[Q] Did I buy a bricked Nexus S - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

[Q] Did I buy a bricked Nexus S - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I bought a Nexus S from craigslist last night and it was out of juice. The seller was like oh bring it back if it doesnt work and I fell for it! I have the box/manuals/charger and everything so the phone was not stolen. When I put it on charge and turned it on this morning all that comes on the screen is google and a unlocked padlock on it. I thought that I can restore it. Went to the recovery mode by pressing volume up an power switch and tried reboot/recover and power off and they all lead to the same screen. volume down and power leads to nothing. So I called the seller and his phone keeps saying its disconnected. I realize I should have been more careful.
Now I am wondering if there is a way to restore the phone as I think that the seller messed up trying to mod the phone and there is no OS on the phone. Does anyone know how to fix this problem? I tried installing various recoveries and nothing seems to work since I cannot get super user to load nor can I boot up the phone to the OS. Please help a noob!

What is that "same screen" you are talking about? If it's the Droid with a "!" then you have to press vol up + power again to activate stock recovery.
Since you can access fastboot you should be able to flash a new recovery with adb.
Download the cwm recovery image, put it in /tools folder, run adb in cmd prompt, command is "fastboot flash recovery <recoveryimagename>.img", after that you can mount the internal storage via cwm recovery, copy any rom you like onto it, then "install from zip". I'd also format all parts of the phone once (mount and storage) and wipe dalvik cache (wipe) before you flash the new rom.
If it all doesn't help put the phone into download mode (vol up + vol down and then plug in usb cable while holding those two buttons), samfirmware.com has files (Odin) for the i9020 and i9023 (not NS4G yet).
In case your pc/laptop misses USB drivers you can find a guide on how to install adb and the drivers on unlockr.com.

even easier then that, just download the one click root (the gsm version for gsm or the ns4g one for cdma). turn the phone off then boot it back up by holding volume up and power. this will get you into fastboot, from there run the one clicks until it starts to do stuff to your phone, you may need to boot into fastboot mode again at some point. but it will get you a custom recovery loaded up from there you can download a custom rom and flash it in recovery and have a fully working phone
sounds liek the guy tried to root it and messed up something so he sold it privatly seeing as he couldnt figure it out. his loss is now your gain
the phone as you describe it is fully recoverable (dont use odin as its rather risky if you dont know what to do with it, not when you have things like fastboot or recovery mode)

mitrals said:
So I called the seller and his phone keeps saying its disconnected. I realize I should have been more careful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were interested in getting in touch with the seller, try calling that number from another phone. You have been Google Voice blocked.
However, your issue is easily fixed I think and this shouldn't be needed.

rentaric: It keeps going back to the screen that says Google and has a unlocked padlock at the bottom center. I tried doing the recovery by the following link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1007782 (The phone is unlocked as it states in Lock State-Unlocked). I was able to finish part 3 as well. In part 4 I get stuck at step #8, where pressing recovery gets me back to Google and unlocked padlock screen. I repeated the procedure multiple times and always get stuck at part 4 step 8. I am trying to get samfirmware going after I try one click root. Will post results.
shabbypenguin: I will download one click root and see where that takes me. I also think there might be some water damage to the phone as the strip on the phone is red and at times buttons dont work.
t1n0m3n: I called the seller from 5 different numbers (US and Canada numbers) and it says the line is disconnected for all numbers. I think he disconnected his phone.
Other notes: Phone looks in great condition so if I can get it running it would be awesome. I paid $250 for it thinking its a great price if the phone worked. Attached is the picture of what the phone does on start up.

are you sure you were able to flash the recovery correctly? does the md5 match? maybe try re-downloading the file?
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
make sure you are using the recovery specific to your device (NS, NS4G)

Where do I find the MD5?
Here is what the phone says on the bootloader mode:
FASTBOOT MODE
PRODUCT NAME - HERRING
HW VERSION - REV 16
BOOTLOADER VERSION - I9020XXKA3
BASEBAND VERSION - I9020UCKD1
CARRIER INFO - ATT
SERIAL NUMBER - 31310A98550B00EC
LOCK STATE - UNLOCKED
And the rest..
Please let me know if anyone can help! Thank you

Are you rebooting the phone after installing the custom recovery (part 3, step 5)?
If yes, skip the rebooting part and go directly into recovery from bootloader screen. In case it works you can continue to mount the usb storage, copy a ROM on your sdcard, unmount, then go back to "Install from zip" after doing all 3 wipes available in "wipe" menu.
If no, then I have no further ideas then using Odin.

Same issue for me, maybe this phone got the NAND Flash problem. Warm it up then try to turn on your Nexus, it worked for me but I sent my Nexus last week to Samsung for repair.
There is a thread in Google Mobile Help Forum (google.com) in Help forum > Google Mobile > Android Devices > Android Applications (not listed above)
Sorry but i can't post the link.
Regards.

I am having the same exact problem with my phone. The only difference is that my Nexus is a sprint phone. Were you able to get your phone working and how did you do it?
---------- Post added at 05:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:15 PM ----------
Im having the same problem with my phone. I have a nexus s and I think I need to flash [RECOVERY] clockwork because it says "fastboot mode - No boot or recovery img." Im using a mac but I cant seem to get it working. Can someone help me. I cant seem to figure out what to do and where to start.

Related

[Q] Unable to factory reset

Yesterday my phone started acting up. All running process crashed and not many was able to start. I had to constantly click "force close". I think this started after I installed the Google+ app, but not sure.
I have tried uninstalling all unnecessary apps, without luck. I then tried wiping to factory settings by using the Android menu, but without any changing. I then tried by holding vol+ and power, going in to recovery and wiping both to factory and app cache. This doesn't change anything either. By googling I can see some suggests to hold vol- and power, to get to a another wiping-functionality but this just boots my Nexus S to normal state - no menu appears.
Has anybody an idea of what I can do?
Edit: more info; if I click "Report" and investigate the message sent to Google, I see that error has something to do with SQLite-relatet classes. Which makes some sense, alot of my changes are reset each time the phone is rebooted. For instance did I miss a call a couple of hours before the phone went crazy - this is shown at each boot in the notification area eventhough I clear the area and/or goes to missed call section

Factory reset via menu does delete all your "custom" apps, so I'd say it's not one of the existing apps causing problems.
The way you describe function after your factory reset sounds like factory reset didn't work properly.
If you feel safe I'd recommend rather flashing 2.3.4 again using either Odin or the OTA zip from Google (requires open bootloader).

I think you're right that factory reset doesn't do what is expected. Once I click it, the phone reboots and shows the Android guy next to an unwrapping package. This lasts only 2 seconds, then it reboots itself again and goes into normal phone mode (where all the app-crashing starts again).
I have not flashed or rooted my phone before, but I will consider this now since my NS is pretty much a brick. Thank you for your swiftly response.
Edit: Shouldn't I get a menu, when I push and hold vol- button, while turning on the device? Right now it just boot as normal.

Before you use odin....try going into rom manager a reflashing clockwork! Ive had that android dude on my screeen but reflashibg via rom manager always fixed it. Try that
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App

Wow my Nexus has totally shut me out.
I cannot use ClockworkMod unfortunately since I am not able to root my phone. It is not detectable via USA (when I use vol+/pwr and connect USB). I am unable to check the USB Debugging option on the phone. Each time I check it, go to home-screen and back to the menu, it has de-selected it again. Also I noticed when I read the info that is sent to Google for all those app-crashes I get, I see SQLiteException and error in an SQLite.java file. So it seems like some database layer is broken.
I read one could copy the ClockWork.img to my phone and use the standard recovery option to flash the img (I think). But when I go into the recovery menu, the file is gone. When I boot the phone again, it has deleted the .img file - eventhough if I copy it to several different folders, they are all gone :-(.
I feel pretty screwed at the moment. How can I else wipe all data?

