yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
(At the request of management). Even with all the unsticking / mod intervention and warnings up the wahzoo, there are still a lot of user problems. It may return in a week , but for now it is PULLED. The moderators have hidden the thread, at least for the short term.

For those of you on TNT Lite 5 / TTx, just keep using it and no worries. Once we know where VS is headed, I will have a plan to either ask you to downlevel or upgrade. Again, depending on what they do.

EDIT: For those of you who had issues, could you please write up the steps you used before it failed? It would help everyone to understand why there are so many problems with this 3991 stock / TNTL 5 / TTx. From the posts and PM's I've seen, the majority have been either:

1- The device was flashed with clockworkmod to 3991/TNTL5/TTx and gets stuck at the birds or

2- The device was being prepped to stock 3588 and recovery was broken, after the 3588 reversion.

But I'm hearing that others might have applied all the proper steps and still had problems. We're trying to gauge just where the problem lies with this 1.2 UAT of Viewsonic's.

From my own device, I know that clockworkmod flat-out does not work. That's because the BCT partition is being touched by standard recovery, which clockworkmod does not replicate (and seems to be required). But as long as I have a clean 3588 stock ROM running on my device, I have not had an issue upgrading to 3991/TNTL5/TTx, it has worked for me 100% of the time.

Stock 3991 / TNT Lite 5.xx / TTx .9x backout instructions:

There are two way I know of to back out of these:

- Flash to stock 3588. This assumes you have NOT added clockworkmod and have standard recovery. I have done this several times and never had a problem. Stock 3588 link: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=842000

- nvflash using bekit's 1105 image: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=861950. This is still the best way to back out, as far as I'm concerned. You can do a full erase first, to wipe user data as well, thread is here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=974422
[G Tablet General] Mikeg1969:
NOOOOOOOOO. Hopefully VS will decide what they are going to do by the end of the month. I am enjoying TnT Lite 5.0 with no issues at all. Thank you for all your hard work Roebeet, it is unfortunate that so many have had problems with this.
[G Tablet General] TacoSandwich85:
Damnnn, was about to install it :(

Really sucks that people have had problems maybe people should read and then re-read instructions instead of jumping into things and just assuming devs and mods can help them out. They have a life and dont think that after putting in all the work in to create something they want to hear from whiny a$$, irresponsible people that probably caused their own problem

Now people, like me, that wanted to install cant. nice.

thank roebeet tho and all the other g tab devs
[G Tablet General] bkbrod:
I'm running two tap x. 9.0.2 with absolutely no problems. Never did have any problems from the beginning of 5.0.0. I'm am ferry close to being a noob, but I just had the instructions up on my laptop and followed them step by step. Will the new version of clockwork work to go back to 3588 if nessacery?

Thanks for all your hard work Roebeet. I barely use my laptop now that I have this tab.
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
One of the obstacles I've had in the last 2 weeks is that this is a UAT, not a released firmware from Viewsonic - so its validity is in question (and understandably so). If they release it with the same bootloader and upgrade requirements, it's going to shake things up here a bit.

I still think the odds are that they will - from their standpoint, they are only supporting stock users so, as long as they can ensure that a user is on 3588 stock, then the upgrade should work. In our case, many of the issues were either getting from a mod to 3588 stock, or using clockworkmod by mistake. Viewsonic doesn't have to worry about either of those issues.

But, there's still the X-factor -- everything is 3588 stock and the upgrade still fails. That might be what's holding them back.

No, clockworkmod won't work (even the new one) - if you wanted to backout to old stock (3558, for example), you'd have to use Viewsonic's recovery. Clockworkmod will kill your device, trust me on that. nvflashing to bekit's 1105 also works, that's how I've been backing out to old stock.
[G Tablet General] kozmo2k4:
Hmmm

In the last 24Hrs, my gTab v.9.02 just decided to go totally nuts. Constant FC's, lockups, lost sound. Tried every fix listed on XDA, wiped /data , re-downloaded apps from Market instead of restoring with TiB; wotked for a little bit, then the same FC's. And random loss of sound.

Going back to 3558 and CWM and 4.2.5.

We'll see what VS throws our way.

