Nexus 7 w/ 4.1(Jelly Bean) won't do anything

dlhanna

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Apr 20, 2014
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My Nexus 7 with 4.1 Jelly Bean was purchased in Dec. 2012. Everything was fine until about 4 days ago when it was removed from charging and froze with "Goggle" on the screen. The only way that I could get the "Google" off of the screen was to hold down the power button for 30 sec. or so. This cleared the screen but i have been unable to get it to do anything since then. The screen is black and blank. Have tried pressing down Power button with and without the Volume up and down buttons. Nothing does anything. Have left it on charge with the AC charger and with the USB cord attached to my PC for 10-12 hours each but still nothing on the screen. When I first connected it to my PC with the USB cord, something started to load or download. At that time I didn't know what was happening and disconected the cord. I have since read that it might have been trying to load some drivers and that I should have let it go. Chatted with GoogIe Customer Service and did all of the things they suggested but no help. I have taken it to a local PC repair shop and to a Cell Phone Repair shop but no help. They say that there appears to be corrupt boot loader software or something like that and suggested that I contact ASUS for repairs. After reading some entrys on this forum, I would like to try fixing it myself

Anyway, here I am with a dead Nexus 7. This forum has several fixes for similar problems and I am hoping that I can get it going by downloading and installing software. I would appreciate some help in steering me to the best way to begin. I have no data of importance on the unit and would like to wipe everything clean and load the latest Android software to my Nexus 7. I have a PC with Windows 7 to work with.

Thanks for any advice in telling me where to start or which procedure to start with.

Dave H,
Georgetown, TX
 

dlhanna

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Thanks for the reply.
My Nexus 7(2012 version) 4.1 is unrooted, original software with no modifications.
Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum. Guess it should have been in the Nexus 7 forum, not the rooting,.. sub forum.
I can not get to a Recovery Menu to wipe the system cache partition since pressing any combination of Power - Vol. and Up or Down keys does not do anything. Screen remains blank and black.
I am not very experienced with Andriod devices and mods thereto. Do I need to reload a bootloader? If so, how? I do not have Linux or Mac to work with, only Windows 7.
Would appreciate any additional help.

Dave
 

GedBlake

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Mar 23, 2013
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My Nexus 7 with 4.1 Jelly Bean was purchased in Dec. 2012. Everything was fine until about 4 days ago when it was removed from charging and froze with "Goggle" on the screen. The only way that I could get the "Google" off of the screen was to hold down the power button for 30 sec. or so. This cleared the screen but i have been unable to get it to do anything since then. The screen is black and blank. Have tried pressing down Power button with and without the Volume up and down buttons. Nothing does anything. Have left it on charge with the AC charger and with the USB cord attached to my PC for 10-12 hours each but still nothing on the screen. When I first connected it to my PC with the USB cord, something started to load or download. At that time I didn't know what was happening and disconected the cord. I have since read that it might have been trying to load some drivers and that I should have let it go. Chatted with GoogIe Customer Service and did all of the things they suggested but no help. I have taken it to a local PC repair shop and to a Cell Phone Repair shop but no help. They say that there appears to be corrupt boot loader software or something like that and suggested that I contact ASUS for repairs. After reading some entrys on this forum, I would like to try fixing it myself

Anyway, here I am with a dead Nexus 7. This forum has several fixes for similar problems and I am hoping that I can get it going by downloading and installing software. I would appreciate some help in steering me to the best way to begin. I have no data of importance on the unit and would like to wipe everything clean and load the latest Android software to my Nexus 7. I have a PC with Windows 7 to work with.

Thanks for any advice in telling me where to start or which procedure to start with.

Dave H,
Georgetown, TX

Thanks for the reply.
My Nexus 7(2012 version) 4.1 is unrooted, original software with no modifications.
Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum. Guess it should have been in the Nexus 7 forum, not the rooting,.. sub forum.
I can not get to a Recovery Menu to wipe the system cache partition since pressing any combination of Power - Vol. and Up or Down keys does not do anything. Screen remains blank and black.
I am not very experienced with Andriod devices and mods thereto. Do I need to reload a bootloader? If so, how? I do not have Linux or Mac to work with, only Windows 7.
Would appreciate any additional help.

