[Q] Another Stupid Noob Needs Help - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Guys, I've been kicking around this site for many years, most often in the guise of a windows mobile user. I'm fairly adept with Linux, but have only recently (my 2nd handset) entered the exciting world of Android.
I'm running an MTK6573-based Chinese Dual-Sim 3G job (T8585, HD9+, whatever you may want to call it) running Android 2.3.4.
In my haste to unburden it of all the Chinese apps and junk that's loaded into /system/app by default, I accidentally removed SnsContentProvider.apk
With this missing, the contacts app doesn't work (crashes acore).
Of course, I didn't keep a backup of the original ROM, because I'm a smart-arse who knows what he's doing...
I've asked the vendor/manufacturer to send me another copy of the file (actually, the whole /system/app directory). If this isn't forthcoming, is there any way to use the file from another ROM?
I've tried copying the file across from another 6573-based phone (same version of Android) and resetting the owner/permissions, but there's obviously something else (digital signature?) stopping it from loading.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

What you can do is to flash a stock rom.

ronaldkh said:
What you can do is to flash a stock rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have said that re-flashing a stock ROM is not currently an option. The handset is a new model, and the manufacturer hasn't released anything for it. They've offered to re-flash it if I send it back to China, but I'm not keen on that option.
Thanks for the reply.

try mine
hi, i have hd2 pro 3g, i download for you mine, i hope it works.

Related

Old Versions .... ???

Is there any site or source on the web that provides downloads of old versions of Android Market apps? This would be for apps that are now updated or no longer available on the Market? I am looking for a site similar to "OldVersion.com" which has some old/classic PC software (but this would be something for android apps instead)?
Thanks if anyone knows of a source or sites.
CustomShortcut gone?
The app that I am looking for in the above post was a free one called CustomShortcut APK. I now have it on one of my two phones (the other phone had it but was lost and replaced). I have tried looking for a developer page for this app but no luck as everything seems to point back to android market as the source link for download.
Does anyone know of a way or source for me to get this APK back on my other phone? Is there a way to copy it from one phone to the other? I am assuming that it was removed from the market because it may not be compatible with ICS but I am not running ICS. The application was made by appli.club.
Are you rooted? If so use root explorer to look for the .apk in the /system/app folder and copy or email it to the other phone and install it.
85gallon said:
Are you rooted? If so use root explorer to look for the .apk in the /system/app folder and copy or email it to the other phone and install it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No sadly I am not rooted. Is that how this could be done? I have an HTC phone (Sensation) and I like my "sense" gui. Don't want to wipe it out by rooting (that is what would happen, right?) If access to the apk is possible with rooting, then I guess my question would be, does anyone else here have CustomCut on their rooted phone? (Or possibly know of any website that would have those apk's available for download). I would be willing to pay if someone would take the time to send me a replacement copy.
just google for any app you want like this:
"title" "versionnumber" "apk" "download"
for example:
android market 2.9 apk download
mojosingle said:
No sadly I am not rooted. Is that how this could be done? I have an HTC phone (Sensation) and I like my "sense" gui. Don't want to wipe it out by rooting (that is what would happen, right?) If access to the apk is possible with rooting, then I guess my question would be, does anyone else here have CustomCut on their rooted phone? (Or possibly know of any website that would have those apk's available for download). I would be willing to pay if someone would take the time to send me a replacement copy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting will not wipe out your phone or change it other than giving you super user privileges. That way you will have access to get to the system apps folder.
I notice apktop keeps old versions around. But part of the reason I like Titanium backup is because I have a fail safe if a new update to an app is bad, as I can just restore from the last backup the older version.
