yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Shield Tablet General] jo2e:
I don't known. My tablet appears like that in the peripherics manager ...
[Shield Tablet General] Victorcangil 16:
If you hace skype, I can help you easily
[Shield Tablet General] jo2e:
Yes i have skype.

But i think i got the problem : my tablet wasn't rooted and the bootloader was locked...

I think you saved your shield because it was rooted...
[Shield Tablet General] Victorcangil 16:
I thinks is that. If is has not unlocked bootloader, you can't change nothing. But to unlock it, just type in Fastboot: "fastboot oem unlock" (tablet will Factory Reset)
[Shield Tablet General] jo2e:
Same thing with this command : <waiting for device> :rolleyes:
[Shield Tablet General] Victorcangil 16:
:/ I think something is going on with Drivers
[Shield Tablet General] didoz:
Hi, one question for such kind of reactivation - root is required ?
[Shield Tablet General] Victorcangil 16:
Yes, Root and Unlocked Bootloader are required ro recover the "killed" Tablet
[Shield Tablet General] didoz:
Just bought by mistake deactivated Shield...is it possible to make root via fastboot ?
[Shield Tablet General] Victorcangil 16:
Yes, and if you need help, I can help you via Skype: vcandelagil1
[Shield Tablet General] corvux360:
try on non deactivated and dont change the imei.

fastboot oem writeimei 123456789101112130

...

(bootloader) Unknown Command!

OKAY [ 0.027s]

finished. total time: 0.027s
[Shield Tablet General] Victorcangil 16:
Write: fastboot getvar imei

And tell me what appears
[Shield Tablet General] corvux360:
this...

fastboot getvar imei

imei:

finished. total time: 0.022s
[Shield Tablet General] agrabren:
APX mode is NVIDIA's low-level flash mode. If you're in the mode, only someone with a signed package can flash to it.
[Shield Tablet General] jo2e:
Hi agrabren,

Do you if ia can find a signed package somewhere and how can i flash in low level ?
[Shield Tablet General] agrabren:
I'm unaware of any signed bundles being leaked, sorry.
[Shield Tablet General] didoz:
Somebody turned out how to restore a tablet from APX mode? I think first of all we need to find APX driver for device... like Victorcangil 16 said, he was lucky because of root and unblocked bootloader but in my case - i can see device only in APX mode. Fastboot mode is unreachable.
[Shield Tablet General] astheniadawn:
So we dont have to send the old one back? I got the return label and the return packaging. Im in N. America, specifically Texas.
[Shield Tablet General] jo2e:
I found apx drivers for tegra 7 here : http://www.adventcomputers.co.uk/product-download-select/296

They are in the package you can download.

But nothing to do whit this... :(
[Shield Tablet General] Rilen:
I will show a friend this post he will sure try and let you know

Inviato dal mio SHIELD Tablet utilizzando Tapatalk
[Shield Tablet General] YuriPan:
Hello! This seems like an awesome find. So I had expected this to happen and before getting my new tablet I flashed a custom rom (EOS) to the old one to be safe, and indeed, it hasn't been bricked. I don't like most custom roms for SHIELD, they're all problematic one way or another, so I'd love to get back to stock if possible.

I already found one way here: http://xdaforums.com/shield-tablet/general/kill-kill-switch-shield-tablet-xx-t3179489 and it seems good, but I need to keep my mind on it, so that when I flash a new OTA I don't forget to flash this also.

So my question is: What exactly is IMEI and what changes when you change it? Is it like the serial number that NVIDIA needs to push the "bricking update" so when it changes they don't? Also, since my tablet has never been bricked in the first place, can I also follow the steps? (I am rooted and with an unlocked bootloader)
[Shield Tablet General] Monoped:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=IMEI&l=1
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
IMEI (International Mobile station Equipment Identity) is a unique code each mobile device has, similar to the MAC address of a network card. Changing this is most of the time not possible, being a hardware specific number. That would not help in this case, since nVidia identifies our Shield Tablets by serial number.

In bootloader mode, there is no concept of "being rooted". You can only be rooted while running an OS (Like Android, Windows, Linux, etc) and means having access to the master Administration account. The bootloader is similar to a computer BIOS. Since Nvidia messed that up with the killswitch, having root or unlocked bootloader has no point.

