[Q] Problem with partitions... - Acer Iconia A500

Hi, everyone...
I need your guide/help with my Iconia A500.
In January it "bricked" (stuck on Acer Logo), I sent it to Acer Support because I tried to flash it but failed every time (and I stucked in APX mode only), but I haven`t warranty, so they only said me "The motherboard is broken, your tablet never turn on again, the repair will cost you 500 dollars" (aprox.)... I didn't accepted the reparation because the tablet cost me 350 dollars (aprox.)... yeah, Acer logic.
When they returned me the tablet I tried to flash it again with APX Flash tool, after a few tries, I could flash with bundle 3 and installed an HC stock rom... the tablet works fine, until I tried to update to ICS (through the Android Update Menu), then my tablet start to update, the proccess finished, but never boot, it stucked on Acer Logo.
So I reflashed bundle 3 with APX Flash Tool and I did it again, the tablet turned on and worked very well... thinking it only was a random error or something like that, I tried to update to ICS again, but this time the update proccess repeat and repeat (the screen with the progress bar) like 3 times and then stuck again in Acer Logo... so I tried to reflash again... but I can't do anymore...
After a nigth of tries and research, I concluded that I messed up the table partition, when I tried to flash with APX mode it stuck in "Formatting 4 (or 6) partition, please wait" and manually with nvflash it shows the "0x120002" error.
What can I do?
I know it isn't a hardware fail, because the tablet worked fine although in Acer Support said me it never work again...
I really aprecciate any help you can give me... thanks!
(Sorry for the long post and my bad English).

It's a hardware fault!!! Sooner or later it will die 0x120002 error.
Install a new motherboard 50$ on ebay
Or just live with hc...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

dibb_nz said:
It's a hardware fault!!! Sooner or later it will die 0x120002 error.
Install a new motherboard 50$ on ebay
Or just live with hc...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can I "just live with HC"?
I tried and tried to reinstall it, but I couldn't even flash the bootloader...
What should I do to install HC again?

thats the thing with a h/w fault - with the acer its the memory chip, there is no fix except a new mobo - it may already be fried if you cannot flash anything.
I figured if you managed to go back to HC before you could do so again - seems not! Even if you did manage to get something on there, it will happen again and again until it dies. For the sake of $50 I know what I'd be doing...

pholuta efficiency
dibb_nz said:
thats the thing with a h/w fault - with the acer its the memory chip, there is no fix except a new mobo - it may already be fried if you cannot flash anything.
I figured if you managed to go back to HC before you could do so again - seems not! Even if you did manage to get something on there, it will happen again and again until it dies. For the sake of $50 I know what I'd be doing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad luck then, and RIP my A500... :/
Thanks for the answers...

Related

Fail flash, what to do?

Hello!
I was about to unroot and get back to stock with my A500 so I flashed a stock ROM via CWM to get a ota-update. Before i had a custom ICS ROM installed and now I installed a HC stock ROM. The problem is that i forgot to go through the wipe menu in CWM before the flash and now when I start up my tablet I first see the ACER logo as usual, then a android text-logo which the tablet is stuck at. I've waited 20 minutes and is still shows the same thing. The logo has an animation which i still can see. I've tried to restart the tablet and get into CWM again without succes.
I have read diffrent threads for several hours but I can't find my problem. What should I do? :crying:
what does the android text say?
Hi dibb_nz.
It is the bootanimation from what I gather (Video; http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n602/JdgM3NT4L/?action=view&current=AndroidBootanimation.mp4). I am trying to help someone get a tab up that is doing the same thing as well. The weird part is that recovery is good, bootloader passed (V8), wiped data/cache/system. Tried three ICS roms so far, and every one is stuck at the bootanimation. About to go bonkers trying to figure it out. The only thing that I can think of to try next is changing CWM from Thors to TWRP or something...
To Webspirit, your problem will most likely get fixed by using blackthund3rs APX Tool. Google it and then goto the forum where it is. There's plenty of support for getting that going and you shouldn't have any problems. If you do holler. Alot of us have had to use that tool and can help. I am hopeful that yours will be as simple as downloading and installing recovery back and flashing a nice rom.
Yeah i agree with the guy above me, your going to have to flash something from apx
Sent from my A501 using xda app-developers app
JdgM3NT4L said:
Hi dibb_nz.
It is the bootanimation from what I gather (Video; http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n602/JdgM3NT4L/?action=view&current=AndroidBootanimation.mp4). I am trying to help someone get a tab up that is doing the same thing as well. The weird part is that recovery is good, bootloader passed (V8), wiped data/cache/system. Tried three ICS roms so far, and every one is stuck at the bootanimation. About to go bonkers trying to figure it out. The only thing that I can think of to try next is changing CWM from Thors to TWRP or something...
To Webspirit, your problem will most likely get fixed by using blackthund3rs APX Tool. Google it and then goto the forum where it is. There's plenty of support for getting that going and you shouldn't have any problems. If you do holler. Alot of us have had to use that tool and can help. I am hopeful that yours will be as simple as downloading and installing recovery back and flashing a nice rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi J...ok thats cool re boot anim...i asked becoz like u i been trying to help a couple of others who can't use any of the flash tools or roll back to HC...i only just got myself fixed after being stuck in apx, no recovery, and boot screen saying in red text "reboot device" thought he may have had similar issue....
J...have u used nvflash or apxflash to roll back - theres a few folks getting stuck with it...its loading the HC apx driver which aint working with the ics bl so then yr tab gets stuck in apx!!!
I started a new thread hoping someone can help us all out be great to hear yr thoughts on this....its driving me up the wall
sorry didnt mean to hijack the thread

