***[Warning] Trouble with Nandroid Backups***

[Landshark]

Do not try to restore a themed nandroid backup for the time being!!

DroidXcon has done a great job of putting together the thread about clockworkmod recovery (cwm), how to install it, use it, and how to fix permissions since that is not working in cwm right now. That is not the only thing not working in cwm right now. Right now you are also unable to wipe battery stats and restore a nandroid backup that includes a theme through cwm. What is a nandroid backup? Well you can check out posts 6, 7, & 8 of DroidXcon's clockwork mod thread for a detailed description with visual aids:
DroidXcon's Clockwork Thread Here

The problem seems to stem from not being able to fix permissions in cwm. If you read DroidXcon's thread it should make more sense and I can only do an injustice to his work by trying to explain it here myself. Bottom line is like I said above we are unable to successfully restore nandroid backups that include a theme at this time without ending up in a force close loop of hell (FCLOH) at boot animation, a.k.a. boot loop. Jaekar99, Suicide Shift, and I have been working at this for some time without any solution. We have only been able to successfully restore a nandroid backup of only the base ROM. Which is basically pointless since in basically the same amount of time it takes to restore a nandroid backup of just the base ROM, I can boot into cwm, flash the base ROM, reboot, boot into cwm, wipe cache and dalvik, flash a theme, reboot, boot to cwm, wipe cache and dalvik, flash a patch or two, and reboot my phone.

There is also a problem trying to flash a ROM and a theme in the same cwm session. Doing so will almost certainly put you into a FCLOH at boot. Best advice is as always try to only flash ROMs when your battery is at or near 100%. I have also had fewer problems when I flash while my phone is plugged in, either to an outlet, or into the usb on my computer. In addition to that, you will have fewer problems, if any, flashing the ROM by itself, rebooting, booting back into cwm, wiping cache and dalvik cache, flashing a theme if you want one, rebooting, booting back into cwm, then flashing any additional patches or mods, then rebooting. I know that is a lot of steps to take, but it's better than the alternative, which is ending up in a FCLOH, THEN having to take all those steps. You know, it's that whole ounce of prevention thing.......

For more information about flashing themes, patches, mods, and boot animations, you can get great information in Jaekar99's Themes, ROMs, Kernels, Boot Animations thread. I believe he is also covering some of this warning material in an effort to get it to as many people as we can.
Jaekar99's Themes Thread Here

So for the time being, do not try to restore a themed nandroid backup through cwm. If you have already created nandroid backups in cwm, I would think you can just leave them there for when we figure out a solution or fixing permissions gets repaired in cwm.

Any questions about this, you can usually find Jaekar99, Suicide Shift, Sheepdog Elite or me here in the forums. Post your questions here and we'll do our best to answer them. I will also keep this updated with any new information or results of what we are testing. Thank you, and sorry to anyone who ended up in a FCLOH because I didn't get this information out sooner. (davey11)

Also for instructions on how to wipe battery stats since it can't be done in cwm, check out Gunnermike53's [How to] [Discussion] Improve Battery Life thread. It also involves commands entered in Terminal Emulator.
Gunnermike53's Battery Life Thread Here

And let's get one more plug in here. If any of this terminology is confusing to you, or you are new to rooting and want a great guide to get you started and better informed, check out Sheepdog Elite's [How to] First time rooting walk-through.
Sheepdog Elite's First Time Rooting Thread Here

 

[davey11]

Whenever I do any of these hack stuff, there is an unwritten rule I follow and that is, I assume all risk and I voluntarily perform these hack w/o a gun pointed at my head. I would hope others follow this rule.

Mucho thanky to sharky for this heads up.

 

[papa54]

[ FCLOH because I didn't get this information out sooner. (davey11)[/QUOTE]

so far Shark i havent had any problems with ClockWork working for me.. i have so far done all my backups and restores from there and ev thing went smoothly and i've done some things that should have tossed me into a fritzy. flashed 2..9.1 with the eb16 ,,didnt like it so did a restore back to earlier backup in CWM then flashed evthing except the EB16 cause it went beserk on my phone.. backed it all up and then 2.9.2. everything looked weird so restored from CWM and all was fine ,, then backed up what was good in 2.9.1 then loaded 2.9.2. twice totaly with a restore in the middle.. but i am old school.. from satellite sites, and cpu's so i always rebooted just about everytime.. these smart phones are nothing more than a PC with a phone to me so old school..""""reboot""" every change.
CWM works fine so far for me no problems..

 

[davey11]

""""reboot""" every change.
CWM works fine so far for me no problems..

