Database Info

Screen Capture (Stock Rom/Power Button)

I know that a lot of roms I've used throughout my phones have had a power button screen capture option. Kind of like holding it gives the option to shut down, reboot, recovery etc... I'm currently using 1.63.531.2 and it is rooted with CWM (not that I don't like other roms but there all missing something that I don't think need until I need it). I tried one off the market but had to shake the phone, problem is walked around and had 120+ black screen shots. I like using the power button it was quick and easier then opening an app and then doing it.
TIA

are you rooted

Yup Rooted and CWM 5.0.2.7.
I had a few issues getting it to root but I got it. Mr Root said didn't support it and wouldn't flash CWM and the All in One tool kit would flash CWM but not root.
Downloaded SU off Market (playstore) then downloaded newest version. It wouldn't install but went thru CWM and installed ZIP from SD like a rom install and worked.
I've seen some people talking about ScreenShotER but I think that also a shake to photo app.

well you were using the wrong root....if you on 1.55 or higher you have to use a different root. Use an ICS rom because screenshots are built in and works great

[Q] Problem with OTA update .24

I software OTA update from system and now can't reboot system now. Any one please help me?
Now my eee pad screen is recovery mode showing. Can't reboot system....HELP.....

I am having the same problem. I have tried multiple work arounds' with no luck. Any help would be appreciated.

Ok, just select reboot and press both volume up and down, and keep them in...
A new screen will appear from where the Transformer will boot into Android.
I'm having this exact same issue, quit annoying this is
I've already tried a dozen times to change the clockwork recovery to a newer version but the old crappy one sems to be not willing to make room for the newer touch version.
ps In Rom manager I see the correct version of the cloackwork recovery as being installed but once going into the real recovery it is the old one

Alternative way to result
I installed custom ROM (Android revolution HD) from SD card.
Now it's Ok....This ROM is rooted and fastest..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1245892

ROM manager doesn't work well for the tf, just don't use it in general Dx
minnaing - Good choice of ROM Glad it could be resolved, that was the first thing I was going to suggest to do.

Help confirm full Root/Recovery/Rom process

My wife has finally decided she'd like me to put a custom ROM on her TF101. I have experience (both good and bad) on my phones and tablets, but she doesn't want hers "messed up." So, I'm a lot less comfortable taking chances with her device than I am with mine. She still loves her TF101 and uses it daily and I don't want to mess it up. Her TF101 is still stock, not rooted, and has the last available ASUS update on it (IML74K.US_epad-9.2.1.27-20120615).
Initially my research indicated this was going to be the quickest and easiest Root/Recovery process I've ever gone though! Download Razorclaw to the device, run it to get root. Download Recovery Installer to the device, run it to get CWM. Easy peasy mac and cheesy. But, Razorclaw seems to be gone. The link to the tool gives a Page Not Found error. Another link on that site outlines a complicated process with a bunch of adb shell commands that made me a little uneasy. Recovery Installer likewise is no longer available at the link given in the first post of that thread. There's a link to a mirror location later in the thread, but if it's not available from the person who made it, then I have to worry. I've also now realized that her firmware version is not compatible with those tools to begin with!
So with my reluctance to upset my wife, some outdated information floating around in the threads, I just wanted to confirm my current plan was the proper way to go.
Use the PERI-0.42 tool to root and install TWRP. I wish I could find a video or screen shots of the process so I can know what to expect. (Or should I use the "1-Click Transformer Root" tool? I'm thinking not as TWRP would be preferable to Rogue Recovery?)
Nandroid backup from TWRP
Flash ROM following ROM's instructions
That about it?
As for which ROM, Root-Box looks interesting, but it says the camera doesn't work and my wife uses the camera (and the CamScanner app) frequently, so that's a no go. So, I was thinking about Paranoid-Android or No-name CM10?

First, Razorclaw only works on a very few firmwares, and the .27 is not one of them.
I wrote a guide on rooting the TF here: http://www.transformerforums.com/fo...t/31927-frederuco-s-guide-root-rom-tf101.html
This uses EasyFlasher and APX mode. It does install an older TWRP, but if you replace the twrp.SOS file in the EasyFlasher "tools" folder with the latest official 2.3.2.3 file found here: http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/tf101/openrecovery-twrp-2.3.2.3-tf101.blob (rename to twrp.SOS and replace the file) then EasyFlasher will flash the 2.3.2.3. EasyFlasher will show the old version in the menu drop down, however it will flash the newer version. If you want TWRP 2.5.0.0 you will need to get it from the thread in the development section.
I have used Peri 0.4 in the past, and it is very easy to follow the prompts. I have not made a tutorial or video of it, but as I said it is pretty straight forward.
As far as the ROM to flash, I am using Domination right now and have flashed the RootBox one as well. At the current time the keyboard dock has little support for both of these ROMs. Many users have had issues with SOD and RR on the CM10.1 no-name. My favorite for stability and features is still TeamEOS 4. It has full dock support and is very very fast and stable.
I am actually looking to restore my EOS 4 Nandroid later today.

