Flashing the SHIELD Device

In order to update the Shield OS, the user must have an existing copy of the Android SDK installed. This provides the commands adb and fastboot, which are used in the following tutorial.

Also, the user must have the Android Composite ADB Interface already installed before proceeding with the fastboot flashing instructions. This is because the adb command is used to switch the device into fastboot mode.

NVIDIA recommends obtaining the Android SDK through NVIDIA CodeWorks for Android, which provides users with a hassle-free download, and installs a wide range of important SDKs and other tools that are recommended for a SHIELD developer.

To flash your SHIELD device, do the following: 

  1. Download and unzip the image package on your host system.
    NOTE: The image is not automatically downloaded by the CodeWorks for Android installer, but can be obtained at http://developer.nvidia.com/gameworksdownload.
  2. Turn on your NVIDIA SHIELD device and boot it to the Android home screen.
  3. Connect the device to your host system with the provided micro-USB cable.
  4. From a command prompt, type:
    adb reboot bootloader

    Here you will see a list of options starting with Continue. At this point you should not do anything, as you have reached fastboot mode.

  5. Check that you have the drivers installed for fastboot bootloader mode. You can do this simply by checking that your device appears in the device list. From the command line, type:
    fastboot devices
  6. At this point, if you see your device, you can skip this step. However, if you do not see your device:
    1. Go to your Control Panel > Device Manager.
    2. As the device should have changed from SHIELD to fastboot, click Rescan.
    3. Right-click and select to update the driver.
    4. Select Browse my computer for driver software.
    5. Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
    6. Select Have Disk….
    7. Select Browse and navigate to the ...\win_usb_driver subfolder where the SHIELD OS image is located.
    8. Select android_winusb.inf.
    9. Select Android Bootloader Interface.
    10. Repeat step 2 to verify.
      If this does not work, we suggest that you uninstall the device, rescan, and try again.
  7. Your device may have shipped with a locked bootloader. The device must have an unlocked bootloader to flash the image. You can unlock the bootloader by doing the following steps: 
    1. fastboot oem unlock
    2. Press the Home button on the device to highlight Unlock.
    3. Press the SHIELD button to confirm the unlock.

    Your device's bootloader is now unlocked.

  8. Flash with the following commands, in sequence, from the directory where files were unzipped: 
    fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
    fastboot flash boot boot.img
    fastboot flash system system.img
    fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
    fastboot flash staging blob
    fastboot flash dtb tegra<version>.dtb
  9. Reboot your device by using one of the two following methods:
    1. fastboot reboot
    2. Hold the SHIELD button down until the device turns off. Once it is powered down, release the SHIELD button, then press and hold for a few seconds to power it back up again.
  10. When your device boots, you should now activate Developer Mode.
    1. Select the Settings icon on the home page.
    2. Scroll to the bottom and select About SHIELD.
    3. Scroll to the bottom and tap the row labeled Build number at least seven times.
    4. Press the Back button, and near the About SHIELD setting, enter Developer options. It should already be enabled at the top.
    5. We recommend you select the Stay awake setting.
    6. Select USB debugging.

Congratulations, you are ready to use NVIDIA Developer Tools.

 

 


NVIDIA® GameWorks™ Documentation Rev. 1.0.220830 ©2014-2022. NVIDIA Corporation and affiliates. All Rights Reserved.