• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Nexus 5 stuck in the start up screen

It might be too late, but another thought had just come to mind. Since the factory reset doesn't invoke until you reboot after unlocking, I wonder if it would be feasible to unlock and immediately flash twrp in order to gain full adb?
 
It might be too late, but another thought had just come to mind. Since the factory reset doesn't invoke until you reboot after unlocking, I wonder if it would be feasible to unlock and immediately flash twrp in order to gain full adb?
I did the factory reset and a reboot, the device was still stuck. I didn't start to flash the factory image manually yet. Is there still time? I though the data would be wiped as soon as I selected the factory reset.
 
I'm not really sure how usable my suggestion is. I know numerous people who unlock the bootloader and then immediately flash and then boot into twrp before rebooting the device in order to install a custom rom. However doing so prevents the device from doing the automated factory reset and thus gets them stuck in a similar situation because the device is expecting to wipe. However since we're looking to do that anyways after backing everything up, it wouldn't matter if this was the situation. If the recovery factory reset hasn't been done yet, in theory we should be able to do the following:

1) Boot the device into fastboot mode
2) Unlock the bootloader with the fastboot oem unlock command
3) Flash the latest twrp recovery with command:
fastboot flash recovery FILE_NAME.img
4) Rather than boot the device up, boot it into recovery to access twrp.
5) From here, you should have full adb access (pending drivers being installed and configured correctly) to do the adb pull command from earlier in this thread.
 
Does it still apply even if I already selected factory reset and saw:
Wiping data...
Formatting /data...
and the device restarted?
 
If it did that, I don't like the odds. Since it's still stuck at the booting up phase, there's no harm in trying. You'll need to flash the factory image either way in order to completely start fresh, so might as well try this to see if perhaps we get lucky.
 
So I'll have to do the factory image thing now... I just haven't done it yet because I didn't really understand steps 9 and 10. I don't know what to put in the command.
 
So I'll have to do the factory image thing now... I just haven't done it yet because I didn't really understand steps 9 and 10. I don't know what to put in the command.

It's just the exact name of the bootloader and radio file as it appears in the factory image folder. So for a rudimentary example:

fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-xxx-xxx.img
fastboot flash radio radio-xxx-xxx.img

If you want to give us a screenshot of the contents within the factory image folder we can be more accurate in the precise command(s).
 
It's just the exact name of the bootloader and radio file as it appears in the factory image folder. So for a rudimentary example:

fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-xxx-xxx.img
fastboot flash radio radio-xxx-xxx.img

If you want to give us a screenshot of the contents within the factory image folder we can be more accurate in the precise command(s).

10863651_900114200008976_1406919594_n.jpg


I think I understand it now. I just want to be 100% sure on what I'm doing. So it would be (from step 9)

fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-hammerhead-hhz12d
fastboot reboot-bootloader

fastboot flash radio radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.2.21
fastboot reboot-bootloader

fastboot -w update image-hammerhead-lrx21o

astboot erase userdata
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img

fastboot reboot


But I need to move these files to that platform-tools folder where the fastboot.exe is located.
Oh, do I need to put .img and .rar?
 
Yes on the first two (bootloader and radio commands).

But on the -w update command, try drilling further into that archive until you reveal a zip. Then you want to use the filename of that zip (which may be the same as above) and add the .zip ending to the command. It's possible that's how your machine shows your zips, I'm just making sure you can't drill in further. If that's the case, just add the .zip ending to your command. It's all in how your computer handles file extensions.

Then you can skip the erase userdata and flash userdata.img thing. That only applies when you drill even further into the zip and flash the individual contents within.

So after flashing the update zip and waiting until that's done, then you can issue the fastboot reboot command and it should reboot to a now working phone. Be patient, the first boot can take longer than expected. Don't power it off, just wait it out.
 
But on the -w update command, try drilling further into that archive until you reveal a zip. Then you want to use the filename of that zip (which may be the same as above) and add the .zip ending to the command.

There is no zip inside that archive, only images. I was just mistaken by writing ".rar", as the file is a WinRAR ZIP. So it's the right one, right?

I'm going to do this tomorrow since it's 2:40am here and I have a class in the morning. I'll post the results here. Thank you for your help.
 
