New Nook Glowlight 4?

[Renate]

Probably just a pm disable something-with-ota-in-its-name.

[nick84]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

OK, here's how to root the GL4. What I've done is taken Renate's post #37 from the XDA thread referenced in my previous post and fleshed it out a bit:

This presumes that you have ADB working and have already installed an alternate Android launcher on your GL4. If you haven't done any of this, check out this post before proceeding.

Here we go. Note that our Nook can be a bit stubborn about responding to ADB commands, so if it doesn't work the first time, try again and/or ask for help!

1) Download the GL4 firmware to your desktop or laptop from here.

2) Unzip the file.

3) Look for boot.img in the unzipped file and transfer it to your GL4.

4) Download the Magisk app from here and install it on your GL4. (Note: that link is also a very helpful source of info for Magisk.)

5) Run the Magisk app.

6) You'll see two slightly shaded boxes, entitled Magisk and App, respectively. In the Magisk box, directly to the right of the word Magisk, tap Install.

7) Under "Select and patch a file", select the boot.img file you just copied to your GL4. If you don't see this option in the first Magisk window you arrive at after tapping "install", tap "next" and you will.

8) Once Magisk completes its work on your boot.img, it will say so and will tell you where the patched file is located.

9) Copy the patched file back to your desktop/laptop. You can use ADB pull if you wish.

10) Enter the command adb reboot bootloader on your desktop/laptop.

11) Then, this command: fastboot flash boot the name of your magisk-patched boot.img. (I italicized that to indicate that you type the name of your Magisk-patched file instead of what's in italics!!) You can copy and paste the Magisk-patched file instead of typing out its full name. Tap Enter or Return, depending on what laptop/desktop you have.

12) Reboot to system. You can try adb reboot system or simply turn off your GL4 and turn it back on. You should be rooted now. Check by running the Magisk app once you are rebooted. Under the Magisk heading, besides "Installed", you should see a number. If you see "No", it didn't root properly. You can also install a root checker app to check root.

I hope I haven't missed anything!

Is someone able to get me a working link to the file in bullet point 1?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by nick84

Is someone able to get me a working link to the file in bullet point 1?

The link works for me. Firefox does let me know that it is a potentially unwanted file so I have to confirm the download but it does download all 357MB of it.

[nick84]

Sweet, cheers. Edge helped!

[Capably8357]

Just wanted to clarify before asking: I tried searching everywhere here and on XDA but I couldn't find this information.
I am trying to reset (accidentally connected it to WiFi before realising it would ask for an account) and use my GlowLight 4 without activating it with a B&N account. I found how to do it for other devices but when I tried the methods for the GL4 they don't work. Does anybody know how to do it?

[Capably8357]

Originally Posted by Capably8357

Just wanted to clarify before asking: I tried searching everywhere here and on XDA but I couldn't find this information.
I am trying to reset (accidentally connected it to WiFi before realising it would ask for an account) and use my GlowLight 4 without activating it with a B&N account. I found how to do it for other devices but when I tried the methods for the GL4 they don't work. Does anybody know how to do it?

I had to comb through the forums but I managed to do it. I report the steps here in case anybody (or - most likely - myself in a few years) stumbles on the same problem .

First you need to enable USB debugging following the top left top right corner touching from here. Touching right at the corner is crucial, otherwise it won't work (my device is 8.x/6.x and this still works by the way).

Once you have ADB shell (if on Windows use Google's official drivers, Universal ADB doesn't have the right VID/PID in its .inf), reboot to recovery and factory reset (there is only one button, you cannot miss it).

Now you have a pristine device, so you need to enable USB debugging again following the same steps as before.

Next install an alternative launcher (I used Simple Ink Launcher) following this post. The commands we are going to need afterwards require root, so follow this other post to do it.

Finally run the commands here to disable the OOBE and launch directly into the new launcher.

[nick84]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

10) Enter the command adb reboot bootloader on your desktop/laptop.

11) Then, this command: fastboot flash boot the name of your magisk-patched boot.img. (I italicized that to indicate that you type the name of your Magisk-patched file instead of what's in italics!!) You can copy and paste the Magisk-patched file instead of typing out its full name. Tap Enter or Return, depending on what laptop/desktop you have.

12) Reboot to system. You can try adb reboot system or simply turn off your GL4 and turn it back on. You should be rooted now. Check by running the Magisk app once you are rebooted. Under the Magisk heading, besides "Installed", you should see a number. If you see "No", it didn't root properly. You can also install a root checker app to check root.

I hope I haven't missed anything!

I'm stuck at point 11. I type adb reboot bootloader, Nook reboots. Then I type fastboot flash boot name of the file and nothing happens. I installed fastboot drivers as advised. What am I missing?

I do get this message: <waiting for any devices>

[jvscholz]

Originally Posted by Renate

Ok, can you still get to fastboot? If so, here's how to proceed, carefully.
If something doesn't react as portrayed, stop!

Preparation

Download http://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/pi...1/gentoo/3.123

Download nnglow21.img from http://www.temblast.com/neonoogie.htm

Get misc-rec.prc from attachment. Just rename it plain misc-rec

Install rooted recovery

Go to fastboot:

C:\>fastboot flash recovery nnglow21.img
C:\>fastboot flash misc misc-rec

Long power press to reset, you should see a splash with "Neo Noogie".

