Database Users

[Q]Won't update to Android 3.2.1 over FOTA / need original stock ROM

So first of all my tablet is brand new and not rooted and I don't want to root it.
When I got it I could update it instantly from 3.0.whateverwastheversionatthetime to android 3.2 (build 7.006.01_COM_GEN1) but it won't go from there to 3.2.1 which I hear is available for my location (France) The update tool tells me that my firmware is up to date.
I've tried a factory reset as advised by Acer customer care services but it wouldn't change. Also no matter what I do (empty cache etc.) the market won't update to Google Play Store and I think the two issues are related.
So I have two (or rather 3) questions:
1) Does anyone know a way around to force the update? (I doubt it's possible but hey "l'espoir fait vivre")
2) If not can I install a stock ROM without root and NOT compromise the warranty?
3) Where can I get such a ROM? I have searched here and here but 3.2.1 is not on the first thread and the links on the second thread are broken, plus I want to make sure that the ROM is the proper one for my region and that comes the ICS OTA update I will have no troubles doing the update.
Thanks in advance to those who will answer.

lunaticwraith said:
So I have two (or rather 3) questions:
1) Does anyone know a way around to force the update? (I doubt it's possible but hey "l'espoir fait vivre")
2) If not can I install a stock ROM without root and NOT compromise the warranty?
3) Where can I get such a ROM? I have searched here and here but 3.2.1 is not on the first thread and the links on the second thread are broken, plus I want to make sure that the ROM is the proper one for my region and that comes the ICS OTA update I will have no troubles doing the update.
Thanks in advance to those who will answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) No you cannot force an OTA
2) It depends - others have reported returning there acer with no probs -, i think someone has even returned it rooted and been ok. These things are fairly bulletproof, and really hard to 'brick'. As long as you can read, follow a few steps you shouldnt have any probs. The worse thing you can do is try 2 or 3 different methods all at once because something isnt working right. You're best to pick one and stick with it, if you have probs ask for help in the thread you got the rom from or start your own like you have here
3) The update.zip method from the first link you posted "should" work. Did you "decrypt" the file you downloaded before extracting the update.zip??
You could try timmyDeans v4 method- it will install a stock 3.2.1, it is rooted but you can remove root using the tools he provides. Beware though this will wipe all data so backup anything essential.
The update.zip method will leave your data and settings intact
As always the choice is yours, there are some really excellent custom roms out there - I enjoy the best of both worlds with a backup of my trusty stock 3.2.1, I flash to my hearts content knowing I can always go back to it when the OTA update is out!!! Oh the joys of root priveleges

Thanks for your input, I'll make sure to try all this when I get back from work. I've a few additional questions:
1) If I install a custom rom, will the OTA work from this ROM or, comes the OTA, will I have to restore my actual Stock rom and then proceed with the OTA?
2) I haven't tried the rom on the first link I gave because it is modified and I was searching for the original, pristine, untouched stock ROM for 3.2.1
I've seen such roms around here on xda for 3.2 but none for 3.2.1, if anyone stumbles upon one please let me know.
3) Since I'm still looking for a pristine ROM before trying anything else, I have a friend whose tablet (same brand and model) safely updated to 3.2.1, is there a way to make a rom from is gear? If yes, how to?
4) (related to 3) how can I backup my actual ROM, do I have to be a root user to do so?
THX again!

lunaticwraith said:
Thanks for your input, I'll make sure to try all this when I get back from work. I've a few additional questions:
1) If I install a custom rom, will the OTA work from this ROM or, comes the OTA, will I have to restore my actual Stock rom and then proceed with the OTA?
2) I haven't tried the rom on the first link I gave because it is modified and I was searching for the original, pristine, untouched stock ROM for 3.2.1
I've seen such roms around here on xda for 3.2 but none for 3.2.1, if anyone stumbles upon one please let me know.
3) Since I'm still looking for a pristine ROM before trying anything else, I have a friend whose tablet (same brand and model) safely updated to 3.2.1, is there a way to make a rom from is gear? If yes, how to?
4) (related to 3) how can I backup my actual ROM, do I have to be a root user to do so?
THX again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Typically, most people do not take OTA's when running a custom rom, as basically the OTA installs a totally fresh factory Rom. This is true with the 3.2.1 update, which contains a new bootloader. Usually, this means you lose root, and Recovery, then stuck with downgrading to get these things back.
Timmy Deans root tool supposedly maintains a back door method, which s supposed to protect root, in case of an OTA. No, I haven't used this method, as I run my own 501 roms.
2. Vache has a thread "full package and updates" in the 500 Dev forum. There are several factory Roms and Updates. You'll have to look. Chances are, he may not have the specific Com Gen version you want, but probably one close enough.
3. If your friend can get adb running, you can pull a "system dump", which will dump all files/folders in the system folder. The boot.img would be nice to get, but you can probably use the current one you have. Unfortunately, he already rebooted, so you probably can't get the original full update file. If he's rooted, you can use an app called Rom Factory, to get most of what you need. It's always a good time to become familiar with ADB.
4. Well, you can back it up internally, but it's sort of useless if you can't get into your OS You will need to Root, and install a custom recovery to keep your backup externally.

Moscow Desire said:
2. Vache has a thread "full package and updates" in the 500 Dev forum. There are several factory Roms and Updates. You'll have to look. Chances are, he may not have the specific Com Gen version you want, but probably one close enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, as Moscow has pointed out, in vaches thread not all roms are listed. My stock roms (1.016.01 and 1.139.04) for instance weren't - so I spent the last hour or two trying the "EUU gen1" listed at the bottom of the page. Well, it actually worked!! It gave me an OTA to 1.139.04 straight away. After that installed i got the 4.010.40 to 3.2 and then the next 2 for 3.2.1 - 7.006.03 and 7.014.15. So its given me the correct updates for my country AND kept my data and settings too.
SO, since you're on a Gen1 Rom this should work for you too, but still no gaurantee you will get the OTA to 3.2.1, no harm in trying though
btw timmydeans method is a gen2 rom so you can rule that out...
---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 PM ----------
just came across this link for an update to stock 3.2.1 build 7.014.14 here - orignal thread here but you need cwm to install it....
unless you can make it into an update.zip???
but thats way outta my league,
moscow may be able to suggest something though

Thank you very much, your answers help a lot! Just a few precisions and I'll stop being a pain in the ass!
1. Typically, most people do not take OTA's when running a custom rom, as basically the OTA installs a totally fresh factory Rom. This is true with the 3.2.1 update, which contains a new bootloader. Usually, this means you lose root, and Recovery, then stuck with downgrading to get these things back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
==> @ Moscow, when you say "lose recovery" does it mean I lose the green thingy with gears when I start with volume down and power pressed/ and when I reset to factory settings?
==> @dibb_nz your method is the closest to what I'm looking for, I also hope it will give me the correct updates for my country and since Vache is a fellow countryman it might just be ok.
Anyways thanks again, I'll give a thorough look to all of your solutions and try and do a few things tomorrow afternoon. I'll keep you posted in case this thread interests anyone else.

