Mods [Guide]How to flash a Nexus Factory Image manually.

[jhawkkw]

This is a guide for all those who run into a circumstance that requires a complete return to stock. Most people who have windows can avoid this through the use of a toolkit like Wugs, but that still leaves those on Macs or Linux behind.

Step 1: Make sure the fastboot drivers are installed & configured if your OS requires them. The easiest way is to use Koush's Universal drivers found here: Universal Driver

Step 2: Make sure you have the fastboot files. You can get it from our mini-sdk here on the forums.

Step 3: Download the factory image from Google Developer website. The latest builds are listed below:

• Nexus S
  • Worldwide
    • JZO54K
  • Sprint
    • JRO03R
• Galaxy Nexus
  • GSM
    • International
      • JWR66Y
    • US
      • JWR66Y
  • Verizon
    • JDQ39
  • Sprint
    • GA02
• Nexus 7 (2012)
  • Wifi
    • LRX21P
  • Mobile Data Enabled
    • KTU84P
• Nexus 7(2013)
  • Wifi
    • LRX21P
  • Mobile Data Enabled
    • KTU84P
• Nexus 4
  • KTU84P
• Nexus 5
  • LRX21O
• Nexus 6
  • LRX21O
• Nexus 9
  • LRX21Q
• Nexus 10
  • LRX21P

Once downloaded, extract the .tzg into the same folder you put the sdk files.

Step 4: Make sure the device is connected to the computer while in fastboot mode. Different devices may require different commands to get into fastboot mode. Make sure the device is powered off and then use the following button commands:

• Nexus S - Vol Up + Power
• Galaxy Nexus - Vol Up + Vol Down + Power
• Nexus 7 - Vol Down + Power
• Nexus 4 - Vol Down + Power
• Nexus 5 - Vol Down + Power
• Nexus 10 - Vol Up + Vol Down + Power
• Nexus 9 - Looking to Confirm
• Nexus 6 - Vol Down + Power

Step 5: Open up a command line terminal and navigate it to the location where the factory image and fastboot files are located. This can be done with the following command

cd "directory address goes here"

Windows users can take a shortcut by having the folder open with windows explorer and then using the combo of Shift + Ctrl + right click and then clicking on "Open session window here"

Step 6: All commands are going to be executed through the fastboot binary.
Windows:

fastboot "rest of command"

Mac:

./fastboot-mac "rest of command"

Linux

sudo ./fastboot-linux "rest of command"

For simplicity, I'm only going to progress using windows commands because it's simpler. First we want to make sure the computer sees the device. Use the command:

fastboot devices

This should return a device ID if it's recognized. If nothing is returned, it means your device is not connected in fastboot mode, or the drivers aren't installed/configured correctly.

*Note* Steps 7 and/or 8 will wipe the device completely. So if you wish to back anything up, do it now.

Step 7: If your bootloader is already unlocked, skip this step. If it is not, it has to be unlocked in order to flash anything. To do this, use the command:

fastboot oem unlock

Use the Vol Up to go up to yes and then use the power key to select. The device should now be unlocked

Step 8: We now want to wipe the device. Use the following commands in order:

fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase system

Step 9: We will now flash the bootloader. It is important that you do not disconnect the device or mess with it during this step or else you hard brick the device.

fastboot flash bootloader "name of bootloader"
fastboot reboot-bootloader

Step 10: If using a phone or data enabled tablet, we will now flash the mobile radios. Some phones have more than one radio file. Flash the CDMA radio after the LTE radio.

fastboot flash radio "name of radio"
fastboot reboot-bootloader

Step 11: We will now flash the system, boot, and recovery all in one shot with the following command:

fastboot -w update "name of zip file"

Alternatively, you could extract all the .img files in the zip file and flash them manually one at a time. This makes things really handy if you're using the factory image to act as an update rather than a complete return to stock. If trying to update using the factory image, extract the .img from the zip file into the same directory as your bootloader and radio img files and execute the following commands in order:

fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img

If going for a complete back to stock using the manual flashing of the zip file, execute the following commands after the above 4:

fastboot erase userdata
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img

Step 12: The device now has been flash back to stock. Only one thing left to do is reboot.

fastboot reboot

Your device will now reboot and should be completely back to stock as well as be unrooted.

 

[jhawkkw]

Post Reserved

 

[jmar]

For Linux, I've never typed ./fastboot-linux

I've always typed ./fastboot

sudo in front and rest of command after

Just an FYI

Great Guide

 

[jhawkkw]

It's because the name of the fastboot files provided in the sites mini-sdk for Linux had that file name. If you're using the official sdk, it probably would have a different name.

 

[jmar]

It's because the name of the fastboot files provided in the sites mini-sdk for Linux had that file name. If you're using the official sdk, it probably would have a different name.

My bad. Didn't realize the commands would be different. I use the bloated official SDK.

 

[DeepEmissions]

I am stuck at Step 11.

