yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Shield Tablet General] P00r:
I am in Quebec, Canada

Got that email yesterday about delay and today they sent me an email giving me the tracking for my tablet shipped using UPS but the tracking is a Fedex Number!

It seem to have shipped from Ontario, I suspect this will be a new tablet dropshipped from tekdata or similar national resseler.

This is probably creating delay between the shipment and the date a kiss of death update is triggered on the old tablet as they have to match the serial provided by the drop shipped with the RMA tablet serial. it will also probably cause error where they do not activate the kill if the company sending out the tablet is not good at paperwork...

This is what they say about the old table, "Please follow the included instructions to replace or dispose of your old tablet."

I may decide to change the battery, but never had any issue with this one so I am debating this, also I will probably delete the recovery so that update can't be flashed, the latest rom is prety stable for me!

I have placed the RMA the day it was announced
[Shield Tablet General] GMrMadrigal:
What if..!

Hi there, sorry if somebody have asked about this or even posted anything related but, what if after been rooted, and before have deleted the TegraOTA folder by absolutely It was backed up the apk inside, I mean, in the future the killer update could be deactivated and reinstalled the original TegraOTA.apk could still get updates through OTA! Does that have sense? Is it possible in any case? If not thanks by the way.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
[MENTION=4770957]GMrMadrigal[/MENTION]: Unless you flash a new stock firmware, TegraOTA will not come back, not even if you factory reset the tablet.

[MENTION=6199384]jgowell[/MENTION]: Here is a guide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--6OlA4agPo

I did not manage to restart the tablet from adb, but I closed it and pressed Vol Down + Power to go in bootloader and from there I installed the driver as explained.
[Shield Tablet General] subsss:
IT says Next OTA: ST - yy (urgent)

if u need to reboot to bootloader, why bother with ADB ? just press Volume down + Power when turning on the tablet
[Shield Tablet General] ToneTheOracle:
I have removed the OTA folder etc.. my Serial says Urgent now on the check page.. Tablet still working like a champ.. so far!
[Shield Tablet General] mannyi31:
Bogdacutu,

Do you have a list of IP's, URL and or domain names been used between the tablet and the NVIDIA servers that sends the killswitch? I got TegraOTA removed but I would like to configure rules for the tablet to block all comms between it and the server that sends the killswitch as an added layer of protection without killing all internet access (call me paranoid but it make me feel better this way). BTW thanks for your great efforts and giving this info out to everyone.
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
I saw that video earlier as well but it is for Windows 8 which is why I tried to stress in my reply I am running Windows 7. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought I needed to install the Nvidia drivers first on Windows for it to be able to recognize my device as the Shield tablet before proceeding to boot to bootloader to flash images/unlock bootloader, etc. I am confused why I would boot to bootloader first, then install Shield drivers on Windows
[Shield Tablet General] subsss:
[MENTION=6199384]jgowell[/MENTION]

you misunderstand adb and fastboot.

ADB : while android is running. Needs USB debugging mode activated

Fastboot : needs to be on bootloader

Even though the windows drivers are "the same" (they are ioncluded in the NVidia zip), they are 2 different devices, from a windows point of view

---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:50 PM ----------

Check [MENTION=4937137]Bogdacutu[/MENTION]'s page to test if your tablet has been flagged for the kill switch. It queries http://ota.nvidia.com (see the source code, he explained everything there). Could be another layer of safety to avoid some silent updates : blocking that DNS

Edit : it requires root to pull /system/etc/hosts
[Shield Tablet General] mannyi31:
So adding 0.0.0.0 ota.nvidia.com to the hosts file of the tablet should do the trick. If the hosts file prevails after updating versions of the OTA then it is recommended to make this change. Even if TegraOTA is reloaded by the update then the killswitch should still not work because the tablet would not be able to talk to its update server to download it.

