Develop Bugs

Can't restore or even lock bootloader... Bricked?

I've been lurking for quite some time and haven't been able to find a solution for my issue. Here's what happened:
I cracked the screen on my Galaxy Nexus and got an insurance replacement. I then used ClockworkMod Recovery to copy over from my old device to my new device. All was good for about 12 hours when the new device started boot looping with the flashy color animation screen. I figured that might have been something I did, so I tried doing a factory reset and the like with ClockworkMod Recovery and managed to totally mess the phone. After trying to do a factory reset, the phone wouldn't boot up at all anymore -- I just get the dreaded red triangle with exclamation point. I tried formatting all the partitions with ClockworkMod (which was a bad idea). Ever since then, I've been stuck. I've spent several days so far trying to get this thing working. I have to note that Odin and fastboot modes work perfectly fine.
Among things I've tried unsuccessfully:
Flash to stock using Odin
--Odin says everything is fine, when I flash with a stock ROM that I downloaded. Upon reboot, nothing is any better and I still get the red triangle/exclamation point.
--When I try to use the tar files that ClockworkMod generated, Odin crashes immediately.
Push custom ROMs to /sdcard/ using adb while booted into ClockworkMod in hopes of getting the system to boot.
--This never works successfully. Sometimes I get no error but can't find the zip file. Other times I'll get an I/O error, or even a read-only error. The original backup is giving me checksum errors.
Flash factory ROMs using fastboot.
--I always get the red triangle/exclamation point.
Restore and flash with WUG's toolkit.
--Same thing as when I try to use fastboot. It seems that flashing the device goes fine, but the device will still not boot.
After every time I've flashed the device, whether using Odin or fastboot, I've tried doing a factory reset by pressing power+vol up+vol down and then selecting factory reset. This hasn't made any difference.
I'm about to give up on it and send the device back to the nameless insurance company, but I would like to lock the bootloader first. I can't even seem to lock the bootloader! In fastboot, I type the usual 'fastboot oem lock', and the device reports that it is locked, but after rebooting, the device always reverts back to having an unlocked bootloader.
Have I missed anything? Any thoughts? I'm lost.

Fyi, the red exclamation point is the stock recovery screen.
Try following the instructions in the "flash" link in my sig.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

As well, issue the following commands when in fastboot:
Fastboot erase system
Fastboot erase userdata <- this will wipe by the way, including/sdcard
Fastboot erase boot
Fastboot erase recovery
Fastboot erase cache
And then flash the images in fastboot.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Thanks a ton for the helpful info -- I hadn't tried flashing userdata and system using that method before, and your write-up was definitely one of the more helpful I've seen.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have helped. I used the factory 4.0.2 mysid/toro image on the link you provided. While flashing, the system seems to work absolutely fine, but it just reboots into recovery at the end.
I followed your instructions twice, including erasing the partitions. Also, after each try, I've tried doing a factory reset from recovery and then rebooting (after trying to boot a couple times), though none of this helped.

enginerrd said:
Thanks a ton for the helpful info -- I hadn't tried flashing userdata and system using that method before, and your write-up was definitely one of the more helpful I've seen.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have helped. I used the factory 4.0.2 mysid/toro image on the link you provided. While flashing, the system seems to work absolutely fine, but it just reboots into recovery at the end.
I followed your instructions twice, including erasing the partitions. Also, after each try, I've tried doing a factory reset from recovery and then rebooting (after trying to boot a couple times), though none of this helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you've flashed the system, userdata and boot images using fastboot, and you are still not able to boot into Android, I can only suspect that you have either a corrupt bootloader or a hardware issue.
And if odin does not work, then unfortunately I would suspect that there is a hardware issue.

This sounds like what happened to my phone as well. Someone else had it happen too. That's 3 nexus's in a week. Mine didn't even last 2 months.
I have a thread about mine and another user posted another thread a day or 2 ago. Mine boots into the system but is not erasable, not writable. Can't lock my boot loader. I've tried odin, adb, everything possible. I wish we could start a lawsuit because Samsung won't help me. I'm in the US and it's a gsm nexus that was purchased before the play store sold it. USA wont accept an international phone and UK Samsung won't take a phone from overseas. Basically they said I'm sh*t outta luck.

Thanks again for the help. I'm going to bite the bullet and just call the insurance company and try to send it back as a defective device. Hopefully they don't rake me over the coals.
I'll post back with an update as to how that goes.

You guys need to learn how to use fastboot and adb commands correctly to restore google's stock images.
Stop realying on toolkits thinking it will help you.
Also learning that the Red Exclamation Android is stock recovery!
Press the Power and Vol Up button will get you the stock recovery menu options to come up!
Not to be mean, BUT I hope the insurance company denies you, you totally screwed up the phone yourself.

