[Q] Power on/Reboot now goes into APX mode

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wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
Sorry, I'd thought I'd posted under Q&A/Help. Not sure if a moderator can move it where it belongs?

My tf300t (ICS v9.3.4.17) is unlocked, rooted, and has TWRP 2.6.3.0 installed. I also have created the nvflash backups so it's currently running on the AndroidRoot v9.4.3.30r01 bootloader. I've stayed with
ICS and not updated anything except TWRP, but was just about to update to either ICS v9.4.3.30 or jump and install the latest JB.

Earlier today I went into Terminal Emulator, typed su and reboot as I've always done. I thought my tablet had shutdown because the screen stayed blank. I tried the power button and nothing so thought
maybe my power button had given out. I then tried plugging in the charging/usb cable which normally would get it to boot and again blank screen. Last I tried connecting to my pc and found it was in
APX mode. I'm able to boot up from nvflash and function normally but I'm stuck once I shut off the tablet from ICS (have to rerun nvflash to boot up again).

When I power off from APX mode, it automatically restarts back into APX mode. I was able to get into TWRP and tried restoring my latest nandroid (System, Data, Recovery, & Boot partitions) but no
change. Also tried a factory reset but same results - booting into APX yet again...

Ack, at this point I'm about ready to punt. I have my backups (TB & Helium) and am thinking of trying to update to v9.4.3.30 to see if this clears up booting into APX mode. To do this, can I just install the single
zip using TWRP & then re-flash TWRP using adb (or fastboot assuming I get it back)? Or do it via nvflash? If by nvflash, are these the correct commands after unpacking the v9.4.3.30 blob:

nvflash -r --download 4 blob.EBT
nvflash -r --download 10 blob.APP
nvflash -r --download 6 blob.LNX

Thoughts or ideas are really appreciated!
 
Last edited:

lj50036

Senior Member
Feb 14, 2013
3,321
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FUXDA
APX Mode

My tf300t (ICS v9.3.4.17) is unlocked, rooted, and has TWRP 2.6.3.0 installed. I also have created the nvflash backups so it's currently running on the AndroidRoot v9.4.3.30r01 bootloader. I've stayed with
ICS and not updated anything except TWRP, but was just about to update to either ICS v9.4.3.30 or jump and install the latest JB.

Earlier today I went into Terminal Emulator, typed su and reboot as I've always done. I thought my tablet had shutdown because the screen stayed blank. I tried the power button and nothing so thought
maybe my power button had given out. I then tried plugging in the charging/usb cable which normally would get it to boot and again blank screen. Last I tried connecting to my pc and found it was in
APX mode. I'm able to boot up from nvflash and function normally but I'm stuck once I shut off the tablet from ICS (have to rerun nvflash to boot up again).

When I power off from APX mode, it automatically restarts back into APX mode. I was able to get into TWRP and tried restoring my latest nandroid (System, Data, Recovery, & Boot partitions) but no
change. Also tried a factory reset but same results - booting into APX yet again...

Ack, at this point I'm about ready to punt. I have my backups (TB & Helium) and am thinking of trying to update to v9.4.3.30 to see if this clears up booting into APX mode. To do this, can I just install the single
zip using TWRP & then re-flash TWRP using adb (or fastboot assuming I get it back)? Or do it via nvflash? If by nvflash, are these the correct commands after unpacking the v9.4.3.30 blob:

nvflash -r --download 4 blob.EBT
nvflash -r --download 10 blob.APP
nvflash -r --download 6 blob.LNX

Thoughts or ideas are really appreciated!


WoW that is an old bootloder:p..... v9.3.4.17 What is the SKU of that bootloader??

Enter APX mode and bootstrap in, If thats the ways its done.. I don't know because, I did my nvflash after jb came out...Run this command

Code:
nvflash -r --go

It will not reboot your tablet but it is supposed to let the bootloader resume on go which should be the next boot....

Just long hold your power button and let your tablet boot normally... Let me know if this helps at all... Thx lj

O yeah just be aware that the newest version of TWRP is having some issues... Just a FYI
 

wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
WoW that is an old bootloder:p..... v9.3.4.17 What is the SKU of that bootloader??

