[ATTN] - 3991 and 4349+ VIEWSONIC-RECALLED BOOTLOADER INFO here - UPD 5/8/11 - G Tablet Android Development

Updated 05/08/11
ATTENTION - IF YOU ARE ON STOCK 4349+ or any MOD BASED OFF 4349+ USING THE NEW RECALLED BOOTLOADER! READ PLEASE!
Starting with the most recent but recalled update to Tap N Tap Viewsonic has introduced a new Bootloader being called the 1.2 bootloader. This bootloader is not compatible with mods or Roms based off of the Viewsonic Current Bootloader being called the 1.1 bootloader! This bootloader provides absolutely no known advantage other than being able to boot any new STOCK kernels. If you would like to use any of our stable ROM's (i.e. Vegan 5.1.1, Vegan GingerEdition and currently CM7) using Viewsonics currently supported and shipping bootloader (1.1) you must Downgrade your bootloader and TNT Version before you flash a new kernel or a new ROM.
Please download the following downgrade update.zip and place it on your sdcard renaming it to "update.zip".
http://www.gtabdevs.com/releases/4349_Downgrade.zip
Then power down your device. And power back up while holding the power button and vol + till your display says "recovery key detected" in the top left corner.
Using the volume keys to navigate up/down in the menu highlight "Apply Internal update.zip" if you copied the update.zip to the internal memory or "Apply External SDCard update.zip" if you happened to place it on an external SDCard and then inserted it before booting to recovery. Now select the menu choice using the menu key.
This process will take a few minutes. You will see a Box with an arrow and a progress bar while it applies the update.... when it is finished it will reboot to make the changes. Once the changes are complete your tablet will boot into Tap N Tap version 3588.
You are now free to follow all the tutorials about installing CWM and/or Kernels/Roms.
Thank you and good luck.
Be aware. I am not connected with Viewsonic in any way. I make no assertions as to the validity nor the safety of anything in this post. Do anything above at your risk.

That is a handy utility to have. Thanks!

How do we check if the bootloader is locked? I'm curious if the bootloader.bin in 3991 (which is based off the same branch) has this same issue.
Thanks!

Strange. One step forward and two steps back for Viewsonic. But, maybe, this means there is still some interest from Viewsonic for our tablet and chance for further development (maybe even Honeycomb).

roebeet said:
How do we check if the bootloader is locked? I'm curious if the bootloader.bin in 3991 (which is based off the same branch) has this same issue.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it too will not boot any other kernel besides a stock kernel built specifically for their new bootloader. That bootloader.bin also appears to be locked.

gojimi said:
If it too will not boot any other kernel besides a stock kernel built specifically for their new bootloader. That bootloader.bin also appears to be locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that mean it's locked, or does that mean that we just don't have the new source code to build custom kernels? I just want to distiguish because, if it's the latter, we can just ask them to release that like they did the 1.1-based source. EDIT: Already tweeted them. I see "1.1" in the source that's there, and we know that this is "1.2", so maybe there's new source code to be requested? Not sure.
I know that we can check for a locked bootloader with something like fastboot, but I don't think that works here. That's why I was asking.
Thanks again!

gojimi said:
If it too will not boot any other kernel besides a stock kernel built specifically for their new bootloader. That bootloader.bin also appears to be locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what could the thinking possibly be to locking the bootloader on a product like ours?
I'm seriously asking, besides being dicks, what would the reasoning be?

roebeet said:
Does that mean it's locked, or does that mean that we just don't have the new source code to build custom kernels? I just want to distiguish because, if it's the latter, we can just ask them to release that like they did the 1.1-based source.
I know that we can check for a locked bootloader with something like fastboot, but I don't think that works here. That's why I was asking.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By all means ask for their new source... though I do not believe at this point they are required to give... maybe they are. So for the purposes of everyone else's understanding this is a LOCKED bootloader in the sense that we are LOCKED to their kernel...... nothing ever stays locked forever.... this is not however LOCKED in the terms that a select few who already know what's going on with this bootloader typically use the term LOCKED. Take it as you will.

snapz54 said:
what could the thinking possibly be to locking the bootloader on a product like ours?
I'm seriously asking, besides being dicks, what would the reasoning be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest they are probably tired of all the people calling viewsonic support with issues that are not on OFFICIAL viewsonic software... most companies try to do something to deter this activity in some regards.

Does nv flash still works to downgrade everything?

gojimi said:
To be honest they are probably tired of all the people calling viewsonic support with issues that are not on OFFICIAL viewsonic software... most companies try to do something to deter this activity in some regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand this for "most companies" but Viewsonic is the company that openly linked on their product page that XDA is the place to be if you need support or any real use from your gtab.
We had to fight them to finally stop doing that. It doesn't really add up.
The only thing this does if it works is effectively pull the plug on the life support that was pumping any further life into the tablet.
We still have great "legacy" roms and infrastructure that make the tablet great. but moving forward all this does is concentrate our efforts towards them. releasing a workable open solution keeps us busy tinkering with it for months. Locking things down only sends us back to twitter and the like but now we have more members thanks to the new OD, TD, and amazon users.

I thought VS said they were going to work with the devs. Didnt they contact you guys? I thought they would of asked or told you guys what the best way for them to go would be. Did this never happen?

Pazzu510 said:
Does nv flash still works to downgrade everything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, maybe. I had to NVflash mine because I accidentally flashed CWM over 4349 while i was playing in the 4349 recovery screen. The NVflash process worked, but for some reason my touch screen was borked (no touches were registered). Couldn't do anything. In the past a couple restarts with calibration.ini on the external SD would clear that for me, but didn't this time. I ended up doing NVflash with CWM as part9.img and then repartitioned with CMW and NVflashed again with stock recovery part9.img. Screen was still borked but cleared up with a couple restarts with calibration.ini on an external SD. So the answer is yes you can, but it may not be as smooth as you are used to. Of course it may work fine for you.
Matt

jasco13 said:
Yes, maybe. I had to NVflash mine because I accidentally flashed CWM over 4349 while i was playing in the 4349 recovery screen. The NVflash process worked, but for some reason my touch screen was borked (no touches were registered). Couldn't do anything. In the past a couple restarts with calibration.ini on the external SD would clear that for me, but didn't this time. I ended up doing NVflash with CWM as part9.img and then repartitioned with CMW and NVflashed again with stock recovery part9.img. Screen was still borked but cleared up with a couple restarts with calibration.ini on an external SD. So the answer is yes you can, but it may not be as smooth as you are used to. Of course it may work fine for you.
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've nvflashed back to 1105 at least a dozen times since last night (was doing upgrade / downgrade scenarios). So far, so good.

The bootloader is provided by viewsonic I think, it may be the key for some chipset feature, some other brand of tablet like the adam already has the same exact one
it's probably not locked but only doing something different like you said!

if I had to guess, they didn't lock it to be pricks...odds are it is locked to prevent people from flashing our current kernels to this to avoid messing things up...
so here's prolly how we'll be structuring our ROMs/Kernels now...1.1-based Froyo ROM; 1.2-based Froyo ROM; 1.1-based Froyo Kernel; 1.2-based Froyo Kernel and so on for GB if we're lucky HC in the future.
It's going to be a pain in the butt in the short-term, but long-term it'll only benefit current and future gTab owners as a whole if we stick to the 1.2 path alongside the vendor. This will keep confusion to a minimum, features to a maximum, and upgradability easy.
Thanks to all devs for their future support even through some of the PITA times

i have no options to choose between, aka no menu when i do all that, it just goes to a box picture and then reboots and loads normally.

Edited...You can't fix stupid

iamnottypingthis said:
i have no options to choose between, aka no menu when i do all that, it just goes to a box picture and then reboots and loads normally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no menu. It takes you back to 3588 and the ability to flash all current roms.

So this "rollback" is jsut a stock 3588 image, or is it something different?

Related

Getting BootManager!

