Need help - S7 freezes all the time

/e/OS Devices Samsung
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Hello everyone,

I need help, I have been using a samsung galaxy S7 with /e/os for almost 3 years. In the last months, it started to freeze sometimes when using Mozilla Firefox so I had to do soft resets (power + volume down).
Lately it started to happen more often so I freed up some space in internal storage by adding a SD card and transferring data to the SD card, I also updated to the latest version of /e/ mid last week (v 2.2 I think), it seemed to get better for 2 days, then it got much worse : now I can’t use my phone at all anymore, it gets stucks at one of the 2 screens during launch (“Samsung Galaxy S7” screen or " e, my data is my data" screen).
I looked at different topics on this forum but can’t progress, I can access the Odin mode or download mode, but I don’t understand how to progress further (I have a Mac, and can’t manage to install Jodin, nor heimdall), I can barely access the recovery mode (saying version 1.17), but I don’t know what to do next (I tried “reboot to bootloader”, I could use my phone for a minute then it froze again)

Any suggestions ?

Have a nice day
L

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

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Do you know if you were running a stable aka Official build/? I guess the rest of this reply is assuming you answered yes.

If yes, I think you should read this thread Problem update 1.20 on Samsung Galaxy S7. There were a number of threads around this time, but this one seems to contain quite a lot of links.

Users were given this alert at the time

It was significant that users should not have any SD card installed as Internal storage before the OTA Upgrade. Some explanation of Internal / External SD card ✏ A little guide to... using SD cards - Guides - Fairphone Community Forum. Do you have an SD card installed as Internal?

I am not a Mac user, so I have no input on that front.

What sort of difficulty are you having?

All the time you went without updates, were you on Android 10 (Q)? You can see the stable builds that have been published here /e/OS stable herolte download. (3 years ago maybe Android 7 Nougat.)

There has now been OTA upgrades (stable builds only) of both an Android 11 (R) and Android 12 (S). From your use of the phone since the (assumed) upgrade do you know which Android version you were most recently running?

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thanks a lot for your reply !
I used the easy installer in when I set it up around November 2021, I would say that was with an official build ? I would say I tried the most secure way back then, very probably with official build, but I don’t remember…

I don’t have an SD card installed as internal, only as external.

When it freezes, only soft reset works, but to access Odin or recovery mode the phone is supposed to be off (right ?), so I have to wait for the battery to be emptied, to try getting into recovery mode. Also sometimes it can take up to several hours before it actually goes into recovery mode.

Yes, I was on Android 10 until last week (last update was on December 2023), now I am on Android 12 with /e/os 2.2 (according to the phone it was the most up to date last friday).

I will look into the links you posted ASAP.

Have a great evening

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Thanks for answering those points. Your original use of Easy Installer would have installed what is now called an Official, that is stable build.

I have been guessing based on seeing your comment that e-Recovery is v1.17. This would be an Android 10 (Q) recovery. I guess I had tried to imagine a state whereby the recovery got “stuck” like this.

What method have you used to update the phone?

Correct … but if you need recovery you may be able to catch the phone in the middle of Soft reset as

… and experiment similar method to reach Download mode.

How does the phone behave in Safe mode?

Phone on; Long press power button > Long press Power off icon > Accept Safe mode proposal, phone will reboot into Safe mode.

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Thanks a lot again !

I confirm that e-recovery is v1.17
I updated the phone using the settings menu directly on the phone (system updater)

Thanks for the info on Force stop, I did not know, I had tried during the middle of soft reset.

I have been trying to launch the phone since yesterday, so I could try the safe mode, but it freezes at the first samsung launch screen. Now it even freezes when off and charging (it froze at 0% battery for hours, then it frozes at 15%)
I struggled but finally managed to get to recovery mode and reboot to bootloader from there (that was lately the only way I could manage to use the phone for a few minutes), but if froze again. Now I can’t seem to manage to get to recovery mode again… I can only manage to get to Odin mode…
Here are the options I recall I had on recovery mode :

  • reboot to recovery
  • reboot to bootloader
  • Factory reset
  • Apply update
  • Power off
  • advanced :
    enable ADB
    Mount / system
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In case it helps, e-Recovery will look and behave like this [HOWTO] use e-Recovery to wipe & format data before sideloading/install eOS.

It seems that the OTA upgrade of Samsung S7 does not appear on the “announced list” Edit The OTA Android version upgrade of Samsung S7 to Android 12 (S) was announced quite recently, you can check in this section for information.

