A few days ago I bricked my phone. I performed a SPL flash which seemed to go ok, the phone rebooted and then just stuck at the first splash screen. I waited for 30 minutes and it was still there.
I then removed the battery, reinserted it, and tried booting into recovery mode. Nothing happened, it just stuck at the first splash screen.
So I removed the battery again, reinserted it, and tried booting into fastboot mode. Nothing happened, it just stuck at the first splash screen.
I repeated these steps a few times with the same result.
I tried booting it with the USB cable attached, the result was the same, and Windows showed the phone as an 'unrecognized device'.
At this point, I was nearly crying, my phone was a brick.
Then, for some reason I tried the following:
-On the PC, i ran the command 'fastboot boot recoveryimage.img'.
-At this point the command says 'waiting for device' (or something like that).
-I removed the battery.
-I Connected USB.
-I inserted the battery.
-I booted the phone while holding the HOME key.
-The phone still froze at the first splash screen, but then suddenly, the waiting fastboot command detected the phone and booted the recovery image! Yay!
That's it. I didn't test it any more thoroughly for obvious reasons, I just reflashed the SPL and everything was back to normal.
I hope this helps someone in the future....
Very nice..
wow seriously, didnt expected that..
good job mate!
btw wat did u do to cause the brick?
Just read the very first line of his post...
marcdbl said:
A few days ago I bricked my phone. I performed a SPL flash which seemed to go ok, the phone rebooted and then just stuck at the first splash screen. I waited for 30 minutes and it was still there.
[...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mgear356 said:
btw wat did u do to cause the brick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said above, I had been flashing the SPL, and when I rebooted following the flash it was bricked (stuck at first splash screen).
It's weird, because once I managed to get back into fastboot, I simply flashed the same SPL again and it worked fine.
thats not really unbricking your phone. gotta be bricked meaning it wont even go to the splashscreen. and there is no way to unbrick it at that point. Still for those that end up in same situation as you this might help indeed.
goa200 said:
thats not really unbricking your phone. gotta be bricked meaning it wont even go to the splashscreen. and there is no way to unbrick it at that point. Still for those that end up in same situation as you this might help indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never seen someone say the splash screen isn't coming up without blaming the hardware. I didn't think that flashing the wrong SPL would case the splash to not come up. I bricked my first phone by stupidly flashing the wrong SPL first before loading an OS. I thought the whole point of using the word 'brick' was when referring to the phone failing to enter 'fastboot' and 'recovery mode'. At that point, the phone would technically be a 'brick'. This has to be the first post I've seen with a possible fix but I could be wrong since I gave up on fixing that phone awhile ago.
goa200 said:
thats not really unbricking your phone. gotta be bricked meaning it wont even go to the splashscreen. and there is no way to unbrick it at that point. Still for those that end up in same situation as you this might help indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bricking means you can't get to fastboot or recovery no matter what you do.
so he counts as bricking.
this might be a fix for the haykuro spl bricked users..
Well done if we have HTC G1 user with brick phone who want to try this methode and give feedback
goa200 said:
thats not really unbricking your phone. gotta be bricked meaning it wont even go to the splashscreen. and there is no way to unbrick it at that point. Still for those that end up in same situation as you this might help indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, You can still get to your splashscreen when the phone is bricked, If you cant turn on the phone then thats called the phone is dead not bricked. As stated already if you can't fastboot, or get to recovery then thats a brick.
Just tried it does not work and I was flash the death spl from haykuro,I am getting a new one but wanted to see if this works and I did not think it would which it didnt.
imfloflo said:
Well done if we have HTC G1 user with brick phone who want to try this methode and give feedback
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Posted the fix on the android community forums. I have none person in mind, bricked it applying a spl, but he hasn't relied yet. Keep you informed if he does.
Did you reflash ROM after applying spl..? If you did and it still didn't boot then that should most likely be a brick. Can you boot into recovery right now and tell us your SPL version and radio?
goa200 said:
thats not really unbricking your phone. gotta be bricked meaning it wont even go to the splashscreen. and there is no way to unbrick it at that point. Still for those that end up in same situation as you this might help indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes bricking your phone is when it wont even turn on! In the case of the sapphire when you hold power the led will flsh red quickly once then nothing.
On the blackstone you dont even get the pleasure of the led flash if your phone will turn on there is a way to get it fixed.
When ive been stuck on the bootscreen i have managed to revert using sappimg.nbh (which is 32b in my case) dunno where i got it from but i have it!
sappimg.zip (which is 32A) i got from Amon_RA's post and also have that, ive managed to revert back with both images after being stuck on "red screen of death"
A bit of a personal opinion here:
"Dead" is when the phone doesn't respond to anything, at all.
The charging light does not come on, the power button does nothing, and there is not so much as a flicker in the screen. Also, it is completely inaccessible for hardware debugging (JTAG, serial, USB or otherwise). This usually happens from a hardware problem, or doing something stupid like zero'ing the IPL.
Examples:
- My brother dropped his Nokia N75 in water. It's dead.
- I dropped my Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard) on the ground. It doesn't power on any more, and plugging it into the charger does nothing. Voltmeter shows a charge running through some areas of the device's motherboard once disassembled. It's dead.
Solutions: Replace, recycle or sell for parts.
"Bricked" is when a purely software problem causes the device to no longer respond.
This may happen on many levels, but usually results in the OS not booting, or booting and being completely unusable (e.g. stopped with kernel panic at OS splash). It may light up and/or show a splash screen, but it fails to enter the bootloader or recovery menus. Its recoverability may vary, but will usually involve a debugging tool and a computer, and likely a copmlete wipe of everything on the device. Even if it's heavily bricked, if it can be recovered via JTAG or similar, it's not "dead".
Examples:
- HTC Dream only goes as far as splash screen, and freezes there. Does not respond to ADB. Does not enter recovery, or bootloader, however fastboot responds.
- HTC Dream shows blank screen, but lights up as if it were powering on. Fastboot does not respond. I connect my HTC ExtUSB Serial dongle to it though, and I'm able to get a response to some commands.