85gallon said:
Rooting will not wipe out your phone or change it other than giving you super user privileges. That way you will have access to get to the system apps folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I am not really too concerned about it wiping out my phone, but I thought I had read many posts here talking about once you root your phone the native skin from the manufacturer is eliminated (for HTC that would be the "Sense" user interface). Can you please confirm? Is this not true? HTC Sense will remain exactly the same after rooting my phone?
The other thing that has made me cautious is that my phone runs perfectly now and I see so many threads on the xda boards here and over at various android forums that start off with "My ____ app is not working right since I rooted...." Just a little daunting for a newbie like myself.
spunker88 said:
I notice apktop keeps old versions around. But part of the reason I like Titanium backup is because I have a fail safe if a new update to an app is bad, as I can just restore from the last backup the older version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for the site suggestion. I have been trying to search for the CustomShortcut APK over there but no luck ...so far (the site search is not that easy to use). I have even tried to seach the site externally using google but, unfortunately, still no luck.
Wait for someone else to confirm on the htc, but nothing changed on my droidx. I just had superuser privs. All of the "this app quit working" is when people flash custom roms. You don't do that when you just root. But you have to be rooted in order to do things like that. Lol.
Rooting gives you the power to do that if you want to.
When I rooted my droidx, I did it just so I could have the power to do other things if I wanted. I am still on factory rom. But I am able to get to parts of the phone that are off limits if I wasnt rooted. I made it where I could tether, later I got rid of bloatware, etc.
85gallon said:
Wait for someone else to confirm on the htc, but nothing changed on my droidx. I just had superuser privs. All of the "this app quit working" is when people flash custom roms. You don't do that when you just root. But you have to be rooted in order to do things like that. Lol.
Rooting gives you the power to do that if you want to.
When I rooted my droidx, I did it just so I could have the power to do other things if I wanted. I am still on factory rom. But I am able to get to parts of the phone that are off limits if I wasnt rooted. I made it where I could tether, later I got rid of bloatware, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks once again for the reply. Now that you mention it, I remember reading the terminology "flashed" rom and thought they were similar or the same thing as rooting. One other question, once a phone is in a rooted state, if I was to go in and copy the APK for my replacement phone and put it on there could I then "unroot" lol ...sorry if this is not a word... so that my phone was no longer open? I had read somewhere (perhaps I heard it on a TWIT or Android podcast) that when your phone is in root state that anyone (ie: potentially bad software) has easier access to your phone's vunerable areas.
mojosingle said:
Thanks once again for the reply. Now that you mention it, I remember reading the terminology "flashed" rom and thought they were similar or the same thing as rooting. One other question, once a phone is in a rooted state, if I was to go in and copy the APK for my replacement phone and put it on there could I then "unroot" lol ...sorry if this is not a word... so that my phone was no longer open? I had read somewhere (perhaps I heard it on a TWIT or Android podcast) that when your phone is in root state that anyone (ie: potentially bad software) has easier access to your phone's vunerable areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can unroot. As for easy access after you are rooted to vulnerable areas, they can only get access if you let them. If an app wants super user privileges, you will get a pop up from su(the super user apk) telling you that some app is wanting privileges. You can grant or deny access. The only things on my phone that have ever given me a pop up are things that i downloaded and know need su access. Wifi tether, root explorer, adfree, etc.
I have found a site that keeps older version of an android app. It's called Android Drawer.
Hope it helps

