Develop Bugs

[Q] How do you format internal memory?

I know the formating option in cwm recovery but that only deletes the
data files it does not format the whole internal memory.
So how do you do this? i heard people just use oem lock
and oem unlock to relock the bootloaded and unlock it again since that seems
to wipe everything.
But i wanna know if theres legit command that does formatting of internal
storage for galaxy nexus?

best way is to use the fastboot commands
fastboot oem lock
fastboot oem unlock

0806sung said:
I know the formating option in cwm recovery but that only deletes the
data files it does not format the whole internal memory.
So how do you do this? i heard people just use oem lock
and oem unlock to relock the bootloaded and unlock it again since that seems
to wipe everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zepius said:
best way is to use the fastboot commands
fastboot oem lock
fastboot oem unlock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does not erase everything.
0806sung said:
But i wanna know if theres legit command that does formatting of internal
storage for galaxy nexus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Reboot your device into fastboot and type the following:
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase cache
Device is now wiped. You will need to flash a new ROM afterwards...

ive followed these steps and done all of the commands but now i cannot flash a rom.
im launched straight to fastboot, (as theres no rom) and it says no boot or recovery img.
i can get into CWM, but i see this.
E:Can't mount /sdcard/
any ideas anyone? think i need to look for a boot.img?

iamdarren said:
ive followed these steps and done all of the commands but now i cannot flash a rom.
im launched straight to fastboot, (as theres no rom) and it says no boot or recovery img.
i can get into CWM, but i see this.
E:Can't mount /sdcard/
any ideas anyone? think i need to look for a boot.img?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you followed my steps above, you have effectively wiped your device (except the bootloader, radio and splash image).
You can't see /sdcard, because /sdcard is just a symlink to /data/media, which you just wiped.
You need to re-flash all the partitions that you just wiped. What ROM are you trying to flash, and how are you trying to flash it? If you are trying to flash a ROM in recovery and need /sdcard, you need to first flash the userdata partition with the stock userdata.img found in one of the images here.

great minds... i have already done that, went here http://code.google.com/android/nexus/images.html#yakju then flashed each .img one by one through nexus toolkit.
booted up into stock already. nice
thanks

I have the battery not charging issue. On top of that I can't fastboot my phone since it is not recognized by my PC. So how can I wipe the internal storage? I have only a certain amount of battery left. And I do not want to send all my private data to Samsung support.

ouilsen said:
I have the battery not charging issue. On top of that I can't fastboot my phone since it is not recognized by my PC. So how can I wipe the internal storage? I have only a certain amount of battery left. And I do not want to send all my private data to Samsung support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is it not recognized by your PC. Did you install the drivers properly?

let me introduce u another way :
get to download mode and use oding to flash a new stock rom . if u dont have xda page u can use this to get proper file i used it 5 time with no fail
h t t p : / / androidadvices.com/update-galaxy-nexus-official-ics-404-firmware-odin/2/#.UBdkTSK42U0
flashing new kernel willerase all internal storage that gnexus let u use
---------- Post added at 09:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 AM ----------
but this method will wipe your recovery image , after that u should flash recovery image and su

afraaa said:
let me introduce u another way :
get to download mode and use oding to flash a new stock rom . if u dont have xda page u can use this to get proper file i used it 5 time with no fail
h t t p : / / androidadvices.com/update-galaxy-nexus-official-ics-404-firmware-odin/2/#.UBdkTSK42U0
flashing new kernel willerase all internal storage that gnexus let u use
---------- Post added at 09:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 AM ----------
but this method will wipe your recovery image , after that u should flash recovery image and su
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin is a leaked Samsung tool. If you're suggesting such tool, search around for Heimdall, see if it supports galaxy nexus, if it does, suggest that.

Excuse for digging out an old thread.
Just wanted to check if there is a way to to format internal memory without loosing root?

blinkjona said:
Excuse for digging out an old thread.
Just wanted to check if there is a way to to format internal memory without loosing root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you don't format /system, you won't lose root.
a maguro wrote this.