- Western Digital MyBook World Edition NAS powers on, and spins up hard drive, but does not go any farther than that. Front lights do not light up, and no hard disk activity is heard. Networking is not yet enabled. Hard drive can, however, manually be connected to a PC with SATA, and the firmware image re-written to its partitions.
- XBOX (the original) was softmodded, but the dashboard.xbe (the OS shell) was overwritten. It now just stays at the Microsoft logo.
- iPhone was recently jailbroken and SIM unlocked, then Apple pushed an update on me, and my iPhone is in a state where it doesn't enter DFU/Recovery, and when it boots, it says "Emergency calls only."
Solutions: Be very careful not to further brick the device, but use any methods available. Be sure to check documentations, search forums, and then ask questions if unsure. Make sure you finish every process you start.
After this, might just be hardware "damage" (like a power button not working right) or software "errors", like the home screen failing to load because of "Process com.google.android.gapps quit unexpectedly." These are usually relatively easy to fix, or have fixed.
Again, this is just an opinion.
Back on topic though, I seriously wouldn't have probably thought of using fastboot while it's stuck at the G1 screen, unless mine were bricked. Kudos to you, and I hope this works on some other bricked G1's out there (At least ones with the Engineering/Hard/DangerSPL, the stock SPL doesn't support fastboot as far as I know.)
bonesy said:
Yes bricking your phone is when it wont even turn on! In the case of the sapphire when you hold power the led will flsh red quickly once then nothing.
On the blackstone you dont even get the pleasure of the led flash if your phone will turn on there is a way to get it fixed.
When ive been stuck on the bootscreen i have managed to revert using sappimg.nbh (which is 32b in my case) dunno where i got it from but i have it!
sappimg.zip (which is 32A) i got from Amon_RA's post and also have that, ive managed to revert back with both images after being stuck on "red screen of death"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Won't agree with that, what you describe as a brick is a DEAD mobile. A brick is a useless piece which wont get into any state of recovery. The only thing i will agree with is that if it'll turn on there is a way to get it fixed that's why we even got the word unbricking which is done with many other pieces than Android mobiles.
Hope this will get us closer to a unbricking method which works on all the BRICKED pieces out there.
Good job dude!
Yes, my phone is back!
I bricked my G1 about 2 months ago pretty much the same way marcdbl did.
I gave up on it and sit it aside getting a new MT3G.
Sweet, now I got 2 phones to play with.
Thank You marcdbl
wow sweet news
fishman0919 said:
Yes, my phone is back!
I bricked my G1 about 2 months ago pretty much the same way marcdbl did.
I gave up on it and sit it aside getting a new MT3G.
Sweet, now I got 2 phones to play with.
Thank You marcdbl
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very glad to hear that your dead or bricked or whatever-you-may-call phone is back to LIVE!!!
So I think this solution works for some certain people. So i think rather than arguing on terminology, better spread this good trick to people who had dead/bricked/whatevery-you-may-call phone. IMHO
Thanks for the solution.
Best,
Thihaz
marcdbl said:
A few days ago I bricked my phone. I performed a SPL flash which seemed to go ok, the phone rebooted and then just stuck at the first splash screen. I waited for 30 minutes and it was still there.
I then removed the battery, reinserted it, and tried booting into recovery mode. Nothing happened, it just stuck at the first splash screen.
So I removed the battery again, reinserted it, and tried booting into fastboot mode. Nothing happened, it just stuck at the first splash screen.
I repeated these steps a few times with the same result.
I tried booting it with the USB cable attached, the result was the same, and Windows showed the phone as an 'unrecognized device'.
At this point, I was nearly crying, my phone was a brick.
Then, for some reason I tried the following:
-On the PC, i ran the command 'fastboot boot recoveryimage.img'.
-At this point the command says 'waiting for device' (or something like that).
-I removed the battery.
-I Connected USB.
-I inserted the battery.
-I booted the phone while holding the HOME key.
-The phone still froze at the first splash screen, but then suddenly, the waiting fastboot command detected the phone and booted the recovery image! Yay!
That's it. I didn't test it any more thoroughly for obvious reasons, I just reflashed the SPL and everything was back to normal.
I hope this helps someone in the future....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where were you 2 months ago dude? I paid 270€ to change the board on my magic
Good Job! Thanks for the info
Hey there.
I flashed a new ROM (Kaos Droid 7.0.0) and the fitting gapps some minutes ago from CWM Touch. Everything worked as supposed, no errors, no warnings, nothing. Then I rebooted the Nexus 7 and now it's stuck in the worst bootloop I have seen so far:
The Google Screen appears, stays for some seconds, then I see a screen with the CWM Logo and the text "ClockworkmodRecovery 6.0.38", after this the device seems to reboot and the sequence starts from the beginning again.
I can not get into recovery, I can connect to my PC via USB but connection and disconnection happens every few seconds (because of the bootloop).
I guess that's it for my Nexus 7 or does anyone have an idea what I can try to do. I'd be really thankful.
Jagutherrschaften said:
Hey there.
I flashed a new ROM (Kaos Droid 7.0.0) and the fitting gapps some minutes ago from CWM Touch. Everything worked as supposed, no errors, no warnings, nothing. Then I rebooted the Nexus 7 and now it's stuck in the worst bootloop I have seen so far:
The Google Screen appears, stays for some seconds, then I see a screen with the CWM Logo and the text "ClockworkmodRecovery 6.0.38", after this the device seems to reboot and the sequence starts from the beginning again.
I can not get into recovery, I can connect to my PC via USB but connection and disconnection happens every few seconds (because of the bootloop).
I guess that's it for my Nexus 7 or does anyone have an idea what I can try to do. I'd be really thankful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Jagutherrschaften...
Try pressing VOLUME DOWN + THE POWER ON KEY and HOLD BOTH for 30 seconds (or as long as it takes to break out of the 'bootloop').
(or BOTH VOL KEYS + POWER ON if the above doesn't work... although it should).
Keep them pressed until you boot you into the bootloader....
