https://xdaforums.com/t/work-in-progress-install-ubuntu-16-04-3-nexus-9.3667366/

I have a Nexus 9 and it only had one big problem: streaming apps in Kodi stuttering after around 10 mins of playback. If I restart the app, it's okay again for around 10 mins. Is there any way to fix it? Lineage OS maybe?

Got one some months ago second-hand really cheap and with all the accessories after a Lenovo tablet I use had died.

On the good side, the GPU is surprisingly good by modern standards, giving even a run for its money in the graphics benchmarks (that work) to more modern mid-range devices (Redmi Note 9 Pro) I've been able to test, the display is crispy, and the camera is decent for usage under daylight unlike what happens with so many tablets, having also a flash. I've been testing Google Camera ports (I think the 5.0.018 or alike it's the latest one working) with more or less luck.

On the bad side, Nougat has some stuttering and seems that even 2GB of RAM is low for it (the Nexus 7 I also have, with the same RAM, ran finely Marshmallow until I installed LineageOS there) and the tablet heats even under not very heavy usage (Google Maps), charging takes quite a time and needs the device to be turned off or not being used -otherwise it will be at the same capacity or will even keep discharging-, and 16GB (no LTE) is certainly low today (no expandable storage and having to leave space for the OS to go fluid after installing apps means no media).

Overall, the device is still quite usable today albeit for basic usage, streaming, and cloud services. Just be careful when debloating it not to remove the Google app, otherwise it will enter into a bootloop when loading the main screen.

Does anyone have the kernels for this device they are not available on the official site anymore for some reason

J'ai récupéré une tablette nexus 9 et elle s'allume sur rien.I picked up a nexus 9 tablet and it turns on nothing.

Dans le menu Device state- LOCKED

HBOOT-3.48.0.0135

OS-n/a

eMMC-BOOT 2048MB

Jul 23 2015,13:56:46

FASTBOOT AC

HBOOT

REBOOT

REBOOT FASTBOOT

POWER DOWN

Quelqu'un peut-il m'aider Can anyone help me

I do " fastboot flash recovery (TWPR name)", and it goes thru the process, and when I reboot it never sticks.

​

I can get it into TWPR with "fastboot boot recovery (image name)". I swear I am losing my mind that something is not working right.

Obligatory update after more than a month of testing:

Gifted my wife a Nexus 9 LTE back in the day, but like many others, she experienced random freezes under even light use. We tried stock rom, SlimROM and Lineage OS, etc. We also tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, which did help a bit for only for a short while. She has since moved on to another device, but I decided to use it as my main device since we had paid a pretty penny for it back in the day. I am not doing any heavy gaming, only browsing the web, controlling my various IoT devices, checking the weather, watching videos and playing word games (shout out to Wurdian, the REAL Scrabble successor), here is what I did to make ours acceptably usable.

Pre-requisite: You need TWRP recovery from https://twrp.me/

1. Do a full wipe and format the data partition (to get rid of the default encryption)

2. Install the latest available SlimROM stable build:

The official download page seems to be empty of any download links, but you may download a copy of the latest LTE stable build (sorry, I don't have a copy of the WIFI build) here:
Slim-flounder_lte-7.1.2.build.2.0-STABLE-20180124-0328.zip
I now recommend SlimROM, but I had suggested LineageOS in my original post which you may grab here if you prefer:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-official-lineageos-14-1-for-nexus-9-flounder.3617907/
My problem with LineageOS was Netflix; after a couple minutes of streaming, the audio then video would start to lag and become choppy. No such problems with SlimROM.

3. Install force decrypt to disable forced encryption:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/fix-fed-patcher-v7-forceencrypt-disable-patcher.3200168/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/fix-fed-patcher-v8-forceencrypt-disable-patcher.3234422/

4. Optional: Install open gapps and Magisk (at the time of writing, the Magisk repo is no longer accessible on v24+)

http://opengapps.org/?arch=arm64&api=7.1&variant=nano
https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases

5. Install the vendor image:

vendor-flounder_lte-n4f27p.img

6. Boot the tablet and confirm that is not encrypted, Check Settings --> Security and you should see the option to Encrypt the tablet (don't encrypt it!), otherwise it will say Encrypted.

7. To get Netflix streaming, install the liboemcrypto disabler addon Magisk module from the repo. Alternatively, if you flashed the latest Magisk v24.1, like I happened to do on one of my tests, then the repo is no longer available (and it appears to be very difficult to downgrade to a previous Magisk release), in which case I booted into TWRP recovery and manually removed the

/system/lib/liboemcrypto.so or /system/vendor/lib/liboemcrypto.so files.

8. Limit the number of background running apps. If you find that your tablet is freezing randomly, this might be due to limited available RAM. Uninstall any non-essential apps that consume RAM needlessly. Also, check Developer Options --> Running services to figure out which apps are consuming RAM in the background.

