Inconsistent Startup issue, need to format cache every boot?

[Nami]

I just got a nook color, and after rooting it, chose to use CM7. Everything looks like it loaded correctly, the OS and all my apps work. I can reboot the NC, or turn it off for short amounts of time, and it will load correctly the next time it is turned on.

However, if I leave the device of for a length of time (more than a few hours) it will not boot. It gets to the "Touch the future of reading" page, which is normally only there for a split second, and just hangs. It does not get to the small android message on the side, or load the android icon like it normally does.

Whats bizarre is that if I insert my SD card with CWR on it, all I need to do is either "clear the cache partition" (which formats the cache), or just format the cache itself. Once I reboot from within CWR, it takes an extra minute to boot up, but then works fine. Again, I can remove the memory card, and reboot or restart from within CM7 and it works fine, but if its off for a few hours I get the same issue.

I've tried resetting to a stock system, and reinstalling CM7 twice so far, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I'm using the most recent release for CWR, and google apps, but I'm using the CM7.0.2 rather than 703 as I had issues getting the marketplace to work with 703 (a somewhat common problem with the NC IIRC). I've looked around for similar issues but most of the problems seem to be a failure to get it up and running at all, rather than the odd issue I'm having.

Is there something else that I should be doing differently to get the cache to remain in the correct format? Different settings that I should use when I reinstall? A different version that will not have this issue? Should I just roll back to a rooted stock rom? Use setCPU and just leave it on as much as possible?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[J515OP]

Hi Nami, you should be using CM7 7.0.3 encore which is the current stable release. There are no default issues with Market. If you do end up having issues with Market it will be a one off issue not something baked into the 7.0.3 build. This can be addressed if for some reason you do end up with a Market issue.

Try upgrading your CM7 ROM and see if that solves your problems.

JP

 

[Nami]

Hey, thanks for the quick response.

I'll try updating to the 7.0.3 and attempt the nightly, and if that doesn't work then the last stable. One of huskermania's youtube videos that I was referencing alluded to some marketplace issues with 7.0.3, but that was a while ago, so that may no longer be the case.

Update: 7.0.3 is still not giving me access to the marketplace. It's simply not there once I get wireless access going. Latest nightly giving same lack of marketplace issue, plus it seems to take a REALLY long time to boot (10+ minutes). Going to attempt to restore to stock and start from scratch.

Update: Restoring to stock, and then doing a clean reinstall of 7.0.3, seems to have worked. Using the 6/13 Gapps, and everything looks to have synced up. So, so far so good, although I'm not exactly sure what the difference was, as it took a few attempts of clean installs to get it to work. I'm going to give it a few hours and see if it boots properly.

 

[Nami]

Unfortunately I still seem to be having the same issue. Now using most recent CWR, CM7.0.3 release build, and most recent gapps release build, but issue remains identical. Everything works when it is loaded, but I need to format the cache when it boots up cold. Once on, it can be restarted or go off/on normally. When it goes over about an hour, I have to reformat cache. I would say this sounds more like a hardware problem, but I did not experience any issues with either stock or rotted nook rom.

 

[ShutterPeep]

Have you done a complete wipe?

I suggest you do, provided you have a backup of your apps and all.

 

[Nami]

I just started, so at this point most of my apps are from the marketplace and are just auto-loading once i get it up and running. I've tried formatting everything, and then reinstalling, it doesn't seem to help. Either it works and I get the same error where it fails to boot after being powered down for a while, or something goes wrong and it fails to load at all. Do you mean something other than formatting by wipe?

I really just don't understand why its doing this. Honestly, I'm thinking of just going back to a rooted stock UI. It's ugly, and doesn't do what I want it to, but it doesn't forget how to turn on.

 

[ShutterPeep]

I just started, so at this point most of my apps are from the marketplace and are just auto-loading once i get it up and running. I've tried formatting everything, and then reinstalling, it doesn't seem to help. Either it works and I get the same error where it fails to boot after being powered down for a while, or something goes wrong and it fails to load at all. Do you mean something other than formatting by wipe?

I really just don't understand why its doing this. Honestly, I'm thinking of just going back to a rooted stock UI. It's ugly, and doesn't do what I want it to, but it doesn't forget how to turn on.

Hi,

Can you point us to which steps (link) you followed to install CM7 so we can take a look and help you based from that? We can go through the stages and hopefully track where something goes wrong or eventually be able to say something else isn't right.

edit: if you're installing the ROM through ROM Manager, it will give you the option to Wipe Dalvik Cache as well as Data & System. Wiping Data & System will clean out everything.

if you're using clockworkmod, do this: in the clockworkmod main menu select "wipe data/factory reset" after flashing the files; meaning the ROM, Gapps and OC kernel (optional)

 

[Nami]

