[General Questions and Answers] defiant07:
[Guide - Pt.1] How to Mod Stock Firmware to Maximize Performance (neophyte friendly)

Let me begin by stating I do NOT think it is worth it to flash different firmwares. The reason for this is that at this point in time there are no roms designed specifically for our device. As such any rom you flash will likely have bugs (see the above post; also I tried multiple times with multiple versions of Cyanbook, a CyanogenMod port for the Micromax Funbook, and each had the following problems: no autorotate, the internal sd (the 5.31 mb part) shows as damaged, the external sd is recognized as the internal sd, the camera does not work, and the soft back, home, and recent buttons don’t work). Furthermore, even if you should find a reasonably bug free jellybean rom, upgrading to jb would ensure the inability to use Chainfire3d, which is needed should you be interested in running games like Shadowgun or Epoch. Thus, modifying the stock firmware would seem to be the most logical option to get the most out of this tablet. At this point I would also advise avoiding Pimp My Rom, Android Tweaker, Seeder, task killers, and ram management apps; some yield less than favorable results and some conflict with V6 SuperCharger, which imo yields optimal results. So now that we have established it is probably not prudent to flash a different rom, how can we relatively easily modify the stock firmware so as to maximize for efficiency and utility???

***Obligatory Warning & Disclaimer: Although all of the following mods are proven by my empirical results, I take no responsibility if you cannot follow directions and brick your tablet :silly:, but I will periodically check this thread and provide what little help I am capable of should anyone have any issues :confused:. Also to be on the safe side I would advise ensuring at least a 50% battery level before undertaking any of these steps; an unexpected shutdown may have deleterious effects :crying:!!!

***Note: If while following this guide you find your performance getting worse (e.g. laggy, slow boot and load times) don’t worry I too experienced such things at various points and the last step “SuperClean and ReStart” will make all the mods work together as an efficient whole. Should you opt not to use V6 SuperCharger you should still wipe your cache and dalvik cache once you are done making changes, after wiping caches reboot (I would advise not interacting with the device for 5-10 minutes in order to allow the dalvik to rebuild without interference).

***Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: I take no credit for any of the following mods, methodologies, or apps (with the exception of figuring out how to extend the usb host capacities and the actual modding of the vold.fstab file not the general method). Links are provided to the relevant original posts/threads, so be sure to check them out and give the posts thanks and the threads five star ratings (don’t forget me if you find this post useful)!!! :good:

:laugh: Now on to the fun stuff (be sure to read each step in its entirety before proceeding with it; reading all the steps before doing anything would also likely be wise):

1. Factory Reset: This step is totally OPTIONAL, but it would be cool if someone did it as it would allow that individual to make an as near to stock as is possible nandroid backup that would be permissible to post to this thread/forum. Obviously you can backup/restore all your apps and data with titanium backup, rom toolbox, or a similar app. I would appreciate it as I instituted a number of these mods before I found a viable cwm (don’t know why as I never plan to go back, lol, guess it’s just a sense of completeness or something) and I imagine our buddy chris0488 would appreciate it too as it would allow him to return full functionality to his device. Note: I would advise resetting if you want to switch your internal and external sd cards (see step 7), although I believe you can just copy all the contents of your internal to your external sd prior to the switch and be good to go following a reboot, but I am unsure if this works with the asecure folder (the folder with all the stuff moved to sd card via the native apps to sd function). In my opinion, wiping and restoring later seems cleaner and safer.

2a. Gain Root: You can use the free version of Unlock Root [warning: this will change you pc’s browser homepage, add a search bar, and a few add-ons; luckily all the changes can be undone with minimal effort]. It is a simple oneclick program: enable usb debugging (settings>>developer options) and unknown installation sources (settings>>security) on your tablet, connect to pc via usb, do NOT enable storage mode, run Unlock Root and follow the prompts. Note: You need to have the proper driver installed on your pc prior to running Unlock Root; Koush recently released a universal adb driver, check it out here http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/0...-driver-for-windows-that-actually-works-on-8/ .

2b. If already rooted and if you did step 1 reinstall SuperSU.

3. Adding ClockworkMod Recovery [warning: this is a cwm 5 based recovery that is not fully functional on our device, it does NOT backup the contents of the external sd, but aside from that it works as it should]: Go here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1702299 and download the zip from the first post to the base directory of your internal sd card, unzip, install the novotools apk, run novotools, select ‘flash recovery.’ You should get a toast that reads something to the effect of ‘recovery flashed.’ To test if it worked reboot in to recovery (this can be done via novotools, settings>>backup/recovery, or by powering off and then powering back on while holding the vol+ button), make a backup, and reboot. Uninstall novotools as it is no longer of use. If you did step 1 please post a copy of this backup. Note: Should you ever do a restore and all your data is not fully restored just keep restoring it and eventually cwm will get it right (this seems to be a fairly common issue with modded versions of cwm). Also note that should you switch your internal and external sd, cwm will backup the actual external as if was the internal, which is good, but for some reason when using the standard backup option that normally writes to the external sd (post-switch this would be the actual internal sd) it writes to the internal sd (post-switch this would be the actual external sd), which is not a bad thing, it’s just a bit odd imo.