You should now be free to run fastboot commands, to either fastboot flash back to factory stock... or you could attempt to just boot into recovery, and maybe do a Nandroid Backup restore from your previous setup (assuming of course, you created one).
Anyway... as long as you can still access the bootloader... all is not lost.
Rgrds,
Ged.
GedBlake said:
Hi, Jagutherrschaften...
Try pressing VOLUME DOWN + THE POWER ON KEY and HOLD BOTH for 30 seconds (or as long as it takes to break out of the 'bootloop').
(or BOTH VOL KEYS + POWER ON if the above doesn't work... although it should).
Keep them pressed until you boot you into the bootloader....
You should now be free to run fastboot commands, to either fastboot flash back to factory stock... or you could attempt to just boot into recovery, and maybe do a Nandroid Backup restore from your previous setup (assuming of course, you created one).
Anyway... as long as you can still access the bootloader... all is not lost.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I forgot to mention that I can't boot into bootloader. I tried every single combination of keys. The bootloop goes on and is completely unimpressed by my keypresses. Bad bad thing.
Jagutherrschaften said:
Sorry, I forgot to mention that I can't boot into bootloader. I tried every single combination of keys. The bootloop goes on and is completely unimpressed by my keypresses. Bad bad thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How fast is the bootloop? and how long are you pressing the buttons for?
Lean on them, as it where, for a good minute or so... the device has to pick up the 'interrupts' sooner or later.
Rgrds,
Ged.
GedBlake said:
How fast is the bootloop? and how long are you pressing the buttons for?
Lean on them, as it where, for a good minute or so... the device has to pick up the 'interrupts' sooner or later.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your answers. I tried every combination and kept the keys pressed for 2 mins. Nothing. The only thing I can actually do is shut the device down by pressing POWER + VOL UP for a long while.
If bootloop doesnt stop and you cant get into bootloader....then just long press power button..that should stop the cycle...and then volm down plus power button....should get u into bootloader..atleast worked for me..
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Now here is what it looks like (doesn't matter if I press keys or not): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12668781/Nexus7_bootloop.mkv
The normal method you described neo45215 doesn't work for me as well.
Jagutherrschaften said:
Thank you for your answers. I tried every combination and kept the keys pressed for 2 mins. Nothing. The only thing I can actually do is shut the device down by pressing POWER + VOL UP for a long while.
Here is a video what it looks like (if I press keys or not or keep keys pressed or not doesn't matter):
www.michi-fehr.de/Nexus7_bootloop.mkv
(Sorry, youtube messes with me as well. Seems not to be my day today.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmm... this is a strange one...
Just had a look a your video... and I've seen a few bootoops, but never one involving a Custom Recovery and ONLY the Bootloader Unlock screen (yes, that is the Bootloader - it's just not normally recognized as such, because it's not in FASTBOOT mode).
If you've shutdown the tablet by pressing VOL UP + POWER ON, you've effectively booted the device into APX mode (it looks like it's shutdown, but it isn't) - if it is in APX mode, the device is now awaiting for you to run some nvFlash commands, which currently can't be done (though there is now, a very specific exception, which is not applicable here).
I agree with the previous poster, @neo45215, VOLUME DOWN (hold), then POWER BUTTON, (whilst still holding VOLUME DOWN), should boot you into the bootloader... but I think precise timing is required. Please read the following, carefully, several times.
----------------------------------------
QUOTE from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2133986
"Starting from booted or boot-looping OS:
Power (10-15 seconds) -> Normal OS Boot**
** Bootloader Interrupt: In any of the cases where you hold the power button down to try to break out of the current operating mode, if you press the Vol-Down button right after you first see the black and white screen with the Google logo, the tablet will proceed immediately to bootloader/fastboot mode, rather than booting the normal OS. You need to be ready though - you only get about 1 or 2 seconds to do this! (Thanks to RMXO for pointing this out) Note that this means you can get to the bootloader directly from any other mode!
This also explains why, when attempting a cold start using Vol-Down + Power, if you accidentally let go of the vol-down button when the screen first lights up, the Nexus 7 will boot to the normal OS. In this case, pressing Vol-Down initially is actually superfluous - what makes the device go into bootloader/fastboot mode is the Vol-Down press immediately following the google splash screen - there actually is no unique "Go to fastboot from a cold start" method."
----------------------------------------
I'm at loss to suggest anything more helpful... this looks like the bootloop from hell! But I'm convinced, that with the correct timing and persistence, some key-combo interrupt could break the Nexus 7 out of it.
Rgrds,
Ged.
GedBlake said:
Mmm... this is a strange one...
Just had a look a your video... and I've seen a few bootoops, but never one involving a Custom Recovery and ONLY the Bootloader Unlock screen (yes, that is the Bootloader - it's just not normally recognized as such, because it's not in FASTBOOT mode).
If you've shutdown the tablet by pressing VOL UP + POWER ON, you've effectively booted the device into APX mode (it looks like it's shutdown, but it isn't) - if it is in APX mode, the device is now awaiting for you to run some nvFlash commands, which currently can't be done (though there is now, a very specific exception, which is not applicable here).
I agree with the previous poster, @neo45215, VOLUME DOWN (hold), then POWER BUTTON, (whilst still holding VOLUME DOWN), should boot you into the bootloader... but I think precise timing is required. Please read the following, carefully, several times.
----------------------------------------
QUOTE from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2133986
"Starting from booted or boot-looping OS:
Power (10-15 seconds) -> Normal OS Boot**
** Bootloader Interrupt: In any of the cases where you hold the power button down to try to break out of the current operating mode, if you press the Vol-Down button right after you first see the black and white screen with the Google logo, the tablet will proceed immediately to bootloader/fastboot mode, rather than booting the normal OS. You need to be ready though - you only get about 1 or 2 seconds to do this! (Thanks to RMXO for pointing this out) Note that this means you can get to the bootloader directly from any other mode!
This also explains why, when attempting a cold start using Vol-Down + Power, if you accidentally let go of the vol-down button when the screen first lights up, the Nexus 7 will boot to the normal OS. In this case, pressing Vol-Down initially is actually superfluous - what makes the device go into bootloader/fastboot mode is the Vol-Down press immediately following the google splash screen - there actually is no unique "Go to fastboot from a cold start" method."