Keep up the good work Mr.Roe!!!
[G Tablet General] jholmes5:
Perhaps you should post the method and files in this thread. I know that it's in multiple places, but it never hurts to have them handy in a thread that is this important. Just a thought.
[G Tablet General] gaspra:
TwoTapsX works great for me so far. Had TNT Lite 5.0.1 but it wouldn't run some apps correctly. Tried all the ROMS and they all had sleep of death problems. TwoTapsX works the best for me without giving any glitches.
[G Tablet General] rayw796:
TwoTaps .9.2

Thanks Roebeet for all you do here. I am finding this ROM easier to work with than any other. I have noted that periodically it will flash the home screen while I am working. Mostly this has been while in Dolphin Brower HD.
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
Good point, since the other thread is hidden.
[G Tablet General] P00r:
So far I have installed both version and removed them a few time without issue but the last time I removed it...

I needed to re-flash and wipe a few time, it was booting into the launcher but flashing the screen like crazy...

but since the nvflash recovery doesn't erase the root of the device something was making the screen flash black and reload of the desktop repeatedly.

I was able to run root explorer (that survived the nvflash restore) and copied another rom (calkulin) and even there after using his erase tool and running all wipe available from clockwork and calkulin one after the other... (I load clockwork with the part9.img trick) I had to re flash twice until the desktop loaded properly without flashing..

I would like to find a tool that can erase and rebuild the WHOLE tablet...

I have away updated to 3588 thru the online download each time. Anyway I will hold to the current rom for a bit!
[G Tablet General] manikin13:
In the dev sub forum there is format utility thread that will completely wipe out all the partitions on the tab.
[G Tablet General] P00r:
It does not... if you install a custom boot animation it stay there... so it's not full even if after the unit doesn't even start (red text) it's not fully wiped...

I have used clockwork with the partition option, this seem to perform a full format with either the nvflash format or bekit recovery but I am not sure why we can't get this done tru the nvflash...
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
It's in my first post, as well. Run that nvflash first to erase the device, then the bekit 1105 nvflash to complete the process.

What seems to happen is that the old stock / new stock user data setups are not compatible. When going to new stock, it's not so bad because new stock has a better recovery. But when reverting, old stock has a crappy recovery with no user data wipe options. Even Viewsonic understood the limitations which is why they changed their recovery in this UAT of theirs.

I mentioned to jerdog that I wanted to see if I could port their new recovery to old stock (using an old kernel). If that works, we could conceivably offer a "bekit 1105 enhanced" version that adds it. This is better than clockworkmod in that it's the vendor's own recovery and includes the ability to wipe user data, calibrate the device AND update / downlevel the bootloader. For the purposes of getting users backed out if needed, it might be a critical piece of the puzzle.

EDIT: No go. The recovery functionality is actually IN the kernel, my bad. So it can't be ported over. Oh well.
[G Tablet General] CARMELHILL:
You guys are GODS at this. Simply amazing what you are all doing with this G Tab. So I guess I'm one, of some lucky few, that ACTUALLY READ the install instructions for 5.0 and 5.0.1.

Glad I did because I love the market on this thing.

Eagerly watching what happens with Viewsonic......Any chance they did this as a step to make a Honeycomb upgrade easier? I doubt it since the original G Tab with OTA updates is still crippled.
[G Tablet General] socityfuel:
First off just want to give my thanks to roebeet and the devs here at XDA. I've been running TnT Lite 5.0 / TwoTapsX ??? since the day I bought my Gtablet on 3/11 with no problems. On Friday the 11th I was itching for a Xoom somehow managed to find out Staples had the Viewpad 10 but not in store and somehow managed to end up finding out that Office Depot had the Gtablet for $379.99 in store. I read roebeet's at the time TnT Lite 5.0 thread several times before walking to my nearest Office Depot and brought home a Gtablet within minutes of reading that thread.

Out of the box from 2967 I went to 3588 through stock recovery and not OTA; and then did the same thing to go to TnTLite 5.0.0

My question to roebeet or anyone who has gone from TnTLite / TwoTapsX back to 3588 using stock recovery. I could swear the above quote from roebeet had an additional line about using stock recovery to run the 3588 stock rom and then wiping user data from stock recovery. From TnTLite 5.0.0 can I go back to 3588 using the stock recovery and wipe user data with the stock recovery after running 3588 but before rebooting?