lunaticwraith said:
==> @ Moscow, when you say "lose recovery" does it mean I lose the green thingy with gears when I start with volume down and power pressed/ and when I reset to factory settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, what I meant to say, is when you run a rooted "custom" Rom, and use a "custom" recovery such as RA Recovery or CWM, getting an OTA update, usually wipes that out, and installs the factory bootloader. Your factory recovery....cough cough.... will still be there.
If you are only concerned about stock factory, then don't worry about it. You;re ok. Your factory/stock recovery will be just fine
The reason we root and install custom recoveries, is so we can do 3 primary things.
1. Flash a custom rom
2. Create a complete system backup to our external SD card.
3. Get rid of pre-installed useless apps.
There are other things we can do with it, but these are the primary reasons.
When you have a default factory stock system, the only protection you have, is a factory reset (hope it works), and a couple other methods which require a touch more knowledge.
Anyhow, don't worry about your factory recovery. It's just fine.

1) Just for the sake of knowledge what's the difference between GEN_1 and GEN_2? (and GEN3 and CUS7 and EMEA_TMLP)?
2) @Dibb_nz when you tried with the stock rom from Vache, was it because you encountered the same no FOTA update problem as I did? Or just to try...?
3) Something's still unclear to me after browsing through the forums: If I get an unmodified stock ROM can I flash it with the stock recovery? (so without rooting) Or do I need CWM (so root is needed)
4) What's EUU? (on Vache's thread some roms are listed as EUU)

lunaticwraith said:
1) Just for the sake of knowledge what's the difference between GEN_1 and GEN_2? (and GEN3 and CUS7 and EMEA_TMLP)?
2) @Dibb_nz when you tried with the stock rom from Vache, was it because you encountered the same no FOTA update problem as I did? Or just to try...?
3) Something's still unclear to me after browsing through the forums: If I get an unmodified stock ROM can I flash it with the stock recovery? (so without rooting) Or do I need CWM (so root is needed)
4) What's EUU? (on Vache's thread some roms are listed as EUU)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. The Gen's usually signify regional based roms. More specifically language support, sometimes a wifi tweak, and maybe a couple other things. Mostly though, ComGen1's are for the US and probably canada, and offer about 12 different languages. TMPL is for East Europe mostly, with polish as the default language. All roms contain the english language as far as I know.
3. You basically can't install a full rom on an unrooted tablet without CWM or RA Recovery. You will have to run the update (decrypt the file, remove the update.zip)
4. EUU is a pc based install. Plug in the USB, set your tab to APX mode and run the EUU.
If you did the root, and install a custom recovery, then you could run just about all the full roms. Your custom recovery would be overwritten, and you would lose root access. You would have a stock tablet with the version rom you selected.
You can always wait a week or so. Am sure if the update has been pushed to your country, it's just a matter of time till you get it. It's common for the update process for specific roms, to get fully done in 2-3 weeks. It took well over a week just for users in california to mostly start getting updates.

Well the official release date for the ICS FOTA in France is May 3rd, so I'll wait until then but having other options and the know-how to take actions is always a good basis. (plus I'm really not the patient type ^^)
Stupid question but I'm guessing EUU needs root too?
and also APX means rebooting while holding power and volume - right?

lunaticwraith said:
Well the official release date for the ICS FOTA in France is May 3rd, so I'll wait until then but having other options and the know-how to take actions is always a good basis. (plus I'm really not the patient type ^^)
Stupid question but I'm guessing EUU needs root too?
and also APX means rebooting while holding power and volume - right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the EUU just to see if it would keep me on my regions OTA upgrade path.
Sometimes you can have probs OTA'ing if you aren't using the rom from your region.
But in this case it gave me the correct OTA's.
APX is Acer Download mode, where the OTA upgrades are flashed - this EUU will do it via your PC. Button push method (power/reset button) not required.
No, the EUU does not need root which is why I tried it out for you
You will need to be on 3.2.1 before you will receive the ICS update
I used this EUU from vaches thread -
EUUs_SBK_Acer_A500_1.016.05_COM_GEN1
late for work will check back later

That's really helpful thanks I'm downloading the same EUU you used and will try it today or tomorrow depending on how much time I have, will keep you posted!

Ok so I did the EUU install and it worked fine, the tablet then allowed me to upgrade to 3.01 and then 3.1 then 3.2 via FOTA without any problem. But once I reached 3.2, the update tool informs me that there's no update available and my gear is up to date
So my guess is Acer France are not pushing the 3.2.1 FOTA update anymore...
Any other explanation?

lunaticwraith said:
Ok so I did the EUU install and it worked fine, the tablet then allowed me to upgrade to 3.01 and then 3.1 then 3.2 via FOTA without any problem. But once I reached 3.2, the update tool informs me that there's no update available and my gear is up to date
So my guess is Acer France are not pushing the 3.2.1 FOTA update anymore...
Any other explanation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear u got thru the EUU process OK, not so great u still can't ota to 3.2.1
Others have reported similar issues not sure if/how they were ever resolved. As moscow posted earlier,ota,s are not made available to all users in all regions, all at once, so it may be just a matter of waiting for the next "push cycle" to roll round.
At least you know you can always get back to stock if you ever decide to root and go custom There no direct root method for 3.2, just use that same euu to get back to 3.1 and use iconia root and Acer recovery installer from the market and you're ready to flash your rom of choice
Pls post back if u do get the ota - best of luck
rgds Donna

Yeah I was just browsing the XDA forums, contemplating the idea to rollback and root and then installing this
I wonder if it's worth waiting for the OTA... as for what you said about waiting for the next "push cycle" I've been waiting since I got the tablet and the update hasn't come yet, which is strange because the ICS update is due on May 3rd in France and I'd guess they'd have everyone up to date and ready for the update by now!
Rooting seems pretty straightforward and much easier than what it was on my Samsung Galaxy Spica: I found this
, a file called iconiaroot.apk on the sdcard aswell, rebooting your tablet while pushing the volume down button so its starts flashing the buggy honeycomb version.
Then start up the tablet again, rush to the market, download some file manager, with that filemanager explore your sdcard, and install the iconiaroot.apk file, once thats done, rush back to the market and download and install acer recovery installer. At that point you will have CWM (clockworkmod) installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is that all there is to it?
In any case I'll keep you posted just so it can help anyone with the same issue!

alsoe FYI and just for the anecdote: the reason I'm so cautious about everything and scared ****less of rooting is that the tablet is a present from my girlfriend for my 30th birthday, and she'll hang me with my guts if I brick it.