Easyflasher is about as no-brainer as you can get, I would recommend using that to install TWRP recovery (note: and update to a newer version as per above poster).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1688012
I've used it with three different PC's and three different TF101's without any issues, and I've used it to revert to stock a couple times on mine.
As far as ROMs are concerned, I have had the best luck in term of a happy blend of fully-baked (everything works)/stability/compatibility/features/speed-smoothness with the EOS 4 ROMS and KAT kernals, though I have as of yet only given the latest PA ROMs (with halo) a quick look. I am admittedly biased on that front since I switched to EOS 3.0 long ago, but I also haven't heard of any complaints from my folks or a friend who are running slightly older versions of the EOS 4 ROM.
Some people say they aren't pleased with smoothness with the stock launcher in EOS (I run Nova Prime on mine and Nova free version on the other two I've helped "upgrade", seems quite smooth to me). I don't know if that is a perception issue, a difference in hardware, or maybe installed apps/widgets. Or if it is still even an issue.
The only issues I have had on mine (SOD's/RR's) in many months was with one short-lived version of the Kat Kernal, which was fixed asap. For me, it's just as stable as the last official ASUS ICS update, and way way more stable the the preceding one.
By all means, give them all a shot, but I have never really had a problem with using EOS as a daily driver.

Thank you, Gentlemen! That's just the sort of help and information I needed. I don't know how I overlooked EasyFlasher in my research.

I had the same firmware - I used PERI to root and went with EOS nightlies v118 and KatKernel v103. Best decision I ever made. Stable, fast and enough features to sink a battleship.
I overlock to 1400mhz using smartassV2 governor. IO scheduler is set to 'sio' (settings->EOS control center->syste,->Performance settings). Since then its been a dream to use, no lag, no waiting. I stuck the dolphin browser on for good measure. Since all that was done, its smooth, fast and really enjoyable. To think a week ago I was ready to sell it and get something new, no need to do that now!
good luck!

About a month ago I had what I thought was a hardware issue with my microSD card reader and started a thread in this subforum about that. Someone suggested I try flashing a custom ROM before I try replacing hardware. Long story short I am now running TeamEOS + Kat kernel and everything is great. Tablet is faster and more stable than it ever was on stock and its nice to be running JellyBean. Only warning, you'll need TWRP not CWM to flash ROMs using Android 4.1+ but otherwise there really isn't too much to worry over.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Xparent Purple Tapatalk 2

I got my wife set up with the Team EOS 4 ROM last night. I ended up having to use PERI instead of EasyFlasher. I couldn't seem to get the tablet into APX mode. Vol UP + Power either did absolutely nothing, or the PC just couldn't "see" the tablet in APX mode. It could see it just fine upon regular boot, and I got the "new device" ding as soon as it started booting, but nothing when trying to enter APX. Vol DOWN + Power, then Vol UP to enter RCK mode brought up the "dead" android with the red triangle for a few seconds, then it rebooted.
But, PERI worked like a charm to root and install TWRP. Then I flashed TeamEOS 4, and she went to work setting it back up.
Thanks for the help!!

HeathicusF said:
I got my wife set up with the Team EOS 4 ROM last night. I ended up having to use PERI instead of EasyFlasher. I couldn't seem to get the tablet into APX mode. Vol UP + Power either did absolutely nothing, or the PC just couldn't "see" the tablet in APX mode. It could see it just fine upon regular boot, and I got the "new device" ding as soon as it started booting, but nothing when trying to enter APX. Vol DOWN + Power, then Vol UP to enter RCK mode brought up the "dead" android with the red triangle for a few seconds, then it rebooted.
But, PERI worked like a charm to root and install TWRP. Then I flashed TeamEOS 4, and she went to work setting it back up.
Thanks for the help!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome!
Check out my FAQ guide on EOS 4 to help explain many questions you may have, and how to set it up the way you (or your wife) likes.

let us know how she gets on with it ,it really is a great rom my tab has never been so quick i use nova launcher and dolphin overclock it in setting to 1400 i have mine on 1504 and still see good battery life ,,,,,,install goo manager from play for updates to rom and also pimp my rom is good for a few tweaks here and there ,,but first when its all set up and working good MAKE A BACK UP i always make back ups as i go along i have 2 all the time only takes 320 seconds ,,,,,enjoy
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium

She told me last night that she really liked the new ROM, so I think we have a winner. I like it too and wish it was available for the TF700 I recently got!

