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Help Unrooted Nexus 10 stuck in bootloop.

K

kennymike27

Newbie
Hey guys,

It appears that my Nexus 10 is stuck in what is know as bootloop.

I was updating to Lollipop 5.1 a couple of days ago, walked away for a couple of hours and came back to find the screen stuck with the swirly dots (aka boot loop?). After some research (I'm not tech savvy) I managed to get to the bootloader screen, then the Android system recovery screen in order to wipe data/factory reset.

Here are my steps:
  • Once in Android system recovery, I select wipe data/factory reset, then yes.
  • After selecting yes to reset, a "--Wiping data...Formatting /data..." screen pops up...which I assume means it's working on the reset.
  • The next screen to pop up shows the Android system recovery UI screen with "Data wipe complete" at the bottom.
  • I select "reboot system now" and it reboots...BACK TO THE BOOTLOOP!!
I repeated the factory reset process several times to no avail. I've searched everywhere for a solution, even this thread http://androidforums.com/threads/nexus-10-stuck-in-bootloop-please-help.884469/ which appears to deal with a rooted Nexus 10. I have not rooted mine - it's stock.

I'm completely lost in all of this, so ANY help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Regards,
Ken
 
The problem is that you're in a bootloop from a corrupted system. This can be fixed by going to a store that can flash you a new system, or, I can help you do it yourself. Questions first.
Do you have a USB Cable for your N10?
Are you experienced with flashing?
Have you ever rooted?
Anything I should know?
 
Hey Guggy, thanks for the reply.

Yes, I have a USB cable.
No, I'm not experienced with flashing.
No, I've never rooted before.
I'm 6'0" tall, 200lbs, and like long walks on the beach...sorry, jk.

I would very much appreciate your help in teaching me how this is done, thanks.

K
 
Hi @kennymike27!

Your best option at this stage will probably be to flash the factory image. This will completely restore your device to a fresh "from Google" state. It's pretty much guaranteed to correct any software-related problems. :thumbsupdroid:

There's a handy how-to here: http://androidforums.com/android-sy...e-how-flash-nexus-factory-image-manually.html

And you can download the latest N10 image here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#mantaraylmy47d

Let us know if you run into issues or need more guidance. :)

Good luck! :D
 
Hi codesplice. Thanks for the point in the right direction. I'm stuck on Step 9...flashing the bootloader.

I don't know if I'm doing it right, but I typed the command "fastboot flash bootloader manta" and i get "error: cannot load 'manta'". I assumed 'manta' was the name of the bootloader. If that's not it, where I can find the bootloader name?
 
Ok, I typed:

fastboot flash bootloader mantaray-lrx21p-factory-ad2499ea.tgz

The i got this:
sending 'bootloader' (387293 KB)...
Okay [49.675s]
writing 'bootloader'...
FAILED (remote: partition table update fail!)
finished. total time: 49.710s

Then i typed:
fastboot reboot-bootloader
and got:
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [0.004s]
finished. total time 0.005s

So, onto Steps 10 & 11? I skipped Step 10 bc I'm not using a data enabled tablet, but I'm again stuck on Step 11. What is the name of the zip file? I'm surprised I've made it this far, but I'm so close!
 
Is that a command line I should write? It's not in the guide you linked.

I got to step 9 before hitting a wall. Everything until that point was working according to the guide. I'm not even sure what I did to get passed step 9 was correct.

See my last reply. Should I start anew?
 
Okay, so I never unpacked the .tgz file. When I did that I had all the .img files in the same sdk-tools folder. I then performed the following commands:
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot reboot

Then I got a load screen I haven't seen yet...an android guy standing with his chest open and a blue swirly box inside. A few moments later, and I was back at the swirly dots "bootloop" screen.

I'm lost, lol. Thanks for all the help guys, I guess I'm not savvy enough to do this on my own.
 
kennymike27 said:
Is that a command line I should write? It's not in the guide you linked.
Click to expand...

Step 7 ;)

kennymike27 said:
I tried "fastboot oem unlock" and I must've done it already bc it says on my device "Fastboot status - OKAYoem unlocked already"
Click to expand...

