yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
I guess you could erase the recovery before letting the OTA download and attempt to run if you really wanted to, but I can't recommend messing with an OTA that can permanently brick your device. Plus it wouldn't be all that useful anyway, as the tablet connects to other Nvidia services too (which will be able to confirm that your tablet is still running).

Among other news, I've added an OTA checker to the main post, which will be able to tell (given your serial number) whether the kill switch has been already triggered for your tablet or not. Check under the "How can I know if the kill switch has been triggered for my tablet?" heading!
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
Also, I've rechecked the source code of TegraOTA and it looks like Nvidia can't tell if you've actually downloaded the OTA or not (they can see that there's a download for the OTA from your IP, and they might be able to derive that you've download the OTA from that, but I wouldn't count on it).
[Shield Tablet General] Beave2012:
Nice job. Now if only Nvidia would come clean and give a difinitive answer on if they require the tablet return. I don't want to unlock to void warranty, rebuild the tablet apps settings etc just so I can root and delete tegraota on new tablet to prevent them from deactivating this tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
Actually, many people have confirmed that Nvidia doesn't really care about unlocked bootloaders warranty-wise, as long as you have an actual hardware issue (that isn't caused by rooting). And if you can get root with an exploit (such as through Kingroot), you can then get a full raw backup of your data partition through adb (so you can restore it to exactly how it was before), then unlock the bootloader without having to worry about your data.

Even if they don't require the tablets to be returned, I'm fairly confident that they won't back out from disabling the old tablets. (they also probably have to at least try to disable them for legal reasons)
[Shield Tablet General] ajrulez:
Question for Bogdacutu - First off, thanks for investigating the kill switch and for providing the utility to check the OTA status for a given serial number. My question to you is what *do you think* NVIDIA considers as a successful kill-switch trigger? Is it them sending an update or is it them sending and a particular serial number receiving (and perhaps even applying) the update?
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
At the moment, Nvidia doesn't seem to track whether or not the OTA is downloaded using any particular serial number (although they can add this functionality without having to update any app), so it seems pretty likely that they don't really care if the update was triggered successfully or not. They can track if the serial number has checked for updates though, and assuming that the device is running everything stock, that would imply that the device has been killed.
[Shield Tablet General] bluegizmo83:
Bog, I tried your serial checker and the first time I use it, it worked and said no updates. But now every time I try it I get this error:

Error: too many values to unpack

Serial number: ***************** (I masked this)

Next OTA: unknown

Is OTA urgent? unknown
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
Sorry about that, managed to mess up the caching. Fixed
[Shield Tablet General] bluegizmo83:
No problem! Its working now. Thanks again for all your work on this!!
[Shield Tablet General] ajrulez:
Got it. :good:
[Shield Tablet General] P00r:
I am not too concerned about the new tablet having the potential of being killed, they probably use the FUSE feature of the SOC to prevent any further use, this is probably why they made an application inside the tablet so each bootloader must be signed to a specific tablet it would be interesting to compare 2 of those OTA copy

It is also possible that they simply unlocked the area of the nvflash so that this partition can be overwriten anytime, if so it still mean the new tablet are safe from this "remote erasure" as a 'key' related to the serial of the tablet and a key from nvidia is needed first...

This is a geat post!

Here's some detail of the boot and fuse of the SOC, nvidia people were working on the code related to the fuse fairly recently just to a search for "tegra soc fuse" they were hard at work into those area...

http://http.download.nvidia.com/tegra-public-appnotes/tegra-boot-flow.html

---------- Post added at 07:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:36 PM ----------

what we need to find now is what is triggering that bootloader update, they mention the new tab let need to be turned on so there may be something in the new one who trigger the server to make the Killer bootloader availlable ? If we could disable that signal it would prevent them from making the files available for your tablet, once I receive mine I will let it off the net to see what service is inside!
[Shield Tablet General] hari01091986:
Could anyone please support me with the Scatter loading file for LTE Version, so i can try it with my Dead shield over the SP Flash tool.
[Shield Tablet General] wiQbold:
but it is for mediatek??
[Shield Tablet General] hari01091986:
yes ..there is a official site listing the devicez..
[Shield Tablet General] MadMatt89:
Hi, if I just want to be safe that my tablet doesn't get killed, which custom Rom would you suggest. I don't want to update manually very often and I don't want to do full wipes (one before flashing the CFW is okay, but not every time I update the CFW)

