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I'm trying to sideload Lollipop onto my Nexus 5 from the OTA zip file.

At this point, the adb recognizes the device after I plug in the USB cable, and spits out the serial number.

As I understand the instructions for sideloading, once I get to this point, I just need to reboot into recovery mode, (which works as expected) and then bypass the red exclamation point icon using "volume up and power" simultaneously. That works too.

At the point where the screen on the Nexus 5 says, "Now send the package you want to apply to the device with 'adb sideload &ltfilename&gt' I type "adb sideload + the OTA image file name", which I renamed for convenience". The file is in the platform-tools folder.

At which point the command window reports: error: device not found

So... the device is seen by the adb, but somehow is no longer found after the device reboots in recovery mode.

I've replaced all the usb drivers, enabled usb debugging and developer mode on the Nexus device. I've tried this in windows 7 and also in Linux (both from the android sdk tool kit and from an installation of Eclipse). I'm unable to get the adb to talk to the Nexus 5.

I read the android-windows usb inf file, and there is no section specifically for the Nexus 5, but I added a line under the "generic android" section with USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001 as has been suggested elsewhere for people who couldn't get the OS to see their nexus at all. My issue is not that the OS can't see it... and the adb sees it, too, until I try to sideload the OTA file in Recovery Mode.

Anyone else having this issue, or better yet... any ideas on how to solve it?

Thanks

Gene
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  • try this http://ktnr74.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-to-make-truly-universal-adb-and.html – Alex P. Nov 17 '14 at 16:02
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    The workaround described in this article fixed the problem for me for a Nexus 5, update from 4.4.4 to 5.0: https://edwardsamuel.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/fixing-adb-device-not-found-with-nexus-5-devices-in-recovery-mode/ (was a Windows driver issue in recovery mode) – CodeManX Jan 04 '15 at 18:25

1 Answers1

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It turns out that I had not enabled USB debugging before I tried to do this using Linux Ubuntu / Eclipse / Android SDK. So my problem was really a windows USB driver problem, I guess (though I can't be sure, since windows did see the device until I tried to transfer the file. Maybe that message was really conveying a permissions problem, too...)

I rebooted into Ubuntu and tried again and was able to transfer the update file. The only hitch I encountered at that point was to issue the sideload command as root. I didn't do that the first time I tried it, and got a message about lacking permissions.

I suspect the posted reply with a link to a universal USB inf file would have worked, but, though I'm grateful for the tip, I can't testify to that, since I managed to transfer the file without Windows.

Thanks to all who looked at this and especially to Alex P., for posting a possible solution. FW IW, I'm glad to have finally been able to do this, but for anyone struggling to get Lollipop ahead of the OTA update... well, it's nice, but hardly worth a lot of effort.

Gene
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