However if NVidia decides to upgrade TegraOTA to use a different domain to download the killswitch on future OTA updates then it is good bye tablet time. I will probably end up using the hosts file and deleting TegraOTA just to make sure that does not happens. Not to mention doing my homework before I update the OTA...
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
you can't install partial OTAs if you have a modified system partition (which editing hosts would cause), and full OTAs replace everything on the system partition
[Shield Tablet General] Primetime_de:
My old tablet is bricked now. Can't understand why. I used the Xposed method that is mentioned here. It worked for some days and the block of the urgent OTA was also logged in Xposed.

Yesterday I tried to start the tablet but nothing happened, the tablet is recognized as "APX" in the Windows Device Mgr.
[Shield Tablet General] subsss:
Then slightly modifying the system partition is the best way not to get any OTA ! minor or major OTA, whichever ! Unless, as you said in your very first post, some updates don't do a system check and "force" their own install. Anyway, i guess 2 tricks (hosts + tegraota) are better than one ?
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
no, the yy OTA doesn't check the system partition at all. I was referring to normal Android upgrades
[Shield Tablet General] mannyi31:
Ok, so if I do the Hosts file edit + deleting the TegraOTA and would like to update the OS I would update using a full OTA update. Afterwards I would re-edit the hosts file to block NVIDIA and delete the new instance of TegraOTA.
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
You need to delete /system/app/TegraOTA (the entire folder).
[Shield Tablet General] Shorty88jr:
Ok I can easily do that. You are awesome not only did you find out how to stop the brick but you also fixed a security flaw
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
APX drivers are available, but they aren't of much use, since nvflash requires the SBK which only Nvidia has. (and afaik wheelie doesn't work on our device, and even if it did, wheelie requires the device to work first so that it can get some blob from it)
[Shield Tablet General] sinichi21:
so just delete the tegraOTA.apk right then that's it no more anything else
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
Yes (forgot to mention that on KitKat system apps don't each have their own folder)
[Shield Tablet General] Dashwood Foxe:
Not even Kali Linux or GRUB? If you'd like, I can throw my tablet into APX mode and see if I can get Kali to recognize (I find it hard for kali to not recognize anything since the distro can recognize a piece of rock and get it somehow to run.)
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
GRUB is a Linux bootloader that doesn't really have anything to do with our device (since first off it doesn't run on our device, and second, even if it did, you can't flash it because you can't get into fastboot), and Kali is just a Linux distro with some "hacking" tools preinstalled. So no, not really.
[Shield Tablet General] Dashwood Foxe:
Well worst comes to worst, I use my new tablet.. and seal away my old one until the "OTA death package" ceases distribution.
[Shield Tablet General] bluegizmo83:
Is there any way to get QuickCharge 2.0 working again on the new tablets? Ever since the 5.1.1 update from Nvidia on the old tablet (and now on the new tablet running 5.1.1) my quickcharge 2.0 charger is not charging at the faster rate anymore.
[Shield Tablet General] Shorty88jr:
So this just deletes the file that contains the stuff for OTA updates which stops the kill switch correct? If it only removes the files but does not keep them from being installed what keeps Nvidia from updating a app for the tablet say the shield hub for example to add the files back to the tablet then kill the tablet?
[Shield Tablet General] Dashwood Foxe:
I believe Bogdacutu mentioned this feature was disabled since was it... 2.0? He looked into the source code of sorts which included a devnote from nvidia mentioning that QC was disabled to keep batteries from ballooning.
[Shield Tablet General] bluegizmo83:
That could very well be.. Before the recall was announced I beleieve I was still running 2.0 or earlier, and then when I updated for recall is when I lost quickcharge... My battery never got even warm when using it though.
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
If your old tablet was already hit by the OTA, it's too late

Permissions. Theoretically, other apps don't have the permission to just download and install OTAs whenever they want.
[Shield Tablet General] sinichi21:
Thanks man your right I have forgot that on 5.0 and up all the system apk have there respective forlder now, I just rooted with king root 4.5 now with breezed and delete the whole folder tegraOTA folder along with the apk inside it. Thanks hope we are right about this and preserve our tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] koop1955:
[MENTION=4937137]Bogdacutu[/MENTION], thank you for all the work and research that you have put into this.

