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During an OTA update the tablet went into a boot loop. I let this continue a few times until I was fairly certain it wasn't going to resolve itself. I never had a reason to unlock the tablet or use ADB so I never enabled those options from the developer menu. I am able to see the device from a PC using fastboot, same from my linux laptop. When I attempt to flash anything I get permission issues, same with the oem unlock command. ADB devices shows nothing, so I'm not sure if there's a way to update or sideload something or if I'm just screwed.

I've done a good amount of research and found people who have said they were able to sideload, but I'm not sure if ADB is like the unlock option -that it has to be enabled from inside the OS? (Aside: Why would they do this?!?) Unlocking isn't an option it seems, so are there any other workarounds people are aware of? Is there a way to unlock or enable ADB from the recovery menus?

Note: need help Nexus 9 stuck in endless reboot loop does not work for me as fastboot sees the device, but ADB does not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is the worst flagship device I've ever used and seriously has me considering an iPad... With much angst. I just can't believe a device that is less than 2 years old that gets bricked on an update, that I would have to pay to repair and not have a tablet for weeks. Just not acceptable.

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Steve the Maker
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  • "I get permission issues" Could you be more specific? What actually happens? – Dan Hulme May 09 '16 at 15:54
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot oem unlock ... (bootloader) ability is 0 (bootloader) Permission denied for this command! OKAY [ 0.009s] finished. total time: 0.010s – Steve the Maker May 09 '16 at 15:57
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot flashing unlock ... FAILED (remote: not allowed) finished. total time: 0.003s – Steve the Maker May 09 '16 at 15:58
  • @DanHulme Any specific commands you want me to try to show the output? – Steve the Maker May 09 '16 at 15:59
  • You don't need to unlock the bootloader to flash an official image. Have you tried that? – Dan Hulme May 09 '16 at 16:03
  • I believe I did and got an error that the file was missing android-info.txt or something like that. Do you know what official image I should use? I was in the process of installing the may security ota. Other than that it was up to date. – Steve the Maker May 09 '16 at 16:05
  • @DanHulme Yeah, I tried with that image: C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot flashall -p volantis-ota-npc91k-42fc9c84.zip error: could not load android-info.txt: No such file or directory – Steve the Maker May 09 '16 at 17:11
  • What is your priority at this moment? Do you want to save data or get the tablet back to usable state? For the former, forget it. For the latter, why haven't you tried "Wipe data/factory reset" from recovery mode yet? An OTA update is a dirty flash (doesn't wipe userdata) so once shouldn't be surprised that the existing userdata could be causing issues. BTW, unless you've a custom recovery (which you don't) you shouldn't bother about adb at all. It is of no use now. Since the bootloader is locked, you wouldn't be able to flash factory image using fastboot either so go with factory reset. – Firelord May 09 '16 at 17:37
  • BTW, I want to make sure of something: did the OTA update flash successfully? That is, when you restarted your device to install the update did it automatically boot into recovery mode or not? If it did, did it successfully install the update there? If yes, then there is no point in side-loading anything so don't bother with that. – Firelord May 09 '16 at 17:40
  • @Firelord Not concerned with data. Tried factory reset first thing after it boot looped. It boots to a dead android image and says no command. I got a little farther with fastboot, had to get all the files in the right places, but it still doesn't appear to be flashing correctly due to permissions. I'll post images when I get back home. – Steve the Maker May 09 '16 at 18:50
  • After the no command, did you follow: Press & hold the Power button. While holding Power, press the Volume up button once. Then release the Power button per https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4596836?hl=en? – Firelord May 09 '16 at 18:53
  • After seeing this new question, I believe OTA update messed up with system partition as well. Anyhow, you should still try the factory reset. – Firelord May 09 '16 at 22:28
  • solution: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/144481/how-to-unbrick-nexus-9-after-an-ota-update/144734#144734 – Alécio Carvalho May 12 '16 at 15:31
  • Is the update the May security update.I am thinking if I should run that update on my Nexus 9 – Suici Doga May 13 '16 at 09:48

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