Stuck on HC Bootloader, won't update

*** SOLVED ***
Hey all.
So I've had my A500 for about a year now and it's been on several different ROMs and kernels over that time.
Most recently, I was running Flexreaper R12 (I believe) and ICS was running very smoothly.
At some point a few months ago (after a Flexreaper update), I was experiencing the Sleep Of Death and flashed an AntiSOD kernel to stop it (which it did). All this time, for some reason or another, I never updated the bootloader past the Honeycomb bootloader - and that's where I'm stuck right now.
I've tried using AfterOTA in every possible way to get anything else loaded.
I've tried Blackthund3r's A500 APX Flash Utility with at least 7 different APX packages, but no matter what I try, I'm still stuck with Flexreaper and the HC bootloader.
FWIW, both AfterOTA and the A500 APX Flash Util experience a problem with my A500 when it reboots. Most of the time I can get the device to be recognized by my OS (Windows 7 x64), but sometimes it doesn't and fails on driver install, even though I've installed the Google drivers direct from the SDK as well as Acer's drivers (USB_Acer_1.00.0524_A30H_A31H_A32H_A500_A501).
I'm pretty sure this is a driver issue, but I'm unclear on how to fix it. I've uninstalled ALL drivers related to the A500, rebooted and reinstalled them, I've uninstalled them and then pointed the installer directly to the unzipped USB driver folder (from above), but it seems that at some point the device fails to be seen, only rarely - but it's this that I think is the main problem... or I'm missing something.
So, any advice for someone that's STUCK on the old 3.01 bootloader?
Psychlone
Psychlone said:
Hey all.
So I've had my A500 for about a year now and it's been on several different ROMs and kernels over that time.
Most recently, I was running Flexreaper R12 (I believe) and ICS was running very smoothly.
At some point a few months ago (after a Flexreaper update), I was experiencing the Sleep Of Death and flashed an AntiSOD kernel to stop it (which it did). All this time, for some reason or another, I never updated the bootloader past the Honeycomb bootloader - and that's where I'm stuck right now.
I've tried using AfterOTA in every possible way to get anything else loaded.
I've tried Blackthund3r's A500 APX Flash Utility with at least 7 different APX packages, but no matter what I try, I'm still stuck with Flexreaper and the HC bootloader.
FWIW, both AfterOTA and the A500 APX Flash Util experience a problem with my A500 when it reboots. Most of the time I can get the device to be recognized by my OS (Windows 7 x64), but sometimes it doesn't and fails on driver install, even though I've installed the Google drivers direct from the SDK as well as Acer's drivers (USB_Acer_1.00.0524_A30H_A31H_A32H_A500_A501).
I'm pretty sure this is a driver issue, but I'm unclear on how to fix it. I've uninstalled ALL drivers related to the A500, rebooted and reinstalled them, I've uninstalled them and then pointed the installer directly to the unzipped USB driver folder (from above), but it seems that at some point the device fails to be seen, only rarely - but it's this that I think is the main problem... or I'm missing something.
So, any advice for someone that's STUCK on the old 3.01 bootloader?
Psychlone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was stuck to so i downgraded got the ics bootloader from the ota and then used afterOTA to get the unlocked version and it worked
gears177 said:
i was stuck to so i downgraded got the ics bootloader from the ota and then used afterOTA to get the unlocked version and it worked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So how did you downgrade? I've done everything I can think of - at least 6 times over...
That was the plan after I figured that downgrading back to stock and then going up from there was the only way, but I can't even go back to Honeycomb 3.2 or even 3.1.
Check this out - I even made sure to make a CWM backup of my original setup before I upgraded to 3.2 back almost a year ago...but I can't get it to restore. In fact, I made several different backups and can't get ANY of them to restore.
So, in short, what did you do to go backwards?
Psychlone
EDIT: when I try to get into APX or Bootloader, it always ends up in Thor 1.7 and my computer doesn't recognize the device with a device driver install fail for MTP USB Device, even though I've installed the Acer Recovery drivers and the Google SDK drivers too... wtH?
Psychlone said:
So how did you downgrade? I've done everything I can think of - at least 6 times over...
That was the plan after I figured that downgrading back to stock and then going up from there was the only way, but I can't even go back to Honeycomb 3.2 or even 3.1.
Check this out - I even made sure to make a CWM backup of my original setup before I upgraded to 3.2 back almost a year ago...but I can't get it to restore. In fact, I made several different backups and can't get ANY of them to restore.
So, in short, what did you do to go backwards?
Psychlone
EDIT: when I try to get into APX or Bootloader, it always ends up in Thor 1.7 and my computer doesn't recognize the device with a device driver install fail for MTP USB Device, even though I've installed the Acer Recovery drivers and the Google SDK drivers too... wtH?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if your on the honeycomb bootloader simply flash a honeycomb rom and kernel no need to use afterOTA or anything else if i remember correctly
Psychlone said:
So how did you downgrade? I've done everything I can think of - at least 6 times over...
That was the plan after I figured that downgrading back to stock and then going up from there was the only way, but I can't even go back to Honeycomb 3.2 or even 3.1.
Check this out - I even made sure to make a CWM backup of my original setup before I upgraded to 3.2 back almost a year ago...but I can't get it to restore. In fact, I made several different backups and can't get ANY of them to restore.
So, in short, what did you do to go backwards?
Psychlone
EDIT: when I try to get into APX or Bootloader, it always ends up in Thor 1.7 and my computer doesn't recognize the device with a device driver install fail for MTP USB Device, even though I've installed the Acer Recovery drivers and the Google SDK drivers too... wtH?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you got a couple of choices....
with the HC Bootloader and ics rom...
full wipe and flash an HC rom or
nandroid restore an HC backup or
flash an update.zip
as a last resort - a complete downgrade/rollback use timmydeansv4 EUU - just be sure to follow the instructions in jazzyjames post on how to roll back - iu dont wanna get it wrong and end up stuck in apx mode. If it doesnt work first time....STOP...disconnect yr data cable and reboot tab and pc, use a different USB port and try it again....
