yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Acer Iconia A500] DadoLegenda:
hi .. my english is very bad ..

but i try to tell you what my problem is.

i have a acer a500. and i tryd to update from cyanogenmod to the omnirom ..

they write there .. that i have to update my bootloader and than the cwm ...

i do all like in the discripton ... but my problem is now following ..

when my a500 starts, it cames a green screen .. the skrilax bootloader v9

there are 2 boot options .. on the first LNX there should be my android ..

i get the booting android image from lnx partion ... sreen .. after 1 min .. the display get dark ... and than the a500 restarts.

that make it everytime ..

than i start with power and volume down button .. there i get a "bootmenu mode" .. i see the follow things

Version: V9 - gbc410d4

Debug Mode: OFF

Booting from EXTFS: Allowed

and than the other menus ..

if i go to Boot secondary kernel image (AKB) .. it loads me the CWM 6.0.4.5 that i have installed.

i dont know what is going wrong ..

i tryed over the CWM to install 2 different OMNIROMs but the same problem ..

i install the OMNIROM like this ...

boot in the CWM

wipe data/factory reset

install zip

choos the zip from sdcard

after the install is going well

wipe cache partition

reboot system now

but than the same problem like i tell you ...

i realy dont know .. what is going wrong ..

i try to install the old CyanogenMod Version .. but there is the same problem ..

maybe somethiing is wrong with my bootloader?

have anyone an idea what i can do now?

thanks for helping ..

i hope you understand me what i mean .. maybe somebody speak german or an balkan language ..

thanks for reading and maybe helping ..
[Acer Iconia A500] japinder:
Can you try to install any other ROM, or maybe the stock 4.0.4. Once that works, you can again go the custom ROM route.

Jp
[Acer Iconia A500] brop52:
Skrillax bootloader recovery

I am very new to this, I installed skrillax_cz bootloader using this guide http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1622425 . I used the following apx file for the apx-flash tool and manager: V8-TWRP_2.1.3_ICS_recovery.a500apx. Does this file V8-TWRP_2.1.3_ICS_recovery.a500apx come with a new recovery or do I still need to install one because when I power up my tablet and hold down the volume up key i get the skrillax v8 bootloader logo and the booting primary recovery kernel image message (image 1). After this, the image attached below appears (image 2)....

I have a rooted acer iconia a500 tablet running stock ICS

Any help is appreciated!
[Acer Iconia A500] dibb_nz:
you must install a custom rom. so d/l one and put it on yr ext sd. To be safe reflash the v8 then BOOT DIRECTLY to recovery and flash your rom.

your stock rom has overwritten your newly flashed custom recovery with the stock one as the dead android shows.

the first pic is more or less showing you that the bootloader cannot find an appropriate rom to load
[Acer Iconia A500] brop52:
Thank You! That was very helpful!
[Acer Iconia A500] dabl8:
It used to be you had to get fastboot from HTC et al. but the latest android sdk has it and it works for me on Linux.
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
I've noticed some confustion about the messages written on the tablet when using APX mode and nvflash, so I've taken the HC bootloader from 3.2 (which works with nvflash too), and patched the messages a bit to make it more clear (Note: HC 3.2 is using signature check, not itsmagic).

In attachment there are two files:

bootloader_apx.bin - the one for use with "-bl" argument in the initial nvflash command, it won't boot normally and prompt you to reboot the tablet after giving PASS.

bootloader_hc.bin - well, the "bootloader_apx.bin" was patched to act as signature fail in every case :p, so this one makes it to pass in every case - for those who wish to experiment or play with HC roms, otherwise useless.
[Acer Iconia A500] civato:
I always love a good experiment.
[Acer Iconia A500] grimm18:
ok, installed v3 and now get SOD when i never had it b4 on HC.:confused:

using lightspeed 4.4.
[Acer Iconia A500] Reno_kun:
Should be a kernel problem. Reinstall the ROM which choose the right kernel or install Civato's kernel for ics bootloader.
[Acer Iconia A500] drkalo:
Screen autorotation

OK, I asked in FlexReaper thread but obviously it's a bootloader issue...at least I think so. I tested v3 unlocked bootloader with Lightspeed 4.5 and screen auto-rotation is not working as well (same as FlexReaper R14).

Do you guys have the same issue with the unlocked bootloader?

EDIT: I was just googling this and found that many people are having this issue after an OTA update so ACER are the one to blame...
[Acer Iconia A500] civato:
Auto rotation working just fine here and also locking it.

clean up your system with real format and do a clean install and don't restore any data.
[Acer Iconia A500] drkalo:
Thanks for replying, civ. I always do a clean install (data & caches) and manually format system and flexrom before flashing a new ROM, even an updated version of the same ROM ....:confused:

EDIT!!!