Prolly your boots between flashes is good...and no themes.
The themes and no reboots got me in trouble
Although I do remeber doing themes after boots and bl and fc were happening. I flashed so much stuff, its kinda foggy what I did

 

[Landshark]

[ FCLOH because I didn't get this information out sooner. (davey11)

so far Shark i havent had any problems with ClockWork working for me.. i have so far done all my backups and restores from there and ev thing went smoothly and i've done some things that should have tossed me into a fritzy. flashed 2..9.1 with the eb16 ,,didnt like it so did a restore back to earlier backup in CWM then flashed evthing except the EB16 cause it went beserk on my phone.. backed it all up and then 2.9.2. everything looked weird so restored from CWM and all was fine ,, then backed up what was good in 2.9.1 then loaded 2.9.2. twice totaly with a restore in the middle.. but i am old school.. from satellite sites, and cpu's so i always rebooted just about everytime.. these smart phones are nothing more than a PC with a phone to me so old school..""""reboot""" every change.
CWM works fine so far for me no problems..[/QUOTE]

Papa, can you read post #6 here in DroidXcon's cwm thread http://forum.androidcentral.com/ver...-clockworkmod-recovery-w-screen-captures.html to make sure we are talking about the same thing so people are not confused. Did you follow the steps in post #6 to create and restore your nandroid backup? Also, the problem has been with combining a theme with the ROM in a nandroid backup and trying to restore that. When you have said you have the honeycomb theme, are you referring simply to the honeycomb boot animation or did you go to Jaekar99's themes thread and flash this theme Ultimate Honeycomb v3.1.1.zip through cwm after flashing your ROM? I ask because you would be the first person who has been able to restore a themed nandroid backup without ending in a FCLOH, and that information would be very valuable to us.

 

[Landshark]

Prolly your boots between flashes is good...and no themes.
The themes and no reboots got me in trouble
Although I do remeber doing themes after boots and bl and fc were happening. I flashed so much stuff, its kinda foggy what I did

Yeah, in my extensive testing on this I created a nandroid backup one piece at a time with reboots and cache and dalvik cache wipes between each step of ROM, theme, patches, and when I tried to restore the nandroid, FCLOH

 

[davey11]

Yeah, in my extensive testing on this I created a nandroid backup one piece at a time with reboots and cache and dalvik cache wipes between each step of ROM, theme, patches, and when I tried to restore the nandroid, FCLOH

Geez you make your phone on purpose try to screw it up. Man that is dedication. What I went through was frustration hell. If I did this when I was a noob I would have pulled hair out/kicked a puppy/and freaked out all to hell. I was fairly calm but I odined, cwmed the @#$%# outta this thing. Don't that big bzz bzz vibe at bootup drive you crazy? lol

Keep us posted about fixing this...I be flashing stuff gingerly

 

[sup3rchi3f]

Im currently running sc2.9.1 and a theme and bootanimation ..if I wanted to get rid of both(theme/animation), would I just need to wipe and re-flash 2.9 or whatever rom? I had made 1 or 2 nandroid backups in case I wanted to go back to a base rom but after reading about this, I can't/shouldn't do that... I've haven't experienced the fcloh and don't want to, but if such an event should come up, does booting into cwm and flashing a rom get you out of it?

 

[Landshark]

Im currently running sc2.9.1 and a theme and bootanimation ..if I wanted to get rid of both(theme/animation), would I just need to wipe and re-flash 2.9 or whatever rom? I had made 1 or 2 nandroid backups in case I wanted to go back to a base rom but after reading about this, I can't/shouldn't do that... I've haven't experienced the fcloh and don't want to, but if such an event should come up, does booting into cwm and flashing a rom get you out of it?

If you made a nandroid backup of just the base ROM without the theme and different boot animation, you should be able to restore that nandroid backup. I changed the warning at the top of the OP to read THEMED nandroid backup. Jaekar99 would know more that me about getting rid of the boot animation, so you may want to ask him in his themes/boot animations thread. My first thought on the boot animation would be simply flashing the ROM in cwm would not get rid of it since you added the new boot animation directly to the ROM. A theme is flashed separately and basically just overlays the ROM, so getting rid of the theme is easily done by simply flashing the ROM by itself.

 

[jwalts27]

I had this happen to me when i flashed 2.9.2 and had a theme conflict so i restored my backup. I was flashing up from 2.9.1 with steel blue and created a backup. I thought it was a conflict with the theme or something. I had to go in and rewipe everything and start fresh. It was a real pain. Im glad im not the only one this has happened.