Some folks have had issues with win64 so if you are able to then try on a different pc
sometimes a restore wont work unless you restore it with the recovery you used to back up with in the first place which may have been cwm 1.3.4 in your case....maybe???
as far as the MTP driver goes...that can be a pain...i had the same trouble a few days ago on ICS...took ages to get installed....and i still dont know why it did....or why it wouldnt....very frustrating!!!
dibb_nz said:
you got a couple of choices....
with the HC Bootloader and ics rom...
full wipe and flash an HC rom or
nandroid restore an HC backup or
flash an update.zip
as a last resort - a complete downgrade/rollback use timmydeansv4 EUU - just be sure to follow the instructions in jazzyjames post on how to roll back - iu dont wanna get it wrong and end up stuck in apx mode. If it doesnt work first time....STOP...disconnect yr data cable and reboot tab and pc, use a different USB port and try it again....
Some folks have had issues with win64 so if you are able to then try on a different pc
sometimes a restore wont work unless you restore it with the recovery you used to back up with in the first place which may have been cwm 1.3.4 in your case....maybe???
as far as the MTP driver goes...that can be a pain...i had the same trouble a few days ago on ICS...took ages to get installed....and i still dont know why it did....or why it wouldnt....very frustrating!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
he's not on the ics bootloader though so couldn't he just flash the 3.01 unstable and get the OTA? or go back to a stock rom in general?
gears177 said:
he's not on the ics bootloader though so couldn't he just flash the 3.01 unstable and get the OTA? or go back to a stock rom in general?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh 2nd line of my post hc bootloader ics rom, and u correct use 3.01 buggy update,zip or stock update.zip I shoulda been clearer - thanks gears
Thanks guys, I really do appreciate the help, but I'm still having serious issues reverting back to HC.
I feel like an idiot, but I have to say that even though it seems so, I'm actually the owner of a computer repair business, have 28 years experience in PC/Mac repair, and have rooted and modded every android device I've owned (including some for friends as well) - all the way back to the very beginning with the D1. This, however, has thrown me for a loop. NOTHING with this A500 has been this complicated! Everything up to this point has literally been stupid-proof and I've actually been quite impressed at just how easy modding is on the A500...
Anyway...
Here's what's going on and what I've tried today:
I've tried unsuccessfully several times to get ANYTHING working on my laptop, but to no avail. Same story as last night, no progress whatsoever - however, I did note that with CWM 134, I was able to restore an earlier version of ICS 4.03 (Flexreaper R10 I believe) - but it wasn't easy... I ended up restoring the main image and then using parts and pieces (using Advanced Restore) from other saves to finally even get it to boot.
This clearly wasn't getting me anywhere, so I moved the entire operation to another computer - my main rig (also a Win7 x64 - in fact, I don't own a computer that's not Win7 x64)
Now I've got USB driver issues! I can't even install the standard USB drivers from Acer's website because the installer errors out saying that there's no version of Acer Iconia 3G Driver Install is installed. wtF? That's what I'm TRYING to do!
I did get a different USB driver installed - the USB Driver_Acer_1.06.1500_A30H_A500, but nothing wants to use it and Blackthund3r's APX Flash Util won't see it, AfterOTA won't use it, and it's basically useless anyway. AND I can't install the Acer_1.00.0524_A30H_A31H_A32H_A500_A501 drivers no matter if I've got any others installed or not.
In my device mangler, there is no device with an exclamation, and in fact, sees my Acer Iconia A500 under USB Serial Bus Controllers as "Acer Picasso USB Boot-Recovery Driver", only when it's plugged in. NO other instance shows up at all.
I'm actually at the point of trying to follow through with the EUU (dibb_nz's "last resort"), but vache's website is down and I can't download anything for it. In fact, there's nothing from that guide that has a valid link...
(http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1632392)
So now where do I go? I understand IT really well, so you don't need to talk to me like a complete noob, but dang if I can't figure this one out!
If I can get valid links to all the downloads from the link above, I'd be more than happy to give it a go and see if that works, but I can't piece together all those things from random places. If either of you (or anyone else for that matter) has valid links for everything needed to follow the EUU guide, I'd be very grateful!
Any other advice would certainly be appreciated as well! I don't have to use either of these computers, but as mentioned, ALL of my computers have Windows 7 x64 on them. I suppose I could try one of my customer's computers for all this, but that's not morally right and probably something that I would prefer not to explore.
I feel as if I could get the USB drivers installed properly on EITHER machine, that I'd likely be in good shape. I think that's what my problem actually is on the laptop as well, even though they're all installed and shows as installed until I boot into any recovery - then I get the MTP Device Driver Fail. There's likely other Acer driver issues there though, since Blackthund3r's utils don't follow through for anything... everything just hangs. AfterOTA just hangs.
Advice please?
And thanks again for your knowledge!
Psychlone
Yeh I hear u m8, its taken me all nite and day to revert back to HC and then upgrade again....dam pesky Picasso drivers.....
why not do as gears suggested....boot to cwm do all the wipes and formatsand flash an HC rom, ezterrys has a rooted one...no drivers needed . or am I missing something?
D/l link for timmydeans euu in my cpuid thread
dibb_nz said:
Yeh I hear u m8, its taken me all nite and day to revert back to HC and then upgrade again....dam pesky Picasso drivers.....
why not do as gears suggested....boot to cwm do all the wipes and formatsand flash an HC rom, ezterrys has a rooted one...no drivers needed . or am I missing something?
D/l link for timmydeans euu in my cpuid thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I would but no matter what image I put on my SD or even internal SD, and no matter what recovery I use, there's always some type of fail - usually an MD5 fail, or just a fail without any error code at all (little android on his back with the red exclamation, but no code)
