text:
Link2SD: mounting /dev/block/vold/179:66 on /data/sdext2 failed: No such file or directory
I am using a rooted Xperia Z5 Compact E5823 with the latest stock Android 6.0 ROM.
I am trying to use a 2nd partition with Link2SD but so far I always get the same "No such file or directory"-error:

Mount script error
Mount script cannot be created.
mount: mounting /dev/block/vold/179:66 on /data/sdext2 failed: No such file or directory

To format my microSD card I've used GParted under Debian with ext2, 3, and 4, always as primary partition. I've also used TWRP recovery to format this 2nd partition. With this I have only tried ext3, which my Debian recognizes as ext2 and there seems to be no way to choose which type of partition (I suppose they have primary as default). With TWRP I could also try ext4 but preferred to 1st post here.
I do see a /data/sdext2 folder with help of a root file browser. This folder is empty.
The "file" /proc/partitions does show a 179  66  2000000  mmcblk1p2 entrance, which correspond to the second partition of my external SD card.
Link2SD has superuser permissions and its mount script /data/data/com.buak.Link2SD/init-link2sd.sh looks like this:

set +e
echo "$(date) mounting..." > $LOG
sleep 2
mount -t ext2 -o rw /dev/block/vold/179:66 /data/sdext2 1>>$LOG 2>>$LOG
mount -t ext2 -o rw /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /data/sdext2 1>>$LOG 2>>$LOG
mount >> $LOG
echo "$(date) mount finished" >> $LOG
chmod 773 /data/dalvik-cache

Did you try to comment the first instance of mount in the script, and see if it works?

do you meam to comment set +e out?

No, to comment mount -t ext2 -o rw /dev/block/vold/179:66 /data/sdext2 1>>$LOG 2>>$LOG.

I'll try it out and let you know :)

wow! that seems to almost completely do the trick! The only unsatisfying thing is that I get a mount warning in every boot, saying that the second partition was not.mounted on boot but after so my linked apps "are not recognized by the system yet". I have then the option to Quick Reboot, Cancel, or Recreate mount scripts...

Sorry, but I never used Link2SD. You better wait for someone who's more adept at it.

ok. thanx for the help!

This error was very tricky to track! It took me a while to re-address it and here is what I have found out and how to solve it.
A little on mmcblk_p_

SD cards are special about their "block-partition"-suffix, i.e. the -blk*p* part.
For the user, the numbers in the suffix -blk*p* are, on practical matters, determined by the system the card is mounted on.
Link2SD's script is sensitive to the correspondance of the microSD card's "internal" partition-suffix (-p*) and its "external"/"mounted" under some system. (Thus, the No such file or directory).

Solution
For Link2SD's default mount script to succeed, you must delete and re-do the microSD card's partition table (with GParted or similar) and then do its two (or more) partitions, the second one being an ext2-filesystem.
This will yield a correspondance on the suffix-numbers -p* of your "second ext2-partition" both in the card and under the system.
Background
Well, I noticed that each time an SDcad gets a new partition the last index in the suffix -blk*p_ "advances". The microSD card in question has been partitioned more that three times without resetting its partition table. That card has no "internal" -p2 eventhough Android's kernel addresses it as such! (Tricky, huh?!) It seams that Android's kernel only takes the number of existing partitions to create the /proc/partitions-addresses instead of the total count of partitions ever done under an existing partition-table.
Extra-Info
Link2SD guarantees that your second ext2-partition won't be shown on your PC when you plug your device to it via USB. This is true for Windows but unfortunately not true for GNU+Linux! Windows does not recognizes ext2-filesystems. GNU+Linux does. As a consequence some APPs might have trouble retrieving ingormation from /data/sdext2.
Finally
Link2SD latest version at the PlayStore is 4.3.4 from 21.06.2018 and it locates its mount-script at /data/data/com.buak.Link2SD/files.
Also, for more information, visit Link2SD's official site.

You can use application "Apps2SD" mount a 2nd partition (after remove it and use Link2SD). (Don't use it if you only use 1 partition is sdext2) If you use android 6.0 and use both 2nd partition and "Adoptable storage" use "Root Explorer" go to path "/etc/apps2sd-mountscript.sh" edit it. Because use 2 partition, so default it use if create is "dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /data/sdext2", you change it to "dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /data/sdext2" (I use Sony M4 aqua dual)

On Version new of Apps2SD you can remount ext2 by change mmcblk1p1  on dialog to mmcblk1p2 can't success so You don't edit by manual!

On Version new of Apps2SD you can remount ext2 by change mmcblk1p1 on dialog to mmcblk1p2 can success so You don't edit by manual!


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How to recover application data after deleting it from the settings menu?
I wanted to cancel a download, which I did until now by long-tapping on it, then "App Info" button and killing the download manager and deleting its data.
However, this time, the "App Info" button opened up the app settings for Chrome and not for the download manager, which I only noticed after I deleted all the data!
Is there a way to undo that or at least somehow extract my bookmarks from the (Huawei Y3300 mobile phone's) internal storage device?
Note: By "app settings" I mean the page where you can "Stop Now" "Uninstall" "Disable" "Delete All Data" "Clear Cache" "Reset Default Associations" for given app.
Note: I suspect the cause for this mistake is that for "normal" downloads the download manager opens up if tapping on "App Info" but this was a "Save Video" download, for which apparently Chrome is still responsible.

possible duplicate: http://android.stackexchange.com/q/56797/1465

Did you have sync enabled for Chrome?

@Firelord no I did not

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Why does VLC show deleted files?
I have the VLC app in my ASUS phone and when I search via the subtitles-option in the downloads section, it shows files that have been deleted.
I downloaded apps to see if they exist and searched the phone files via PC also.
These files are deleted, so how can it still keep them or track them?
I deleted and reinstalled vlc and problem persists

Which vlc version? You deleted files using VLC or a file explorer? Did you clear the 'Media database' in VLC, before or after reinstalling?

Hitting "refresh" in VLC should help.

Refresh does not help the situation. I am using VLC v0.9.10

Actually what you see is "Downloads History", not "Downloads Directory".
So the item will remains even though the actual file has been moved/deleted.
Same concept like web browser downloads history, the history item will not remove even though the actual file has been deleted in file explorer. For example, Firefox Downloads history, you need to explicitly click "Remove From History":

The difference of Android is it's system wide and cross apps. New to users who come from PC background.
[UPDATE WARNING] The 2nd difference of Android from PC is it will delete the actual file if you delete it in "Download history". This different make user confuse and make me confident to said it's really an android design bug.
Now you get the idea, you can remove this download history with the following steps:

Go to App drawer icon (bottom six dots) -> Downloads icon:

1.2 Or if you can't find Downloads icon, you can go to Settings -> Device -> Storage -> Downloads:

Then you will see the Downloads History page:

Long press one item, then you can highlight more items, and click trash icon to delete:

The users(I'm one of them) who have the same question like you is because they always click "File Manager" icon as file explorer(Or plug USB to open the file in PC) and unrealized the Downloads icon is Downloads History, not sync from "File Manager". I personally think this is a design bug because of easy to confuse.
p/s: Not only vlc, if you visits Settings -> Wi-Fi -> upper right option menu -> Advanced -> Install certificates -> left side navigation drawer -> Downloads, you will see the same thing.

You are right. Found it while looking long ago and never came back to answer it. Great effort and answer, thank you.

Go to Settings, then Application manager, then click on VLC, then click on Storage, then Clear cache and Clear data, then restart the application. I did that and it worked just fine.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Kindle Fire HD (Tate) boot loop, after attempt to install CM
I attempted to install Cyanogenmod on my Tate, according to the directions in the Wiki.
https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_tate
At Step 3, number 5 (fastboot -i 0x1949 oem recovery), the kindle does not boot to recovery, but just shows the logo, and then goes back to Fastboot, even with a non-fastboot cable.
If I restart without a cable attached, I get a boot loop (even when I hold down the volume button, as described).
Perhaps this is relevant: before I started all of this, my Tate was already rooted. Was it stupid to apply the exploit in that case? I only realized this later. If so, is there any way out?
BTW, I'm on Linux, have a working adb and a fastboot cable.
Thanks!

Nothing related to rooting ought to affect recovery or the bootloader.  Sounds like you might need to re-flash the recovery.

Got it! I did re-flash the recovery, and that seemed to take care of it. Before that, I also went
fastboot -i 0x1949 oem idme bootmode 4000
However, that took a while but then said it failed, so maybe just re-flashing the recovery by itself was what did it.

Toby, as you found a solution you might wish to go ahead and answer your own question, then accept it – so other users with the same issue can identify it as solution. Please include the steps for the process then. Thanks in advance!

Got it!
I did re-flash the recovery, and that seemed to take care of it.
Before that, I also went
fastboot -i 0x1949 oem idme bootmode 4000
However, that took a while but then said it failed, so maybe just re-flashing the recovery by itself was what did it.


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How to recover files from a phone with a broken/unresponsive screen running Android Marshmallow?
I recently dropped my Nexus 5 and the touchscreen stopped working, no matter what I do it won't function. I have files on this phone that I didn't backup (I know, real smart of me), and I'm wondering how to get them back using my computer and a USB cable, considering it's the only way possible since the screen isn't working.
The catch is that with Android Marshmallow, came the feature in which when you connect your phone to a PC, it won't get recognized right away. You have to unlock your phone and swipe down the notification tray and tap on a "USB Enabled for Charging" (Or something similar) and select "USB for File Transfer" (Or something like that...). Since my screen is broken, I can't complete the aforementioned process.
What can I do to recover my files? The screen is completely broken, it registers some touches when I put pressure on it but it's just random taps all around the screen that make it go crazy. I have no pin or any form of security enabled, so I can just press the screen a bit and it'll unlock (with some luck and several tries), but beyond that any action is impossible to realize.
Thanks in advance!

Nexus 5 supports USB OTG. You can use a standard mouse to enable USB debugging (if it is the first time you're enabling it, you would've trouble authorizing debugging) or do some sort of backup using network connectivity, or you know, there are multitude of options available now. BTW, is the bootloader unlocked?

USB Debugging is on. Bootloader is not unlocked. It is connected to Wifi.