Just tried this strange fix here and all of a sudden ... it worked :eek:

HURRAY!
[Acer Iconia A500] Vintage144:
I must be missing something because I dont see how in the world that would help? (I dont have any SOD issues whatsoever ore any other problems) but that method just doesnt seem right , but who knows?
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Updated OP.

First, added links for A501 version at request (aside from logo & text, I've found one small difference between a500 / a501 bootloaders, there might be more). Also added *.a500apx bundles for blackthund3r's tool.
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Thanks Skrilax_CZ

Will flash it in a bit. Hope the difference isn't a big one ;) Keep me posted if you need anything.

The difference wouldn't have anything to do with power management would it?
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Well, I found just some string diffs, wasn't looking into the 0.03.14 binary. The bootloader seemed to be mostly universal, at least on HC (no diffs found there). If there are some diffs, I'd say it's about 3G modem.
[Acer Iconia A500] wlk0:
Thanks dude.

Any chance you would also patch/unlock 0.03.14 from 501 leaks ?
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Yeah I still want to do some polishing, and I'll base that on 0.03.14. However it would be good to know what issues have A501 with V3 (or well, possible issues caused by the bootloader). Main things are already done (i.e fully working fastboot).
[Acer Iconia A500] wlk0:
Excellent !

Well, regarding A501 issues, so far I only noticed the 3G dropping issues (leading to intensive battery leak), but I suspect this is more a driver/kernel issue than a BL one (especially since I have them even with HC BL, whereas other has them with your unlocked BL).
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Usually bootloader issue is rather like:

- something doesn't work at all (bootloader didn't initialize it - example would be no 3G at all)

- misconfiguration

- fastboot ignoring partition (in case there is 3G firmware partition in eMMC, which is not on new devices)

I don't think the 3G dropping issue will be connected to the BL too.
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Well, I've been running V3 almost from the 501 leak. Here's what I know.

3g dies often. But no way to track it down. Sometimes it dies after 30min. I've also gone 5hrs before it dies. Only thing that keeps it active 100% is WakeLock. Considering it did this with the stock bootloader also (from what I've read) I don't think it's a bootloader issue. But I could be wrong.

SOD with ver3 is so rare, I'm not sure whether I actually powered off the tab or not ;). Regardless, Wakelock takes care of this also.

Although with WakeLock, you take a large hit in Battery Life (but not as much as when 3g dies for several hours).

I could run a logcat if you think it could help, but it would be a really long one till the 3g dies.

Right now, I'm testing a new kernel for at least 6 hrs with some wakelock built in.

EDIT: Also, I notice when I enter Fastboot, I get the message "entering fastboot mode..." And that's all. Without ever using fastboot on the iconia, I would assume I would then run the fastboot command from the SDK? Or is there supposed to be some menu?
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
SOD is just configuration issue (fixable with cmdline, civato described it in OP of the guide thread).

In fastboot mode, well initially right after posting V3 there was just this message (as is in stock BL), I patched it after posting the OP several hours later to say "Fastboot Mode" (so ppl don't wait). Yeah there is no menu, you use "fastboot.exe" binary in the sdk and it is in common format, you can get some hints here: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Fastboot. Command list is posted in OP.
[Acer Iconia A500] civato:
Some side info:

SoD can be eliminated by a command line but I don't need to put that in for people using the ICS bootloader on the A500 and G100W.

I need to put that in for the HC bootloader users , I also did a test kernel where I changed the value in the following line

echo 0 > /sys/module/wakelock/parameters/debug_mask , (normal value is 7 I changed it to 0 and for the few (2persons) that had still SoD on the ICS booltoader that did the trick.)

But again , for ICS bootloader users I never put a cmd in the boot.img and I never experienced SoD since beeing on ICS bootloader.

If you want I post a a501 kernel with the SoD cmd lp0_vec=8192@0x1840c000 for the ICS bootloader users.

Edit see attachments , flash with cwm (gps tweak , cif modules load and speed tweaks are also in it) .

I also added the stock full root for if something must go wrong.

ONLY FOR ICS BOOTLOADER USERS
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Hmm, in the BL there is a dynamic resolution whether the HW is wifi only or not (i.e in cmdline "androidboot.carrier=wifi-only" for A500). Currently trying the 0.03.14, noticed just that it formats cache after going to fastboot unlike 0.03.12 (going to remove that). So far the cmdline part "target_product=a501_ww_gen1" is the diff which is hardcoded.