Enter APX mode and bootstrap in, If thats the ways its done.. I don't know because, I did my nvflash after jb came out...Run this command

Code:
nvflash -r --go


It will not reboot your tablet but it is supposed to let the bootloader resume on go which should be the next boot....

Just long hold your power button and let your tablet boot normally... Let me know if this helps at all... Thx lj

O yeah just be aware that the newest version of TWRP is having some issues... Just a FYI

Thanks for the reply. The bootloader is the original one loaded when I created the nvflash backups. When rebooting from nvflash and holding the vol down button, I see:

Android cardhu-user bootloader <2.10 e> released by "WW_epad-9.4.3.30-20120206"

This had to have been universal for all that ran it way back when, though the SKU on my tablet is US (US_epad-9.4.3.2012...) and no real issues in over the year I've had it.

The nvflash -r --go command is the same as nvflash --resume --go...both reboot the device (nvflash help verifies they're the same).


------> Back to the issue at hand *sigh* <-----

So... I'm still having to reboot from APX mode using nvflash and hold the volume down button. At that point I can either enter TWRP or leave it go and it'll cold boot - no icons
display for fastboot, etc. It just shows:

Platform Pre OS boot configuration...
Cold-booting Linux

And then it will boot into ICS, though found it may just go back into APX mode again. It can take several tries, but it'll finally boot properly.

Sooo...what's my next step? Have noticed TWRP 2.6.3.0 seems to be a bit flaky in the past. Should I try installing US_epad-user-9.4.3.30.zip using TWRP? I have
OTA Rootkeeper installed with SuperSU so root should either remain or be restorable (fingers crossed). Or do I need to use nvflash to flash each partition? Or finally go
back to my original nvflash blobs? I really don't want to move forward and screw up something worse than it is!

Side note: I've tried to install tried & true TWRP v2.3.1.0. Using adb, it appears to flash successfully, I reboot into ICS, and then nvflash boot into TWRP - but I'm still
on v2.6.3.0. Possibly not rebooting smoothly into ICS isn't allowing the img file to take? For now will deal continue using my installed version v2.6.3.0 I guess...


Thanks for direction on where to go next! And if can, spell out my steps to take in detail (sometimes I may be a tad dense and don't mind any eyestrain, lol).
 

lj50036

Senior Member
Feb 14, 2013
3,321
3,297
42
FUXDA
Thanks for the reply. The bootloader is the original one loaded when I created the nvflash backups. When rebooting from nvflash and holding the vol down button, I see:

Android cardhu-user bootloader <2.10 e> released by "WW_epad-9.4.3.30-20120206"

This had to have been universal for all that ran it way back when, though the SKU on my tablet is US (US_epad-9.4.3.2012...) and no real issues in over the year I've had it.

The nvflash -r --go command is the same as nvflash --resume --go...both reboot the device (nvflash help verifies they're the same).


------> Back to the issue at hand *sigh* <-----

So... I'm still having to reboot from APX mode using nvflash and hold the volume down button. At that point I can either enter TWRP or leave it go and it'll cold boot - no icons
display for fastboot, etc. It just shows:

Platform Pre OS boot configuration...
Cold-booting Linux

And then it will boot into ICS, though found it may just go back into APX mode again. It can take several tries, but it'll finally boot properly.

Sooo...what's my next step? Have noticed TWRP 2.6.3.0 seems to be a bit flaky in the past. Should I try installing US_epad-user-9.4.3.30.zip using TWRP? I have
OTA Rootkeeper installed with SuperSU so root should either remain or be restorable (fingers crossed). Or do I need to use nvflash to flash each partition? Or finally go
back to my original nvflash blobs? I really don't want to move forward and screw up something worse than it is!

Side note: I've tried to install tried & true TWRP v2.3.1.0. Using adb, it appears to flash successfully, I reboot into ICS, and then nvflash boot into TWRP - but I'm still
on v2.6.3.0. Possibly not rebooting smoothly into ICS isn't allowing the img file to take? For now will deal continue using my installed version v2.6.3.0 I guess...