Alright i have been keeping an eye out on a few things and came across BootManager which is a newer app that allows you to easily flash between several roms! Which of course is awesome if you want to try new ones out without reflashing as often. Unfortunately im am not quite as wise in the Android scene yet as i like, new to it with my Acer Iconia as i am, BUT i have been corresponding with the developers for BootManager and they have given me a link so we can submit the Acer Iconia to be added to the devices that can use Bootmanager!
I just don't know how to give them the variables they need!
Could someone that does know how to get the variables needed, (through adb shell or whatever) kindly submit it to them? Here is the link they gave me for submitting new devices, if you do do this, please post it here, so they don't get a bunch of repeat submissions on it, also, so i can keep an eye on the app and get it when they update it accordingly! Thanks very much!
Edit: I can't post links yet, cause i have not posted often enough. Please send me a message and i can give you the link that way! Or just close the space below and use it.
init2winitapps. com/submit_device.html
I'll do it in the morning.
Make damn sure they know they have to run "itsmagic" before/after ANY flash operation (I can never remember which, that's CWM's job!)
I did it too and i sent also a mail to the developers about itsmagic script!
good luck
If you read the information about this program.how it works and the phones that it supports will tell you it will most likely work on our device.THEY SAY WORKS ON PHONES ONLY.and only those WITHOUT LOCKED OR SECURE BOOTLOADERS
But you never know. They might put the efforts to write a new bootloader for this device.the program works by moving the bootloader.well no fifteenth then any other boot manager.
if im wrong and they make it works. I would buy it first.
Goddess erica.
This was posted a while ago and it doesn't appear that the a500 has been added to the supported device list. Has anyone been successful in getting this to work? I want to try it but I'm not sure what issues I might run into if it doesn't work. I need to make sure a Nandroid restore can fix whatever issues might be caused before to try it.
IF i remember right it says on there site this can ONLY WORK WITH UNLOCKED and not encrypted BOOT LOADER DEVICES. I TO Talked to the dev way way long ago..as for this to work they change the boot target in the boot loader to look at there software . then it will boot from there..
kinda like grub to a normal pc.. with the bios being the primary boot . If this makes any sense..
so i think it cant happen.. in the linux thread in our dev area .. someone in the first few pages it talkes about this very app and the flashing the bootloader out.. Dont think they ever figurerd a way around the security..
sorry simple answer is ABSOLUTELY NO WILL NOT WORK
THANKS ACER
I'm confused. My a500 doesn't have a locked boot loader. Thats the reason I got it. I have Thor's recovery loaded on it and I have been able to flash Roms without issue. To boot into recovery I just hold down the volume button and boot the device. I can load custom kernels or pretty much anything else I want. Am I misunderstanding what an unlocked bootloader is?
I had a Razr previously which had a locked bootloader and the only way to flash was to use a bootstrap because it had a locked bootloader. I had loads of problems with it which is why I swapped it out for the Galaxy Nexus when it came out. Both my a500 and Gnex are flashing like champs.
Where there later version of the a500 that had a locked boot loader? I don't think mine does.
trevoryour said:
I'm confused. My a500 doesn't have a locked boot loader. Thats the reason I got it. I have Thor's recovery loaded on it and I have been able to flash Roms without issue. To boot into recovery I just hold down the volume button and boot the device. I can load custom kernels or pretty much anything else I want. Am I misunderstanding what an unlocked bootloader is?
I had a Razr previously which had a locked bootloader and the only way to flash was to use a bootstrap because it had a locked bootloader. I had loads of problems with it which is why I swapped it out for the Galaxy Nexus when it came out. Both my a500 and Gnex are flashing like champs.
Where there later version of the a500 that had a locked boot loader? I don't think mine does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not locked, but encrypted, we use a magic script called itsmagic to bypass the encryption.
daveid said:
Not locked, but encrypted, we use a magic script called itsmagic to bypass the encryption.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah. I always wondered what itsmagic did. I get it now. Damn. Is there currently any tablets out there that do not have encrypted or locked boot loaders?
Not any good ones.. welcome to the new communist Tech generation...
they want our devices to be disposable.

Need help with loading other ROM

Hey guys. Hope that someone can help me out here, I'm stuck trying to load a new ROM on a friends Iconia A500.
I searched the internet for a simple rooting tool. Came across Blackthunder, used it to root the Iconia. Rooted without any problems. Afterwards I download the Acer Recovery tool from the market. Flashed with CWM.
Problem is that when I reboot into recovery it keeps on saying "booting recovery kernel image", nothing happens. On my own Transformer I just boot into CWM and flash with whatever I'd like.
Can someone please guide me to a step by step tutorial, or explain what I did wrong here?
Cheers!
ldeijkva said:
Hey guys. Hope that someone can help me out here, I'm stuck trying to load a new ROM on a friends Iconia A500.
I searched the internet for a simple rooting tool. Came across Blackthunder, used it to root the Iconia. Rooted without any problems. Afterwards I download the Acer Recovery tool from the market. Flashed with CWM.
Problem is that when I reboot into recovery it keeps on saying "booting recovery kernel image", nothing happens. On my own Transformer I just boot into CWM and flash with whatever I'd like.
Can someone please guide me to a step by step tutorial, or explain what I did wrong here?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the big question...Which version of android do you currently run?
Which version of CWM did you try to flash?
Second question, which bootloader are you currently on? To find out, just run the acer recovery app and it will tell you when it starts.
And finally, which rom are you trying to install.
Then we can give you a more precise answer.
MD
Thanks. I managed to make a few steps in the right direction.
New problem though. I managed to get CWM working correctly. It feels a bit buggy, with some backbuttons not responding. Downloaded Lightspeed 4.7., seems like the fastest rom out for the Iconia.
Factory reset + /system format. Installed the zip, everything looks ok.
When I boot up the tablet the first few seconds the screen looks fubar'd. Like a really nasty system crash, with white lines running all over the screen. Afterwards you get a standard boot animation & ICS loads up. If you put the tablet on standby though it goes into deep sleep after about 10 minutes.
I downloaded Taboonay just to be sure it's something in the rom. Taboonay works, but feels significately slower.
ldeijkva said:
Thanks. I managed to make a few steps in the right direction.
New problem though. I managed to get CWM working correctly. It feels a bit buggy, with some backbuttons not responding. Downloaded Lightspeed 4.7., seems like the fastest rom out for the Iconia.
Factory reset + /system format. Installed the zip, everything looks ok.
When I boot up the tablet the first few seconds the screen looks fubar'd. Like a really nasty system crash, with white lines running all over the screen. Afterwards you get a standard boot animation & ICS loads up. If you put the tablet on standby though it goes into deep sleep after about 10 minutes.
I downloaded Taboonay just to be sure it's something in the rom. Taboonay works, but feels significately slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you made some steps.
You still didn't answer my questions about bootloader.
The reason you got the screwy screen on boot, is because that rom you tried to install, used a "hacked" kernel so that ICS could run on an HC bootloader. It's perfectly normal. The deep sleep you refer to, is called SOD, (sleep of death) and usually you have to reboot.
This is why I asked which bootloader you were currently running. Because it makes a big difference since the release of ICS. Acer changed the playing rules.
Once again I ask you, to run AcerRecovery, and just get the version bootloader you are currently running. Upgrading to the ICS Unlocked bootloader makes things a whole lot smoother.
MD
Hmmm, thought it had something to do with that.
Installed Acer Recovery Installer. Am on bootloader version 0.03.11-ICS
Recovery version CWM rev1.7 (v5.5.0.x). Asus Transformer has it's fair share of SOD's, but those are random. With the Lightspeed rom I tried it was like clockwork.
Should i upgrade the bootloader to a newer version? Do you have any idea what's causing the SOD's?
ldeijkva said:
Should i upgrade the bootloader to a newer version? Do you have any idea what's causing the SOD's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moscow Desire said:
The reason you got the screwy screen on boot, is because that rom you tried to install, used a "hacked" kernel so that ICS could run on an HC bootloader. It's perfectly normal. The deep sleep you refer to, is called SOD, (sleep of death) and usually you have to reboot.
Upgrading to the ICS Unlocked bootloader makes things a whole lot smoother.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nuff' said,.
ldeijkva said:
Hmmm, thought it had something to do with that.
Installed Acer Recovery Installer. Am on bootloader version 0.03.11-ICS
Recovery version CWM rev1.7 (v5.5.0.x). Asus Transformer has it's fair share of SOD's, but those are random. With the Lightspeed rom I tried it was like clockwork.
Should i upgrade the bootloader to a newer version? Do you have any idea what's causing the SOD's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you plan on running ICS correctly now, and in the future, it is highly advisable to upgrade your bootloader to an ICS Unlocked version.
Civato posted a guide for doing just that (dev forums). It has all the info you need.
The reason SOD happens, is that in order to get a good root, and have an unlocked bootloader, certain things have to be done (hacks). With them. Remember, ICS kernel and bootloader communicate with each other. The hack to the kernel, resulted in the screwy display on boot. Also, SOD's can happen also (power management issue with wake loks). But at the time, in the beginning, it was a good method for getting ICS to run on a HC bootloader.
The unlocked ICS bootloader is the way to go. Every Dev's rom (made for ICS BL) has the kernel modified so that you not only get full root with no issues, you rarely get SOD anymore. Also some other enhancements have been added such as GPS tweaks for example.
If you get SOD, as I said, it happens so rarely now days that most can't remember that maybe they shut their tab off!
Most of the dev's (myself included) have quit support for HC BL based ICS roms. No reason for it.
Also remember, Acer is just starting to push ICS to the tabs a little. So builds will change on a regular basis. And the early builds will not be 100% stable. 95% probably. The rom you install today, may have a new version in a week. Who knows.
MD
or nightly versions ,sometimes its hard to keep up , I think ICS not only changed the rules but the "skys the limit" now and Devs see stuff and change it quickly!