I'm a bit hesitant whether to allow flashing custom bootloaders the "recovery way". Currently it will allow only stock BL (so it doesn't break stock OTA compatibility), there is a signature check over it. If it's unsinged and you put crap to the BL update partition, you'll have to nvflash. The only benefit there would be allowing customizable bootlogo (would make a simple application for that).
[Acer Iconia A500] fuxi222:
V3 => V9

I'm currently on BL V3 and flashing the latest CWM recovery image to secboot fails (Error 0x30003). So maybe updating the bootloader to V8 or V9 will help.

Is the only way to update by the nvflash tool or is there any easier possibility?
[Acer Iconia A500] meduza:
...I think, in v3 it should be possible to upgrade the bootloader via recovery as a flashable zip...

m.
[Acer Iconia A500] fuxi222:
According to this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1622425 it is only possible for V4 and V5 to flash a cwm package (see first post, second quote).

I think the reason is, that a blob is inside the zip, but flashing of blob files was first supported by V4 - but it's only a guess?!

Will I brick my device by trying it with V3?

And any other ideas?
[Acer Iconia A500] meduza:
...it looks like you're right. My bad, I was wrong, it's years ago already... ;)

m.
[Acer Iconia A500] fuxi222:
The last time I flashed the A500 was in year 2012! ;)

I flashed V8 manually yesterday with nvflash and it works well now with the secondery recovery.
[Acer Iconia A500] meduza:
That's good to hear :) I would recommend TWRP from Thor anyway as well as one of the LP 5.1.1 tegraowners ROMs... .

m.
[Acer Iconia A500] fuxi222:
I just updated the V8 bootloader to V9 (CWM flash). :cowboy:

I flashed the TWRP 2.6.3.0 as secondary boot. My "first" recovery is still an old CWM 5.5.x.x, which was supplied by the bootloader V8 update. It didn't work to flash the recovery.img supplied here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2583710 to the recovery section. Only the flashing to the secboot section would work, but there is the TWRP, which should stay there.

So I tried to use the CWM Zip-Files supplied here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2705989 (see section "You Are on the ICS Unlocked bootloader and want to install a different CWM the easy way !") and replaced the recovery.zip within the zip by the newer one, but this does not work (I get an error message at boot: primary kernel SOS). Flashing the old version supplied by the zip without modifications does work.

How can I update the CWM in the recovery section to version 6.0.x.x?
[Acer Iconia A500] meduza:
It should be a cwm, which is modified for our device. You could try the acer recovery installer app...

m.
[Acer Iconia A500] fuxi222:
The CWM from the link is for the A500. It does work, when I flash it into the secboot section, but not flashed on recovery section!

I will try the installer app you mentioned, thx...

UPDATE: The recoveries inside the installer app are all older than the one I am trying to upgrade. :(

Maybe someone can explain, why the CWM 6.0.4.5 recovery.img is only flashable on secboot?! Maybe it is too large for the recovery section?!

And is there any way to install it to recovery section instead?
[Acer Iconia A500] meduza:
...there was a time period, I had two recoverys too, I remember I installed the second one via ADB...

m.
[Acer Iconia A500] millzyy:
resolved.
[Acer Iconia A500] millzyy:
dupe
[Acer Iconia A500] jksmith0011:
Great guidelines...Skrilax !!!

Thanks a million for helping to save my good old A500. W/out your tips, I wouldn't be able to recover & upgrade it to Omni 4.4.4-20150210 (CM11).
[Acer Iconia A500] Phenom727:
Updating v8 to v9 Skrilax Bootloader & ROM

Hello,

I have an Iconia A500 with Skrilax v8 bootloader and I wanted to know how to update to v9 and using my own bootup image.

So do I hold Volume Up + Power and then Write v9 bootloader? How do I flash the image I want to use at bootup? How do I update to 5.1.1 CM ROM I downloaded? I have no idea what to do here, because I bought this tablet with v8 Skrilax and 4.4.4 CM ROM.

Any help would be appreciated.
[Acer Iconia A500] R3d0x57:
boot directly to android

Hi,

I have little question about the screen Skrilax_CZ's bootloader V9

Is it possible to hide this bootloader and boot directly to android ?

(Hide the multiboot menu (1 is android and 2nd is cm)

Thank's for help !
[Acer Iconia A500] roland.georg.fuchs@gmx.de:
files for bootloader

Hello,

where i can find the files for the bootloader v7 and v8?

the link does not work well.

thx
[Acer Iconia A500] Redevil06:
What happened to the Bundles?

