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I just got my transformer, and tried upgrading to 3.1 (official, not primordial). I downloaded EP101_SDUPDATE.zip, put it on the tablet, rebooted into recovery etc. On reboot, it's not getting past the EEE pad ASUS screen. If I hold the power, it powers off and comes right back on. If I hold the down volume, it gives me the RCK option, but after I hit vol up it gets stuck on "Booting recovery kernel image". If I wait and choose the wipe option I get Magic value mismatch and some garbage after.
I tried adb, but it doesn't show any devices attached. Plugging in the usb, windows doesn't even indicate a device has been attached
Is there anything I can do? Please don't tell me I've already bricked this thing ...
do you have a microsd card in the slot.... or did u try to instal taht update directly from the transformer harddrive ie.. /mnt/sdcard/
I installed from internal memory (/sdcard), but I also have a micro sd card if needed.
timekillerj said:
I installed from internal memory (/sdcard), but I also have a micro sd card if needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The update file need to be on the REMOVABLE micro sd card.
Ok, I may have had the micro sd card in at the time, the first doc I read said to copy the update zip to internal memory, so I used the micro sd to copy it there. That doesn't really help me with my current situation though. I have the micro sd in, but trying to enter RCK hangs on "Booting recovery kernel image" and goes no further. After more testing and reading I found I can enter the nvflash mode (vol up + power), but that doesn't seem to get me any closer to unbricking this thing.
Anyone ? starting to get worried I'm screwed here.
timekillerj said:
Ok, I may have had the micro sd card in at the time, the first doc I read said to copy the update zip to internal memory, so I used the micro sd to copy it there. That doesn't really help me with my current situation though. I have the micro sd in, but trying to enter RCK hangs on "Booting recovery kernel image" and goes no further. After more testing and reading I found I can enter the nvflash mode (vol up + power), but that doesn't seem to get me any closer to unbricking this thing.
Anyone ? starting to get worried I'm screwed here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you cannot fix it, simply exchange it.
take that zip file and put it on the root (top directory) of your sd card then do the power plus down volume then up volume and it should upgrade to 3.1
keroppilee said:
take that zip file and put it on the root (top directory) of your sd card then do the power plus down volume then up volume and it should upgrade to 3.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do what he said.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
keroppilee said:
take that zip file and put it on the root (top directory) of your sd card then do the power plus down volume then up volume and it should upgrade to 3.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no reason this shouldnt work...
Except that it doesn't work. As I said in my initial post, if I try to flash now, I get to the "Booting recovery kernel image" and it gets stuck there
You're sure the zipped file is sitting in the top directory of your SD card? If it is then I can't think of what might be causing your problen
Yep, it's definitely there I spoke with ASUS and they are sending me an RMA number. I was unaware the 3.1 update was not available for download or I would have told them this happened from the OTA update, instead they are saying this will be an "out of warranty" repair - no idea what they are going to charge to basically just flash it back to stock :\
I had it for an hour... *sigh*
timekillerj said:
Yep, it's definitely there I spoke with ASUS and they are sending me an RMA number. I was unaware the 3.1 update was not available for download or I would have told them this happened from the OTA update, instead they are saying this will be an "out of warranty" repair - no idea what they are going to charge to basically just flash it back to stock :\
I had it for an hour... *sigh*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow that sucks out of warranty? Asus is amazing!!!
dazz87 said:
Wow that sucks out of warranty? Asus is amazing!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Out of warranty because he told them he messed it up trying to update with non-approved software update.
Why don't you try to do a full reset on the device? Im sure you can find a way to do that.
check this thread
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1105731
where we managed to get the official .13 from asus support and try to flash and get back to .13 at least,
also try a wipe with the rocker thing at boot....
good luck
grinnerD said:
check this thread
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1105731
where we managed to get the official .13 from asus support and try to flash and get back to .13 at least,
also try a wipe with the rocker thing at boot....
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, this would require a working recovery which I don't seem to have. Also, as I said the the original post, wiping just gives me "Magic value mismatch" and locks.
Pretty much accepted the fact that I'm boned here. I got a price estimate from Asus - minimum labor charge of $75. I guess it could be worse. Just wish I knew there was no official download so I could say the right things :\ Worst part of this is how long it took to get this thing, only to have it an hour before killing it. I've flashed my android phones hundreds of times, only ever bricked a device once before tonight.
I am disappoint.
timekillerj said:
Again, this would require a working recovery which I don't seem to have. Also, as I said the the original post, wiping just gives me "Magic value mismatch" and locks.
Pretty much accepted the fact that I'm boned here. I got a price estimate from Asus - minimum labor charge of $75. I guess it could be worse. Just wish I knew there was no official download so I could say the right things :\ Worst part of this is how long it took to get this thing, only to have it an hour before killing it. I've flashed my android phones hundreds of times, only ever bricked a device once before tonight.
I am disappoint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Call them back and say you were trying to update V8.2.3.13 actually from website? You thought it was 3.1
Sounds to me like he panicked waiting for the long boot after updating, and forced it off or something.
