adb not detecting the phone!

What is it?

adb is abbreviated for “Android Debug Bridge”. It comes with the Android Development SDK but it can be installed separately too. It allows users to send commands to the Android phone via PC. It will be helpful in cases if you are tinkering with your phone and reached some nearly bricked condition.

In my case: I have a Zuk Z1 and I have installed TWRP recovery and Cyanogen 13 installed as of now. There might be some case or something went wrong that I can’t boot into my phone and even recovery isn’t working. Then booting the phone into bootloader might help. But I didn’t find any way to boot into bootloader without going into recovery. And suppose recovery isn’t working too. Then adb can help you here. You may use adb to boot into bootloader and then flash recovery and the OS later on.

Installation

On debian based systems e.g. Ubuntu, you may install it like:

sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

If it didn’t work, then see here. It will get you adb and fastboot.

My Problem:

The problem was that after installing adb, I connected the phone and fired the command:

adb devices

but it wasn’t listing my device.

So after searching a bit, I got a solution.

First you need to know the vendor id of your device. Search the Internet for that.

Other thing you can try is connect your phone to Linux PC and from terminal type:

lsusb -v

and look for your device and then look for “idVendor” field. For example mine is: 0x2b4c

Another thing you may try is to use following command from terminal:

fastboot devices

after booting the phone into the bootloader.

So coming back to my problem, my device wasn’t getting listed on running adb devices.

The solution is that you need to create/edit a file ~/.android/adb_usb.ini and write it as:

# ANDROID 3RD PARTY USB VENDOR ID LIST — DO NOT EDIT.
# USE ‘android update adb’ TO GENERATE.
# 1 USB VENDOR ID PER LINE.
# ie 0x2207
0x2b4c

And place the vendor id at the end, like I did above. Save file and run adb devices again. It will list the device but it will be unauthorized. Now your phone should pop up a permission box to allow the connection. Allow it (tick always).

Then do the following to restart the adb server (with sudo).

adb kill-server

and afterwards

adb start-server

Try reconnecting the phone after disconnecting if it didn’t work.

Adding Android-x86 to grub menu

Approximately one and half years ago I wrote a post about installing Android x86 on PC. You may find here the post: https://mandeep7.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/installing-android-on-laptoppc/

I used grub-customizer to manage my grub. Here is how to add a new entry to show android in the grub menu. Add a new entry.

See more about grub-customizer in the following link.

https://mandeep7.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/simplifying-boot-menu-with-burg/

Add following information as shown in the right hand side of the image.

Just in case, if you are looking to copy paste the source lines then:

insmod ext4
set root='(hd0,8)’
search –no-floppy –fs-uuid –set d8c2350c-037b-4e56-8c9f-b52a6807eef7
linux /android-4.4-RC1/kernel quiet root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 video=-16 SRC=/android-4.4-RC1
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
initrd /android-4.4-RC1/initrd.img

 

The lines written above highly depends upon the installation of your android os like partition name etc. that’s why I recommended to read the previous post to relate things. Ask if something is unclear.

JellyDroid ROM for Galaxy-y 5302

I had the rooted galaxy-y 5302 phone on which the custom ROM is to be installed.

STEP 1: First of all, download the CWM recovery from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1971119

I downloaded this one: vM00CWM.zip

STEP 2: Now download the ROM file. http://www.mediafire.com/download/990810fryvrnc39/JellyDroid+OS+GT+S5302+By+DSB.zip

152 MB in size.

STEP 3: Now put both the files in Internal memory. As the recovery mode was not showing the files in sdcard. You may copy the ROM file to the memory card (sdcard) as well.

STEP 4: Power off the phone. Now press Volume UP + HOME + Power buttons for a few seconds and then it will boot in recovery mode.

STEP 5: Choose Apply for sdcard (using volume buttons) press Home button to select it. Similarly browser to your vMooCWM.zip file there and select and install that.

