Hi, this is my first post (on any android forum, really) and i'd figure i'd contribute something useful for everything i've gleaned off of this place so far. If i'm posting this in the wrong place, feel free to move it! I still consider myself a noob, so if there is any information missing or this is poorly written, redundant, illogical, using wrong terms or concepts, smelly, unhappy, deranged, outdated or otherwise wrong.. let me know.
So, I spent literally all day getting this issue fixed. I think a lot of the reason it took so long is because of issues with my computer but still, this has been insane, and i'm a little pissed off about it but i'm not sure who to direct it at, haha. Apparently this build has major issues, the most obvious being the fact that it, for no apparent reason, drops data AND service every 2-30 minutes. Incredibly vague but there seems to be no cause (though of course there is, nobody has pinpointed it).
I work at a cellphone repair shop and a while back was demoing a Nexus from my shop and after working my way up through the Droid 1, Droid 2, Fascinate, Stratosphere, Droid Charge, Razr MAXX and finally getting a Nexus - I was in love. It was a used phone, it was rooted when I got it but one day someone sold our shop a brand-new-still-got-the-sticker-on-the-display Nexus. I opted to swap mine for the new one because I wanted to own my device from the beginning - brand new battery, official Samsung charger and headphones, completely stock. Went through the whole process of unlocking the bootloader, rooting and throwing several custom roms on there, but one thing that remained consistent was the signal drops. I thought I had screwed something up in the rooting process but what I discovered is that it is, in fact, an issue SPECIFIC to the Build Number IMM76Q. If you don't know how to identify your build number, go to Settings then About Phone and it's the last on the list. I've flashed an older build now, though, and have had consistent connectivity for an hour. That's a first since getting this phone.
As I said, there seems to be no cause, and I still haven't figured it out - now, I don't care to because I got a fix for it. I figured i'd share my findings here because everything I had to do to get this to work was insane, and some of it was probably specific to my personal settings and configurations on my computer. I'm writing this from the ground up assuming no knowledge on the behalf of the viewer, cause let's face it, even noobs deal with data drops.
------------------------------------
So to preface, the issue is with your build of Android, IMM76Q (if you hadn't figured that out already by everything i've typed) and the solution is to replace your build with another build. I used IMM76K, it seemed to be the latest stable version prior to this piece of garbage. If you follow this tutorial, I cannot be held responsible if you bork your phone, and please be aware that you will lose all data, even on the external (internal?) SD portion of your phone. It will be a brand new Nexus as far as your files are concerned, so backup everything you'd like to save beforehand. This tutorial is going to be specifically dealing with the US Verizon/CDMA Nexus. This will also be described as done on Windows. I am not entirely sure if it can be done on Mac - i've yet to see my OSX partition recognize my Nexus. Read the entire tutorial before starting. This WILL require root, so if your phone isn't rooted, or you have no idea what that means, check step 1. If your phone is rooted, skip, obviously.
---
1. Root your phone
2. Backup your files
3. Install Google API within the SDK
4. Download the older build
5. Flash the older build
6. Success
---
1. Root your phone:
I'm not writing a tutorial on that here, it's way too much information but if your phone isn't rooted and you have no idea what i'm talking about, do some reading HERE. If you understand rooting but you just haven't rooted your phone yet, that info is HERE. Once you're done, move on to step 2!
---
2. Backup your files:
Backing your files up is pretty straight forward. If you've never backed up files from your Nexus, it's a good idea to do so regularly because if you don't have any sort of cloud backup, if you brick your phone or drop it in the toilet you lose everything. As a cellphone repair dude, I highly recommend it.
To do so, take the data cable that came with your phone, remove it from the charge block and plug your phone into your computer. Click Start, Computer, and in the window that opens you should see your Nexus listed among the drives. Open it, find the files you want to save, and copy them from their location on your phone to your desktop, documents, wherever. Done.
---
3. Install Google API within Android SDK:
I assume that this step is probably already taken care of if your phone has been rooted but i'm adding it in for good measure. If you've already done this, skip to step 4.
You'll need to install drivers to allow your computer to communicate properly with your phone. This can probably be done a few ways but the way I was able to do it successfully was through SDK. Depending on what version of Windows you're on, your computer might try to install the drivers automatically as soon as you connect your phone - I can't remember if that ever did it for me but this time I HAD to install from the SDK, once I got my phone to the bootloader my computer and phone could no longer communicate.
