Database Info

Flashed stock recovery and thought I soft bricked my shield tablet.

First I'll give credit where it is due. From two threads on this site is where I got help with this issue:
I followed THIS guys steps for manually erasing and got the recovery images and lots of other useful information from HERE. Thank you guys very much!
OK, so, hopefully I can help someone with my little story as well. I was having issues with apps and programs crashing on me with lollipop and the new marshmallow update. The tablet just wasn't working properly and moving slow. I even had the SD card holding all my apps and larger files so I didn't overload the internal storage. So, I decided I wanted to flash back to factory/stock recovery and go from there. I did this using THIS method. I flashed via the "flash-all.bat" file (the command in fastboot is the same as the file name). I should note that there was one instance that failed during the install (I did try it again and got the same failure). Said something about “did you mean you wanted to flash this partition” or something, then showed it failed. After flashing I hit continue on the bootloader screen of the tablet and it said it was "cold booting." After about 5 minutes or so it started to boot but never made it past the NVidia screen. I tried wiping the phone with factory reset, wiping the cache, etc. and then re-flashing the recovery (again with the .bat file). I tried flashing TWRP but it didn't install apparently, because it still went to factory recovery. I even re-locked and then unlocked my bootloader to see if that would set everything straight. Nothing seemed to work. I knew I would eventually find a solution though so I kept looking. Stumbled on some other people that had the same issues but no solution (hope those people got it figured out). So here's what I did after some more research:
First, if you're in this situation and you did factory reset to try and resolve the problem, you may feel like you can no longer communicate with the device via fastboot/adb, but as long as you have the usb drive and your SDK tools installed (I used CodeWorks for Android all-in-one program) that shouldn't be a problem. You'll just have to be in the bootloader on the tablet.
-If for some reason you deleted or uninstalled your drivers and tools you'll have to download them again and then, the computer should still be able to communicate with the tablet. In the device manager under portable devices it will still show up as Module something or other. So the computer still sees the device but doesn't fully recognize it yet. Don't worry, this should still work! Just make sure you that fastboot is seeing the device by inputting "fastboot devices" in the command window and a 14 digit serial number should pop up. If it just says "list of devices" or there's nothing then you wont be communicating with the tablet.
Your device should be connected to your computer and started in bootloader mode. On your computer you should have the command prompt for adb/fastboot open. I just go to the folder where the .exe files are located and hold shift and right click in the white space of the folder, then select "open command window here."
From here follow the erase steps: stolen from manigault! :highfive:
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase cache
Then flash your recovery MANUALLY:
fastboot flash recovery {dir}/recovery.img
fastboot flash boot {dir}/boot.img
fastboot flash system {dir}/system.img
fastboot flash userdata {dir}/userdata.img
fastboot flash staging {dir}/blob
fastboot flash dtb {dir}/tegra124-tn8-p1761-1270-a04-e-battery.dtb
You can download whatever recovery version you wish. I downloaded 2.2.2 because that's what my device came with out of the box on Christmas 2014. It will more then likely be a .zip file. To make this whole process a little easier simply extract the files in the .zip file where the adb.exe and fastboot.exe files are located (folder should be named platform-tools) and you can completely eliminate typing the whole directory before the file name. ***After your done flashing everything you can go back and delete those files if you want. Just double check that you're deleting the right files by looking at the original zip file. Not sure if it makes a difference but I deleted them anyway.
For example the commands in fastboot will look like this exactly :
(after extracting recovery files into platform-tools folder)
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot flash staging blob
fastboot flash dtb tegra124-tn8-p1761-1270-a04-e-battery.dtb
Note: Do NOT use the flash-all.bat command as this doesn't seem to work for this situation. Do it manually like shown above. And let each individual process complete before attempting to input another command.
After this step I didn't select continue on the bootloader. You can either select reboot or simply input "fastboot reboot" into the command window. It may take about 5 minutes to start installing everything but just be patient, it should start. Sometimes with these things you have to do things twice before it works. If for some reason it doesn't work the first time then start from the beginning and try it again. It took two times for me, but that's because I installed system.img twice and was getting double screen. Newb error... and I was a bit inebriated last night when I did this.
Hope this helps someone!
Thanks again to manigault and MidgetMob!
NVIDIA download files HERE!