I did not screw my phone up myself. My phone was never even rooted. I know very well how to issue adb commands and install images. Learn what you are talking about before you jump onto people or come across as a total di*khead

Alright, replacement phone is on the way. Thanks again for the help. I tend to think it is a hardware issue because of how the issue originally presented itself, but I'm still pretty new to the Android platform. It seemed to me that a watchdog timer was timing out or something similar.
Perhaps this will be the push I needed to start developing Android hardware/software... I'm all about embedded systems and would like to move beyond basic ucontrollers.

Nexus 7 2013 stuck at google and won't unlock.

So out of the blue my Nexus 7 powered off. Now when I power it on it gets stuck at the google logo and will not finish booting. I am stock and have never unlocked or rooted this device. I have access to the boot loader and have tried both wiping the cache and doing a hard reset, both do not help. I am very familiar with rooting android devices, so I thought I would unlocked it and re-flash the rom. Well here is the real problem It will not unlock. It just freezes.So being that it is most likely a hardware issue what are my options? The warranty has expired.

I'm having the exact same issue, in the process of trying a forced flash of stock, of cluster flashing bootlace failed, bit it's "erasing cache" well see what happens, in using Wug's toolkit
That didn't work either, seems like I need to unlock, but it won't
Trying to unlock again
All I want/need is a way to flash stock from a locked/unrooted device, be it from fastboot or ADB, seems not possible or I fail at searching here

Same issue here, is this a new thing that just started happening to people. I cannot even wipe the cache or format the device anymore. It says it's failing to mount various things and some i/o errors.
Happened after restarting on its own one day...

It's been seen since the first devices. Something got corrupted, possibly the bootloader but not always, to where the devices can't be unlocked. Unfortunately there seems to be no solution but sending it in for repair.

Stuck with Fastboot but no recovery, no boot

Hi All,
My Nexus 5x 32 GB phone suddenly died on me last night. The situation as of now:
1. Cannot boot normally. Shows Google logo and everything goes dark.
2. Can boot into Fastboot with holding down power and volume down buttons
3. But not able to go into recovery. When I select Recovery in Fastboot mode, it just tries to reboot and the screen stays dark. Nothing happens.
4. The bootloader is locked. I think OEM protection in Developer tools is on, so not able to unlock bootloader through Fastboot commands.
What an I do?? Factory reset would be great, if option is there.
Please help!! Thanks.

Try to flash Factory image by command adb and fastboot if your pc recognized your nexus 5x
unlock oem if necessary After

Funny enough, I've got a very similar issue
I can boot into recovery though, but there's a catch, and I think it applies to everything past boot, the phone freezes and restarts after like 3-5 seconds.
I can't boot to system, as it takes way too long to boot up, but I can only see the first panel of the recovery before it dies and restarts.
I have flash official images, and even TWRP recovery to see what I can do, but this doesn't work out in the long run, as the issues are ever persistent

Thanks for the quick replies!
Tried everything, including Nexus toolkit... But nothing worked. So I finally took it to service center as its still in warranty. They said the problem is hardware related and it might have happened because of recent update. They also said they have been getting lots of phones with this problem. So they they are replacing the motherboard free of cost. Wish they could have given a new phone
Once again, thanks all!

Dude that's wild, this same exact issue literally happened to me 2 weeks ago while I was on tour. Was on 7.1.1 (Pixel ROM to be specific) and my 5X just died on me out of nowhere. Absolutely the same things happening here, would boot up, go black, and then start bootlooping. Could access fastboot, but I couldn't get into recovery. Called Google and got a replacement because it was definitely hardware failure and I was still under warranty (just a few days past a whole year). I wonder if the new 7.1 betas are breaking peoples' phones
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

LG said if I have rooted my device, then it's not covered by warranty, and a 200-300 dollar (AUD) repair fee
I wonder if I can get this done free of cost though, I'm not the first person to have used this phone

Scratch. said:
LG said if I have rooted my device, then it's not covered by warranty, and a 200-300 dollar (AUD) repair fee
I wonder if I can get this done free of cost though, I'm not the first person to have used this phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried flashing the stock images? If you can get to fastboot, you can flash the stock image and unroot your phone. You should also then be able to lock your bootloader (if it is unlocked) and then do your warranty at that point.

I only have been using stock images
root is not a problem, as itis indeed not rooted.
no matter what image you would boot, fhe system will crash after a few seconds, freezeframing whatever on display, be it the recovery icon, or the beggining of the boot animation

so people saying android 7.1.1 brooking devices, so will that be safe to upgrade the phone from 7.0 to 7.1 .1 when stable release will be available ?

