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Help Nexus 4 Stuck in Boot Animation

Is your Nexus 4 stuck in Boot?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 81.8%

  • No

    Votes: 2 18.2%
  • Total voters
    11
Hey guys,

I was really excited to get Lollipop on my N4 yesterday! I downloaded the update, and installed it, however I am stuck in a boot loop as well. I have the 4 colored dots spinning around, not merging together however. I let my phone go for 12+ hours yesterday/this morning on the boot screen to no avail. When I tried turning my phone off to load the bootloader, the phone automatically starts up again in the loop!

As a young adult, I am rather attached to my device and the data on it. Please help my save my device!

EDIT: Well, the bootloader is now open...my silly self was pressing volume up...
 
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@jmaner33 I'm hoping that you can get into recovery and wipe your cache, and hoping (again) that doing so will let your phone boot. Otherwise you may also be looking at a reset or factory image flash. :(

Let us know how you get on!
 
codesplice said:
@jmaner33 I'm hoping that you can get into recovery and wipe your cache, and hoping (again) that doing so will let your phone boot. Otherwise you may also be looking at a reset or factory image flash. :(

Let us know how you get on!
Click to expand...

How do I clear the cache? When I try to go into recovery mode I get a "No command." message... :(
 
Hold down the Power button and press-and-release the Volume_Up button to display the recovery menu. You should then be able to use the volume keys to scroll up/down through the list to an option that says something like "wipe cache partition". Select it by pressing the Power button.

Good luck!
 
codesplice said:
Hold down the Power button and press-and-release the Volume_Up button to display the recovery menu. You should then be able to use the volume keys to scroll up/down through the list to an option that says something like "wipe cache partition". Select it by pressing the Power button.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Am I holding down the power button and then the volume up key on a fresh boot or within the boot loader?

Excuse my lack of Android savvy-ness
 
You do that within Recovery (the sad Android on his back with his belly-compartment popped open :D ).
 
codesplice said:
You do that within Recovery (the sad Android on his back with his belly-compartment popped open :D ).
Click to expand...

Is this WITHIN the recovery mode I would access in the bootloader? I am not able to access recovery mode.

EDIT: I went to recovery mode, then pressed-and-help my "volume up" key, and received a "No command." message again. Yikes... :(
 
Last edited:
Sorry, let me clarify :D

When you power-on your phone while holding the Volume Down button it boots into the bootloader ("fastboot"). The bootloader lets you scroll through options with the volume keys until you see one that mentions "Recovery". Select that by pressing the Power button to get into Recovery (where you see the Android laying on his back).

Once in recovery, hold the power button and press-and-release the Volume Up button to hopefully get the recovery menu to display.
 
codesplice said:
Sorry, let me clarify :D

When you power-on your phone while holding the Volume Down button it boots into the bootloader ("fastboot"). The bootloader lets you scroll through options with the volume keys until you see one that mentions "Recovery". Select that by pressing the Power button to get into Recovery (where you see the Android laying on his back).

Once in recovery, hold the power button and press-and-release the Volume Up button to hopefully get the recovery menu to display.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have done that to no avail. Another "No command" message. Looks like a hard reset for me...
 
Flashing will delete all of my data won't it? :(

Is there anyway I can back up some application data? I know I can probably save my photos just by connecting my phone to my desktop with a USB.
 
jmaner33 said:
Flashing will delete all of my data won't it? :(

Is there anyway I can back up some application data? I know I can probably save my photos just by connecting my phone to my desktop with a USB.
Click to expand...

Do you know if your bootloader is unlocked and is USB Debugging enabled?

If the bootloader is already unlocked, you may be able to flash a third-party recovery image (I like TWRP myself) through fastboot and then mount USB from recovery to connect to your computer. If you're not already unlocked, though, that won't work (you have to wipe to unlock).

You could potentially also try to manually flash your current factory image (4.4.4) without wiping your data. No guarantee how stable it would be, but it might let you get some of your data off. Again, though, I'm 98% sure that still requires an unlocked bootloader.
 