Have you seen our nice broken-screen tag-wiki already? Peeking into that, you'll find a "Data Recovery" section at the end with a couple of helpful links to answered questions on the topic. Due to the additional "USB protection", you might have to combine some solutions (e.g. using an USB mouse to unlock your screen and enable USB mode, then follow one of the recovery guides).

Turn off phone using power button.
Boot into recovery mode.
Connect it to the PC and most probably it would be connected as MTP. If not, then recover your files via adb.
Edit: As pointed by @Firelord this will work on custom recoveries only.
The other method is as follows.
If you're connected to a Wi-Fi network, then find the IP address of your phone, most likely from the router setup page. You can then use ssh to copy files from the device. If ssh is not an option, then boot into fastboot mode. Flash a custom recovery for your phone and then follow the original answer.

@Firelord Edited as per your advice. Stock recovery should still however mount as a storage device, At least on some Samsung phones that I tried.

Backup for media files in Internal storage:
Connect your device via OTG cable to Mouse. Go to settings and then Developer Options (If it is first time, go to Settings > About phone. Scroll to the bottom and tap on the Build number. After a number of taps, you'll unlock the developer options.)
In developer options, select the "Select USB Configuration". Click on MTP (Media Transfer Protocol).
Now quickly disconnect the OTG and then plug in your device to computer via USB. You can access the internal storage and take the backup.


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Question about removing Gapps (Lollipop)
I have some questions about removing Gapps.
I have Huawei P8 Lite with Android 5.0.1. I want to put CM or AOSP on it, but it seems that there are no custom ROMs available as of yet. I decided the least I can do then is root the phone and remove Gapps (due to privacy concerns).
Now, what would be the best way to do this? Is there a method of removing Gapps that applies to all Android phones or does it depend on Android version or even phone model itself? I am asking this because I've found some script to remove Gapps, but it's for Android 4.1 and I'm not sure if that would work for 5.0.1.
My other question is how does stock ROM behave when you remove Gapps since it's designed with Gapps in mind and they're part of the design? For example, if I remove Gapps, what happens to entries in settings that concern Google (such as keyboard, voice, search, etc.)? Will they disappear or remain? If I click them, will they cause a crash?
Thank you in advance for help.

As far as I know, there's no way to uninstal Gapps once installed in an OS. Are you sure there are no alternatives? Have you looked for unofficial builds?

They can be uninstalled as long as the phone is rooted. Here's the script I mentioned in OP (I hope I'm allowed to post links): https://gist.github.com/olivier-m/6200184 Also there are applications like Root uninstaller and System app remover that can remove just about anything, but of course there's always risk of removing something important or even vital.


text:
Reasons for full disk encryption differences between Nexus & Samsung
I have Nexus 7 and Samsung Note 4. I'm guessing that they are representative of Nexus and Samsung Android devices, respectively. Regarding full disk encryption,

Nexus full disk encryption is irreversible (unless of course you do a factory reset), but Samsung has an option for decryption.
After encryption, Nexus can be unlocked by any option (including a simple screen swipe without password), but Samsung requires either password or fingerprint. Is there that much use to encryption without password or fingerprint to unlock?

What are the reasons for these strange differences?

If there is an option for decryption, that implies, there is a way to disable the FDE.  Samsung often makes non-traditional Android design choices.

I think this has something to more about the Android OS version, not specifically to device vendor, but I don't have enough experience to explain it: Full Disk Encryption on official Android site


text:
Upgrading android on device with small memory
Hi I have an android Core Prime with 8GB internal storage and a 16GB sd card
Currently it has andriod 4.4.4 installed
It has downloaded an upgrade to 5.1.1
It says it requires 3gb of space for the install of which I currently only have 718MB.
Currently the storage is not unified and I have moved as much to the SD card as I can.
I am guessing that to update I will have to do something like

backup with kies
uninstall as many apps as I can
do upgrade
reinstall apps
restore backup

and hope I don't lose too much.
Will any data on the sdcard be corrupted erased?
Should I move applications back to the internal storage before I start?
Is there a better way?
Thanks

If you read the description of the tag you used for [android] by  hovering over it, you will see your question is off topic. I have voted to migrate this to the [android.se] site where your question is on topic. Please don't double post.


text:
One Plus One Boot Loop - Marshmallow Update
today I updated my OnePlus One to Android 6.0.1 Cyanogenmod. It is now stuck in a boot loop, it turns on, runs for approximately two minutes, freezes, then restarts.
My phone is not rooted.
Here are my phones details.
Model: A0001
6.0.1
Cyanogen Version: 13.0-ZNH0EAS2JK
Cyanogen API: Dragon Fruit (4)
Kernel: 3.4.110
Thanks in advance.

Please start having a look at our boot-loop tag-wiki and follow the first-aid given there. Then come back here and either answer your own question if solved, or [edit] it and add what you've tried, how it failed, and where you're stuck. Good luck!

Press the power button repeatedly for number of times to get it to working!

Factory Restart was the only solution.


text:
Google voice having trouble recognising some of what I say
I'm English with a thick southern accent, and while Google voice does quite well about a 3rd of the time, it struggles with words such as slack (thinks I'm saying slap, flac, etc), medium (thinks I'm saying museum), slap (thinks I'm saying map), etc. I have repeated these words over and over, hundreds of times and it's not getting any better. I've tried speaking slower, louder, really enunciating my words, but nothing is helping.
I wanted to use Google voice as a way to quickly record my thoughts during the first stage of writing articles but it looks like that's not happening any time soon as I've tried saying whole sentences and short paragraphs over and over, but again, it struggles with that. It gets it right maybe 1 or 2 times out of 10.
Is there a knack to this? Is there a way to spell out words it struggles to understand so that it "remembers" these words for future use?
I'm using Marshmallow if that makes any difference, and the language is set to UK English.
Any tips?


text:
How to remove viruses
I have a ZTE zmax and when the lock screen is on and I swipe it to open home screen it turns white and usually get a Google screen that says I have 5 mins to hit the button to remove the viruses. When I hit the button it goes to the play store on a virus app. If I ignore it I can just hit the home button and it goes to the home screen and everything else runs fine. I don't know how to get rid of it. It's a pain in the ass. Please help me.

Can you take a screenshot of that "Google screen"? As of now, it's a bit unclear whether it's a browser pop-up, or ad from the malware. In general, just don't follow the instruction and you're safe.

Like Andrew, my guess is a bad app you've installed. I'd check the latest things added before this issue started, trying to remove those apps, and see if it kills the problem along.

I would agree, this is a malicious or trickery app and not a real virus... getting a virus on Android, although not impossible, is extremely rare. Start uninstalling apps in reverse order as best you can, and if all else fails, do a factory reset.

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/144170/i-installed-and-executed-this-app-which-is-a-virus-or-malware-now-what-to-do

Android viruses are very rare to get hold of. Unless you have downloaded any app from any other source, other than the play store, you are not in the risk of any "virus" issues.
Android runs on top of a Linux kernel besides having multiple layer of protection the OS itself has it's on protection methods. The image here will help you ease your mind.
Other than that your issues seems more of a malware in this particular case an Adware which bombards your device each time with a advert asking you to "fix your phone" the Google logo in these adverts are not of Google but a marketing gimmicks. The one sure way to test it out is to browse on your phone by turning off JavaScript in your chrome browser or by using other add-on in supported browsers like Firefox.


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Sometimes AMOLED display turns green or purple (tinted)
I am using Samsung Galaxy A5 A500G since last month, but sometimes while using the phone, the display turns slightly green or purple (tinted) in shade. But as soon as I adjust the screen brightness, the display becomes normal.
Is it a problem?

Is it a problem ?

Not if it vanishes by increasing brightness a bit or moving out of shade. It is a problem if you see this with normal day time brightness
Why does it happen?
Samsung AMOLED displays are based on PenTile technology and manufactured by Nouvoyance ( Nouvouyance partners with Samsung and  also supplies Pentile displays to other OEMs as well). Instead of the conventional (called Real Stripe) OLED displays pixel pattern of RGB , PenTile uses RGBW, which cuts power consumption to half for the same brightness and hence longer screen life as well

This technology has   disadvantage of  colours looking grainy, more so warmer colours. This effect is visually more pronounced in low brightness

(OR)

Red LEDs consume least power for same brightness followed by Green and Blue, so when the screen is in low brightness red is comparatively brighter and gives a pinkish/ greenish hue. This is considered to be a feature of Nexus 6 and not a bug

Any /combination of these two factors makes the color combination look tinted and variously described as purple, brown or pink. This should be the main reason for your observation (other being a problem with screen or screen digitizer, if it is very pronounced).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Download Management
Hi I'm not sure if this question already exists but I couldn't find anything on it.
I need to find out if there is anyway of automatically deleting downloads either within a certain time frame ( say they had been in the storage for a month) or once downloads have reached a certain limit (say 30 downloads) it would delete them from storage.
The issue we have is that we provide the tablets for the guys that work on site or in the field who will need to view maps (pdf) and need some automated storage management for the downloads so we wouldnt have to a) manually keep deleting them to save storage or b) giving them a tutorial on how to do this.
Also (but not as importantly) is there a way of view the pdfs (from office 365 sharepoint (sites)) of viewing the pdfs with out downloading them?
The roll out is pretty soon so any help is most appreciated!
Thank you

As for the automated cleanup, take a look at our automation and tasker tag wikis. With some automation apps (I'm sure for Tasker here, but its a paid app) you could define an event to e.g. check the download directory once a day and delete all files older than X (or all but the newest Y files).


text:
Nexus 4 Crash after Google logo, now red flashing light
I got a really confusing problem at hand with my Nexus 4 right now.
When I woke up in the morning, I looked at my phones screen. Everything was looking fine (and I had about three quarters of my battery left). When I tried locking it, it didn't go black, instead it gave me the option to turn it off, as if I had pressed the button for a little longer. I thought a reboot would fix this so I turned it off.
When I tried to restart my phone, it showed the Google logo for about one or two seconds, then the screen went off again. Waited for a couple of seconds, then tried turning it on again several times, always with the same result.
I started looking the problem up online and found this (http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-4/312151-solved-nexus-4-won-t-turn-charge.html) thread. Even though it was different from my problem, I thought I could try the steps mentioned there. When I did, my screen just turned black and a red LED started flashing.
Online, I found several sources saying that a flashing red LED simply means that the battery is drained lower than 0% and it would fix itself if I let my phone charge for a couple of minutes. So far, this has showed no results. Also, I don't think that my battery is empty, since it had roughly 75% before I turned my phone off. My Nexus had some strange battery issues before (rebooting with up to 60% less battery than when it turned off), but that never happened frequently and most of the time it came from crashes from the good old camera bug or when it froze during video playback.
I'm using a Nexus 4 16GB with no root access or any other modifications. I run the latest firmware update (though I'm not sure which version number that is).

