[Important and caution] Stoping further using ICS now until the kernel is rebuilt

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UnknownzD

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2011
232
391
So as I need to rebuild the kernel soon, I keep things short.

Unfortunately the kernel src code for the ICS build of our device contains the MMC_CAP_ERASE problem (as I have found it from the src code), I highly recommend everyone stop using the ICS leaked build right now since it has the potential problem to hard brick your device. You can continue to use the device / ICS after the kernel is rebuilt.

To revert back to GB, please do the following things :
1. Boot into download mode / CWM (actually CWM is pretty safe to use if it is using 2.x kernel, and if you don't reboot into the system after wiping /data or done a factory reset, read below)
2. Install any GB kernel (or even the whole package)
3. After installing GB kernel, you are safe to install any files in CWM

btw, if someone has bricked device and have recorded the emmc chip ID as well as the firmware version, please report here. It is important for us to get emmc brickbug test / GotBrickBug to support our device, so that we can blacklist those firmware version.


Until the ICS kernel src is successfully rebuilt, I recommend everyone stop using ICS or just turning off your device.

If you want to continue using ICS, please stop deleting any files from the system. Thank you.

For devs : http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1847859 (The line to be removed from the kernel src code in order to suppress MMC_CAP_ERASE bug)


Update 1 : The reason of hard bricking in CWM

For the reason of hard bricking in CWM, there are 2 common possible reasons.

1. After you have wiped the /data partition in CWM, the android system will spawned a lot of files in /data which may trigger the MMC_CAP_ERASE problem if you have rebooted the phone in normal mode (which is using the malfunctioning 3.x kernel). This is because files may get erased (and then the firmware borked the whole partition) after the reset process.
2. The CWM is using a 3.x kernel which has MMC_CAP_ERASE enabled. But for now, all the CWM release for I9103 are based on 2.x kernel only. This is because the recovery partition has got a different kernel when compared to the normal one (which is stored in boot.img).

Those things are confirmed with one of the CWM devs, utkanos (so credit goes to him as well). And I am going to copy and paste the IRC log just to clarify things up (this is not meant to cause any privacy issue, just to clarify things up).
Code:
<utkanos> not the standard boot
<UnknownzD> weird then
<UnknownzD> then how those guys say that the EMMC_CAP_ERASE hard brick is related to CWN>
<UnknownzD> CWM?*
<utkanos> its not
<UnknownzD> ah k then
<utkanos> its after you flash the 'bad' kernel
<utkanos> and boot once
<utkanos> it derps the emmc
<utkanos> permanently
<UnknownzD> ah I totally get what you mean now
<utkanos> ok
<UnknownzD> people uses factory reset / delete data files
<UnknownzD> data files respawned after rebooting in normal situtation
<utkanos> yep
<UnknownzD> = the system hardbricked
<UnknownzD> btw utkanos, do you mind if I copy / paste the above lines to clarify the things in forum?
<UnknownzD> I want people to know that CWM is no unsafe @ all
<UnknownzD> not*
<utkanos> well
<utkanos> its a combination of things
<utkanos> but yes its the kernel bug that is the problem
<utkanos> if the recovery binary attempts to erase before formatting
<utkanos> it triggers the bug
<utkanos> and ICS/JB based recovery code does this
<utkanos> http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=27074278&postcount=69
<utkanos> link them to this thread^
<utkanos> instead of my words
<utkanos> :P
<utkanos> read those top 3 conditions
<utkanos> the real issue is that the emmc doesnt support the command properly
<UnknownzD> yea I know that, but it does not tells that part that
<UnknownzD> people can revert to GB
<UnknownzD> using CWM
<utkanos> recovery attempts to erase emmc
<utkanos> kernel can block it if the code for it is missing
<utkanos> but if code is in the kernel
<utkanos> and recovery requests an erase
<utkanos> and the emmc doesnt know how to handle said command
<utkanos> = bug
<UnknownzD> but as far as I know, all the current CWM release are based on 2.x kernel
<UnknownzD> for I9103
<utkanos> gotcha
<UnknownzD> so I guess it is safe?
<utkanos> then its unlikely the recovery binary will try an erase
<utkanos> but I can't say for certain at all
<utkanos> the best way to secure yourself is to make sure the kernel thats in the recovery does NOT have that erase code
 
Last edited:

Machram

Senior Member
Apr 28, 2012
84
156
How about me, can it brick my device if i flash the new kernel later on?

Sent from my GT-I9103 using xda premium
 

'cooleagle'

Retired Forum Moderator
Jan 19, 2012
1,899
1,144
Thanks for confirming that buddy, You're a savior ! :good: :D

I'll update the guide accordingly.
Cheers !
 

