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I've rooted my tablet, now how do I get rid of this bloatware?

Possible Duplicate:
Rooted Phone but still can't uninstall Apps

I just went through the process of rotting my Galaxy Tablet 10.1. I used these instructions, and the process went smoothly so I think it was a success.
However, everything looks pretty much the same as before, so I can't really tell if anything has actually happened.
In any case, part of the reason I did this was so that I could remove some pre-installed bloatware off the tablet. My understanding was that if the tablet was rooted, I would have the ability to do this.
If this is the case, though, I can't tell how. There is still no uninstall option in Settings->Applications->Manage Applications for the unwanted apps.
Do I have to do something else?
Is my tablet not actually rooted as I thought?
Was I wrong that a rooted tablet would be able to remove bloatware?

Yes, you can remove bloatware from rooted tablet, but not using stock uninstall utility. Use Titanium Backup to remove those bloatware. Its the simplest way.
The meaning of being rooted means you can access device as root user of Linux (Android is Linux). A root user can do everything on system. Stock settings utilities aren't designed to use this capability. So, you need to use a third-party app. Titanium Backup take over system as root user, so it can do everything including bloatware removal from ROM.


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Can someone explain how the android GPS Navigation works?

Possible Duplicate:
How does the GPS work on Android phones?

I have a Galaxy Player 5.0 (A.K.A Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0) which as you're probably aware is not a phone, but an android-powered MP3 player.
The other day I decided to test out its GPS and it worked flawlessly. But that got me thinking about how that's possible.
It can't triangulate my position from cell towers because it doesn't connect to any. It can't triangulate my position from WiFi hotspots because it knows where i am even without hotspots around.
Does it actually connect to a satellite to get my location like normal GPS units?
Note: This questions is different from the one posted here: How GPS works in android phone because he was concerned with locational privacy whereas I'm actually concerned with functionality. The answers on his question did not answer my question.

The Galaxy Player 5 specs straight from Samsung indicate that the device has a receiver for standard GPS satellite signals, which is sufficient for navigation.
Cellular triangulation and WiFi location are examples of Assisted GPS or aGPS. As its name implies it is a supplementary system designed to speed up location finding, because  because it can take time to lock onto GPS satellites, and locking onto enough to be reliable is not always possible.

Most of the Android phone has GPS receiver and most of them uses aGPS system.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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"Official" vs "Unofficial" custom ROM from the XDA forums?
I have a Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus(a6020a46 3GB RAM variant) which I'd like to root and install a custom ROM on.
On the XDA forum dedicated to custom ROMS for this device there is a plethora of options including some marked "Official" and some "Unofficial".
Should I choose the "Unofficial" build of 'LineageOS', which as I understand is the most popular ROM, so maybe it will have the best community support? Other popular "Unofficial" builds include 'Pixel Experience' and 'Orange Fox.'
Or should I choose one of the "Official" build like that of 'Arrow OS' though it is not that popular?
Will a more popular but "Unofficial" ROM provide better community and hardware support or will an "Official" ROM build be better in terms of support and stability?
A related thread I found on XDA forums talks about the differences in Official and Unofficial ROMs but it is for the same ROM(eg: diferent versions of Paranoid Android). Also the the thread does not address the issue that I have asked about.
I am still quite new to all things Android so please give your valuable suggestions on how I can improve my knowledge and questions posted here.

that is up to your opinion and can't be answered. personally i prefer the state 'stable' over 'un/official'

Which ROM works better in terms of support and stability depends mainly on the person(s) maintaining it. Official builds usually have the advantage that there is a public GIT repository where all changes are documented and can be checked (and best if there is an automated build process that builds the ROM based on this repo). Unofficial builds are often just the binary image you can install. Hence you have to trust the person blindly what is inside.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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How to achieve factory-reset or bootloader mode for Flywheel (Glorystar Nebula rf3288) tablet without buttons?
I've gotten stuck trying to upgrade a Glorystar Nebula 15 kiosk Android tablet (as customized for the orphaned Flywheel spin-bikes) to a vendor-provided single-file Android 7.1 firmware image (7.20191202.115231.img, 715MB).
A special challenge here: this tablet has no physical buttons whatsever: no power, no volume controls, no home. (It simply turns on whenever power is supplied; there's a click power toggle inline on the DC power cord plugging into the back. It's got no battery for unplugged use.)
Following the vendor's instructions (using a Windows AndroidTool program 2.35), it was able to 'Switch' to detecting a LOADER device, and appeared to write firmware - but after a lack of progress ending on a log line mentioning 'Success', I disconnected & power-cycled in an attempt to view my hopefully-fresh-new-stock-Android7.1 tablet - and instead found it in a state where it never proceeds past a 'GS' logo boot screen.
Currently, from this GS screen:

the tablet only ever appears as "Found One ADB Device" in the Windows AndroidTool, whereas previously it could 'Switch' to "LOADER"
it can be detected via adb from MacOS – but oddly, not via adb inside the same Windows10 VM for which AndroidTool was sorta-working.and, adb shell commands give a error about the sh-path not being valid.
adb can reboot it into recovery mode - but without physical buttons, no navigation/selection from the recovery menu is yet possible, and it does not appear to adb or AndroidTool in this mode
adb can seemingly also reboot it into bootloader or fastboot mode; in this mode it no longer appears to MacOS adb, but does appear in MacOS fastboot devices list. However, attempting to connect the tablet while in this mode to Windows AndroidTool still only ever shows "Found One ADB Device" (or nothing)

I'm looking for any path out of this dead-end state that allows a re-attempt of the flashing the original vendor single-file firmware IMG, or other potential Android 7.1 firmwares.  For example:

I've found a header on the motherboard with pins GND / PWR / HOME / ESC / V+ / V- / MENU / K2 / K1. However, hand-shorting PWR or V+ to GND with a small wire (alone or together, at the 'recovery' menu that's supposedly looking for vol-nav inputs or other times), has had no visible effect since the tablet's been in this state.

Can the vendor's single IMG be broken into the smaller more-specific parts that fastboot seems limited to flashing? Can applying those, or some other, smaller steps restore a true "Found One LOADER Device" mode, such that the AndroidTool might be able to make another attempt?

Etc – open to whatever gets Android 7.1 on this device, including, at this point, all-or-nothing gambits to resuscitate or brick it.
Any ideas?

After some research, I found that Glory Star has a support group that mentions a solution to this in their community.
There is a video on the link there where it shows a step-by-step procedure on how to update it back to the Android firmware. I tried it and it works. The only thing is it only supports Android 5.1.
I have tried it and it works, but not been able to have Google Play in it.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Opening incognito tab in chrome when swiping on chrome icon?
As you all know that Nova Launcher allows assigning swipe actions to icons on home screen. For example I have attached the swipe action on the dialer to call home directly.
Now I am trying to assign the activity to chrome so that when I swipe the chrome icon it opens the chrome in incognito mode.
I have tried assigning the activities from chrome but it does not have separate incognito function.
So I was wondering to any of you guys know anything of this sort can be done.

I found a way to do it by going into swipe action: then to the shortcuts tab: Activities at the top of the list: scroll all the way to find chrome: and tap on (com.google.android.apps.chrome.main)

I don't believe this is possible. According to this Reddit post it is not possible when writing an app as the Chrome code ignores the request if it is not Chrome initiating it, so an app or user cannot trigger the incognito tab. I assume the same applies when trying to launch the activity 'manually'.

So what these are doing, is checking whether the intent should be ignored based on whether it is the user or chrome performing the action. They make this determination based on whether there is a token from a signed Google app. So unless there is a way to trick find that token and figure out how to attach it to Tasker I don't think it'll work.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Trying to flash a system.img I took with dd - failing
Long-time UNIX guy here, but relatively new to the world of Android. Read on.
EPISODE 1: A New Backup (I hoped)
I have recently purchased an Asus MemoPAD (ME103K) ; I then became root, and took a dd image of the read-only system partition to the external SD card:
$ su
# dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system \
         of=/storage/MicroSD/system.img bs=1M
# ls -l /storage/MicroSD/system.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2147483648 Sep 27 13:15 system.img

The size (exactly 2GiB) was a bit suspicious - could it be that this was because of the FAT32 partition on the SD card?
No, it was not - tune2fs -l revealed that this was indeed, a valid EXT4 image, exactly sized at 2GiB, which passed fsck -f with no errors at all.
And fastboot (from the linux machine attached to the tablet) concurred, after an adb reboot bootloader:
linuxbox# fastboot getvar all
(bootloader)  version-bootloader: 3.03
(bootloader)  version-hardware: rev_c
(bootloader)  variant: LEOPARDCAT 16G
(bootloader)  version-baseband: H00_0.16.F_0521
(bootloader)  serialno: 0a3dXXXX
...
(bootloader)  partition-type:system: ext4
(bootloader)  partition-size:system: 0x0000000080000000

That size, is indeed 2GB:
linuxbox# python2 -c 'print 0x0000000080000000'
2147483648

So, all is good - I have a backup of the image. Now to test restoring it.
I try to flash the system.img back to the tablet - to make sure I can recover from anything, the sort of bullet-proof backup we do in the Unix world (e.g. restore contents of a drive via dd if=backup.image of=/dev/sdXXX).
Everything related to adb and fastboot work flawlessly - so I try...
linux_box# fastboot devices
0a3dXXXX     fastboot

linux_box# mount /dev/sdcard /mnt/sdcard
linux_box# cp /mnt/sdcard/system.img .
linux_box# fastboot flash system system.img
error: cannot load 'system.img'

Hmm. I download and build the android-tools-5.1.1 of my distribution from sources, adding debug information - and step in the debugger, to see this failure:
linuxbox# gdb --args fastboot flash system system.img
...