Lost all hope...

It seems that I was fiddling with my OTA and I lost my original build Kind of bummed out, and also the fact that I don't even know how to do a full backup. I did a nandroid backup which doesn't even work. I update to the new ICS firmware and messed up everything...Now I'm left in a gutter feeling utterly upset and don't know what to do. If there's anybody who pity's me, please help. It would be sincerely appreciated. I just want to start off fresh.
Mkami said:
It seems that I was fiddling with my OTA and I lost my original build Kind of bummed out, and also the fact that I don't even know how to do a full backup. I did a nandroid backup which doesn't even work. I update to the new ICS firmware and messed up everything...Now I'm left in a gutter feeling utterly upset and don't know what to do. If there's anybody who pity's me, please help. It would be sincerely appreciated. I just want to start off fresh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So where are you at right now. What rom and what exactly have you done to your tab.
Mkami said:
It seems that I was fiddling with my OTA and I lost my original build Kind of bummed out, and also the fact that I don't even know how to do a full backup. I did a nandroid backup which doesn't even work. I update to the new ICS firmware and messed up everything...Now I'm left in a gutter feeling utterly upset and don't know what to do. If there's anybody who pity's me, please help. It would be sincerely appreciated. I just want to start off fresh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I share the pity with you Mate. You shouldn't have to look at that busted tab. Just put that shameful thing in a box and mail it to me, to help ease your pain. Heck, I'll toss in shipping so you won't suffer further insult and pain...
Seriously, though, there are plenty of tools and procedures here to bring it back to life.
First off, before you muck things up further, I would look in your nandroid backup, and get the UID number. Hopefully you wrote this down somewhere before you originally messed with things?
For starters, I would goto this link, and see if it works for you...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1699277
The english steps are not the best in the world, but you will get the general idea.
MD
shaun298 said:
So where are you at right now. What rom and what exactly have you done to your tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At this moment right now, my a500 tab has that orange light on the bottom and it stays there, and when I turn on the tab it starts up normally like it would, and when it does it turns off. The strange thing is that orange charging light where the power button is, stays on even though I'm not even charging it.
I've tried changing the OTA, but after when it starts in the corner it says something like. " Not official blob" I'm not even sure I know what that even means....I have everything including nandroid backed up all the files into the SD card I had in my tab, I notice is there somewhere due to the amount of space it consumed on my SD.
So please! IF you know of any way to fix this I would be in great appreciation, also it's been a month since I've had this tab, as well I have a 2 year warranty.
Moscow Desire said:
Yeah, I share the pity with you Mate. You shouldn't have to look at that busted tab. Just put that shameful thing in a box and mail it to me, to help ease your pain. Heck, I'll toss in shipping so you won't suffer further insult and pain...
Seriously, though, there are plenty of tools and procedures here to bring it back to life.
First off, before you muck things up further, I would look in your nandroid backup, and get the UID number. Hopefully you wrote this down somewhere before you originally messed with things?
For starters, I would goto this link, and see if it works for you...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1699277
The english steps are not the best in the world, but you will get the general idea.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha funny guy! If you haven't seen my post its here and the reasons. Also I do have the UID saved on a text format on my pc...will that work??
So here is the issue are the current moment friend.
my a500 tab has that orange light on the bottom and it stays there, and when I turn on the tab it starts up normally like it would, and when it does it turns off. The strange thing is that orange charging light where the power button is, stays on even though I'm not even charging it.
I've tried changing the OTA, but after when it starts in the corner it says something like. " Not official blob" I'm not even sure I know what that even means....I have everything including nandroid backed up all the files into the SD card I had in my tab, I notice is there somewhere due to the amount of space it consumed on my SD.
So please! IF you know of any way to fix this I would be in great appreciation, also it's been a month since I've had this tab, as well I have a 2 year warranty.
Have you tried putting a stock update.zip on the root of your external sdcard and booting the tablet by holding the volume down button (left volume rocker) down while pressing the power button until the tablet finds the file and installs it. This should bring you back to unrooted stock ICS with locked bootloader and you can start over. Remember, this must be an update.zip file that is extracted from a stock RUU. You can't just rename a RUU file to update.zip.
Mkami said:
Hahaha funny guy! If you haven't seen my post its here and the reasons. Also I do have the UID saved on a text format on my pc...will that work??
So here is the issue are the current moment friend.
my a500 tab has that orange light on the bottom and it stays there, and when I turn on the tab it starts up normally like it would, and when it does it turns off. The strange thing is that orange charging light where the power button is, stays on even though I'm not even charging it.
I've tried changing the OTA, but after when it starts in the corner it says something like. " Not official blob" I'm not even sure I know what that even means....I have everything including nandroid backed up all the files into the SD card I had in my tab, I notice is there somewhere due to the amount of space it consumed on my SD.
So please! IF you know of any way to fix this I would be in great appreciation, also it's been a month since I've had this tab, as well I have a 2 year warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you get the orange light because your EC Pwr management is probably fubarred. That should be fixed when you install a stock rom as suggested in both mine and the other poster.
Considering you have your UID, you should be ok.
Of course I don't know if this is a 3.2 or an ICS UID. Best to have both. The sbk is the same, but the uid numbers differ.
If it's a 3.2., check the Q&A thread for a post I did for a guy earlier today.
But you should be able to follow the steps for the update I posted earlier.
Blob means Bootloader. And looks like you had an unlocked bootloader?
Try to roll back to 3.2. That's where I would start.
MD
cruise350 said:
