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How do I install Cyanogenmod 11 on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (GT-P5113)?
I'd like to install Cyanogenmod 11 on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (GT-P5113), is this currently possible? I see the Rom shows up in Cyanogenmod's Updater.

Update
Previously it wasn't possible.

In short, the previously used set_perms method was deprecated and replaced by set_metadata. Unfortunately, most of available recoveries didn’t allow users to flash these packages properly, and this has resulted in the following error message: set_metadata_recursive: some changes failed

But now all major recoveries support set_metadata_recursive. Just use a version of TWRP newer than 2.7.0
What I did was boot into Download Mode:

Shut down the tablet.
Unplug the USB.
Hold Volume Up and Power.
Let go of both after it boots and you see it is in Download Mode.
Plug in USB.

Flash it into the RECOVERY partition,
heimdall flash --RECOVERY twrp-3.1.1-0-whatever.img --no-reboot

Now when you boot into Recovery Mode and you're in TWRP you'll see the option to flash the CM11 .zip, or adb sideload it, which is what I did.

The link to "PhilZ-NON-Touch-Recovery_6_(Advanced-CWM).tar.md5" is dead

@naXa updated now


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How to enable mobile network in Android Tablet
I have got Karbonn Ta-Fone A34 tablet. By default its mobile network options is permanently inactive.
Now I have rooted my tablet and want to enable to mobile network option.
Is there any way I can browse the Android System files and make changes there to enable the mobile network or if there is any app to do this.

yes there are lots of widgets, which allow directly from home screen..  you can use go widgets..  or simply search network enable widget etc.

Disable means it is permanently inactive

@Sidh If you want better answers, you should update the question to mention that you're using an external 3G modem, and answer my question about SIM cards.

According to the specs you linked, this tablet doesn't support 3G mobile networks, only GSM. To enable the mobile network features, you need to buy a 3G USB dongle and connect it to the tablet.

Even after connecting the dongle, Mobile network option remain inactive..

Is there a 3G SIM card in the dongle?

Too bad you can't; the network specs are;  2G: GSM 900, GSM 1800, that does not mean it has something to do with the software used or OS, its network adapter can only support 2G network.
That said, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try some apps.here are some you can give a shot at; 2G/3G, network conversion, network change...some may work and others may not. You could also get a 3G modem to work this out for you. Some applications will show you that the network is changed to 3G, I wouldn't buy that though. Get some ways of testing your network speed after installing an app just to make sure. Let me know when it works.glad to help.

Just want to let you know that all of these links are dead; the apps are not available anymore.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Advantages of updating through Samsung Kies compared to OTA?
I have Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and I am still waiting for the KitKat OTA update. If Kies would allow me to end the waiting, I would definitely give it a try.
Does Kies provide any kind of advantage towards getting a pending update?

Usually, Kies will inform you of updates faster than OTA will. However, OTA is more convenient because you don't have to plug in your phone to the PC. So, it's really just a matter of getting the updates quicker versus convenience.

Thanks for responding... Unfortunately, I tried but the update is still not there... On with the waiting!

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

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


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Cyanogenmod 11 in htc explorer running on cyanogenmod 10.1
Can I use the CyanogenMod Installer app to flash Cyanogenmod 11 in my htc explorer which is already rooted and a custom rom is installed, and I have a twrp recovery,so I want to know would there be any problem if I do that,please I need some suggestion...

No you can't. The CyanogenMod Installer app is only available for Supported devices, which can be found at the CyanogenMod Wiki.
For this device, you'd need to first unlock its bootloader, which I presume you've already done, since you say that you've already rooted, and have installed a custom ROM. Update to the latest version of TWRP recovery which can be found here (which supports installing KitKat), or you could also go for alternatives like Philz Touch recovery (found here), which I am currently using. Note that you need to use the latest version of recovery, as there are certain changes in how KitKat is installed, causing the installation to fail in older recoveries.
You'd need to manually flash the CyanogenMod 11 update, whose two variants can be found:

Official CM11 thread (by galaxyfreak): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2535682
Weekly CM11 builds (by me, aka thewisenerd): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2611381

As for the "problems" part of it, can't really say. Only Instagram is found to be buggy (with the uploaded pics, in black color (?)), and of course, Flappy Bird lags a bit (the solution to which probably lies in reverting some upstream changes, and/or the build.prop). I would really suggest that you take a backup of your current custom ROM, try CM11 (or any other KitKat ROM for that purpose), and restore your backup, if you feel it's not worth the update.
Also, do use Google, to find the answers for your queries first (and a topic that's directly related to a particular device, i.e. HTC Explorer, you'd have rather searched here). Its always probable that your questions' already been answered.
Note: As to why I'd say that you'd turn to XDA Developers, as because development for this device primarily takes place in the XDA Developers forum. That's why.

Would you care to explain why you think this question doesn't fit on this site?

because its device specific, and isn't exactly "useful" of sorts, so...
p.s. updated answer, with correct answer, and more detailing.

Device-specific questions are perfectly welcome here.


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Does purchasing something in Subway Surfer remove pop-up ads?
Pop-up ads in Subway Surfer annoy me a lot. Can I get rid of them by purchasing something like Double Coin feature? I am unable to find any information about it on their official website. If you have ever purchased something in it, please share your experience. Does it remove pop-up ads?

Depends on what you're talking about pop up ads.
If you're talking about the full screen ad, often for another game, that pop up when you go to the main menu for example, then no, I don't get any ad since I have purchased the double coin bonus.
If you're talking about the push notifications that warn you about daily challenge and new events, purchasing something doesn't remove it, but you can turn them off in the settings (Reminders).


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How to identify and remove a looping sound?
I have a Nexus 4 running Android 4.4.2 (not rooted, but with developer options enabled), and it keeps developing a stuck looping sound (I guess part of a notification sound, looping approximately every second). It survives shutdown / restart, and I've been through killing processes and services, and apparently at random at some point after killing everything, it sometimes seems to stop (sometimes it keeps going no matter how many you kill)...
...but it keeps coming back. I'm at the 4th or 5th time in 24 hours where I think it is fixed, only to find it bleeping away later. Obviously this makes it hard to leave the volume on!
So: any ideas on identifying the offender? Maybe some tool that can display the sound buffers by originating process? Or just flush them...
Note: it also survives a reboot into safe mode, continuing to play in a loop while in safe mode.

Do you have few enough notification-enabled accounts that you could disable notification for a bunch of them at a time until you found the culprit? Not ideal, I realize...

@Jon to be clear: do you mean the "show norifications" box on an app-by-app basis?

Yes. I realize that's somewhat painful...

@Jon not a problem: I can try that - while investigating there's only a handful of things I will have been using...

@Jon all apps notification-disabled; all processes/services killed; rebooted - still beeping at me. This next might sound crazy, but I noticed the sound "stalled" (but continued) when tilting the phone. I shook the phone (gently-ish) and now the sound has stopped. Only thing I did was shake. Confused.

Hmm. The fact that the beeping survives a reboot is pretty concerning, to be honest. I don't know enough about Android to give more than "onlooker suggestions" but it does sound grim. Have you tried a hard reboot (shutdown, wait a bit and then turn on) rather than just a soft reboot?

@Jon yup; turned it off hard overnight etc

@Jon more info: unrelated to notification. Starts when using power button to turn screen off, then back on. I'm wondering if "thy 'phone is knackered" is the prognosis

@Jon and after it starts, shaking the phone is definitely the thing that makes it stop. I wonder if it is something like a dodgy usb / audio cable detection switch

@Jon and just to prove me wrong, it also just started and stopped with neither power button nor shaking. Just at random. All apps still notification-disabled.

Your prognosis sounds unfortunate but correct to me - definitely sounds hardwarish rather than software :(

From a purely diagnostic perspective, the only other worthwhile test I can think of would be completely wiping the device (system, data, and cache) and re-flashing it with factory images. If your issue persists through that, I'd say it's almost certainly a hardware problem. You'd lose all of your data, in the process, though.

@eldarerathis yeah, that's towards the "last things to try" end of the list, but it is on there. For now I'm trying a deep clean and air-can. So far, so good.

You mentioned that it stops for a short while when you kill many apps. Try killing one by one and see which one it is that way.

Hard to say what could cause this problem.
Maybe you're able to tell what happened before the sound started? Could be a hint to address the issue.
I would recommend start with uninstalling any unecessary apps and going through every app that is/was ever generating notifications for you. Check their internal settings (if there are any) and also check notification settings in app manager.
If you're using developer mode I suppose you can also try to turn it off, just in case.
If it's reacting on shake in a weird way I'd also recommend to run all possible updates, alternatively reinstall apps or in the worst case: reinstall the system. Can't tell more about what could cause the bug.


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Chrome Browser does not render mobile site
I use SAMSUNG GALAXY Y GT-S6312.
I was testing my site on google chrome for mobile view render. But it renders desktop site only
Tried clearing cache of browser. Stopped application. But no results.
Any Solutions.

Does Chrome render other websites in their "mobile" formats correctly?
If yes, you'd need to correctly configure your website (probably checking for user agent, and redirecting to mobile site) correctly, so as to render the mobile site.


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Is this android mobile device credit card payment system secure and safe?
Mobile device credit card payments and credit card readers are appearing everywhere, but then we all know any payment app's security is nought if the android device is rooted.
Before I give my credit card to be read, how can I check that this merchant's mobile device payment system app is legit, and that her phone is not rooted?

What makes you think payment app security is void with rooted devices? CC info should not be stored on-device.

You know the same way you know that any card reader the merchant is using doesn't clone your card or misuse your payment details: you don't know at all.
It's possible for apps to detect whether the phone has been rooted or not, so one might expect that a payment app would refuse to work on a rooted phone, just like some video streaming apps do. But as the consumer, it's not possible for you to verify the security of the merchant's card reader, whether it's a smartphone or a special-purpose device.
The good news is that it's not your responsibility to do so. If the merchant allows your card details to be misused, whether deliberately or through negligence, they'll get into trouble with their merchant acquirer (i.e. their bank). You can "dispute" any fraudulent transactions with your bank to get them reversed.

Can a rooted device hide its rootedness from specific apps?