 

[Landshark]

First test at a possible solution:

In working with Jaekar99 and Suicide Shift on this problem I was thinking the problem was not being able to fix permissions in cwm. After reading DroidXcon's great explanation of permissions in his clockwork thread, I thought it made even more sense. Since we can fix permissions in Terminal Emulator and adb, I thought what if I could restore my nandroid backup and fix permissions through adb while the phone was still in cwm. Basically duplicating what we would do if fixing permissions was working in cwm - fix permissions between restoring the nandroid and rebooting phone.

Result - FAIL

I didn't even get to the point of trying to create a nandroid backup. I booted to cwm, opened a command prompt and tried to fix permissions through adb right then. Started quickadb, success, typed in the fix permissions commands both possible ways, fail Did not recognize the commands. Rebooted phone, opened command prompt, quick adb, fix permissions command, no problem. So obviously the phone needs to be on and not in recovery in order for the fix permissions script to work.

 

[Sheepdog Elite]

Fix:

Reflash the theme over your nandroid backup. Some mods will have to be reapplied such as "stay awake" under the settings menu.

 

[JOrtenzi]

Do not try to restore a themed nandroid backup for the time being!!

DroidXcon has done a great job of putting together the thread about clockworkmod recovery (cwm), how to install it, use it, and how to fix permissions since that is not working in cwm right now. That is not the only thing not working in cwm right now. Right now you are also unable to wipe battery stats and restore a nandroid backup that includes a theme through cwm. What is a nandroid backup? Well you can check out posts 6, 7, & 8 of DroidXcon's clockwork mod thread for a detailed description with visual aids:
DroidXcon's Clockwork Thread Here

The problem seems to stem from not being able to fix permissions in cwm. If you read DroidXcon's thread it should make more sense and I can only do an injustice to his work by trying to explain it here myself. Bottom line is like I said above we are unable to successfully restore nandroid backups that include a theme at this time without ending up in a force close loop of hell (FCLOH) at boot animation, a.k.a. boot loop. Jaekar99, Suicide Shift, and I have been working at this for some time without any solution. We have only been able to successfully restore a nandroid backup of only the base ROM. Which is basically pointless since in basically the same amount of time it takes to restore a nandroid backup of just the base ROM, I can boot into cwm, flash the base ROM, reboot, boot into cwm, wipe cache and dalvik, flash a theme, reboot, boot to cwm, wipe cache and dalvik, flash a patch or two, and reboot my phone.

There is also a problem trying to flash a ROM and a theme in the same cwm session. Doing so will almost certainly put you into a FCLOH at boot. Best advice is as always try to only flash ROMs when your battery is at or near 100%. I have also had fewer problems when I flash while my phone is plugged in, either to an outlet, or into the usb on my computer. In addition to that, you will have fewer problems, if any, flashing the ROM by itself, rebooting, booting back into cwm, wiping cache and dalvik cache, flashing a theme if you want one, rebooting, booting back into cwm, then flashing any additional patches or mods, then rebooting. I know that is a lot of steps to take, but it's better than the alternative, which is ending up in a FCLOH, THEN having to take all those steps. You know, it's that whole ounce of prevention thing.......

For more information about flashing themes, patches, mods, and boot animations, you can get great information in Jaekar99's Themes, ROMs, Kernels, Boot Animations thread. I believe he is also covering some of this warning material in an effort to get it to as many people as we can.
Jaekar99's Themes Thread Here

So for the time being, do not try to restore a themed nandroid backup through cwm. If you have already created nandroid backups in cwm, I would think you can just leave them there for when we figure out a solution or fixing permissions gets repaired in cwm.

Any questions about this, you can usually find Jaekar99, Suicide Shift, or me here in the forums. Post your questions here and we'll do our best to answer them. I will also keep this updated with any new information or results of what we are testing. Thank you, and sorry to anyone who ended up in a FCLOH because I didn't get this information out sooner. (davey11)

Also for instructions on how to wipe battery stats since it can't be done in cwm, check out Gunnermike53's [How to] [Discussion] Improve Battery Life thread. It also involves commands entered in Terminal Emulator.
Gunnermike53's Battery Life Thread Here

And let's get one more plug in here. If any of this terminology is confusing to you, or you are new to rooting and want a great guide to get you started and better informed, check out Sheepdog Elite's [How to] First time rooting walk-through.
Sheepdog Elite's First Time Rooting Thread Here

Thanks for this post. This happemed to me a few days ago, so I am glad to know it wasn't just me or it was something I did wrong.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[jackmei2]

thanks again Sharky, I was wondering if anyone else had this issue. I ran into this problem a few weeks ago when I tried AOSP and then went back to my nandroid backup. FC loop of hell when I booted up! what I did to get it working was flash the rom again and then the theme over the backup I had just restored. it worked fine after that.