Indha Lezzio

Senior Member
Dec 22, 2011
630
240
Barcelona
Xiaomi Poco F1
Xiaomi Mi 11
I'm the first one that hates ETA's... but could i kindly ask if we are taking about hours or days for all of our respected devs to rebuild the kernel.
I'm a little scared about the information in the post (thanks for the information and how kindly you share it, for sure), and maybe me and some others would only turn off device for several hours waiting for the new kernel than dw to GB.

Hope that the question is understood, i do not want neither to break the rules neither give hurry to all this lovely people that work so hard for them, and for us, and for free. But the importance of the post makes me kindly ask the question mentioned before.

Thanks to all
 
Last edited:
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UnknownzD

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2011
232
391
I'm the first one that hates ETA's... but could i kindly ask if we are taking about hours or days for all of our respected devs to rebuild the kernel.
I'm a little scared about the information in the post (thanks for the information and how kindly you share it, for sure), and maybe me and some others would only turn off device for several hours waiting for the new kernel that dw to GB.

Hope that the question is understood, i do not want neither to break the rules neither give hurry to all this lovely people that work so hard for them, and for us, and for free. But the importance of the post makes me kindly ask the question mentioned before.

Thanks to all

I am starting up my debian VMs already and I am not sure whether I can build it on first time or not.

Not to mention that I have lost all the otatools in late June / July (which is required to unpack kernel).
 
Last edited:

UnknownzD

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2011
232
391
Okay it is compiling right now and it would take @ least 15 mins to see if any errors occur, let hope the things go well. Will only know about half an hour later. And I still need some times to repack the initramfs.
 
Last edited:

Google86

Senior Member
Oct 19, 2011
254
31
Spain, EU.
but, can I just keep ics atm?

I'm not planning doing any wipe. Can I just delete and copy new files on my external SD without taking any risks?


Correct me if I'm wrong, are you making a bug free ICS kernel flasable via CMW? ( dont wanna lose configs) just flash the bug free kernel would be posible?

thank you!
 

amar1548

Senior Member
Feb 17, 2012
496
178
hoshiarpur
i can't understand this, ardat says that he is making a kernel without bricking bug....... does we have to wait for it or revert back to gb.

Sent from my GT-I9103 using xda premium
 

The-Droidster

Senior Member
May 27, 2012
1,295
892
XDA 24 x 7
i can't understand this, ardat says that he is making a kernel without bricking bug....... does we have to wait for it or revert back to gb.

Sent from my GT-I9103 using xda premium

You may probably want to wait for ardatdat to release the bug free kernel. If that proves to solve the problem then you can go ahead and flash anything you like including downgrading to GB.

As of now if you are desparate :p about getting back to GB, I would revert you to this post. But do it at your own risk!
 

The-Droidster

Senior Member
May 27, 2012
1,295
892
XDA 24 x 7
Ya it is safe to say so...as he has disabled the emmc cap flag. So theoretically it is a safe kernel i.e. you can proceed with flashing and wiping:p
 
Bud I assume that currently u r on ICS and want to return to GB. First flash this kernel by ardatdat which is supposedly emmc_bug free!:good:
Then u can downgrade to GB using ODIN.

Report back if it works!

Thnx!:)

What , you mean it's dangerous to go back to GB directly from ICS using ODIN ?

Sent from a Samsung Galaxy Ace
 
Last edited:

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  • 17
    So as I need to rebuild the kernel soon, I keep things short.

    Unfortunately the kernel src code for the ICS build of our device contains the MMC_CAP_ERASE problem (as I have found it from the src code), I highly recommend everyone stop using the ICS leaked build right now since it has the potential problem to hard brick your device. You can continue to use the device / ICS after the kernel is rebuilt.

    To revert back to GB, please do the following things :
    1. Boot into download mode / CWM (actually CWM is pretty safe to use if it is using 2.x kernel, and if you don't reboot into the system after wiping /data or done a factory reset, read below)
    2. Install any GB kernel (or even the whole package)
    3. After installing GB kernel, you are safe to install any files in CWM

    btw, if someone has bricked device and have recorded the emmc chip ID as well as the firmware version, please report here. It is important for us to get emmc brickbug test / GotBrickBug to support our device, so that we can blacklist those firmware version.


    Until the ICS kernel src is successfully rebuilt, I recommend everyone stop using ICS or just turning off your device.

    If you want to continue using ICS, please stop deleting any files from the system. Thank you.

    For devs : http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1847859 (The line to be removed from the kernel src code in order to suppress MMC_CAP_ERASE bug)


    Update 1 : The reason of hard bricking in CWM

    For the reason of hard bricking in CWM, there are 2 common possible reasons.

