There has been confirmation that In many cases it is the faulty system partitions (caused by the suspected ICS kernel or whatever reason). In that case relocating the corrupted partition to the good areas works. The first one who has applied the method successfully is "Drnull" for another similar device (epic4g).
So for those who would like to use this solution follow the guide below which I developed based on the hints from
Drnull and a guide for another android device by
Eldarerathis and
Soundwire.
Credits and
thanks to them.
Also Big thanks to: Prabhu1980, Matiasg85, Uggies, Bodivas, As i9000, Alekhkhanna, Travis82 and others who have provided precious tools, troubleshoot solutions, advice and support for making this guide more complete and easy to use!
------------------
Important Note:
As the method progress, thanks to member
Hg42 custom PIT files have been made that can help re-partition automatically. This will make it much easier for those who find adb things too much to handle. Follow the
Link to hg42's thread
to get the PIT file and how to flash.
The custom PIT should work in majority of cases that have partition problems. Someone may ask a question: how do I know if there are faulty blocks in the partition or not and where, in which partitions, they are. The answers to that question can be found by scanning partitions for errors, with the procedures described in the manual method below (need to go until steps 4 to find the answers). in Short: the manual method will give more control over scanning for partition errors, size and location of new partitions which can save you some more memory space, but the PIT method is easier for new users. Also, you can also combine two methods in an intuitive way to fix your brick Note.
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Notes for using Manual repartition:
1. For those who can get SS warranty service to fix it for free then you should go there, and do not need to try repartition.
2. Requires some basic knowledge of MS-DOS and adb (few simple commands).
3. Partitions can be delete and recreate like in a computer hdd and it is reversible: you can do and redo again and again and can also go back to original scheme by flashing original PIT file (from hg42 thread above).
4. If you like to recover data from your internal sdcard (photos, music, books...) you should look at Item 8 near the end of the guide.
5. And do not try to hold me responsible if you mess things up further than your current state in your phone.
1. The tools:
- Download the screen shot of the Note’s partitions for your reference information
- download and install the attached 4pda_kernel.tar, which has the partition tools and CWM with it, although it will raise flash counter. To avoid that you can download and install the CWM_4pda_kernel.zip (also attached in the post) by putting it in sdcard and flash with your existing CWM. the 4pda_kernel is a GB based kernel. In some cases 4pda_kernel does not work (probably due to mismatch between the kernel and the rom that is still sitting there in your (semi-brick) phone), then try this safe CM9 kernel from the this
link.
- You should be able to have adb driver for Note and adb.exe in you computer. The easy way is to download Note usb driver from
here, then download adb folder attached in the post. Install driver you have downloaded and extract adb folder to c: driver of your computer, you will have the tools folder which has adb.exe in it. You should now have adb working for your Note. (Alternatively, if you have installed Kies, then the usb driver should already installed. Then you just need to download the adb folder provided.)
2. Set up the tools:
- Use odin to flash attached kernel .tar file.
- Then restart the phone to recovery
- Then connect to computer using usb cable.
3. Then run cmd from your computer and cd (for those new to MS-DOS: this is change directory command under DOS. You just need to do a search on how to use cd command for DOS) to the folder that has adb.exe in your computer.
Then run,
it should give you some number then it means your device is connect in adb
then:
it should give you the sign like this: ~ #
-------
Note: In case adb shell it only gives this sign $ (after you have installed the 4pda_kernel) then it showed there is a mismatch of that kernel with the rom that is sitting on your (semi-brick) Note. In that case you should download and install this CM9 based safe kernel from this
links which should help you to get full adb root access with this sign ~ #. It is a zip file and need to be install from CWM (not odin) by copy it to external sdcard or internal sdcard (by mount usb storage to PC or adb push.
-------
Then run (noted that umount is without N):
Code:
~ # umount /cache
~ # umount /system
~ # umount /data
If one of those "umount /" commands return "invalid argument" just ignore it and continue with next steps.
