build.prop FAIL. I'm nearly bricked... help?!?

[Jack in NC]

Alright, perhaps I'm a bonehead.

I wanted to update my Nexus 7 to 4.1.2, but was blocked (according to the error message in CWM) because of my build.prop. That makes sense as I tweaked my density to 160 using ROM Toolbox in order to get the full-on tablet effect.

So, I downloaded a JRO03D build.prop from this thread: stock build.prop needed - Page 2 - xda-developers. The actual file is here: http://core.routed.com/build.prop . I saved that file in my Download folder as "stock-build.prop."

Using Root Explorer, I copied stock-build.prop into /system, renamed my tweaked build.prop to mod-build.prop, renamed stock-build.prop to build.prop and rebooted.

I now get the white Google text logo with the unlocked icon, and the screen goes to black. If I hold the power button for 10-ish seconds, the white Google text logo and unlock icon come back and then back to black screen.

Maybe the file permissions on stock-build.prop weren't sufficient? I know I didn't check.

How do I get back up and running?

Thanks
Jack

 

[dmmarck]

Alright, perhaps I'm a bonehead.

I wanted to update my Nexus 7 to 4.1.2, but was blocked (according to the error message in CWM) because of my build.prop. That makes sense as I tweaked my density to 160 using ROM Toolbox in order to get the full-on tablet effect.

So, I downloaded a JRO03D build.prop from this thread: stock build.prop needed - Page 2 - xda-developers. The actual file is here: http://core.routed.com/build.prop . I saved that file in my Download folder as "stock-build.prop."

Using Root Explorer, I copied stock-build.prop into /system, renamed my tweaked build.prop to mod-build.prop, renamed stock-build.prop to build.prop and rebooted.

I now get the white Google text logo with the unlocked icon, and the screen goes to black. If I hold the power button for 10-ish seconds, the white Google text logo and unlock icon come back and then back to black screen.

Maybe the file permissions on stock-build.prop weren't sufficient? I know I didn't check.

How do I get back up and running?

Thanks
Jack

Hold the power button + volume down to get to the bootloader. Then go to recovery and reflash whatever rom you were on . A dirty flash should suffice.

 

[Jack in NC]

Hold the power button + volume down to get to the bootloader. Then go to recovery and reflash whatever rom you were on . A dirty flash should suffice.

Thank you for your amazingly quick response, I really appreciate it.

Your note reminds me that I forgot to mention something else. I am unlocked and rooted, but am running the stock ROM.

Holding Power & Vol Down brings up the screen with the Android with its chest open. At the upper right of the screen, I have a green Start "button" / arrow (pointing to the Power button). I get no response from either tapping "Start" or pressing the Power button. Holding the Power button takes me back to the white Google text logo.

What next?

Thanks again!
Jack

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Thank you for your amazingly quick response, I really appreciate it.

Your note reminds me that I forgot to mention something else. I am unlocked and rooted, but am running the stock ROM.

Holding Power & Vol Down brings up the screen with the Android with its chest open. At the upper right of the screen, I have a green Start "button" / arrow (pointing to the Power button). I get no response from either tapping "Start" or pressing the Power button. Holding the Power button takes me back to the white Google text logo.

What next?

Thanks again!
Jack

Use the volume keys to change "Start" to "Recovery" then tap the power button.

And chances are you opened the build.prop file in a Windows text viewer/editor. Can't do that as Windows uses different line breaks and ruins Unix style text docs.

 

[dmmarck]

Thank you for your amazingly quick response, I really appreciate it.

Your note reminds me that I forgot to mention something else. I am unlocked and rooted, but am running the stock ROM.

Holding Power & Vol Down brings up the screen with the Android with its chest open. At the upper right of the screen, I have a green Start "button" / arrow (pointing to the Power button). I get no response from either tapping "Start" or pressing the Power button. Holding the Power button takes me back to the white Google text logo.

What next?

Thanks again!
Jack

Use the volume keys to change "Start" to "Recovery" then tap the power button.

And chances are you opened the build.prop file in a Windows text viewer/editor. Can't do that as Windows uses different line breaks and ruins Unix style text docs.

My apologies for the tardy re-reply, but I'm glad Jerry found this.

You should be A-OK from there, let us know how it turns out!

 

[Jack in NC]

Use the volume keys to change "Start" to "Recovery" then tap the power button.

I'm just not getting any response to either on-screen taps or the buttons. Wow, that sounds like how I talk at work. Lemme try again... the buttons don't do anything! Nothing happens when I tap the buttons.