Tjwoo said:
Call them back and say you were trying to update V8.2.3.13 actually from website? You thought it was 3.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brilliant! I found their download page here: http://support.asus.com/download.as...101&p=20&s=16&os=32&hashedid=ghh4q7i8dvwjzhdv - best part, since the version is V8.2.3.13 I'll just say the '3.13' made me think it was 3.1. Thanks!
timekillerj ,
If the suggestions you received do not work then join the #asus-transformer IRC channel. A developer in there has a method to unbrick a TF.
The developer already has helped two TF owners unbrick their TFs, one which was received with Android 2.2 installed. Just ask if anyone can help you unbrick your device and someone will likely direct you to the correct developer. Be aware that he lives in Europe so when you join the IRC channel that developer may be asleep.
So there may be several of you reading this posting that got your Tab from woot.com. I have been working on getting my hands around this tablet since day 1 and I wanted to stress to each and every one of you that plan on rooting or flashing anything to get yourself a new SD card asap... I found, as well as many others, that the SD card that came from Samsung (16GB) seems to be a problem for the device when it comes to flashing kernels and roms...
I finally was able to get Honeycomb on my device after swapping the 16GB SD card out with a 2GB SD card I had laying around at work. I couldn't get any of the CWM kernels to actually do as it was planned to do until now...
Just wanted to share!
Because I find it important to share what I learned, here are the steps I followed, in as best detail as I can, to obtain root, CwM 3.0, and Spacemoose1's HC Alpha 2.5 build:
First of all a few things to note, some of which is specified above in my previous posting, replace the SD card with another one that’s not from Samsung (as it appears this caused several issues). Odin 1.7 (with .pit) and Heimdall (with 1.1.1 binaries) are your best friends, download them both. Make sure for using Heimdall you have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86). For Odin make sure you have the EA24 .tar, this will be your get out of jail free card if you mess something up (Lord knows I’ve done this like 20 times trying). This simply allows you to reflash your Sprint Tab back to EA24 and you can start over.
Here are the steps I followed to get to where I am now:
-- Took the OTA updates from DJ30 (out of the box at this) to EA24 (eventually started here after using Odin several times) to EB28.
-- Enabled USB debugging (always important to have this one on and, if you’re like me, stay awake so I don’t let the thing fall asleep on me and unknown sources).
-- Obtained root with SuperOneClick (this is very easy to do, literally one click root) and rebooted as specified by SuperOneClick’s direction. I verified root by observing Super User in my apps and downloading terminal emulator, typing “su” in the window and selecting enter to be shown # to verify root.
-- I downloaded the latest and greatest kernel (zImage) and ROM from Spacemoose1’s build thread and placed a copy of the zImage file on my desktop for quick access and the ROM on my SD card of the Tab.
-- Next I unplugged the device from the computer, powered down, and put it in to download mode by holding down the power button and volume down until the shoveling android is shown. I then plugged in my device to the computer and opened up my Heimdall folder I extracted to my desktop and navigated to the Drivers folder and double-clicked the zadig.exe to install the drivers. I selected options and list all devices. From the drop down I selected Samsung USB Composite Device and selected install drivers. If everything goes well it will say drivers are installed successfully.
-- I didn’t leave download mode, I proceeded to flash the zImage file from Heimdall. I opened Heimdall Frontend and, on the left side of the application, selected browse to find the zImage file I placed on my desktop. I ensured the checkbox to the left of the field was checked and selected start. If everything is successful it will flash your kernel and reboot in to recovery and freeze at the Samsung logo. I held down the power button for about 8 seconds until the screen cut off. When the battery icon was shown (with the green color showing amount of charge) I held down the power and volume up button to enter recovery mode. It will attempt to backup and fail, don’t sweat it. Wipe data/factory reset and then wipe cache, then reboot the Tab. It will freeze at the Samsung logo again; just hold power down for about 8 seconds until it turns off. When the battery icon is shown (with the green color showing amount of charge) I held down the power and volume up button to enter recovery mode. This time the device will resume backing up and complete successfully. Once it’s completed, to flash Honeycomb you will need to select install zip from SD card and then select zip from SD and choose the latest ROM that you downloaded and placed on your SD card. It will flash so let it do its thing. It will reboot and eventually load Honeycomb.
MOST IMPORTANTLY JUST READ AND IF YOU'RE NOT SURE ABOUT SOMETHING PM ME AND I'LL SEE IF I CAN HELP!
I also have a sprint refurb woot tab and did not have this issue.
I flashed to hc just fine using superoneclick -> special sprint tab cwm instructions thread (uses heimdall) -> cwm update using sm1's zip file.
Thisrobot said:
I also have a sprint refurb woot tab and did not have this issue.
I flashed to hc just fine using superoneclick -> special sprint tab cwm instructions thread (uses heimdall) -> cwm update using sm1's zip file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've seen mixed reviews on how to go about things and many Sprint users, including woot.com Tab owners, experiencing a wide array of issues or none at all. I think documenting all the various issues will give us a better chance of figuring out different approaches that'll be specific to each user.