Thanks for direction on where to go next! And if can, spell out my steps to take in detail (sometimes I may be a tad dense and don't mind any eyestrain, lol).



Ok so you are 100% sure that you have had a US SKU version bootloader from when you got it new????

Where are you getting the firmware zip file from??

And you think this all started because of a wrong recovery flash???
 
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wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
Ok so you are 100% sure that you have had a US SKU version bootloader from when you got it new????


Where are you getting the firmware zip file from??

And you think this all started because of a wrong recovery flash???

Thanks for the quick reply... I'm positive on the US SKU - I have a screenshot I took of the SW info when it was brand new - here it is:
http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums...delampSWinfo-2012-11-25-07-29_zps27ba6fc6.jpg

As for the earlier firmware zips I've got, they were provided in one of the XDA posts - possibly this one: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=33883254&postcount=3

Nope, it just suddenly started while using the tablet normally. No flashing, restoring nandroids, etc in at least a week or two. I was playing one of my games on the tablet and sometimes the graphics will act
funny or it'll fc on me. So I either do a cold restart or reboot using Terminal Emulator to get the behaving normally again. In this case I rebooted using Android Terminal and suddenly only had a black
screen. Finally realized it wasn't powered down but was going into APX mode... Sorry, just tried flashing the older version of TWRP I'd always used since v2.6.3.0 has been flaky off and on. V2.6.3.0 was
originally flashed about 2-3 weeks ago and I'll just stick with it while working on fixing this!

The only thing I can think which may be unrelated. My daughter loaded a non-market game that was tagged as having Android:Fujacks by Avast! Being non-market, maybe foolishly? I let Avast
uninstall it. But I'm almost positive I rebooted a few times after without any issues. Also restoring an earlier nandroid didn't help, so don't think it's the system or data partitions messed up. Could it
be the boot partition that's gone funky?

That's why I'm wondering if an "upgrade" to v9.4.3.30 would clear this up - and if so, best/safest way to do it? Hope that helps fill in a little more!
 
Last edited:

lj50036

Senior Member
Feb 14, 2013
3,321
3,297
42
FUXDA
Thanks for the quick reply... I'm positive on the US SKU - I have a screenshot I took of the the SW info when it was brand new - here it is:
http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums...delampSWinfo-2012-11-25-07-29_zps27ba6fc6.jpg

As for the earlier firmware zips I've got, they were provided in one of the XDA posts - possibly this one: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=33883254&postcount=3

Nope, it just suddenly started without having done any flashing or restoring nandroids. I was playing one of my games on the tablet and sometimes the graphics will act
funny or it'll fc on me. So I either do a cold restart or reboot using Terminal Emulator to get it back to normal. In this case I rebooted using Android Terminal and suddenly
a black screen. Finally realized it wasn't powered down but was going into APX mode.

The only thing I can think which may be unrelated. My daughter loaded a non-market game that was tagged as having Android:Fujacks by Avast! Being non-market, maybe
foolishly? I let Avast uninstall it. But I'm almost positive I rebooted a few times after without any issues. Also restoring an earlier nandroid didn't help, so don't think it's the system
or data partitions messed up. Could it be the boot partition that's gone funky?

That's why I'm wondering if an "upgrade" to v9.4.3.30 would clear this up - and if so, best/safest way to do it? Hope that helps fill in a little more!


Ok the .30 zip from them what is inside the zip??
 

wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
Ok the .30 zip from them what is inside the zip??

It's the normal Stock v9.4.3.30 update from ASUS. It's the "US_epad-user-9.4.3.30.zip" which in turn contains the META-INF folder and the blob file. The blob file contains:

blob.APP ; system img
blob.EBT ; bootloader.bin
blob.LNX ; boot img
blob.PT ; partition table I presume
blob.SOS ; stock recovery img

The blob names are exact and I think I have each identified as to their purpose going from old notes. EBT, APP, and LNX are the three that I believe could/would be flashed using nvflash
if necessary (if can't just install the full update zip & reinstall TWRP over the stock recovery)...

