Factory Restore - Archive does not contain... Help.

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Mr. Monkey

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
139
5
Sandy, Utah
Hey guys. My brother got himself a Nexus 7 which is his first Android, and he was playing with some tweaks or mods or something and tried flashing via recovery and has messed something up. I have tried using the Toolkits as well as doing it manually with fastboot. I am able to flash a recovery and use that, but lose it after boot (the permanent option doesn't seem to stick). But, when I try to do a factory restore with the google image, it doesnt matter if i'm doig it manual or with the toolkit, the all respond with a "archive does not contain... " boot.sig, recovery.sig, or system.sig. Here is my output:
C:\Google Nexus 7 ToolKit>fastboot-toolkit.exe -w update "C:\Users\monkey\nakasi-
jro03d\image-nakasi-jro03d.zip"
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'
--------------------------------------------
getvar:version-bootloader FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.836s

Even if I do them manually, one at a time:
C:\Google Nexus 7 ToolKit>fastboot-toolkit.exe flash boot nakasi-jro03d\image-na
kasi-jro03d\boot.img
sending 'boot' (4890 KB)...
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.858s

I have also tried pushing a stock rom .zip to the /sdcard and it doesnt seem to make it either.

Feels like internal memory is corrupt. Any thoughts or ideas I can try? Also... should any custom recovery allow adb access? TWRP or CWM Touch don't seem to work.
 

Mr. Monkey

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
139
5
Sandy, Utah
Update... Just rebooted into bootloader and tried:
C:\Google Nexus 7 ToolKit>fastboot-toolkit.exe -w update "C:\Users\monkey\nakasi-jro03d-factory-e102ba72\nakasi-
jro03d\image-nakasi-jro03d.zip"
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'
--------------------------------------------
Bootloader Version...: 3.34
Baseband Version.....: N/A
Serial Number........: 015d256898080e19
--------------------------------------------
checking product...
OKAY [ 0.031s]
checking version-bootloader...
OKAY [ 0.016s]
sending 'boot' (4890 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.608s]
writing 'boot'...
OKAY [ 0.390s]
sending 'recovery' (5234 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.655s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 0.343s]
sending 'system' (438656 KB)...
FAILED (unknown status code)
finished. total time: 3.292s

That's the most progress I can get. System seems to fail though. Tried multiple times.
 

Mr. Monkey

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
139
5
Sandy, Utah
Another note... If I boot into Recovery and adb push a file to the /sdcard, the transfer looks like it completes, but when I go to flash zip in recovery it gives me an E: Can't mount /sdcard/. Same thing if I go to the mounts and storage option and try to mount /sdcard.

Any ideas guys? Never seen this before.
 

manasgirdhar

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2009
1,045
399
Manchester
Extract the zip.You will get another file..extract that...keep extracting all the files till you get system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc ..then boot into bootloader and Manually flash all the img files

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

etc.
 

comminus

Senior Member
Jul 29, 2011
640
626
Vancouver
Update... Just rebooted into bootloader and tried:
C:\Google Nexus 7 ToolKit>fastboot-toolkit.exe -w update "C:\Users\monkey\nakasi-jro03d-factory-e102ba72\nakasi-
jro03d\image-nakasi-jro03d.zip"
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'
--------------------------------------------
Bootloader Version...: 3.34
Baseband Version.....: N/A
Serial Number........: 015d256898080e19
--------------------------------------------
checking product...
OKAY [ 0.031s]
checking version-bootloader...
OKAY [ 0.016s]
sending 'boot' (4890 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.608s]
writing 'boot'...
OKAY [ 0.390s]
sending 'recovery' (5234 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.655s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 0.343s]
sending 'system' (438656 KB)...
FAILED (unknown status code)
finished. total time: 3.292s

That's the most progress I can get. System seems to fail though. Tried multiple times.

The "archive does not contain *.sig" messages are normal. The FAILED messages on sending the system image is disconcerting. Use the platform tools from Google which includes fastboot. http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r16-windows.zip

There is a .bat file in the factory image archive that you can run to return to stock. If you don't want to run that, at least open it up and manually run the commands in sequence.
 