Yes, by denying the "use root" dialog.


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USB charge in android 4.2.2
I have an android 4.2.2 phone. When I connect it to my desktop PC, it is not charging (Showing as charging and disconnected repeatedly). Checked by changing USB cable, connecting to different PC, connecting to different phones with same cable etc. Using same cable I can charge other mobiles like lumia, android 4.1 phones. Also I can charge my phone with same cable through charger. When I google it, I found that USB charge only option is removed in 4.2.2 (It was der in earlier versions). My model is XOLO Q1000 Opus and android version is 4.2.2. Please help me

You're saying the phone continually goes into and out of charge mode, no matter what cable or computer you use? Since you say it works fine with AC. I suspect that perhaps USB just doesn't provide enough power to charge the device.

Have you installed the USB drivers for your phone? Without the phone can only retrieve 100 mA => 0.5 Watt.

@Robert do you have any further info or links on this, sounds useful to know about!

@RossC That is written in the USB standard. Before the device is initialized the maximum power the device is allowed to use is limited to 100mA. Only when a charger is detected it can use as much power as it can get.


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youtube app - is there a way to resume play back
I have an android set top box call Pivos Xios. It is running android 4.0.4. This is plugin my 1080p TV. This device is great because for 100$ you get to have a browser on your TV and all the play store app you already purchased are available.
So I have installed the youtube app which works great. I logged in my account and get to have my history and my watch later videos, that is just awesome. I was just wondering if there was a way to resume playback of a video that I stop/paused for a later view.
I know I can do that with the XBMC app and the youtube plugin installed, but the interface is much less intuitive an user friendly that I prefer to use the youtube app directly.
On my PC, sometimes (I haven't found what triggers it), when I reload a page of a youtube video I've already been watching, it is sometimes cropped from where I stopped it. There is a bracket added to the timeline.
I'm looking to have a similar functionnality over my youtube app on android.
Any advices are welcomed.


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scheduled message feature removed?
I've upgraded my Galaxy Note II to Android 4.3 and if I open the menu when writing an SMS there is no scheduled message option anymore. Where is it gone?

Samsung probably felt the "non-need" of this feature, hence removing it.
You could either use apps from the play store such as "Schemes" which allows you to schedule messaging, or contact Samsung support via email requesting the re-addition of the feature (I'd go with the former because, one mail mostly doesn't make a difference against a huge OEM).


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When flashing a custom ROM, why do I get an error on getprop("ro.product.device")?
Whenever I try to flash a ROM on my ASUS Transformer Prime (tf201), I get the following error:
assert failed: getprop("ro.product.device") == "tf201" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "tf201"

I've got around it by opening the ZIP file of the ROM, navigating to /META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script and just removing this check. The ROM installs fine then.
But still I'm left with the question: why isn't my device recognized as a tf201, while it obviously is? Is it because I formatted the system partition in a format frenzy?

I had the same thing on a Vodacom branded Galaxy Tab4 10.1, I believe they either did it by mistake when changing another model's ROM and forgetting to update the device id, or intentionally to make the flashing or custom ROM installation a bit harder.

I had the same problem, because my device was unrooted after a factory reset and TWRP didn't have permission to read /system/build.prop.

Please make sure that your build.prop in the /SYSTEM folder is configured correctly and has the variable ro.product.device set, often time in custom ROMs the build.prop is not configured completely and some of these variables are necessary for certain functionality checks. You can open it up in a text editor and look for it and make sure it is set and there are no bad characters in there that might affect it being parsed properly.
Also check these variables and make sure they are set as well, it is good to have them:

ro.product.model=XXX
ro.product.brand=XXX
ro.product.name=XXX
ro.product.device=XXX
ro.product.board=XXX
ro.product.manufacturer=XXX

This could be caused by a variety of reasons, the primary reason being an incompatible recovery, where the appropriate variables aren't correctly set. Try using another recovery (example: TWRP) , and see if you're getting this error.
A temporary solution for this would be:
You could just open up the zip file, extract the

META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script

file, and remove the getprop lines, which look like:

getprop(xyz) == "xyzyxz");

lines from it. These lines are usually in the beginning of the updater-script file.
As you say that the ROM is "for" your device, this should cause no problems.
Then, just drag-drop back the updater-script file, back into the zip. Now, flashing wouldn't be causing any problems.
Note that:
Use programs like 7-zip, or WinRAR, while extracting the updater-script file.
Use the Notepad++ text-editor, or alternatives like Geany, which support the Linux EOL formats.

Beware: While removing that check in this specific context is fine, you shouldn't do that light-hearted; the check is there for a good reason. If you do so, you must be absolutely sure the ROM is compatible with your device. If it's not, you might get into serious trouble and even (soft-) brick your device. // @Vineeth: Not a critique, your answer is perfectly fine in the context. I would include that warning nevertheless for those "quick-readers" ;)

Also, to complement @Izzy's comment, you should not be just updating the updater-script and re-packing it back into the archive, because that zip file is signed upon generation of the initial update.zip. And because of the change in the zip file as result, the SHA256 checksums will not match, will spell disaster. The SHA256 checksum is reported and contained within the zip file itself, if recovery was to check it will flag up, possibly throwing up an error message or refusing to process it.

For me, updating the recovery to the latest version solved this issue. I think this should be the first course of action before modifying the setup script.

This solved the problem for me, I DEFINITELY had a 'matisselte' (TAB4 10.1 SM-T535) device, but I think the network operator (Vodacom) who branded it made a mistake and set the variable to be matissewifi which it definitely was not. I made the first line of the /META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script file to match my model, and I installed the correct ROM (matisselte), and it worked.


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Where to report issues regarding the stock-email-app
Is
    http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/entry
the right place for bug reports?
My device is a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE 2014 Edition (SM-P605) with it's original shipped OS (Android 4.3).

This depends upon the ROM that you're using.
If its stock, you're stuck, for most OEMs don't allow sending big reports as such.
If its a google device, or any other device running AOSP, then, the link you've posted is appropriate. Be sure to provide as much related and useful info as possible.
If you're running custom ROMs, they'd often provide you with links, so as to where to post bug reports, (most often being the thread itself (assuming that you're using a custom ROM taken from a forum)), which is where you ought to be posting bug reports.

After I'd specified my target device now, may you have an idea where I have to go?

Here's something on [Where to report device-specific bugs to Samsung?][1]
[1]http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4928267/where-to-report-device-specific-bugs-to-samsung

Actually I'd contacted Samsung at     (http://developer.samsung.com/forum/board/thread/view.do?boardName=General&messageId=254492&messageNumber=7642&listLines=15&startId=zzzzz~) and I'll post the solution here as far as I succeed.

authors: أحمد الضعيفي


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Sometimes the screen is on when in lock mode
I have a Samsung Pocket GT-S5310L and sometimes, when the lock mode is on the screen never turns off (until I turn it off manually). This started to happen after I made a factory reset
When charging is ok but when I leave the phone and I receive a notification the screen stays ON. Stopping notifications is not an option and I couldn't figure out what the problem is.
Any idea what could be happening? If I can't find a way to solve the problem, I think I will do another factory reset (which I didn't want to do but I am running out of ideas).

Have you checked your timeout settings?

The only thing I see in Display options is to lock the phone after 15 seconds of no activity.


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my android tablet isnt tworking
I had a new tablet for Christmas and it worked properly. Today it just wasn't doing so well:
I turned on the power and swiped my finger on the screen to unlock it. Then,

When I touch an app it said app isn't installed.
Sometimes when I touch an app it would come on but just stay on the title screen.
Other times on the homepage it will not let me swipe left to right but stay on the homepage.

When I went to settings and tried to click the reboot button, it froze. I cut it off and on and even hit the reset button a few times. This time I turn it off and turn it back on then the screen turn into something like a white faze and you would not see anything on the screen like something inside there is broken. Please give me some advice.

It would be easier to diagnose a problem with some basics about your device - which one, and what version of Android is it using?

Plus what the last things were you did before the trouble started. Maybe some new install?

also adb logcat output when odd stuff is happening.

Without more details, this leaves just two options:

perform a factory-reset (see the corresponding tag-wiki for details) and see whether that helps
if a factory-reset doesn't bring it back to working order, send it for repair. Your warranty should still apply.


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On the verge of 3G reception -- how to find the best position
In my apartment, it seems like I'm on the verge of having 3G reception with my current carrier.  It's only if I place and leave my Galaxy Nexus on the window, and in a certain position and time of day, that it would finally switch from EDGE to 3G or HSPA.
Is there any way to help one find out the best position to place the phone around a window?  (This would be helpful if one only needs it for WiFi tethering, for example.)
The only thing I found helpful so far is running a speedtest, and then moving the phone whilst the speedtest is still being performed, but since the regular speedtest apps are time-constrained and have several distinct components of the test, this doesn't seem like the best approach around.  Maybe there's some way to see 3G signal strength in real time?

You might wish to take a look at apps like Network Signal Info and RF Signal Tracker, which allow you not only to monitor signal quality, but also show you which cells you are connected to, plus what kind of connection you had (3G/H+/...). You can follow that on-screen (to find the currently best place), and also log it (if you notice "drops", that might be helpful when discussing things with your provider).

Network Signal Info and RF Signal Tracker (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)


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Sync music with Windows Media Player, but not to .alb files?
Right now, I manually copy and paste my music to my phone, which is arduous and and incredibly annoying (I just had all of my playlists and new music list themselves twice in my library). I would like to use Windows Media Player or another program to sync my music to my phone's SD card. This works, but it syncs them in a compressed file with the extension .alb for album. Is there any way to disable this compression either on WMP or Android?


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Pulling dbdata file with not rooted device
The screen of my Galaxy S is broken, so I can't see anything and the touchscreen doesn't work. After a while, I managed to get everything I needed from the /sdcard folder with adb.
Now I have some very important things in my Memo app that I would like to save, but the problem is that my phone is not rooted, so I can't pull anything from dbdata folder.
So, long story short: I need to pull a file from /dbdata but I have no root permissions on my phone, and the data I need to save is not from a debuggable app (it's the .ab data of the original Memo app). Is there any way to do it? If not, is there any way to root my phone without having to interact with it, since my touchscreen doesn't work anymore?
(I already tried with run-as but as I already told, the app is not debuggable)

You don't mention which Android version is running on your device. With < 4.0, chances are close to zero: without root access, you cannot access those places.
With 4.0 and up, you theoretically would have the possibility to use adb backup (see e.g. our backup tag-wiki). Thing is, you have to approve that from your device by tapping "OK" on the authentication popup – which is not possible with a broken screen.
TL;DR: It's not possible.

