GT-9103: SD Card Is Damaged!

Image via CrunchBase

28-Mar-13


I have a few items to write on, but I believe this one is quite urgent.

Two weeks ago, I sort of “tampered” once again my already-quiet Samsung Galaxy R. I searched for the latest Android custom ROM, which is 4.2.2. I found the one that is offered by Paranoid Android. I actually managed to flash that one properly, both the kernel and the Google Apps. These are the files: i9103-3.00-16FEB2013-192725.zip and gapps-full-4.2-20130308.zip. These are coming from Paranoid Android.

Of course, things don’t end there.

When I was installing those root apps, I came to the SuperUser app, and to my mistake, I selected the wrong option, when I was offered something like “usually for HTC phone”, and that broke my phone’s SD card.

A lot of apps don’t work after that: Camera, Wallpaper Changer, etc. I found that many things are so much dependent on the internal SD card. Anyway, I already have the other phone, my GT-I3100, so the impact isn’t that much.

Still, I can’t rest assured. I’m not convinced that nothing can be done with the “broken” SD card. Nonetheless, I am one step short of bringing that old phone, although unused, to Samsung Service Center.

I did try and try and try to re-flash the ROM, so that by any chance, re-installing SuperUser app, if I tap the ‘correct’ button, the SD card may get fixed all by itself.

Furthermore, within the last week, I noticed that my phone is showing some “inversion” in the display, like the upper diagonal half (top left to bottom right) getting inverted. The time showing 10:50 is upside down. Imagine that!

Bad becoming worse. Really no fix, I thought. I searched the web for help on the ‘Damaged SD Card’, and although it was consistently mentioned in the articles that I found not to do format, I still tapped on the ‘Format’ button in the suggested fix by the apps that identified the SD card as damaged. I was wondering, the one who developed the App isn’t the one who wrote the articles…?

Then my insatiable curiosity got me.

I said, there could be something offered by CM, the same 4.2.2 kernel, for my GT-i9103. So yesterday, I searched the web. Something came up. There were 2, actually. There was the kernel alone, cm-10-20121223-UNOFFICIAL-i9103.zip, and the pair: I9103DXLP6_I9103OLBLP6_XSP.zip and gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip. Looking at the dates, I said, these are earlier released than the one from Paranoid Android. So I was asking myself, “Why didn’t I see these first?”

Anyway, I went to download the files, not knowing whether I should do flash using the standalone kernel, or the pair.

I decided to use the pair, but to be sure, in case something doesn’t work, I also copied the standalone zip file. True enough, there was an error thrown out with the pair, the main zip file. I proceeded to install the Google Apps from the zip file despite the fact that the main file didn’t install properly, and then after reboot, the phone was in a boot loop.

I now tried to install the standalone file, and it worked! Still, first reboot resulted to a boot loop.

I did another flash, and this time, using the standalone kernel file, and this went through without a problem, and the reboot also went through nicely, and when the phone came up, I entered all the necessary credentials, and the apps were installed back automatically.

But Play Store app was missing, and though I can search and “install” it using the browser, the app doesn’t show in the Apps list. It is nowhere to be found. So I thought, can I bring it up using the other half of the pair, just the Google Apps file?

And that I did. I flashed the GApps file, and after reboot, the Google Apps were in.

And guess what? The main reason for my posting this article is to say that after flashing the CM 4.2.2 kernel for my GT-i9103, the SD Card came back to life!

Also, the other reason why I would be more comfortable running CM codes is that there is a regular update, which I download and install now and then, sometimes every night (NIGHTLY builds). That is what I do with the GT-P3100 phone.

So now I have a CM custom Android 4.2.2 ROM running, with the Google Apps in, and the SD Card fully functional once again!

Hope this short post will be of help to somebody as well.

Till then!