Open Android SDK (if you can't find it, Start -> search Android SDK) and when you run it for the first time it will attempt to install a few files to give minimal functionality to the software. There's a checklist on the left side of the program UI that has a few files listed, make sure Google API is checked before you start the install. If it's not and you don't install it at first, you can install it next. Make sure that particular package gets installed though, and you SHOULD have the right driver set.
---
4. Download the older build:
Since the Build Number we are using is IMM76Q, we need to look for something that ends in a letter lower than Q. I chose IMM76K, and there are a few others but I would recommend that one specifically. It's important to note that not all are right for the Nexus (for example, IMM76M is for the Nexus S and will brick your phone), so go with IMM76K.
The file is available HERE, and is the second to the last on the page. Download and save it to your desktop. The file is a tgz file, which is an archive but useless in its current form. You need to extract it, then copy all of the files in the archive (there should be six files) to your platform-tools folder we left open earlier.
---
5. Flash the older build:
Here's the meat of this tutorial. If you've already rooted your phone this shouldn't be too crazy for you. Pull up your platform-tools folder and shift click in the folder (not on a file or with a file selected) and choose "open a command prompt from this window' or whatever it says. You'll want to make sure your phone is plugged up and powered on, and you're going to type a series of commands in the command prompt window. Be aware that some steps take a good bit of time to complete so do not under any circumstances unplug your phone during the process UNLESS you get hung up on "<waiting for device>". Always wait til the filepath comes up in the last line of the command prompt before proceeding to the next step. Step G and I take a long time.
So here is what to type:
a) adb devices
Your phone should be listed by its serial number. If not, your computer isn't recognizing your phone and there's an issue with drivers.
b) adb reboot-bootloader
Phone should reboot and Windows will make a sound when it disconnects, and the same sound when it powers back on. If it makes a lower tone with three beeps, your computer isn't recognizing your phone and there's a driver issue.
c) fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-toro-primela03.img
d) fastboot reboot-bootloader
e) fastboot flash radio radio-toro-i515.fc05.img
f) fastboot reboot-bootloader
g) fastboot flash radio-cdma radio-cdma-toro-i515.fc04.img
h) fastboot reboot-bootloader
i) fastboot -w update image-mysid-imm76k.zip
---
6. Success:
After that last line in command prompt, your phone should have rebooted on its own with a return to full stock. Yay!
---
Like I said, this is my first post, so it's also my first tutorial. If it sucks, or is incomplete, let me know, but I hope I have helped somebody! I'm sure there's going to be some troubleshooting that needs to be done but i'm too tired to want to type what I can think of right now so whatever. Please give me feedback on this! Thanks!
So, I spent literally all day getting this issue fixed. I think a lot of the reason it took so long is because of issues with my computer but still, this has been insane, and i'm a little pissed off about it but i'm not sure who to direct it at, haha. Apparently this build has major issues, the most obvious being the fact that it, for no apparent reason, drops data AND service every 2-30 minutes. Incredibly vague but there seems to be no cause (though of course there is, nobody has pinpointed it).
I work at a cellphone repair shop and a while back was demoing a Nexus from my shop and after working my way up through the Droid 1, Droid 2, Fascinate, Stratosphere, Droid Charge, Razr MAXX and finally getting a Nexus - I was in love. It was a used phone, it was rooted when I got it but one day someone sold our shop a brand-new-still-got-the-sticker-on-the-display Nexus. I opted to swap mine for the new one because I wanted to own my device from the beginning - brand new battery, official Samsung charger and headphones, completely stock. Went through the whole process of unlocking the bootloader, rooting and throwing several custom roms on there, but one thing that remained consistent was the signal drops. I thought I had screwed something up in the rooting process but what I discovered is that it is, in fact, an issue SPECIFIC to the Build Number IMM76Q. If you don't know how to identify your build number, go to Settings then About Phone and it's the last on the list. I've flashed an older build now, though, and have had consistent connectivity for an hour. That's a first since getting this phone.
As I said, there seems to be no cause, and I still haven't figured it out - now, I don't care to because I got a fix for it. I figured i'd share my findings here because everything I had to do to get this to work was insane, and some of it was probably specific to my personal settings and configurations on my computer. I'm writing this from the ground up assuming no knowledge on the behalf of the viewer, cause let's face it, even noobs deal with data drops.
