Unbricking an Asus TF101? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi all,
Ok, so I have a weird problem with my Asus TF101 that for the life of me I can't seem to solve myself. Which is why I finally decided to ask for help.
To make a long story short: About two years ago I bought a used TF101 that I have been very happy with so far. And I definitely don't want to give it up, as it's been working fine until a few weeks ago. Then those boot loops (that everybody seems to be talking about) started and I was able to revive the device once by leaving it plugged off for a few days until the battery was empty (thus, I think, forcing a clearing of some kind of cache) and then re-booting it. Unfortunately, this does not seem to work anymore.
My TF101 has been rooted by the guy that owned it before. It features TWRP in version 2.2.1.4 and an older KatKiss ROM. Now, my situation is as follows:
Boot loops are preventing me from getting past the boot screen. I can thus not install or use any apps.
I can enter TWRP recovery mode and I could wipe the device, but I cannot find any ROM on the internal memory.
When connecting the TF101 to the computer (I'm using Linux Mint 17.3) it doesn't show up as disk. Only when unplugging it again, an error shows up on the Linux screen saying that the TF101 could not be connected. This is preventing me from loading a new ROM onto the device via a cable.
The device doesn't seem to recognize an SD card (32GB), no matter if formatted as FAT32 or as EXT3, with or without SWAP. So, in the TWRP file manager I cannot access an external SD card to load and flash a ROM.
When I enter "Mount" in the TWRP menu, I can't seem to switch to "Using external SD": When doing that I get an error "E:failed to mount /sdc (No such file or directory)" in the terminal window.
I have been reading forums up and down, but can't seem to find any helpful advice that applies in my case. I'm guessing the boot loop would disappear, if I could flash a new ROM, but I don't know how to put that on the device. Also, in case some of the problems are caused by version of TWRP that is installed, I would like to update that... but, again, I don't know how to get the new version on the device. I thought about entering APX mode, but holding Power and Vol+ simply turns my display black after a few seconds... no sounds, no beeps, nothing showing up on my desktop.
Any ideas? Pretty please?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Related

[Q] Bricked G-Tab?

