[GUIDE] Nexus 7 - Factory Image Restore

[storlem]

Re: [GUIDE] Factory Image Restore for your Nexus 7

after spending hours trying to root my N7 getting stuck in a boot loop i decided i should go restore it to factory stock and try to root another day. I followed your instructions but after all that is done i'm still stuck to the same problem. I have attached 2 screenshots one which i got from your guide and the other one from nexus root toolkit. I at loss now what i am doing wrong. Please help. Thanks.

 

[2defmouze]

Re: [GUIDE] Factory Image Restore for your Nexus 7

after spending hours trying to root my N7 getting stuck in a boot loop i decided i should go restore it to factory stock and try to root another day. I followed your instructions but after all that is done i'm still stuck to the same problem. I have attached 2 screenshots one which i got from your guide and the other one from nexus root toolkit. I at loss now what i am doing wrong. Please help. Thanks.

You're trying to flash the image for the 3G enabled Nexus 7 (tilapia) on your wifi only Nexus 7 (Grouper).... download the factory image for the Wifi only one

 

[storlem]

Re: [GUIDE] Factory Image Restore for your Nexus 7

thank you im factory restored.now its time to root..thank you.

 

[Andrew McCreath]

Thanks - I feel like a virgin again

 

[Cyclops54]

Hey 2defmouze,
I am having a little problem with this unbricking. My Nexus 7 is just able to get to the White Google Screen and it just stays there. I tried this method and when I first tried, I loaded the whole zip file for nakasi as one, and when it come to writing userdata, it Failed to write. Then I tried to flash each of the four parts (boot, recovery, system, and userdata) separately, and it still fails to write when I flash userdata. I have tried with two different cables and usb ports. Do you have any advice for me.

This is where is stops:
writing 'userdata' ...
FAILED (remote: (FileWriteFailed))

And then after that theres a pop-up that says "fastboot.exe is no longer working".
I also did the 5 steps to erase boot, recovery, system, etc, so theres nothing left on the device. The only thing I'm able to do is get into bootloader and access it via fastboot.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[2defmouze]

If you can send the other pieces, and you made sure to erase the old userdata with:
fastboot erase userdata

.. Then just boot up and it ought to work. The OS should populate the empty userdata partition automatically if that's all that is missing, just might take a few extra minutes on the first boot.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Cyclops54]

Hey,
So I tried again and got the same result:

C:\Users\User>cd c:\android-sdk\platform-tools

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot devices
015d3248d923f415 fastboot

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot erase boot
erasing 'boot'...
OKAY [ 1.178s]
finished. total time: 1.182s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot erase cache
******** Did you mean to fastboot format this partition?
erasing 'cache'...
OKAY [ 1.032s]
finished. total time: 1.036s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot erase recovery
erasing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 0.793s]
finished. total time: 0.797s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot erase system
******** Did you mean to fastboot format this partition?
erasing 'system'...
OKAY [ 0.784s]
finished. total time: 0.788s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot erase userdata
******** Did you mean to fastboot format this partition?
erasing 'userdata'...
OKAY [ 4.509s]
finished. total time: 4.514s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-4.18.
img
sending 'bootloader' (2096 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.279s]
writing 'bootloader'...
OKAY [ 9.721s]
finished. total time: 10.009s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot reboot-bootloader
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [ 0.020s]
finished. total time: 0.024s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot -w update image-nakasi-jdq39.zip
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'
--------------------------------------------
Bootloader Version...: 4.18
Baseband Version.....: N/A
Serial Number........: 015d3248d923f415
--------------------------------------------
checking product...
OKAY [ 0.030s]
checking version-bootloader...
OKAY [ 0.015s]
sending 'boot' (4944 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.615s]
writing 'boot'...
OKAY [ 0.986s]
sending 'recovery' (5446 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.675s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 1.006s]
erasing 'system'...
OKAY [ 0.904s]
sending 'system' (471804 KB)...
OKAY [ 57.282s]
writing 'system'...
OKAY [ 29.452s]
erasing 'userdata'...
OKAY [ 4.944s]
formatting 'userdata' partition...
Creating filesystem with parameters:
Size: 30734811136
Block size: 4096
Blocks per group: 32768
Inodes per group: 8192
Inode size: 256
Journal blocks: 32768
Label:
Blocks: 7503616
Block groups: 229
Reserved block group size: 1024
Created filesystem with 11/1875968 inodes and 161774/7503616 blocks
sending 'userdata' (139197 KB)...
writing 'userdata'...
FAILED (remote: (FileWriteFailed)) <---Here is where is always messes up.
finished. total time: 150.913s

I did the first 5 erases. I'm connected to bootloader. Also, if I try flashing each .img individually, eveyrthing goes smoothly until I get to flashing userdata.
Hopefully I can get this fixed. It just automatically happened yesterday. I wasn't even doing anything with it. Just woke up and it wouldn't go past the Google Logo screen.

 

[2defmouze]

@Cyclops54... Ok, since everything else was written properly just erase the userdata part, since only pieces of that sent. Then boot up.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Cyclops54]

Hey,
I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean do just flash boot.img, system.img, and recovery.img individually, and forget about flashing userdata.img? Because I when I initially do the erasing of those first 5 things (boot, recovery, system, userdata, and cache), I do erase the userdata.

 

[2defmouze]

Hey,
I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean do just flash boot.img, system.img, and recovery.img individually, and forget about flashing userdata.img? Because I when I initially do the erasing of those first 5 things (boot, recovery, system, userdata, and cache), I do erase the userdata.