Thanks. Is there a tool/app to do that please. Or I can just go about and delete
The reason I want to format is after having flashed 4.3( 3 different build) im no longer able to use instagram with an error 'unfortunately,Instagram has stopped' whereas all other things is working fine. I can't clear data/cache Instagram either.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

blinkjona said:
Thanks. Is there a tool/app to do that please. Or I can just go about and delete
The reason I want to format is after having flashed 4.3( 3 different build) im no longer able to use instagram with an error 'unfortunately,Instagram has stopped' whereas all other things is working fine. I can't clear data/cache Instagram either.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In your custom recovery
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

pls help
i have yueka plus yu5510 ,
i've installed cm13 on it.
when i'm wiping its cache using twrp 3.0.8 , it shuts down.
after reboot i tried again then it shows 'failed to mount cache' , 'failed to mount system' , failed to mount data'.
size of internal storage,cache,system become 0 mb.
What have to do ???? pls. help me . i'm stuck .
i tried every thing under my knowledge like erasing and formatting using fastboot .
i tried to flash stock rom cm12.1 but it says "flash write failure".
also cant change twrp to cwm cause of 'flash write failure'.
pls. pls. can someone help me

Hi efrant, it seems that I have exactly the same issue: My evita was a bit slow so I performed a factory reset from the bootloader... stupid idea as it removed the OS (ROM) from my SD. I tried to push a ROM in the device, it said it was successful but there is still nothing on my SD card.
In the bootloader adb is not detecting my phone, fastboot is working though. Sideload is not working.
When i try to wipe anything from TRWP it says : it says "failed to mount 'sdcard' (invalid argument)"
Charac:
EVITA PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT2.15.0000
TWRP 2.8.7.5
I can't try your solution because I don't know how to flash system, userdata & cache (I know how to flash boot & recovery). Can you help me on this?

antonin2503 said:
Hi efrant, it seems that I have exactly the same issue: My evita was a bit slow so I performed a factory reset from the bootloader... stupid idea as it removed the OS (ROM) from my SD. I tried to push a ROM in the device, it said it was successful but there is still nothing on my SD card.
In the bootloader adb is not detecting my phone, fastboot is working though. Sideload is not working.
When i try to wipe anything from TRWP it says : it says "failed to mount 'sdcard' (invalid argument)"
Charac:
EVITA PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT2.15.0000
TWRP 2.8.7.5
I can't try your solution because I don't know how to flash system, userdata & cache (I know how to flash boot & recovery). Can you help me on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the solution : Plug the phone to the PC, open in TWRP recovery / click on mount, then the PC ask to format the device, format in fat32. Then copy the rom to the sdcard. Flash it with TWRP. Done!

Help I hosed my Verizon Nexus

I tried to install Paranoid Android and GAPPS. It get force closing on setup so I booted back into recovery to try to fix it and now there is no OS. I can boot into Recovery and Fastboot only

so you wiped system in recovery?
why dont you provide us with EVERYTHING you did to cause this?
did you do a factory reset before installing PA? that would have prevented the force closes.
if all you can do is boot into recovery, then just do a factory reset and reflash your rom...its pretty simple

I had a similar issue and it was caused by not using the correct gapps package. Correct gapps for PA 4.2 http://goo.im/devs/paranoidandroid/roms/gapps/pa_gapps-full-4.2-20130209.zip
I put it on a flashdrive and used an OTG cable to connect, then used "external SD" in TWRP.

Pirateghost said:
so you wiped system in recovery?
why dont you provide us with EVERYTHING you did to cause this?
did you do a factory reset before installing PA? that would have prevented the force closes.
if all you can do is boot into recovery, then just do a factory reset and reflash your rom...its pretty simple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot which app I used to download the new image and GAPPS. I figured ig GAPPS was the issue i could wipe, so from Team Win Recovery Console I did a wipe of Cache, Dalvik Cache. I* *may* have also chosen to wipe System and Format data but I can't remember right now.
So I can boot into the recovery console but nothing else. If I try to boot it sits on the white Google logo until I pull the battery

ElevyNJ said:
I forgot which app I used to download the new image and GAPPS. I figured ig GAPPS was the issue i could wipe, so from Team Win Recovery Console I did a wipe of Cache, Dalvik Cache. I* *may* have also chosen to wipe System and Format data but I can't remember right now.
So I can boot into the recovery console but nothing else. If I try to boot it sits on the white Google logo until I pull the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you definitely wiped /system.
go back to stock from the return to stock thread in general. it's stickied.