Just wanted to share another story in detail. Thanks for your input!
I'm one of the one's having no issues at all. I took both updates, rooted the thing and disabled the activation. Have no desire to do anything with it beyond that though. HC just strikes me as half baked. If/when the GB update comes down OTA I'll take it, but I have no plans to flash any ROMS or anything. Only issue I've noticed is that if I don't reboot it every other day or so it develops serious lag. If unaddressed it becomes completely and totally unresponsive. Rebooting it fixes the problem. I may just program Tasker to reboot it at night.
A. Nonymous said:
I'm one of the one's having no issues at all. I took both updates, rooted the thing and disabled the activation. Have no desire to do anything with it beyond that though. HC just strikes me as half baked. If/when the GB update comes down OTA I'll take it, but I have no plans to flash any ROMS or anything. Only issue I've noticed is that if I don't reboot it every other day or so it develops serious lag. If unaddressed it becomes completely and totally unresponsive. Rebooting it fixes the problem. I may just program Tasker to reboot it at night.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i noticed a similar slowdown when my tab was on for long periods of time.. If you are using Dolphin HD, install the addon "browse faster." it kills unnecessary processes and makes scrolling/switching tabs more responsive.
OR, you can hold the home key-> hit the task manager button->exit all and/or under the ram tab clear memory.
These work fine for me, and at this point i pretty much never have to reboot because of slow perf.
The original microSD card was unrecognized out of the box, but formatting it on another device worked. Try doing that and putting the card back in.
s44 said:
The original microSD card was unrecognized out of the box, but formatting it on another device worked. Try doing that and putting the card back in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll have to give it a shot, even though I just bought a 32GB one for it..
anyone else getting a constant conversion to ext4 when you reboot into CWM? I swapped out the stock sd card for a 1gb card i had laying around, it runs through the conversion, and can read the sd card, but as soon as I flash the HC rom and reboot it just sits at the samsung bootlogo. I power it down, and go back into recovery and it runs the conversion again. The only time it doesn't run the conversion is if i put the stock sd card in, then it just says can't mount /sdcard. this is getting really annoying. I've got an Epic 4g and stuff like this just doesn't happen, so I'm wondering what the heck the issue with the Tab is.
So, figured out anytime I was getting stuck in the ext4 conversion loop for recovery, that I needed to go back and flash the recovery via heimdall again. It seemed every 3rd flash would work. Annoying, but at least now I know.
My card pooped out and they gave me a $20 credit. Time for a class 10 16gb card. Maybe the dead one will come back to life!
- Z
I bought a refurbished Sprint Galaxy Tab from meritline.com. Probably of similar heritage to the one Woot was selling.
So far my 16GB SDCARD has worked without any problem. I have (just for the heck of it) ordered a 32GB Class 10 card to use in the Galaxy Tab.
Am waiting for Spacemoose1 to release a Honeycomb beta version. Will probably dive into HC at that point.
And if someone figures out how to get Netflix flying on the Galaxy Tab I'd be interested to hear all about it.
Another question -
Since my Sprint Galaxy Tab does NOT have any active data plan, will it still acquire OTA updates? Mostly I'm curious about the upcoming, promised Gingerbread update from Samsung.
Or will I have to manually install it. Since KIES does not function on these CDMA tablets it leaves me wondering just how this update will find its way to my Galaxy Tab.
I also don't have a data plan with sprint, and I've received OTA updates (possibly pulled down via wifi) so hopefully if we do get lucky enough to get an official GB update, it'll come OTA even without a data plan..
pvtjoker42 said:
I also don't have a data plan with sprint, and I've received OTA updates (possibly pulled down via wifi) so hopefully if we do get lucky enough to get an official GB update, it'll come OTA even without a data plan..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Samsung Fascinate is on a data plan with Verizon. When an OTA download is available and I request the update via the phone settings, it ALWAYS cautions that it is about to disable the WiFi in order to access the OTA update.
I do not know if the same is true of Sprint as I've never had an activated Sprint phone . Seriously hope not as it might make it less than straight forward to acquire the OTA updates such as Gingerbread.
Time will tell.
warranty on a refurbished galaxy tab
Hawk521,
I am thinking of buying the one from meritline too. I am concerned as to who did the refurbishing. Was it Samsung? How come there is only a 90 day warranty as opposed to a year for a new one? Is it worth spending more for the full warranty?
pvtjoker42 said:
anyone else getting a constant conversion to ext4 when you reboot into CWM? I swapped out the stock sd card for a 1gb card i had laying around, it runs through the conversion, and can read the sd card, but as soon as I flash the HC rom and reboot it just sits at the samsung bootlogo. I power it down, and go back into recovery and it runs the conversion again. The only time it doesn't run the conversion is if i put the stock sd card in, then it just says can't mount /sdcard. this is getting really annoying. I've got an Epic 4g and stuff like this just doesn't happen, so I'm wondering what the heck the issue with the Tab is.