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Jelly Bean 4.2 on my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Rooting my wife’s Note II LTE

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (Photo credit: phossil)

13-Mar-13


2 weeks ago, my wife got her Samsung Galaxy Note II LTE (GT-N7105) for her plan re-contract with Starhub. I would have to mention (again) that we got the Samsung Note 2 7.0 (GT-P3100) weeks before, from the yearly early re-contract privilege only available with SingTel service provider. I mean, Starhub used to offer the same perk, but this was taken out about 2 years ago. Business decision, I suppose.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is this: now that my wife has her new phone, then I am already free to “take” the Tab for my own use. This action will leave 2 phones without lines: the iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy R (GT-I9103). This would mean that our 3-year old girl would have, at any point in time, 3 phones to play with while at home, juggling between the 3 devices, until the batteries die out. She would then turn to her inanimate play things in her toy box…

2 weeks ago, it was Wednesday, and I made the decision, so I switched the SIM cards. I brought with me the Tab, but I grew restless. I knew I can do more with it. The trigger was pulled, and bang! I was searching for the ‘latest’ ROM, kernel, updates, etc. This is me, what I set my mind to do, it consumes me!

And with the internet littered with tons of pages of (sometimes useless) information, I found what I am looking for – the Jelly Bean 4.2 kernel for my new GT-P3100. Having had rooted and flashed ROMs on my Galaxy R phone, I thought to myself, “This should be a piece of cake.”

Then the dilemma came.

I started flashing the new kernel while at work, and it failed. Several times I tried, and still failed. And all the time, I would have to reset the phone to the root and kernel that works. I have a saving patch, I could say. It is well worth mentioning: the filename is “P3100XXCLL2_P3100XEFCLK1_P3100XXCLJ3_HOME.tar.md5”. And this has a very faithful partner, the rooting file: “CF-Auto-Root-espressorf-espressorfxx-gtp3100.tar.md5”. Of course, all the time, I am using Odin3-v1.85. So when the flashing fails, I resort to flashing with the ‘working’ ROM, then to rooting the phone.

And the whole day of Wednesday, I was flashing, until I got home, and even late at night, till midnight, I was flashing. Still fails. The time I came home from office, my girl did as she would always do before: ask for my phone, so she can play with it. Well, I had to admit my failure, so I quietly told her, “It’s not working.” And showing her the black, blank screen, she took my word for it and went on her way.

Thursday came, I since I didn’t have a working phone, I told my wife that I’d ‘borrow’ the old Galaxy R phone while I am ‘fixing’ the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 unit. I got 2 units with me when I went to work.

Having had no luck the day before, I decided to try something else, and since it is something that I really wanted to try out, I searched for ROM kernels that will offer over-clocking and under-clocking – of course, with Jelly Bean 4.2 as the base item. I could say I’m becoming overly-zealous, am I? Sure enough, I found some, till I settled with one that makes a high-pitched offer, which I took, like a fish swallowing the hook, line and sinker. I was getting too ambitious, I suppose.

And even this one failed. The whole day of Thursday, I repeatedly tried, of course, each time, my saving pair of working kernel and rooter would help me get back to my feet each time my Android phone falls. I ended the day with all attempts ending in failure.

Friday, learning from the past 2 days, I searched, and only then I realized, that the Wednesday flashing was using an ‘incompatible’ file – and not that I am blind to it. Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 were of 2 kinds, basically: one is GT-p3100 (3G + WiFi), and the other, GT-P3110 (WiFi only). And there is one more: GT-P3113. What I was using was one specifically meant for the GT-P3110, while my unit is the GT-P3100. Of course, I went with this because some guy in the forum said that “it should be okay,” reading from some other user’s query of using that particular file for flashing.

As for the over-clocked module, it was already highlighted in the XDA pages that it was not verified, and you would do it with caution; a caveat. Of course I failed, and I learned from it.

It was already about lunchtime when I found one file that may be the answer. And it is complicated by the fact that I have to download it, and then later on, to try and flash my device.

The download finished about half past 4pm, and that left me with no more time to try anything, so I just run my saving pair, flashing my device with the working kernel, and then I got it rooted. All that’s needed is to try the newly-downloaded kernel.

When I arrived home, I restrained myself by going through the usual things when coming home. So after simmering down, I set up my laptop, booted it up, and then let it idle for a short while. I took the USB cable, held the device and pressed Volume Up and Power buttons simultaneously, I activated CWM Recovery, then selected install from zip file.

Did that installation work? You bet!

One shot. That’s all that was needed to install the new ROM, and to my pleasant surprise, the Android version is 4.2.2 – the latest!

