yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
I can make a zip that flashes the bootloader, but it's pretty experimental. I have no idea if it will break other things. I flashed a full rom and it went fine, but who knows with just the bootloader.

Do you have access to nvflash in case it bootloops or doesn't boot?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Can you make an entire Revolver 4 1.3 ROM (or any ICS ROM) with the old bootloader already as part of the ROM? That would make it really easy for everyone!

My understanding is that Revolver 1.31 includes the new bootloader as well (haven't verified that yet though), so stay away from 1.31 (unless you manually replace the bootloader that it includes with the older one, although I haven't done any testing with 1.31 yet).

Thanks!

Still no issues, by the way - folks - I think we have a winner!!
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Potential ICS reboot/SOD solutions! Testers needed!

Well folks, I've now passed milestone #3 and am pretty much convinced the bootloader downgrade has resolved the ICS reboot/SOD issues (at least that I was having)!

I'm currently at over 48 hours uptime with over 27 of those hours in deep-sleep mode. I've had no issues - I think I have my beloved Transformer back!!

I realize that 48 hours isn't a long time, but I've NEVER gotten 48 hours uptime with ICS with my usage patterns. I've only had over 24 hours once, so these results are very encouraging! Plus, it acutually makes sense and explains a lot of the reasons why some folks have the problem and some don't.

Had anyone else tested the older bootloader with ICS yet? I also did a full wipe before doing anything (via Vol- & Power button menu).

Again, I'm running bootloader 8.6.5.6 with Revolver 1.3 (I did NOT install the Revolver 1.31 patch and I think it's important that you don't since it apparently includes the new bootloader (so I've heard anyway - I haven't verified).

I'm really starting to get excited about this solution - I think we're on to something here!!!

Now we need to get a custom ROM built with the old bootloader and the original ICS release - I'd recommend that we don't install the latest ICS patch yet either - as I can't stand the screen coming on by itself every 10 minutes!

Thanks for listening!
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
I'm using the 8.6.5.21bootloader with the 9.2.1.17 rom. I have 16 hours of uptime, but I only had reboots on a weekly basis.

I have a flashable zip for the bootloader, but at this stage, I would rather limit it to people who have access to nvflash- just in case. PM me if interested.

My other theory is that the battery needs to be fully charged before flashing. I noticed a few symptoms that seemed like a bad flash to me that were resolved by reflashing the 92117 rom.

sent from my transformer
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
jtrosky- maybe you should change the thread title to draw more attention- maybe someone else can add insight about what is going on.

sent from my transformer
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Actually, I'm not the OP for this thread, so I can't change the title.... I did link to this thread from one of the other "random reboot" threads, but maybe I'll link to it from a few more of the reboot/SOD threads...

I thought that people would jump at the chance to possibly fix their TF's!!!
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] horndroid:
You are aware that people without problems are using ICS bootloader right?

When people upgraded from HC to stock ICS using CWM, a lot of people, including myself, had the problem of USB not working because the ICS bootloader didn't flash. We had to reflash the ICS bootloader to make it work again.

I think something else you did in the process of downgrading/upgrading between HC and ICS multiple times fixed the problem. But I doubt it's the bootloader.

The reason you had problems when you first downgraded to HC could be attributed to you using super wipe script and not wiping normally using CWM options. People often have messed up ROM flashes, other than ARHD, after using super wipe script.

To be sure that it's the bootloader, you need to flash the ICS bootloader, on top of your current problem-free setup, and see if problems come back.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wingzero2085:
I'd be somewhat tempted to try your solution, given that my TF is nvflashable, but I do have to agree with horndroid here -- to say that it really fixes the problem, you need to verify that the problems recur when the ICS bootloader is re-introduced, and then clear up again when it is removed. Otherwise, it could be a fluke or the product of something else that happened when you went through the process.

Also, for me, 3+ days of no reboots does not mean the problem is resolved. Some of us experiencing RR/SOD will go for long periods with no issues and then all of a sudden, tons of reboots in a short period of time (this has been my own personal experience -- some days my TF will reboot 6+ times, and sometimes it has gone over a week without any issues at all, reboots included).

Just my two cents, though ... I don't really want to crash your party or anything -- I can imagine it must be nice to finally have some semblance of stability! ;)
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Agreed - that's what we need more testers!!

But for me, there is no doubt in my mind that it solved the issues on MY transformer. I did the EXACT same process right before, EXCEPT for the bootloader downgrade and still had the reboots under Honeycomb.

I'm still not completely convinced that everyone who has the problem even knows they have it.

Also - before reporting any results, please VERIFY your bootloader version by going into the Vol- & Power menu - you may have had the bootloader upgraded (or downgraded) and you didn't even realize it.

