Dummies Guide to Fixing 'My Nook Won't Boot'

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RileyGrant

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2011
940
238
Seattle
First off, I need to address credit where credit is due. All credit goes out to Samuelhalff, Nootered, thecubed, iomonster, Decad3nce and anyone else involved with any of the methods I will mention.

As always, everything in this guide is completely at your own risk, I am not responsible for you messing up your device further nor am I responsible in the event that your Nook Color explodes and kills your cat, grandma, etc.


The Fatal Black Screen:

This is the issue where your Nook "refuses to boot up" usually after running Froyo (or possibly HC) off of your internal memory. This is usually caused by, but is not limited too, formatting your sdcard from within Froyo (or versions of HC prior to the flashable zip).

99.99% of the time, this does not mean your Nook is bricked in any way, what simply happened is your boot partition has become corrupted. For you newbies out there, the boot partition is what allows your Nook Color to turn on. The boot partition contains the instructions for what your Nook Color needs to do in order to start up and run.

The Fix:

Thanks to the guys that developed this neat toy, the Nook is set to boot from the sdcard before booting from the internal memory. What this means is, your nook will first search for a boot partition on the sdcard before searching for a boot partition on your Nook's internal memory. Because of this, we are able to boot and run OS software directly from the SDcard. This is how we will be fixing your "bricked" Nook Color.

First visit this link:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=922870

Download either the Rootpack, or the Clockwork Recovery image (1gb).

Next visit this link and download the 1.0.0 or 1.0.1 restore to stock files:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=914690

From this link you should also download the very last zip on the page. It is titled-flashable boot repartition zip. or something of the like. If you followed all these steps and still nothing, I would recommend flashing this as it can fix a completely screwed boot partition.

If you wish to instead restore to a pre-rooted 1.1, visit this link:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=932145

Once you have the either version of the bootable Clockwork Recovery (Rootpack or normal standard Clockwork Recovery) and a software version you would like to restore to, you must write your clockwork recovery to an sdcard to make it bootable in the Nook.

In order to do this, you must use Win32DiskImager on Windows or the command line on Mac and Linux. Follow theses instructions for writing the file to an sdcard (substitute the Clockwork file in place of Nooter):

http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_Rooting

Once the image is done writing, open up your sdcard on your computer and copy whichever restore to stock zip you choose earlier onto the card.

Now with your Nook Color unplugged from the computer, insert the sdcard and plug the Nook into the computer. Your screen should flash to life. After a short loading screen you will see a menu, using the volume keys, you are able to navigate up and down. Navigate down to the menu item that reads "mounts and storage." Navigate down and press "Format Data" then "Yes." Next do the same thing except format system. Using the power button to go back to a previous menu, return to the "mounts and storage" menu, make sure the sdcard is mounted. (If your sdcard is mounted, you will see the option to 'unmount /sdcard'. If it is not mounted you will see 'mount /sdcard'. In this case you would want to press the 'mount /sdcard' option in order to mount it. Again using the power button as the back button, navigate back to the main menu. You will see a menu item that reads "Install zip from sdcard." Select it. Now select 'choose zip from sdcard.' Now pick the zip you placed on the sdcard earlier. Scroll down to the 'Yes' option and select it. Clockwork Recovery will begin flashing the stock image to your internal memory. After a few minutes, the process should complete and you will see a message that says 'Done. Installation Complete.' From here you should remove your sdcard and navigate back to the main menu. Select the 'Reboot Now' option.

Note: Sometimes after you see the 'Done. Installation Complete.' message, Clockwork will freeze up and you will be unable to navigate back to the main menu in order to reboot. If this is the case do a hard reboot (hold the power button for 15 or so seconds so the screen turns off, then hold the power button again till it turns on).

Congratulations, you've unbricked your bricked Nook Color


TO EVERYONE STILL HAVING PROBLEMS AFTER THIS, YOU MAY/SHOULD FLASH SAMUELHALFF'S REPARTITION ZIP MENTIONED EARLIER. (LOOK UP A FEW LINES, SAME LINK AS THE 1.0.0 AND 1.0.1 RESTORE TO STOCK ZIPS)


UPDATE:


IF YOUR STILL HAVING PROBLEMS, USE THIS LINK TO INSTALL 3.0.1.0 ON INTERNAL EMMC AND THEN BOOT TO IT.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=958748

note: to do this, you need to be able to atleast boot to the N screen.