When you try and use Black Thunder's APX manager and it try's to look for "bundles" locations i.e., http://skrilax.droid-developers.org/a500/nvflash, it says your are forbidden and doesn't find any.

Are there new locations that can be shared without going through a string of ads to try and get it?

Can the whole process work any more?

I know I'm five years late, but I did my Acer A500 back in 2012 and used Civato's last good 4.1.2.

Hadn't used it for awhile and then trying to update it, I bricked it.

I unbricked it and it's now rooted with Jelly Bean 3.2. Now I want to put Skrilax's bootloader back on and I can't get it done anymore since the web locations are gone for the bundles.

I want to try 4.4.4 or 5.1 and hopefully maybe newer ones in the future.

The A500 was such and good machine I hate to toss it.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Redevil06
[Acer Iconia A500] xJovs:
Thank you for this. Lesson learned: Don't try to use Windows 10 for flashing really anything. Once I transitioned to a PC with Windows 7, everything worked flawlessly.
[Acer Iconia A500] mirfatif:
Any help on bootloader modification? I have a phone with bricked eMMC and I need to modify bootloader to load boot.img (kernel+ramdisk) from external sd card instead of eMMC if it's possible.

https://xdaforums.com/android/help/how-to-boot-sd-card-qmobile-z8-bricked-t3712171
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
I've also checked what "fastboot oem debug on/off" is doing, it appears to just modify the cmdline for serial console i.e (and of course, Acer morons don't have it working normally, as debug off will do the exactly same thing as debug on - had to patch that):

tegraid=20.1.4.0.0 mem=1024M@0M androidboot.serialno=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX video=tegrafb [COLOR="red"]console=none debug_uartport=hsport[/COLOR] usbcore.old_scheme_first=1 lp0_vec=8192@0x3d805000 tegra_fbmem=8197120@0x3d81c000 brand=acer target_product=a500_ww_gen1 tegraboot=sdmmc gpt gpt_sector=31100927 androidboot.carrier=wifi-only bootloader_ver=0.03.14-UNL

becomes

tegraid=20.1.4.0.0 mem=1024M@0M androidboot.serialno=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX video=tegrafb [COLOR="Red"]console=ttyS0,115200n8 debug_uartport=lsport [/COLOR]usbcore.old_scheme_first=1 lp0_vec=8192@0x3d805000 tegra_fbmem=8197120@0x3d81c000 brand=acer target_product=a500_ww_gen1 tegraboot=sdmmc gpt gpt_sector=31100927 androidboot.carrier=wifi-only bootloader_ver=0.03.14-UNL

I've also removed the vmalloc parameter (useless).
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Another ACER moronic thing. Erasing boot (i.e not having magic string ANDROID! in LNX partition) will not allow you boot to recovery too.

Ufff, fixed that. It appears to be that if you don't have ANDROID! in LNX partition, the bootloader thinks it's not android (remember the images for other OSes) and therefore doesn't attempt to boot from SOS partition.
[Acer Iconia A500] gersma:
Could you provide a v3.12 ics bootloader who has the sys/rw and the fastboot properties, but NOT the custom logo, and only the version info on the top left? (Like your 3.11 version)

Thx in advance
[Acer Iconia A500] Zatta:
+1. And let it brew the tablet some beer for me. Premium please.

Taptalked u see
[Acer Iconia A500] civato:
The systemRW protection ? If that is what you mean it is not in the bootloader but boot.img.
[Acer Iconia A500] gersma:
Idd, my bad.

So to be complete : just the patched ics v3.12 unlocked bootloader, with original ACER logo and ONLY the version text on top.

Thanks in advance
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
New bootloader with iPad4 logo is coming.......

This ain't Burger King folks..... ;)
[Acer Iconia A500] gersma:
ho ho ho , i'm just asking for the original acer logo, V3 has a customized logo, I dont like it, whats wrong with having things as close to stock as possible?
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
HA HA! Because you ain't stock... and you're far from it ;) in a joking way of course...

I suspect though, when things settle down, we will get some instructions on how to make our own bootloader mods. Now THAT would be spiffy :D:D:D

In the meantime, have to give a whole lot of credit to the folks who even make this possible. I for one, thank them a lot. If he had a donate button, I would throw some bones his way.:D
[Acer Iconia A500] wlk0:
Actually, you could do this yourself quite easily with an hex editor, and I suppose Skrilax has probably much more valuable stuff to focus on.

Pick the unlocked BL and the original one, compare them, you'll find some major difference at the end of the files, that are obvious non code data.

Copy the data from the original BL, you're done.
[Acer Iconia A500] gersma:
Ok, I get it. So this is a bugreport and beta test forum only. Requests are just over the edge.