Interesting - even though I am in a 64bit machine, apparently there are issues that turn the file size "negative" (in a 32bit world, the file size of my image, 2^31, is indeed considered negative - to be exact, -2147483648.
OK, fine - how do they flash large image files in Android?
Googling, searching - turns out they use this make_ext4fs tool, that creates flashable images. In fact it is part of what I just compiled, so I might as well use it:
linuxbox# mkdir /system
linuxbox# mount -o loop,ro system.img /system
linuxbox# ls -l /system
total 208
drwxr-xr-x 106 root root   8192 Sep 17 22:24 app
drwxr-xr-x   3 root 2000   8192 Sep 26 21:08 bin
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   6847 Sep 12 16:59 build.prop
drwxr-xr-x  19 root root   4096 Sep 26 21:08 etc
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Aug 11 22:27 fonts
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root   4096 Sep 12 16:56 framework
drwxr-xr-x  10 root root  16384 Sep 12 16:59 lib
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan  1  1970 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root   4096 Aug 11 22:18 media
drwxr-xr-x  59 root root   4096 Aug 11 22:29 priv-app
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 126951 Aug  1  2008 recovery-from-boot.p
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root   4096 Aug 11 21:02 scripts
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root   4096 Aug 11 21:02 tts
drwxr-xr-x  11 root root   4096 Sep 26 21:08 usr
drwxr-xr-x   8 root 2000   4096 Aug 11 22:29 vendor
drwxr-xr-x   2 root 2000   4096 Sep 26 21:09 xbin

linuxbox# ../extras/source/extras/ext4_utils/make_ext4fs \
      -l 2048M new_system.img /system
Creating filesystem with parameters:
    Size: 2147483648
    Block size: 4096
    Blocks per group: 32768
    Inodes per group: 8192
    Inode size: 256
    Journal blocks: 8192
    Label:
    Blocks: 524288
    Block groups: 16
    Reserved block group size: 127
Created filesystem with 2666/131072 inodes and 375014/524288 blocks

Cool - so I can apparently build system images from plain old folders. The sky will be my limit - I'll be able to add anything I want to this image.
Let's burn it...
linuxbox# fastboot flash system new_system.img
erasing 'system'...
OKAY [  0.064s]
sending 'system' (2088960 KB)...
^C

I waited for 1h before hitting that Ctrl-C.  And had to power-cycle the tablet, which booted back in fastboot mode.
This is not looking good.
What if I build a smaller image? Maybe the 2GB are somehow an issue, and this partition is not used to full capacity - it has free space:
linuxbox# ../extras/source/extras/ext4_utils/make_ext4fs \
      -l 1536M new_system.img /system

linuxbox#  ./fastboot flash system system.img
erasing 'system'...
OKAY [  0.065s]
sending 'system' (1572864 KB)...
OKAY [ 51.039s]
writing 'system'...
OKAY [235.080s]
finished. total time: 286.183s

OK, this looks very promising (and only took 5 min). I guess I can now reboot back and everything should be normal, yes?
No :-)

I don't mind a temporarily bricked device, as long as I do get to control it in the end (machines that I am not a master of, are machines I don't care to operate ;-)
Any ideas on what I did wrong and what I can do to fix this?
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I checked the Asus support page for my tablet - they only provide the sources for the kernel, and the Over-the-air .zip file. That in turn contains a file-system level backup from the root - i.e. the system folder exists in there as just a folder, not an image, not a system.img that I can flash - so that doesn't really help me.
EPISODE 2: Attack of the Custom Boots
In the absense of any sort of recovery.img from Asus (why would a manufacturer bother to publish a fastboot-flashable recovery.img? Why indeed...) and a similar absence on recovery images from the CWM and TWRP sites... I am left to battle all alone.
Thankfully, the Over-the-air update file from Asus includes inside it...
linuxbox# unzip -l /opt/Asus/firmware/UL-K01E-WW-12.16.1.12-user.zip |\
     grep boot.img$
7368704  2011-03-22 11:21   boot.img

...my tablet's boot image. Now maybe - just maybe - I can do something with this.
linuxbox$ mkdir rootfs
linuxbox$ cd rootfs
linuxbox$ abootimg -x /path/to/boot.img
linuxbox$ ls -l
bootimg.cfg
initrd.img
zImage

Expanding the ramdisk...
linuxbox$ mkdir initrd
linuxbox$ cd initrd
linuxbox$ gzip -cd ../initrd.img | cpio -ivd
...
linuxbox$ vi default.prop

I set up default.prop to be root when the kernel boots:
ro.secure=0
ro.debuggable=1
ro.adb.secure=0
androidboot.selinux=disabled

I also copied /system/bin/sh (from the over-the-air Asus .zip file) into /sbin/sh. I did the same with busybox - quite handy tool.
And repacked the boot.img...
busybox$ find . | cpio --create --format='newc' | gzip -9 > ../initrd.custom.gz
busybox$ cd ..
busybox$ abootimg --create ../new_boot_busybox.img \
    -f bootimg.cfg -k zImage -r initrd.custom.gz

abootimg actually failed the first time I run this, since bootimg.cfg had to be updated - the bootsize parameter had to be changed, since the package is bigger now. abootimg reports what it needs, so that's easy enough.
And now, I boot my custom image...
linuxbox# fastboot boot new_boot_busybox.img

...and witness the following...
linuxbox# adb logcat
- exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: Permission denied (13) -

linuxbox# adb shell
- exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: Permission denied (13) -

Hmm... Maybe adbd is not run as root?
linuxbox# adb root
restarting adbd as root

linuxbox# adb shell
- exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: Permission denied (13) -

Fine... I hexedit adbd, and patch /system/bin/sh to be /sbin/sh (I copied the /system/bin/sh from the OTA image to the rootfs of the initrd):
Reboot, fastboot...
linuxbox# adb shell
- exec '/sbin/sh' failed: Permission denied (13) -

Darn. Is this thing able to do anything?
linuxbox# adb pull /proc/partitions
15 KB/s (1272 bytes in 0.079s)

It is... let's see:
linuxbox# adb pull /proc/mounts
16 KB/s (1358 bytes in 0.079s)

linuxbox# grep system mounts
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered 0 0

OK, so /system is mounted. Can I see what's inside?
linuxbox# adb pull /system
remote object '/system' does not exist

What the...
Maybe I can check what /proc/kmsg contains (what "dmesg" would output)
linuxbox# adb pull /proc/kmsg
failed to copy '/proc/kmsg' to './kmsg': Operation not permitted

Nah, I need to be root to do that.
linuxbox# adb push /sbin/sh /system/bin/sh
failed to copy '/sbin/sh' to '/system/bin/sh': Permission denied

And that, too.
This is turning out to be quite a puzzle...

The only good thing that you did not do here (and should've done) is to flash a custom Recovery and then take a [tag:nandroid] backup of the partitions from it. That's one of the bulletproof methods out there to recover devices from such bricked state.  That Over-the-air.zip (OTA zip) is a recovery flashable zip i.e to be flashed when booted into Recovery and they follow a different packaging format but achieves the same goal. Long story short, flash a custom Recovery (or boot into stock one), flash stock ROM and then experiment as much as you want.

@Firelord: That's the thing - even though fastboot is still operational (responds to requests just fine) and I can therefore burn any recovery image, (a) I searched and found no CWM or TWRP recovery image for ME103K - I don't suppose there's a "generic" one that you are referring to, is there? (b) Powering off, pressing  power button + volume down does not bring up the recovery image - I still just get to fastboot state. Mo idea why. In fact I have never seen the recovery process (kinda curious to see it)...

Try other button combinations such as Power+Vol Up+Vol Down to boot into Recovery mode. If you've access to stock Recovery ZIP, then there may be the image file of stock Recovery somewhere which  you can flash  from fastboot or directly boot into it (fastboot boot <FILE>.img), then flash the whole stock ZIP file. Alternatively, see if there exists (on web) the stock ROM files which can be flashed using fastboot.

@Firelord: No, Asus doesn't provide a recovery.zip. From the OTA file, there's nothing .img-y ( unzip -l UL-K01E-WW-12.16.1.12-user.zip | grep recovery shows only a couple of shell scripts - I'll have a look, but there's definitely no recovery.img there). Googling didn't help either - there are no recovery images of this tablet anywhere... Guess I'll have to wait for some kind soul to dd their recovery partition and share?

Episode 3: Return of the Shell.
If I ever had any chance of solving this, I first had to figure out why the shell wasn't working. adbd itself was responding, so it was started on the tablet side - but it could not execute the shell, even when I hack-patched it to invoke a file (/sbin/sh) that I myself placed in the boot image - being 100% sure that it had the proper permissions and was accessible from the shell (id=2000) account that adbd uses.
Which left only one explanation - SELinux "cages".
So I checked how adbd was started from my boot image's init.rc:
# adbd is controlled via property triggers in init.<platform>.usb.rc
service adbd /sbin/adbd --root_seclabel=u:r:su:s0
    class core
    socket adbd stream 660 system system
    disabled
    seclabel u:r:adbd:s0

...and tried an obvious change:
service adbd /sbin/adbd
    class core
    socket adbd stream 660 system system

I re-packed, and to my intense satisfaction, saw ...
linuxbox# adb shell
$

I finally got access to the tablet - from "inside".
Checking the mounted /system, it became clear that the flashing process - even though fastboot flash system ... reported that all was Ok - had failed spectacularly. It was a wonder that the partition was mounted in the first place.
That explained why the tablet was not booting, and gave me the final idea that solved the issue.
I needed to boot the tablet so that it used my pristine copy of the /system partition, but at this point, even though I had shell access, I was not root - (the changes I did in default.prop are apparently ignored by the Asus kernel - I'll have to recompile it soon...) so I could not mount the external sdcard and dd over my good copy.
But I did have my own boot image - which meant I could edit the /fstab.qcom inside it, and do this:
Original line that told the tablet how to mount /system
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system  /system  ext4 ro,barrier=1 wait

My edit
/dev/block/mmcblk1p2  /system ext4  rw,barrier=1 wait

...and back in my linux box, I dd-ed the pristine backup of the tablet's system partition to my external SD card's 2nd partition - which I created via gparted to be exactly 2GB.
That did it - the tablet booted from my external SD card.
EDIT: The journey continued - I eventually patched and compiled my own kernel and became root.