I'd recommend to check if your device is correctly identified in windows. Missing USB drivers might cause problems. Get the latest drivers and a guide from here.
If you succeed booting into fastboot properly (vol up and power) you can follow this guide. Get the latest cwm recovery.img here.
Last option would be to boot into download mode (vol up + vol down + power + plugging in usb cable) and use Odin from samfirmware.com
--
All options require correctly working USB drivers.

I managed to unlock the bootloader, by quickly turning on USB-debugging (before any processes started to crash) and install the drivers from this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6819751&postcount=4
A reboot later, I got this message:
"System UIDs Inconsistent
UIDs on the system are inconsistent, you need to wipe your data partition or your device will be unstable."
Right below was a button saying "Im feeling lucky" (??)
I installed ClockworkMod using fastboot and tried "Fixing permissions" with no luck. I will try some ROM later on, and hope it will bring my phone back

Normally this error happens when you have a faulty app ruining your system, formating/deleting whole sdcard does usually fix this.

rentaric said:
Normally this error happens when you have a faulty app ruining your system, formating/deleting whole sdcard does usually fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can safely mount USB-storage and format the whole bunch?
I been sweating over this stupid issue all day now, all I want is a fac-reset :´(
Edit: "format /sdcard" using CWM didn't do anything

DennisRP said:
I can safely mount USB-storage and format the whole bunch?
I been sweating over this stupid issue all day now, all I want is a fac-reset :´(
Edit: "format /sdcard" using CWM didn't do anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See I'm no expert on this whole thing. At this point I'd just flash a whole new system via Odin. Prolly not the smartest or safest option, but that's what I'd do because I don't know better. If that wouldn't fix it either, I'd return the phone on warranty

I was looking at Odin from the start, since nothing else seemed to be working.
So right now I got started on Odin. Followed the .pdf steps and flashed the bootloader at first succesfully. I was asked to remove the battery and re-connect my NS. Began downloading "pda" and "phone", but at around 10% a big fat red "fail" message appeared and now I just see the Google-logo on startup. I still cant flash any roms via fastboot.
Im too tired too right now, been working with this for 14 hours straight. I will look at it tomorrow evening. Thanks for your help rentaric

Weird, you're not the first one who had trouble running Odin using their guide.
Overall it's pretty simple.
Enter download mode. Vol up vol down and power at the same time while plugging in the USB cable. Start Odin, should show a yellow colored box with a port number. Uncheck everything but reset timer and auto reboot. Unzip the correct zip file from samfirmware.com (check if you got i9020 or i9023 and get the universal Odin exe), apply file from the folder accordingly. Bootloader and bootloader. Phone and modem. Pda and pda. Csc can remain empty (will change carrier info in fastboot).
Double check md5 hash to avoid broken files.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

rentaric said:
Weird, you're not the first one who had trouble running Odin using their guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course I did not go to bed, how should I be able to sleep with a broken phone .
The firmware suggested on samfirmware.com for my phone, was 2.3.3 and some other version (my phone was 2.3.4.2/GRJ22 or something similar, I suspect that might be the cause. Also I unchecked everything, that might also have been of importance). The flash will always fail when everything was downloaded - it then said something about "remote" and "Loke" and then fail. But as I mentioned, I had succesfully flashed boot.img (2.3.3) thus no boot occured now. I googled the correct bootloader, used fastboot and was booting succesfully again.
I began looking more into the sdcard, as error-messages was leading me this way. To compress 4 hours of investigations into a few lines, it seems as my PBA is malfunctioning as other xda-members have experinced. Only solution is sending the phone to Samsung for a PBA replacement. I purchased the phone in Bestbuy USA and the danish Samsung partners are not too joyfull about this - I will contact Samsung and hope they can help me.
I experinced the exact same thing as this poor guy - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=993403
Every thing you try to do to /sdcard is worthless.
Formatting (USB/using CWM/using adb shell linux commands) says "Succes" but nothing happens.
Copying files says "Succes" but nothing happens. If I boot phone into CWM, mount usb and upload new rom/apk/whatever and try to do a "install update.zip" it fails with some mounting errors.
Im ready to go cry in a corner - I really want this to be fixable via software, but I probably have to realize that this is a hardware issue.

Apparently Samsung doesn't offer worldwide warranty for cellularphones :´(. God it sucks to pay repair-expenses on a 1 month old mobile.

help- bricked it, no recovery, what now?

Hey yall. I had the phone for 6 days before I bricked it. I am wondering if there is any stock recovery mode or anything or what I shsould do? I think something went wrong due to using the root toolbox pro app. I have done some backups within the ap as well as Titanium Backup but now the phone will not boot up and I dont know if/how to put it in factory recovery mode. Soft reset does nothing. The Motorola logo will show on startup but then the screen just blacks out forever, not off, just colored black.
A few details, the phone was rooted with Motofail2go, with no recovery and bootloader still locked as far as I know.
Should I take it to Sprint for a factory reset? Is this even an option? What are my other options?
Next time I will probably use the Moto unlock key so I can open the bootloader all legit like and have a recovery mode...

Try holding power button and the down volume key to power off. Once you power off press and hold them again. This should boot you into fastboot, Motorola's adb shell basically. This can take a couple tries, make sure the phone is powered down completely before hitting volume down and power button to get into fastboot. If you can boot into fastboot you can unlock using this guide: http://www.droid-life.com/2012/08/20/how-to-unlock-the-motorola-photon-q-bootloader/
Once unlocked flash the custom recovery of your choice (I like twrp). You can boot into custom recovery by holding volume up and the power button from a powered down state. Here is the link for instructions on how to flash twrp:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1887070
Then you can download one of the stock backups for the Q posted in the development section and restore them using the custom recovery. Most of the ones I have seen have been compatible with twrp.
The only way to download the stock rom backups is to remove the sd card from your phone, plug your sd card into a PC or other device with a card reader, download the stock backups, and place the stock backup rom files on your sd card. Finally place the sd card with the stock backup downloads into your phone.
These backups and information on how to go through this process can be found in this thread on page 2: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001226
The key is to make a backup of your existing rom with twrp and then move the stock backups from your sd card to the twrp/backups/yourdeiceserial/ directory. That creates a backup directory which twrp knows to look for backups in.
Don't feel bad, I've been in that state several times since getting the Q, live and learn.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app

UnicronAlpha99 said:
Try holding power button and the down volume key to power off. Once you power off press and hold them again. This should boot you into fastboot, Motorola's adb shell basically. This can take a couple tries, make sure the phone is powered down completely before hitting volume down and power button to get into fastboot. If you can boot into fastboot you can unlock using this guide: http://www.droid-life.com/2012/08/20/how-to-unlock-the-motorola-photon-q-bootloader/
Once unlocked flash the custom recovery of your choice (I like twrp). You can boot into custom recovery by holding volume up and the power button from a powered down state. Here is the link for instructions on how to flash twrp:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1887070
Then you can download one of the stock backups for the Q posted in the development section and restore them using the custom recovery. Most of the ones I have seen have been compatible with twrp.
Don't feel bad, I've been in that state several times since getting the Q, live and learn.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that does not work you could drop it in water or something. You have not officially unlocked boot loader so you still have warranty. Or you could just tell sprint it quit working and act completely clueless. At least its bricked with warranty still intact.