There is no zip inside that archive, only images. I was just mistaken by writing ".rar", as the file is a WinRAR ZIP. So it's the right one, right?

I'm going to do this tomorrow since it's 2:40am here and I have a class in the morning. I'll post the results here. Thank you for your help.

Yeah actually because your computer is hiding file extensions in the filenames, I'm thinking your commands may in fact be right in all 3 cases. So basically just skip those two (erase and flash userdata) and you should have it all correct.

edit: Just noticed your other question. Yes, move them all to the folder where your fastboot.exe is located and perform the commands from that location.
 
Wow your having the worst luck today. Are you still getting error closed messages?

You need these images:
boot.IMG
Caxhe.IMG
System. IMG
Data.img
Radio.img
Boot loader.IMG

Renaming them helps when using the fastboot flash commands. Remember sideloading,? Use extension .IMG instead for those file names
 
Last edited:
I got a FAILURE in step 9 and I didn't see it, I proceeded to step 10, which failed again. What do I do? The second failure probably was because after I did the reboot the lock state changed to locked again.
10841353_900344103319319_293255808_n.jpg
 
The bootloader failed to rewrite, too. When you unlock the bootloader, what is the message you see?

Code:
fastboot oem unlock
 
Oaky, you seem to be unlocked and your system wiped. Now do not restart the bootloader (since you don't have one right now).

Flash bootloader, radio and then system without rebooting in between. Do you still get error messages?
 
Oaky, you seem to be unlocked and your system wiped. Now do not restart the bootloader (since you don't have one right now).

Flash bootloader, radio and then system without rebooting in between. Do you still get error messages?

Thing is, after I booted the system is locked again. Do I have to oem unlock again? I'm really confused with this thing and scared of losing the phone, I think I'm just gonna head to the city I bought it and try the warranty. Can I lose my warranty for trying this?
 
After you issue the command fastboot oem unlock, then flash the new files without rebooting and see if you get the errors.

Technically, yes, you can void a warranty by flashing firmware, but sisnce were working with stock and it doesn't boot int he first place ... and the bootloader seems to be locked, for all intents and purposes it will seem as if it's just a system failure from the OTA.
 
Technically, yes, you can void a warranty by flashing firmware, but sisnce were working with stock and it doesn't boot int he first place ... and the bootloader seems to be locked, for all intents and purposes it will seem as if it's just a system failure from the OTA.

That's what I'm gonna do... Just take the phone there and see what they can do. I hope they fix this before 21st of january though, because I'm moving to another country. The device shows as locked and if I type fastboot oem unlock again, the same message shows up in the phone (the warranty one) so it's like I've never done it before.. I guess.
 
Here's the sequence of steps to follow to flash the stock images

  1. Download the correct image from google's servers and extract all the IMG files - boot/cache/system/recovery/userdata/radio----, bootloader-----(looks like you did it already)
  2. Install fastboot/ADB drivers (looks like you did it already)
  3. Unlock bootloader using fastboot OEM unlock command (looks like you did it already) - one note - when you issue the fastboot OEM command, it is not enough to just wait for the command to complete on the command prompt of your computer - IIRC, you need to confirm that activity on your phone as well, and wait for that to complete - I don't know if you did that - did you?
  4. Run the following command in the command prompt window : fastboot reboot
  5. The phone should reboot now. Let it boot up - may take up to 10-15 minutes.
  6. Go to fastboot (from Power off state, press and hold power on and Vol-Down buttons)
  7. (I assume you renamed the radio and bootloader IMG files to radio.IMG and bootloader.IMG - if not, replace the filenames appropriately below)
  8. Run the following commands - check the results of each command before proceeding further
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
(Note: this WILL wipe your data)

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img​

After this, go back to recovery. When you see the android appear, press power & volume up. Select Wipe data/factory data reset.
Reboot.

Edit: added bootloader flash commands
 
Last edited:
The device shows as locked and if I type fastboot oem unlock again, the same message shows up in the phone (the warranty one) so it's like I've never done it before.. I guess.

You mean this screen?

stngbnj.jpg


You must confirm the unlock on the device as well as issue the fastboot command.

EDIT: ninja'ed by jj :)
 
Back
Top Bottom