yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
Method 3 Do + Undo and keep root

Hi there,

You might be on CWM and therefore the OTA to 9.2.2.4 is not working. You can skip to the bottom half of this post about installing stock recovery. That will allow the OTA to succeed.

I have attached a BAT version of Method 3 (Method_3.bat). You can run that and wait for the BAT file to complete over 2 reboots.

You can then reboot into CWM recovery and install the Superuser-3.0.7-efghi-signed.zip from internal SD card and reboot. You will then be on stock firmware with root and CWM recovery.

I have also extracted the recovery.img from the 9.2.2.4 WW OTA update and created a standalone blob from it ( blob_9.2.2.4_WW_recovery ). Time to revert to stock recovery.

You can run the Revert_To_9.2.2.4_WW_Recovery.bat file (only if you are now on 9.2.2.4 WW firmware, this step is somewhat version specific) . That will allow you to keep root and revert to stock recovery. It will also backup su in a manner compatible with Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper.

If you are on 9.2.2.3 WW you may use Revert_To_9.2.2.3_WW_Recovery.bat. ( From this post: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=26064928&postcount=325 ). Similarly for other versions ( maybe another post).

Extract 'Method_3_Do+Undo_Keep_Root.7z' in the same directory where recoveryblob and Superuser-3.0.7-efghi-signed.zip exist from OP.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] :
Unfortfenely I got the Tf101 but I I'm sure this will work on your tf201 with working recovery for your tf
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
Could you give some more specifics? Can't see how the name can change.

I am attaching a batch file (Revert_To_9.2.2.3_WW_Recovery.bat) so you needen't have to manually copy to /sdcard.

I hope you're on top of things before even approaching these 'dd' related activities.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] redahaddad:
First of All ,Thank you for your response, I run the Bat File (Revert_To 9.2.2.3...) it ran well, I was able to update OTA to 9.2.2.4 , Superuser worked fine , I had Vooodoo root keeper, and restored root,

NOW I am on TW 9.2.2.4, and I AM Still rooted :):):):):) , JUST WONDER IF THE NEXT OTA UPDATE WILL WORK , OR I NEED TO DO SOMETHING ELSE.

Thanks.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] msig:
I tried to replace CWM with your method.

But for me it ended up in a Android Robot laying on the back with an exclamation mark, when i want to get into recovery. I have DE_9.2.2.3 on a tf101g.

Maybe the stock recovery is language relatated?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] redahaddad:
I wrecked my Transformer by Dowloading ROM TOOLBOX

Hi ID

AFTER THE ABOVE SUCCESS, I downloaded, ROM TOOL Box by Jared, and downloaded some fonts , and tweaked the CPU, Guess what happened, The Transformer is wrecked, tried everything I KNOW, but no success.

Since you are very well versed with these programing, is there anyway I could save my Transformer.

I really appreciate your support. THANKS
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
Procedure to create recovery blob from stock blob

Yeah, you'll need your language specific blob. Here is the procedure to extract the recovery blob for your pertinent firmware version:

1. Download your language specific firmware from Asus:

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Eee+Pad+Transformer+TF101G&os=32 ( TF101G)

or

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Eee+Pad+Transformer+TF101&os=32 ( TF101)

or

http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=20&s=16&m=Eee+Pad+Transformer+Prime+TF201&os=32 ( TF201)

This is just a ZIP file. Extract the blob from this. This blob is the full blob that contains everything. Rename it for your convenience to blob_<version>_<Language>, e.g blob_9.2.2.3_DE

2. Get blobtools from:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1068548

Run the command:

blobunpack blob_9.2.2.3_DE

You should now get 4 files:

blob_9.2.2.3_DE.APP

blob_9.2.2.3_DE.EBT

blob_9.2.2.3_DE.LNX

blob_9.2.2.3_DE.SOS

You are only interested in blob_9.2.2.3_DE.SOS for this exercise. Run the command:

blobpack blob_9.2.2.3_DE_recovery SOS blob_9.2.2.3_DE.SOS

blob_9.2.2.3_DE_recovery is your stock recovery.

You can flash it by uploading to /sdcard and running on the tablet:

dd if=/sdcard/blob_9.2.2.3_DE_recovery of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4

Voila, you are on stock recovery, thus allowing further OTA updates and you keep root from Method 3.

