yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Hey, goingcrazy614, THANKS for that link. I have not seen that one before. After taking my initial perusal through it, it definitely looks like I may be able to learn some of what I'm obviously missing at this point. EXCELLENT content!

I'm going to throw out my next question despite believing that once I absorb a lot of what is contained in that thread, I obviously still need pointers from those more-experienced to this just-beginning-to-learn babe here.

So this reply is followed up by the next post -- please take no offence that I'm polling for guidance even though you've just handed me a goldmine.

-- David

---------- Post added at 05:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------

Okay, I made a little bit of progress in taking the more-difficult road of creating a LiveSuit-flashable ROM for this A700 than I traveled when building the Trio. NOT that it works yet -- it doesn't. But I took a step along the more "trying to understand what's going on inside" pathway whereupon I may have identified my first barrier.

Hopefully somebody (BLuFeNiX? or any of you other more-experienced folks?) already had a firm grip on what I'm missing... but HERE's what I did:

After extract_img.bat 'ing the installable ICS ROM for this that BLuFeNix modified the partitions for, I mounted RFSFAT16_BOOTLOADER_00000 in Ubuntu. Side-by-side, I also mounted THIS A700 tablet's NANDA (the bootloader, right?) also in UBUNTU. I totally cleared the mounted "RFSFAT16_BOOTLOADER_00000" and copied all the NANDA into it replacing its original contents. When I performed a repack_img.bat of this ONE-AND-ONLY modification, it still created what appears to be a perfectly flashable ROM .img file.

BUT... not-so-good results. (Although encouraging because I'm not getting a false-positive this time). When I start up LiveSuit to flash this one, it definitely STARTS to flash, but within about 5 seconds it comes back with a failed to update error (leaving the tablet bricked, obviously).

I don't care about the bricking, it's a solid tablet which is why I'm thrilled to have it for learning purposes. I'll be able to restore in a lickety-split when I'm ready.

But what I want to know is if anybody can thump me real hard alongside the head and tell me, "you dummy, you're SUPPOSED to know that you're ALSO supposed to do....." (whatever it is that I don't know.) In my mind, something as simple as this should have worked. But OBVIOUSLY, I have missed a pretty important slice of the internal structure of these images.

So I'm open for some friendly education here: Why does simply replacing the bootloader cause it to NOT be able to flash?

I hope I've got some generous idea-contributors out there.

THANKS!

-- David
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] goingcrazy614:
No sweat. Trying to learn this stuff myself. The link I gave you is a new one, probably why you hadn't seen it. I will help whenever and however I can.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] HampTheToker:
Every time I reboot this thing it wipes all my apps and settings. The only thing I've done is install SuperSU which updates the SU binary, install and update Busybox to 1.21.1 (I think), and install the extended power menu.

That's literally all I've done besides installing recovery and using CydiaImpactor to gain full root. What am I doing wrong here?
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
HampTheToker... it's the rooting process that causes it. This device is already somewhat-rooted, allowing the system to have full root access. But to do that, they use an SU binary that doesn't prompt the user for authentication. I learned the hard way that no matter HOW you root it, it confuses it. Once you use an automated rooting program, it gets it to where every time it reboots, it reboots as a factory reset. VERY annoying... I agree.

BLuFeNiX has provided a download link earlier in the thread to a proper SU binary that you need to replace the one that's there with. Unfortunately, since you've already run a rooting program, it will be real hard to isolate the real damage.

I finally found a way to overcome the same mistake. "Kingo Android ROOT" has an unroot function that eradicates the mess that's made out of trying to root one of these. Install Kingo on your computer, and run it on your device like you would ANY rooting program. EXCEPT... choose the option to unroot... even if it says your device isn't rooted.

Upon completion of unrooting it, King will give you an error saying that it was not successful. That's okay, because the specialized su binary is something that Kingo isn't keen on. I actually ran it TWICE last time just to make SURE that everything was erased.

You MIGHT need to uninstall your busybox and supersu apks... but then again maybe you won't need to. Kingo is very thorough.

Remember that once it's all cleaned up, you need to reboot. You won't be rooted, but the device will still be custom rooted for the system. But all of the mis-rooting stuff will be gone.

THEN... run Kingo again but this time tell it to root. It will be successful, and will properly replace the modified su binary.