Thanks for your advice

Matt
[Shield Tablet General] drewski_1:
I'm using Dirty Unicorns on my pyro-tab

CFW=?
[Shield Tablet General] Vartom:
Maybe someone will be able to adapt these tools to work with the processor Tegra K1.

https://github.com/AndroidRoot/wheelie

https://github.com/AndroidRoot/nvcrypttools
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Can someone help me? I just downloaded this. Can i install it on my old shield tablet? (Deleting the tegra ota before connevt to Internet)
[Shield Tablet General] drewski_1:
Yes. If you're LTE, the RoW version works on both non-US & US versions
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Help.

I need someone help me please.

Yesterday i flsshed an original image from nvidia site (4.0-Android M) on my pyro tablet. (Recovery, blob, userdata, etc). Everything was fine. Then i decided to revert back to Android L 5.1. I booted my tablet through fastboot with an experimental TWRP for Marshmallow i restored the backup made with another different TWRP (2.8.7.1). The backup was completed and i rebooted the tablet. Now its stuck on bootloop. I only can use fastboot commands on pc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
[Shield Tablet General] drewski_1:
did you flash the 5.1 bootloader too? this is not part of the TWRP back up.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Anyone knows if official stock uodates on nvidia site contain the kill switch? Or is it delivered thorugh internet via tegraota?

---------- Post added at 05:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:54 PM ----------

I think no. But now i installed lastest official update (4.1) and tablet works fine im not sure to enable the wifi. Tegraota is deleted (nomoreota via TWRP) but im afraid that the stock images contain the kill

---------- Post added at 05:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:56 PM ----------

I restored all the parts (data, boot, system etc)
[Shield Tablet General] inhelp:
I want to do this procedure on my shield tablet.

nvidia shield data that I provide to guide me?
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Well. Maybe theres a solution, but i cannot boot into recovery except for the TWRP Marshmallow experimental. So i cannot restore previous nandroid backup
[Shield Tablet General] strangelf:
4.1 LTE Upgrade

Dear all,

I have a quick question:

My LTE pyrotab is still in stock 5.1 on which I removed manually TergaOTA.

My new LTE tab is on stock 6.0 on which I did nothing.

On my new tab I see the 4.1 software UPGRADE available. Is it safe to update? Won't it kill any of my tabs?

Moreover, what can I do to safely update the old 5.1 pyrotab?

Many thanks in advance!
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Well when i updated my WIFI only non pyro tablet to 4.1, my pyro with stock 5.1 was fine (deleted tegra ota moths ago). So i think is safe. But i dont know if in the LTE version something changes

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 PM ----------

You mean updating manually the pyro?
[Shield Tablet General] djricekcn:
How do I update to Nvidia's Marshmallow with a killswitch disabled Shield Tablet
[Shield Tablet General] drewski_1:
Fastboot flash the MM image
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
And delete tegraota with twrp before booting
[Shield Tablet General] djricekcn:
Thanks, where can i find the Marsh rom for original Shield Tablet, i can't seem to find it off on Nvidia's webpage (not for K1, if it matters)
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
https://developer.nvidia.com/gameworksdownload

Read carefully which version you need

---------- Post added at 07:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------

You mean the safe tablet or the pyro one? Im not sure is stock images contain killswitch
[Shield Tablet General] djricekcn:
I haven't touched this tablet in a while..forgot how to tell the difference between LTE and WiFi only version. Was Wifi only 16gb while 32gb was LTE only? that's how i remember it but not 100% sure
[Shield Tablet General] Exile1975:
The wifi only version can't connect to LTE networks... ?
[Shield Tablet General] djricekcn:
Well...i Don't have ATT services anyway. What's the for sure way to tell if it's LTE or not, the one I currently have on 5.1 does have Simcard slot but no simcard nor ATT app on it unlike my other one.
[Shield Tablet General] Exile1975:
If it has a sim card it's the lte. Also you could check to see if it has an imei in the settings/about tablet/status/imei information menu
[Shield Tablet General] seijinzero:
First, can we make it a thing to sum up everything we have so far every 50 pages or so? This is a constant upkeep kind of thing, where we need to make sure there's no new threats after us. Original post would be preferred, but just in case the poster is done with this.