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/39548/red-notification-light-on-nexus-4-wont-power-on-device-unresponsive


text:
How can I disable the Wi-Fi connection of my Android phone from my laptop?
Is it somehow possible to control the Wi-Fi connection of my Android phone from my laptop to disable (not only disconnect) the Wi-Fi connection of my phone if both my phone and my laptop are connected to the same network?
USB-Debugging is enabled on this device.

Do you want to disable or disconnect from the Wi-Fi? Is USB debugging enabled or SSH server running on device?

Dear @Firelord, USB-Debugging is enabled but no SSH server running. I want to completely disable Wi-Fi and not only disconnect to conserve energy.

If you have root access then through USB or Wi-Fi but using debugging mode, this command can work: adb shell su -c 'svc wifi disable'.

It returns error: device '(null)' not found. How can my laptop know my device over Wi-Fi, assuming that there could be other phones on the same network, too?

The following is non-root method:

Create a dummy app in Android Studio. [Credit]

MainActivity.java, put right after setContentView(R.layout.activity_main):
WifiManager wfm = (WifiManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
try {
    wfm.setWifiEnabled(Boolean.parseBoolean(getIntent().getStringExtra("wifi")));
} catch (Exception e) {
}
System.exit(0);

AndroidManifest.xml, put before <application:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE" />

Enabled USB debugging settings, plug USB cable to your phone,  press Shift+F10 to run the app which will also install the app.
In your phone, navigate to Advanced Wi-Fi and get the IPv4 address.
While USB cable still plugged, issue adb shell command,
Issue pm list packages command to find out the package name if not sure. For example package:com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly, remove the prefix package: is your package name. Or you can simply get the package name in AndroidManifest.xml, e.g. package="com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly".
Issue setprop persist.adb.tcp.port 5555 (credit) command.
Ctrl+D to quit adb session.
Unplug your cable. Reboot your phone now.
Assume your phone automatically connected to wifi on reboot, and your laptop connected to the same wifi network. No need any USB cable now.
Issue adb connect 192.168.11.5, in which this ip get from step #2 above.
Issue adb shell am start -n com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly/.MainActivity -e wifi false to disable wifi. com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly is the package name get from step #4 above.
You can remove the port 5555 set from step #5 above with adb shell setprop persist.adb.tcp.port "" command. (Credit)


text:
My apps can't save my input or choice in android 6.0.1, how to fix it?
I'm using Nexus5, it's original version is 4.x, later on I upgraded it to 5.0(Lollipop) and recently I updated my system to 6.0.1, via internal upgrade mechanism. But I found a serious problem. Many apps can't store cache inputs now. Which works fine on my 4.x era before.
There is a background I need to mention, as I'm in China, many of my apps are download from local apps market, but not google play market.
Here is an issue description about using a food-ordering apps in my mobile.
At the final step of a food-ordering, I got to choose my current address.
Then I was prompted into a single page-view where I can choose between all my addresses.
After I finished choosing, I was redirect back to the order main-page.
But there I found my address-choosing behavior was not saved.
Three of my frequently used apps has this issue.
Even after I uninstalled them and reinstalled them later won't fix the issue.
Yesterday I downloaded another film app, but I stuck in the login page, every time I typed my infos and press OK. After a flash, It redirect me to the login page again. It drives me crazy. I opened all permissions for it, restart my phone, but still I was stuck at the infinite login loop.
All those apps I mentioned above has hundreds of millions of users in China. I believed they have considered the compatibility with 6.0 version.
So I'm wondering something may went wrong during my upgrade.
Does anybody have any idea about this issue? How to fix it? (It's the best if the solution doesn't require to reinstall my system manually.)
PS: I just did another upgrade to 2016.08 patch for my mobile. And hilarious things happened. When I opened my shadowsocks app, the system requires my to verify the connection permission for it. I chose OK on my screen. Nothing happened, shadowsocks didn't start proxying. I touch the button again, the same require permission screen pops up. I tried it for 5 times. Can't start my shadowsocks, it seems after this upgrading, the system pops-up can't save my choice/input, either.

Did this happen on Android 6.0, or did you just upgrade from Lollipop to Marshmallow?

I upgraded my Nexus5 from it's 4.x version to Lollipop, and then upgraded it to Marshmallow, by using internal upgrade package pushed by google. Before upgrade, at least at 4.x age, things goes all well.

Factory reset maybe?

It's not the answer you were looking for but what I would do if I were in your shoes would be to install the latest TWRP (assuming you rooted) and download the latest "hammerhead" for Nexus 5 (GSM/LTE) 6.0.1 (M4B30X, Oct 2016).
After you get the .zip, unpack it to a folder. You'll see

bootloader-hammerhead-hhz20h.img
radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.2.30.img
image-hammerhead-m4b30x.zip
flast-all.bat

Unpack that enclosed zip as well to get:

boot.img
cache.img
system.img
userdata.img
recovery.img

Edit flash-all.bat to something like this:
@ECHO OFF

::PATH=%PATH%;"%SYSTEMROOT%\System32"
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-hammerhead-hhz20h.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot flash radio radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.2.30.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul

fastboot erase boot
fastboot flash boot boot.img

fastboot erase cache
fastboot flash cache cache.img

fastboot erase system
fastboot flash system system.img

fastboot erase userdata
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img

::fastboot flash recovery twrp.img     // this one if rooted
::fastboot flash recovery recovery.img // this one if not rooted

echo Press any key to exit...

You mentioned you flashed a factory image before so I ommited the information about how to set up and use fastboot.exe but the details can be found here: https://developers.google.com/android/images
I don't know that this will fix your cache issue but it is a more complete flash method than running the stock flash-all.bat.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
Synchronize google apps with private server?
Is there a way to synchronize google apps with my own server? Does Google offer something like that? Maybe for business use?
Or is there maybe an unofficial way of doing it?
I couldn't really find anything about this. All I could find out is that you can use your own domain when creating a google account, but I don't think that this affects the data sync.

That's certainly not possible. But you can use "replacements" to reach a similar goal, see my Android without Google series. I e.g. use DAVDroid to sync my own calendar and contact sources, which works quite fine.

Yes and no. It's not possible to use your own server, but Google does offer a hosted platform for businesses called Google Apps for Work. It gives you a Gmail interface (both the webapp and the Android app) and Google accounts in your own domain (which you can register through Google or independently), along with a private Google Drive for your domain and some other of their apps.
All the data are still stored on Google's servers, but because it's an enterprise service, you have service level agreements, non-disclosure and confidentiality.


text:
WhatsApp group messages are not in order
For the past 3 days, my WhatsApp group messages are not getting downloaded (when I switch on WiFi) in order of time. Rather, it looks like they are grouped as per contacts. I looked into this site, and as suggested, tried the following:

Change your phone to use "Automatic Date and Time": didn't help
Reinstall WhatsApp: didn't help
Checked the WiFi connection: no issue with the WiFi, web is running perfectly in the same phone
Removed unnecessary apps which might delay things by totally resetting my phone to factory default, then reinstall WhatsApp: didn't help

What else should I do?

It is a known problem/bug and no solution has been found to this problem. So, your phone is working perfectly, no need to worry. When Whatsapp team gets a solution to this problem,  they will probably release an update.

Well I observed one interesting thing that, it is happening only in one group that I am connected to. In the other groups that I am connected, they messages are in perfect order

That's because it is a bug. Even the whatsapp team is not able to understand this strange behaviour, otherwise they would have fixed it.

I am also facing this problem.

Thanks for the info...Will wait for the whatsapp team to get back


text:
Ways to check if your phone has been compromised?
With more and more people using custom ROMs and APKs from unknown sources (some with root access) it's inevitable that Android phones are getting compromised.
What are some methods that can be used to see if your phone is compromised.
Examples I've thought of so far include:

monitor outgoing traffic (is there an app for this?)
List on going processes (how can I see processes that aren't in the app tray?)

Define compromised here? Data leak and violation of privacy kind of happens all the time and users do that by giving permissions during installation time, so I don't assume that would count into compromised here.

Not a simple data leak. More like remote root access. Any type of malware that can't be removed by simply uninstalling a single app.

Power off your phone.
Power on your phone. Note the Google logo.
Is an unlocked padlock symbol underneath your Google logo?
That symbol means you have an unlocked bootloader, which opens your phone up to bigger compromises.

That's not much useful, really. If the bootloader had been unlocked without user's knowledge then the data would have been [automatically] wiped as well, in turn, triggering to user that device had been tampered with or was used without authorization.

Obviously I wasn't referring to someone unlocking the bootloader.     Forgetting to re-lock the bootloader opens the device up to all sorts of potential attacks. As you pointed out, with a locked bootloader you know that nothing has been flashed, as that would automatically wipe the device.   An unlocked bootloader,  technically speaking is the definition of compromised.

Partial answer
Network Monitoring: How to Get Started and Why You Should Consider it, a post which appeared on XDA portal  explains this using Fiddler- The free web debugging proxy for any browser, system or platform
The XDA post explains, set up of Fiddler, creating a proxy, connecting your phone and laptop on the same WiFi network and analysing traffic.


text:
How to know I am interacting with a fragment?
How do I identify that I'm interacting with a fragment? My understanding about fragments is not quite clear and I presume that they are about UI, always requires an Activity to be shown with it and are supposed to be modular in nature. They do not come with their own View unlike a full blown Activity.
Anyhow, here's the problem: the app My Android Tools offers UI that appears to be multi-pane and multi-window. For example: if I launch the app and choose Database, the activity remains the same i.e. cn.wq.myandroidtools/.MainActivity but the view on the UI changes. If I choose SharedPreferences the Activity still remains the same yet the view on the UI changes.
(Click an image to enlarge it)

Here's what I've tried:

I've closely monitored logcat and it didn't reveal anything useful.
I've tried dumpsys activity window windows and other than the same activity I didn't find anything of use to me.
I've tried dumpsys activity activities and dumpsys activity -p cn.wq.myandroidtools. Former didn't yield anything significant and the latter provided output which multiple mentions of the term fragments, yet I couldn't understand what I was dealing with.
I've already checked the manifest and there is no Activity that points to the entry Database would cause to open.