MORE UPDATE:

This link has an updated bootable CWM version on it with ext4 support. Write this to your sdcard, format /system and /data and flash CM7.


http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=959240

If anyone has anything to add to this tutorial, post here or IM me and I will edit the OP.
 
Last edited:

bartimeus

Senior Member
Apr 11, 2008
244
8
Springfield
So I was doing the 'restore to stock' method earlier today and accidentely reformatted my boot partition is there a fix for this or am I completely hosed now?
 

RileyGrant

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2011
940
238
Seattle
So I was doing the 'restore to stock' method earlier today and accidentely reformatted my boot partition is there a fix for this or am I completely hosed now?

Not hosed at all, all you did was format the internal boot partition. When you insert the sdcard and turn the power on, your Nook will find the boot partition on the Clockwork Recovery sd card and boot to that, enabling you to do a full restore.
 

bartimeus

Senior Member
Apr 11, 2008
244
8
Springfield
Well then there may be something more wrong with my nook. I have performed this 3 times and I am still just stuck at a blank black screen.
 

RileyGrant

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2011
940
238
Seattle
Are you sure you wrote the image to the sdcard right? Have you plugged in your nook and let it sit for a while? The Nook does have a pretty strange way of running its battery completely dead. What OS were you running before you went to restore to stock?
 

rawfish

Member
Aug 21, 2007
38
8
Kuala Lumpur
Hi, thanks for putting this topic up and of course full credit goes to everyone who's been so helpful replying to bricked NC posts.

After 4 days of searching and trying to revive my bricked NC (tried the conventional 8 reboots, power+n methods), I believe I have a unique situation where I:

1) Can't load 128MB/1GB CWR SD ('loading' word appears, then black screen of death appears)
--tested a variation of power + n + up/down arrows (for 2-3mins or more)
--used PC USB / AC to turn device on
--used a Sandisk 256MB/2GB/4GB-CL4 and Transcend 8GB-CL6 uSDs
--used Win7, Ubuntu, EASEUS Partition Master, SD Formatter and another Android device to format the uSDs
--burned the .img using both Win32DiskImager and WinImage

2) Can't load any Froyo/HC SD roms (same results as above)
--same conditions as above
--plus tried every available version of NookieFroyo/HC out there

3) Can't access ADB at any given point. devmgmt.msc does not show any hardware with any VID of 2080. When the NC is powered on by USB, windows detects it and chimes, but that connection disconnects instantly.

Simply put, how it happened was:
OOBE -> BN 1.01 -> Autonooter -> block OTA -> Root + gApps > Rom Mgr'd CWR into eMMC -> HC v4 SD -> gApps -> manual su -> dalingrin's 1.1ghz oc kernel -> reboot success > checking on symlinks -> sudden auto-reboot to stock -> reboot done -> HC loads ok -> blacks out, unable to reboot anymore.

Has anyone else encountered this scenario? In my searches I've not come across anyone with this failure. Is it possible that my CPU has fried due to the OC to 1.1?

P.S. Sam, not able to try your methods as I'm not able to even boot anything from the SD.
 
Last edited:
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LocalStain

New member
Jul 21, 2010
1
0
I'mm in the same boat (nook) tried everything here as well as a similar guide on androidtablets and nothing. I can't boot at all. No power on, just a black screen. Any help at all would be welcome.
 

nebke

Member
Sep 14, 2010
28
1
It took a couple times of me re-writing the CWR image before I could get it to boot. Now I have it booting into CWR but when I flash the 1.0.1 recovery the nook refuses to boot. Any ideas?

edit: I am removing the micro SD before I reboot
edit 2: sam's repartition boot FTW....I think
 
Last edited:

faceman66

Senior Member
Feb 3, 2011
125
82
I'mm in the same boat (nook) tried everything here as well as a similar guide on androidtablets and nothing. I can't boot at all. No power on, just a black screen. Any help at all would be welcome.

Glad you found this, it was my next recommendation after the charge break.

Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using Tapatalk
 

carmicp

Member
Feb 12, 2011
18
8
How about a dummies guide to the dummies guide for the dummies?

Or, better, WTF! ITS BRICKED!

Already did all the things suggested. Twice. Purchased last Nook Color from Best Buy yesterday, brought it home, charged it to 100%, played with it and ran Auto-Nooter 2.12.25. When I plugged in the cable to boot, it came up with the battery low-wait 15min screen. (Battery was at 100%) Tried again, same thing. Re-flashed Auto-Nooter and tried again, black screen. Nothing. Bricked. What I do get is a black screen with a flash of backlight every 20 seconds or so. Tried to re flash Auto-Nooter and boot, nothing.

Today same story, just wasted 5 hours trying: Auto-Nooter, Clockwork Recovery image, Nookie-Froyo, complete restore-1.0.1.......nothing brings up any life in the nook.

Suggestions? (Ready to return......)
 

scorpiorc10

Member
Feb 12, 2011
10
1
Cant boot to SD

I am running the HC v4 flashed rom and I have tried numerous .img files. It is like it doest see the boot image I just created and boots into Honeycomb everytime? Any thoughts or help please sorry I am a noob.
 

RickOSidhe

Senior Member
Feb 2, 2011
54
15
Wake Forest
< snip >
Clockwork Recovery will begin flashing the stock image to your internal memory. After a few minutes, the process should complete and you will see a message that says 'Done. Installation Complete.' From here you should remove your sdcard and navigate back to the main menu. Select the 'Reboot Now' option.
< /snip >

After spending the better part of four hours trying to solve a fatal error with my reverted-to-stock NC, I ran across the fix for the problem.

First of all, the problem: After diagnosing a bad NC USB cable that was causing USB device mounting issues within Windows, I began to encounter a fatal error modal dialog that stated, "Your NOOKcolor encountered a problem that requires a system restart" at the home screen. No matter what I did in terms of formatting & re-imaging, the message remained. In an effort to fix it, I decided to restore to stock 1.1 using a bootable CWR SD image. After following the instructions to the letter, including formatting /System and /Data after shooting the stock 1.1 image onto the NC, the message persisted. I then attempted to back-rev to 1.01 and 1.0, with similar results.

I suspect that what happened to me was that during the process of diagnosing the USB cable issues, I booted from a uSD card that had AutoNooter 3.0 on it, and interrupted the process mid-stream, thus causing data or partition corruption. I'm not a Nook expert, so I'm not certain of this, but based on my general experience level, that's what it 'felt' like.

How did I finally recover? As a last step to the standard revert-to-stock process, after rebooting from CWR, I used a three-finger salute to reset the device. It was only after I did this that the fatal error disappeared.

Just thought that I'd post this in case anyone has a similar experience and is desperate for something else to try. :)

DS
 

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  • 22
    First off, I need to address credit where credit is due. All credit goes out to Samuelhalff, Nootered, thecubed, iomonster, Decad3nce and anyone else involved with any of the methods I will mention.

    As always, everything in this guide is completely at your own risk, I am not responsible for you messing up your device further nor am I responsible in the event that your Nook Color explodes and kills your cat, grandma, etc.


    The Fatal Black Screen:

    This is the issue where your Nook "refuses to boot up" usually after running Froyo (or possibly HC) off of your internal memory. This is usually caused by, but is not limited too, formatting your sdcard from within Froyo (or versions of HC prior to the flashable zip).

    99.99% of the time, this does not mean your Nook is bricked in any way, what simply happened is your boot partition has become corrupted. For you newbies out there, the boot partition is what allows your Nook Color to turn on. The boot partition contains the instructions for what your Nook Color needs to do in order to start up and run.

    The Fix:

    Thanks to the guys that developed this neat toy, the Nook is set to boot from the sdcard before booting from the internal memory. What this means is, your nook will first search for a boot partition on the sdcard before searching for a boot partition on your Nook's internal memory. Because of this, we are able to boot and run OS software directly from the SDcard. This is how we will be fixing your "bricked" Nook Color.

    First visit this link:

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=922870

    Download either the Rootpack, or the Clockwork Recovery image (1gb).

