I need help in recovering a two year old Nexus 4 to usable state.
It went into a loop while in use. Background and symptoms are as follows:
1. OS was OTA updated to Lollipop and was used for several days before problem occured.
2. Now, on powering on, the device remains indefinitely (checked for 30-40 minutes) in the loop displaying 4 coloured shapes going in circles.
3. At first, I tried factory reset, but that failed showing errors like failure to mount /cache etc.
4. Device can be put in fastboot mode (showing product, variant etc.), but always with "locked" state.
5. I used Nexus root toolkit 2.0.4 for attempting recovery. The device is detected in fastboot mode.
6. I tried to unlock bootloader. But it fails to unlock. After selecting unlock option with volume-up and pushing power button, device seems to unlock, but it then boots into the loop similar to the one after power-on. Powering off and putting the device in fastboot mode shows the device state as "locked" again.
7. "Flash stock + unroot" with "soft-bricked/bootloop" option attempts to write to the device but fails at every step with the reason: FAILED (remote: not supported in locked device). This happens 7 times during flash and once during postflash boot. I repeated the exercise with "force-flash mode" and "post-flash factory reset" checked as well, with same failure messages.
8. FYI: I have downloaded the factory image "occam-lrx22c-factory-86c04af6.tgz". It is verified by NRT as OK.
Based on this, I feel that unless the device can be "unlocked", writing to it and recovering it will be difficult.
Can anyone suggest a different set of steps / different recovery program, which may help?
I have read similar threads on this forum, but could not get a complete set of "instructions + working links to tools" from those threads.
Related
Current Status of my TF700:
-Boot looping with Asus "Inspiring Innovation - Persisten Perfection" logo. Approximately 5 seconds between reboots, with a vibrate every time it reboots.
-It says "Device is Unlocked" in the top left.
-Holding power for a long time (over 20s) will shut it off, and vibrate, but then it immediately vibrates again and resumes the bootloop.
-I cannot get it into the bootloader with Power + Vol Down. That combination does nothing.
-If I use the pinhole button, as long as I hold it, the screen remains blank. As soon as I release it again, the bootloop resumes immediately.
-It does not get to the second "shiny" Asus logo.
-It doesn't get far enough to recognize a new firmware file on the microSD card.
How I got to this point:
Stock ever since I bought it up until a few days ago. I decided it was time to root, unlock, install TWRP, and install CWM. I never got that far.
1. I unlocked first. I believe it was successful because it has said "Device is Unlocked" ever since.
2. I tried to root with the debugfs method. It reported it was successful, but despite several attempts, it was unsuccessful.
3. I tried using GooManager to install TWRP. It never worked.
4. I discovered that I wasn't running the latest Asus firmware. I then upgraded it. It ran successfully. (V10.6.1.14.10)
5. I tried rooting with Motochopper. It reported success. But it didn't work. I then discovered it wouldn't work with V10.6.1.14.10.
6. I then tried installing TWRP via fastboot. It reported success, but Power+VolDown didn't get me into TWRP. Nothing seemed to load TWRP. In case it's relevant, I was having trouble where Windows was saying there was a problem with the Bootloader Interface Driver, and after several reboots, I was able to get fastboot to reportedly load TWRP. It reported success, but I never saw TWRP.
7. I booted into Recovery, the latest version that said something to the effect of, "USB recovery loaded" or something, with 3 icons: RCK, Android, and Wipe Data. This is the only recovery I was ever able to see, by the way. I then selected "Wipe Data" hoping it would give me a new starting point.
Once it rebooted, it has been stuck in this bootloop. Have I royally screwed myself, or is there a way to recover?
Please ask any questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability. In the meantime, I will hope to run the power down on the tablet in the hopes it will make a difference.
blauciel said:
6. I then tried installing TWRP via fastboot. It reported success, but Power+VolDown didn't get me into TWRP.
....
7. I booted into Recovery, the latest version that said something to the effect of, "USB recovery loaded" or something, with 3 icons: RCK, Android, and Wipe Data. This is the only recovery I was ever able to see, by the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Power+VolDown activates the bootloader menu - this is the screen with the 3 icons, where you can use fastboot. Since you needed to go there to install TWRP via fastboot, you should have known that Power+VolDown doesn't get you into TWRP - you'd have to press VolUp in the bootloader menu, to activate RCK.
blauciel said:
I then selected "Wipe Data" hoping it would give me a new starting point.
Once it rebooted, it has been stuck in this bootloop. Have I royally screwed myself, or is there a way to recover?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Selecting "Wipe data" from the bootloader menu with a broken recovery is the best known way to brick a TF700. This can only be recovered via nvflash, which you can't use since you never got far enough to extract the required files from your tablet while it still worked. Your only option now is a new mainboard.