I have done this exercise for blob_9.2.2.3_DE_recovery ( TF101g version attached)

If you are give a blob from somewhere you can also use blobunpack before doing a 'dd' to see how many partitions it contains, here is a brief explanation:

blob.HEADER - Header stuff ( may not be there)

blob.APP = system.img

blob.LNX = boot.img

blob.SOS = recovery.img

blob.EBT = bootloader.bin

You are primarily interested in your blob having a .SOS partition to undo Method 3. No harm if it contains a .LNX and .EBT too. You probably don't want a blob which contains an .APP partition for the purpose of undoing method 3 as it will overwrite /system and lose root.

You can use a complete blob ( say original from Asus ) which contains an APP, LNX, SOS and EBT partition for Method 1 (good to recover from a corrupt ROM ( no GUI but adb and su works fine)) or Method 2.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
Assuming you are on stock recovery based on your last post. And I assume you are on 9.2.2.4 stock recovery too.

3 possiblities:

1. Clear data as mentioned in the end of Method 1 from OP

If that doesn't work, then:

2. If you still have adb and su, then do Method 1 completely with the 9.2.2.3 complete blob ( maybe from Asus or original post) and removing data as per instruction at the end.

If that doesn't work then:

3. a) If you still have adb and su, then downgrade the recovery partition to 9.2.2.3 using 'Revert_To_9.2.2.3_WW_Recovery.bat'.

b) Download WW_epad_user_9_2_2_3_UpdateLauncher.zip (from Asus official). From that extract WW_epad-user-9.2.2.3.zip and rename it to EP101_SDUPDATE.zip and store it in a MicroSD and insert this into the tablet.

c) Then reboot holding power key and vol down key and press Volume Up button when you are prompted to do so. Recovery should start and restore 9.2.2.3 WW.

d) Clear data as mentioned in the end of Method 1 from OP

Because you are on 9.2.2.4 recovery, putting a 9.2.2.3 ZIP in the micro-SD may fail as Asus stock recovery doesn't allow downgrades. But if you are on 9.2.2.3 stock recovery (from step (3.a) above) , then EP101_SDUPDATE.zip may work.

I don't think the 9.2.2.4 WW_epad_user_9_2_2_4_UpdateLauncher.zip is out on Asus yet, else you would have been able to simply extract WW_epad-user-9.2.2.4.zip from it and since you are on 9.2.2.4 recovery, step (3.b) above would have worked.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] tario3:
many thanks

just got my tf-201 back from texas RMA after a month...i guess they updated to .21 and i lost root...i had almost lost hope and was about to resort to unlocking the bootloader when i came across this...

downgraded to .14...rooted...voodoo rootkeeper...upgraded OTA .21...restored root...all data perfect and intact...well done sir...

thanks u much mr wolf...u are a legend...simple easy to follow guide if u have just a little experience or do some quick searches...
[Eee Pad Transformer General] msig:
Thanks very much for this lesson and the blob.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] curley_sue:
No OTA after motherboard replacement

I have a problem which seems very similar.

The same holds for another post I quote in the following:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=26117410&postcount=14
[Eee Pad Transformer General] alkaaby:
First thanks a lot wolf for your amazing work ..

second, kindly, we need your help guys to solve our problem .. I have same issue that has been described in above quote .. except that I have the 3G type and with update ww 9.2.2.4 official and unrooted ..

please any idea ?? .. thanks in advance
[Eee Pad Transformer General] jennyngo24:
I also encountered exactly the same problem. Permission denied.

Please help
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
9.2.2.4 WW blob

Hi there,

I have uploaded the 9.2.2.4 WW patch firmware ZIP file (dlpkgfile_9.2.2.4.zip) to:

http://www.multiupload.nl/50PMUFYU67

This is not the full version of the firmware and cannot be used to manually update the firmware as far as I can tell.

I can confirm that the blob extracted from this can though be used to restore the stock Asus recovery partition without losing root and thus stored as a backup to restore recovery just before OTA updates.

So the way I see it is, if we are on 9.2.2.3:

1. Do Method 3 to gain root

2. Stay on CWM recovery to get NAND backup and fix permissions etc functionality. Also recover from corruptions etc well instead of being stuck with Asus recovery

3. When it's time for OTA updates, the update will download automatically but fail to apply because we are on CWM recovery

4. We can go to /cache/ and take a PC backup of the newly downloaded file: dlpkgfile_9.2.2.4.zip ( or similar)

5. Ensure that we have Voodoo Rootkeeper enabled and su backed up

6. Apply the Asus stock recovery by applying the blob_9.2.2.3_recovery to /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 . This will allow the OTA to complete.