So, figured out anytime I was getting stuck in the ext4 conversion loop for recovery, that I needed to go back and flash the recovery via heimdall again. It seemed every 3rd flash would work. Annoying, but at least now I know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got around this by formatting, partitioning and converting to ext4 using my Evo4G.
alans75 said:
Hawk521,
I am thinking of buying the one from meritline too. I am concerned as to who did the refurbishing. Was it Samsung? How come there is only a 90 day warranty as opposed to a year for a new one? Is it worth spending more for the full warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know who did the refurbishing. On items like this that have only been on the market for 7 months or so, most 'refurbs' are likely simple product returns from buyers who were not happy for one reason or another. I've bought lots of refurb items over the years and have yet to have any regrets.
FWIW, mine came in a brand new looking oem box, the power supply and cables were still in the oem packaging and all documentation was pristine.
If it suits your needs go for it. Sure beats spending $350+ bucks on one. I'm not using any Sprint 3G data plan - just treating this as a WiFi only tab.
Also, just today it leaked out that Sprint will be providing an OTA update to Gingerbread starting on July 5th, 2011.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/30/sprint-updating-the-samsung-galaxy-tab-with-gingerbread-on-july/
pvtjoker42 said:
anyone else getting a constant conversion to ext4 when you reboot into CWM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After it fails the first time (and while you're still in the CWM utility ROM go and clear the two cache settings prior to restarting into CWM rom again. Clearing the caches (one is under the advance setting) will clean things up so that upon the next bootup CWM will properly convert to ext4.
At least that is what I've seen several times now.
Good luck with it.
Gingerbread for Sprint on July 5th?
Has anyone had any luck with the July 5th Gingerbread upgrade that Google and Sprint have indicated would begin downloading on July 5th?
I realize they may roll the update out over several days, but so far my attempts to prod the update manually have met with no results.
If anyone has better luck please post it here. Also note if your Galaxy Tab has a current Sprint data plan, or if it is like mine, a refurb that has no current contract for data.
Watching and waiting...
Hawk521 said:
Has anyone had any luck with the July 5th Gingerbread upgrade that Google and Sprint have indicated would begin downloading on July 5th?
I realize they may roll the update out over several days, but so far my attempts to prod the update manually have met with no results.
If anyone has better luck please post it here. Also note if your Galaxy Tab has a current Sprint data plan, or if it is like mine, a refurb that has no current contract for data.
Watching and waiting...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My non-activated sprint galaxy tab just only show me "Unknown Error", when I try Setting->About My Galaxy Tab->System Updates->Update Firmware.
I have been working on this for the past few days and for the life of me cannot figure out the problem. I'll start by just laying out a sequence of events.
Bought A500 about a month ago. OTA'd to HC 3.1 4.010.13_com_gen2
Decided not to wait for OTA 3.2 and rooted with iconiabreak.
Did not do a backup (like an idiot, i know)
Flashed Taboonay 2.0 with Thor's 2.1 kernal.
Saw awesome post to get rid of cell standby by deleting phone.apk and telephony.apk....do i did that.
Realize i am an idiot and then run a Nandroid backup.
Was happy for a few weeks when i see that Vache had updated taboonay to 2.1b and decided i wanted to do that.
Downloaded the files and started to flash with CWM. Factory, cache, dalvik wipe. Run Taboonay zip.
Get stuck in bootloop at Taboonay boot screen. $#!t......
Think "it's ok, ill just do an update.zip and go back to 3.1"
Try almost all the files on Vache's full package and update thread.
I put each one on an ext sd card and throw it into recovery boot. The Android guy with gears shows up and it looks like it is going to work.
The progress bar gets about 90-95% of the way when everything just stops. Gears animation, progress, everything.
It then reboots and gets stuck in a bootloop at the android screen. Load a different update.zip and same thing happens each time.
I try to just do a normal recovery boot, but CWM isnt there anymore and i get the ! android.
Normal reboot gives me a bootloop.
So i am stuck and asking if it is the phone and telephony apks that caused everything? if that were the case, how would i be able to load them back up since im totally locked out. I havent tried adb since im out of town for a few days. Thanks for any help that anyone can lend me. Ill try to answer any questions for any information that might be needed.
bumping for great justice~
I've tried decrypting update.zip files and vice versa.
still no luck..
try the fall back to 3.0.1
Check under development section for iconia a500. You'll see a thread for going from 3.2 to 3.0.1.
As i readd about this rom, it seems it's used in difficult cases (it removes the locks created by 3.2 stock), so it could be worth giving it a try.
rorohajj said:
Check under development section for iconia a500. You'll see a thread for going from 3.2 to 3.0.1.
As i readd about this rom, it seems it's used in difficult cases (it removes the locks created by 3.2 stock), so it could be worth giving it a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
I don't think that will be a viable option for me since i'm not able to get my UID. i've plugged my tablet into the computer and gotten the "hardware found" bubble. It prompts me to look for drivers (which i havent be able to find) and, i assume because it's in a bootloop, wont show up on the computer.
Does anyone know why the update.zip files would fail at 90%? I think that's really the thing that boggles my mind and is most frustrating.