Have you tried putting a stock update.zip on the root of your external sdcard and booting the tablet by holding the volume down button (left volume rocker) down while pressing the power button until the tablet finds the file and installs it. This should bring you back to unrooted stock ICS with locked bootloader and you can start over. Remember, this must be an update.zip file that is extracted from a stock RUU. You can't just rename a RUU file to update.zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by RUU? Also I've tried a couple of the OTA updates, when I first got the tab it was on 3.1 HC didn't even update it or anything, just had a custom ICS ROM on it. Do you think you can post the steps or anything on how to do this properly and go fresh? It would be sincerely appreciate buddy.
Moscow Desire said:
Well, you get the orange light because your EC Pwr management is probably fubarred. That should be fixed when you install a stock rom as suggested in both mine and the other poster.
Considering you have your UID, you should be ok.
Of course I don't know if this is a 3.2 or an ICS UID. Best to have both. The sbk is the same, but the uid numbers differ.
If it's a 3.2., check the Q&A thread for a post I did for a guy earlier today.
But you should be able to follow the steps for the update I posted earlier.
Blob means Bootloader. And looks like you had an unlocked bootloader?
Try to roll back to 3.2. That's where I would start.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm....I'm not even sure what I am doing wrong but whatever it is, it seems to be not working. I looked for you post for the earlier person that you did, but don't know what it is under. By the way when I first bought the tab it was under 3.1 HC and after getting flexreaper it became to ICS 4.0.3...
So like everytime I turn on the tab it shuts down instantly, as well every time I try to boot an update.zip file onto the SD card it shows this animation of the android with this circular sphere in it's stomach after that it falls over with a red caution sign.
Mkami said:
So like everytime I turn on the tab it shuts down instantly, as well every time I try to boot an update.zip file onto the SD card it shows this animation of the android with this circular sphere in it's stomach after that it falls over with a red caution sign.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience the common cause for ending up with a caution sign is a corrupted update.zip (incomplete download, bad SD card, etc.). As for the tablet shutting down, my guess is that's related to the power management functions being broken.
im not THEE most savvy here but i do know a few methods and find it easy to discover lesser known ones, i feel bad for you . if you want you can skype video me and ill try talking it over and maybe a few methods? :highfive:
edit: ok from what i can tell your update was bad and your bootloader is causing problems, the power problems are probably arising from the bad power management as moscow desire told.
the tabs obviously rooted n all right? ok so how about flashing the v7 ics bootloader then trying a custom rom?......<-also recommended by moscow desire
lcd047 said:
In my experience the common cause for ending up with a caution sign is a corrupted update.zip (incomplete download, bad SD card, etc.). As for the tablet shutting down, my guess is that's related to the power management functions being broken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right! I was able to fix it and boot up to the usual! Thanks mate!
chismay said:
im not THEE most savvy here but i do know a few methods and find it easy to discover lesser known ones, i feel bad for you . if you want you can skype video me and ill try talking it over and maybe a few methods? :highfive:
edit: ok from what i can tell your update was bad and your bootloader is causing problems, the power problems are probably arising from the bad power management as moscow desire told.
the tabs obviously rooted n all right? ok so how about flashing the v7 ics bootloader then trying a custom rom?......<-also recommended by moscow desire
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Chismay, well I thought I fixed the issue and the problem. Guess again I did not This I can't believed I used a leaked ICS OTA, kinda ruined most of the things in my tab. Lol just had it for a month and already messed it up by fooling around with it. But your help is greatly appreciated buddy! Would like to get a one on one instructions on what I should do.
Cheers!
Correct me if I'm wrong on this...
1. You originally had Honeycomb on your tablet.
2. You flashed FlexReaper on your tablet
3. You probably got a recent version of FlexReaper.
4. You never upgraded your bootloader.
5. You can still get access to recovery.
If all of these are correct, then I think I know what the problem is. It appears you flashed a rom that requires the ICS bootloader and not the Honeycomb bootloader.
This, I think, is an easy fix...
1. Download the following file: http://www.darktremor.info/files/FLEXREAPER-R12.5-ICS-1.031.00.zip (this is an older version I have on my Acer A500).
2. Put the file on your SD card.
3. Boot up into recovery (if you can't get there, stop here).
4. Once you are in recovery, flash the FlexReaper file you just put on your SD card.
5. Now try to boot and see if it works.
Let me know how it works either here, in a PM, or e-mail me at [email protected]. If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to contact me.
Mkami said:
Hi Chismay, well I thought I fixed the issue and the problem. Guess again I did not This I can't believed I used a leaked ICS OTA, kinda ruined most of the things in my tab. Lol just had it for a month and already messed it up by fooling around with it. But your help is greatly appreciated buddy! Would like to get a one on one instructions on what I should do.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tkirton said:
Correct me if I'm wrong on this...
1. You originally had Honeycomb on your tablet.
2. You flashed FlexReaper on your tablet
3. You probably got a recent version of FlexReaper.
4. You never upgraded your bootloader.
5. You can still get access to recovery.
If all of these are correct, then I think I know what the problem is. It appears you flashed a rom that requires the ICS bootloader and not the Honeycomb bootloader.
This, I think, is an easy fix...
1. Download the following file: http://www.darktremor.info/files/FLEXREAPER-R12.5-ICS-1.031.00.zip (this is an older version I have on my Acer A500).
2. Put the file on your SD card.
3. Boot up into recovery (if you can't get there, stop here).
4. Once you are in recovery, flash the FlexReaper file you just put on your SD card.
5. Now try to boot and see if it works.
Let me know how it works either here, in a PM, or e-mail me at [email protected]. If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to contact me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha! Good job on guessing all that! I just followed your order from step to step and I was about to boot up normally! Everything might be erased and stuff, but hey at least I have my tablet working again :good: Case solved!