Thanks for your answer... yeah I forgot! It's android 2.3, so it's not possible I see. But is there really no way to have a copy of those files? I mean, isn't there any way to change my phone's kernel or root it without having to tap anything on the touchscreen? I wouldn't insist so much if those weren't important files.

Nothing that I'm aware of, sorry.


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Changing carriers and sims - how do I know if the new network will work?
My family is considering switching to T-Mobile, and I would like to bring my current Droid 4 with me. I have already stopped by a local T-Mobile store to see if their sim would work. The phone displayed the list of available mobile networks, but I could not make a call. Is that because the sim was not registered to my phone, or because the phone could not access the network properly?
Note, I am aware that a stock droid 4 is locked out of US GSM usage - as far as I can tell I overwrote the NV data to allow this.

If the SIM they gave you to test in the store did not work, then I would be skeptical that it's properly unlocked for domestic GSM. It seems unlikely that the rep would give you a SIM to test with if they knew it wasn't going to work without "registering" it, although I guess you could try going back and talking to someone else. Ordinarily, though, you can move a SIM between supported phones without any real fuss.

Good choice (T-Mobile). If your phone is unlocked you should be able to use your device with most carriers, especially the ones who activate service with a SIM card.
It's most likely because it's not registered yet, I wouldn't see any reason otherwise.
Update
I'll agree with Eldrerathis here. It's possible that the device cannot connect to the network correctly.

Any sources or references on that information? I've never heard of a SIM failing to work because it wasn't "registered" to the phone. I know I've moved my SIM between 3 or 4 different phones at this point, and all of them worked instantly. Plus it would be kind of odd for the T-Mobile rep to give him a SIM for testing if it had no possibility of working.

Sorry about that, Eldrerathis. I read the whole thing in a completely different context. No, it'd definitely and most probably be because the device isn't able to find and connect to the network properly, and your answer is most feasible.


text:
What's the directory location for Newsstand documents?
I saved a few magazine issues using the options available in the Google Play Newsstand app, but can't figure out where the files are stored. Nothing showed up in the /sdcard/ directories tagged with recent modification dates.
Anyone know where I should be looking? In case it's relevant, my device is ASUS MemoPad 302C.

The magazines are not available for offline access and they are not stored in the phone memory I guess based on this post

@Lucky  Definitely not true, since I can click on "download to read later" and read them offline.

Yeah I checked it with my pre-installed Newstand app and agree with you. I said I guessed it based on that post, but sorry that it's not true. But I could find anything inside the data folder Android/data/com.google.android.apps.magazines. I'm not rooted too so I can't check. Wait for someone with root permissions to post an answer. ;)

Without root access on the device, probably nowhere. With root, most likely in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.magazines. If the app stores data on sdcard, it should be found below Android/data/com.google.android.apps.magazines.

Well, it's not in the latter.  I'm not rooted, and can't do so w/o the fancy image over at xda-dev, so I may just have to live w/ things as they are.

It'll probably be in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.magazines as Izzy says. I want to point something out in here, further improving his answer.
A-) All apps, by default, store their datas in /data/data/*app's package name*
B-) Yet, if they have the required permission given by the user, they can use /sdcard partition as they wish to store data as well.
A is a default case.
B however, is optional. B is usually preferred when the created data file must be easily accessible by the user (like Whatsapp backups, images etc.) or when the app needs to download additional files to work properly (e.g. game patches)
This applies to all user apps therefore the information you try to find is either in somewhere in /sdcard or in the related /data folder that is /data/data/com.google.android.apps.magazines

Thanks -- guess I'm SOL unless I find a simple rooter for my ASUS tablet.


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Port not open when using portable wifi hotspot
I just bought a Samsung S4 and am using its portable wifi hotspot feature for internet connectivity on my laptop when I go out the house.
Works just fine when browsing the web(actually quite fast) but when I use uTorrent, it has an orange exclamation point icon near the bottom right. Downloads are slow even if I have 20-30+ seeders(around 6-10kbps max). Did a quick google search and found out(using canyouseeme.org and port forwarder port checker tool) that the port used by uTorrent is not open.
Checked my windows firewall exception and there's already an exception for uTorrent. I've even added new inbound and outbound rule to specify the port used by uTorrent but no luck.
I believe I've covered everything on my laptop (win 7 64bit).
BTW, when using the same laptop but using my parent's dsl connection, DL speeds jump to a couple of mbps of the same torrent(facepalm).
Sorry if post is long. I just wanted to explain it thoroughly and to show the things I did to try and resolve the problem. I'm just new to android. Be gentle (but not too much.... harhar!)
Is there anything I need to do on my S4? Hopefully without rooting it. Or to my laptop?
Thanks a bunch guys. :D

Most likely the port doesn't get forwarded from your S4 to your laptop. You might want to take a look at Port Forwarder or other port-forwarding apps. Please report back if that does the trick.

Thanks a lot, @Izzy. I'll download some of those apps and experiment a bit. I've already got the Port Forwarder but the settings are not that easy to tweak with. On a side note, I've always thought the my S4 would act as a modem and not as router wherein I'd have to forward ports to it.

I am having the same issue and I am new with android too... did you succeed ? I don't understand the port forwarding maybe... (sorry about my english ...)


text:
Don't charge to 100% when always-on wall-plugged-in
I want to use a Google Nexus phone for an always-on wall-plugged-in WiFi tethering access station.
It occurred to me that if I just do it like this, then I'm risking ruining the battery within a couple of months, and the battery becoming useless, potentially leaving the phone permanently handicapped to a wall-plug operation, and within a year or two, going as far as requiring an external UPS for power-outage situations, too.
Is there a solution to start charging when below 40% or 50%, and stop charging at 60% to 80%?

Are there tablets that work without battery in, but plugged in to power?

@NoBugs, my phone that I'm currently using as my part-time access point does actually have a removable battery, but the whole point of the question is that you don't want to choose between having no UPS at all (whilst preserving the battery for potential future use by storing elsewhere at 40 to 50% charge), or ruining the battery within a year or so by not engaging in any conservation efforts, and then going back to having practically no UPS, too.

Thinking out loud here, could you use a pc and control the USB to charge for set times as a work around?

@RossC, ideally, I'd want to use a PC to not simply control to set times to charge-recharge the battery, but to provide only enough power through the USB for the phone to function, without much extra power to actually charge the battery.  If you know the tools, I actually already have such question for you: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/63121/usb-host-to-disable-charging-for-an-always-on-usb-tethering

@RossC Unless you have a special usb controller you made for the purpose, no, the 5v is hard-soldered to the usbs.

@NoBugs, what about laptops and such?  Don't they have the ability to control how much power external devices get through USB?

Other than a BIOS setting for enabling/disabling usb charging while computer is off, I don't think that is possible.

If you're needing it as always-on wall plugged you will probably need to stick with that. However newer devices stop charge when 100% and then recharge back from ~95%.
Answer here: How to stop an android device from being charged programmatically? Says that you simply can't use any software to stop the charging.

That constant charging, discharging slightly and charging again will wreck the battery, even the heat overhead alone will do it. If the device has a removable battery you might as well, but a nexus is a no go. +1 for the link / info.

@RossC, I'm actually still using a Galaxy Nexus, which does have removable battery; however, removing the battery is a very ugly solution -- it means I either have to have an extra UPS, or forego internet connectivity when the power is out.  P.S. Actually, it just occurred to me that I could utilise a netbook's battery to go around the power-outages, however, the netbook itself also risks having its battery ruined due to a constant recharging to 100%: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/114412/how-do-i-stop-charging-the-battery-way-prior-to-100-in-openbsd

Since it is removable you could buy a few spares and let them die over time? It's not at all ideal but just seeing what can be done.

Don't some ROMs have "rapid charge" feature you can turn on? Maybe there is something similar for limiting it?


text:
Why is there so many identical Android folders?
I was using the ES File Explorer app, when I noticed there's many different folders with all the same content. Like, there's a "legacy" folder, a "0" folder, and an "sdcard" folder, and it all goes to the same place where my DCIM is and such. I'm wondering if whatever I have takes up three times the space, or its all shortcuts to the same place. I'm confused with all this folder nonsense.

What is /storage/emulated/0/?

Because of how Android has evolved over the years many newer devices have the same files mounted (usually with a bind mount) in multiple places. Others are symbolic links. It's really too bad that the file manager app isn't showing you these details :-/

I think Ghost Commander app does

Prior to ICS, Android used /system/mnt/sdcard as the point for mount.
Some versions by manufacturers used /system/sdcard instead.
ICS, thereafter, changed it, but kept existing mount point  for backwards compatibility with legacy apps.
Now,  /system/storage/sdcard0 or /system/storage/sdcard1, particularly, JB on tablets, is used to accomodate multiple user accounts.
Crucial point is the name or alias for external storage is sdcard for legacy reasons and will stay that way. Or in technical parlance, symbolic link in filesystem terms points to sdcard.
Usually, 0 represented internal storage, 1 represented external storage.
The increased trend in dropping SDCard at expense of cheaper to manufacture rewriteable flash drives, bigger capacities, is prevalent.

I don't know about "legacy" or "0", but /sdcard is a symbolic link to the sdcard device folder.
At the terminal, run "ls -l". Add the end of some lines, you will see:
sdcard -> /mnt/sdcard
etc -> /system/etc

and maybe others depending on your setup. This is standard Linux setup, and makes both places link the same place - so there is no duplication.

It is not exactly true that they go to the same place. The "0" folder as you call is is what is actually stored on the phone. So if you have your camera taking pictures and storing them on the device as opposed to the SD card, you will see those pictures (DCIM folder) under /storage/emulated/0/DCIM. Under EXTSDCard you will see things stored on your removable card.

