Help! My Galaxy Nexus Soft-Bricked after Bootloader Unlock

**Flyspook** · 12-24-2011, 02:21 PM

SITUATION: My Galaxy Nexus (Verizon LTE) phone is stuck in a boot loop following my attempt to unlock the bootloader. It continues to power cycle after booting to the screen with "Google" and the unlock symbol below it. The only other thing I've been able to do is get it into the ODIN Mode using the Volume Up+Volume Down+Power But, but it sticks there saying "Downloading.....Do not turn off target!! If I hit Start/Power it goes right back into the boot loop. I can only assume the image has been wiped or corrupted which means my GNex is not in Debug mode anymore.

BACKGROUND: Following the steps on a Droid Life video how to unlock the bootloader on my GNex, I downloaded and configured Android SDK, Fastboot, and loaded the Samsung USB drivers for my phone. Everything went perfectly up until the initial reboot boot looped in that colorful boot up that it does. It went on for 10+ minutes before I decided to unplug the USB cable and eventually pulled the battery. Although this might not have been the proper thing to do, here I am.

EXPECTATION: Recover my GNex to a functional state. I've been mulling through forums related to my same issue without much luck. I've downloaded the GNEx image and USB driver for the Verizon GNex from Samsung. The USB Driver is installed. Fastboot is installed, but I now get the error that it’s not a valid Win32 application now. I’m guessing the secret is to get it into bootloader mode in order to image it. My computer is Win7 Pro64, but I do have a Laptop with WinXP Pro32 that I can also use. I think the challenge here is getting my computer to recognize my phone which is something not well addressed in other forums I’ve read. Any help would very much be appreciated.

**iBowToAndroid** · 12-25-2011, 02:18 AM

Read the DL article on how to restore your GNex to factory state - if it doesn't work, report any errors you get

**nosferoitu** · 12-25-2011, 03:56 AM

Flyspook, did you get any solutions?? I encountered the IDENTICAL error minutes ago. So depressed, barely had my phone for 8 days

I prematurely unplugged the phone during the root..> I am screwed.

Please email me if you had any luck thx

**marcw** · 12-26-2011, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by nosferoitu

Flyspook, did you get any solutions?? I encountered the IDENTICAL error minutes ago. So depressed, barely had my phone for 8 days

I prematurely unplugged the phone during the root..> I am screwed.

Please email me if you had any luck thx

This reply is only to make you feel you are not screwed, there are ways to restore the phone. Extremely hard to brick the phone. just search around on how to restore the phone to the original state. I can not help you yet. Have not had any issues on this phone, on other phones i thought i was screwed and was not. Android does not let you brick your phone to a door stop.

**MazoMark** · 12-26-2011, 11:47 AM

If you can into download mode, Odin is your friend with Samsung phones!

**revickulous2001** · 12-26-2011, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Flyspook

SITUATION: My Galaxy Nexus (Verizon LTE) phone is stuck in a boot loop following my attempt to unlock the bootloader. It continues to power cycle after booting to the screen with "Google" and the unlock symbol below it. The only other thing I've been able to do is get it into the ODIN Mode using the Volume Up+Volume Down+Power But, but it sticks there saying "Downloading.....Do not turn off target!! If I hit Start/Power it goes right back into the boot loop. I can only assume the image has been wiped or corrupted which means my GNex is not in Debug mode anymore.

BACKGROUND: Following the steps on a Droid Life video how to unlock the bootloader on my GNex, I downloaded and configured Android SDK, Fastboot, and loaded the Samsung USB drivers for my phone. Everything went perfectly up until the initial reboot boot looped in that colorful boot up that it does. It went on for 10+ minutes before I decided to unplug the USB cable and eventually pulled the battery. Although this might not have been the proper thing to do, here I am.

EXPECTATION: Recover my GNex to a functional state. I've been mulling through forums related to my same issue without much luck. I've downloaded the GNEx image and USB driver for the Verizon GNex from Samsung. The USB Driver is installed. Fastboot is installed, but I now get the error that it’s not a valid Win32 application now. I’m guessing the secret is to get it into bootloader mode in order to image it. My computer is Win7 Pro64, but I do have a Laptop with WinXP Pro32 that I can also use. I think the challenge here is getting my computer to recognize my phone which is something not well addressed in other forums I’ve read. Any help would very much be appreciated.