Great work.
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
Not sure of the exact version where it was disabled, but in any case here's the kernel commit that confirms it: http://nv-tegra.nvidia.com/gitweb/?...it;h=1d4f619763d3366e803a99927dbb80e751147641
[Shield Tablet General] Dashwood Foxe:
Old tablet still functional and kicking, I flashed your "fix" as a preventative measure. just in case. I may power down this tablet and retire her until a later time when it's safe.

Great work by the way getting this looked at with such attention to details.

Now if we can get a hold of the SBK... or someone talented enough to compile one..
[Shield Tablet General] Shorty88jr:
I am not talking about OTA files I am talking about reinstalling the files for the Nvidia OTA application. They could add a download that checks if the folder is there and if it's not it creates it. Apps are allowed to create file or folders and if it was there it could be enough to start the OTA update system. Maybe that's a really crazy scenario but if they couldn't get the files restored they could ask google to allow them to link a file in the app that kills the tablet when the app is updated.
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
The Secure Boot Key (SBK) is device-specific and burned onto the chip when it's fabricated, and can only be read by the hardware AES engine (which will gladly encrypt/decrypt for you, but won't give you the actual key), so I doubt that will happen anytime soon. We can still hope though :)
[Shield Tablet General] Jackill:
I think that might be also something triggered by the delivery company. Most of the replacements are delivered by UPS...so UPS knows exactly when each of the replacements were delivered...they tell nvidia "hey serial 123456 is now delivered", nvidia adds 2-5 days and triggers the switch...
[Shield Tablet General] btrax:
Hi

If we replace the battery, is the tablet will be bricked after the silent OTA ? (It's not my case but I will replace the battery shortly so...)
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
yes
[Shield Tablet General] bill0405:
Has anyone else received a spare box and return label to return their old tablet? Got my replacement today and it included both.
[Shield Tablet General] Primetime_de:
Any chance to get a deactivated tablet back to life?
[Shield Tablet General] alucard_xs:
nope.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Only if you work at Nvidia.
[Shield Tablet General] asjstian:
So.. I read this tread after receiving my replacement tablet, and before turning it on. So I carried out installing twrp so I could flash no more Ota. Zip. Checked several times on Web, and tablet was listed as no Ota. Also confirmed that no folder or so no longer exsited.

Checked again on Web today, and now it's listed as "St - yy" urgent Ota. So now the killswitch activated..? How come? Will it work in future if I flash another rom now, still have access to twrp recovery.
[Shield Tablet General] btrax:
Same as you :)
[Shield Tablet General] GMrMadrigal:
Again here!
[Shield Tablet General] RainerJ:
Hi,

after doing all the root and nomoreOTA.zip stuff I investigated the old tablet (new was delivered today).

There is still a folder /nvidia/app/ota/download containing ./rom and "service_state"

Any more danger here?
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
OK so I followed the instructions in this thread (http://xdaforums.com/shield-tablet/development/root-root-nvidia-shield-tablet-lollipop-t2972316)

Except the last step in CWM said "root access possibly lost, fix?" and my options were (1) Yes - fix or (2) No

Which one should I pick?

Also, after making that selection and (assuming) I have a rooted tablet, how do I then flash the "nomoreota.zip" file? Would it be through something like Flashify (app)? Thanks
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Select "Yes - Fix".

You flash the nomoreOTA.zip from cwm, no matter if you root or not. Rooting is necessary only if you delete the TegraOTA folder manually from Android.
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
How do I flash the nomoreOTA zip file from CWM? Would I sideload it similiar to how supersu.zip was installed (as noted in the other thread)?

edit:

I also notice every time I am in CWM recovery and then look to reboot, I get the msg about "root access possibly lost, fix?" Do I need to select "Yes" every time? Does it make a difference if I select "No"?

Thanks
[Shield Tablet General] rageguy:
I wonder why this is the case. The tablet is detected as APX in Device Manager, the ROM is posted online, nvFlash.exe is available in many online sites, so you just need to use nvFlash to flash the unblob-ed ROM?
[Shield Tablet General] lkt01071:
1.4 Software is out... any news on if that has a new kill switch or not?