I'm clearly missing SOMETHING.
I'm about to try the EUU right now unless there's some other advice...
EDIT::
OK, so I'm really in bad shape here - now the EUU (PBJ20upgrade) comes back with the error:
Please download the newer image for the upgrade.
Current image version: Acer_AV041_A500_1,054.Acer_AV041_A500
New image version: Acer_A500_1.016.05_Com_GEN1
What now????
Psychlone said:
Well, I would but no matter what image I put on my SD or even internal SD, and no matter what recovery I use, there's always some type of fail - usually an MD5 fail, or just a fail without any error code at all (little android on his back with the red exclamation, but no code)
I'm clearly missing SOMETHING.
I'm about to try the EUU right now unless there's some other advice...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh hell now i'm confused, lol.....the little android dude is the acer stock recovery....i thought you had thors 1.7...oh well, nvm
Hopefully the EUU will install the right drivers for you....just be sure NOT to connect your data cable until u see the "cannot detect yr iconia tab" screen and it will give u instructions on how to get into apx mode...oh just before that window the EUU will try and scan your system image it will take a good 5 mins b4 it pops up the window to go into apx don't panic just let it do its thing....good luck m8!!!!
Oh and this will completely wipe yr system and user data.....
dibb_nz said:
oh hell now i'm confused, lol.....the little android dude is the acer stock recovery....i thought you had thors 1.7...oh well, nvm
Hopefully the EUU will install the right drivers for you....just be sure NOT to connect your data cable until u see the "cannot detect yr iconia tab" screen and it will give u instructions on how to get into apx mode...oh just before that window the EUU will try and scan your system image it will take a good 5 mins b4 it pops up the window to go into apx don't panic just let it do its thing....good luck m8!!!!
Oh and this will completely wipe yr system and user data.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of the WEIRDEST stuff I've ever experienced - EVER.
Oh, the little dead android is when I'm using the stock recovery - I get different errors in TWRP and all the CWM Thor's that I've tried...(134, 71 and 712)
OK, so now PBJ20upgrade won't let me advance because apparently my CPUID isn't correct... it's the ICS version that's 13 characters long instead of 15, and my dmesg doesn't even contain the word "androidboot" at all (it does, however, contain a crapload of errors.)
What's going on?
OK, I'm an idiot. I really need help. I'm just glad that I'm 40 and don't lose my cool anymore, otherwise, I'd be freaking out about now.
Psychlone said:
Some of the WEIRDEST stuff I've ever experienced - EVER.
Oh, the little dead android is when I'm using the stock recovery - I get different errors in TWRP and all the CWM Thor's that I've tried...(134, 71 and 712)
OK, so now PBJ20upgrade won't let me advance because apparently my CPUID isn't correct... it's the ICS version that's 13 characters long instead of 15, and my dmesg doesn't even contain the word "androidboot" at all (it does, however, contain a crapload of errors.)
What's going on?
OK, I'm an idiot. I really need help. I'm just glad that I'm 40 and don't lose my cool anymore, otherwise, I'd be freaking out about now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cpuid = 15/16 chars go to one of yr cwm nandroid backups theres a uid.txt file in the folder all the other methods rely on adb??? if not try usbdeview thats in the thread too
THANK YOU!
dibb_nz said:
cpuid = 15/16 chars go to one of yr cwm nandroid backups theres a uid.txt file in the folder all the other methods rely on adb??? if not try usbdeview thats in the thread too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much dibb_nz... I've currently got PBJ20upgrade doing *something* (says it's going to take 10 minutes)
Thing is, I didn't get to this point by any conventional means - I followed the destructions several times over but ended up having a newer image than PBJ wanted, or the wrong CPUID.
I finally got this far by unplugging the tablet while PBJ was running, waiting for it's long error and instructions on how to get into APX (which I've clearly done at least a couple dozen times by now) and for some reason when I plugged it in, it shot forward.
We'll see how this goes - I'll keep you posted. I do VERY MUCH appreciate the help. I just might still need it, but hopefully not.
EDIT: Just rebooted and saw a "PASS" on the screen, followed by the "android" loading screen.
EDIT 2: It rebooted all the way in, I signed in (did the entire sign in process) and I'm BACK TO STOCK!!!!
Ok, so thank you THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the help - just being a sounding board is all I need sometimes.
Last questions to get me set up for the future:
What recovery should I create a restore with?
Then after creating a restore, should I use Blackthund3r's utility to flash an unlocked ICS bootloader, and if so, which package should I use to be able to test JB but still be able to go backwards to an ICS (preferably CM9)?
Anything else that I might need to know? (keep in mind that I've read on the order of 30 different threads pertaining to this adventure since it began a couple days ago, but I really appreciate the advice you've given and clearly you know what's up with the A500 - AND, it's hard to disseminate info from all the random threads everywhere. Speaking of which, why is it that there can't be a single thread with most everything that an A500 owner would need? Seriously!!)
Thanks again,
Psychlone
With what I went thru use Civs nvflash and rom and I'd stick with third cement until your safely patched and on ics.do all the wipes and follow instructions to the letter ...I'll check back in shortly
EDIT wtf "third cement" dang auto correct ... should read thors recovery
Wow - what a journey.
I'm now running CM10 and loving it.
I really can't believe the process that I went through over the last couple days - I've rooted and modded two dozen devices in the last year alone, and have been playing with root and modded ROMs since the very beginning, and nothing comes close to what I just did.
I actually have to blame not having everything I need in one place. Mis en place means to have everything you need before you even start - and that used to work back in the day, and still does to an extent for some devices, but anymore, the download links and information are found scattered across many different websites and forums and threads - so much so that it's apparent that this is a product of Google's lack of grip on their hardware and OS.