Has your problem been solved yet?

**nosferoitu** · 12-27-2011, 01:30 AM

Hi All, yes thank you. After the longest Xmas of my life, I fixed my galaxy nexus.

I couldn't get past the "download" screen because Odin didn't recognize my phone, it kept saying "removed!" because I did prematurely pull hte USB after 2 mins into the root (newbie here).

So, went into fastboot mode, rcovery --> got the droid with red triangle & exclamation point. Then, went to "restore factory settings," and deleted my user data.

I was so happy last night. Thanks all, good luck Flyspook.

I was super regretful for attemping this, now I feel better about doing it. I didn't setup adb / sdk, and didn't enable USB Debugging. Laughing stock.

**nosferoitu** · 12-27-2011, 03:24 AM

Hi need help again... Trying to Unroot the phone but since unplugging the USB during Odin flash, the computer doesn't quite recognize the phone.

I tried the fastboot reloader, that was fine, but the second command line to flash the first img doesnt' work, the DOS prompt just says "waiting for device..."

please help, I would liek to restore my phone back to stock.

**iBowToAndroid** · 12-30-2011, 12:52 AM

Sounds like you don't have the right drivers. Samsung has them on their site - link is on Droid-Life

**xelhabb** · 12-30-2011, 08:15 AM

nosferoitu,

you may have the drivers installed but you must go one more step.

You must first get into fastboot mode. BEFORE flashing the img file.

On Windows, go to your Device Manager with the Nexus plugged in and in Fastboot mode. You'll probably see a device called "Android 1.0" with a yellow warning icon (indicating it has no driver).

Right click on "Android 1.0", select update driver, then hit browse my computer for driver software. Select the option for Let me pick from list, select all drivers, have disk, then going into SDK in the drivers folder, select the third file down, open, click on the top choice "Android Bootloader Interface". It should install from there. Your phone should then be recognized by SDK for flashing the img file.

**cbs2002** · 12-30-2011, 12:26 PM

To Flyspook,

I have the same problem like yours as my PC does not recognize my Galaxy Nexus (bricked, I suppose)

So do you find the solution yet?

Thanks

cbs2002

**MikeC_513** · 12-30-2011, 01:17 PM

i had this same problem. i put the phone back into fastboot, relocked, then reunlocked, then rooted and it worked.
so give the relocking and reunlocking a shot if you're still stuck.

**slaz13** · 12-30-2011, 08:06 PM

I bricked my phone today using ODIN. Never once did i brick the fascinate. I don't think it was even possible. Anyways I think I partitioned it by mistake and cleared everything off the phone. Anyways by mistake I relocked the bootloader and could not get it unlocked again. I tried everything. I don't know why I messed with the thing in the first place I had it unlocked rooted and running great but wanted to redo the whole thing completely with odin. Anyways I worked all day on the thing and gave up. I took it back to verizon and told them I couldn't get passed the screen that was up (bootloader). I acted stupid of course and they just gave me a new phone. The new phone is already unlocked and rooted. Never ever ever ever check that partition box in odin. I should not have been so stupid!

**Halo** · 01-03-2012, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by slaz13

I bricked my phone today using ODIN.
I took it back to verizon and told them I couldn't get passed the screen that was up (bootloader). I acted stupid of course and they just gave me a new phone. The new phone is already unlocked and rooted. Never ever ever ever check that partition box in odin. I should not have been so stupid!

**nosferoitu** · 01-05-2012, 02:23 AM

Thank you Xelhandroid.

I will try this on th eweekend. I need to back up my phone before I attempt to reflash the factory image.

May i please have your email?

**nosferoitu** · 01-06-2012, 02:08 AM

I finally RESTORED & RELOCKED my Galaxy Nexus.

After 2 long weeks, this newbie finally restored and will take back to vzw to get a fresh new GNex to root.

SO, I couldn't get the ADB (androidbootloader) in DOS prompt to recognize my phone when in fastboot mode. As Xelhandroid described, you need to install the Android Driver (additional USB driver from the Samsung). For unknown reasons, my SDK tool didn't have this in the folder.