This is not universally true. For example Sony devices sometimes have the external SD in /storage/emulated/1


text:
find the source of an app on my tab3
It has an Android robot with a cloud over his head with the letters dlna in the cloud? I downloaded an app from google play and can't find the source to look it up to figure how to make it work.

In the Settings menu look for the App section. From there you will be able to select it and find information about it along with the package name.


text:
Is it possible to restore TWRP backup with CWM?
Is it possible to restore TWRP backup with CWM?
I have some backups with Team Win Recovery. If I install ClockWorkMod, can I restore them with it?

I have never tried; but IMHO both use Nandroid to backup, so it should be working. I'd do another backup with TWRP just before switching, and then another one with CWM immediately after, to be on the safe side. In case it does not work, there are always other helpers to read them, like Titanium Backup or Nandroid Manager.

That's always a good approach :) If you go that path, we'd be glad if you'd report back. You could answer your own question then – or give us the pointers to do it.

I checked that myself.
I installed CWM 6.0.1.0 on my Galaxy Tab P5100, then I tried to restore the TWRP backup that I already had, and It didn't work.
Maybe it needs a little more technical work. But with a normal procedure, it doesn't work.

It wont Work as the two recoveries are only compatible with their own files.
Xda has a thread on this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2383065


text:
How to disable Google Search?
Recently my phone started to lose charge faster. It just occurred to me to check Battery in Settings, and I saw that Google Search is responsible for 29%, Screen coming in second with 23%.
I set up Google Now a few weeks back, is it the same thing?
If not, what exactly is Google Search? Is it something I actually use, and Google Search is just a collective name for them? Can I turn it off?

Google Search is the package that contains both Google Search and Google Now. I think you can disable Google Now while keeping the search part by going into Now->Settings->Switch Google Now (first item).
If it doesn't solves your problem, then you can disable Google Search in Settings->Applications->Google Search->Disable.


text:
Settings screen appears all of a sudden
Sometimes I'm not even touching my phone, sometimes I'm using it. It just goes to the settings screen without me telling it to do it. I'm on a Galaxy Note 3

What setting screen? Any special page? If so: Could it be related to any app you've recently installed/updated, e.g. providing a shortcut to exactly that page?

I've owned this phone for 4 months now and this issue has been present almost since the beginning.Any way to discover which app may be causing this? I mean the settings page of the phone with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc

The main settings page, or some special sub-section (and always the same)? And could it have to do with the heavy modifications you did to your system? I'm pretty out of ideas what it could be (never heard of such behavior), so all I can do is "guess wildly"...

The first section of the settings, always. Isn't there a log of system activities from which I can try to see if there's an app triggering it?

You could try adb logcat, yes. If you don't have the SDK installed, and don't want to have its "full load": take a look at Is there a minimal installation of ADB?. I only can recommend having at least the minimal variant available – be it for logcat or backup or ... ;)


text:
How to get removed default app back?
I've removed my Gallery default app with NoBloat. NoBloat is a great app and I've used it to remove all of the bloatware that came with my Note 3. Yesterday I was playing with my phone, then I thought "well, I use QuickPic, so let me remove the Gallery app too". Well, not a great idea (especially not backing it up before doing it). Now, I can't access my pics from the corner of the Camera app. Is there anyway that I can get it back without resetting my phone (it just won't happen)? I've tried looking for the app at the Samsung Apps store but they don't keep it over there

No, you won't be able to get it back without a backup unless you know someone with the same phone who can back it up & provide you with a copy.
You also won't be able to update your system OTA in the future either, as updates check to make sure that all the apps that should be there are present.  If they're not, they won't install.
Freezing apps rather than deleting is generally a much better idea.

Exactly. So your only ways out are either (as Logos already wrote) find someone with the exact same device and OS version to provide you with a copy, reflash the ROM completely, or (if you have the exact same ROM available which your device currently runs) extracting the required stuff from that ROM.


text:
Blocking people nexus 5
How do I block an unknown number on nexus 5 who keeps calling me . I have looked everywhere but I can't find the option

There isn't an option that allows you to do it on stock android, you'd have to use an app. I've used BlackList before.

Suggestion for an app to use? This is a poor answer at the moment.

Well i have only used an app that does this once, it's called BlackList but i certainly won't recommend it without having used other apps of this kind

If you found the app useful then that's all you need to recommend it, even if there are better ones. Thanks for getting back as well, all too rare with most posters.

I'm just gonna link to it so op can check it out if he wants. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.baole.app.blacklist it worked when I used it, that's all i can recall (get it? )

You can try using the phone warrior app. It helps to block unwanted calls and sms

Use Truecaller app! You can even block a number from sending you texts!


text:
Recovery program only accesible via "adb recovery" but the program closes itself
My tablet (a chinese SmartQ T10 with Android v2.3.4 unofficial Firmware) does not have custom recovery via power buttons combo, nor CWM recovery available to download. The only key combination  (Vol ++Power) that does anything, goes directly to firmware restore from a file named /mnt/sdcard/SmartQT10 (at SD Card) if this file exists.
But if I completely  start into Android, go to ADB on my computer and I do:
adb connect IPTablet:5555
adb shell recovery

It appears a fancy classic recovery program on the tablet's screen (full screen mode), as you can see:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)
but with a strange behavior: this supposed recovery program lasts for only a few seconds, and my tablet get back to whatever it had just before on the screen (Android desktop, for example). After a few seconds, the recovery program gets back to screen, a few seconds there, and back to the desktop... and so on. The things stay like this until I press Ctrl+C on the ADB console of my PC.
If I touch any key of the tablet or press on the screen, the screen goes back instantly to Android screen and the recovery program disappear, so I can not interact with the recovery program. The recovery program is like any kind of "ghost" screen. And one more (don't know if important) detail: the selection menu of the recovery program moves down once each 2-3 seconds, just like if I were pressing any "down" key or so, a thing that I am not doing at all.
I must conclude that my tablet has any kind of recovery program inside, but it can not start for any reason.
This method:
adb shell reboot recovery

goes into firmware restoration mode, as I told before. This other:
adb shell reboot bootloader

performs a simple reboot.
Having this recovery program available would be great. Could anyone, please, tell me how could I do to keep it working? Or maybe there is any way to start it on boot, as I have seen in many others Android devices?
I see it shows some "can't mount" directory messages, as you can see in the capture, but I don't know how to solve those problems or if solving them would be useful to finally accessing the recovery program.

I don't know for sure if this is your only problem, but I'm posting it as an answer just in case. You seem to be confused about adb commands.
adb shell foo

is a command that tells adb to open a shell on the device, and run the command foo on the device, whatever you say there for foo. Therefore, the command you've been running,
adb shell recovery

doesn't tell the device to go into recovery mode: it tells the device to run a command named recovery, while Android's still running. From your description, it sounds like this is the same program that the recovery mode uses, but it's not intended to be run while Android is running. It's writing to the screen directly, without going through Android, which is why it keeps disappearing and can't accept input. It's actually pretty sloppy work on the part of the manufacturer that you can run this program at all from within Android.
In the same way, the command you want to use to reboot into the bootloader is
adb reboot-bootloader

(On newer adb versions you can replace the hyphen with a space if you like.) There's no shell in the command, because this is an instruction to adb, not a command to run on the device.

Whenever i append "shell" or not to "adb", I get practically the same results. I have just tested what you say: "adb reboot-loader" gets the same as "adb shell reboot bootloader": a simple reboot. Thanks anyway.

How about adb reboot-bootloader as the answer says? You're missing the boot bit before the loader. Hope this helps.


text:
What's the difference between uTorrent and BitTorrent apps from the same developer?
In Play Store, there are two apps with almost same descriptions from same developer: uTorrent and BitTorrent. What's the difference between them?

Effectively nothing. The two desktop torrent clients, uTorrent and BitTorrent used to be developed by two separate groups. Late 2006, µTorrent was purchased by BitTorrent Inc. Since then, they started shipping BitTorrent as a re-branded uTorrent, but also kept uTorrent around. Wikipedia
Because of this, they maintain one program, but have two versions separated only by name, and it seems as though they carried this over to their Android apps as well.

The two programs share the same update description - but for some reason BitTorrent Pro is two times cheaper than uTorrent Pro.

I guess they do this to drive people away from µTorrent, and push them towards using BitTorrent instead, so they could phase out µTorrent completely in the future.

Agree with the user53233 that both were own by the same community but still feel that Bittorent is slightly better than utorrent. Following are the reason of my claim:

In my 10mbps connection, BitTorrent performs better than Utorrent.
when I checked both on MAC, Bittorent also feel slightly better than Utorrent.
Here is a guide which can also second my opinion. https://www.vpnranks.com/utorrent-or-bittorrent/


text:
Rooting android via virtual windows 8 on ubuntu 12.04
I want to root my sony xperia p android 4.1.2. I'm using ubuntu 12.04LTS and it seems uncomfortable to root my xperia via ubuntu. So i've installed windows 8 (32 bit) on virtual box. Is it will be safe to root my phone via virtual windows 8?

If you can pass the USB control of the device from the host to the guest, then it should be perfectly fine. This requires the closed-source version of virtual box. Source


text:
Is there a way to activate in-app purchasing on Words With Friends for the Kindle Fire?
I have Words With Friends, version 6.7.1 that I downloaded from the Amazon app store on the device.  The version I have on my Android phone has in-app purchasing enabled, such that one can get the ads free version, etc.
After hunting around on the Kindle Fire version, I can't for the life of me figure out how to enable the in-app purchasing for removing the ads and getting statistics.  I have emailed Zynga at least 3 times inquiring about it, but I have never received a reply from them.
Does this feature exist in the Kindle Fire version?

As of today, 3/23/14, to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the Amazon App Store, Zynga has released a version for the Kindle Fire with in-app purchasing.
The UI for the updated app mimics the version that had been already available in the Google Play store.

No, there are currently no in-app purchases available (as of Feb. 11th 2014). If you read the reviews on Amazon, you're not the only one who'd like to pay to get an ad-free version, but it's not available.

Thanks for your answer! I'm going to wait a bit and see if anyone happens to have any further info as to why.