Ok I rooted and flashed the above-mentioned rom and it works! I'm now under 3.2.1!
Thanks to everyone who helped me! When the ICS update comes I will post here to signal how the FOTA went.
Thanks again!

Lol, good onya for taking the plunge! Yeh acer recovery installer is brilliant, along with iconia root, makes the whole process stress free.
Will be interesting to see if you get a notification for ICS OTA with that rom.
Can always flash one of the leaks if u get impatient??
Glad everything's worked out and yr g/f still talking 2 u
rgds Donna

thx! I will post here when/if I get the OTA. and my love life is safe thanksnto iconia root

okay so the ota has been rolling for over a week and a half now and still nothing for me

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!

Going crazy! Want ICS, haven't used tablet in long time.

Hi All,
I'm in a bit of a unique pickle. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 1838-CTO, it is a US 32GB wifi-only tablet with all stock hardware (with disconnected keyboard folio).
I am running build number ThinkPadTablet_A310_02_0037_0075_US
It is not liking to play more than 5 minutes of a video before saying video cannot be played, video it played fine before. Tried all the standard steps, recopying, rebooting, etc etc. The device also sporadically reboots 20-30 minutes into use, sometimes. I have root, rootprotector, and I have CWR. I have not used my tablet since about a week after the first update from my current version above: my device went loopy, THEN the update failed, and I stuck it in a closet, $%^@%$*&@ed off at it for not working.
I want to either (depending on difficulty, and recommendations here) update my device to the latest Lenovo ICS *OR* Run a custom JB ROM (perhaps http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1778375 though it is for ROW not US, unsure if that matters). Priority on maintaining root access, could care less about what recovery is used, etc.
OTA updates are failing since I had to get CWR , and I am not sure how to use CWR to manually patch/update.
As for the glitching and all that, I am fairly certain it has something to do with when I rooted it, I was a very early adopter of the first permaroot (I place no blame except myself for any and all issues, and muchly appreciate the efforts of others in allowing me to root my device, whether it bricks it or makes it 10x better). I just want to update my device to ICS and start using it again. I have done some searching but am finding that almost everyone is using 0089 or later with the same issue I have, trying to get back to stock bootloader. Honestly I would like to get it on Lenovo ICS, maintain root, and go from there.
I appreciate any and all advice, it's a personal device so I am fairly lenient on what I am willing to try.
Update: I would most appreciate a stock Lenovo ICS dump flashable from CWR if someone knows where to get one, again though any help at all is appreciated.
Update 2: CWM 5.5.0.4 unable to mount the SD card (/sdcard - not even sure if it is trying to mount internal or external, I have ALWAYS had nothing but issues with the external ALWAYS being write-protected no matter the position of the physical slider switch, though it always reads fine - Sandisk 32GB micro-SDHC with Sandisk MicroSD to SD adaptor), so flashing anything from CWM is a no-go. I want to take this thing and send it on a flying ride out the window, the only thing stopping me is it would probably survive just fine to spite and mock me. Sorry about being long winded, rather give you guys as much as possible info.

Is rooting the tablet all you've done? Did you remove any stock apps? I had the same problem with my TPT when I tried upgrading to ICS(from build 0089_US on wifi only 16GB)but only because I had a corrupt busybox file or something. Try going back to complete stock(NO recovery no root) and try to do an automatic OTA 2, then OTA 3. It should work.

How do I go back to stock recovery/bootloader? I rooted back when you had to swap in ClockworkMod Recovery, so my updates fail consistently when I have to reboot to apply, my guess is that the updater tries to pass calls to the lenovo bootloader that do not exist with CWR.
If there is a way to restore my bootloader then I should be all set, otherwise I think I need to find a good cooked rom

Get Some ICS
Sublime865 said:
...otherwise I think I need to find a good cooked rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I posted an ICS Nandroid from a US 32GB TPT, exactly what you are looking for, here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28240019&postcount=14
It will return you to stock Restore, losing CWM, but you can reinstall a proper CWM for ICS afterwards. See the Development Forum for the updated CWM version that works in ICS/OTA3.
You will have root, but you must download and use OTA Rootkeeper to bring Superuser back (don't forget to download and open SuperUser from Play store).
Good luck!

pwstein said:
I posted an ICS Nandroid from a US 32GB TPT, exactly what you are looking for, here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28240019&postcount=14
It will return you to stock Restore, losing CWM, but you can reinstall a proper CWM for ICS afterwards. See the Development Forum for the updated CWM version that works in ICS/OTA3.
You will have root, but you must download and use OTA Rootkeeper to bring Superuser back (don't forget to download and open SuperUser from Play store).
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going to try it tonight/tomorrow. Updating my Vivid to a non-corrupt CWR then flashing HolICS 1.3 from 0.9b tonight. Oh the adventures I get myself into... XD
Thanks for the upload, I'll let you know if(when) it works, either way I appreciate the effort!

[Solved]ACER Iconia A501 3g/wifi TAB - Help with root/ROM install (TimmyDean method)

Hi everyone.
Just repeating again - the model I have is A501 on stock 3.2.1 Honeycomb - a more USEFUL tablet with 3G and WIFI capabilities...One would think it would be a much more popular model, but the A501 doesn't have its own board on XDA; its merged with this board for the less practical A500. Basically, I have created this thread as I don't want to take any 'extra' risks in successfully installing ROOT with the CORRECT ROM with the most updated version of Android available for this tab, for example Jellybean...
Another A501 user, beny9 posted:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1745550
Following TimmyDean's method (thank you) I have now managed to install 3.2 Honeycomb A500 ROM with success after completing steps 1-15 inclusive from his README file. As you will know, I don't have 3G or GPS functionality, so I need a stock A501 ROM to install.
I have found:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1113878
Is my best bet to install Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1 : http://cdn.a1.futuredial.com/Acer_A5...2_35b68c5d.zip from that above link, which will keep me on HC 3.2 but now, it will be the ROM for the A501? As it seems the only other NEWER Acer updates for ICS are A500 only...
Can someone link me the a fully detailed video or post on here on installing the ROM i mentioned above (if that's the best one to go with, given what I'm on now; A500 3.2 and still keeping root), or to install some other A501 ROM which is for at least Jellybean or ICS?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1828876
Per this link, shoukd i just use the update.zip (for the 3.2 HC A501 ROM) put it on the SD card then boot up holding POWER + VOL DOWN until the file auto-installs?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1099673
Before I can try the above, I also have trouble after i download the ROM's zip file when I try to unzip. I have downloaded the Acer Update Decrypter, but AVG antiVirus will not allow me to run the EVE file even as an administrator. What should i do?
Thanks
RoOSTA