Well, crap. RCK never did anything except show a loading bar then reboot.
Thanks for the reply.
...from my phone...
Anyone know of a place that sells 64gb mainboards? Not finding anything thus far...
...from my phone...
in case anyone cares, I swapped the motherboard out with one from ebay, and it booted right up.
Hello all,
I think my TF300T is definitely bricked, but I'd rather have your opinion before trying to switch motherboards....
What are the symptoms :
When I power on the tablet, I have for a few seconds the Asus screen (with "tablet unlocked" on the top), then this Asus screen blinks and the tablet launches twrp automatically (without showing the bootloader (recovery,android,wipe) screen, it goes directly to twrp).
But TWRP won't launch properly, it is stuck in twrp start screen for 30 seconds, then the tablets restarts automatically and the loop I described starts from the beginning.
I cannot event switch off the tablet holding the power button, can only restart it.
I started many combinations described in several posts here to obtain the bootloader screen (I've seen a post with a least seven methods, the only one I did not try yet is to open the tablet and unplug the battery ), none succeeded !
I previously (before the problems) had good adb/fastboot connection with my computer, none of it is working now ! (I've seen a post of someone saying that he had a proper connection for only a few seconds during boot, I tried the steps he described but it did not work either, If I constantly launch "adb devices" or "fastboot devices" commands , I never obtain a response from the tablet. ( I also did the drivers replacements )
How did I get there :
I wanted to install katkiss , before that I installed twrp and formatted /data in f2fs.
After installing twrp I saw that it could not launch properly (it could launch only after flashing it , the next boot it was not working anymore, stuck in launch screen), and that the filesystem was not accessible in twrp any more .
That's where I guess I did the biggest mistake, I used the wipe option in the bootloader (I know now that it was A VERY BAD IDEA ... ) .
I seemed to me that , to perform this wipe, the tablet launched twrp and freezed , but I can be wrong.
I suspect that the tablet saved somewhere that is has to launch twrp on boot to perform the wipe, but as twrp is not launching correctly, the tablets restarts, sees that it has to launch twrp... , then loop again ...
Am I right ? could it be possible that the tablets stored somewhere to automatically start twrp on boot ?
and now ?
Every ways to fix it I read implies having adb or fastboot (I read about nvflash but never used it before, so it seems too late), butI can't use it at the moment !
Any Suggestions / advice ?
Thanks in advance,
hardballer83 said:
Hello all,
I think my TF300T is definitely bricked, but I'd rather have your opinion before trying to switch motherboards....
What are the symptoms :
When I power on the tablet, I have for a few seconds the Asus screen (with "tablet unlocked" on the top), then this Asus screen blinks and the tablet launches twrp automatically (without showing the bootloader (recovery,android,wipe) screen, it goes directly to twrp).
But TWRP won't launch properly, it is stuck in twrp start screen for 30 seconds, then the tablets restarts automatically and the loop I described starts from the beginning.
I cannot event switch off the tablet holding the power button, can only restart it.
I started many combinations described in several posts here to obtain the bootloader screen (I've seen a post with a least seven methods, the only one I did not try yet is to open the tablet and unplug the battery ), none succeeded !
I previously (before the problems) had good adb/fastboot connection with my computer, none of it is working now ! (I've seen a post of someone saying that he had a proper connection for only a few seconds during boot, I tried the steps he described but it did not work either, If I constantly launch "adb devices" or "fastboot devices" commands , I never obtain a response from the tablet. ( I also did the drivers replacements )
How did I get there :
I wanted to install katkiss , before that I installed twrp and formatted /data in f2fs.
After installing twrp I saw that it could not launch properly (it could launch only after flashing it , the next boot it was not working anymore, stuck in launch screen), and that the filesystem was not accessible in twrp any more .
That's where I guess I did the biggest mistake, I used the wipe option in the bootloader (I know now that it was A VERY BAD IDEA ... ) .
I seemed to me that , to perform this wipe, the tablet launched twrp and freezed , but I can be wrong.
I suspect that the tablet saved somewhere that is has to launch twrp on boot to perform the wipe, but as twrp is not launching correctly, the tablets restarts, sees that it has to launch twrp... , then loop again ...
Am I right ? could it be possible that the tablets stored somewhere to automatically start twrp on boot ?
and now ?
Every ways to fix it I read implies having adb or fastboot (I read about nvflash but never used it before, so it seems too late), butI can't use it at the moment !
Any Suggestions / advice ?
Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you've tried this, but power on by holding power+down vol. Should get you to bootloader. Keep holding it until bootloader screen appears. Holding power for 10-20 seconds should power down tablet.