STEP 6: After installation, CWM recovery will be shown there. Now you can backup your stock ROM using backup and restore option there.

STEP 7: Now you can Choose Choose update from sdcard (as ‘apply update from sdcard’ option was giving error). Now select the ROM file. Press on Yes option by scrolling down.

STEP 8: It will start installing and finish in a few seconds.

Here is the original xda-developers thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42590792#post42590792

After the installation, Reboot the system normally. Now it will stuck for sometime at black screen. Don’t panic. After a minute or two, it will start.

Bricked Micromax A089

Today got to learn new things related to adb, fastboot, recovery mode, factory mode. Actually one of my friend got his phone bricked by accidentally deleting some system file (that was rooted). Firstly downloaded the stock ROM and recovery file. Tried to put them in the memory card but in the recovery mode, the memory card didn’t show up. Also after getting the phone attached to the laptop, the phone started charging but it wasn’t showing up in the adb devices list. Also tried softwares like SP flash tool, but every time the phone didn’t get detected.

Accidentally booted in factory mode (Volume Down+Power button) and finally adb started working. In the factory mode, even the tools like MTK flash tool detected the phone. Now the problem was to send the files from the laptop to the phone using adb. So the command for the same is:

adb push source-filename destination-folder

Example:

adb push rom.zip /storage/sdcard0

This command will push (or send) the file rom.zip from the current directory to the /storage/sdcard0 folder which in my case was the internal memory. As the size of the stock ROM was quite large (more than 400MB) and the device didn’t have enough free space (internal memory). So have to delete some files and folders from internal memory using adb.

Similarly, there are commands like adb pull, adb rm, adb ls etc. that I used while browsing. adb reboot recovery to reboot the phone to recovery mode.

Interactively, we may use the command adb shell to dive into the shell of the device and run many Linux commands there.

Now the after putting the ROM (or Operating system zip package) to the phone, when booted the phone into recovery mode > Apply update from sdcard > selected the zip > Installation aborted.

So I was stuck at this now. I also tried with SP and MTK flash tools, but still the phone didn’t go beyond the logo.

Now it was turn to try to flash custom recovery (tried both CWM and TWRP) into phone, but unfortunately it didn’t get installed. It didn’t show up in phone (internal storage even) on recovery mode with .img extension. I tried one with zip extension then it showed up but it aborted without successful operation.

Also tried the sideload option after reading the option from the recovery mode namely “apply update from adb”. It allows you to send file via the adb sideload <filename> from computer and it’ll be installed automatically in the phone.

But even this method didn’t work and installation aborted.

So the problem didn’t solve for now. Actually the phone don’t get recognized by the fastboot command. While running fastboot devices, it shows nothing there (tried on both recovery mode and factory mode). But got to learn many things.

adb (android debug bridge) can be used to talk to the phone via computer. Tasks like browsing files (copying, removing), installing apk’s etc. can be done through it.

fastboot, as I read can be used to perform similar kind of tasks as adb like flashing recovery files into phone. Also unlocking the bootloader etc.

Factory mode, can be opened with special key combination while turning on the phone. In this case, it was Volume Down + Power button.

Recovery Mode, can be accessed similarly as factory mode with Volume Up + Power button. We have to press and hold both buttons for a few seconds. It actually provides you with the options to update firmware, Reset Factory settings (helpful when forget pattern, pincode of lockscreen) etc.

Whatsapp’s new calling feature

Since Whatsapp has announced its calling feature a few days back, I got it today. For getting this feature we need to update Whatsapp to the latest version. You may update it from http://whatsapp.com .

Yeah you may experience that even after updating you are not getting the calling option anywhere. Okay… You need to be invited from someone who already have this feature. My friend had this feature and he invited me by calling directly from Whatsapp. Then after sometime the UI of Whatsapp changed automatically and the call icon appeared on the top of every contact. But you may call only ones that have the new version of Whatsapp.