If it is possible to wipe user data after flashing back to 3588 do I need to just wipe data or do I need to use the 'wipe cash partition' as well.

edit: never mind my rambling probably better to wait until we know what Viewsonic is going to do and at that point roebeet will let TTx users know how to proceed from TTx to whatever comes down the pipe from VS
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
I did have a line (I think in the TwoTaps thread) about reversion and wiping data before you reboot into 3588 stock. But, I tried this once myself and it didn't work.

Maybe I should make a special 3588 "mostly stock" with clockworkmod, as a backout solution (so that, if you get into a bootloop situation post downgrade, you already have clockworkmod installed to fix it - that could work). It's the "wipe data" option, btw.

But first, lets see what the vendor does - if they stick with this new bootloader then TNTL5 / TTx users might already be one step ahead of everyone else - you may not want to backout. :)
[G Tablet General] danielsjam:
Using it since first release with no problems. I always read the entire first post as well as user issues prior to updating. There are probably many users that try before reading which can lead to issues.

I think this is a great ROM.
[G Tablet General] mb2k:
I'm one of the ones who ran into troubles getting this to load and I honestly believed I followed all the instructions when doing so. I've tried mostly all of the custom ROMs and was on the Vegan experimental before loading TTx. Not sure what the problem was but nvflashing with or without recovery didn't take. Kept getting stuck in APX mode. I wasn't really worried since I could always get the tablet to take the nvflash so I just kept playing with it until lo and behold, I was able to enter the TTx recovery mode. Been working fine since. I really like this ROM but I definitely feel like the disclaimer is justified - if you're not into tinkering this isn't something you wanna try.

The only problem I've run into so far is that when I recover my Angry Birds file and run the app it FC's. Runs fine if I just install either version, but when I try to restore my saves by using TB, the app refuses to run. Weird. Other than that, no problems. I don't really like the default browser, but understand that it's required at this point. FLash works fine and I haven't had any issues at all with the market. Even found a few apps that were supposedly only available with XOOM builds.

Many thanks Robeet and hopefully we can get a more "idiotproof" upgrade process.

T
[G Tablet General] butchconner:
roebeet,

Where can we obtain the bekit 1105 file?

I remember seeing the name somewhere but don't remember seeing the D/L source.

Rev
[G Tablet General] K J Rad:
It may not be the process or an inexperienced user problem at all. Many people seem to forget that we're not all using the same computer hardware and software to make all this happen. You're specific machine may have some minor difference in it's USB hardware or perhaps a another driver that conflicts with APX somehow or even a bad USB cable or flaky port. I don't think anyone doubts that there was a problem but identifying it without some very specific information about your environment is difficult.

A few quick questions...

Did you try any of this with a different machine or operating system? If not, can you?

Were you using any additional equipment that can be removed from the equation? (i.e. USB hub, third party power supply, etc...)

Is there any other equipment nearby or software running on your machine that could be causing interference with the process?

Also, never discount the possibility that there are environmental causes for the problem. I once helped to troubleshoot a flaky DSL connection that turned out to be caused by a cow leaning up against an electric fence and "relieving" itself near the junction box the line was tapped off from. It took months before someone actually observed that happening while I watched the connection drop back at the office.

The devs do everything they can to mitigate risk for the bulk of users and I'm sure you did everything you could to "do it right." It's just possible there is some other factor working against you.
[G Tablet General] mb2k:
Just to clarify, I'm in no way complaining or even faulting the dev or the process. To your point, I was merely stating that I ran into issues that others may not. But the tinkerer in me actually likes the challenge of trying to 'figure it out.' The process I used:

- wipe data/cache (while on vb7)

- nvflash to 3588 (this is the step I got stuck on with APX loop)

- once I was able to get out of the APX loop, flashed 9.00

- wiped data/cache

- flashed 9.02

- wiped data/cache

- reboot into 9.02, all is fine (except AB issue :p)

As for your questions:

- using a w7 ult laptop. My only other PC is x64 and I've had issues before with ADB on the PC (Nook and Gtab) so I've been using the x32 laptop.