Mr. Monkey

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
139
5
Sandy, Utah
The "archive does not contain *.sig" messages are normal. The FAILED messages on sending the system image is disconcerting. Use the platform tools from Google which includes fastboot. http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r16-windows.zip

There is a .bat file in the factory image archive that you can run to return to stock. If you don't want to run that, at least open it up and manually run the commands in sequence.

I think that's the same thing I've been trying. I did download Google's platform-tools and try with that and still got the same error. Seems like I can't write to /system. Can't even erase it:
c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe flash system C:\android\nakasi-jro03d\ima
ge-nakasi-jro03d\system.img
sending 'system' (438656 KB)...
FAILED (command write failed (Invalid argument))
finished. total time: 0.094s

c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe erase system
erasing 'system'...
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.733s

c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe format system
formatting 'system' partition...
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.889s

What are my options? Flash stock recovery, re-lock bootloader and send it in for an RMA? Anyone else know what to try?
 
Last edited:

comminus

Senior Member
Jul 29, 2011
640
626
Vancouver
I think that's the same thing I've been trying. I did download Google's platform-tools and try with that and still got the same error. Seems like I can't write to /system. Can't even erase it:
c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe flash system C:\android\nakasi-jro03d\ima
ge-nakasi-jro03d\system.img
sending 'system' (438656 KB)...
FAILED (command write failed (Invalid argument))
finished. total time: 0.094s

c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe erase system
erasing 'system'...
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.733s

c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe format system
formatting 'system' partition...
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.889s

What are my options? Flash stock recovery, re-lock bootloader and send it in for an RMA? Anyone else know what to try?

Two more thoughts - 1. try updating drivers. 2. verify the sha1 hash of the factory image
 

Mr. Monkey

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
139
5
Sandy, Utah
Wow. Can't thank you guys enough. Thought this was toast. I ended up trying all of the above, haha. Even though I had done it several times. I tried multiple computers, multiple factory images, multiple programs, multiple USB ports. But somehow, maybe your encouragement, something helped. I'll watch it and make sure nothing seems fishy, because I don't know how in the world that worked.... but it did. Thank you very much.
 

combi06

Member
Apr 7, 2012
12
2
Extract the zip.You will get another file..extract that...keep extracting all the files till you get system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc ..then boot into bootloader and Manually flash all the img files

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

etc.

Hi there

I was having the same problem but when I try to flash the system.img (or the 'image-nasaki-jop40d.zip file too for that matter) I get the following error:

"error: cannot load 'system.img': Not enough space

I have done ALL the steps found in this guide without any issues until I get to that part

Help please my wife just gave me this N7 for christmas and I can't believe I may have just bricked it!! :(
 

wogus86

New member
Jul 19, 2010
3
0
My solution

I understand this is an old thread but I came across it when I was having the same issues earlier today.

Oddly, using the USB cable that came with the N7 seemed to fix the multiple "FAILED" I was getting.

Using my Samsung USB cable seemed to cause the issues.

Hope this can be a solution to others that may come by this thread by googling the issue.
 

vanesco

New member
Aug 5, 2010
3
0
Vienna
Extract the zip.You will get another file..extract that...keep extracting all the files till you get system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc ..then boot into bootloader and Manually flash all the img files

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

etc.

This one helped me!:good::good::good:

Thanks a lot.
 

MatyiFKBT

Senior Member
Oct 29, 2013
69
19
Budapest
Extract the zip.You will get another file..extract that...keep extracting all the files till you get system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc ..then boot into bootloader and Manually flash all the img files

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

etc.