i think i done the same thing
but the problem i now have is i cnt get tablet into fastboot on pc. i can load fastboot on tablet with power and volume down , but the tablet only shows as MTP device in device manager. i have downloaded drivers from nvidia and no matter what i try i cant install them i have been through all instructions but scince it went to mtp device i cant get device showing in adb. The only way i can get device showing in adb on pc ist to select apply update from adb ! but none of these commands listed in your post will work because its in sideload. is there anyway i cn reset , flash custom rom ect bu using commands while device is in adb sideload.
all i get is now send the package you want to apply to the device with "adb sideload <filename>".....
if you could shed any light on this it would be much appreciated , thanks , lester

did you update official android 6.0 before? then, not working stock recovery, stock boot...
If you can enter bootloader mode, download unofficial twrp 3.0.0.0 (here http://forum.xda-developers.com/shield-tablet/development/wip-twrp-2-8-0-1-unofficial-t2877117) and flash it.
i have a working boot.img file on marshmallow if you want.. please reply.

Sorry for the late response! I have no clue how you got into sideload??? Are you talking about through the recovery on your device? You're not able to get adb/ fastboot to recognize the device, right? It doesn't matter how you get the tablet into the bootloader. Whenever you have the phone in the bootloader then you'll use the fastboot command to "talk to" the device; i.e. "fastboot devices" without the quotes. That command should show your device if it shows as an MTP device whenever you open your "device manager" in windows. That's the same exact situation I was in. Download the codeworks from nvidia like I linked above. Hopefully then you should be able to recognize your device through the bootloader. If not DM me and I'll try to help you.

I'm having the exact problem as Lester. Tablet boots into bootloader but won't connect to computer. So I go into recovery mode and nothing works except apply update from adb. Which brings up the side load message that Lester quoted. And bootloader is showing "device=locked". I am attempting to fix this tablet for a friend that messed it up trying to flash a custom rom. Problem is he had no idea what he was doing and I'm not exactly sure what he did. I do however have a lot of experience with rooted android devices and flashing so any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!
---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:55 PM ----------
Also, I've already tried flashing stock rom back onto the tablet by applying update from sd card function in the recovery but when I try to do that the tablet for some reason can't mount the sd card.

rom fiend said:
Tablet boots into bootloader but won't connect to computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you've got the device in bootloader then you need to use fastboot, not adb. Try the command 'fastboot devices' and see if the device id is listed. If so then grab a factory image, unzip it and use fastboot to flash the .img files using the commands 'fastboot flash system system.img'. Just make sure to match the partition names to the files.

Hello i have similar issue except when i try flash something i get this error ''remote: file write failed''
and i have to reboot into fastboot to get it flashing fully
but even though i managed to flash everything by rebooting when i boot system nothing shows up, i can just see the back light coming on and turning off after a while
Please help