- laptop to usb cable to gtab. No other items in the equation. I did try getting CWM via external SD card that I set up in the laptop, but couldn't get that working.

- as for unforeseen issues, it's funny you mention the cow story. I spent 10yrs as a telco tech and ran into some pretty weird causes for phone trouble. It's possible something was going on on my laptop, but I kinda doubt it.

I'm thinking the problem I had was not being familiar with nvflash. I may not have used the correct order of nvflash w/ recovery, then nvflash w/o recovery. Either way, I'm up and running and again, really appreciate the efforts of Robeet, the other devs, and users who are willing to help out.

Looking forward to the next beta/rc/final.

Tony
[G Tablet General] akodoreign:
You know, This happened on a few other roms november/december as well if I remember correctly.

The old solution was to partition with no cache. It fixed everything, Have not had rom problem since late December :)

Just a thought to throw out there. I could be completely wrong :)
[G Tablet General] roebeet:
It's in my first post, here. Also in TNT Lite I believe.

His 1105 nvflash is my life preserver - I can't tell you how many times I've used it to unbrick my own device. The man should get a medal.
[G Tablet General] K J Rad:
Never meant to imply that you were pointing fingers in any way.

Sounds like you nailed the process right on the head and in the grand scheme of things the problem you had was relatively minor since you were able to resolve the APX loop. Only real difference for me was that I nvflashed back to an older factory stock ROM then OTA upgraded to 3588.

Funny thing is I never had an issue with Angry Birds or Quick Boot (which a few people have warned they had problems with after the update). Have you made any progress on the AB thing?
[G Tablet General] linesma:
Thanks Reoboot for your hard work. I really love this release. I hope things settle down.
[G Tablet General] mb2k:
Nope, still can't seem to restore data for AB without cause FC's. And I just installed Quadrant and am getting weird fc's with that as well. It runs all tests, then i get a "call server failed" or something. I run it a 2nd time, it gives me the results, around 1700, then starts tests again and FC's.
[G Tablet General] K J Rad:
Hmm... Quadrant gives me the "call server failed" errors all the time (I think it's related to some of the ads...) but I've only had it FC once and that was a very long time ago. I'd really like to be able to duplicate the experience and try a few things... started with vb7, you say...?

The wife might be talking to herself again tonight...
[G Tablet General] cutterjohn:
I'm running TTx 0.9.02 w/no problems as well, even managed to clear up the minor FCs that I was getting with a data wipe...

As I posted in the TnTl thread, I used nvflash and bekit's original Nov mostly stock fw, had massive FCs -> install cwm(stock install method) -> repart sdcard 2048/0 -> buh-bye FCs -> re-nvflashed bekit's original stock fw -> OTA to 3588 -> stock upgrade to TnTl 5.0.0/TTx 0.9 -> stock upgrade TTx 0.9.0 -> TTX 0.9.02

That said I haven't really used it much at TTx 0.9.02 but after checking market and going online for a few minutes yesterday everything was working fine.
[G Tablet General] JeorgeTX:
TNT Lite 5

Been running TNT Lite 5 and it works great. Loaded it on a new G Tablet.
[G Tablet General] cutterjohn:
In the dev section there's a thread about completely erasing the gTab via nvflash... wipes out EVERYTHING except APX, or at least I'm assuming that's what it does...

Includes a file called FORMAT.zip which contains what I assume are blank partition images, although I didn't check them to see if they were random data or 0 (zero) filled... I did try it out, and it did work, but it will give (to some) a scary error after doing it as there's no kernel/etc for it to boot and just dumps to APX mode at which point you can nvflash a complete image of partitions again. (I just flashed bekit's original stock fw dump.)