    1. After you have wiped the /data partition in CWM, the android system will spawned a lot of files in /data which may trigger the MMC_CAP_ERASE problem if you have rebooted the phone in normal mode (which is using the malfunctioning 3.x kernel). This is because files may get erased (and then the firmware borked the whole partition) after the reset process.
    2. The CWM is using a 3.x kernel which has MMC_CAP_ERASE enabled. But for now, all the CWM release for I9103 are based on 2.x kernel only. This is because the recovery partition has got a different kernel when compared to the normal one (which is stored in boot.img).

    Those things are confirmed with one of the CWM devs, utkanos (so credit goes to him as well). And I am going to copy and paste the IRC log just to clarify things up (this is not meant to cause any privacy issue, just to clarify things up).
    Code:
    <utkanos> not the standard boot
    <UnknownzD> weird then
    <UnknownzD> then how those guys say that the EMMC_CAP_ERASE hard brick is related to CWN>
    <UnknownzD> CWM?*
    <utkanos> its not
    <UnknownzD> ah k then
    <utkanos> its after you flash the 'bad' kernel
    <utkanos> and boot once
    <utkanos> it derps the emmc
    <utkanos> permanently
    <UnknownzD> ah I totally get what you mean now
    <utkanos> ok
    <UnknownzD> people uses factory reset / delete data files
    <UnknownzD> data files respawned after rebooting in normal situtation
    <utkanos> yep
    <UnknownzD> = the system hardbricked
    <UnknownzD> btw utkanos, do you mind if I copy / paste the above lines to clarify the things in forum?
    <UnknownzD> I want people to know that CWM is no unsafe @ all
    <UnknownzD> not*
    <utkanos> well
    <utkanos> its a combination of things
    <utkanos> but yes its the kernel bug that is the problem
    <utkanos> if the recovery binary attempts to erase before formatting
    <utkanos> it triggers the bug
    <utkanos> and ICS/JB based recovery code does this
    <utkanos> http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=27074278&postcount=69
    <utkanos> link them to this thread^
    <utkanos> instead of my words
    <utkanos> :P
    <utkanos> read those top 3 conditions
    <utkanos> the real issue is that the emmc doesnt support the command properly
    <UnknownzD> yea I know that, but it does not tells that part that
    <UnknownzD> people can revert to GB
    <UnknownzD> using CWM
    <utkanos> recovery attempts to erase emmc
    <utkanos> kernel can block it if the code for it is missing
    <utkanos> but if code is in the kernel
    <utkanos> and recovery requests an erase
    <utkanos> and the emmc doesnt know how to handle said command
    <utkanos> = bug
    <UnknownzD> but as far as I know, all the current CWM release are based on 2.x kernel
    <UnknownzD> for I9103
    <utkanos> gotcha
    <UnknownzD> so I guess it is safe?
    <utkanos> then its unlikely the recovery binary will try an erase
    <utkanos> but I can't say for certain at all
    <utkanos> the best way to secure yourself is to make sure the kernel thats in the recovery does NOT have that erase code
    3
    I'm the first one that hates ETA's... but could i kindly ask if we are taking about hours or days for all of our respected devs to rebuild the kernel.
    I'm a little scared about the information in the post (thanks for the information and how kindly you share it, for sure), and maybe me and some others would only turn off device for several hours waiting for the new kernel that dw to GB.

    Hope that the question is understood, i do not want neither to break the rules neither give hurry to all this lovely people that work so hard for them, and for us, and for free. But the importance of the post makes me kindly ask the question mentioned before.

    Thanks to all

    I am starting up my debian VMs already and I am not sure whether I can build it on first time or not.

    Not to mention that I have lost all the otatools in late June / July (which is required to unpack kernel).
    3
    How about me, can it brick my device if i flash the new kernel later on?

    Sent from my GT-I9103 using xda premium

    If your device is not bricked now then the device cannot not be bricked after the new kernel is released.
    2
    Okay it is compiling right now and it would take @ least 15 mins to see if any errors occur, let hope the things go well. Will only know about half an hour later. And I still need some times to repack the initramfs.
    1
    I'm the first one that hates ETA's... but could i kindly ask if we are taking about hours or days for all of our respected devs to rebuild the kernel.
    I'm a little scared about the information in the post (thanks for the information and how kindly you share it, for sure), and maybe me and some others would only turn off device for several hours waiting for the new kernel than dw to GB.

    Hope that the question is understood, i do not want neither to break the rules neither give hurry to all this lovely people that work so hard for them, and for us, and for free. But the importance of the post makes me kindly ask the question mentioned before.

    Thanks to all