yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Acer Iconia A500] internetpilot:
Awesome! Thanks a TON for this. Really, it's nice to finally have a recovery that can be discussed or even...gulp!...on XDA! Very slick and very nice!

I like RA better than CWM anyway -- it's what I've used on my HTC EVO 4G from the very beginning.

And sorry, I didn't mean to imply that a restore wouldn't work, it's just that was a problem with several previous CWM offerings for the A500, and no one had posted that they had tried a restore with your recovery yet. But I'll take your word for it, and no offense was meant!

Thanks again for all your hard work!
[Acer Iconia A500] themono:
Fantastic job, thanks for your hard work. Recovery working wonderfully here, installed via kjy's flashable zip (also thanks to you!).

As an aside - is it recommended to upgrade the EXT3 FS to EXT4 on the iconia?
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
Its ext4 by default. There is another namless recovery that seems to mess up cache when wiped by formatting cache as ext3 with data writeback when it should be be ext4 and data ordered by default. If you want to repair it force the the full format to ext3 option on cache in this recovery then pick the upgrade to ext4 on cache. Use ext4 if possible. To check if your cache is set ext3 incorrectly from wiping in cwm do "adb shell mount" in recovery and see.
[Acer Iconia A500] birkoffsjunk:
oh! so many thanks you's for this!!! Finally free of thor's crap.

I got 1 feature request, can you add the option to install rom from internal storage?
[Acer Iconia A500] :
edit: nvm...fixed it ;) ty
[Acer Iconia A500] dincdoes.me:
So do can we expect rom manager anytime soon?

I only ask so we can get themes kernels and roms in one location from other forum sites?
[Acer Iconia A500] ZsDaniel:
Can anyone post a pic?
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
Ill take a look at installing zips from /data/media.
[Acer Iconia A500] joe9002:
Um very important information to no i think is this the same in the latest? Doesn't matter now any way we have a way of installing ROMs that is not breaking laws.

Thank you for the hard work.
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Thanks for the good work. It seems to have fixed my issue which has bothered me for a few days (inability to flash 70% of roms), I can only guess old data was not getting cleaned properly.

However;

1) touch buttons go crazy on occassion. Random inputs not assigned. I saw this on Thor's recovery also.

2) where is the option to wipe/format Flexrom? I don;t see it in the Wipes menu,

3) In the Wipes Menu;

(Data/factory Reset)

(Data)

(cache)

Dalvak)

I chose only data,cache, Dalvak

Then Format all to EXT3

Then Update to EXT4

Flashed rom, rebooted. All ok

Above procedures correct? Or did I miss something?

4) In the "messages" after formatting, it stated I can flash a rom, or restore a nand Backup. Then it mentioned to do a "manual /data wipe" after restoring??

What exactly do you mean?

5) Now that things are formatted, when we flash new roms, should we repeat the above steps again? Or will the 3 wipes work ok. Would be nice to know.

Thanks for the great work!
[Acer Iconia A500] spoupard:
Help Needed! I tried to reformat my /data partition to EXT4. Now, no matter what I do, /data will not mount. if I try to mount /data or wipe /data or format /data, I get an error message that says "E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 (File exits)."

I have tried rebooting with no luck. If I let it boot, it asks for a password. I tried a hard reset with no luck. I tried reflashing my ROM (using Epiphany) with no luck.

Anyone have any suggestions?
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Not sure I can help. but I noticed, if you follow the steps for the FIRST TIME install, (wipes as I listed below, Format all to EXT3, then Upgrade to EXT 4

Then after flashing a rom, you boot to recovery, and try to do a format EXT 3 or 4 on any item, it gives you that same message repeatedly, no matter what other option you chose. (it went crazy )

I rebooted back to recovery, then just did Wipes

Factory Data/reset

Data

Cache

Dalvak

Sd card/android secure

System

Then flashed my rom and all was ok

It seems, that once you do the initial procedure, you do not need to go back and format. So far the wipes above seem to work.

The reason you get a password, is that you do not have an operating system more than likely.
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
1) Its the best I can do for now. You can always use the physical keys if you don't like the touch ones.

