The NVidia Kill Switch

So after receiving the replacement NVidia Shield Tablet for the battery recall, I started searching the forums and found a way to defeat the "Kill Switch" for the old tablet after the replacement has been activated.

The TL;DR is that the old tablet has a program called TegraOTA.apk which automatically downloads an "urgent" OTA and applies it without any user permissions.  This OTA would effectively thrash critical files and then reboot itself into a bricked state.  Then at a later date, NVidia is supposed to send out a return kit to retrieve the "dangerous tablet".

However, it looks like there is a way to defeat the "Kill Switch" by effectively disabling or deleting the TegraOTA.apk.  The following is the simple procedure which I used to disable the OTA. [Refer to http://forum.xda-developers.com/shield-tablet/general/kill-kill-switch-shield-tablet-xx-t3179489]

The NVida Kill Switch:
To defeat this with a custom recovery like TWRP, do the following:

1. Hold "Power" + "Vol Down"
2. Use Vol Button to select "Recovery" then press "Power" to confirm and enter recovery
3. For TWRP and from the "Home" menu:
1. Press "Mount" -> Select "System" -> Return
2. Press "Advance" -> "File Manager" -> select /system/app/TegraOTA -> Press "Select" and "Delete" folder.

For now this should prevent the OTA download with the kill switch.  Not sure what the future will hold though as NVidia may have a way to bypass this.  But until that Return Kit comes, I'll be enjoying my 2 tablets