Is that what you're looking for?
 

lj50036

Senior Member
Feb 14, 2013
3,321
3,297
42
FUXDA
It's the normal Stock v9.4.3.30 update from ASUS. It's the "US_epad-user-9.4.3.30.zip" which in turn contains the META-INF folder and the blob file. The blob file contains:

blob.APP ; system img
blob.EBT ; bootloader.bin
blob.LNX ; boot img
blob.PT ; partition table I presume
blob.SOS ; stock recovery img

The blob names are exact and I think I have each identified as to their purpose going from old notes. EBT, APP, and LNX are the three that I believe could/would be flashed using nvflash
if necessary (if can't just install the full update zip & reinstall TWRP over the stock recovery)...

Is that what you're looking for?


Ok so it just a blob binary and a META-INF folder in the zip??
 

wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
We need to get to fastboot and verify that we can see your devices boot into the bootloader screen.. As I recall you should have a
usb icon you must select to enable fastboot... Can you get to this point??

No, the icons one normally sees are missing/not available to be selected. When I reboot from nvflash & hold the vol down button, I only have two options. Volume up to enter TWRP as expected, or it begins cold booting. Guess that got lost in my lengthy message above:

So... I'm still having to reboot from APX mode using nvflash and hold the volume down button. At that point I can either enter TWRP or leave it go and it'll cold boot - no icons
display for fastboot, etc. It just shows:

Platform Pre OS boot configuration...
Cold-booting Linux

And then it will boot into ICS, though found it may just go back into APX mode again. It can take several tries, but it'll finally boot properly.

So unfortunately, no fastboot - only ADB, APX, and Recovery (TWRP) modes available.
 

lj50036

Senior Member
Feb 14, 2013
3,321
3,297
42
FUXDA
No, the icons one normally sees are missing/not available to be selected. When I reboot from nvflash & hold the vol down button, I only have two options. Volume up to enter TWRP as expected, or it begins cold booting. Guess that got lost in my lengthy message above:



So unfortunately, no fastboot - only ADB, APX, and Recovery (TWRP) modes available.


Ok well we need a different version of twrp than what your on now I would highly recommend a version older that what your on now.. as the newer twrps are buggy 2.5.5.0 is a solid one... Make sure you get the one for your tablet...as there are a few different versions... Than rename it

Code:
twrp.blob

Make sure you don't rename it twrp.blob.blob as windows is good at doing still stuff like that.....

Move your twrp.blob to the root of your c drive than open a command window as admin and type

Code:
cd /

This will move you to the root of your c drive in your command window than type

Code:
dir

This will list all the files and folder in the root of your c drive make sure you see the twrp.blob if so your ready

Boot your tablet into APX mode bootstrap into nvflash mode and type

Code:
nvflash -r --download 5 twrp.blob

The output of this will look something like this

Code:
Nvflash v1.13.87205 started
[resume mode]
sending file: twrp.blob
- 8165480/8165480 bytes sent
twrp.blob sent successfully

Than

Code:
nvflash -r --go

Then try to enter recovery...

Let me know
 

wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
Ok well we need a different version of twrp than what your on now I would highly recommend a version older that what your on now.. as the newer twrps are buggy 2.5.5.0 is a solid one... Make sure you get the one for your tablet...as there are a few different versions... Than rename it

Code:
twrp.blob

Make sure you don't rename it twrp.blob.blob as windows is good at doing still stuff like that.....

Move your twrp.blob to the root of your c drive than open a command window as admin and type

Code:
cd /

This will move you to the root of your c drive in your command window than type

Code:
dir

This will list all the files and folder in the root of your c drive make sure you see the twrp.blob if so your ready

Boot your tablet into APX mode bootstrap into nvflash mode and type

Code:
nvflash -r --download 5 twrp.blob

The output of this will look something like this

Code:
Nvflash v1.13.87205 started
[resume mode]
sending file: twrp.blob
- 8165480/8165480 bytes sent
twrp.blob sent successfully

Than

Code:
nvflash -r --go

Then try to enter recovery...

Let me know

Ok - picked up v2.5.0.0 (don't see a v2.5.5.0 on the TWRP website) and successfully installed the .blob file but... As soon as I hit the volume up button it went to cold boot instead. I remembered with the Prime that for some reason, the TWRP img file format needed to be used when on the AndroidRoot bootloader. So long story short, got the img file installed and I have TWRP 2.5.0.0 running at the moment.