    Next visit this link and download the 1.0.0 or 1.0.1 restore to stock files:

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=914690

    From this link you should also download the very last zip on the page. It is titled-flashable boot repartition zip. or something of the like. If you followed all these steps and still nothing, I would recommend flashing this as it can fix a completely screwed boot partition.

    If you wish to instead restore to a pre-rooted 1.1, visit this link:

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=932145

    Once you have the either version of the bootable Clockwork Recovery (Rootpack or normal standard Clockwork Recovery) and a software version you would like to restore to, you must write your clockwork recovery to an sdcard to make it bootable in the Nook.

    In order to do this, you must use Win32DiskImager on Windows or the command line on Mac and Linux. Follow theses instructions for writing the file to an sdcard (substitute the Clockwork file in place of Nooter):

    http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_Rooting

    Once the image is done writing, open up your sdcard on your computer and copy whichever restore to stock zip you choose earlier onto the card.

    Now with your Nook Color unplugged from the computer, insert the sdcard and plug the Nook into the computer. Your screen should flash to life. After a short loading screen you will see a menu, using the volume keys, you are able to navigate up and down. Navigate down to the menu item that reads "mounts and storage." Navigate down and press "Format Data" then "Yes." Next do the same thing except format system. Using the power button to go back to a previous menu, return to the "mounts and storage" menu, make sure the sdcard is mounted. (If your sdcard is mounted, you will see the option to 'unmount /sdcard'. If it is not mounted you will see 'mount /sdcard'. In this case you would want to press the 'mount /sdcard' option in order to mount it. Again using the power button as the back button, navigate back to the main menu. You will see a menu item that reads "Install zip from sdcard." Select it. Now select 'choose zip from sdcard.' Now pick the zip you placed on the sdcard earlier. Scroll down to the 'Yes' option and select it. Clockwork Recovery will begin flashing the stock image to your internal memory. After a few minutes, the process should complete and you will see a message that says 'Done. Installation Complete.' From here you should remove your sdcard and navigate back to the main menu. Select the 'Reboot Now' option.

    Note: Sometimes after you see the 'Done. Installation Complete.' message, Clockwork will freeze up and you will be unable to navigate back to the main menu in order to reboot. If this is the case do a hard reboot (hold the power button for 15 or so seconds so the screen turns off, then hold the power button again till it turns on).

    Congratulations, you've unbricked your bricked Nook Color


    TO EVERYONE STILL HAVING PROBLEMS AFTER THIS, YOU MAY/SHOULD FLASH SAMUELHALFF'S REPARTITION ZIP MENTIONED EARLIER. (LOOK UP A FEW LINES, SAME LINK AS THE 1.0.0 AND 1.0.1 RESTORE TO STOCK ZIPS)


    UPDATE:


    IF YOUR STILL HAVING PROBLEMS, USE THIS LINK TO INSTALL 3.0.1.0 ON INTERNAL EMMC AND THEN BOOT TO IT.

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=958748

    note: to do this, you need to be able to atleast boot to the N screen.

    MORE UPDATE:

    This link has an updated bootable CWM version on it with ext4 support. Write this to your sdcard, format /system and /data and flash CM7.


    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=959240

    If anyone has anything to add to this tutorial, post here or IM me and I will edit the OP.
    2
    Sorry. But if the boot partition is corrupt these files wont suffice. You'll need to flash my boot repartiton zip..

    Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
    2
    AWESOME THREAD!!!

    Saved my Nook yesterday from the dreaded no-boot black-screen of death!!!

    Thank you!!!

    The only thing I'd add to the OP is to mention to people what happens if your Nook won't boot even when plugging into USB:

    For me, I was going crazy for a good 15 minutes until I held down the power button for about 10 seconds. THEN and only then it magically decided to boot from the plugged-into-PC trick. I heard the Windows "USB-detected" sound and then saw the booting animation on screen, thank god!!!

    Anyway, a cliff's notes guide to what I did to bring my NC back to life:

    • Burn Monster's 8 GB bootable CWR (I have an 8 GB card) to microSD using WinDiskImager. (The 128 mb "Rootpack" has no space for a stock ROM.) [XDA Thread Link] [Usage Instructions Link]

    • Download the stock 1.0.1 image ("nook-complete-restore-1.0.1.zip") from this thread ( [RECOVERY][ZIP] Nook Color Restore to stock ) and transfer it to the microSD card.

