[Sony Tablet S] ThreeEyes:
[how-to] another advenure: From German "unrootable" 3.2 build10 to rooted 4.0.3R5a

Hi there,

after about 5 nights, this "morning" at 4am, I won over Sony and M$ :highfive:

So i want to write this little tutorial for the ones, who might still be stuck on 3.2 build10.

I bought my tablet S 114DE/S, German with 3G, right before Xmas. Thought, it would be an easy task ... ha-ha.

First thing I read was, that build 10 is unrootable. F#?!

Started reading everyhing on XDA and other forums. Also read Cat McGowan's "adventure". Tried to do it like him... but as my tablet is German region an region changer only works with rooted devices, I could not flash his US files. But the idea was born.

Found the thread: XDA Developers > Sony Tablet S > Tablet S General > NEW Update Links Inc Tablet S/P R5A & Xperia S R6b :D

The "oldest" downloadable German original Sony FW was ICS R2a. I was not sure if this was still rootable, i would have liked to find a R1a, but what the heck, worst case is a not rooted ICS, which is still better than an unrooted 3.2!!

Downloaded, put on SD an flashed with recovery mode. Went fine.

So all you need to get away from "unrootable" build10 is a rootable original FW for YOUR tablet's country code!!! Hope you find one. There are many in the above mentioned thread.

Installed ADB automatic installer, no probs. i have Windows 7 pro 64bit.

Would be really NICE to add a clearly visible advice to also install the ADB driver (most likely MANUALLY on some systems) before using any special tools... I did not see any advice, maybe I was blind...:cool:

At least tell everybody to check, if the driver is working, by booting in recovery and looking at Windows device manager.

Problem is to find the right driver...if you simply choose the INF like for the "normal boot" ADB device, W7/64 does not install properly, you can get an error... really badly misleading message comes from Windows: It's telling something about MTP device ... well, actually you need the ADB driver!! Took me some hours... but as I found that problem only later, it took me 2 nights before, trying Condi's flasher and AIO 5.3 tool, without success...

OK, ADB drivers were installed (I only had the normal boot drivers at that time).

Downloaded Condi's AIO 5.3 tool, used the "root device" option, everything went OK, I was really happy! Rooted ICS R2a. First big step. 3.2 build10 unrootable? Not really... you only need a rootable original Sony firmware, flash it the normal way.

Then, I wanted to upgrade to R5a of course!

Condi's flasher 2.2. did not work. Maybe also because of the missing ADB driver for recovery mode?? Dunno. It always ended with: System.zip and all the other zips "not found", although I also tried pushing them manually to the internal SD before... when checking later, they disappeared.

Tried AIO 5.3 and custom signed zip. Always stuck in recovery mode with "Status 7" Error, like described in post #72 in this post:

XDA Developers > Sony Tablet S > Tablet S Android Development > [FW R5A WIFI/3G] NEW! custom preROOTed newest stock nbx03 R5A with R1A's recovery!

Also here, it would be nice to bring the advice (install ADB drivers for recovery mode) BEFORE! It does NOT appear in the tool's window IF you are stuck!

After finding the right driver, it was no problem installing the prerooted double-flash zip with the AIO tool... Also here, do not panic :p when the "Status7" Error appears... it's normal, it disappears after a few seconds and at the same time, the hint about the driver comes up in the command window...

Btw I had no problems with missing google market or apps or any Sony applications. Google play is working, also Sony remote etc.

OK, that's it!

Waiting for 4.2 :D

Have fun with your rooted Sonys!

Many thanks to Condi and the other devs for the tools, videos, tutorials... they may not be perfect, but without, it would be impossible for guys like me :angel:

Daniel