Assuming a fragment may be misinterpretation but then how would I verify I'm wrong?
There's more: this is not an XY problem. Yes, I can look for an app that offers the same feature which the said app provides under Database entry. I already found two alternatives and I don't want to use them.
Why? Because I want to learn since fragments are not limited to the said app but are used heavily by Settings app and many other apps out in the wild. If only I get to understand what particular fragment I'm dealing with, I may be able to use this answer to always have the said app show the UI meant for Database entry, whenever launched from app drawer.
In short

I'm looking for a way to realize that I'm interacting with a fragment;
What about that fragment do I need to use in this answer to show it?

If it is of importance: I'm using Nexus 6 with stock and rooted Android 6.0.1. It would be fine if you provide answers tested on stock Android 5.0.x or 5.1.x.

dumpsys activity top,this command will show the detail of the current activity,containing the current fragment.


text:
After flashing TWRP with Odin, nothing happens and the OEM recovery is still there
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S5, and after flashing the TWRP with Odin 3.07 and 3.10 I'm finding that my recovery is still the default. I'm using these instructions exactly.

Android system Recovery <3e>

It's as if nothing happened, how do I resolve this?

I had to use the TWRP app installed from the app store, it has a reboot function that will restart the phone into the TWRP recovery which you ave flashed to the device. I had a SM-T535 that always went to stock recovery even though TWRP was flashed to it with Odin. Using the app helped in that I didn't have to fiddle with timing and button presses etc.

Before you flash the recovery, untick the Auto Reboot option in ODIN. Then flash the recovery. After flashing in done, reboot your device directly to recovery mode from download mode by pressing Vol up + Power + Home button together. Now you will see the TWRP recovery is booted in your device. Now you can reboot normally and your TWRP will be installed.

For older Samsungs (e.g. the Trend ST-5760 and Duos ST-5762), download mode is VolUp+VolDown+Power+Home

battery pull actually solved my problem.

my device does not have a removable battery (J5 2017). pressing on Vol up + Power + Home while I'm in recovery mode doesn't do anything. Any other suggestions? (Same comment below, sorry for being redundant)

@AndyWeinstein With auto reboot disabled you don't have to remove the battery. On my Edge 7 I waited for Odin to finish and then pressed Volume Down + Power + Home to shutdown and then Volume Up + Power + Home  to boot into TWRP

Fantastic! It worked! Let me expand on the previous comment for anyone who didn't understand it, (I didn't).You don't really need to remove the battery. When you uncheck that "auto-reboot" option in odin and then shutdown the phone (Same key combination which allowed you to start download-mode in the first place) then it will not auto-reboot. Which means at that point you can press the key combination to enter recovery mode and you should reach twrp.

Worked even for Note8 :)

This is actually mentioned on the TWRP page (for my old Samsung Galaxy Tab 4: Note many devices will replace your custom recovery automatically during first boot. To prevent this, use Google to find the proper key combo to enter recovery. After typing fastboot reboot, hold the key combo and boot to TWRP. Once TWRP is booted, TWRP will patch the stock ROM to prevent the stock ROM from replacing TWRP. If you don't follow this step, you will have to repeat the install. (from https://twrp.me/samsung/samsunggalaxytab4101.html)

This hasn't worked for me; pressing volume up, home and power together hangs before the phone gets to recovery

Per this page,

WARNING: Do not boot into Samsung's ROM without first applying our Root .zip.  Samsung's OTA updates install /system/etc/install-recovery.sh and /system/recovery-from-boot.p, which cause Samsung's ROM to replace the recovery image you had just flashed with the stock recovery.  Our Root .zip removes these files, thus preserving your custom recovery.  Follow the directions below to boot directly into CWM recovery.

Which is good information because it's telling you exactly what happening. However, you can get around this without downloading their questionable files: After you install the TWRP Recovery with Odin the device will reboot. After it vibrates in the rebooting process, pull the battery. Have it ready to pull, it boots fast.
Pop the battery back back in, and hold your recovery sequence (Vol Up+Home+Power). This will get you into the TWRP, and you can now sideload, or if that fails adb push $file /data/ the files you want to install.

my device does not have a removable battery (J5 2017). pressing on Vol up + Power + Home while I'm in recovery mode doesn't do anything. Any other suggestions?


text:
How to Restore Phone App in CM13?
I disabled Phone application and set force stop in CyanogenMod 13.
Now, I cannot find the phone application anymore.
The phone crashes if I try to call.

How can you restore Phone Application in CM13?

You're saying it's not there when you go to Settings app -> Apps -> tap All apps and choose Disabled -> you don't get to see Phone app?

@Firelord Yes, it is gone.

Have you tried pm enable command? It requires root access and package name.

No. I think I have no root. Installing any new phone app crashes the phone when I try to call with it. What to do?

If you don't have root you can enable it in settings if you're using CM13. Some apps will tell you to download SU this is a mistake if you're using CM13.

It must be a problem with the ROM if it is not showing the app disabled through Settings app like this:
(Click image to enlarge)

Anyhow, if the Settings app doesn't show it then I see no way to solve this problem without root. If the following steps do not work then your ROM is faulty because they worked for CM13-snapshot in my Nexus 6. In case you do not know, root access can be enabled in CM13 from Developer options.
A disabled app is a user specific restriction and the restriction ends up in the file /data/system/users/USER_ID/package-restrictions.xml. USER_ID for primary user (owner) is always 0.
Find the entry responsible for disabling your app using the app's package name and either remove the whole line or make tweaks there. I'm instructing with a tweak. Here's how the restriction originally looked like:

For the case in question: In the line depicting the cursor and containing the string com.android.dialer, integer to enabled represents the state of the package and enabledCaller is the caller which instructed the package to be disabled. You can either remove the whole line or change enabled=3 to enabled="1". (Source)
Do a full or soft reboot and you would find your app enabled.
The alternative method is to use a terminal emulator app or adb with adb shell command to execute these:

su
pm enable PACKAGE   # PACKAGE refers to package name of the app to be enabled

If you don't know the package name of your app, follow View app's full package name?
Another alternative: While I didn't try, I've full faith that Titanium Backup
 would offer the option to unfreeze your app. There may be other similar apps that can help you out.
If the said solutions make no effect on the app's status, ditch the ROM.

Thank you for your thorough answer! I found the app in Settings > Apps.

Did you reboot or did something else? I don't follow how you weren't able to find it earlier but can do it now.

In the application view, I could not see it. I did not know that you have "Apps" menu inside Settings. There, I could find it.


text:
cache formatting not working
I already had problem where my phone was turning on for a while, showing 'apps are optimizing' and 'no storage left'. I had fixed it previously using recovery mode and wiped cache partition. Everything worked perfectly straight away.
However this time I tried already wiping cache partition in the same way about 10 times already and I also tried to manually delete all content of /cache using adb and su, with no success.
Is there anything I could do to fix it?
If this can help, my phone is Nexus 4, running rooted 5.1.1 lollipop.

If you are familiar with fastboot, you could boot or flash TWRP and format the cache that way.
Download the current TWRP img file, copy it to your fastboot folder, and issue the command
fastboot boot twrp-3.0.2-0-mako.img
Once it loads and starts at the main menu, select Wipes and then untick everything except Cache and Dalvik cache and execute the wipe and reboot.
If that fails, it might be time to flash a new factory image.


text:
Metered wi-fi connection on Android tablet?
I have a non-rooted Nexus 7 (2013), and connect to the internet via a Mi-Fi hotspot.
I have a low data cap, so I need to track usage closely. I'd like to be able to mark my connection as metered, but since this is a tablet, those options don't exist in Data Usage.
Is there any app or alternative method to enable that functionality?

At least on my Nexus 10:
Settings → Data Usage → ⋮ menu → Network Restrictions
brings up a screen where you can set whether each WiFi network is metered or not.

OP wrote: "but since this is a tablet, those options don't exist in Data Usage"

@Firelord I just checked on my Nexus 10, which is also very much a tablet. They exist.

Please state the UI software and version you are using, and if it is customised by your network, along with Android version. Things vary a lot between models/versions.

@Tyeth you realize this is an almost 5-year old answer? Also, how it was a Nexus 10 — so there was only one version, it runs basically stock Android, and it's a Wi-Fi only device...

Yep, saw the date, but I am in a similar boat where the option appeared to have been hidden from the settings / removed in an update. I had forgotten the nexus was wifi only, so just the two android versions listed as released, so thanks for that bit!

@Tyeth it still exists on my Pixel 3a on Android 11 (though in a different spot). This question is about finding it on a Nexus 7, maybe ask a new question about your device?

I'm equally searching for another option as my phone keeps forgetting the metered networks immediately after I set them, google has alot of noise on the issue pointing to the inbuilt feature.
Try using Netguard from Google Play. Its working for me. Appeared on Make use of article:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/prevent-any-app-using-mobile-data-android/


text:
YouTube 360 videos will play but the view is stationary
I'm using Sony Xperia M2 phone on Android Lollipop 5.1, and the YouTube app with latest update. Any video that supports 360 view will play, but the view is stationary - I can't move it around.

To watch 360° videos your phone should support a gyroscope sensor. A gyroscope gives the phone's pitch tilt and yaw, which is needed by the YouTube app to properly rotate the view on display.


text:
Galaxy S5 (SM-G900H) unknown baseband
Background Story :
The S5 belongs to my friend. One day, he was no longer able to make or receive calls and he came to me for help.

As you can see above, the baseband version of the phone is "unknown". When I checked the IMEI, it says null.
So I searched forums for the solution. It turned out that the EFS partition was either corrupted or deleted ( source :
http://techbeasts.com/how-to-restore-and-back-up-efs-data-on-samsung-galaxy-devices/ ).
According to the site, I need to get my phone rooted to use the EFS recovery software.
However, I encountered another problem there. I used the latest version of CF-AutoRoot to get the phone rooted. Despite Odin showing success, the phone enters a boot loop. I manage to get out of it ( by wiping cache, etc ) only to find the phone not rooted.
Long story short : is there a way to recover EFS without rooting? Or is there a way to root the S5
Note : Other people on the internet managed to root their S5 ( same model ) but their build was different (XXU). Is there a possibility that the build of this S5 (XXS) is causing the error.


text:
Odin projects and versions
Trying to flash my old Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570. For this purpose I need to use some kind of software - Odin. I found several versions of odin project.