ElevyNJ said:
I forgot which app I used to download the new image and GAPPS. I figured ig GAPPS was the issue i could wipe, so from Team Win Recovery Console I did a wipe of Cache, Dalvik Cache. I* *may* have also chosen to wipe System and Format data but I can't remember right now.
So I can boot into the recovery console but nothing else. If I try to boot it sits on the white Google logo until I pull the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you selected wipe DATA, then your SDCARD is gone...you need to adb push your rom zip back to the sdcard and flash it. if you wiped system, then you have no OS installed any more...

Zepius said:
you definitely wiped /system.
go back to stock from the return to stock thread in general. it's stickied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume it's also the link in your sig and must be done from a PC. I won't have access to a PC until tonight but I do have access to a MAC this afternoon
Pirateghost said:
if you selected wipe DATA, then your SDCARD is gone...you need to adb push your rom zip back to the sdcard and flash it. if you wiped system, then you have no OS installed any more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.

ElevyNJ said:
I assume it's also the link in your sig and must be done from a PC. I won't have access to a PC until tonight but I do have access to a MAC this afternoon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, but for a mac just change fastboot to ./fastboot in the terminal window. instructions are still the same.

Zepius said:
yes, but for a mac just change fastboot to ./fastboot in the terminal window. instructions are still the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm at the screen with the android laying on it's back and the panel open. When I do ./adb devices it says list of devices attached but doesn't show anything.
I'm following the guide from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1917237

ElevyNJ said:
I'm at the screen with the android laying on it's back and the panel open. When I do ./adb devices it says list of devices attached but doesn't show anything.
I'm following the guide from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1917237
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because your phone is in fast boot.

063_XOBX said:
Because your phone is in fast boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I'm being dense today

Ok phone is up and running again or shall I say limping. The 3G/4G indicator just shows bars.

[Q] HTC ONE -- can't access from computer

Hi all, I ****ed up and didn't make a backup.
I wiped the phone clean from bootloader recovery, but then realized I had forgotten to move the new gapps and cm rom to my phone.
When I plug it in, it is recognized by my computer, but the HTC MTP Device fails to work.
I can't see the phone, and therefore can't put anything on it to flash. If I mount the phone via the bootloader, it pops up in Windows and wants to be formatted.
I have been looking around and trying different things for the past couple hours, and figured it was time to ask someone who might know..
Any ideas?

chriswcs said:
Hi all, I ****ed up and didn't make a backup.
I wiped the phone clean from bootloader recovery, but then realized I had forgotten to move the new gapps and cm rom to my phone.
When I plug it in, it is recognized by my computer, but the HTC MTP Device fails to work.
I can't see the phone, and therefore can't put anything on it to flash. If I mount the phone via the bootloader, it pops up in Windows and wants to be formatted.
I have been looking around and trying different things for the past couple hours, and figured it was time to ask someone who might know..
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to take a screen shot, but it won't let me post it as I am noob-status.
Device Manager:
Android USB Devices
MyHTC
.
.
.
Portable Devices
J:/
<!> MTP USB Device
I don't understand why I can't mount or access the phone. Do I not have the right drivers installed?
Is there any way to get around this and put the files on my phone so I can install any old ROM so I can boot it up again??

You need to update the drivers on your PC, there's a few threads on how to do it. You should still be able to use adb push to add files, though.

Drivers are fine ! Go in recovery and mount the sdcard as a usb mass storage device ! In the title you speak of a HTC one......so is it a ONE or a ONE X ?

Thanks for replying!
It is an HTC One X. Should I just install the Android SDK bundle? Or are there other drivers?

Android sdk bundle is good. But you have MYHTC so that's correct. You need to go into the recovery and mount the sdcard as a usb storage device, it will show the drive in windows and then you can copy a rom onto it.

Mr Hofs said:
Android sdk bundle is good. But you have MYHTC so that's correct. You need to go into the recovery and mount the sdcard as a usb storage device, it will show the drive in windows and then you can copy a rom onto it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, so I installed the newest HTC driver (4.2) and all the SDK bundles. When I plug the phone it, it still won't recognize the HTC MTP Device. When I mount from the bootloader, it doesn't let me mount the sdcard (only the system data and cache), and Windows still shows a drive that needs to be formatted.
Do you think it's still a Windows driver I'm missing? If I go Terminal Command on phone it says
E: Unable to mount '/sdcard'
E: Unable to mount storage.

