, accessibility, talk-back
---


# Question
Title: App that optimizes images to set as lockscreen?
How can I resize *any* image I have to 720 x 1280 resolution to set it as a lockscreen for my Xperia T? I tried Wallpaper Wizardrii but for some reason I cannot get the app to enlarge small pictures to entirely fit the screen.

I had an Apple phone they there was an app called "lockscreen" that automatically stretched/resized any image to match the screen resolution without any empty vertical or horizontal bars.

Are there any equivalent solutions for Android?

# Answer
> -2 votes
you can try the **Go Locker**.....

---
Tags: lock-screens, images
---


# Question
Title: Unable to add credit card in Google Wallet
Whenever I try and buy an app, google asks me to add a credit card in google wallet. But when I finish adding me credit card details, phone number and address and do save (I'm using my sony xperia mobile for this btw) I get an error saying:

```
Error:
Error while retrieving information from server. [RPS:S-7:AEC-0]

```

What might be the problem?

# Answer
Now the RBI has given instruction to all banks to make changes in the server to give the transaction password while doing net purchase. there is no option in google wallet to put transaction password.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, google-wallet
---


title: Flashing new radio to my Desire HD

text:
# Question
Title: Flashing new radio to my Desire HD
Last week, I decided to flash a custom ROM to my 2 year old Desire HD. I used the hack kit (AAHK) and flashed Jellytime R30. Everything is great... except for the non-existent GPS.

After looking around, I've managed to tracked the issue down to an incompatible/outdated radio on my device. My current baseband version is **12.56.60.25U\_26.10.04.03\_M**.

According to the ticket, people were able to make the GPS work by flashing a new radio version **12.69.60.29\_26.17.14.11\_M**. To aid me in flashing a new radio, I read a lot and figured out that I would need to do the following steps:

Requirements: S-OFF

* Download the radio file
* Rename it to PD98IMG.zip (this is important!)
* Move the file to your SD-card root (not in any folder)
* Download MD5 Checksum Checker
* Make sure that the MD5 provided with the download link matches with your downloaded file! ^ If not performed, you might risk bricking your device!
* If they match, you are ready to go! Power off your device.
* Hold the volume-down and powerbutton simultaneously ^ This will boot you into Fastboot/Bootloader
* You should see a screen with options
* Navigate to Bootloader (if not already in it) and press the powerbutton
* Wait for the flashing process to begin (it does automatically!).
* Reboot your phone and you are done!

So here are my questions:

1. Are the steps I've laid out above correct?
2. Will radio version **12.69.60.29\_26.17.14.11\_M** work for my device? It's HTC Desire HD bought in the Philippines on May 2010. (According to the thread, this is from an Inspire device)
3. Will this radio work in the Philippines? (I've read that radios are "region" specific. If they are, where can I download a radio for our region?)
4. According to a user, "flash ENG S-OFF and your device was shipped with Gingerbread you will mess your bootloader and radio won't be the main concern then". I'm currently on S-OFF (via AAHK) and my device was shipped with Froyo (I think). Will this be a problem? (I don't understand what he is saying).

That's all. Thank you in advance.

# Answer
> 0 votes
1. You've done your research right, bro. Another recommended way is using the commandline fastboot which can be easily followed-through here. I'm using the same custom ROM as you are, though, I can't utilize the bootloader interface on the phone as I already cut off the flex of its volume rockers(yields nonbooting issues for me already).
2. It'll work just like it did on mine. Not an official WWE(international) radio, though.
3. The latest WWE applicable is 12.65.xxxx but GPS will not function already when using JellyTime R30(which is based on the latest pull from CM10).
4. Since you already have flashed a custom ROM I believe it's safe to say you don't have to deal with issues regarding S-OFF

---
Tags: rom-flashing, htc-desire-hd, radio-firmware
---


# Question
Title: Why does my google maps keeps on crashing even though i'm not using it at all?
So, I'm just using my apps. Then sometimes it freezes for a while, and a notice will pop-up and say "Unfortunately, maps has stopped." even though I'm not using it.

What do I have to do?

Samsung Galaxy S 3

# Answer
It could be that you have enable something like Google Latitude tracking, which goes via the Maps app on your phone. Maybe have a look at the settings in your Maps app to see if there is nothing enabled that works in the background, and prevents the application from stopping.

