[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] flueterflam:
Success...but not without pain

Hey all, I have very good news. But it was a long, drawn-out process, unfortunately.

Short story: RMAing cannot and will not do anything. It could possibly...but only if the technician uploads the data to Asus servers correctly.

Longer story:

I bought mine in the US. Went to live in Taiwan. Unlocked at one time. The JB OTA update screw something up. I tried flashing a new recovery at that time, just after the screw up, and the tablet wouldn't get passed the Asus splash screen anymore. Sent it in for an RMA to fix that. They did it for free (possibly because I was in Taiwan..?). Got it back, no serial number. Had to RMA again, finally fixed the serial number. Both times I got it back, I tried the Unlock Device Tool, both times that error. In fact, that's how I noticed the serial number problem.

Fast forward about 9 months into the future. I moved to Australia. About ready to use the tablet as a paperweight, but contacted Tien. He said he could do nothing because I now had the TW sku, instead of the US one. Awesomeness... So, I contacted Asus HQ (said I was in Taiwan for country...even thought I am not anymore). I explained and asked if there was anything I could do. After several back and forths, they arranged for my prime to be picked up and sent to a service center in Sydney for free, including the servicing. Ok, great. Well, I got it back 3 weeks later (literally last Saturday). The technician contacted me at one point clarifying what I wanted. I said "all I want is to unlock the bootloader. I understand the risks and consequences.". He said he would need to check with HQ to make sure this was possible. I received no follow up from him, but received the tablet back after about one week (it was sitting with them for 2 weeks already before they contacted me).

After getting it back, I again found there was no fix. However, the first time I ran the Unlock Tool, it took quite awhile. At this point, I was also now flashed onto a WW sku, in case that is relevant. Felt like maybe it was doing *something*...but unfortunately no. At this point, I literally started looking for new tablets. And I ended up purchasing one, because I was beyond angry. Still, I couldn't get this nagging feeling that somehow I should at least try once more. After all, having a new tablet would mean that I don't really need this anyway and could RMA until the cows come home. Plus, I can give it to gf for "normal" usage either way.

Solution (sorry for not getting straight to the point):

I replied to the Asus technical support email that initiated the whole RMA in Australia. It was not attacking, but I said I was very upset that I sent it in, didn't have it for use for 3 weeks, and then received it back with absolutely no change. This is when things turned around a bit. I received an email from Tom Shi <tom_shi@asus.com>. (if you do contact him...I'm not sure he would be happy to be inundated with these request suddenly...so please don't mention that I told you to contact him :p)

Tom replied back and apologized for the problem within a day or two. I actually felt better about this, because it was the first real responsiveness in a timely manner that I have received involving this unlocking business. For the sake of using his exact wording, let me show you how it progress, and was ultimately solved. I am now unlocked and running Androwook (yes, within a few days, I went from this error to completely flashed custom rom).

Email #1

Still a problem. So...

Email #2

Still no go. So...I replied back and give him all of the useful info in About Tablet, including the Wi-Fi MAC address. His follow up was:

Email #3

followed a little later in the day by

Email #4

Lo and behold, this fixed it. At this point, when I tried the unlock tool, a dialog asking me to verify my Gmail account/password popped up. It rebooted with all the white text on the first Asus splash screen, and indicated that the unlocking was in progress. It restarted and then had the unlock message. I rebooted a few more times, just to make sure that the message remained. It did. Also, when booting into Fastboot, I now successfully receive a message indicating that Fastboot has started. And, flashing things and reboot commands in Fastboot are responsive, rather than the first command seeming to work, but then the system freezing up.

I really hope this helps someone. Perhaps the thing to do is if you are in touch with a technician in another country is ask that technician to contact Tom. Whatever Tom and the "technical support" people did, they finally understood the problem and resolved it. Now that I think about it, I will contact Tien and mention this to him also. Best of luck in *actually* resolving this everyone!!