matt2k12 said:
Hey yall. I had the phone for 6 days before I bricked it. I am wondering if there is any stock recovery mode or anything or what I shsould do? I think something went wrong due to using the root toolbox pro app. I have done some backups within the ap as well as Titanium Backup but now the phone will not boot up and I dont know if/how to put it in factory recovery mode. Soft reset does nothing. The Motorola logo will show on startup but then the screen just blacks out forever, not off, just colored black.
A few details, the phone was rooted with Motofail2go, with no recovery and bootloader still locked as far as I know.
Should I take it to Sprint for a factory reset? Is this even an option? What are my other options?
Next time I will probably use the Moto unlock key so I can open the bootloader all legit like and have a recovery mode...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both of the methods above are very effective. When I had the first photon I bricked it and just dropped it in water and did a claim. Depending on the insurance you have that way may cost you $100. The other method should work. When I first got this phone I did the exact same thing and to go back and unlock then flash twrp and in stall a stock backup someone had posted.
Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk 2

UnicronAlpha99 said:
Try holding power button and the down volume key to power off. Once you power off press and hold them again. This should boot you into fastboot, Motorola's adb shell basically. This can take a couple tries, make sure the phone is powered down completely before hitting volume down and power button to get into fastboot. If you can boot into fastboot you can unlock using this guide: http://www.droid-life.com/2012/08/20/how-to-unlock-the-motorola-photon-q-bootloader/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response. Is there anything extra extra special about getting into factory fastboot mode? I can't seem to get it done. Is there an official set of instructions anywhere? Does the phone need to be plugged into the PC? It was always my understanding (for the last week) that Power and Vol Down was the soft reset mode which reboots the phone. Therefore it always tries to reboot in normal mode. This is what keeps happening. It never powers completely down using this method.
Anyhow, once I follow your instructions, the Moto logo appears, no Sprint logo appears, the phone "powers on" but the screen is blacked out (not off). After waiting for a while at the blank/black screen, or holding down several buttons like vol or camera I get the first attachment: "Process system is not responding. Would you like to close it?" When I wait nothing happens. When I push OK nothing happens. By chance, I held down power during the notification and the power menu came up behind the ANR notice (second/third attachments). So obviously there are some things working but the main system isn't booting up. And either factory fastboot is nuked or I can't figure it out. When I power down from this accessible power menu and try to do the fastboot (Power / Vol Down) I still havent gotten it to work.
Any other ideas before I take drastic measures?
Since I bought it from Amazon would that be my best route for return or should I go thru a Sprint store?
Thanks in advance.

Hi again yall. You know once I got to thinking about it, I decided to check out the return policy on Amazon Wireless. They will accept any device under warranty for the first 30 days and it is up to Moto for the next 11 months of warranty coverage. They email me a packing label and it ships out 1 day and they ship out the new phone 1 day shipping. Hard to beat, just takes 2 days of shipping and some more fun times with my Epic, 10.1CM style, in the meantime.
Who's to say it wasnt some sort of hardware or software glitch that bricked the phone rather than my screwing around? Nobody knows and it isn't up to the consumer to prove his innocence. I bought everything legally, all the apps at the app store, and only ran the motofail2go root method. Wasn't running any custom Roms, Mods, or anything. I don't feel bad after they got me for another 2 grand for 24 months, and since I have been with Sprint for 10 years;l I have spent well over 10k or 15k with them lifetime.
If any other method pops up between now and when I ship it out I may give it a shot but if not, ah well, capitalism.

matt2k12 said:
Thanks for the response. Is there anything extra extra special about getting into factory fastboot mode? I can't seem to get it done. Is there an official set of instructions anywhere? Does the phone need to be plugged into the PC? It was always my understanding (for the last week) that Power and Vol Down was the soft reset mode which reboots the phone. Therefore it always tries to reboot in normal mode. This is what keeps happening. It never powers completely down using this method.
Anyhow, once I follow your instructions, the Moto logo appears, no Sprint logo appears, the phone "powers on" but the screen is blacked out (not off). After waiting for a while at the blank/black screen, or holding down several buttons like vol or camera I get the first attachment: "Process system is not responding. Would you like to close it?" When I wait nothing happens. When I push OK nothing happens. By chance, I held down power during the notification and the power menu came up behind the ANR notice (second/third attachments). So obviously there are some things working but the main system isn't booting up. And either factory fastboot is nuked or I can't figure it out. When I power down from this accessible power menu and try to do the fastboot (Power / Vol Down) I still havent gotten it to work.
Any other ideas before I take drastic measures?
Since I bought it from Amazon would that be my best route for return or should I go thru a Sprint store?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using adb. If your computer has drivers on it for phone you might able to get into fast boot. If that does not work I would try Sprint store first. Have locked my phone up several times while hacking wife off in progress and have used adb every time. Only time i have been truely scared is when i soft bricked my nexus 7. had to stay at work for two hours after i got off to get it to recover because i was scared of her lol.
---------- Post added at 02:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------
If you get adb to recognize device you could take chance and officially unlock boot loader. Then flash twrp. There is a thread in general section about having trouble getting official update. It has a stock recovery in it. Trick would be moving files to recovery section of twrp

I have gotten the phone to soft power down and get into fast boot and custom recovery. It's a bit tricky with timing, I usually wait for the screen to go black after soft reset, let go, and immediately hold power and volume down. If you can not boot into fastboot I honestly don't know what you can do either than return the phone.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app

UnicronAlpha99 said:
I have gotten the phone to soft power down and get into fast boot and custom recovery. It's a bit tricky with timing, I usually wait for the screen to go black after soft reset, let go, and immediately hold power and volume down. If you can not boot into fastboot I honestly don't know what you can do either than return the phone.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help Unicron. I think Brandons method might be my only alternative... but you know what? I already have the box packed up to ship back to Amazon! I am still a noob; I dunno if I could go the distance on this one. I have been updating my Android SDK files since I got the phone but I never got it to recognize boot up thru ADB fastboot. disclaimer* I havent tried it in a couple days since all teh SDK updates completed.
I dunno though I am a big time DIYer when possible. If it werent for the massive amount of tape I put on the box and packing label I would already be trying this method. I can't convince myself just yet. Amazon makes it too easy. I could have the *new* phone by Friday. Then I wouldn't be wasting my remaining work week trying to hack into my personal Christmas present in order to make it function...........................................
Edit - Yes I'm impatient. My job is too demanding and I am trying to set a good precedent for 2013. Wasting the first 3 work days on a phone is not how I intend to start off the year. There is probably a valuable lesson to be learned from this as far as hacking experience and to be honest with the responses here I think I could get it to boot up from PC in SDK/ADB mode and go from there. I just didnt know if that was possible until after I made the claim with Amazon. I still have an entire day today and tomorrow if I want to indulge myself. It doesnt matter if I mail the package today or Wednesday, I can still get it by Friday. I believe this thread is still valuable because we have patterns of repeating past failures and I may find use of it when I recieve my new phone and, darn it, it mysteriously bricks as well. in the same fashion.... the only thing I was really trying to do was get all my apps on my SD card... sad huh?
Edit 2 - Opened up the box, tried fastboot and adb, nothing. Off she goes.