------------------------------------
So to preface, the issue is with your build of Android, IMM76Q (if you hadn't figured that out already by everything i've typed) and the solution is to replace your build with another build. I used IMM76K, it seemed to be the latest stable version prior to this piece of garbage. If you follow this tutorial, I cannot be held responsible if you bork your phone, and please be aware that you will lose all data, even on the external (internal?) SD portion of your phone. It will be a brand new Nexus as far as your files are concerned, so backup everything you'd like to save beforehand. This tutorial is going to be specifically dealing with the US Verizon/CDMA Nexus. This will also be described as done on Windows. I am not entirely sure if it can be done on Mac - i've yet to see my OSX partition recognize my Nexus. Read the entire tutorial before starting. This WILL require root, so if your phone isn't rooted, or you have no idea what that means, check step 1. If your phone is rooted, skip, obviously.
---
1. Root your phone
2. Backup your files
3. Install Google API within the SDK
4. Download the older build
5. Flash the older build
6. Success
---
1. Root your phone:
I'm not writing a tutorial on that here, it's way too much information but if your phone isn't rooted and you have no idea what i'm talking about, do some reading HERE. If you understand rooting but you just haven't rooted your phone yet, that info is HERE. Once you're done, move on to step 2!
---
2. Backup your files:
Backing your files up is pretty straight forward. If you've never backed up files from your Nexus, it's a good idea to do so regularly because if you don't have any sort of cloud backup, if you brick your phone or drop it in the toilet you lose everything. As a cellphone repair dude, I highly recommend it.
To do so, take the data cable that came with your phone, remove it from the charge block and plug your phone into your computer. Click Start, Computer, and in the window that opens you should see your Nexus listed among the drives. Open it, find the files you want to save, and copy them from their location on your phone to your desktop, documents, wherever. Done.
---
3. Install Google API within Android SDK:
I assume that this step is probably already taken care of if your phone has been rooted but i'm adding it in for good measure. If you've already done this, skip to step 4.
You'll need to install drivers to allow your computer to communicate properly with your phone. This can probably be done a few ways but the way I was able to do it successfully was through SDK. Depending on what version of Windows you're on, your computer might try to install the drivers automatically as soon as you connect your phone - I can't remember if that ever did it for me but this time I HAD to install from the SDK, once I got my phone to the bootloader my computer and phone could no longer communicate.
Open Android SDK (if you can't find it, Start -> search Android SDK) and when you run it for the first time it will attempt to install a few files to give minimal functionality to the software. There's a checklist on the left side of the program UI that has a few files listed, make sure Google API is checked before you start the install. If it's not and you don't install it at first, you can install it next. Make sure that particular package gets installed though, and you SHOULD have the right driver set.
---
4. Download the older build:
Since the Build Number we are using is IMM76Q, we need to look for something that ends in a letter lower than Q. I chose IMM76K, and there are a few others but I would recommend that one specifically. It's important to note that not all are right for the Nexus (for example, IMM76M is for the Nexus S and will brick your phone), so go with IMM76K.
The file is available HERE, and is the second to the last on the page. Download and save it to your desktop. The file is a tgz file, which is an archive but useless in its current form. You need to extract it, then copy all of the files in the archive (there should be six files) to your platform-tools folder we left open earlier.
---
5. Flash the older build:
Here's the meat of this tutorial. If you've already rooted your phone this shouldn't be too crazy for you. Pull up your platform-tools folder and shift click in the folder (not on a file or with a file selected) and choose "open a command prompt from this window' or whatever it says. You'll want to make sure your phone is plugged up and powered on, and you're going to type a series of commands in the command prompt window. Be aware that some steps take a good bit of time to complete so do not under any circumstances unplug your phone during the process UNLESS you get hung up on "<waiting for device>". Always wait til the filepath comes up in the last line of the command prompt before proceeding to the next step. Step G and I take a long time.
So here is what to type:
a) adb devices
Your phone should be listed by its serial number. If not, your computer isn't recognizing your phone and there's an issue with drivers.
b) adb reboot-bootloader
Phone should reboot and Windows will make a sound when it disconnects, and the same sound when it powers back on. If it makes a lower tone with three beeps, your computer isn't recognizing your phone and there's a driver issue.
c) fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-toro-primela03.img
d) fastboot reboot-bootloader
e) fastboot flash radio radio-toro-i515.fc05.img
f) fastboot reboot-bootloader
g) fastboot flash radio-cdma radio-cdma-toro-i515.fc04.img
h) fastboot reboot-bootloader
i) fastboot -w update image-mysid-imm76k.zip
---
6. Success:
After that last line in command prompt, your phone should have rebooted on its own with a return to full stock. Yay!
---
Like I said, this is my first post, so it's also my first tutorial. If it sucks, or is incomplete, let me know, but I hope I have helped somebody! I'm sure there's going to be some troubleshooting that needs to be done but i'm too tired to want to type what I can think of right now so whatever. Please give me feedback on this! Thanks!
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