Reset/wipe Nexus 4 with a broken screen

[17varieties]

Hi folks,

I've cracked the screen on my Nexus 4 and I'll be sending it off for repair soon.

I can see everything on the screen fine, but it doesn't respond to touch due to the cracks.

Is there a way I can wipe the device without being able to use the touch screen? I can reboot the device by holding down the power button, but that's it.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Tyler.

 

[El Presidente]

Did you have Usb debugging enabled per chance? You could wipe via ADB.

 

[Rxpert83]

That was my thought as well.

Adb unlock and then lock

 

[jhawkkw]

Doing anything in Fastboot doesn't require the touch screen. So you can wipe all the necessary partitions and/or flash the factory image and then re-lock afterwards to be back to complete stock.

 

[17varieties]

Did you have Usb debugging enabled per chance? You could wipe via ADB.

Unfortunately I don't I installed the SDK but it doesn't detect the device, presumably because USB debugging isn't enabled.

 

[17varieties]

Doing anything in Fastboot doesn't require the touch screen. So you can wipe all the necessary partitions and/or flash the factory image and then re-lock afterwards to be back to complete stock.

I've not heard of Fastboot. I'll have a Google around and see what I can find. Any tips?

 

[MartinS]

Does a mouse with OTG not work like it does with the N7?

 

[jhawkkw]

I've not heard of Fastboot. I'll have a Google around and see what I can find. Any tips?

Fastboot is the bootloader interface. If you ever rooted or flashed custom roms on your nexus 4, you would have needed to unlock the bootloader in fastboot beforehand.