I don't blame you, it sounds easier to exchange in your case any way. The main suggestion I have is if you are getting into any type of build.prop or operating system tweaks that have potential to lead to boot loops or cause the phone not to boot, then unlock the bootloader and install custom recovery.
The Moto-fail method seems limited to only be able to run apps that require root. For me this has no use as I want to be able to have complete control over all aspects of the Android OS. There is not a huge mod community for the Q as yet but I believe Cyanogen will be a reality as Interloper continues working on it. I came from an Epic with Cyanogen and soft-bricked it a minimum of 50 times. CWM was very forgiving on that phone, the Q is a lot more finicky and frustrating.
If you have insurance through the carrier then you are going to pay $150 for a refurb if something goes wrong and you hard brick the phone. If you unlock bootloader and install custom recovery then you have a fail-safe in the form of nandroid backups and restores. Then you can mod away with little fear.
Good luck on the new phone and I hope you don't give up after six days of modding with the Q!
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app

matt2k12 said:
Thanks for the help Unicron. I think Brandons method might be my only alternative... but you know what? I already have the box packed up to ship back to Amazon! I am still a noob; I dunno if I could go the distance on this one. I have been updating my Android SDK files since I got the phone but I never got it to recognize boot up thru ADB fastboot. disclaimer* I havent tried it in a couple days since all teh SDK updates completed.
I dunno though I am a big time DIYer when possible. If it werent for the massive amount of tape I put on the box and packing label I would already be trying this method. I can't convince myself just yet. Amazon makes it too easy. I could have the *new* phone by Friday. Then I wouldn't be wasting my remaining work week trying to hack into my personal Christmas present in order to make it function...........................................
Edit - Yes I'm impatient. My job is too demanding and I am trying to set a good precedent for 2013. Wasting the first 3 work days on a phone is not how I intend to start off the year. There is probably a valuable lesson to be learned from this as far as hacking experience and to be honest with the responses here I think I could get it to boot up from PC in SDK/ADB mode and go from there. I just didnt know if that was possible until after I made the claim with Amazon. I still have an entire day today and tomorrow if I want to indulge myself. It doesnt matter if I mail the package today or Wednesday, I can still get it by Friday. I believe this thread is still valuable because we have patterns of repeating past failures and I may find use of it when I recieve my new phone and, darn it, it mysteriously bricks as well. in the same fashion.... the only thing I was really trying to do was get all my apps on my SD card... sad huh?
Edit 2 - Opened up the box, tried fastboot and adb, nothing. Off she goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW, pressing vol down + power til it resets then pressing the camera button + power once the screen is black gets you to the Boot Mode Selection Menu, where you can start recovery, fastboot, BP tools (still not sure what that is entirely) and some others. Seems to be a fairly reliable/easy method for getting to both recovery and fastboot from any point.

befrosty8612 said:
FWIW, pressing vol down + power til it resets then pressing the camera button + power once the screen is black gets you to the Boot Mode Selection Menu, where you can start recovery, fastboot, BP tools (still not sure what that is entirely) and some others. Seems to be a fairly reliable/easy method for getting to both recovery and fastboot from any point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure wish I would have known that ahead of time. Does this work without any recovery mode and with the bootloader still locked?

matt2k12 said:
Sure wish I would have known that ahead of time. Does this work without any recovery mode and with the bootloader still locked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does work without any recovery mode and I believe it still works without the bootloader being unlocked, I didn't know about this myself until after I had already unlocked it. Sorry I couldn't help out sooner.

befrosty8612 said:
It does work without any recovery mode and I believe it still works without the bootloader being unlocked, I didn't know about this myself until after I had already unlocked it. Sorry I couldn't help out sooner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, I am wanting to do the backdoor root method again but, of course, may brick it. I dont think Amazon will keep sending me new ones.... but maybe!

befrosty8612 said:
FWIW, pressing vol down + power til it resets then pressing the camera button + power once the screen is black gets you to the Boot Mode Selection Menu, where you can start recovery, fastboot, BP tools (still not sure what that is entirely) and some others. Seems to be a fairly reliable/easy method for getting to both recovery and fastboot from any point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For anyone concerned, I knew it would only be a matter of time until bricking my new device. This damn Root Toolbox Pro did it to me again, and on a simple, menial task. I am going to be working thru the motions on getting this to work.
Using the instructions quoted I did get stock recovery to work or at least flash on the screen for a split second. Seems like there is a timer on the recovery screen. I am having trouble with the fastboot prompt though on the PC. Do I do it in the "platform-tools" folder which contains fastboot or in the "tools" folder of the main SDK directory? I am really a noob, can you give me the cliff notes of how to get into ADB, fastboot, etc on the Photon Q in order to do a factory reset? I already have Android SDK installed and completely up to date so that is done. And Fastboot is installed. I'm just having trouble crossing the finish line here... I can get the fastboot page opened in the stock recovery but from there I'm lost. I dont know what to type into the command prompt, in what directory, or what.... Also when I open the command prompt in the SDK folder on the PC with fastboot in the directory and type "adb reboot bootloader" it says "device not found". Maybe (surely) that is the wrong prompt?
FWIW my phone is showing the dead android guy. I didnt do anything besides try and clear up my Play Store download list which required a reboot. The phone never started back up. I dont know how much damage was done or info was lost or whatever, but seeing as how I was rooted but still locked, I had no custom recovery. So no back ups. Is there anything to restore or am I looking at a full wipe and restore?

matt2k12 said:
For anyone concerned, I knew it would only be a matter of time until bricking my new device. This damn Root Toolbox Pro did it to me again, and on a simple, menial task. I am going to be working thru the motions on getting this to work.
Using the instructions quoted I did get stock recovery to work or at least flash on the screen for a split second. Seems like there is a timer on the recovery screen. I am having trouble with the fastboot prompt though on the PC. Do I do it in the "platform-tools" folder which contains fastboot or in the "tools" folder of the main SDK directory? I am really a noob, can you give me the cliff notes of how to get into ADB, fastboot, etc on the Photon Q in order to do a factory reset? I already have Android SDK installed and completely up to date so that is done. And Fastboot is installed. I'm just having trouble crossing the finish line here... I can get the fastboot page opened in the stock recovery but from there I'm lost. I dont know what to type into the command prompt, in what directory, or what.... Also when I open the command prompt in the SDK folder on the PC with fastboot in the directory and type "adb reboot bootloader" it says "device not found". Maybe (surely) that is the wrong prompt?
FWIW my phone is showing the dead android guy. I didnt do anything besides try and clear up my Play Store download list which required a reboot. The phone never started back up. I dont know how much damage was done or info was lost or whatever, but seeing as how I was rooted but still locked, I had no custom recovery. So no back ups. Is there anything to restore or am I looking at a full wipe and restore?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As abnormal as it seems, your situation seems pretty normal... at least from my shoes. I went through the same scenario... I didn't know what adb was, or fastboot, etc. So, here's what I know
the fastboot commands work even if adb doesnt see it in the list of devices attached. Somehow it just works (as long as the phone is in fastboot mode).
If you're able to get to the fastboot mode, things should be okay. Just open a windows explorer window to the Platform-Tools, hold the shift key and right click on a blank space within the window, then click open command window here.
you should be able to pass any adb (if the phone is on and recognized) or fastboot (if phone is in fastboot mode) commands from that command prompt.
Also, if you have a stock recovery, CMW, or TWRP image, this is the folder to copy those .img files to. Once you get your phone into fastboot mode and its plugged into the computer, just type into the command prompt:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
If you're just looking to reboot the phone into recovery
If you have a CWM or TWRP recovery just replace the recovery.img with whatever the .img file that you have. Also, as a tip instead of writing the entire file name, just press the first couple letters then press the tab key within the command prompt, it should fill in the rest. keep pressing tab until you get to the .img file name you want.
To avoid doing this again, maybe I can help... what were you trying to do to begin with? From the sound of it, you were trying to root the phone with the Root Toolbox Pro but it bricked, and then you tried to reboot into recovery and then got the red android... ?