This is what it says:
[HIGH]
C:\ADB-SDK>fastboot -w update signed-toroplus-img-ga02.zip
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'
--------------------------------------------
Bootloader Version...: PRIMELC03
Baseband Version.....: L700.GA02
Serial Number........: 0149B33B0A014012
--------------------------------------------
checking product...
OKAY [ 0.008s]
checking version-bootloader...
OKAY [ 0.008s]
checking version-baseband...
OKAY [ 0.001s]
checking version-cdma...
FAILED

Device version-cdma is 'L700.FH05'.
Update requires 'L700.GA02'.

finished. total time: 0.025s
[/HIGH]

I had no problems during The other steps, but it seems I am missing files.
I checked the download and even downloaded another package (Galaxy Nexus Sprint) to check it's files and everything seems the same.

Any Ideas?

 

[jhawkkw]

How did you try and flash the two radios?

 

[DeepEmissions]

I flashed
fastboot flash radio radio-toroplus.img
fastboot flash radio radio-cdma-toroplus.img

I got the phone capable of booting with the exception of booting into recovery, this gives me the Android on it's back with a Caution Symbol above.
I flashed each img one at a time starting with System, Boot, and then Recovery.

So, phone will boot perfectly fine, but you can not get into recovery partition.

 

[jhawkkw]

You have recovery, but that Android laying on its back is a signal of the stock recovery. You'll have to manually flash custom recovery if you need to do anything with that. You are also unrooted and so you may also need to get that back.

 

[DeepEmissions]

Gotcha, that's all I needed then, as long as I am fully stock, then I'm good...
Thanks!

 

[jhawkkw]

Added Wifi Nexus 7

 

[cvkiid]

i have been stuck on sending `system` for the past 3 hours i need some help please (wifi nexus 7)

 

[bagongo]

I there...I was tryng to use you precious guide to recover from a almost-bricked wifi nexus7...used my iMac. Averything was fine until bootloader flashing!

I got this

How can I go on?

Please help.

Thanks

 

[jhawkkw]

I there...I was tryng to use you precious guide to recover from a almost-bricked wifi nexus7...used my iMac. Averything was fine until bootloader flashing!

I got this

How can I go on?

Please help.

Thanks

Is the bootloader still locked by any chance? Could you provide a picture of what your device while in fastboot mode?

 

[bagongo]

Is the bootloader still locked by any chance? Could you provide a picture of what your device while in fastboot mode?

Fixed...the issue was with 4.3 nakasi bootloader...I flashed 4.23 one and eveyything wasa fine. Now I'm on 4.3 stock rom. Thanks a lot. You're gave me a really great help!!!! Always grateful.

 

[Sharpe Man]

Thanks for the great walkthrough! This seemed to work perfectly for the 2012 nexus 7 wifi. I used the factory image from Google. The only thing for me that was different is the device rebooted by itself after the fastboot -w command.

Now to go to the manually root thread and use that guide!

 

[scotty85]

thanks a bunch for this,mister jhawkkw! i was looking at this guide,wich was less than crystal cleareek: [Index] REPO for all you need for your Nexus 7 FLO (2013) - Update 26 Nov 2013 - xda-developers

yours makes perfect sense. much more "htc-like"

 

[palmtree5]

I tend to wonder if there's something wrong with the factory image I downloaded (despite the fact the the file's MD5 checksum matches the one on the page) because my 2012 N7 is choosing to not get past the boot animation

EDIT: This is with the new images. Also, I went ahead and wiped cache and data via stock recovery

EDIT: Just kept flashing and flashing until it finally worked

 

[llkj11]

I keep getting an error when trying to flash the system image. It says
could not allocate 721539744 bytes error: cannot load 'system.img'. All of the other images work fine though.

 

[palmtree5]

Which device? What version are you flashing?

 

[llkj11]

Which device? What version are you flashing?

I'm trying to flash a Nexus 7 2013 with the stock 4.4.2 image.

 

[rachid]

hi everybody, I need some help fast!
I was trying to flash a nexus 4 4.2 to stock firmware hoping to fix a glitch with proximity sensor, but after flashing bootloader I stuck in step 10, it says: error : failed to load "file": no error.
no matter how many times and how many variation of the command I did with no success. I even tried to skip to next step flashing system with no success either, I'm really STUCK and don't know what to do, any help will be much appreciated.

 

[palmtree5]

hi everybody, I need some help fast!
I was trying to flash a nexus 4 4.2 to stock firmware hoping to fix a glitch with proximity sensor, but after flashing bootloader I stuck in step 10, it says: error : failed to load "file": no error.
no matter how many times and how many variation of the command I did with no success. I even tried to skip to next step flashing system with no success either, I'm really STUCK and don't know what to do, any help will be much appreciated.

Try rebooting to the bootloader (fastboot reboot-bootloader). Try a different USB cable. Try a different USB port.

Edit: you may also want to consider flashing 4.3, then 4.4 and see if that helps

 

[lunatic59]

Let's make sure of a few things (sorry if it seems obvious).

You have the correct radio file for your device. You are in the directory where the radio file is located when you issue the fastboot command. When you boot the phone into fastboot mode it displays locked state as "unlocked".

Assuming your radio file is named "myradio.img", the correct syntax would be

fastboot flash radio myradio.img

 

[rachid]

@palmtree
I will try to do that'

@lunatic
that's exactly what I did, cannot make mistake on image radio because, it comes in the same zip file as bootloader and system.