Here's how to get your Galaxy Nexus to be recognized for the factory image flash:

Download: PdaNet

Once downloaded, install the software. When thats done go into control pannel>hardware and sound>device manager and look for the android 1.0 driver with the yellow exclamation point. Right click and hit 'update drivers'. Browse your computer manually instead of having it search for you. Then enter this path. c:/program files (x86)/PdaNet for Android/usbwin. You'll get a security warning, but install anyway and you'll be good.

Next, if you follow droidmodderx's instructions, they work, but the last flash keeps the phone sitting on the colorful boot menu, just BE PATIENT. It took about 4 minutes for mine to completely reboot and get to the factory welcome screen.

Patience is needed for all us newbies. Thanks alll for your HELP.

happy new year.

**user0086** · 01-06-2012, 10:35 AM

Hello,

I am pretty much sure I bricked my phone as well but I was never able to get the PdaNet to install. It always had an error and then removed it again. I unlocked my phone less than a week ago and it was working fine until last night when the screen turned green and it shut off. Now it is stuck on the black google screen and I cannot get the bootloader to do anything it just restarts back to the google screen. I also cannot get my computer to find the phone I think because it will not stay turned on. I have tried charging the phone and left the battery out over night and still nothing has worked. Can someone please help me find a way to fix my phone??

**user0086** · 01-06-2012, 01:42 PM

I cannot find SDK in the drivers folder....is it in system32 folder?

**nosferoitu** · 01-08-2012, 04:26 AM

JYates, google DroidModderaX's tutorial about rooting and restoring Galaxy Nexus'. He has a video walk through for just about everything. He has a video on installing SDK, a google developer program.

I didnt do any of this when attempting to root. The Odin rooting instructions are not very good. It misses a crucial step I feel, whereas it doesnt tell users to enable USB debugging.

Can you not acess Bootloader when holding the power and VOL up and down rockers together??

**CJactual** · 09-02-2012, 12:10 AM

Help! My Galaxy Nexus Soft-Bricked after Bootloader Unlock-bricked-gnex-cdma.jpg

I was using Odin to relock my bootloader when it was disconnected. Now I have the above screen. My CP (Win 7 x64) will not recognize my GNex. I was succesfully rooted but was not using any custom ROMs. Please help

**2defmouze** · 09-02-2012, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by CJactual

Click image for larger version.

Name: Bricked GNex CDMA.jpg
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I was using Odin to relock my bootloader when it was disconnected. Now I have the above screen. My CP (Win 7 x64) will not recognize my GNex. I was succesfully rooted but was not using any custom ROMs. Please help

Never use odin on an open device.

I'm not sure what it is you are looking at, I would try pulling the battery and rebooting. If unsuccessful, then do it again, but hold both volumes and power until you get to the bootloader. From there you can see if your device has been relocked, you can do a factory image restore to solve the booting issues, and would have other options on the table. Let me know what you see from there.

**CJactual** · 09-02-2012, 09:49 PM

I've held down the volume button and the power button and nothing happened I've pulled the battery several 100 times and nothing is happening. I've updated the drivers several times and my computer will not recognize my phone. What is that screen?

**2defmouze** · 09-02-2012, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by CJactual

I've held down the volume button and the power button and nothing happened I've pulled the battery several 100 times and nothing is happening. I've updated the drivers several times and my computer will not recognize my phone. What is that screen?

Like I said.. Hold BOTH volumes and power to get to the bootloader. If you can get there you can follow the factory restore thread and get back up and running

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

**CJactual** · 09-02-2012, 11:00 PM

I've tried that too and nothing seems to work. It doesn't respond to anything.

**CJactual** · 09-03-2012, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by 2defmouze

Like I said.. Hold BOTH volumes and power to get to the bootloader. If you can get there you can follow the factory restore thread and get back up and running

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

. I'm losing my mind... My GNex will not respond to any of the normal attempts to get into the boot loader. I rooted following a youtube by qBKing77 'How to root the Galaxy Nexus 4G LTE' and all was successful. I used my phone for weeks, no problems. But my radio would just drop out randomly so decided to re-lock it and return it to BigRed. So i used odin to re-lock and that's when the problem started. In short I'm stuck on that screen and nothing i do (pwr cycle, enter bootloader, connect to computer, remove/switch batteries...) does anything. Any help would be greatly appreciate.