SOLVED
See my most recent post in this thread
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Firstly, I've spent the last three days scouring XDA and some other forums searching for solutions and trying various options.
The screen on my N4 has cracked and I've lost the use of the bottom half of the touchscreen. This means that I can't unlock my phone.
The phone is insured and will be repaired, but there are photos of my son's first birthday on the internal memory that I don't want to lose. I'm concerned that the phone will be factory reset during a repair or I'll receive a replacement. I'm trying to access the internal memory remotely to backup these files before I send the phone off. The problem is that I hadn't enabled USB debugging before the accident. The phone is completely stock including the bootloader.
So I can access via fastboot but not via adb.
Q1: Can I pull file from the internal memory via fastboot
Q2: Can I enable usb debugging via fastboot
Q3: The phone is set to display as an MTP device in windows but as I can't unlock the screen, none of the files are showing. Is there anyway around this?
Q4: Purely via fastboot, can I unlock the bootloader, install CWM so to use ADB within it and then return to a stock bootloader?
I think they're my options. Any answers to the above or alternatives would be appreciated.
All of the other threads regarding this, the users seem to either already have CWM installed or they're looking to perform a factory reset. I did consider resetting the device via the bootloader in order to bypass the screenlock but I understand that on the N4 this wipes the internal memory as well.
Unlocking the device isn't needed to pull the files from it, just plug it in and get what you need from the internal memory
EddyOS said:
Unlocking the device isn't needed to pull the files from it, just plug it in and get what you need from the internal memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On mine if I plug it in it appears as an MTP device but with no files. I then have to unlock the screen and select USB something-or-other from the notificationss bar, then the files appear in windows.
Strange, mine never needs to be unlocked...I'm using Windows 8 Pro btw but it also works fine in work on Vista Business
Only other thing I can think of is the fact I'm unlocked and running a custom ROM, I've never used my N4 stock. It was on CM within 30 mins of receiving the unit!
So over the last week I've managed to solve my problem. I've seen several other people asking for help with no luck so I'm posting this here in the hope that the search function will bring it up.
Firstly, my phone was completely stock running 4.2.2, unrooted, with the locked stock bootloader. USB Debugging WAS NOT enabled. I had pattern lock enabled when I dropped the phone. The screen cracked and the bottom half of the touchscreen was unresponsive.
The phone was insured, but I wanted to backup photos from the device before sending it off for repair/replacement.
HOW I FIXED IT.
Please note, you need at least some part of the screen to be working, specifically, some part of the screen where the pattern lock is.
You only need two pieces of software. The Android SDK and the Nexus 4 Toolkit http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1995688
If you are running 4.2.2 you will need to update the toolkit. I also had the standard issues of installing the USB drivers for the N4. You need to get to a point where is shows up as an ADB device in Windows Device Manager.
As I didn't have USB debuggin enabled I couldn't connect tothe phone via ADB, but if you put it into recovery mode you can use Fastboot. Hold down the power key to turn the device off and turn it on while holding down Vol Down to load up recovery mode.
If you then start the N4 Toolkit, you should see the device listed as a fast boot device.
From within the toolkit unlock your bootloader.
Flash a temporary bootlader, (option 10) as the touchscreeen was broken it has to be CWM.
Once in CWM you can start to use ADB. Open up a DOS command prompt in Windows, go to your SDK/platform tools folder/ to access ADB.exe and you can use the pull command to copy folders to your PC. At this point, instead you can use applications like ADBexplorer or DroidExplorer to do the same thing through a nicer GUI.
If you'd like to still be able to use your phone, although without the touchscreen, you can load an unstable image to get into android and then use ADB to start changing system settings.
Firstly, before exiting CWM, clear the cache. Without doing this the phone jsut hung on the Nexus symbol while loading the image.
in the toolkit go to root/unroot options and select load unstable image(option 4 and then 6). This will fire you up into Android and it should be set up as you left it.
