I purchased Shield TV for linux/GPU development. I have not rooted Andriod device, used adb or fastboot before.
I have read some shield TVs were bricked by writing compressed ROM image to all partitions.
Is it true that if either boot or recovery partition is intact, Shield TV can always been recovered?
Since I'll be using external SD card for Linux, is it possible to boot to external SD without replacing any partition of internal MMC? (For Tergra K1 based Chromebook, I can boot from external SD by contol-U at power up.)
Thanks in advance.
Related
First of all, I am running Cyanogen Mod 4.2.15.1, with RA recovery v1.52R and I have a properly partitioned SD card for apps2sd.
My question/problem is this:
I have 2 SD cards, the first one I have setup to use regularly with my phone, and is partitioned properly for apps2sd. The second one I have formatted and setup as a ubuntu USB boot disk.
My intention is this, whenever I need to use a random computer, at work or friends house, etc, it would be super if I could shut my phone down, switch to my boot SD card, boot into recovery, enable the USB-Mass Storage option, and boot the computer from USB into Ubuntu. I have the SD card set up with a persistence file so I can even save stuff in my linux environment. This is all fine and dandy, and works well. It's actually really cool to have a bootable linux environment right in my pocket with me everywhere I go...
To take it to the next level, I would like to be able to actually boot my phone, so it doesn't have to sit in recovery while I'm using the computer. This way I can even turn on "Wireless Tether for Root Users" and have Ubuntu with network on the go. I've tried partitioning my SD card, putting my apps on it, and using the FAT32 partition for the Ubuntu boot disk, The only problem with this is, I can't make the FAT32 partition available to the computer before it is plugged in. (I have to mount it when the notification pops up, which is usually too late) So I figured I will enable USB-MS from RA Recovery, let it boot to Ubuntu, and once it's loaded, I'll reboot my phone, and mount again in android, then continue using the computer, but I think because the card is partitioned, BIOS isn't recognizing it as a boot drive.
So how do I mount the FAT32 partition from inside Cyanogen's 4.2.15.1 Mod? (or even from recovery?) before the computer is even connected? I need it to be available right when the computer turns on.
Any suggestions would be super, I love the idea that I can carry around a linux distro with me everywhere I go, especially coupled with a wireless connection.
Thank you!
-Slopes
Hi,
Bit of a coincidence, but after the 7.02 update, my shield died. After investigation I found that the Hdd had fried. I have bought from Amazon an exact replica of the 500gb hdd that was installed in the shield.
My problem now is trying to get any firmware onto the brand new HDD. When plugged into the PC (win 10) all i get in device manager, is an unrecognized APX device, with the yellow warning triangle. I have downloaded and tried to update the drivers to this device from the Nvidia developers site, these are not recognized. I have adb and fastboot installed, this also does not recognize the device. obviously, i cannot
get the device into fastboot via the power button, due to the hdd being blank, and unable to get any bootloader or image transferred onto the HDD. I have searched the internet for fixes, but as yet no avail. So to summarize, Brand new HDD of original specs in the 500GB 2015 shield, not recognized by windows, and cannot get adb fastboot to see it, or put the shield itself in fastboot mode. Any ideas much appreciated.
Fried Hard Drive
chromedome21 said:
Hi,
Bit of a coincidence, but after the 7.02 update, my shield died. After investigation I found that the Hdd had fried. I have bought from Amazon an exact replica of the 500gb hdd that was installed in the shield.
My problem now is trying to get any firmware onto the brand new HDD. When plugged into the PC (win 10) all i get in device manager, is an unrecognized APX device, with the yellow warning triangle. I have downloaded and tried to update the drivers to this device from the Nvidia developers site, these are not recognized. I have adb and fastboot installed, this also does not recognize the device. obviously, i cannot
get the device into fastboot via the power button, due to the hdd being blank, and unable to get any bootloader or image transferred onto the HDD. I have searched the internet for fixes, but as yet no avail. So to summarize, Brand new HDD of original specs in the 500GB 2015 shield, not recognized by windows, and cannot get adb fastboot to see it, or put the shield itself in fastboot mode. Any ideas much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear your HD died, mine died last month. First you can not see anything on the HD, because it has special encryption. Just using a firmware will not work. You need to have a new SSHD drive, or as i did replace with 500 gig SSD. Now here is the problem you need to make a bit by bit image of the drive, if it is fried, you will not be able to do it. I was lucky, my son has the same drive so i was able to make my image, There are many steps to getting a new drive up and running. First you need to find a Friend or someone who would let you use there Shield Tv Pro, you need to ope the Shield tv and take the HD out of the borrowed one, then you need a USB SATA connector for the HD from the Borrowed HD and you need to have 500 gig of space on a PC or Laptop HD to store the Image to, it takes about 4 hours to make image, then you hook up the New HD Drive to the SATA Connection and then copy the image From PC to the new drive, that takes about 3 hours, then carefully put drives back in there Shield Tv boxes. there is a small image software to do the image making, i don't remember the name of it. so as you see it is a long process
I'm trying to find out the Android requirements to properly format a USB drive from either a Windows or macOS computer (Linux if required) so (A) I can mount it on Shield TV 2017 (16GB) and (B) TWRP 3.2.3.0 Recovery Project can actually read the files on it.