2) I left out wipe flexrom by accident I'll add it soon

3) To flash a rom you only need to wipe data and cache. Dalvik is contained inside of /data and is wiped when data is wiped. Normally you would NOT use the ext3|4 format menu as thats only there for advanced partitioning and is NOT needed to wipe at all.

4) you formatted /data, /cache & /system and your device will not boot up untill you restore a /system from a nandroid or flash a rom.

5) only needed item is wipe all for most setups as it will wipe data and cache and dalvik as it (dalvik) is contained inside of data. By default this is a quick rm -rf wipe that removes the contents of the file system but does not destroy the file system and recreate it. To enable a full destruction and reformat of a partition select the full ext wipe toggle option to on (beware as this will casue the loss of the contents of /data/media which is your internal sdcard.)

Those are advanced options that most users shouldn't have a need for and shouldn't normally use. Your data should have already been ext4 and you tried to reupgrade it to ext4 and looks like you corrupted your /data partition. For reference the 1st page has a description of the menu items. Dont just go selecting every option if you dont know what it does.

To fix your blunder you will need to boot into my recovery and open adb shell.

This will cause loss of all data contained on /data which will lose your /data/media.

From adb shell

mount (this is to check data isn't mounted) if mounted use "umount data"

mke2fs -j -b 4096 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index -C 1 /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
e2fsck -fy /dev/block/mmcblk0p8

After this is done your file system on /data will be fixed.
[Acer Iconia A500] spoupard:
Thanks for your help, but my problem now is that the /data partion is gone and I cannot seem to get it back. I have tried to repartition the sdcard and that doesn't help. No matter what I try to do, I always get a message saying "E:Cant mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 (File exists) Error mounting /data!"

---------- Post added at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 PM ----------

Thanks. I'll give this a try. I'll have to download and install ADB first. Just to clarify, though, the reason I was trying to upgrade /data to EXT3 was because FS info showed that it was an EXT3 fs.
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
There is a option under ext3|ext4 menu to check the fs (1st option). If you have to change the format use the restore to ext3 option on the partition 1st then use the upgrade to ext4 option on that partition. Be warned those as it will erase all data contained on that partition in the process.

The error you got on upgrading was most like by having a data-writeback set on the partition. I'm positive cwm set my cache as ext3 and data-writeback after wiping it. Data-writeback flag causes a delayed write of the journal and will/can cause loss of data if a power loss occurs (reboot/freeze, call reboot from terminal etc). This is not ideal at all for a phone/tablet and the small performance gains you can get from it are at the expense of the integrity of your data.
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Thanks for your reply. Sorry it was a long post.

Not sure if it's an issue or not, but, I've been flashing about 9 times so far tonight. (stripping apps from the 3.2.1)

Mostly it goes ok, but sometimes. I hit animationloop. (twice)

Both times I checked formatting in EXT3-EXT4, and it shows cache at EXT3, which is ok, but my System is EXT3 also. I upgrade it back to EXT4, and flashes normally. Not sure if it's my rom, although I haven't modified anything that would effect it.

Otherwise, I'm learning the tricks.

Good work.
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
On the anim loops while looping what does adb logcat tell you? Also when booted do adb pull /proc/config.gz and unzip the config.gz file it pulls and see if your rom kernel has rhe kernel config option of USE_EXT4_AS_EXT3 or something similar as I cant remember the wording. Also are you using any init.d scripts to alter the filesystems?
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Wasn't running adb at the time and really didn't think about it, But considering it's a factory rooted acer rom complete with factory flexrom, I'm tending to agree with you about the format. Seems 3.2.1 changes system to EXT3 then installs normally. But when you install the next version of the same rom, it loops. Setting it back to EXT4 results in a normal install.

Running no scripts. Stock 3.2.1 kernel.

If I get it to replicate again, I'll pull a logcat. This is what happened with Thors version, but I didn't have the option to fix it through recovery if I remember.

Never had this issue with 3.2 roms. Only after going to 3.2.1
[Acer Iconia A500] spoupard:
I have adb downloaded and installed on my pc. I also installed the USB drivers from ACER. However, when I plug the tablet into the pc, I get a message saying that the MTP USB Device failed to install and my tablet is not recognized. Any ideas? Thanks.
[Acer Iconia A500] daveid:
I have installed your recovery, and was attempting to install a new ROM, it flashed fine, but now I seem incapable of mounting /system... I just get "E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 (file exists)", no matter what I try to do. Any advice?