That is up to the developer. Google Play Store and Amazon App Store have separate In-App purchasing implementations, so they can't use the same code as in the Google Play Store version.


text:
How to root a Xperia SP (C530x)?
Simply, how to root a Sony Xperia SP device?

What have you tried? What have you looked at/seen? EDIT: This came up in the "low quality" list. I see what you've done with the question and answer provided (nice answer btw, +1).

@Peanut: didn't know how to write a better question... :)

Well the fact you provided the answer makes your question fine :) But in the queue you dont see any answers hence my original comment. If it had been a real question we'd expect more details of what people had tried but obviously that doesn't apply in this case!

There are two ways, depending on your firmware version. They work on both locked & unlocked bootloader.
Requirements

Having adb drivers installed (usually installed with Sony PC Companion)
Having enabled Unknown Sources
Having enabled USB Debugging
PC Companion must not be running

12.0.A.1.211/257 (C5302,C5303,C5306) ; 12.0.A.1.284 (C5302 only)
(credits for DooMLoRD, guide from this thread)

Download this archive and extract it.
Connect your phone to your computer.
In the extracted folder, double click on the RUNME.bat file.
Follow the instructions (usually one key to tap).
Reboot your device if it doesn't do it itself.

12.0.A.2.245/254 (any device)
(credits for DooMLoRD, guide from this thread)
In these versions, Sony has patched the exploit, so we need to flash an older kernel that has the exploit and then reflash the kernel of our actual firmware version. This requires flashtool.

Download this archive and extract it.
Download the kernel file from 1.257 firmware.
If your actual firmware version is 2.245, download this kernel file. If it is 2.254, download this one.
Open flashtool, click on flash icon (see image), select flashmode, browse to 1.257 kernel ftf, validate.
Disconnect your device, shut it down, then while pushing on the volume down button plug your device to your computer. The illumination bar should go green.
Wait for flashtool to finish, then reboot.
CLOSE FLASHTOOL
In the extracted folder, run the runme_ file (exact name depends on your OS).
Once it is finished, shutdown your device.
Open Flashtool again, repeat the same steps as before, but select the kernel FTF for your actual version (2.245 or 2.254).
Plug your device in Flashmode.
When flashtool has finished, you can reboot and finally enjoy your root!

Jelly Bean 4.3 (12.1.A.0.266) (any device)
As for 12.0.A.2.245 and 12.0.A.2.254, the exploit is fixed, so we need to root while being on an older firmware (2.254 preferably), flash the new stock rom zip via recovery and flash the new kernel via Flashtool.
(thanks to niaboc79 for this method).

Downloads:

12.1.A.0.266 FTF (Full or Kernel Only)
Recovery
Stock ROM deodexed or any stock based ROM of your choice
SuperUser Fix

Update to 12.0.A.2.254.
Root using the 2nd method.
CLOSE FLASHTOOL
Unzip the recovery archive and run the .bat file.
Put the ROM and fix zip on your phone.
Reboot in recovery (Power Off your phone, then power on and press (not maintain) volume up on multiple times until it vibrates).
Flash the ROM.
Flash the fix.
Advanced -> Power Off
IF IT ASK YOU ABOUT A SU OVERWRITE, SELECT NO
Open flashtool and flash only the kernel from the .266 ftf. (see screenshot from niaboc79)
Unplug, power on and enjoy Android 4.3 with root!

I used towelroot to root my xperia sp. Just installed towel root and ran the app. It worked. https://towelroot.com/


text:
Android update on Samsung Galaxy Nexus
I have Samsung Galaxy Nexus running on Android 4.2.1. When I run system update it outputs "Your system is up to date". How can I update Android to 4.3
EDIT:
Device's model: Galaxy Nexus (maguro)
Product code: yakjuxw
I'm considering to install CyanogenMod. Can you recommend good backup software.

That'll be your carrier holding that up. Where are you located?

Croatia, Zagreb

You have to wait until Samsung lets out their update with their added components, or flash a custom ROM onto it. I don't know how to do that, so I won't provide a recommendation. Depending on what network you're on, it may be a little while yet.
An article about that.

I'm on Croatian VIPnet network (part of the Telekom Austria Group)

it's a combination of your carrier and Samsung.

Segmenting off of what Matt Voboril said, you can go over to XDA Developers and learn how to unlock your phone (so you can tinker with it), install a new recovery (so that you can manipulate at the system level (backups, side-loading, installing new roms, etc.), and install a ROM with the latest android (4.4.2 ATM). If you are using Verizon's gnex, go here. If you have the GSM varient, go here. I would recommend anything that ParanoidAndroid, AOKP or CyanogenMod have to offer.

As the others have said, you have to wait. But it would help to know which Galaxy Nexus you have. Is it a GSM one or Verizon's Galaxy Nexus? I'm pretty sure Verizon has given up on updating that phone at this point. And regardless of which version you have, it won't be updated to 4.4 (see: https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3468085?hl=en)
But as Zlatty said, you can always install a custom ROM. The plus side to this is the development community hasn't given up on it and have been getting updates out frequently. Plus, you lose the carrier bloat if yours is a Verizon or Sprint GNex. One word of advice to keep in mind if you go this route, though: installing a custom ROM will require a factory reset and has a whole process to go through. You'll lose any data you don't back up.


text:
Files synced with BTSync not visible to all apps
I have a brand new, rooted Moto G with stock Android 4.4.2.
Being new to Android, I was looking for a painless way to push music to my phone from various computers. I opted for using BTSync, pointing it to my phone's Music folder (that is /storage/emulated/0/Music).
Now, when I put stuff into a synced folder on my Macbook or my Linux laptop, it automatically gets synced to the phone's Music folder by BTSync. Works like a charm.
The issue is that certain apps on my phone do not 'see' these synced files.
For example, OI File Manager, AntTek Explorer and VLC see them and I can play back all the audio files with VLC.
But Play Music (from Google) or Pimp My Music just show me an empty playlist. Also, when I connect the phone via USB cable and use Android File Transfer on my Macbook, the Music folder is empty, even though the aforementioned file managers, VLC and BTSync show the files as existing and, as I said, VLC can even play them!
What's more, when I launch Play Music directly, e.g. from within OI File Manager, it will play back the resp. selected audio file too.
What am I missing here?

The missing piece of information is that Play Music (and most other music apps) don't go round looking for music files. It would be a waste of battery if every app had to scan the storage for files! Instead, there's one built-in app, the media-scanner, that looks for music files and makes a database of their metadata: that is, the app reads the ID3 tags from each file and stores the track name, artist, album and so on. Any app on the device can access this database to find music files. (It works the same way for videos and pictures.)
The app has to know to update this database, so when an app downloads new files, it has to tell this media scanner the new files are there. Obviously BTSync isn't doing this.
On older Android versions it used to be possible for an app to just tell the media scanner to scan everything. This was a useful workaround for when apps like BTSync didn't do their duty, but it also meant some lazy app authors did this instead of telling the media scanner what files to scan, wasting the battery. For this reason, it's not possible to do this on Android 4.4.
In the first instance, you should ask BTSync's author to tell the media scanner when it downloads a file. Then there won't be any problem at all. Until they fix their app, you should try one of the workarounds in this question.


text:
Can't flash ClockwordMod onto Verizon GS4
I just got a warrentied Galaxy S4 (running VRUEMK2) and am trying to install ClockwordMod and CyanogenMod onto it like I had on my previous GS4. I rooted it, installed ROM Manager, and flashed ClockWorkMod Touch 6.0.4.4, and ROM Manager shows that it is in fact installed (top of the app shows current recovery as ClockworkMod 6.0.4.4). Problem is, when I reboot into recovery, I still see the stock Samsung boot loader. I think this is the root cause that is preventing me from being able to install CyanogenMod.
Tried installing it manually as well through here, but didn't do anything.
Any ideas? I've scoured most threads on multiple message boards and still haven't figured out what the issue is.

ROM Manager is crap. Try flashing the recovery using Flashify. Then, let me know how it goes.

Also, make sure to flash the latest recovery.

Tried using Flashify to flash ClockworkMod 6.0.4.4 Touch. It worked, but now after rebooting the phone I get an error "System software not authorized by Verizon..." and I can't boot the OS. I'm googling around to see how to fix this, but in the meantime help would be appreciated.

Since you've flashed CWM Touch via Flashify, have you tried booting into recovery mode? Then, flashing CM and GAPPS?

It's not letting me boot into recovery mode. The only screen I get is the Verizon unauthorized screen, and I can't get anywhere from there.

Ah, it looks like you have a locked bootloader. You'll have to unlock that first. See if this helps: http://www.phonearena.com/news/How-to-Root-and-Unlock-your-Verizon-Samsung-Galaxy-S4_id43539

VRUEMK2 - is not Bootloader unlocked. So no CWM and custom ROMS for this. You only have root via SafeRoot method. There isn't a known bootloader unlock yet for the past 2 or 3 OTA releases.

Seems I figured this out the hard way, unfortunately. Hopefully an unlock gets figured out soon!


text:
Android music pauses when using headphones
This started happening a few days ago but my phone stopped to play music (pausing) on headphones when I:

Screen off
Notification menu is pulled down
Opening all applications on the default stock launcher

Music plays only if the music app is in foreground or if I went to the launcher and not selected anything.
I am using custom rom but it stopped working on it after using it for over a month. I tried to update the rom to a newer one but it still doesn't work.
Music plays fine when not using headphones and just using the speakers.
Phone: Note2
ROM: temasek cm11 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2596887)
Kernel: Devil's kernel (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239453)
App: Apollo and Google music (same thing), pretty much every music application on Android

I had the same issue on my phone. Seems to be related to the launcher. This seems to be a KK Note 2 related issue.

I solved mine with a new faster sdcard.

I guess you use GEL? If so, it's because of it listening to "Ok Google". Turn off "Hotword detection" in GEL Voice settings and you'll be fine.

Well it fails to work in any other app and the notification menu and I was using stock 4.4.2 android, I don't think that was the issue.