Maybe you have used the application some time before that error? Because Android will not immediately close applications, so it could be that the Maps app is still open from a couple of hours ago.

Maybe some other application is trying to open the Maps application for you? If you for example click on an address or something like that, most apps will try to open your default Maps application. So maybe you have opened/connected to the Maps app without really knowing?
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-maps, crashes
---


# Question
Title: How to use Tasker to kill apps on/after device boot?
I have several apps auto start at boot, and it's really not necessary. So I'm trying to use Tasker to kill them on/after device boot.

Tasker has a "Event - Device Boot" option, but it seems that does not work. Tasker just cannot catch this event.

I'v also tried to trigger the profile when another app (which starts after Tasker) starts. It works but the problem is that each time the app starts, Taker performs the action, but I only need the task to be performed once.

Can anyone think of any trick to do this?

PS: please no recommendation on third-party apps or permission change method

# Answer
Your restriction (no 3rd party apps) will keep a better fitting answer away, I'd say. What you describe is a task not for Tasker, but for... oh, I shall not mention it you wrote...

Your problem is most likely that *Tasker* very well catches the `boot_completed` event, but the apps to kill have been waiting for the same. So when *Tasker* looks to kill them, they're not yet started. Your Task thus finishes without anything done, and *Whoop!* then the unwanted apps start.

So if you really want to do this via Tasker, I'd insert a `Tasker -> Wait` at the very beginning of the task. Play with the values, start with 15s and increase in 15s steps until either it works or your reach a point where it's unlikely to work (say e.g. 2 min, or you see the apps have started and your Task didn't kill them).

If that still doesn't work, combine it with switching the condition: In case *Tasker* really cannot catch the `boot_completed` (well, *Tasker* itself is started then), switch to "monitoring start", and start over with 15s wait again.

Finally, though you didn't want 3rd party apps, just in case you re-think that: Autorun Manager does this job quite fine, without any hazzle. On rooted devices, it even can disable other intents than just `boot_completed` listeners.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: boot, tasker, task-management
---


# Question
Title: Secret code not working on my phone when it is working on others?
There is an app that allows you to enter a secret code in the format `*#*#(code)#*#*`, however it is not working on my phone (Samsung Galaxy SII GT-I9100) running CyanogenMod 10 (Android 4.1.1).

I have managed to confirm that it is working on other devices, so why isn't it working on mine? Logcat reveals nothing.

# Answer
A lot of the secret codes are either carrier specific or ROM specific. An example, I bought my son an HTC EVO 4G (from swappa) and called sprint to activate it. They had me enter one of the secret codes and it should have launched a window that would ask for a PIN. But it did not.

The reason was because the phone that I bought was running CM7. In order to activate I had to enter this code. But in order to enter the code, I had to have the Stock HTC Sense ROM installed on the device.

I found a flashable version of the Sense ROM, flashed it, called back Sprint and entered the Secret Code. Everything worked as expected. Then after the device was registered with Sprint I flashed CM7 back on the device.
> 4 votes

# Answer
Ok, so I discovered what the issue was...

It seems that it only works if the app is a system app - I have no idea why, as it works normally on my mum's phone running Android 2.3.7.

It must either be an Android 4.1.3 feature, or a CyanogenMod feature. I will investigate further however.

EDIT:

This wasn't actually the issue. It turns out it *was* a development issue, as apps needed to be opened first (on Android 3.1+) before the receivers would register.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: dialer-codes
---


# Question
Title: Android Market gone after emulator reboot on Windows
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Android Market gone after emulator reboot

I am having the same problem as mentioned here. But my specs are as follows:

OS=Windows 7 SP1 SDK Revision = 21.0.1

* OS = Windows 7 SP1
* SDK Revision = 21.0.1
* Android-SDK=3.0(API Level 11)

> ## AVD Details
>
> Name: DemoDevice1
>
> CPU/ABI: ARM(armeabi)
>
> Path: c:\Users\The WABBIT.android\AVD\DemoDevice1.avd
>
> Target: Android 3.0 (API level 11)
>
> Skin: WXGA
>
> SD Card: 2048
>
> hw.lcd.density: 213
>
> vm.heapSize: 32
>
> hw.ramSize: 1024

I have already deleted the SdkSetup.apk from the emulator and then added the GoogleServicesFramework.apk and Vending.apk packages to the emulator.

