So a couple of weeks ago I accidentally let my battery die, which I try not to do because I have trouble getting it to turn back on again and this time it did just that: my tablet wouldn't power on at all. I searched up my symptoms: Power light comes on, Doesn't vibrate, Black screen, and everything pointed to either my motherboard went kaput or APX Mode. A new motherboard for my model is upwards of 50$, so I tried looking into what APX Mode meant. I'm decent with computers but this was beyond me, or more so that I have no idea where to find the files/programs to flash(?) it. Anyway digging through the threads here I looked at a recent one here and on a whim I tried the suggestion, even though it was to another problem they were having with APX Mode. And it worked!
My tablet turned on fine, but I am skeptical of how long that will last. So, some questions that I hope someone can help me with are, what is a "fastboot", and does it hurt the system in any way if used repeatedly? Is there another way (an app or something) that will be able to tell me my UID and SBK other than through a Linux computer? Also, bootloading, does that root the device in any way? When I was looking around it didn't sound like it did, but then sometimes it did and now I'm just confused.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for looking!
All files needed for unlocking the bootloader, rooting and unbricking can be found in the root guide in my sig. Along with methods of retrieving the cpuid and also a guide to flash the bootloader using the apxflash tool - I try and keep download links up2date, let me know if you have any probs.
If your tab does have a faulty emmc and I'm not saying it does...it will eventually fail, being stuck at the Acer screen seems to be the most common symptom, followed by the inability to flash.
Fastboot gives the ability to perform wipes and flash via the windows command prompt...
Root is gained (on ics) with icsRoot tool...once done you can then nvflash the unlocked bootloader.
Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk
dibb_nz said:
All files needed for unlocking the bootloader, rooting and unbricking can be found in the root guide in my sig. Along with methods of retrieving the cpuid and also a guide to flash the bootloader using the apxflash tool - I try and keep download links up2date, let me know if you have any probs.
If your tab does have a faulty emmc and I'm not saying it does...it will eventually fail, being stuck at the Acer screen seems to be the most common symptom, followed by the inability to flash.
Fastboot gives the ability to perform wipes and flash via the windows command prompt...
Root is gained (on ics) with icsRoot tool...once done you can then nvflash the unlocked bootloader.
Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, thank you! I will definitely go through those. I checked the cpuid one last night in case it decided to die while I was sleeping, so that's good. Although my sister's tablet doesn't have that file on hers at all? And its the same model ... anyway.
emmc? Forgive me, I am not well versed in these abbreviations. It hasn't gotten stuck at the Acer screen yet since I've had it, but ... its always a possibility.
Hmm, I didn't have it connected to the computer when I tried fasbooting it — is it considered something else when you power the tablet on holding the Power Button + the Volume Up button? Maybe it wasn't in APX Mode at all then, but I don't know if that makes it better or worse. No other way would make it turn on, it was just a dead black screen no matter what I did, and then I tried that and the Acer logo popped up.
And, sorry just to be clear, there's no way to unbrick a tablet without rooting it?
Thanks so much
emmc = memory chip!
Per+vol down = custom recovery
Pwr+vol UP = fastboot
Drivers - From Acer and adb_fastboot drivers from android sdk (or the mini.zip in the guide)
Cpuid/sbk imperative to run most of the unbricking files which are based on nvflash.
Root - unavailable on hc 3.2, not needed to unbrick but usb debugging needs to be enabled in settings. For ics use icsRoot,
skrilax_cz unblocked bootloader - needed to install custom roms. Needs cpuid. Will also flash cwm recovery. Gives fastboot ability. So you can flash a new recovery thru Windows command prompt i.e. enter fastboot
Open command prompt
Type in: fastboot flash recovery "name_of_your_recovery'.img
EUU - Acer upgrade tool which gets you back to stock. PC based, needs cpuid and also used to unbrick.
update.zip - Acer stock updates, some are full os dates some are just incremental updates. Used also to help with softbrick like getting stuck on the Acer screen. Cpuid not required, flashed via ext sd card.
Think that's it in a nutshell...as stated get your cpuid NOW
Which build of Android is the tab running??
Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk
Related
For a few months now my a500 has been having problems, but I've only recently been able to spend some time looking at it. I've gone through many unbrick threads, and recovery threads, and bootloader patch threads, and am still stuck.