I wanted to enable bluetooth so to use a keyboard (I didn't have a mouse but this is a better option) from the DOS window type the following command
am start -a android.bluetooth.adapter.action.REQUEST_ENABLE
You should eventually get a pop-up on your screen saying that a request has been made to enable bluetooth. Hopefully your screen is working enough to select enable.
Then I use the workaround to disable the sceenlock, found here -> (http://www.addictivetips.com/androi...e-pattern-unlock-on-android-via-adb-commands/) I found method 2 worked for me. I imagine this will be stopped in a future update.
Method 1
adb shell
cd /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases
sqlite3 settings.db
update system set value=0 where name='lock_pattern_autolock';
update system set value=0 where name='lockscreen.lockedoutpermanently';
.quit
Method 2
adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key
If either of these methods are successful you will be able to unlock the phone with an pattern, hence why you need to be able to touch some part of it.
From then, my bluetooth keyboard was already mated to my phone to I was able the navigate the menus to turn on USB Debugging, turn-off the screen lock and a few other bits and pieces I needed to do.
I then restarted (I was still working within the unstable image) and on reboot, all my changes had al been applied. No screen lock, bluetooth enabled and USB Debugging enabled.
Hopefully this will be of help to those in a similar position. Thanks has to go to the toolkit though which provides all the necessary access to carry this out.
I should probably add, you can use the toolkit to relock the bootlader if you're concerned about that and if you can't click the screen to enable bluetooth or mate a keyboard or mouse, once you have USB Debugging enabled you can use software like Screencast to control you phone's screen from a PC.
So typically, just as I fill my claim to repair my nexus my wife drops her, smashing the screen even more than I did so she has absolutely no use of her screen. I went through the process again and though I'd post it in a more simple fashion.
1. Reset Nexus into recovery mode (power & volume down)
2. Connect to PC via USB. Install the USB driver from the SDK so that it appears as an ADB device
3. Fire up the updated toolkit. You should see the nexus as a fast boot device
4. Unlock bootloader
5. Using option 10 on the toolkit load up CWM on the phone. This gives you ADB access so can you pull files off the device via ADB although I could access the SD card through programs like Droid explorer.
6. If you want to carry on further and get into Android properly, you'll need to wipe the cache from within CWM
7. Reboot and hold down the volume key to get back into recovery
8. In the toolkit select root options (option 4) and load temporary image (6) If it hangs on the google or nexus logo you've not wiped the cache.
9. With this second phone I couldn't access it through droid explorer as it was popping up as an MTP device but I could pull the files via command prompt or through the toolkit
10. If you have any use of the touchscreen at all you can run the following command which will then mean that any touch will unlock the device
adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key11. You can activate bluetooth via adb if you have a mouse or keyboard available but you will need to be able to press okay on the screen
12. Any changes you make in the unstable android image such as lockscreen, bluetooth, enabling debugging, etc will remain in place when you restart the device.
13. You can relock the bootloader if you wish via the toolkit. You just need to be in recovery mode first.
Hope this simplifies the process
Does unlocking bootloader via toolkit not wipe everything? How are you unlocking bootloader and still able to pull data off?
EDIT: it appears fastboot oem unlock on the Nexus 4 *does not* wipe data!
Carpetboy said:
So typically, just as I fill my claim to repair my nexus my wife drops her, smashing the screen even more than I did so she has absolutely no use of her screen. I went through the process again and though I'd post it in a more simple fashion.
1. Reset Nexus into recovery mode (power & volume down)
2. Connect to PC via USB. Install the USB driver from the SDK so that it appears as an ADB device
3. Fire up the updated toolkit. You should see the nexus as a fast boot device
4. Unlock bootloader
5. Using option 10 on the toolkit load up CWM on the phone. This gives you ADB access so can you pull files off the device via ADB although I could access the SD card through programs like Droid explorer.
6. If you want to carry on further and get into Android properly, you'll need to wipe the cache from within CWM
7. Reboot and hold down the volume key to get back into recovery
8. In the toolkit select root options (option 4) and load temporary image (6) If it hangs on the google or nexus logo you've not wiped the cache.
