Any hope for a slow Nexus 7 2012?

[krauster]

I haven't been using my Nexus 2012 for a while because it seemed a little slow. Then I got the idea of updating it and it is now sitting at 5.0.2. It is now even slower. I trying clearing the cache from the boot up menu (Power + down button) and that doesn't help.

I've read someone suggest loading the original operating system and I was starting to try that but ran into problems with instructions that I didn't understand that seemed to be written for people who use programming tools. I was willing to try it but got lost.

Is it worth trying to get the old operating system back on to the Nexus 7 2012? And which one? 4.x.x? I could only find 4.4.4.

And does everyone agree that the Nexus 7 2012 runs extremely slow with 5.0.2 or might there be some other thing wrong with my tablet?

krauster

 

[cpaight]

Yup...once I got Lollipop mine was useless. Sucks cuz it was a great device. Wish Google would release a new one in that size.

 

[krauster]

Hi cpaight, Yeah, I hate to have toss it out but it is pretty unusable at this point.

 

[blak8830]

I'd recommend either going back to 4.x, or loading an alternate ROM, if you're up for it.
Google factory images and instructions are at: https://developers.google.com/android/images
You can find alternate roms over at XDA:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-7/development
I'd stay away from any 5.x based version, though.

 

[krauster]

I'd recommend either going back to 4.x, or loading an alternate ROM, if you're up for it.
Google factory images and instructions are at: https://developers.google.com/android/images
You can find alternate roms over at XDA:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-7/development
I'd stay away from any 5.x based version, though.

At the developers.google page should I pick from the nakasi for Nexus 7 wifi section? I see a version 4.4.4 (KTU84P).
I've downloaded it. Here is what is in it:


I don't know what to do next. I have downloaded and installed an adb setup file that has extracted to a directory on my C drive:


I'm not clear what I do next.

 

[blak8830]

At the beginning of the flashing instructions, it tells you to run flash-all.bat (on Windows).
You may need to edit it first, to ensure the path includes the directory fastboot.exe is in.

 

[krauster]

In the 4.4.4 (KTU84P) directory that I posted a screen shot above I do see the flash-all.bat file. I have placed the contents of that zip file that I downloaded into a folder I have made at C:\android4
When I open the flash-all.bat file I see:

@ECHO OFF
:: Copyright 2012 The Android Open Source Project
::
:: Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
:: you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
:: You may obtain a copy of the License at
::
:: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
::
:: Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
:: distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
:: WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
:: See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
:: limitations under the License.


PATH=%PATH%;"%SYSTEMROOT%\System32"
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-tilapia-4.23.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 10 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot flash radio radio-tilapia-1231_0.18.0_0409.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 10 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot -w update image-nakasig-ktu84p.zip


echo Press any key to exit...
pause >nul
exit


So I am changing it to this:
@ECHO OFF
:: Copyright 2012 The Android Open Source Project
::
:: Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
:: you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
:: You may obtain a copy of the License at
::
:: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
::
:: Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
:: distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
:: WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
:: See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
:: limitations under the License.


PATH=c:\android4
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-tilapia-4.23.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 10 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot flash radio radio-tilapia-1231_0.18.0_0409.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 10 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot -w update image-nakasig-ktu84p.zip


echo Press any key to exit...
pause >nul
exit

But that doesn't work. I get this:


C:\Android4>flash-all.bat
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'ping' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'ping' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Press any key to exit...

Did I change the PATH line incorrectly?

 

[krauster]

I have edited the Path in the flash-all.bat file to point to a c:\adb where fastboot.exe is sitting.

PATH=c:\adb

When I run flash-all.bat I get:
'fastboot' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

 

[blak8830]

Are you sure you obtained a valid adb package?
If you call adb or fastboot explicitly as in c:\adb\adb.exe or c:\adb\fastboot.exe what do you see?
If they act like normal commands, then you can call them explicitly in the batch file.
If your tablet is WIFI only, you grabbed the wrong download.
"nakasig" is the 3G version, "nakasi" is for the WIFI version

 

[krauster]

- I believe I have the nagasi (wifi) version.
- to not worry about paths I've put all the files - the .exe, the .bats, and the .img file in the same directory.
- when I go to the directory I can type adb reboot bootloader and I get
error: no devices/emulators found
-That 's without the Nexus7 plugged in. Makes sense.
- I plug in the N7 and hit power+down button and it enters the mode where I can cycle from Start -> Restart Bootload -> Recovery Mode -> Power off.
- Running adb reboot bootloader still gives same error in any of the N7 up down button choices.
- selecting Restart Bootload brings it back to Start.
- selecting Recovery Mode brings up the dead robot and No Command message, then long wait to get it to boot. adb command returns the no device found error n pc.
- and I have changed the settings on N7 to have Developer Options and have USB debugging checked.