I swear to Episode 4, I would've offered a bounty if this answer wasn't posted, for the sake of fun from all these episodes. It's good to see you solved your problem on your own. :D

@Firelord: Thanks, mate. In the process, I think I did something rather cool - I booted my tablet without touching it's insides ... the boot image comes from the outside (over fastboot boot ...) and the /system partition is on the SD card, tweakable to whatever I want. Sort of like, booting a PC from a USB stick :-)

It seems you've already found some kind of solution to your problem (there's a lot of text to read on this page), but it seems this probably could have been resolved much more simply.
linuxbox# fastboot getvar all
(bootloader)  version-bootloader: 3.03
(bootloader)  version-hardware: rev_c
(bootloader)  variant: LEOPARDCAT 16G
(bootloader)  version-baseband: H00_0.16.F_0521
(bootloader)  serialno: 0a3dXXXX
...
(bootloader)  partition-type:system: ext4
(bootloader)  partition-size:system: 0x0000000080000000

Among these variables, did your tablet return a max-download-size variable? If so, that might have provided a warning, outright, that the flashing process might have some issues with such a large image. The current fastboot code is made to work around a max-download-size that is too small, but I've experienced your same error even when the image is smaller than what the device says it can handle, so actually the point is kind of moot, I guess.
linux_box# fastboot flash system system.img
error: cannot load 'system.img'

So, anyway, it seems here, that for whatever reason, you are unable to flash. If you and I are right, and it's about size (your tablet does only have 1 GB of RAM, and supposedly most devices try to read the whole image into RAM before flashing), this is where I think the mere adjustment of adding the -S option to fastboot might have fixed your flash as it has for me:
fastboot -S 512M flash system system.img

Instead, however, it seems you tried to force your 2 GB image into a size that (1) might not be possible for it to be stuffed into and (2) is not the size that your device's system partition is supposed to be.

Regarding point #1, in my experience, I would not count on the
brittle Android build tools to complain if you ask them to do
something they will fail at, and it's possible that they might have
here.
Regarding point #2, I don't believe you can't just do that;
additional steps would be required to use a different system
partition size.

Assuming your tablet expects sparse image files, I believe the command you wanted to try instead of make_ext4fs -l 1536M new_system.img /system was make_ext4fs -l 2048M -s new_system.img /system. The adjusted command would make an image that inflates to the correct size, but is stored temporarily stripped of any excess fat like big pockets of empty data: a "sparse image file" (see the page I linked to earlier for more info on them; I don't have enough reputation on this site to repeat the link).
This old readme someone wrote for a collection of the tools should help understand how the process goes.
Cheers.

Thanks for answering. As to your questions, (1) no, there was no max-download- anything in the output from getvar. (2) I will keep in mind the -S option in my future flashings - as it is, once I booted, I became root (via recompiling my kernel) and dd-ed over the old system partition, so whether flashing with -S would work will have to wait for my next tests (3) I did try with sparse images, got the same result (i.e. fastboot reported that flashing was OK, but the system partition was messed up).

@ttsiodras No problem. I learned some things in the process.
(1) Ah, okay. I doubted that it did, as at least on my device using the build of fastboot I have installed, that variable is printed first in the list (thanks, btw, for demonstrating that all can be passed to getvar-- that's helpful).
(2) Ohh, okay. If it does work, let us know.
(3) Whoops! I didn't notice that. It's a lot of text, sorry. Was that mentioned in your posts? (Was it like the make_ext4fs command I suggested, with -s and the full 2 GiB length specified?) Maybe the tablet doesn't deal with sparse files.

(3) yep, I passed -s to make_ext4fs - fastboot reported 'OK' for burning, but /system was messed up. My theory is that, as you said, anything larger than the memory of the tablet (1GB) would not work, and needed the -S option in fastboot to properly work (which explains the half-broken state - the partition was mounted because the first part of the image fit in memory and was actually burned, allowing it to be mounted - but files inside it were... randomly corrupted, depending on whether their sectors were burned or not).

With my Moto G I created a back up using dd like you did.  I needed to restore my system partition the other day, so I booted TWRP (I didn't flash it, I just booted the image to RAM).  I then used adb to connect while TWRP was running and I just pushed the img I made with dd to my SD card and then used dd to write the image to the system partition.
Check out the videos I've made about this here:
https://youtu.be/BHCamV-sHx0?list=PLcUid3OP_4OVI1Rtuwxk1RjABh1PxXXQq

Unfortunately that doesn't help me - I can't get to my tablet's recovery no matter what combination of keys I tried (in contrast, I got it immediately on my MotoG2 - so this tablet's recovery is hosed somehow). I can flash the recovery partition (since flashboot is operational) but I have no recovery.img from Asus, and no CWM or TWRP exists (for an ME103K) either.


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No internet on Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 when connected to Windows Wifi Hotspot
I have followed the instructions to set up a virtual wifi hotspot on my Windows 10 machine (connected via ethernet to router) from LifeHacker. I have connected my iphone and Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5110 running Android 4.2.2) to the new wifi hotspot. My iphone can access the internet fine, however my tablet cannot.
I have tried to use the default browser and chrome on my tablet and both say the web page is not available (chrome shows the dino and DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET message).
Why is my tablet not connecting to the internet and how do I fix it?
[Edit]
A co-worker has connected his Windows 10 pc and HTC One (running 5.0) to my hotspot and both are fine on the internet.
[Edit]
After restarting the router the tablet can access the internet via the pc. Did restarting the router fix the issue or is that just a coincidence? Why could other devices connect to my pc except for my tablet?


text:
How to Plug and Play a USB Barcode-Printer in android devices
We are trying to print Barcode using USB Barcode Printer from an android device.
The available printer model is GODEX EZ520, we used printer-share app from Playstore and it detected the printer-device but they do not have supporting drivers for this printer.
Do we need to write separate drivers for printers to print from android or Is there any other ways to connect android device and Barcode Printers via usb.


text:
App update process
Its not yet clear to me what happens when an app gets updated.
Is the new updated app simply being "installed over" the old one maintaining data and cache from the old one? What actually happens when an app is updated?
In searching internet1, and SE, i found no useful information (I am not asking about how to update using googleplay.
PS: In the comments AndrewT and Firelord actually gave me useful pointers and I feel the informations I was looking for center around the workings of PackageManager and PackageInstaller.

1: See e.g. "how does android update apps", how does android app-update work, android app-update process explained

I don't think that last statement is well-adhered. Many apps distributed through Google Play have other avenues of distribution. Just think 'Monument Valley', which their own developers say is highly pirated to the tune of 90%. If you just Google it, you'll find dozens of distribution points. Google query

It was just an example but I do not want that mentioning it would bog down the answers, so I edited that part out. My question is not about google or other avenues of distribution, it's limited to the update process proper. Wbogacz comment refers to me mentioning that "apps distributed using GooglePlay cannot be updated in any other way than through GooglePlay according to the Developer Policies" in the question before i edited it

pm install -r FILE. Whatever that command would do is what technically happens in the background during an app update.

Can you provide link to the Developer Policies? I think it's the case for developer to not update their apps outside from Play Store (e.g. push/forced update from other sites.. probably for security reason), because AFAIK, I could update any apps using their APK (as long as it's using the same certificate)

@AndrewT. , it is for security reasons, I dont have a direct link to it but it refers to this line in the policies "An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism". Again, that came out because of an hypothetical scenario and I edited it out because it attracts comments that are not related to my question.

I found the article when searching that statement, but never mind if it's unrelated. I'm not sure how to limit the scope on answer this question: yes, an update will overwrite the "binary" of the app (APK file) while retaining the data/cache. However, there are requirements before it can be updated, such as "app version must be higher/same than current installed", "must use the same certificate", etc. More than that, I can't explain the detail.

@Izzy, unfortunately, not knowing how it worked, i had no idea how long an answer telling me what i needed would have been. Now that I'm finally homing on the right information Im realizing it will take me quite a bit to learn it. At this point Im considering deleting the question and if i were to ask in programming the answers would be way beyond what i can understand at the moment.

Actually, I think provided a good answer is given, this "page" would be quite a very useful one. If I weren't so busy currently I'd started an answer, but at the moment it would be a very incomplete one – and I needed to do some research to give my wording some backing (e.g. link to authoritative resources confirming what I write). I don't think you should delete it. Some "rephrasing" might be a good idea (your addition sounds a bit accusing ;) – but per se it is a good question.

I think the core is in the lines between 10260 to 10350. There are also preliminary preparations done in the beginning but the linked one is the core I believe.

Incidentally, sideloading an app already existent in one of my devices I got a message asking if I wanted to apply it as upgrade, I never seen that message before or found this behavior described in any article describing how to sideload an app

@Firelord, thanks, I think I will need some time to digest that one.

It's important to note that Android apps don't get installed in the same way as on Windows or on GNU/Linux systems. The app runs entirely from the APK file. Installing an app for the first time includes the following steps:

Download the APK to the storage. All apps' APK files get downloaded to the same location.
Create a user ID for the new app. Each app in Android runs in its own Linux user ID. This is for security, and is how the permissions system works.
Create a data dir for the new app. This is initially empty.
Add the app to the phone's database of installed apps. This database includes the name (package ID) of the app, the path to the APK file, the user ID, amongst other things.

That's all it takes. So after that, it's pretty easy to see how to upgrade it:

Download the new APK file. This is a new file in the same location as all the other APK files.
Check that the old APK can be upgraded to the new APK. It checks that they were both signed by the same key, to avoid data theft, and that the new APK is not an older version, and a few other settings from the app's manifsest. If any of the checks fail so the old APK can't be upgraded to the new APK, the upgrade stops with an error at this point.
Stop the old version of the app cleanly.
Check for changes to the app (such as new permissions) and update the app's user ID accordingly. Update the database of installed apps to point to the new APK file (and with other data about the new app).
Delete the old APK file.

The upgrade process doesn't even have to look at the data directory. It's up to the app to change its data if the new version uses a different format or whatever. (This also means that it's up to the app what old versions can be updated cleanly without losing data.)
The process works the same way whether you're upgrading the app through Google Play, or some other app store, or by clicking on the APK file, or using adb install. Whichever front-end you use, it goes through the same package manager. The only difference is that if you use an app store, it probably also keeps its own record of what versions are installed, both to help the app developer understand their user base, and so it can check for future updates.

"It's up to the app to change its data if the new version uses a different format or whatever" Does that mean that if I have, lets say, version 1 and intend to upgrade directly to version 7 the upgrade might fail if the data of version1 are retained but there has been a change in format in version3 and the newest version has no instructions to change the data format? Or any version after the change will likely be able to upgrade directly from a very old one?

@ErikvanDoren It's up to the app author. It's possible that if you skip a lot of versions, you might hit a case the author hasn't tested, and the app then won't work properly unless you clear its data (or it might clear the data itself, if it's especially badly written). I'd expect most app authors to handle it properly, though.

Important detail missing: signature check :) On update, this would be the step before stopping the old version. If signatures don't match, the update process would be cancelled at this point.