9. With this second phone I couldn't access it through droid explorer as it was popping up as an MTP device but I could pull the files via command prompt or through the toolkit
10. If you have any use of the touchscreen at all you can run the following command which will then mean that any touch will unlock the device
adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key11. You can activate bluetooth via adb if you have a mouse or keyboard available but you will need to be able to press okay on the screen
12. Any changes you make in the unstable android image such as lockscreen, bluetooth, enabling debugging, etc will remain in place when you restart the device.
13. You can relock the bootloader if you wish via the toolkit. You just need to be in recovery mode first.
Hope this simplifies the process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please HELP, i can get to step 5...but then, when I try to use ADB via cmd (ie. adb shell), it says "error: device offline". what can it be? I don't know if this is a driver related issue (i've tried the toolkit drivers and the SDK drivers)...i'm desperated, I can't access the phone!!
Thanks in advance
not working for me
i'm in same boat with cracked screen. i can get CWM installed but i cant enabled usb debugging without touching the screen so i cant get adb working. how did you turn on usb debugging without the screen
Thanks for the guide.
Im curious on why youd want to boot an unstable(temporary) image after pulling the files using ADB in CWM recovery. Why not just wipe cache and reboot normally into Android ?
usb debugging without screen?
compsmart said:
i'm in same boat with cracked screen. i can get CWM installed but i cant enabled usb debugging without touching the screen so i cant get adb working. how did you turn on usb debugging without the screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can someone please walk me through how to do this? My screen is completely broken, but I can still turn on/off, I have reason to believe debugging is off because when I connect the phone (a Samsung galaxy sII skyrocket) to my Toshiba laptop via a micro USB, it makes a sound to signal that it's connected. Drives E and F then open up (but are empty) and then disappear. I have no idea what's going on but I absolutely cannot lose all of the data on this phone. Pictures and videos from my old blackberry Torch are on here too, making up about 4 years of my daughter's life that I would lose if I cannot retrieve. Also, I am not super -tech savvy, so if someone could help me I would be forever grateful.
Please!!
:crying:
almost the same issue
I have an Asus memo pad 10 (smart) some of the core apps have been corrupted, (keyboard, UI, launcher etc all the essential stuff) I've been trying to reinstall my UI and launcher from my computer when i found out that USB debugging was disabled. the tablet is basically unusable, i have no way of enabling from the tablet itself. is there a piece of script or something i could run from my PC to enable it?
any help would be greatly appreciated :crying:
bob mc bob said:
I have an Asus memo pad 10 (smart) some of the core apps have been corrupted, (keyboard, UI, launcher etc all the essential stuff) I've been trying to reinstall my UI and launcher from my computer when i found out that USB debugging was disabled. the tablet is basically unusable, i have no way of enabling from the tablet itself. is there a piece of script or something i could run from my PC to enable it?
any help would be greatly appreciated :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My screen became unresponsive a while back. I ended up getting and OTG cable and plugging in a mouse. This allowed me to do everything as if the touchscreen was working. There's also an app called MyMobiler that let me plug in my device over USB and control my screen from my PC. Those two helped me enable USB Debugging, flash a custom ROM, root the phone, backup everything I needed, then restore the phone to stock. I hope this helps.
*Sorry for bumping such an old post*
Thanks for the really useful guide!
Could you or someone just confirm to me that unlocking the bootloader does not factory reset? The reason I'm doing this process is to access my personal data so it's important that I can keep it all.
I ask because at the unlock bootloader stage it implicitly warns me that there'll be a factory reset.
Thanks again!
HikerMan said:
*Sorry for bumping such an old post*
Thanks for the really useful guide!
Could you or someone just confirm to me that unlocking the bootloader does not factory reset? The reason I'm doing this process is to access my personal data so it's important that I can keep it all.
I ask because at the unlock bootloader stage it implicitly warns me that there'll be a factory reset.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocking to bootloader will wipe your device
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
jd1639 said:
Unlocking to bootloader will wipe your device
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In that case, I am confused as to how OP managed to unlock his bootloader. He actually states that the purpose of this was to retrieve data, like me.