Did you at all have your A500 connected to your computer prior to this happening? If so then you can get the UID from by way of the Windows registry. Then you should contact SC2K and get him your UID he should be able to help you get your A500 back from the dead.
jeffw111 said:
Did you at all have your A500 connected to your computer prior to this happening? If so then you can get the UID from by way of the Windows registry. Then you should contact SC2K and get him your UID he should be able to help you get your A500 back from the dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, no I never plugged my A500 into my computer.
quick update:
I was able to use a different computer and found something interesting.
While trying to transfer or open a decrypted update.zip file, i get an error message saying, "Please insert the last disk of the Multi-Volume set and click OK to continue". Clicking OK just brings it back and i am forced to click cancel.
Anyone have any idea what that would mean??? It doesnt happen when I open or transfer the non-decrypted file. Only the decrypted file using Thor's Acer Update Decrypter application on HC 3.1 and 3.2 files.
While loading the decrypted update.zip on the A500, it almost instantly shows the ! android guy, while the non-decrypted files go 90-95% and then reboot into bootloop.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
first off if you can get into recovery to flash anything.You are not bricked.
Take your SD card put in a android phone format it.
Put the card in your computer.copy a full update.zip file from dev section.likes on a post by Thor.put card.back in tab and flash.
If it stall fails repeat with a different SD card.seems smaller ones do best.
Good luck.
erica_renee said:
first off if you can get into recovery to flash anything.You are not bricked.
Take your SD card put in a android phone format it.
Put the card in your computer.copy a full update.zip file from dev section.likes on a post by Thor.put card.back in tab and flash.
If it stall fails repeat with a different SD card.seems smaller ones do best.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply, first off.
I'm sorry I didn't make it clear that I had done all of those things during the events of the first post EXCEPT try a different sd card.
So I went out today and bought a PNY 2GB sd card as opposed to the SanDisk 4GB i was using. I formatted it in my Atrix 4G and threw a full update.zip file in there. The first file I tried (from Vache's http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1113878 thread) was Acer_A500_4.010.38_COM_GEN1 (HC 3.1). Since I was able to open the .zip without decrypting it I loaded it only the sd card. It did the same thing as before (loaded to about 90% then freeze, reboot) except this time I got a "Boot verification failed..." message in bright red letters up at the top left of the Acer screen. Since it didn't work, I loaded Acer_A500_7.006.03_COM_GEN2 (HC 3.2) onto the sd card. Again, since I was able to open the .zip file, I assumed that there was no need to decrypt it. Loaded the sd card and put the tablet into default recovery (not CWM recovery which I no longer have). The same problem keeps happening: it loads to 90%, freezes then reboots. This time, however, it went into a bootloop at the "android" screen.
I've tried decrypted versions of those files, but I always get an error message while trying to open them and when trying to flash them in default recovery, it almost instantly goes to the ! android guy since I'm assuming those files are already decrypted and decrypting them again is bad.
Hopefully if I try enough files, I'll find the one that works...
Until then, if anyone has any ideas as to what I might be doing wrong or should be doing differently, please let me know!
Thanks.
there is a thread that has instructions on going from the OTA 3.2 to downgrade. To 3.1.look for that tthread and windows software. On that thread it talks about that error your getting.
Since I have not had this issue .can't say for sure if it will help.
Good luck sorry I can not do more to hhelp
Just a dingy blonde here.
erica_renee said:
there is a thread that has instructions on going from the OTA 3.2 to downgrade. To 3.1.look for that tthread and windows software. On that thread it talks about that error your getting.
Since I have not had this issue .can't say for sure if it will help.
Good luck sorry I can not do more to hhelp
Just a dingy blonde here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your suggestion.
I was able to find my UID from an old CWM backup file and tried this method. I attempted it last night with no success. I was actually in the middle of making a reply saying how heartbroken I was and that I was basically giving up. I decided to try it one more time and made a slight adjustment from my method last night. In the UID file, I had my UID in there as 0x0blahblahblah and kept getting the incorrect UID error in the program. When I tried taking out the first 0x in the program, it gave me an incorrect format error. That is where I was messing up.
Instead of 0x0, all i needed was 0blahblahblah in the UID file.
Attempted the upgrade utility again, and viola! It worked like a champ.
So thanks again to all that helped out and offered suggestions and to all the Devs for their outstanding work. I've definitely learned a lot from this experience.
I have an Acer 500a I just bought off carigslist. Initially I thought it would be fine but then I realized I was inheriting someone elses problems. I hope someone may be able to help.
Within the first few hours I was noticing google Play crashed a number of times and struggled to update from Market. Somehow the update went through but now there is a system update that won't go through. I'm able to down load it and when i restart the computer to complete installation the screen goes black and says: booting recovery kernel in the corner. I then see a picture of an android and a load bar which after 2-4 seconds the android is on his back and an exclaimation mark is coming out of his belly.