Bricked A500 in Houston area will pay you to fix

I live in the Houston area. Bricked my A500 will pay you to fix email me . I went from CWM v5 1.3.4 to 1.7 and now I can only go into boot loader but nothing can be applied , tried different ROMS wipe everything still nothing
[email protected]
If I lived in Houston I would try to help you, can't you get into recovery? What happens when you connect to your PC ?
twistedknickers said:
If I lived in Houston I would try to help you, can't you get into recovery? What happens when you connect to your PC ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No kidding, I don't live there either, but to help, we need some more information.
You are probably on the HC bootloader, which is why your roms won't install.
Check the bootloader Install sticky in the dev forum. You need to upgrade it to the V8 bootloader.
Then you can install the ICS and CM10 roms.
MD
Moscow Desire said:
No kidding, I don't live there either, but to help, we need some more information.
You are probably on the HC bootloader, which is why your roms won't install.
Check the bootloader Install sticky in the dev forum. You need to upgrade it to the V8 bootloader.
Then you can install the ICS and CM10 roms.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar problem. Bootloader V8 installed fine. But when I flashed different ROMs through CWM (install zip from SD card inside recovery), it hung at the screen "CZ's Bootloader V8, booting primary kernel" forever. Scratched my head for a couple of nights now, wondering what the glitch was. I even tried Bad Sector's V8 green. Same result. Help!!!!
Edit: I can still downgrade by flashing EUU (though not TD's V4, which installs fine but won't boot back up once I turn it off and on again???). Anyway, running HC 3.0.1 does make you feel like a Neanderthal. A clear instance of cruel and unusual punishment, I'd say. Even HC 3.2 won't stick! WTH?
Quandary unsolved
Moscow Desire said:
No kidding, I don't live there either, but to help, we need some more information.
You are probably on the HC bootloader, which is why your roms won't install.
Check the bootloader Install sticky in the dev forum. You need to upgrade it to the V8 bootloader.
Then you can install the ICS and CM10 roms.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello. Anyone? How about Mockba the Great? I'll do more than thank. I'll grovel at your feet (lol); or fly to your city vodka bottle in hand. Be compassionate and tell me something. Anything. Like my tablet is shot beyond salvage, so I can put it to rest. Why is it that I can flash EUU and use without problems but not any other upgrades? Is it possibly because of physical bad sectors lying in the path of data from the new roms (sizably larger than HC)? Or automatic remapping of NAND shot to hell? There's got to be some explanation.
graphdarnell said:
Hello. Anyone? How about Mockba the Great? I'll do more than thank. I'll grovel at your feet (lol); or fly to your city vodka bottle in hand. Be compassionate and tell me something. Anything. Like my tablet is shot beyond salvage, so I can put it to rest. Why is it that I can flash EUU and use without problems but not any other upgrades? Is it possibly because of physical bad sectors lying in the path of data from the new roms (sizably larger than HC)? Or automatic remapping of NAND shot to hell? There's got to be some explanation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure, but, I have the same problem. If I flash the EUU (Acer stock 3.01) , I can spend a couple of hours following the upgrade path all the way to ICS 4.03, then it seems no matter the boot loader/recovery combo I flash, I either end up stuck in APX, or I get the new boot loader/recovery, and the original Rom boots fine, but when I try to flash using fast boot I end up with the android on his back with the red exclamation.
It may or not be related, but the very first time I tried flashing a new ROM, I ended up stuck in APX, & the only way I could find to get out was to use Badsector. The next Rom I flashed left me again in APX, so, the first thing I went back to was BadSector, & it would not work. (Can't remember what the error was, but it wouldn't get far before stopping.) So, I tried APXFlash & it worked perfect. (Before I ran BadSector the first time I could not get APXFlash to work at all.)
Now I can flash as often as I want, but still can't get anything to work right. (Except Stock stuff????)
Danny2 said:
I am not sure, but, I have the same problem. If I flash the EUU (Acer stock 3.01) , I can spend a couple of hours following the upgrade path all the way to ICS 4.03, then it seems no matter the boot loader/recovery combo I flash, I either end up stuck in APX, or I get the new boot loader/recovery, and the original Rom boots fine, but when I try to flash using fast boot I end up with the android on his back with the red exclamation.
It may or not be related, but the very first time I tried flashing a new ROM, I ended up stuck in APX, & the only way I could find to get out was to use Badsector. The next Rom I flashed left me again in APX, so, the first thing I went back to was BadSector, & it would not work. (Can't remember what the error was, but it wouldn't get far before stopping.) So, I tried APXFlash & it worked perfect. (Before I ran BadSector the first time I could not get APXFlash to work at all.)
Now I can flash as often as I want, but still can't get anything to work right. (Except Stock stuff????)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my guess: I was able to get someone with the right equipment to probe into the NAND and scan. The result shows random bad sectors all over the place. The scan lasted for more than a day without finishing, so eventually remapping could not be executed. If the capability of the NAND to remap is exhausted then depending on your luck, if the ROM data fits into good sectors, you get to use the unit. If the cache partition has black holes in it, you'll get errors and operational aberrations. If I'm right, then this is purely a hardware issue which will come back to haunt sooner or later. Makes sense?
Since the NAND is soldered onto the Main Board, there is little chance of replacing the NAND, if you can find one, that is. Darn it!
graphdarnell said:
I have a similar problem. Bootloader V8 installed fine. But when I flashed different ROMs through CWM (install zip from SD card inside recovery), it hung at the screen "CZ's Bootloader V8, booting primary kernel" forever. Scratched my head for a couple of nights now, wondering what the glitch was. I even tried Bad Sector's V8 green. Same result. Help!!!!
Edit: I can still downgrade by flashing EUU (though not TD's V4, which installs fine but won't boot back up once I turn it off and on again???). Anyway, running HC 3.0.1 does make you feel like a Neanderthal. A clear instance of cruel and unusual punishment, I'd say. Even HC 3.2 won't stick! WTH?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had similar issue in the weekend, flashed Thor's JB romv17.....stuck on same screen as you, had a heck of a job getting things working again.....
So tdv4 installed without errors but wouldn't boot, is that correct? What screen did it get stuck at? With the earlier versions of timmydeans EUU u must boot straight to cwm and "fix permissions" in the "advanced" menu options (I think its in that option)
Other than that I can't offer u any further suggestions I'm afraid....
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2
Danke schoen dibb nz
dibb_nz said:
I had similar issue in the weekend, flashed Thor's JB romv17.....stuck on same screen as you, had a heck of a job getting things working again.....
So tdv4 installed without errors but wouldn't boot, is that correct? What screen did it get stuck at? With the earlier versions of timmydeans EUU u must boot straight to cwm and "fix permissions" in the "advanced" menu options (I think its in that option)
Other than that I can't offer u any further suggestions I'm afraid....
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This gives hope. With TD V4, it stops at power on - power lights on (white LED), but screen remains dark. Thanks for sharing your experience, I will definitely try when I get back to it at the end of the month. So if I'm slow in posting the outcomes, you know why. One more favor to ask: what do you do after fixing permissions while on earlier EUU (I remember seeing that option somewhere in the recovery menu)? Should I proceed to flash V4, then move up from there? If I install V8 Bootloader while on V4's ROM, would that hinder further flashings in any way? Many thanks again. And what is going on now with your JB ROM? And Happy Thanksgiving to all the Yanks in here!
Ok, so here's a little info for you folks. Not sure if it helps you or not, but might clear up some of the mess that's been going on concerning bootloader versions VS Roms.
So you run one of the RUUs files. That's fine. Essentially you should be back on an HC bootloader running an HC rom. At this point, all your partitions should be back in place, especially if you used TD's tool.
While you are in HC, and everything is running fine, you should make a note of your current UID number. Because, after upgrading to ICS, your UID number will probably change. (the converted SBK number should be the same with both). But the RUUs seem to mostly want an HC UID number.
The issue, is when upgrading to ICS. If you do this the normal way via OTA, you should eventually get to ICS with a stock ICS bootloader. At this point, I would leave it alone for a few days, just to make sure it runs normally. Again, get your new UID number.