befrosty8612 said:
As abnormal as it seems, your situation seems pretty normal... at least from my shoes. I went through the same scenario... I didn't know what adb was, or fastboot, etc. So, here's what I know
the fastboot commands work even if adb doesnt see it in the list of devices attached. Somehow it just works (as long as the phone is in fastboot mode).
If you're able to get to the fastboot mode, things should be okay. Just open a windows explorer window to the Platform-Tools, hold the shift key and right click on a blank space within the window, then click open command window here.
you should be able to pass any adb (if the phone is on and recognized) or fastboot (if phone is in fastboot mode) commands from that command prompt.
Also, if you have a stock recovery, CMW, or TWRP image, this is the folder to copy those .img files to. Once you get your phone into fastboot mode and its plugged into the computer, just type into the command prompt:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
If you're just looking to reboot the phone into recovery
If you have a CWM or TWRP recovery just replace the recovery.img with whatever the .img file that you have. Also, as a tip instead of writing the entire file name, just press the first couple letters then press the tab key within the command prompt, it should fill in the rest. keep pressing tab until you get to the .img file name you want.
To avoid doing this again, maybe I can help... what were you trying to do to begin with? From the sound of it, you were trying to root the phone with the Root Toolbox Pro but it bricked, and then you tried to reboot into recovery and then got the red android... ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response. So, all I have to do is: go to fastboot and flash a stock recovery image file and it will automatically wipe the phone, cache, everything, and restore the operating system? Sounds awfully easy! I found some stock files in this post : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001226&page=2 Are these the ones you used before?
Last question: I can flash CWM or TWRP but wont be able to access them if my bootloader is locked, correct? So flashing a stock recovery will allow me to have my stock phone back again, locked and un-rooted? I guess if I cant get it to work with the stock recovery then I can unlock the bootloader and do a CWM or TWRP recovery and then flash the stock .img files?
Thanks again for your help. I already had root with the motofail2go method which I like using but seems like when I try and use some generic root feature from apps from the app store that it will crash/brick the phone cuz obviously those apps are generalized and likely to brick certain percentage of devices....

Ok what does this mean? Something with the bootlaoder obviously. Does it need to be unlocked?
Code:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot flash recover
y qrecovery1.img
(bootloader) Variable not supported!
target reported max download size of 31457280 bytes
sending 'recovery' (5962 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.479s]
writing 'recovery'...
(bootloader) Preflash validation failed
FAILED (remote failure)
finished. total time: 0.755s
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>
And on the phone screen it says "invalid image size for partition recovery" twice for both times I tried this method.

You will need to flash the system image as well if you want those, as the recovery image will only flash the recovery. The files in that link are for twrp only... so you'll have to be able to get there first.
With the custom recoveries, I'm not 100% sure whether or not you will be able to use them without being unlocked. I would wait to see if anyone else can answer that question for you, but if you did try it without an unlocked bootloader, you at least have the stock recovery to fall back on if needed.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------
I'm thinking it could either be that your phone is full and the image you're flashing is too large to fit on the space available...
Or you're trying to flash custom software on a locked phone.
Hopefully someone is able to answer that a little better...
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app

You can't alter the stock recovery (flash a custom recovery like twrp or cwm) in fastboot without having the bootloader unlocked. Your options are to unlock your bootloader, flash custom recovery, create a backup of your current setup, download one of the stock working backups, place it in the backups folder for twrp on your external sd card, and restore one of the known working backups in the development section (befrosty linked to one). Or you could use RSD lite to return to stock using a stock factory firmware flash. That involves connecting your phone to your PC and flashing the phone back to factory stock. Information on RSD Lite and links to the FXZ's can be found here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2095536
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app

How do I Unbrick? Small twist

Ok so here is the issue. My Nexus S i9020a has a power button that is no longer working. Whenever I put the battery in, it automatically boots up, to reboot I take the battery out and slide back in. I want to bring it back for warranty since my bro got the warranty until 2014 or so. I had previously had a couple of custom ROMs on it. I wanted to flash stock ROM and lock the bootloader.
When I boot into recovery (hold up while I put the battery in), I can't do anything. Even the volume up/down doesn't do anything, and of course pressing the power button doesn't select anything. So I got ROM Manager and found a copy of the stock rom. ROM Manager was supposed to install the rom from the .zip file, which it sort of did. It wiped everything and installed. I left it on while I went to do something. When I came back, the phone is stuck in the bootup animation.
If I was able to do anything in recovery I would just reflash a different ROM and go again.
I have watched some videos, and tried the Oneclick Unbrick, but doesn't work. I've read some other threads here that talked about getting Linux on a USB, or other mod. But I am trying not to go that route, as it seems pretty complicated.
When the phone is in the bootup animation and I connect it to the computer, I hear the sound that Win7 detects new hardware. If I am in the bootloader Win7 does not play any of that sounds.
I remember using adb and I still have the files on my computer from when I unlocked and rooted.
Not sure what should I do now?

also, all of my soft button lights are on during the boot animation. read in one of the threads that different lights on mean different modes. so not sure if this means anything.

hi, I am afraid the bad functioning of power button is responsible of all of these problems,
probably you can send it for warranty as is now
---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 PM ----------
have you tried already the linux app UnBrickable Resurrector ?
maybe you would be able to install the stock rom via fastboot

Possible fix: Remove all drivers and reinstall via Nexus root toolkit. Go to adb and flash TWRP, or CWM Touch Recovery (make sure it's touch-enabled), then flash a new rom.
Permanent fix: As far as I can remember (I also had this issue about 6 months ago) samsung will still recognize the warranty even when your bootloader is unlocked, at least in my place. The issue you're returning with is a hardware issue, not a software issue. So tell them to just replace the power button and you'll do the rest. As long as the samsung warranty sticker on top of the screw is in-tact, you're good to go. Again, this is my experience in a samsung service center near my place. I don't know how they deal with things elsewhere.

if this can help, I read in forums that also in Italy samsung support fixes nexus s in warranty even with unlocked bootloader, this is not a direct experience though

So I have tried the wugfresh Nexus Root Toolkit and tried installing different drivers. None of them can detect the phone when it is in the bootloader, windows only makes a sound when the phone is trying to boot up.
I've tried the "Flash Stock + Unroot" button but as soon as it tries checking the fastboot it cannot detect anything. The mini description says all it needs it to have the phone in the bootloader, but I can't get it to do anything else.
I have tried the guide at DroidViews (can't post links yet), but in the command prompt, fastboot just keeps waiting for the device again, windows does not detect the phone unless it starts to boot and enters the bootloop.
what do I do now?

eugene188 said:
So I have tried the wugfresh Nexus Root Toolkit and tried installing different drivers. None of them can detect the phone when it is in the bootloader, windows only makes a sound when the phone is trying to boot up.
I've tried the "Flash Stock + Unroot" button but as soon as it tries checking the fastboot it cannot detect anything. The mini description says all it needs it to have the phone in the bootloader, but I can't get it to do anything else.
I have tried the guide at DroidViews (can't post links yet), but in the command prompt, fastboot just keeps waiting for the device again, windows does not detect the phone unless it starts to boot and enters the bootloop.
what do I do now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remove all android/samsung drivers and install PDAnet drivers. PDAnet detects the phone even on bootloader.

ej8989 said:
Remove all android/samsung drivers and install PDAnet drivers. PDAnet detects the phone even on bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried the PDAnet, I choose the Samsung drivers, then once it pops up with the screen to ask me to connect the phone then I'm stuck. Whether I put the battery in and let it bootloop or hold vol+ and put the battery in, it doesn't get past the screen. Only thing I could do was "skip USB" which still installed PDAnet but possibly without USB support and just bluetooth support.
I even tried it on my brother's laptop which is still in a relatively clean OEM state but the got stuck at the same place.