----------------------------------------
I'm at loss to suggest anything more helpful... this looks like the bootloop from hell! But I'm convinced, that with the correct timing and persistence, some key-combo interrupt could break the Nexus 7 out of it.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your help, I have tried everything, I can't get anywhere... neither bootloader nor recovery.
Additionally I can't make the device do anything I want by adb.
And as a "bonus" I can't send my Nexus7 to repair because this stupid bootloop shows "ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.3.8" :silly:
Jagutherrschaften said:
Thanks a lot for your help, I have tried everything, I can't get anywhere... neither bootloader nor recovery.
Additionally I can't make the device do anything I want by adb.
And as a "bonus" I can't send my Nexus7 to repair because this stupid bootloop shows "ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.3.8" :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really sorry to hear this... it is baffling:.
I've been hanging around on XDA since January, and I've come across a lot of weird behaviour, reported by other posters. But this is something that is outside my experience.
A few questions... (no guarantees, but I'll try to see if I can come up with something)...
Can you post download links for EVERYTHING you've flashed...
The ROM, the Gapps, the CWM recovery.
Also, what order did you flash them in?
Did you use fastboot? or a Toolkit at any time?
Where you rooted BEFORE you embarked on this endeavour?
How did you acquire root?
How long have you had the Nexus 7?
Is it a WiFi only model or a WiFi and 3G model?
Have you flashed any other Custom ROMs prior to this one?
If, so, any problems?
Do you know your current bootloader version number?
What was the battery status (percentage) prior to you flashing this ROM?
Sorry for all the questions... but something, some tiny litlle detail, might set a 'eureka!' light bulb off in my head.
Rgrds,
Ged.
GedBlake said:
Really sorry to hear this... it is baffling:.
I've been hanging around on XDA since January, and I've come across a lot of weird behaviour, reported by other posters. But this is something that is outside my experience.
A few questions... (no guarantees, but I'll try to see if I can come up with something)...
Can you post download links for EVERYTHING you've flashed...
The ROM, the Gapps, the CWM recovery.
Also, what order did you flash them in?
Did you use fastboot? or a Toolkit at any time?
Where you rooted BEFORE you embarked on this endeavour?
How did you acquire root?
How long have you had the Nexus 7?
Is it a WiFi only model or a WiFi and 3G model?
Have you flashed any other Custom ROMs prior to this one?
If, so, any problems?
Do you know your current bootloader version number?
What was the battery status (percentage) prior to you flashing this ROM?
Sorry for all the questions... but something, some tiny litlle detail, might set a 'eureka!' light bulb off in my head.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'll try to answer as detailed as possible:
ROM KaosDroid7.0.0
FittingGApps
CWM Recovery (Touch) was installed through ROM Manager Premium
The order of what I did was: I made a backup in Titanium Backup Pro, then I made a nandroid backup by ROM Manager Premium. I went to recovery, wiped /cache and /data, then flashed KaosDroid7.0.0, flashed GApps and rebooted. After my Nexus7 had fully booted I restored some user apps and settings via Titanium Backup Pro. I had to reboot. After that I explored that clock was force closed whenever I tried to access the alarm clock. I wondered if I could possibly have overseen a checkmark when restoring with Titanium Backup Pro (maybe forgotten to untick a system app or setting) which could lead to the force close. So I decided to start over again.
This time I thought about using ROM Manager Premium for wiping and flashing. I started the app and it told me there was an update for CWM Recovery. So I installed this update through ROM Manager Premium - CWM Recovery Touch 6.0.3.8. I rebooted and went to recovery to flash ROM and GApps again the normal way. Before flashing I wiped /cache and /data again. Everything went fine until I rebooted the tablet and found myself in this "bootloop of hell" as you called it... After having tried a lot to break it, I opened the Nexus7 to remove battery for the first time.
OK, now the other questions:
I bought my Nexus7 about 11 months ago, it's the 16 GB WiFi only version. I aquired root by using this Toolkit and everything went really smooth. I tried several ROMs yes, after some time I came across KaosDroid (don't exactly know which version I started with, maybe v5.0.0) and really liked it. I flashed a new version whenever there was one and never had any problems before.
I am not sure about my current bootloader version, I have some not too long ago nandroid backups on my PC, can I find out anywhere in there? About battery, it was 55 % or so before I started flashing, maybe even more.
The way I see this is: It looks like ROM Manager has messed something up. I have never seen a screen like the ROM Manager screen that occurs in the bootloop right after the Google screen before. Unless maybe when making a nandroid backup through ROM Manager, not sure about this. But it shouldn't be there in a normal boot sequence as far as I understand it.
The only way I can access my Nexus7 is via USB on my PC. And I have like 5 seconds to act while this ROM Manager screen is on, that's the time frame when my PC says "Nexus7 connected" and even the Toolkit finds the device and says it's in "ADB mode", then prints the serial number, but sadly after that it waits for the device to enter adb mode forever.
EDIT: And of course I can get access in APX mode, but from what I have read there is no way to do anything because commands etc. to install a new bootloader are not known (yet?).
Thanks a lot for your help and patience, it actually helps to know there is someone who reads this :good:.
It's not the end of the world if I can't reanimate my Nexus7 but it served me so well for almost a year and I really like it .
Jagutherrschaften said:
OK, I'll try to answer as detailed as possible:
ROM KaosDroid7.0.0
FittingGApps
CWM Recovery (Touch) was installed through ROM Manager Premium
The order of what I did was: I made a backup in Titanium Backup Pro, then I made a nandroid backup by ROM Manager Premium. I went to recovery, wiped /cache and /data, then flashed KaosDroid7.0.0, flashed GApps and rebooted. After my Nexus7 had fully booted I restored some user apps and settings via Titanium Backup Pro. I had to reboot. After that I explored that clock was force closed whenever I tried to access the alarm clock. I wondered if I could possibly have overseen a checkmark when restoring with Titanium Backup Pro (maybe forgotten to untick a system app or setting) which could lead to the force close. So I decided to start over again.