Here are a few additional optional steps that may or may not help:

Optional A) Overheating issues: When it gets too hot, the CPU frequency is throttled automatically, but you can take a proactive approach instead of a reactive approach. Install 3C CPU Manager (root) (using the root that is provided with Magisk) and change the default CPU governor and max CPU frequency yourself:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ccc71.st.cpu&hl=en_CA&gl=US

Optional B) Insufficient RAM issues: In Developer Options, enable "Don't keep activities" and set "Background process limit" to None or "At most 1 process". It might not be necessary to do both, but feel free to experiment as you please.

Optional C) Disabling the slow swap partition: Install the Swap-Torpedo v1.2.1 Magisk module from:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/module-swap-torpedo-run-faster-and-more-reliably.3766883/post-82069715

Confirm that the swap partition is disabled, RAM Truth should indicate a swap size of 0:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sa.ramtruth&hl=en_CA&gl=US

Good luck!

Thanks so much for this post. It reminded of my old beloved N9 which I have not booted since I retired it from active duty 4 years ago. I used it for quite a while and when it got slower and a little flaky (details elude me), I installed Slim which kept it going until the screen developed bubbles (delaminate?). So it has been sitting in the bottom of a desk drawer. I booted it up today and it still showed >90% charge, but it did not boot properly. I did a factory reset. It boots, but the screen is unreadable. I'm willing to put it up for adoption to a good home.

BLUF: Replaced a shattered screen and now touch doesn't work.

Long story: I was gifted a damaged Nexus 9 wifi. It had a responsive but shattered screen. I used it like that for a long time, then decided to replace the screen/digitizer. I've been doing screen repair for a long time and am comfortable changing nearly any screen. Luckily I have someone that bricked their device and I was able to get the screen at a reasonable price. Once I swapped the internals to the new assembly, touch would not respond. This was a non rooted factory imaged device. Perplexed, I attached on otg cable and used a mouse to reset the device, no luck. It went into my frustration bin for a few years until last week. I fired it up and to my surprise the digitizer was working, but only briefly. It has now reverted to being stubborn and has been placed back into my frustration bin. I am at a loss. I even tried reinstalling the oem screen and it no longer registers touch either. I have scrutinized the electronics and cabling, everything looks perfect. Anyone have any suggestions?

I have Nexus 9 that I replaced the battery on a couple of years ago. It has been gathering dust for a few years now, but I am considering dusting it off to use it as a comics reader. I remember it being very slow and laggy on the stock ROM. So I was curious if anybody has any advise for how to best make a Nexus 9 useable in 2021.

Should I flash a custom ROM?

If yes, then which custom ROM?

Are there any tips for optimizing the stock ROM?

How about security concerns? An OS that many years old without any updates is probably not a good idea to put online, would be my guess.

Heya all,

I own 4 of these tablets, 3 I use for my home IoT stuff (one on each floor) and 1 used to be a kids tablet.

These bad boys have done okayish for years, they just run simple apps, but I've now had the batteries swell in each one, and now I'm having 2 of them swell again a year or two after replacement.

QQ: Is there any way to run them without a battery? They're always plugged in, but they wont power on with the battery removed.

QQ: Should I just plan on tossing these and going with something else? The cheap tablets from china with google play are now in the $80s.. Last time I paid $60 for a battery.

Hi,

I've got a N9 with the last stable Slimrom I stalled. It is useable just, bit pretty laggy on as apps.

I've read that performance can be increased by disabling encryption. How can I check if this is encrypted or not already?

I guess if it is unencrypted already, then it is just too low hardware nowadays :(

Thanks.

Hey all, so i have a nexus thats been sitting around and when i went to boot it unto hboot its saying that there is no OS and i was wondering if there is a way to install an operating system onto it from windows

Any and all help is welcome

Everything is sold.

Having problems with my Nexus 9. Started with constant crashes, reboots opened it up and disconnected/reconnected the battery and still the same problem. Put back to factory settings and couldn't get pat wifi login. Factory settings again and eventually got wifi details in and it crashed again. Now it just stuck on a constant loop of the Google splash screen and reboots again and again.

Any help with this one guys. Thanks

I have used my Nexus 9 sporadically for the past several years and every time I use it again it suffers from jarring crashes. The screen goes full LSD (not LCD) and there is usually a loud noise (from the speakers) that continues until it is reset. It seems to be related to how hard the thing is working as running in battery saver made and keeping it well charged minimized the chances of this happening.

My question is whether anyone else has encountered this specific type of reset/failure and if a new battery, new ROM, or anything else fixed the issue.

Thanks!

I thought my N9 was due for recycling. After a new battery it was repurposed in a simple child tablet for video viewing in the train and comics, with a minimal stock install. Still, frequent freezes and bugs made it quite annoying to use, so I was looking for a new tablet. But... 250 euros for a Galaxy Tab A7 or 400 for a Galaxy Tab S5e... I wasn't excited by either option.

