Home App Gone, Even after factory reset

[greggawatt]

Hello All,

I recently got a new LG Optimus, rooted it (yay) and decided to delete some of the bloatware

For some reason there was a random app that was somehow connected to the home screen. so when i push home there was black.

I contacted LG to try to pass it off as "omg its borked, what do i do???" and they suggested a factory reset. This of course reset the phone, but did not bring back the home screen. Also in resetting the phone i lost the ability to USB debug it. Now the only functionality the phone has is volume up and down.

I contacted tmobile and they are sending me a new phone, but i just want to know if doing the factory reset will erase any trace that i rooted the phone. Also is there a way to get the home screen or usb debug back?

Also what is the method for recovery mode on this phone?

Thanks

 

[jac1599]

Haha, I did this exact same thing....Here is what you do.

1. Cell Phone Support - Mobile Phone Customer Service & Cell Phone Information - LG Electronics US
2. Select T-Mobile, and P-509
3. Click "Phone Software Update"
4. Click "Download"
5. Once download finishes, go ahead and install. It should say it needs to install a USB driver, agree to it.
6. Once everything installs, plug your phone in and select "Start Update"

It will download the firmware for your phone and reflash it. Took me all of 10 minutes.

Good luck!

 

[greggawatt]

but i run linux on my home computers :-|

i'll mess around and try to get it to work....

 

[jac1599]

Oh, bummer! Yeah I freaked out when this happened to mine because I bought the phone off Ebay and am using it on WalMart Family Mobile, so no insurance or Tmobile warranty. I was really relieved when the phone reflashed.

Also taught me not to be so "uninstall happy" after the root. :-\

 

[fratermus]

There's an "LG Home" app. I wonder if that one is the missing app...

I'd consider using Android Market to find a freeware home app and push it to the phone.

If you want the original back (and if it's legal to do so, dunno) maybe someone could back up the missing app with Ti Backup or whatever, email it to you, you could push it back on with adb from linux.

 

[greggawatt]

Thats the problem though, doing the "factory reset" disabled my ability to usb debug the phone. If you have a way to do that, i'm all ears.

 

[Bad_Opt_T]

Maybe you could try using the factory recovery mode to reflash the stock V10L Rom.

 

[fratermus]

Menu | Settings | Applications | Development | USB debugging

 

[greggawatt]

*headdesk*

there is NO way to reach the settings page due to no home app. There is just black.

If there was a way to enable USB debugging without the phone processes, that would be nice.

 

[brnf2008]

I tried these steps and no luck I received: "Your mobile Phone Software is the latest version. You do not need to update it." Any suggestions on what steps to take next? My husbands phone still recieves phone calls, text and can reply & answer the calls but homescreen is black and no icons. . . He attempted to root it and I am assuming he failed, now I am trying to fix it. Please any suggestions will help!

 

[fratermus]

So it's not that there is no home screen, there is nothing (blackness)? Does the boot screen show up, then it goes blank like it's asleep? The menu button does not pull up a dialog? What about longpressing Home?

If you tell android market (market.android.com) to install a new home app it'll get pushed right onto the phone with no action needed on the phone, IIRC. Maybe a reboot after that would make it use the new home app and you could go from there?

Sounds like you've already tried connecting via adb and it's a no go. Keep us posted, and we'll keep thinking...

 

[brnf2008]

SOLVED

I fixed mine and this is how, I made this after 3 days of searching and putting things together.

This only works if you are not bricked!! If you are bricked I cannot help you nor will this tutorial, sorry.

Did you get uninstall happy once you rooted your Optimus T? Delete something you were sure of and now when you press the home button you have no screen? Just black, no icons, background, or menu? Do other functions work? I.E. Recieve phone calls, texts, able to access internet etc. . . Then this SHOULD work for you

The issue was a LGHome.apk issue. He must of deleted while being uninstall happy (;(my husband got a little TOO uninstall happy & I had to find the fix to the black nothingness of the home screen & came up with this tutorial) But the problem is fiixed (majority of the way) I was able to access the internet using the search button on the phone in doing so I pulled up ASTRO file manager download AND THANK GOSH it had a link to the Market app on the site (cause I couldn't access it from the phone otherwise) I downloaded it and then followed these steps:

1.Download Astro File Manager from the Market
2.Connect your phone to computer in disk drive mode (connect to USB cable, select Disk Drive(or USB Mass Storage drive) from the options that appear on the phone, press Done)
3.Copy the APK file to the SD card (anywhere you like)
4.Disconnect phone from computer (remembering to Safely Eject first)
5.Open Astro and browse to the file
6.Select the file and choose the Open App Manager option
7.Press the Install button

8.If you get a message saying: ?Install Blocked. For security, your phone is set to block installation of applications not sourced in Android Market?, go to Settings > Applications > check the box which says Unknown Sources



Notes
Make sure that any apk files you download are from a reputable source
If you?re concerned about phone security then turn the Unknown Sources
option in Step #7 off again after installation

IF YOU HAVE A COMPLETELY BLACK SCREEN AND CANNOT ACCESS THE MENU TO GET TO THE MARKET, TRY THIS, A BIT OF A PAIN BUT IT IS HOW I DID IT, YOU JUST DON'T HAVE TO DO ALL THE RESEARCH TO FIND EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO DO IT BECAUSE IT IS LISTED HERE

THIS IS FOR AN OPTIMUS T.

-You have three buttons at the bottom of your phone, the menu button(squares), the combo button of home(house) and back(backwards arrow), and the search button(magnifying glass).

- Press and HOLD the search button until the tutorial comes up, then press it again and it will tell you to "Speak Now" say "ASTRO file manager" (luckily this is the WAY SHORTER route then it took me to find out what to do)

-It will open it in the browser. Once the results show the first one(usually) is ASTRO File Manager with the description below, then there are links: click "Download" it takes you to another page where it has three sentences telling you that you can find it in the Market and then last sentence says if you are browsing from and Android phone click here (hyperlink) this successfully takes you to the download in the Market.

-Hit download and then install the app.

Hopefully you have ALREADY DONE THIS STEP sometime through the root operation: Settings > Applications > check the box which says Unknown Sources. IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY CLICKED THIS IT WILL NOT INSTALL. AND SADLY AND UNFORTUNATELY I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THAT STEP WITHOUT THE HOMESCREEN.

I now have a home screen to access and am able to use the phone. There ARE A COUPLE ISSUES THO: So far the home screen icons seem to be enlarged, as if zoomed, it maybe something he did with an app before he caused this catastrophe, j/k he knows I love him, but he is never touching my electronics without supervision lol. The second issue is a pop up saying "The application LG Home [process android.process.lghome] has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. {Force close} I have done some research and some threads are saying that it needs to be installed again, I am going to continue looking until I find a fix. Other than that works perfectly

I hope this helps all the users out there that had the same issue I did. It is much simpler than some of the other ways.

Good luck & Happy Hacking (;

Here are a couple useful links:
LG Home .apk file:
File Crop.com
Access point

I used this one:
LG Optimus "Home Launcher" - xda-developers
You will probably have to register with the site to view the links/downloads.

Here is a few pics of the steps to take:

Buttons:

Search button:

Market:

Result of installing LGHome.apk:

 

[brnf2008]

I found out the issue with the zoomed look, it was for an Evo which has a bigger screen and it didn't adjust to Optimus apparently. . . so you may want to search for a specific home.apk or use it and then do what my husband did and go into the market and download a different one, he just downloaded the Honeycomb theme