Jonathan Lalou's blog

Posts Tagged ‘ADB’

Case

After rooting my Nexus S, I tried to flash the ROM, in order to replace the genuine GingerBread with a CyanoGen ehanced version. This worked pretty well, but for a amazing reason I do not know, I missed the so-called “GApps”: GMail, GMaps, etc., this way a Nexus S (or any other Android-driven mobile device) losing any interest. Then, it was the worst catastrophic epiphenomenon I might fear: the Nexus was “bricked”. Indeed, the splash screen, with the Android robot on a skate, did not stop from looping…

Brick, Block and Pitfall

I tried to restore CyanoGen, wipe the memory, etc., but nothing efficient. At last I decided to restore a genuine Gingerbread version.
Here is the puzzling block that stands on the road: a Nexus S does not contain an actual (I mean physical) SD memory card. The “virtual” SD card must be mounted via ADB. But ADB does not recognize the device, since the Nexus is “bricked”. The only access to the Nexus appears to be FastBoot… which does not recognize the /sdcard folder. And the circle is complete.

As you understand, the key is to be able to mount /sdcard, which is sufficient to copy a ROM, and then apply it as a regular update.

Fix

Here we assume you have a minimal knownledge on how to use ADB and FastBoot:

• Download recovery-clockwork-3.0.2.4-crespo.img
• Download GingerBread original ROM: da8206299fe6.signed-soju-ota-121341.da820629.zip
• Switch on your Nexus in recovery mode (sound up and on/off buttons at the same time)
• Select “recovery“
• Connect it to your PC
• On the PC: fastboot boot ~/recovery-clockwork-3.0.2.4-crespo.img
• Your phone reboots with a yellow on black console.
  • Select “mounts and storage” > “mount usb storage”
• Now your PC detects the phone as a regular mass storage device.
  • Copy GingerBread ROM to /sdcard folder.
  • Rename it as update.zip (optionnal, easier for the next step)
• On the PC: fastboot boot ~/recovery-clockwork-3.0.2.4-crespo.img
• On the phone,
  • select the option “apply update“
  • select update.zip
• Restart the phone
• If the phone freezes a long time, shut it down and switch it on again
• Now the regular Nexus splash screen should be OK

I faced a very embarassing situation: trying to root my Nexus S, I had to unlock the device. My Android SDK was succesfully installed, the drivers too. The device was succesfully recognized by ADB… But fastboot devices failed to detect the device. From this point, it was impossible to unlock the device by launching fastboot oem unlock. I tried many basic solutions, but none worked.

At last, I found this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=875580

When ADB works but not FastBoot, the solution is to… install PdaNet. Amazing ; but efficient.

Many thanks to BigRick10 from XDA forums!

This post describes how to install and play with a emulator of GingerBread (Android 2.3)  device on your desktop (or laptop) computer:

• go to this page, download Android SDK related to your system.
• unzip / install it, let’s say in $android-sdk-home
• launch Android SDK Manager (with $android-sdk-home\SDK Manager.exe under Windows, $android-sdk-home/android on other systems)
• on the left panel, select Available Packages, and select Android Repository packages you would like to install, and possibly other third party add-ons.
• go to Virtual Devices >
  • New >
  • give a name, for instance “GingerBread” >
  • Target “Android 2.3.3…” >
  • SD Car Size: 2MiB >
  • leave other options >
  • Create AVD
• wait a little…
• still in Virtual Devices panel, select the AVD you have just created (called hereGingerBread) > Start
• wait… a lot
• enjoy!

EDIT: I could not resist and I have installed HoneyComb, too 😉