Install update

C:\>adb shell
# mount -t f2fs /dev/block/by-name/UDISK /data
# mount -t ext4 /dev/block/by-name/cache /cache
# ^D
C:\>adb push update.zip /data/media/0
C:\>adb shell
# update-binary 2 1 /data/media/0/update.zip
<lots of printing, should end happily>
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/by-name/misc
dd: /dev/block/by-name/misc: write error: No space left on device <not a problem, correct>

^D is control key + d

Hit the power button (which has "Reboot normally" written under it)
If that doesn't work do a really long power press ~30 seconds.

Hey, sorry to bother you Renate, your posts have been invaluable to the process of getting my device rooted. I had trouble using the method outlined by downeaster59 on page 27—following their method the device stopped displaying anything on the screen. Afterwards I tested your method and managed to get into Neo Noogie. I'm stuck updating the device, in adb shell, using the command "update-binary 2 1 /data/media/0/update.zip" I get the following error—

6|E60P54_android:/ # update-binary 2 1 /data/media/0/update.zip
line 2 col 23: unknown function "assert_boot_version"
line 3 col 38: unknown function "resize2fs"
line 5 col 11: unknown function "burnboot"
line 9 col 135: unknown function "block_image_update"
line 13 col 135: unknown function "block_image_update"
5 parse errors

I looked around this forum and XDA but I'm not sure what the error is. thank you

[Renate]

Originally Posted by jvscholz

I looked around this forum and XDA but I'm not sure what the error is.

The error is that somehow I put the wrong update-binary in nnglow21.img
The correct one is 4 times bigger.
It's been updated, load the new one http://www.temblast.com/neonoogie.htm

The latest update is http://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/pi....45/update.zip

[jvscholz]

Thank you for the quick reply. Tried the method using two different computers (Linux & MacOS) with the new files and getting the same error. Should I be flashing misc-rec?

Currently doing—

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash recovery nnglow21.img
fastboot flash misc misc-rec
fastboot reboot
adb reboot recovery
adb shell
# mount -t f2fs /dev/block/by-name/UDISK /data
# mount -t ext4 /dev/block/by-name/cache /cache
# ^D
adb push update.zip /data/media/0
adb shell
# update-binary 2 1 /data/media/0/update.zip
# line 2 col 23: unknown function "assert_boot_version"
# line 3 col 38: unknown function "resize2fs"
# line 5 col 11: unknown function "burnboot"
# line 9 col 135: unknown function "block_image_update"
# line 13 col 135: unknown function "block_image_update"
# 5 parse errors

[Renate]

Originally Posted by jvscholz

Tried the method using two different computers ...

Are you quite sure that you have the new nnglow21.img?
When in recovery:

adb shell ls -l /sbin/u*

It should say 1274700

[jvscholz]

Thanks, the dump returned—

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 1970-01-01 00:00 /sbin/umount -> toybox_static
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 1970-01-01 00:00 /sbin/uname -> toybox_static
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 1970-01-01 00:00 /sbin/uniq -> toybox_static
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 1970-01-01 00:00 /sbin/uptime -> toybox_static

I downloaded the files from the links in #534, but it doesn't look like they were uploaded to the device correctly. I was out of the house for awhile and returned to the Nook asking to update, which was a new screen I haven't seen before. I pressed yes and now it seems like the device is bricked. It doesn't show up in adb devices or fastboot devices. I've reset the device with long presses a number of times but can't get it to show up. I'll go buy another glow21 if it is bricked, if not do you have any ideas? thank you again I really appreciate the advice

[Renate]

Originally Posted by jvscholz

Thanks, the dump returned—

I'm confused by that.
You're clearly in recovery because only recovery uses toybox_static.
But you're not seeing any version of update-binary so it's not either old or new nnglow21.
So, I guess that somehow it reinstalled stock recovery?

I tried some more experimenting on mine.
The latest nnglow21 works fine as far as basic ADB and rebooting goes.
I tried to do an update and ran into a small wrinkle.
You have to do this before you do the update:

# cd /cache
# mkdir recovery

I do have an advantage over you as I have the hardware (UART) console connected so when it's just "sitting there" I can see what it's doing.

I've found the power reset button to be balky.
Try really long presses (>30 seconds) to get some reaction.

[jvscholz]

So, I'm able to detect the device in fastboot devices after pressing the power button for a minute. I've flashed nnglow21.img successfully, but am having trouble getting into recovery at the moment. Using fastboot reboot causes the device to reboot, but isn't detected in adb devices. I tried fastboot reboot recovery and fastboot boot nnglow21.img but get the same behavior. I also tried to boot into a patched image I had from magisk from a previous attempt, but still no response. The screen is completely blank but sometimes goes black for a moment. Is it possible that USB debugging is no longer enabled? thanks again

[Renate]

I've done some more experimenting.
This device is a pain to get to recovery.
"adb reboot recovery" from a working system is the only reliable way.
I've tried "magic" key presses and it still tries to regular boot.
I've played with the misc partition and it still tries to regular boot.
I've tried "fastboot erase boot" and it stalls at the (internal) aboot command line.
Which is great for me, because I can type to it.

The only thing that I've seen to work is "fastboot flash boot nnglow21.img", "fastboot reboot".
The problem is, there is a risk that you'll be stuck at the aboot command line.
I think that I'd try it though.