The only action is, with the only access remaining, APX mode, to rewrite the nvflash with a valid bootloader and other first boot stuff (similar to rewriting the BIOS on a computer.... You mess that one up, computer is a paperweight). Trick is that only nVidia has the necessary packets to fix the nvflash.

So, Victor, you did not get your tablet killed by nVidia. Was something else that happened to your tablet. Having access to the bootloader means is still there.

I hope one day someone will find a way to fix this tablets (hack the APX access, leaked packages from nVidia) because is a big waste of perfect hardware.
[Shield Tablet General] Stephan van der Molen:
Could this method work to stop a working tablet from being killed though? Could I use this to revert back to stock and receive all the ota updates without the chance of my Shield being killed? If Nvidia identifies the tablet through imei, that would mean it is safe to do this, doens't it?

I've bought a second hand Nvidia Shield with the Y01 battery and Blisspop, but I would like to have it on a stock rom but I'm a little scared.

Edit: Never mind, I already read that it is checked through the serial number, not the Imei, so this might not be enough and the tablet will probably still be deactivated. I'm not going to try this... yet.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
You can use the latest stock firmware, just remove TegraOTA.apk file and folder.

Follow this post: http://xdaforums.com/shield-tablet/general/kill-kill-switch-shield-tablet-xx-t3179489 .

On short: Using ODB: Unlock Bootloader, flash a custom recovery, flash latest fullOTA stock firmware, flash nomoreota.zip. Just to be sure the tablet does not download the killswitch while you do all these, disable all internet connection (WiFi and LTE if you have that model) until you have run nomoreota.zip. To check that TegraOTA is gone, in Settings -> About Tablet, the first option should not be anything related to updates ("Check for update..."). Once that is missing, you are safe to open internet and enjoy your stock firmware.

Remember only that you will not receive any updates anymore, not even new firmware. All have to be flashed manually though ADB and each time, after the update, to flash nomoreota.zip.
[Shield Tablet General] Stephan van der Molen:
Thanks! I'll give it a try
[Shield Tablet General] P00r:
Indeed, 100% accurate!

Once the killer roms upgrade has been applied, the tablet is dead period. Unless an nvflash package surface this recall is indeed a waste of hardware! Nvflash is fairly common with older nvidia chipset but it's been less and less common with the recent SOC they released. The best is to remove the OTA before your tablet get killed.

The only question I still have about the recall process is the fact that the made us enter a code inside the recalled tablet, I suspect we unlocked something inside the recalled tablet so that the kill switch can kill the recalled tablet, I would not be surprised that the kill switch would not work on a regular tablet as you would need to enter the code to allow the kill to happen, however I am not yet ready to do a proof of concept test on this theory yet on my hardware :)

I would find strange that any tablet can be killed by urgent OTA, to me that would be opening a HUGE security hole ..
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
I had the same question, but the reason is simple (thanks to Bogdacutu again): the code that we had to enter is proof that we own the recalled tablet. Imagine we could enter someone else serial, from a friend, leaked on forums, etc. and get for free a new tablet, while those would be left hanging. Regarding to the killswitch, you are partially right: from the entered serial at the recall they pair the old and new tablets so when the new tablet connects for the first time to the OTA server, the old one will be sent that broken rom. Thing is, all receive the same 3.1 firmware... all have the urgent OTA option. If the new tablet received the killswitch, would run it in the same way. In the end is a firmware update like any other, only that is broken intentionally :)

I removed TegraOTA from my new tablet the moment I first powered it on. It did not have time to connect to the OTA server. I did the same on the old tablet as well. Thing is that 27 days have passed since I have both tablets on and according to Bogdacutu OTA check, no killswitch is waiting for my old tablet. So, is exactly as they said: activating the new tablet (more exactly, appearing on Nvidia OTA server) will kill the old one. If is not connecting, it is not killed (at least for now... maybe they will put all the list on death row one day).

