Shield Kill Switch

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Babaganoush31

Member
Apr 3, 2015
10
7
Hi figured we could use our own separate thread to discuss the killswitch Nvidia supposedly put in place on our old Shield tablets and see what has worked for those who have received their replacement units. If you've gotten a replacement please share if your old unit has been destroyed or not...if not please let others know what the old tablet has on it or what you did to attempt to prevent the brick! Thanks for helping us all out here!
 

xperia64

Member
Mar 19, 2012
40
5
play.google.com
As I said in the other thread, I received my new one, and my old one is still usable on rooted latest stock, unlocked bootloader, with the only app missing being Chrome for some reason. Nothing else disabled or uninstalled. Maybe they haven't turned on the server that sends the kill signal yet.
 

kongha

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
249
64
If the company wants the other device back (dunno if that is true), why keep it? You are breaking a deal while making it less appeling for companies to do this type of thing...+its a saftey risk for you and others around you.
 
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Shorty88jr

Senior Member
Jun 6, 2015
73
17
Nvidia said they do not need it back

ManualG on the Nvidia forum said they are not requiring you send it back
"We don't require you to send it back to us to receive the replacement and are collecting them only to make it less of a burden on everyone else who dont have drop off locations like that close by." So you can keep it if you want ?
 

scorpionx

Member
May 9, 2006
37
2
16 gig tablet, got it this morning. My original is still functional, it was stock rom, rooted with xposed on it. That's as much modding as I've done with mine.
 

nex86

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2010
632
48
does anyone have more informations about this killswitch?
Is it a service that needs to be deactivated or deleted or a kernel feature?

I just want to make sure it doesn't kill my old tablet when I set up the new one.
Alternatively, I could just flash an older factory image or custom firmware.
 

chicodelta

Member
Nov 5, 2009
48
3
From what I've read on other forums (i.e. reddit) most have indicated that the killswitch is embedded in the bootloader and will activated on the defective tablet once the replacement tablet is registered on the nvidia side. I of course cannot confirm for this to be the case but just sharing what others have reported.
 

nex86

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2010
632
48
yea but it must communicate with the server then and that only works when Android is booted up and all communication drivers loaded.
So there must be another service running in Android that gives this information to the bootloader to kill itself.
 

nex86

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2010
632
48
Will try that. BL from Update 2.2.2 should be fine?
actually if I flash it back to 2.2.2 it should be fine too since the changes to 3.X aren't that big
 

chicodelta

Member
Nov 5, 2009
48
3
bluegizmo83 is right, however the discussion has to start somewhere so kudos to the OP for getting this thread started.
 
bluegizmo83 is right, however the discussion has to start somewhere so kudos to the OP for getting this thread started.

Oh I completely agree. I'm all for conversion. But I don't want people to get the wrong impression, like trying to flash an older bootloader. That may stop the deactivation, but it also may not. Its only speculation at this point.
 

scorpionx

Member
May 9, 2006
37
2
Oh I completely agree. I'm all for conversion. But I don't want people to get the wrong impression, like trying to flash an older bootloader. That may stop the deactivation, but it also may not. Its only speculation at this point.

Well said. I apologize if my post came through as a solution. I was only mentioning that as folks had mentioned a possible bootloader lock.
 

Shorty88jr

Senior Member
Jun 6, 2015
73
17
I think the old bootloaders are in the old full OTA's someone correct me if I'm wrong. You can also extract them from the full OTA
 

Babaganoush31

Member
Apr 3, 2015
10
7
Any thoughts on whether flashing CM would serve as a way to circumvent the killswitch? I see that release for this tablet is already available http://forum.xda-developers.com/shi...-cyanogenmod-12-shield-tablet-lte-na-t3055043. Thoughts?

To me, this is the most logical place to start at this point! Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but unlocking the bootloader, rooting, and installing a custom rom seem like a good starting place. If the stock devices are definitely getting wiped anyways, any changes we make now can't hurt the chances of keeping it alive!
 

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