Now, here may be what you folks are missing.
With the introduction of ICS, Acer pulled a fast one on us. They introduced a little file called recovery-boot.p, and also a recovery.sh file.Both reside in /system (not sure exactly which folder for one of them, might be /system/etc or /system/bin.)
The issue, is that if you NVFlash V8 bootloader, and let's say Thor CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3, without deleting those aforementioned files, when you boot your tab, guess what? Hasta La Vista CWM, and mr android is on his back deader than a doornail. Not to mention you might screw up a partition or 2 along the way. And then it's back doing the whole thing again, sorta like groundhog day.
If you get Skrilax_CZ's bootloader running, then there's no real reason why you can't load a compatible CWM to flash roms.
Personally, I don't like the little 1-app-does-all. I prefer the old fashioned way. NVFlash from a command line. This way, you can see if there's errors coming up. Also, you may have better luck trying one of the older packages for the V3 or V4 bootloader. If you guys are interested, I can research my other drives in a day or so, and come up with one of the original packages. Am sure I saved it somewhere.
But if you get the V8 loaded, then you can boot it into fastboot mode. From here, you can fastboot a good CWM image. And at this point, I strongly advise CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3. After you fastboot it, boot immediately into CWM recovery. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and do your wipes and formats and immediately install a custom rom. If you boot back into your stock rom, sianara..... This is why it's best to already have your custom rom.zip on your SD card.
Now, roms, kernels and bootloaders. The rom you choose to install, is pretty important. It needs to be recent, and designed for the ICS bootloader (V8). Using some of the earlier roms with kernels is asking for trouble. HC based roms WILL NOT run on an ICS bootloader. Remember that also, and vica-versa.
It's possible, however unlikely, that one of you may have unrecoverable corrupt data on your chipset. It has happened, but it's rare. Generally, you will find this when you can't get anything running. Period. Or in the case I know, the user could not migrate from HC to ICS. But only 1 or 2 people I know have had this. Oh, 3. I forgot Civato who totally cooked his internal memory (more than likely while inventing his own version of TWRP)
Wipes and formats. Again, I can't stress this enough. There have been issues using TWRP when it comes to wipes and formats. It seems, sometimes, things don't get fully wiped. So, as I always do with CWM, remember those versions I quoted), always
Wipe Data/factory reset
Wipe Cache
Wipe Dalvak
Wipe battery stats (optional)
Goto Mounts and Storage
Format System
Format Flexrom
As we say, be nice, wipe twice.....
Then install the custom rom (not a stock rom, remember the 2 recovery files?)
MD
Thanks MD
Moscow Desire said:
Ok, so here's a little info for you folks. Not sure if it helps you or not, but might clear up some of the mess that's been going on concerning bootloader versions VS Roms.
So you run one of the RUUs files. That's fine. Essentially you should be back on an HC bootloader running an HC rom. At this point, all your partitions should be back in place, especially if you used TD's tool.
While you are in HC, and everything is running fine, you should make a note of your current UID number. Because, after upgrading to ICS, your UID number will probably change. (the converted SBK number should be the same with both). But the RUUs seem to mostly want an HC UID number.
The issue, is when upgrading to ICS. If you do this the normal way via OTA, you should eventually get to ICS with a stock ICS bootloader. At this point, I would leave it alone for a few days, just to make sure it runs normally. Again, get your new UID number.
Now, here may be what you folks are missing.
With the introduction of ICS, Acer pulled a fast one on us. They introduced a little file called recovery-boot.p, and also a recovery.sh file.Both reside in /system (not sure exactly which folder for one of them, might be /system/etc or /system/bin.)
The issue, is that if you NVFlash V8 bootloader, and let's say Thor CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3, without deleting those aforementioned files, when you boot your tab, guess what? Hasta La Vista CWM, and mr android is on his back deader than a doornail. Not to mention you might screw up a partition or 2 along the way. And then it's back doing the whole thing again, sorta like groundhog day.
If you get Skrilax_CZ's bootloader running, then there's no real reason why you can't load a compatible CWM to flash roms.
Personally, I don't like the little 1-app-does-all. I prefer the old fashioned way. NVFlash from a command line. This way, you can see if there's errors coming up. Also, you may have better luck trying one of the older packages for the V3 or V4 bootloader. If you guys are interested, I can research my other drives in a day or so, and come up with one of the original packages. Am sure I saved it somewhere.
But if you get the V8 loaded, then you can boot it into fastboot mode. From here, you can fastboot a good CWM image. And at this point, I strongly advise CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3. After you fastboot it, boot immediately into CWM recovery. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and do your wipes and formats and immediately install a custom rom. If you boot back into your stock rom, sianara..... This is why it's best to already have your custom rom.zip on your SD card.
Now, roms, kernels and bootloaders. The rom you choose to install, is pretty important. It needs to be recent, and designed for the ICS bootloader (V8). Using some of the earlier roms with kernels is asking for trouble. HC based roms WILL NOT run on an ICS bootloader. Remember that also, and vica-versa.
It's possible, however unlikely, that one of you may have unrecoverable corrupt data on your chipset. It has happened, but it's rare. Generally, you will find this when you can't get anything running. Period. Or in the case I know, the user could not migrate from HC to ICS. But only 1 or 2 people I know have had this. Oh, 3. I forgot Civato who totally cooked his internal memory (more than likely while inventing his own version of TWRP)
Wipes and formats. Again, I can't stress this enough. There have been issues using TWRP when it comes to wipes and formats. It seems, sometimes, things don't get fully wiped. So, as I always do with CWM, remember those versions I quoted), always
Wipe Data/factory reset
Wipe Cache
Wipe Dalvak
Wipe battery stats (optional)
Goto Mounts and Storage
Format System
Format Flexrom
As we say, be nice, wipe twice.....
Then install the custom rom (not a stock rom, remember the 2 recovery files?)
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't thank you enough MD, and dibb_nz too. Can't wait to get back to the tablet. Hopefully things will work out. When they do, I'll post the results for the perusal of similarly situated members.
graphdarnell said:
This gives hope. With TD V4, it stops at power on - power lights on (white LED), but screen remains dark. Thanks for sharing your experience, I will definitely try when I get back to it at the end of the month. So if I'm slow in posting the outcomes, you know why. One more favor to ask: what do you do after fixing permissions while on earlier EUU (I remember seeing that option somewhere in the recovery menu)? Should I proceed to flash V4, then move up from there? If I install V8 Bootloader while on V4's ROM, would that hinder further flashings in any way? Many thanks again. And what is going on now with your JB ROM? And Happy Thanksgiving to all the Yanks in here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well after u fix permissions u boot straight back into cwmand flash the v8 and civatos cm 10 flex, which is exactly what I did after getting it up n running again. edit: no, u need the latest tdv4 - ...I'll post the link for it shortly....
I'd definitely uninstall the Acer drivers and reinstall them. When u connect to yr PC , windows will try to install the drivers....don't let it search windows updates, u have to be quick to cancel it....then it should install the drivers from the acer folder on yr PC which u just reinstalled....is that clear as mud, lol???
One more thought, u could get round all this driver business if u know linux at all....
But will w8 till u get a chance to spend some quality 'tab time'
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2
Moscow Desire said:
Ok, so here's a little info for you folks. Not sure if it helps you or not, but might clear up some of the mess that's been going on concerning bootloader versions VS Roms.
Now, here may be what you folks are missing.
With the introduction of ICS, Acer pulled a fast one on us. They introduced a little file called recovery-boot.p, and also a recovery.sh file.Both reside in /system (not sure exactly which folder for one of them, might be /system/etc or /system/bin.)
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, this might seem kind of obvious, but I want to be sure. I found the Recovery-from-boot.p file easily enough, and I found a file called "Install-recovery.sh" in the etc folder, which seems to call another file called "system/bin/sh".
So, do I delete (or possibly just re-name??) "recovery-from-boot.p" and "Install-recovery.sh"? And do I need to do anything with the "SH" file in "system/bin"? (Like delete or re-name?)