Your best bet is to install a good 501 HC 3.2 and get on HC for your 501.
The files are available. What you'll probably want is a full HC Update rom for the 501. Note that some of these Acer roms are encrypted, so you'll need to decrypt it first. You can find the decrypting tool in the Themes and Apps forum, as a "Sticky". After decrypting, you can pull the update.zip out of it, and copy to Ext SD (do not extract, just pull the update file out). Boot the tab holding Vol- and PWR I believe. Might be Vol+ but I can't remember. This should force the tab to look for update.zip on your SD and install it.
I would use this one;
Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1
After it installs, and you get it set up, you need to get Acer Update Enhancer from the Play Store. This will allow your tab to get the ICS OTA.
Keep in mind, there is only 1 official ICS OTA update for the 501, so don't expect more. It may do it in 2 steps though.
If you want root on ICS, there is really only 1 way to get true root and adb system remounts. And that's to flash the V8 unlocked ICS Bootloader, and flash an insecure boot.image. There's currently a small package that'll give you somewhat root, but it's a pain and really doesn't do a good job. So it's better to get the V8 and unsecure boot image. Might be a good idea to also install CWM Recovery at the same time.
Get the correct rom installed first, then check back if you need help.
Oh yeah, one more thing. When you are on HC 3.2, get your UID number and write it down somewhere. You need this as a safety precaution. There's a good sticky thread on how to do it. Pretty simple really.
MD

Ugh. I have a pain in the A$$ version of AVG...even under advanced settings there was no disable options. Managed to figure it out to run the Acer Decrypter EXE and fix the image you have advised I should download and flash. Will give that a go now...
Thanks again!

Just to fill you in, this issue is solved.
1. Used TimmyDeans rollback V4 tool to a 500 rom
2. SD card was not recognized in CWM or Stock recovery. Was however recognized in the HC OS.
3. Formatted SD Card using Mini Tool formatting app. Format primary partition only to fat32 (defaults)
4. Decrypted and pulled update.zip from this 501 HC full update rom
Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1816560
5. Did OTA update to 3.2.1
6. No more OTA available, even after installing Acer Update Enhancment tool.
7. Downloaded and used Blackthund3rs Bootloader management app
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1622425
8.Downloaded V8 and CWM package, unzipped to the same folder as the tool
9. Ran the 500NVFlashapx app.
10. After completion, booted to CWM recovery, wiped and formatted, and install Moscow Desire's RaptorX almost stock ICS rom.
Works as advertised.
MD

Yep. All thanks to MD's patience and assistance throughout these steps..
Moscow Desire said:
Just to fill you in, this issue is solved.
1. Used TimmyDeans rollback V4 tool to a 500 rom
2. SD card was not recognized in CWM or Stock recovery. Was however recognized in the HC OS.
3. Formatted SD Card using Mini Tool formatting app. Format primary partition only to fat32 (defaults)
4. Decrypted and pulled update.zip from this 501 HC full update rom
Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1816560
5. Did OTA update to 3.2.1
6. No more OTA available, even after installing Acer Update Enhancment tool.
7. Downloaded and used Blackthund3rs Bootloader management app
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1622425
8.Downloaded V8 and CWM package, unzipped to the same folder as the tool
9. Ran the 500NVFlashapx app.
10. After completion, booted to CWM recovery, wiped and formatted, and install Moscow Desire's RaptorX almost stock ICS rom.
Works as advertised.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Acer A501 OS refreshment
Moscow Desire said:
Your best bet is to install a good 501 HC 3.2 and get on HC for your 501.
The files are available. What you'll probably want is a full HC Update rom for the 501. Note that some of these Acer roms are encrypted, so you'll need to decrypt it first. You can find the decrypting tool in the Themes and Apps forum, as a "Sticky". After decrypting, you can pull the update.zip out of it, and copy to Ext SD (do not extract, just pull the update file out). Boot the tab holding Vol- and PWR I believe. Might be Vol+ but I can't remember. This should force the tab to look for update.zip on your SD and install it.
I would use this one;
Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1
After it installs, and you get it set up, you need to get Acer Update Enhancer from the Play Store. This will allow your tab to get the ICS OTA.
Keep in mind, there is only 1 official ICS OTA update for the 501, so don't expect more. It may do it in 2 steps though.
If you want root on ICS, there is really only 1 way to get true root and adb system remounts. And that's to flash the V8 unlocked ICS Bootloader, and flash an insecure boot.image. There's currently a small package that'll give you somewhat root, but it's a pain and really doesn't do a good job. So it's better to get the V8 and unsecure boot image. Might be a good idea to also install CWM Recovery at the same time.
Get the correct rom installed first, then check back if you need help.
Oh yeah, one more thing. When you are on HC 3.2, get your UID number and write it down somewhere. You need this as a safety precaution. There's a good sticky thread on how to do it. Pretty simple really.
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am embarking on a very crucial mission for my Acer A501 . Its tablet OS refreshment. I have spoken and written to Acer but all my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. At last i stumbled on this site and WOW ! I am downloading the Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1 and will flash as per the instruction. But I am finding difficult to locate the "sticky" software for the decryption the above. can you please help me locate the same.
I really appreciate your help and thank you in advance

jonnybrave said:
I am embarking on a very crucial mission for my Acer A501 . Its tablet OS refreshment. I have spoken and written to Acer but all my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. At last i stumbled on this site and WOW ! I am downloading the Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1 and will flash as per the instruction. But I am finding difficult to locate the "sticky" software for the decryption the above. can you please help me locate the same.
I really appreciate your help and thank you in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the decryption tool. Located in themes and apps.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1869505
Good Luck!
MD

Trouble installing update.zip for A501
Moscow Desire said:
Here is the decryption tool. Located in themes and apps.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1869505
Good Luck!
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi MD,
I have Acer Iconia A501 tablet. My tablet suddenly showed andriod logo with exclamation mark when it was being used. Upon looking at your posts, I found the resolution which I tried. I am not expert in this all, but I tried running your ROM "41-124-01-A500-update" from one of your posts which was actually meant for A500. This resolved the issue successfully and tablet was up and running.
Then further I found full ROM for A501 as mentioned below and thought that I should try the ROM meant for the model of my tablet.
I successfully decrypted the ROM that you mentioned "Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1"
When I tried to update it with the mentioned ROM update.zip, it did updated it from SD card and passed android symbol with those gears running. However, when it restarted the tablet by itself, it showed ACER logo and then it showed "ANDROID" (spelling in blue color) which kept on flikering slowly for long long time....for more than 30 minutes and did not moved further. Can you please let me know whats could be wrong?
I also tried ICS ROM, but that didn't worked (it failed). So after couple of trail and error, I moved back to A500 ROM update.zip which I knew that is installing successfully.
Can you please let me know what shall be done in case I want update.zip for A501? It will be highly appreciated if you can upload update.zip directly that I can use and that gets installed successfully.
Regards,
Muk