Scratch. said:
I only have been using stock images
root is not a problem, as itis indeed not rooted.
no matter what image you would boot, fhe system will crash after a few seconds, freezeframing whatever on display, be it the recovery icon, or the beggining of the boot animation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the hardware bootloop issue that has been hitting 5x devices hard lately. Mine started looping last week and I had to send it in.
Are you still within your 1 year manufacturer's warranty? If so, you can call LG and report the issue to them. Your device may get fixed, but it was also reported Thursday that LG has started issuing full refunds because they ran out of the needed part.

The company have started offering refunds
https://www.neowin.net/news/lg-to-issue-full-refunds-to-customers-with-faulty-nexus-5x-handsets

Nexus 5X Suddenly freeze and stuck in boot loop

So while i was browsing around with Firefox on my 1 year old Nexus 5X, it suddenly froze and after about 20 secs automatically reboots.
After it shows the google boot logo for about 10 seconds it reboots again in a loop.
Bootloader is unlocked, its rooted and Cyanogenmod is installed. This worked fine for about 1 year. I havent done any updates since this CM install 1 year ago.
I can get into fastboot by pressing power and volume down. I can stay there forever but if I choose anything else from there, it goes into the reboot cycle again.
So I can not get into recovery mode from fastboot because it reboots before it gets there.
I can sometimes get into download mode by pressing power and volume up but after a few seconds it again reboots from there.
Is there any way to at least save my data? I do have some very important account data on it.
I assume from fastboot mode alone you cant save anything or is there a trick?
Thanks for any help!

sounds very similar to my situation, bought mine about a year ago as well, except I was running stock 7.1.2

It should be easy to save the phone, but for the data - that's going to be trickier.
As long as you have fastboot you can always just flash it back to stock but that will wipe your data.
So you could try to to:
fastboot erase cache and fastboot erase recovery and then reflash recovery and see if you can get into it now.
Once in recovery you should have adb access if you have the correct drivers installed and you can flash a full OTA image in ADB which will reflash every partition, but not wipe your data.
For both methods read this: https://developers.google.com/android/images
Once you have adb you could also just pull the entire content of your data partition. The question is if and how that account data is stored and if you could get it back that way.
If you really need that app data I would try to get the OS working by flashing the OTA image in adb, then reinstall the app and hope your account data is still there...
And then look into backup options. It's pretty risky to have important data not backed up or duplicated somewhere else on a mobile device that could be lost or stolen any second...

It sounds like the bootloop problem, its a problem that many people are facing

berndblb said:
It should be easy to save the phone, but for the data - that's going to be trickier.
As long as you have fastboot you can always just flash it back to stock but that will wipe your data.
So you could try to to:
fastboot erase cache and fastboot erase recovery and then reflash recovery and see if you can get into it now.
Once in recovery you should have adb access if you have the correct drivers installed and you can flash a full OTA image in ADB which will reflash every partition, but not wipe your data.
For both methods read this: https://developers.google.com/android/images
Once you have adb you could also just pull the entire content of your data partition. The question is if and how that account data is stored and if you could get it back that way.
If you really need that app data I would try to get the OS working by flashing the OTA image in adb, then reinstall the app and hope your account data is still there...
And then look into backup options. It's pretty risky to have important data not backed up or duplicated somewhere else on a mobile device that could be lost or stolen any second...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know about the OP, but my 5X will not get into fastboot, no matter what option I pick, I see the Google screen then it goes black and back to the Google screen and then is unresponsive for hours

I'm having the same issue as of this morning. I find it a little suspicious that it happened on the same day that my billing restarted and they had just updated the app a few days ago...
But I am unable to get to recovery mode either. Just shows the Google logo and reboots.

It's happening to me right now, the exact same thing, guys, this is not a coincidence

Another one here, started Friday night 3 days ago. Really weird that all of a sudden so many 5X users are experiencing the same problem.

mine just started this today, but after about ten reboots it finally started. Its almost like someone took control of the phone to install something remotely... weird
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I'm having the exact same issue. Was watching a youtube video and suddenly the screen froze and my phone rebooted. When i tried to get into the recovery i still only got the google logo and a reboot. Fortunately i have my bootloader unlocked. I was able to reflash android and it worked again. After an hour or two the same started to happen again. Extremely frustrating.
Best thing you can do is flash just the recovery and try to get your files out that way.

so even until now many Nexus 5x still got bootloop? nothing to fix it still?
planning to get an used Nexus 5x and afraid also got this bootloop problem, should I or shoudn't I get it?
after reading so much bootloop stories, seems the timing to bootloop is just matter of time? on how much the phone is used? heavy use got bootloop first and lighter use got bootloop last but still get it sooner or later?

