[Transformer TF300T Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] opethfan89:
Lex,

You have alot of the same questions I do/did, and I have your original post open in another window to respond to all your questions. I'm working on writing a guide for all this stuff so this is rather helpful. If I respond to a question twice, please forgive me as I'm literally just going down the list and answering em as I read em.

In your first post, the file you're referring to is gathered via NVFlash. I haven't used NVFlash yet, but what I understand is that if you use this tool it basically backs up your ICS (4.0.3) bootloader information. The newest firmware change is to Android Jelly Bean (4.1.1) and that re-locks your bootloader. Once you go to JB, you cannot go back. So this servers as a backup (again, this is just how I interpret the information from their website. I don't know how correct my interpretations are, and have actually opened a thread to ask for clarification about this program).

For the drivers, all I did was download the android SDK and install the 'android tools' and "extra - google drivers' from the list. My laptop was just recently wiped-out so I have no prior drivers installed, nor have I connected my tablet to my computer yet (just got a replacement tablet last weekend). I didn't use the universal driver or any other add-ons. Just use the SDK, it will install drivers, and then it will detect your device. I verified this by typing "adb devices" in command prompt and it detected the serial # of my device.

Within that same post, you had some confusion about ADB. It's just an executable, and you have to use the command prompt window from whichever directory it is installed to. So once you unzip the Android SDK or wherever you installed ADB to, use the command line commands "cd directory/where/adb/is/installed" to navigate to it, or use shift + right click within that folder and it will have an option to "open command prompt here" with admin privileges. That makes life a bit easier. Other people also install their SDK to C:\android\SDK or something similar, so it's less to type.

In order to determine if your bootloader is unlocked, look at your tablet in the top left hand corner when it boots up. It will say "Device is unlocked" and list a bunch of numbers (which if I remember correctly would just be the firmware information). Your device will not be unlocked until you actually download the unlock tool from asus' website and push the file via adb to your tablet and install it. That is, you have to take a very specific, very advanced overt action to unlock it. Nothing else and no one else can do it for you nor can it be done accidentally.

Next post (#8 in the thread): You are correct that fastboot will not show unless you are unlocked. I just verified this on my not-unlocked, not-rooted new tablet, and cannot enter fastboot mode. Your ADB commands wont work if your drivers are not correctly installed.

Post #10: You have to select "Android" under the OS drop-down box to find the unlocker app. As for the location of the ADB.exe, mine was found in this subfolder within the android SDK: <whereveryouunzippedit>\Android SDK x86_64\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64\sdk\platform-tools

That folder contained the correct (and I think only) adb.exe I needed.

For your last part, I think you should try out a number of ROM's to see which you like best. I've tried all the major ones (CM9, CM10, CleanRom, Hydro, Blackbean, and some of the stock rooted/de-odexed) ROMs and used Blackbean for the longest time because of how slick it looks (all black) and how easy it is on my eyes.

Make sure you document the steps you took so you can remember them in the future. I'm working on writing a guide right now and documenting my steps to go from a stock, locked, and not-rooted tablet to a rooted unlocked and custom flash tablet.

I really hope I was able to clarify some things. I am by NO MEANS an expert but I've spent many hours experimenting and think that I wish I had someone to answer my questions when I was first learning, rather than learning by mistake.

Hopefully this helps,

Opethfan89