This is a very sad story about my NoteII going bad.
I would describe myself as computer savvy and moderately experienced with Android. I equipped half of the family with various ROM-customized Android phones and am an enthusiastic Note user since it came out in 2011. Until now, I never had to ask a question in the forum.
Let me start in December 2012 when my NoteII arrived. I updated it, then came cwm and the monxdified ROM. For about a month I was a very, very pleased NoteII user.
Then, one day in Mid-January, I installed an app called "(root) Uninstaller pro", which began to auto-backup up all my apps to internal SD in a background process while I didnt notice. I only realized something had gone wrong when apps began to FC because no space was left on sdcard0. I removed the app and all the backups.
From the day after that , Play Store began to "randomly" refuse to update or install apps, because of "Not enough storage space available". Which was bull****. I literally had Gigabytes of free space on internal and external storage. For example, Play Store would refuse to update my tiny TB Pro key apk for "Not enough space" reasons but then happily install Asphalt7 and update Titanium Backup and Dolphin for me. Moreover, every affected app also does not install "manually" from apk. When removed, it can not be reinstalled, except via update.zip from the recovery.
Of course, I googled the error. I found no root cause explanation, just a bunch of hints. I deleted all app data from play store and various store-related apps. I deleted and re-setup my Play Store account. The usual suspects, cache and dalvik, got their wipe. Nothing helped. I downloaded the latest monx ROM and updated it from TWRP. Problem still there. Then my job required my full attention so I left the thing running with only partial updates for several weeks. After all, it still worked petty well.
Then, lately, I decided to tackle the issue again. I went to Settings and did a full factory reset WITH internal SD reformat. In TWRP, I did another factory reset and full wipe, then I flashed the latest (DMB2) monx ROM and restored from my TB backup.... "Not enough storage space available".
A friend suggested I should try "Fix permissions". Boy, what a bad Idea. From that moment, LBE Security guard caused a Hot Reboot every time I tried to use Active Protection. Many resets and wipes later, it still does today. I can only install it via update.zip, though, not properly reinstall it: "Not enough storage space available".
But all this still is only the beginning. I decided it was time to clean up the mess and factory resetted again (no SD wipe this time, after all it didnt help last time), took good old ODIN and completely reflashed with Stock XXDMB2. Result: Boot Loop. TWRP told me "cannout mount /data" and claimed internal and external SD to be empty (which was not the case). So I reverted to cwm6 and did a fullwipe/reset. Only after that, the newly flashed Stock DMB2 suddenly booted. I went on and reinstalled monxdified DMB2 (the very same zip that had worked before!). But regardless of what I tried, all I got was another boot loop.
Back to Odin, Stock again. This time (and every time after) it booted right away without needing help from cwm, BUT on the very first GUI ("choose country") it told me that UIDs were wrong and suggested to reformat /data. Wait, wasnt that what Odin just did? Instantly after this error, com.google.gapps did an FC. CWM to the rescue. This time, "fix permissions" seemed to actually fix them.
To make this long story a bit shorter, I reiterated though quite a number of futile attempts to install a booting custom ROM until 2am, and failed. Now I am on Stock DMB2 with a non-working LBE and only a handful of the most important apps restored. The "Not enough storage space available" problem is still here.
I wonder how the "Not enough storage" problem was able to survive so many flashes and resets. I am utterly helpless about how a Stock ROM, flashed from Odin can expose UID problems and FCs on first boot. Could this be a sign of a malfunction on the internal flash storage? If so, how would I be able to find out? Or could it be that this "uninstaller" did something nasty to the secure storage system of JB (which I dont have any idea of how it works and what it needs at all), at a point that all my wipes and flashes did not actually reach?
What else could I do to really, really reset every possible bit on this otherwise wonderful piece of hardware and possibly get rid of all those pesky problems (and back into a Custom ROM)?
Please help me to make this baby shine again!
I would describe myself as computer savvy and moderately experienced with Android. I equipped half of the family with various ROM-customized Android phones and am an enthusiastic Note user since it came out in 2011. Until now, I never had to ask a question in the forum.
Let me start in December 2012 when my NoteII arrived. I updated it, then came cwm and the monxdified ROM. For about a month I was a very, very pleased NoteII user.
Then, one day in Mid-January, I installed an app called "(root) Uninstaller pro", which began to auto-backup up all my apps to internal SD in a background process while I didnt notice. I only realized something had gone wrong when apps began to FC because no space was left on sdcard0. I removed the app and all the backups.
From the day after that , Play Store began to "randomly" refuse to update or install apps, because of "Not enough storage space available". Which was bull****. I literally had Gigabytes of free space on internal and external storage. For example, Play Store would refuse to update my tiny TB Pro key apk for "Not enough space" reasons but then happily install Asphalt7 and update Titanium Backup and Dolphin for me. Moreover, every affected app also does not install "manually" from apk. When removed, it can not be reinstalled, except via update.zip from the recovery.
Of course, I googled the error. I found no root cause explanation, just a bunch of hints. I deleted all app data from play store and various store-related apps. I deleted and re-setup my Play Store account. The usual suspects, cache and dalvik, got their wipe. Nothing helped. I downloaded the latest monx ROM and updated it from TWRP. Problem still there. Then my job required my full attention so I left the thing running with only partial updates for several weeks. After all, it still worked petty well.
Then, lately, I decided to tackle the issue again. I went to Settings and did a full factory reset WITH internal SD reformat. In TWRP, I did another factory reset and full wipe, then I flashed the latest (DMB2) monx ROM and restored from my TB backup.... "Not enough storage space available".
A friend suggested I should try "Fix permissions". Boy, what a bad Idea. From that moment, LBE Security guard caused a Hot Reboot every time I tried to use Active Protection. Many resets and wipes later, it still does today. I can only install it via update.zip, though, not properly reinstall it: "Not enough storage space available".
But all this still is only the beginning. I decided it was time to clean up the mess and factory resetted again (no SD wipe this time, after all it didnt help last time), took good old ODIN and completely reflashed with Stock XXDMB2. Result: Boot Loop. TWRP told me "cannout mount /data" and claimed internal and external SD to be empty (which was not the case). So I reverted to cwm6 and did a fullwipe/reset. Only after that, the newly flashed Stock DMB2 suddenly booted. I went on and reinstalled monxdified DMB2 (the very same zip that had worked before!). But regardless of what I tried, all I got was another boot loop.
Back to Odin, Stock again. This time (and every time after) it booted right away without needing help from cwm, BUT on the very first GUI ("choose country") it told me that UIDs were wrong and suggested to reformat /data. Wait, wasnt that what Odin just did? Instantly after this error, com.google.gapps did an FC. CWM to the rescue. This time, "fix permissions" seemed to actually fix them.
To make this long story a bit shorter, I reiterated though quite a number of futile attempts to install a booting custom ROM until 2am, and failed. Now I am on Stock DMB2 with a non-working LBE and only a handful of the most important apps restored. The "Not enough storage space available" problem is still here.
I wonder how the "Not enough storage" problem was able to survive so many flashes and resets. I am utterly helpless about how a Stock ROM, flashed from Odin can expose UID problems and FCs on first boot. Could this be a sign of a malfunction on the internal flash storage? If so, how would I be able to find out? Or could it be that this "uninstaller" did something nasty to the secure storage system of JB (which I dont have any idea of how it works and what it needs at all), at a point that all my wipes and flashes did not actually reach?
What else could I do to really, really reset every possible bit on this otherwise wonderful piece of hardware and possibly get rid of all those pesky problems (and back into a Custom ROM)?
Please help me to make this baby shine again!