EDIT: NVM, it wasn't new for the tablet, it was for TV, thanks BlackDave.
[Shield Tablet General] BlackDave:
Yeah, for the Shield TV
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Yes, you sideload it like supersu.zip. I even side loaded the entire 3.1 firmware on the new tablet.

That message is strange, no matter if you select yes or no, you will still have root (from my observation).

A deactivated tablet is over 200€ on eBay. I think we can sell the bricked tablets close to full price. I simply don't get what are people doing with the bricks.... And are quite a few bidders. Maybe is a way to restore them ? Or... Nvidia employes bid for them ! :)
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/recalled.html

don't see how they would be worth that much, but the screens and a few other parts are still usable
[Shield Tablet General] :
Can someone please help me out? I feel like OP is very vague and helps me little to do anything. I got a new tablet. But before I started using it, i turned off the Wifi on the old one (which is updated to Androdi 5.1.1). OP doesn't tell me to really do anything. The only thing I got out of it was to delete a file? Is that the only thing?

But even that was not possibly for me as there are no "/system/app/TegraOTA" to be located in my tablet when I connect to the computer or when I use ES File Browser on the tablet. There are no folders called "app" or "system", for that matter.
[Shield Tablet General] Primetime_de:
You have to root your old tablet first. Please look into the rooting instructions first before go on further here.
[Shield Tablet General] :
Which rooting instructions are you referring to? Only thing I found here was a thread called "Kingroot", and I installed the apk for that app, but it won't word without an internet connection.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
On page 60, same where you posted your message, was a very clear link on how to root the tablet. I repost the link for you:

http://xdaforums.com/shield-tablet/development/root-root-nvidia-shield-tablet-lollipop-t2972316

Auxiliary to what is written there, you also repeat the last part, typing: "adb sideload nomoreOTA.zip" instead, with the file taken from the first post, to disable the killswitch reffered in this thread. That's it.
[Shield Tablet General] Primetime_de:
AFAIK Wheelie isn't working with the Shield Tablet. Also you need the tablet in a healthy condition to generate a valid blob file before you can communicate with nvflash.

Correct me if I'm wrong.
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
OK I went and sideloaded it and it seems to have worked. To confirm it, another way of checking would be to go into ES File Explorer (or similar program) and check to see if the directory "system/app/TegraOTA" exists, correct? When I am currently looking for that TegraOTA folder, I do not see it so that should be a good sign unless I am mistaken and it is hidden somewhere else.

What would be the easiest way to 'freeze' future updates? I know from phone rooting experience that there are "OTA" files I can just "freeze" to prevent future updates but is there something like that for the Shield Tablet? Would the easiest way just be to install a custom ROM on it like Blisspop or CM12.1?
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Check in Settings - About tablet, if you have the update menu. If is missing, you are good.

Once you delete TegraOTA, the tablet will never search for updates, only way is to manually update it with zip files. Carefully though that once you update, TegraOTA will come back and you must repeat the procedure in this thread to remove it again before going online with it.

As far as custom ROMs go, I never used one so I can't help you there.
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
I am currently seeing in my "about tablet" menu the options to

1) Send feedback to Nvidia

2) Help Nvidia improve Shield experience

3) Status

4) Legal info

5) Regulatory info

6) Model #

7) Android version

8) Kernal version

9) Build #

Is the "update menu" hidden within any one of the above? Or now the tablet is 'good' because the update menu is missing from one of the 9 choices above I listed?

RE: ROMs, okay thanks. Biggest concern was having something like this happen again (esp since OP message stated Urgent OTA was being delivered again but under a different file name) but since you said the tablet won't search for updates anymore (which is the goal I wanted to reach), then ROM won't be necessary for me.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
You are good now. The update option is gone.
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
Awesome! Thanks again for all your help!
[Shield Tablet General] mike312312:
I have stupid question, if I remove TegraOTA.apk and then do factory reset, then TegraOTA.apk will be back and working. Is it true?
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
No. Factory resetting does not restore the system partition. Only reflashing the firmware will bring it back.
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
So if I decide to unroot and get rid of SuperSU, that is okay and won't activate the kill switch? Or do I need to stay rooted to prevent the tablet from communicating with Nvidia servers and receiving the kill switch order?
[Shield Tablet General] P00r:
may be by country/area were are you ?