[Q] Eliminating chinesses app from a STAR A3 (beginner level)

Hello all,
let me present my self as a beginner in the world of Android.
It has come an Star A3 to my hands, with Android 4.0 and among all great things of IceCream, few Chinese apps I want to get rid of
the phone is rooted (well, one headache less)
I have flash the recovery 592zn.com_recovery_Star_A3_MT6573.img with Mobileuncle tools (included in the mobile originally) and done a Boot/System/Data/Cache Nandroid backup
Apps I want to eliminate :
Baidu input (and add the standard input keyboard)
own Chinese launcher (I have already install LauncherPro, but I would love to get rid of the Chinese one completely)
UC xxxxx (some Chinese browser)
Root Explorer (Chinese version, to be able to install the English one)
ICS 4.0 (also Chinese version)
a Chinese flash-light
a Chinese dark/light switch screen
a Chinese version of the configuration menu
so, basically to keep a clean Android
so, where I have to look for help on how to do that ??
what short of help / tutorial am I looking for ?
I have installed:
http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/#ImDisk
to be able to mount the nandroid img files in windows7-x64
but I can't see anything, it ask me to format the unit (?)
similar with Daemon Tools .
any help will be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance.
InTheater
My advice since you're rooted is install Titanium Backup and use it to uninstall everything you don't want. It's a root app that can get rid of virtually anything.
Seeing as you have a nandroid backup, in the unlikely case that the device won't boot at all without one or more of those apps, you can just restore the backup you have.
SifJar said:
My advice since you're rooted is install Titanium Backup and use it to uninstall everything you don't want. It's a root app that can get rid of virtually anything.
Seeing as you have a nandroid backup, in the unlikely case that the device won't boot at all without one or more of those apps, you can just restore the backup you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beautiful, it works like a charm !!
I have been able to get rid off all Chinese stuff
thanks
Star A3 for dummies
Hello
Ok I have searched for hours (as the video asked) and I cannot find an "android for dummies" guide. I dont know what a "root" is or what "titanium" is... so I may have found the correct forum - but I just don't understand it.
So the problem is this:
I bought a touch screen DualSim Android 2.3 GPS 3G MTK6573 Phone Star A3.
It arrived today BUT it has some chinese programmes on it (that I would like to clear) and I cannot seem to download any additional apps for it.
google.play wont work (apparently it doesnt support the device)
It has a few basic apps - but nothing wild or that I guess can't be re-downloaded again.
What would you recommend I do - do I wipe it and install something new or what. and if so please can someone explain it to me in small "for dummy" steps
I am not sure what else I need to tell you to give you abetter pic, but ideally I'd like this phone to work on the google apps system (or can you point me to where I can get similar apps)
On the "about phone" the
android version is 2.3.5
Kernel version is 2.6.35.7
I would really appreciate any help you can give me
Thanks
My first advice would be to try and achieve root on the phone. This should be relatively easy on a Chinese phone, most don't have great security.
Basically, "root" means to get increased permissions on the phone. There are certain files and actions on the phone that normally you can't do. With root, you can. Think of it as somewhat like logging into a computer as an Administrator rather than a standard user.
"getting root" basically means installing a hack to let apps on your phone do more than they could otherwise e.g. uninstall preinstalled apps.
To "root" your phone, you can use a tool like SuperOneClick or UnlockRoot. For both, you follow a few instructions, plug in your phone and click "Root" in the program, it'll work out the best way to do it for your phone and do it.
Once that is all done, there is a guide here for getting Google Apps (e.g. Play Store) working on unsupported devices: https://senk9.wordpress.com/2010/12...ogle-apps-gapps-on-your-android-device-phone/
Once you get Play Store working, Titanium Backup is an app you can install from there. Using root, it can uninstall any app you want.
Be careful with all this, if you're not you could break your phone.
educated dummy
Thank you so much! - and such a fast reply too!!!
I really apprecate your patience in explaining this all to me.
It sounds relatively straight forward - I will have a look at those progs and link you suggest tomorrow.
Obviously I dont want to break the phone either, then it would be more useless then it is already
Fingers crossed - will let you know how I get on.
Hi all,
Watched the video so I thought I would tag onto this thread instead of starting a new one.
Just bought a cheap star a3 dual sim android phone. This my foray into android phones and I am having some weird issues. Just a first note I have just rooted the phone but these issues where here before and after rooting. The A3 is a htc sensation clone i believe when my other half who has a htc desire tries to call the phone the phone goes straight into answer phone and rejects the call, she is on giff gaff in the uk and i have tried both a 3 network and orange sim and it happens on both. There is some weird chinese security software that I trying get remove but its seems very stubbon. Anyone any ideas. Ps battery life is awfull i only seem to get 6 hours from full to dead without hardly any use. Maybe I have loads running but unsure what I need to keep running.
Please help.
I have the star a3
Google play works perfectly. If you PM me, I am happy to send you the apk file for google play.
since you are rooted, I strongly suggest you get root explorer installed so you can go through and remove all the chinese apps.
Make sure you remove "himarket" its a big battery hog.
To the person who says their calls go straight to voicemail, remember this is a dual sim dual *standby* if you are using 2g or 3g cell data on one sim then the other sim cannot make or receive calls.
Also, there is no ICS for the Star A3, its just a skin on top of Gingerbread to make it look like ICS, if you go to settings, about phone and look, the version number will be 2.3.4 or 2.3.5 which means its gingerbread (if you really do have 4.0.1 ICS I would love to get a copy of the ROM for it!)

