[Acer Iconia A500] KaijiKun:
A500 Bootloader unlocking

Well I sent my A500 in for repairs, no nothing with the software, and I did not brick the tablet either, but a little drop and cracked the plastic shell, so since I bought insurance on it in-case of damages I sent it in to get the plastic shell repaired for free :D and they gave me a loaner to use while I wait for my A500 to be repaired. They gave me an A200, and so far I like the A200 it is basically the same minus the camera, it did take an extra second to install the right drivers for it to connect properly to my Windows PC ( I had to download adb drivers "Acer.rar" package, and direct device manager to the folder to get all the drivers installed. but once I did, I found a package to unlock the bootloader, root the device, and install thor's CWM all in one :cowboy: The package - "AcerA200 SimpleTool V2" worked perfect and in the archive I found, among other files specifically for the A200 was: adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, AdbWinUsbApi.dll, and fastboot.exe (You can find those files in many different archives designed for rooting tablets and phones, or in Android SDK. So with those files, a boot image, and recovery image, the SU binary, and memproid, a simple batch file ran in windows unlocked, rooted, etc... The A200 Yay!! :laugh: So I am thinking that maybe I can use a similar scenario to get things moving on my A500 when I get it back. The commands in the batch file were really basic for the unlocking of the bootloader. I plan to try them out on my A500 as soon as possible, the commands in sequence are as follows, in the folder where the windows executable adb.exe and fastboot.exe, and the dll's are located, open a command prompt windows (cmd.exe) and then:

adb wait-for-device

adb reboot-bootloader

fastboot oem unlock

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"At this point you have to follow the on screen directions on the tablet and use the volume button to choose the unlock option on the tablet", then back to the PC command prompt for the final command :)

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fastboot reboot

Thats it!! :D

If it works like it did on the A200 the A500 bootloader should be unlocked, nothing like simplicity, and a command prompt :laugh:

If it does work now CWM can be installed, and work, giving rise to custom ROMS, and any other customizations I want to install but need a custom recovery and unlocked bootloader to have .

I really hope it does work the same on the A500 as it did on the A200. :D As far as I can tell there was no special files or images loaded onto the tablet to unlock the bootloader, just adb and fastboot, and apparently there is a built in option to unlock the stock ICS bootloader. To bad I wont find out until next week Tuesday night after work if it does work on my A500.

As always, I will post the results I get right away, so that anyone else stuck trying to get past the locked bootloader, can, well if it works, and if it does not, well at least I tried. So far I have tried all the step by steps with no luck that I can find, and as I have seen others experience the same thing the tablet just plain refusing to except any flash using APXFlash or AfterOTA in attempt to unlock the bootloader, wish me luck, and if anyone else happens to try this before I can in a week let us know, or if you already have a solution please let us know. Thanks so much :)

And again thanks everyone for all your time and contributions, the guides, tutorials, and custom software that you have written and shared, and for sharing with us your own trials and results so that we can all enjoy the most of our devices, the way that we want them to be :D I am fairly new to Android mods and development, but I have always liked the Linux based OS, and infiltrating exploits on gaming consoles, phones, etc.. has always been a sort of pass time hobby of mine, when time, money, and devices to play with are available to me :) I am definitely glad that I found and joined this forum, by far the most helpful, and extensive concerning Android Devices by far. :cowboy:

- Kaiji