---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

My tablet was shipped from a major distribution center in canada (they usually dropship for online store), so they probably need the distributor to invoice them first and get the serial of the replacement unit before triggering the update. There could be mistake in this process as well so I would not be surprised to see some tablet not having the red pill waiting for them ever! this is were your site will be useful :)

---------- Post added at 07:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:54 PM ----------

Is there a recovery available that will not flash a new rom without asking for a password? That would reduce by tenfold the risk of having this update go thru in the future!

(This is more a request or suggestion than a question) :)
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Rooting is not necessary. Only used to see the system folder and manually delete TegraOTA from Android.

But I have a question, and sorry being offtopic here: how do you guys write anything to the SD card without Root? Since KitKat, Google removed the rights to write to the card (probably because their Nexus NEVER had a card slot).
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
Writing to the SD card has always worked for me without root ever since I formated it NTFS.
[Shield Tablet General] oleg77:
I recieved an email from NVIDIA the day after I recieved the new tablet. It took 4 weeks from my entering the RMA process on August 1th to my recieving the tablet in Belgium, shipped from the Netherlands. But they could have problems with their stock now, it could take a week or two more... ;)
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
I plugged the card it in my tablet and formatted it from Android. I have no idea what format it has.
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
That didn't work for me. The tablet doesn't format it to NTFS. I had to do it in Windows using a full format and not a quick one.
[Shield Tablet General] jerrry:
Thank you Bogdacutu for your work!
[Shield Tablet General] scarywoody:
My experience: followed instructions found here and added "adb sideload nomoreOTA.zip" command to the end after loading the root command. http://xdaforums.com/shield-tablet/development/root-root-nvidia-shield-tablet-lollipop-t2972316

No update option/ No OTA folder confirmed it worked. Checked serial number and no OTA is scheduled for my old tablet. I fired up my new tablet and updated that. This was 4 hours ago. Nothing is scheduled against the old tablet. I plan to keep checking in the coming days.
[Shield Tablet General] jgowell:
Understood. I should be good to unroot then.

If I did not root, how else would I have been able to flash via CWM? The instructions I followed from the other thread seem to be specifically for boot loader unlock, subsequent root, and sideloading SU. That is all possible without root?
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Yes, you sideload only nomoreota.zip after unlocking bootloader and that's all.

I have the new tablet for a week now and there is no killswitch waiting for my old one. Could it be because the new tablet never connected to the OTA server ? I unlocked, flashed cwm recovery, sideloaded SU and nomoreOTA before I let it connect to internet for the first time.
[Shield Tablet General] brandizzle20:
So I received my tablet today in USA and they sent a return label and a box to return. Looms like they want there tablet back? Anyone confirm....

Thanks in advance
[Shield Tablet General] bill0405:
Would like some advice if ya guys don't mind. So I've removed the OTA file on my old tablet, received my new one, activated it, and got the "Next OTA: ST - yy (urgent)" warning when I check the status of my original tabs serial number. I'm debating on if I leave it as is and continue on with my happy life never to be bothered again, or do I flash a custom rom to ensure that Nvidia will never deactivate my old tablet. Opinions?

---------- Post added at 11:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:57 PM ----------

---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

The same happened with me. However the label and box got lost in my recycling somehow. My wife must have thrown it away. If they really want it back they will follow up :P
[Shield Tablet General] Sir_Nomad49:
First and foremost it is your decision, but if you like the functionality of the original rom, i would stick to that and only root and flash the zip to remove the update file. but if you like to try something i would recommend BlissPop
[Shield Tablet General] bill0405:
Yeah from what I've read Blisspop is the way to go. I'm perfectly happy with my current rom, but I just don't want to succumb to some loophole where maybe Nvidia updates the shield hub to force the killswitch instead. Anyone know if that's possible?