But, upon reboot everything is reverted back to before changes was made. I am unable to find a updated img file in any temporary directory, or any directory, as outlined in above mentioned post.

Can anyone help me with this?

# Answer
> 0 votes
For those that are using the Windows version of the Android SDK the answer given in Android Market gone after emulator reboot stands as the correct thing to do. But the name of the .img file and the temp directory location differ from that given in that post.

The reason for the difference I cannot say, but I suspect it is because of one of the following reasons.

1. I am using Windows instead of Linux.
2. I am using a different revision of the SDK, can't really say as there was no mention of the SDK revision in the previous post.
3. Or it could be both 1 & 2.

Any ways, you will find the temp .img directory in the following location:

> *SystemDrive*\Users\ *\[username\]* \AppData\Local\Temp\AndroidEmulator

The file name will be similar to the following:

> TMP19AD.tmp

Note: \- The file name will change every time you run the emulator. \- That the file size will always be 0bytes will the emulator is running. \- It is easier to work on one virtual device at a time when accessing the temp .img files. Otherwise it gets confusing which file is for which virtual device.

To make your changes permanent do the following:

1. Work on one virtual device at a time.
2. Copy the **.tmp** from the AndroidEmulator directory to a temporary location before exiting the emulator.
3. Rename the \*.tmp file to system.img.
4. Copy the system.img file to your virtual device's AVD directory. Overwriting any previous system.img file.

I have created the following batch file to do the copying.

**system\_copy.bat**

```
@echo off
rem
rem system_copy.bat
rem
rem Command-line reference:
rem     system_copy [drive_letter] [account_username] [virtual_device's_name]
rem

rem
rem check to see if the user entered the parameters needed
rem
rem check for the drive letter
if [%1] == [] goto :error1
rem check for the account username
if [%2] == [] goto error2
rem check for the virtual device's name
if [%3] == [] goto error3

rem
rem set the paths for the tmp_path and main_avd_path
rem to use in the copying process
rem
:SetPaths
rem Grab current directory before we change it
rem this will be directory outside of the virtual device's directory
set main_avd_path="%cd%"

rem set the current location for the temp AVD .img files
set tmp_path=%1:\Users\%2\AppData\Local\Temp\AndroidEmulator

rem now we need to verify a few things

rem verify that the temp_path exist
if not exist %tmp_path% goto error4
rem verify that the temporary .img file exist
if not exist %tmp_path%\*.tmp goto error5

rem now we begin the copying of the system.img file
echo.
echo Copying the *.tmp file to the virtual device's avd directory as system.img.
echo.

copy %tmp_path%\*.tmp %main_avd_path%\%3%.avd\system.img /y >nul

rem check for any errors in copying the file
for %%e in (5 4 3 2 1) do if errorlevel %%e goto copyerror-%%e

if not errorlevel == 0 goto copyerror-0

rem show copy succes message
echo.
echo Copying is complete.
echo.
goto :EOF

rem beginning of the error messages
:error1
    echo.
    echo ERROR: System drive letter not specified.
    echo Please rerun this batch file and specify the system drive letter.
    echo.
    echo Command-line reference:
    echo    system_copy [drive_letter] [account_username] [virtual_device's_name]
    goto :EOF

:error2
    echo.
    echo ERROR: User account name not specified.
    echo Please rerun this batch file and specify the User account name.
    echo.
    echo Command-line reference:
    echo    system_copy [drive_letter] [account_username] [virtual_device's_name]
    goto :EOF

:error3
    echo.
    echo ERROR: Virtual device's name not specified.
    echo Please rerun this batch file and specify the AVD name.
    echo.
    echo Command-line reference:
    echo    system_copy [drive_letter] [account_username] [virtual_device's_name]
    goto :EOF

:error4
    echo.
    echo ERROR: AndroidEmulator folder '%tmp_path%' does not exist.
    echo Please verify that the AndroidEmulator folder has been created at '%tmp_path%' then restart this batch file.
    goto :EOF

:error5
    echo.
    echo ERROR: Temporary .img file does not exist.
    echo Check to see if the virtual device is running, then rerun this batch file.
    echo.
    echo Command-line reference:
    echo    system_copy [drive_letter] [account_username] [virtual_device's_name]
    goto :EOF

:copyerror-0
    echo.
    echo COPY ERROR:  There was an unknown copy error.
    echo.
    goto :EOF

:copyerror-1
    echo.
    echo COPY ERROR:  No files were found to copy.
    echo.
    goto :EOF

:copyerror-2
    echo.
    echo COPY ERROR:  The user pressed CTRL+C to terminate xcopy.
    echo.
    goto :EOF

:copyerror-3
    echo.
    echo COPY ERROR:  Initialization error occurred. There is not enough memory or disk space.
    echo.
    goto :EOF

:copyerror-4
    echo.
    echo COPY ERROR:  Disk write error occurred.
    echo.
    goto :EOF

:copyerror-5
    echo.
    echo COPY ERROR:  No files were found to copy.
    echo.
    goto :EOF

rem EOF