Second, what IS going on now? I REALLY want to update to get the unified storage, but not if it's going to kill my tablet.

All tablets still marked for death by the death cloud? Is there a 3rd party way to just add the unified storage via some root app without updating? Is there a custom firmware that's verified to be safe? instructions to install it? Does the 4.1 update still have the killswitch in it? Or was it just the one-time poisoned lollipop? Any rumors on when the death cloud will give up and go away? Any news of pyro tablets going supernova?
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=3379811

[BUSTED] Pyro got killed after flashing recovery Image!

Maybe the kill is only the famous "ST yy urgent" and deleting tegraota is the way to stop it since its only an update. I flashed the 4.1 on my pyro except the recovery and it works (i deleted tegraota but im not sure to connect it to wifi or not)
[Shield Tablet General] seijinzero:
So, recovery images also have a kill switch, not just the OTA? Is that what that link is saying? And you successfully updated to 4.1 but you have not connected to wifi to find out? Wifi is kinda super necessary for me.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Same.for me. But i dont know if the guy deleted tegra ota or not. Its not very clear. I erased recovery because i read from the firts pages that the kill is a normal update that flash itself through recovery. If its only an update, its ok. But we are not sure
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
Well, it was fun while it lasted. I just installed 4.1 on my pyro tab and flashed the nomoreota zip as usual and checked in TWRP to verify it was gone and I rebooted. I had the tablet in airplane mode before I updated and I checked again with a file manager to make sure the Tegraota files were gone and they were. But as soon as I turned on the wifi it immediately downloaded the kill switch and rebooted. It looks like Nvidia has found another way to kill the pyro tabs.

I didn't use it much anyway since my replacement tab is working just fine.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Are you sure?
[Shield Tablet General] seijinzero:
I should clarify one of my earlier questions. I read that it was possible to force adopted storage on devices that disabled it (like samsung's) without root with ADB commands. I'm assuming this still only applies to 6.0, but hoping it does not.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
I dont know this. I think its a Marshmallow feature
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
I went through the same steps that I've done for previous updates but this time it wasn't enough. So I can only conclude that they found another way to kill them.

At this point I recommend staying away from 4.1 and just flash a custom rom instead.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Maybe through nvidia apps. I cant boot custom rom. I dont know why
[Shield Tablet General] inhelp:
then that is better?

Install the original ROM nvidia

or

install something like CyanogenMod?
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Install a custom rom
[Shield Tablet General] inhelp:
Custom ROM that is better?

not have as many incompatibilities?

I use the phone more than anything to play and watch heavy Videos
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
So you dont use tablet much?
[Shield Tablet General] inhelp:
of course I use it a lot
[Shield Tablet General] Isira:
Which image file did you flash. I installed 4.1 on my pyro tab using the RoW-LTE Full OTA zip file and also used nomoreota.zip to remove TegraOTA and it is still alive.
[Shield Tablet General] An Droid:
Did you use an old copy of nomoreota.zip that you had kept previously?

Since Marshmallow, the TegraOTA folder/file was moved to a different location and nomoreota.zip had been updated accordingly.

Where did you check for the TegraOTA files?

I've always manually deleted the TegraOTA folder through TWRP (both pyro and replacement) after every update and it's still working.
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
I got it from here:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=66854755&postcount=44

I don't know, maybe that was just the wrong file to flash or something. I got the newest version of the nomoreota zip a couple of weeks ago and checked in the TWRP file manager AND in Solid Explorer to make sure it was gone before I turned on the wifi and Tegraota was gone. I've following this same procedure with the previous updates without any problems.