However the OTA Upgrade is or was in Testing – it is a possibility (??) that you gave your phone access to the Testing servers in Developer options like this

  • Settings > System > Advanced > Developer Options
  • Scroll down to the end of the screen
  • Enable the option Connect to /e/OS test channel

The Testing session [S7/S7+] Test session to OTA upgrade from 2.1-r to 2.2-beta-4-s (#73) · Issues · e / QA / Testing Community · GitLab was closed a week ago, so maybe it was quietly released, idk.

The OTA upgrade is only designed for Android 11 (R) to 12 (S), so this will be part of the reason for failure. Only stable builds get OTA upgrade; for other builds the Upgrade path from Android 10 (Q) is to treat the upgrade virtually as a new install Install /e/OS on a Samsung Galaxy S7 - “herolte” and include Format data.

I suggest that if you can possibly replicate the Q → R upgrade you might be able to remain on the stable channel and (possibly) not have to Format data.

To do this you would aim to use heimdall to install e-Recovery recovery-e-1.17.1-q-20240208379201-stable-herolte.img then adb sideload e-1.17.1-q-20240208379201-stable-herolte.zip

The phone may tell you that this is a downgrade and refuse. I would have a go in the hope of avoiding Format data, if that was an issue.

Edit There is a stage two to this suggestion. You might have to avoid having the phone attempting the R → S Upgrade again while you check that the Q build is functional. Then use heimdall to install recovery-e-1.20-r-20240221382013-stable-herolte.img and then adb sideload e-1.20-r-20240221382013-stable-herolte.zip. Now on Android (R) you could wait (and test the build) to see if OTA Upgrade commences “normal service”.

However after the problem you have experienced you might be better advised to make a “Clean start”.

I think that if you take a different approach and update your recovery to match your (assumed) current e-2.2-s-20240716417774-stable-herolte, that is recovery-e-2.2-s-20240716417774-stable-herolte.img from /e/OS stable herolte download you will almost certainly have to Format data.

Your PC, you mentioned Mac, maybe you could borrow / get access to a Linux machine, will need Heimdall – OSX is mentioned here https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Benjamin-Dobell/Heimdall/master/OSX/README.txt there is also heimdall.dmg and a walkthough on the forum How I managed to install /e/ on a Samsung A310F with MacOs 10.13.6.

You also need platform tools, available for Mac, SDK Platform Tools release notes  |  Android Studio  |  Android Developers.

I realise that the install page may look a bit intimidating, feel free to ask anywhere it is not clear. This particular page is complicated by Windows instructions so you need to be quite single minded about what OS you are using.

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Thanks a lot !

What does OTA stands for ?

Maybe I gave access to the testing servers, I would think not but I will check if I manage to start up the phone at some point. FYI, I did the 2.2 update around one week ago.

Indeed, I would like to avoid Format Data, but I can consider it if it allows me to save my phone (I am getting worried as it is getting worse and worse). If I can avoid Format Data, I will save the Data I need and do Clean Start as suggested (I was planning on it). I forgot to make a cloud backup before updating, that would have things easier I guess…

Indeed, the Install page is a bit intimidating, I am going to try to borrow a Linux machine and a Linux user :slight_smile: to make it easier.

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Over The Air, Please scroll down my link weekly updates page or search for “OS OTA upgrades” in the OP and open the “hidden” sub sections for explanations.

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Thanks !
I won’t have access to a linux computer soon, so I’m trying with my Mac.
I downloaded the platform tools but don’t know how to install it on my mac ?
I found the links for the files recovery-e but could not find the ones for adb sideload, where is it ?

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So first you download and unzip. I understand with a Mac that the unzipped folder, platform-tools needs to be in an “appropriate location” for execution. Then you change directory into platform-tools and there you find the executables, specifically adb

$ cd platform-tools
~/platform-tools$ ls
adb       hprof-conv  make_f2fs_casefold  NOTICE.txt
etc1tool  lib64       mke2fs              source.properties
fastboot  make_f2fs   mke2fs.conf         sqlite3

If Mac works like Linux then hopefully you can avoid setting $PATH by using ./ to signify “use from here”.

Once you have a phone connected and cd platform-tools, the command to test adb is

./adb devices

This is expected to produce a one line response where the phone will identify itself.