mukapril said:
Hi MD,
I have Acer Iconia A501 tablet. My tablet suddenly showed andriod logo with exclamation mark when it was being used. Upon looking at your posts, I found the resolution which I tried. I am not expert in this all, but I tried running your ROM "41-124-01-A500-update" from one of your posts which was actually meant for A500. This resolved the issue successfully and tablet was up and running.
Then further I found full ROM for A501 as mentioned below and thought that I should try the ROM meant for the model of my tablet.
I successfully decrypted the ROM that you mentioned "Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1"
When I tried to update it with the mentioned ROM update.zip, it did updated it from SD card and passed android symbol with those gears running. However, when it restarted the tablet by itself, it showed ACER logo and then it showed "ANDROID" (spelling in blue color) which kept on flikering slowly for long long time....for more than 30 minutes and did not moved further. Can you please let me know whats could be wrong?
I also tried ICS ROM, but that didn't worked (it failed). So after couple of trail and error, I moved back to A500 ROM update.zip which I knew that is installing successfully.
Can you please let me know what shall be done in case I want update.zip for A501? It will be highly appreciated if you can upload update.zip directly that I can use and that gets installed successfully.
Regards,
Muk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Muk, I can probably guess the ROM you installed doesn't do data wipes and such, so it caused an animation loop.
Try this one. It's an SD ROM, so it "should" wipe your Data, along with installing the ROM.
https://mega.co.nz/#!NZBlBSLQ!mOHICp7gbinkYeHCvrEz7aKXsWQjjquAWq_XC_lSQzk
As you probably discovered, Acer has pretty much removed almost all tablet ROMs. I snagged a few the other day, then checked yesterday, and they removed all from their support site.
I would guess they are getting out of the tablet business.
Also, they shut down their OTA Update servers for a few months now.

Acer A501
mukapril said:
Hi MD,
I have Acer Iconia A501 tablet. My tablet suddenly showed andriod logo with exclamation mark when it was being used. Upon looking at your posts, I found the resolution which I tried. I am not expert in this all, but I tried running your ROM "41-124-01-A500-update" from one of your posts which was actually meant for A500. This resolved the issue successfully and tablet was up and running.
Then further I found full ROM for A501 as mentioned below and thought that I should try the ROM meant for the model of my tablet.
I successfully decrypted the ROM that you mentioned "Acer_A501_1.309.02_4.031.24_COM_GEN1"
When I tried to update it with the mentioned ROM update.zip, it did updated it from SD card and passed android symbol with those gears running. However, when it restarted the tablet by itself, it showed ACER logo and then it showed "ANDROID" (spelling in blue color) which kept on flikering slowly for long long time....for more than 30 minutes and did not moved further. Can you please let me know whats could be wrong?
I also tried ICS ROM, but that didn't worked (it failed). So after couple of trail and error, I moved back to A500 ROM update.zip which I knew that is installing successfully.
Can you please let me know what shall be done in case I want update.zip for A501? It will be highly appreciated if you can upload update.zip directly that I can use and that gets installed successfully.
Regards,
Muk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A big thank you to Moscow. I have tried the above link but still no go.. I have seen on Acer website they have updated the OS but all Android 4.0 ICS and nothing with Honeycomb. The tablet was initially with Honeycomb. Please advice. Thank you and Best Regards.

Trouble installing ROM for A501
jonnybrave said:
A big thank you to Moscow. I have tried the above link but still no go.. I have seen on Acer website they have updated the OS but all Android 4.0 ICS and nothing with Honeycomb. The tablet was initially with Honeycomb. Please advice. Thank you and Best Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi MD,
Thanks for your super fast response. I am downloading the ROM for A501 from the link provided by me. I will update you if it works in my tab.
I forgot to mention you about one message that I received once tablet is restarted. So, once ROM for A501 from SD card has performed its job successfully....that is that android symbol with gears in its tummy is successfully finished and tablet restarts. It shows "Acer" (spelling logo) and then after it gets stuck at "android" (spelling logo). Between these two, it displays two lines messages on top left corner for 2-3 seconds that the "blob is illegal - abort" and then gets stuck at "android" (spelling logo). I think this might be useful for you to identify something.
Another thing about wiping out the data, in starting when we press volume down and power button, it does display message about SD card (still not not sure about whether it might be wiping out the data or not....I believe you might be correct that it might not be wiping out the data).
Another thing, that I found in my backup is that when I purchased this tab (A501), I downloaded HoneyComb 3.2 Kernel Source Code from the Acer support site. Is this something that you can do magic with and provide me with update.zip? Please let me know....if you can do magic with this, then let me know how shall I share it with you.
Regards,
Muk

Trouble installing ROM for A501
Hi MD,
Thanks for your super fast response.
I tried downloading the ROM for A501 from the link provided by you. It downloaded it from the cloud, but at the very end it displayed message "Decryption Error". Still I tried extracting "update.zip" from the zip file, but it displayed message that the archive is corrupt and file is corrupt. Can you please check at your end and provide me with fresh link or directly with update.zip? For your reference I have attached screenshots of errors.
I forgot to mention you about one message that I received once tablet is restarted. So, once ROM for A501 from SD card has performed its job successfully....that is that android symbol with gears in its tummy is successfully finished and tablet restarts. It shows "Acer" (spelling logo) and then after it gets stuck at "android" (spelling logo). Between these two, it displays two lines messages on top left corner for 2-3 seconds that the "blob is illegal - abort" and then gets stuck at "android" (spelling logo). I think this might be useful for you to identify something.
Another thing about wiping out the data, in starting when we press volume down and power button, it does display message about SD card (still not not sure about whether it might be wiping out the data or not....I believe you might be correct that it might not be wiping out the data).
Another thing, that I found in my backup is that when I purchased this tab (A501), I downloaded HoneyComb 3.2 Kernel Source Code from the Acer support site. Is this something that you can do magic with and provide me with update.zip? Please let me know....if you can do magic with this, then let me know how shall I share it with you.
Regards,
Muk

