Phone Free

Published on July 1, 2018.

On Wednesday, 27 June my phone, not the one in the photo, stopped booting. It was turning off when the battery goes under 75%, which is something common when your battery start to get old, because the battery does not provide enough voltage for the phone. Since I have Android Debug Bridge (ADB) enable on my phone I could access the error log:

$ dmesg
<11>[ 1848.823537] init: Warning! Service coloradjust needs a SELinux domain defined; please fix!
<11>[ 1848.828744] init: Unable to write persistent property to temp file /data/property/.temp.sEHuAG errno: 30
<11>[ 1848.836631] init: Unable to write persistent property to temp file /data/property/.temp.IzyHeV errno: 30
<3>[ 1849.194448] msm_qti_pp_get_rms_value_control, back not active to query rms be_idx:3
<6>[ 1849.195315] core_get_license_status: cmdrsp_license_result.result = 0x15 for module 0x1
<3>[ 1849.195387] msm_dolby_dap_param_to_get_control_get, port_id not set, do not query ADM
<3>[ 1849.195585] adm_callback: cmd = 0x1032a returned error = 0x2
<3>[ 1849.195600] adm_callback: ADM get param error = 2, resuming
<11>[ 1849.839796] init: Warning! Service checksdkpath needs a SELinux domain defined; please fix!
<11>[ 1849.870062] octvm: [25038][arg_idx 3]: /system/bin/mcd init 4 
<11>[ 1849.870293] octvm: mount cgroup failed, Permission denied
<36>[ 1849.870414] type=1400 audit(1867.889:404): avc: denied { mounton } for pid=25038 comm="mcd" path="/sys/fs/cgroup" dev="tmpfs" ino=7598 scontext=u:r:mcd:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:tmpfs:s0 tclass=dir permissive=0
<11>[ 1849.870781] init: Unable to write persistent property to temp file /data/property/.temp.nxZrD8 errno: 30
<11>[ 1850.139709] init: untracked pid 25071 killed by signal 9
<3>[ 1850.186173] adm_get_params: get params timed out port_id = 0x0
<3>[ 1850.186195] msm_dolby_dap_param_visualizer_control_get: get parameters failed
<11>[ 1853.194137] init: Warning! Service coloradjust needs a SELinux domain defined; please fix!
<11>[ 1853.197861] init: Unable to write persistent property to temp file /data/property/.temp.DTFdG2 errno: 30
<11>[ 1853.198355] init: Unable to write persistent property to temp file /data/property/.temp.CPVl2d errno: 30
<3>[ 1853.568313] msm_qti_pp_get_rms_value_control, back not active to query rms be_idx:3
<6>[ 1853.569243] core_get_license_status: cmdrsp_license_result.result = 0x15 for module 0x1
<3>[ 1853.569306] msm_dolby_dap_param_to_get_control_get, port_id not set, do not query ADM
<3>[ 1853.569505] adm_callback: cmd = 0x1032a returned error = 0x2
<3>[ 1853.569522] adm_callback: ADM get param error = 2, resuming
<11>[ 1854.203853] init: Warning! Service checksdkpath needs a SELinux domain defined; please fix!
<11>[ 1854.234235] octvm: [25191][arg_idx 3]: /system/bin/mcd init 4 
<11>[ 1854.234445] octvm: mount cgroup failed, Permission denied
<36>[ 1854.234540] type=1400 audit(1872.249:405): avc: denied { mounton } for pid=25191 comm="mcd" path="/sys/fs/cgroup" dev="tmpfs" ino=7598 scontext=u:r:mcd:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:tmpfs:s0 tclass=dir permissive=0
<11>[ 1854.234842] init: Unable to write persistent property to temp file /data/property/.temp.01pQIj errno: 30
<3>[ 1854.566194] adm_get_params: get params timed out port_id = 0x0
<3>[ 1854.566216] msm_dolby_dap_param_visualizer_control_get: get parameters failed
<3>[ 1855.966191] Error: returning -4 value

From the log, we can see that Android is trying to write some data but something is preventing it. After search on the internet for one explanation, I founded Rohith Madhavan’s answer to one question related with Errno 30 - Read only file system on Ask Ubuntu/Stack Exchange that says

If Linux detects a problem on the harddrive, it will switch the filesystem to read only to prevent damage to the filesystem.
Since this is happening during install, I would assume something is wrong with the CD (ie. a bad ISO). You can find this out by running the ‘check cd’ option you get during boot. If this shows errors you need to re-download and re-burn the install disc.
If the installation disc turns out to be perfect it is likely to be a hardware problem. It could be your hard disc that is failing. Or if it is a desktop it could also be a faulty cable.
Source of this information

I believe that the storage device is failing and Android would not allow me to access any of my data on the phone. I locked myself out of my phone.

Photo of lockpicking — Lockpicking. Photo by Mikel Iturbe Urretxa.