Reflashing the ROM caused it to mount again (during flash), will see if it is still mountable after flashing... and it seems to be.

Ok, I think this may have had to do with the Superuser update.zip I tried flashing, as I skipped that this time, and it didn't get all messed up again. Perhaps it is not mounting/unmounting right...
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
Please link me that zip.
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
Assuming you are booted in recovery adb mode should be started. If you still have issues you will need help from windows users getting adb setup. I use linux which needs no such drivers.
[Acer Iconia A500] daveid:
http://downloads.androidsu.com/superuser/Superuser-3.0.7-efghi-signed.zip
[Acer Iconia A500] spoupard:
Well I'm up and running again! :D Thanks for your help and for a great recovery!
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
I figured out whats resetting cache to ext3. When you boot into recovery with VOLUP + POWER the bootloader is wiping the cache as per the output. If recovery is booted manually from android via "reboot recovery" from adb shell or terminal it only shows the text of booting recovery kernel and the fs of cache isn;t changed.
[Acer Iconia A500] :
Was just about to post about this.

After wiping everything first, then format all ext3, then either upgrading one at a time, or upgrade all to ext4, then check FS, they all come back as Ext4. Next time you boot into Recovery, cache comes back as Ext3 while the rest remain ext4.

Thanks for the answer, and is there a way to rectify this?

thanks again for the great work you're doing drell ;)
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
No its from the bootloader booting the recovery from volup + power. That keycombo triggers bootloader to wipe cache before loading recovery. Booting recovery via ''reboot recovery'' from shell will bypass the bootloader wiping cache. No fix without bootloader source and the balls to flash it.

Heads up just don't mess with the ext3|ext4 menu everyone it doesnt seem to play nice with the iconia.
[Acer Iconia A500] :
While mine may be brass, they're not big enough for that lol

Thanks for your quick response. At least everything is in order, fresh, and clean now!

;)
[Acer Iconia A500] daveid:
Why not give an option to fix the cache partition if it has been incorrectly formatted by the bootloader? Not sure how feasible that is...
[Acer Iconia A500] IcedCube:
Thanks for this recovery. It feels good to finally ditch a recovery that violates the GPL (I used to use thor's CWM recovery).

EDIT: It does not matter if a partition is formatted EXT3 or EXT4. The ext4 kernel driver is backwards compatible with EXT2, EXT3 partitions. You will just have a slightly slower filesystem.
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
Of course on backwards compat. For something like cache that is hardly used I'm fine with ext3 and don't think it is worth fighting the bootloader over.
[Acer Iconia A500] IcedCube:
Worst case scenario:

Bootloader: I'm-a formatting your caches as EXT Three...

Us: No! EXT Four, damn it! There is a difference!

Bootloader: Computer says no. My brain doesn't have code for formatting EXT4 partitions.

Us: No, you'll do what we want you to do!

Bootloader: Fine then, have a brick.

*take your pick: Iconia explodes, instant-brick or fireworks display*

EXT4 is better at managing eMMC (and has other improvements like extents, but EXT3 is fine for a cache partition that will hardly be used).
[Acer Iconia A500] 10507:
Do we need to do anything else beside flashing the CWM zip file? Do I also need to do the itsmagic or it is already included in the zip?
[Acer Iconia A500] Euclid's Brother:
erica_renee is correct (mostly)

if you call the .img file "recovery.img" and put it in the root of the external_sd card, then Acer Recovery Install can install it (custom recovery option), no problem. It also handles the itsmagic part.
[Acer Iconia A500] :
You're using Acer recovery to install it in place of a script ;)
[Acer Iconia A500] hatefuel19:
WTF......flashed from cwm and everytime I boot its asking me for a password.....I've formatted every partition.....restored from a backup......flashed a different rom......flashed back to cwm.....restored backup from there......flashed a rom.....formatted......wtf please tell me how to fix my tab....Ive probly done something wrong but either way wtf.... please tell me how to fix this.......password it wants is not my g account pw......this isn't stock keyboard of be rom I've used either.......wtf
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
You may want to try the fix he posted in Post #35 as it sounds like you cooked your partition.

