having trouble restoring phone

Idunno · November 2nd, 2012, 02:49 AM

So I finally got my replacement nexus, and I've been trying in vain to restore my old one so I can send it back but I just cant make it happen. My computer (and another that I've tried to rule out the possibility of a faulty machine) won't recognize the device at all in either ADB or fastboot. I can't get USB to mount to try to put a backup on there to restore, I tried factory reset in recovery and now I have no OS (probably not a good idea now that I look back)... I'm all out of ideas, what can I do if I can't even get the computer to recognize the device?

Does anyone have any elite tricks up their sleeve/

AndroidKris · November 2nd, 2012, 07:21 AM

Use Linux. No need for advice or fastboot drivers. Just make sure you have advice and fastboot installed properly on the computer.

viper689 · November 2nd, 2012, 10:21 AM

Did you try reinstalling the drivers? I just replaced my GNex earlier this week as well and that did the trick for me

Digital Controller · November 2nd, 2012, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by viper689

Did you try reinstalling the drivers? I just replaced my GNex earlier this week as well and that did the trick for me

What viper is suggesting should work, you just need to find them

NSutherl · November 2nd, 2012, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idunno

I tried factory reset in recovery and now I have no OS (probably not a good idea now that I look back)

FYI, you found this out the hard way, but a factory reset in recovery is not the same as a factory data reset from within the Android settings menu. Factory reset in recovery wipes all user data from the phone's internal memory (including ROM/OS, so you'll need to flash another ROM in order to start up the phone).

Idunno · November 2nd, 2012, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndroidKris

Use Linux. No need for advice or fastboot drivers. Just make sure you have advice and fastboot installed properly on the computer.

Please explain this to me. I am 100% noob when it comes to anything linux.

As for drivers, they are installed correctly because the computers will recognize my new nexus and do ADB and fastboot but they wont recognize the old one. I've tried all 3 driver sets that come with WUG's toolkit with the same results.

NSutherl · November 2nd, 2012, 10:52 PM

A few questions to help direct our advice...

Is your end goal to take your old nexus back to it's stock state so you can send it back? What's your timelone for sending your phone back? Will the phone boot into its bootloader (from phone off, push and hold power, volume up and volume down at the same time)? If it does reboot in its bootloader, you can get into your recovery and flash a rom or restore a nandroid. At least then you'll have a working phone.

From there, you can decide if you actually want to restore your phone to factory stock before sending it back. I've never had to send a rooted phone back so you may want to do some research into whether or not you actually have to restore back to stock.

Idunno · November 3rd, 2012, 06:27 PM

Yes I want to unroot/relock/factory restore it so it can be sent back because I got a replacement. I'm pretty sure it has to be totally stock or else they charge you, because one of the things they specifically asked me was if I had done any kind of software manipulation... which is irrelevant because its the physical charging port that is defective.

It will boot into the bootloader, and I can get into recovery fine. I have no OS because I wiped it and since I wiped it trying to reset everything there are no backups/ROMS to flash. My whole problem is that I cannot get my computer to recognize it, when I plug it in it says device not recognized or it does nothing at all. Its not because of the drivers... my replacement nexus plugs into the same USB port on the same computer and works just fine (adb/fastboot/file transfer) as it does on my roommates computer.

I don't understand why all of a sudden it wont recognize the device at all, it wont mount USB, connect for usb debugging or for fastboot... and of course right when I need to send it back. I have 3 days left to send it back (they give you 5). At this point I would just be happy intentionally bricking it so it doesn't even turn on and sending it back... all they do is restore them and send them out as refurbs.

NSutherl · November 4th, 2012, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idunno

Yes I want to unroot/relock/factory restore it so it can be sent back because I got a replacement. I'm pretty sure it has to be totally stock or else they charge you, because one of the things they specifically asked me was if I had done any kind of software manipulation... which is irrelevant because its the physical charging port that is defective.

It will boot into the bootloader, and I can get into recovery fine. I have no OS because I wiped it and since I wiped it trying to reset everything there are no backups/ROMS to flash. My whole problem is that I cannot get my computer to recognize it, when I plug it in it says device not recognized or it does nothing at all. Its not because of the drivers... my replacement nexus plugs into the same USB port on the same computer and works just fine (adb/fastboot/file transfer) as it does on my roommates computer.

I don't understand why all of a sudden it wont recognize the device at all, it wont mount USB, connect for usb debugging or for fastboot... and of course right when I need to send it back. I have 3 days left to send it back (they give you 5). At this point I would just be happy intentionally bricking it so it doesn't even turn on and sending it back... all they do is restore them and send them out as refurbs.

Good info.

You said there are no ROMs or backups on your sd card because you wiped it clean...what steps did you take that wiped the sd card? If you only wiped data/factory reset in recovery then all of your sd card data should still be there, but maybe you did a factory data reset from the settings menu before entering recovery...?

Idunno · November 5th, 2012, 05:53 PM

I wiped everything in TWRP recovery's wipe menu, I thought (wrongly) if I wiped everything it would somehow make things behave. I also was unaware that factory reset in recovery and factory reset in settings mean two different things.

The phone is empty... no OS, nothing the the internal "SD card", just and unlocked bootloader and TWRP. The problem is I cannot get my computers (Win 7 + Win Vista) to recognize it, it either pops up as some funky device and the drivers wont install correctly or it wont do anything at all. Fastboot doesn't recognize it, nor does ADB, ODIN, or my computer if I mount USB. The drivers are fine because my replacement nexus plugs in and does all of these things flawlessly.

So how do I get my computer to send commands / flash files when the device wont properly recognize the device. Someone mentioned linux... but I have no clue where I would even start to do that.

NSutherl · November 5th, 2012, 07:41 PM

I think you're right that you'll have to use Linux as the method to transfer because it won't require drivers. Unfortunately this is out of my league, hopefully someone here will jump on this and help you out.