[How To] Manually Unbrick / Restore Your Nexus 7 to it's Factory State (Windows)

[jntdroid]

If you are stuck in a bootloop, or simply need to return your Nexus 7 back to it's "out of the box" state, this should do the trick. As I stated in the root thread, this is simply meant to add another option to these methods. Wug's toolkit is awesome, and I'd recommend it to anyone, especially those that don't like to mess so much with the nitty-gritty details.

First off, if (before you unlocked / rooted / flashed whatever) you made a nandroid backup of your stock system, skip all of this and go to the second post.

I'm making some assumptions and leaving a few details out since you're already rooted or rom'd most likely. If you need details on ensuring your drivers are up to speed, and making sure adb/fastboot are good, check the root thread here.

Files you need / initial setup:

• N7_Restore.zip (mirror 1) (mirror 2)
• Unzip this file to your desktop - it should create a N7_Restore directory with 6 files.
• Connect your phone and ensure USB Debugging is enabled (assuming you're not bootlooping or bricked - if so, ignore this)
• Open a command prompt and navigate to the N7_Restore directory on your desktop. Windows 7 users, you can shift+right-click on the directory, and then choose "open command window here".

Instructions:

• Get your phone into the bootloader - there are a few options...
• If you're bricked and powered down, skip down 4 steps to the option starting with "Either way..."
• If you're bootlooping, do a "battery pull" - hold the power button for 10+ seconds (I'd give it a lot more to avoid the next option). Once it starts to reset, hold down the volume-up and volume-down buttons simultaneously. If you get the timing right, I believe it should get you into the bootloader.
• Depending on the status of your phone, you might be able to plug it into your computer while it's bootlooping and input adb reboot bootloader (green text only) into the command prompt.
• Lastly, you could do a literal battery pull if you're really stuck, at your own risk of course.
• Either way, from a powered off state, hold down volume-up and volume-down simultaneously, and then press/hold the power button.
• If you're not bricked, simply input adb reboot bootloader into the command prompt previously opened. Or however you see fit to get into the BL (some apps can do the same).
• Now you'll need to input the following in this order:
  
  
  

  • fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-3.34.img
  • fastboot reboot-bootloader
  • fastboot -w update image-nakasi-jrn84d.zip
  • When that finishes flashing, if it doesn't reboot on it's own, input fastboot reboot-bootloader - if it does reboot on it's own, you're good to go.
  
  
• If you're simply needing to unbrick, and don't care about re-locking the bootloader, then you're done. However, if you want it back to it's factory "out of the box" status, you need to re-lock the bootloader, which is very simple...
• Get back into the bootloader and input fastboot oem lock - and you're done.

OTA Updates if you want them:
We've had two maintenance patches since the N7 was released... if you're wanting to apply those, they can be flashed through CWM or likely through stock recovery - but I've never done it through stock recovery so I can't say with 100% certainty. Here are the links to those:

• OTA #1: JRN84D to JRO03C (mirror 1) (mirror 2)
• OTA #2: JRO03C to JRO03D (mirror 1) (mirror 2)

[jntdroid]

So if you made a nandroid backup of your pure stock system, before you rooted and flashed anything custom, you're pretty well off and don't need to mess with any of the steps above.

First off, you'll need to be able to get into recovery. If you can't, then you can forget this and go through post 1 above.

Once you're in recovery, simply restore the nandroid of your stock system. Once that's done, all you need to take care of is recovery, which is potentially extremely simple.

Recovery option #1 - there is a file in the /system directory called recovery-from-boot.p - if that file is untouched, every time you boot up, it will ensure that you're recovery is the stock .img, and not a custom one. To test this, reboot after restoring your stock nandroid, then power down and get back into the bootloader, then into recovery again. If a green android with a red exclamation pops up, you're good to go.

Recovery option #2 - download this file (mirror 1) (mirror 2), put it in the same directory as your adb/fastboot tools, reboot into the bootloader, and in the command prompt input fastboot flash recovery recovery.img - that's the stock recovery.img from the stock system .zip in the first post.

Most likely option #1 will work, but if you need to manually flash the stock recovery for any reason, option #2 is it.

Lastly, if you want to re-lock the bootloader, simply get into the bootloader, and in the command prompt input fastboot oem lock - and you're done.

[Ampclamp]

Thanks for putting this together for us, great job.

[fnmetal]

Thank you sir .. !

[fung58745]

i use the same method u give but dont work
say error

help my nexus cant boot just can boot in recovery and bootloader

[jntdroid]

Did you flash the bootloader first? (the fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-3.34.img command)?

The boot and recovery .sig errors are normal. The system.img isn't normal. You might try re-downloading the file as the system.img is definitely in there.

So first make sure you flashed the bootloader. Second try re-downloading - I'll put up a link to just the nakasi .zip file once it's done uploading.

edit: link to .zip: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oa3fsjrrj3...asi-jrn84d.zip

[fung58745]

try tonight

[fung58745]

help why ????

[fung58745]

i flash bootloader first after update the rom
but error like this

[fung58745]

help
MY BOOTLOADER PICTURE