Sent from my HTC One M8 using XDA Free mobile app
Hi
Thanks for your answer.
Yup I tried it, I tried all the ways I found on the internet (there's a post somewhere in this forum where 7 or 8 different methods are explained) none of it worked.
So, did you have TWRP loaded on the regular flash partition vs. the Recovery partition?
Is it possible you were running TWRP as the Operating System, and when you wiped the partition, you destroyed the OS?
TF300T bricked?
Hi,
hardballer83 said:
Hello all,
I think my TF300T is definitely bricked, but I'd rather have your opinion before trying to switch motherboards....
What are the symptoms :
When I power on the tablet, I have for a few seconds the Asus screen (with "tablet unlocked" on the top), then this Asus screen blinks and the tablet launches twrp automatically (without showing the bootloader (recovery,android,wipe) screen, it goes directly to twrp).
But TWRP won't launch properly, it is stuck in twrp start screen for 30 seconds, then the tablets restarts automatically and the loop I described starts from the beginning.
I cannot event switch off the tablet holding the power button, can only restart it.
I started many combinations described in several posts here to obtain the bootloader screen (I've seen a post with a least seven methods, the only one I did not try yet is to open the tablet and unplug the battery ), none succeeded !
I previously (before the problems) had good adb/fastboot connection with my computer, none of it is working now ! (I've seen a post of someone saying that he had a proper connection for only a few seconds during boot, I tried the steps he described but it did not work either, If I constantly launch "adb devices" or "fastboot devices" commands , I never obtain a response from the tablet. ( I also did the drivers replacements )
How did I get there :
I wanted to install katkiss , before that I installed twrp and formatted /data in f2fs.
After installing twrp I saw that it could not launch properly (it could launch only after flashing it , the next boot it was not working anymore, stuck in launch screen), and that the filesystem was not accessible in twrp any more .
That's where I guess I did the biggest mistake, I used the wipe option in the bootloader (I know now that it was A VERY BAD IDEA ... ) .
I seemed to me that , to perform this wipe, the tablet launched twrp and freezed , but I can be wrong.
I suspect that the tablet saved somewhere that is has to launch twrp on boot to perform the wipe, but as twrp is not launching correctly, the tablets restarts, sees that it has to launch twrp... , then loop again ...
Am I right ? could it be possible that the tablets stored somewhere to automatically start twrp on boot ?
and now ?
Every ways to fix it I read implies having adb or fastboot (I read about nvflash but never used it before, so it seems too late), butI can't use it at the moment !
Any Suggestions / advice ?
Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Had the same thing happen to mine. Hold own power to force shutdown then hold volume down and recovery screen should come up. Worked for me.!
@hardballer83
Unfortunately a bad situation caused by yourself!
If you don't have any fastboot or ADB-access to your tablet now, only a new MB can bring your device back to life again.
Hi,
I just bought a second hand Nexus 5 and when I turned it on it was in "FastBoot Mode" with the product name Hammerhead and bootloader HHz12k showing as the bootloader version.
Anyway, I set the phone up and started a system software update and now it's stuck in a loop where it states "Installing System Update" with the progress bar 1/5th of the way up, restarting and repeating that process, Statement, Progress Bar, Restart.
Has this phone been tampered with and is there any way I (a layman) can get it running.
I've searched the forum but must admit the volume of threads is confusing. Can anyone help?
You can just flash the latest stock from from Google.
ROM images are here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#hammerhead
Good info here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/tutorial-how-to-flash-factory-image-t2513701
CHEWBAZZA said:
Hi,
I just bought a second hand Nexus 5 and when I turned it on it was in "FastBoot Mode" with the product name Hammerhead and bootloader HHz12k showing as the bootloader version.
Anyway, I set the phone up and started a system software update and now it's stuck in a loop where it states "Installing System Update" with the progress bar 1/5th of the way up, restarting and repeating that process, Statement, Progress Bar, Restart.
Has this phone been tampered with and is there any way I (a layman) can get it running.
I've searched the forum but must admit the volume of threads is confusing. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You first need to find out what state the bootloader is in. Is it locked, unlocked? If unlocked, is there a custom recovery installed, such as TWRP? First of all, turn the phone completely off ... and then boot into recovery, by holding the volume down button and the start button simultaneously. Toggle the volume button to show recovery, and select with the power button. If it boots into TWRP, do a wipe (cache, dalvik cache, reset), and then reboot the system. You should be at the welcome screen of what software is currently on the phone. Set up enough so that you can get back to XDA, and download a stock custom rom, such as xTraFactory and the updated bootloader/radio zip that was released a couple of weeks ago. Back into recovery ... wipe, then flash the rom zip and the bl/radio zip. Reboot and setup.