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How to get stock recovery image for Bauhn Amid 972xs?
I'm trying to port TWRP recovery for Bauhn Amid 972xs (Amlogic Meson6 g04 customer platform) just to get some more life out of the device. The device is running android 4.0.3, my problem is I cannot locate the recovery.img that I need for porting TWRP using kitchen. The device is rooted so I can read the contents of root. It is also using Android system recovery <3e>. Any help is appreciated!
CPU: Amlogic Meson6 g04 customer platform
Vendor: Amlogic
Family: Cortex-A9
ABI: armeabi-v7a
Revision: r3p0
Kernel: Linux version 3.0.8

So effectively your question is what command to execute/which partition to save to dump the installed recovery ROM into a file. Is that what you are asking?

Yes, if that's how I could get the stock recovery. I'm fairly new to linux so if you could point me on some guides on how to do it or briefly explain how it's done I appreciate it. Thanks.

There is no "recovery.img" as a file, this is a partition. See these two articles: Android partitions explained and Making Dump Files Out of Android Device Partitions

thanks for these, will check these out. I'll just update for any progress


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Can't Unlock Phone Because Don't know Work Profile Password
I can't unlock my Samsung S10e after enabling my company's work profile. I learned from here that this is because my work profile password has usurped my personal passcode for my unlock screen. Further complicating things is that I restarted my phone and everything is very locked down. Is there any way I can either remove the work profile or at least access the files on the phone before I do a factory reset?
I have tried called my company's tech support but they claim that what has happened cannot happen and when I ask them to reset the work profile password (which I never knew and none of my work passwords work), they say that they don't have that ability. They have claimed that they have revoked my phone's permissions to have a work profile, but the problem still persists. I have tried letting my phone die and then charging it back up to see if maybe it was some kind of caching issue. No dice.
Does anyone have any ideas? As long as I can recover the data on the phone I'm will to try jail breaking it or basically anything.
Edit: For clarity, this is my personal device and my company requires a work profile to use various apps with my company issued email address. That is why I enabled it when prompted.

I assume we are talking about your private device, not a company owned own. Is activating your work profile allowed in your company? Did you follow the instructions provided by your company to enable work profile on your device? If yes then your tech support is responsible. Get them the device and demand to make it work again without deleting your personal data. If there is a labor union in your company I would contact them because if the company makes your private device inaccessible this is a serious incident.

Yes this is a private device. They claim that it's not their fault and that my device manufacturer is to blame. I have even less power to do much since of course adding the work profile was an optional thing. There were no instructions really. I just followed the prompts when I saw that I had to use a work profile to access something I wanted to access on my phone. I have no union. Honestly, if I had any recourse in my company I would have taken it, but IT support is outsourced and the nature of a mega corp is I don't have direct access to many people who could help

"They have claimed that they have revoked my phone's permissions to have a work profile" - now your data is unrecoverable. check your clouds for backup

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/233689

Is there really no way to get at the data on the phone? I know the passcode (which is a password) to my phone on my personal profile. Is there really no way I can access the data on my phone when I know this piece of information. It feels unbelievable


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Install "outdated" app from Google Play
I want to buy Minit, but it says "This app isn't available for your device because it was made for an older version of Android." How can I install it?
This question was asked before (How to install an app that is available on older and newer Android versions but not on mine?), but the only answer was download an APK, but 1, I can't find the APK anywhere cause it's a paid app, and 2, I'm not really comfortable pirating it because those sites seem really sketchy.
I've tried buying it on the Google Play website, but it requires a device it says is capable of running it before I can buy it.
Also it was last updated in late 2019 so I should still be able to run it.
I've also tried Aurora Store, but it doesn't show up when I search for it, and when I manage to get to the page for the app, it says "Download Failed App not purchased"
Sidenote: Why can't I comment on the old post? Apparently I need reputation? Wouldn't that be better than posting a new question?

Maybe I could use an Android emulator to trick it into thinking I have an older device? But I can't get any Android emulators working on Linux. Everyone seems to have abandoned Anbox in favor of Waydroid, and I can't get Waydroid to work on X11

Google forces app authors to update their apps and makes older apps unavailable for new devices. But of course the app can simply be incompatible with your device. BTW: It would be easier to help you if you would add a link to the app you are trying to buy. The more concrete a question is the higher the chance for an answer that directly helps you.

Why don't you mail the developer? Explain your problem to find out why it is incompatible and how to get it Working while legitimately paying //yes, commenting needs reputation but in this case it would not have helped because your problem is different to that of the linked one and you did the right thing by asking a new question. Upvoting to help you build up reputation.. Welcome to Android SE

Sorry here's the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devolverdigital.minit You can find it if you search minit google play

@beeshyams The developer isn't updating the app anymore, so I don't think emailing them will help. Also I'm pretty sure it's not actually incompatible, Google Play just won't let me buy it
"Starting from 1 Nov 2022, apps that don't target an API level within two years of the latest Android release (API 29 and below) won't be available to new users with devices running Android versions newer than your app's target API level. This means that new users won't be able to discover or install your app on Google Play"

Try using Aurora Store to spoof an Android 8 device. Right now the Play Store website displays my Pixel XL as compatible.

@jkmartindale Nah, Aurora Store doesn't let you buy paid apps


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How to improve bluetooth audio quality

OS: Android 10
Device: Samsung Galaxy 10e
Speakers: Marley Get Togeather

I bought some new bluetooth speakers that were rated highly for audio quality, but when I connect my phone, it sounds really poor.  If I use a cable, it's fine, but bluetooth is really bad.  How can I improve audio quality?  I read somewhere that all speakers for this brand support AAC, but I can't seem to get that working.

If I long-hold the bluetooth button in the drop-down, and select the gear beside the device, I don't see any options.

If I enable developer options and look at the bluetooth settings I see:

codec: SBC
sample rate: 44.1 kHz
bits/sample: 16

If I try to change the code, sample-rate, or bits/sample in the developer options, it instantly reverts to the original settings.  By that I mean if I select AAC, I hear no difference, but the menu shows AAC until I switch windows and then switch back.  At that point it will show SBC again so I suspect it never actually change and that was a GUI bug.
I haven't used bluetooth much, so I don't know if I have a problem with my configuration, a problem with what I'm doing, or if the device itself is limited.

Re:changing properties in developer settings, the Bluetooth needs to be on and speakers connected

I noticed that.  If I am disconnected, the settings don't change at all.  If I am connected, the settings appear to change, but if I refresh the menu (exit and come back), the settings go back to default.  I don't hear any difference in sound, so I suspect the settings only appeared to change (they didn't actually change).

In that case, it looks like a bug with device. Try reaching out to Samsung


text:
How to handle multi-keycode keys on Android with a bluetooth keyboard?
I have a Microsoft Mobile Wedge keyboard. I've connected it to my Nexus 9 and after setting the language in the settings it works almost perfectly. Almost!
There are 4 keys on it that don't work, because they're multi-keycode keys. They're the "magnifier glass"-key, the "3 dots on a ring"-key, the "black rectangle intersecting with rectangle border"-key and the "gears/settings"-key.
So far I've found out with
getevent -lt /dev/input/event4

that the Linux keycodes they send are
KEY_LEFTSHIFT
KEY_LEFTMETA
KEY_F21

KEY_LEFTALT
KEY_LEFTMETA
KEY_F21

KEY_LEFTCTRL
KEY_LEFTMETA
KEY_F21

KEY_LEFTMETA
KEY_F21

I've created the 2 files from their Generic.kl and Generic.kcm counterparts
/system/usr/keylayout/Vendor_045e_Product_0790.kl
/system/usr/keychars/Vendor_045e_Product_0790.kcm

and made sure with
dumpsys input

that they're used.
I tried to enable F21 in the layout first, but that didn't work because there's no Android keycode for F21. So I bound it to INSERT instead, because it's an unused key.
Then I went into the character map and tried making an INSERT key (which is actually F21) and applying the right modifiers to it.
key INSERT {
    base:           'a'
    lmeta:          'A'
}

The above being for the key that only had 2 keycodes. Unfortunately this didn't work. Nothing happened. So now I'm here to pick your brain.
Does anyone know how to do multi-keycode keys?
Thank you very much in advance.

Do you mean the keys inside android that you want to link?

Just wanted to point out Android has native magnifier function but it's an accessibility feature called "Magnification".  The default shortcuts you can enable for it (on Snow Cone) are: 1) tapping accessibility navigation key (I don't see a standard keycode for that), 2) Vol(+) + Vol(-), or 3) triple tap.  On the other hand, if the function is instead the "search" function, that does have an Android int keycode value of keycode_search

Do the following:

Run getevent without the -lt flag.
Press the key you want to test a few times. You'll get three lines something like:
/dev/input/eventn: 0004 0004 longnum
/dev/input/eventn: 0001 4_DIGIT_NUMBER_OF_INTEREST MASK
/dev/input/eventn: 0000 0000 longemptynum
The 4_DIGIT_NUMBER_OF_INTEREST is the scan-code.
In your .kl file (in /system/usr/keylayout/[yourlayout].kl),
add a line:
key [4_DIGIT_NUMBER_OF_INTEREST] [UNUSED_BINDING]

You've already gotten that far.
So, in your .kcm file, you put the following lines and you should be good to go.

key [UNUSED_BINDING] {
lmeta:            what_you_want_for_just_lmeta (but it should be first)
lshift+lmeta:     what_you_want_for_lshift+lmeta
lalt+lmeta:       what_you_want_for_lalt+lmeta
lctrl+lmeta:      what_you_want_for_lctrl+lmeta
}

Reference: Key Character Map Files (under Key Declarations → Properties)

I am not sure if your way works or not, but try and see if this works. I have linked all the necessary stuff, have a look and try and se if it works.
Android Keyboard Devices (Scroll to the bottom of the page for all the key codes)
Keytest Apk (Use to show keycodes when pressed)
How to map android keys to your USB/Bluetooth Keyboard
Map android keys to any Keyboard
Android key Maps (User Blog)
Keyboard shortcuts and navigation, these may help with your problem or not (also extras for users who are reading this)

ESC = go back
CTRL + ESC = menu
CTRL + ALT + DEL = restart (no questions asked)
ALT + SPACE = search page (say “OK Google” to voice search)
ALT + TAB (ALT + SHIFT + TAB) = switch tasks

Also, if you have designated volume function keys, those will probably work too. There’s also some dedicated app shortcuts like calculator, Gmail, and a few others:
Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Apps

CMD (Windows key) + A = calculator
CMD + C = contacts
CMD + E = e-mail
CMD + G = Gmail
CMD + L = Calendar
CMD + P = Play Music
CMD + Y = YouTube

Others keys that are useful include:
Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Scrolling

Spacebar: Page down in any Web page/document view
Shift + Spacebar: Page up in any Web page/document view

