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Help Google Play Services -- gone!

hstroph

hstroph

Android Expert
Using the Play Store, I updated several apps as usual. Now there are several alerts in the notification bar stating that "An application requires installati.. Requested by Hangouts", "... by Wallet", "... by Gmail" etc. Selecting any of these results in an empty white window below the notification bar and above the three navigation buttons.

One of these notifications states "Get Google Play Services. Gmail will not work without Google Play Services", but when I choose my longtime gmail account with which I purchased the Nexus4 and all the apps, it just keeps reloading the same "Choose an account" screen. If I choose "Add account" and enter the correct email and password, it states "Couldn't sign in. There was a problem communicating with Google servers. Try again later." However, the account is valid for laptop email send/receive and Google Drive access.

Any help with solving this problem is much appreciated.
 
I typically get that error when the local version of Google Play Services needs to be updated to match an update to another Google app. GPS generally updates automatically without user intervention.

It's going to sound silly, but have you tried rebooting? :D
 
codesplice said:
So does the Play Store currently work at all, or is it all broken? ...
Click to expand...

The Play Store is broken on the phone, as is Gmail, Docs etc. The Play Store works fine on the laptop using the Gmail account, and the GPS link you provided states that the app is already installed, and apparently will not allow me to re-install. However, Settings->Apps does not show GPS as installed.

The reviews on the Play Store page indicate that several others are experiencing the same problems.
 
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codesplice said:
What version of Android are you currently on?
Click to expand...

Well, that's another sore issue that I need to address, perhaps in another thread. I had always updated through 4.4.4, but one of the updates took me back to 4.4.2 for some strange reason and caused much grief.
 
codesplice said:
So it doesn't show up under Settings > Applications > All?
Click to expand...
That's correct, as initially stated it's gone.
Since you've got root, do you see "com.google.android.gms.apk" or similar in /system/app?
Click to expand...
Negative, it doesn't exist on the device since the update a couple days ago. Others have similar complaints in the Reviews on the Play Store page.

It appears that we'll just have to wait for the developers to provide a fix. Until then, much of what I need the device for is non-functional.

I should probably just spend the time and acquire and push 5.0.x to it.
 
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Yikes. That's nuts that an update would break things that badly. I'm out of ideas.

If you don't want to wait for Google to fix it (if they even do?), you may want to consider flashing the factory image for good measure. That should get you back to a working configuration.
 
codesplice said:
Yikes. That's nuts that an update would break things that badly. I'm out of ideas.

If you don't want to wait for Google to fix it (if they even do?), you may want to consider flashing the factory image for good measure. That should get you back to a working configuration.
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For the Nexus 4 I've downloaded the Android 5.1.1 factory image https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/occam-lmy47v-factory-b0c4eb3d.tgz but am having difficulty finding the latest fastboot and adb for Linux. Do you have any insights as to where to find them, please?
 
codesplice said:
You can grab the latest SDK Tools (which includes fastboot and adb) from Google here: http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r24.3.3-linux.tgz

Alternatively, you could grab the totally-sweet Mini-SDK that @EarlyMon maintains with just the necessary tools from here: http://androidforums.com/threads/adb-guide-updated-2014-11-11.443072/
Click to expand...
Better still, follow the instructions there and just install adb and fastboot from the supported repositories - much better for permanent Linux installations imo.
 
codesplice said:
You can grab the latest SDK Tools (which includes fastboot and adb) from Google here: http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r24.3.3-linux.tgz
Click to expand...
http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r24.3.3-linux.tgz
Yes, that's what "they" say, but neither fastboot nor adb exist in that package:

$ tar tzf android-sdk_r24.3.3-linux.tgz | grep -E "fastboot|adb"
$
Alternatively, you could grab the totally-sweet Mini-SDK that @EarlyMon maintains with just the necessary tools from here: http://androidforums.com/threads/adb-guide-updated-2014-11-11.443072/
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give 'em a try although they seem rather ancient for 5.1.1:

sdk-tools$ ls -l *linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 hstroph hstroph 1318951 Oct 16 2014 adb-linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 hstroph hstroph 215626 Oct 16 2014 fastboot-linux

Much appreciation for your help.
 
EarlyMon said:
Better still, follow the instructions there and just install adb and fastboot from the supported repositories - much better for permanent Linux installations imo.
Click to expand...

That repository doesn't provide for amd64, unfortunately. All other steps there were followed previously without success, however. The sdk-tools.zip seems to be the ticket.
 
Well, the 5.1.1 factory image flash went well, the device was promptly rooted again and all apps had their data restored from last Sunday's TitaniumBackup on GoogleDrive.

All that's really needed now is organizing the homescreens the way I want them.

Thanks again for the help.
 
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