HeathicusF said:
She told me last night that she really liked the new ROM, so I think we have a winner. I like it too and wish it was available for the TF700 I recently got!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[AOSPA-4.2.2][June 13,2013(build #4)]ParanoidAndroid-3.6 | HALO IS HERE
[KERNEL][CM10.1 PA Liquid]bryce[overclock, gov, sched][VER 4.0][04/05]
Glad it was a smooth process. The TWRP install via peri worked? Did you use 2.5 or 2.3?

Thing O Doom said:
[AOSPA-4.2.2][June 13,2013(build #4)]ParanoidAndroid-3.6 | HALO IS HERE
[KERNEL][CM10.1 PA Liquid]bryce[overclock, gov, sched][VER 4.0][04/05]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that ParanoidAndroid and it wouldn't get past the boot animation. I didn't try that Kernel, or an older non-Halo'd version of PA.
Thing O Doom said:
Glad it was a smooth process. The TWRP install via peri worked? Did you use 2.5 or 2.3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, the TWRP install via Peri worked flawlessly. It was vesion 2.5 of TWRP (Peri v0.42)

[Q] Rocking Recoveries after using Clockworkmod

I got a little bit of a weird question.
I rooted my Tablet originally Cyangenmod's Root Guide:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_tf101
Every single time I enter Clockworkmod Recovery, I get stuck in a boot loop until I rock between the newest version of Clockwork Recovery (v6.0.1.3) and back to the newest version of Clockwork Recovery Touch (v5.8.3.4.t) (rock as in move back and forth, not 'jam').
Clockwork Recovery Touch is the only version I've found that properly recognizes the sdcard while in recovery mode, so that always ends up being the version I keep on the tablet.
While I am always ultimately able to get the tablet back to functional AND install the rom, this remains something of a nuisance. As rarely as I update the tablet, I almost always forget about this quirk till I am knee deep into trying to update the ROM.
I wanted to see if anyone else has this problem and if there are any work arounds. I would like to not have to fight with this issue everytime and realistically, I'm nearing the point where I am going to upgrade to a new tablet and who I pass it on to will likely not be tech swavy enough to know how to deal with the problem.
Any thoughts?

Flash TWRP recovery - CWM is ancient and bricks the TF101 if you install JB and above ROMs
Easyflasher can do it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1688012
So can Goo Manager from the Play Store

I'll give it a shot. Clockwork DOES do the job, its just, as I said, every single time I ENTER Clockwork, I have to rock the recoveries to make the tablet boot into Android again >.>
Based on the comments on the page TWRP, it seems to be similar problems there too, but at least I know how to get around it if it blows up!

LighthammerX said:
I'll give it a shot. Clockwork DOES do the job, its just, as I said, every single time I ENTER Clockwork, I have to rock the recoveries to make the tablet boot into Android again >.>
Based on the comments on the page TWRP, it seems to be similar problems there too, but at least I know how to get around it if it blows up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP (at least my builds) are working just fine with the tf101. My vfat formatted external microsd is recognized perfectly and the internal sdcard works perfect, too. Plus, you'll be able to flash newer ROMs. You could have an issue if your tab is already in some weird state, but otherwise TWRP should work fine unless you're using some other formatting besides what is standard for Android.
See here for download links and instructions:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2434422