In the lower left, I have 9 lines of text. The first and last are in red, the rest are in white:

FASTBOOT MODE
PRODUCT NAME - grouper
VARIANT - not defined yet
HW VERSION - er3
BOOTLOADER VERSION - 3.34
BASEBAND VERSION - N/A
SERIAL NUMBER - [16-char alpha-numeric string]
SIGNING - not defined yet
LOCK STATE - unlocked

And chances are you opened the build.prop file in a Windows text viewer/editor. Can't do that as Windows uses different line breaks and ruins Unix style text docs.

Yep. I opened in in Notepad++ just to make sure it was build.prop file. Ya know, you can never be too cautious with the interwebz. I wanted to confirm the validity of the file. Instead, I hosed it. I didn't save it, though, just opened, looked and closed. Thought that would be ok.

Neat. (sheesh)

Thanks again to both of you, I appreciate your help and hope you can help me get past where I am now!

Jack

 

[2defmouze]

Plug it into the computer before booting into fastboot mode as well.. there is a bootloader bug where it needs to be plugged into a computer to boot to recovery from fastboot.

Also going forward if you are going to be altering anything like the build.prop or changing system files, ALWAYS make a nandroid backup in recovery before doing so. That way when you screw up you can just restore your backup

 

[Jack in NC]

Hello again,

I have gotten into Recovery, but I don't know what to flash. I was on stock, so don't have a .zip file to install from SD.

I have tried pushing a stock image from the CWM site (JRO03D_grouper.zip) using the Nexus 7 Toolkit as noted in this thread. But, the toolkit is telling me I don't have an insecure boot image and thus can't do so.

Based on the options available while in Fastboot, I think I can get my N7 back if I do a full wipe, but my preference, of course, would be to not do that.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Jack

 

[Jack in NC]

Also going forward if you are going to be altering anything like the build.prop or changing system files, ALWAYS make a nandroid backup in recovery before doing so. That way when you screw up you can just restore your backup

Yep, understood, thank you. I am indeed less diligent than I ought to be in that regard, and it was a pretty big fail for me to have taken the steps I took without a nandroid.

Thanks again,
Jack

 

[dark_samus]

Try adb pushing while in recovery put the rom in an easy to acess area for example C:\android\ then in recovery use adb to push it in using: adb push C:\android\JRO03D_grouper.zip /sdcard/ then flash it, adb is available in recovery so you don't have to be able to boot into android hope this helps

EDIT: tried this with a dummy .zip file and it worked hope you can get your problem solved with this, also the file transfer might take about 2 mins depending on how fast it's transferring your data my dummy was only 59 kb so it only took a sec but you'll need to be patient with it as it's about 149 mb and it might not look like it's doing anything also first time you try it it might not transfer I was getting this problem a simple power off and back on should fix your problem if you have it

Sent from my LG-VM701 using Android Central Forums

 

[dark_samus]

Little youtube vid I made detailing the process http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=e-CdfZP3_no

Sent from my LG-VM701 using Android Central Forums

 

[Jack in NC]

Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together. I have followed the steps and everything appears to have worked, but... I can't find JRO03D_grouper.zip on my SDCARD.

Here's what the cmd window looked like when I pushed:

c:\android\adb>adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached

c:\android\adb>adb devices
List of devices attached
015d24a425641666        recovery

c:\android\adb>adb push c:\android\JRO03D_grouper.zip /sdcard/
1310 KB/s (261814702 bytes in 195.065s)

c:\android\adb>

Then, I took these steps:

- On the main "ClockwordMod Recovery v6.0.0.6" menu, select "install zip from sdcard."
- On the "Apply update from .zip file on SD card" menu, select "choose zip from sdcard."
- On the "Choose a zip to apply" menu, scroll down to find JRO03D_grouper.zip

It's just not there. The only zip file is "supersu.zip," which I installed months ago.

I feel like I'm missing something basic. Any idea why I am not seeing the zip file?

Thanks again
Jack

 

[Jack in NC]

Just tried something else.

I pushed a test zip file (test.zip) using the same method above. Following the steps I listed, I can see test.zip on my tablet just as I expect to.

One theory that came to mind is that I may have been out of space on the tablet and perhaps the grouper push was failing and I didn't realize it. However, I watch my space pretty closely and I had over 3 GB prior to starting this whole thing.

Thanks again
Jack

 

[Jack in NC]

[SOLVED] Re: build.prop FAIL. I'm nearly bricked... help?!?

Resolved.

While I still don't have my tablet up and running, I am confident that the information provided here is accurate and sufficient, should've worked for me, and will work for someone else who encounters the same issue.

I think I have just run into another problem, and I have started a new thread to discuss it.

To everyone who chimed in...

T H A N K Y O U !!!

Jack

 

[ZTips]

For anyone else who has done this, you can try the recovery file manager made by the developer of aroma installer, which if you push it to your phone will allow you to delete the new build.prop rename your old build.prop or you can push another working build ..prop to your phone and move that to the correct directory. Hope this helps anyone.