[Acer Iconia A500] drkalo:
Well, flashing a custom ROM on our beloved Iconias became quite easy now thanks to developers on xda. Most of you are quite familiar with the procedure but there are still people that ask basic things all over the ROM developement threads. This is just a beginner's guide, an attempt to collect all the procedures and tools in one thread. Nothing of this is my work and I would like to say THANK YOU to sc2k, thor2002ro, Euclid's Brother, Chainfire, monki-magic, drellisdee, ezterry, Skrilax_CZ, gersma and all A500 developers for making this possible.

You will need the following: external SD card, root rights, unlocked bootloader (if you're on stock ICS), custom recovery and a custom ROM of your choice.

Well lets start by placing an SD card in the SD card expansion slot. Its file system should be FAT32!

*This is optional: To be sure it is recognized later in CWM, format it first with SD Formatter - a tool that can be downloaded from here. Use your home computer / notebook with a card reader for this procedure. Alternatively you can do this using an ANDROID phone.

1.ROOT

Root for Honeycomb 3.0.1 by monki-magic

original thread by Slowie911 here

1. Make sure usb debugging is turned on and unknown sources is selected in Applications settings.

2. Have a micro sd card inserted and turn the tablet on portrait mode and lock it with the switch to fix it in portrait.

3. Download and execute the attached apk. (i had to download from my comp and transfer to the tablet for it to work).

4. Once the apk is installed run the root procedure within the app which was installed

5. Wait and you will receive full root access.

Download Gingerbreak 1.20

Root for Honeycomb 3.1 by sc2k thread here

1. Goto Settings->Applications and enable "Unkown sources"

2. Download the attached APK file

3. Copy the file to your Iconia

4. Install the APK & start the tool

5. Click "root"

6. Enjoy :)

/IconiaRoot should work on both 3.0.x and 3.1/

Download Iconiaroot 1.3

Root for Honeycomb 3.2.x OTA

Unfortunately there's no dedicated rooting app yet developed for HC3.2. It also comes with a new bootloader. In order to get root you need to revert to an older version of Honeycomb first where Iconiaroot works. How to do that is explained in details in this thread

UPDATE: if you're on OTA HC 3.2.x then you can just update to ICS and use the method for rooting ICS - links posted below

Root for ICS 4.x.x OTA

Stock ICS Leak One-Click Root Tool by blackthund3r

or

Full root for A500 ICS 4.0.3 - Simple method, posted by ZeroNull

2. Bootloader

Since there are many new ICS custom ROMs and custom recoveries, please read in their dedicated threads if they require ICS bootloader. Some of the ROMs can recognize the version of your bootloader and load the proper boot.img during boot. In general - if you're on Honeycomb - you have HC bootloader. If you've updated OTA to ICS, then you have stock ICS bootloader, that is unusable for flashing custom ROMs and therefore you need the unlocked bootloader. A guide on how to install it read here - thanks civato. This thread links to a nice little piece of software (option 1) by gersma that can automatically do all the job for you - install ICS unlocked bootloader and custom recovery. Read and download here - AfterOTA by gersma

3.Custom recovery

original thread with clockworkmod recovery by thor2002ro here

1. Open Market app with your tablet and search for Acer Recovery Installer.

Acer recovery installer

2. Install it and then open it. It has ClockworkMod Recovery by thor2002ro rev1.3.4 built-in.

3. Select "ClockworkMod Recovery rev.1.3.4 by thor2002ro". Tap on install Recovery Image. A popup offering to backup current recovery image will appear. Surely, buckup! Thus you can restore your original recovery image in case of need. Then CWM will be installed. Once it is installed you can remove Acer Recovery Installer tool from your system if you want.

thor2002ro updated CWM to 1.7.3. You can download the zip from tegraowners.com. Later versions of his recovery does not meet GPL because of the "mini" kernel of his - sources not being released. It supports flashing both from internal memory and the external SD card. :) In order to update your CWM to this latest version, place the downloaded ZIP on your external sd card and update from your CWM by choosing install zip from sd card. Alternatively you can extract the recovery.img from the zip, place it on your external sd card and install it through Acer Recovery Installer by choosing Custom or Stock recovery.img from micro sdcard.

GPL compliant recoveries

RA Revamped for Iconia

TeamWin Recovery Project (twrp) - needs ICS bootloader

A500 Public Recovery

Since the creation of AfterOTA by gersma, you can use his software to install both the bootloader and CWM before flashing the ROM. Get it HERE

4. Flashing custom ROM

Download the ROM of your choice which should be a zip file. Place the zip on your EXTERNAL SD card. Power off your device. Now hold volume down and power buttons together until you see text appearing on the top left corner of the screen - you can release both buttons now. Wait until CWM loads. Volume keys (Up and Down) are used to navigate the CWM menu. Power button is uded as "Enter" i.e. to proceed with your selection. Before going on to install your ROM do a full backup of your system first. Navigate to "backup and restore" and then select Full Backup. Wait untill the operation completes.

Now do the following:

Wipe menu:

- wipe data/factory reset -> navigate to "Yes - delete all user data"

this should format you data partition and cache partition (dalvik cache is gone as well)

Mounts and storage menu

- Format System

this should format your system partition

The above commands are presented in thor's CWM. There are slightly different menus and sub-menus in the other custom recoveries but if you dig a little you'll find that they do the same things and you'll get the idea of what you're doing.

Now you're ready to install your ROM. Get back to the main CWM menu and select

- Install zip from sdcard -> choose zip from sdcard.

Navigate to your zip on the SD card and install it - choose "Yes" again to install. Wait untill installation is complete, return to the main CWM menu and choose "reboot system now".

You're done, enjoy your first custom ROM. Take time for its initial configuration.

5. Flashing custom KERNEL

Flashing custom kernel is as same as custom ROM. You place the zip (Kernels come in zip files as well) on your external SD card and:

-	Install zip from sdcard -> choose zip from sdcard.

It is recommended before flashing a new kernel to wipe cache partition and dalvik cache. And of course first you flash the ROM and then the desired Kernel :)

6. UNBRICKING by flashing a stock ROM

thanks to vache we have full packages shared in his topic

p.s. Feel free to add stuff to this tutorial - video, pistures or anything you find useful or to correct me if I've made a mistake.