Which one is real one and where is the right place I can download newest Odin verison?

As you've already tagged your question odin, did you check our odin tag-wiki? It mentions an XDA link as download source.

Odin is believed to be a leaked Samsung internal tool as you can see from Wiki . That's the reason you will not find a definitive,official website for downloading
 What is the ODIN tool? is a related answer and the point worth bearing in mind while choosing the right version is

(....) you probably want to ensure someone else has tried it and succeeded

Now, coming to your question

Which one is real one and where is the right place I can download newest Odin verison?

IMO, having been a past Samsung user, the best place to search right version for your device is XDA forums. Above answer cites a thread for a particular device.  LATEST ODIN v3.09 & ODIN 1.85 & ALLODIN MULTI DOWNLOADER VERSIONS
ROM Flashing Tools for ALL Samsung smartphones lists out various versions of Odin /  download links and compatibility with various devices, with the disclaimer that these ... might not be 100% accurate. Per this your device needs ODIN Multi Downloader v4.42. Another source  What Odin Version You Need For Your Phone corroborates
To start with, that would be the choice and this being an old device, there aren't many references available from a cursory Google search. You may like to do a deeper search
Another point to note is that tutorials on web showing how to use Odin , need to be correlated with version of Odin depicted and the one you are using, since buttons on tool changed. Here is one such guide ( I don't recall which Odin I used last so can't vouch for guide correctness). You may like to Google for more
Whichever guide you choose to follow, follow instructions explicitly and don't assume. This caution is to ensure that you don't end up bricking your device. All the best

By the way, once you've grabbed an Odin, you can have it updated via a mysterious Korean server (property of Samsung), via FTP.

@DeathMaskSalesman. Thanks. I am aware of it but never used it. Here the OP appears to have picked up a later version, which may not support his device (no guaranteed backward compatibility AFAIK) thanks all the same

I have heard many times that the Version 4 of ODIN, was mainly used for Tablets in house. I've ALWAYS used some Version of 3 for all my flashing. And I've almost exclusively used Samsung Devices since the Captivate. I've Never used Version 4 of ODIN for my mobile phones. Never used it period actually.
As far as backwards compatibility though, I have a Galaxy S7 Edge and can flash files to it using Odin 3.10.7, when the current version is now 3.13.2.
From what I know at this moment, the change from Odin 1.87 to 3.07 to 3.10.x to 3.12.x to 3.13.x, is because of certain compression used in the filesystem images contained on some different devices. Or in the case of v1.87 to 3.07 was because we moved from RFS to EXT4 from what I remember.
I am not sure what changed from 3.07 to 3.10.x to 3.12.x yet. I've been looking into this for like 3 days now. I do know that the change to 3.13.x was to support the LZ4 compression used in the firmware images for the Galaxy/Note S8 and S9.
There are also many different versions of ODIN available now besides the leaked samsung versions. We now also have these:
1.) Jesters Modded ODIN (Based on 3.12.x I believe, and used for AT&T Branded devices. I haven't gotten an answer as to why yet.)
2.) Prince Comsy's ODIN (Based on 3.12, modified to bypass SHA1 checksum): I'm not sure why bypassing this checksum matters actually. I've read that it is used for cross carrier flashing. But it was originally made for flashing firmware to the G930/5 A (AT&T Galaxy S7/Edge).
3.) Patched ODIN 3.13.1 (ODIN BR? Based on 3.13.1 lol, but modified to bypass the SHA256 Checksum) Again, I'm not even sure why that checksum needs bypassed or even what bypassing those checksums does for flashing.

What I'd honestly LOVE to know, is how the binary executables were so specifically modified, and how it was found to even be viable in the first place.
Samsung's Download mode is a thing of mystery to most, because those that do know, won't talk about it for some reason. Ever since the Galaxy S6 was released, information on the devices has been SO hush-hush it's ridiculous. Once Chaine Fire quit working on most Samsung devices, most developers left as well. And that left a Void.
It also left in its wake, so many possible root methods Chainfire never even tried. Samsung Android IS NOT GOOGLE ANDROID. The same things do not apply, as we saw with the Xposed Framework. The Android Runtime (ART) needed modified to get Xposed to work on Samsung initially. Samsung changed a lot. So a different method is needed...

Have you considered Heimdall instead of Odin? This sounds more like ranting about the status quo than a useful answer.


text:
Site timeout for Android device on LAN, but ok on mobile network
My two Android devices (LG G3 on KitKat; Nexus 7 with custom JB rom) cannot access 4 of my 5 Wordpress sites over my WLAN, but have no problem via my mobile network. The other devices on the WLAN (iPhone, Mac, PC) access the sites successfully. The problem has existed for a long time (years), and I am finally trying to solve it.
To test, I just created a completely new Wordpress installation, with no plugins active. The same problem is observed. http://testing.dunques.id.au
The successful request via mobile network shows this in the server logs:
49.183.x.x - - [30/Apr/2016:01:24:28 -0400] \
"GET /instructions/making-a-test-recording/ HTTP/1.1" 200 61814 "-" \
"Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.4.2; LG-x Build/KOT49I.x) \
AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.103 Mobile Safari/537.36"

The logs show no entries for the timed-out request from the Android devices via WLAN, made immediately beforehand. I assume that means there is a problem between the devices and the router (FritzBox 7390), or something happening when the request reaches the host server (Namecheap). All sites (including the one that is always accessible) are on the same server.
There are no white/blacklist entries in the router.
I've not been able to identify other Wordpress sites that have the same problem, but there have historically been a few sites which have timed out... though causes may have been unrelated.
Posting this question because I don't know what more to do to diagnose this.
UPDATE:
Using FritzBox logging, the traffic to the site looks like this. Currently, the sites are sometimes accessible, but often with a long delay (perhaps the precursor to the timeout I observed frequently previously).
//start of request//
22:25.8 118.209.x.x 199.188.x.x TCP 92  52268  >  80 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=14600 Len=0 MSS=1452 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=1263984 TSecr=0 WS=64
22:25.8 118.209.x.x 199.188.x.x TCP 92  52269  >  80 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=14600 Len=0 MSS=1452 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=1263984 TSecr=0 WS=64
22:25.8 118.209.x.x 199.188.x.x TCP 92  52270  >  80 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=14600 Len=0 MSS=1452 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=1263984 TSecr=0 WS=64
22:26.0 118.209.x.x 199.188.x.x TCP 92  52271  >  80 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=14600 Len=0 MSS=1452 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=1264008 TSecr=0 WS=64

22:26.8 118.209.x.x 199.188.x.x TCP 92  [TCP Retransmission] 52268  >  80 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=14600 Len=0 MSS=1452 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=1264084 TSecr=0 WS=64
// 18 requests like this in 31 seconds //**

22:57.1 199.188.x.x 118.209.x.x TCP 92  80  >  52268 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=14480 Len=0 MSS=1420 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=2355200105 TSecr=1267092 WS=512
22:57.1 199.188.x.x 118.209.x.x TCP 92  80  >  52269 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=14480 Len=0 MSS=1420 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=2355200106 TSecr=1267092 WS=512
22:57.1 199.188.x.x 118.209.x.x TCP 92  80  >  52270 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=14480 Len=0 MSS=1420 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=2355200108 TSecr=1267092 WS=512
22:57.1 118.209.40.221  199.188.x.x TCP 92  [TCP Retransmission] 52271  >  80 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=14600 Len=0 MSS=1452 SACK_PERM=1 TSval=1267116 TSecr=0 WS=64
22:57.1 118.209.40.221  199.188.x.x TCP 84  52268  >  80 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=14656 Len=0 TSval=1267117 TSecr=2355200105
22:57.1 118.209.40.221  199.188.x.x HTTP    552 GET / HTTP/1.1
// remaining requests seem OK, site rendered //

Can you access the same sites from a computer using the same network your Android device uses? First thing coming to my mind here is a firewall/iptables rule on the server side blocking your IP (range).

Yes, as mentioned, all devices including the iPhone, Mac and PC are on the same WLAN.

Thanks – must have missed that. OK, next thing to check would be the logs on your router (I think of some kind of "child protection"/blacklisting which might be in place there), plus logs from the device itself (see our logging tag-wiki for help on that).

Updated the question with router log data.


text:
Nexus 7 keeps disconnecting from wi-fi
My Nexus 7(android 6.0.1) constanly drops wi-fi connection(connects and disconnects immediately), presumably due to bad connection, while Nexus 5x lying next to it is staying connected just fine.
I got logs using adb and i think the cuprit is

04-30 11:15:38.013   594  7142 D NetworkMonitor/NetworkAgentInfo [WIFI () - 133]: Forcing reevaluation for UID 10022
04-30 11:15:38.018   594  7142 D NetworkMonitor/NetworkAgentInfo [WIFI () - 133]: Probably not a portal: exception java.net.UnknownHostException: Unable to resolve host "connectivitycheck.gstatic.com": No address associated with hostname
04-30 11:15:38.019   594   663 D ConnectivityService: NetworkAgentInfo [WIFI () - 133] validation failed
04-30 11:15:38.019   594   663 D ConnectivityService: notifyType CAP_CHANGED for NetworkAgentInfo [WIFI () - 133]
04-30 11:15:38.027   594   663 D ConnectivityService: sendStickyBroadcast: action=android.net.conn.INET_CONDITION_ACTION
04-30 11:15:38.079   594   663 D ConnectivityService: NetworkAgentInfo [WIFI () - 133] EVENT_NETWORK_INFO_CHANGED, going from CONNECTED to DISCONNECTED

I've checked from PC connectivitycheck.gstatic.com can be reached from my network, both dnslookup and ping work on it
There is no option in wi-fi setting to disable avoid bad wi-fi connection.
What can be done?
EDIT:
Rebooting router and rebooting device did not help. I've also checked the router logs and settings, the device is not blacklisted, and router logs look just fine consistant with the behaviour - device connected, some negotiations, device disconnected.