I know I have USB-debugging enabled, however my bootloader says "SECURE BOOT - enabled; LOCK STATE - locked" Can't I just go in and change some line of code!?! :confused:
 
jmaner33 said:
I know I have USB-debugging enabled, however my bootloader says "SECURE BOOT - enabled; LOCK STATE - locked" Can't I just go in and change some line of code!?! :confused:
Click to expand...
I'm afraid not, because security.

(A locked bootloader prevents someone else from doing what I was trying to talk you through doing to access your data without knowing your lockscreen code. ;) )
 
Sounds like some sketchy business! Anyways, I think I can at least get my pictures back, and some of my games are synced with Google, so that's a...Plus...(pun intended). I guess I can think of it as getting a new phone :)
 
Well, rather than you trying to explain via text, is a video/guide you would reccomend I use to flash Lollipop on my N4? I need a functional device!
 
jmaner33 said:
Sounds like some sketchy business! Anyways, I think I can at least get my pictures back, and some of my games are synced with Google, so that's a...Plus...(pun intended). I guess I can think of it as getting a new phone :)
Click to expand...
Ahh, the benefits of living in The Cloud ;)

jmaner33 said:
Well, rather than you trying to explain via text, is a video/guide you would reccomend I use to flash Lollipop on my N4? I need a functional device!
Click to expand...

I don't know of a good video guide off the top of my head, but here's Phandroid's writeup (which includes some pretty pictures and such): http://phandroid.com/2014/11/12/how-to-flash-the-android-5-0-factory-image-on-the-nexus-5/ (it's written for the N5, but the steps for the N4 are identical except for the file names)
 
Unlocking the bootloader will rest your phone and clear ALL the caches. It won't replace any system files which may be your problem.
 
jmaner33 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...ide-nexus-5-how-to-unlock-bootloader-t2507905

This looks like a guide on how to unlock a bootloader...could I maybe do this, then clear dalvik cache and go on with my day?
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that unlocking the bootloader via "fastboot oem unlock" will force a factory reset (wiping your caches and data). If you were already unlocked, flashing a third-party recovery and wiping the Dalvik Cache would be a potential solution; but if you're already going to wipe, you might as well flash the full image.

Edit: ... and it's my turn to get ninja'd :D
 
Jeez this seems like a lot for a guy like me... (sorry for the delay :))

What I was proposing is if I could unlock my bootloader I could get a 3rd party recovery module/OS like you said earlier? As tricky as that might be, I would save my files, right?

EDIT: Maybe some day I'll learn to read first...

Yeah it looks like I'll just have to flash Lollipop onto the N4... But why on earth is this happening?
 
jmaner33 said:
Yeah it looks like I'll just have to flash Lollipop onto the N4... But why on earth is this happening?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what causes the update to fail for a small percentage of users. 4.4 -> 5.0 is a HUGE change that does modify just about every piece of the system. Any one of those pieces could have failed for some reason and prevented the update from applying successfully.

Out of curiosity, could you estimate how many apps you have (or had, I suppose) installed? Or maybe how much storage space is/was free? Did you download the OTA update over Wi-Fi? Was your battery fully charged before starting the update? Any other details you could provide might be helpful to try to figure out a pattern.
 
I´m running Android 4.2.2 and now want to update straight to Android 5.0. Is that possible or do I have to update successively from 4.3 and higher?
I have already tried flash the google factory image and got stuck on the spinning circles for hours. Have tried the wipe cache and factory data reset, but nothing happens. So got back to 4.2.2.

Any idea on how i can taste Android 5.0 in my Nexus 4?
 
If you got as far as a reboot after flashing the factory image, then you probably just didn't wait long enough or your download was corrupt. Try downloading the image files again and reflash. I don't know about hours, but first boot does take a good long time.
 
RodrigoBR said:
I´m running Android 4.2.2 and now want to update straight to Android 5.0. Is that possible or do I have to update successively from 4.3 and higher?
I have already tried flash the google factory image and got stuck on the spinning circles for hours. Have tried the wipe cache and factory data reset, but nothing happens. So got back to 4.2.2.

Any idea on how i can taste Android 5.0 in my Nexus 4?
Click to expand...
The OTA update is built for 4.4.4 -> 5.0 so you would have to do all the updates in between. Or you could flash the factory image and go straight to Lollipop, but you would lose your data. Which route you take is up to you. :)
 
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