CM 11 cripples Moto G, can't use ADB/fastboot to install CM 10

I installed Cyanogen Mod (cm-11-20140504-SNAPSHOT-M6-falcon.zip) on my 1st generation Moto G using TWRP. When I boot into CM, I keep getting the message that "Unfortunately, the process com.android.systemui has stopped". Every time I banish that popup, I get a split second of usage before it pops up again. After some troubleshooting and web searching, I found that I have to revert to CM 10. The details are documented at androidforums.com/threads/windows-mtb-usb-device-driver-error-when-moto-g-running-twrp.901001 and forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/windows-mtb-usb-device-driver-error-t3022946
I haven't searched for CM 10 yet, but I'm scouting out the process to push it to the device. I can't find a way to get ADB to see the device, even after enable USB debugging (www.addictivetips.com/mobile/what-is-adb-and-how-to-install-it-android and android.stackexchange.com/questions/67249/how-to-enter-usb-debugging-mode-in-cyanogenmod). Given that I only have a split second after banishing each error message, that took forever, but I confirmed that USB debugging is enabled after rebooting.
The only alternative I know to ADB is fastboot. According to forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702069, it is theoretically possible for fastboot to flash a ROM, but the zip file should contain a data.img and system.img. I checked the CM 11 zip file to see what I can expect from CM 10, and found no such img files.
Given that ADB and fastboot processes don't work for me (at least the the degree that I've explored them), what other options are there for flashing CM 10?
P.S. Does anyone know how to get exit (say) Settings or the browser and get back to the cyanogenmod start page? There is no home button, and web searching refers an icon with 3 bars on the top, which I don't have. I basically have to reboot.

my1stSmartPhone said:
I installed Cyanogen Mod (cm-11-20140504-SNAPSHOT-M6-falcon.zip) on my 1st generation Moto G using TWRP. When I boot into CM, I keep getting the message that "Unfortunately, the process com.android.systemui has stopped". Every time I banish that popup, I get a split second of usage before it pops up again. After some troubleshooting and web searching, I found that I have to revert to CM 10. The details are documented at androidforums.com/threads/windows-mtb-usb-device-driver-error-when-moto-g-running-twrp.901001 and forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/windows-mtb-usb-device-driver-error-t3022946
I haven't searched for CM 10 yet, but I'm scouting out the process to push it to the device. I can't find a way to get ADB to see the device, even after enable USB debugging (www.addictivetips.com/mobile/what-is-adb-and-how-to-install-it-android and android.stackexchange.com/questions/67249/how-to-enter-usb-debugging-mode-in-cyanogenmod). Given that I only have a split second after banishing each error message, that took forever, but I confirmed that USB debugging is enabled after rebooting.
The only alternative I know to ADB is fastboot. According to forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702069, it is theoretically possible for fastboot to flash a ROM, but the zip file should contain a data.img and system.img. I checked the CM 11 zip file to see what I can expect from CM 10, and found no such img files.
Given that ADB and fastboot processes don't work for me (at least the the degree that I've explored them), what other options are there for flashing CM 10?
P.S. Does anyone know how to get exit (say) Settings or the browser and get back to the cyanogenmod start page? There is no home button, and web searching refers an icon with 3 bars on the top, which I don't have. I basically have to reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the wrong forum to post this in. Also, Snapshot M6 is almost a year old. Flash the latest nightly. That will work better. There's no CM10 for this device since it shipped with Android 4.3, so you'd be wasting your time looking for it. Even though systemui is crashing, mtp will still work, so you can transfer files to your phone normally. Also, this should teach you, that it is dangerous to experiment with your phone without a legitimate way out of issues or a backup.

As you able to flash a custom rom via custom recovery?

Press and hold power and volume down button together till 10 secs after your phone is turned off. You will go to bootloader menu. Connect it via USB to access fastboot.

@audit13: Re. whether I can flash via custom recovery, the short answer is no. I haven't been able to get CWM working, but with TWRP, I could flash CM 11 if I first push the zip file to /sdcard with the device booted up normally. TWRP has a problem with MTP drivers (seems endemic, from what I've been able to find online), and ADB on my laptop can't see the device when it is running TWRP. I've documented this in the 1st 2 links of paragraph 1 in my original post. Unfortunately, with CM 11 installed, the laptop can't see the device at all, so no push is possible. That is the reason why I was trying to find info on flashing via fastboot in my original post. Please note that I also haven't been able to get TWRP to sideload, probably due to the invisibility of the device to the laptop.
@i_rnb: I can get into bootloader OK, but my concern is how to use fastboot to flash an OS rather than a recover. According to forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702069, it is theoretically possible for fastboot to flash a ROM, but the zip file should contain a data.img and system.img. I checked the CM 11 zip file to see what I can expect from CM 10, and found no such img files.