I do, however, see that you and a couple others have done a KILLER job of getting most everything together in one place to make it easier for those that are searching. I really appreciated your threads that I've read - the way you've written your guides is very intuitive and easy to follow, even if they didn't initially work for me.
Anyway, thanks again. I'm not going backwards now, but if I ever need to for some reason, at least I'm a bit familiar with the "worst-case scenario"!!
Take care man,
Psychlone
excellent news glad it worked for ya
Psychlone said:
Thanks so much dibb_nz... I've currently got PBJ20upgrade doing *something* (says it's going to take 10 minutes)
Thing is, I didn't get to this point by any conventional means - I followed the destructions several times over but ended up having a newer image than PBJ wanted, or the wrong CPUID.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if its referring to newer image then the data cable is connected!
and it will spit this error at you....
I finally got this far by unplugging the tablet while PBJ was running, waiting for it's long error and instructions on how to get into APX (which I've clearly done at least a couple dozen times by now) and for some reason when I plugged it in, it shot forward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup now you're cookin
We'll see how this goes - I'll keep you posted. I do VERY MUCH appreciate the help. I just might still need it, but hopefully not.
EDIT: Just rebooted and saw a "PASS" on the screen, followed by the "android" loading screen.
EDIT 2: It rebooted all the way in, I signed in (did the entire sign in process) and I'm BACK TO STOCK!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh yeahhhhh!!!!
Ok, so thank you THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the help - just being a sounding board is all I need sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nps glad to be of assistance -
Last questions to get me set up for the future:
What recovery should I create a restore with?
Then after creating a restore, should I use Blackthund3r's utility to flash an unlocked ICS bootloader, and if so, which package should I use to be able to test JB but still be able to go backwards to an ICS (preferably CM9)?
Anything else that I might need to know? (keep in mind that I've read on the order of 30 different threads pertaining to this adventure since it began a couple days ago, but I really appreciate the advice you've given and clearly you know what's up with the A500 - AND, it's hard to disseminate info from all the random threads everywhere. Speaking of which, why is it that there can't be a single thread with most everything that an A500 owner would need? Seriously!!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
becoz then you'd have thousands of posts to look thru and no-one would bother reading it all....i try to keep my cpuid thread updated with things 'unbricking' but its too hard to put 'everything' in one post unfortunately
---------- Post added at 07:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------
Psychlone said:
Wow - what a journey.
I'm now running CM10 and loving it.
I really can't believe the process that I went through over the last couple days - I've rooted and modded two dozen devices in the last year alone, and have been playing with root and modded ROMs since the very beginning, and nothing comes close to what I just did.
I actually have to blame not having everything I need in one place. Mis en place means to have everything you need before you even start - and that used to work back in the day, and still does to an extent for some devices, but anymore, the download links and information are found scattered across many different websites and forums and threads - so much so that it's apparent that this is a product of Google's lack of grip on their hardware and OS.
I do, however, see that you and a couple others have done a KILLER job of getting most everything together in one place to make it easier for those that are searching. I really appreciated your threads that I've read - the way you've written your guides is very intuitive and easy to follow, even if they didn't initially work for me.
Anyway, thanks again. I'm not going backwards now, but if I ever need to for some reason, at least I'm a bit familiar with the "worst-case scenario"!!
Take care man,
Psychlone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hell, i havent got round to cm10 yet!! i'm trying to get there but i have too much fun helpin peeps get to grips with flashing BL's...have to really thank the devs they did an awesome job unlocking ICS so everyone can enjoy the custom ICS/JB/CM roms- they've extended the life of our little iconia an extra half year or so if not longer.....imagine if we had to put up with stock 'anything' lol, i'd have traded it in long ago!!
was about to suggest the apxflash bundles as there are alot more options as far as recovery's go but you're all sussed now so thats fantastic....
can u add "SOLVED" to the title in case someone else is looking for help. thanks m8:good:
dibb_nz said:
excellent news glad it worked for ya
hell, i havent got round to cm10 yet!! i'm trying to get there but i have too much fun helpin peeps get to grips with flashing BL's...have to really thank the devs they did an awesome job unlocking ICS so everyone can enjoy the custom ICS/JB/CM roms- they've extended the life of our little iconia an extra half year or so if not longer.....imagine if we had to put up with stock 'anything' lol, i'd have traded it in long ago!!
was about to suggest the apxflash bundles as there are alot more options as far as recovery's go but you're all sussed now so thats fantastic....
can u add "SOLVED" to the title in case someone else is looking for help. thanks m8:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM10 is SLICK. Think CM9 on graphics steroids and you're close!
I appreciate your position more than most. I get a lot of enjoyment out of helping others as well - I've written overclocking guides for AMD systems that was written years ago, revised a couple/three years ago and is still used to this day, even though I've long since moved over to Intel's "dark side". I also participate pretty deeply in helping others at a couple PC hardware forums pretty much daily, even though that's my actual job - I own 2 computer repair businesses in my hometown, and with well over 20,000 computers to fix, I'm ALWAYS busy but still always find time to help others in need.
As for adding ***SOLVED*** to the title, I'd love to...but it won't let me. Perhaps it's because I don't have a high enough post count, or because it's reserved for Mods, but I can't do it.
Thanks for everything once again - it's quite refreshing to be on the receiving end!
Psychlone