Also, in a previous comment in this thread by jw95275, they claim that "it appears fastboot oem unlock on the Nexus 4 *does not* wipe data".
I am concerned about the conflicting answers so far, so will hold off for an explanation before I do anything. Thanks for the response!
HikerMan said:
In that case, I am confused as to how OP managed to unlock his bootloader. He actually states that the purpose of this was to retrieve data, like me.
Also, in a previous comment in this thread by jw95275, they claim that "it appears fastboot oem unlock on the Nexus 4 *does not* wipe data".
I am concerned about the conflicting answers so far, so will hold off for an explanation before I do anything. Thanks for the response!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should just be able to "fastboot boot recovery.img" and boot CWM and then use ADB. W/O unlocking the BL
npjohnson said:
You should just be able to "fastboot boot recovery.img" and boot CWM and then use ADB. W/O unlocking the BL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This did not work for me. I have a Nexus 4 with a broken digitizer, locked bootloader, and usb debugging disabled. I need to grab some data off.
I've tried `fastboot flash recovery {{recovery .img}}` and `fastboot boot {{recovery .img}}` without unlocking the bootloader first, and via both methods, I get back "FAILED (remote: not supported in locked device)"
So I'm not sure how people are able to get into custom recovery without first unlocking BL/losing all their data. Can someone explain?
jinglejuice said:
This did not work for me. I have a Nexus 4 with a broken digitizer, locked bootloader, and usb debugging disabled. I need to grab some data off.
I've tried `fastboot flash recovery {{recovery .img}}` and `fastboot boot {{recovery .img}}` without unlocking the bootloader first, and via both methods, I get back "FAILED (remote: not supported in locked device)"
So I'm not sure how people are able to get into custom recovery without first unlocking BL/losing all their data. Can someone explain?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On some (few) Motorola devices (not nexus 4), you can fastboot boot without unlocking the BL.
I rooted my galaxy s7 edge (snapdragon) and everything was fine and working except I couldn't get SuperSU to install properly. I would get the app screen, but nothing else. A couple of apps would show up (Root Checker, Flashfire) after I had run them but I didn't get the typical SU screen with settings. I'm not including the softwares used (I did have debugging enabled in Develper options on the phone, secure boot unchecked, and the correct Samsung USB drivers installed) because I don't think it's relevant to my question - if not so, let me know and i'll be glad to provide the info - I'm a newbie at this so please bear with me). I read about the warning to not update the 2.74 version of SuperSU but then I saw the update beta for 2.77 so I tried that. It appeared to run ok; I could see all the commands being executed and then ending and then the phone rebooted, as it's suppose to do. This is when the problem emerged; a screen came up saying "start up failed" and at the top left of the screen it said 'Custom binary blocked by secure boot (boot.img). I rebooted to TWRP recovery mode and tried rebooting which again resulted in the start up failure screen. I then tried the wipe data\factory reset setting and the same thing happened. I then booted to maintenance mode and got the warning screen about a custom OS installation can cause problems but if you want to proceed press volume up key which I did and got the usual Downloading page. At the top of the Downloading page I noted it said, among other identifying info: Odin mode (high speed), FRP lock: off, QUALCOMM Secure Boot: enable, and Secure Download: enable.
But, when connecting the usb cable to the phone and pc, my computer (Win 10) doesn't even see it. Not sees and doesn't recognize, but doesn't even see it. I tried a second USB cable and different ports but got the same results. I tried a second computer and got the same thing.
I am guessing that if I could still access the phone to run rooting apps I could get past the lock. If not now, maybe later on when someone figures our a way to do so. But without a working connection to the phone I am helpless. I am wondering if Verizon disables USB intentionally, so that the phone essentially becomes useless. Or, is it a coincidence and perhaps there is something wrong with the usb hardware.
Is there a way out of this other than having to pay for it to be fixed (which Samsung won't do - I called - and maybe Verizon not either).