```

copy and paste the above code into your favorite text editor and save it as system\_copy.bat.

Place this batch file in the parent directory for the virtual device's avd directory.

To run it, while the virtual device's avd is running:

1. Bring up a cmd prompt
2. Goto the directory that the batch file is in
3. Execute the batch file with the following command syntax:

> system\_copy *\[drive\_letter\]* *\[account\_username\]* *\[virtual\_device's\_name\]*

example:

```
 system_copy C "The WABBIT" Nexus_7

```

That's it. Hope this helps others.

---
Tags: google-play-store, android-emulator
---


# Question
Title: Why does Google Play Store say that Adobe Air is incompatible with the Huawei U8510 phone?
I looked at the publisher's system requirements for Adobe Air.

I compared that list to Huawei's device specs, but Huawei's list doesn't mention if the device has

> ARMv7 processor with vector FPU, minimum 550MHz, OpenGL ES 2.0, H.264 and AAC HW decoders

How can I figure out why the store says the device is incompatible, and whether that conclusion is correct? I would prefer an answer that didn't involve installing the SDK, but if it requires reading and comparing device.prop and the APK, please provide a link to suitable directions.

# Answer
Your device doesn't have an Armv7 processor.

It has an Armv6. You can confirm this by attempting to download apps like Temple Run & Firefox from the market - these all need Armv7 processors. You can also install Device Info to check it yourself, it gives you detailed information.

Also, according to GSM Arena your processor is clocked to 600Mhz - the same as most Armv6 devices.
> 6 votes

---
Tags: huawei, adobe-air, arm-processors, hardware-requirements
---


# Question
Title: Installing HD Games on HTC Desire SV,low memory
I have an HTC Desire SV, which has almost the same specs as Desire X. The problem is I'm unable to install HD games, since the phone storage has only 800MB space.

I have gone to `Settings > Apps` and checked for the option to move to SD card but there are only 2 options available `move to phone` and `move to internal`.

I cannot play games like *Max Payne*; it has cache files around 2GB. Since the cache is too big for the phone memory, I cannot install it.

How can I install games like Max Payne?

# Answer
> 1 votes
## Short answer:

Thing is: you can't, obviously, as you don't have enough internal storage.

## TL;DR

If your device is rooted, however, there are ways to work around this storage problem. You can fool your device by linking/mounting a partition on your SD card to be used as "fake internal memory". But while this would work-around the underlying issue (not enough storage), the Playstore still would refuse to let you install those apps, as your "official phone specs" have not been changed. If you could get hold of the `.apk`, however, you might be able to side-load (manually install) it. Also, having root, you could manipulate the system file responsible for this (`build.spec`?), fooling the playstore into thinking your device would be a Desire X (or whatever you chose).

So you see there *might* be work-arounds, but they are not easy to apply. Without rooting your device (and thus most likely voiding your warranty if you're living outside the EU), it simply is impossible AFAIK.

---
Tags: internal-storage, external-sd, htc-desire
---


# Question
Title: How do I turn off Galaxy Tab completely?
I received a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (GT-P3113) for the holidays. I recently deduced that since I can install apps from Google Play on my PC to the Tab when it's off, that it's not really turned off. How do I turn it off completely?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Figured it out. Eldarerathis, you hit the nail on the head. What I thought was turning it off was apparently just putting it to sleep (same condition as when it times out from no action)? I just tried holding the power button & then got the Power Off menu which is what I'm looking for.

---
Tags: power-on, samsung-galaxy-tab-2-7
---


title: Motorola Defy + Keeps Rebooting

text:
# Question
Title: Motorola Defy + Keeps Rebooting
I bought another Defy + for my daughter. I also have one which is fine.

