Have I bricked my N5 doing a OTA sideload?

6sigma

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Dec 6, 2010
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After downloading Android SDK, lots of updates, locating the latest Google USB driver and painstakingly following the directions for sideloading the OTA for the Nexus 5 from Windows, I am stuck on the last step.

My phone has returned (in the Device Manager) to having a yellow exclamation point over it. When I attempt to update the USB driver again, I get a Windows error saying "cannot find driver software for your device."

When I attempt to do the 'adb sideload [filename].zip' command, I get "error: device not found."

My phone is sitting with the message at the bottom of the screen that says, "Now send the package you want to apply to the device with 'adb sideload <filename>"...

Is there any hope for turning this around and getting back to a working phone?

Thanks in advance.

[p.s. Is the syntax of the final step really 'adb sideload c
1a33561be84a8a6a7d5a4c8e3463c4db9352ce6.signed-hammerhead-LRX21O-from-KTU84P.c1a
33561.zip' or is the filename actually some subset of all that?]
 
After downloading Android SDK, lots of updates, locating the latest Google USB driver and painstakingly following the directions for sideloading the OTA for the Nexus 5 from Windows, I am stuck on the last step.

My phone has returned (in the Device Manager) to having a yellow exclamation point over it. When I attempt to update the USB driver again, I get a Windows error saying "cannot find driver software for your device."

When I attempt to do the 'adb sideload [filename].zip' command, I get "error: device not found."

My phone is sitting with the message at the bottom of the screen that says, "Now send the package you want to apply to the device with 'adb sideload <filename>"...

Is there any hope for turning this around and getting back to a working phone?

Thanks in advance.

[p.s. Is the syntax of the final step really 'adb sideload c
1a33561be84a8a6a7d5a4c8e3463c4db9352ce6.signed-hammerhead-LRX21O-from-KTU84P.c1a
33561.zip' or is the filename actually some subset of all that?]

It is pretty hard to brick a nexus. If the phone is waiting for the package to be sent your computer recognizes the phone right? Do you have the update zip packaging in the platform tools folder?
 
also when you opened the command prompt in the platform tools folder did you type "adb devices" first to see if the computer recognized your attached device?
 
Before starting this whole process, I learned that I needed to update the USB driver to work with the Nexus phone. I did that, and the "adb devices" command showed my phone. Now it does not. It is as if there was some sort of "time-out" in Windows (or the phone) because I was moving so slowly through the steps.

Now it's waiting to receive the package, but I can't communicate with it from the command line. Yes, I've got that OTA zip file in the platform-tools folder.

[And, thanks, planoman, for replying.]
 
The first time, yes, so I proceeded with the steps. Now, it doesn't find any devices.
 
I left mine in that state for a long time and did not have any issue. Maybe try closing out of the command line and reopening or unplugging and replugging in the phone?
 
I left mine in that state for a long time and did not have any issue. Maybe try closing out of the command line and reopening or unplugging and replugging in the phone?

Tried closing command line & disconnecting/reconnecting phone. Got a Windows USB tone when disconnecting & reconnecting. However, the phone isn't found with the 'adb devices' command. And, because of that, I can't try to re-update the USB driver.

So, the phone remains in the 'now send the package' state. Any other ideas?
 
After downloading Android SDK, lots of updates, locating the latest Google USB driver and painstakingly following the directions for sideloading the OTA for the Nexus 5 from Windows, I am stuck on the last step.

My phone has returned (in the Device Manager) to having a yellow exclamation point over it. When I attempt to update the USB driver again, I get a Windows error saying "cannot find driver software for your device."

When I attempt to do the 'adb sideload [filename].zip' command, I get "error: device not found."

My phone is sitting with the message at the bottom of the screen that says, "Now send the package you want to apply to the device with 'adb sideload <filename>"...

Is there any hope for turning this around and getting back to a working phone?

Thanks in advance.

[p.s. Is the syntax of the final step really 'adb sideload c
1a33561be84a8a6a7d5a4c8e3463c4db9352ce6.signed-hammerhead-LRX21O-from-KTU84P.c1a
33561.zip' or is the filename actually some subset of all that?]

Just hold the power button for 10 seconds. It will reboot.
 
I had the exact thing - adb found the device originally - then after running the reboot bootloader and all that stuff to get to the adb sideload command adb can't see my device anymore.

I did just press and hold the power button for 10 seconds and rebooted fine.

I tried it a few times and each time the same thing happened.
 
I had the exact thing - adb found the device originally - then after running the reboot bootloader and all that stuff to get to the adb sideload command adb can't see my device anymore.

I did just press and hold the power button for 10 seconds and rebooted fine.

I tried it a few times and each time the same thing happened.

Thanks for confirming this. I was being so careful, but making good progress. When it came time to "send the package," it was as if Windows had forgotten about the USB driver update I had provided and all connectivity to the phone was lost. It looks like the phone is back to 4.4.4 with no issues.

Appreciate the help.
 
Thanks for confirming this. I was being so careful, but making good progress. When it came time to "send the package," it was as if Windows had forgotten about the USB driver update I had provided and all connectivity to the phone was lost. It looks like the phone is back to 4.4.4 with no issues.

Appreciate the help.

You should try it again! Hard to brick a nexus!

Posted via Nexus 5 with Lollipop!
 
Mine was having the same issue today. The way to solve this is to go to your control panel, system, devices. Right click on the Nexus 5, update drivers, then tell it you will manually select the driver, and go through the prompts until you can point it directly at a driver file. Go to the USB drivers and select them, then choose the ADB Device. Click through the compatibility warning, and you'll be up and running. Phone will connect properly, and be recognized by ADB.

Had to do this for both my Nexus, and my wife's Nexus. After it was connected, worked like a charm.
 
Mine was having the same issue today. The way to solve this is to go to your control panel, system, devices. Right click on the Nexus 5, update drivers, then tell it you will manually select the driver, and go through the prompts until you can point it directly at a driver file. Go to the USB drivers and select them, then choose the ADB Device. Click through the compatibility warning, and you'll be up and running. Phone will connect properly, and be recognized by ADB.

Had to do this for both my Nexus, and my wife's Nexus. After it was connected, worked like a charm.

This is what I did too and it worked. Apparently Windows cannot install on its own the drivers for Nexus and even if you choose to find the driver online, it will not find it. This is the best solution.
 
Leave it to Windows to foul Google's best efforts at making Android 5.0 an enjoyable upgrade.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Just happy that my N5 wasn't bricked.
 
I went through all of this with my phone too. I still have no idea what the problem was. I think my computer is just a turd. What should have taken a half hour ended up taking 4 hours before I finally gave up and used fastboot to flash the factory image. The weird thing is that fastboot commands worked just fine but no matter what I did ADB would never recognize my phone so I couldn't load the OTA. I really really didn't want to wipe my data but it is done now.

Although for what it's worth so far I love the Lollipop upgrade, and it was almost worth all of the hassle... I just wish I had done a more thorough backup before I started.
 
Yes, I have an old Vista PC that keep in a back room for these purposes. Once you get a computer that works, you do not want to chance it.

It worked like a champ!

Liking lollipop, but really need tap to wake! My OPO and even Lumia 925 have it! Come on google.

Posted via Nexus 5 with Lollipop!