This is to unmount cache, systemfs and datafs partitions.
Note: it is easier to copy and paste (right click mouse) the code to CMD windown to save time and avoid typing error.
Then run the parted.
Code:
~ # parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
if it aska you to fix something just choose yes. It should give you bellow:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
GNU Parted 1.8.8.1.179-aef3
Using /dev/block/mmcblk0
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted)
Then run:
It will give you a picture of your Note’s partitions as in the screen shots I have attached. (text version is below):
print
print
Model: MMC VYL00M (sd/mmc)
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 15.8GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 4194kB 25.2MB 21.0MB ext4 EFS
2 25.2MB 26.5MB 1311kB SBL1
3 27.3MB 28.6MB 1311kB SBL2
4 29.4MB 37.7MB 8389kB PARAM
5 37.7MB 46.1MB 8389kB KERNEL
6 46.1MB 54.5MB 8389kB RECOVERY
7 54.5MB 264MB 210MB ext4 CACHE
8 264MB 281MB 16.8MB MODEM
9 281MB 1174MB 893MB ext4 FACTORYFS
10 1174MB 3322MB 2147MB ext4 DATAFS
11 3322MB 15.2GB 11.9GB fat32 UMS
12 15.2GB 15.8GB 537MB ext4 HIDDEN
--------------------
4. Scanning for Partition errors:
Do to a thorough scan of partitions 7,9,10,11 for errors (block damage) you can use DD command below one by one (it only read partition bit by bit and no write, so it is totally safe):
(parted) quit
~ # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 of=/dev/null
~ # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 of=/dev/null
~ # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 of=/dev/null
~ # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11 of=/dev/null
Scan partition 7 and 9 will be quick (less than a minute) partition 10 take about 3 minutes and 11 about 5-7 minutes.
- If it return in and outs and partition size then they are fine (no faulty blocks)
- If it freeze (or run too long more than 10 minutes), or return something like "read/write I/O error" then it means you have some damage in that respective partition and read command failed.
Steps to do after scanning partitions:
1. In case you do not find bad blocks in the above 4 partitions, the problem is certainly not related to partitions fault. Then you should explore other unbrick methods, using Heimdall to flash instead of odin for example.
2. In case there are fault in both partition 9 and 10 then follow steps in point 5 below.
3. In case there are faulty in only in partition 9 or only in partition 10 then can follow steps in point 7.
4. In case there are faulty blocks in Cache partition, then follow point 5.4
5. In case there are faulty in partition 11: need to experiment different locations for partitions, using the guiding steps in point 5.1. and Note below this point.
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5. Re-partition workaround for case of faulty in partitions 9 and 10::
5.1 remove partitions to get rid of the faulty ones and make space available for new ones:
Code:
~ # parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
(parted) rm 9
(parted) rm 10
(parted) rm 11
That will remove three partitions factoryfs (9), datafs (10) and UMS (11) so as to make rooms for new partitions
5.2. To create three new partitions from the good area:
Code:
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 3322 4216
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 4216 6363
(parted) mkpartfs primary fat32 6363 15200
(parted) name 9 FACTORYFS
(parted) name 10 DATAFS
(parted) name 11 UMS
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Important Note: If while creating partitions parted give some error like:
Error: Input/output error during write on /dev/block/mmcblk0
Retry/Ignore/Cancel?
that would mean the area chosen for that partition include some faulty block somewhere in that range. Then you need to select another range for the partition by changing start and end number in respective code. For example:
- after you run "(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 3322 4215" it returned "Error: Input/output error during write on /dev/block/mmcblk0
Retry/Ignore/Cancel?"
- then press "c" and "enter".
- Then create partition in the next block range below:
Code:
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 4216 5200
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 5200 7257
(parted) mkpartfs primary fat32 7257 15200
Continue to move up until parted is happy with the block range chosen. (You need to make some calculation of partition size, the start and end block for the code above, follow the example given).