Here's the problem(i think): at some point I must have flashed a rom without wiping /data. Now when I use CWM to wipe the device it says it can't remove the packages.xml file.
After learning about the packages.xml file, i now understand why my tablet would force close, reboot, and generally behave badly, since the new rom can't write to the packages.xml file.
Edit: The solution was very simple, and I'm surprised it wasn't suggested in all the other "i can't delete packages.xml" threads i'd seen. The attribute flags on that file were set to immutable and append-only. I had busybox installed and was able to issue "chattr -r -i" on the file and then it removed fine and after flashing a new rom everything is glorious.
Here's what i've tried so far:
I've tried removing the file through adb, the adb shell, the terminal emulator on the tab itself.... no good.
I've tried using fastboot to reformat the data partition.... No good. apparently the HC bootloader doesn't allow this.
I've tried patching the HC bootloader, upgrading to the ICS bootloader.... this is where I'm stuck and need help
I can't get any of the utilities that are supposed to work over APX mode to work. I can get the tab into APX mode and it shows up both in windows as some Acer Iconia Something Recovery Something... but it seems as soon as the utility tries to send it commands the device disconnects. I tried this in linux as well with the same result. As soon as I send any commands to it via nvflash (even just "wait for device") it disappears from udev.
Can someone please help me either
1) figure out another way to just fix the permissions on the packages.xml file
2) figure out what is going wrong with apx mode
3) tell me another way to format the data partition.
4) tell me that i'm just missing something really obvious that is a 1 click fix?!
The bootloader you currently have in tha tablet doesn't have anything to do with APX mode. It is not used at all.
This is how APX works (simplified):
- Tegra2 CPU enters download mode, for which the software is written on one time programmable memory inside the processor itself
- APX waits in download mode for commands from nvflash utility
- nvflash downloads to tablet's RAM bootloader binary (the one you use in command line) together with other data like BCT and ODMDATA (those are actually not required by all APX commands)
- APX runs the bootloader downloaded to RAM (not the one in eMMC) and runs commands you give it with nvflash.
So APX support needs to be implemented in bootloader you download to the tablet (for example Skrillax_CZ's bootloader_apx.bin).
As for your main problem I'm afraid this probably means that your tablet's eMMC flash memory has failed. I'm not 100% sure but there shouldn't be any problem removing the file or formatting the partition using nvflash.
Post messages you get when using nvflash (whole output would be great). We will see where to get from there.
Thanks for getting back to me, I'm at work now so will mess around a little more when I get home.
for a little clarification when I was talking about the bootloader issue i think the utility i was thinking of was fastboot. I had seen some suggestions of using fastboot to format the partition and then found out that the HC bootloader doesn't work with fastboot. That's when I followed the trail to try to install the ICS bootloader and got into the APX stuff with nvflash, though it seems that if I can get nvflash working, I can format the partition with that and not need to flash a new bootloader.
As I said, I'll mess around a little more when I get home and post some logs, but I'm still worried about why the apx device disappears from my system as soon as i try sending it commands.
Hmmm you probably don't have your tablet's CPU ID. You need that in order to do anything in APX mode. It is somehow possible to get CPU ID from the APX itself but you would need to search the forum how to do it (AFAIK it is required to connect tab to a Linux machine to do that).
Hey guys ! I think I have bricked my Iconia A500. I tried to install ICS bootloader and the installation stucked on ''Flashing Bootloader (EBT) stage two - uploading image...'' After 30 mins I turned off my Iconia and when I tried to turn it on, the tablet didnt even got to the Acer Screen. It didnt vribrated and the screen didn't turned on. Only the power button lited up and nothing more. So I have 2 questions : Is my tablet pernamently bricked and if it is, will they accept it by warranty? I mean how could they understand that this happened.... I will tell them that it just turned off and never booted again ?
You cannot permanently brick the a500 unless it is a hardware failure (like faulty flash memory).
As you were playing with APX flashing you probably have CPUID and SBK for your tablet.
Right now your tab is stuck in APX mode (PWR button lights up, nothing on the screen). You also must have the driver already installed on your PC as the tool you used is actually using the APX mode to do the flashing. The APX mode is built into the CPU itself and can be used to recreate whole internal flash structure even when it is totally wiped out.
Just do the search for nvflash a500 phrase and you'll get a ton of threads about that.