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Typing

Alt + Spacebar: Insert a special character
Shift + Del: Delete the character to the right of the cursor
Alt + Del: Delete an entire line
Shift + Shift (press it twice): Activate caps-lock; press shift once more to exit
Alt + Trackball (Mouse) -Left: Move cursor to beginning of line
Alt + Trackball-Right: Move cursor to end of line
Alt + Trackball-Up: Move cursor to top of page
Alt + Trackball-Down: Move cursor to bottom of page
Shift + Trackball-Left/Right: Highlight text for cutting or copying
Menu + X: Cut text (will cut all text on-screen unless specific characters are highlighted)
Menu + C: Copy text to clipboard (will copy all text on-screen unless specific characters are highlighted)
Menu + V: Paste text from clipboard
Menu + A: Select all text in the current field

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Browsing

Menu + I: Zoom in
Menu + O: Zoom out
Menu + J: Go back a page
Menu + K: Go forward a page
Menu + R: Refresh current page
Menu + F: Find on page
Menu + B: Open bookmarks
Menu + S: Open social network sharing menu
Menu + H: View browsing history
Menu + S: Open browser settings

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Gmail

F: Forward current message (works only while inside the message)
R: Reply to current message (works only while inside the message)
A: Reply-all to current message (works only while inside the message)
Y: Archive message (works from within message or while on main inbox list)
Menu + U: Refresh inbox
Menu + C: Compose new e-mail
Enter: Open an e-mail (from the main inbox list)
Alt + Trackball-Up: Jump to top of inbox
Alt + Trackball-Down: Jump to bottom of inbox

Thanks for writing this up, but it's not an answer to the question. The problem isn't mapping keys, the problem is handling keys that send multiple keycodes to the system. Which are not properly recognized, even by the keytest program. The only software that shows all the keys is getevent.

@Dominik Okay, Good luck trying to get it to work, and when these keys get pressed, they don't work either way when you hold shift and don't hold shift? Am i correct to assume that?


text:
Full circle with symbol like smiling mouth in notification bar
Does anybody know, what is this icon in the notification bar in the top left corner?

I saw it on screenshot, thats why I cant check it on my mobile phone.
Thanks.

Finally I found it. Its Android application - Breaking News notification icon.

Which breaking news application? What is the name?

"Breaking News" is the name of the notification icon.


text:
Moving files to memory card
I am unable to move files to my memory card from phone.

Htc 620g
Android 4.4.2
Memory card 32 Gb
Please let me know what to do in this situation.there is 31 Gb free space in memory card.

Tried files did not moved

added another image

are you rooted by the way? There is a workaround for rooted devices


text:
(feature discontinued) Google Hangouts phone app: How to start a group SMS where one of the recipients is a Hangouts user?
I'm actually answering my own question here, and the purpose for this is because the question hasn't been clearly stated before.
Imagine the following scenario:

I have a friend named Joe who uses Google Hangouts on his cell phone
I have a friend named Mary who uses a cell phone, but does not have
Google Hangouts

I would like to send a group message to both of them.  I know that Joe can receive SMS or Hangouts, but Mary only has the capability to send/receive SMS/MMS.  How can I ensure my message is compatible for Mary?

I'm assuming this is relevant to the app (iOS or Android?)  I came looking for how to do on PC and doesn't seem to match up.  Please clarify title for future searchers.

As of May 22, 2017, Google Hangouts no longer supports SMS messaging.  I have adjusted the title to reflect this.

not sure why you say that, I'm still actively using it for sms both on my Android and on my PC device.  In the end I ended up starting the group text on my device in Hangouts as I never quite got it on the pc.

You can do this in two different ways:
Method 1:

In Hangouts, tap the + button
Tap "New SMS"
Find Mary and tap on her entry.  The combination of step 2 and 3 will solidify the message as an SMS.  If you select Joe (our Hangouts contact) first, it may convert to a Hangouts message, so it is important to start with your SMS contact first!
Find Joe and tap on his entry
Tap the green arrow to continue.  In my case, I have two numbers I can send from (my carrier number or a Google Voice Number), so I would select my desired number.

Method 2:

In Hangouts, send a message to Mary
While staying in Mary's conversation, tap the "three dots" button in the upper right
Tap "New Group MMS"
Find Joe and tap on his entry
Tap the green arrow to continue.  In my case, I have two numbers I can send from (my carrier number or a Google Voice Number), so I would select my desired number.

Testing
In either situation, you can test if you were successful by tapping the "three dots" button in the upper right of your group message.

If the dropdown has an option for "Delete", then you are in a group SMS/MMS
If the dropdown has an option for "Leave", then you are in a hangout

Tested on Hangouts version 10.0


text:
Make system app remain uninstalled/disabled permanently
I already know that I can uninstall an android system app using adb pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.package.name, which is quite useful but not enough.
There are some system apps that I have to continuously uninstall and reinstall for several reasons, and connecting my smartphone to the pc every time is something I would gladly avoid.
Is there any method (possibly apart from rooting my device) to prevent a disabled/uninstalled system app from being reinstalled?
Thanks in advance

EDIT:
As suggested by @Robert:

Model name: Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro
Android version: 10 (Q)
MIUI version: 12.0.4
Package name: com.google.android.youtube (mainly)

Can you please edit your question and add more details like your phone model, the installed Android version and the exact package names of the system app(s) you are talking about. Also some more information would be good on what occasions the apps are getting reactivated.

@Robert I updated my question

The Youtube app is most likely updated by Google Play Store. On modern devices Play Store updates Google  apps even if you have not registered with a Google account. If you have already disable auto update in Google Play Store settings I don't know if there are other options to prevent such an update besides deleting the app with root permissions.

@Robert the fact is that I don't just want to restore factory settings and prevent update... I want to be able to completely uninstall the application as I do using adb

There is no such option. The solution is customer specific. On some phones the app stays disabled, on others it gets reactivated, because the OS decides its necessary. Its possible that some setting or some other app makes the disabled one necessary, which leads to its re-activation.

Thanks for your response... I updated my question with my phone specs. If it helps to solve the problem, let me know

The only way it can help is if one of us has the phone and can play with it. To debug the issue is not easy. People often don't understand how hard it is to find a problem and its solution, it takes countless hours sometimes. This package should be disabled from the play store, perhaps it has some permission or device administrator options that need to go first. Try from the play store or the system app safe removal app from the store.


text:
Android phone slowly charging message
I purchased a TCL 10L phone two days ago. To my surprise when I plugged it, the phone said "Fast Charging" and it charged very fast. People on YouTube say that it does not support fast charging. Anyway, on next day, when I emptied the battery, I plugged the charger in. It said something like slowly charging. I panicked and I removed the plug and plugged it back in. It said fast charging like the first time and is currently charging.
I am worried. Is the device displaying the slowly charging message normal? I have 1 day left to replace the device if there are any issues. Though, I am not sure if this is normal or not. The device does not have any faults so far. So, I would risk getting a new device with the same issue and more issues. The port is USB-C if that matters.
Regards and thanks.
Edit: I unplugged the charger at 97%. Then, replugged it. Now, it says "Charging" only. I tried unplugging/replugging two times and still "Charging" no more fast charging at 97%.

Thank you for the replies. Though, according to popular sites only the Pro version supports that. https://www.xda-developers.com/tcl-10l-tcl-10-pro-review/ https://www.androidauthority.com/tcl-10-pro-review-1118085/

In my experience, this could easily be an issue with the charger itself.  Try a different cable, try a different base, if it still happens, you know it's something going on with the phone itself

Related: my answer to Android phone “charging slowly”: How to make it faster that explains how Android shows the message.

Thanks for the information, Andrew T. Though, it does not help me much because this is a brand new phone. Only got it 2-3d ago now. I appreciate it, though.

"Slow charging" usually means that the phone wasn't able to confirm that the power source is capable of providing more voltage than the original USB spec allows. This usually happens when the phone is connected to a computer or the cable didn't go all the way in and USB data lines don't contact well. If it doesn't happen too often then it's normal.

Thanks for the info. I am using the charger that came with the phone. This is my second charge using the same charger. I am worried. Did you experience this firsthand? I only have one more day and I am into the normal warranty where they repair the phone instead of replacing it.

@jamana Yes. My current phone sometimes does it with one particular USB type C cable I have. Reversing the cable fixes it. That same phone works fine with other cables and that cable works fine with other phones. Phones check for fast charging capabilities using USB data lines. If these don't make good contact the phone may assume that the power source doesn't support fast charging. Unfortunately I can't say anything about your phone and charger pair. You can try plugging it in for a minute for a few times, in both positions of the cable, and see if it works reliably.

Thanks for the information, @gronostaj. Is your phone new or semi new, though. I have tried unplugging and replugging the phone several times and it kept saying "Fast Charging" I have tried this 10 times in like 3 minutes. Though, on two of the tries, the phone said "Slow Charging" for just 1/3 of a second and switched to "Fast Charging" right away. At 97%, the I unplugged and replugged the phone 3-4 times and it said "Charging" not "Fast Charging" I do not know if this is normal or not.

@jamana Slow charging for just a moment, then switching to fast charging is not abnormal. The circuitry sometimes needs a moment to detect charger type. The "regular" charging at 97% kind of makes sense, but I can't tell for sure if it's intentional design or the phone misbehaving in your case.

I wanted to let you know that I unplugged the phone at around 30% and replugged it and it displayed "Fast Charging" on my three attempts. On one attempt it displayed "Charging" for a fraction of a second and switched to "Fast Charging" I have noticed that the phone displays "Fast Charging" at 98% if I kept it charging from a low level (30% in my case). Though, when I unplugged and replugged it at 98% it said "Charging" only. I have tried this around three times and it always said "Charging" So, there is indeed a pattern. I decided to keep the phone. Thanks again for the information.


text:
What is vendor_audit and why is it spamming my logs?
I have an app spamming my logcat messages and I assume it is responsible for slow operation of my device. The logs all look like this and there are thousands:
2022-01-18 18:02:19.204 646-646/? E/audit: type=1400 audit(1642345453.765:312963): avc:  denied  { read } for  pid=1173 comm=87654F456789656Z646C1234567890 name="gpuclk" dev="sysfs" ino=74938 scontext=u:r:system_server:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:vendor_sysfs_kgsl_gpuclk:s0 tclass=file permissive=0 SEPF_SV-X825_11_0010 audit_filtered

I used adb shell ps -A to list my processes and the spamming PID is the following line:
vendor_audit    646      1 2142068   2592 0                   0 S auditd

Also I checked the other PID mentioned in the log, it's this one:
system         1173    673 11627288 282980 0                  0 S system_server

Note: I do not know what all these numbers in the log output are, I assume some random device identifiers and similar. Just to be on the safe side, I changed them before uploading, but I kept the length the same. I left the PID numbers
Device is a Galaxy Tab S5e with the preinstalled system, not rooted.