ALL - Please, if you DON'T have the problem, don't come here telling us what is or isn't the problem - because if you don't have the problem, there is no way you could know, other than what others are telling you. And, there is no way you can help test. I want this thread to be for the folks that have the problem and are trying to solve it.

Also - there is nothing "dangerous" about this - basically, you just need to do is to install stock honeycomb (w/bootloader) and then flash Revolver 4, version 1.3. It's that simple to test.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neffarious:
Can you post/link the zip you used? I don't have a stock HC lying around
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Good idea - that way, folks can use the exact same stock image that I used...

You might as well go and download Revolver 4 version 1.3 as well if you want to use the exact setup that I did... Again, do NOT use version 1.31 - it has the upgraded bootloader too!

EDIT: Here is a rapidshare link (premium account) to the stock Asus 8.6.5.6 firmware that I used for my testing:

https://rapidshare.com/files/626822051/UpdateLauncher_US_epaduserV8_6_5_6.zip

You'll need to un-zip this file and then flash the resulting .zip file with CMW (you cannot flash this .zip file directly, you need to un-zip it first!)
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
@gee one - how are things going for you? How many uptime hours now?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
I'm at 23 hours, although, I didn't have too many reboots with ICS. I noticed maybe 3 or 4 since 92117 came out, if that's any indication of the frequency.

I'm using a rooted, deodexed stock rom with the 86521 bootloader.

Edit: my method for checking for reboots is just to leave a terminal window open in the background. If it reboots, the terminal window is closed and there is no notification icon in the status bar.

sent from my transformer
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Ok, thanks for the info! I'm now at 57 hours uptime with 28.5 hours deep-sleep! It is sooooo nice having a stable transformer again!!! I know that some poeple said that they can go for weeks, but I personally, have never had an uptime near this high - and I was really trying to!

Excellent battery life in stand-by as well!

I think I'm going to try going to that version of the bootloader myself (8.6.5.21) - I'm sure they fixed many things since the 8.6.5.6 version that I have!

Although, I'm half afraid to touch anything now that I seem to be stable again! Not sure what I'm going to do... I think I'll hold off and let this run for another day or two first...

@gee one - any chance of getting a link to the custom ROM you put together (with the 8.6.5.21 bootloader)? Would save me the time of getting that setup!
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] luna_c666:
Just flashed the 8.6.5.21 bootloader, nothing seems to have changed functionally..boots up fine, I am running the 9.2.2.3 kernel, so I'm wondering if this is going to result in no more reboots- also, scaled my OC down to 1.4ghz from 1.7, which was quite stable, so hopefully this will add some information to your quest for a solution. Will keep you guys updated.

PC failing to recognize the Transformer...must be the bootloader now. Sigh...
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neffarious:
Is this a rooted version?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Yes, you do need the new bootloader if you need USB connectivity. For me, I don't use it much, so I'd much rather have stability, but....
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Is what a rooted version? If you mean the link for the stock ROM above, then no, it is NOT rooted - pure stock. You would have to root after installing.... I wanted to make SURE that the bootloader was included in the archive and I know that Asus stock ROMs always include it...
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] luna_c666:
I use it rarely, but I do the odd developing and would like to have ADB as an option..wonder what it is that the bootloader miscommunicates to the PC that it won't recognize it..should be a way to check the new one with the old one and backport the new stuff to the old one (of course that might reintroduce the same issues)
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
I think that Asus changes the usb id each time?

I just had a reboot on 86521 with about 24 hours of uptime. This seems pretty short since I hardly noticed them before.

I'll try the one jtrosky is on.

sent from my cyanogen(mod) vision
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
@luna - what ROM / kernel are you running? Just trying to keep track of some of the difference in setups as well...

I'm running 8.6.5.6 bootloader, Revolver 1.3 (NOT 1.31) and stock kernel (comes with Revolver by default). I also did a Wipe via the Power & Vol- menu before flashing and a reset to factory default after flashing each ROM, just to make sure everything was clean.

While I understand if you don't want to go that far, just wanted that to be known as well...

My current uptime: 60 hours, with 29.5 hours deep-sleep time.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] luna_c666:
I am on stock 9.2.1.17 with the 2.6.39.4-galf2417 livux@Tragon#40 kernel from 9.2.2.3 TF101G, modified slightly..the one located in the dev section under test 8 by guevor I think it was. I would be going back to stock if it didn't seem that the TF101G kernel does seem more stable..plus, the OC..love the OC..haha Not the best scenario for a controlled test, but I can't stay stock stock for more than a day, so I am testing it like this on my *usual* setup (usual, as in the last couple of days lol)
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Have you had ANY random reboots/SOD's yet with the test8 kernel by guevor?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] luna_c666:
1, but I can't say that wasn't due to running it overclocked at 1.7GHz..I did bench test my device running 1.7 while on the performance governor and it seemed pretty stable, so I put the governor back to interactive and got a reboot a few hours later while trying to download something in the browser and installing an apk simultaneously, I've had it installed for less than 24 hours and like I said can't confirm if the overclock was what made it reboot..I can say that I have had it 1.5GHz in the past on hc roms and it should handle that fine, so I backed my speed back down to 1.4 so hopefully that will be enough to confirm that it isn't the clock speed making me reboot if it does.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JohnM109R:
ok then can we just CWM the older bootloader onto ICS 4.0.3 rooted