Edit: It crossed my mind now.... If someone would check the new tablet serial also on Bogdacutu page, that might as well mark it active and release the killswitch for the old. Auci !
[Shield Tablet General] bung-koe:
mine was already bricked and no sign of life except when the light opens when charged thats all and when connected to the computer it just show APX but after few days later it opened and worked like it wasnt bricked i dunno what happened but the only thing i remembered is i prayed so hard to help me fix it xD
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
I think you might be right. The only way to fix these tablets is praying real hard.

I am lucky mine did not die yet but if it does, I will follow your path.
[Shield Tablet General] P00r:
Divine Firmware Update that's an interesting concept... :cyclops:
[Shield Tablet General] Gootah:
Wait...

Are you saying you flashed 3.1.1 on the old tab?

I went back to 1.0 to be safe and took all no OTA precautions as stated above, but that was a week ago.

I wanted to try 3.1.1 on the old tab, but didn't want to risk an embedded kill.
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Is not embedded in 3.1.1. I have it installed for a while now on the old tablet and had no problems.
[Shield Tablet General] Gootah:
Thanks bro
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Don't forget after updating to remove TegraOTA before going online.
[Shield Tablet General] Gootah:
Yeah I'm already running 1.0 with all the fixes, thanks for the warning though.
[Shield Tablet General] Stephan van der Molen:
Just one more question... How does Nvidia identify the tablets... through the serial numbers? Can that be accessed remotly? Or by Imei? If it would be by Imei, the method in the op could help not to activate the kill switch on a shield that is still working... But I'm not very inclined to try it on my hardware aswell :S Does anyone know?
[Shield Tablet General] rodrigox:
Hey Victorcangil 16

First, thanks for your efforts.

I have followed your steps but my tablet is stuck after I press the "Continue" in the Fastboot menu.

How much time did you wait till your tablet booted up?

Thanks!

EDIT: It really worked. After the "Cold Booting Linux" message, I have restarted the tablet and it booted up. Let's see if it keeps that way :)
[Shield Tablet General] jkl@xda:
Hey. This is my first post on xda. I actually just registered for this thread....

Well, one of my friends gave me his SHIELDs. The old one and the new one!

He told me if i root his tablet i could have his old one. And i was like " Hell yeah, easy!"

And i rooted it. Everything worked fine. I also jailbroke "mine" after i unlocked the bootloader i started the tab. i installed all updates facepalm: and restarted because i forgot to install SuperSU..And guess wot. It didnt turn on again. *failmode*

My pcs reaction to connecting it is *bling* and the yellow warn symboled APX in the devices manager! Can i throw it away now? Is it bricked??:confused:

Please help me. [MENTION=3091685]vcandela[/MENTION]gil1 I added u on skype. Please accept me my lord n savior:D::fingers-crossed:
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Wasted tablet. It cannot be repaired. Pitty you did not check before this thread.

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] jkl@xda:
My friend gave it to me when it was broken already. After about two week of not touching it i could turn it on ._.

What happens if i change new tablets imei??
[Shield Tablet General] rodrigox:
My old tablet was stuck in the black screen too, but I could access the bootloader.

From the bootloader screen, I just followed the steps posted by Victorcangil 16 (changing the IMEI and flashing the 1.0 recovery) and it started to work again.

Right now I'm using the 3.1.1 image, just flashed it and deleted the TegraOTA folder before booting to Android and blocked ota.nvidia.com in the router, and it's still working.

I will post up if something happens but, to tell you the truth, I'm feeling that the old tablet is running smoother than the new tablet. :D:D
[Shield Tablet General] jkl@xda:
I would not be doing my job if i am not asking but... how did you enter bootloader??:eek:
[Shield Tablet General] bung-koe:
there's still hope brother mine was like that but it opened i works fine now xD

---------- Post added at 10:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 AM ----------

BTW i forgot that there something happened with my tablet i remember now it when i tried to open the tablet the back cover i accidentally ripped something inside the one that connects the back cover to the tablet xD
[Shield Tablet General] frenziedfemale:
Topcat is reminding that you will have to remove the OTA apk again if you update...it gets reinstalled with the 3.1.1 update.
[Shield Tablet General] jkl@xda:
So what exactly die u do? I love this tablet but i am 15 yrs old=no money :D

I started using Android 2 years ago.

After my phone got stolen i got an iPhone. No i have Android again.