And if ^ ^ ^ ^ doesn't get you fully running, you may probably have to rollback using TimmyDeans root tool. (search the forums, you will find it easily enough). This if course will hopefully reset things back to a HC Rom and Bootloader.
It seems, that for some reason, the NVFlash method doesn't work all the time on about 20% of the tablets. Seems there is something missing in their current partitions, so the new bootload flashing always stops before completing. The only known easy method, is to revert back to HC, as Timmy Deans EUU resets the partitions allowing then to NVFlash to the new ICS bootloader. At least that was the easiest for most folks not familiar with command lines.
MD
@Moscow Desire: my tablet has been successfully flashed with nvflash a few times (the first time I've flashed modified bootloader was with the nvflash). Then I used blackthund3r's apxtool (v 0.3 I think) two times and the first time was successful, but the second time it failed. The problem with older versions of this tool was that it used some generic bct file and odmdata value, which could lead to problems (I'm not saying that it created this problem in the first place, it could be just a conicidence).
yaworski said:
@Moscow Desire: my tablet has been successfully flashed with nvflash a few times (the first time I've flashed modified bootloader was with the nvflash). Then I used blackthund3r's apxtool (v 0.3 I think) two times and the first time was successful, but the second time it failed. The problem with older versions of this tool was that it used some generic bct file and odmdata value, which could lead to problems (I'm not saying that it created this problem in the first place, it could be just a conicidence).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Yaworski I'm with you on this one. Personally, I used the original version of the NVFlash package back in version 3 and so on, till Skirlax made it a lot easier.
I'm not too sure about the Blackthund3r tools anyhow. They work for most folks, but recently been seeing a lot of NVFlash failures, and all for the same thing. As far as the threads I read, they usually rolled back using the EUU, and for some reason, that set the bootloader partitions back in place. Go figure. Even a couple of my 501 users had to use this method. One of them was lucky to use the original V3, then was able to get to V8.
Info: with the new 510 and 700, even though we have fastboot oem unlock, Acer seems to have changed the rules once again. As near as I can tell, the specific version rom kernel, is matched to a specific version bootloader. It also seems like they've done a wonderful job with the partitions as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the different bootloaders also have different partition information. Will make doing a recovery a difficult task, as some of already found out Unrecoverable /Data partitions.
Some could use the procedures while others couldn't. And it was bootloader related.
yaworski said:
You cannot permanently brick the a500 unless it is a hardware failure (like faulty flash memory).
As you were playing with APX flashing you probably have CPUID and SBK for your tablet.
Right now your tab is stuck in APX mode (PWR button lights up, nothing on the screen). You also must have the driver already installed on your PC as the tool you used is actually using the APX mode to do the flashing. The APX mode is built into the CPU itself and can be used to recreate whole internal flash structure even when it is totally wiped out.
Just do the search for nvflash a500 phrase and you'll get a ton of threads about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I did that yesterday and it worked !
I have followed many threads but cannot find a working solution. I will outline what I have done as briefly as possible.
While streaming to TV with HDMI, the screen switched to the android robot on his back with red triangle and "!".
I put Acer_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1 on a SD and tried to reboot, showed robot working and then on back with "!" again.
Put in fastboot and used ADB command lines to try to put Thor recovery on, stated device locked on screen.
Entered cmd to unlock, got positive response, tried thor again, same result.
powered down, re-installed asus drivers, connected it did not connect as APX so rolled back drivers and was able to connect as APX.
Ran AFTEROTA, cannot find device
Ran Blackthund3r manager, stated a500 connected in APX mode, but when trying to get Serial program runs but returns nothing. And when trying to get logs returns "no device found" but at the bottom still shows connected in APX Mode.
I am unable to get the CPUID and the device does not boot for me to put in USB development mode so I am unsure where to go from here. Again I have spent several hours following everystep in multiple threads and I keep getting stuck. Any help in helping me return my A500 to working condition would be great. Also, before crash I was running ICS OTA stock.
v/r
i also have the same problem & also try almost everything of what you did but mine is not rooted a virgin tablet running on latest ics . i can also get into apx mode but cannot generate the uid.. i know there is a solution to this using ubuntu but i dunno how to use ubuntu or libusb or visualc+ as what it stated to generate the uid & was hoping that some1 might try to make a step by step thread in using linux or winusb in windows
NavyRazorback said:
I have followed many threads but cannot find a working solution. I will outline what I have done as briefly as possible.