Did you try the latest Philz from here: https://goo.im/devs/philz_touch/CWM_Advanced_Edition/falcon/
That's what I used on my xt1032 and it's fine for install ROMs via OTG and internal SD card.
Flashing via fastboot should work as long as you are able to boot into fastboot mode and the proper drivers are installed.
Stock ROMs with have the system.img or data.img files you need where as custom ROMs do not.

my1stSmartPhone said:
@audit13: Re. whether I can flash via custom recovery, the short answer is no. I haven't been able to get CWM working, but with TWRP, I could flash CM 11 if I first push the zip file to /sdcard with the device booted up normally. TWRP has a problem with MTP drivers (seems endemic, from what I've been able to find online), and ADB on my laptop can't see the device when it is running TWRP. I've documented this in the 1st 2 links of paragraph 1 in my original post. Unfortunately, with CM 11 installed, the laptop can't see the device at all, so no push is possible. That is the reason why I was trying to find info on flashing via fastboot in my original post. Please note that I also haven't been able to get TWRP to sideload, probably due to the invisibility of the device to the laptop.
@i_rnb: I can get into bootloader OK, but my concern is how to use fastboot to flash an OS rather than a recover. According to forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702069, it is theoretically possible for fastboot to flash a ROM, but the zip file should contain a data.img and system.img. I checked the CM 11 zip file to see what I can expect from CM 10, and found no such img files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, but you're misunderstanding/reading the wrong things. You WILL NEVER find CM10 for the Moto G because CM 10 simply never existed for this device. You need to look for issues which are device specific and not just general issues all over the internet. Also, you WILL NEVER find a system.img and data.img in a CM11 zip. Those are only found in the stock ROM meant specifically for flashing via fastboot. All that information can be found by looking around the Moto G XDA forums itself. You'll find a lot of helpful stuff in the General section. You can also push a zip to /sdcard. You need to boot into bootloader and then push via ADB. MTP works on the latest TWRP recovery. So you can transfer it to your phone that way too.

audit13 said:
Did you try the latest Philz from here: https://goo.im/devs/philz_touch/CWM_Advanced_Edition/falcon/
That's what I used on my xt1032 and it's fine for install ROMs via OTG and internal SD card.
Flashing via fastboot should work as long as you are able to boot into fastboot mode and the proper drivers are installed.
Stock ROMs with have the system.img or data.img files you need where as custom ROMs do not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to become familiar with Philz. Being a newcomer to smartphones, it's not familiar to me. One of the fundamental requirements that I established at the outset of my search for a smartphone was to have the provider of the OS & phone be trustworthy or, failing that, go to open source so that it has the eyes of the world on it. It is also why I seek to be familiar with the source of ROMs, tools, etc. So far, I tried to download to from main sites for CWM, TWRP, and CM 11.
I know, it sounds odd these days, but I'm spoiled from before the internet days, when you can store any personal info you want on electronic organizers that had no connection, wired or wireless, to computers or the internet (which didn't exist). These days, it seems that you have to be very careful if you wish store any personal info on these personal devices. Either that, or carry a paper organizer around for the personal stuff (and I don't want to do that).
Thanks for confirming flashability via fastboot even without system.img and data.img. As it turns out, however, it isn't as promising a way ahead for me because I found out that the reversion back to CM 10 was a mistake (www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/2gvmqu/cm11moto_g_comandroidsystemui_is_crashing_after). The OP meant M10 snapshot, not CM 10. Which is odd, since the Moto G has no M10 snapshot (download.cyanogenmod.org/?type=snapshot&device=falcon). There's no M10 in the names of the nightly snapshots either (though that's less of a concern for me as I don't want to wander into nightly territory until I get the confidence of having my first attempt working).
I'll mull over Philz after some web search. I also distinctly recall backing up the stock Carrier ROM, so perhaps another way out is to find it and go through the details of restoring it.

my1stSmartPhone said:
@i_rnb: I can get into bootloader OK, but my concern is how to use fastboot to flash an OS rather than a recover. According to forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702069, it is theoretically possible for fastboot to flash a ROM, but the zip file should contain a data.img and system.img. I checked the CM 11 zip file to see what I can expect from CM 10, and found no such img files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Boot into Fastboot.
2. Flash TWRP recovery via Fastboot.
3.. Select Recovery from the menu and boot to TWRP recovery.
4. Put the ROM zip in a USB OTG drive.
5. Connect it to your device and mount it from recovery menu.
6. Install the zip via TWRP recovery from USB OTG.
DONE !

