Nexus 7 - Flashing back to stock, a.k.a. what to do when it all goes horribly wrong

[Guest PaulOBrien]

So you've got your shiny new Nexus 7, you've been tinkering with it and, disaster of disasters, the thing won't boot! You can't get into recovery for whatever reason, you didn't make a backup and - oh woe - you are out of ideas!

Fear not, as a Google device it's super easy to recover!

Simply...

• Download the factory images from here
  
• Linux / Mac - run the flash-all script
  
• Windows - run the commands from inside the flash-all script
  
• Profit

Simple eh? :)

P

[Guest Highland3r]

Thank you ;) <3

[Guest timfimjim]

This should be pinned :)

[Guest TingTang]

This should be pinned :)

Agreed.

[Guest jtc42]

Definely should be pinned. Paul you are just the best! Much as I love XDA for the sheer amount of content, I find that if I actually want to get something done, Paul got me covered!

[Guest player911]

Thanks Paulie!

I've somehow bricked my N7 so good that all I get is a APX driver. The Tablet itself is completely dead. I've had a G2x and TF101, which use NVFlash. I've tried some commands and it says Unknown device, so at least it is seeing it (so there IS hope!).

I think it is something to do with the bootloader.

[Guest Phil Lee]

I found this guide to be very well laid out and easier to follow than Paul's brief, but accurate version:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1781250

[Guest nico1375]

if a device was encrypted, does it wipe everything, leaving an unencrypted, as new, device?

[Guest vlad7777]

Hi,

I downloaded the factory image for my Nexus (which is "takju" model).

The downloaded file is a *tgz archive - when I extracted it - it has several files - including the bootloader and all th eother files needed to flash.

My Nexus is already bootloader unlocked and has fastboot.

Should I then only use the takju *.zip file and put in the root directory of the device in case I want to flash it using the "Volume down-Power" keys to get into bootloader and then restore from ZIP?

Or do I have to go through wiping clean in order to restore stock ROM?

Thanks in advance

Vladimir