While streaming to TV with HDMI, the screen switched to the android robot on his back with red triangle and "!".
I put Acer_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1 on a SD and tried to reboot, showed robot working and then on back with "!" again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so u flashed stock ICS (or tried to) - doing this overwrites your custom recovery with the silly stock one
Put in fastboot and used ADB command lines to try to put Thor recovery on, stated device locked on screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
???? huh!!! do u have the unlocked bootloader????
what rom were u running before u flashed stock???
you were on the right track with fastboot if you'd tried that first rather than flashing a stock rom (for future ref!)
Entered cmd to unlock, got positive response, tried thor again, same result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what is this unlock thing, sorry for my ignorance, but I've noticed a couple of reports lately that mentions this problem??
powered down, re-installed asus drivers, connected it did not connect as APX so rolled back drivers and was able to connect as APX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope u meant to type "acer drivers"
unless you do have an asus tab....which then explains your troubles!!!!
Ran AFTEROTA, cannot find device
Ran Blackthund3r manager, stated a500 connected in APX mode, but when trying to get Serial program runs but returns nothing. And when trying to get logs returns "no device found" but at the bottom still shows connected in APX Mode.
I am unable to get the CPUID and the device does not boot for me to put in USB development mode so I am unsure where to go from here. Again I have spent several hours following everystep in multiple threads and I keep getting stuck. Any help in helping me return my A500 to working condition would be great. Also, before crash I was running ICS OTA stock.
v/r
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heck you are in a bit of a pickle m8!!!
i think you can only use an update.zip (no cpuid required)
have a look at jdgM3NTL's thread " revert to factory stock the easy way" http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839313
IF this doesnt work you'll be in for the long haul - you will need to use linux as that is the only other way to get yr cpuid - have you checked out the cpuid thread (u only need to read the OP)
there are at least 7 different methods for retrieving yr cpuid, u might try usbdeview
---------- Post added at 11:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 AM ----------
botzgori said:
i also have the same problem & also try almost everything of what you did but mine is not rooted a virgin tablet running on latest ics . i can also get into apx mode but cannot generate the uid.. i know there is a solution to this using ubuntu but i dunno how to use ubuntu or libusb or visualc+ as what it stated to generate the uid & was hoping that some1 might try to make a step by step thread in using linux or winusb in windows
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check out srbeens thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1751978
have you checked out the cpuid thread (u only need to read the OP) there are at least 7 different methods for retrieving yr cpuid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you can still boot then method 7 for you
Thank you for your reply.
In response to some of your questions. Yes I meant to type Acer and not Asus, I do in fact own the Acer A500.
About my initial attempt to flash the stock ROM, I never had an unlocked bootloader, before the tablet was bricked I was running Stock ICS OTA and had never done any modifications.
I tried using USBDeview but the serial number is blank. It looks like I will have to try the Linux method. Again thank you for your help.
NavyRazorback said:
Thank you for your reply.
In response to some of your questions. Yes I meant to type Acer and not Asus, I do in fact own the Acer A500.
About my initial attempt to flash the stock ROM, I never had an unlocked bootloader, before the tablet was bricked I was running Stock ICS OTA and had never done any modifications.
I tried using USBDeview but the serial number is blank. It looks like I will have to try the Linux method. Again thank you for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this is WHY IM DONE following or using XDA THREADS. Most of the time someone experienced helps for a bit than leaves people hanging. I just unbricked my a500 when no one answered for my help. This guy here responded back and no o e help him. Hit and miss here. Go to another forum if you canr find your solution aleeady poSted. Cause if you reply or start NEW THREAD, no answer 90% time. Mine was bricked And rooted. Stuck on acer screen. Tried everything I could. No answers fron this sites threads. But I did it on my own, simple fix for apparent hard brick a500, but it was not really hard bricked. All symptons showed hard bricked. You wanna know what really fixed my tab without changing main board...?? Hint.. xbox red ring.....xda, you suck, no support for newbies here. Out. Unsubscribed..deuces. .
Hi guys !
I'm trying to install a custom rom on my A500 but I don't get to unlock the bootloader...