Once done, with the creation of partitions above, then move on with 5.3.
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5.3. Convert format for 9 and 10: The above steps have created three new partitions. However, for 9 and 10 the format is ext2 and now need to be converted to ext4.
The easiest way is to go back to CWM in your phone. Then, go into mounts and storage menu and choose format /system and format /data. It will convert file system of partition 9 and 10 to ext4 automatically for you.
If the above steps are successful then check:
Code:
~ # parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
(parted) print
------------
Dealing with Cache partition:
5.4. It is very unlikely that Cache is also faulty but in case there is you can follow steps below to deal with it.
First should remove and recreate with same size and location:
Then recreate it:
Code:
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 54.5 264
(parted) name 7 CACHE
Then you can go into CWM and format /cache, it will convert file system to ext4.
In case parted give I/O error then you can try to reduce the size of cache to 128MB, choose the start and end number somewhere in the space from 54.5MB to 264MB.
6. Suggestions for rom installations:
It is recommend to use a custom GB rom (Darky GB, CheckRom GB, and Rocket GB...)they are old but very good roms. Dowload links and instructions for installation can be found in this
link. Custom ICS roms (such as Rocket ICS, CleaNote ICS...) are also good. They can be found from the same link for GB rom provided or from the Note development sections. Using CM9 ICS such as
Nightlies is recommended since it is safe and very lightweight (less than 140 MB) so it is quick to download.
Note: Flash custom rom by CWM (load rom.zip from computer to internal or external sdcard and flash) seem to be a better way since some members reported they cannot flash rom via odin. Still some members reported they can flash with odin normally, so this point need more confirmation.
7. Guide for some cases of only one partition have faulty blocks:
In case you scan partition and identify that there are damage only in partition 9 (factoryfs) then you can remove 9, 10, and 11 and then start making partition from 1174 MB:
Code:
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 1174 2068
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 2068 4215
(parted) mkpartfs primary fat32 4215 15200
(parted) name 9 FACTORYFS
(parted) name 10 DATAFS
(parted) name 11 UMS
In case you identify that there is faulty blocks in partition 10 only (datafs) then you can remove 10 and 11 only (leave 9 alone) and start making partition 10 from 3322 mb:
Code:
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 3322 5469
(parted) mkpartfs primary fat32 5469 15200
(parted) name 10 DATAFS
(parted) name 11 UMS
It is also known that the hidden partition (partition 12) is not needed for normal use and install of roms. So you can delete it and enlarge the UMS partition (to 15800mb) and you will have a larger sdcard to use.
8. Notes on recovering files from brick phone: For recovering data from internal sdcard, there are few ways below:
- You can try to install aroma file manager under CWM recovery using file from
here. It works under recovery environment and allow you to copy files from internal sdcard to external sdcard.
- If that does not work, you can follow the guide until step 4, then in step 5 remove only partition 9 and 10 and leave partition 11 alone. Then try to create a full size partition 9 (factoryfs) with about 800MB and a very small size (100mb) partition 10 (datafs) and fit these two partitions within the remaining good area in the range from 281mb to 3322mb. Then you can install a custom rom and get it working to copy files to your PC. After that you can remove partition 11 to make full size partition 9 and 10 with steps as in the guide.
- Also you can adb shell, then list directory and files in internal sdcard (~ # ls /sdcard ...etc) and then adb pull files from internal sdcard to your PC one by one.
If you like to know more about using parted, go to the documentation page here:
http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/html_mono/parted.html
Update of progress: As rough figures, almost 100 users have reported successfully revised their Notes after fixing partitions problems using either manual/adb methods or custom PIT file method from Hg42 or combined both. Re-partition have revised many super-bricks Notes!
.
If you can revive your Note please share with us so that we can share your good feeling
And press thanks if you find this guide useful.
Thanks.