which is the from this thread 8.6.5.6...?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Sure, if you have a way to flash the bootloader only, that will work fine. Do you have a flashable .zip file that contains ONLY the old bootloader?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
<sigh> - just opened my Transformer and found it rebooted about an hour ago.... DAMN! I guess it was just co-incidence after all!

Sorry for getting peoples hopes up (including mine) - I was sure it was resolved! NOT! :-(
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldcpu:
Its still possible the boot loader is a factor ...

Well, it could be there are multiple issues/problems and not just one. It is possible that changing the boot loader reduced the problem frequency but that because there are more issues it was not a complete solution.

There has to be a reason why users who roll back to Honeycomb still have the problem, and IMHO if it is not something like the same boot loader as ICS causing part of the problem (such as you have been investigating via using a different boot loader) then it could be applications that have been updated for ICS, when a fresh install of the app is conducted, also cause Honeycomb problems.

I don't understand the mechanism behind the rolling back to Honeycomb. Is all data completely wiped ? (cleaning out all config files) ? or only part wiped ? I know with the GNU/Linux I use on my desktop PC, I can roll forward or back the version of GNU/Linux with my software package manager, and never touch my data (nor my user specific config files) which are located on /home. Hence if I have a bad config file in /home for an app, re-installing GNU/Linux will not solve the problem if I keep /home. How does Android OS handle this ? I have no idea.

Also, its not clear to me that Honeycomb was subjected to the same scrutiny for reboots that we are seeing applied to ICS. I know I had no problem on ICS until I changed my shutdown/reboot strategy from 3 deliberate times/day to 24/7. Only by going to 24/7 was I able to reproduce the problems.

Anyway, so don't give up on the possibility that there could be something quirky in the boot loader leading to this ... but we could be looking at more than 1 problem. Especially since we are seeing 3 different sorts of symptoms with the reboots/sleep-of-death, which are:

simple successful random reboots

sleep of death (a deep sleep that requires a reboot to recover)

random reboots that freeze at the Asus screen

all of which appear to only start from a sleep mode.

It may not be realistic to have only 1 problem cause all 3 symptoms.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] horndroid:
I know jtrotsky used super wipe script(it's still not recommended) but the others I've seen that reverted to Honeycomb did so without any wiping. Their reason for going back to Honeycomb was to avoid factory reset.

So they went HC -> ICS -> HC without any wiping in between, which would create just a mess.

Flashing Honeycomb through CWM doesn't wipe anything. It just copies, and overwrites if needed, files.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
This is what driving me crazy - I had actually given up trying to figure out the ICS issue and just wanted to go back go Honeycomb at one point - that's when I found that the reboots still existed after a complete wipe and install of Honeycomb... That's when I figured that we should be able to determine what wrong with some controlled testing, but....

I truly can't believe that these issues existed in Honeycomb - SOMEONE would have noticed it.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that, like you said, there is really more than one cause of these three similar, but different, issues.

I just wish we has SOME recent feedback from Asus - if they already have a fix in the works, then I don't want to waste countless hours testing this stuff! Last update that I saw was a general one-line update on the 26th with Gary from Asus just saying that they are working 'feverishly' on the logs - which really tells us nothing...

I think I'm going to concentrate on trying to get Honeycomb stable at this point... I'm going to try the old bootloader on Revolver 3 now (honeycomb version).
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wingzero2085:
I completely agree with you on this -- I doubt that there is a single source that is producing all three of these issues. At first, I thought I was one of the lucky ones, because my TF was perfectly fine after the update for a couple of weeks solid, while my husband's TF would reboot seemingly every single day, sometimes several times per day. But, about the time his quit doing that, mine began with the more frequent reboots. The primary difference between our two units are the apps installed.

However... I can say with some certainty that my TF never randomly rebooted on the last version of honeycomb (the last 3.2.1 update). I use it so frequently that I'd have noticed. I also say that because on earlier versions of honeycomb, I saw the occasional random reboot take place (and often enough it happened while my device was charging). I believe that was on 3.1.

Anyways, I don't think I'd completely give up on the bootloader either, but I have to say I've axed this as a test for myself, because I want to maintain USB connectivity. I don't use it often, but I don't want to have to deal with not having it should I need it. I'm still crossing my fingers for something out of Asus sooner rather than later.

