Showing posts with label Samsung Galaxy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samsung Galaxy. Show all posts

04 February, 2013

Rooting GT-I9103 on ICS Android 4.0.4

English: Android Market on Samsung Galaxy S.
English: Android Market on Samsung Galaxy S. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
04-Feb-2013

Sometime back in December 2012, after my Samsung Galaxy R phone lapsed on its 1-year warranty, my phone just hanged. If I recall correctly, my 3-year old girl was playing with it, and when I found it, it was already off – kids usually drain out the battery – so I didn’t think that there was a problem at all.

When I tried to turn it on, to check if the battery is dead, it turned on, but it stayed at the Samsung logo – it was stuck there, even after waiting for a considerable amount of time (5 minutes, I would say, is already a long time if we are talking of a normal phone, whatever brand that may be). I did what would be normally done: took out the battery, waited a couple of seconds (although recommended is 15 seconds), then put it back in and pressed the power button on, and voila! Still the same: stuck at the logo.

By then I knew that something else happened. Something has gone wrong.

“That was a rooted phone,” I thought to myself... now what?

I tried to go back to rooting the phone and searching for the same kernel that I used before, which are still in my laptop, did it many times, not once, but many times, and every time, it is a failure.

I then went to search in the web for possible solutions, or at the least, a newer version of the kernel, each time typing the phone model GT-I9103 as the selective search string.

I found several, tried again, failed, tried again, failed... many times... until one came out nice and completed the whole process of installing a kernel.

When the phone was finally working (again), I checked everything, still intact, but I noticed that something else is different – and that was when I found out that the kernel that revived my phone was ICS, Android 4.0. The original OS was Gingerbread, Android 2.3. I said, “What a jump!”

I was almost very happy, except that when I checked through my phone, I found that the root privilege was gone! “Should be easy,” I said, so I went right away to rooting my “upgraded” device. Easier said than done, and no matter what I did, I can’t root my upgraded phone. And after trying out so many times, I gave up. I settled with having just “an upgraded, albeit un-rooted,” phone.

Of course, a lot of those apps that I installed before which required root access don’t work anymore, so while the phone was working, it was not as before, it was not as when I had it rooted, and I have the complete control over it. Blast it!

With unsettled mind over my un-rooted phone, I have inside of me a resolve to look out for other means, other ways, other newer releases, someday, somehow, something that will give me back root access to my phone.

Yesterday, that day came!

In my random search, I chanced upon a page that tells about installing CWMR version xxx.xxx, followed by many other articles. I checked on that one, looked through the procedure, and I found that it is very identical to what I have been referencing before, but just that the version of code it is using is newer (supposedly newer). Basically, I found page for the exact search string I used: “root GT-I9103 ICS”.

Having found that, there is also the article on installing CWMR on GT-I9103.

These 2 I tried, and at first shot, I hit the mark. I rooted the phone running on Ice Cream Sandwich OS. But wait, there is more.

My initial version of ICS is 4.0.2. When I was done with the rooting, and also installing the new version of CMWR, I found that the ICS version is 4.0.4. Wow!

What more could I ask for? After rooting my Galaxy R phone, I also got an upgraded version of ICS.

I’m back!

And here are the pages that I referenced in my latest rooting adventure:
How To Root Galaxy R I9103 on Android 4.0.4 ICS
How To Install CWM Recovery v6.0.1.5 Touch on I9103 Galaxy R

As for this page, beware, not that it doesn’t work, but it is not in English! Bummer! Good thing I backed up my phone and it was a very simple recovery method of restoring the phone.
How To Install Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean on I9103 Galaxy R

Till then!
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01 February, 2012

Some issues I encountered with my Android Phone

English: see filename. Taken with Canon EOS 50...Image via Wikipedia01-Feb-2012

After rooting my Samsung Galaxy R phone, and my daughters' SE Neo V and LG Optimus SOL phones, I played a lot with my SGR, installing, evaluating and uninstalling all those free and not-so-free apps from the Android Market, and from the Android Black Market, if there is any color to it, and after many days, and still not tired myself, the phone seem to have been caught in some cycle of self-reset.

I cannot use it anymore, and I have to take out the battery just to stop it from its endless, useless, cycle.

I read through the forums, and I came across some articles saying that it can be due to Dolphin Browser HD, which, incidentally, I have just installed.

I uninstalled it without hesitation, and it worked. Or so I thought.

Half a day passed, and the excruciating self-reset cycle resumed.

So what now?

I decided to remove SPB Shell 3D, or what's left of it after I switched and tried LauncherPro, ADWLauncher EX and GO launcher EX, and not without a reason: it seems slow to 'rebuild' the pages, or the panels, after going to home screen, coming from some applications or screens.

And I thought that also fixed the problem. But it didn't help. SPB Shell 3D isn't the culprit, and to my relief, because I like SPB's products, then in Windows Mobile, and now, in Android phones.

What could really be the problem?

Not really knowing what the problem is, I went to desperate modes, and when I searched on self-reset problem for the android phone, I came across the many others who lament the same sad story, their own, and what was the last resort? factory reset.

And with a rooted phone, that recourse is STRONGLY NOT RECOMMENDED.

So the problem was aggravated, knowing that something could probably help, but at the same time, that step cannot be taken. And no, I didn't force the issue, I didn't do factory reset.

I calmed down a bit, and I observed the phone, and I was able to catch the error msg being thrown out before the screen blacks out, and it has something to do with Activity Android System being non-responsive, and what's more, it is when the phone is completing the indexing of the SD card.

The process error, and the media card scanning process, finally  brought me to some other forums, who not surprisingly, are also swamped with many users and android phone owners who experience the same: issue with the SD card media scanning process, which is just when the phone executes its self-reset.

What was the thing being observed? moving the apps from the phone to the SD card, or having some corrupted media files (video, mp3, etc).

I didn't have problems with my media files, but I have been, like a child freed into a mysterious playground, installing and installing and installing apps, one after the other, as much as my phone memory and external card can take... or so I thought.

So with each brief moment that my phone stays alive, first, I uninstall those that I believe were installed simply by impetus, not need. Then, I moved many apps from the SD card, back to the phone.

After moving about 15 apps, the phone showed some stability, and a longer 'up' time. Then some 10 more, and the phone has snapped out of its self-reset limbo.

I continued to move more of the apps back to phone, until finally, the free space was about equal, both for the phone and the SD card. And it's not even the external SD card we are talking about. It's the phone internal SD card.

Summary:

  1. Android Phone entered into self-reset cycle; have to remove battery to turn off.
  2. Uninstalled Dolphin Browser HD; momentarily gave relief, but self-reset resumed.
  3. Uninstalled SPB Shell 3D, but problem still persisted.
  4. Uninstalled other 'unwanted' apps, many apps.
  5. Finally, moved remaining apps from (internal) SD card to phone.
  6. This is what solved the problem.
So what's the message? Moderation. Actually, it is a kind of caveat, and a caveat emptor, this Android Phone. But I still choose it over the iPHone.

Till then!
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