OMG????
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
HA HA! Send them request's in.

I'm the only one "over the edge" ;)

Not to change subjects. Yesterday, on 501 ver3, I got 16.5 hrs before 3g dropped. On Demand, 415mhz in sleep mode. What was interesting, was that when it did finally drop, it not only dropped 3g, but wifi also, for several min. Dead across both according to battery stats. My restarter app notified me, wifi restarted, 3g stayed dead.

I'd be looking more at an EC issue, than a bootloader or kernel.

EDIT the strangest thing, was that the battery stats showed a complete gap between that time. Not a drop, but a gap. Will grab a scr cap next time.
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Well, I was thinking of making the logo completely customizable (adapting my application I wrote for Motorola Milestone), still need to make to allow unsigned bootloader flashing via recovery.

Some tips for devs could be there, such as modify cmdline parts with hex editor (serial cmdline) so they can use fastboot debug on / off more efficiently. But it's just a bootloader, so nothing extra. But, I am removing traces of AKB partition from the bootloader. I'd also like to make it toggleable whether to boot between LNX and AKB (using MSC partition and fastboot commands), although that's perhaps task for u-boot.

Btw. on A500 MSC (/dev/block/mmcblk0p5) partition has following format - it's 20 bytes structure in 4 MB partition:

Boot mode | Debug | Unused
X X X X X X X X X X X X | D | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

First 12 bytes is string - selects boot mode (the modes are standardized):

"FOTA" - Recovery mode

"FastbootMode" - Fastboot

Then a byte for Debug Mode (00 - off, 01 - on).
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Updated to V4:

- based on latest Acer BL 0.03.14-ICS, it will pass 0.03.14-UNL to command line

- allow bootlogo change (see OP)

- allow unsigned update via bootloader.blob using CWM

- fixed: AKB partition is no longer used

- fixed: debug on / off works correctly

- fixed: bootloader will now boot to recovery if you erase boot (LNX) partition

- change: bootloader won't pass vmalloc parameter to cmdline
[Acer Iconia A500] micky387:
perfect,thanks man

Envoyé depuis mon A500 avec Tapatalk
[Acer Iconia A500] Moscow Desire:
Great!

Threw some bones at you;

Confirmation Number 3F812257NG401383Y

Quick question in case I missed it. Same Ver4 for both a500 and a501?

EDIT Never mind. Got it ;)
[Acer Iconia A500] dibb_nz:
Wow, pays not to sleep around here, a girl wakes up to a whole new world!!!!

Just so I can get this clear in my head (in my own limited noob words!!)

v4 is based on the latest OTA 3.14, in other words if you've OTA'ed, then you will be on this BL....

Thanks to your considerable talents you have now 'patched' or 'unlocked' this BL

to enable "direct flashing": of a recovery image - and

boot images??

kernels??

to access this "fastboot" we button combo in (similar concept to manual APX Mode)

then to make it "flash" something,:

we use an adb-like command line environment???? - or via adb itself???

to issue the appropriate commands???

So, now instead of a 3 BL's I can 'add' this in and have 4 BL Options in apxflash

and the ability to 'fastboot' to any BL?? .....or just V4....

-Sorry, still waking up and trying to take it all in - but is my noob head, thinking along on the right track?????

again thankyou to all you wonderful devs for making our little iconia a powerhouse!!!!

rgds Donna:):):)
[Acer Iconia A500] gersma:
Very nice release, this is even more than what I hoped for !

Thank you very much Skrilax !
[Acer Iconia A500] kasim1:
Not sure how to updat to v4

I believe i updated to V3.11 3 month back.

I have nvflash directory with all files,

now i downloaded V4 and it has 3 files,

Do i need to get "bootloader_icc_v4.bin" rename it to "bootloader.bin" and place to my old directory with all DLL's and run nvflash(run.bat) :confused:

Thanx for help
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Use bootloader_apx.bin as your bootloader.bin and bootloader_ics_v4.bin as ics_boot_unlk.bin.
[Acer Iconia A500] kasim1:
You gotta LUV this community

Thank You Sir. ;)

Let me try that.
[Acer Iconia A500] Skrilax_CZ:
Uff, didn't get particulary what you are asking for, fastboot is standardized in android sdk, it's different binary, but it's usage is simple (you could say, similar to adb). Yes, with fastboot you can flash recovery / boot / system images. In other words, if you screw up both recovery and boot partitions, just fastboot recovery back and it's done.

It's not possible to flash the bootloader using fastboot, you have to use nvflash (nvidia proprietary interface), and since V4 also bootloader.blobs via recovery.