[Fuhu Nabi 2] aicjofs:
Fuhu Nabi General information​

1. Introduction

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It was only recently that the Nabi2 got it's own forum. This device has been out a couple of years so the information you may be looking for is spread all over XDA. The largest single chunk of information resides in the Nabi 2 Root and Gapps Install by jmz, the problem is that thread is now 265 plus pages and mostly impossible to search. What I find more troubling is that the methods in which we go about root, modding etc evolve over time and newer users are using methods and tools that are now obsolete and can create more issues then they solve. Also while the moderators have done a wonderful job, not every Nabi thread is here in this section of the forum so I wanted to link to those that are pertinent.

While this is a Nabi2 forum I personally find it a better use of this corner of XDA to discuss all Nabi products, and this information post will discuss them all. Nabi JR, Nabi 2 Original, Disney and Nick, Nabi XD, Nabi2S, Nabi Dreamtab(Intel and Nvidia) , Nabi BigTab 20" and 24".

Most of the discussion will be catering to Microsoft Windows users as it is the most common usage scenario. It also will be light on discussion of the Intel version of the Dreamtab as it quite different.

Also look at the wiki. Information is very dated but there is some useful stuff, be careful with what you are flashing as the wiki is more informational then current methods. I would recommend asking before using any of the scripts or programs. http://xdaforums.com/wiki/Fuhu_nabi_2

2.Basics

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With the exception of the Nabi Dreamtab by Intel (DMTAB-IN08A), all the Fuhu Nabi products are built on Nvidia Tegra2, Tegra3, or Tegra 4. Therefore most methods of modding, recovery, etc are similar with a few device specific difference. The main utility we use is a custom recovery called TWRP, if you have come from other devices you might have used CWM, Odin, and countless other utilities, TWRP will be accomplishing the tasks on the Nabi devices. All the Nabi's already have a "stock" recovery on the device. It is useful for taking OTA(updates) and factory resetting but it's limitations end there, and this is where the TWRP custom recovery will come in to play.

There are 4 modes of operation for Nabi's

Each mode offers different usage scenarios and you should familiar with what they look like and which one you are in.

-Android

-Recovery -

-Bootloader/Fastboot

-Forced recovery/nvflash/APX

Windows are driver can be a pain but necessary before you can do anything else

No matter which method you choose or need to use the Windows drivers must be installed on your computer before you can do anything, without getting that setup nothing else is going to matter.

Most mods, rooting, and recovering devices and are done by one of 2 methods.

-Tool/Script - This is usually done by a GUI/Command prompt tool where the user clicks a few buttons and the magic happens in the background

-Manually - This is getting the hands dirty method, typing command lines, moving and unzipping files and is unfortunately common as there aren't many of the tools/scripts mentioned above.

3. The 4 Operational Modes

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1. Android

Usage: ADB and File Transfer.

-The normal operational mode for the device, and why you bought the tablet. ADB is NOT enabled by default, you will need to turn it on to perform any ADB operations. To enable ADB on the device:

-Login to parent mode

-Open Settings and see if "Developer Options" is listed if not

------Go to "About tablet".

------Click on Builder Number 10 or so times.

------Eventually you will see developer options are enabled.

-Open Developer Options and turn them on in top right corner

-Check the box USB debugging

-When using ADB on newer software builds when you execute a command the first time you will need to authorize on the tablet the first time, you can prevent this pop up by checking the box to always trust your computer.

2. Bootloader

Usage: Fastboot. Booting to recovery. Booting to nvflash. Installing TWRP or stock recoveries.

Allows selection of other 3 modes, and utilizing fastboot commands.

How to enter bootloader/fastboot mode:

Device powered off:

-Depending on device press and hold the power and vol - keys OR power and vol + key. Some will boot straight to recovery, and others will come to the "bootloader" screen. We want the bootloader.