On the download page /e/OS stable herolte download, each line is a “set” so looking at one line:

e-1.20-r-20240221382013-stable-herolte.zip [MD5 | SHA256] - recovery-e-1.20-r-20240221382013-stable-herolte.img [SHA256]

This is 5 links / fields:

The ROM | [MD5 | [SHA256] | recovery-e | [SHA256]
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I started the process

Installing a custom recovery using Heimdall

  • A blue transfer bar will appear on the device showing the recovery being transferred. => ok, it was filled and the terminal said
    "Uploading RECOVERY
    100%
    RECOVERY upload successful

Ending session…
Releasing device interface…"

  • Unplug the USB cable from your device. => I did
  • Manually reboot into recovery => as the phone was still on the Odin blue screen, I did a Force Stop with Volume Down + Home + Power, it shut off, as soon as the screen turned black I moved my finger from Volume Down to Volume Up so as to have Volume Up + Home + Power then I waited 30 seconds nothing happened. A bit after it started up but got stuck at the Samsung Galaxy screen and froze, I did a force stop, then I tried again Volume Up + Home + Power to go to Recovery Mode, now the screen stays black, nothing happened, is it bricked ?
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It is not bricked until you cannot reach Download mode.

But that the e-Recovery you uploaded seems a fail (unless you did not get the button presses right).

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I tried again, with some extra steps according to this tutorial you sent me : Install /e/OS on a Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 Exynos - “a3xelte”
This time when I rebooted in recovery mode I got a white screen that froze
I am thinking to try on a windows computer, could it be easier than mac ?

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The reason for the actual link I sent is that this proposal is heimdall.dmg – that is what you are using now? Edit and you are reverting to the herolte install page not a3xelte?

You do not say what e-recovery you are flashing. Perhaps you are trying Recoveries at Android 10 (Q). These will be handicaped by system (that is the partition populated by the ROM) is on Android 12 (S).

Really (eventually, but as soon as possible) you will need Recovery and system to match, plus you have the possible handicap described in Post #2.

I cannot really judge if Heimdall is under-performing for you, will Windows work better, idk. I am short on information on what you are uploading.

If you are feeling in deep water, perhaps its time to move on to an Android 12 (S) recovery.

Some might say I have sent you on a rather experimental route to try to avoid Format data.

I have not yet linked the method for a really “Clean start”. This would be my Plan “B”. Revert Samsung Device to stock ROM on Windows PC

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I am not sure I understood how to install adb sideload e-1.17.1-q-20240208379201-stable-herolte.zip, how do you do it ? same command line but just change the name ? I unzipped e-1.17.1-q-20240208379201-stable-herolte.zip (which is the other one of the only 2 downloading links, the 1st being recovery-e-1.17.1-q-20240208379201-stable-herolte.img, it gives a .cpgz file, idk that kind of file, what is it ? I can’t find any adb sideload e-1.17.1-q-20240208379201-stable-herolte.zip

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But you need to successfully flash the recovery with heimdall … then you have a working recovery like the first link in Post #6 … then you can follow the install page Install /e/OS on a Samsung Galaxy S7 - “herolte” … picking up at:

Installing /e/OS from recovery

Please note that the instructions do not mention unzipping.

Both the ROM and the e-Recovery are ready to use.

At this point we are using the command adb …

adb sideload is is a subset of adb …

then follows the “source file” OTAPACKAGE in this case e-1.17.1-q-20240208379201-stable-herolte.zip.

Also available adb --help

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From Post #6

I suggest that moving up to Android 12 (S) will be the aim of your next session, if you agree that you have now attempted the Android 10 (Q) options which I proposed.

I think that the heimdall flash of recovery-e-2.2-s-20240716417774-stable-herolte.img might also fail.

In this case (or you could go straight to this proposal) you will heimdall flash TWRP. This rather than e-Recovery is covered in the install page. TWRP and e-Recovery are both characterised as a “Custom recovery” and are installed in just the same way by heimdall, e-Recovery is simplified; TWRP may have the advantage of being more resilient to the presence of your Android 12 (S) system. TWRP is actually documented on your install page and the TWRP link appears as;

Downloads for herolte

  • If you need to revert to stock ROM (vendor provided ROM), Please follow the instructions given in the > OS specific guide linked here

Tip: Installing a custom recovery or unlocking the bootloader will erase all data on your device! Take a backup of your data before proceeding!!

  • Custom recovery (not required if you already have it running on your phone)

This final link “Custom recovery” is for TWRP, you should download the newest twrp-3.7.0_9-1-herolte.img

So, for clarity, your heimdall command is

heimdall flash --RECOVERY twrp-3.7.0_9-1-herolte.img --no-reboot
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