I will not buy it
DON2003 said:
so even until now many Nexus 5x still got bootloop? nothing to fix it still?
planning to get an used Nexus 5x and afraid also got this bootloop problem, should I or shoudn't I get it?
after reading so much bootloop stories, seems the timing to bootloop is just matter of time? on how much the phone is used? heavy use got bootloop first and lighter use got bootloop last but still get it sooner or later?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two days ago I was facing the same problem, I managed to reload the stock rom and relock the bootloader so I can claim the warranty. But even though they replace me the phone I am pretty sure that sooner or later you will face this problem. This is an amazing phone and for the time I buy it, I believe was a smart choice, now I believe you can find something at same range price with even better specs.

I am facing the exact same issue. I was watching a Youtube video when the phone suddenly froze and shutdown itself. Then impossible to boot again. Sometimes I can boot to fastboot (after few hours without touching the phone or 20 min in the freezer). I tried to flash factory images (https://developers.google.com/android/images) but it does not fix it.
Has anyone been able to fix this? I don't think it's a hardware issue as I replaced the screen (the last one had a small crack on it) as well as the battery...

Look in the general subfourm for BLOD. https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3683926
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Stuck on google logo boot screen after twrp recovery & then factory reset

Hi guys, bit of a saga here so bear with me...and also it should be mentioned I have little experience/understanding of tech stuff, so that isn't helpful either lol
I've had a Nexus 5x running 7.1.2 for not quite a week; it came with an unlocked bootloader (strangely). Tried to do the usual install twrp & root as I've done with previous phones (all pre-nougat) but all attempts failed. Couldn't boot into stock recovery from the bootloader at all, it would just boot into the system. OK, next thought was that an OTA upgrade to Oreo might work to restore a recovery - but got the BLOD (naturally lol). I found a fix in a modded 4-core Twrp 3.2.1 -0 fbe img + workaround injector zip from osm0sis & XCnathan32 which by some miracle worked.
So far, so good. Ffwd a few days and google play store keeps crashing on opening; I had the feeling that some glitch happened while it was updating, so I tried all the usual fixes like app cache/data wipes and uninstall updates/renistall google play, delete google account etc which failed. Next I tried a cache & data device wipe through twrp - also unsuccessful. Finally, I thought the only thing left to try would be to restore a backup I made on twrp - this led to the current issue of not booting, stuck on the google logo screen. I even thought what the hell! and attempted a factory reset with twrp - same result, where I am now. Google logo screen, however I still have an unlocked bootloader.
Would anyone be able to suggest where I might go from here? I'm pretty sure the version is N2G48C, if that helps.
Any suggestions very much appreciated...wouldn't mind getting to the 1 week mark with a functioning phone lol

Saga #2
Still no idea what's going on. I realised that I'd backed up and recovered the system and vendor .img files, which according to this thread would be a cause of the issue https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/stuck-google-logo-twrp-backup-restore-t3320840/page3
So I made another backup without those images, did a full wipe and restored it - still does not boot, still only sitting on the google logo. Tried next to open a cmd terminal to see if I could reflash a stock image, but adb could not connect (maybe because the phone would have been on charging and not file transfer mode?)
Last resort as I saw it was to try the NRT, and see if it would flash stock via the bootloop/softbrick option. Process seemed to be OK, judging by the log - but it did not reboot to the system. Now there is a looping bootloop between the google logo and the unlocked bootloader warning.
Following wugfresh's instructions to factory reset from the recovery (the phone won't turn off via the power button so I just booted straight into the bootloader) Looked for the recovery option, selected....and nothing!!
So there isn't a stock recovery??? How does that work?
And what hope is there for this phone now? (I can't think of anything else )
Anyone have an idea? I've never heard of this before tbh!

Well, my problem has been sorted. In the absence of knowing what the hell I should do lol I managed to get a refund for the phone even though it was a refurb to begin with (something to be said for an honest seller who provides a 3 month warranty!) and I picked up a brand new N5x, which was unboxed on Tuesday. Not even 6 hours into setting it up, the phone started to get progressively hotter and then went into bootloop. Got into the bootloader and tried a factory reset - all seemed OK but halfway through the setup process it bootlooped again. Fortunately it was still within the 2 year warranty, and LG didn't argue about authorising a repair for a phone which didn't get even half a day's use on it lol
Authorised Wednesday, walked into the service centre Thursday and a 1 hour wait later had phone in hand with the PCB/motherboard replaced. Has been working fine (and cool!) ever since. Definitely feel lucky to have hopefully dodged a bullet on this one.
Bonus that they upgraded from 6.0 to 7.2.1 while they were at it; apparently LG considers nougat the "latest" stable version for the 5x.