Bricked when returning to stock (No command)

Hey guys,
decided to flash the latest DBT Firmware via Odin to get back to stock completely. (G930FXXU3ESA3)
After flashing the firmware through Odin the phone reboots and then installs an update and erases data (blue background).
After a second reboot I end up with a blue screen and the simple error: "No command".
I can not get into recovery, as I end up with the same error message wether booting into recovery or the system.
I CAN however get into downloadmode and flash twrp, after that I can boot into system but I want to keep the whole system vanilla, without TWRP.
Installing TWRP keeps the device encrypted, no matter what. I can wipe, then install no-verity-encrypt and as soon as I reboot the device is encrypted again.
Ive tried: Different Firmware Version (December 2018), 3 different cables, different odin versions.
Edit: attached an Image of the message that Pops up after about 30sec on the no command screen.

Ok, so your device will take UK Unbranded BTU firmware. You can get it from a few sources and even direct from Samsung servers with Samtool.
Forget all that flashing TWRP and non verify nonsense, if you can get into download mode you can flash firmware, obviously make sure the firmware downloaded is not corrupt etc.
I've used Odin V10 -13 to flash BTU and every version flashed it correctly. Sometimes you do get that "installing update" and then "erasing" but that's fine just leave the phone for a few minutes it should eventually reboot normally.

FLASH No verity.zip
VIA TWRP
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4490455&d=1525176288

cooltt said:
Ok, so your device will take UK Unbranded BTU firmware. You can get it from a few sources and even direct from Samsung servers with Samtool.
Forget all that flashing TWRP and non verify nonsense, if you can get into download mode you can flash firmware, obviously make sure the firmware downloaded is not corrupt etc.
I've used Odin V10 -13 to flash BTU and every version flashed it correctly. Sometimes you do get that "installing update" and then "erasing" but that's fine just leave the phone for a few minutes it should eventually reboot normally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried the latest BTU with Odin 3.13.1, same problem. Its reboots into the blue screen, applying system update to about 32% and then switches to "Erasing". After about 1min it reboots, shows "Installing System update" for a second and I end up with "No command" again. And from there on it just constantly reboots into the "No command" screen.
This seems like the same problem. I can not enter stock recovery to wipe though...
Things ive tried so far:
- Different firmware Versions (all oreo since downgrading is impossible)
- Formating with pit files
- Different Odin Versions
- Unplugging and replugging the battery
- Installing TWRP, wiping data and then installing stock recovery through TWRP

Did u try in Odin nand erase and repatition option? If not try it ( make sure u have pit file extracted or downloaded from the net)

Scorpionea said:
Did u try in Odin nand erase and repatition option? If not try it ( make sure u have pit file extracted or downloaded from the net)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did a efs backup through TWRP just in case, then flashed the latest DBT firmware with nand erase -> still the same problem.
I can only guess that this was caused by using a backup from another phone back when Oreo came out, this probably messed something up really badly. Very weird, im kinda lost.

Killuminati91 said:
Just tried the latest BTU with Odin 3.13.1, same problem. Its reboots into the blue screen, applying system update to about 32% and then switches to "Erasing". After about 1min it reboots, shows "Installing System update" for a second and I end up with "No command" again. And from there on it just constantly reboots into the "No command" screen.
This seems like the same problem. I can not enter stock recovery to wipe though...
Things ive tried so far:
- Different firmware Versions (all oreo since downgrading is impossible)
- Formating with pit files
- Different Odin Versions
- Unplugging and replugging the battery
- Installing TWRP, wiping data and then installing stock recovery through TWRP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, from the no command screen do the following.
Hold power until phone switches off, then press power+home+volume up. The phone should now boot into original recovery screen. Select "wipe/factory reset" and then reboot device. Job done.

cooltt said:
Ok, from the no command screen do the following.
Hold power until phone switches off, then press power+home+volume up. The phone should now boot into original recovery screen. Select "wipe/factory reset" and then reboot device. Job done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that, recovery is simply not working. If I hold vol - + power + home to restart and switch immediatly to vol + I boot into the usual blue screen with No command. I even tried unplugging the battery to shut off the phone and boot into recovery from there but that is not working either. Sorry should have stated that more clearly.
If I flash TWRP however, I can easily boot into TWRP with the recovery button combo.

Killuminati91 said:
Tried that, recovery is simply not working. If I hold vol - + power + home to restart and switch immediatly to vol + I boot into the usual blue screen with No command. I even tried unplugging the battery to shut off the phone and boot into recovery from there but that is not working either. Sorry should have stated that more clearly.
If I flash TWRP however, I can easily boot into TWRP with the recovery button combo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok it's a tricky one so one more thing I would suggest is download and install Samsung smart switch on your PC, place the phone in download mode plug it into lap top and choose emergency software recovery in smart switch
Edit. I just remembered before that try this button combo from the no command screen volume up+volume down+power.

cooltt said:
Ok it's a tricky one so one more thing I would suggest is download and install Samsung smart switch on your PC, place the phone in download mode plug it into lap top and choose emergency software recovery in smart switch
Edit. I just remembered before that try this button combo from the no command screen volume up+volume down+power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmh. Searched a lot for the version that still supported emergency recovery. (which seems to be 4.0). If I go into download mode, start smartswitch and try to use emergency recovery there is nothing for me to select.
Volume up + down and power gives me the terminal like look which I attached in the first post with all those error messages.

Killuminati91 said:
Hmmh. Searched a lot for the version that still supported emergency recovery. (which seems to be 4.0). If I go into download mode, start smartswitch and try to use emergency recovery there is nothing for me to select.
Volume up + down and power gives me the terminal like look which I attached in the first post with all those error messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The EFS partition is corrupt or blank, it's the only logical explanation but the TWRP back up should solve that, without looking at it my self and running some commands i cant help your further.

cooltt said:
The EFS partition is corrupt or blank, it's the only logical explanation but the TWRP back up should solve that, without looking at it my self and running some commands i cant help your further.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP backup was created after I ran into problems though. Ive checked some more things and it seems like the serial number that is displayed (in combination rom and or Z3X) is not the same SN that is printed on the back of the phone. Could this be related? And how would I go about changing it back to the one on the sticker? The IMEI is correct.
Had someone who was more into the whole thing contact me here but when I wanted to "donate" only half of what he was asking he refused to help me.

Killuminati91 said:
TWRP backup was created after I ran into problems though. Ive checked some more things and it seems like the serial number that is displayed (in combination rom and or Z3X) is not the same SN that is printed on the back of the phone. Could this be related? And how would I go about changing it back to the one on the sticker? The IMEI is correct.
Had someone who was more into the whole thing contact me here but when I wanted to "donate" only half of what he was asking he refused to help me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats because he's a scammer. Never donate to get your phone fixed! Donate to Rom developers and things you like but never to get the phone fixed, they're usually lying.
The serial number should be the same ON the phone as displayed IN phone. Tell me the story about the phone, how did you get it? what region? where are you? what firmware was installed? Can you still flash a ROM with TWRP? Can you check OEM unlock?
---------- Post added at 04:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------
nmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnm

Pretty sure he was just trying to remote repair for a price, which is not allowed on XDA. Would obviously donated on my own if he actually fixed it.
Bought the phone unlocked directly from a provider (simply - germany - dbt - g930f) back in 2016. Tripped kn0x after a few months, installed a few custom roms until Oreo came out.
This is where I messed up I think: I used a TWRP backup from someone else that he had shared here on XDA, which probably included his /efs too.
Since then I had constant connection problems, weak internet connection, dropped calls and so on.
Broke my screen and then decided to repair it myself. Bought a new frame, screen, battery, usb-port, earpiece and vibrator - managed to assemble all of that.
I can install all latest official firmwares (bootloader 3) through Odin. If I leave it at that I have no recovery and end up with the initially shown screen and "No command".
If i install TWRP from there and simply root with magisk or apply dm-verity-fix I can boot into the stock firmware with everything working.
I can also install ROMs. Just going completely vanilla is not possible anymore. OEM Unlock is checked, USB debugging works.
Edit: What is also astounding: If I flash version DBT-G930FXXS3ERHD-20180918145033 (oldest possible Oreo Version) I can enter recovery and do a factory reset and wipe cache.
If I do that however I am stuck at the Galaxy S7 Logo, not even bootlooping.