Trouble installing ROM for A501
Hi MD,
Please read my earlier message and then read this one.
Thanks a lot....your answer about my first problem resolved everything.... (your answer was "that the ROM that I am trying to install is not clearing the data"...I verified that the ROM is clearing the cache, but not the user data. I can confidently say that you correctly identified the issue as when the ROM installation was stuck at "android"....I switched off my tablet and tried installing again the old ROM for A500 which I knew that it is working and instead of asking me to configure the tablet (i.e. time zone, date & time setup, etc.) after installation, it simply logged in and started my tablet as usual....that means that when I was trying to install ROM for A501, it was not clearing user data and was then hanging).
Now coming back to the link that you sent me in previous message, I was able to download the zip file successfully in the second attempt. I extracted the update.zip and it did not work. It showed the similar problem of getting stuck at "android". However, with your great answer that you gave me, I cleared the user data and cache manually by pressing vol up + power buttons simultaneously and then when "acer" symbol displays, releasing only power button and turning on and off the lock button. This cleared user data and cache. After that, since update.zip (that you provided) was already in my SD card, it installed the ROM and tablet works perfectly. Thanks a lot....:good:
One question, when it asked me about the zone, it had only few countries like US, UK, etc. I couldn't find Australia...is it because this ROM not for Australia? I understand that this is not an issue, but if you find anything for Australia, do send me.
Another thing, is this HoneyComb 3.2? Will 3G and GPS work in this one?
Do let me know if you can do some magic with HoneyComb 3.2 kernel source code that I have as mentioned earlier.
Regards,
Muk

mukapril said:
Hi MD,
Please read my earlier message and then read this one.
Thanks a lot....your answer about my first problem resolved everything.... (your answer was "that the ROM that I am trying to install is not clearing the data"...I verified that the ROM is clearing the cache, but not the user data. I can confidently say that you correctly identified the issue as when the ROM installation was stuck at "android"....I switched off my tablet and tried installing again the old ROM for A500 which I knew that it is working and instead of asking me to configure the tablet (i.e. time zone, date & time setup, etc.) after installation, it simply logged in and started my tablet as usual....that means that when I was trying to install ROM for A501, it was not clearing user data and was then hanging).
Now coming back to the link that you sent me in previous message, I was able to download the zip file successfully in the second attempt. I extracted the update.zip and it did not work. It showed the similar problem of getting stuck at "android". However, with your great answer that you gave me, I cleared the user data and cache manually by pressing vol up + power buttons simultaneously and then when "acer" symbol displays, releasing only power button and turning on and off the lock button. This cleared user data and cache. After that, since update.zip (that you provided) was already in my SD card, it installed the ROM and tablet works perfectly. Thanks a lot....:good:
One question, when it asked me about the zone, it had only few countries like US, UK, etc. I couldn't find Australia...is it because this ROM not for Australia? I understand that this is not an issue, but if you find anything for Australia, do send me.
Another thing, is this HoneyComb 3.2? Will 3G and GPS work in this one?
Do let me know if you can do some magic with HoneyComb 3.2 kernel source code that I have as mentioned earlier.
Regards,
Muk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm mobile right now, so can't go into big detail.
In your settings, about tablet, you can always find info on which specific OS you have. If you indeed have an A501 and the settings tells you that your tablet is a 501, then your 3g and GPS should function.
The only 2 differences between an A500 and an A501 is of course 3g. Also, they use different GPS radios. So you can install 500 Roms on a 501 and vice versa. Just the above 2 items won't work. Also, I believe I gave you a 3.2.x ROM. Getting it to ICS 4.0.4 may be a problem.
I revived my own 501 last night by putting the motherboard in the oven, but now it doesn't read my ext SD card, so I may be stuck on 3.2. Eh, no problem.

mukapril said:
Hi MD,
Please read my earlier message and then read this one.
Thanks a lot....your answer about my first problem resolved everything.... (your answer was "that the ROM that I am trying to install is not clearing the data"...I verified that the ROM is clearing the cache, but not the user data. I can confidently say that you correctly identified the issue as when the ROM installation was stuck at "android"....I switched off my tablet and tried installing again the old ROM for A500 which I knew that it is working and instead of asking me to configure the tablet (i.e. time zone, date & time setup, etc.) after installation, it simply logged in and started my tablet as usual....that means that when I was trying to install ROM for A501, it was not clearing user data and was then hanging).
Now coming back to the link that you sent me in previous message, I was able to download the zip file successfully in the second attempt. I extracted the update.zip and it did not work. It showed the similar problem of getting stuck at "android". However, with your great answer that you gave me, I cleared the user data and cache manually by pressing vol up + power buttons simultaneously and then when "acer" symbol displays, releasing only power button and turning on and off the lock button. This cleared user data and cache. After that, since update.zip (that you provided) was already in my SD card, it installed the ROM and tablet works perfectly. Thanks a lot....:good:
One question, when it asked me about the zone, it had only few countries like US, UK, etc. I couldn't find Australia...is it because this ROM not for Australia? I understand that this is not an issue, but if you find anything for Australia, do send me.
Another thing, is this HoneyComb 3.2? Will 3G and GPS work in this one?
Do let me know if you can do some magic with HoneyComb 3.2 kernel source code that I have as mentioned earlier.
Regards,
Muk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello mukapril .. may you provide me with the Honeycomb ROM which I might try ?
Thanking you and Best Regards

Trouble installing A501 ROM
Moscow Desire said:
I'm mobile right now, so can't go into big detail.
In your settings, about tablet, you can always find info on which specific OS you have. If you indeed have an A501 and the settings tells you that your tablet is a 501, then your 3g and GPS should function.
The only 2 differences between an A500 and an A501 is of course 3g. Also, they use different GPS radios. So you can install 500 Roms on a 501 and vice versa. Just the above 2 items won't work. Also, I believe I gave you a 3.2.x ROM. Getting it to ICS 4.0.4 may be a problem.
I revived my own 501 last night by putting the motherboard in the oven, but now it doesn't read my ext SD card, so I may be stuck on 3.2. Eh, no problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi MD,
Apologies for very long replies. Wanted to convey the message in detail how I did it so that it might help someone else like me.
Thanks for your response. I have tested it, 3G and GPS is working fine. I believe, before my tab encountered this problem, it was having version 4 which should be ICS. At that stage I didn't had any problem with my tab...I believe it was there for long time.
If you have good known ROM for ICS, please forward me I can try on my tab. If it doesn't work, then will re-install the Honeycomb that you sent earlier.
One more question....when I try to update the system from "About Tablet" in Settings, why it displays message the the "network is poor" and advices to move to better coverage? Though, I am just besides my WiFi modem and coverage is almost 100%.
And @jonnybrave: If you are referring to the ROM that I successfully installed which was sent by MD earlier, then it does not need any decryption. So you can use the link sent by MD earlier in this post. And if you are referring to the KernelSourceCode that I mentioned earleir, then it needs some kind of processing in Linux machine and then you can create some image.....this is was I know about it....sorry not an andrion guru. Please let me know what you are referring to.
Regards,
Mukesh

mukapril said:
One more question....when I try to update the system from "About Tablet" in Settings, why it displays message the the "network is poor" and advices to move to better coverage? Though, I am just besides my WiFi modem and coverage is almost 100%.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You get the message as do all 500/501 owners (it can change depending on version of Rom).
Acer no longer gives updates to any of their devices (regardless of age). These are otherwise known as OTA Updates. So they have closed their update servers, so now we get some "message" that absolutely means nothing.
I suppose Acer is getting out of the Android business and no longer supports anything. Nice job Acer.
As for updating to ICS (or any other version), I have a few update files. Generally though, the update files must be matched to the current version of your tablet. Sometimes you can run a "full update" and it will work.
The problem, is these tablets are getting old, and the nand memory can go bad. Running an update can cause a variety of problems such as "Stuck in APX" mode, stuck at bootloader, stuck at boot animation. Then we have to go back to the EUUS file, or an old SD ROM file. So you run the risk of doing things all over again, and the risk that it just won't work again. (I spent a couple hours last night, and was almost ready to throw it in the garbage)
For example, I'm pretty much stuck at 3.0.x or 3.2.x. I've already disassembled the tablet and put the mainboard in the oven, just to get it back to life! And after numerous attempts to get ICS on it, I've pretty much given up before it hard bricks again. In fact, I can't get a 3.2.x EUUS to work on it, so it is stuck at the 3.0.x ATT EUUS. Eh, it's my little girls tab, so as long as it gets You Tube and browser, it's pretty much ok.

