Frozen on boot 'X' screen after latest update...

[nick-m]

Hello all,

How long should I wait before doing a hard reset on my Nexus 7? After the update downloaded and rebooted it has been on the boot screen for nearly an hour now... I do hope it isn't bricked! Anyone else having problems with this update. Any suggestions? Regards, Nick

 

[mmaestro]

Hold down the power button along with volume down. Should force a reboot without wiping any of your data. If it hangs again at the same spot, you're probably looking at having to flash a factory image, but chances are you just need to make it reboot.

 

[nick-m]

Thanks - just tried that now - still sitting on the 'X' screen - how long should I wait?

 

[nick-m]

It's dead I think - locked at the same point. Is anyone else experiencing this problem? If I do have to reflash it and lose everything I will probably return it to Google!

 

[mmaestro]

Should get past that in a couple of minutes. I'd give it 10 to be safe, try again, then go into the bootloader, hit recovery and see if you can factory reset from there. If that doesn't work, hit XDA for instructions on getting the factory image back on there. Good luck.
Bear in mind that if you do have to reset/reflash stuff, because Google knows what you loaded on the first time, getting set up the second time around is a lot quicker because you can set it to automatically reload all your apps, so you're really only looking at having to do a couple of additional logins and configuring your home screens. It's not all that bad.

 

[nick-m]

Thanks very much - is there a thread somewhere on the bootloader?

 

[mmaestro]

So here is Google's instructions on getting to the boot loader and recovery to do a factory reset if necessary. Note that if you're on 4.1.1, there was a bug where you couldn't get into recovery without plugging the N7 into a computer (not an outlet, nothing needs to be on the computer, but for some reason, you needed to be connected to a computer). So reboot holding down both volume down and volume up to get to the bootloader, (plug into a computer if you're on 4.1.1), use the volume keys to select recovery and hit the power button to enter recovery, reset from there.
Here's an XDA Guide to restoring the factory image. I've not had to do that myself, and there are other methods, so if you're not comfortable with that one, there's also a toolkit available that can automate much of the process. Note: I have not had to restore a factory image to my tablet, so I can't vouch for either of these personally, but I have friends who've used the Toolkit to good effect.

 

[nick-m]

Well I've just come off a call to Google Play. No way of getting it out of the boot loop until the battery runs down. So it's a warranty return job. If it's the update that causes this for many users, then that's a big problem for Google. A real shame, it was such a nice tablet.

 

[nick-m]

Thanks once more - I did manage to get into recovery finally by having the usb cable attached as you suggested . But sadly the little android man is on his back with a big red triangle where his heart should be. They are sending me a new one. And they have had some other calls it seems.....? Thanks once again for your help. Others please beware of 4.1.2.
BACK UP BEFORE YOU UPDATE... like did (not)

 

[nick-m]

And the toolkit looks very useful too. Thanks for the links. N