Android Device Offline: Fixing ADB Connection Error

After upgrading to Android Jellybean (4.2.2) the 'adb (Android Debug Bridge)' program failed to connect my Android mobile phone. Running 'adb devices' in the terminal showed error: device offline message.

Recently Android switched to MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). Unfortunately MTP support has some issues. For now I have to resort to using 'adb' command to work with my Android mobile phone.

Digging around the Internet, I learned that Android Jellybean has a new security feature. You need to do RSA key fingerprint verification with the PC. Otherwise the Android device will be reported as offline.

How to Fix ADB Device Offline Error

Here are the steps to connect to your Android device with adb.

• Get the latest version of adb. Update using Android SDK android program: 'android update adb'


• Restart adb server with 'adb kill-server'


• Unplug and reconnect the device to a different USB port


• Repeat last two steps until you see 'Allow USB Debugging?' dialog on your android device.


• Select 'Always allow from this computer' option

Now you can talk to your Android device using the adb commands.

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Install CyanogenMod 10.1 (Android Jellybean 4.2.2) on Samsung Galaxy S2 (GT-I9100G)

In this post we'll install Cyanogenmod CM 10.1.x on Samsung Galaxy SII mobile phone. Please note this instructions apply to Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I1900G model only.

Disclaimer: Installing third-party firmware will void your phone warranty and if something goes wrong it could make your phone unusable. The installation process will wipe data/apps, Please backup everything.!

Before you get started consider backing up your phone data using Samsung Kies or Android apps such as Titanium Backup. Alternatively you can copy the data manually by connecting the phone to your computer with an USB cable.

Prerequisites: What do you need?

1. Install Android SDK. We'll use the nifty adb program to manage the phone and debug any problems.


2. Install phone flashing program Fastboot, Heimdall on Linux or Odin utility for MS Windows.


3. Download Clockwork Recovery: GT-I1900G_ICS_ClockworkMod-Recovery_5.5.0.4.tar


4. Download latest Cyanogenmod 10.1.x from Cynogenmod download page for i9100g device..


5. Download gapps-jb-2013301-signed.zip from goo.im.This package provides standard Google Android applications such as Google Play (A.K.A Google Market).
   
   


6. If you are upgrading an Android Gingerbread Phone, you'll need stock Android Ice Cream Sandwich(ICS) ROM. You can find stock Android ROM from SamMobile.

Flash Ice Cream Sandwitch (ICS) Official ROM to Samsung Galaxy S2(GT-I9100G)

You'll need your phone to running Android Ice Cream Sandwitch(ICS). The phone needs to run ICS bootloaders to upgrade to CyanogenMod 10.1.x. In this section I'll flash official Ice Cream Sandwitch(ICS) ROM onto my Gingerbread Phone.(Thank you codeworkx for pointing this out.)

You can ignore this section if you are working with ICS S2 phone.

1. Unzip the previously downloaded ICS ROM I9100GDZKL3_I9100GOLCKL3_XME ROM


2. Put the phone in download mode by holding Volume Down(-), Home button and pressing power button.


3. Connect the phone to computer using USB cable


4. Launch 0din on your computer and select PDA mode and flash the uncompressed .tar file.


5. Once complete the phone will reboot.

Root the Samsung S2 ICS Phone with ClockWorkMod Recovery Kernel

The handy ClockWorkMod tool allows you to flash the phone with different ROMs from the phone itself without the need

of computer.

1. Connect your phone to computer using a USB cable.


2. Put the device in download mode with 'adb reboot bootloader' or by holding Volume Down(-), Home button and pressing power button.


3. Uncompress the previously downloaded Clockwork Recovery file.


4. Use heimdall program to flash on the command line: 'heimdall flash --kernel zImage'


5. Reboot the mobile phone.

Install CM 10.1.x on Samsung Galaxy S2

Connect your phone to your computer and transfer the previously downloaded files Cyanogenmod 10.1.x and Gapps files to mobile phones internal memory. Restart the phone and enter recovery mode by pressing Volume Up, Home and Power buttons together. Follow the steps below to install the CM10.1.x on your phone.

1. Select wipe data/factory reset


2. Select wipe cache partition


3. Select Advanced Menu and choose wipe dalvik cache


4. Select Install zip from sdcard and choose update-cm-10.1-XXX-XXX-XXX-signed.zip file.


5. Select Install zip from sdcard and choose gapps-jb-2013301-signed.zip file. Reboot phone

That's all folks! Don't forget to share your experiences by leaving a comment here.