Trouble installing A501 ROM
Hi MD,
I am in the same boat as you...lol...This tablet is mostly used by my daughter and as long as it is solving my daughter's purpose, we are happy
I was just curious about that message as to why that is happenning, but after your clarification, it is clear to me as to why it is happenning.
My tablet is working as normal and everything is working fine...so we are happy with what we have.
Thanks a lot!
Regards,
Muk
---------- Post added at 03:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:48 AM ----------
jonnybrave said:
Hello mukapril .. may you provide me with the Honeycomb ROM which I might try ?
Thanking you and Best Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Jonny,
If you are referring to the ROM that I successfully installed which was sent by MD earlier, then it does not need any decryption. So you can use the link sent by MD earlier in this post. And if you are referring to the KernelSourceCode that I mentioned earleir, then it needs some kind of processing in Linux machine and then you can create some image.....this is was I know about it....sorry not an andrion guru. Please let me know what you are referring to.
Regards,
Muk

[Q] Another A500 frozen on logo Acer...

Hello,
I've been searching for almost 2 weeks in forums how to fix my A500 frozen on logo Acer (following a crash when I was launching a game).
I've tried to boot on these 2 ics roms in recovery mode : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1699277, the install starts and then the Android man falls...
I've tried to flash (flash.dat) in apx and my computers disconnects the tablet...
I've tried to get my cpuid with windows ans ubuntu : didn't work...
Maybe someone here is going to have an idea to help me? There seem to be very competent members, here!
(I hope my english is good enough to make you understand me, sorry if it doesn't look very clear to you, but I'm French)

EASY
If you go to tegraowners forum and read/install one of the recoveries there - in the various topics it will explain how to "really format data-data/media"
From there you will once again be able to install roms etc.

freightyard said:
If you go to tegraowners forum and read/install one of the recoveries there - in the various topics it will explain how to "really format data-data/media"
From there you will once again be able to install roms etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. I went to tegraowners forums and the only post I found about really format data doesn't fit, because my tablet doesn't start properly and I can't go to a menu to choose options, I can only start in recovery mode... (but maybe I didn't watch the right thread, please tell me)

recovery
woukou said:
Thanks for your reply. I went to tegraowners forums and the only post I found about really format data doesn't fit, because my tablet doesn't start properly and I can't go to a menu to choose options, I can only start in recovery mode... (but maybe I didn't watch the right thread, please tell me)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what you need the recovery
just get a tegraowners recovery and flash it with your recovery
BTW
what recovery do you have on your tab presently

freightyard said:
that's what you need the recovery
just get a tegraowners recovery and flash it with your recovery
BTW
what recovery do you have on your tab presently
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tablet had no recovery on an sd card (no sd card at all before the crash!), so I've downloaded many different updates since the crash, and it doesn't work. Maybe it was not the good solution, though;.. Which recovery do you advise me to download?

recovery
woukou said:
The tablet had no recovery on an sd card (no sd card at all before the crash!), so I've downloaded many different updates since the crash, and it doesn't work. Maybe it was not the good solution, though;.. Which recovery do you advise me to download?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think maybe you misunderstand what recovery is
It is a low level program that is on an internal partition
you open it by holding volume- while pushing power button
when it opens if it just immediately tries to load from the sd card then it is stock
if it opens with a menu then it should also say somewhere what recovery it is.
It is also somewhat important to know what android you had on the tab and whether it was rooted and what bootloader version.
there is an A500 manager at tegraowners by blackthund3r that will update the bootloader install a recovery and root the tablet.
if it's an official acer rom the afterota will probably help fix it.
barring all that - if you sign up to be a tegraowner member and pm(private message) me I can dropbox you babsector as well.
suggested recovery would be the new twrp or the 1.7.3 cwm recovery

freightyard said:
I think maybe you misunderstand what recovery is
It is a low level program that is on an internal partition
you open it by holding volume- while pushing power button
when it opens if it just immediately tries to load from the sd card then it is stock
if it opens with a menu then it should also say somewhere what recovery it is.
It is also somewhat important to know what android you had on the tab and whether it was rooted and what bootloader version.
there is an A500 manager at tegraowners by blackthund3r that will update the bootloader install a recovery and root the tablet.
if it's an official acer rom the afterota will probably help fix it.
barring all that - if you sign up to be a tegraowner member and pm(private message) me I can dropbox you babsector as well.
suggested recovery would be the new twrp or the 1.7.3 cwm recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for these explanations, you're right , I was confused about all that!
To be clear about what you said : when I push volume- and power, there are a few lines written (erasing... sd car... booting recovery kernel...) then the Android fells down. so it is stock, isn't it?
The tablet wasn't rooted I believe because I never touched anything since I bought it ( october 2011) but I can't find on the box or notice which Android was on it...
But I don't understand your advice (I don't know a lot about tablets + foreign language : forgive me!) : do you advice me to try "an A500 manager at tegraowners by blackthund3r that will update the bootloader" or try "babsector" (don't know what it is...)
By the way I registered on tegraowners just now, as woukou.
Thanks a lot to take time for my problem

recovery
woukou said:
Thank you for these explanations, you're right , I was confused about all that!
To be clear about what you said : when I push volume- and power, there are a few lines written (erasing... sd car... booting recovery kernel...) then the Android fells down. so it is stock, isn't it?
The tablet wasn't rooted I believe because I never touched anything since I bought it ( october 2011) but I can't find on the box or notice which Android was on it...
But I don't understand your advice (I don't know a lot about tablets + foreign language : forgive me!) : do you advice me to try "an A500 manager at tegraowners by blackthund3r that will update the bootloader" or try "babsector" (don't know what it is...)
By the way I registered on tegraowners just now, as woukou.
Thanks a lot to take time for my problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are numerous methods to fix this
first login to tegraowners and pm me with
Did you get updates from acer and install them since you bought the tablet
Do you know if it was Ice Cream Sandwich or Honeycomb running on the tablet
do you have your cpuid or know what it is ?
Is your tablet an Acer A500 ,A501 or something other ?