-To enter fastboot use vol+ and vol- to highlight and select fastboot protocol. (Device will need to be plugged in to computer and fastboot driver installed before the screen will change)

Device powered on:

-Use ADB and execute from the command line: adb reboot-bootloader

3. Recovery

Usage: ADB, File Transfer, Installing Mods and Root, Recovering backups, Recovering Device.

There are 2 different versions of recovery. "Stock" and "TWRP". Stock is what comes with your device, and can be identified by the "dead android" picture when it boots up. Stock recovery is rather limited so if you see the "dead android" know you have stock recovery on the device. The 2nd possible recovery is TWRP, and the one used for most things you will be doing. It should say Team Win Recovery Project, or TWRP when it boots up.

How to enter recovery mode:

Device powered off:

-Depending on device press and hold the power and vol - keys OR power and vol + key. Some will boot straight to recovery, and others will come to the "bootloader" screen.

-Use the vol + and - keys to select recovery kernel. (one key will highlight the selection and the other key will "select" what's highlighted)

Device powered on:

-Use ADB and execute from the command line: adb reboot recovery

4. Forced Recovery

Usage: Last resort for recovering dead tablet, heavy duty modding.

Rarely used. Can modify tablet, and prevent bricks. Only useful on Nabi2 Original, Disney, and Nick.

How to enter forced recovery mode:

Device powered off:

-Depending on device press and hold the power and vol - keys OR power and vol + key. Some will boot straight to recovery, and others will come to the "bootloader" screen.

-Use the vol + and - keys to select forced recovery. (one key will highlight the selection and the other key will "select" what's highlighted)

-screen will be completely blank, you will also need a windows APX driver to communicate with device.

4. Drivers

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The windows drivers are problematic. There can be conflicts with other drivers, or just not found for the Nabi, or 64bit driver signature enforcement. As previously mentioned to utilize almost any operation for modding/rooting etc. you must have the drivers installed. None of the manual methods or auto tools are going to work if you don't get this accomplished.

It most cases you will only need 2 drivers. ADB interface and Fastboot/Bootloader Interface. The 3rd will only be needed on the rare chance you need to use the APX interface. What is important to understand is your computer will only see the interface that is used depending on the "Operational Mode" the tablet is in. For example if you are in Android or Recovery your computer will see ADB interface but NOT the fastboot interface. If you are in the bootloader interface(and have selected fastboot protocol) you will see the fastboot interface and NOT the ADB interface. So to install both drivers, you will have to boot to Android or Recovery and install one driver and then the bootloader to install the other. The order in which you do this will depend on which operational modes are available to you depending on the health of the tablet. (The same would apply if you need to use Forced recovery, you will need to be in that mode to install the 3rd driver APX interface, again this is rare)

Device Manger is the best way to see what is happening. With your tablet plugged in to the computer open device manager and look for either yellow ! or ? or something under the tree for "Android Device". If you are seeing the yellow ! or ? for your device then likely the drivers are not installed.

There are a few drivers and methods that seem to work best for most users. One of the bigger issues is 64bit driver signature enforcement. Windows Vista,7,8, and 10 do not like to install drivers that aren't digitally signed. There are 3 drivers that I am going to recommend. 2 are digitally signed drivers and there other is not.

PDAnet:

I really don't like recommending this but it seems to work in most scenarios. Remember your tablet will have to enter both modes to install both drivers and remember that ADB will not show up by default in Android unless you enable it(see the operational mode section above)

http://pdanet.co/a/

NabiLab drivers:

These are digitally self signed by me. That will require rootCA to be installed. This could create a security risk if someone was to steal my signing key. If that worries you don't use them or uninstall the drivers and certificate when you are done.

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=62826514&postcount=2639

Universal naked:

If you aren't technically savvy I would use these as last resort. It will require you to disable "windows driver signature enforcement"(google it because it depends on windows version). Extract the zip package. Enter device manager and find your device, and manually update driver by pointing to the folder you extracted the zip.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2263822

5. Tools and Automated scripts.

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There aren't a lot of current tools available. They have mostly aged beyond their usefulness. The reasons are quite a few.