I stuck with blackthund3r tool at :
Flashing Bootloader (EBT) stage two - uploading image...
I'm on ICS OTA 4.0.3 and the bootloader is 0.03.12-ICS
I follow all the threads talking about that but did'nt worked...
I checked all the drivers but I don't get it...
somebody have a useful advice ?
Thanks !
babysugar said:
Hi guys !
I'm trying to install a custom rom on my A500 but I don't get to unlock the bootloader...
I stuck with blackthund3r tool at :
Flashing Bootloader (EBT) stage two - uploading image...
I'm on ICS OTA 4.0.3 and the bootloader is 0.03.12-ICS
I follow all the threads talking about that but did'nt worked...
I checked all the drivers but I don't get it...
somebody have a useful advice ?
Thanks !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
couple apxFlash pictorials here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=32905041&postcount=20
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25891744&postcount=44
You need the drivers installed
1. Acer website for the acer drivers
2.zip file attached for google/fastboot drivers
Ive attached a .jpg too, u need to have the apx device listed in hardware/printers as shown
3. with apxFlash try dumping your ".bct" when u see that window
4. you can try the afterOTA tool too...
5. if the auto tools dont work then you will need to rollback to HC using tdv4 EUU
6. have a look thru the OP of the cpuid thread for more background info on all things acer http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25429111#post25429111
I've never had this much trouble before.
Ok. A little back story first. I'm not a moron, I have a myTouch 3G Sapphire 32a Fender rooted using the gold card method, LG G2x - P999 Rooted running CM10, and a SGH-T999 Stock rooted (That's a Galaxy S3 for those who don't know).
I have a friend that got an Acer Iconia a500 tablet a year ago. He's not a power user, doesn't know anything about rooting. All he did was play games on it. One day it wouldn't turn on, the screen was blank. Occasionally it would freeze at the Acer logo, but it would never boot up.
Now it's stuck in APX mod due to him pushing a bunch of buttons(idk how he got it into APX mode so don't ask), so there is absolutely no way to boot the tablet. He never turned on USB debugging, and I can't get into the tablet to turn it on because it's stuck in apx mode.
I must stress this!
I have been working on this tablet for 3 weeks now, and read countless posts about how to fix the exact problem that I'm having with this tablet, the only drawback is: step 1 is always, "Turn on USB Debugging." That is IMPOSSIBLE for me to do at this point.
Here is list of what I do know:
Hardware - Acer Iconia a500, APX Driver Version - 1.0.1.0 Released 4/1/2010 Shows as APX in Devices. Shows as Acer USB Boot-recovery driver in device manager.
Software
ADB info - Android SDK rev.20
ADB ver 1.0.29
Windows 7 64-bit completely up-to-date
Commands: adb get-state, get-serial ------- returns, unknown
Commands: adb remount, root, usb ------- returns, "error: device not found"
Command: adb devices -------- returns no value at all.
Programs used for rooting - AfterOTA 1.09, EUUS v3, blackThun3r A500 Manager
I have the CPUID, and SKB (I was somehow able to acquire those in one of my attempts to flash the stock rom)
What I don't know:
What version of Android OS is on the tablet. I'm pretty sure it has ICS, but he was deathly afraid of downloading any updates, even app updates even though I told him that all updates should be installed a.s.a.p. So there's a chance that it's still running HC.
Now here is my problem other than being stuck in APX mode. I have tried AfterOTA, it won't detect anything past Driver Installed on the Tablet information screen because USB debugging isn't enabled. So I can't use most of the functions of that program.
blackthund3r APX Flash v0.4 - Will get the tablet into the bootloader mode where it says:
Acer Iconia APX Mode in the upper right with a glowing yellow Acer logo in the center of the screen, nothing is flashing like the APX flasher says, I have reinstalled the drivers hundred of times with the same results.
Hangs at, "Flashing Bootloader (EBT) stage two - uploading image..."
EUUS v3 - Says, "Acer Iconia not detected"
(I had a screenshot posted here, but stupid forum limitations wouldn't let me. You could see what's going on if it let me post this.)
I do the reset procedure and it just goes back to the same message.
It will go into a screen on the tablet that says "Entering Acer Download Mode" Then EUUS tells me to do the reset procedure again, and this is a continuous loop that results in nothing being flashed. If I ignore that message and just continue nothing happens.