After you initially flashed the new recovery, you should have rebooted directly back to the new recovery.

Do your wipes;

Data/factory reset

Cache

Dalvik

System

(the last three may be redundant but what the heck)

Then go to Formats,

Format all to EXT3

After finished (1st time takes awhile)

(check to make sure all are EXT3

Select Update all to EXT4

(check to make sure it did it properly)

Then go back and install your rom.

But I think this is a little too late :(
[Acer Iconia A500] hatefuel19:
Keep getting error formatting /data........gonna try fastboot wipe if its possible......how do I boot to fastboot on this tablet? Never tried........ I'm under warranty so is there a way to wipe everything and make it so Acer is none the wiser?

My two cents on this recovery......although I have a major problem with violating gpl I have an even bigger problem with a bricked tablet.....I take full responsibility for my bricked tab but still.......regret giving this recovery a try
[Acer Iconia A500] hatefuel19:
When trying to format all as ext 3 I get can't mount mmcblk0p8 (file exists) and error mounting data......this thing is ****ed.....keep me posted on any suggestions
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Yeah, I hear 'ya.

TimmyDean has a thread here in the 500 forums, which has a tool for bricked tablets.

Basically, if it can still access your CPUID I believe, it will install a fresh rooted 3.2 version. Just do a search for him and you'll find the thread. He has a zip attached, version 4 I believe with instructions included in the zip. Has saved a few people's butts lately. It'll remove CWM and probably this recovery also, and install a version you can put Superuser app then acer recovery to install CWM. But I believe his version 4 does that for you.

Am not sure if it will help you or not. But, if you can't get any other info, then it's worth a shot.

(I'm not responsible tho, just pointing you to info)

However, I can tell you, that getting that ID number and keeping it written somewhere, is a good thing to do. Because if you get a really hard brick, you can't get access to the number.
[Acer Iconia A500] hatefuel19:
Downloading now......may take a minutes what with my megaupload being siezed and all.....who needs sopa........I need a beer........will update after dl and 1st attempt with timmydean.......thanks moscow.....if it doesn't work I'm blaming it all on you (since your not responsible anyway :))
[Acer Iconia A500] joe9002:
Can the cache problem be fixed with a script? Over on the dhd forum there are wipe all scripts in cwm.zip fomat that the dev expects us to run before Rom installation I just chose that and it formats all partitions correctly.

It's an idea maby one of the devs here could implement, I have no idea were to start.

Sent from my Desire HD
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
A man like myself. Never flash anything without alcohol :D:D

Hey, I blame everything on everybody else anyhow, so jump in the boat. I have plenty of seats! :D:D
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
I'm adding warning to 1st post for users not to mess with the ext3|ext4 menu unless they are very familiar with command line as the iconia apparently doesn't like changing partition formats.
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Well, I didn't have any real issues when following the directions. And it seems a lot of others didn't. Just some odd things I wasn't prepared for, but overall, I think you did a damn good job on it. It has a learning curve though, and not for the average user.

(by the way, those intermittant boot-ani loops are taken care of. I just had to do wipes a couple of times, and it works well)

Besides, (and the comment was not directed at you, but at the previous poster who was joking) anybody who ever messes with root, rom's, recoveries, should know full well what risk they take when doing so. And there is always a chance to mess up a device. If you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen! :D

Honestly, I think your recovery works well. Perhaps a bit too advanced for some people, but in all, I kind of like it. Gives lots of options.

When you get a chance though, you should arrange a lot of the advanced features, into a seperate area if possible. Some of the options, should not be so readily available to the casual flasher.

A nice warning "if you do not know adb or command line parameters, stay out of this area" in nice big red letters ;) would be helpful if they tried to access them.

I'll see about writing some sort of instruction document with fotos for this thing. Will probably shoot some questions in a PM later this week.

Keep up the great work!!!
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
A pictorial would be great. I normally take recovery screen shots with ddms from the android sdk but ddms doesnt work on iconia nor alot of other new highend devices.
[Acer Iconia A500] erica_renee:
SOMETIMES the more information you write about something.. The more you tell them to stay away from something if they do not know whats up with it. THE More people will skip thru the instructions. and think I GOT THIS!!!!!

Then brock there Tablets..