Stuffed my LG Optimus F3

Hi All,
I've screwed my one day old LG. I have the Australian Telstra version - LG-P655K.
Rooted fine but got trigger happy deleting some of the system apps. Basically I must of deleted some sort of downloading app as the Play Store no longer works plus I can't download any files through Chrome.
Furthermore when accessing Play Store through Chrome, it doesn't recognise my device even though I'm logged in. Guessing some sort of backup between this new device and my Google account has screwed up as well.
I've searched all over Google looking for the stock firmware in an attempt to flash it and get it back to normal. However no luck in finding it.
Anyway, I'm basically on the verge of simply buying a new phone. Can anyone help with locating the stock firmware for this phone? And maybe a stretch, but basic instructions as to how to flash it?
More than happy to make a donation to anyone that can help (if that's what people do on here, sure I've read that on other posts)
Thanks in advance.
I may be telling you what you already know but try to factory reset your phone. if that doesn't work you should find a recovery mod and firmware for your device, transfer them onto your SD card from a PC via USB and follow the steps to flash the original firmware.
ElonNoir said:
I may be telling you what you already know but try to factory reset your phone. if that doesn't work you should find a recovery mod and firmware for your device, transfer them onto your SD card from a PC via USB and follow the steps to flash the original firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but this is bad advice as the OP obviously deleted something in /system, which a factory data reset will do nothing to help. It might even make it worse since many LGs are very sensitive about trying to run with missing bits of the /system and will throw a Security Error after resetting (possibly) or trying to update via OTA (for sure). They also already stated that they have not had luck locating the stock firmware, hence the reason for their post. I understand your willingness to help, which is great, but bad advice in these kind of situations might be worse than no advice.
Unfortunately, in a quick search, I was only able to find the specific firmware version for your phone off a Chinese site that you'll probably need Google Translate for (unless you or someone you know is fluent) and to sign up for an account there to get the link:
http://poweredw.gaodi.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=662939
I am not familiar with the site, so can not make any promises to whether it'll work or what other steps would need to be taken.
Another thing that I would try, would be to download a rom (have only found them for some US carriers) and unzip the rom and look in /system/app and compare with what's left in yours to see if anything important looks like it is missing.
http://androidforums.com/metropcs-t...-root/868464-rom-ms659-p659-slimlite-rom.html
Do not attempt to use that rom for your phone, it is only for comparitive purposes.
Done this before...
If google play isn't working, more than likely you've deleted Application Manager. I was debloating my Optimus F3 and uninstalled Application Manager, and lost GP with an error every time I would try to download an app. You could probably save yourself a factory reset if you could download the Application Manager as an apk via PC and move it to your phone and re-install.
Then again, if you didn't uninstall Application Manager, I wouldn't know what else has been removed.
How did you perform the root on the telstra LG p655k
Wouldn't mind knowing how you performed the root access on your phone
Thanks
Hi All,
I've screwed my one day old LG. I have the Australian Telstra version - LG-P655K.
Rooted fine but got trigger happy deleting some of the system apps. Basically I must of deleted some sort of downloading app as the Play Store no longer works plus I can't download any files through Chrome.
Furthermore when accessing Play Store through Chrome, it doesn't recognise my device even though I'm logged in. Guessing some sort of backup between this new device and my Google account has screwed up as well.
I've searched all over Google looking for the stock firmware in an attempt to flash it and get it back to normal. However no luck in finding it.
Anyway, I'm basically on the verge of simply buying a new phone. Can anyone help with locating the stock firmware for this phone? And maybe a stretch, but basic instructions as to how to flash it?
More than happy to make a donation to anyone that can help (if that's what people do on here, sure I've read that on other posts)
Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

Question how Android "system apps" works...

I did post this in the forum specific to my device, but I though I'd look for help elsewhere too, since the question is more basic to Android, and not really just my phone.
I recently rooted my LG G Pro 2 smartphone, did some stuff and everything was great. I was using CCleaner to remove some unneeded apps, but apparently, I removed the basic "phone" system app that allows the phone's cellular modem to work and make phone calls and texts (I'm thinking of it like a Windows driver, rather than a Windows software app). The unit works fine (WiFi, internet, and such), but I cannot make phone calls or texts, and I have NO bars (reception) at all.
So, here's the question: Can just adding in that system app back into the OS be done, or am I screwed?
I read two ideas...
One was to try and find a "phone.apk" and add it back to the data folder. But then I was unsure if "phone"apk" files are the same on all android phones or if each manufacturer has unique phone apk for each device.
The other idea I heard was to do a full restore, which would be OK, but then someone else suggested that if I deleted the phone apk, that I might have also screwed up the possibility of restoring the phone.
Finally, I used an undelete software after this incident, and the undeleter found a lot of apks and zip files, and I recovered those to a storage file on the SD card for now. But the problem there is that the files all just have number for names (for example, like "recovered_file_342579.apk or .zip). I have no idea if any of these are the phone file I deleted. I feel like I should be able to identify these files somehow, and just re-insert the phone file back to where it was.
What do you guys think?
Reflash your rom. Or flash a new one. Restore will not work. Trying to drop in a dialer apk will probably be a big headache you don't want to deal with.
Wakamatsu said:
Reflash your rom. Or flash a new one. Restore will not work. Trying to drop in a dialer apk will probably be a big headache you don't want to deal with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Part of the problem I'm running into now is that I can't find ROM for this phone. I googled, and a couple websites listed stock ROM, but then the links don't work. Device-specific forum here on XDA doesn't list any actual ROMs, either. This phone was in the upper eschelon of LG's line couple years ago, and is still pretty good by today's standards. I find it hard to believe I cannot find some kind of working ROM for this thing.
Is using a D838 ROM (or whatever the equivalent American model is called) OK to use on a South Korean model that I have (F350S)?
I'd still like to know if I can just re-install whatever phone file I erased and get phone function back again.