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=974422
[G Tablet General] y2k-inc:
I was trying the 1st TnT 5.0. when it came out, got the loop boot, but at that time thinking i was installing it wrong ... same thing was happen when trying Calkulin's G-Tab v1.0, which is base on the same "unofficial VS release", i then wipe out with Format Gtad and then NVFASH with CW. Repartition to 2048/128 and from there i was able to load Tnt 5.0 without any problem by following all the steeps ... now i'm running Calkulin's G-Tab v1.1 [ 3991 l Battery Saver script w/ Profile] for weeks now and have ne issue it with, only one time i got into safe mode, but a reboot fix it ... so maybe the new 3991 got a new Partition size ????
[G Tablet General] cutterjohn:
This

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=11841713&postcount=17

MAY be where some people get stuck to. Unfortunately this quoted post is missing the photo with the contacts needing to be shorted. (I remember reading the original post somewhere a while back but don't recall exactly where...)

[EDIT]

Found the original post

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=11768054&postcount=70

but the photos seem to be missing there as well... I could've sworn that I'd seen that somewhere WITH photos or a link to a website with them... maybe a different forum altogether...

[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]

Now that someone mentioned another 3991 based ROM

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=985705

Why is that one still there while TTx got hidden?

[/EDIT2]
[G Tablet General] b3ltazar:
how i got 5.00 installed

After a lot of trial and error i got 5.0 installed and works flawless! I think the problem is after you nv flash 3588 you still have data from your old install in the tab !! so after a full data wipe and a nv flash to 3588 install then 5.0 still viewsonic birds or black screen! so after 10 tries i finally did a wipe nv flashed 3588 , then installed 3588 via update.zip again. didn't let it get past the accept screen! switched my 3588 update.zip for the 5.0 update.zip using mass storage installed via stock recovery then no problems from there!! i know it seems like to many steps but it works! i just dont think a nv flash and a data wipe do the trick there might be parts of clockwork left over or some of whatever we had installed before the nv flash! i even tried formatting boot system ect... still needed the install of 3588 after the nv flash!!
[G Tablet General] Butch1326:
mb2k,

Angry Birds - This is what worked for me.

After I installed 3588 and updated to TnT Lite 5.0.0 successfully, I removed the version of the Angry Birds application that is included with the stock rom (version 1.4.2). Then, I installed the latest version of Angry Birds from the Android Market (at the time, it was v1.5.2). Then, I went into Titanium Backup, and selected to restore my backup of Angry Bird and restored the Data only.

Hope this helps.
[G Tablet General] johnkapp:
Since December, I have been using TNT Lite. And recently, I have loaded, restored, rebuilt from 4 to 5 and back several times. It works like I expect and takes the same steps that roebeet identified to get from one version to another. I am terribly impressed with the work of roebeet and others. This tablet has gone from useless to an incrediblely powerful tool for entertainment and business use. I am managing servers, watching movies, listening to music, handling email, doing research, etc. all on the Gtablet running roebeet's TNT Lite. Each day it has become more useful, reliable, and faster.

But without a lot of experience working with technology, this would be a big bite for most users. I think too many users think using the Gtablets is like using Windows with few million man hours of development behind it and a multibillion dollar support organization to fix the issues. They don't really get "open source".

I am awed by how far this has come with a team of loosely connected people sharing information and building on shared experience and skills. It is a powerful tribute to what can be done when people work together. Unfortunately, the whining is a tribute to the real world and how hard it is to get anything done when people with the wrong view of the process get involved.
[G Tablet General] mindlike:
I was like most of the other boneheads that attempted the 5 upgrade: overconfident. Overconfident that it would be at least similar to previous upgrades, I overlooked critical steps and even liners that read 'else you'll brick it potentially'.. so I think that is how this upgrade failed so many so easily as they were used to the 4.x upgrade pattern and thought this one not much different. Is there any way your installer can check things for users to prevent this sort of mass-bricking event from happening in future releases? Now I have my gtab back up to 5 using an nvflash process that can restore to 4 then up to 5 following proper checks/steps. Thanks Roebeet!
[G Tablet General] mb2k:
Thanks for the suggestions Butcher but it didn't work for me. Tempted to flash back to vegan but still recovering from flashing to ttx:p
[G Tablet General] robhoerning:
Stock and can't flash

what about those of us that can't flash because we are stuck at the birds and the pc doesn't recognize the tablet to do the nvflash?

and for me, everything went well from stock to 5.0. it went south if you try and go back to anything else.