Could I have bricked my tablet? Or could there be a way to recover?
As for what it's current state is; (I am sure is is stuck in the reboot loop) When powering on the tablet, it displays "Android", goes dark, and repeats. Though this is a change from when I was trying to fix it on my own. Before it looping, it would show the "Android" screen and just sit there.
No comes what I think the REAL issue is... Running 'ClockworkMod v2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8', I am unable to mount an external SDcard or mount the USB Storage(text in menu implies to me it is the USB cable to computer).
So other than the images already on the tablet, I seem to be unable to get a new image into it. And of course the images on it don't do any good.
Tech1381 said:
Could I have bricked my tablet? Or could there be a way to recover?
As for what it's current state is; (I am sure is is stuck in the reboot loop) When powering on the tablet, it displays "Android", goes dark, and repeats. Though this is a change from when I was trying to fix it on my own. Before it looping, it would show the "Android" screen and just sit there.
No comes what I think the REAL issue is... Running 'ClockworkMod v2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8', I am unable to mount an external SDcard or mount the USB Storage(text in menu implies to me it is the USB cable to computer).
So other than the images already on the tablet, I seem to be unable to get a new image into it. And of course the images on it don't do any good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most definitely not bricked. I've recovered from a much worse situation (bootloader wouldn't even budge - couldn't boot into recovery or regular at all).
Since you are able to boot into recovery, there's probably a way to get things working without resorting to nvflash (we'll get to that in a second - nvflash is the failsafe mechanism, and you should be able to re-nvflash your tablet back to its original state if all else fails).
Here's roughly what I'd try in order:
Option 1) Figure out why you are unable to mount as USB in recovery. I've actually never heard of this problem. Are you using the right cable - i.e. a working USB-to-mini-USB cable (I don't think this works at all with the full sized USB port under the latch cover). Have you tried it with another computer - perhaps there's a driver issue on your PC?
Option 2) If for some reason you really aren't able to get USB mounting working in recovery (I'm skeptical - again, I've never heard of that problem - unless you really did flash a bum recovery image or something - but seems unlikely), then I'd see if you can get ADB working properly when you are in recovery mode. Search around and read about setting up ADB if you haven't already - just a matter of getting the right driver installed on your PC and installing the binary stuff (either from the full Android SDK or one of the packages that just has the ADB stuff floating around). Search the forums, you'll find some references to help you get this working and download the right stuff.
If ADB works, you can always use "adb push filetoflash.zip /sdcard/filetoflash.zip" to put a new file on your internal SD card area and flash it.
Option 3) You can always use nvflash. I'm not going to write up a tutorial on it here - search the forums for nvflash, there are several HOWTOs. Look for the stuff Roebeet posted. You'll need to install the APX driver on your PC first before this will work, and Roebeet's posts don't explain how to install it on Windows, so you'll need to search separately for that. I have gotten this to work before, but it's a pain and I only recommend it if your recovery image is truly trashed or your bootloader is malfunctioning as mine was. In other words, don't bother until you've exhausted the first two options.
So in short - you are in a pain-in-the-ass situation, but you have by no means bricked your tablet - it is very, very far from bricked. Give us more info on *exactly* what happens when you try to "mount as USB" while you have your mini USB cable plugged into the G Tablet - do you see a drive appear on your PC? Are you running a Windows box? Mac? Linux? Have you verified that a USB keychain drive works fine with your PC but the G Tablet won't mount? Basically we need some more info to guide you in your search.
Ok finally had some free time from cleaning/packing and house hunting to try fixing the tablet.
Good news is that I was able to mount the USB. I didn't notice the cat nibble on my cable... So once I dug a spare out, I was able to copy a TnT-Lite image (still had on computer) onto it right quick. Restarted and it installed the image.
So now it has TnT-Lite, though it is weirdly stuck on the setup wizard. It tells me to touch the android to continue and shows an animation of a hand touching the android. But when I touch the android, it turns white and thats it. Also I can change the language to UK or American English. Plus when I press the menu button, I can go to wireless settings, as in cell phone wireless settings. Lastly, I can make an emergency call. So new worthless image. YEY!
I next tried to reboot back into ClockworkMod to see what I could possibly do to get by the lack of continuation in the TnT. But the image install did something interesting. When trying to enter Clockwork Mod, here is what it does from powerup: Displays "Detect a recovery key pressed" then on the next line "Booting recovery kernel image", blanks the screen and then displays "Android" for a few seconds, lastly switching to an exclamation mark in a triangle and rebooting.
So how do I go about screwing it up more?
Tech1381 said:
I next tried to reboot back into ClockworkMod to see what I could possibly do to get by the lack of continuation in the TnT. But the image install did something interesting. When trying to enter Clockwork Mod, here is what it does from powerup: Displays "Detect a recovery key pressed" then on the next line "Booting recovery kernel image", blanks the screen and then displays "Android" for a few seconds, lastly switching to an exclamation mark in a triangle and rebooting.
)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CWM is not installed
flash the latest firmware using stock recovery
read read read
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=892090
It almost sounds like you now have stock recovery in your Gtab.
If that's the case, then maybe copy a stock TNT update.zip onto the external Sdcard, and create recovery/command file on there with the string for SDCARD2, then reboot w power and volume+. If you do have stock recovery, that should flash it back to stick TNT. Try Stock TNT 3452, since that'll also flash a stock recovery for sure.
Jim
Looks like Brian and I crossposted each other .
For the recovery/command file on the external SDCARD, put the following text in it:
--update_package=SDCARD2:/update.zip
NOTE THE 2 DASHES AT BEGINNING OF THE LINE...
Jim
No really, I've Bricked It
So, G Tablet arrived about 5 hours ago. I got it rooted and tried to install CMod 8.1. Things went wrong but I'm not sure what. Anyway, the last thing that I did was to boot in Recovery and then I selected, Format System. Now, when the tablet is turned on, in the top right corner, I have a tiny red message, Magic Value Mismatch. I get this message whether the SD card is installed or not.
I know this information is a little vague but as a Nod, it's all that I have.
f3justusc said:
So, G Tablet arrived about 5 hours ago. I got it rooted and tried to install CMod 8.1. Things went wrong but I'm not sure what. Anyway, the last thing that I did was to boot in Recovery and then I selected, Format System. Now, when the tablet is turned on, in the top right corner, I have a tiny red message, Magic Value Mismatch. I get this message whether the SD card is installed or not.
I know this information is a little vague but as a Nod, it's all that I have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm freaking out, I think I bricked it...
I'm only getting the black android screen, I can't seem to mount USB, suggestions?
Ive been stuck right where you are a few times, not to big of a deal, just NVFlash back and start over. I am assuming you are getting the black screen you mention is the APX mode one you get by starting your tab by pressing vol down and power at the same time.

[Q] GTab Won't Boot and can't seem to recover?