Killuminati91 said:
This is where I messed up I think: I used a TWRP backup from someone else that he had shared here on XDA, which probably included his /efs too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awww.....come on man you should have said this at the start! Of course you can't use someone else's EFS data, it's unique to your handset. Custom Rom's patch some but not all EFS data that's why they work and in your case that's why Stock firmware isn't going too.
Anyway if this is the problem (and i suspect it is) there is only one way to fix it with Octopus box which can write all the important info back onto the EFS. Your IMEI, Serial, Mac address etc. Odin reads the info from the EFS prior to nand write start, if the phone serials don't match it will always fail at some point.
You can install a custom via twrp but it will not work correctly due to EFS data miss match. Octopus box is your answer.

cooltt said:
awww.....come on man you should have said this at the start! Of course you can't use someone else's EFS data, it's unique to your handset. Custom Rom's patch some but not all EFS data that's why they work and in your case that's why Stock firmware isn't going too.
Anyway if this is the problem (and i suspect it is) there is only one way to fix it with Octopus box which can write all the important info back onto the EFS. Your IMEI, Serial, Mac address etc. Odin reads the info from the EFS prior to nand write start, if the phone serials don't match it will always fail at some point.
You can install a custom via twrp but it will not work correctly due to EFS data miss match. Octopus box is your answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dang it. Thank you! Off to find someone who can do this via remote access or in Berlin.

Same situation right now with my S7. Damn.

Hi everyone. Did you guys find any way to resolve this issue? i have exactly the same issue here.. but in my case i cannot use twrp cuz i never installed it before... the issue happened right after i tried to enter the recovery mode by pressing the buttons...
my wife's galaxy s7 touch screen was acting weird and i tried to get into the recovey mode..which is pretty muh easy to do... but once i tried the no command msg came up and now i have exatly the same case as the guy that opened this thread....also done everything hes done....any clue about this anyone?
id appreciate some help..
thanks in advance
Diego Boffa

Anyone?

I have exactly the same error with "fail to open recovery_cause(No such file or directory)#
My Tablet is now stuck with a blue "android dead" screen saying "No command".
My history to disaster:
- i've recovered a "broken" Samsung Tablet (sm-T585) with corrupted file system via
* Download Mode works -> TWRP install -> Mount option -> use ADB to recreate EFS partition -> re-flash stock image (android 8) with odin
- device works fine
- then i've noticed it can only be used with a certain cell provider (o2)
- then i've tried to flash an older version of the stock rom (android 7) due some problems in Android 8 (often some slow downs while operating)
- this doesn't work, the flash don't start
- therefore nothing should be happend, or?
- then i've can't get anymore in the stock recovery to wipe all data
...therefore the mess began:
* i can't flash TWRP anymore
* i can't flash stock recovery anymore
* i only can get into download mode
* i can only flash a certain rom type successfully (green PASS within odin), but with the final stuck with boot loop, with the mentioned blue screen
* other rom version can't flashed
I hopefully ask you guys here, if anyone can help me?
Any help would be very appreciated ...

[ HELP ] ASUS Zenfone Max Plus M1 - Cant get any Firmware to boot this device into system after flash...

Anyone have this problem and solved it? I have an ASUS Zenfone Max Plus M1 (ZB570TL ) - (X018D) and i have tried every Rom you can think of from WW to CTC to CN, also tried dump firmware but nothing will stick and let this device actually fully boot up after flashing it, it just goes to the POWERED BY ANDROID screen and after 30 secs it will reboot itself back to the POWERED BY ANDROID screen and then reboot again and so on..
HOLDING VOL+ and POWER buttons in gets me to the:
- RECOVERY MODE - Just reboots back to Powered by Android screen and back to bootloop, no android guy recovery...
- FASTBOOT - Lets me have Fastboot but i cant flash anything or unlock bootloader as it errors and shows its Locked...
- NORMAL BOOT - Just reboots back to the Powered by Android and then reboots after 30 secs right back there....
There is no RECOVERY MODE that i can Factory Reset, Update.zip, clear cache...
I Flashed with SP Flashtool over 20 Firmwares and all finish with the popup Finished and green checkmark and i watch the flash process all the way without error, unplug the device and turn it on and back to Powered by Android screen and reboots itself after 30 secs... THIS IS CRAZY its like its a GAG Phone or something just messing with me like ( Jokes on you big guy ) ive never seen anything like it, its like the locked bootloader is telling the device not to allow any Firmware to install by tricking the SP Flashtool that yes it did install but didnt allow it to write to the actual system or let you get into recovery mode to factory reset the device or update from sdcard... im just wondering if its a waste of time to bother finding a UFI Box flasher that doesnt need the dongle so i could try flashing the EMMC files if that would help or not... its not a hardware problem or it wouldnt accept flashing or let it power on and enter fastboot mode....
Is this a GAG Device or has anyone actually had this exact problem and has solved it? If i could just get it to boot up into the system i could use Magisk and make a patched-boot.img thats unlocked bootloader and root but theres no ZenUI or anything but the Powered by Android screen....
Any Help would be awesome as i just put new screen, battery, back cover and buttons on this device thinking it would be a good little phone for my daughter... i cant even get any info on the device as theres no box or sticker with IMEI or Serial Number or info on the last working Firmware its all a shot in the dark... Anyways if anyone has the way to get this device working or has backup rom or links to an actual way thats not ASUS as they are just waste of time for 30 mins then you need to take it in to our service center and pay more money and im done putting money in this and could have bought her a new phone for what ive got into this Gag Phone....
Thankz...... Kixx

Judging from the whole situation, you screwed up several things honestly.
The fact it goes stuck on the splash screen and refuses to neither boot on recovery nor the system itself seems to tell 2 things:
the boot.img and recovery.img got screwed up way too much- or literally got flashed for the wrong device, hence the whole rejection to boot;
i assume SP Flashtool, even if got tricked, got a bit of a mess on the internal partitions to be flashed thru. Sounds like a big red flag because ADB can be highly of help (i don't own an X01BD but an X00HD- still an asus device- but i used simple ADB instead of things like QFIL or SP Flashtool to get things going);
On second point, if you wanna try to unlock the bootloader (since fastboot is the only one to be alive and usable- this means your device will be salvageable...atleast by a significant chunk):
you can give it an attempt by checking over my own collection post.
There you will find at the bottom some tiny guide on how to unlock the bootloader-
if you don't have a secondary rooted device, you can always rely using a laptop or pc.
What really matters is that you'll have ADB downloaded on your machine, because it could be of help to progress thru with the stuff.
After unlocked the bootloader, you can slowly approach to flash TWRP for your own device- even tho, it seems nobody so far has done anything for this specific model...
Atleast, on the bright side, unlocking the bootloader will give you the chance to flash manually the partitions via ADB, and maybe the official zendesk site for it can help if unpacking one of the update zips and see the contents inside- or generally pushing the following .zip update file via ADB and wait for the magic to happen.
I'm not sure on how to help with the region tho.
I guess, if you have the box of the device, it could give you a clue if it is a WW (WorldWide), CN (China), JP (Japan), etc. model- afterall, these letters do not lay around without a reason.
Of course, if you flash the wrong region to the wrong regional model:
then the recovery and system partitions get to screw up big time, just like the scenario you're having right now.
As a last thing, the patched boot.img file only gets to work after you got android to work-
otherwise, patching the pre-rooted boot.img file will be of no use since a functioning ROM isn't there at all.
Sadly, i don't own the device nor never had such screw-ups of this kind, but i hope it will help you up.