Works, thanks. :good:
 

shap4th

New member
Jan 3, 2011
4
0
Unlock bootloader

Hey guys. My brother got himself a Nexus 7 which is his first Android, and he was playing with some tweaks or mods or something and tried flashing via recovery and has messed something up. I have tried using the Toolkits as well as doing it manually with fastboot. I am able to flash a recovery and use that, but lose it after boot (the permanent option doesn't seem to stick). But, when I try to do a factory restore with the google image, it doesnt matter if i'm doig it manual or with the toolkit, the all respond with a "archive does not contain... " boot.sig, recovery.sig, or system.sig. Here is my output:
C:\Google Nexus 7 ToolKit>fastboot-toolkit.exe -w update "C:\Users\monkey\nakasi-
jro03d\image-nakasi-jro03d.zip"
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'
--------------------------------------------
getvar:version-bootloader FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.836s

Even if I do them manually, one at a time:
C:\Google Nexus 7 ToolKit>fastboot-toolkit.exe flash boot nakasi-jro03d\image-na
kasi-jro03d\boot.img
sending 'boot' (4890 KB)...
FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
finished. total time: 0.858s

I have also tried pushing a stock rom .zip to the /sdcard and it doesnt seem to make it either.

Feels like internal memory is corrupt. Any thoughts or ideas I can try? Also... should any custom recovery allow adb access? TWRP or CWM Touch don't seem to work.

You need the bootloader to be unlock. First run the command " fastboot oem unlock " . It works flawlessly after that! Awesome!
 

alexadominic

New member
Dec 28, 2013
1
0
nexus 7 (mobile)

You need the bootloader to be unlock. First run the command " fastboot oem unlock " . It works flawlessly after that! Awesome!

Hi!

I bought a second hand nexus 7 rooted. I had a problem with updating os via wifi because it doesn't update. some kind a problem. I tried to do a hard reset hoping I could just restore the device manually but I messed up so I am now stuck with just a google logo and can only access bootloader with start, bootloader, restore and power off option. I don't know what to do. please help me. I am not a tech person but if you can give me a specific instructions, I know i can manage. i saw a lot off post here that they were able to restore their device so I have faith in this site and the members are highly recommended.

thank you in advance
 

gerno

Member
Oct 29, 2010
11
2
Extract the zip.You will get another file..extract that...keep extracting all the files till you get system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc ..then boot into bootloader and Manually flash all the img files

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

etc.

Thanks. This one works for my friend.

Same case, solved on spanish forum.

/showthread.php?t=748207 on htcmania(dot)com

*Note: damn spam filter
 
Last edited:
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deejaymojito

New member
Nov 17, 2014
1
4
Try this website. If you have any question ask me.

You will need to install files one by one.
SImply open flash bat file see what they are doing. and do same but one by one.
Flash bootloader and radio (radio does not appear on all devices, if it's not in your tgz, you don't need it)
fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader file name here>.img
fastboot flash radio <radio file name here>.img
After flashing the bootloader/radio, you need to reboot the bootloader as shown below, don't skip this step!
fastboot reboot-bootloader
Now you can move on to the rest of the files
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
NEXUS 9 ONLY - flash this as well
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
If you want to wipe cache and user data (full wipe), flash these
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
Finally, just reboot your device, and Android should start up.
fastboot reboot
 

kizzerd

Member
Jul 10, 2012
23
5
Similar issue, please help

I'm using ubuntu 14.10 LTS. I had the same issue arise so i listened reextracted (even though boot.img, system.img & recovery.img were within .zip but im still getting "critical error: extent_create_backing: calloc: Cannot allocate memory
Mmap:invalid argument
Cannot generate image
FAILED()"

Anyone has a suggestion?

---------- Post added at 11:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 PM ----------

So as my previous and maybe above msg said i was just about to attempt adb sideload to manually update to lollipop... From the bootloader i entered recovery... My nexus 4 shut down & got stuck @ wild new boot animation for lollipop. I waited 5 minutes while the fantastic yellow, red, blue & green orbs whizzed around, shut my 4 down & now "Android is upgrading... Optimizing app x of 68." How wild is this... But i still have to lock bootloader. Hopefully it doesnt screw anything up... I'll report back asap

---------- Post added 24th November 2014 at 12:19 AM ---------- Previous post was 23rd November 2014 at 11:49 PM ----------

So I relocked bootloader... Sent several test sms & so far so good. Wifi of course works, haven't tested bluetooth but ill report back. Boy I got lucky. No more linux for me... Jk
 
Everything You may need to install android 5.0.1

I'm writing this so that you all will not have to go through what I just experienced when trying to flash the android 5.0.1 OTA manual update. Here are some of the errors I've gotten out of and I will give you some tips to get fix these. I always seem to encounter issues that no one else has when flashing, so here we go.

