From the Android Forums: Nexus 7 hard reset questions
Willter12 asks in the Nexus 7 forums,
I have read that a hard reset is activated by:
- Turn off.
- Hold vol up/vol down/power on
- Select Recovery using vol buttons and press power button
- After several minutes, screen with red triangle will appear
- Hold volume up and press return for menu to make hard reset
All goes well til #4. Here I get blank screen showing "Google" and it never moves into the red triangle picture and just freezes. I have waited over 20 minutes for the boot into recovery menu and nothing happens.
Have I missed a step or is something wrong? If onboard recovery process is broke is there a way to fix it? I would like to have access to hard reset should something dire go wrong.
No I am not rooted nor have I tried to root and have only loaded apps at this point. Everything else is working fine and this appears to be an excellent device.
Thanks for any advice....
You read right, willter12. But it happens that there's a bit of a bug and you won't be able to follow those standard directions with the Nexus 7. Amend them with an extra step -- plugging the tablet into your computer. Once you are at the bootloader screen, you can't move on to recovery unless there's a connection on the USB port. Plugging it into the wall won't work, but the computer you use doesn't have to have the SDK or Fastboot set up on it, it just needs to be turned on. Change your steps to read like so:
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- Turn off.
- Hold vol up/vol down/power on
- Plug the tablet into the USB port on a computer
- Select Recovery using vol buttons and press power button
- After several minutes, screen with red triangle will appear
- Hold volume up and press return for menu to make hard reset
It's inconvenient, we agree. But at least it's fairly easy to work around since the computer requires no set-up. As you mention, this is important for everyone -- not just those that live to hack.
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Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Threads.