[Q] Nexus 7 Bricked due to 4.4.3 Update?

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me recover my Nexus 7 which appears to be bricked currently. It is the 2013 version, and it was never rooted initially and was running stock firmware. (By the way, I'm not the most proficient with messing with my Android devices or even with the terminology, so I apologize in advance if I might require clarification on some of the responses).

A few days ago, I woke up to discover that somehow my home screen had reverted back to the way it was upon initially getting the device. This wasn't a big deal since I didn't lose any data or apps, but I figured something might be wrong and even posted about it on Google's product forums. Then, last night, I attempted to update to 4.4.3 because it had been prompting me to do so for a week or two. It downloaded and attempted the update, but it failed. It then eventually restarted, but upon loading up Android I got an error message that stated:

System UID's Inconsistent
UIDs on the system are inconsistent, you need to wipe your data partition or your device will be unstable

with a button to click that says "I'm Feeling Lucky" - I clicked the button figuring I could at least get back in to back up my data, but after about 30 seconds the device just rebooted again (all I managed to do was accidentally click the Chrome icon) and now it is just stuck at the initial boot-up screen displaying the Google text logo.

I have tried to hold down the volume button and hit power, and I get to a screen with 4 options I can cycle through: Recovery mode (which will just put me back the Google text logo), Power off (which turns off the device), Start (which puts me back to the Google text logo), and Restart bootloader (which brings me right back to this menu options page). I'm attaching a screenshot of this page.

I spent about an hour on the phone with Google support, but they were basically useless. I then did some research and downloaded Skipsoft Unified Android Toolkit and was able to get the device to be recognized when it was in that 4-option mode by the Skipsoft Toolkit. However, all fastboot options I tried didn't seem to succeed because the Bootloader was locked. I figured I would try to unlock it, and it told me that in doing so it would wipe my device (so be it I figured since I had already pretty much kissed my data on there goodbye at this point). However, it seems to try and wipe it (even giving me a prompt on the actual Nexus 7), but then just sits and does nothing that I can see (see attached screenshots).

Anyone have any ideas/suggestions? Thanks so much!

xbi0s said:

To be safe, with a stock device that was not rooted... I would go ahead and use the Skipsoft program to flash the stock image back on the device. This should alleviate any future issues with the OS on your device.

I believe it to be Option #9 on Skipsoft.

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Thanks for the reply - I attempted your suggestion, but it didn't work because the Bootloader is still locked; and attempting to unlock the Bootloader seems to stall on erasing userdata.

Any other thoughts? Thanks!

Anyone else have any suggestions/ideas? Thanks!

Aerowinder said:

Download ADB from my signature.

Put the device in bootloader mode (power+vol down), open fastboot.exe and type fastboot oem unlock.

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When I try that, I get:


And it just hangs there....

The Nexus 7 did prompt me whether I want to unlock the bootloader and I selected yes (with the volume and power keys), but then it just hangs at that selection screen as well...

Any ideas??

Thanks!

Aerowinder said:

I changed the wrong link in my signature. The ADB link correctly points to version 19.0.2 now. Try that one. Try a different cable if you have one, try a different USB port if you can.

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Tried two different cables on two different USB ports with the new 19.0.2 downloads you posted - still having the same thing happen. Could it be the computer I'm using, or the drivers I installed (I used the Skipsoft Unified Android Toolkit drivers)? Or is my device just totally bricked and unrecoverable?

Thanks!

Aerowinder said:

You can try different drivers. Uninstall current ones, and install the ones from my signature.

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Ok, so I removed the Clockworkmod ADB drivers from add/remove programs (or uninstall programs - whatever it is called now on Win7), then I went into device manager and deleted the driver for Google Nexus BootLoader Interface, and then I rebooted. After the reboot, plugging the Nexus 7 in showed no driver detected, so I downloaded your Koush Universal ADB drivers, extracted them, and used them to install the Google Nexus Bootloader Interface drivers again (that's what it detected for my Android when I pointed the device listed in device manager to the extracted folder).

I then ran "fastboot oem unlock" but it's still getting stuck at the same place: (bootloader) erasing userdata...

Anything else I can try?

Thanks!

Anyone have anything else I can try?

I'm currently working on getting ASUS to replace the device under warranty - but they want me to send it in first, and I'm concerned that while I can't access any of my data on it, the data might still be there and potentially accessible to others (and I'd prefer to not have all of my confidential data that I stored on there accessible to anyone else). Unfortunately, ASUS won't replace/repair it unless I send it in, so I'm between a rock and a hard place...

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Gawson said:

I've tried every single way to unbrick my nexus. After 2 days of searching send it for repair. Without any questions they replaced mainboard. Problem solved hard way.

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Gawson - when you got it back did it still have your data on it, or was it wiped?