 

[Landshark]

For now a solution that gets you past the FCLOH is to boot back into cwm and flash whatever theme you have in the nandroid. That will get you past the FCLOH, but some patches and mods are being overwritten by doing that. So far, Adrynalyne's nuance patch stayed, but the mod settings patch did not. We are still working on other possible solutions. For now, other than doing this testing, I am not even bothering with nandroid backups as I can boot to cwm, flash ROM, reboot, boot to cwm, wipe cache & dalvik, flash theme, reboot, boot to cwm, wipe, flash patches and mods, and reboot all in about the same amount of time it takes to safely restore a nandroid of just the base ROM to avoid the FCLOH.

Sheepdog Elite has suggested flashing the theme after restoring the nandroid and before rebooting the phone. Not sure if this will also cause the FCLOH like I mentioned in the OP about flashing the ROM and theme in the same cwm session. I will test it.

 

[Landshark]

Result of latest test - PASS
So flashing the theme over the nandroid restore in the same cwm session resulted in a clean reboot with no FCBLOH (Added in the B for Boot -Force Close Boot Loop of Hell.) Same problem as before though as Adrynalyne's settings mod was overwritten by the theme. So while this takes care of the FCBLOH problem, but it involves extra steps. Which like I said before kind of defeats the purpose of having a nandroid backup to restore - creating a complete build you can then restore all at once instead of having to do it piecemeal. Well at least for now there is a way to get around the FCBLOH when restoring a themed nandroid backup. Thanks Sheepdog Elite for all the help and for finding this workaround. Everyone just remember if you use this workaround and have any additional patches or mods included in your themed nandroid backup, after you restore check to see if all of your mods and patches are still in place.

 

[Landshark]

Alright everyone. GizmoDroid over at XDA posted the following response to my posts over there. He copied my OP and posted it over there so everyone could have the info. I've been updating both threads, so this is what he asks:

Since I don't use nandroids/themes much, instead of doing a bunch of testing myself, I'll just ask you guys this:

We are possibly talking about a permissions issue. Why not do a system partition dump before nandroid, and then after restoring, then see what's different? After that point, you can make a script that sets the permissions on those files.

Or if files are actually missing or corrupted, then you will be able to find this out too.

I'm lost as to exactly what he is asking for so anyone who understands this, please enlighten me and I will be more than happy to help with this. Just let me know.

 

[JaeKar99]

Alright everyone. GizmoDroid over at XDA posted the following response to my posts over there. He copied my OP and posted it over there so everyone could have the info. I've been updating both threads, so this is what he asks:

Since I don't use nandroids/themes much, instead of doing a bunch of testing myself, I'll just ask you guys this:

We are possibly talking about a permissions issue. Why not do a system partition dump before nandroid, and then after restoring, then see what's different? After that point, you can make a script that sets the permissions on those files.

Or if files are actually missing or corrupted, then you will be able to find this out too.

I'm lost as to exactly what he is asking for so anyone who understands this, please enlighten me and I will be more than happy to help with this. Just let me know.

I'm following the conversation on XDA. I could likely assess a system dump. But this sounds like a CWM issue better addressed by jt or someone who can swim in code.... and keep his head above water... Not me..

 

[Landshark]

I'm following the conversation on XDA. I could likely assess a system dump. But this sounds like a CWM issue better addressed by jt or someone who can swim in code.... and keep his head above water... Not me..

That works for me, because this is way out of my realm of understanding. Just to keep everyone informed, this is Gizmodroid's latest post in the thread over as XDA:

Actually, after some from preliminary research, my suspicions are not the system partition but the dbdata partition (/dev/block/stl10).

Clockwork has had problems with this one in the past. I don't know if it's on the backup end or restoring end, but I bet it's an issue with one of the scripts mounting the wrong partition, or folder. (clockwork mod mounts it to /datadata while stock rom calls it /dbdata)

 

[JaeKar99]

That works for me, because this is way out of my realm of understanding. Just to keep everyone informed, this is Gizmodroid's latest post in the thread over as XDA:

Actually, after some from preliminary research, my suspicions are not the system partition but the dbdata partition (/dev/block/stl10).

Clockwork has had problems with this one in the past. I don't know if it's on the backup end or restoring end, but I bet it's an issue with one of the scripts mounting the wrong partition, or folder. (clockwork mod mounts it to /datadata while stock rom calls it /dbdata)

This sounds so familiar regarding Adrynalyne's efforts to get CWM updated regarding mount issues. I recall this in several posts from a few months ago.

Apparently the mount issues persist.