[geeks] Open appeal to all Androiderati

[Michael Parson]

On Tue, 4 Nov 2014, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> On 11/04/14 22:17, Michael Parson wrote:
>> On Tue, 4 Nov 2014, Phil Stracchino wrote:
>>
>>> I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 running Kit Kat (4.4.2).  It's rooted
>>> using the towelroot exploit in order for a few things like Root
>>> Explorer and Titanium Backup to work.  Sometime not that long after
>>> rooting it, it "forgot" its home screen wallpaper, and now every time
>>> it goes into powersave mode, it forgets the home screen wallpaper
>>> again and reverts to just a blank blue desktop.  I can sometimes
>>> get it to keep a desktop for a while by setting the wallpaper and
>>> then immediately rebooting it.  The _*lock*_ screen is completely
>>> unaffected and retains its setting perfectly.
>>>
>>> Anyone have any ideas or hints?
>>
>> Could be a corrupt preferences database... have you tried doing a
>> 'factory wipe' on it?  If you don't want the nuclear option... maybe
>> digging around in the apps and find whatever looks like it might be the
>> 'app' that provides that functionality and wipe its data.  You might
>> have to reset more than just the wallpaper at that point, but it might
>> also start saving it from that point forward.
>
> Samsung support had me wipe the cache already.  That didn't help.
>
> Unfortunately I had to contact them via live chat on the phone itself
> because their web site doesn't work in any of my browsers.  Gotta wonder
> how they managed to make it *that* broken.

There's cache, and there's data, wiping them is two different operations.

I don't have any 4.4.x devices, my S3 is 4.3.0 (Stock from Samsung), but
if you open the Application manager, then pick an app, any app, there
are separate buttons for "Clear Data" and "Clear Cache".

The 'cache' is the stuff the app has built up while running, downloaded
files, other stuff, much like a browser's cache.  Clearing the cache
might slow things down if it has to re-grab something, but overall,
shouldn't affect the functionality of the app.

The 'data' is the bits that customize the app post-install.
Preferences, usernames, etc.  Clearing data should revert it to
just-installed state.

-- 
Michael Parson
Austin, TX
KF5LGQ