So you mean there is still hope??i mean i got it when it was deactivated but i could turn it on. Now ist broken again!:/
[Shield Tablet General] rodrigox:
Press the power button + volume down button at the same time to turn the tablet on.
[Shield Tablet General] jkl@xda:
Not working i tried every single combination
[Shield Tablet General] P00r:
nothing... the IMEI is encoded inside the modem (inside a dedicated partion and maybe even the modem chips itself), the IMEI you can change is only read for some status screen, it is also not related to the actual killing of the tablet...
[Shield Tablet General] jkl@xda:
You are right exept for one thing. Des the imei itself cant be changed but some apps use the imei to check if you have had the app already(inapp purchases for example) I will just wait/pray that it turns on again or that someone uploads a New way to fix it!!;)
[Shield Tablet General] jkl@xda:
The kill switch is damaging the bootloader... No hope unless someone posts a way to reflash it! ****
[Shield Tablet General] alexxandrepeixoto:
Bricked in APX mode, without any drivers to install.

Good Morning Victor!

My question here is same of all others, i will try to use a translator to helps to all other understood my bad grammar.

My question is the same staff, I want to reactivate my Shield tablet, but as he is not starting because is bricked and therefore he only asks you to install APX drivers in the Windows device manager, would like your help, staff asks the same question because do not read the whole thread, then to facilitate, since most who come here come for the same reason I would like to simplify and strive for a solution.

1 - My Shield Tablet is asking to install APX driver when i connected on the computer.

2 - Without installing APX drivers it is not recognized by windows, so I can not run Fastboot commands.

3 - In order to restore to factory defaults we will need to solve problems 1 and 2.

I think with these my questions will help everyone, because almost all people come here in this post but did not want to read all from the beginning.

Recalling that the APX drivers refer to the Shield Tablet be Bricked, or because an Bad Flash or cause been remotely disabled via update OTA,

and remembering that the most likely APX drivers if it is only possible to install with the SBK drivers for when the Shield Tablet is connected in the computer and Windows prompts you to install the drivers APX, it is because the Tablet lost the NVFLASH information and is in low level format.

So I think to solve this we would have to find a way to write the NVFLASH for so solved this problem and connect the Shield Tablet on the computer it will ask you to install the ADB drivers which solved our problems and we follow the early steps of this thread.

:good: waiting for any solution, and i able to try anything you ask. thanks and let try something else. :good:

my email is: ( ax.10@msn.com ) dont use this email with skype, my skype is ( xxbrazil@hotmail.com ) i will install SKYPE later in my Android cell phone.

But i can reply by email, just say what i can try and i will do.
[Shield Tablet General] deltagreen88:
Boot fastboot in Linux?

Hi there, i want to state that both of my tablets are working by following Bogdacutu's tutorial (thanks a lot mate) - took me about 5 minutes (without counting unlocking bootloader time and android upgrading time), but the reason i'm posting here is because i didn't read anything about somebody trying to connect to an Ubuntu f.ex via the APX protocol..

I thought about this because i have an old MiniX NeoX5 series which was completely bricked (i flashed a full OTA manually to only the system partition (buh), afterwards i tried to reflash every single partition manually, as the /boot partition and all was even more f***ed :/ ) So i was able to boot into bootloader mode, without anything showing up, proof the bootloader was messed up.. I than installed an Ubuntu as a Virtualmachine onto my Windows 10 and guess what it did recognize the device but lost connection after reboot to bootloader - so virtual Linux machines cannot connect via the forwarded virtualized USB drivers to Ubuntu in fastboot mode..

I than installed a full Ubuntu as secondary OS, booted into it, and fastboot is recognized again, even after rebooting to bootloader (remember, i don't see anything on a screen which means the bootloader is messed up but eventually not dead).. I used the Linux flashing tool (in this case an open source derivate for Rockchips flashing tool RKFlashkit and RKFlashtool, but i'm pretty sure it works on other android devices equally) - there are even other flashing tools for linux for universal use and you don't need any drivers, neither adb/fastboot, google generic, MTP and perhaps: APX.. So i used the flashtool to disassemble the FullOTA image and flashed all partitions a new, the device booted up fine and is working better now than ever before.. I don't have a bricked Shield device but would burn to test this out..
[Shield Tablet General] alexxandrepeixoto:
Thanks for you tips, isso Will gona try it later maybe works to me too, i dont had advanced knowledege with linux but i will try it to test if i got some sucess or not i back here to talk about.*

Thanks lot.
[Shield Tablet General] Vartom:
In APX mode, the bricked tablet does not respond to any commands. After disconnecting the USB error appears:

usb read error (71): Protocol error

miniloader download failed (response read failed)

rcm version 0X0

Are there solutions to this error?
[Shield Tablet General] hadramos:
Hi,

How do you do to boot in bootloader when the tablet will not boot?