It's not the app. auditd and system_server are the core operating system processes. vendor_audit and system are their UIDs respectively. And the audit log entries belong to SELinux which is the core Mandatory Access Control mechanism in Android. You cannot control this logging, at least without root. Contact your ROM manufacturer if you find this a bug.

Some device are very verbose on logcat for example I had once a Samsung device that produced ~50 log entries per second in idle state and up to 4 times when using an app.

From your previous question, is this on Samsung Galaxy S9? Otherwise, might also help to mention the device model and whether it's rooted and/or using custom ROM.

@AndrewT. I added the device information, good point thanks.


text:
F2FS partition does not mount, fsck.f2fs does not resolve. I want to recover the files
I made a backup of my phone's userdata partition with the command (because the /data is not mounting):
dd if=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata of=/usb_otg/userdata.img
I need the files that are on the userdata partition. If anyone know a method of recovery that is also accepted.
INFO

Whatever I type, be it number, letter, or symbol, it accepts and shows it.

/data partition doesn’t mount.

I already used fsck.f2fs but it doesn't solve.

I found this in recovery.log:

E: Bad Magic for real block device
Could not mount /data and unable to find crypto footer

tw_includ_crypto=true

crypto ready=1

ro.crypto.type=file

ro.crypto.state=encrypted

Fsck.f2fs log
I:operation_start: 'Repair Partition'
Repairing Data using fsck.f2fs...
I:Repair command: /sbin/fsck.f2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p42
        Info: No support kernel version!
Info: Segments per section = 1
Info: Sections per zone = 1
Info: sector size = 512
Info: total sectors = 25009920 (12211 MB)
Info: MKFS version
  "Linux version 3.10.49-gd8d6af5 (hudsoncm@ilclbld35) (gcc version 4.8 (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 3 03:35:22 CDT 2017"
Info: FSCK version
  from "3.10.108-Lynx-v2.5+ #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Dec 20 11:16:12 IST 2020"
    to "3.10.108-NPD26.48-24-1-g285c0940a98 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Oct 19 14:51:51 UTC 2020"
Info: superblock features = 1 :  encrypt
Info: superblock encrypt level = 0, salt = 00000000000000000000000000000000
Info: total FS sectors = 25009920 (12211 MB)
Info: CKPT version = 7b4b2
Info: Found valid nat_bits in checkpoint
Info: checkpoint state = 281 :  allow_nocrc nat_bits unmount
[ASSERT] (sanity_check_nid: 372)  --> nid[0x3] ino is 0

[FSCK] Unreachable nat entries                        [Ok..] [0x0]
[FSCK] SIT valid block bitmap checking                [Ok..]
[FSCK] Hard link checking for regular file            [Ok..] [0x0]
[FSCK] valid_block_count matching with CP             [Ok..] [0x0]
[FSCK] valid_node_count matcing with CP (de lookup)   [Ok..] [0x0]
[FSCK] valid_node_count matcing with CP (nat lookup)  [Ok..] [0x0]
[FSCK] valid_inode_count matched with CP              [Ok..] [0x0]
[FSCK] free segment_count matched with CP             [Ok..] [0x17a6]
[FSCK] next block offset is free                      [Ok..]
[FSCK] fixing SIT types
[FSCK] other corrupted bugs                           [Fail]
Info: Write valid nat_bits in checkpoint

Done.
I:/sbin/fsck.f2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p42 process ended with RC=0
Done.

Recovery.log
Starting TWRP 3.4.0-0-35475b1d on Sat Jan 10 18:51:21 1970
(pid 209)
RECOVERY_SDCARD_ON_DATA := true
I:Lun file '/sys/devices/platform/msm_hsusb/gadget/lun0/file'
TW_INCLUDE_CRYPTO := true
I:Found brightness file at '/sys/class/leds/lcd-backlight/brightness'
I:Got max brightness 255 from '/sys/class/leds/lcd-backlight/max_brightness'
I:TWFunc::Set_Brightness: Setting brightness control to 255
I:LANG: en
Starting the UI...
setting DRM_FORMAT_RGB565 and GGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGB_565
cannot find/open a drm device: No such file or directory
fb0 reports (possibly inaccurate):
  vi.bits_per_pixel = 32
  vi.red.offset   =   0   .length =   8
  vi.green.offset =   8   .length =   8
  vi.blue.offset  =  16   .length =   8
setting GGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGBA_8888
double buffered
framebuffer: 0 (720 x 1280)
Using fbdev graphics.
I:TWFunc::Set_Brightness: Setting brightness control to 255
TW_SCREEN_BLANK_ON_BOOT := true
I:TWFunc::Set_Brightness: Setting brightness control to 0
I:TWFunc::Set_Brightness: Setting brightness control to 255
I:Loading package: splash (/twres/splash.xml)
I:Load XML directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/splash.xml' directly
I:Checking resolution...
I:Scaling theme width 0.666667x and height 0.666667x, offsets x: 0 y: 0 w: 0 h: 0
I:Loading resources...
I:Loading variables...
I:Loading mouse cursor...
I:Loading pages...
I:Loading page splash
I:Switching packages (splash)
I:Blacklisting input device: hbtp_vm
=> Linking mtab
=> Processing /etc/twrp.fstab for SAR-detection
I:Reading /etc/twrp.fstab
I:Done processing fstab files
I:SAR-DETECT: SAR System detected
=> Processing /etc/twrp.fstab
I:Reading /etc/twrp.fstab
I:Processing '/system'
I:Created '/system_root' folder.
I:Processing '/system_image'
I:Processing '/data'
I:Processing '/cache'
I:Processing '/boot'
I:Processing '/recovery'
I:Processing '/persist'
I:Created '/persist' folder.
I:TWFunc::Fixup_Time: Pre-fix date and time: 1970-01-10--18-51-21
I:TWFunc::Fixup_Time: Setting time offset from file /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/since_epoch
I:TWFunc::Fixup_Time: will attempt to use the ats files now.
I:TWFunc::Fixup_Time: no ats files found, leaving untouched!
I:Processing '/firmware'
I:Processing '/misc'
I:Processing '/external_sd'
I:Created '/external_sd' folder.
I:Processing '/usb_otg'
I:Created '/usb_otg' folder.
I:Done processing fstab files
I:Setting up '/data' as data/media emulated storage.
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
E:Bad magic for real block device /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/metadata
Could not mount /data and unable to find crypto footer.
I:Setting up '/data' as data/media emulated storage.
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
Failed to mount '/data' (No such file or directory)
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
Unable to recreate /data/media folder.
I:Backup folder set to '/data/media/TWRP/BACKUPS/0021404064'
I:Settings storage is '/data/media'
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
Updating partition details...
Failed to mount '/data' (No such file or directory)
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount '/external_sd'
I:Actual block device: '', current file system: 'auto'
I:Unable to mount '/usb_otg'
I:Actual block device: '', current file system: 'auto'
...done
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
Unable to mount storage
I:Unmounting main partitions...

Partition Logs:
/system_root | /dev/block/mmcblk0p41 | Size: 2283MB Used: 1087MB Free: 1195MB Backup Size: 1087MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped Can_Be_Backed_Up Wipe_Available_in_GUI IsPresent Mount_Read_Only
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p41
   Display_Name: System
   Storage_Name: System
   Backup_Path: /system_root
   Backup_Name: system
   Backup_Display_Name: System
   Storage_Path: /system_root
   Current_File_System: ext4
   Fstab_File_System: ext4
   Backup_Method: files

/system_image | /dev/block/mmcblk0p41 | Size: 2320MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Backed_Up IsPresent Can_Flash_Img
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p41
   Display_Name: System Image
   Storage_Name: system_image
   Backup_Path: /system_image
   Backup_Name: system_image
   Backup_Display_Name: System Image
   Storage_Path: /system_image
   Current_File_System: emmc
   Fstab_File_System: emmc
   Backup_Method: dd

/data | /dev/block/mmcblk0p42 | Size: 0MB Used: 0MB Free: 0MB Backup Size: 0MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped Can_Be_Backed_Up Wipe_During_Factory_Reset Wipe_Available_in_GUI IsPresent Can_Be_Encrypted Has_Data_Media Can_Encrypt_Backup Use_Userdata_Encryption Is_Storage Is_Settings_Storage
   Symlink_Path: /data/media
   Symlink_Mount_Point: /sdcard
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p42
   Crypto_Key_Location: /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/metadata
   Display_Name: Data
   Storage_Name: Internal Storage
   Backup_Path: /data
   Backup_Name: data
   Backup_Display_Name: Data
   Storage_Path: /data/media
   Current_File_System: f2fs
   Fstab_File_System: f2fs
   Backup_Method: files
   Mount_Flags: 3078, Mount_Options: discard,inline_xattr,inline_data
   MTP_Storage_ID: 65537

/cache | /dev/block/mmcblk0p40 | Size: 254MB Used: 70MB Free: 183MB Backup Size: 70MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped Can_Be_Backed_Up Wipe_During_Factory_Reset Wipe_Available_in_GUI IsPresent
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p40
   Display_Name: Cache
   Storage_Name: Cache
   Backup_Path: /cache
   Backup_Name: cache
   Backup_Display_Name: Cache
   Storage_Path: /cache
   Current_File_System: f2fs
   Fstab_File_System: auto
   Backup_Method: files

/boot | /dev/block/mmcblk0p31 | Size: 16MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Backed_Up IsPresent Can_Flash_Img
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p31
   Display_Name: Boot
   Storage_Name: boot
   Backup_Path: /boot
   Backup_Name: boot
   Backup_Display_Name: Boot
   Storage_Path: /boot
   Current_File_System: emmc
   Fstab_File_System: emmc
   Backup_Method: dd

/recovery | /dev/block/mmcblk0p32 | Size: 16MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Backed_Up IsPresent Can_Flash_Img
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p32
   Display_Name: Recovery
   Storage_Name: recovery
   Backup_Path: /recovery
   Backup_Name: recovery
   Backup_Display_Name: Recovery
   Storage_Path: /recovery
   Current_File_System: emmc
   Fstab_File_System: emmc
   Backup_Method: dd