Tip 1
1.)If you are trying to flash 5.0.1 (tip applies to any version) from the google website here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images ....Make sure your computer can handle ".tgz" files. This took me a day and a half to figure out. If you try to download one of the files off this website without the proper software to do so you will simply get a ".tgz" file that you cannot extract the necessary files from.

*The solution is to download winrar from http://www.win-rar.com/predownload.html?&L=0 this website. Once you do and run it the ".tgz" file will become a folder (icon should look like stacked books) and you can proceed to actually follow the instructions on the page where you downloaded the file from. I learned this the hard way.

Tip 2
If you dont really understand how to us the "ADB" tools or "SDK" and everything related sounds like a foreign language to you then watch this video: http://highonandroid.com/android-ro...r-android-in-a-bootloop-with-no-os-using-adb/. It will explain how to copy files to your device while in bootloop. Pay special attention to the part about making sure your drivers are set up correctly. Drivers always get me when I installs. This knowledge will transfer over to downloading any rom or factory image in the future.

Links for Moving files to your device while in recovery:

Here are the appropriate drivers for copying files while in recovery to the nexus 5:
http://downloadandroidrom.com/file/drivers/Android/usb_driver.zip

Here is the fastboot link: http://downloadandroidrom.com/file/tools/fastboot.zip


Tip 3
The way I installed android 5.0.1 was:

1.)I downloaded the file from the google developer website that i pasted at the top
2.)I moved that file to a folder named "root" that i created on my desktop
*In this folder i have chainfire auto root http://autoroot.chainfire.eu/ in case i need to re-root my phone, I have the adb and fastboot.zip folders in my root folder as well.
3.)I moved the folder inside the FASTBOOT folder and extracted the file that i got from the developer website here. Once this is down there is another

3.)I extract the files here. After you extract there should be another folder called "image-hammerhead-lrx22c.zip." I copied those files to the fastboot folder as well so that they are outside of the zip file. I did not remove the zip file once I copied the insides to the outside. Right or wrong this is what I did.

4.)I used the Command prompt to navigate to this directory. Watch the how to copy files video to see how to navigate using the "cd" command
*basically i typed "cd desktop" which means change directory to the desktop. Then i did "cd root"....then "cd fastboot" ...YOUR PATH MAY BE DIFFERENT.

5.)Once i was here i could follow more of the instructions on the developer website. I could run that "flash-all.bat" command to begin flashing the 5.0.1. In order to run this command you literally type "flash-all.bat."

6.)After it finished it said,

archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'

helpful links: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1992063

This was okay, what you dont want is falures. While 5.0.1 is being installed, if you notice it say failure in the place where everything else is saying "OKAY" you have a problem. One guy on that xda link said:

"Extract the zip.You will get another file..extract that...keep extracting all the files till you get system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc ..then boot into bootloader and Manually flash all the img files

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img"

You can type this into cmd and do each one by one and it may work.

7.)YOU MUST MAKE SURE TO EXTRACT THAT SECOND FOLDER inside the developer file! If you don't you will get failures because the program is looking for them. That's why manually installing them may work as well.

8.)IF YOU SEE THE ANDROID WITH NO LOADING BAR UNDERNEATH this does not mean that you are bricked. I thought it did and kept flashing 5.0.1 over and over and over again. Then i just waited a bit and my phone rebooted and i say the glorious dots rotating on my screen. I lived happily ever after.