I tried it with 3 persons and my experience says that it is a bit laggy. There is a 2 to 3 seconds gap between the voice of sender side and receiver side. It may also occur due to the slow Internet connection on either side. So try it and give your review.

Removing Bloatware after Rooting Android

Have you rooted your phone just for having some memory free by uninstalling unnecessary applications provided by the stock ROM(default Android)? For more about rooting and ROMs visit the Android  category. So how to do that. There are several methods to do this and I am explaining one of them here now. So I am using an application named “Smart Booster”. STEP 1: You can download it from here: Download Link or (Alternative Link) Now after downloading it, transfer this .apk file to your Android phone via data cable or bluetooth(if not already). STEP 2: Now locate the transferred .apk file on your mobile via the File Manager. Click on it and Install it. After installing, Open the app. STEP 3: It will ask for superuser access(Because for removing system application, you need to have root privileges. Allow this application. Now it will open the following screen:

First screen

STEP 4: Now click on “App manager” 3rd icon in the bottom list. Now you will see a screen similar to this one:

Smart Booster options

STEP 5: Now click on first option “Backup & Uninstall“. The next screen will look like following showing the User installed applications’ list:

User application list

STEP 6: Now slide left and access the System application part on right side of this app. It will show you the list of system’s pre-installed applications:

System Application list

STEP 7: Now it’s up to you to decide what to remove(according to your need), but be sure before un-installing any system application. You may click on any application in the list to have some options. There will be 3 options: Backup, Uninstall and Disable. If you are not sure about any application then it is recommended that you first take backup of that application.  Then do uninstall. You will see a small “message toast” to tell you if it’s successful or not. If something like this appears: “App not deleted” then try to Uninstall again. It will show “App Deleted” message on screen. Then go the Home Drawer screen and see for the application icon if it is removed or not. Thanks for reading.

Root Samsung Galaxy Y GT-S5360

Today one of my friend asked me,”How do I root my phone?”. I asked his model name and searched for the solution for his phone. Follow the procedure:

1. It’s better to have your phone charged over 50%.

2. You should have a backup of your important data with which you can’t compromise to get deleted. Backup your contacts(from the contacts>import/export>export to sd card), messages or another important data in phone memory.

3. Download this zip file : update.zip or from my storage : update.zip.

4. Move this file update.zip to the memory card(SD Card).

5. Switch off the phone.

6. Press and hold the 3 keys simultaneously: Volume Up + Home + Power Key. Then you will see the Samsung logo then release the hold.

7. Now your phone will gets booted in ‘Recovery Mode’. There will be various options available in Red text. You touch screen will not work during this ‘Recovery Mode’. You have to work with volume buttons to scroll up and down and home button to select a particular option.

8. Now select the option: ‘Apply update from sd card’.

9. Now it will show you, your Memory Card data. You have to select the update.zip file we have copied to the Memory Card (Press Home button to select).

10. It will take a second and now choose the option ‘Reboot now’ using Home button.

11. Switch on the phone normally using only Power button. After booting up, you can see a new applicaton Superuser in the application menu (That ensures that the process completed and the phone is rooted).

12. Now download ‘Smart Booster Pro’ application from the Google Play Store. Then open it after installing. You will be prompted for the ‘superuser access’. Then give superuser access to this application. Then click on ‘App manager’. Then on ‘Backup & Uninstall’. Swipe left for accessing System Applications. Then you will see around 100 apps. You can now uninstall unwanted System applications like Gmail, Email, Maps, Internet (Default Browser if you own another one) etc. Click on any application and select Uninstall. If it does not work, then do it again. Or you can simply Disable the application from showing on the Launcher( app menu) and restricting its RAM and Internet access. You will not be able to use it again unless you enabled it in similar way. Just don’t uninstall everything without having prior knowledge of the consequences. Please do some search and then take action or comment below this post if you need any help.

13. This phone comes with 289 MB of RAM. After uninstalling a few system applications, it uses only 70 to 80MB of RAM and 160-170 MB RAM is still free.

So give it a try, it feels better.