What are the exact requirements to format the USB drive so Android doesn't have to modify or update anything?
FAT32/NTFS/XFAT/Other ? from what I've read FAT32 seems to be the most preferable.
MBR/GDP/Other ?
Primary/Logical ?
What tool is the best to format this so there's no issues?
I've tried Gparted, Windows Format, Acronis, Disk Utility, MiniTool Partition Wizard, and a few others.
Are their any requirements to copy data (i.e. boot.img, boot.zip, readme.txt, etc...) files from Windows/macOS/Linux onto the USB drive so it's readable?
These may sound like primitive or stupid questions, however I've spent several hours trying to boot my Shield TV (usb keyboard holding keys A and B) to then launch TWRP 3.2.3.0 Recovery to then mount the USB and read its files to Install them. So far I've tried just about everything I've learned from the internet and nothing seems to work. I've even formatted the USB drive using a Sony Android (7.0) TV however when I attempt to insert that onto either a PC or Mac both require the drive to be initialized. When my Shield TV was still working any USB drive I inserted required it be formatted or updated in some way so it could read it.
Currently if I format the USB drive can be detected by Shield TV and mounted by TWRP however none of the files I've copied onto it can be viewed by TWRP. I understand that TWRP filters files so if one needs to load an *.img file one needs to press the correct button to "view" and "access" those file types.
I'm starting to believe it's not the USB it's TWRP but I can't tell for certain.
Does one need to create Android-x86 (android-x86_64-8.1-rc2.iso) in VMware to accomplish this task? It's mind boggling that this is seems to be so difficult when it should be rather straight forward.
whiteak said:
You have tried mounting the USB I take it? I would try a different USB Stick if you have one for sure, it doesn't have to be any special format at all, just a simple fat32 format through Windows is all it needs. Without actually physically seeing what is going on, I can't really say what is going on, power is actually getting to the USB, eg, can you see any lights flashing etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello whiteak, Shield TV sees the USB drive, TWRP is able to mount it, navigate to it and list folders but no files are displayed either through Install (to see boot.img, readme.txt or boot.zip) even when toggling the IMG or ZIP button. I've also attempted to use TWRP's File Manager to review this data, no success. In an alternate test to prove that TWRP can see any *.img file I navigated to the Downloads folder (internal storage) and it can see recovery.img just fine. Using TWRP's File Manager I've attempted to change the file permissions (chmod 755, 777, etc...) to the usb-otg but that didn't change anything either.
At this point I'm unsure what to think? Is it the way the USB drive is formatted? Is it file/folder permissions on the USB drive? Is it TWRP limiting things that are actually there but refuses to read them for security or some other reasons? Hard to tell...
SOLVED
I solved the problem. I'll post the exact steps later but in short, create a Virtual Machine, install Android 8.1, insert the USB drive, format it and quit. Once this is done PROPERLY I later copied the necessary files using macOS TERMINAL from macOS to the USB drive. Now TWRP sees everything. What a pain in the @$$ to do such a simple task.
nadia p. said:
I solved the problem. I'll post the exact steps later but in short, create a Virtual Machine, install Android 8.1, insert the USB drive, format it and quit. Once this is done PROPERLY I later copied the necessary files using macOS TERMINAL from macOS to the USB drive. Now TWRP sees everything. What a pain in the @$$ to do such a simple task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i havent used twrp on my shield tv before but i typically prefer to use twrp's adb terminal for that type of stuff..
it sounds like u had something formatted wrong or maybe even some type of encryption on the usb so it couldnt see the files... u def. shouldnt have to do all that lol
elliwigy said:
i havent used twrp on my shield tv before but i typically prefer to use twrp's adb terminal for that type of stuff..
it sounds like u had something formatted wrong or maybe even some type of encryption on the usb so it couldnt see the files... u def. shouldnt have to do all that lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello elliwigy, I'm quite new at all this so I didn't know how to format a USB drive using ADB, I didn't even know this was possible. I'll have to look into this next time. My workaround installing Android in VMware worked out well.
Hello.
i have a problem with nvidia sheld 500gb
I lost all data on the SSHD. Because I connected it to
computer and formatted. The device starts but you cannot enter fastboot mode.
How to upload a new system and fastboot?
Congratulations, you just made yourself your very own brick.
Why would you ever take out the internal drive and format it in your pc???
Only thing I can think of is looking at a thread like this https://forum.xda-developers.com/shield-tv/general/guide-migrate-to-ssd-hdd-size-satv-pro-t3440195 and see if someone has dumped the data from their sshd and then follow the steps, as if you were to install a new harddrive.
Hey,
Using:
Fire TV 4k
OS 6.2.8.9 (NS6289/3905)
6360049.1
2TB. SSD
So, plugged in a new 2TB SSD and Fire Stick tried to format it and kept crashing. I split the
Drive into 4 pieces as FAT 32. Only the first partition is recognized and only by file manager
Apps which leaves me with permission nightmares when trying to torrent and transfer media
To my USB SSD. Please help... Fairly new to the fire stick/Android field but getting into now that
It's not so limited in performance and it's affordable. TIA