[Q] Acer A500 bricked. Is it fixable?

So, my neighbor bought an Acer A500 a few months back. He ended up not liking it so I bought it off of him. My tablet and I got really close and I fell in love. I started neglecting my girlfriend and all that. We had a beautiful relationship; my tablet and me. But, a couple days ago I was playing N.O.V.A 3 and it froze. I thought nothing of it and just powered it down. To my dismay, it froze at the Acer screen. I restarted it again and got the same thing. My life was over. My heart felt like it was ripped from my chest... I shed a manly tear.
I've tried vol- and power, vol+ and power, the reset button, D/Ling several different update.zip files and copying them to my SD. I've spent the last couple days reading and trying everything. All I get is the Droid guy with the blue thing swirling in his chest and then him laying on the ground with a red triangle and an exclamation point.
I'm told it's most likely not a hardware issue as things things are almost bullet-proof. But, I am pretty good at breaking things
Am I screwed or does someone have a miracle they can share. My gaming life depends on it.
-Dennis.
DennisPimps said:
So, my neighbor bought an Acer A500 a few months back. He ended up not liking it so I bought it off of him. My tablet and I got really close and I fell in love. I started neglecting my girlfriend and all that. We had a beautiful relationship; my tablet and me. But, a couple days ago I was playing N.O.V.A 3 and it froze. I thought nothing of it and just powered it down. To my dismay, it froze at the Acer screen. I restarted it again and got the same thing. My life was over. My heart felt like it was ripped from my chest... I shed a manly tear.
I've tried vol- and power, vol+ and power, the reset button, D/Ling several different update.zip files and copying them to my SD. I've spent the last couple days reading and trying everything. All I get is the Droid guy with the blue thing swirling in his chest and then him laying on the ground with a red triangle and an exclamation point.
I'm told it's most likely not a hardware issue as things things are almost bullet-proof. But, I am pretty good at breaking things
Am I screwed or does someone have a miracle they can share. My gaming life depends on it.
-Dennis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know what you were running on this thing? Was it stock Honeycomb, scock ICS, or was it running a custom ROM? (If so which one?)
Was it ever hooked up to your PC? (This would help with retrieving CPUID, if it was.) Do you know your CPUID? (Or SBK?)
You should at the least know the answers to these questions before you attempt any type of repair, as it is almost certainly salvageable, but you will almost certainly need your CPUID.
Danny2 said:
Do you know what you were running on this thing? Was it stock Honeycomb, scock ICS, or was it running a custom ROM? (If so which one?)
Was it ever hooked up to your PC? (This would help with retrieving CPUID, if it was.) Do you know your CPUID? (Or SBK?)
You should at the least know the answers to these questions before you attempt any type of repair, as it is almost certainly salvageable, but you will almost certainly need your CPUID.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was running 4.0.1 ICS. I do have my cpuid and SBK. I tried flashing a new rom using blackthund3rs flash tool but it got to about 25% and stopped. I keep losing sync with my PCs, though.
DennisPimps said:
I was running 4.0.1 ICS. I do have my cpuid and SBK. I tried flashing a new rom using blackthund3rs flash tool but it got to about 25% and stopped. I keep losing sync with my PCs, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, do you want to go back to stock, or to a custom ROM? If you wanna go stock, the easiest way would be load a 3.01 EUU, & upgrade on the play market to 4.03. That will prove it isn't a hardware issue. Alternatively, you could root, load a recovery, a bootloader, & flash a new ROM.
Danny2 said:
So, do you want to go back to stock, or to a custom ROM? If you wanna go stock, the easiest way would be load a 3.01 EUU, & upgrade on the play market to 4.03. That will prove it isn't a hardware issue. Alternatively, you could root, load a recovery, a bootloader, & flash a new ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, I really don't care as long as I can getting it working again. But I would rather root it.
I think I can get it to work but neither one of my computers will recognize it. It shows up in APX and says something about recovery driver mode when I plug it into the laptop with Vista automatically downloads a driver and installs it again. I've tried turning off automatic driver install but that doesn't work for some reason. The one with XP Pro just shows up APX device but the APX Flash Tool by blackthund3r says it can't find it. I've downloaded the Acer Iconia 500 drivers and installed them but that doesn't work either. I'm at a loss.
Any tips would be great. I think I have a better chance using my laptop with XP, though. I also need to let you know that I truly do appreciate you trying to help. If you're ever in Columbus Ohio, let me know and I'll buy you a beer. lol
DennisPimps said:
To be honest, I really don't care as long as I can getting it working again. But I would rather root it.
I think I can get it to work but neither one of my computers will recognize it. It shows up in APX and says something about recovery driver mode when I plug it into the laptop with Vista automatically downloads a driver and installs it again. I've tried turning off automatic driver install but that doesn't work for some reason. The one with XP Pro just shows up APX device but the APX Flash Tool by blackthund3r says it can't find it. I've downloaded the Acer Iconia 500 drivers and installed them but that doesn't work either. I'm at a loss.
Any tips would be great. I think I have a better chance using my laptop with XP, though. I also need to let you know that I truly do appreciate you trying to help. If you're ever in Columbus Ohio, let me know and I'll buy you a beer. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry,I thought I responded to this yesterday, but just now noticed I didn't.
Fire it up in APX mode, and install the 3.01 EUU from the development section, (Stock ROM listing) then simply follow the upgrade path to 4.03, then root. If you drivers are installed correctly, everything will work fine, if not, nothing will happen. If it does start to load the stock ROM, then fails with a write error after it attempts to write the bootsector, you may need to run Badsector, or babsector, depending where you look. Search the recent posts on this, you will find lots of stuff.
Danny2 said:
Sorry,I thought I responded to this yesterday, but just now noticed I didn't.
Fire it up in APX mode, and install the 3.01 EUU from the development section, (Stock ROM listing) then simply follow the upgrade path to 4.03, then root. If you drivers are installed correctly, everything will work fine, if not, nothing will happen. If it does start to load the stock ROM, then fails with a write error after it attempts to write the bootsector, you may need to run Badsector, or babsector, depending where you look. Search the recent posts on this, you will find lots of stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would I go about installing the EUU? I have nvflash and blackthund3r's flashing tools. But I can't seem to get my PC and tablet to connect. When I plug it into my PC without being in APX mode, it just says MTP Device. When I plug it in while in APX mode it does say something about Picasso Recovery Driver.
If you could explain things to me like I'm aN idiot, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Dennis
DennisPimps said:
How would I go about installing the EUU? I have nvflash and blackthund3r's flashing tools. But I can't seem to get my PC and tablet to connect. When I plug it into my PC without being in APX mode, it just says MTP Device. When I plug it in while in APX mode it does say something about Picasso Recovery Driver.
If you could explain things to me like I'm aN idiot, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Dennis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for late response, I watched for reply from yourself, but you didn't answer for 10 days, I lost track. Still need help?
Danny2 said:
Sorry for late response, I watched for reply from yourself, but you didn't answer for 10 days, I lost track. Still need help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, it's still bricked. I did finally get the flash tool to recognize it but it kept hanging up. I also tried Timmy Dean's EUU tool and that hangs up too. I did a little more research and found that I may have a faulty emmc. I ran babsector and got 'fatal error code 9 cannot format partition BCT.' I found a thread here that discusses how to write around the bad sectors using Linux. I'm going to give that a go... I've always wanted to learn Linux. Hey, I can't screw it up anymore than it already is, right? Again, thanks for your time and effort in trying to help.
Cheers,
Dennis
Hey, before you try that, try different USB cables and ports (if u haven't already)
I had a similar problem with my phone not maintaining stable USB link to PC... after 4 days I tried a diff USB cable and boom, snap, working.
Just a thought.....
Sent from my A500 using xda app-developers app
ericpeacock79 said:
Hey, before you try that, try different USB cables and ports (if u haven't already)
I had a similar problem with my phone not maintaining stable USB link to PC... after 4 days I tried a diff USB cable and boom, snap, working.
Just a thought.....
Sent from my A500 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give that a go, m8.
Thanks!
-Dennis
DennisPimps said:
I'll give that a go, m8.
Thanks!
-Dennis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wondering if you ever figured out the errors you were getting during flashing? Currently having the same issues when using babsector.