Boot Issues, Trying to Go Back To Stock

So I got a pixel recently. I unlocked the bootloader, installed TWRP, and rooted it. However, it's been a few years since I had an unlocked and rooted phone so I forgot that the OTA updates can't be applied. So I decided to go back to the factory image. A quick google search lead me to an article where they said I could select the Full Unroot option in the settings of SuperSU and it would attempt to restore the stock boot image and recovery image. So I did that, and ended up in a boot loop.
Well, then I decided to try flashing the entire factory images from google, using the flash-all.bat file they provide. It seems to flash the bootloader and the radio fine, but when it comes to the part where it flashes everything in the "image-sailfish-nde63l.zip" (I picked this build because it was the one I was on when the pixel arrived) folder it says "Error: failed to load 'image-sailfish-nde63l.zip': not enough space."
I can still get to the TWRP recovery, and I can get to the bootloader, but currently nothing else seems to work. Please, can anyone help me?
UPDATE: The issue was outdated adb and fastboot. I had 1.0.32, once I had the latest versions (1.0.36 right now) I could fix everything.
UPDATE: So I extracted boot and system from the zip file and manually flashed those. It boots now, but when it does it says there are errors with the device and to contact the manufacturer, also a lot of dialog boxes pop up saying various processes have stopped.
I think that if I manually flash the rest of the contents of the zip folder it will work, but there are a lot of files and I'm not sure which partition to flash them too, or which one's are needed. Does anyone know how to manually do what the flash-all.bat script does? Flashing bootloader, radio, system, and boot are not enough it seems. If you read the script it's just doing a 'fastboot -w update' on the zip file.
I hope what I'm saying makes sense. Thanks.

Did you try flashing the stock boot.img to both slots before going back to stock?
fastboot flash boot_a boot.img
fastboot flash boot_b boot.img
This is what chainfire recommended in his supersu post when he was talking about flashing twrp. Maybe try doing that and then try using the flashall script. Also make sure your download is not corrupt or something. https://plus.google.com/+Chainfire/posts/CBL8pnKtA8F

Evo_Shift said:
Did you try flashing the stock boot.img to both partitions before going back to stock?
fastboot flash boot_a boot.img
fastboot flash boot_b boot.img
This is what chainfire recommended in his supersu post when he was talking about flashing twrp. Maybe try doing that and then try using the flashall script. Also make sure you download is not corrupt or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I didn't do any flashing myself before going back to stock. I selected the "Full unroot" option in SuperSU, based on the first result when googling "unroot pixel".
As soon as I did that I was stuck in a bootloop and I tried to restore the factory images according to the google webpage, but that's when I get the error.
Doing what you said doesn't work either, not even redownloading the image.

Actually, now it's worse. When I select recovery from fastboot menu it shows "No command" with a broken android. So twrp is gone now too.
If anyone can help me at all, that would be amazing, thanks.

UPDATE: So I extracted boot and system from the zip file and manually flashed those. It boots now, but when it does it says there are errors with the device and to contact the manufacturer, also a lot of dialog boxes pop up saying various processes have stopped.
I think that if I manually flash the rest of the contents of the zip folder it will work, but there are a lot of files and I'm not sure which partition to flash them too, or which one's are needed. Does anyone know how to manually do what the flash-all.bat script does? Flashing bootloader, radio, system, and boot are not enough it seems. If you read the script it's just doing a 'fastboot -w update' on the zip file.
I hope what I'm saying makes sense. Thanks.

th3p3r50n said:
Actually, now it's worse. When I select recovery from fastboot menu it shows "No command" with a broken android. So twrp is gone now too.
If anyone can help me at all, that would be amazing, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happened to me too. That's my current situation. Have adb and fastboot still but can't figure out what steps to fix it.

I think you should focus on why the flash all didn't work. Do you have the latest fastboot? Did you check the md5 of the downloaded rom image? What OS it's your computer running?

How do we verify latest fastboot. I thought that was my issue but don't see where this can be found. I have latest minimal adb and fastboot installed.

fracman said:
How do we verify latest fastboot. I thought that was my issue but don't see where this can be found. I have latest minimal adb and fastboot installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The commands <adb version> and <fastboot --version> seem to return version numbers. My setup returns:
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.36
Revision fd9e4d07b0f5-android
and
fastboot version fd9e4d07b0f5-android
respectively

Thank you cntryby429. I assumed I was using the latest versions because I had just installed them through the SDK Manager, turns out I was using version 1.0.32. I found the latest version of Minimal ADB and Fastboot and the flash-all script worked fine. I still had a few issues though, so I did a factory reset and then ran the flash-all script again. Now everything works perfectly again. Thanks so much!