Recently I found out my device having battery drain quicker than normal, then I decided to do a factory reset. But the factory reset is taking much longer than usual (usually its around 4-5minutes but this one takes more than 10 min). I thought there must be something wrong and I decided to do a factory image flash.
When I tried to unlock the bootloader the device freezes at the screen where there's two option (unlock or do not unlock) after I selected the unlock option. Waiting did not help so I did the good ol power up + volume down combo and the device arrive at bootloader mode unlocked. I then proceed to do the factory image flash and at the end of the it says
Erasing 'userdata' FAILED ERR(Check device console) <-- something along those lines
and the device does not auto reboot after the flashing is done like it normally does
It took a few reboot to get the device to setup screen and after the setup the device is working fine (for now) and the battery drain still persists.
Any idea on what is going on with my devices? I've tried factory image flashing and sideloading ota updates with no problem and this is the first time I encountered one. Any help would be appreciated :fingers-crossed:
Did you read this https://developers.google.com/android/images especially the part that starts with For Pixel 2 XL only. I would also make sure you have the latest platform tools and try a 2.0 usb port and maybe a different cable .
Hi, here's a description of what happened, what I did to solve my problem, and where I am now...
I left my Google Pixel and 2 hours later found it stuck into a booting loop (Google logo displayed > black screen > Google logo displayed > blackscreen...).
I first entered fastboot and tried to power off, restart, etc a few times, but it stayed stuck into the booting loop.
So I downloaded latest OTA from Google for my phone (my phone was already updated to the latest version via the phone update manager, which goes back to december 2019 I think).
I first verified that my linux pc could correctly see the devices, and then from fastboot I entered recovery mode and chose "Apply update from ADB".
I used the adb command to load the OTA I had downloaded.
The update progressed until it finished with the following error message :
Code:
install from ADB completed with status 1
Installation aborted
E:Failed to clear BCB messages: failed to write /dev/block/platform/soc/62400.ufshc/by-name/misc: I/O error
I was back on the recovery menu screen, and this is where I think I did something stupid : I selected "Reboot system now".
The phone did not reboot, the screen just went black and stays black. The phone is cold so I guess not running anything. And it does not respond to any button, so not starting up, no fastboot, etc. No more when I connect it to a PC or plug it in a power plug.
I don't really care about the phone, I was just trying to get back my picture/videos from the last 6 months.
I don't have much hope but I will appreciate any help, even if its just to confirm that there is nothing to do
rraphrr said:
Hi, here's a description of what happened, what I did to solve my problem, and where I am now...
I left my Google Pixel and 2 hours later found it stuck into a booting loop (Google logo displayed > black screen > Google logo displayed > blackscreen...).
I first entered fastboot and tried to power off, restart, etc a few times, but it stayed stuck into the booting loop.
So I downloaded latest OTA from Google for my phone (my phone was already updated to the latest version via the phone update manager, which goes back to december 2019 I think).
I first verified that my linux pc could correctly see the devices, and then from fastboot I entered recovery mode and chose "Apply update from ADB".
I used the adb command to load the OTA I had downloaded.
The update progressed until it finished with the following error message :
Code:
install from ADB completed with status 1
Installation aborted
E:Failed to clear BCB messages: failed to write /dev/block/platform/soc/62400.ufshc/by-name/misc: I/O error
I was back on the recovery menu screen, and this is where I think I did something stupid : I selected "Reboot system now".
The phone did not reboot, the screen just went black and stays black. The phone is cold so I guess not running anything. And it does not respond to any button, so not starting up, no fastboot, etc. No more when I connect it to a PC or plug it in a power plug.
I don't really care about the phone, I was just trying to get back my picture/videos from the last 6 months.
I don't have much hope but I will appreciate any help, even if its just to confirm that there is nothing to do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you could try and see if the phone is in deep flash mode, if it is flash system, boot and other sensitive partitions but make sure that the versions are the same. If you don't have the firmware you can pull user data partition from phone and get your data back that way
muhammad42620 said:
Well you could try and see if the phone is in deep flash mode, if it is flash system, boot and other sensitive partitions but make sure that the versions are the same. If you don't have the firmware you can pull user data partition from phone and get your data back that way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help. This is probably beyond my capabilities. I don't know how to check if it's in deep flash mode. Pulling the data out is what I'm interested in most.
Maybe this is something that a phone repair shop is able to do...
rraphrr said:
Thanks for your help. This is probably beyond my capabilities. I don't know how to check if it's in deep flash mode. Pulling the data out is what I'm interested in most.
Maybe this is something that a phone repair shop is able to do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These phones get emmc errors. Common issue with this device