:thumbsupdroid:

kennymike27 said:
Okay, so I never unpacked the .tgz file. When I did that I had all the .img files in the same sdk-tools folder. I then performed the following commands:
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot reboot
Click to expand...
Did fastboot report any errors?

Then I got a load screen I haven't seen yet...an android guy standing with his chest open and a blue swirly box inside. A few moments later, and I was back at the swirly dots "bootloop" screen.
Click to expand...

The Android Guy screen is the stock recovery "I'm flashing/updating stuff" screen. Though I'm not sure why that would appear after flashing via fastboot.

The swirly dots doesn't necessarily indicate a bootloop. That's the normal Lollipop boot animation. It will run through and repeat a whole bunch of times before the system fully boots - that first boot can take a while. Not like hours, but 5-10 minutes is definitely within the realm of possibility.

How long did you let it try to boot?
 
codesplice said:
Did fastboot report any errors
Click to expand...

Nope, none to my recollection. I only received errors when I was typing the wrong command (which happened often :eek:)


codesplice said:
The Android Guy screen is the stock recovery "I'm flashing/updating stuff" screen. Though I'm not sure why that would appear after flashing via fastboot.

The swirly dots doesn't necessarily indicate a bootloop. That's the normal Lollipop boot animation. It will run through and repeat a whole bunch of times before the system fully boots - that first boot can take a while. Not like hours, but 5-10 minutes is definitely within the realm of possibility.

How long did you let it try to boot?
Click to expand...

Hmm, I see. Well I was pretty bummed out to see the swirly dots after all work I put in...I probably left the device alone for 5 minutes or so before putting it in fastboot mode again so that I could power down.

I have the device with me, so I put it on just a second ago and guess what!? After a few seconds of swirly dots I'm getting the "Android is upgrading..." box!!!!!! It's currently optimizing app 22 of 62. :) Is it fixed? I can't believe it haha, you're the man! Thank you so much!
 
Nice! It can sometimes be pretty tricky to figure out if something is bootlooping or not - particularly with the sort of boot animation that cleanly loops on its own. I'm glad that yours is at least booting now! :)
 
Hi codesplice,
I had the same problem as kennymike27.
After I updated my nexus 9 to 5.0.2, it was stuck in bootloop.
My nexus 9 is unrooted.

I try to follow your guide http://androidforums.com/android-sy...e-how-flash-nexus-factory-image-manually.html
but I was still unable to do the fastboot oem unlock.

C:\sdk-tools>fastboot devices
HT4ARJT01226 fastboot

C:\sdk-tools>fastboot oem unlock
...
(bootloader) ability is 0
(bootloader) Permission denied for this command!
OKAY [ 0.010s]
finished. total time: 0.022s

Any help??
Thanks
 
hresvelgr said:
Hi codesplice,
I had the same problem as kennymike27.
After I updated my nexus 9 to 5.0.2, it was stuck in bootloop.
My nexus 9 is unrooted.

I try to follow your guide http://androidforums.com/android-sy...e-how-flash-nexus-factory-image-manually.html
but I was still unable to do the fastboot oem unlock.

C:\sdk-tools>fastboot devices
HT4ARJT01226 fastboot

C:\sdk-tools>fastboot oem unlock
...
(bootloader) ability is 0
(bootloader) Permission denied for this command!
OKAY [ 0.010s]
finished. total time: 0.022s

Any help??
Thanks
Click to expand...


Hi @hresvelgr!

Sorry I'm just now responding... I've been on vacation for the past week or so. Were you able to get your Nexus 9 up and running?

I don't have any experience with the latest generation of Nexus devices, so I'm not sure if they require any slightly modified steps or anything. You may be better off posting a new thread in our dedicated Nexus 9 forum - that way other users of the device can help out.
 
codesplice said:
Hi @hresvelgr!

Sorry I'm just now responding... I've been on vacation for the past week or so. Were you able to get your Nexus 9 up and running?

I don't have any experience with the latest generation of Nexus devices, so I'm not sure if they require any slightly modified steps or anything. You may be better off posting a new thread in our dedicated Nexus 9 forum - that way other users of the device can help out.
Click to expand...

Hi codesplice,
Me and my friend already gave up with my nexus 9, because it was unrooted.
Now under process for RMA to google.

Thanks anyway.
 
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