Flashfire can't see my zip

I am trying to use Flashfire v0.53 to update my Google-sourced, rooted Pixel from 7.1.0 (build NDE63X) to 7.1.1 (build NMF26V). I've downloaded sailfish-ota-nmf26v-1988a458.zip to my phone and can see it with a root file browser but when I direct Flashfire to the same directory it lists no files. Any thoughts? If I'm going about updating my phone the wrong way, I'm happy to be pointed in the right direction. Thanks.

FlashFire is not working on this phone last I heard. Flash it with TWRP.

TonikJDK said:
FlashFire is not working on this phone last I heard. Flash it with TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know, thanks.
I've tried pointing TWRP at the OTA zip I got from Google and it fails. Perhaps because I need to unroot first? I was hoping Flashfire would do that for me. `adb sideload` failed, too.

ChrisNelsonPE said:
Good to know, thanks.
I've tried pointing TWRP at the OTA zip I got from Google and it fails. Perhaps because I need to unroot first? I was hoping Flashfire would do that for me. `adb sideload` failed, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to use fastboot. There are a few detailed guides in the "guides" section of both the pixel and pixel xl forums.
Basically you have to edit the flashall.bat file and remove the -w option so that it doesn't wipe. Then you have to fastboot boot into twrp then reflash twrp.zip and SU.zip
All the info is here just look around

aholeinthewor1d said:
You need to use fastboot. There are a few detailed guides in the "guides" section of both the pixel and pixel xl forums.
Basically you have to edit the flashall.bat file and remove the -w option so that it doesn't wipe. Then you have to fastboot boot into twrp then reflash twrp.zip and SU.zip
All the info is here just look around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/how-to/guide-update-fastboot-t3498187 seems promising. I can adapt to use sailfish vs. marlin. But I'm not sure how to know which image is for Verizon.

ChrisNelsonPE said:
Good to know, thanks.
I've tried pointing TWRP at the OTA zip I got from Google and it fails. Perhaps because I need to unroot first? I was hoping Flashfire would do that for me. `adb sideload` failed, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Copy the OTA zip you downloaded, from your phone to your computer. Reboot into TWRP. Go to Advanced and choose "ADB sideload"(not sure if that's exactly what it's called). Once the phone is waiting for ADB, go back to your computer and open a command prompt and type "adb sideload OTA.zip". OTA.zip will be the zip you downloaded. Example: if you copied it to C:\ you would type "adb sideload c:\sailfish-ota-nmf26-xxxxxxxx.zip" or whatever the zip is named.
That is how you would sideload an OTA. If you downloaded a full factory image then open "flash-all.bat" in notepad, remove the "-w"(it's towards the bottom), connect your phone, reboot to bootloader, run flash-all.bat.
Both a full image and OTA will remove your root and TWRP. You will need to re flash recovery and reroot after updating. Just follow the same guides you did originally.

fritzgerald said:
Copy the OTA zip you downloaded, from your phone to your computer. Reboot into TWRP. Go to Advanced and choose "ADB sideload"(not sure if that's exactly what it's called). Once the phone is waiting for ADB, go back to your computer and open a command prompt and type "adb sideload OTA.zip". OTA.zip will be the zip you downloaded. Example: if you copied it to C:\ you would type "adb sideload c:\sailfish-ota-nmf26-xxxxxxxx.zip" or whatever the zip is named.
That is how you would sideload an OTA. If you downloaded a full factory image then open "flash-all.bat" in notepad, remove the "-w"(it's towards the bottom), connect your phone, reboot to bootloader, run flash-all.bat.
Both a full image and OTA will remove your root and TWRP. You will need to re flash recovery and reroot after updating. Just follow the same guides you did originally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't seem to be able to find the OTA on my phone. Not sure where it gets put.
From your description of using the full image, I imagine I 1) unzip the factory image zip, 2) edit the flash-all.bat in the result, 3) run flash-all.bat (that is, I don't rezip and try to use the package). Right?