Now I'm down to only 1 Shield Tablet. Darn these first world problems. :D
[Shield Tablet General] Isira:
You still didn't tell us where you searched for TegraOTA. If you upgraded from Lollipop and followed the same procedures, then you have made an error and looked for TegraOTA in the wrong location.
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
I checked /system/app and /system/priv-app. I even looked at the script in the zip that deletes Tegraota just to make sure I was looking in the right places and both locations were gone after flashing the zip.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
After deleting TegraOTA did you restart the tablet ?

Did you check in Settings, About tablet that System Updates has a blue color instead of green ?

In this moment I am on 4.0, with the image made by Harfainx and it works great since.

Is also possible that in 4.1 the killswitch acts in another way.

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
After deleting the killswitch I looked in system updates and it was exactly the same as on my replacement shield. I was expecting it to be different like it was in the last version but it wasn't.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
So, it was blue or green ? Look at the replacement tablet how it is, if you say is the same.
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
It was green just like the replacement tablet. I looked at both at the same time before I turned on the wifi on the pyro tab.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Mine was blue after tegraota deleted. Sometimes zip should be flashed morr times
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Green means TegraOTA active. Sorry.

You removed TegraOTA also on the replacement tab ?

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
I agree but Tegraota was not there when I looked using 2 different file managers in TWRP and in android so I assumed everything was set.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Should we remove tegraota in the new tablet also?
[Shield Tablet General] seijinzero:
I really don't want to risk an update and re-root, and I just read ANOTHER post about how "android hackers have been formatting an SD card as an ext partition and mounting it at boot is for a while now." Any advice on this? Is it the same thing? Again, I'd rather do this than try to update and risk bricking it.
[Shield Tablet General] d-style:
I haven't removed Tegraota from the new tablet. I like to keep my devices stock unless I have a real need to change them and the replacement tablet is working perfectly.

Some people don't like the thought of Nvidia being able to send a killswitch to their tablets so they will also remove it from the new ones. I'm not worried about that but each person has to decide for themselves if they are concerned about it enough to go through the procedure to remove the killswitch.
[Shield Tablet General] Isira:
I've been running 4.1 (RoW-LTE) for a few weeks now. Deletion of TegraOTA reverts the System updates function to the blue Google Updater.
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Yourr right. However i think its the screen after tegraota eas deleted
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
What you want.to.do is to use the sdcard as internal memory?
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
Il using che pyro with 4.1 manually flashed. Everything is fine so it seems that deleting tegraota stops the kill. I hope
[Shield Tablet General] zipppiz:
Would installing a costom rom make my old unit safe to use, so I do not have to worry about the killswitch?

Regards
[Shield Tablet General] drewski_1:
Yes
[Shield Tablet General] Rafael1703:
So, is there any way now of reviving a "dead" SHIELD Tablet already? I happen to have one of those here and i can't access fastboot (so i guess no.... but's always better to ask).
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
I read a post of a guy who managed to enter fastboot on reddit. I think you can find it googleing
[Shield Tablet General] Rafael1703:
Is it by any chance this one?

www(dot)reddit(dot)com/r/theNvidiaShield/comments/3ihjbg/i_think_i_unbricked_my_tablet_after_receiving/
[Shield Tablet General] Isira:
No, nobody thus far has been able to revive a tablet that was successfully flashed with the "ST - yy" OTA update.
[Shield Tablet General] Rafael1703:
Ok, thx. That's unfortunate. Having a good tablet that can't be turned on :/
[Shield Tablet General] willdono:
Can I update super su binary or will this restore tegra OTA and activate kill switch again.
[Shield Tablet General] c5satellite2:
SU has nothing to do with ota mechanism. If you have removed the files associated with it or are running custom rom and recovery you should be fine.
[Shield Tablet General] shazan71:
remove downloaded ST - yy