Since everything else flashed successfully, I just want you to erase the userdata with:
fastboot erase userdata

And then reboot. Reason being that the userdata partition keeps failing during getting sent/written, so I just want to clear it's slate and then boot up. Everything else sent correctly so no need to do those over. The OS should repopulate an empty userdata partition automatically on the first boot. Just give it maybe 10 minutes at most to complete the first boot after doing this. If it still won't boot we'll try something else.

 

[Cyclops54]

Hey,
So I tried the following and have been waiting for 10 minutes after boot, and it's still stuck on the Google Screen:

C:\Users\User>cd c:\android-sdk\platform-tools

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot devices
015d3248d923f415 fastboot

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot erase userdata
******** Did you mean to fastboot format this partition?
erasing 'userdata'...
OKAY [ 4.950s]
finished. total time: 4.954s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-4.18.
img
sending 'bootloader' (2096 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.278s]
writing 'bootloader'...
OKAY [ 9.791s]
finished. total time: 10.077s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot reboot-bootloader
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [ 0.020s]
finished. total time: 0.025s

I'm not sure if that's what you wanted me to do?

 

[2defmouze]

Hey,
So I tried the following and have been waiting for 10 minutes after boot, and it's still stuck on the Google Screen:

C:\Users\User>cd c:\android-sdk\platform-tools

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot devices
015d3248d923f415 fastboot

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot erase userdata
******** Did you mean to fastboot format this partition?
erasing 'userdata'...
OKAY [ 4.950s]
finished. total time: 4.954s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-4.18.
img
sending 'bootloader' (2096 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.278s]
writing 'bootloader'...
OKAY [ 9.791s]
finished. total time: 10.077s

c:\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot reboot-bootloader
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [ 0.020s]
finished. total time: 0.025s

I'm not sure if that's what you wanted me to do?

I didn't say anything about flashing the bootloader again... ONLY to erase userdata and then reboot.

Also lets back up a sec and tell me what exactly happened to the tablet that made you need a factory image restore? I want to ensure that it was software related and not hardware related.. Be specific

 

[Cyclops54]

There's really not much to tell. I usually leave my tablet on sleep overnight. Two days ago when I woke up it wasn't on sleep. So I turned it on, and I wouldn't go past the Google screen (The one with the Google sign and the lock sign on the bottom[my bootoader is unlocked]). I unlocked my bootloader and rooted it and added TWRP recovery maybe 4ish months ago. Other than that I haven't done anything to it recently. No mods, no new ROMs or anything like that. Thats when I searched what to do for a nexus 7 stuck on the google screen and this thread came up.

 

[2defmouze]

There's really not much to tell. I usually leave my tablet on sleep overnight. Two days ago when I woke up it wasn't on sleep. So I turned it on, and I wouldn't go past the Google screen (The one with the Google sign and the lock sign on the bottom[my bootoader is unlocked]). I unlocked my bootloader and rooted it and added TWRP recovery maybe 4ish months ago. Other than that I haven't done anything to it recently. No mods, no new ROMs or anything like that. Thats when I searched what to do for a nexus 7 stuck on the google screen and this thread came up.

What this does tell us then is that it, unfortunately, sounds like a hardware failure rather than software related. Factory Image Restore will fix any software problems, but can't do anything for a hardware defect.

I would say that since you were able to restore the stock system and recovery, just lock the bootloader and contact Google to see if you can arrange for a replacement. More often than not they will not be able to tell that it was ever unlocked so do not worry about the warranty being voided for that, and even still they often won't mind because it clearly seems to be a hardware issue.

Sorry I can't help more, just nothing we can do if that is the case.

 

[Cyclops54]

Thanks for the help man. I appreciate it.

 

[BKRad]

Ok, I really need some help. I got this Nexus & from a friend who apparently screwed it up so much that he gave it to me for free and I am hoping to bring it back to life. I have zero experience with this and all I know is that he rooted it with Cyanogen and tried to bring it back to "out of box" condition but screwed it up. I can get the Nexus to bootloader screen but nothing else. In fact, even if I try to just power it up it will go to the Google screen with a unlocked padlock at the bottom but it also has the "start" icon surrounded by the green arrow at the top that you normally see in bootload mode. It will not move past that.

With the Nexus plugged in to PC via USB, the PC recognized "Android Phone" and expanding that it recognizes "Android Bootloader Interface", nothing else.

I have attempted to follow your guide here but was stopped at the first obstacle when loading the fastboot-grouper image. The CMD prompt which I opened inside the Android-sdk platform tools area states that it "FAILED <data transfer failure <too many links>>

I am a complete rookie with all of this and would appreciate any help

Thx

 

[somethingawsome]

I created an account just to say thanks very much!
Needless to say there was a few scary moments there where I thought I had lost my tablet! I really appreciate all the hard work and time you guys have put into creating this guide!

Much love!

 

[ab304945]

do you have to be rooted to do this?

 

[2defmouze]

do you have to be rooted to do this?

No... But this is to restore your device after software issues, usually the result of rooting/hacking/flashing something. If you're having a hardware issue this won't fix it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[UK_Rogue]

Tutorial great thanks. All very clear and easy to follow. Unfortunately my issue must be a hardware failure. Originally stuck in a boot loop with the google logo. Did the usual soft/hard reset, deleted cache (Wasn't worried about losing data) but no joy. Followed the tutorial here to the letter with no un-expected faults. On final reboot still stuck with google logo. None the less, learnt a lot from here so thank you. Looks like a call to ASUS though :-(