I am guessing i have been very luckly i have flashed my tablet many many times.Most of it caused by me messing with the UI colors and theme. There are so many people that what perfect,exact, step by step instructions. I do believe that if someone needs that much help. THEY NEED TO NOT TOUCH THERE DEVICE UNTIL THEY fully understand the basics o and Consequences of not understanding something.

Thanks again for this recovery OP i so hated using the VOL Toggle.Call me lazy if you like .... I scratched off my nail color one day.. GRRRRRRRRR
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
I think what Erica's trying to say,

"if you don't know what it is, or what it does, DON'T mess with it"

Until you fully understand.

And don't mess with things, until you know exactly how to get out of the mess you're about to get into.

This is a Dev forum. And if you don't know how to use ADB, and you didn't do your homework, then quite frankly, you shouldn't be messing with this stuff.

Just because you rooted, and flashed CWM point and click, doesn't mean you should dive right into this. Do it only if.. you know how to deal with it when things go wrong.

Don't blame the cook.
[Acer Iconia A500] :
+999,999,999,999,999

;)
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
Im working on a update to include option to wipe flexrom and flash a zip from internal sd. Have both of those are tested and working. Im also writing a shell script that will fix the corrupted partitions from users that ignore the warning on the ext3¦ext4 menu.
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Good job!

Dude, if they ignore the warning, well....

Really, you are doing too much.
[Acer Iconia A500] hatefuel19:
Holy **** I dunno wtf fixed this thing......poked around long enough I guess.....couldn't get adb from recovery so was about to give up hope.....timmydeans tool couldn't find current version so it stopped at that step.....so I figured I would try flashing a rom so it would have the version in / system......flashed rooted stock 3.2 from kekinash and while I had my attention elsewhere it booted to this.....I've lost all my nand backups as well as my TiBu but oh well....my tablet works.....thank you all for your help and the hard work that went into this recovery......gonna keep it and keep my hands off things that are unnecessary for ME to use

Moscow please don't mess my tablet up again ;)
[Acer Iconia A500] drellisdee:
Bump

Updated to version 3.14 see 2nd post for changelog and download.
[Acer Iconia A500] :
Thanks drell. Here's hoping your additions will keep some from borking their tabs.....one can always hope! ;)
[Acer Iconia A500] :
Recovery 3.14 Flashable file in attachment of this post, and found here:

MD5 Sum : C6074EFA20C93EB29AF8661D63C43C38
[Acer Iconia A500] al2fast:
Thanks for the recovery! Will be flashing soon!!
[Acer Iconia A500] Euclid's Brother:
Haven't tried it yet, but was wondering if this recovery supports the /cache/recovery/extendedcommand file.

---------- Post added at 10:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 PM ----------

I just flashed 3.14. Looks really good, but I'm getting some strange behavior from the touch buttons. Nearly ended up partitioning my sdcard (it asked to hit power to confirm) while trying to get out of that menu.

When I tap one of the touch buttons, nothing happens immediately. But when I tap it (or another one) again, then the action of the previous tap happens. so the highlight bar is always one tap behind.

I know that sounds crazy.

Here's a scenario. I boot into recovery and do this.

Tap down, down, down, up, enter: the highlight bar is on "backup/restore"

then if i hit enter again, it goes into the "backup/restore" menu.

then hit down and it goes back to the main menu.

using the volume/power buttons works correctly though.

Anyone else notice this?

---------- Post added at 11:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 PM ----------

Aww.. sadly, it doesn't support the extendedcommand file. Was hoping to add support to Acer Recovery Installer for it.

Do you have any plans for implementing that?
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Yes. I reported this the other day. Best to stay with the manual buttons.

Thought I was the only one this happened to, so you're not seeing things :D And actually, I would prefer they were removed, as you can really cause a mess if you don't pay strict attention to where your fingers are.:eek:

---------- Post added at 10:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 AM ----------

Glad you got it working again :D I think somewhere in the OP, it stated you would lose everything in internal memory, but it looks like maybe you formatted your sd? Also, I would steer clear of the touch buttons ;) Seems like the same issue with the early ICS builds concerning touchscreen. Delayed reaction, then it just gets worse. You can actually activate an option by mistake.

Oh, and I'll quit messing with your tab, when you stop drinking all my beer ;)