So I've been reading all the threads about recovery, and I'm just at a loss as to what to do. Here's what happened - and not sure how it happened which is even more disturbing. (Unit is 5 days old from Amazon)
I had VEGAN-Tab installed on the unit, and it was working just fine. I was playing with some MicroSD cards, and left the unit with a 2 Gig one in, that I formatted through VEGAN-Tab (no real issues from what I can tell). I left it charging and went out.
When I came home, I grabbed the tab and it was powered down, which was odd. I went to boot it and got the GTab animation which repeated over and over. I figured something went haywire (what's disturbing is I have no idea why) but I figured - OK was 5 days old.. not much on there.. I"ll just blow it away.
The problem is I can't get anything to work properly. Recovery DOES get me into ClockworkMod Recovery 2.5.1.8 but while in there, I can't do anything with the internal SDCard. I keep getting "Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk2p1" or when I try to wipe the system I get "Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk3p2 (no such file or directory)" as well as "No app2sd partition found, skipping format)... etc.
So I can't even wipe the SDCard. I've tried doing the NVFlash to connect and re-write, but with CWM I can't seem to get to the point where the PC sees the device in recovery mode - only as a removable drive (running windows).
Not sure what my next step is - so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Ok - first DUH is my own - was trying to recover by hitting Volume + not Volume - .. my mistake.. NVFlashing now.. Still don't know what happened and why the SDCard went Haywire.
Anyone have any ideas on that one? Don't want it to happen again!
UPDATE - and now even after NVFlashing I can't get it to boot into recovery or normally.. Keep getting birds, then GTABlet, and then nothing. When using the Vol + option, I get that it's booting to recovery, and then I get a BANG symbol and then a reboot.. Not sure what to do..
UPDATE 2- And now insult to injury - the unit won't even turn on. It recognizes power plugged in, but the power button does nothing. I'm going to leave it plugged in for a while and hopefully leaving it will eventually make it work. /sigh/ Any help would be great.....
UPDATE 3 - And TapNTap is back... after another flash... Whew- Ok all.. Now the question is WHY did it happen? Any ideas?

Nook won't boot up

The story began when I decided to install CM10 on my nook tablet using old recovery that goes for CM7 and eventually broke my partition table and lost my ID(./adb devices shows 0000000000000000). Since my nook refused to boot futher than CWM loading screen (box) i decided to recreate my partitions through ADB using this method and then reflash nook with AdamOutler's Ubuntu recovery (he provided his own mmcblk0p5).
So, I succesfully recreate partition table (everything was in order, I checked a few times) and reflash it with Ubuntu recovery. Interesting part starts here. Now i get "bla-bla-bla please restart your device" and picture with exclamation mark. A couple of reboots gave nothing and brought me to the same screen. Reflash with BN factory recovery as well as factory reset did not work. At that point I decided to inspect partitions again. Everything was ok, formating, size, etc. But my ID still was 0000000000000000. This brought me to the conclusion that something is wrong with mmcblk0p5 and i need to flash partitions with dd again using this files (method). So, all went well without errors, at the end i killed adb server, dismount SD and pressed "reboot device" in CWM menu. And... From that time my nook is completely dead.
It didn't respond to any key. I charge it all night. I tried to hold home+power simultaneously. No response. Connecting to a computer or power outlet is also nothing.
Be kind, I'd like to hear your advice. Sorry for my runglish.
WidePants said:
The story began when I decided to install CM10 on my nook tablet using old recovery that goes for CM7 and eventually broke my partition table and lost my ID(./adb devices shows 0000000000000000). Since my nook refused to boot futher than CWM loading screen (box) i decided to recreate my partitions through ADB using this method and then reflash nook with AdamOutler's Ubuntu recovery (he provided his own mmcblk0p5).
So, I succesfully recreate partition table (everything was in order, I checked a few times) and reflash it with Ubuntu recovery. Interesting part starts here. Now i get "bla-bla-bla please restart your device" and picture with exclamation mark. A couple of reboots gave nothing and brought me to the same screen. Reflash with BN factory recovery as well as factory reset did not work. At that point I decided to inspect partitions again. Everything was ok, formating, size, etc. But my ID still was 0000000000000000. This brought me to the conclusion that something is wrong with mmcblk0p5 and i need to flash partitions with dd again using this files (method). So, all went well without errors, at the end i killed adb server, dismount SD and pressed "reboot device" in CWM menu. And... From that time my nook is completely dead.
It didn't respond to any key. I charge it all night. I tried to hold home+power simultaneously. No response. Connecting to a computer or power outlet is also nothing.
Be kind, I'd like to hear your advice. Sorry for my runglish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem. I downgraded from 1.4.3 to 1.4.0. I was able to boot it once and then shut it back down so I could root it. Now it won't start up at all and I have tried everything that I can find to boot it to no avail.
The NT can sometimes get stuck in limbo while booting up, especially with SD-based boot. To get out of it, hold down the power button for 20-30 sec to turn it off then power it on again. Also remove any "bootable" SD card from the card slot; if it boots then the card was not bootable and its non-bootability was the problem.
It's also possible that the NT battery is completely drained (battery readings on some CM builds can be quite off, sometimes as much as 20 points) in which case you'd need to use the BN wall-charger and charge it for 8-12 hours.