9.)Once you are finished installing 5.0.1 you will loose root. Run that chainfire auto root program.You have to boot in to the bootloader screen...NOT RECOVERY...just the screen where you see the android and you can select "start" "recovery" etc. and open up that chainfire program and hit a key to start it. There are instructions on the actual program if you need help. If you are on the bootloader screen that i am talking about and you start the program it will "auto root" that is, automatically root your phone and thats that.

10.)Download root checker off the play store to see if you are actually rooted and have a blessed day. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joeykrim.rootcheck&hl=en

Let me know if you need further explanation. I'm no pro but I've failed in soooo many ways i probably could help ya out! Jesus loves you all!
 

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  • 23
    Extract the zip.You will get another file..extract that...keep extracting all the files till you get system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc ..then boot into bootloader and Manually flash all the img files

    fastboot flash boot boot.img
    fastboot flash system system.img
    fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

    etc.
    4
    Try this website. If you have any question ask me.

    You will need to install files one by one.
    SImply open flash bat file see what they are doing. and do same but one by one.
    Flash bootloader and radio (radio does not appear on all devices, if it's not in your tgz, you don't need it)
    fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader file name here>.img
    fastboot flash radio <radio file name here>.img
    After flashing the bootloader/radio, you need to reboot the bootloader as shown below, don't skip this step!
    fastboot reboot-bootloader
    Now you can move on to the rest of the files
    fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
    fastboot flash boot boot.img
    fastboot flash system system.img
    NEXUS 9 ONLY - flash this as well
    fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
    If you want to wipe cache and user data (full wipe), flash these
    fastboot flash cache cache.img
    fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
    Finally, just reboot your device, and Android should start up.
    fastboot reboot
    2
    Another note... If I boot into Recovery and adb push a file to the /sdcard, the transfer looks like it completes, but when I go to flash zip in recovery it gives me an E: Can't mount /sdcard/. Same thing if I go to the mounts and storage option and try to mount /sdcard.

    Any ideas guys? Never seen this before.
    2
    Update... Just rebooted into bootloader and tried:
    C:\Google Nexus 7 ToolKit>fastboot-toolkit.exe -w update "C:\Users\monkey\nakasi-jro03d-factory-e102ba72\nakasi-
    jro03d\image-nakasi-jro03d.zip"
    archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
    archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
    archive does not contain 'system.sig'
    --------------------------------------------
    Bootloader Version...: 3.34
    Baseband Version.....: N/A
    Serial Number........: 015d256898080e19
    --------------------------------------------
    checking product...
    OKAY [ 0.031s]
    checking version-bootloader...
    OKAY [ 0.016s]
    sending 'boot' (4890 KB)...
    OKAY [ 0.608s]
    writing 'boot'...
    OKAY [ 0.390s]
    sending 'recovery' (5234 KB)...
    OKAY [ 0.655s]
    writing 'recovery'...
    OKAY [ 0.343s]
    sending 'system' (438656 KB)...
    FAILED (unknown status code)
    finished. total time: 3.292s

    That's the most progress I can get. System seems to fail though. Tried multiple times.

    The "archive does not contain *.sig" messages are normal. The FAILED messages on sending the system image is disconcerting. Use the platform tools from Google which includes fastboot. http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r16-windows.zip

    There is a .bat file in the factory image archive that you can run to return to stock. If you don't want to run that, at least open it up and manually run the commands in sequence.
    2
    I think that's the same thing I've been trying. I did download Google's platform-tools and try with that and still got the same error. Seems like I can't write to /system. Can't even erase it:
    c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe flash system C:\android\nakasi-jro03d\ima
    ge-nakasi-jro03d\system.img
    sending 'system' (438656 KB)...
    FAILED (command write failed (Invalid argument))
    finished. total time: 0.094s

    c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe erase system
    erasing 'system'...
    FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
    finished. total time: 0.733s

    c:\android\platform-tools>fastboot.exe format system
    formatting 'system' partition...
    FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
    FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))
    finished. total time: 0.889s

    What are my options? Flash stock recovery, re-lock bootloader and send it in for an RMA? Anyone else know what to try?

    Two more thoughts - 1. try updating drivers. 2. verify the sha1 hash of the factory image