I also have a file called a500-hc.bat that runs nvflash and it gives an error that leads me to believe that a partition on the tablet is corrupted. Everyone says that EUUS v3 should fix this and flash back to original stock, but it obviously doesn't work.
Any help that I could get would be greatly appreciated. If you need any more information, just ask, and I'll do my best to get it. The tablet is (for lack of a better word) bricked, so I'm very limited on what sort of software info I can give you straight from the tab. Please Please Please help. And thank you in advance.
I am sorry to start a new thread but I have been reading threads and trying things now for over 7 hours straight. I have bricked my mothers A500.
I installed Skrillex V8 bootloader to my own tablet with Thor 1.7.3 recovery and a CM10.2 rom, everything worked fine. My mother liked how my tablet had way more battery and seemed faster then her own so she asked me to do it to hers.
I did everything the same except I had deleted the files and had to find a different bootloader so I found the "lightspeed" version of Skrilex V8 and as it seemed to just be a re-skin figured it was fine.
I downgraded to the unstable 3.0.2 build then installed iconia root and a Thor recovery via acer recovery. I then installed the lightspeed bootloader via thor with intentions of then installing the newer thor and rom after.
This is where im stuffed, after installing the new bootloader it is screwed. I cannot enter recovery or boot the primary kernal. I attempt to enter fastboot and although the tablet goes into fastboot it outputs errors and has random lockups and freezing on the tablet which the computer identifies as it being disconnected.
I have tried searching the forums for an answer and have tried everything I can understand but I am truely boned. As I am writing this I am installing packages to my Ubuntu laptop so that I can obtain the UID through the terminal in hopes it will work with APX and blackthunders tools.
If I cannot get it working I will simply wipe and give my mother my tablet, But I would really like to try and get this son of a ***** working again. I am currently incredibly annoyed at it and am probably missing something obvious. Please help me.
[UPDATE 1]
I have managed to obtain my CPUID and thus my SBK through the method described here -> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1751978
I am still unable to use any tools as my PC will not recognize it in APX mode, I have reinstalled the drivers, restarted, tried multiple USB ports, uninstalled the failed unrecognized device and started from scratch a few times and I just cant seem to get it to detect them. Also tried other USB cables incase it was iffy, checked contacts on ports. There also cannot be any env variable or reg conflicts as I used my diagnostic machine to check it and it booted into its clean OS.
the APX seems to work with my linux unit though, but the blackthunder tools are for windows...
[UPDATE 2]
Using the tutorial here ->http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2444187
I made it boot into the APX mode with the yellow acer logo and the APX mode text at the top, however I left it for a while and it didnt seem to finish flashing, using lsusb I can see its still connected to the linux box but it is clearly not flashing properly.
I am going to leave it for a bit then try unplugging from linux and plugging into windows while in the yellow acer logo screen with verbose output and see if blackthunders tool detects it.
[UPDATE 3]
DO NOT try what i did in update 2, I believe i removed it when it was formatting the partition, it wont even boot to the bootloader now. black screen with white light on power button and cannot be detected as APX.
[UPDATE 4]
I treid a few more times at getting it into APX mode and it turns out its just being dicky and freezing randomly, however, by trying a few times (this is dangerous but i had nothing to lose at this point) to run the Nvflash script on my linux box eventually it run through and installed the v9 bootloader. This bootloader allowed me to go into Fastboot without the freezing or crashing or loss of communications i was experiencing before. I then using fastboot flashed a recovery appropriate to the v9 bootloader and am now using that to flash a 4.3 rom. This should completely fix all the problems.
I am now sure (as previously I could only guess that the problem was caused by a dicky install of the lightspeed bootloader (a custom variant of skrilex v8 designed to match the theme of the lightspeed rom).
[UPDATE 5]
Working
Adding solved to title as I know the feeling when you come across an old thread that talks about your problem and has no replies or help.
-V0L4T1LE
Been using XDA for years never bothered to post as have never had to spend more then a few hours to solve a problem, this one took me a long time though so I decided to ask for help. Nevermind, didnt need it.
Awsum and well done getting yrself sorted, thanx for posting
rgds dibb
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
Can you extract the partition 4 using nvflash --rawdeviceread to a file and share to me? My A500 is bricked and cannot download to it. only --rawdevicewrite works.
Thanks!