7. Reobtain root using Voodoo Rootkeeper

8. Reapply recoveryblob to /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 to come back to CWM recovery

9. Extract the blob from dlpkgfile_9.2.2.4.zip and keep that as a backup. This blob is ok as it doesn't contain the /system partition. blobs obtained from the full firmware obtained from Asus website are not ok and would need to be broken up using blobunpack and blobpack to remove the /system (APP) partition.

10.When the next OTA arrives, repeat steps 4-9 except on step 6 use this latest patch blob backup ( currently 9.2.2.4)
[Eee Pad Transformer General] wolf849:
Hmm... Will take closer look on 9.2.2.4 as it may fix the trick I've used.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Squire-au:
Thanks for this. Cured my dead wifi

Hey Wolf. I've been running revolver HC on my TF101, it's all good. Only recently I tried downgrading to ASUS stock, and letting it upgrade all the way to latest ICS - which lost me root, as well as my wifi. Somehow my SU backup got lost or corrupted so I couldn't restore root. Maybe all the data wiping I did before downgrading from Revolver. Anyways... I spent a while trying to root ICS .21, got nowhere with it. And my wifi was dead after it completed the OTA upgrade, which did NOT impress me at all. I simply got wifi continuously turning on, but never finishing. My TF101 has done that before, but never with an OTA. I knew I had to downgrade to get root to be able to use CWM and Titanium backup. I'd done the backups, but without root, was unable to access them.

I used your method to downgrade to stock firmware - which worked. It simply... worked. Then regained root using Vipermod, then reflashed Revolver, and restored my backups. My tablet was back to exaclty how it was, including working wifi. Now it's time to try it with protected SU, and hopefully I can get stock ICS, rooted, with working wifi :)

Looking forward to it. Now I can relax, knowing I can get back to where I started anytime.

Thanks to you.

PW
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Skeesicks:
Unable to root with Wolfs Method 3

Hi,

I tried using Wolfs #3 with no success.

Everyting went right but I am not able to start custom recovery

dd ran fine: (although I could not adb to the tab until it fully started, not when asus sing appeared)

shell@android:/ $ dd if=/sdcard/recoveryblob of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4

dd if=/sdcard/recoveryblob of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4

8860+1 records in

8860+1 records out

4536396 bytes transferred in 2.322 secs (1953658 bytes/sec)

shell@android:/ $ adb reboot

but after reboot it did not flash anything.

This is what /dev/block looks like

brwxrwx--x root shell 179, 4 2012-05-16 11:26 mmcblk0p4

Anybody knows, whats wrong with my TF101?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] 05GT:
I guess I should have checked this thread before I updated to .24. Doubt I'll ever get root at this point.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Magissia:
Hello

Method 3 worked like a charm for me, now looking for ways to keep root for .24 and busy box !

Thanks you very very much.

Best regards, Magissia
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
It worked. It won't flash anything automatically, neither will anything be very apparent in the OS, except for the mmcblk0p4 permissions ( which seem to have been modified at your end).

You may then need to go into CWM recovery by rebooting with Power and Vol Down pressed together and then Vol up when asked ( within 5 secs). Then you need to flash the Superuser-3.0.7-efghi-signed.zip from the OP.

I can also confirm that Method 3 works very well for 9.2.2.4 WW ( TF101G)

It may not work upon first reboot after the 'dd' because the recovery is being 'activated' or 'enabled' or 'flashed' or whatever, but on subsequent reboots, CWM recovery can be reached using the ( Reboot with Power + Vol Down pressed ) -> Vol Up technique.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Badbullet:
Dropbox links dosn't works anymore.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] 05GT:
You have to use the depositfile links. He's exceeded his Dropbox bandwidth.

---------- Post added at 11:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 PM ----------

Confirmed:

This method worked to downgrade from US .24 back to .17. Attained root using Vipermod.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Freekers1337:
Mirror for almost all BLOB files:

http://www.freek.ws/transformer

Which method did you use? Method 2 or Method 3?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] nikolam:
Works for me on 9.2.1.24 US downloaded from Asus. I used method 3 from the original post, without any modifications.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] 05GT:
I used method 3.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] manson28031991:
Hi,

I had rootet my tf201, but i had a problem. i was on the firmware de.21, then i downgrade to de.15. then i root with vipermod and install ota rootkepper. but i never get a ota to .21? where is the problem. sorry for my bad english.

please help me
[Eee Pad Transformer General] wolf849:
Maybe you have updated recovery to CWM? Check this first and if that is not true, do so and download CWM update from development forum ;)

Superb, I've added it to mirror sites. Thanks

Cheers
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Ellingsoc:
So if i am understanding this right method 2 does not root the tablet but lets you downgrade the firmware to .17 so you can then root it then you update back to .24?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] ced_c:
Hi wolf,

Thank you for amazingly usefull and yet simple hack !