My android version is 3.2
Kernel version
2.6.36.3+
Build number
Acer_a500_7.006.01_COM_GEN2
I'm pretty sure its rooted and i think that might be why its not playing nice with google market and system updates. I called the old owner and explained the problem and he just said he had it rooted and he thought he unrooted it. There is an ap called superuser in aps. (although if it were rooted would'nt I be able to uninstal some of thecrap software it comes with like GOLF HD? -- it won't let me).
The system update is for Acer_a500_7.014.01_COM_GEN2 8.88mb
My problem is all of the force closes I'm getting and the inability to update the system. Any thoughts? I don't have a usb cord to connect it to a desktop either =(
I am a bit out of practice, but...
Should be pretty simple to fix. From what I am seeing, you are running a stock rom. Just because the superuser.apk is installed on the system does not mean it is rooted, but it probably is.
Hit the market, grab "Root Checker" - simple tiny program to let you know for sure if your tab is rooted or not.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=burrows.apps.rootchecker&hl=en
From what I understand - automatic system updates will fail when trying to apply them to a rooted or modded system. Probably why you cannot auto-update.
My advice at this point would be to:
1) Since you just bought it, just do a factory wipe on it. That will remove all the stuff the prior owner had running on it and will result in a unrooted tab that should be able to get auto updates without a problem.
2) Un-Root it. Once the tablet is unrooted, the system should update without any issue.
As for your Play Store issues - I have never heard of or personally seen any issues caused with installing apps from the store on a rooted device. I have seen a few apps that will refuse to run on a rooted device - but that does not sound like your problem.
I would go with option 1 - just factory wipe the thing. Prior owner may have made tons of changes to the OS that we will never know about, and may have handed you a unstable system. Start fresh. Wipe it out.
Hope this helps you out! Let me know if I can answer any questions.
k thank you so much for the quick reply! I downloaded the root checker and it Is rooted. I did a factory wipe as found in the settings privacy tab when I bought it. That factory reset did not unroot and only cleaned out some of the aps on the device. Is there a better or more surefire way to unroot it? If I reset with the volume down key will it hard reset it?
Thank you for you help!
Draight
Okay.
I am about a year out of practice with my a500 - but from what I am think, if a factory reset still results in a rooted device - the prior user installed a stock ROM that comes pre-rooted.
I highly doubt being rooted is causing the issues you are running into.
At this point if you just want to get back to stock you can probably just install the Acer Recovery Manager from the market and use it to reflash a stock unrooted ROM. Or I see a few guides about how to manually restore back to stock over in the dev section for the a500.
Others will correct me if I am wrong, but I think Acer Recovery Manager should take care of your problem.
Hope this helps!
(Edit: Or you can just download the official stock 4.x rom (ICS) from the dev section and flash that. 3.2 is pretty slow and wonky in my experience, you should be able to just download a 4.x ROM and flash, since you are rooted. Again, I am way out of practice. Don't do anything before reading up!)
(Edit again: I think I was making this harder then needs be. Just flash any stock 3.2 unrooted ROM, done. After you do that the automatic on the air update should kick in for you and update you to ICS)
Thanks for taking the time to work with me on this. I downloaded the program you suggested and tried to use a stock rom. When i went to reboot I had a picture of an android looking up at an exclaimation mark. It was froze like that until I restarted it. Now its back to the way it was, rooted and unupdatable.
I'm probably going to try to just wipe it all over but do i need to plug it into my computer somehow? I dont have a usb connector for the tablet, just the wall charger plugin. can i just download a rom and use the utility to try install it? when I reboot it am I supposed to be pressing the volume button?
I've read a few other forums but usually they sound pretty intense...
draight said:
Thanks for taking the time to work with me on this. I downloaded the program you suggested and tried to use a stock rom. When i went to reboot I had a picture of an android looking up at an exclaimation mark. It was froze like that until I restarted it. Now its back to the way it was, rooted and unupdatable.
I'm probably going to try to just wipe it all over but do i need to plug it into my computer somehow? I dont have a usb connector for the tablet, just the wall charger plugin. can i just download a rom and use the utility to try install it? when I reboot it am I supposed to be pressing the volume button?
I've read a few other forums but usually they sound pretty intense...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm..
Try the thread I linked two in my second edit of my last post. You just need to grab the stock and unrooted 3.2 - put it on a MicroSD card as update.zip - then reboot with vol rocker and power switch to get the system to flash the update.
That *should* work just fine.
(Edit: Forgot the link! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839313 - there you go)
Thankw, I am going to try it after readingna bit more. Do I need to have clockworkmod installed for all of this?
draight said:
Thankw, I am going to try it after readingna bit more. Do I need to have clockworkmod installed for all of this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Just snag the stock unrooted 3.2 ROM - place it in the root of the MicroSD card as update.zip
Power down.
Power up with VOL + and POWER key held at the same time (you can let the vol rocker go when you see text appear in the upper left corner)
Should be all you need to do. Worst case; it does not work and returns you back to where you are now. Worth a shot.
If that does not work, let me know so I can do a few mins of homework and help you further. Been a long time since I have changed ROMS or had any issues with my a500.