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CyanogenMod 10 Installation on Google Nexus 7

You got a Nexus 7 tablet. Are you ready to unlock the devices true potential. In this post you'll learn how to update the Nexus 7 tablet to latest Android Jelly Bean (Android 4.1/4.2) firmware from CyanogenMod project.

These instructions are from Truong Anh Tuan and team's CyanogemMod 10 installation on Google Nexus 7 running Jelly Bean 4.2 stock firmware at recent CyanogenMod Bootcamp in Hanoi. Thank you for sharing your notes.

‏Before you get started consider backing up your tablet data using Android apps such as Titanium Backup. Alternatively you can copy the data manually by connecting the tablet to your computer with an USB cable.

Disclaimer: Installing third-party firmware will void your device warranty and if something goes wrong it could make your device unusable. The installation process will wipe data/apps, Please backup everything. You have been warned!

Prerequisites: What do you need?

• gnu/Linux computer with Android SDK and Fastboot installed.


• Download the required files for Nexus 7 Grouper model:
  1. Clockwork Recovery 6.0.1.9(link)
  
  
  2. CyanogenMod CM10 and
  
  
  3. Google Apps for CM10
  
  

Installing CyanogenMod 10 on Nexus 7 tablet

1. Enable USB debugging mode: Go to System Settings > About tablet. Tap “Build number” seven times until you get a 'You are a developer!' dialog.


2. Connect your device to the computer with an USB cable and copy the previously downloaded files to devices sdcard using the 'adb' program.
   
   

   
   sudo adb push recovery-clockwork-6.0.1.9-grouper.img /sdcard
   sudo adb push cm-10-20121123-NIGHTLY-grouper.zip /sdcard
   sudo adb push Google Apps.zip /sdcard
   

   
   
   


3. Unlock the Nexus 7 bootloader:
   
   

   Reboot to bootloader:

   sudo adb reboot bootloader

   Unlock the bootloader:

   sudo fastboot oem unlock



4. Install ClockWorkMod(CWM) Recovery:
   
   

    sudo fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-6.0.1.9-grouper.img



5. Install CyanogenMod 10 Nightly Build and Google apps
   
   
   1. Select wipe data/factory reset.
   
   
   2. Select Install zip from sdcard and choose Cyanogenmod 10 Nightlies.zip file
   
   
   3. Select Install zip from sdcard and choose Google Apps.zip file
   
   

That's all folks!. Reboot your tablet and if everything goes well, the Nexus 7 will boot into CM10. Don't forget you can automatically download and install nightly builds via CyanogenMod OTA update feature.

For more information, Please read the original blog post and Unlock, Root & Install Cyanogenmod 10 Nightlies guide.

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CyanogenMod Bootcamp in Hanoi

Back in Hanoi after a long trip, it is time to do yet another hack event. This weekend I organized an CyanogenMod Bootcamp. If you haven't heard about CyanogenMod project, it is an aftermarket firmware for a number of cell phones based on the open-source Android operating system.

We got two Samsung Galaxy S2 mobile phones and a Nexus 7 tablet to work with at the bootcamp. The goal was to try to install CM10 Android Jelly Bean on devices without bricking them. The three teams worked in parallel and jotted down their notes on etherpad.

Before you start, Understand the basic terminology. Now Get, Set .. Go!

Nexus 7 running CM10 Android Jelly Bean

Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100 running CM10 (Nightly release)

Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100G running Android 4 Jelly Bean CM10 (Stable release)

Keep watching this space for detailed instructions on how to install Android 4.0 Jelly Bean on these devices.

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ClockworkMod (CWM) Recovery Backup and Restore Android Phone Firmware

In my last post, I introduced ClockworkMod (CWM) Recovery to backup your phone firmware. It is a good idea to copy these backup files to your computer for safe keeping.

You will find the ClockworkMod(CWM) Recovery firmware backups in this location on your phones internal memory.

/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup

You'll need Dobrica Pavlinušić's shell script to copy the ClockworkMod(CWM) Recovery backups to your computer. For some unknown path related issue the standard Unix 'cp' will not work. You won't be able to copy these backup files to your computer, however you can copy files from computer to phone without any problem.