Thanks for this much clearer (but still not 100% clear) info about these files. I had read mention of "recovery-from -boot.p" in another post, but it didn't make clear where to find it, just that you needed to deal with it. This excellent post makes it much more obvious which files & where to find!
Danny2 said:
So, this might seem kind of obvious, but I want to be sure. I found the Recovery-from-boot.p file easily enough, and I found a file called "Install-recovery.sh" in the etc folder, which seems to call another file called "system/bin/sh".
So, do I delete (or possibly just re-name??) "recovery-from-boot.p" and "Install-recovery.sh"? And do I need to do anything with the "SH" file in "system/bin"? (Like delete or re-name?)
Thanks for this much clearer (but still not 100% clear) info about these files. I had read mention of "recovery-from -boot.p" in another post, but it didn't make clear where to find it, just that you needed to deal with it. This excellent post makes it much more obvious which files & where to find!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just those 2 files
This will prevent overwriting your custom recovery on boot.
MD
Moscow Desire said:
Just those 2 files
This will prevent overwriting your custom recovery on boot.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, Thanks
Progress report
dibb_nz said:
I had similar issue in the weekend, flashed Thor's JB romv17.....stuck on same screen as you, had a heck of a job getting things working again.....
So tdv4 installed without errors but wouldn't boot, is that correct? What screen did it get stuck at? With the earlier versions of timmydeans EUU u must boot straight to cwm and "fix permissions" in the "advanced" menu options (I think its in that option)
Other than that I can't offer u any further suggestions I'm afraid....
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to follow MD's instructions and installed Re-Flexxx Rom. As to dibb-nz's advice, I couldn't find earlier versions of TD (there was a link that led to some silly software instead - hijacked?). So I reflashed V4 which after the first reboot took me to the setup part fine. However, a second reboot resulted in a dark screen with nothing doing. I tried accessing recovery in vain. I'm not sure earlier TD versions would yield differently. If I recall correctly, V4 only differs from V3 in that TD added XP drivers. Why the tablet behaved thus is beyond me. I intended this superfluous info as a warning to such possibility, however absurd it might appear.
Anyway, thanks to those who came to the rescue, and Merry Xmas to all.
graphdarnell said:
I was able to follow MD's instructions and installed Re-Flexxx Rom. As to dibb-nz's advice, I couldn't find earlier versions of TD (there was a link that led to some silly software instead - hijacked?). So I reflashed V4 which after the first reboot took me to the setup part fine. However, a second reboot resulted in a dark screen with nothing doing. I tried accessing recovery in vain. I'm not sure earlier TD versions would yield differently. If I recall correctly, V4 only differs from V3 in that TD added XP drivers. Why the tablet behaved thus is beyond me. I intended this superfluous info as a warning to such possibility, however absurd it might appear.
Anyway, thanks to those who came to the rescue, and Merry Xmas to all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can u provide a link 2 the tdv4 u used i will check it.....seems couple folks having yr issue, i wanna make sure the zip isn't corrupt...
ALSO: there are 2 ways to use the EUU -
1) as an upgrade tool - used to upgrade from one HC build to the next - just open and run with usb connected and
2) as a downgrade too - used to downgrade from the ICS back to HC - you run it by not connecting your usb cable and force apx mode
Im curoius as to why folks are getting stuck with the black screen - this happened couple months back too
and tho i have been stuck with it myself - i have never been able to replicate the issue..and believe me when i say i've done some crazy things with my tab in the process of trying... so would like to rule out a bad file...just in case its me causing all the problems, lol....feedback would be appreciated....
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Possibly corrupt V4?
dibb_nz said:
can u provide a link 2 the tdv4 u used i will check it.....seems couple folks having yr issue, i wanna make sure the zip isn't corrupt...
ALSO: there are 2 ways to use the EUU -
1) as an upgrade tool - used to upgrade from one HC build to the next - just open and run with usb connected and
2) as a downgrade too - used to downgrade from the ICS back to HC - you run it by not connecting your usb cable and force apx mode
Im curoius as to why folks are getting stuck with the black screen - this happened couple months back too
and tho i have been stuck with it myself - i have never been able to replicate the issue..and believe me when i say i've done some crazy things with my tab in the process of trying... so would like to rule out a bad file...just in case its me causing all the problems, lol....feedback would be appreciated....
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm almost sure I downloaded from the link provided in this thread, though I'd appreciate your not quoting me on it (lol). I remember downloading twice but cannot tell now which is which. Either way, I "upgraded" from HC 3.1 to 3.2, which is the version included in V4. Beyond that, I'm not sure what other information would help sort things out. Oddly enough, the first automatic reboot after flashing works fine and takes me through the whole setup process glitchlessly. It only happens on the following reboot. You can get into recovery 1.5, but fixing permissions won't do.
graphdarnell said:
I'm almost sure I downloaded from the link provided in this thread, though I'd appreciate your not quoting me on it (lol). I remember downloading twice but cannot tell now which is which. Either way, I "upgraded" from HC 3.1 to 3.2, which is the version included in V4. Beyond that, I'm not sure what other information would help sort things out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thanks for that - the v0-v2 required all sorts of jumping thru hoops to get root/cwm installed....when u finished the first flash you would end up with a LNX check sum error in red text on your tab and have to boot straight to recovery and fix checksum errors (not permissions as i said earlier)
v3/v4 now comes pre-rooted with cwm 1.5, which is what may be corrupting things if you are still have the v8 bootloader - altho in saying that, a few of us have been on HC3.01 with v8 and had no probs flashing a compatible ICS v8 rom from there...maybe it was just a fluke who knows...One thing I do know is you should really have a compatible recovery with the v8 - which is why all the flash packages come pre-loaded with a custom recovery....as MD said above you need to make doubly sure your rom/reocvery/bootloader are all compatible with each other. this applies whether they be stock or custom 'whatevers'....
Oddly enough, the first automatic reboot after flashing works fine and takes me through the whole setup process glitchlessly. It only happens on the following reboot. You can get into recovery 1.5, but fixing permissions won't do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and you have completed all the wipes as MD suggested, including toggling /data/media erase in cwm?
I realise you may have done everything correctly, this is more for the benefit of those folk "trying" to follow along
this is on 3.2?? you run the EUU ok, boot to android, and run thru the setup wizard, then the next reboot goes awry??
dibb_nz said:
ok thanks for that - the v0-v2 required all sorts of jumping thru hoops to get root/cwm installed....when u finished the first flash you would end up with a LNX check sum error in red text on your tab and have to boot straight to recovery and fix checksum errors (not permissions as i said earlier)
v3/v4 now comes pre-rooted with cwm 1.5, which is what may be corrupting things if you are still have the v8 bootloader - altho in saying that, a few of us have been on HC3.01 with v8 and had no probs flashing a compatible ICS v8 rom from there...maybe it was just a fluke who knows...One thing I do know is you should really have a compatible recovery with the v8 - which is why all the flash packages come pre-loaded with a custom recovery....as MD said above you need to make doubly sure your rom/reocvery/bootloader are all compatible with each other. this applies whether they be stock or custom 'whatevers'....
and you have completed all the wipes as MD suggested, including toggling /data/media erase in cwm?
I realise you may have done everything correctly, this is more for the benefit of those folk "trying" to follow along
this is on 3.2?? you run the EUU ok, boot to android, and run thru the setup wizard, then the next reboot goes awry??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was initially on 3.1 stock. I went to stock recovery which proceeded to erase whatever, then showed the android belly up with the triangle exclamation mark and so forth (The sd card contained no ROM at this point). I rebooted, then flashed V4 directly from inside 3.1 with debugging on. It "PASS" uneventfully, rebooted on its own to the setup wizard. Things function normally within that capsule (it showed HC 3.2 I believe). I turned it off after setup was done, then on again to experience the black SOD. I then went to Recovery 1.5, erase everything a few times, then rebooted. Same result. Eerily dead.
Then came the V8 Bootloader and Thor V20, and the tablet was resuscitated. Works fine now.