Dave

Hi, dlhanna... (Dave)...

I really do hate writing posts like like this... I prefer questions where somebody asks "How I do...?". And I respond with "Well, go to settings, and do this..."

...or I redirect them to some other thread or website... and they respond with "Yay!.. that worked... brilliant! Thank you!".

Unfortunately, I don't think that's that's how it's going to work out here:(.

Everything in your posts suggests your Nexus 7 has a dead, corrupted or erased BOOTLOADER.

The bootloader is the Achilles Heel of the Nexus 7, and without a working bootloader, the device is dead... or HARDBRICKED, as it's most commonly known.

The Nexus 7 WILL NOT BOOT without one.

The bootloader is a critical component when flashing new versions of official Android Stock firmware, Custom ROMs, Custom Kernels and Custom Recoveries. It's also used when flashing new versions of the bootloader... but here's the problem... YOU NEED A WORKING BOOTLOADER, IN ORDER TO FLASH A BOOTLOADER:(.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

** You normally 'see' the bootloader everytime you turn on the Nexus 7... it's the White-on-Black Google logo.

** You should also 'see' the bootloader, when charging the Nexus 7 or connected to the mains power supply...whilst it is shut down. It's the White-on-Black battery charging animation.

If you don't see either of these, then the prognosis is not good...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The bootloader can be booted directly... primarily for the purposes of running fastboot commands... or just accessing recovery (stock or custom).

The precise key press sequence is as follows...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

With the device fully powered down...
(Long press [20-45sec] the POWER BUTTON, if you're unsure.)

-Press VOLUME DOWN... and hold..
...whilst continuing to hold...
-Press POWER BUTTON.

See here for more Nexus 7 key combos...
[REF] Nexus 7 Button Combinations - xda-developers

This should boot the Nexus 7 into the bootloader.

If it doesn't, you device is most likely HARDBRICKED... and when connected to a PC, will show up as an APX device.

APX mode, is what the Nexus 7 defaults to, in the absence of a working bootloader... with the expectation that 'somebody' will nvFlash a new one.

Unfortunately, there is no universal 'one-size-fits-all' nvFlash tool for accomplishing this. The only slim hope, is that prior to HARDBRICK, you had created what are called 'nvflash blobs', for your specific Nexus 7.

Details here...

Flatline - Unbrickable Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi + 3G) - xda-developers
https://www.androidroot.mobi/pages/guides/tegra3-guide-nvflash-jellybean

These 'blobs', like the bootloader, are crypto-signed to to each individual Nexus 7 and are not transferable... but they (apparently) give the Nexus 7 nvFlash capability, whereby a bootloader may be nvFlashed, and the device 'unbricked'.

I have no idea if this works... so whilst I have generated the 'blobs' for my own Nexus 7, fortunately I've never had cause or reason to use them:).

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance... or have delivered better news.

Rgrds,
Ged.
 

dlhanna

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Apr 20, 2014
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Hello GedBlake,
Thanks for responding to my Nexus 7 posting. And thanks for the explanation of how booting and bootloaders work. I believe that my Nexus 7 is Bricked. I'm not sure what caused this problem. The sequence was-- My wife was going to resume reading an e-book and unplugged the Nexus 7 from the AC Mains charger. She told me that she could not get it to work. It seemed to be frozen with the black and white word "Google" in the center of the screen. The only way that could get any response was to depress the Power button for 20-30 seconds. The Google screen went away and the screen went black and has stayed that way ever since. I tried the Power + Volume Down and Power + Volume UP and all three at the same time for periods of up to 30-40 secs.-- also for shorter preriods. but was unable to get any reponse. I then tried connecting it to my PC with a USB cord. Something immediately started to download or upload. Since I was not expecting this, I broke the connection. This action on my part may be related to the corrupted bootloader file. After that one first time nothing happens when I connect to the USB port on my PC other than the PC beeps and reports that an unknown USB device has been detected.

Seems like there should be some way to load new bootloader software - How did they ever get the first one loaded but that was done under different conditions.

Thanks again for the help. Now I will have to decide what to replace the unit with.

Dave
 

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