/persist | /dev/block/mmcblk0p29 | Size: 3MB Used: 0MB Free: 3MB Backup Size: 0MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped IsPresent Mount_To_Decrypt
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p29
   Display_Name: persist
   Storage_Name: persist
   Backup_Path: /persist
   Backup_Name: persist
   Backup_Display_Name: persist
   Storage_Path: /persist
   Current_File_System: ext4
   Fstab_File_System: ext4
   Backup_Method: files
   Mount_Flags: 1030, Mount_Options: barrier=1,noauto_da_alloc

/firmware | /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 | Size: 35MB Used: 31MB Free: 3MB Backup Size: 31MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped IsPresent Mount_To_Decrypt Mount_Read_Only
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
   Display_Name: firmware
   Storage_Name: firmware
   Backup_Path: /firmware
   Backup_Name: firmware
   Backup_Display_Name: firmware
   Storage_Path: /firmware
   Current_File_System: ext4
   Fstab_File_System: ext4
   Backup_Method: files
   Mount_Flags: 6, Mount_Options: barrier=0,context=u:object_r:fsg_file:s0

/misc | /dev/block/mmcblk0p9 | Size: 0MB
   Flags: IsPresent
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
   Display_Name: misc
   Storage_Name: misc
   Backup_Path: /misc
   Backup_Name: misc
   Backup_Display_Name: misc
   Storage_Path: /misc
   Current_File_System: emmc
   Fstab_File_System: emmc
   Backup_Method: dd

/external_sd |  | Size: 0MB Used: 0MB Free: 0MB Backup Size: 0MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped Wipe_Available_in_GUI Removable Is_Storage
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
   Alternate_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk1
   Display_Name: MicroSD Card
   Storage_Name: MicroSD Card
   Backup_Path: /external_sd
   Backup_Name: external_sd
   Backup_Display_Name: MicroSD Card
   Storage_Path: /external_sd
   Current_File_System: auto
   Fstab_File_System: auto
   Backup_Method: files
   MTP_Storage_ID: 65538

/usb_otg |  | Size: 0MB Used: 0MB Free: 0MB Backup Size: 0MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped Wipe_Available_in_GUI Removable Is_Storage
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/sda1
   Alternate_Block_Device: /dev/block/sda
   Display_Name: USB-OTG
   Storage_Name: USB-OTG
   Backup_Path: /usb_otg
   Backup_Name: usb_otg
   Backup_Display_Name: USB-OTG
   Storage_Path: /usb_otg
   Current_File_System: auto
   Fstab_File_System: auto
   Backup_Method: files
   MTP_Storage_ID: 65539

I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount '/data'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
Failed to mount '/data' (No such file or directory)
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p42', current file system: 'f2fs'
I:Unable to mount /data/media during GUI startup.
I:Loading package: TWRP (/twres/ui.xml)
I:Load XML directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/uk.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/tr.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/sv.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/sl.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/sk.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/ru.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/pt_PT.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/pt_BR.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/pl.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/nl.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/it.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/hu.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/fr.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/es.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/en.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/el.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/de.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/cz.xml' directly
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/languages/en.xml' directly
parsing languageFile
parsing languageFile done
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/ui.xml' directly
I:Checking resolution...
I:Scaling theme width 0.666667x and height 0.666667x, offsets x: 0 y: 0 w: 0 h: 0
I:Loading resources...
I:Failed to load image from indeterminate013, error -1
I:Loading variables...
I:Loading mouse cursor...
I:Loading pages...
I:Including file: /twres/portrait.xml...
I:PageManager::LoadFileToBuffer loading filename: '/twres/portrait.xml' directly
I:Loading resources...
I:Loading variables...
I:Loading mouse cursor...
I:Loading pages...
I:Loading page main
I:Loading page main2
I:Loading page install
I:Loading page flash_confirm
I:Loading page flash_zip
I:Loading page flash_done

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/issues/3171#issuecomment-729814931

https://superuser.com/q/1225447


text:
No keyboard in lock screen
I really want to avoid factory resetting the phone since I know the password but just cant type it in.
Things I tried and failed:

rebooting my phone
adb since no usb debugging

Phone: Huawei Honor V10 on EMUI 9

Try to connect a simple USB keyboard (best no integrated USB hub, card reader, RGB lights,... ) via USB OTG adapter. Most phones support OTG which should allow you to enter the password/PIN

This works! Thanks!


text:
Trouble putting a ROM on Nexus 6p
I just bought a Nexus 6p a few days ago. I put TWRP and Cyanogenmod 14.1 on it. It was fine, until I wanted to try another ROM. So I booted to TWRP, and wiped it. I wasn't thinking when I wiped and now I don't have a ROM to flash. I want Resurrection Remix ROM. How can I fix this? I am really worried. Any help is greatly appreciated. If you need any more information just ask, I will gladly provide more if I can. I am open to installing any (safe) custom recovery, and any ROM at this point. Also, where is a place on the phone that does not get deleted when I perform a factory reset, so that I can always have a backup in case this happens again.
Thanks for any help!
I forgot to add:
When I try to use fastboot update rom.zip I get this:

Boot into TWRP again, choose "Advanced-ADBSideload", connect to PC, then adb sideload path/to/your-rom.zip (just open a command prompt window for this, and drag the zip file into the window to have its file name and path entered automatically).

I asked where on the phone, and 2. For some reason the adb sideload is not working. It doesn't recognize my phone.

My bad (facepalm)... Internal storage doesn't get wiped on factory reset, but you intentionally wiping it doesn't help. Aside from that there's nowhere safe (from flashing) and large enough to hold stuff permanently.

What about regular ADB, i.e. if you plug it in when the phone is not in sideload menu? It should be recognized as "xxxxxxxx recovery" in adb devices. If that doesn't work either then grab a USB OTG adapter, TWRP also supports that. Or just flash a factory image via fastboot and start over (you already wiped everything so no worries about data) if you don't want to buy anything. Plenty of options still.

That didn't work. Do you know where I could get ClockworkMod for the Nexus 6p? I have searched everywhere and simply cannot find it. I have found a link to CWM for the Nexus 4, and I tried changing mako to angler and I got an XML file saying Access Denied.

CWM/PhilZ is dead long ago, don't bother. Keep trying the other options. At least your bootloader is unlocked (don't ever re-lock it), so it's not a dead-end.

I never planned to re-lock my bootloader. I rebooted my computer just trying the basic stuff because the ADB wasn't working. When I was prompted with the OS options (on the computer) I just decided to go with Linux (instead of Windows 7). When I booted the phone into TWRP, Linux mounted the phone as a media device. I was able to copy the rom.zip to the internal storage. I flashed it, but now its stuck at the bootanimation and won't go anywhere. Any help with this?

I figured something out. Windows 7 did not work for me. I had to boot into Linux (I use Debian 8).
Go to https://developers.google.com/android/ota and get the file for your device. This will be just the stock ROM. You will use this to get the ROM you actually want onto the phone.
This will be a ZIP file. fastboot update file.zip didn't work for me. If it worked for you, skip to the next paragraph. If it didn't work for you, just keep reading. Unzip the zip file, and manually flash all of the *.img files. They are named with the partition they go with. Ex: fastboot flash boot boot.img, fastboot flash system system.img. This should work.
Now boot into the stock ROM you just flashed. Don't worry about personalizing it. Get just what you need set up. If you have internet on the device, go ahead and open the browser and get the ROM that you want. Put it in a place you will remember or can find. Reboot into TWRP and hit Install. Find the zip file you just downloaded and flash it. You are done!
If you don't have internet, find a computer that does have internet and find the ROM that you want and download it. Move the file to the phone, and then flash it from TWRP.
That's what worked for me!


text:
Can Google Hangouts send out text message under data?
I found that on my android, google hangouts seems not able to send out text messages i.e. SMS to a phone number, when it is on data service.
Is it the same for others, or is it just my problem?
Thanks.

You can send text messages through hangouts to phone number. For this You have to go to Settings > Messages > Default messaging app > Hangouts.


text:
This audio format (AC3) not supported in MX player
I am trying to play one video in hindi language in MX player. but it shows This audio format (AC3) is not supported.
Error shows in below picture:

Does anyone help me to solve this issue?

AFAIK because of licensing issues, MX Player dropped AC3 support. There is/was a plugin you could download, but I don't know if it works.

This is what you need.
Download the codec, place it in your internal storage, then Settings > decoder > Custom codec. This should fix your problem.


text:
Why are apps not loading anything after a while of use (Nexus 5 | 16GB)?
Well the title says it. It happens to most apps that need an internet connection.
(Instagram, Youtube, Play Store, Whatsapp etc.) The browser works fine though.
But for example when I'm looking at my Instagram feed, after a while nothing loads anymore. Like wifi turned off or something. Or on Youtube after watching a few videos If I click on another video it starts not/infinite loading.
The solution to this is reopening the app, but this can be annoying as you have to find where you were again.
I couldn't find anything on Google and never heard anybody experiencing the same.
Is it because of my phone ? My wifi ? (3/4 connection most of time | 60mb/s) I do think other people didn't have this in my house but I'm not sure.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT:
I now have the Nexus 5X (Same simcard) and I got the same problem.
EDIT:
I noticed reconnecting to the WiFi is a solution as well, but this is still annoying.

Try wiping the cache and data of that app in settings .

Wiping data is not a good recommendation here (and in general at least not without naming the consequences). OP already wrote "solution to this is reopening the app" – so data are obviously not the culprit.


text:
How to route audio from bluetooth headset's mic to android speakers
I have an android app which routes mic audio to speakers in realtime. What I want it to do is instead of routing built in mic audio, it route audio from mic of a bluetooth headset.
Background: I just wanna use my bluetooth headset as mic and connect the phone to loud speakers so that whatever I speak comes through loud speakers wirelessly.

Old question, what app was this?


text:
How to pass all throttled data traffic to an unthrottled port and browse internet at full speed
There are multiple TCP/UDP based VPN apps which can provide free internet. I'm no expert in this field but according to what I understand is that these apps can work if you are able to browse at least one website without any internet plan. They pass all the normal internet traffic through that one website so that your operator thinks you are still browsing that one free website.
Can someone throw some light on how this process exactly works and can I use it to make my internet work faster because when I exhaust my data limit still some websites work at full speed.

I don't see how this is possible, this isn't how VPN's work... They REQUIRE an internet connection to make the tunnel from your device to their VPN server, without a valid internet connection you cannot build the VPN tunnel.