So where to next? And thanks so far :)
 

lj50036

Senior Member
Feb 14, 2013
3,321
3,297
42
FUXDA
Ok - picked up v2.5.0.0 (don't see a v2.5.5.0 on the TWRP website) and successfully installed the .blob file but... As soon as I hit the volume up button it went to cold boot instead. I remembered with the Prime that for some reason, the TWRP img file format needed to be used when on the AndroidRoot bootloader. So long story short, got the img file installed and I have TWRP 2.5.0.0 running at the moment.

So where to next? And thanks so far :)


So you can get into recovery now??? if so, take the double zipped firmware......unzip it one time and the zip that is made move to.....O

Do you have a way to put that zip on an sdcard so we can get it on your tablet?? If not no big deal.... Just let me know if you can make that happen.....
 

wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
So you can get into recovery now??? if so, take the double zipped firmware......unzip it one time and the zip that is made move to.....O

Do you have a way to put that zip on an sdcard so we can get it on your tablet?? If not no big deal.... Just let me know if you can make that happen.....

Sorry, I get over wordy (lol)... Yes, I have TWRP 2.5.0.0 installed and was able to get in. I'd already prepared for this - have the unzipped (once) file sitting in my tablet's root folder (/sdcard). Checked and checksum matched so it transferred without errors (used Airdroid, in case wondering).

Took a few extra minutes - wanted double check all was there as I thought. So yes, have the v9.4.3.30 zipfile (containing META files & blob) on tablet's "root" directory. Currently in TWRP v2.5.0.0 and ready to install it (figuring that's the next step)...

Just give me the greenlight, lol
 

wha2do

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2012
95
14
New Orleans
Still here - at this point have the zipfile unzipped once, on the tablet's root directory, and TWRP v2.5.0.0 installed. I assume going to install the zip file via TWRP Install? Tablet's got plenty of battery charge so good to go - just let me know!
 

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    Thanks for the reply. The bootloader is the original one loaded when I created the nvflash backups. When rebooting from nvflash and holding the vol down button, I see:

    Android cardhu-user bootloader <2.10 e> released by "WW_epad-9.4.3.30-20120206"

    This had to have been universal for all that ran it way back when, though the SKU on my tablet is US (US_epad-9.4.3.2012...) and no real issues in over the year I've had it.

    The nvflash -r --go command is the same as nvflash --resume --go...both reboot the device (nvflash help verifies they're the same).


    ------> Back to the issue at hand *sigh* <-----

    So... I'm still having to reboot from APX mode using nvflash and hold the volume down button. At that point I can either enter TWRP or leave it go and it'll cold boot - no icons
    display for fastboot, etc. It just shows:

    Platform Pre OS boot configuration...
    Cold-booting Linux

    And then it will boot into ICS, though found it may just go back into APX mode again. It can take several tries, but it'll finally boot properly.

    Sooo...what's my next step? Have noticed TWRP 2.6.3.0 seems to be a bit flaky in the past. Should I try installing US_epad-user-9.4.3.30.zip using TWRP? I have
    OTA Rootkeeper installed with SuperSU so root should either remain or be restorable (fingers crossed). Or do I need to use nvflash to flash each partition? Or finally go
    back to my original nvflash blobs? I really don't want to move forward and screw up something worse than it is!

    Side note: I've tried to install tried & true TWRP v2.3.1.0. Using adb, it appears to flash successfully, I reboot into ICS, and then nvflash boot into TWRP - but I'm still
    on v2.6.3.0. Possibly not rebooting smoothly into ICS isn't allowing the img file to take? For now will deal continue using my installed version v2.6.3.0 I guess...


    Thanks for direction on where to go next! And if can, spell out my steps to take in detail (sometimes I may be a tad dense and don't mind any eyestrain, lol).



    Ok so you are 100% sure that you have had a US SKU version bootloader from when you got it new????

    Where are you getting the firmware zip file from??

    And you think this all started because of a wrong recovery flash???