Gray Icons, Error 505, Can't fix!

Klif

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My first post, here, solved:
Solved - Android Thinks There's an SD Card (There's Not!)

The TL;DR of that thread is this: "Did my SD card die?" "Yeah, probably" "Are you sure?" "Yeah, probably" "That sucks, thanks!"

Well, I'm having a secondary issue.

I use Nova Launcher Prime. There were quite a few grayed-out icons in my app list. I would touch the grayed-out icon, and would get a toaster that the app isn't installed. Most of those apps, I was able to go to the Google Play store, install the app, and the icon switched from gray to colored, and the program would work.

However, there are a few remaining apps that I can't do that for. One app, I got from the amazon app store. Some apps, I got as downloaded APK's that I no longer have available.

I've tried a number of things to fix the issue: I've tried downloading the programs in question from the google play store (error -505), i've tried downloading APKs ("App Not Installed"), I've tried looking for remnants of these apps with a file explorer (I see nothing).

How do I fix the problem?
 

radon222

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I guessing that those apps were installed on your now dead SD card. Re-installing them from their original source either Google Play, Amazon or side-loaded APK's is your only option. For the apps giving you fits When you say "grayed out in App List" are you talking about in Settings? or just in the App drawer? Have you tried going into the Settings >Apps> to see if you can Un-install or remove from there first, before trying to re-install?


If you tried all that the final option might be an FDR with auto-synch to Google store disabled and manual re-install of all your apps.
 
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Klif

Klif

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I guessing that those apps were installed on your now dead SD card. Re-installing them from their original source either Google Play, Amazon or side-loaded APK's is your only option. For the apps giving you fits When you say "grayed out in App List" are you talking about in Settings? or just in the App drawer? Have you tried going into the Settings >Apps> to see if you can Un-install or remove from there first, before trying to re-install?


If you tried all that the final option might be an FDR with auto-synch to Google store disabled and manual re-install of all your apps.
Your guess matches mine.

I was able to "reinstall from the original source" for those on the Google Play store, no problem.

The Amazon app thinks that Plex is already installed, therefore I can't reinstall it from the Amazon app store. The only option I have in the Amazon app is "OPEN", which does nothing.

I've tried side-loaded APKs, as well, just installing them. I get the error "App not installed" (or similar, sorry, don't have it in front of me right now).

In both options, it looks like I need to figure out how to uninstall an app that isn't installed!

As far as being grayed out, I have these apps listed in the app drawer of Nova, but they're not even listed in the android default app drawer. They're also not present in settings->apps.
 

me just sayin

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it may be a major pain, but it is beginning to sound like you will have to reset the phone after all. would you post a couple of the app names thats not appearing in the app manager? It be easier for us to see what you are dealing with
 
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Klif

Klif

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it may be a major pain, but it is beginning to sound like you will have to reset the phone after all. would you post a couple of the app names thats not appearing in the app manager? It be easier for us to see what you are dealing with
"Plex" is the amazon app that isn't working.
"Lose It!" is an APK that I sideloaded
"OsmAnd+" is an APK that I originally installed using another market app (either FDroid or Uptodown, have tried reinstalling from both)
"Minimalist" is an icon pack APK that I sideloaded
"Terraruim" is an APK that I sideloaded

That's all of them that are giving me issues at this time.
 

radon222

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just one more dumb question...you have re-enabled the option to load from "Unknown Sources". Right??
 

me just sayin

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when using the file manager, did you do a *.apk search from the root directory? also did you check for and delete the folders for those apps?
 
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Klif

Klif

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just one more dumb question...you have re-enabled the option to load from "Unknown Sources". Right??
Not a dumb question! Let me check. Yup, still enabled.

when using the file manager, did you do a *.apk search from the root directory? also did you check for and delete the folders for those apps?
Doing both of those, now. Stand by.

...

Using Solid Explorer
Went to Root
Searched "*.apk"
Manually scanned down the list for any of the above programs.
None of the key programs located (Plex, Loseit, OSMAnd, Minimalist, Terrarium)

I've used CCleaner and SD Maid to attempt to located any folders or APKs from these programs, to no avail. I'll try searching using Solid Explorer. I don't know what installation paths to look at, so I'll just go to the root and search for the program names.

Using Solid Explorer
Went to Root
Searched "plex"
No results found
Searched "lose"
No results found
Searched "osm"
1 result: "Osmium.ogg" in /system/media/audio/alarms
Searched "minim"
No results found
Searched "terrarium"
No results found

No luck here.

You specifically stated to look in the root, and I did, but on a whim, I'm going to look in the storage section called "Internal memory", as well:

Using Solid Explorer
Went to Internal Memory
Searched "*.apk"
Four results found. One unrelated in "Downloaded", three unrelated in the Uptodown directory.
None of the key programs located (Plex, Loseit, OSMAnd, Minimalist, Terrarium)

Using Solid Explorer
Went to Internal Memory
Searched "plex"
No results found
Searched "lose"
Three results found, none relevant
Searched "osm"
No results found
Searched "minim"
Four results found, none relevant
Searched "terrarium"
No results found

No luck, still.
 
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Klif

Klif

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....although, now I'm thinking, would I even see them, if they're in root/data/app? I'm not rooted.
 

me just sayin

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root has several meanings, to put it into context, when I was saying root folder, I was talking about the main, mother or whatever folder. It will search all the folders on the phone at once. to compare it to a computer, it is like search c drive and not do the search within ...say... program files folder. If you did a search within program files folder, it will not search the other folders unless it is inside of the program files folder. Hope I did not confuse too much :)
 
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Klif

Klif

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root has several meanings, to put it into context, when I was saying root folder, I was talking about the main, mother or whatever folder. It will search all the folders on the phone at once. to compare it to a computer, it is like search c drive and not do the search within ...say... program files folder. If you did a search within program files folder, it will not search the other folders unless it is inside of the program files folder. Hope I did not confuse too much :)
makes perfect sense. in that case, since I searched both... let's call them partitions... with no results, then what next?
 
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Klif

Klif

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Another thought: I made a backup of the SD card, and it has ASEC files on it. Any chance of getting information from these ASEC files that may help find the right APK versions to reinstall?

(backup is at home, I'm at work, be a while before I can examine the contents)
 

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it could work, worth a try. also if the backup is an exact same copy of your bad sd card, then if you copy it to another sd card, insert it to the phone and the apps could work again
 

XavierBlack

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When my apps became ghosts..I wasn't able to reinstall them..then I realize is because they still existed inside the application manager folder..different name and looks....like with a "com" ahead..
 
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