As i didn't find any solution neither on the internet nor here, i've desided to just flash my tablet using image from google, it helped.
Edit: Factory images for all nexus devices can be found  at this page, it contains simple to follow instructions on how to flash your device as well as images. Take care though failure during flash can brick your device

you can improve your answer and help others as well by linking the image source

Thought it would be trivial to find it, but okay

It adds to completeness of answer being self contained without googling. That is how good answers are on this site . +1


text:
How can I get IP connectivity on my non calling tablet without using WiFi?
Actually my issue is that I want to use my tablet as a second display over USB. I have used team-viewer over WiFi and it works fine, but since it is over WiFi, there is significant lag which defeats the purpose of a second monitor.
So, I wanted to know whether I can get IP (Layer 3) connectivity with a USB cable and some app (maybe) on my WiFi only tablet. I don't have a USB tethering option in my settings. I also have enabled USB debugging mode.
I can easily do this on my phone which has "USB tethering option".

I have written a reverse tethering app that runs on all devices running Android 4.0 or newer. I cannot promise it works for your particular use case, but you might want to give it a try: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.floriandraschbacher.reversetethering.free

If your device supports USB OTG, then you should look into a wired Ethernet adapter.  Depending on the specifics of your tablet, if it works, this is the best solution.  Android SE, example how-to, XDA, example cable to let you charge and Ethernet (eBay).
If you're not rooted, or don't have USB OTG, the next best option is to buy another WAP of the fastest type of WiFi that your table support and put it near the tablet.  If you normally use 2.4Ghz Wifi, then get one that's only 5Ghz, assuming your tablet supports 5Ghz.  A different band will reduce interference and let the tablet and WAP use their full speed.


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Dropping packets on tethering on Nexus 5X
During tethering on my "Nexus 5X" phone seems like lot of packets being dropped:
Request timeout for icmp_seq 40
Request timeout for icmp_seq 41
64 bytes from 213.180.204.3: icmp_seq=42 ttl=51 time=114.997 ms
64 bytes from 213.180.204.3: icmp_seq=43 ttl=51 time=109.585 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 44
Request timeout for icmp_seq 45
Request timeout for icmp_seq 46
Request timeout for icmp_seq 47
Request timeout for icmp_seq 48
Request timeout for icmp_seq 49
64 bytes from 213.180.204.3: icmp_seq=50 ttl=51 time=53.464 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 51
64 bytes from 213.180.204.3: icmp_seq=52 ttl=51 time=87.195 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 53
Request timeout for icmp_seq 54
Request timeout for icmp_seq 55
64 bytes from 213.180.204.3: icmp_seq=56 ttl=51 time=86.520 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 57

I used "Nexus 5" before with exactly the same sim card and the same mobile operator and the same laptop before and did not have (rather, did not notice) any similar issues.
Android version "6.0.1". I use Mac Pro with OS X El Capitan 10.11.2

I'm also seeing similar issues after upgrading to 6. There's a thread here: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=193680


text:
Does CyanogenMod support the Google Play Store and Google Account integration?
As it says. I am looking into CyanogenMod as a stopgap measure before I upgrade to an iPhone this year or the next. My current phone no longer gets updated and I cannot justify having year old bugs still active.
However, I have invested quite a bit of time in my current Android ecosystem and I both do not want to ditch that AND I want to be able to easily transfer my apps to the iPhone when I am setting the latter up, through the Apple transfer app. Are both an option when using CyanogenMod in this manner?

Yes!,Gapps are supported in Canyogenmod. They are supported but you have to flash them instead of regularly installing them. You can find your flashible zip easily just google it.

On a custom Os like Cyanogenmod you must flash the googleapps.zip from the recovery. The apps and services aren't built in but are very easy to flash.


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Poweramp access songs from Google Play Music
I have a Google Play Music subscription and I enjoy the unlimited music, but I don't like the audio quality on Google Play Music.
I was wondering if it was possible to listen to GPM downloaded songs in Poweramp.
Note: I tried GMusic and I had problems with it. Mainly the method for downloading music

If your device is rooted, you could try Play Music Exporter.

Downloaded songs as in songs you purchased? Yes, their should be MP3 files you saved somewhere and they should show up in PowerAmp or can be imported.
If by downloaded songs you mean Google Play licensed content, streams or cached music, no, you cannot play them with a different player.


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Oxygen OS apk installation Error : Cannot display pdf
When I try and install apk file by clicking from Files App, I get the error message "Cannot display pdf (.apk is of invalid format.)"
The system tries and opens pdf reader app, instead of package installer app.
When trying to install from Downloads App, I get the message "can't open file".
The phone is a new OnePlus X phone with OxygenOS 2.2.1, Android Version 5.1.1
In the Settings, I have checked the Unknown Sources App Installation Option.
Also I cannot see the Developers Option in Settings.

The developer options become available after you click the build number 7 times in the about section of your phone.

Thanks you for this. I figured that out later. However I am still stuck with the installation problem. Is there some place in android where you can associate file names with what applications open them??

Referance: Your apk file is not named correctly and thats the problem here. if your apk name is like app apk or app_apk then its possibly causing the problem.
Solution :

Download any good file explorer ( i recomend es explorer/solid explorer/fx filemanager but any good solid file manager will work).
find the file and rename it with an .apk at end.
install app as you used to do :)

Thanks for the answer but I left out the name of the apk in the question deliberately. It is correctly named.

Download and install ES file explorer from the play store.
It should identify the file correctly.
Another solution would be to connect the device in debug mode and use

adb install filename.apk

to get the apk installed. You however need to have adb setup on your computer to use this method.you can find adb in the Android SDK by Google or search for and download a standalone minimal adb.


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up/down signals by bars
I purchased an outside antenna for boosting reception as I live in a mostly dead cell zone now I get up/down/arrows from time to time by my reception bars.  Does this mean my antenna is actually working///

It just means that something is trying to transfer data. Whethr your antenna works you should see by the numbers of bars.

It means data is being transferred to and from your device. That doesn't necessarily mean it is working.
You should try to use a speedtest app with and without the antenna to see if there is a difference in connection


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Status/Notification bar can't be accessed while inside full screen apps (GS4 - i9505 CM 12.1 Lollipop 5.1.1)
When I'm running a game or playing a video on full-screen it's simply impossible to push down the status bar. So I have to close the APP whenever I want to see the time, battery percentage or answer a notification. AM I the only one having this problem? Does someone know anything on how to solve it?

Once nobody was able to help me, I decided to share the answer I got by myself. I was bored and had nothing to do so I started going here and there trhough the conf. menu and I found out an option to solve it. It's under Developer options. There's an option enabled called Block touch gesture events  or something like this. You should just disable it then you're able to pull down the status bar over the full screen apps. Hope it helps someone. Thanks anyway.


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Will cutting the sound cables do any long term damage?
If anybody read the question here I have now commited to dissecting the tablet completely, because SCIENCE! Anyway, only one thing is keeping the back connected to the main tablet: the two cables that connect the main motherboard to the speaker.
So, this is it:

So, to my question: will cutting these cables result in unfixable hardware issues. To clarify,  by unfixable I mean destruction of hardware e.g. cutting off power to an important segment. The obvious lack of sound is no issue to me, I can just wire it back if I want (which I won't, for personal reasons)

Also, can someone embed the image? I always break the embedding on the mobile version of stack exchange.

You should be fine (95%). It's nothing more than electricity. Just make sure to seal it up really well when done modifying your phone.

To downvoters: How could the answer be improved?


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Does anyone know how to fix "No SIM card/Emergency calls only" error on Sprint Note 3 CM12.1?
I had this smartphone working just a few days ago (on CM12.1) but because I changed the phone number on it I had to flash it back to the stock firmware to run the PRL & Profile update. Now that I've flashed CM12.1 back on it the only thing not working is the phone/mobile data. I read on the XDE website that I need to flash a NH7 modem, but the only link on that page is dead.... I believe I flashed the modem the last time I rooted the phone and installed CM12 but that's been over a year ago and I didn't keep a copy of it on my PC. I briefly looked around on google but haven't been able to find any viable solution. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I had the same issue with my custom Virgin Mobile XT1548 MotoG3 (Osprey). Thing is, CM is more geared for phones that are CDMA. It'll break your SIM card every time you flash if you aren't CDMA. Thankfully, I still have data, but no voice. So I use a VoIP number to make my calls

One should really only flash CM onto a phone they no longer care for, or if its a development phone. Flashing it onto my main phone was a huge mistake.

I am on Sprint, and like I mentioned, already had CM12.1 working fully on the same smartphone just two days ago, so I know it's possible.

However, I would look up APNs for your carrier to try and at least get your data back.

Look up your Access Point Names for Sprint and manually input it to make your SIM working as much as possible.

Apparently you're not hearing me. It's not "as much as possible", it can work 100% because it was two days ago (on CM12.1). It wasn't until I changed the phone number (from another Sprint phone) to this phone that it stopped working. Everything else is the same. Same phone, same ROM. It is a valid link to a NH7 modem that I need, nothing else. I just haven't been able to find one anywhere online. You would think that thousands of people would have this same issue and the file would be floating around everywhere, but for some reason it's not.


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Lost Android's OS
I bought a Moto G (1st gen). It was upgrading and had around 1% battery and was charging, but simultaneously I unplugged the charger and the mobile turned off and now it's not turning on. It's not getting even in download mode. I tried starting it in download mode, but nothing is happening. The company I bought the mobile from installs Android too, so there must be some way out.

First charge your device for an hour. Maybe it is not turning on for lack of charge. Then follow this steps:

Download the firmware as per your device model from Here
Download and install Moto G drivers on your PC from Here
Install Minimal ADB & Fastboot in your PC from Here
Now when your device is in switch off mode, then Press and hold 'Volume down' then power on the phone. your phone should reboot into bootloader mode. when it successfully booted into bootloader, follow the step "2)" and then step "3b)" form This post.

Your phone's firmware will be restored successfully!

But my phone is doing nothing....not even starting...wat should I do?

Where should I ansta

Where should I install firmware...?

When I connect phone to my laptop it shows nothing....

And how can I start my phone when it is not even starting...

