Help adb quit working

[Kitchens]

I bought an ASUS Memopad HD7 around the 10th of November 2013, mainly to check out an app I'm writing on a newer version of Android. I was able to debug my app until around the 20th of December. Then adb quit working. Typing "adb devices", from the command prompt, shows a blank list. Device manager shows ME173X under portable devices, with no problems indicated. Under ASUS android devices it shows an error. If I attempt to install the driver, an error occurs. The error message indicates that adb could not see the tablet, so the driver was not installed Everything works just fine with my HTC Mytouch phone. Yes USB debugging is enabled, and worked at one time. The tablet displays a message saying that USB debugging is connected, when it is connected to the PC. This problem also occurs on my laptop. I am able to transfer files through windows explorer.

I have tried the following:
kill then start the adb sever.
re-booted the computer, laptop, phone and tablet.
tried connecting as charge only, MTP, PTP, and built-in-CD-ROM.
updated the SDK.
un-installed and re-installed the drivers from ASUS.
Thinking that an app I installed on the tablet is the cause, I un-installed it.
I did a factory reset on the tablet.
I isolated my computer from the internet and temporarily disabled my virus protection and firewall.
I also obtained another version of the drivers from ASUS support.

When an attempt is made to install the drivers, I get an error indicating the device is not visible to adb.

None of these fixed the problem.

Here are the details of my devices:

Desktop computer:
Lenova Vista PC
Intel Pentium dual CPU E2220 2.4 GHz
3G RAM 32 bit
Windows home premium service pack 1
adb version 1.0.31

Laptop:
Toshiba NB255
Intel atom CPU N455 1.66 GHz
1G RAM
Windows 7 Starter service pack 1
adb version 1.0.31

Tablet:
ASUS Memopad HD7
model ME173X
android version 4.2.2
build number
ME173X_US_user_4.2.4.72702_20131128.release-keys

Phone:
HTC MyTouch 4G
android version 2.3.4

Does anybody have any suggestions?

 

[BSydz]

It sounds like you know what you are doing, and everything you have done sounds about right.

The only things I can think of are:

USB: check cables and ports. I never used the original cable at all, it just seemed too thin and too short.

HTC Drivers: I don't know if it is CWM or what, and ADB doesn't work in stock recovery. I have also read this elsewhere about MTK chipsets. But when plugged in to my windows PC while in recovery, I get My HTC in device manager. I do not own any HTC devices so there are no HTC drivers on my computer. I let microsoft update install the drivers for the tablet, but it did not connect to get the HTC driver. This is a fresh install also, just a few days old, Windows 7 x64.

I see you have got the update, but you didn't mention if any of the updates were around the time it stopped working.

I did read somewhere, don't remember now, that the newer adb asks for a security signature, or something similar, before it will communicate.

But I just installed the SDk and it worked fine. I do know that adb will only work in MTP and built-in cd-rom modes in Ubuntu, and MTP and Camera PTP, in windows. The other modes in windows do not list any device as attached. Same ADB version as you.

Also are you rooted and have you changed anything?

Edit: Thanks for all the details, it makes it a lot easier.

 

[Kitchens]

BSydz

Thanks for the response. I forgot to mention that I tried 3 different USB cables on both the front and rear ports on the desktop. I also tried them on different ports on the laptop.

My devices are not rooted. The only change was installing the app I am writing. All the other apps came from the play store.

After I posted I looked around this forum some more. One person mentioned getting the update on the December 18. That was around the time I noticed this problem. Keep in mind I was dealing with learning the Google maps API, spherical geometry and other issues of my app. I was not paying close attention to software versions.

I saw a lot of posts about the security message, but I don't remember seeing it on my tablet. It may be that spherical geometry has warped my brain. I did go into eclipse and updated the SDK, after noticing this problem. I wonder if there is a way to force repeating the initial security protocol?

 

[BSydz]

I believe you are at the top of the chain here, only personal experiences and actual devs are gonna be able to help. I think that's why there are not many responses. Basically you have done everything a normal person would do. I do have a few more things for you to try though.

This is not quite related to your situation, but you have tried damn near everything, so ...

If at any time you get an unknown driver error, after drivers have been installed, or the device won't respond at all. You will have to open the tablet and unplug the battery.
WARNING REMOVE YOUR SD CARD BEFORE YOU REMOVE THE BACK OF THE DEVICE.
Use your finger nail and gently slide around the tablet you will hear the clicks.

I got a lil frustrated figuring all this out and yanked my back off and ripped my SD card slot out.

The other thing I remember reading about, again not directly related, people having problems with the preloader drivers used a tool called USBdeview. I have never used it, but it may help you see what may be wrong.

Basically I am leaning toward drivers at this point, in all of my experience, the only time adb would not work was an issue with the PC being used. The only time when it was the phone, there was no boot so how could adb work.

The only other options that come to mind are borrowing a fresh computer and throw the sdk on it and try, just let windows update install the drivers. This is just to completely rule out your PCs as the issue. If it works then you know where to look. If it doesn't then it may be time to see how the Asus RMA service is.

If that's not an option, then possibly a VM or an old hard drive, just throw a fresh windows install on a VM or an old drive, and test it out. Almost all windows since XP have a trial period that should be fine for the purpose.

There are a few other options, but it just seems the better route is to narrow it down to device. I know you stated that you tried it on multiple computers, but I'm just grasping at straws, since I don't know your setups on the computers used.

This is the very long shot, but while looking through the device files I noticed a change from 4.2.1 to 4.2.2. The vendor id or usb PID changed. It seems our first build was more or less a fairly generic MTK Stock ROM, while 4.2.2 was filled with a lot more asus customizations, through out the whole code. It was about a month ago, so I can't find it now. So maybe adb has that id stored and that is the conflict. To fix that, uninstall the android sdk and reinstall it. Perhaps you changed the api somehow and it won't communicate, lol, that's a super long shot.

I don't think it has anything to do with the security thing, I have never seen it on any version of the ROMs provided. But I admit it was mostly on Ubuntu. Also check out MTK Droid Tools, it has an adb feature but it would still depend on the drivers.

Good luck.

 

[Kitchens]

I finally solved this problem.

I used USBDeview on my desktop. After discovering the show disconnected devices option. I noticed the tablet was sending vendor ID for HTC when it was plugged in on December 10. When it was working it was using the driver for an HTC device. After the update it started sending the "correct" vender ID.

I used USBDeview to remove all android drivers on my laptop. Then plugged in the tablet and it installed the driver and is now working on my laptop. After moving the app to my laptop I was able to load it on the tablet. All of the code written so far now works on the tablet and my phone. I plan on using the laptop for testing the app on the tablet and the desktop for the phone. Since I have enjoyed this as much as I can stand, I have no plans to get both devices working on the same computer.

I did go over to Hooters, had a couple of beers and used their wifii to restore all my apps on the tablet.

Thanks for the help.

Rodger