Thanks in advance -
j-brah
Hello this is my first post. I have searched the threads and internet for answers but I have not been able to find a solution.
I have been customizing my phones since the days of baked black bean on my galaxy S1, but I am no expert at this stuff. Until about a week ago, I was happily running RR on the OPO (great ROM) but it has gotten a bit slow so I figured it was time to get a OP5.
When I boot into fastboot, my device is recognized with the command fastboot devices. My phone showed the following:
fastboot mode
product_name - QC_Refernce_Phone
VARIANT - MSM UFS
BOOTLOADER VERSION -
BASEBAND VERSION -
SERIAL NUMBER - c7ccda2
SECURE BOOT - yes
DEVICE STATE - locked
When I ran fastboot oem unlock, CMD prompt shows FAILED, however, the option to unlock the bootloader shows up on the OP5. I go through the process and wipe data. My phone now shows that it is unlocked, and I go into developer options to get advanced reboot/USB debugging/verify OEM unlock is still enabled. When I go back to fastboot, I am unable to flash TWRP. I have now seen a number of errors, usually:
FAILED (remote: Requested download size is more than max allowed) or target did not report max download size, or command write failed (no error). I have tried installing 4 different versions of ADB/fastboot from different sources, and I have tried TWRP cheeseburger 46, 58, and 62. I have also tried two different USB ports and 4 different USB drivers.
Does anyone know what could cause these issues or how to get TWRP installed? Any help would be much appreciated. I really want to get rooted and get substratum running.
hmm
did you type fastboot devices to check that u got connection ? do you have another pc to try ? another usb port
edit: also try disable developer option and aplly it again with oem unlock tapp
EDIT2: if you cant still get it work you can try
Advanced settings -> Backup & reset -> Reset all settings and after that unlock bootloader
I was able to solve this by using a friend's laptop and installing the drivers and abd. Worked like a charm and I was able to flash magisk for root.
For anyone else having this issue, try another pc if you can. I'm guessing this was either an issue with adb on my machine or a problem with the device drivers.
bro do u find solutions for this
I found an actual fix for this problem. Basically I had to download Large Address Allocation Tool (LAA) which you can find online. I would link to it but I do not have the website handy.
I found this solution after soft bricking my phone by installing Oreo (I don't suggest using VPN to pretend you are in Canada. Just run the beta or wait for the US release).
Essentially, you just need to run this tool on your adb.exe. From what I understand, the issue is just that adb is not using enough RAM. I think you'll need to be running Windows 7 64bit with at least 4GB RAM. I hope this info can help someone else!
jsnell said:
I was able to solve this by using a friend's laptop and installing the drivers and abd. Worked like a charm and I was able to flash magisk for root.
For anyone else having this issue, try another pc if you can. I'm guessing this was either an issue with adb on my machine or a problem with the device drivers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ever since i ditched windows and went with ubuntu i have not had one single driver issue, not one single hiccup on anything. It's been two months.. I'm never going back. lol. Every time I use adb and or fastboot it always works.
Hi all,
:crying: - Looking for a way to get my Mi Note 2 back to life!
This device has never been unlocked or ROMed before (although it has been re-flashed successfully via Xiaomi's own pushed updates).
It is running MIUI 10.0.something (cannot access menus to verify exact).
The problem
----------------
I did a standard factory reset on the phone.
Once restarted, it takes you through the normal setup screens such as 'language', 'region', 'wifi network' after which I am given the option to select "copy your data from an old phone" or "set up as new", no matter which I select, my phone goes to the next screen which shows "Checking for updates". Here it stays - endlessly...
What have I tried?
----------------------
I have tried a different wifi network but it does the same.
I have also tried selecting "copy your data" instead of "set up as new" but it does the same.
Thoughts
------------
I thought I would try to install a new stock ROM to see if that would fix the issue. However, in order to unlock with the Mi bootloader unlock tool (and then use their flashing tool), apparently to do this, I need to enable something under developer options - clearly impossible when I cannot get to any android menus.