My phone is charged

When I plug in the charger,  the led notification glows and then turns off

Press and hold Volume down and Power Button together for 5secs and then release both. Tell me if your device reboots into bootloader mode after pressing this combination.

No... i am sorry but it is not getting into bootloader mode...i have tried everything that I could....but yes when the the phone is in charging, after pressing  the power and volume down button,  the led notification glows and then fturns off suddenly.....please help me....how can I overcome this problem....i just want my phone back....their must be be some other way....? Isn't. It so?...please help me....much appriciated..


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Moto G on cyanogenmod 13 has a black screen but phone seems to be running in background
I have the CM13 installed on my Moto G (Falcon).
Last week, I left the phone on charge longer than usual and I came back to find dark screen. I have tried restarting it and I can feel the phone vibrate when it powers back on, however I cannot see anything on the screen. When the phone is "on" or I press the lock button, it goes from the shade of black to a shade of gray.
I have tried connecting it to the adb but adb shell doesn't recognise any device.
The phone must be working though as the alarm goes off every morning.
I have tried looking at several solutions on the web with little success.
Any help is appreciated.

I have faced the same issues too and your best bet is to reset the phone via a custom recovery(assuming you have one installed) since you flashed cm13.

Thanks Bismeet. I would try to do that but i cannot see any options on screen to proceed.

Do you have a custom recovery installed?

I did install it, yes.

Then you should be able to boot into recovery from bootloader mode.

That's the problem, I think. I don't see anything on screen. Not even when the phone is restarting. Just a dark screen.  But if it has power, i can hear the alarm at their right times.

Can u boot into bootloader?

I have tried but have been unable to do so. I'll give it a go again tonight. Will upvote if it works, have to rush off to work now


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Netflix on Nexus 7 Android 6
I can't install Netflix from the Play Store on my Nexus 7 2013, running Marshmallow. I've never been able to install it (but I only tried after upgrading to Marshmallow, shortly after buying the device at the end of last year). I just upgraded to 6.0.1, no difference.
Googling suggests people have had some issues with this app on Marshmallow in the past, but they were definitely running it.
Did they sideload it? Or have it installed before upgrading and keep it that way? Or could it be something else? I'm in Ireland in case that matters. Is Netflix available to anyone else with the same device?

Yay, unexplained downvote... Did I get something wrong? http://android.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic ... "Using a particular app on your Android device" - "Trying to solve an error or other issue in using your Android device"....

It could be either sideloading or installing a version that previously wasn't locked to particular devices, yes.  Given that it's available for your other device, it doesn't seem like it would be location-related.
APK Mirror is generally the best place to get apps for sideloading, or you could install it on your other device and then copy it off if that device is rooted.

APK Mirror worked, thanks. I'm still very puzzled as to why it's not available, but I guess as long as I have it working, that's the main thing


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Group messaging on Samsung J2
How do you do group messaging on a Samsung J2? I can send out a group message but when people reply, it comes in as individual texts, not in a group conversation. I cannot find the option to turn on group conversation.

SMS is one-to-one; your phone is texting each person in the group individually, and the app is just simplifying this for you.  There is no information transmitted to them about the group or about past conversations, nor is there any information transmitted in their replies about what they are replying to.  As such it is impossible for your phone to tell that their replies should be grouped together rather than kept separate.
Some messaging apps (like Google's Messages) support group messaging over MMS, which may incur additional expenses.
Otherwise, you'll have to get everyone to sign up for some other service like WhatsApp or Line and create a group within that.


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How does adb shell differ from a terminal emulator?
I have a couple of tasks I want to accomplish on Android 6.0.1 and they need root access when I run them on the device. This target device is not rooted.
Can I use adb from a PC to run commands just as if I would using a Terminal Emulator on a rooted Android?  I thought adb gives some sort of unrestricted temporary access (like temporary root).

I thought adb gives some sort of unrestricted temporary access (like temporary root).

When you open an ordinary terminal emulator app, you're shown a terminal and are automatically logged in as a particular user. The User ID of this particular user is the user ID of your displayed terminal emulator app. Such user and app is considered untrustworthy and is not allowed to do quite a lot of things. You can see the blacklisted items in the source code of untrusted_app.te.
ADB on the other hand when interfaces with the device gets to use the user ID 2000. This user is called shell and can do quite a lot of things for the purpose of debugging but still cannot meet the intricate demands of an end user1. Unless the Android offers a mechanism to switch to another user at will (such as 'su'; not graphical but console), the end user is limited to make any good use of shell user only when device is connected to PC in debugging mode. Follow the source code of shell.te to know about the privileges shell user enjoys.
In short, if the Android is not rooted shell user obviously comes as a winner because of privileges granted to it in contrast to an untrustworthy user, but it does not serve as a good substitute for superuser (su). In addition to that, as I noted above it comes with a cost.
Related resource: user IDs which come defined in Android

1 Temporary or otherwise, root user always have the user ID 0.

adb does not grant automatic root access unless you modify the system to run adbd as root (and if you're able to do that, you probably have root anyways) or if you are running an insecure development ROM (typically only for Nexus devices) and run adb root.
So normally, you have to be rooted and run su within adb shell just like you would within within a terminal emulator app.
ADB does run with some extra permissions, however (see this comment).  A terminal emulator app could request some of those permissions, but if it doesn't then you'll need root to make use of them.


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How do I replace an uninstalled system application
I mistakenly uninstalled my Download Manager 4.4.4 in my Samsung Galaxy Grand prime G530H. A system application. I tried replacing it with a Download Manager 2.3.5. I did that by using a file explorer to place the 2.3.5 in the system folder. Then I rebooted the phone. It didn't work. The phone doesn't recognize the 2.3.5. Looking through the file explorer I can see the  Download Manager 2.3.5 is still in the system/app folder and I tried deleting it but it won't delete.
I need help on how to get the original Download Manager 4.4.4.

Can you just push a custom ROM to your phone and be done with it?

Mike? Can I call you Mike? what's a custom ROM? If you have one can you send to me?

Resetting the device might bring back the app.

@okeke I have added an answer that will hopefully help :)

Custom ROMs are like different OS. They are based off of android (as android is open source). You don't need Michael Nancarrow to send you a ROM, you can search one up (perhaps cyanogenmod for it's fame), find build, and flash. But that might not be necessary

Okeke,
Refer to MANI's answer regarding resetting the device, this may assist you, but as far as I am aware a reset does not touch where the applications are actually stored.
What is a ROM?
Read Only Memory. Essentially just a new firmware/software for your Android Phone. For a more detailed explanation and information on a ROM look on this website.
If unsure if you should do this process, read on How To Geek about the "Top 5 Reasons to install a Custom ROM"
Process for your Phone
Here is an example of how to install a custom ROM on your phone (including Drivers, links to ROM etc.)
Here is the Xda Forum for your phone. Covers troubleshooting, ROMS etc. I would suggest you look here also.
Other Resources
Refer to this question on SE that provides a detailed answer (thanks @Izzy)
Hope this helps you. Undoubtedly a Factory Reset could assist, but I am not 100%. The steps for a Factory Reset on your device are located here.
Regards
Mike

Thank you Mani. Mike. I just signed up at the xda forum. I have requested for help. Just hope someone can help

@okeke Let me know how this goes.


text:
Malicious malware on phone. How can I make it like new again?
I have ran multiple anti-virus apps
I have factory reset my phone.
Probably gained root access.
I know I will probably have to reinstall the OS.
I have upgraded to android 6.0 (marshmellow) but still see signs of infection.
If there are other components to my device that can be used to hide the malwares "rescue" component(s) please let me know.
Samsung Note 5 Verizon
Model: SM-N920V

Could you mention the symptoms of the infection? Nowadays, some malwares are persisted as system apps that makes factory reset useless, but without knowing the symptoms, we can't suggest anything other than "reflash the OS".

The things that happen are really beyond explanation and me trying to explain them would really just make me sound insane.

I just need to know how to make every single piece of my phone that an infection can get into or be used to "rescue" the infection after that

I will say that whatever is on my device is being used to disrupt my life and seems to provide someone the ability to use my phone as if it were their's.

you need to describe what exactly is wrong with your phone, otherwise it is hard for anyone to know the root cause!

You won't sound insane if you tell us the symptoms. It will just help. Apart from that, saying "probably gained root access" implies that you haven't. You are usually fully conscious of what you are doing when rooting. My wild guess for fixing is reflashing ROM

If your phone is truly unrecoverable, your last resort would be to back up your phone with Samsung Smart Switch in Backup and Reset option in Settings, then resetting the whole phone (Also in Backup and reset) to factory new. This will get rid of everything, and so should only be used as a last resort.
Otherwise, state the symptoms you see on your phone, we will try to help.


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Can I copy the app data from one phone to another phone if they both use Android?
I will be buying Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 phone and my current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. My S3 has Android 4.2.2 and the Redmi should have Android 5 with MIUI on top as the user interface.
I'm planning to root my current phone and backup the folder where the app data is stored at (which I believe is  /data/data ). After I get my new phone, I will install all the apps I have on my current phone from Google Play. Will I be able to copy the app data folder I backed up into my new phone to restore the app settings and progress I had? If this method doesn't work, is there any way to copy my app settings to my new phone?

You can usually copy the data for user apps without issue, but there is no guarantee.  I wouldn't copy the /data/data/ folder wholesale, since it will include system app data and provides no way to easily manage it.
I recommend Titanium Backup instead.  With root, it allows you to easily backup any subset of apps (such as user apps) that you wish, and then you simply copy over the backup folder to the new phone, install it and select the backup folder, and then restore everything in a single batch operation.  I've used this to migrate apps and data all the way from Android 2.2, to 4.0, to 5.0.

Can I use Titanium Backup to backup just the app data and not the app itself? I think there are less chances of creating bugs if I install the app using Google Play

@JorgeLuque I'm a long-time user of TiBu. As long as you don't touch system apps, simply restoring the backups on the new device always worked fine for me. With system stuff you need to be more careful (TiBu has a migration mode which I'd recommend if you must do that, but apart from the XML data backups I'd better stay away from them). Furthermore I agree with Matthew: copying the data folder manually is not a good idea here.

@Izzy There's a little "warning" to mention, here: I experienced issues when trying to migrate apps from pre-LP Androids to LP and up (while their data can be migrated flawlessly). This is probably due to the difference between Dalvik and ART.