Are your headphones defective or have a weak spot? You can try a couple of things, such as testing this on another Android device.
It could potentially be the ROM and its ability to detect headphones properly while doing different things (Multi-tasking in a sort of sense).
What you can do is go into Settings and turned Motion off. Sometimes it can sense movement and such and it'll pause accordingly. I'll look into this more but into l your next response, this is what I have to say.
Update
It is probably an Android 4.2.2 issue. You can downgrade, wait for an upgrade or perhaps install the 4.3 KitKat ROM.
Other options are trying newer/older versions of the Google Play Music software.

So after I played around with it, apparently it's 4.4.2 that has issues. I tried many variants of 4.4.2 on Android. I switched back to 4.3.2 and it was fine, I guess i will have to downgrade. :\

Now that you mention it, I most certainly agree. I remember having the same Google Play Music issues. You just reminded me. And perhaps you can wait for an  upgrade? I know there are 4.3 KitKat ROMS  it you're interested.

The problem seems to be related to a conflict between voice search from lock screen and music being played from locked screen. For me the following worked on Android 4.4.4 (tried and tested on OmniRom and CyanogenMod):

Go to Google Now | Settings | Voice | Select "Ok Google Detection"
Uncheck "From lock screen"

I got this problem and my Google play assistance open itself and music pause/skip on any kind of music player which I using. Samsung music/Spotify. And now whenever I use another headphone there is no problem. So before doing anything make sure your headphone or your phone socket is fine.

I have a similar issue with the Galaxy A10e. Only with me it's not when I'm multi tasking but when I have my phone in my pocket. The only thing that helps is messing with my headphone cord as if it was my headphones and no it's not my headphones because it does the same thing with my other headphones. It still does it after I turned of the motion setting.
It's really frustrating because I rather listen to my music than come across potential social situations on my way to work.

Disabling Google hotword detection fixes this issue in 4.4.4.

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


text:
Make the screen to appear again when the screen is off by just touching the screen. Instead of pressing the on/off button
Our system at work is automated. Sometimes a machine stop and we get the fault popping up on a android device everyone is carrying.
It's a Cat B15 Mobile with Android 4.1.
We are carrying the phone with a holder around our arm.
If the screen is on all the time, the battery drains out pretty fast.
So I want to make the device to shut down the screen, and when I touch the screen it will start again.
Right now it's a little complicated to press the on and off button. Because the holder is blocking it.
Anyhow, if this was a possibility it would make everything a lot easier!
I checked the settings but didn't see anything about it.

I'm afraid there is no such facility (though it might exist a device which has this, I've not yet heard of). Screen off means screen off.
However, I may be able to offer an alternative: tasker can react on "motion" as well, so you could use a "shake-pattern" as trigger. A profile I could imagine:

Condition: Shake twice (record the shake-pattern)
Task: Turn display on, unlock, bring app to foreground

I'm not sure if "shake patterns" could also be something like "tap the device twice", so you could try that as well. And though Tasker is a payed app (worth every cent!), there's a free, fully functional 7-day-trial available on their homepage.

Try searching the playstore. if you gave a proximity sensor on your devices try using that. Magnetic sensors use less battery, but you need a magnet to activate.Another option are g-sensors. The screen will not register touches while turned off (some very rare devices do).


text:
Is there any way to find/remove duplicate tracks from Google Play Music?
I have my music from CD in both MP3 and FLAC format.  Unfortunately, the Google Music uploader insists on uploading both formats, and so I have duplicate tracks.  Is there an app/tool/method to find and remove these duplicate tracks from the cloud?

What if you deleted both, and then re-upload the one you want. Have you tried that?

@pqsk There are several thousand files; simply finding the duplicates is non-trivial.

gotcha. Thought it was just a few. What if you were to just delete your collection, and then on your workstation, remove those files and then reupload. Not sure if this is a good suggestion, since I have no idea how big your library is, and/or how fast your internet connection speed is. The music api is non-documented if I remember correctly btw.

@pqsk there is that: https://github.com/simon-weber/Unofficial-Google-Music-API not sure how good it is though.

From a PC running Windows 10 x64 (64-bit):

Install the latest Python 2.7.x version. (I used Python 2.7.10; Do not use any Python 3.x.y version -- I couldn't get it to work with this script.)
If using Windows, install the Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler for Python 2.7. One of the dependencies of gmusicapi requires it.
Install the Google Music API for Python. You should use "pip" (Python's built-in installer script) to install it. On Windows, pip is not added to the PATH environment variable. The quick, lazy workaround is to invoke it specifically:
C:\Python27\Scripts\pip.exe install gmusicapi

See footnote if you're having issues. LibAV or ffmpeg are probably not required for our purposes.
On the right side of the Google Music Dupe Killer page:

Click "download ZIP" → Extract the ZIP → Rename kill-dupes to kill-dupes.py → Right click → edit with Notepad (or Notepad++, or anything similar) → Ctrl-F ("find") for "username".
On line #89, you'll see this (line numbers added for ease of reading):
88. api = Mobileclient()
89. logged_in = api.login('username', 'password')
90.
91. if logged_in:

Replace the word username with your Google username, and the word password with your Google password. Leave the single-quotes ' as-is. Save the file with the edits you made.
Allow less secure apps to access your account via Google. If you don't do this, Google will email you telling that they blocked someone accessing your account the first time you run the script. In that email, there is a link to change the setting.
(Note: you may wish to change it back after you are done with this script.)
Put the modified kill_dupes.py script somewhere you can find it. I put it in C:\Python27\.
Open the Windows command prompt. (Win+R opens the Run dialog, cmd is the command prompt. Press Enter.)

You'll see a Window with this written:
C:\Users\YourWindowsUsername>

Run Python with the script you made:
C:\Users\YourWindowsUsername>c:\Python27\python.exe c:\Python27\kill_dupes.py

Press Enter to run the script:
Successfully logged in. Beginning duplicate detection process.

The program prints a list of the duplicate tracks it found. Type y and press Enter to remove them, or n to not remove them.
kill_dupes.py and maybe its parent program gmusicapi crash on Unicode characters like つんく♂. Here is the bug report. Oddly enough, by running the script from IDLE, it worked fine. IDLE should be included with all Python installs.
IDLE (Python GUI) → file → open → kill_dupes.py
IDLE (Python GUI) → run → run module
If you just see a blank window, you probably forgot to allow less secure apps to access your account. See step 7.

(Optional) Forbid less secure apps from accessing your Google account.

I used the answer by neves to develop this answer.
Footnote: Installing LibAV

This probably isn't required, but it's what I did the first time I did this. I have since successfully removed duplicates without LibAV, but I did have ffmpeg in my PATH already. The reason I say this step isn't required is because the Google Music API website says:

If you’re going to be uploading music, you’ll likely want Libav’s avconv installed and in your system path, along with at least libmp3lame.

Update 2016-01-09: The site now says:

The only time avconv or ffmpeg is not required is when uploading mp3s without scan-and-match enabled.

Use your judgment as to whether or not installing LibAV is needed.

Download the newest (sort by date modified) "nightly-lgpl" x86_64 variant of LibAV. It's linked from the site given in step 2.
I downloaded libav-x86_64-w64-mingw32-20150524.7z → extracted the .7z file → added the /usr/bin folder within the extracted libav folder to the PATH. (The steps are explained in the link in step 2. lat ays to add (Python's built-in installer script) avconv.exe to the PATH. So my computer now has D:\Downloads\libav-x86_64-w64-mingw32-20150524\usr\bin added to its PATH.

For anyone else viewing this answer, here's the Less secure apps page in your Google settings. If you use 2FA, you'll have to use an app-specific password.

Fast forward to now, looks like Python 3 is required since the unofficial Google Music API dropped support for Python 2

In a desktop computer,you can run Google Music Dupe Killer script. If you are not used to computers, it is not trivial, but doable. You have to install the Python language, and follow the instructions in the script site.

Other than storing them in seperate locations and specifying where the files you want are or manually going into google music on your pc or phone and deleting them, no. But even if you delete them once the music manager catchs them missing and you havnt changed the folder it will reupload them at least it used to.


text:
How can I revoke an app's permission to access USB after granting it permanently?
I have an app that requested USB access, and when prompted I selected "Yes, allow this app to use USB" and checked the "permanently" checkbox.
Now I would like to revoke this permission so that the app would always have to ask every time it wants to use USB.
Is to possible to do that by changing something in system settings? Where? Is there a permission manager built-in to the system? If not, then is it available as an external app?
I'm using a tablet running Android version 4.1.1.

Are you sure your app was causing that popup? What Android version are you using? My guess is something higher than 4.1, and you are referring to the ADB security popup to always accept the computer as a safe counterpart. Could that be?

I'm referring to a popup when you request for a permission. To be precise by calling a function requestPermission(UsbDevice device, PendingIntent pi) from UsbManager class

Ah, now I get it. Then the answer is probably to be found in How to stop Android asking for permission before permitting access to USB device: the box should never display again (unless the software is uninstalled and then reinstalled) If you're looking for a way to do that programmatically (i.e. with code from your app), you'd better ask at [SO], as our site focuses on end user issues.

I second this bein on-topic. Don't get confused by the word "developing" alone: developers are able to act as users, I've been told and tend to believe :) This question is clearly from a user's perspective (how to undo a "use always" setting).

authors: Дмитрий Матяшов


text:
mount: Permission denied (when mounting /system directory on android device)
I have rooted Samsung Galaxy S4 (Int) using CynongenMod OS. I am trying to install and run an executable file which needs its configuration file to be copied to the /system directory.
Now, after copying my files from PC to the /sdcard folder, i am unable to copy the .conf file to /system/etc and I can't also copy .exe file to /system/bin.
I know that I have to mount the /system directory. I restarted my phone and boot into Recovery Mode and then mounted /system directory, but it did not work.
I also tried mounting it manually from the adb shell using the following command:
mount -o remount wr /system/

still it is not mounting and I can't perform the copy. It shows me in the terminal the following message:
mount: Permission denied

so please help me mounting the /system directory

the command is mount -o remount,rw /system

@AlexP.: It worked. Would you please put your comment as an answer, thank you

Thank you @ChrisStratton for the note, and sorry for putting off-topic question .. what do you suggest I do , should I delete the question ?