This time I thought about using ROM Manager Premium for wiping and flashing. I started the app and it told me there was an update for CWM Recovery. So I installed this update through ROM Manager Premium - CWM Recovery Touch 6.0.3.8. I rebooted and went to recovery to flash ROM and GApps again the normal way. Before flashing I wiped /cache and /data again. Everything went fine until I rebooted the tablet and found myself in this "bootloop of hell" as you called it... After having tried a lot to break it, I opened the Nexus7 to remove battery for the first time.
OK, now the other questions:
I bought my Nexus7 about 11 months ago, it's the 16 GB WiFi only version. I aquired root by using this Toolkit and everything went really smooth. I tried several ROMs yes, after some time I came across KaosDroid (don't exactly know which version I started with, maybe v5.0.0) and really liked it. I flashed a new version whenever there was one and never had any problems before.
I am not sure about my current bootloader version, I have some not too long ago nandroid backups on my PC, can I find out anywhere in there? About battery, it was 55 % or so before I started flashing, maybe even more.
The way I see this is: It looks like ROM Manager has messed something up. I have never seen a screen like the ROM Manager screen that occurs in the bootloop right after the Google screen before. Unless maybe when making a nandroid backup through ROM Manager, not sure about this. But it shouldn't be there in a normal boot sequence as far as I understand it.
The only way I can access my Nexus7 is via USB on my PC. And I have like 5 seconds to act while this ROM Manager screen is on, that's the time frame when my PC says "Nexus7 connected" and even the Toolkit finds the device and says it's in "ADB mode", then prints the serial number, but sadly after that it waits for the device to enter adb mode forever.
EDIT: And of course I can get access in APX mode, but from what I have read there is no way to do anything because commands etc. to install a new bootloader are not known (yet?).
Thanks a lot for your help and patience, it actually helps to know there is someone who reads this :good:.
It's not the end of the world if I can't reanimate my Nexus7 but it served me so well for almost a year and I really like it .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello again, Jagutherrschaften...
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, but I've been really busy with non-Android stuff all day.
Before I signed off XDA early this morning, (Fri, UK time)... and before you posted your explanation of how you got into your undesirble predicament, I was trying to think why your Nexus 7 is attempting to boot into CWM. It's something I've never seen before... it occurred to me, CWM may have been incorrectly flashed to the boot partition, instead of the recovery partition. This would go some way to explaining why your Nexus 7 is attempting to boot into CWM instead of normal Android.
So in an attempt to replicate your situation, I fastboot flashed CWM on my Nexus 7, to the boot partition with...
Code:
fastboot flash boot recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.3.8-grouper.img
...instead of (and correctly)...
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.3.8-grouper.img
Upon completion of this flash, I hit START (from the bootloader)... and as expected my Nexus 7 booted into the Google logo, and then directly into CWM.
...but it didn't bootloop as depicted in your video, it just ran CWM as normal..
I booted several times into CWM, but no bootloop. (It's kind of weird having two custom recoveries installed... there's an option in CWM to restart Recovery, which upon tapping, my N7 booted straight into TWRP !, which is my Custom Recovery of choice. And resides correctly in the recovery partition. I had to make a conscious effort to reboot as normal, in order to boot into CWM).
Anyway, more puzzled more than ever, I fastboot flashed the Jellybean 4.3 stock boot .img back to it's rightful place, rebooted the tablet, to make sure everything was working as normal, and went to bed.
Later, after you posted, I re-read it many times (and took a look at the links), and re-watched your video several more times (by the way, Nandroid backups don't backup the bootloader), and nothing occurred to me; no 'euraka' ! moment.
The bootloader is obviously still intact... if it wasn't, then your Nexus 7 wouldn't boot at all. Besides, it's there, visible, with the unlocked padlock symbol !
I'm inclined to tentatively agree with your assessment that ROM Manager screwed something up. I haven't used ROM Manager for ages, due to known issues on my Advent Vega. And on the Nexus 7, I just use fastboot. On the Vega, you use a command called flash_image to flash images, and is syntactically very similar to fastboot.
Sticking with my Vega for a moment... some users are unable to boot into CWM at all. And nobody seems to know why. But a while ago, somebody did some research into this problem, and it was speculated that on some Vegas there are BAD NAND BLOCKS (like bad sectors on a hard drive, only on a chip instead) in the MISC partition, where a binary state flag is set, telling the tablet to boot into Recovery instead of Android.
Now it's a bit a leap... and hugely speculative... but I wonder if the MISC partition on your Nexus 7 may have become corrupted... ?POSSIBLY? as a result of using ROM Manager... and that is telling the tablet to boot into Recovery instead of Android.
This is a far from satisfactory explanation, though, for several reasons...
* I'm not sure how far you can extrapolate the partition structures of one completely different tablet to another completely different tablet.
* It doesn't explain why your tablet is bootlooping and mine didn't (after replacing the stock boot.img with the CWM recovery .img in the boot partition.
* And finally... I'm still baffled why VOL DOWN+POWER ON doesn't break out of the bootloop and boot directly into the bootloader. Everything I know about the Nexus 7 tells me that this should happen... and it's always been the case, that as long as you can access the bootloader, the tablet is recoverable.
I'm afraid I have nothing else to suggest or try... other than what you've tried already.
I can only offer my apologies that I was unable to assist you... maybe somebody with more technical expertise might offer some new insight or suggestions.
Rgrds,
Ged.
GedBlake said:
Hello again, Jagutherrschaften...
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, but I've been really busy with non-Android stuff all day.
Before I signed off XDA early this morning, (Fri, UK time)... and before you posted your explanation of how you got into your undesirble predicament, I was trying to think why your Nexus 7 is attempting to boot into CWM. It's something I've never seen before... it occurred to me, CWM may have been incorrectly flashed to the boot partition, instead of the recovery partition. This would go some way to explaining why your Nexus 7 is attempting to boot into CWM instead of normal Android.
So in an attempt to replicate your situation, I fastboot flashed CWM on my Nexus 7, to the boot partition with...
