[Acer Iconia A500] KaijiKun:
:cowboy: Hi Everyone :cowboy:

A while back I was having all sorts of problems trying to flash a patched bootloader to my Acer A500 So that I could install a custom recovery, Custom ROMS , etc...

Well thanks to some help from this awesome site, and a member here that pointed me to an NVFlash archive (Bab-Sector) with a script in it and it worked perfect. The Script however was using the V8 bootloader instead of V9, and I wanted to go with the V9 Bootloader 03.14-EXT So I updated the scripts to install the bootloader to SkrilaxCZ v9 Patched for Acer A500, and I also added Thor2002ro CWM 1.7.3 touch, instead of 1.7. 1.7.3 works a whole lot better :)

*****************************IMPORTANT**************************

Before using these tools make sure to back up your tablet first, and have a good ROM ready to install once you have your patched bootloader installed. Using this tool to Install the patched bootloader will render your current ROM unusable. You will have to install a new ROM as soon as your finished. This will also fix all the partitions on your tablet, so that they are all correct, but in doing it destroys your current install.

So any way here is a quick guide to flash the patched V9 bootloader file on your Acer A500:

Before you Continue:

You will need to know your SBK

And you need to have all the proper Acer USB drivers installed.

Plus you will need this file: A500-Bootloader-V9_Babsector

Extract the contents to some folder, and open the folder.

Now power off the tablet, and while it is connected to your PC via USB take a paperclip and press the reset button (located on the side next to the full size USB port, a small hole) and the power button, slowly count to 3 then release the power button, count one more to 4 and then release the reset button. Now your tablet is in APX download mode.

Open the folder where you extracted the bootloader and tools. Double click the file a501 A.bat. Enter your SBK.

The bootloader will be flashed, and Thor2002ro CWM 1.7.3 Custom Recovery will be installed, upon completion the screen will say PASS.

Now hold down the power button until the tab turns off, then hold the vol down button along with the power button to boot into CWM. Once in CWM navigate to the mounts and storage menu, then format system partition twice. Now go back to the power menu, and power off the tablet.

Now you need to boot APX download mode again, take a paperclip and press the reset button and the power button, slowly count to 3 then release the power button, count one more to 4 and release the reset button. Now your tablet is in APX download mode again.

Back to the folder where you extracted the bootloader and tools again. Now double click the file a501 B.bat.

The bootloader will be flashed again, and Thor2002ro CWM 1.7.3 Custom Recovery will be reinstalled, upon completion the screen will once again display PASS. You are finished, and you have a good custom recovery, along with the best patched bootloader for the A500.

Now you are ready to install custom ROMS from Thor2002ro CWM Touch.

If you decide that you no longer want to have the patched bootloader you can restore your A500 to complete stock ICS4.0.3 with this ROM: Stock ROM Acer_AV041_A500_1.033.00_PA_CUS1

You can flash this ROM with CWM or rename it to update.zip and place on root of external SD and the stock recovery will install it also. after the ROM has installed the tablet needs to reboot and the bootloader will be installed, then the tab will reboot, and you are back to 100% stock Acer_AV041_A500_1.033.00_PA_CUS1. You will not have root, and the bootloader will also be stock. This is the file you need if for some reason you should ever need to have your tablet sent to Acer, to be worked on. under warranty for example, or if you just want to have the tablet returned to stock.

I really hope this little guide helps someone, I know that a few months ago this would have helped me out when I could not flash my bootloader from windows with either the Black Thund3rAPX tool or AfterOTA, both of which are excellent tools, but for some reason they just would not work with my tab until after I had flashed my bootloader with NVFlash the way I explain here.

Also I need to point out that the scripts and tools included in the bootloader archive are originally the Bab-Sector tools. I just updated the bootloader files to SkrilaxCZ V9 Bootloader, with the green Acer logo, and the Custom Recovery to Thor2002ro CWM Touch 1.7.3

Thanks

- Kaiji