freightyard said:
There are numerous methods to fix this
first login to tegraowners and pm me with
Did you get updates from acer and install them since you bought the tablet
Do you know if it was Ice Cream Sandwich or Honeycomb running on the tablet
do you have your cpuid or know what it is ?
Is your tablet an Acer A500 ,A501 or something other ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, I can't mp you because "We are sorry, but you are not authorised to use this feature. You may have just registered here and may need to participate more to be able to use this feature. ", maybe you can mp me and I will reply...
But I can answer you here:
- I only had 1 update since I bought the tablet (maybe 1 year ago) and it was the regular Acer update.
- I don't know at all if it was Ice Cream sandwich or Honeycomb on it (bought in october 2011, and I still have the box if it can help...)
- I don't have the cpuid, and I tried yesterday to get it through Windows (when the tablet appears in usb) and through Ubuntu (file called apx.c, etc...) and I didin't work unfortunately...
- My tablet is A500 Iconia tab
I hope that will help...

woukou said:
First, I can't mp you because "We are sorry, but you are not authorised to use this feature. You may have just registered here and may need to participate more to be able to use this feature. ", maybe you can mp me and I will reply...
But I can answer you here:
- I only had 1 update since I bought the tablet (maybe 1 year ago) and it was the regular Acer update.
- I don't know at all if it was Ice Cream sandwich or Honeycomb on it (bought in october 2011, and I still have the box if it can help...)
- I don't have the cpuid, and I tried yesterday to get it through Windows (when the tablet appears in usb) and through Ubuntu (file called apx.c, etc...) and I didin't work unfortunately...
- My tablet is A500 Iconia tab
I hope that will help...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
without the cpuid there is little you can do
try reading through and running this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26618772&postcount=1

freightyard said:
without the cpuid there is little you can do
try reading through and running this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26618772&postcount=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to read it, thanks!

freightyard said:
without the cpuid there is little you can do
try reading through and running this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26618772&postcount=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I read the whole page, I downloaded the 2 files (1 big-1 tiny) and I guess I'm stupid, because I don't know how to use them...
Could someone help me? Thanks!

woukou said:
Hello,
I read the whole page, I downloaded the 2 files (1 big-1 tiny) and I guess I'm stupid, because I don't know how to use them...
Could someone help me? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like your in a similar situation to me.
IF your any good with Linux read up here to get your CPUID http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1751978
then your 1 step closer.
follow my thread here as well for things to read & try http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2729674
.

Still bricked...
Hello,
It's beeen a long time ( lot of work and not many time to spend on the tablet...) but I did try all tips you gave me, and I realize I can't go any further without that CPUID!
I tried methods to get CPUID that are described on this post :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25429111#post25429111
- With A500 manager : my PC sees my connected "in APX" tablet, but it doesn't want to give me a serial number...
- With usb deview I can get the snid (that is also on the box) and that is only 11 characters...
- With Ubuntu : the PC doesn't recognize the tablet at all (normal or APX mode)
- Methods 4, 6 and 7 won't work because my tablet is stuck on Acer logo
And I have no idea how to use methods 2 and 5 (sorry...)
Are there any other methods to try with my PC (Windows 7- X64)
Can someone help me? I'm crazy about that tablet that starts but doesn't work!
Thanks in advance if you can!
Tried these too:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2755126
Nothing...

Hurra! and Noooo
Hello,
I managed to bring my tablet to life! (with getting my cpuid with Ubuntu and updating with EUU)
BUT now I want to get a real update and I can't! When I launch it, the tablet says "you wifi is too unstable, try later" I tried at a neighbour's, and it's the same : it comes from the tablet!
What would you suggest?

woukou said:
Hello,
I managed to bring my tablet to life! (with getting my cpuid with Ubuntu and updating with EUU)
BUT now I want to get a real update and I can't! When I launch it, the tablet says "you wifi is too unstable, try later" I tried at a neighbour's, and it's the same : it comes from the tablet!
What would you suggest?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just for info, it seems Acer has shut down it's update servers. I have an a501 (recently bricked forever), and an A701. Neither can get updates. Usually, I get the message "Network coverage is poor, try a different location". So it seems these are messages generated from the tablet. More than likely as a triggered response from their old servers.
I'm on direct wifi
Also, acer has been deleting their available update ROMs from their support servers. I grabbed some a couple days ago, and now today they are gone!
Pretty sure Acer is getting out of the tablet business, or at least they act like it.

Ok thanks for the information, it's not only my tablet that can't update!
But, what do you think would be the best (and most simple!) solution to run ICS like it used to do?
Every link I found to get an update for 3.0.1 are dead...
I'm not a specialist, and all tutorials for rooting and install ICS (rom or custopm) seem complicated and risky!
Thanks in advance for your advice

woukou said:
Ok thanks for the information, it's not only my tablet that can't update!
But, what do you think would be the best (and most simple!) solution to run ICS like it used to do?
Every link I found to get an update for 3.0.1 are dead...
I'm not a specialist, and all tutorials for rooting and install ICS (rom or custopm) seem complicated and risky!
Thanks in advance for your advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there are a couple of methods to update manually. The key, is getting the correct match of 3.x.x to 4.x.x. Sometimes the ICS updates will use a "patch" install, and it's very specific to which current ROM is installed.
Tell you what, remind me again which tablet (500 or 501) you have, and I'll take a look at what I have on my own servers, and maybe we can get you upgraded manually. Pretty simple really.

Moscow Desire said:
Well, there are a couple of methods to update manually. The key, is getting the correct match of 3.x.x to 4.x.x. Sometimes the ICS updates will use a "patch" install, and it's very specific to which current ROM is installed.
Tell you what, remind me again which tablet (500 or 501) you have, and I'll take a look at what I have on my own servers, and maybe we can get you upgraded manually. Pretty simple really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
I tell you all what I know and can read on the tablet:
Acer Iconia tab A50016GB Wifi
Android version 3.0.1
Kernel version 2.6.36.3-00001-gf991e5d
Build number ACER_A500_1.016.05_COM_GEN1
I hope it's enough, thanks again!

woukou said:
Thanks!
I tell you all what I know and can read on the tablet:
Acer Iconia tab A50016GB Wifi
Android version 3.0.1
Kernel version 2.6.36.3-00001-gf991e5d
Build number ACER_A500_1.016.05_COM_GEN1
I hope it's enough, thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try those full ICS updates in the first thread of this forum. I believe they are full a500 ICS updates. There are 4 of them, and you may have to try them all. One of them may work. Not sure if they will update from 3.0.1 though.
I'm mobile right now, and can't personally check them.