#!/bin/sh -x

sdcard=/sdcard/clockworkmod/

adb shell ls -1 -d $sdcard/backup/* | sed "s!$sdcard/*!!" | tr -d '\r' > /tmp/backup.android
ls -1 -d backup/* > /tmp/backup.disk
diff -uw /tmp/backup.android /tmp/backup.disk | grep -- '^-backup' | sed 's/^-//' | \
xargs -i sh -xc "mkdir -p {} && adb pull $sdcard/{} {}"

To restore your phone firmware from your backups. Copy the ClockworkMod(CWM) Recovery files to the backup directory on the phone. Reboot the phone into recovery mode and use the Backup / Restore option to restore the firm.

Lately, I use this technique to deploy Boot2Gecko quickly onto compatible phones when the Boot2Gecko builds breaks. The new B2GBuilds.org project started nightly build of Boot2Gecko, you might want to check it out. Personally I would prefer the B2GBuilds.org project builds Cyanogenmod style otapackages instead. Support for this is coming soon, watch this space.

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Install Android 4.0 Cyanogenmod 9 Firmware on Galaxy S2 Phone

There is lot of information on Internet about Cyanogenmod, after-market mobile phone firmware installation. However some of this information incomplete and misleading. My first attempt to install Cyanogenmod 9 phone failed. The phone screen played the booting animation in an endless loop. Let me share my installation notes here, this might save you from pulling your hair or worse chucking the phone out of the window.

Disclaimer: Installing third-party firmware will void your phone warranty and if something goes wrong it could make your phone unusable. The installation process will wipe data/apps, Please backup everything.!

Before you get started consider backing up your phone data using Samsung Kies or Android apps such as Titanium Backup. Alternatively you can copy the data manually by connecting the phone to your computer with an USB cable.

Prerequisites: What do you need?

1. Install Android SDK. We'll use the nifty adb program to manage the phone and debug any problems.


2. Install phone flashing program, Heimdall on Linux or Odin utility for Windows OS.


3. Download Clockwork Recovery recovery-clockwork-4.0.1.4-galaxys2.tar. (Please use GT-I9100G_ClockworkMod-Recovery-5.0.2.8.tar file for Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I1900G phones.)


4. Download latest Cyanogenmod9 from Cynogenmod download page.


5. Download gapps-ics-20120422 from goo.im.This package provides standard Google Android applications such as Google Play (A.K.A Google Market).

Installing Clockworkmod(CWM) Recovery

This is an essential tool for our work. The Clockwork Recovery is modified version of the kernel that provides advanced features such as backup/restore phone ROM's and installing Cynogenmod updates. If you plan to dual boot your phone with different Android versions or Mozilla's Boot2Gecko.

The first step to flash ClockworkMod (CWM) onto your phone using heimdall or 0din program.

Unzip recovery-clockwork-4.0.1.4-galaxys2.tar archive and flash it with heimdall command line flashing utility for Samsung phones.

# Download clockworkmod 
$ wget http://cmw.22aaf3.com/c1/recovery/recovery-clockwork-4.0.1.4-galaxys2.tar

# Unzip it 
$ unzip recovery-clockwork-4.0.1.4-galaxys2.tar


#Connect and reboot the phone into download mode with:
$ adb reboot download

heimdall flash --kernel zImage

Please wait for the phone to reboot. If it doesn't work the first time, try again.

Now you can boot into the recovery mode by pressing Volume Up, Home and Power buttons together until Galaxy S2 logo appears on the phone screen. You can navigation the recovery mode screen by using volume up and volume down keys and power button to select an option.

Backup your Phones original ROM

Restart the phone and enter recovery mode. Select Backup/Restore menu and choose Backup. This provide a safety net, you can always restore the original ROM in case the Cyanogenmod 9 installation fails.

Installing CyanogenMod9 Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich(ICS) on Samsung Galaxy S2

Connect your phone to your computer and transfer the previously downloaded files Cyanogenmod 9 and Gapps files. Restart the phone and enter recovery mode by pressing Volume Up, Home and Power buttons together. Follow the steps below to install the Android ICS on your phone.

1. Select wipe data/factory reset


2. Select wipe cache partition


3. Select Advanced Menu and choose wipe dalvik cache


4. Select Install zip from sdcard and choose update-cm-9-XXX-XXX-XXX-signed.zip file.


5. Select Install zip from sdcard and choose gapps-ics-2012XXXX-signed.zip file. Reboot phone

That's all folks! Don't forget to share your experiences by leaving a comment here.

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