What's the option called you tap inside recovery. And what recovery are you using ?
If it's CWM you go to mounts and storage and tap the last option in that list.....then wait till it pops up on the pc

I'm using TWRP v 2.4.2.0 and I couldn't check the box for mount sdcard.
ADB push worked!
But the ROM failed. Is there anything else I'm missing?
It still says that E: can't mount.

Try this recovery please, i know this one blinded
https://db.tt/MNtVjpOJ

Mr Hofs said:
Try this recovery please, i know this one blinded
https://db.tt/MNtVjpOJ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly thank you so much for taking time to help a lost stranger out!
What I did was reformat the J: drive that popped up on Windows, then I was able to put both the CM10.2 and GAPPS on the /sdcard/ (it would then mount)
I could then install both of them successfully, but I don't have a boot.img because my kernel is wiped. Will that file work as a boot.img?

chriswcs said:
Firstly thank you so much for taking time to help a lost stranger out!
What I did was reformat the J: drive that popped up on Windows, then I was able to put both the CM10.2 and GAPPS on the /sdcard/ (it would then mount)
I could then install both of them successfully, but I don't have a boot.img because my kernel is wiped. Will that file work as a boot.img?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or how do I try your recover? Should I push it with adb? If so, to where?
I found two other boot.img files on the webs (boot.img and cm10.img), but I don't know how to get the phone to actually boot off them

The boot.img has to be flashed via Fastboot in the bootloader. So if you installed CM correctly via the recovery then flash the boot.img from the CM.zip ....
Fastboot flash boot boot.img
And a kernel can't be wiped via the recovery by the way. You can only delete/overwrite it via Fastboot commands

Mr Hofs said:
The boot.img has to be flashed via Fastboot in the bootloader. So if you installed CM correctly via the recovery then flash the boot.img from the CM.zip ....
Fastboot flash boot boot.img
And a kernel can't be wiped via the recovery by the way. You can only delete/overwrite it via Fastboot commands
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay! That's good
I think it flashed correctly, now I am just waiting for the phone to boot up. It's been going for about 25 minutes though. Should it be that long?

Nope not good.......make a full wipe in recovery before installing the rom.
Factory reset
Wipe cache partition
Advanced-wipe dalvik cache
Mounts and storage-format cache,data,system
Then install CM and gapps then reboot because you already flashed its boot.img

Mr Hofs said:
Nope not good.......make a full wipe in recovery before installing the rom.
Factory reset
Wipe cache partition
Advanced-wipe dalvik cache
Mounts and storage-format cache,data,system
Then install CM and gapps then reboot because you already flashed its boot.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None of the ROMs I've tried have worked! I think it's because my hboot is version 1.14.

Lol dude you have the evita go to the HTC one XL forum. You are in the completely wrong forum......sorry !!!

chriswcs said:
None of the ROMs I've tried have worked! I think it's because my hboot is version 1.14.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stuck yet again.
I relocked the phone to flash new firmware, but I have CID 1111111, so I can't find anything to unlock the bootloader again.
Double sauced. Ahhhhhh

Unlock the bootloader by flashing the unlock_Code.bin file wich you got the first time when it's unlocked.
Fastboot flash token unlock_code.bin
But you really should continue this in the right forum. Flashing stuff from here may brick the phone !

[Q] Uh-Oh, TWRP not allowing me to mount via USB

$10 paypal to who can help me solve this
Here's the deal people,
My GNex was slowing down and acting all funny with stock 4.3 after about 6 months
I finally decided to try out a 4.4.2 ROM
I had TWRP on the phone so I said I'd just copy the Zip to the root folder along with the Gapps
Long story short, I accidentally wiped the storage.
Then I said no biggie, and figured that I'd just mount the USB to my laptop and transfer the Zip file of the ROM I wanted over to the storage.
BUT when ever I tap on mount USB nothing shows up in the devices.
Now I have nothing to transfer the files to.
I have windows 8 on the computer I'm currently using if that matters.
Forgive me people. I am not an avid flasher like I was when windows phone 6 was still around. So spare the insults . Just need my phone running so I can contact my loved ones