I have bricked it twice by not following directions all the way or just making simple mistakes, but from what I have found there is always a way to recover.
Just tried it. I copied the boot zip to sd card and renamed update.zip and reset..It looked like it was going to download after showing some text in the corner and then an exclamation mark appeared above the androids head... I left it and after a few.min it rebooted back
draight said:
Just tried it. I copied the boot zip to sd card and renamed update.zip and reset..It looked like it was going to download after showing some text in the corner and then an exclamation mark appeared above the androids head... I left it and after a few.min it rebooted back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. Odd.
Like I said, I am rather out of practice.
Someone more experienced them me: please help me point Draight in the right direction here?
Thanks for trying to help. =(
I wish that my tablet wasn't having such issues. I;m going to try to scramble around the forums and see if I can find some advice...If anyone has a suggestion please let me know.
Thanks again entropy,
Draight
Update:
So I've been tinkering around with it a bit more and I found a usb cord that plugs it into my computer. I keep finding boken links on this site so Im struggling to find an update I can use to flash to. I downloaded a different super user program which allowed me to temporarily unroot my device. I then restarted it and no root checker says its no rooted and I cannot find the superuser program. I think I have somewhat unrooted it -- but I think the real issue now is the recovery tool. I keep reseting it - hard reset, or factory reset and it wipes everything away but when i try to update it gets about 1/3 of the way up the bar then it stops with an '!' Mark above the droid. Im kind of annoyed at this point and hoping for some new links or some ideas on how to repair the recovery piece.
Draight
Go to the Dev section, and grad a couple of the ICS Update roms. You will see them listed for the a500. Make sure they are the FULL update roms. Should be about 3-400mb. These contain a FULL ICS Update Rom, and not a patch file.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1816560
Then, go to the Themes and apps forum. You'll see a sticky that has the Acer Update Decrypter.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1869505
Now, unpack the decrypter, and select one of the ICS Updates. Then hit Start. Take a couple minutes, but you will have a duplicate file with the word "decrypted" added to it.
Wait, you are not done yet.
Using a program like 7zip, or even Winzip, open the decrypted file. DO NOT EXTRACT, just open it and pull the update.zip to your PC's desktop.
Copy that update.zip file to your Ext SD Card of the tablet. Don't be putting it in any folder, just copy it to the root of the card.
Now, you still ain't done.
With the tablet off. Press and hold Vol+ and then PWR. Hold them both untill you start to see text about installing blah blah blah, then release the buttons.
If it completes, and you can reboot into ICS, then you are good to go.
If something fails during installation, then decrypt the other update Rom file you downloaded, and do the same procedure. Usually one of the 2 or three should work for you.
Note these are for the a500, and not the a501.
One more thing. It's advisable you get your UID number before doing these things. You probably won't need it, but it's nice to have written down in case you need it in the future. Inf to get it is at;
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1624645
MD
Thanks! I am downloading a few of the FULL ICS roms:
*Acer_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1 : http://d-h.st/uAy
Acer_A500_1.031.00_PA_CUS1: http://d-h.st/idO
Acer_A500_1.041.00_WW_CUS1: http://d-h.st/Yt5
*Acer_AV041_1.054.00_WW_GEN1: http://www.theandroidcollective.org/...00_WW_GEN1.zip
*Acer_A500_7.014.16_041.206.01_COM_GEN1: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_bk...hVc1RVcHc/edit
The I downloaded the ones ending with Gen1. Once they are downloaded I will continue with the instructions. Thank you so much for your help! I will post how it goes later tonight.
Draight
I just decrypted both:
*Acer_AV041_1.054.00_WW_GEN1:
*Acer_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1
Both get get to the third bullet quickly and the bottom says DONE! It takes like 4 seconds. I don't think the Decryption key of $12 is working
[*] Opening file: Acer_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1.zip
[*] Decrypting using key $12
[*] Writing decrypted file: Acer_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1_decrypted.zip
I try to extract something from the decrypted file and it says the file was not downloaded properly and I should try redownload it...it says its not a proper archive
wahoo!
So that worked! I down loaded the file Acer_AV041_A500_1.033.00_PA_CUS1 and extracted the update. I palced the update on the sd card and booted with the power and sound volume pressed down. it went through the installation procedure and restarted twice before saying it was upgrading my aps and BOOM its got ICS and everything looks great. Thank you so much for your help and I hope that this paper trail is able to help someone in the future
My problem is that I'm on ICS and I'm rooted, but I just can't download a custom recovery. I've tried, and I haven't gotten anywhere
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
I'm the "tech mama" in a family of iphone/pod users. Our youngest (7 year old) is getting the first tablet in the household for Christmas, but due to finances an iPad was out of the question. Also, I liked the idea of having at least one android device to see what we're missing After some research I decided on the Galaxy Tab 4 7.0, as it seems to be the best in our price range (for light games, watching video and ebooks), and the Kids Mode is also extremely useful. Unfortunately, I realized too late that KitKat makes the 32GB card I got useless for installing apps, which is about 90% of his usage, and the internal memory filled up DANG fast when I started setting it up and getting it "ready to play".
