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At the moment I would like to reinstall Android on my device(custom hardware device). I got the image files after building. But when I enter fastboot devices nothing returns.

adb devices is working. It return my device. fastboot flashall -w is also not working. I returns <waiting for devices> and stays like that until I exit.

So the 70-android.rules.d file is right. I have also set ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT. But someone knows why fastboot does not see my device, but adb does?

Restarting udev or adb does not work. Some people recommend that on the internet.

OS: Ubuntu 11.10

Mike Laren
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Michielodc
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  • It might be useful to mention your which OS your computer runs as well as some information about the hardware rather than "custom". It also might be more useful to ask this on http://forum.xda-developers.com/ as XDA deals more with custom roms and things. – Reed Dec 21 '11 at 11:47
  • Did you boot into bootloader and usb is connected? do you have usb drivers for your device? – Emrah Mehmedov Sep 18 '12 at 16:25
  • Have you found an answer? I have the same problem... – Pavel Vyazankin Oct 17 '15 at 22:30

6 Answers6

91

For Windows:

  • Open device manager
  • Find Unknown "Android" device (likely listed under Other devices with an exclamation mark)
  • Update driver
  • Browse my computer for driver software
  • Let me pick from a list of devices, select List All Devices
  • Under "Android device" or "Google Inc", you will find "Android Bootloader Interface"
  • Choose "Android Bootloader Interface"
  • Click "yes" when it says that driver might not be compatible
Mateen Ulhaq
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Tengiz
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    Sweet, that worked for me. Unfortunately OP was not running Windows so this probably won't get any upvotes, but this definitely worked for me on Windows. – jewbix.cube Jan 31 '16 at 21:47
  • Works for me, too. Excellent!! – Gqqnbig May 29 '16 at 22:43
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    Android Bootloader Interface driver for the Fastboot and ADB interface driver for the ADB operations – Siv Oct 29 '16 at 13:31
  • Worked for me. Thank you! – Wei Xiang Nov 29 '17 at 01:03
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    What if it's already listed as "SAMSUNG Mobile USB CDC Composite Device"? – endolith May 11 '20 at 05:31
  • This saved me. Thanks a lot. – Divyanshu Kushwaha Dec 23 '20 at 16:10
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    In case you don't find the drivers while listing all devices, try to use the one from google (https://developer.android.com/studio/run/win-usb) – Victor Santos Feb 18 '21 at 23:11
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    In my case, I had to install the driver as an “optional update” from the Windows Settings app. – Fenhl Aug 15 '21 at 14:51
  • Given Win10+Android Studio ElectricEel installation of USB drivers from SDK Tools, point the path after clicking "browse my computer" to where you installed the SDK Tools. Top level of SDK tools folder worked fine for me. To verify path, go to File > Settings > Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Android SDK and look at the path in the right pane. Worked for me, anyway. Didn't get list of devices option, so if you get stuck on that step and installed the drivers with AS, this is the steps I used. – Kreidol Mar 19 '23 at 18:42
61

Are you rebooting the device into the bootloader and entering fastboot USB on the bootloader menu?

Try

adb reboot bootloader

then look for on screen instructions to enter fastboot mode.

Matt Cofer
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  • yep, once i issue "adb reboot bootloader", I get into the fastboot screen - and then "fastboot devices" starts working. That's wierd and i don't know why, but thanks for the tip. – Jalpesh Apr 22 '12 at 01:34
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    When the phone is in fastboot mode it announces itself as a different device. That results in an additional device driver on the computer side that has to be installed. – Martin Stein Mar 01 '13 at 17:52
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    Great pointer. ``adb reboot-bootloader`` was what worked for me though. – Fydo May 11 '13 at 17:09
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    Apparently Fastbook does not talk to a device that is currently in recovery (that was my problem at least). Running this completely solved my problem (updating CWM Recovery to a newer version) – Excalibur Apr 25 '14 at 03:21
  • Thanks it worked..After adb reboot-bootloader, i went to device manager and installed usb driver manually.. – John Jan 20 '15 at 11:12
  • @Fydo are you sure about that hiphen, you may be wrong on that. Everybody else does adb reboot bootloader. with no hiphen – barlop Aug 11 '16 at 05:37
3

TLDR - In addition to the previous responses. There might be a problem with the version of the fastboot command. Try to download the newest one via Android SDK Manager instead of default one available in the OS repository.

There is one more thing you can do to fix this issue. I had the similar problem when trying to flash Nexus Player. All the adb commands we working fine while in normal boot mode. However, after switching to fastboot mode I wasn't able to execute fastboot commands. My device was not visible in the output of the fastboot devices command. I've set the right rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/11-android.rules file. The lsusb command showed that the device has been pluged in.

The soultion was quite simple. I've downloaded the the fastboot via Android Studio's SDK Manager instead of using the default one available in Ubuntu packages.

All you need is sdkmanager. Download the Android SDK Platform Tools and replace the default /usr/bin/fastboot with the new one.

Mateusz Kleinert
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2

I had the same issue, but I was running Ubuntu 12.04 through a VM. I am using a Nexus 10. I had added the usb device as a filter for the VM (using virtual box in the virtual machine's settings).

The device I had added was "samsung Nexus 10".

The problem is that once the device is in fastboot mode, it shows up as a different device: "Google, Inc Android 1.0." So doing "lsusb" in the VM showed no device connected, and obviously "fastboot devices" returned nothing until I added the "second" device as a filter for the VM as well.

Hope this helps someone.

Taylor Hanson
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-1

You must run fastboot as root. Try sudo fastboot

espinchi
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-2

If you got nothing when inputted fastboot devices, it meaned you devices fail to enter fastboot model. Make sure that you enter fastboot model via press these three button simultaneously, power key, volume key(both '+' and '-'). Then you can see you devices via fastboot devices and continue to flash your devices.

note:I entered fastboot model only pressed 'power key' and '-' key before, and present the same problem.

Leo Kong
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