ChrisNelsonPE said:
I don't seem to be able to find the OTA on my phone. Not sure where it gets put.
From your description of using the full image, I imagine I 1) unzip the factory image zip, 2) edit the flash-all.bat in the result, 3) run flash-all.bat (that is, I don't rezip and try to use the package). Right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's correct. If you downloaded the OTA with System Updates then I'm not sure where it gets stored. If you downloaded it from Google then it would be in your downloads folder.

You can try the guide I wrote here to sideload the full ota zip from google.

adb sideload failure
spiller37 said:
You can try the guide I wrote here to sideload the full ota zip from google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a great guide. Alas, when I try to sideload the OTA I get:
Code:
PS C:\adb> adb sideload .\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip
loading: '.\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip'
error: closed
PS C:\adb> adb sideload .\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip
loading: '.\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip'
error: device '(null)' not found
I though the problem might be the old TWRP in my phone so I used the alpha2 I had to install rc1.

ChrisNelsonPE said:
That's a great guide. Alas, when I try to sideload the OTA I get:
I though the problem might be the old TWRP in my phone so I used the alpha2 I had to install rc1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the driver isn't recognized. Does ADB devices list your device?

ChrisNelsonPE said:
...
I though the problem might be the old TWRP in my phone so I used the alpha2 I had to install rc1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I'm in a boot loop. TWRP -- when it comes up at all -- says it is alpha2 and it doesn't prompt for the code to decrypt my data so the directory listing is gibberish. What do I do now? Reflash 7.0? Flash 7.1?
To recap, I have a Pixel I bought from Google with an unlocked boot loader and TWRP installed but can't boot to Android.

ChrisNelsonPE said:
Now I'm in a boot loop. TWRP -- when it comes up at all -- says it is alpha2 and it doesn't prompt for the code to decrypt my data so the directory listing is gibberish. What do I do now? Reflash 7.0? Flash 7.1?
To recap, I have a Pixel I bought from Google with an unlocked boot loader and TWRP installed but can't boot to Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alpha 2 is the wrong TWRP. You want RC1.

ChrisNelsonPE said:
That's a great guide. Alas, when I try to sideload the OTA I get:
Code:
PS C:\adb> adb sideload .\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip
loading: '.\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip'
error: closed
PS C:\adb> adb sideload .\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip
loading: '.\sailfish-ota-nmf26u-6ea22a0c.zip'
error: device '(null)' not found
I though the problem might be the old TWRP in my phone so I used the alpha2 I had to install rc1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That looks like an ADB device driver problem. Do you see your device listed with ADB devices when in TWRP/Advanced/Sideload?

spiller37 said:
That looks like an ADB device driver problem. Do you see your device listed with ADB devices when in TWRP/Advanced/Sideload?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.

TonikJDK said:
Alpha 2 is the wrong TWRP. You want RC1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fine. But how do I get there from a phone which is in a boot loop running alpha1?

ChrisNelsonPE said:
That's fine. But how do I get there from a phone which is in a boot loop running alpha1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get into TWRP on my phone an do
Code:
PS C:\adb> fastboot .\twrp-3.0.2-0-RC1-fastboot-sailfish.img
< waiting for device >
on my computer and it waits forever.

ChrisNelsonPE said:
That's fine. But how do I get there from a phone which is in a boot loop running alpha1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Power it down, hold power button and volume down to get it into fastboot.
Fastboot flash TWRPfilename.img
And if that does not work download the full factory image but edit flashall.bat to remove the -w which will save your data and flash the whole thing.

TonikJDK said:
...
And if that does not work download the full factory image but edit flashall.bat to remove the -w which will save your data and flash the whole thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I think I had to do this. `adb` lists my device but when I try to sideload it says the device (null) doesn't exist.
Do I somehow tell `fastboot` to use the factory image .zip file or do I unzip it, edit flashall.bat, then run flashall.bat?