Decided to give it a last chance with Lineage 14.1 from razorloves with April 21 security patch, removed encryption with Fed patcher, and well, it looks like I'm gonna squeeze a couple more years out of it. I regret not giving it a try sooner (I was lazy) but it went quite smoothly. N9 ain't dead yet!

EDIT: for those who asked and for future reference, I'll summarize the steps I took while it's still fresh in my mind. I'm not familiar with this so every couple of years when I install a custom ROM I have to learn the process again :)

My starting point was the dev's post on xda : https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-official-lineageos-14-1-for-nexus-9-flounder.3617907/

1/ backup your stuff, the tablet will be wiped clean

2/ make sure it's up to date so you'll have the latest version of the firmware which is required

3/ enable developer options, then USB debugging and OEM unlock

4/ on your PC install ADB and fastboot and the ADB driver https://wiki.lineageos.org/adb_fastboot_guide.html

5/ download the Lineage OS version from the dev at https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-official-lineageos-14-1-for-nexus-9-flounder.3617907/ make sure you get the correct version for wifi or LTE version of the N9

download google apps if needed and also fed patcher to avoid encryption at https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/fix-fed-patcher-v8-forceencrypt-disable-patcher.3234422/ (download link at the bottom of the original post)

6/ follow instructions from the lineage wiki https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/flounder/install

That includes installing TWRP recovery on the tablet to make the installation process easier.

Caution, once rebooted in fastboot mode I had to download and install the generic Google android driver manually from device manager to have the usb connection working.

In TWRP sideload Lineage OS, Gapps, fed patcher and su addon for root if needed

7/ reboot (takes a while, don't panic) and enjoy!

Apologies in advance if this is off topic. I just purchased a used Nexus 9 for use in a tablet mount and was curious if anyone still on this subreddit had a keyboard they would be willing sell.

Unfortunately I have not been able to track one down and wanted to try it.

Found my aging/old N9, which currently has LOS 15.1 installed. No gapps, just running FDroid, happy with that, it covers my needs.

All i need is to browse the web at home - i don't stream or game much. 15.1 seems fine.

Is there any good reason to fix what seems not to be broke?

This is a shot in the dark, my Nexus 9 was running slimrom albeit very slow. I thought I might try and bring it back to life with a fresh install. I had TWRP recovery installed from the previous install (years ago).

So i downloaded a lineage OS ROM and gapps. This is where my troubles began, i downloaded a version gapps which was newer than the android version so it did not flash. The ROM did flash, but i have no google apps,

No problems i said, I'll just download the correct gapps and flash again, bit since flashing the ROM, I've lost recovery, i guess thats part of a fresh install, as i said, its been years since I've tried this.

So i thought I'll get the Wugs toolkit and start again, the problem i am having now is that the Nexus 9 is not being recognised when i plug it into my windows 10 pc. I've tried a few different USB cables and USB slots but no luck. USD debugging is on on the Nexus 9.

I think the connector on the Nexus 9 is damaged, from years of charging etc, and this is why I can't see the Nexus 9 on my PC. I've tried plugging in an OTG cable i found in the drawer, but I'm not seeing that on the Nexus either. I've plugged my android phone into the PC and it recognised it, so i am thinking its more of a Nexus issue than the PC.

So does anyone have any ideas how i could 'connect' to my Nexus 9 to try and get it back to something that might work?

It's a long shot and I'm not too bothered if I can't get it sorted, but I'd like to try and get it going again one more time before deciding what to replace it with.

I have searched in XDA and slimrom.org it isn't available to download.

Have a nexus 9 that was barely used and has been sitting around for ages and id like to flash it so that i can get as much performance and stability out of it as possible.
I'm relatively computer literate but im not very informed with flashing or tinkering with android.
Could anyone recommend me a rom with detailed enough instructions or a tutorial on how to do it?

Updated my nexus 9 but now it does not turn on and start working it just shows device state - lock and I don`t know what should I do can you help me heal it?

I brought a refurbished nexus 9 for the intentions of playing stadia (yeah, should have done my research lol) I know it’s really old hardware, but I thought that was the whole point of stadia? Has anyone figured out a way to play stadia on the nexus 9?

Hi all,

Got an old N9 with SlimROM installed.

Recently the ITV Hub app won't play programs. It works as far as the adverts before starting the program, but then comes up with an error message and 001 code.

Any ideas what's wrong, or is this tablet just too old now so apps are starting to not become supported?

Cheers.

So my Nexus 9 is now very old. Every time I turn it on after being shutdown for some time is just crawls. Apps do not open, you can't go to settings, wallpaper changes to default one and so on. It is basically unusable. What always helps is clearing the cache in recovery. It works every time and the tablet is back to normal. Then after a few days again same slowness.

What is really weird is that wiping takes a long time, like 10 minutes, but If you do it a second time it does it in 10 seconds. It seems that wiping corrects something in file system by recreating the file system together with cache partition or it somehow refreshes eMMC so that it can keep going.

Anyway still works albeit with some performance issues. Anyone else?