"if you are able to browse at least one website without any internet plan" Many operators allow their official homepage or webportal address to be reached to show ads without having any internet connection. VPN apps use these addresses as host and with appropriate port they can tunnel whole internet traffic thru it. Related info here https://dnstunnel.de

Yeah, but you are talking about captive portal bypass via DNS remapping or IP routing, completely different... years ago those types of restrictions only stopped you from resolving DNS through public servers, it is completely different now with legitimate routing restrictions in modern WiFi captive portal systems. You are talking about a completely different scenario when you have service to access your carriers website but not the rest of the internet. Try it, open a terminal and see if you can ping 8.8.8.8 or another IP, if you can this might work, but I doubt it will.


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Multitasking Android 5.0
I have an LG-V400 running Android Lollipop 5.0.2. I want to be able to multitask in dual windows with apps that did not come with this device. When I try to multitask, I am given this prompt:

which only allows me to multitask with Google apps. How can I multitask with two completely different apps? (i.e. SoundCloud and DropBox)
(I am fine with rooting my device if that is what the solution requires, although I would prefer not to.)
Thank you!

There is an xposed module called xmultiwindow that will do the trick.  You need to root your phone and install the xposed framework.  I can't confirm if its compatible with your model though but try it out.

Thank you for your solution. I have already tried to install the Xposed framework (for a different purpose) but couldn't install the TWRP manager. I ended up accidentally factory resetting my device and nearly bricked it. Any other solutions would be helpful, but thank you for your answer.


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Sony Xperia M2 black screen when turned on
Yesterday, after having my phone in my pocket for the whole day, not checking it for hours, it just had a black screen in the end. At first i thought the battery had run out, so as soon as I was home, I plugged the phone in. It did not load at all, though, and there was no light telling me the phone was loading. I let the phone just lie around over night, thinking the charger cable was just damaged, and used another one the next day. It charged without problems, as normal. When it reached 66%, I decided to turn the phone on. Holding the power button resulted in a light vibration, as always, and the screen just going black (it showed the battery with the amount charged in it before) The lamp that showed me it was charging went off, too.
I had similar problems in the past, but those could be resolved without a problem with holding the volume down + power button for some time, which rebooted the device. This does not seem to work now, though.
As my PC won't recognise the handy beeing plugged in, I can't tell you what version my handy is on exaactly, but I can tell you that I only some days ago received notification about a software update, which I had not yet installed. Before that, the software was on the latest version.
Is this a known problem? All I could find where instances where this problem was fixed with holding the volume and power button.

If something is unclear or you need more information, just ask. I will probably take the phone to someone who specialises in phone repair tomorrow, if no one can help me.

I had a similar problem in Xperia E3 and couldn't wake the device So i just used custom Rom and it worked .This happened again and i had to flash stock firmware and erased user data during flash. This may happen as a result of kernel bug .
ps; If you go service center they you ask to change new chip-set worth 6000 rupees.


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How to control the volume of an android device from a pc
I want to ask if there is a quick way to control my android devices volume from my pc. All solutions I find in Google are the otherway round. So does anybody has an idea?
Thank you in advance

There are a bunch of apps to remote-control your Android, several of them also allowing you to adjust volume etc. Another possibility would be using something like IF (formerly IFTTT) and setup a matching "recipe".

I am proud to announce that I have just published an application on Google Play Store and Github to address this exact problem.
It is (and will remain) free, without ads, and open source.
It will let you control the sound volume of your Android device remotely, easily, from any device that has a web browser (this includes PC or iPhone per example) and is connected to the same local network (Wifi).
You can get it :
on Google Play Store : Web Remote Volume Control
on GitHub : tanaka42/androidapp-webremotevolumecontrol
Some times ago, I did land on this stackexchange question when searching how to control volume remotely easily. I did try the Vysor+SliderWidget solution, it did work, but I was not happy with that. Moreover that solution did not include iPhone as the remote controller. So I have built this app for myself, but finally I have decided to make it public.
If it can be useful to even a single person, I will be very happy.
EDIT : my app now has more than 150 users located all around the world : I am very happy :D

You can try a remote control app that would allow you to control anything on your android phone from your computer. If you are okay with this approach you can try app called Vysor - Android control on PC.

thank you for the tip. Vysor is great although I have trouble finding the volume control within vysor. I can only access them if my smartphone is locked. Do you know how to access the volume?

I am not sure about a specific one, but there are volume control widgets that can be placed on the screen once and can be easily accessed through remote.

I found a free workaround: on your android device where you want the volume to be changed, install tasker and pushbullet. Also install pushbullet on your device that you want to use as your remote (this can also be a computer or ios device). Simple configure pushbullet on both devices so you can push notifications to each other. Then open tasker and make a new profile > event > filter on 'push' > 'receive a push' > configuration > filter on text: 1 > new task > media volume to 1. Repeat this for text: 2 > media volume: 2 etc. Send 2 and tasker will set your media volume to 2. If testing its good to know that sometimes tasker needs a restart before changes are made.
Let me know if this works for you.

I use an application called Vysor
for this. Install it to your pc (allow USB debugging from your mobile phone) and you can control your phone from it as long as it is connected to your pc or mac.
You get 1 ad every half an hour but it is the best app that I have found so far.

The thing is: you'll need a desktop app that will communicate to your Android app via TCP/IP or Bluetooth (BluetoothAdapter) which will control the entire volume of the mobile.


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How to block Apps Advertisements?
I rooted my android device.
After rooting, is it possible to block or stop advertisements coming on apps?
If yes, please guide me for resolving this issue.
Regards
GNS

If you want to stop advertizements, the best cure is an Ad-Blocker. I e.g. use AdAway, which modifies Androids hosts file so "ad servers" are no longer found – while accessing other resources works fine.
As Ahmed pointed out, buying the full version of an app usually ends the ads in that app as well (and rewards the dev for the work done). So ad blockers are rather for the "left overs": apps which have no ad-free version, plus preventing other "evil stuff" (as possibly infected ads on websites).

Hi.. Thank you for replying me and resolving my concerns. I understand that full version of an app usually ends the apps but in some cases like News Apps or Classified Apps, it’s not true. AdAway requires root permission. What should I do for non-rooted android device?

Follow the first link, and check for an ad blocker not requiring root? Right the first candidate of that list explicitly states "no root", and is available from my own F-Droid compatible repo: Adguard. Same applies to Seven Adclear :)

I used Ad-Blocker and AdGuard on non-rooted device. Both are not able to stop in-apps ads.

Sorry, then I cannot help further. I usually root my devices almost before unboxing them – and don't buy devices I cannot root.


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How to stop update
There are some apps like Facebook that I don’t want to update. And frequently I see a notification in app and in Play Store for its update.
Please let me know how to get rid of update of some specific apps.

I don't want to upgrade Facebook app but every time I see "upgrade" notification on Facebook app. Recently I did reset my device and before reset, I upgraded Facebook but after upgrade, some options were missing in app. That's why I don't want to upgrade it again.

Also see: How to get rid of update notifications for a given app in Google Play Store?

You could just go to Playstore and select the app you'd like to not auto update. When you click the 3 dots(overflow icon) at the top right uncheck auto update.
Apps nowadays though have started implementing a policy where you can't use the app if you haven't downloaded the update.

I already did this. There is no auto but I don't want to see the name of those apps that I don't want to update, under Updates. Apart from this, even in facebook app, I see update notification and it tries to force me to update facebook.


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Why does my WIFI turn off randomly?
I am using a government ZTE Qlink phone and the WIFI randomly turns itself off. I have too many contacts to perform a factory reset! I need help figuring it out!

Does it lose connection? Or the adapter actually turns off?

Practically all mobile phones are using the Google Contacts app to manage your contacts. They create a backup of your contacts to the Google, and continuously synchronizing with it. This is why you can see the same contacts on all your Android devices (if you have multiple).
If not this is the case on your phone, you need only to install the Google Contacts app.
If you don't want to share your contacts with the Google, there are also many third-party apps to save them to other cloud services, or to your own machine. You can find them quickly with Google searches :-)
Having your contacts saved with an app, your contact list will survive a factory reset. Note, there is a high chance, that it won't fix your problem. In my experience, such sudden wifi disconnections root probably in the bad hardware/driver, or in some overloading of your device by the recently hugely grown apps. If you have no better option, it surely worths a try.

Which phone are you using? Go to Settings -> About Phone and check for system updates. If an update is available, do it right away.
If the problem still persists, then you should try to reset your phone.
If you are worried about losing your contacts, then you don't need to worry. On an Android device, your contacts are already been synced with google service. You can even check your contacts on the https://contacts.google.com .
Many other free contact backup apps are also available on the Internet. So you can backup your contacts/sms/call_logs and everything else to external card and then restore them any time.


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How can I only have sound when being called (phone)?
In my Android phone, I have the following options for sound:

Media volume
Alarm volume
Ring volume

However, if I increase ring volume, I also get each time a sound when I get a Whatsapp message, Facebook massage etc.
Is it possible to (temporarily) get sound only when I will be (phone) called (by another person)?
(background: I always leave my sound off, but I expect an important phone call today I do not want to miss).
Mobile: Motorola S5+, Android 8.1.0
Thanks in advance.

Whats app calls or phone calls?

@ReddyLutonadio phone calls (when I am called by someone else)

You can try this:
Go to System settings->Notifications->Select WhatsApp->Choose Block all and/or Show silently according to your need.
Do the same for Facebook.

Thanks; I was hoping for a better solution, because whatsapp/FB were just examples, I have lots of apps making sounds for notifications (mail, text messages, linkedin, ...) if I switch on sounds. But these will rule out the most important, thanks.


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Is it possible to search for gifs in messages? (Samsung Note 8)
I am currently using a Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which in the default messaging app has a keyboard option to send a gif image. When selected gifs appear and there are categories at the bottom (Trending, Happy, Fun, etc. etc.) However, I find this to be very ineffective and restrictive to find the actual gifs I want.
I checked on an Android forum, where some of the responses seem to indicated there is a search function, but this seems to be applicable to the S9 and conflicting information if it still exists.
So now I turn here... Does a search function exist for the gif keyboard, and if so how do I access it?
 Message version: 4.4.11.4 -- Message Service version 4.4.10.4

While I have not found any function within the Samsung Keyboard to allow for a search, this problem is easily solved by downloading a third-party keyboard...
I chose Gboard.
I have also heard that SwiftKey is a popular option.