Galaxy Nexus uses MTP instead of Mass Storage mode, so you can't mount it as usual.
However, there's an "ADB sideload" option that lets you sideload a ROM from your PC using the ADB command (if you have the drivers installed, in the command prompt window, just type "adb sideload *THE-PATH-TO-YOUR-ROM-FILE*").
Find out more with Google
throwback1718 said:
$10 paypal to who can help me solve this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We Chinese don't use Paypal
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11

AndyYan said:
Galaxy Nexus uses MTP instead of Mass Storage mode, so you can't mount it as usual.
However, there's an "ADB sideload" option that lets you sideload a ROM from your PC using the ADB command (if you have the drivers installed, in the command prompt window, just type "adb sideload *THE-PATH-TO-YOUR-ROM-FILE*").
Find out more with Google
We Chinese don't use Paypal
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agh I have read that the drivers don't work on windows 8 PC's . But I'll try
I flash my phone usually 2 or 3x per 12 months. so please pardon me if I forget some things...
In addition, the phone has nothing on it but TWRP
so no OS is on it at the moment. and no USB mounting.

I think USB mount is used for mounting USB flash drives attached through USB OTG.
The essentials. Contains ADB, fastboot and USB drivers from the Android SDK (should work on 8 and 8.1).
ADB_usb-driver.zip (8.79 MB)
To transfer files within TWRP, you need to use adb. Start by installing the driver. To verify for successful driver installation, type in:
Code:
adb devices
It should show you a "List of devices attached" and there's at least 1 item in the list.
Then copy the zip you want to flash into the same folder as adb. Let's say the file is named rom.zip. To "push" it to the phone, use the following command:
Code:
adb push rom.zip /sdcard/rom.zip
After it has finished "pushing" the file, just tap "Install" in TWRP and the zip file should be there!
You can now proceed flashing the ROM of your choice.

If you have wiped the storage without subsequently booting into a working ROM, the internal storage partition will be unformatted and you may have trouble writing to it.
If this is the case and you don't have a bootable ROM, you will need to flash a stock ROM via fastboot first and boot once, then try the whole thing again (don't wipe userdata this time!).

cmstlist said:
If you have wiped the storage without subsequently booting into a working ROM, the internal storage partition will be unformatted and you may have trouble writing to it.
If this is the case and you don't have a bootable ROM, you will need to flash a stock ROM via fastboot first and boot once, then try the whole thing again (don't wipe userdata this time!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THis is my issue now. I was able to get the GNex wugfresh toolkit
I was able to push the original 4.4.2 ROM that I wanted over to the device. But It keeps saying failed at the install point.
Good thing I came back to read this post. Thanks. Ill try to flash by fastboot
EDIT Now im trying to do it via fastboot and its saying AdbWinApi.dllis missing.
I keep hitting these damn road blocks. Im sure I have many people calling and texting me.

Can you temporarily put the SIM in another operable phone to get your calls and texts?
Not sure about the fastboot error. You'd need to download a Google stock ROM image directly from them, and fastboot flash the system and boot partitions. This should be enough for a reboot to regenerate the user data partition. You cannot flash the custom ROM in fastboot unless a version has been made available in that format.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

throwback1718 said:
EDIT Now im trying to do it via fastboot and its saying AdbWinApi.dllis missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might as well use another non-Win8 computer, drivers are hard to mess with.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11
---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 AM ----------
cmstlist said:
If you have wiped the storage without subsequently booting into a working ROM, the internal storage partition will be unformatted and you may have trouble writing to it.
If this is the case and you don't have a bootable ROM, you will need to flash a stock ROM via fastboot first and boot once, then try the whole thing again (don't wipe userdata this time!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that so?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11