This is very odd.
I could not restore from my pre-CyanogenMod backups because when I browse to the date+time-stamped folders, it was empty. However, I had previously copied to contents of at least one date+time-stamped folder to my laptop.
I used fastboot to uprade TWRP from 2.8.3 to 2.8.4 in hopes of getting past the MTP driver problem, which would enable me to copy the files back to the device. Halleluya, it did allow the device to be seen in Windows Explorer. But I didn't need to use the copy on the laptop because moving to 2.8.4 also allowed the backups to be seen on the device.
I gleefully restored the backup. It said "failed", but I rebooted anyway. Unfortunately, the failed restoration was real, and I was still with CyanogenMod. I interrupted the boot process to get back to bootloader.
I reverted back to TWRP 2.8.3, hoping that it would still see the backup. I was hoping that 2.8.3 would properly restore the backup because it was created using 2.8.3. It did indeed see the backup, but the restoration still resulted in "failed", and a reboot still led to the CyanogenMod bootup.
Oddly, CyanogenMod booted properly this time without the repeated systemui popups. It's great! Though I wonder if I somehow affected CyanogenMod with the failed attempts at restoring the stock carrier's ROM. Not that I care right now. CyanogenMod awaits exploration.
But there are a couple of things that I hope someone can comment on. What might cause CyanogenMod to boot properly after upgrading TWRP and reverting back, failing to restore the stock carrier ROM with both versions? Could CyanogenMod now be corrupt? And why won't my backups restore? How can I ensure that I create good backups?
P.S. Thanks to i_rnb for the tip about USB OTG. I did not go that route because I only have the cable that came with the device.
P.P.S. I'm a bit (or rather, quite) unsettled by the randomness with which things work...

I downloaded the CyanogenMod nightly for Moto G, cm-12-20150213-NIGHTLY-falcon.zip. I got it working. Pretty robust so far, so I want to enjoy it a bit before clobbering it by attempting to restore the Carrier stock ROM. I admit that I will have to do that at some point because I need to ensure that my backups are good.
I would like to take this opportunity to recount how I got around the problems I faced. I think that others may run into this, and my story may help them get back to a working phone when it looks like it is bricked.
The problem was that CM 11 was crippled by the repeated systemui popup messages. I thought it went away, but it came back. I still don't know what triggers it. And my backups of the carrier OS either failed to restore (twrp 2.8.3) or were not visible (twrp 2.8.4). I had spent so many days trying to think of a way ahead that simply didn't care about bricking the phone anymore. After all, it wasn't doing a whole lot of good as-is. So in one of my attempts of trying something, I erased the OS in the process of re-installing CM 11. And the re-install failed. Not a good situation, since ADB worked only when an OS was running (not when a recovery was running), and the MTP driver errors prevented the device from being accessed from windows when recovery was running. It didn't matter whether I was running twrp 2.8.3, 2.8.4, or CWM. So sideload didn't work in any of those recoveries.
There was basically no way to push *any* new OS to the phone. I forgot the details, but the CM 11 imag file that was on the phone might not have been visible to the one or more of the recoveries I tried. I was so out of options that I even tried fastboot to flash to OS, and that did not succeed.
Here is what I found worked. I don't know what particular detail was responsible for the success, so it requires experimentation.
First, I un-installed re-installed the SDK tool set for installing custom ROMs, making sure that I included Google USB drivers. The subsequent update required many more things to be installed, so that might have been part of the solution. I then looked for Motorola driver apps in Windows's Programs menu, uninstalled both, and re-installed. I don't know what contribution it had to the success, as I never got the Device Manager running. Whenever I launched it, it searched for updates, came back and reported no updates and that my device was uknown, then quit. Maybe because no OS on the device was running.
The one thing that seemed to help was that, even though the device was otherwise incommunicato from the laptop, I was able to fastboot flash recoveries. After the above re-installs, a re-install of twrp 2.8.4 allowed the computer to see the device in Windows Explorer. I believe it had something to do with better-functioning MTP USB drivers in the re-install, but I can't be sure. So I was able to copy the nightly CM 12 to the device, then use one of the recoveries to install it.
But the story didn't end there. Even after the CM install, I was still getting repeated popups. This time, however, it was something other than systemui, but otherwise, the symptoms were the same. At that point, I had pretty well concluded that my experiment with Moto G was at its end, and that I would look at Blackberry (now that they committed to stay in the handset market). But I did half-heartedly experiment a bit more. Good thing, too, because the 2nd attempt at re-installing CM 12 seems to have worked. No repeated popups so far. What I made sure that I did was to wipe out anything for which there was a check box, e.g., any cache, data partition, OS, etc. Since it was a virgin phone, I could do this with impunity, so I'm not sure how well this "solution" would fit someone else's situation. Also, I did try to wipe things in past attempts, just not with so much thoroughness.
So there you have it. I hope this helps someone.