1. As the Nabi's upgrades the Android software from Ice Cream Sandwich to Jellybean to KitKat, the bootloader also changes. This changes how TWRP is able to see the internal storage and usually it can't. An Ice Cream Sandwich bootloader needs to use a TWRP for that version. For example the original Nabi2 has 3 different TWRP versions for the 3 different bootloaders. A lot of the older tools were made with a TWRP that no longer will work with your device. This will show up as TWRP "unable to mount" errors, and therefore the tool/script will fail for that reason.

2. Gapps. Originally many Nabi devices didn't have a Google Play store option. A lot of the tools still work on that premise, but most Nabi's have Google Play now. Google Apps also change with the Android version. So the tools can make mods based on that old information will cause problems.

3. Super user. A lot of older tools with "root" scripts don't have a current super user(root) binary and daemon. Newer Android version need a more up to date Super User install. With this situation you won't cause as many problems but will not good root with the script like you expect.

I will try to keep the list somewhat up to date

4. Mods. Like above, the mods that change your screen and/or add functionality, are heavily dependent on your android version, and will usually make your tablet un bootable if using an incompatible one.

Taking that in to account it's important to realize using old tools will cause you more issues then using no tools at all. I will try to keep the list some what up to date but in general there aren't many still usable tools.

The only tool that is even somewhat current is NabiLabGUI 2015, it can deal with quite a few of the Nabi products, and is at least very good at troubleshooting and has a command line setup that you can use to follow other users command line suggestions.

Get it here. http://nabtabhacks.com/nabilabgui2015/publish.htm

Here is the thread for the OLD version of the program. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2391449

Remember none of these are going to work if you haven't set up the drivers

Nabi2 Original/Disney/Nick

Old software not to use: jmzroot package, Ubuntu install from scratch, original NabiLab(non GUI version), and most others.

Really just stick with NabiLab2015 if you need a automated solution.

NabiXD

The XD hasn't changed much so this probably still will work http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2207499

Nabi JR

For the Tegra2 4GB NABI-NV5A(couple years old) NabiLab2015 can do some functions or this tool http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2200119

For the Tegra3 16GB NABI-NV5B(also a couple years old) NabiLab2015 can do some functions.

For the newest NabiJR SNBJR-MT5C - Not much, no TWRP even available yet.

Nabi DreamTab Nvidia Edition

Latest installer http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=63151136&postcount=46

Nabi BigTabs

None

Nabi 2S(newer Nabi 2 tablet)

None

If the tools aren't working your are going to need to do it by hand. See next section.

6. Setting up to do it by hand

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Remember none of this is going to work if you haven't set up the drivers. Putting it all together now, also recall that you must be in the right "Operational Mode" to use either fastboot or to use ADB.

First of all I should mention that NabiLabGUI2015 has an option to work from the command line and has a lot of this already setup but to start from scratch:

When you setup the drivers earlier you got a driver for ADB and a driver for fastboot. Now to then talk to those interfaces you will need software to do that. Specifically an ADB.exe and fastboot.exe.

-Download and install this package(pay attention to where you install this as you will likely need to put files in there later): http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2317790

-From your start menu select "Minimal ADB and Fastboot" this should open a command prompt where you can type commands

-If you didn't pay attention or forgot where you installed the files, at the command prompt that opens type "explorer ." The period is important, explorer <space bar> and a period. So type what is between the quotes.

Now you can drop and drag, unzip, etc the files you need in to that folder. You are done with manual setup.

For nvflash setup(Only for Nabi2 Orig, Nick, Disney NOT 2S, this step won't normally ever be required, and is only here for completeness)

-Download the nvflash.zip attached to this post.

-Make a new folder in the same folder as above and call it nvflash

-Extract the contents of the nvflash.zip in to the nvflash folder

-At the command prompt type "cd nvflash" to change in to the folder and use nvflash

THIS IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS