Owner/Account on B&N Store "Demo Devices" are very stubborn

anders8 · Apr 22, 2014

I've been rooting a lot of nooks lately... around 60 of them so far. Some of the nooks I've purchased turned out to be the in-store demo devices. These models just run a loop, advertising the features. My procedure has been:

-using NookManager, reset to the factory image, this wipes out the advertising loop app
-register all the devices to the same email address, for uniformity
-upgrade the devices to 1.2.1 via usb
-use NookManager to root the device
-install my software

However, I've recently come across half a dozen nooks where the factory image IS the advertising loop. These devices are still rootable, however, they are preconfigured in their factory image with their "TEST NOOKUSER" owner and "st284@nk.com" account email address. In addition, the "Erase and Deregister Device" option is grayed out.

Summary of unusualness:
-adb via USB not recognized (ADB works via wifi inside NookManager)
-owner/account not editable
-screen time out greyed out at 2 minutes
-adb install -r pickyourfavorite.apk yields "/system/bin/sh: pm: not found" so this renders installing impossible

For the curious, these units are generally 1.0.0 or 1.1.0 software versions.

What are the ideas on the way forward here? I'm sure a lot of these demo devices will be hitting flea markets.

Anders

Anders

David0226 · Apr 22, 2014

I wonder if it would be possible to flash 1.2.1 using CWM? Perhaps that would get you out of the demo loop. I have never tried anything like this, so it is just speculation.

straygecko · Apr 23, 2014

I'd try the unbricking procedure in this thread.

Essentially, you want to save the rom partition from the problem device. Then restore an image from a properly working device. Then restore the rom partition. The thread doesn't go into fixing the rom partition data backup that is in the factory partition in rombackup.zip. Depending on what you're doing with the NST you might want to restore that as well when you're done. Come to think of it, you might want to look at that zip file before you do anything. Unzip it and see if devconf/OperatingMode has Normal in it. If not, change it and zip it back up then do your factory restore.

anders8 · Apr 23, 2014

David0226 said:
I wonder if it would be possible to flash 1.2.1 using CWM? Perhaps that would get you out of the demo loop. I have never tried anything like this, so it is just speculation.

Yup, it's absolutely possible to upgrade them to 1.2.1 using the "copy over via USB" method.

Does not get rid of the demo loop though.

Anders

Renate · Apr 23, 2014

Isn't demo mode just here?

Code:

sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
update system set value=0 where name='demo_mode';
.q

David0226 · Apr 23, 2014

If Renate's idea doesn't work, you could try booting into NookManager and connecting using ADB. Once in an adb shell, you can mount the device's internal /system partition using this procedure:

mkdir /int_sys
mount -o rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 /int_sys

At this point, try going into /int_sys/app and renaming DemoMode.apk so that when the Nook boots and tries to enter the DemoMode, it can't because the app is gone. This should at least get you access so that you can make other necessary changes.

ereghro · Jun 4, 2015

factory resetting via stock recovery worked for me

kfazz · Jun 7, 2015

i had this problem with one of the nooks i found on ebay. i had to change OperatingMode in rom partition to Normal, and do a factory reset to get out of demo mode. I didn't bother fixing the romrestore.zip

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Owner/Account on B&N Store "Demo Devices" are very stubborn

anders8

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David0226

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straygecko

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anders8

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Renate

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David0226

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ereghro

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kfazz

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