AndyYan said:
Is that so?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, why would I say it if it were not my experience that it is so?
On Nexus devices, a userdata wipe from the bootloader often leaves it in a state where custom recovery cannot write to data. Booting once into a bootable ROM typically fixes this.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

cmstlist said:
Yes, why would I say it if it were not my experience that it is so?
On Nexus devices, a userdata wipe from the bootloader often leaves it in a state where custom recovery cannot write to data. Booting once into a bootable ROM typically fixes this.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean, is it true that after wiping all partitions (data, cache, dalvik, system, internal storage) in recovery, you cannot sideload a ROM as usual? What error does the phone give? And why does wiping breaks partition table, when all it does is *independently* formatting all partitions?
Sent from Lenovo Erazer Z500 @ Android-x86 4.3

AndyYan said:
I mean, is it true that after wiping all partitions (data, cache, dalvik, system, internal storage) in recovery, you cannot sideload a ROM as usual? What error does the phone give? And why does wiping breaks partition table, when all it does is *independently* formatting all partitions?
Sent from Lenovo Erazer Z500 @ Android-x86 4.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have all the answers to that. Wiping data in custom recovery should not be an issue because TWRP & CWM are both designed to keep /sdcard intact and erase the rest, which means it's just deleting files not formatting the whole partition. What I'm saying has to do with when you're in *fastboot* and you either factory reset, reflash userdata.img or wipe userdata.img, or unlock the bootloader.
On my GNex in this situation, circa 1.5 years ago, TWRP gave an error in which it thought the data partition was encrypted. CWM did not give an error but any files I attempted to write did not actually stick. One boot into a working ROM fixed it.
I have also observed that after a fastboot wipe, it starts booting into the ROM, possibly displays the Android "unpacking" screen, and then resets to the Google splash screen one more time, and then the second boot is the successful one. I have no idea if it has to do with permissions, formatting, or whatever else, I just know that it happens.

throwback1718 said:
THis is my issue now. I was able to get the GNex wugfresh toolkit
I was able to push the original 4.4.2 ROM that I wanted over to the device. But It keeps saying failed at the install point.
Good thing I came back to read this post. Thanks. Ill try to flash by fastboot
EDIT Now im trying to do it via fastboot and its saying AdbWinApi.dllis missing.
I keep hitting these damn road blocks. Im sure I have many people calling and texting me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your 4.4.2 ROM install most likely failed due to outdated TWRP. You must install twrp 2.6.3.2 via fastboot first, then you should be able to install and get going.
Let me know if you need links to anything
---------- Post added at 05:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:10 AM ----------
Also, next time don't "wipe/format data" in twrp. Do factory reset. (Unless they changed the damn name again on us lol)

Nexus stuck in boot loop - unrooted - Backing up photos from bootloader or recovery

Hi.
Apologies if this is a very naive question, I am not particularly familiar with mods, roms and so forth.
I have rooted another phone in the past, but that is all.
The situation:
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus
- Not rooted/unlocked. Stock android automatically updated to the latest Android version supported
- Android developer option NOT set in settings
- Stuck in a boot loop: boots to android and then after a few seconds reboots, so no time to do anything
- Not sure how it happened, I had it for years, it was in my pocket and suddenly started doing that.
- Android fastboot and recovery loads up no problem
- I have tried anything I could find online to fix it: deleted cache, rebooted in safe mode, removed battery for 10 hours
- Nothing seems to fix it, it keeps rebooting
- I want to try a factory reset, but my family photos are in the phone
- Google synch seems to have stopped functioning for this device a year ago, all my 2016-17 photos and videos are locked in the phone.
Admitting there is nothing to do about the loop problem:
Is there any way I can copy photos and videos via usb while in recovery mode?
After I will reset the phone via recovery menu, hoping it will fix it. IF that does not fix it, I will flash another rom in. But I really do not want to wipe my data before backing them up.
I am assuming the answer is no, you cannot access the internal memory in fastboot/recovery unless your phone is rooted.
But I would like an expert opinion before I resolve to wipe one year of photos and videos which I will regret losing.