After more research, I know that I need to root it, which has been an issue on the 7.0. I know that I want to use Odin, as it's the safest, and is un-rootable for warranty purposes. And the last thing I want to do is brick it before he even unwraps it. I found this set of instructions, which seems to be accepted as safe and effective (at least for our T230NU with 4.4.2). http://forum.xda-developers.com/tab-4/general/root-galaxy-tab-4-7-t230-t2835264 But this noob is still lost... I am a relatively tech savvy person, who can figure out any average user, and some above average things on a PC, but when it comes to mobile, I'm totally out of my realm. I flirted with the idea of jailbreaking a couple of times, but never bit the bullet. And when I read these simple instructions, I still have no clue how to flash, how NOT to boot to Android, and how to reboot to TWRP directly from download mode. Both tablets in general and all things Android are totally new to me and I literally can't afford to screw this up...
So I guess my questions are... is this really the best root for what we have? Is it safe and extremely unlikely to leave me with a brick? And does anyone have any, even more basic, foolproof (not that I'm a fool, lol), instructions to walk me through this before Christmas?
anjii,
hi,
the basics of odin flashing your samsung tab
download and install samsung usb drivers - http://d-h.st/jphS , click download now
download odin and extract to wherever - as per thread you cited
return to the thread you cited and follow instructions.
your device, button combos, force booting to...
odin mode,
use the three button combo to put you samsung tab into odin mode -
usually - hold down home,vol-down, and then power, wait for odin screen on tab to appear
let go of buttons, odin screen will tell you to what button to press to cancel or proceed
recovery mode,
home, vol-up, and power, when screen appears let go of power
to force reboot to recovery from odin as per the thread you cited, after your business with odin is done,
disconnect you tab while still in odin mode and use the three button combo for recovery boot.
m
Good luck with your Galaxy Tab 4 7" model. I glanced at what moonbutt74 posted and it looks like it should work like a charm on your tablet. Let us know how everything turns out on this.
Cindy
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8" model using Tapatalk
Anji, hey, there is an app on google play that is called sdcard fix that actually let's you read and write to your sdcard again. It only works thru root though from needing us permissions. I had to find it to be able to play my music from my external card and it worked like a charm as I could install apps to external also. Hope this helps to get your present fixed!
Sent from my SM-T230NU using XDA Premium HD app
Well, I put it off until now and have just been living with the internal memory, because I'm terrified to mess it up. I found another guide that filled in some of the basic gaps for me, that I didn't know how to get from one step to the next, and I successfully flashed it through Odin and got the green PASS to show up. Then I put it into recovery mode, but now I'm stuck at step 5 in the tutorial I linked to in my OP. The options I have onscreen are:
reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset (Obviously not what I want)
wipe cache partition (Also not what I want right now, but for future reference, is this a useful tool (ie. does it just clear your cache?) Or a potentially damaging one (ie. changing partitions)?)
apply update from cache
I don't think any of the update options make sense, as I'm not updating the firmware or anything. But I don't know what to do... these are the instructions I need help figuring out.
5.) reboot device to TWRP directly from download mode. TWRP will detect that tablet is not rooted and ask if you want to intalls root. Slide to Install
6.) find SuperSU installer, follow instruction to install.
Scratch that... I figured out something I did wrong and re-did with with Auto Reboot unchecked. Now I am in TWRP on my tablet, but this "TWRP will detect that tablet is not rooted and ask if you want to intalls root. Slide to Install" did not happen. I have 8 big buttons to choose from, and am thinking the INSTALL button in the upper left corner is the one I need to use, and from there I found TWRP in the folders, and my bar now says "/sdcard/TWRP" and at the top it says "Select Zip to Install" and I have Internal Storage selected (I assume installing it onto the external card wouldn't root the tablet). But I can't figure out how to continue.
Okay, I kept experimenting and figured it out. I am now rooted and have verified it with a root checker app... woohoo!!!! My last question is now, what's the best method/app for installing/moving apps off the internal memory and onto my card, AND is there a way to set things up so that new apps and media will automatically install to the external card.
anjii said:
Okay, I kept experimenting and figured it out. I am now rooted and have verified it with a root checker app... woohoo!!!! My last question is now, what's the best method/app for installing/moving apps off the internal memory and onto my card, AND is there a way to set things up so that new apps and media will automatically install to the external card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi! Well I dont not know really how to fully install apps onto sd cards. Umm what I do is when ever I download like a big gaming app, I use foldermount or link2sd to transfer the data files over which would make the app take up less space. (theres a video on youtube on how to use foldermount). Hope this helps!
on google play get SDCardfix.apk it allows kitkat to read/write to the external sd card as kk has a code that normally prevents this from happening. once you do that you can use link2sd or get romtoolbox and use its built in apps2sd setting to select it. now mind the fact this only works for apps you install AFTER you set it up and it may not work for all. as for that use either ti-backup or the romtoolbox as both allow you to backup apps and freeze/move/uninstall all apps. hope it sets you on a good path anjii!