    • Put the microSD in the Nook, plug into PC's usb, and then (if it won't boot) hold the power button for 10 seconds until you hear the PC "usb-connected" sound.

    • Mounts & Storage -> Wipe system, wipe data, wipe boot. CWR will crash -> hold power button to turn off -> turn back on -> auto-boot into CWR -> flash 1.0.1 stock zip.

    • After that I was able to boot into the B&N software and register All was good :)

    • Then I burned the Rootpack onto my microSD and booted my NC into that. I flashed the root zip, and then the gapps zip. Rebooted, logged into YouTube and you know the rest (see "Monster" page for rest of instructions).

    Anyway, hope that helps anyone else with a cliffs' notes version of what I did. Thanks again! :)






    [Edit]: If anyone wants to know what I did to cause the black screen of death, here's what happened:

    - I tried to restore from a CWR backup which turned into a never-ending boot loop.
    - Then I attempted to Autonooter hoping that would fix the boot partition, which resulted in it sitting there for 15 minutes (perhaps it got stuck?), so I turned off my NC and then that's when it went into black screen of death mode.
    - I'm not sure if the crappy CWR backup messed things up or interrupting the Autonooter did it (which was definitely stuck anyway, perhaps due to the bad CWR restore).

    Anyway, I'd caution against restoring from CWR backups... All I can say is thank GOD for Titanium Backup and batch backup/restoring of apps. Once I was back in 1.0.1 I was able to restore all my apps within minutes to exactly how I left them. Everyone out there, buy Titanium Backup, it's well worth the money!!! (Or just use the free one and manually install apps one by one. In either case, Titanium Backup is the best app ever!!!)
    1
    Hi, thanks for putting this topic up and of course full credit goes to everyone who's been so helpful replying to bricked NC posts.

    After 4 days of searching and trying to revive my bricked NC (tried the conventional 8 reboots, power+n methods), I believe I have a unique situation where I:

    1) Can't load 128MB/1GB CWR SD ('loading' word appears, then black screen of death appears)
    --tested a variation of power + n + up/down arrows (for 2-3mins or more)
    --used PC USB / AC to turn device on
    --used a Sandisk 256MB/2GB/4GB-CL4 and Transcend 8GB-CL6 uSDs
    --used Win7, Ubuntu, EASEUS Partition Master, SD Formatter and another Android device to format the uSDs
    --burned the .img using both Win32DiskImager and WinImage

    2) Can't load any Froyo/HC SD roms (same results as above)
    --same conditions as above
    --plus tried every available version of NookieFroyo/HC out there

    3) Can't access ADB at any given point. devmgmt.msc does not show any hardware with any VID of 2080. When the NC is powered on by USB, windows detects it and chimes, but that connection disconnects instantly.

    Simply put, how it happened was:
    OOBE -> BN 1.01 -> Autonooter -> block OTA -> Root + gApps > Rom Mgr'd CWR into eMMC -> HC v4 SD -> gApps -> manual su -> dalingrin's 1.1ghz oc kernel -> reboot success > checking on symlinks -> sudden auto-reboot to stock -> reboot done -> HC loads ok -> blacks out, unable to reboot anymore.

    Has anyone else encountered this scenario? In my searches I've not come across anyone with this failure. Is it possible that my CPU has fried due to the OC to 1.1?

    P.S. Sam, not able to try your methods as I'm not able to even boot anything from the SD.
    1
    I've tried everything listed using the OPs directions with no joy.

    After plugging in the NC, the screen flashes then the word "Loading..." appears for a second or so, then disappears and then repeats once more. After it disappears the second time, the word ANDROID appears in the upper left corner with a blinking cursor next to it.

    Then nothing...

    ADB is not working on the NC, but it is working my computer as I tried it with my Vibrant and the adb device cmd respond with my phone's id.

    All of this occurred after I installed HC.

    It appears as though the SD is not getting read before going to the NC.

    Suggestions?

    A) Which file did you use to burn onto the microSD card?

    B) Try re-burning the microSD card with the same file, or try a different one.