The phone *can* be re-started into the fastboot screen but does this help me at all?
On the MIUI website I noticed the following in the tips and tutorials forum: How to install a MIUI update without unlocking the bootloader: https://en.miui.com/thread-3852597-1-1.html
The above got me slightly excited before I realised that I have no way to place a ROM into the ‘downloaded_rom’ folder in the internal storage of my device (as the article instructs). Note that the reason for this (on my phone at least) is that although a Windows explorer window does open when I connect the phone to my laptop, it is empty (i.e. you cannot see any files/folders in it). BTW - I know what causes that specific issue as that bug was present in the device ages ago - basically, the phone seems to default to be in USB charge mode and in order to see the folders in Windows Explorer, you have to go into developer options and manually change the USB mode and then change it back to MTP mode. Once that is done, you can see the files/folder structures. However, I cannot get to any developer options as I cannot get to Settings at all.
What can I do?
------------------
So my burning question is this: How can I re-ROM this theoretically 'working' device, given the above constraints?
Is there any way to do anything while the phone is in the fastboot mode perhaps?
Is there some method maybe used to recover a bricked device that I could employ here?
Thank you for any help offered!
Cheers!
So my nephew brings me his galaxy s6 t-mobile phone... He forgot his lock pin so he factory reset it. Now he can no longer get into the phone because he doesnt know the correct email or password. I did some digging through the net watched a few videos... and found none of the methods they used to bypass the lock would work on his phone. Then I read about the Combination Rom (Factory Binary)... At this time I do not have any windows pc's and my VM will not read the usbs of the phone... (im not that experienced with vm to set this up) So i grabbed JOdin for linux and proceeded to try to flash the binary. However, JOdin did not work for me. So i found Heimdall and installed to learn that i had to find some weird way to run it as SU for it to work... Tho Heimdall worked like a charm.... With Heimdall I had to take the rom and completely extract it to a folder and find all the img files in it to install on heimdal like sboot, boot, cm, system, and quite a few others as well.I used the "PIT" file from the combination rom (which came in the download). When done installing the phone boots into Factory Binary... Interesting little rom... From here you can access settings, tho the instructions tell you to enable developer options and turn on usb debugging... in this rom they are set on by default i believe, so that was kind of a waste of time... then from the main menu you click the icon that looks like a calculator and type in "*#0808# where you are then presented with usb options. Select the last one on the list with adb at the end of it, click save and reboot. At this point I thought i was supposed to install the stock rom back (that was where i was lost) however all you have to do is let it boot back to binary. After it has reloaded... plug it into the pc and send it the proper adb instructions to disable frp lock. Techeligible has a batch file for use in windows, however if you dont have windows like me that does no good... So I went into the batch file with a text reader and extracted the information i needed ( 3 adb commands).In terminal i made sure my adb and fastboot were updated and working. I learned that when you type "adb devices" it will show the phone and if it says nothing else you are good to go. However it may give you a problem with permissions. If this is the case then unplug and make sure usb debuggin is on, you can also check that the adb is enabled again by doing the *#0808# command again and make sure the last selection is checked. When all is in order... At first I thought all commands must work for it to succeed... However this is not true at all. Only one of the adb commands will not give an error and at that time you can reboot into download mode and install the stock rom back on. After installation the phone will reboot and FRP Lock is no longer on... Now you can go into settings open up developer settings (tap build number till it unlocks) and select "OEM Unlock" and turn it on. Make sure usb debugging is on and you can boot back into download mode and install TWRP without a hitch.
I tried installing a couple of custom roms, however I have had no success with getting one to boot. (always stuck in boot loop even with wipe or factory reset) so I gave up and left him with the stock rom. If anyone has any idea of how i could get passed the bootloop maybe i can try again for him sometime and see how he likes various custom roms, but now he is happy he has his phone back working and it only took me a week of off and on frustration to figure it out... Hope this helps someone... (please dont ask for links) but if you do need help or have questions feel free to ask.