You don't need to do anything - you have your answer and the question may or may not be closed by the community.

The command is mount -o remount,rw /system


text:
Android / S3 (i9300/i9305) - Disable default keyboard pop-up at lock screen
After the 4.3 update, there is a default keyboard popping up at lock screen.
Let me describe what I mean.

When you opened up your phone pre-4.3, it displayed the lock screen. With no keyboard or anything, just the information. Like the clock, your missed calls and such. When you tapped into the password field, the keyboard popped up. It was all buttery smooth, looked good, worked good.
Here comes 4.3, ala Samsung. Now if you lock your phone, it will pop up the keyboard every time.

This saves one tap, that's a pro.
But:

It tears apart your wallpaper, as the keyboard - which won't get loaded in time - got your wallpaper, not the lock screen wallpaper.
As I said, the keyboard just can't load in time. This is not a bug, it's just not possible to wake it up from deep sleep and throw so much work at it.
So overall it looks glitchy, cheap, awful. Like some copycat Chinese fake smartphone. Which I believe the S3 is not. It's just untasteful. Ugly.

I understand that this was most likely a design decision, to speed up the unlock.
Is there a way to disable this behavior?
Rooting is OK. I mean, this thing looks so ugly, I'm fine with losing my warranty.
Just let me fix it somehow.
Custom keyboards: I'm using AI Type keyboard (free) as for now, but the glitch and the auto-pop up happens with any keyboard I tried. It's like there is an event defined, so it's like you would "tap" into the field.
Custom lock screens: I looked around as much as I could, but I only found "press to lock" apps. Basically little widgets and buttons to lock your phone. But they were no custom lock screens, just shortcuts.
Wake-up apps: Tried "Auto Wakeup", but it only wakes the phone up the very same way. With the keyboard, lag and all. :/

If you want to try some alternative lock screens, there are plenty: Go Locker, Widget Locker, Holo Locker... See here (well, you need to sort out some "unrelated lockers", yeah, so maybe this search get's closer). Might not be a "real solution", but worth a try.


text:
adb doesn't detect phone on Ubuntu 12.04
I have a Ubuntu 12.04 PC that sometimes does not detect my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smartphone. The following error message will pop up when I connect the device.
Unable to mount SAMSUNG_Android
Unable to open MTP device '[usb:001, 085]'

USB debugging has been enabled on the device, and 51-android.rules/52-android.rules both have the device USB PID in them.
adb detects my Galaxy S3 and Nexus 5 just fine.
I've tried rebooting the phone, as well as killing-restarting adb, but still nothing.
Any help?

Install and run mtp-detect. And post here what it gives you. After that,try enabling usb charging instead of MTP, in addition to enabling developer mode. Use the actual usb cable that came with the device (if you can remember which one it is, not all micro-usb to usb cables are created equal). Don't forget to accept the RSA fingerprint the first time around. On my Linux laptops with Ubuntu 12.04, I actually have no trouble connecting to my Samsung Note 8 tablet. I'm really surprised it works with your S3 but not your Note 2. Is your Note 2 still under warranty? May be, the device is defective.

Also make sure you're not using a tethering app that makes use of adb in the background. And that you don't have a security app like "Lookout" running as well. A possible workaround for the short-term (that works better than email, or downloading the app manually) would be to root your device and install an app that allows you to do adb over wifi (assuming you're using home wifi which usually doesn't have wifi isolation running).


text:
Mount USB OTG to specific destination folder
I've got a Moto G with 4.4.2 and, as stock OTG functionality is broken in the latest android version, I need a way to mount my mini USB card reader (meenova) to /sdcard folder.
From what I've found on the internet I have to use this shell (I'm trying to use it with tasker):
"mount -o rw /dev/block/sdb /storage/emulated/0" or "mount -o rw -t vfat /dev/block/sdb /storage/emulated/0" Neither of them worked for me
/deb/block/sdb is the location of my sd when plugged in and /storage/emulated/0 is the phone internal memory (or at least I think so, I've also tried using just /sdcard but no luck either)
I was able to mount the sd card using Stickmount app from Chainfire but it mounts it to /sdcard/usbStorage/sda and I need it to be just /sdcard (plus if I manage to do that with tasker I don't need another app installed).
What can I do? Thanks.

/storage/emulated/0 most likely is already used. Try ls -l /storage/emulated/0 (or use a file manager) to check for yourself. You cannot mount another device to the same place, you need an "mpty directory" to mount it to.

/data/local/tmp is world writeable...?

Izzy, I tried with /storage/emulated/0/USB (that folder doesn't exist so it's empty) but still doesn't work, is that the way I have to do that or it has to be outside storage?
And t0mm13b, /data/local/tmp has all rww permissions granted.

Also I've tried to do that via terminal emulator and says: "Mount: Operation not permitted"

For mount to work, the mount point needs to exist and be a directory. The directory doesn't need to be empty, but if it's not, the existing contents will be hidden once the mount completes. So you need to do mkdir -p /sdcard to create the mount point (the -p prevents an error if it already exists), then do mount /dev/block/sdb /sdcard to mount the SD card. You may need to use /dev/block/sdb1 instead. Both the mkdir and mount commands need to run as root.

It's actually real simple but you need work from recovery.
All things mounted go through some script called fstab.
And don't go change anything until you know sure that's right to do.
Some info can be found in a map called MNT and PROC.
However never try to alter those because it could lead to bricking your
device.
Some textfile examples are MOUNTS and PARTITIONS where you can find detailed info. Mounting however uses the fstab folder as device parameter info point.  So think adding or changing it might work.
Here an fstab textline as example.
/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 /system ext4 rw

You might find more info when googling for android fstab properties.
Still altering them in any way is up to you.


text:
Android ADB connect to device with broken USB and no root
I've read through the thread below and come across 2 solutions for connecting a device with ADB.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4893953/android-run-install-debug-applications-over-wifi/19940301#19940301
The first is to use USB, and this isn't an option because the USB port is busted on my Droid Razr Maxx. The second is via wifi but using root permissions.. and I don't really want to root my phone.
Can't I use strict WiFi without root to set up ADB?

I don't believe you can.  However, you can install applications from email attachments, websites which serve with the correct mime type, etc

@bughi The USB port is busted and it could have been fixed if under warranty, and then you don't want to root. Is there a reason for not rooting the device?

@Firelord some devices Can't be rooted coughverizoncough.

@ChrisStratton There are many reasons for using ADB besides installing applications

@Michael of course there are other lesser reasons.  But the literal name is "Android Debug Bridge" implying the primary use of installing and getting debug messages from apps being developed.  A device with broken data connectivity on the USB port still retains the possibility of installing fresh builds of apps being developed by the other means of sideloading supported when "unkown sources" is enabled in settings.

I have not tried this myself, but there's an app named ADB Wireless (no root) which, as the name suggests, claims to make this possible without involving root:

This app is for developers wanting adb access over WiFi without rooting your phone.
  …
  *** NO ROOT REQUIRED ***

Usage instructions can be found on the app's playstore page – looks pretty easy and straight. And the permissions look phantastic: nothing that's not necessary or explainable. In fact, just a single one to view WiFi connections. So no ads or spyware to be expected ;)

Same to be said for an app called ADB Wireless (no-root) (yes, same name – different dev), which seems no longer maintained though (last release was 6/2013):

the first android application in the Google Play store to provide a wireless ADB connection without root.

Asks a few more permissions (a.o. full network), though.

Note however that all those non-root solutions seem to require a (USB) cable connection for initial setup – so there's probably nothing for your special case.

Conclusion:
No app for that if your USB port is busted. So unless you get your busted port repaired or root your device, I see no way to get ADB running wirelessly. As initialization requires more permission as any "standard user" on Android gets, there are no command-line tricks either unless you already have root access: the initialization via USB makes use of the ADB daemons elevated permissions, which are only accessible that way.
For other readers:
Initial phrasing of my answer omitted that fact, as the OP's USB port is broken/unusable: If your USB port is in working order, and you can use an USB cable to connect to it, you won't need any of those fancy enabler apps (see here for more) just to be able to use ADB wirelessly (though some might come in handy if they e.g. offer a tasker plugin, so you could enable wireless ADB in your home network automatically and turn it off when you leave it). As Firelord pointed out in his commend, and Lucky linked to a post on SO, steps to enable wireless ADB are easy then:

enable usb-debugging on your device
connect your device to your computer via USB cable
run adb tcpip <IP address>:<PORT> (e.g. adb tcpip 192.168.1.50:5555 – find the correct IP address in the wireless properties of your Android device) on your computer
still on your computer, run adb connect <PORT> (e.g. adb connect 5555)
unplug your USB cable, it no longer needs to be attached – ADB now runs via WiFi

+1 to that,  but I think adb  tcpip <PORT> -> adb connect IP:PORT -> adb shell can also be added. In fact, those non-root apps probably be doing the same thing.

@Firelord That might well be. But they cannot do so unless executing it with "elevated privileges" – either via root, or via the ADB daemon. So without root, that's a "chicken-and-egg" issue: you need ADB access to run those commands to get ADB access. IOW: in this specific situation, the answer is "no, not possible". Unless I've missed something – which I won't say is impossible, but at least unlikely.

@Izzy I just installed the first app and works fine as instructed in the Playstore description. I couldn't understand what this app used for. I know that we can run adb commands over wifi. In non-rooted phones it only works if we are connected via a usb-cable. Then how does this app named wireless? It will only make sense only if all the devices which are connected to this wifi can send adb commands via wifi to this device. Is this possible at all - just for clarification? ;)

And for developers the above apps uses the same concept mentioned in this answer from SO.

@Lucky that's what those apps are for (see here for more): Enabling the device to listen for ADB commands via WiFi. All devices connected to the same network then could issue an adb connect command followed by adb shell, adb install, or other ADB commands. Those apps are for nothing but starting the TCP/IP interface for ADB, which is disabled by default. So if your USB connection is working, you don't need any such app – but could simply use the commands from your linked SO post, correct.