solution for bricked padfone

Hi everybody.
as mentioned before ive received an padfone2 who would not boot annymore.
no asus logo nothing. only the navigation buttons lit when touched.
what you need for the solution is a pc/ laptop with linux mint (or anny other version) installed.
first i had to open the device cause the flatcable for the screen was lose.
solved it the it booted with te asus logo and the dotted circle and stayed this way..
ive connected the padfone to my linux machine booted the padfone showing all partitions. 4 or 5 wouldnt mount.
ive repaired them from a console typing "fsck /dev/sda(number of partitions who failed to mount)" and press enter. (be sure you type the correct number only not mounted partitions should be done.)
after that partions (exept one) repaired perfect.
after that ive downloaded the latest firmware for my region and copied it to the 25gb partition. stil in linux
rebooted the padfone into basic recovery (ive got a screen for choosing to go to recovery or stay in download mode) trying every possible option with the power button and the volme keys
choose install from cache and there it was the wwe version of the rom ive copied (ive choose the latest version for my region (kitkat)
and it began to install (first it installed after reboot it seemed to bootloop but again the install screen with the belly open android emerged.
rebooted again and booted into the first install screen (updating 3 of 120 or something like that) now it works like a charm.
im happy, customer happy, perhaps this makes more people happy
succes
henk_j said:
Hi everybody.
as mentioned before ive received an padfone2 who would not boot annymore.
no asus logo nothing. only the navigation buttons lit when touched.
what you need for the solution is a pc/ laptop with linux mint (or anny other version) installed.
first i had to open the device cause the flatcable for the screen was lose.
solved it the it booted with te asus logo and the dotted circle and stayed this way..
ive connected the padfone to my linux machine booted the padfone showing all partitions. 4 or 5 wouldnt mount.
ive repaired them from a console typing "fsck /dev/sda(number of partitions who failed to mount)" and press enter. (be sure you type the correct number only not mounted partitions should be done.)
after that partions (exept one) repaired perfect.
after that ive downloaded the latest firmware for my region and copied it to the 25gb partition. stil in linux
rebooted the padfone into basic recovery (ive got a screen for choosing to go to recovery or stay in download mode) trying every possible option with the power button and the volme keys
choose install from cache and there it was the wwe version of the rom ive copied (ive choose the latest version for my region (kitkat)
and it began to install (first it installed after reboot it seemed to bootloop but again the install screen with the belly open android emerged.
rebooted again and booted into the first install screen (updating 3 of 120 or something like that) now it works like a charm.
im happy, customer happy, perhaps this makes more people happy
succes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Sir!
I have the common problem of Asus Padfone: Continuous boot loop.
Everytime I do a factory reset it works great, after one or two days it starts the boot loop.
From what I red in internet during these weeks it seems to be a problem of the partitions, as one of them i loosing its memory.
Can you please explain in more details your approach?
Commands in Linux? How to repair a partition, etc?
I am new in Linux but willing to learn.
Thank you for your understanding.
The comand is in the instruction type it as root in a terminal

[Q]DigiLand DL1010Q softbricked

Ok, here is the deal and I hope someone can help me. I have a cheap DigiLand DL1010Q tablet to play around with. It is stock, but I rooted it with KingRoot. There was a recent OTA wireless update and after it was installed it said that it needed to go into recovery mode to install and reboot. I selected install now and reboot. This is where my problem started and has remained. It loaded into recovery mode and is in an endless boot loop. I've tried rebooting it, recovery with the recovery file and every manual reset possible to no avail. DigiLand support said that I should power down the tablet, and while holding down the Volume Down (-) hit the power button and it will boot into a Chinese recovery mode. I've tried that and it just stays on the DigiLand screen forever. (I left it there for 8 hours.) I can sideload via ADB and the drivers are installed, but it will not let me load anything. It states that the bootloader is closed. I receive the same message via Fastboot. Now here is the interesting thing. Even after selecting the factory reset within the Recovery Mode, everything is still there. I have wiped the cache and partition and user data, but nothing really happens. It is still all there. I see the recovery file, but it will not load. All I see is NO Command.
I do have a sd card that I could flash things on, but it doesn't seem to register the card. It sees the sdcard, but that is the internal drive. How do I get it to look at the sdcard that I put into the slot? Is there a bootloader unlock? Does anyone have the factory image that I can put on my sdcard? HELP!!!!
I am fairly good with computers and have rooted phones and tablets before, but I seem to be hitting my head on a bricked wall - no pun intended. Let me know what programs, files or whatever. At this point I am willing to try anything. I can send it back to China for $50 for them to redo it, but I only paid $69 for it and I'm not going to put more money into this cheap tablet. I would just like to get it to work.

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