[Q] Help! I've fallen and I think my motherboard is dead, possibly...maybe?!!

So, I'm not too tech savvy. I do get by though. About two months ago I was "computing" (haha) on my Acer a500 and the thing froze on me, when I restarted it, it when into a bootloop (I guess) of the ACER logo. I pretty much gave up and recently bought a Nexus 7. Anyways... when I tried entering in the recovery it really doesn't do much but show the lil green android guy trying to recover, but alas he falls over each time and a red triangle with an exclamation point appears. I've tried many a button combo to make it reset, recover... etc.. but still no luck. After reading some things, I saw it might be possible that its a hardware issue? Which made me wonder if I purchased a new or refurbished motherboard and plugged it all in, does anyone think it would work again? Or am I grossly underestimating whats going on here? I pretty much want to make it a mission to fix this damn thing, if only for bragging rights. Before I go test my luck and buy a motherboard, I want to know if I'm going to have to go through any other steps or processes so I don't get overly excited, then fail and throw this tablet against the side of my house.
Help me XDA users, you're my only hope.
Sincerely, Radnuh the pseudo tech-geek.
If you fall off your house, then I hope your tab falls my way.
One thing about the 50x, it's pretty bullet proof.
Were you rooted, with a CWM? Or was it stock?
And what OS was it running at the time it died? ICS or HC?
MD
Moscow Desire said:
If you fall off your house, then I hope your tab falls my way.
One thing about the 50x, it's pretty bullet proof.
Were you rooted, with a CWM? Or was it stock?
And what OS was it running at the time it died? ICS or HC?
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey! That's what I have gutters for! It was running ICS, stock not rooted. Oh and in the past I had a display problem. I had to open it up and reconnect the screen display connector, or whatever the technical term is! I've been reading quite a few stories of similar situations about this very same thing occuring, that's why I'm hoping its a software issue!
Sorry to bump this, but I'm just curious if it would be a simple plug n' play situation if I bought a new motherboard. Anyone? Bueller.... Bueller?
Radnuh said:
Sorry to bump this, but I'm just curious if it would be a simple plug n' play situation if I bought a new motherboard. Anyone? Bueller.... Bueller?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need no stinking board. Don't sound like it the way you described. Try reflashing the darn thing using the techniques you can find all over this place. It's your chance not to be a chicken, to use Civato's expression, and to liberate yourself and your tablet. Above all, don't listen to your wife or girlfriend.
graphdarnell said:
You don't need no stinking board. Don't sound like it the way you described. Try reflashing the darn thing using the techniques you can find all over this place. It's your chance not to be a chicken, to use Civato's expression, and to liberate yourself and your tablet. Above all, don't listen to your wife or girlfriend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I tried the whole putting stock ics as an update zip file on an sd then trying to recover, every time it starts then a few seconds later bam, red triangle. I also tried fastboot, but it would say waiting for device and that's it. I'm not really sure but I think I read something about having to unlock a bootloader, I definitely need to read some more into all this, lol. Is this normal though for this tablet to just freeze, and go into a bootloop?
Radnuh said:
Well I tried the whole putting stock ics as an update zip file on an sd then trying to recover, every time it starts then a few seconds later bam, red triangle. I also tried fastboot, but it would say waiting for device and that's it. I'm not really sure but I think I read something about having to unlock a bootloader, I definitely need to read some more into all this, lol. Is this normal though for this tablet to just freeze, and go into a bootloop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm quoting MD for your information. Pay special heed to the 2 files on ICS stock. If you're in stock recovery, and it's corrupt, I doubt it it would let you flash anything. Start with TD's or EUUs found in Civato's stock Roms thread. Better yet, if you're game, get V8 and flash a newer custom ROM. Stock ROM ain't no fun.
"Ok, so here's a little info for you folks. Not sure if it helps you or not, but might clear up some of the mess that's been going on concerning bootloader versions VS Roms.
So you run one of the RUUs files. That's fine. Essentially you should be back on an HC bootloader running an HC rom. At this point, all your partitions should be back in place, especially if you used TD's tool.
While you are in HC, and everything is running fine, you should make a note of your current UID number. Because, after upgrading to ICS, your UID number will probably change. (the converted SBK number should be the same with both). But the RUUs seem to mostly want an HC UID number.
The issue, is when upgrading to ICS. If you do this the normal way via OTA, you should eventually get to ICS with a stock ICS bootloader. At this point, I would leave it alone for a few days, just to make sure it runs normally. Again, get your new UID number.
Now, here may be what you folks are missing.
With the introduction of ICS, Acer pulled a fast one on us. They introduced a little file called recovery-boot.p, and also a recovery.sh file.Both reside in /system (not sure exactly which folder for one of them, might be /system/etc or /system/bin.)
The issue, is that if you NVFlash V8 bootloader, and let's say Thor CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3, without deleting those aforementioned files, when you boot your tab, guess what? Hasta La Vista CWM, and mr android is on his back deader than a doornail. Not to mention you might screw up a partition or 2 along the way. And then it's back doing the whole thing again, sorta like groundhog day.
If you get Skrilax_CZ's bootloader running, then there's no real reason why you can't load a compatible CWM to flash roms.
Personally, I don't like the little 1-app-does-all. I prefer the old fashioned way. NVFlash from a command line. This way, you can see if there's errors coming up. Also, you may have better luck trying one of the older packages for the V3 or V4 bootloader. If you guys are interested, I can research my other drives in a day or so, and come up with one of the original packages. Am sure I saved it somewhere.
But if you get the V8 loaded, then you can boot it into fastboot mode. From here, you can fastboot a good CWM image. And at this point, I strongly advise CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3. After you fastboot it, boot immediately into CWM recovery. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and do your wipes and formats and immediately install a custom rom. If you boot back into your stock rom, sianara..... This is why it's best to already have your custom rom.zip on your SD card.
Now, roms, kernels and bootloaders. The rom you choose to install, is pretty important. It needs to be recent, and designed for the ICS bootloader (V8). Using some of the earlier roms with kernels is asking for trouble. HC based roms WILL NOT run on an ICS bootloader. Remember that also, and vica-versa.
It's possible, however unlikely, that one of you may have unrecoverable corrupt data on your chipset. It has happened, but it's rare. Generally, you will find this when you can't get anything running. Period. Or in the case I know, the user could not migrate from HC to ICS. But only 1 or 2 people I know have had this. Oh, 3. I forgot Civato who totally cooked his internal memory (more than likely while inventing his own version of TWRP)
Wipes and formats. Again, I can't stress this enough. There have been issues using TWRP when it comes to wipes and formats. It seems, sometimes, things don't get fully wiped. So, as I always do with CWM, remember those versions I quoted), always
Wipe Data/factory reset
Wipe Cache
Wipe Dalvak
Wipe battery stats (optional)
Goto Mounts and Storage
Format System
Format Flexrom
As we say, be nice, wipe twice.....
Then install the custom rom (not a stock rom, remember the 2 recovery files?)
MD"
graphdarnell said:
I'm quoting MD for your information. Pay special heed to the 2 files on ICS stock. If you're in stock recovery, and it's corrupt, I doubt it it would let you flash anything. Start with TD's or EUUs found in Civato's stock Roms thread. Better yet, if you're game, get V8 and flash a newer custom ROM. Stock ROM ain't no fun.
"Ok, so here's a little info for you folks. Not sure if it helps you or not, but might clear up some of the mess that's been going on concerning bootloader versions VS Roms.
So you run one of the RUUs files. That's fine. Essentially you should be back on an HC bootloader running an HC rom. At this point, all your partitions should be back in place, especially if you used TD's tool.
While you are in HC, and everything is running fine, you should make a note of your current UID number. Because, after upgrading to ICS, your UID number will probably change. (the converted SBK number should be the same with both). But the RUUs seem to mostly want an HC UID number.
The issue, is when upgrading to ICS. If you do this the normal way via OTA, you should eventually get to ICS with a stock ICS bootloader. At this point, I would leave it alone for a few days, just to make sure it runs normally. Again, get your new UID number.
Now, here may be what you folks are missing.
With the introduction of ICS, Acer pulled a fast one on us. They introduced a little file called recovery-boot.p, and also a recovery.sh file.Both reside in /system (not sure exactly which folder for one of them, might be /system/etc or /system/bin.)
The issue, is that if you NVFlash V8 bootloader, and let's say Thor CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3, without deleting those aforementioned files, when you boot your tab, guess what? Hasta La Vista CWM, and mr android is on his back deader than a doornail. Not to mention you might screw up a partition or 2 along the way. And then it's back doing the whole thing again, sorta like groundhog day.
If you get Skrilax_CZ's bootloader running, then there's no real reason why you can't load a compatible CWM to flash roms.
Personally, I don't like the little 1-app-does-all. I prefer the old fashioned way. NVFlash from a command line. This way, you can see if there's errors coming up. Also, you may have better luck trying one of the older packages for the V3 or V4 bootloader. If you guys are interested, I can research my other drives in a day or so, and come up with one of the original packages. Am sure I saved it somewhere.
But if you get the V8 loaded, then you can boot it into fastboot mode. From here, you can fastboot a good CWM image. And at this point, I strongly advise CWM 1.7.2 or 1.7.3. After you fastboot it, boot immediately into CWM recovery. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and do your wipes and formats and immediately install a custom rom. If you boot back into your stock rom, sianara..... This is why it's best to already have your custom rom.zip on your SD card.
Now, roms, kernels and bootloaders. The rom you choose to install, is pretty important. It needs to be recent, and designed for the ICS bootloader (V8). Using some of the earlier roms with kernels is asking for trouble. HC based roms WILL NOT run on an ICS bootloader. Remember that also, and vica-versa.
It's possible, however unlikely, that one of you may have unrecoverable corrupt data on your chipset. It has happened, but it's rare. Generally, you will find this when you can't get anything running. Period. Or in the case I know, the user could not migrate from HC to ICS. But only 1 or 2 people I know have had this. Oh, 3. I forgot Civato who totally cooked his internal memory (more than likely while inventing his own version of TWRP)
Wipes and formats. Again, I can't stress this enough. There have been issues using TWRP when it comes to wipes and formats. It seems, sometimes, things don't get fully wiped. So, as I always do with CWM, remember those versions I quoted), always
Wipe Data/factory reset
Wipe Cache
Wipe Dalvak
Wipe battery stats (optional)
Goto Mounts and Storage
Format System
Format Flexrom
As we say, be nice, wipe twice.....
Then install the custom rom (not a stock rom, remember the 2 recovery files?)
MD"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have much to learn, haha. Thank you for the info *starts researching*

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