I did some research to understand how it works, and I found that the fun part is here :

codeaurora.org/gitweb/quic/la/?p=platform/system/core.git;a=blob;f=init/builtins.c;hb=refs/heads/ics

For what I understand there is nothing transformer specific here.

By the way I tried to download recovery-clockwork (download.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/) and dd it on mmcblk0p4.

And it works (well, for some reason the latest didn't but 5.8.1.9 did), without any need to downgrade

My point is, did you just find the universal ICS flash method ?

I don't have access to another ICS device, but I tried on the emulator and even there, the change of permission on the block device worked.

If we can write directly on a block device, I assume we can flash any rom/recovery we want.

I'll be happy to hear from other people trying that on another device than a transformer.

The change of permission on /dev/block/mmcblk0p* should be harmless, and people that know what they do can try to flash a recovery (or even a full system?) on their device.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] CapNCooK:
(For the TF300T: )

Yes, If you are in the US, this should work..

But i've done the same steps on my EU (WW) model, rooted .17, and it doesn't get any OTA updates.

I wondered if this is because of the EU IP i got, so i installed openVPN and switched to an USA IP. Still getting no updates...
[Eee Pad Transformer General] abczhou:
Yesterday i placed an order at Amazon for TF300 and start to learn to root in here.

I am totally noob on this.

Maybe it is a stupid question but anyone can share the procedure to how to start the ADB session. My OS is win7.

2. Connect tablet to the computer and start ADB shell session
[Eee Pad Transformer General] andreas009:
stuck on boot screen

I completed 2 method and now am stuck on the Eee Pad boot screen and it never changes, can't get adb to detect tablet, think I managed to mess up the install somewhere :( guess I'm saving up another $400
[Eee Pad Transformer General] pkfox:
Hi there, I actually flashed an entire ROM blob ( I was already rooted ) using this method but instead of using adb I did it from a terminal on the tf101 , it worked perfectly - I now rarely use CWM as I can flash whatever I need with dd. I am reasonably competent with Linux and understand how dd works , my problem was my ignorance of how Android is structured e.g I didn't know /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 was a staging partition. This is by far the best piece of knowledge I've learnt here.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] wolf849:
Yes it will work on every device as symlinking trick can be done on every ICS ROM. However the change of permission on /dev/block/mmcblk0p* is not as harmless as you think. If you flash wrong partition with wrong img file you may become hard-bricked, that is why I am not telling that we can do so, because some of less-experienced users may eventually try it. But Yes it is possible and I am aware of it :)

Thanks for your appreciation I'm very glad that I could help people a little :)

Cheers
[Eee Pad Transformer General] CapNCooK:
Hiya Wolf,

Mayb you can help us out in this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=26292352

Do you know if it's possible to extract an existing firmware (blob) from a memory partitition, with the goal to flash another device with the extracted blob ?

Your help/advice is apreciated!

thx

----------

TF300T on US .17 Rooted

Searching for WW .17 unrooted blob
[Eee Pad Transformer General] knucklehead_11:
Thanks for your work. I just downgraded, rooted and now upgrading my prime back to .21. Thanks for the help. The hardest part of this whole downgrade is trying to get adb shell to work. Downgrading and rooting took 20 minutes and was simple. Now I just need to talk my wife into letting me root her prime. Thanks
[Eee Pad Transformer General] redahaddad:
How to extract Recovery blob

Dear id

Thank you for your follow up and support, I sent my Transformer to ASUS and came back with with Stock ICS 4.0.3, TW 9.2.2.4,

1- Now I want to root it again, So do I use method 3 and if so which recoveryblob do I need to use,

2- I downloaded the (TW_epaduser9_2_2_4UpdateLauncher.zip) from ASUS web site (http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Eee+Pad+Transformer+TF101G&os=32) , and I tried to blobunpack it to get the recovery Blob (SOS) using Ubuntu , but Ubuntu says that blobunpack is not an internal command or so.

I need this recovery blob just in case anything goes wrong again.

So may you can do me a favor and unpack it for me or tell me how to extract it from the launcher.

Thank you very much for your support.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Magissia:
Hello

Upgraded to .24 from .21, used method 3 to get root and flashed .24 WW afterward and resotred root with OTA root keeper without problems, no need to downgrade.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] TDinsmoor:
ADB session

Howdy. First you have to get the android sdk, if you haven't already. and in C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools there's adb.exe. You need to run adb.exe from a command prompt.