Ya i can flash the firmware correctly in SP Flashtool it comes back with green checkmark, all the firmware is for the correct device, its just when i had it given to me it had broken screen and bad battery, so i buy new screen, battery, backcover for it and when i booted it up it just sticks on the first screen shown ( Powered by Android ) then after like 30 secs it reboots back to that screen.. I can hold the vol + and power and get the menu to pick RECOVERY or FASTBOOT or REBOOT, recovery just reboots to powered by android screen then reboots after 30 secs, fastboot lets me use adb and fastboot but cant flash it says failed locked, and fastboot oen unlock or any of the commands to do with unlocking or flashing just gets me failed locked, but fastboot does work. Only way to root or unlock bootloader the device needs full boot into system so i can enable adb debugging or usb debug in developer settings so the computer will let the device get past the failed error locked part....
Do you know how to get the usb debugging turned on so the computer can grant full access to the device then il be able to actually crack into it and flash through fastboot..
Or where the usb debugging file is in the system.img if i extract it, use text editor and give the bool a yes that its been accepted then repack the system,img and flash it usinh sp flashtools, then i might ge able yo get it up and running....
After flashing all kinds of firmware for this device they all pass the flashing except for a few of them, ones that dont work wont even let the device boot to show system thing, then flashing correct firmware it allows the first screen again and the menu to pick fastboot but wont fully boot up..
Im thinking there must be somekind of lock the device put on from letting you oem unlock bootloader or booting into recovery mode because the firmware is working or it wouldnt take it using SP Flash Tools or even let it boot up as it would either reboot instantly or not even turn on, if the boot partition or recovery partition was courupt or broken or damaged it wouldnt take it during the flashing process it would fail....
If you know how i can activate the usb in developer settings from a file in system.img file after ectracting it then thats prob my BEST OPTION OR BUY A USED MOTHERBOATD OFF EBAY...
Lol

KixxTheManz said:
Ya i can flash the firmware correctly in SP Flashtool it comes back with green checkmark, all the firmware is for the correct device, its just when i had it given to me it had broken screen and bad battery, so i buy new screen, battery, backcover for it and when i booted it up it just sticks on the first screen shown ( Powered by Android ) then after like 30 secs it reboots back to that screen.. I can hold the vol + and power and get the menu to pick RECOVERY or FASTBOOT or REBOOT, recovery just reboots to powered by android screen then reboots after 30 secs, fastboot lets me use adb and fastboot but cant flash it says failed locked, and fastboot oen unlock or any of the commands to do with unlocking or flashing just gets me failed locked, but fastboot does work. Only way to root or unlock bootloader the device needs full boot into system so i can enable adb debugging or usb debug in developer settings so the computer will let the device get past the failed error locked part....
Do you know how to get the usb debugging turned on so the computer can grant full access to the device then il be able to actually crack into it and flash through fastboot..
Or where the usb debugging file is in the system.img if i extract it, use text editor and give the bool a yes that its been accepted then repack the system,img and flash it usinh sp flashtools, then i might ge able yo get it up and running....
After flashing all kinds of firmware for this device they all pass the flashing except for a few of them, ones that dont work wont even let the device boot to show system thing, then flashing correct firmware it allows the first screen again and the menu to pick fastboot but wont fully boot up..
Im thinking there must be somekind of lock the device put on from letting you oem unlock bootloader or booting into recovery mode because the firmware is working or it wouldnt take it using SP Flash Tools or even let it boot up as it would either reboot instantly or not even turn on, if the boot partition or recovery partition was courupt or broken or damaged it wouldnt take it during the flashing process it would fail....
If you know how i can activate the usb in developer settings from a file in system.img file after ectracting it then thats prob my BEST OPTION OR BUY A USED MOTHERBOATD OFF EBAY...
Lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as far as i can tell and did unlock 2 asus devices of the same model (still, X00HD):
i didn't needed to go thru android, since Asus never had an "OEM Unlock" thing to enable once unlocked dev settings-
yet, i'm speaking about the X00HD since, again, i never owned an X01BD, but i am trying to apply the same reasoning even if it is an entire different model but still same brand.
Dunno, in my case i was able to get the bootloader unlocked by going getvar all and got the secret key to unlock it just as easily by experimenting and finding cmds to use over this device's forum in here while being in Fastboot mode.
Before stepping my feet to Fastboot, tho, i even tried to get my hands at an OEM Unlocker apk made by Asus:
but to no avail it only worked on devices with really old firmware and since my device was updated to the latest Oreo FW, it was impossible to perform since things got patched overtime.
Sadly, i really don't know how to modify values over system.img files myself and tick up variables by inspecting over hex editors and such.
Least i know is getting the Brotli binaries and some other specific tool on GitHub to extract stuff from Android .img files, but that's all my skills really get limited to since i'm no dev myself nor either someone who can reverse engineer things just as well.
I think you could be out of luck on that regard.
Only thing that remains is going to a particular mode where it is required putting the phone apart and touch 2 specific pins on the board to enter it.
I currently forgot the name of this mode, but i do know by fact it's a common thing between Huawei devices.
If even this thingie won't help, then i really dunno myself.
Maybe someone else could be of help instead of me lol.

Ya ill try touching the two pins but what two oins and touch them with whst? Give me a roll out on what to do, i just dont understand why it accepts firmware but wont let me boot up into it or recovery mode or flash anything because at first it flashes then when it completes it fails and says remote unknown locked

Also im going to try find a way to format or partition the main system partitions maybe the system.img is landing on a different section of the harddrive... just need tge partitions for thus device

KixxTheManz said:
Ya ill try touching the two pins but what two oins and touch them with whst? Give me a roll out on what to do, i just dont understand why it accepts firmware but wont let me boot up into it or recovery mode or flash anything because at first it flashes then when it completes it fails and says remote unknown locked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aight, to start with: i'll share out a couple of links.
First, here's a picture on where the testpoints of the device are.
As of second, you need some tweezers or something that is able to touch such testpoints inside the board (unrelated, but the GH page to PotatoNV has a guide what to do with the testpoints- even tho, the page redirects you to a tool that only works with Huawei devices. Don't test it on that asus device.).
Not sure about the flashing tool, honestly, but i do know for a fact i couldn't share software in here due to rules of this forum.
Since this is, i suppose, a device with a Qualcomm SoC:
maybe you could use stuff like QFIL Flash Tool for the job (dunno about partitions, for that you should get some linux knowledge- since android uses the linux kernel to communicate with everything inside the device).
Also, i've got something intriguing right now:
apparently the forum for the X01BD effectively exists over XDA lol (turns out the X01BD is a Zenfone Max Plus M2 and not an M1).
Maybe you can check out here for further custom ROMs and recoveries, plus more proper help on the matter- as of firmware dumps, you could try hopping over Android FileHost, firmware.mobi, or steep your feet into some unknown forum that has the firmware dumps of this specific device and restore it logically (or simply doing a google search by doing [insert model number here] firmware dump - if google only gets you to shady sites, stick to the XDA forum on the device).

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welcome