This is a very informative post. Unfortunately I checked this a little late. My Nvidia N8 tab had already downloaded ST - yy and urging me to reboot which I have not done yet and tab is working ok. But as soon as I reboot, my device will be bricked. Can anyone suggest any idea to remove the downloaded update ST- yy. My system is Android M.
[Shield Tablet General] THEHOLYG0D:
Flash a custom ROM ASAP
[Shield Tablet General] Paharsahath JG:
But flashing a custom rom means rebooting the device
[Shield Tablet General] THEHOLYG0D:
Get in recovery by directly commanding from adb simple,

Download everything and keep and once in recovery flash a custom or if you have twrp already directly wipe the system partition and perform factory reset, use adb sideload or using twrp's mtp paste or load the zip, done. You escaped and never switch to stock again :D
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
I have a thought: the update cannot be deleted from where it is downloaded ? That way, there is no killing update available to flash. I don't know where updates are saved, but maybe someone does...

There is also another thing that sounds strange: the ST-yy update is rebooting the tablet without asking the user. How come yours did not ? What makes you think you have the ST-yy downloaded ?

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] jigar7:
Hello,

I'm on Lollipop on my nVidia Shield Tablet (Recall). It has been on the kill list since a long time, hence I did not try to update it

Is it possible to flash and root 4.1.0. Does nomoreta work with 4.1.0?
[Shield Tablet General] tux_topo:
So, i'm kind of screw...

Checked my sn: "Next OTA: ST - yy (urgent)"

The even sadly thing is, i'm from argentina. Nvidia send me the tablet. Customs retained it, and refuse to give it to me (actually, i need to provide them electrical plans of the tablet for safety checks, and need to be importer... and wait 3 months, paying the time for keeping the tablet, costing more than the tablet, so i was forced to refuse the tablet).

So, my new tablet, was "stolen" from customs and activated, and my older is waiting the kill switch order....

Hope Blisspop keep it alive for the future...
[Shield Tablet General] tux_topo:
So, maybe a silly question... but how do we know if this fail? There should be some message saying something like "your tablet is about to die" or something? Or the tablet will die, and end of the story...
[Shield Tablet General] Isira:
I suggest reading the very first post.
[Shield Tablet General] tux_topo:
I've tried the nomoreota patch... It killed my recovery :(

I was able to boot to android stock, but no recovery, and unable to root.

After a little strugling, restored the recovery (flashing some experimental twrp, and then the newer version), checked the tegraota within the twrp... and was there!!! Deleted, and so far, seems to be okay....

I almost killed my tablet...

So... someone, please check the patch...
[Shield Tablet General] THEHOLYG0D:
Man there's no fail safe, why are you taking risks, go some custom Rom, Bliss and RR are the best out there.
[Shield Tablet General] Lightn1ng:
Mark my words: somebody is going to flash st--yy.zip instead of nomoreota.zip...
[Shield Tablet General] Isira:
I highly doubt nomoreota killed your recovery. nomoreota doesn't touch the recovery. You simply failed to understand the proper procedure to update your tablet from Lollipop to Marshmallow.

What likely happened is you had an older version of TWRP that is incompatible with the Marshmallow bootloader. Flashing a Marshmallow compatible TWRP (such as the latest official 3.0.2-2) is a required step if upgrading from Lollipop.
[Shield Tablet General] shazan71:
it shows ... downloading - ST-yy. and yes my tablet rebooted on its own some time later when I stopped using. and this is at present a nice looking artifact.
[Shield Tablet General] Bogdacutu:
already happened, check post #789
[Shield Tablet General] Lightn1ng:
wow...
[Shield Tablet General] fuuunkdat:
Hi, I just installed this. When I go to settings/about tablet. There is no option for update now. So I take it this has worked? Sorry if this is a dumb question, it's been a while since I dabbled with this stuff. I am on android version

5.1.1
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
It worked. Your tablet is safe.

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] aquasesh:
I have turned my old Shield into a K1 a while back, around the time MM came out for the K1 and I didnt wanna wait for the official release. So far, it all works well. But I have not yet updated to a newer version. After receiving the update notification I can see that its always a K1 update. Do you guys think it would be safe to run this?
[Shield Tablet General] THEHOLYG0D:
Never Ever thought of this, we need some pro here [MENTION=4937137]Bogdacutu[/MENTION] can you please have a think over it?