Android Can't install apps due to lack of... space?!

[pokefloote]

I have an Optimus V (Virgin Mobile) running IHO, a port of CM7. Gingerbread.

I try to install apps from the market, and it tells me there is not enough space.
Also, sometimes (more often than not) while side-loading apps it says app not installed.

I move almost every app that can be moved to the SD card, could that be the problem?
I'm thinking that maybe the phone doesn't see the app as being stored on SD, even though it is, and it's putting those unused MBs into the used memory value for the market and such. My phone doesn't have a lot of internal memory at all so this is a problem if I want to have like, five games installed. :/

I've tried wiping cache, and dalvic cache via clockworkmod recovery. This also happened on an earlier rom, but I've wiped data since then and started fresh. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Well I can think of several things that might be causing the problems.

For the insufficient space problem it can be a rom bug (skim the official buglist for something similar) , you don't have enough space in the micro sd (easy to know) or you forced several apps to sd which causes the phone to think the memory is full ( try deleting some games & then try installing) . There are a few others in my mind but test this ones first .

For the installation failed if you are updating (especially when using pirated apps) then that's a common error & you should uninstall the old first (backup your data first with titanium backup if you care about it) but if it's a new installation then no enough space or not supported in your device .

 

[pokefloote]

The bug list doesn't show anything like it.
I have about 2GB left on my SD card, and I haven't forced any apps to SD as far as I know of.
Actually, is it normal for most apps to have the option of moving to SD card? Maybe it's a feature of the rom to enable it for everything, and that's the problem. There's an option in Cyanogenmod settings that is supposed to enable that feature, but it is not checked... hmm.
I'll try moving essential apps back to the phone storage, and maybe a few games.

For the Swiftkey keyboard, I haven't installed it before. I know about the issue with updating a pirated with an official and vice-versa, because of different signings.
It sucks, because I actually bought Swiftkey X and I can't even install it from the market so I have to side-load it anyway. Haha.

Thanks for the help! I'll post in a bit if it worked.

 

[pokefloote]

Alright, the first app I moved was "Adobe Flash Player 11.0". After it was moved, the storage screen refreshed and it stayed the same as it was before. (Flash Player is 12.67MB, so it should have made it drop ten. So I guess you're right about it not registering correctly if the app is on SD or not.

Another thing that's weird, I checked on App2SD and it says Flash Player is one of the apps that cannot be moved to the SD card. So I guess I'm going to use App2sd instead of the Applications menu to move to SD for now on, since it knows what applications officially support migrating.. I'm going to keep testing.

 

[CrimzonEyed]

It's a download cache issue, follow those steps to fix it: (BUT DO A BACKUP IN CLOCKWORK FIRST!)

1. Download a Terminal app of your choice (I use "Android Terminal Emulator")
2. Create a folder on your SD card where you want to store your large download cache
3. Open the Terminal emulator and type: (this creates the folder btw)

mkdir /mnt/sdcard/amarket/market-cache

4. then type

SU

(to get root access) approve any super user requests.
5. Type:

cd /cache

6. Now you want to backup the current download cache with the following command:

mv download download.bak

7. Now create the symlink to your previously created folder by typing:

ln -s /mnt/sdcard/amarket/market-cache download

8. Confirm the symlink being present and have the right access rights by typing:

ls -ahl

Now exit the terminal emulator app and try install any app from the market that you had problem with before.
This should fix it in 99% of the cases.

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

@CrimzonEyed I though so at first but he said he wiped his cache partition so shouldn't the problem be fixed if that was the issue ?

 

[CrimzonEyed]

@CrimzonEyed I though so at first but he said he wiped his cache partition so shouldn't the problem be fixed if that was the issue ?

Might be his cache isn't big enough from the start?

 

[pokefloote]

It looks like a ton of my apps were being forced, I'm putting them back on the phone and app2sd lists them as apps that can't officially be moved.
I just tried installing Swiftkey from the Market (I bought it, just couldn't install it) and it still didn't work. So I'm going to finish moving apps, try again, then do what CrimzonEyed said.
You're both a great help, thanks.

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Well I would suggest you do the same thing I did to all my relatives low end devices & set up link2sd . You only need to set up a second partition in your sd & link2sd will be able to completely move any apps there without all the issues of the native app2sd & there should be no speed lose as long as you don't have a really slow sd .

 

[Deleted-236924]

Happened to me yesterday, but it worked on the second try.

 

[pokefloote]

So that's basically a way to add more "internal storage" using a partition? That sounds perfect. I'll look into it.

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Well it uses abit complicated process but think about as it fakes the sd 2nd partition as another internal storage while allowing you to only move apps you want there (so you can keep important apps & widgets on phone memory) .Also can you check how much ram you got free right now as that also might be a reason why apps aren't installing .

 

[pokefloote]

Wow, I'm loving link2sd's batch move feature. Now all my apps are in the correct place. Anyways,
I'm going to partition my card later on when I'm on a pc, then use that. I wish I knew about it before!

At the moment of checking my RAM used is 140MB out of 377 MB, and I'm only running Go launcher, go sms, juice defender, notifier pro and the usual background stuff.

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Well that should cross out RAM as the issue . If you have a trouble making a 2nd partition then get MiniTool Partition Wizard , use the resize option to decrease the size of the main partition & finally format the new empty space as ext4 while making sure its set to primary. If your mobile doesn't support ext4 then try ext2 & if that fails then go for FAT16 . Also make sure you backup your whole sd before doing anything just incase something goes wrong .

 

[pokefloote]

Alright, I put a 500mb ext4 partition and it works! I'm moving the games over.
So, it looks like the Applications menu still says it's installed on internal, but the size drops with every app I link.
This works perfectly. Thank you.
Just curious, can apps with widgets be linked as well? Or is it just not a good idea? I don't mind, either way.

EDIT: I moved a bunch of apps, then cleared the Market cache, and... Market installations work!
So I guess the problem is resolved, and I gained a huge amount of app space in the process that I would have never known about.
Thanks again! (:

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Okay good to know that everything is fixed now & as for apps with widgets you can link them but unless they are really big you should just leave them in the phone memory . Also you should keep Go launcher ,its theme & whatever else you keep running all the time in the phone memory just incase you had to start the phone once without the sd .