Trying to root for the first time.

[S.Prime]

Ain't we all :-)

[bjs229]

Well I checked the box the last time and when I used quick boot to check my recovery twrp opened. I'm wondering if you check the box or not during the install. I am going to play with it a little more now that I am getting less worried about bricking it. Just wondering. If for some reason I can't start back up can I just use the tool kit and click on the flash stock+unroot can't boot up button and I will be ok?

[JayJ]

So long as the device boots to the bootloader (power button + volume down) then you can flash the factory image via the Root Toolkit.
Do you have a reboot widget because you won't be able to boot into recovery without help, there's a bug in the N7 that stops you accessing the recovery from the bootloader so you need to install either a reboot widget that allows rebooting into recovery or use either Goo Manager or I think ROM Manager also works for booting to TWRP recovery but that's all it will do.

[bjs229]

I have goo manager. I am confused on if you actually need to recover the device and it won't start how do you get to the apps? I don't use widgets just the actual apps. For whatever reason every widget I ever used I felt like it slowed me down or used the battery. Like live wallpapers. I know, I am nuts. I have titanium, quick boot and goo. Is that overkill? I just initiated a backup and two folders showed as choices. Twrp and cwm. I designated it to twrp. I didn't compress the file and I didn't check the md5sum which I didn't really know what it was. It said it was successful although the driver ADB window opened up again which is already installed.
Is that normal to have both TWRP and CWM? I still haven't been able to install the MTP drivers which opens up everytime I plug in the device. Annoying.

[JayJ]

Goo Manager boots the device into recovery, this can be done solely from the N7 without the need to connect to your PC.
The Root Toolkit can also use a temporary recovery to backup the device but personally I don't use that, I prefer to initiate backs myself. I do this by putting Goo Manager and and selecting Reboot to recovery.

The CWM files should be empty as you've not used CWM, just defined them. They were probably placed there during your initial root, I'm not sure but it didn't matter nite your using TWRP recovery.
Goo Manager is also useful if you start flashing ROM's, I'm using Paranoid Android atm and Goo Manager notifies you of an update to the ROM so long as that ROM is supported by Goo Manager.

I'm getting the MTP driver error too, my N7 still connects to my PC though...

[bjs229]

Thanks for all the info Jay. So what do you do if you can't get into the tablet?

[JayJ]

What you mean if the device bootloops?

I've done that a few times on my N7, for all my flashing experience I was hesitant to do a factory reset through recovery because I was under the impression that a factory reset would wipe the whole device including the user memory (sdcard0).
And this resulted in a bootloop, now if this was my S2 it wouldn't have been a problem because I would just just reboot into recovery and either reflash or restore a backup but obviously you can't do that with the N7 so that left me with having to flash the factory image using the Root Toolkit.
I watched several You Tube videos and people were not doing factory resets, just wiping the cache, dalvik cache and system. My error was not wiping the data partition but after three bootloops and three times flashing the factory image and starting from scratch I decided to I had nothing to loose and tried a full wipe as I do when flashing my S2 and it worked.

So the answer to your question is, if you bootloop your Nexus 7 then you'll need to flash the factory image with the Root Toolkit.
If you flash a custom ROM be sure to select wipe in TWRP and factory reset, wipe dalvik cache and wipe system, flash and wipe dalvik cache and cache again and reboot.

[bjs229]

Thanks for the answer on the boot loop. I have just read stories of a bricked device which I thought meant a black screen and no startup. 

[JayJ]

No problem, hope helps. At least my mistakes can contribute to your success, that's what forums are for...

EDIT: I'm not saying you can't brick an N7, I do think it's quite hard compared to other devices. Playing around with kernels and OC/UC, under volting and playing with BUS frequencies is much more serious than flashing ROM's as the kernel is the the part of the software that communicates directly with the hardware.

[bjs229]

Jay where is a good place to start to flash my first new rom? I have goo and it lists roms but I really don't know which to pick. Are the ones that are listed tested and known to work on the Nexus? Do I have to go back to stock or can I just flash from where I am? Is goo the only app I need to do it or is it a combination of apps?

[JayJ]

Goo Manager is a great place to start, all the ROM's listed under "Browse compatible ROMs" are specifically for the Nexus 7.
I'm using Paranoid Android at the moment, it's an AOSP ROM based on CM10 by some unique features.

Read this...

-PARANOIDANDROID-[2.1,-True-HybridMode,-Size-&-UI-on-Per-App-Basis]]http://rootzwiki.com/index.php?/topic/31264-[JB:CM10:HYBRD]-PARANOIDANDROID-[2.1,-True-HybridMode,-Size-&-UI-on-Per-App-Basis]

You'll also find ROM's like AOKP (Android Open Lang Project) and official CyanogenMod 10 nightlies in Goo Manager.

For more ROM's check XDA Developers Nexus 7 Android Development, also Rootzwiki Nexus 7 Development sub-forums respectively. I'll post links in a minute...

No need to go back to stock, were you are now is were you want to be.
Download for example Paranoid Android 2.12 and GAPPS zip files within Goo Manager, reboot using Goo Manager into TWRP recovery and perform a nandroid backup.
Now select the wipe option and do "Factory Wipe", "Dalvik Cache" and "System". Press the home button and select "Install", find the goomanager folder on your internal storage via the TWRP file explorer and select the Paranoid Android zip (pa_grouper-2.12-14SEP2012-225348.zip), now tap "Add More Zips" and select the GAPPS zip. You'll see and slider at the bottom of the screen that says "Swipe to Confirm Flash", do as it says and TWRP recovery will flash the ROM to your N7.
Once it's complete, choose "Wipe Cache & Dalvik Cache and then reboot.

If you don't like that ROM either follow the above steps again to flash another ROM or do the wipes and instead of selecting "Install" choose "Restore" to restore your Backup.