I have Clockwork Recovery Mod 0.7 for 8g installed on an 8g Transcend micro sd card. That file is from 2/1/2011, and appears to be the most recent. Downloaded directly from Index of /nookdev/clockwork/0.7 I've used both CM7.0.2 and 7.0.3, using the release builds as well as nightly 108 from CyanogenMod Mirror Network - Powered by TDRevolution . I have not yet tried nightly 110, as it came out today. For Google apps i'm using the latest universal (2011/06/13) for CM7 from goo-inside.me - gapps downloads . As far as I know I've been seen using only the most recent release builds. When rolling it back I use 1.0.1 for the default system, as thats what mine came with (and it seems to be the recommended one anyway)

I have had more success using CM702 instead of 703, as I seem to be having issues going straight into 703 just like No Market or Google Apps After Updating to 7.0.3 - CyanogenMod Forum - Page 2 and [SOLVED] Unable to upgrade from 7.0.2 to 7.0.3 - CyanogenMod Forum . It possible for me to load 702, and then use ROM Manager to load 703, but I'm attempting to remove variables and do as clean an install as possible.

The steps I'm following are:
(boot into CWR)
format system
format data
format cache
load cm7 from sd card
load gapps from sd card
(remove sd card from NC)
reboot from CWR.

It will work fine, I have to add wifi and google accounts as normal. Apps get autodownloaded once the market works, and everything looks good. At this point I can reboot the machine, or turn it off a short amount of time, and it will boot correctly into cm7. But leaving it off for an hour or more, and it hangs on "Touch the future of reading" and requires a cache format. After a cache format it works fine, and loads into already working CM7. This cycle then repeats.

As I've done this a few times already, I have also tried formatting the boot both before and after the format process, as well as wiping the data/system before and after formatting. I have not yet tried doing a factory reset AFTER flashing. Wouldn't this remove the things I just installed?

 

[J515OP]

Sounds like you are doing things correctly and depending on how the suggestions by ShutterPeep went I was going to suggest you had a corupted boot partition but it looks like you covered that as well.

Since you are having an unsual problem I would suggest a factory reset so that you know you are starting from scratch. Yes you will lose anything you just installed. Before trying the factory reset and since you can boot normally at first, make Titanium Backups of your apps and data. This way you can restore anything you need after the reset.

Edit: Sorry I spaced on your ClockworkMod Recovery version getting CM7 stuck in my brain. You want to use at least version 3.0.2.8 or newer. CWR versions can be found here http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...ockworkmod-recovery-information-versions.html

 

[Nami]

I can't seem to get the latest version to work. I've tried multiple sources and it just is an empty 2MB file. The previous one I was using were different sizes based on the sd card (which I guess doesn't really matter), and when I open it up there are 4 files inside (mlo, u-boot.bin, uimage, and uRamDisk). Am I supposed to use the old version to load into cm7, then install ROM Manager to save CWR3028 to my sd card?

EDIT Nevermind. Found what I was looking for here http://code.google.com/p/monster-rootpack/downloads/detail?name=8gb_clockwork-3.0.2.8.img.gz

 

[J515OP]

You could do that. I have heard of the issue you have described with the 3.2.0.1 version but not 3.0.2.8. Since you can get into the system, updating ROM Manager and flashing the latest CWR is definitely and option. The only problem is if you do a complete factory fresh restore you are going to wipe out whatever CWR you flashed internally so it would be a good idea to have one on a bootable SD.

In that link above there are links to the files for 3.0.0.1, 3.0.2.8 and 3.2.0.1. Certainly you should be able to get one of those to work for making a bootable CWR SD.

 

[Nami]

Well it looks like that did the trick. Steps below in case anyone else has this issue. All DLed files are linked above
-Get Clockwork Recovery 3.0.2.8, sized correctly to your sd card
-Get Cyanogen Mod 7.0.3
-Get Google apps 2011/06/13
-Get Nook complete restore 1.0.1

-Mount CWR using Win32 Disk Imager
-Drag and drop CM7, GApps and NCR when its done

-Insert sd card into nook color
-Factory reset/wipe data
-Format system, data, cache
-Format boot, then restart
-Format Dalvik cache, then restart

Mount Nook complete restore
Mount CM7
Mount GApps
Remove SD and Reboot.

Some of these steps may have been unnecessary, but hey. Worked for me. At this point I'm not going to mess with it to figure out if it was the Dalvike cache or the new CWR.

Thanks for the advice guys! Enjoying the new android already. Been using Chrome2Phone and Phone2Chrome... Feels like the future!

 

[Nami]

"I have heard of the issue you have described with the 3.2.0.1 version but not 3.0.2.8."
I was originally using 3.0.0.5, which apparently had some sort of bootloader issue that sounds vaguely like the problem I had.
I'll let this be a lesson- Always find the most recent release!

 

[J515OP]

"I have heard of the issue you have described with the 3.2.0.1 version but not 3.0.2.8."
I was originally using 3.0.0.5, which apparently had some sort of bootloader issue that sounds vaguely like the problem I had.
I'll let this be a lesson- Always find the most recent release!

Bingo! 3.0.0.5 is ext3 and CM7 requires ext4 partitioning. Version 3.0.1.0 and up have both ext3 and ext 4 (3.0.0.5 and below are ext3 only and 3.0.0.6 is ext4 only).

Good job

JP