@mcaldo DON'T DO FACTORY RESET, EVERYTHING WILL BE LOST
which recovery are you using..?
if it's TWRP, then it's easy..
- boot into TWRP recovery
- go to "Mount" tab
- find "enable/disable MTP" button at lower options.. (enable it )
then connect your phone to that PC, where you always connected in past, ( to eliminate driver installation stage, all drivers will be preinstalled )
Regards

____Mdd said:
@mcaldo DON'T DO FACTORY RESET, EVERYTHING WILL BE LOST
which recovery are you using..?
if it's TWRP, then it's easy..
- boot into TWRP recovery
- go to "Mount" tab
- find "enable/disable MTP" button at lower options.. (enable it )
then connect your phone to that PC, where you always connected in past, ( to eliminate driver installation stage, all drivers will be preinstalled )
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply!
By recovery, I meant 'android system recovery'
It gives me the following options:
reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from USB drive
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
Is any of the above useful?
Unfortunately, I do not have any alternative recovery software available
Edit: Googling I found this: "Apply update from ADB: The Android Debug Bridge allows you to plug your device into your PC and issue commands from there. "
If I can issue commands through ADB, perhaps there is a command to copy data from my phone to my computer?

mcaldo said:
Thanks for your reply!
By recovery, I meant 'android system recovery'
It gives me the following options:
reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from USB drive
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
Is any of the above useful?
Unfortunately, I do not have any alternative recovery software available
Edit: Googling I found this: "Apply update from ADB: The Android Debug Bridge allows you to plug your device into your PC and issue commands from there. "
If I can issue commands through ADB, perhaps there is a command to copy data from my phone to my computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can copy through adb commands..
Get and extract Minimal ADB and Fastboot from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790
From PC, run CMD to extracted folder directory.
Connect phone to PC, go to update from ADB(in recovery),
Type "adb device" , it will show serial number and connected..
Then "adb pull /sdcard " (if you know particular directory of data then write it like /sdcard/photos,, otherwise writing /sdcard will copy all folders from your phone. )
it will start copying to same adb folder ..

____Mdd said:
Yes, you can copy through adb commands..
Get and extract Minimal ADB and Fastboot from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790
From PC, run CMD to extracted folder directory.
Connect phone to PC, go to update from ADB(in recovery),
Type "adb device" , it will show serial number and connected..
Then "adb pull /sdcard " (if you know particular directory of data then write it like /sdcard/photos,, otherwise writing /sdcard will copy all folders from your phone. )
it will start copying to same adb folder ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice.
I followed the instructions closely, and nearly got there.
adb devices returns
#serialnumber sideload
so all good
but adb pull /sdcard returns
adb: error connect failed: closed
I tried several other commands with no success
kill-server and start-server work fine but do not solve the problem
adb usb returns
error closed
So, I am starting thinking that the problem is in the bootloader being locked.
However, if I unlock it, it will be wipe all my data, I understand?
Googling about it, I found this:
The behavior is status-by-design. Your stock recovery is not designed to grant shell access. Your only choice here is to somehow manage to flash a custom recovery. – Firelord Dec 30 '15 at 14:19
3
To achieve something similar to what @FireLord suggested: TWRP can be booted on many devices without being installed. For that, find a matching image, then boot to the bootloader and run fastboot boot twrp.img. Btw: you can check with fastboot devices resp. adb devices whether a device is visible to the corresponding tool. – Izzy♦ Jul 8 '16 at 19:40
So I understand one could boot TWRP without installing it, but I am not sure if that means I could do that with the bootloader locked?
I found WugFresh nexus root toolkit which seems to do that, among many other things, but again it warns that the phone must be unlocked (using the android build "Android *.* Any", I did not know what else to choose, not sure if that makes any difference as for locked/unlocked requirements)
EDIT: my fastboot screen reads "FASTBOOT STATUS - Failbootloader locked" as the last line, when trying to run TWRP without installing.

Yes, unlocking bootloader will wipe everything..
What actually you did ? Why it went into bootloop ???
I have also read that about boot into TWRP without installing.. and it worked for many one without unlocking bootloader... Don't know why not on GNex.