Code:
fastboot flash boot recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.3.8-grouper.img
...instead of (and correctly)...
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.3.8-grouper.img
Upon completion of this flash, I hit START (from the bootloader)... and as expected my Nexus 7 booted into the Google logo, and then directly into CWM.
...but it didn't bootloop as depicted in your video, it just ran CWM as normal..
I booted several times into CWM, but no bootloop. (It's kind of weird having two custom recoveries installed... there's an option in CWM to restart Recovery, which upon tapping, my N7 booted straight into TWRP !, which is my Custom Recovery of choice. And resides correctly in the recovery partition. I had to make a conscious effort to reboot as normal, in order to boot into CWM).
Anyway, more puzzled more than ever, I fastboot flashed the Jellybean 4.3 stock boot .img back to it's rightful place, rebooted the tablet, to make sure everything was working as normal, and went to bed.
Later, after you posted, I re-read it many times (and took a look at the links), and re-watched your video several more times (by the way, Nandroid backups don't backup the bootloader), and nothing occurred to me; no 'euraka' ! moment.
The bootloader is obviously still intact... if it wasn't, then your Nexus 7 wouldn't boot at all. Besides, it's there, visible, with the unlocked padlock symbol !
I'm inclined to tentatively agree with your assessment that ROM Manager screwed something up. I haven't used ROM Manager for ages, due to known issues on my Advent Vega. And on the Nexus 7, I just use fastboot. On the Vega, you use a command called flash_image to flash images, and is syntactically very similar to fastboot.
Sticking with my Vega for a moment... some users are unable to boot into CWM at all. And nobody seems to know why. But a while ago, somebody did some research into this problem, and it was speculated that on some Vegas there are BAD NAND BLOCKS (like bad sectors on a hard drive, only on a chip instead) in the MISC partition, where a binary state flag is set, telling the tablet to boot into Recovery instead of Android.
Now it's a bit a leap... and hugely speculative... but I wonder if the MISC partition on your Nexus 7 may have become corrupted... ?POSSIBLY? as a result of using ROM Manager... and that is telling the tablet to boot into Recovery instead of Android.
This is a far from satisfactory explanation, though, for several reasons...
* I'm not sure how far you can extrapolate the partition structures of one completely different tablet to another completely different tablet.
* I't doesn't explain why your tablet is bootlooping and mine didn't (after replacing the stock boot.img with the CWM recovery .img in the boot partition.
* And finally... I'm still baffled why VOL DOWN+POWER ON doesn't break out of the bootloop and boot directly into the bootloader. Everything I know about the Nexus 7 tells me that this should happen... and it's always been the case, that as long as you can access the bootloader, the tablet is recoverable.
I'm afraid I have nothing else to suggest or try... other than what you've tried already.
I can only offer my apologies that I was unable to assist you... maybe somebody with more technical expertise might offer some new insight or suggestions.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey again GedBlake.
The last thing you have to do is apologize for helping me a lot, reading through all my text and making things clear for me. And even more you flashed stuff to your device to test if my situation can be reproduced - good that it's not . You've spent a lot of free time just to help, that's really great :good:.
With my bootloader still being intact and the device being recognized by my PC I wonder if maybe I can manage to fastboot flash a different bootloader and/or a new recovery which might maybe break the silly loop when booting. That's my only idea left but if the bootloader isn't in fastboot mode at some time during the loop this won't work too. But I'll give it a try, it's better than cutting tomatoes on my Nexus7 :laugh:.
Thank you very much for your help. If there is anything worth reporting I will of course.
Jagutherrschaften said:
Hey again GedBlake.
The last thing you have to do is apologize for helping me a lot, reading through all my text and making things clear for me. And even more you flashed stuff to your device to test if my situation can be reproduced - good that it's not . You've spent a lot of free time just to help, that's really great :good:.
With my bootloader still being intact and the device being recognized by my PC I wonder if maybe I can manage to fastboot flash a different bootloader and/or a new recovery which might maybe break the silly loop when booting. That's my only idea left but if the bootloader isn't in fastboot mode at some time during the loop this won't work too. But I'll give it a try, it's better than cutting tomatoes on my Nexus7 :laugh:.
Thank you very much for your help. If there is anything worth reporting I will of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your kind words... they're appreciated.
Unfortunately, before you can fastboot flash anything, the Nexus 7 needs to be properly booted into the bootloader (the screen with the green Android lying on its back, and the word START adjacent to the POWER BUTTON)... and that requires breaking out of the bootloop first.
Indeed, if the VOL DOWN+POWER ON button combo was working as it should... breaking out of the bootloop would AUTOMATICALLY boot your Nexus 7 into the bootloader.
Finally, your bootloader doesn't need to re-flashed. One you have a stable bootloader boot, normally, (and the easiest way), would just be to flash back to factory stock.
Rgrds,
Ged.
GedBlake said:
Thanks for your kind words... they're appreciated.
Unfortunately, before you can fastboot flash anything, the Nexus 7 needs to be properly booted into the bootloader (the screen with the green Android lying on its back, and the word START adjacent to the POWER BUTTON)... and that requires breaking out of the bootloop first.
Indeed, if the VOL DOWN+POWER ON button combo was working as it should... breaking out of the bootloop would AUTOMATICALLY boot your Nexus 7 into the bootloader.
Finally, your bootloader doesn't need to re-flashed. One you have a stable bootloader boot, normally, (and the easiest way), would just be to flash back to factory stock.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey again.
Thanks for your explanation, I am not really a newbie with PCs and Tablets etc. but some things are not very interesting until you really need to know them. Like bootloader and fastboot in Android.
So the conclusion in my case is that maybe some day someone will find out how to get access to the N7 via APX - or to be precise, someone finds out or gets to know the necessary commands to flash something to the N7 over the APX-interface. Right?
Because from what I've read it doesn't really make sense to send my N7 in for repair right? Although it hasn't even had its 1st birthday yet I have no chance to get a warranty repair or exchange as it's very obvious I rooted the device and flashed stuff (the damned ROM Manager-screen clearly shows this). And ASUS charges 90 $ (or €, don't know) just for diagnosis, that's a bit much for a device that cost 199 €.