ChrisNelsonPE said:
So, I think I had to do this. `adb` lists my device but when I try to sideload it says the device (null) doesn't exist.
Do I somehow tell `fastboot` to use the factory image .zip file or do I unzip it, edit flashall.bat, then run flashall.bat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unzip it into your fastboot directory. Then edit and run flashall.

Can't install TWRP?

Maybe it's me not understanding what's new, I've "rooted" quite a few phones going back to the OG Droid - Motorola, Samsung, HTC. Never had any significant issue following directions and getting it done. Maybe things have changed over time. OG Pixel, 128GB, with sailfish-opr3.170623.008 (8.0.0). Auto-update disabled, USB debugging enabled, bootloader unlocked.
Setup: twrp-3.2.1-2-sailfish.img in platform-tools with adb and fastboot (latest versions). twrp-pixel-installer-sailfish-3.2.1-2.zip and Magisk-v16.0.zip at root of "Pixel/Internal Shared Storage". I also extracted a fresh boot.img from a factory image.
Just to make sure I'm starting fresh:
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot --slot other flash boot boot.img
So far so good.
Code:
fastboot boot twrp-3.2.1-2-sailfish.img
TWRP comes up, I give it my PIN, it says decrypt OK, I tell it to install twrp-pixel-installer-sailfish-3.2.1-2.zip. Install seems fine, no errors reported. Back up a couple of levels, and "reboot recovery." It tries, eventually goes to a black screen for a few seconds, then does another reboot to system. No TWRP. Am I wrong in thinking I should be in TWRP at this point?
I can do the above, but flash Magisk-v16.0.zip instead, and I do end up with root, so that works. Just no way to get to TWRP except by fastbooting an external image.
I've also tried installing VerifiedBootSigner-v8.zip after installing twrp.zip, but that fails at the end with an "unable to verify..." or similar message. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be required or not currently, the TWRP install instructions don't mention it, but other guides do.
What am I doing wrong?

All I've ever done was boot to fastboot, adb boot <path-to-twrp>.img, and flash twrp. No need to use the boot signer anymore.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Well, I can only guess that twrp-pixel-installer-sailfish-3.2.1-2.zip isn't compatible with the boot image in sailfish-opr3.170623.008.
I installed sailfish-opm1.171019.021-factory-68d3b69a.zip, then the twrp (and Majesk) install worked, just as expected.

System partition not found

This is just a quick post to document an issue & solution I had when updating my Pixel 5 to the latest OTA and trying to re-root.
I had installed the latest OTA via system update, then downloaded the matching image from the Factory Images Page, pulled the boot.img out of there, transferred it to my Pixel, and used Magisk to patch it.
I then transferred it back to my computer and tried to flash it to the phone using fastboot flash boot boot_patched.img. At this point the phone entered a bootloop.
I booted into the bootloader menu and tried to flash the latest clean system image (without wiping data), when I ran into the following system errors causing the flash to fail when trying to flash the system partition:
Code:
FAILED (remote: Partition system not found)
(and later...)
FAILED (remote: Partition should be flashed in fastbootd)
I initially panicked but the way around this should you ever encounter these errors, is to literally just update your fastboot and adb binaries on your computer. You can grab the latest standalone binaries from here, and throw them where your PATH will find them. After running the flash script again, it worked without a hitch and my phone was up and running without issue.

CarteNoir said:
I initially panicked but the way around this should you ever encounter these errors, is to literally just update your fastboot and adb binaries on your computer. You can grab the latest standalone binaries from here, and throw them where your PATH will find them. After running the flash script again, it worked without a hitch and my phone was up and running without issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to say thanks. I had this issue with my Pixel 6, and updating my ancient ADB/fastboot binaries resolved it!

It's always important to ensure your platform tools are updated! Glad you figured this out!

Thank you!
I had the latest universal ADB/Fastboot drivers installed... but this didn't make a difference
I downloaded latest platform tools, ran the flash-all.bat from there and BOOM, sorted
Thank you so much

Thank you so much. Can't believe the solution is so simple lol