A501 with ICS is bricked - Need basic advice.

Before I start, I'll say that I have searched extensively about bricked A50x tablets and possible recover paths etc. There is so much information out there that I need to weed out the noise by asking a few basic questions.
Scenario: The A501 was running stock OTA ICS and has been for a while. When I got home yesterday, it was powered off but on charge. I tried restarting it and it just stopped at the "android" logo, having passed the ACER logo. Retried a number of times but the same thing each time. Tried a "pin reset" on it, just in case it changed anything. It did, by making it stall at the ACER logo instead. I have done the basics of clearing userdata/cache etc but this doesn't help. It does attempt to enter recovery mode but obviously fails as I don't have a valid ICS recovery "update.zip" file. It will not use an A501 HC 3.2.1 image but I seem to remember that you can't "go back" once you have gone up to ICS. My gut feeling is that I have had an eMMC failure and that the tablet is probably "toast".
a) Has anyone got a FULL A501 ICS rom image that I can try in stock recovery?
b) Is there any point in trying a FULL A500 ICS rom image? If so, as I need the 3G and GPS, can I "convert" from A500 to A501 later?
c) If APX mode is the only recovery method, is there an A501 specific procedure, especially if I have to start considering bad eMMC recovery?
d) Given the age of the tablet and the fact that it's over a year old, so out of warranty, should I even bother as it may be on it's way out permanently?
Regards and thanks for helpful responses.
Z.
@zardoz99.... I apologise in advance for this reply not being really helpful. I think you should try and reach "MoscowDesire" - in my opinion he is one of the most knowledgeable gurus of the A501. You could hold on to this thread and hope he sees it or you could PM him.
Hmm.. Tried to do an APX reload using both an A501 and an A500 EUU but in both cases it just stops at about 15%. No errors or warnings given.
From looking at other posts that have documented the same symptom, it seems that the only solution has been a replacement motherboard by Acer.
As this is one of the 64GB units, that's not going to be cheap, so I am calling this one "deceased". My new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 will be arriving today to replace it.
Thanks for reading...
Z.

[Q] Unbricked & rooted 3.0.1 - can't update to ICS or JB.