Any further advise? Could I buy a broken N7 from eBay for example and repair mine this way? I would have to change the mainboard right?
Have a nice sunday everyone .
U said you opened the battery...so wen u plugged it back in again,u shouldn't be in bootloop technically... Just a boot!...wat happens if u press the volm down and power button combo just as u insert the battery?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Jagutherrschaften said:
Hey again.
Thanks for your explanation, I am not really a newbie with PCs and Tablets etc. but some things are not very interesting until you really need to know them. Like bootloader and fastboot in Android.
So the conclusion in my case is that maybe some day someone will find out how to get access to the N7 via APX - or to be precise, someone finds out or gets to know the necessary commands to flash something to the N7 over the APX-interface. Right?
Because from what I've read it doesn't really make sense to send my N7 in for repair right? Although it hasn't even had its 1st birthday yet I have no chance to get a warranty repair or exchange as it's very obvious I rooted the device and flashed stuff (the damned ROM Manager-screen clearly shows this). And ASUS charges 90 $ (or €, don't know) just for diagnosis, that's a bit much for a device that cost 199 €.
Any further advise? Could I buy a broken N7 from eBay for example and repair mine this way? I would have to change the mainboard right?
Have a nice sunday everyone .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Jagutherrschaften...
Really sorry it had to end like this... but... perhaps it doesn't...
Nothing about your situation makes logical sense... but reading through your posts again, I find this- On the 3rd October, you posted...
Jagutherrschaften said:
Thank you for your answers. I tried every combination and kept the keys pressed for 2 mins. Nothing. The only thing I can actually do is shut the device down by pressing POWER + VOL UP for a long while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
QUOTE FOR EMPHASIS:- "...by pressing POWER + VOL UP for a long while..."
This key press combo doesn't actually shut down the device... it just pushes it into APX mode. It just looks like it's shutdown.
But that's not my point... my point is your Nexus 7 detected that key press interrupt... and acted accordingly.
It did what it was supposed to do.
Maybe you hit the buttons at JUST THE RIGHT INSTANT during the bootloop... and if it can do it for one key press combo... it can do it for another. Namely, POWER+VOL DOWN.
And for this reason... I think you need to try and try and try and try and try again... until you hit the same PRECISE TIMING SWEET SPOT... such that POWER+VOL DOWN takes you into the bootloader.
Vary the timings a bit here and there... alternate pressing the buttons, both before AND after when the Google logo appears.
By your own account... you've already done it once (you just got into the wrong mode... APX mode instead of bootloader mode).
But here's the danger... if after your Herculean efforts, you do manage, finally, to access the bootloader... you absolutely cannot afford to reboot the device normally until after you've fastboot flashed back to factory stock... otherwise the whole cycle will begin again.
So... you need, in preparation...
* A fully charged Nexus 7.
* All the drivers needed (if you don't already have them) installed on your PC.
* The Jellybean 4.3 Factory Stock image downloaded (see my Sig, second link) and unzipped and ready to go.
* A working knowledge of how to use Fastboot.
* And finally... an indomitable spirit! of perseverance... and, of course, a fair amount of free time.
------------------------------------------
I am convinced that your tablet is recoverable.
It's gotta be worth a shot... "once more unto the breach, dear friends", as old Bill Shakespeare would have it.
Anyway... the very best of luck.
Rgrds,
Ged.
GedBlake said:
Hi, Jagutherrschaften...
Really sorry it had to end like this... but... perhaps it doesn't...
Nothing about your situation makes logical sense... but reading through your posts again, I find this- On the 3rd October, you posted...
QUOTE FOR EMPHASIS:- "...by pressing POWER + VOL UP for a long while..."
This key press combo doesn't actually shut down the device... it just pushes it into APX mode. It just looks like it's shutdown.
But that's not my point... my point is your Nexus 7 detected that key press interrupt... and acted accordingly.
It did what it was supposed to do.
Maybe you hit the buttons at JUST THE RIGHT INSTANT during the bootloop... and if it can do it for one key press combo... it can do it for another. Namely, POWER+VOL DOWN.
And for this reason... I think you need to try and try and try and try and try again... until you hit the same PRECISE TIMING SWEET SPOT... such that POWER+VOL DOWN takes you into the bootloader.
Vary the timings a bit here and there... alternate pressing the buttons, both before AND after when the Google logo appears.
By your own account... you've already done it once (you just got into the wrong mode... APX mode instead of bootloader mode).
But here's the danger... if after your Herculean efforts, you do manage, finally, to access the bootloader... you absolutely cannot afford to reboot the device normally until after you've fastboot flashed back to factory stock... otherwise the whole cycle will begin again.
So... you need, in preparation...
* A fully charged Nexus 7.
* All the drivers needed (if you don't already have them) installed on your PC.
* The Jellybean 4.3 Factory Stock image downloaded (see my Sig, second link) and unzipped and ready to go.
* A working knowledge of how to use Fastboot.
* And finally... an indomitable spirit! of perseverance... and, of course, a fair amount of free time.
------------------------------------------
I am convinced that your tablet is recoverable.
It's gotta be worth a shot... "once more unto the breach, dear friends", as old Bill Shakespeare would have it.
Anyway... the very best of luck.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@neo45215:
Technically yes, but my N7 doesn't seem to know this . Of course I've tried to get into fastboot mode right after putting back the battery as well. No chance, same bootloop.
@GedBlake:
Thanks for the encouragement, I will for sure give this a try (or several long trys to be precise). Hopefully tonight I'll have a lot of time to press keys .
And my answer to what Bill says would be: "To infinity... and beyond!"
No success so far, I tried pressing buttons for at least 1 h, nothing...
Just wanted to update the status .
Gesendet von meinem Nexus 7 mit Tapatalk 4
Facing same problem
Hello guys. I've done pretty much the same thing and my tab is in the same boot loop that this thread is all about.