@Jorge Yes, you can.

@DeathMaskSalesman So does that mean I was right in thinking it was safer to install apps using Google Play on my new phone  and then using Titanium Backup to restore only the app data? If so, are there any warnings for this method?

@JorgeLuque The method you mentioned is pretty safe.


text:
How can I tell if I need to replace my battery?
I have a refurbished Galaxy S3. Sometimes it charges to 100% while powered off, but reports 51% as soon as I start it up. Lately, it goes down to 50% or lower even right after charging.
I haven't installed many apps or used the phone extensively yet.
I find lots of links for determining battery drain, but nothing so far on how to tell if I need a new battery.
I'd like to be relatively sure it's a bad battery before replacing it.
Update:
I have eliminated the problem, but have no idea why what I did worked ;(
1) I bought an inexpensive charging-only cable. Using this, the phone charges very nicely.
2) I turned on Power Saving.
3) I bought a more expensive version of the battery.
Now the phone charges fully, lasts a long time, and keeps the charge when turned off.
None of this makes sense - especially the fact that it used to drain when turned off (not suspended). Changing the cable shouldn't have done much either because the old cable did charge the phone - or at least - the phone said it did.

I had a similar galaxy phone. I noticed that the battery had bulged out a little. And a few days later it grew enormous and I got a replacement. Is there a bulge on yours?

No. It looks fine. I ordered a couple of spare batteries anyway (and an external charger.)

Just one, and maybe two, tops, is all you need.

Li Ion or Li Po batteries don't die suddenly - their performance degrades in terms of :
a) Short Term: Ability to hold charge and deliver expected performance
b) Long Term:: Deliver upto 80%  capacity upon being charged / discharged over a period of time (in other words life of battery). The battery is considered to be technically dead if it delivers less
There is no sure way of determining and saying this battery has gone bad, but there are a couple of things you could try:

Spin Test: Since your phone has user removable battery try this. For details, see this nice answer with embedded video.

Vbatt: This app should give a fairly good indication, since it simulates discharging under screen on condition . When you charge your battery to 100% (irrespective of the reading it shows on disconnecting ), activate this app widget and it will tell you the voltage level and how long it should last under screen on condition. Let it ruin till the battery nearly runs out and compare the predicted Vs actual. Simple. From app description

Vbatt is a simple battery widget for Android smartphones and tablets. It displays the current battery voltage (Vbatt) and  the remaining battery capacity (percentage) and optionally logs these values to a CSV-file.

The main reason for developing Vbatt was the differing behaviour of replacement batteries while discharging them in daily use ... For a better estimation of the remaining phone runtime the Vbatt widget displays in addition to the remaining capacity (percentage) the battery voltage

While battery voltage is arguably not the best indicator of health of battery, running this app can help you in a couple of ways
a) Giving you the current performance which you can compare with earlier performance as you recall or from Screen On Time (SoT) which you can gather from internet or forums
b)  If you can lay your hands on a new or properly performing battery from your friends, running this app on both batteries, you can easily judge for yourself. You can even ask your friend having the same phone to install this app, run it and compare.
Since your phone is refurbished, there could be another factor at play for deterioration in performance- date of manufacture of battery. Li Ion batteries (for that matter all batteries) suffer from Self Discharge At the rate of 4% every month, which means if your battery, even if it is original, but kept on the store shelf for say an year before being sold, it had already affected the longevity of battery and it shows up in performance
IMO, looking at the battery figures shared, I would recommend battery replacement (assuming no other reason like hardware issues). It would help you to decide by running tests mentioned

After I use the provided info, I expect to accept this answer. Followup: How long might it take for vbatt to get it to 5%. I'm not sure I want to let it go to zero. Wouldn't that hurt the battery? I know you can't answer precisely. I just want to plan how long I have to babysit the process. I just ordered 2 spare batteries and a charger anyway. That video of the spinning battery was funny. That's a new diagnostic method.

You are right on not letting the battery go below 5%, I would even say 10% but didn't stress that since your battery seemed to be a goner anyway. I am guessing it should take less than 4 hours but you can surely make a reasonable estimate if you can't stay that long. Yes, the battery sounds because of the bulge. It isn't new. You will find you tube videos Did yours spin? Mind you, this is a good indicator most of the times. I had a spinning battery that lasted me a few months. Vbatt app methods is hardly mentioned .it hit play store in ' 14. All the best

wondering if you did the test?

I tried the Vbatt app and watched it drain the battery.  I did not know how to use the information it gave me any further than that. See forthcoming update to my question for more details.

You now have performance of your bad battery with the time taken to drain From a certain level. Now this test needs to be repeated with  a good or new battery to compare. If you the read app description, it stresses the replacement battery performs as mentioned in second bullet point in the answer

Saw your edit - doesn't make sense as to why this should happen

It could be a bad calibration of the battery.
Charge your phone to 100% and then use it as normal, without charging. Eventually you'll hit 0% and your phone will turn itself off. Then without turning it back on, charge it until 100%. That can often reset the calibration.
Also take note of how long your battery is lasting. If you're not a heavy user you should easily get a day out of a good battery. If your getting to 0% before the end of the day your battery might be on it's way out. My samsung battery was going from 100% to 30% in an hour and then draining quickly. A couple days after getting those symptoms it just died.

Note: Running down to 0% is poison for LiIo (and also LiPo) batteries, it shortens their life times. I'd take 5% as lowest limit. But as usually the battery doesN#t last as long as the day with smartphones, just a full, uninterrupted charge at that point would do for calibration – so most users calibrate daily without knowing it :)

@Izzy I've read similar conclusions, but I'm having trouble finding credible references to verify it.  Do you have any good references for those conclusions?

@RockPaperLizard Have you checked with our charging tag wiki yet? :)

@Izzy Even though I sometimes write the wikis, I often forget to check them.  Thanks Izzy.


text:
Can i turn on usb debugging without touching the screen?
My phone working for a long time without problems. I go to sleep my phone is still working.I wake up and turn on my phone. The phone turned up but i can't write my PIN and my screen is almost not working. I thing the problem is with android and i don't know how to get in recovery mode to factory reset or installing new rom. I don't have turned on usb debugging .Is there a way to get usb debugging turn on without touching the screen ?

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! We don't know the brand "My Phone", so specific help is hard to give (you should always name the device affected and the Android version it is running). See our corresponding tag-wikis for entering recovery mode and performing a factory reset.

Press and hold power button to turn off the phone.
Find the combination to get into recovery (usually a combination of power and volume buttons). Once in recovery, The phone will most likely be connected in Debug mode.
If its not in debug mode, Then you need to flash a custom recovery(Voids the warranty in most cases).


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Email through sms is in separate threads
When I receive an sms from an email address, the name of the thread is something like 0000000000000001.  If I respond, the person gets it, but then if the person responds to that, it comes in a new thread called 0000000000000002.  The next comes in 0000000000000003, etc.  I have tried adding the email address as a contact, but each new message still comes in a new thread.  What can I do to stop this?
I am using Silence (the messaging application) on a Nexus 6P on Android 6.0.1

There might be a problem with your message app.
Unfortunately there is no possibility to get rid of this problem.
You got a few options to choose:

Go to: Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Select the Messaging
  App
Choose 'Clear Data' and also 'Clear Cache'.

You will lose all data and text messages in your phone.

Try to install another SMS app there are plenty on Google Store. IMO the one of the bests is the Textra. Hope you enjoy it.
Maybe it is connected with an APN issue.
This might help.

If you are using the Google messaging application, you should file a bug report. As stated in the documentation, search for your bug first before reporting a new bug.
This is a long-term fix; do not expect quick turnaround on bugs getting fixed.
Do not expect others to do bug reporting for you. If no one says anything, the developers may not know there is a problem.

Actually, I'm using Silence, not the default.  The idea of filing a bug report, however, is a good one.


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Lenovo Vibe P1 randomly reboots after upgrading to Marshmallow
I use Lenovo Vibe P1 Series Phone. I got it upgraded to Marshmallow and ever since then it reboots each time I locks the screen. It's working perfectly when I'm using it. It was working perfectly when I had Lollipop.
Please help me fix this problem.

There's someone who got the same issue, and he mentioned about restricting any app under 'background app management'. Unfortunately, I don't have the device to test.

OK....I think I have figured out something. This is definitely not a genuine solution, but still it may help..........From settings go to power manager -> background app management and unrestrict all. This helped me & rebooting has stopped but as I have said, this is not a proper solution. Waiting for Lenovo Team to help us asap.

I click unrestricted .even then phone restarts again

This worked for me. Than you so much :)

There are quiet a few things  to try in the following order.
1) if it was an official update, and your device is under warranty, then get it repaired.
2) try a factory reset via recovery. Search to find the key combination to get into the recovery and Perform a factory Reset.
3) Android Marshmallow has the ability to grant/restrict specific permissions to apps. Make sure that all system apps and Google apps have all the permissions granted.
4) this step is recommended only if you have some knowledge about the working of an Android device. Connect device to a computer and check the logcat to find what went wrong. try to fix the error that caused the issue.


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Cm 13 bug regarding trebuchet
Just got cm 13 for my One plus one. There's a persistent message saying '' trebuchet has stopped ''  when I try to go to home screen from an app. Gets sorted on rebooting but restarts in a while. Please help

Probably related: Fix for "Trebuchet has stopped"

I had the same problem after the cm13 on my OPO a few days ago, but the problem seems to be fixed after I did the following today:

Go to settings -> Apps -> Trebuchet, click on "FORCE STOP", then go to "storage" to clean data and cache.
Reboot the phone.

The home page may look different than before, but you can customize it again.
Hope this helps solve your problem.


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Is A-GPS information downloaded by the OS or by the individual apps?
I use different apps that work with GPS on my device. One of the apps has a "download A-GPS information" button to quickly find satellites.
Does that mean that apps need to trigger the A-GPS download themselves? Or does the Android OS handle A-GPS download whenever GPS is turned on?

A-GPS data comes pre-loaded with the OS. GPS Toolbox allows you to download specific A-GPS data that has more satellites in your region in it but less for other regions. It works wonders and helps with long TTF's (time to fix)

@GiantTree Sounds like an answer.

The OS manage the A-GPS information, but you can ask to force a new data download to update it.
Andorid do it automatically when A-GPS data expires.