____Mdd said:
Yes, unlocking bootloader will wipe everything..
What actually you did ? Why it went into bootloop ???
I have also read that about boot into TWRP without installing.. and it worked for many one without unlocking bootloader... Don't know why not on GNex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What actually you did ? Why it went into bootloop ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A very good question, to which I have no answer, unfortunately.
The phone was used by my wife for 2 years and then by me for other 2. I recently changed the battery.
Never rooted or unlocked. No unusual apps installed. I am a very basic user, as you might have guessed, and being my only phone at the moment, I really would not risk experimenting with it.
It went very slow over the last 4 months, so I was planning to reset it.
I put in my coat pocket for a few hours, when I took it out it had a train ticked stuck to the screen and was quite warm and on the lock screen. It froze, so I took the battery out and restarted it. From then on it is stuck in a loop, not sure why really.
I have also read that about boot into TWRP without installing.. and it worked for many one without unlocking bootloader... Don't know why not on GNex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good to know. I'll research more than.
It seems there might be a problem with the fastboot drivers on my computer, even selecting them from device manager did not work. Win7 refuses to install. The ADB drivers in theory work fine though.

If you have done nothing modification to system, then wiping data should work, but i have doubt if it also wipes personal data too, on TWRP it wipes data excepting /data/media/ which contains all personal data.. but don't know about wiping on stock recovery...
I hope you will find solution as soon as possible..
Regards.
PS. I can install stock recovery and try wiping /data.. and check what things get wiped.. but i need little time for that experiment...

____Mdd said:
If you have done nothing modification to system, then wiping data should work, but i have doubt if it also wipes personal data too, on TWRP it wipes data excepting /data/media/ which contains all personal data.. but don't know about wiping on stock recovery...
I hope you will find solution as soon as possible..
Regards.
PS. I can install stock recovery and try wiping /data.. and check what things get wiped.. but i need little time for that experiment...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much.
Looking at google's documentation on the nexus:
You can remove data from your Pixel phone or Nexus device by resetting it to factory settings. Resetting to factory settings is also known as formatting the device or doing a "hard reset".
If you're factory resetting your device to fix an issue, make sure that you've tried all other troubleshooting options first. Find out how to troubleshoot your issue.
Important: Performing a factory reset will erase all data from the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would seem that indeed all data will be removed.
This point, I will research a bit more into drivers, in case that is what it's preventing adb pull from working.
I really need a working phone, so if that fails I will hard reset, then unlock, root, flash in an alternative bootloader and perhaps a rom, and put ubuntu touch in dual boot. That will hopefully prevent me from loosing data in the future.
Sorry, this is out of topic to my question, but, , could you suggest any stable, solid rom for the nexus?
I read good things of CM12, and I ran into one which seemed to do to quite well with split windows, but I do not remember the name right now.
EDIT: I remember the name of the rom now, it's https://omnirom.org/about/

A last question if you can..
I tried to solve my boot loop problem by sideloading an update from google (maguro yakju yakju-jwr66y-factory-4cadea65.zip)
It loaded it fine but then failed because the installation it says it is not signed.
Basically, being a stock bootloader recovery from Samsung, it will only sideload OTAs from samsung, not the stock ones from google..
I cannot find the samsung ones anywhere, not for the nexus anyway, just the newer devices..
By any chance do you know where I could download proper Samsung OTA zip updates for the nexus?

Well, I talked with an android developer who confirmed that, unless you have a friend working in criminal forensic technology or similar, there is no way to get around a lock on this phone to pull data out.
So, sadly, I have wiped my phone by unlocking it, flashed TWRP and then omnirom with gapps.
My photos are gone, including a bunch of stuff my kid had made and asked me to photograph for safeeping. Very safe indeed
He kept asking me why they make the lock like that, instead of allowing some kind of password, perhaps he has a point.
So, it is quite unlikely that somebody who knows as little as I did will ever read this *before* finding themselves in the same situation.
But if you do, back up your data, unlock and flash TWRP, clockworks or some alternative, and thank yourself if and when disaster strikes..

@mcaldo wiping data/factory reset in STOCK RECOvERY will wipe everything... There is very few chances to get backup...
And yeah i found something interesting..
You can flash system.img.. only system files will be corrected not anything else..
Get appropriate zip from here : https://developers.google.com/android/images
Now take system.img to ADB/Fastboot folder ( i assume you know how it works )
Just go "Fastboot flash system system.img"
It will rewrite system partition..
Another one:
See downloads on this thread..
One says NON-WIPE, if you want me to try that zip, i will again require time for that. See here : https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/general/guide-restore-to-stock-unbrick-galaxy-t2065470
---------- Post added at 11:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 AM ----------
I don't saw your reply, it was on next page.. its sad... Sorry i am late..