 

[krauster]

Okay. I finally may have dealt with the PATH problem - maybe.
As mentioned I have all the .bat, .exe and image in one folder C:\Android4.
I went to the Windows7 Environment Variables and add the PATH for C:\Android4.

Now when I go to the directory I can type adb reboot bootloader and I get:

error: more than one device/emulator

which is at least different than what I was getting before. I guess it is because that all in one directory has boot.img, bootloader-grouper-4.23.img, recovery.img, system.img, userdater.img???

Is that why I am getting that particular error message?

But still can't figure out what to do on the N7 when I start the tablet with the power + down button.

 

[blak8830]

Maybe you should try the Nexus Root Toolkit:
Nexus Root Toolkit v2.1.9

 

[krauster]

One of the conceptual problems I seem to have is that shutting down my N7 and then starting my N7 with the Power + Down Volume keys on the side puts me in the mode that says Start. In the small text at the bottom of that screen it says in red FASTBOOT MODE. And also says in red LOCK STATE - LOCKED. Is that an issue?

 

[krauster]

Maybe you should try the Nexus Root Toolkit:
Nexus Root Toolkit v2.1.9

I downloaded the Nexus Root Toolkit and I can't get it to pass the driver installation test in step 4 of that Full Driver Installation. I get "ADB device was not found." I tried in step 3 installing the google drivers and the universal drivers. I've also tried installing drivers via UniversalAdbDriverSetup.msi and then rebooted. Still no success.

He mentions that you should be able to see if there is a driver problem by looking in the Windows Device Manager. I assume in the Universal Serial Bus controllers section near the bottom of the list. I don't see any problems but I don't know what I'd be looking for. He says you should see something in the device manager when the device is plugged in and out. But nothing changes, it seems.

 

[krauster]

WOW that was an ordeal but I finally got it.

Per Blak8830's suggestion here I used Nexus Root Toolkit (NRT). Plus the SR2-SuperSU-v2.79-SR2-20170103215521.zip file of drivers. I was not able to get it going on one of my windows machines. It had problems clearing drivers and getting the correct ones installed, as mentioned in the above post. So I tried a different computer and I was able to load the correct drivers. I was able to check the driver compatibility with NRT in the Full Driver Installation Guide under Initial Setup. Drivers were now setup.

Then I proceeded to the next step to flash it. I went to install the 4.4.4 file that I had downloaded from the developers.google site recommended here. I am pretty sure I was picking from the correct section for my device, the Nexus 7 Wifi which is nakasi 4.4.4 (KTU84P). But when I selected it in NRT it told me that it was not a correct version for the phone. So I downloaded nakasi 4.4.2 and selected that.

It took about 10 minutes to run. But when it got to the end I still had 5.0.2 on the Nexus 7. I tried it. It was fresh and required setup but it still ran really slow.

So I tried the whole thing over again and this time it actually ran the process in about 5 minutes and when it booted I had a fresh 4.4.2 on it and now it is running way faster. The Nexus 7 is usable again. Wow.

I have to say I still don't really know what I am doing but THANK YOU blak8830 for the suggestions.

 

[kyle_beckman]

I haven't been using my Nexus 2012 for a while because it seemed a little slow. Then I got the idea of updating it and it is now sitting at 5.0.2. It is now even slower. I trying clearing the cache from the boot up menu (Power + down button) and that doesn't help.

I've read someone suggest loading the original operating system and I was starting to try that but ran into problems with instructions that I didn't understand that seemed to be written for people who use programming tools. I was willing to try it but got lost.

Is it worth trying to get the old operating system back on to the Nexus 7 2012? And which one? 4.x.x? I could only find 4.4.4.

And does everyone agree that the Nexus 7 2012 runs extremely slow with 5.0.2 or might there be some other thing wrong with my tablet?

krauster

I know this is an old post, but I came across it and wanted to add a suggestion.... It doesn't run quite as smooth at 4.4 on the N7 2012, but it runs way better than any other ROM I've tried 5.0 - 7.1.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-7/development/rom-lineageos-14-1-nexus-7-2012-t3530261

Just make sure to convert data, system, and cache partitions to f2fs using the lastest version of TWRP or another custom recovery that has the ability.