And to attribute to the developers all the praise due them, I found it from the XDA forums. The file name is “cm-10.1-20130308-NIGHTLY-p3100.zip”, with the other file, “gapps-jb-20121212-signed.zip”, both installing without fail.

So now my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 GT-P3100 unit is fully functional with Jelly Bean 4.2.2 installed.

-----

The other phone, the GT-N7105, since there wasn’t any issue I encountered when I rooted, I’ll just mention the rooting file I used is this, “CF-Auto-Root-SGN2.zip”.

-----

Caution: the zip files, while they all would be tagged as WinRAR archive files, are different – some aren’t simply compressed files. But you should know that already, don't you?


Till then!

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Desktop SMS Apps

Deutsch: Micro USB Ladekabel für Mobiltelefone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

5 March 2013

I have been using mysms and browserTexting apps for some time, and I am satisfied with the performance. Of course, the ride isn’t exactly smooth: sometimes mysms would take a long time to send a message, something that I didn’t encounter with browserTexting apps. However, since I am using the free versions, my free tokens got all used up, and I am already required to make a purchase – something that I am not willing to do.

That sent me scouting for other free desktop SMS apps, and in Google Play, there isn’t a scarcity of these apps; they are aplenty!

Anyway, to cut the long talk short, I found Desktop SMS Apps, and while it requires the desktop UI to be installed, I have no hesitation doing this, downloading the installer, installing the program, and all. I used Jeyo’s Mobile Companion before, when I was using a Dopod that runs on Windows Mobile, and I could say the interface is very familiar to me; the UI of Mobile Companion and Desktop SMS Control are very similar.

Day Trading and Binary Options Signals

I also didn’t get into a lot of trouble configuring the Android phone to link up to the PC, either by WiFi or by USB. But for now and maybe this will be permanent, I will be going for the USB connection. I find that my device goes to sleep after some time of inactivity, and that effectively shuts off WiFi, thereby disconnecting my phone from the PC. I don’t get that using USB; the connection remains active for as long as the USB is connected.

So there you are, sending/receiving SMS from my desktop PC. That’s the basic thing. Having rules to these messages that you receive, and more, these are extra features you get from Desktop SMS Control.

Try it!


Desktop SMS Apps

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WebPage Icon

Icon of a computer on fire. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

04-Mar-2013


I noticed that the webpages I created lacked one thing: the icon on the tab. I wouldn't have noticed it easily, cause I don't normally pay attention to that part of the tabs. But came a time I did, and I saw that my pages (I would call it that for simplicity) were bare.

There was no other way for me but to check from the web, and I found some, but many would again be trimmed down to one, and this is my pick. It may not be perfect, but it works the way I want it, the way I can handle it:

Icon Converter by Weissoft

It is a freeware, and there is a very short instruction on it usage.

I downloaded it, installed it and put it to work right away. it took me several tries, which isn't long, but quite easy so the repetitive task wasn't a bore, since I made a progress each time I did, and now my pages has a logo, no longer bare.

Give it a try yourself!

Icon Converter by Weissoft

Till then!

WORKING SOLUTION: Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070057 (E_INVALIDARG)

Visual Studio (Photo credit: Jonathan Caves)

04-Mar-2013


Last week there were some issues that came up while I was editing one of my intranet sites, and there was one particular error that came up:

Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070057 (E_INVALIDARG)

It was pointing to some dll errors, and the particular dll being pointed at, I deleted and added, repeatedly.

The same error I got, and again, I would have to keep my hands off my head, or I would be pulling my hairs. And why not, the IDE is simply telling me that this certain “ABC.dll” is the culprit, but fixing it the normal way, deleting and adding, offers no resolution at all.

It didn’t take me long to consider checking from the web anything that might be of help, and as quickly as I decided, quickly did I find the help that I just needed.

The article pointed to some temporary files that have to be deleted, so that the IDE (I was in debug mode) could rebuild everything from scratch. “Oh boy,” I thought, “this is something like rebooting a computer to rebuild once again system files.” And I followed the instruction presented in that short article.

And true enough, after deleting the temporary files in the Framework folder, the error was gone, and I was sent back on my way to successful coding.

And so this is what I want to share, as it might be of help to anybody and everybody.

Till then!

Reference:
Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070057 (E_INVALIDARG)

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