The interesting thing is that the ROM I flashed is also KaosDroid7.0.0. I'm unable to prevent any further insight. Sorry for bumping. My clockwork mod version is btw, 6.0.4.1 which proves that the problem might not be clockworkmods or even ROM manager's problem. Since I hadn't used ROM manager.
Also, Is there any way whatsoever to use this APX mode? To fix my nexus.
---------- Post added at 02:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------
Well, I followed OP's steps almost exactly. First I'd restored the Kitkat factory image, and then I'd proceeded to install the KD 7.0.0. And after that, I realised I'd forgotten to flash Gapps. So I rebooted and then went into CWM to reflash and after that is when my Nexus 7 became useless :crying:
---------- Post added at 02:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 PM ----------
Jagutherrschaften, did you send in your Nexus 7 for repair?
Good evening XDA,
I've got a Nexus 6p (obviously), and can't get it to boot. Unfortunately, I don't know the exact history as to how it's in this state.
I've tried everything I can think of and read every guide/steps/forums I can find that relates to my situation.
I can get to the bootloader and issue Fastboot commands. I've got adb/fastoot/drivers installed via the sdk/platform tools, and drivers are up to date as far as I can tell.
-I'm using the OEM cable attached to my computer (Surface Pro3, Windows 10)
-I can unlock/re-lock the bootloader as I wish.
-I've tried WugFresh toolkit, flash factory + unroot. All completes, but phones continues to loop even after leaving it for an hour+.
-I've tried Heisenbergs guide for manually flashing stock google images via fastboot to no avail. Tried several different google images. Everything completes, but it still just loops.
-I can get all fastboot commands to complete with no errors, but the phone just simply bootloops at the google logo, or if I leave bootloader unlocked it loops with the orange triangle & google logo. I have left it looping for at least an hour+, but it doesn't finish:crying:
-Stock recovery or a fastboot flashed trwp recovery simply won't boot, it just goes to the google logo and loops, I don't get the dead android w/triangle. "Recovery" in the bootloader selections is RED, if that means anything. Tried fastboot commands to boot recovery, but just sends it to the google logo and loops.
-Adb commands don't work, only fastboot commands.
-During flashing a google stock image with fastboot, the only thing that stands out is "max download of ####### reached", or something similar, but it still completes.....?
Seems to me that I've got a true brick (first ), and just need to send it in for repair.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA.
Well, personally I believe it is a brick. Because I had something similar and it was fixed by a simple complete wipe of the phone - did you try that, and follow the order for fastboot flashing?
As for replacement. I have a dent in the frame that effected the volume button until I pushed it back in. I contacted google support and they told me since it was physical damage. That I would have to contact Huawei for repairs, and they promptly gave me their number. As for your case it could be a board failure and could go under warranty through google. Good luck! Off to help more people.
PS: Use a twp version higher than 2.x.x, that was what my issue was.
TnT_ said:
Well, personally I believe it is a brick. Because I had something similar and it was fixed by a simple complete wipe of the phone - did you try that, and follow the order for fastboot flashing?
As for replacement. I have a dent in the frame that effected the volume button until I pushed it back in. I contacted google support and they told me since it was physical damage. That I would have to contact Huawei for repairs, and they promptly gave me their number. As for your case it could be a board failure and could go under warranty through google. Good luck! Off to help more people.
PS: Use a twp version higher than 2.x.x, that was what my issue was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I thought (hoped) it might be a button issue too, but there is no damage to the phone, and buttons work as they should in the bootloader. Gave them a slight tap, but same results.
As for the "complete wipe", I can only erase/format via fastboot (or WugFresh ToolKit) since I can't get to recovery, and that hasn't given me any different results.
Dhickory said:
Thanks for the reply. I thought (hoped) it might be a button issue too, but there is no damage to the phone, and buttons work as they should in the bootloader. Gave them a slight tap, but same results.
As for the "complete wipe", I can only erase/format via fastboot (or WugFresh ToolKit) since I can't get to recovery, and that hasn't given me any different results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does all the data in the bootloader look fine? The storage size etc?
TnT_ said:
Does all the data in the bootloader look fine? The storage size etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I can tell, everything looks normal. Is there anything you know of that would raise suspicion? I'll post exactly what it says when I get back to it.
Dhickory said:
As far as I can tell, everything looks normal. Is there anything you know of that would raise suspicion? I'll post exactly what it says when I get back to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually with board failure - that I saw in other threads - there are missing fields. My phone had a little glitchyness after I accidentally flashed the userdata.img - which caused my 128gb to become 32gb, which I found amusing - Other than that, I don't know. I'm sure others would reply.
I powered the phone off via the bootloader menu. Came back to the phone and powered it on, and it started the bootloop. I only held down the volume down button (during loop), and it booted to the bootloader. Is this normal? I realize I'm probably grasping at anything, but I've got some time to kill and just curious if it loops and only the volume down button is held should it go to the bootloader?
Dhickory said:
I powered the phone off via the bootloader menu. Came back to the phone and powered it on, and it started the bootloop. I only held down the volume down button (during loop), and it booted to the bootloader. Is this normal? I realize I'm probably grasping at anything, but I've got some time to kill and just curious if it loops and only the volume down button is held should it go to the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP 3.0.2-1 may have been used on this device and a restore may have been attempted, causing the EFS partition to be damaged. There a thread in this qna section by the tittle of Lets get this......I don't remember the rest, but it has a post concerning what to do to fix the bootloop.
Edit
Here you go: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3453119
Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk
Jammol said:
TWRP 3.0.2-1 may have been used on this device and a restore may have been attempted, causing the EFS partition to be damaged. There a thread in this qna section by the tittle of Lets get this......I don't remember the rest, but it has a post concerning what to do to fix the bootloop.
Edit
Here you go: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3453119
Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link, and I've been reading the "Let's figure out this brick together" thread. The link you posted requires ADB commands to work to fix the EFS partition, but I can only run fastboot commands. ADB nor Recovery work on my device. Still reading...
Woohoo! Huawei replaced the phone, no questions asked. I think the saving grace was being able to flash stock images, and relock the bootloader. May be helpful to anyone else in this situation that can only run fastboot commands, and no recovery.