Hers keeps shutting down and rebooting, especially when it's away from the WiFi. It also has the latest system update. We tried switching batteries, but hers kept rebooting so it's not a battery issue.

Any help out there?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Its a faulty phone. Take it back and get a new one.

But you can turn off mobile data and it will stop rebooting.

or search google for "Motorola Defy+ Rebooting" for other opinons

---
Tags: reboot, boot-loop, motorola-defy
---


# Question
Title: How to fix a force close loop on Android with phone access?
I have a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S2 (GT-I9100) running Android 2.3.5 stock version.

I'm normal user who used the phone for basic function like making phone calls and using the Google, Facebook apps with some installed apps from the play store.

Today, 2 hours ago logsprovider initiated out of nowhere an endless loop of "force close" alerts, between them most of the running apps were closed too (including some weird z7... app).

Because of the interval (about half a second) between alerts I can goto settings -\> apps -\> and "clear data" in the logsprovider config.

This stops the "force close" alerts loop until the next restart of the phone. in this state I basically don't have access to the phone features and all the home screens are empty, including the phone's apps menu.

I can run any app by adding it to the home screen and then executing it, if the app has system operation like the play store that require it to install something, the app will crash and no new programs will install.

I can also connect the phone to a computer and get access to all the files (I think it's just those on storage), I might try to get an apk of an antivirus there and try to install it - hope it doesn't crash

These are desperate times... thats why I'm contacting the experts:

1. Can I fix this, this might have been caused by an app, what to do?
2. If the only solution is factory reset how do I backup the data, apps, or contact lists?

# Answer
# Issue solved

* Boot in recovery mode \> Choose "Wipe cache partition" and reboot.

No need to Factory reset and lose all data.

# Long description

I also suddenly had my Samsung Galaxy SII (SGS2 GT-i9100) running Android 2.3.4 with a rush of continuous force close pop up windows, a lot of apps that seemed to try to connect to internet would trigger a popup force close window, many apps crashed. I hardly managed to quickly close the popups and turn off the phone, removed the battery and turned it on again but the problem persisted and got worse so in the end I got this popup again and again:

"*The application LogsProvider (process com.sec.android.provider.logsprovider) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. Force Close.*"

And really had to try hard to close all those popups quickly to switch off the phone.

I found the solution here

Which is:

1. Turn off the phone (hold the power button if the power-off menu won't appear).
2. Boot in recovery mode (holding volume up key + home key + power button at same time).
3. Choose the fourth option "wipe cache partition" (using the volume keys to select option and then Home button to excecute).
4. Allow to reboot normally and problem solved.
> 7 votes

# Answer
If you know the app causing the loop, you can boot to "safe mode" and delete its cache. If it's still force-closing, do the same with its data, or even uninstall the app. For details, please refer to:
> 1 votes

# Answer
Further to what Izzy answered, if you cannot isolate the problem and want to factory reset, here's what you can do:

1. Use Google account to sync contact, settings and wifi passwords etc.
2. Use SMS backup app to save SMS to your SD card.
3. Save a list of apps using AppBrain app. If you need full backup including app data, root your phone and install Titanium Backup. You'll have to root it again after reset, but rooting for Galaxy S2 is easy. Here's a guide.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, force-close
---


# Question
Title: I am unable to paste. Is there a solution to this bug that doesn't involve rooting or factory-resetting the phone?
I recently updated my S3 to Jelly Bean (v4.1.1) and now cannot paste.

Example steps to reproduce my bug: Compose message

1. Compose SMS
2. Type "hello" in body
3. Long press "hello"
4. Click copy icon
5. Click after "hello" to bring cursor / blue handle
6. Clicking "clipboard" does nothing (just dismisses handle)

If you're not having the bug, everything will work fine, I know. Please don't answer "it works for me". I know what should happen, but for some reason it doesn't work on mine.

Notes:

1. The bug is present everywhere you would input text (for example, in the gmail app, or pasting in an address bar etc.).
2. Pasting by using the options when long-pressing the cog in the keyboard doesn't work either.
3. Restarting the phone doesn't help.
4. The phone is not rooted.

Any other ideas?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I updated the software to 4.1.2 and the problem has gone :-)

I don't know if the bug has been fixed, or the process of upgrading has corrected the faulty state the phone was in. I'll update this post if the problem comes back...

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, samsung-galaxy-s-3, bugs
---