Anytime, @Lucky. Maybe I should really include that with my answer. I've omitted that as the OP's USB port is broken anyway – but I should not confuse "other readers", allright :)

once you have connected your USB, is it possible to never have to connect it again and enable/disable wifi adb without ever reconnecting?  i need to automate setting up some config which can only be done with ADB and which my phone periodically "forgets" and my phone is not rootable

@Michael without root I'm not aware of such possibility.

If you've never connected your phone to the computer before, you may be out of luck. Since the later versions of 4.X, (I think at least JB 4.3), you must authorize the host computer to connect via ADB, which will popup the first time you connect with USB.
When using Wifi, this authorization MUST already be established, or it will not accept the ADB over Wifi connection.

This is now possible for devices running Android 11 or higher.
There's Wireless debugging menu under Developer options. The pairing is done using a 6-digit pairing code, or a QR code.
To use the pairing code:

get the IP address, port and Wi-Fi pairing code from Developer options/Wireless debugging/Pair device with pairing code,
Using a terminal, pair the device:
adb pair IP:port pairing-code

You're now ready to connect. Get your port number from the Wireless debugging screen on your phone (beware, the connection port will most likely differ from the pairing one) and connect from the terminal:
adb connect IP:port

The menu options may be named slightly differently on your Android build. The ones above are from Android 11, running on Mi 9T with MIUI 12.1.1.0 installed.
If you prefer, you can also use the pairing interface from Android Studio. The instructions are here.
You will need platform-tools 32 or higher, for both options. At present it can be downloaded here.


text:
How to change network interface used by Android?
When I boot up my Android Device and go to WiFi settings, the status of WiFi remains "Turning Wi-Fi on" forever. I looked it up in logcat logs, and below is the error that I see.
E/wpa_supplicant( 1713): nl80211: Could not set interface 'wlan0' UP
E/wpa_supplicant( 1713): wlan0: Failed to initialize driver interface
E/wpa_supplicant( 1713): Could not read interface wlan0 flags: No such device

Below is some useful information.
root@android:/ # netcfg
netcfg
lo       UP     127.0.0.1/8   0x00000049 00:00:00:00:00:00
gannet0  DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00001082 1e:e9:6e:bf:45:f7
dummy0   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000082 ba:ad:f6:ae:6a:09
rmnet0   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet1   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet2   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet3   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet4   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet5   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet6   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet7   DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000001 00:00:00:00:00:00
sit0     DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000080 00:00:00:00:00:00
ip6tnl0  DOWN     0.0.0.0/0   0x00000080 00:00:00:00:00:00

Contents of /system/etc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf:
update_config=1
ctrl_interface=wlan0
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

Question: How can I enable Android to use some other interface other than wlan0?
Things tried:

I tried to edit ctrl_interface parameter in /system/etc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf using adb pull and adb push to other interfaces shown by netcfg, but Android still tries to use wlan0.

I also tried to start wpa_supplicant daemon using the below command.
/system/bin/wpa_supplicant -Dnl80211 -idummy0 -c/system/etc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf

but this gives an error.
E/wpa_supplicant( 5390): dummy0: Failed to initialize driver interface

You also need to change the init.{hardware}.rc file with correct socket name (wpa_dummy0)

Are you sure dummy is a WiFi interface? The typical WiFi interface's name is wlan0.
If you're 100% sure it is the right WiFi interface, you might also need to change the wlan0 inside the wpa_supplicant.conf file.
If that still fails, run the wpa_supplicant command under strace and try to get more info from there.

Run in an ADB shell:
wpa_cli

It will open a new type of shell in which:

Command help will give you all possible commands.

Command interface will show you all your activated interfaces.

Command interface_add will add a new interface to use, with following parameters
interface_add <ifname> <confname> <driver> <ctrl_interface> <driver_param> <bridge_name>

ifname being the single optional parameter.


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Android USB Debugging on Mac OS X 10.9.1
I have installed Mavericks on my computer. Before I had Mavericks, I could plug my Android device into the USB port and it would show up in the Finder and the 'USB Debugging' display would show on the phone.
Now, when I plug in the phone, the computer acts as if the phone does not exist and the phone does not show the USB Debugging thing.
I have been developing Android Apps for two years and this issue is mind bending. I have all the necessary Developer Settings on my phone turned on. This has been tested on multiple Android devices with all different versions of Android. The problem is the computer, not Android.
Has anyone else run into this?

Not me. But have you checked whether the device still gets detected as USB device (on Linux, that can be done using the lsusb command – I'm not sure, but guess Mac has something similar)? If it does, are the vendor and device IDs still the same? Also, if I get it right, "have Mavericks" means you've updated your OS. Maybe you need to reconfigure something there? You don't write what Android device this is about. Please [edit] your question, and also include the Android version involved, and what USB mode you were using (MTP, UMS).

Furthermore, if you're not talking about an ADB connection, USB debugging is not needed for that. Try switching it off, and see whether that helps. There were reportings where USB debugging interfered with UMS/MTP connections.

It occurs for all Android versions and devices I can get my hands on. I have tried it with API 8 on up. We have them all here in the office. It does not show up as a USB device anywhere on the computer. Doesn't matter if I connect it as a Media Device, through ADB, or as a USB Mass Storage.

Other USB Mass Storage (e.g. standard external USB disks) showing up fine? That should be the same as an Android device in USM mode. Just to rule out general USB problems on that Mac, could you try any other USB devices you can get your hands on?

All other USB devices work fine. Thumb drives, SD cards, iPad, iPhone. Its all problems with Android. Maybe something with the USB drivers (which I know nothing about)...

Wait a sec. If thumb drives and SDCards work, an Android device in UMS mode should do as well. Have you tried the Android device in UMS mode on a different machine (but with the same cable, and with a different cable)? Maybe it's not related to Maverick, but just coincidentally happening at the same time, and the "broke" is either the cable or the device? As you tried with different devices, rather the cable maybe (if you used the same cable always, that is)?


text:
Completely wiping all contents and storage in SmartQ T10 tablet. No Recovery, no CWM, no ADB
I wanna hard reset my SmartQ T10 so memory and internal storage become fully deleted, but my device does not have such option in Settings, nor there is ClockWorkMod Recovery released for it.
I did try:
- Restore firmware.
- Boot pressing volume up, volume down and both (goes to firmware restore).
- ADB: adb reboot recovery (goes to firmware restore too).
- Research at http://www.hard-reset.com/ (no SmartQ models there).
so I was wondering if it exists any generic non-platform-specific trick.

For a real safe and complete wipe, you might want to take a look at Nuke my Device.
If you're just after a factory-reset, this can be find in Settings. But then you shouldn't forget about your other storage (SDcards – internal as well as external – are usually not dealt with by a factory-reset, though some ROMs do so).

Well, I was mostly thinking about some NAND Wipe, Cache Wipe and Dalvik Wipe, like in CWM.
As I wrote, there is no factory-reset option in my Settings. Maybe that is because I have installed an unofficial firmware Android 2.3.4 Beta.

Maybe – though I've never seen any without that option. As I wrote, the app mentioned should cover that. According to its description, it offers you to safely delete/wipe everything, and then automatically factory-resetting the device as a "finalizer". // All those wipes could be done from a custom recovery (which you don't have), but also via ADB/Fastboot commands.

Another equivalent app free, please?

I don't know any other (free) app doing the same. Just another paid one for the same price. For partial solutions, see the list here

I think I have finally found a partial solution. By using these commands via ADB, what can be done by USB cable or Wireless ADB (my case), the contents of the internal filesystem of the tablet seems to have become clean:
adb shell
wipe data

I hope this info will help anyone.


text:
Force to use 3G and WiFi is on?
Can I force android through settings to use 3G for all downloads when both WiFi and 3G are on?
The main reason why I am trying to achieve this is that I want to use WiFi only as a mean to connect to ADB (without use of USB).
I have Nexus 4 phone which runs Cyanogenmod 10.

That is built into Android, Wifi and 3G are mutually exclusive flip/flop. Cannot have both of them on.

The Short Answer
Nope, not possible, or at least compicated & tedious, because Android defaults to WiFi since it's generally faster, more reliable and has no data cap
However
You may want to look into this app. While it requeires a rooted device, it allows you to leverage on both your WiFi & 3G to download at the same time.
The Long Answer
As t0mm13b has suggested (and I eagerly defer to him), if you're really serious about this and have the necessary expertise, you can

modify the source code to remove the mutually exclusive flip/flop and also at the RIL layer

Unfortunately, I'm not qualified enough to do more than point you in the direction of the Android Developer Page if you decide to go down this route.

Thanks, I guess I will have to look for other alternative.

The app that you have referred to requires root, Using both networks together requires root access (remember to say "authorize" to the superuser prompt). and also Using both connections is not supported on all devices / rom combinations., The real way to do this is to modify the source code to remove the mutually exclusive flip/flop and also at the RIL layer.


text:
Apps do not exist on moving them to SD card on Tab-1030
I have a Tab-1030 Android tablet (Tab-1030) with Android 4.0.4
Whatever apps I move into the SD Card get deleted. The first occurrence happened when for some reason my tablet couldn't connect to the wi-fi and I couldn't access Google Play.
After that I restarted my tablet (it also took longer than usual to start up again) and when I tapped on one of my games, it announced that the app didn't exist. Looking deeper into it, all the apps (5 of them) that I moved into the SD card had no data. They were deleted!
The blank apps showed that they had cached data which was a lifesaver because after I re-downloaded the apps some memory of what I had done was saved.
From there I tried to not move any important apps to the SD card, but a few months later the same thing happened. This time it was because I mounted my phone's microSD card (16 GB). After I unmounted the microSD card, the few apps that I moved to the SD card had again been deleted.
Can someone, anyone help me out and explain to me why this happens?

You pretty much answered yourself: you move your apps to your SD card, then you unmount your SD card.
No SD card -> the apps in it are not there anymore -> Android considers they have been deleted.

But the thing is that I'm moving them to the internal SD Card. And whenever I mount a microSD card or use USB the apps that were in the devices internal sd card are delete. The cached data is still there but the app isn't.

@Marty: Well, you didn't said you moved to the internal SD Card. But on recent devices, the internal SD Card storage is shared between the SD Card content, and the apps (also system, etc...) so moving apps to the internal SD Card should change nothing to your storage space and just make your system less stable.