[Acer Iconia A500] Bec07:
This tutorial is made to help those getting an Iconia for the first time as well as those who lost/didn't backup before going to custom ROMs.

We will try to help you using more than one variant #1, #2 etc to backup and restore your tablet. If you're new stick to the #1s in the first post. If you know a little Android and a little Linux, head to the second post.

Acer does not provide any full-restore ROMs at the moment so your best option is to create your own backup in case something goes wrong.

The ultimate goal is to help users restore their OTA (over the air) update function, aka. get the OS as fresh and clean as it was the day it came out of the factory.

Help us help you! The parts of the tutorial that aren't ready or require your attention are marked in RED. If you got:

A new tablet, never flashed with a custom rom, share your original backup with US, you will need it anyway once you decide to experiment!

A new tablet, never updated, share your Firmware and "Operated Countries" (on the back of the box) so we know what stock ROM belongs to which countries or continent.

Knowledge and the will to share it!

Before you start!

Don't be afraid of rooting, it will not break your OTA (un-rooting is a piece of cake) updates and it is essential to do a proper backup!

Back up your user files from music to documents and save games or you might lose them!

When everything fails > Privacy > data reset is a good way to start fresh. Best to use it when trying something new.

Always unfreeze/restore system APKs like telephony etc before formatting/soft resetting (not to be confused with turning on and off again) your tablet.

Any .zip on the micro-sd card will be automatically flashed on POWER & VOL-

Save Acer Recovery Installer, Root, your favorite file explorer on your desktop

Droid Explorer (PC app) can be a great tool to install apps from your PC

Before attempting to OTA update: un-root, make sure all system apps are in place, remove micro-sd, factory reset (some have reported success after these)

Unbricking

Get the right firmware (Full Package, thanks Vache), for your tablet, decrypt it and extract the update.zip

Put it on your micro-sd card. Shut down. Boot with power and VOL - pressed and it will automatically get flashed.

What firmware is right for my country?

Full Package Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.016.01_COM_GEN1

CWM Backup Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.016.05_COM_GEN1 - Provided by flyinghighaero

Update zip Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.105.01_EMEA_GEN3 - Provided by bpivk

EU: AT, BE, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LV, LT, LY, MT, NL, PL, PT, SK, SI, ES, SE, GB, IS, LI, NO, CH, BG, RO, TR.

Full Package Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.104.02_COM_GEN1:

USA

Full Package Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.104.05_COM_GEN1

Canada

Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.112.01_EMEA_CUS7 - Not available

Germany

Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.016.04_COM_GEN1 - Not available

Thailand - Probably Asia, needs confirmation

Full Package Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.104.03_COM_GEN1

Taiwan - Probably Asia, needs confirmation

Acer_A500_1.105.01_EMEA_GEN3 - Not available

reports of Netherlands and Mexico - hard to tell what EMEA means to Acer :confused:

Acer_A501_1.309.02_COM_GEN1 - Warning, this is an European ROM for A501 !!! - thanks captainpaella

Did your tablet come with one of the following firmwares or maybe another one? (Settings > About tablet), tell us what countries/continent it is for by checking the back of the box for the "Operated Countries" label and posting it below:

Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.013.01_EMEA_GEN1

Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.104.04_COM_GEN1

Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.016.02_COM_GEN1

Creating a backup with Acer Recovery Installer #1

Root

Acer Recovery Installer

Install clockwork mod:

select "ClockworkMod Recovery rev1.3.4 by thor2002ro"

click "Install Recovery Image"

click "Yes" when asked to backup the current image!!!

Reboot into CW recovery from the app or with VOL- & POWER

Create a full backup: "backup and restore" -> "Full Backup"

If your backup is a fresh stock-only (no previous custom roms flashed) one, please share it. It's located on your micro SD in clockworkmod/backup/[current date] <= This is the CWM folder we need!

Don't forget to restore the original recovery image to be able to install futher updates. Unrooting might be necesary depending on Acer.

Restoring to defaults via CWM #1

Full restore in CWM: "backup and restore" -> "Full Backup"

Enter Acer Recovery Installer and restore recovery.img!

Aditional restoring info

Remember: un-root, remove micro-sd, factory reset if it doesn't work.

Also don't have modified, removed or frozen system apps, wi-fi module, build.prop or any other OS file!

"dd" method in the second post is practical if you'll want to downgrade from a FW that has no root yet - still needs testing (eg. if you update to a future 3.2 you won't be able to go back to 3.1 or 3.0.1 until 3.2 is rooted, because CWM needs root, here's where ADB and "dd" can really come in handy!)

Available backups:

Updates of original Acer_A500_1.016.01_COM_GEN1

CWM backup successfully used by me, containing: Stock 1.016.01_COM_GEN1 OTA updated to 1.139.02. 1.139.02 is a "dud" - a FW update taken down by ACER that breaks updates; to solve this issue flash the update.zip(1.139.05) with the default acer bootloader (restore the original recovery.img from Acer Recovery Installer to get the default acer bootloader)

1.141.05 provided by Thor - Restore with "dd", see post 2!

Please provide your own CWM folder or flexrom, boot, recovery and system.img, full dumps (p1, p2, p3... description for this method below)

Do

not

provide

system.zip containing system/app files

3.1 ROMs - the purpose here is to know if OTA is working

What worked for me:

Done with CWM!

Un-root, restore to stock, remove micro-sd - probably not all necesary but it worked for me.

First of all I flashed to my default rom: Acer_A500_0.000.00_1.016.01_COM_GEN1 from Acer's server, didn't have a backup.

I installed acer recovery installer, rooted and then CWM restored 1.139.02. This firmware is probably Acer's mistake as it is not available anymore, nor can you OTA update from it.

Then I entered Acer Recovery Installer, restored the original recovery.img, un-rooted and restored to factory defaults.

Placed Acer_A500_1.016.01_1.139.05_COM_GEN1 on my micro SD and rebooted into Acer's recovery (PWR&VOL-) installed with no issues.

After the reboot 4.010.22 was available! Started the download, removed the micro-sd(probably wasn't necessary) and the tablet rebooted and installed the update properly!

Voila, 3.1 (4.010.22, kernel 2.6.36.3) with the help of CWM!

This is all the Info I was able to gather about a full restore. Put it to good use and be productive - tell us your results!