I has Ubuntu.

Please send your command for flash all partitions?

Very thanks for your help :)
[Shield Tablet General] Brigadir120370:
I have the same question? How to do it on Vindovs or Linux?:смущенный:
[Shield Tablet General] Dark_Disciple:
IT WORKS! I had my old tablet deactivated a month ago, and I saved it because I hoped someone would figure out how to regain use of it. I followed the instructions exactly as they are written (my tablet's bootloader was already unlocked and I had root) and 10 minutes later my tablet booted into the setup screen. THANK YOU!
[Shield Tablet General] dwou:
In fact no hope to recover the tablet without unlocked the bootloader and rooted before.

Y/N ?
[Shield Tablet General] LONGXF:
I think Y，haha。
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Unlocked bootloader... No. There is no bootloader after the killswitch.

Rooted ? How can someone talk about root access when there is no OS running ?

In short, it doesn't matter if a tablet is unlocked or rooted. If that procedure is supposed to work, will work regardless. I am not yet convinced it will. I will wait to see if more people have success with this.

Since both my tablets work perfect, latest firmware, only with TegraOTA.apk removed on both (no killswitch waiting either), I can't test myself.

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] Breizhonneg29:
So, just because I need a tablet I took upon myself to get around my de-activated shield tablet.

So far I can't even get into boot loader :)

Showing as APX (fixed with drivers) on pc

So I guess this post is not gonna be any help, right ?
[Shield Tablet General] obiwannn:
Hello, saw I just got the tablet New, unrooted running stock 5.1.1.

I have already applied for a replacement and it should come in the new year.

So what do you suggest is the best way to follow as regards keeping both the old and the new (when it arrives) tablet active?

And my tablet seems to have wifi issues. It drops signals and buffers while streaming videos. I have read so many issues as regards this on the internet. Again any fixes that you reccommend?
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Remove, as explained in this thread, TegraOTA.apk file on both tablets. If you remove it on the new tablet before it connects the first time to internet, the killswitch will not activate for the old one (at least that happened to me - no killswitch active yet and I use both for 3 months).

Regarding WiFi, I don't have any idea. Mine had no problem so far so I did not look for solutions to that. My idea would be to try with other WiFi networks to see if you have the same problem. Could be a signal problem.

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] obiwannn:
Thanks!

After doing this, it means I cannot get automatic updates and would have to manually flash updates right?
[Shield Tablet General] topcat36:
Yes. And after each manual update, remove that TegraOTA again before going online.

Sent from my old SHIELD Tablet.
[Shield Tablet General] drZeT:
After using my old Shield tablet with Bliss POP ROM (modified CM) which was extremely buggy I've decided to try this method to try and get back to stock. I've successfully changed my IMEI, flashed stock image... and got bricked. To APX mode !

This leads me to believe that IMEI has absolutely nothing to do with this.

This Thread by bogdacutu explores the Kill-switch in depth and mentions two separate Kill-Updates:

I think this is the answer why we have

two different types of bricked tablets

. First kill_update failed to corrupt the bootloader, it only destroyed the higher level software. Apparently it was recalled and replaced by more lethal ST-yy which effectively bricks the tablet. Most probably those who were "treated" by the first kill update are flagged as "killed" and are not receiving ST-yy, thus it is probably possible to simply reflash them with stock ROM and ?safely use again.

The only option for those who got ST-yy'ed is APX nvflash mode. It is a low level proprietary nVidia protocol which can help restore Shields bootloader but there is another obstacle - Secure boot key. It's older version was cracked before for Asus Eee transformer. Only hope someone will try and do that for the Shield.