Ok here goes. Sorry for the long post but I want to give as much info as possible so I don't leave any of you in the dark about anything. Been working on / researching this for four days now to no avail.
My A500 which was running ICS 4.0.2 just randomly bricked itself one night, so I downloaded EUUs_SBK_Acer_A500_1.016.05_COM_GEN1 from here. It worked, but I really don't want to stay on HC 3.0.1 so I decided to go through the updates. It updated great, HC 3.1...3.2...then when the ICS update came along BAM it bricked itself again (stuck on Acer loading screen)
So, I decided I might as well root it, since I've always wanted to. Ran EUUS again to reset to HC 3.0.1 then ran gingerbreak. Installed Acer Recovery Installer and used Thor's recovery 1.7 I believe it was. Booted into recovery and tried to install update.zip from the STOCK Acer_A500_7.014.16_041.206.01_COM_GEN1.zip I downloaded and BAM bricked again...my tablet doesn't like ICS now all of a sudden? Strange...
I then downloaded NVFLASH from here and installed skrilax's V8 bootloader w/recovery. Booted into recovery great, wiped the partitions etc. and tried to install the same ICS update.zip. BRICKED again!!!! Back to the drawing board...run EUUS...3.0.1 again...
So after days of working on this I decided maybe my Tab hates ICS now for some reason unbeknownst to me. Not very rational (lol) but anyway. I saw the JB ROM that's been put up http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239476&highlight=rom+ics and figured heck, why not, maybe the ICS ROM I have is corrupt. So I used NVFLASH, Skrilax's V8, and flashed the ROM...bricked again
I think the only thing I haven't tried is
I think I'm going to go crazy now.
Please help, I'm at wit's end.
More info:
I have acquired mmcblk0 (renamed to mmcblk0_start), my CPUID, and my SBK
I enable USB Debugging and Unknown Sources every time.
I have Windows 7, but also have UBUNTU installed on a Virtual Machine if the need arises.
Oh and I've booted into fastboot mode and run Babsector as well which did not help.
Hope I didn't miss anything. My brain is tired from working on this for so many days. I really want my A500 back! Either JB or ICS & rooted if possible!!!
Pareeeee said:
Ok here goes. Sorry for the long post but I want to give as much info as possible so I don't leave any of you in the dark about anything. Been working on / researching this for four days now to no avail.
My A500 which was running ICS 4.0.2 just randomly bricked itself one night, so I downloaded EUUs_SBK_Acer_A500_1.016.05_COM_GEN1 from here. It worked, but I really don't want to stay on HC 3.0.1 so I decided to go through the updates. It updated great, HC 3.1...3.2...then when the ICS update came along BAM it bricked itself again (stuck on Acer loading screen)
So, I decided I might as well root it, since I've always wanted to. Ran EUUS again to reset to HC 3.0.1 then ran gingerbreak. Installed Acer Recovery Installer and used Thor's recovery 1.7 I believe it was. Booted into recovery and tried to install update.zip from the STOCK Acer_A500_7.014.16_041.206.01_COM_GEN1.zip I downloaded and BAM bricked again...my tablet doesn't like ICS now all of a sudden? Strange...
I then downloaded NVFLASH from here and installed skrilax's V8 bootloader w/recovery. Booted into recovery great, wiped the partitions etc. and tried to install the same ICS update.zip. BRICKED again!!!! Back to the drawing board...run EUUS...3.0.1 again...
So after days of working on this I decided maybe my Tab hates ICS now for some reason unbeknownst to me. Not very rational (lol) but anyway. I saw the JB ROM that's been put up http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239476&highlight=rom+ics and figured heck, why not, maybe the ICS ROM I have is corrupt. So I used NVFLASH, Skrilax's V8, and flashed the ROM...bricked again
I think the only thing I haven't tried is
I think I'm going to go crazy now.
Please help, I'm at wit's end.
More info:
I have acquired mmcblk0 (renamed to mmcblk0_start), my CPUID, and my SBK
I enable USB Debugging and Unknown Sources every time.
I have Windows 7, but also have UBUNTU installed on a Virtual Machine if the need arises.
Oh and I've booted into fastboot mode and run Babsector as well which did not help.
Hope I didn't miss anything. My brain is tired from working on this for so many days. I really want my A500 back! Either JB or ICS & rooted if possible!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow I thought I was the only one who had this issue. My A501 was working fine on Evil-A V2 (4.1.2) for many months and decided one night to crash and now stuck on V8 boot screen. Ive tried everything however I can get it to boot up on a 3.2 update.zip file.
The only recoveries I can get to work are TWRP 2.5.0.0 (on secboot)
Now I cant get it to flash anything other than 3.2.
It is formatted with ext4 partitions
whenever I try to flash it reboots to ACER download screen but the flashers wont get any further than that. (loads Acer boot recovery driver ok)
Any ideas?
Nice to know I'm not the only one. I hope we get some answers!!
*sigh* My situation has gotten worse. Now TDv4/EUUS won't roll back my device and my tab won't go past the recovery bootscreen (Just says "TEAMWIN" on the screen) That is the ONLY recovery that NVFLASH will flash to my device now, for some reason none of the other recoveries will go back onto it.
My stress level has gone up 800% from working on this. I don't have the money to buy a new tab. I really need to get this one working again.
:crying:
Pareeeee said:
Nice to know I'm not the only one. I hope we get some answers!!
*sigh* My situation has gotten worse. Now TDv4/EUUS won't roll back my device and my tab won't go past the recovery bootscreen (Just says "TEAMWIN" on the screen) That is the ONLY recovery that NVFLASH will flash to my device now, for some reason none of the other recoveries will go back onto it.
My stress level has gone up 800% from working on this. I don't have the money to buy a new tab. I really need to get this one working again.
:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried lightspeed v8 bootloader and rom? that's the only thing that worked for me. then I could updatw to twrp and jb.
Sent from here
LPMatt said:
have you tried lightspeed v8 bootloader and rom? that's the only thing that worked for me. then I could updatw to twrp and jb.
Sent from here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think my MB is failing/has failed. Either that or something I flashed to it was badly corrupted.
Now my tab has stuck itself in apx mode, bootloader won't load, recovery won't load, every program I have (nvflash, TDv4, EUUs, Babsector, etc) fails. Babsector gives me the fatal error "command 12 NvError 0x120002" and "setting device: 2 3" which I've read means that the tab is shot. Adb.exe tells me the device is not detected, even though all the drivers are installed correctly.
I'm pretty bummed because I don't have the money to buy another tab at the moment, and I used it ALL the time, took it everywhere with me.
On the up-side, I've done some research and it seems if you disassemble your tab and sell the working parts (things like the screen, metal back panel, internal speakers - obviously NOT the MB though!) individually on eBay you can make a bit of your money back.
Can anyone direct me to some good links/video tutorials for dis-assembly?
whoops... I just started a new thread with a very similar issue... My tab also just involuntarily bricked itself... I've made some progress but it's still in bad shape... I don't know about you guys but I had been running at a steady 50% overclock; do you think that could have led to this?
Sorry Man
No @rwilpstra....my a500 is overclocked to 1504 ghz and it runs just fine......as for you pareeeee....Sorry man.....your device is gone....no apx...no fastboot....no recovery.....it's beyond minor corruption....it's like you somehow managed to corrupt every single part of the memory and every partition that there was on your device....you're better off disassembling it.:crying::crying:

Categories

Resources