\\

And does method 2 work for .29? I've tried it twice, but it failed to stick each time.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] wolf849:
And does method 2 work for .29? I've tried it twice, but it failed to stick each time.[/QUOTE]

Probably not. ASUS fixed the symlinking trick in latest firmware
[Eee Pad Transformer General] CapNCooK:
No, .17 is the last one that can be rooted at the moment.

After that, you can OTA update to .29. (if you have an US model)

--

After edit:

Now i read your question again, you meant the symlink method offcourse :)

I would like to know that too!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] BlackStone0:
.29 ?

i think the last one is 9.2.1.24 for tf101 and methode 3 ist working perfect. i have root.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] CapNCooK:
He is reffering to a TF300T, last firmware is 9.4.3.29
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Freekers1337:
No problem, you're welcome :)
[Eee Pad Transformer General] LusiphurXDA:
I have a TF101T on 9.2.1.21 rooted with Wolf's method.

The issue is the latest OTA update reboots the device and then goes to a triangle with a yellow !. I can reboot back to a working tablet but its going to keep asking me to install this update.

Any ideas please ?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] zAlbee:
Which method did you use? Did you flash the recovery? OTA only works with stock recovery.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] TDinsmoor:
Confusion and confirmation

In reply to some confusion:

Yes, I did mean for the tf300t.

And I did manage to downgrade from .29 to .17, but a half-ass one at that, I finally got it to do it, but it jacked up my pad's firmware somehow.

Then I had to re-update to .29 so that my apps worked, because nothing worked, then I noticed it had some splotches in the middle, so I did a full reset and wipe, with a clean firmware flash, and now I'm sending it back for a new one, which will hopefully ship with .17 firmware.

Don't try it with .29 unless you'd like a beautiful useless paperweight, I'm lucky I didn't brick it. Maybe others will find better luck, if asus releases the boot loader, oh, go sign the petition that's floating around here somewhere!

Oh and thank you wolf, method is genius, although it didn't work for me and I have yet to completely understand it, as I'd be considered a newbie concerning android. Praise the flying spaghetti monster for XDA.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
Hi there,

Pity you had to go to Asus. I'd like to think xda can solve all problems, including relationship issues :)

Method 3 works for 9.2.2.4 too.

Check out:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=26056084&postcount=323

Steps:

1. Enable USB debugging and run Method_3.bat. Let it complete over 2 reboots.

2. Boot into CWM recovery and apply /sdcard/Superuser-3.0.7-efghi-signed.zip

3. Make a nandroid backup of your tablet while you're still in CWM recovery.

4. (Optional) If all is ok, run Revert_To_9.2.2.4_WW_Recovery.bat . This will bring you back to Asus stock recovery and keep root and allow further OTAs.

Best if you remain on CWM recovery and revert to stock recovery only before next OTA (or you can always put Asus on speed dial :). When next OTA arrives, it will download into /cache/dlpkgfile_9.x.zip but simply not apply itself because you're on CWM recovery, take a backup of /cache/dlpkgfile_9.x.zip to your PC as it'll contain a valid stock Asus recovery blob and then run Revert_To_9.2.2.4_WW_Recovery.bat. That will bring it to stock 9.2.2.4 recovery and allow the OTA to complete.

Hopefully Method 3 will work for next update too, so we can keep doing this in a loop till we're tired or plain hungry.

If things go worse than anticipated and you're on stock Asus recovery, then do remember that WW_epad-user-9.2.2.4.zip is a valid full image to restore your tablet. Simply rename it to EP101_SDUPDATE.zip, stick it in the root of a micro-SD and stick it in and boot into Asus recovery. Don't forget to clear data in Asus recovery after that.

Good luck!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] idcrisis:
Restore 9.2.1.21 WW Stock Asus recovery

Hi there,

You must have used Method 3 and therefore be on CWM recovery. You need to be on stock Asus recovery for the OTA to complete. Basically one more step after completing Method 3.

I've extracted the 9.2.1.21 WW stock Asus recovery file which will allow you return to stock Asus recovery and keep root.

If and only if you're on WW firmware and you have a TF101 ( not a TF101G), you can run the attached Revert_To_9.2.1.21_WW_Recovery.bat

*** Edit Note - Please download the updated attachment Revert_To_9.2.1.21_WW_Recovery.7z . It contains the correct version number and the missing shell script ***
[Eee Pad Transformer General] zap-o-post:
Can I use this file to go back to my stock 9.2.1.21 recovery?