(BTW, does anyone know if there are any similar issues on the Xoom? If apps are the primary cause, you would think that they'd see this as well. And does anyone know if there is a reason Asus used the 2.6 kernel, rather than 3.0? Could that have anything to do with our problems?)
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
FYI - I'm now testing bootloader 8.6.5.6 with Revolver 3.11 (Honeycomb 3.2.1).... I'll post my results...
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldcpu:
yes - xoom experiencing random reboots from what I have read ...

I've read a number of posts by xoom users noting they are getting random reboot boots:

* http://www.xoomforums.com/forum/xoom-rescue-squad-help/14776-random-reboots-ics.html

* http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1457674

and there are many more

But despite these posts by xoom users, we still have frustrated Asus Transformer users claiming no other Tablet (but the Asus Transformer) has reboots. It goes to show what frustration can drive one to post - and frankly - thats completely understandable.

Hopefully a combined upstream/downstream fix will be found and implemented.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
don't trust anyone who can't count in binary!

After 2 reboots in the last 24 hours, I suspect Apple fanboys manipulated the kernel code in a plot to make the new iPad (3) seem better by comparison.

sent from my hackintosh...
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wingzero2085:
Thank you for that! I hadn't actually ventured over to the Xoom area, despite good intentions to check it out (my apologies for utter laziness). I'm actually quite glad to hear that we aren't alone. I also should note that my brother, who owns an Acer A500 said he's read about SoD issues with the leaked ICS build for the Acer as well ... a trend, perhaps? Don't know, but at least it makes me feel better about just sitting back and waiting to see what happens. ;)
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
ha ha I made a rookie mistake and flashed the 9.2.1.17 bootloader yesterday, thinking it was the HC one. Obviously there are still reboots with the HC bootloaders, but perhaps they are less frequent than ICS?

At least we have the collective power of the tegra 2 users looking in to this, rookie flashing mistakes aside. :D
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
FYI - Reboot occured before I hit 24 hours uptime with HONEYCOMB! <sigh>

I'm now going to try NVFlashing a version that someone else has bee successful with (haven't tried NVFlash method yet).

I just want my stable Honeycomb device back at this point!! <sigh>

This was with complete wipes and restore to factory defaults, no apps restored at all (did install about15 apps though - I still need to try and actually use my devicce when possible)...
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gee one:
My other theory is that the reboots are caused by a bad flash. Is everyone flashing with a full charge >95%, plugged into the wall? The USB port won't cut it since the voltage is too low.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
I always flash with an (almost) full battery, while connected to AC power.

That being said, my newest test is to install ICS via NVFLash.... We'll see how that goes... So far, so good....

EDIT: FYI, it seems that by installing the NVFlash version of ICS, I no longer have the screen turning on by itself every 5-10 minutes! Maybe there really is something different about the end result if using NVFash to install ICS?

EDIT: Just put tablet to sleep and about 5 seconds later, it just rebooted..... This was latest ICS installed via NVFlash... <sigh>
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] luna_c666:
Fwiw, running guevor test8 and the 8.6.5.21 Bootloader, not experienced a single reboot in days. Out of the ordinary for me.. :) I suspect this post will convince it to reboot as soon as I hit submit..
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neffarious:
Still having issues, gonna try to go full stock then work my way back. is this version rootable with razorclaw?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] taarhaug:
What is the latest ROM with the previous bootloader? Revolver 3.11.1 still reboots after a downgrade.

Thor
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] warlord234:
I'm also having this problem!!! I will try downgrade bootloader too!!

So frustrate that reboot problems even occur in honeycomb :-(

And how can i completely wipe to get cleanest device before install ROM?

Just to make sure that nothing left from old ROM.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
Guys - I believe that I started the whole "it might be the bootloader" thing, but it never really flushed out that way... While it made sense in theory, I never found that the booloader fixed anything...

That being said, I HAVE been able to get back to a stable Honeycomb again (Revolver 3.11.1 actually). In order to make it stable, I HAD to restore to stock Honeycomb via NVFLash first. From that point, I rooted Honeycomb and installed CWM recovery. I then installed Revolver from there. Been stable so far.

Others have reported success using NVFlash method as well... As long as your device is NVFLash'able. Not sure if there is a comprable solution for the newer Transformers...
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] warlord234:
So now what should I do to get the most stable OS?
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jtrosky:
NVFLash a stock version of Honeycomb.

Can you use NVFlash with your device? If so, I'll post a link to a stock Honeycomb image in NVFlash format.
[Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] warlord234:
My TF is B80. From reading other forum, I think I can't :(

Can I do it with CWM?

I will try this ROM http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1552303 now

because they said they replace bootloader + modded as well.