Malware filled phone?

Hey guys, how are y'all doing?
Here's a little background on my problem:
A year ago bought a cheap-ass smartphone for my mom, from a big supermarket chain in my country that was selling french phones cheaply, it was only 60€ and my mom needed a phone, so there it is!
Anyway cut to the present, the phone is riddled of what I suspect is malware that installs itself as soon as I remove it such as Free Games, com.google.toolkit, MiniChrome, N62Androidpt, System Component, adservice, and a couple others.
It also keeps switching wi-fi off, and turning on that option that allows apps to be installed from unknown sources, and worst of all it keeps opening the phone in built browser with adds, and even porn sites on occasion, which is really not desirable as my very young aged nieces love stealing the phone and try to use it.
I installed malwarebytes, also did a factory reset to no avail it fixed nothing.
So I decided to flash a stock rom to see if I could get rid of it, searched around and found a repository of stock roms or firmwares or whatever it's called (I'm not too familiar with this side of smartphones), which I'd love to post, but apparently can't because I've last than 10 posts: doc-doapi.com/EM/selecline/smartphone/
It has a lot of roms for different models of my brand.
Used the UpgradeDownload - R2.9.2015 tool that was in that folder and flashed it successfully.
After I turned on the device it opened the new phone setup process, logged in to my google account, and restores my stuff like contacts, and a few trusted google apps from before the flash, but it soon started again to install those malware apps I stated up there on it's own, and it was soon in the same state as before...
Anyway here's some info about my phone that probably should've gone to the top.
It's a Selecline phone
Model S4S5in3g
Android version: 5.1
Kernel version: 3.10.65
Compilation number: S3S5in3g.V1.2_20160307
At the back it has a sticker and another model number 870712 which I used to find the folder on that repository of stock roms.
And that's all in a big nutshell, anyone has any tips?
Thanks.
lil' bump
Do you have login credentials for this Auchan website where you found the ROMs? It is asking for a login ID and password. I need ROM for Model S6S5IN3G.
Quick tip for getting rid of Malware even before they start. Go to Settings and check Data Usage. See which apps are using lots of data (downloading junk into your device). Note if there are any strange sounding apps that are downloading a lot of data, especially if it is not an app that you yourself were directly using.
Next, flash the stock ROM again. Once you flash the new ROM, you have to find a way to root the device. Try KingRoot. Then after the phone is rooted, go to Playstore and download SD Maid. Run SD Maid and give it root access. In the settings for AppControl of SD Maid, allow it to show system apps. Then run app control and freeze any strange-looking user apps (or anyone that was downloading a lot of data) and system app that are not required.
Please, let me know about the website and how to access the ROMs.
As mentioned before, install a clean room again. Copy virustotal app from the attachment of these post (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=77053739&postcount=11) to SD-card and install it. Turn wifi on and let it run. Control every app and the system-apps. Post a screenshot of the findings. If there are findings, then the room is infected. The only way to deal with this, is to root it, install rootexplorer an kill the infected app. This can be dangerous, if for example, the lauchner is infected, an alternative launcher must first be installed and set as default, before you can kill the infected one (otherwise you will own a useless phone until you flash it again ;o).
Hey guys, thanks for trying to help.
I tried literally everything before, I've even somehow got a kitchen up and running and I removed everything that looked suspicious and all those bran add-ons from the rom, but even then I'd still get infected.
I didn't really try the antivirus route though and to be honest I already shelved that phone, but I'm kinda bored, so I'll try y'all suggestions, an extra working phone can always come in handy.
CVAngelo said:
Do you have login credentials for this Auchan website where you found the ROMs? It is asking for a login ID and password. I need ROM for Model S6S5IN3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd love to help you mate, I found that repository in a forum maybe forum.gsmhosting, and I've tried to access it earlier, and I'm also denied access.

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