BLuFeNiX's su binary replacement is much easier and saves lots of steps. Unfortunately, now there are other binaries and busybox desposited on your system that have to be cleaned up first.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] HampTheToker:
Thanks. I'm away from my computer now, so I'll just flash the stock zip and reroot when I get home. Much appreciated.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Raztan:
Im not sure it's rooting.

I used impactor also and I don't have that problem and i've rebooted/powered off the device several times since..

HOWEVER.. im using nova launcher so maybe that makes a difference?

I used impactor, installed SU in play store, opened SU and let it update "normal"..

then I rebooted.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Yeah, Raztan, I ran a number of tests narrowing it down to the rooting. Yeah, I could be wrong, I won't argue the point, that's for sure. But I'm going to guess that some programs are smarter than others and know how to deal with this specialized system-routing whereas others may not. Maybe Impactor is one of the smart ones. That would be good to know.

... could be the launcher... but I don't see how a launcher could trigger a factory reset.

Very interesting. Some day I'm going to get this thing's internals under my belt and have a great grip on it. Until then, everything we're all teaching each other is invaluable. Thanks!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Raztan:
Full resets no.. but I thought maybe one of the problems was apps disappearing which I thought launcher might be the difference.

I know launcher shortcuts disappearing is a common problem thats one of the reasons I use Nova after having that problem on another tablet.

What else have you guys done? I rooted with impactor that's it.. I've not messed with the firmware.

Next time you go to root the tab since it sounds like you gotta reflash anyway try using impactor, installing su, updating, and then rebooting

see if the problem still persists.

I used impactor 0.9.14 and this for the ADB driver: http://adbdriver.com/downloads
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] goingcrazy614:
Can any of you get a logcat just before reboot and a dsmesg file
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Okay, sounds like a great idea. I just finished restoring it again. But I break it so frequently that I'll definitely be doing that soon.

BLuFeNiX created a CWM recovery. He also modified a nuclear_inet ICS LiveSuit ROM that we located so that its partitions match the A700. With that ROM flashed, you can DD your nandroid backup back onto it restoring it to new. Not too far back, ften added an extended power menu modification that's really cool. There's also a zip-loadable rom... Very cool.

Always open for more input. This is a great, although low powered, inexpensive machine.

---------- Post added at 08:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 PM ----------

goingcrazy614, am I wrong in presuming that you want a logcat from a device that's doing the factory-reset looping? Or can just any of us get you your logcat? (Because mine is currently working properly instead of looping.)

And then the question... I presume you want to capture the final logging immediately before it shuts off? I've never done that with logcat. I only monitor it live and also dump it to a file while monitoring it. But to dump it while it's shutting down? I don't know how to do that.

Can you give us a brief "how-to" if you know how to?

Thanks!

-- David
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] goingcrazy614:
Instead of trying to instruct, here is a thread that explains all logs

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1123129

lodcats help with most things but dsmesg logs help with any bootloops, reboots, shutdowns, etc, I hope it helps. I can pass the logs onto people I know in the community for advise.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
http://pastebin.com/BpqsqTVE
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] HampTheToker:
I flashed back to stock and rebooted after every step to try and pin down the problem. It looks like I'm only experiencing problems after installing the latest busybox to /system/xbin. I tried installing to /system/bin to see if the result would be the same and it was.

Looks like I'll be sticking with the stock busybox version until someone figures out how it's breaking things.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ften:
Copy yangapp's busybox to what ever the busybox default directory is on the A700 (I forget off hand, but its not the directory most automated busybox app want to install to) and from adb as su run "busybox --install" in afore mentioned directory. Reboot and you should be good.

Busybox;

http://code.google.com/p/yangapp/downloads/detail?name=busybox-1.21.1

Lol, I'd write a better explanation, but I'm in the middle of nowhere for the next week with no real internet.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BLuFeNiX:
FYI: the "stock" zip I provided is already fully rooted. That is the only non-stock change.

---------- Post added at 06:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:19 PM ----------

Maybe the RFSFAT16_BOOTLOADER_00000 partition contains "magic" data before the filsystem begins (like a header or something akin to an MBR). You could try looking at it in a hex editor. Or, it might be interesting to change only one file (maybe an image, or a text file that doesn't really matter) and see if it exhibits the same behavior. If it doesn't break, you could keep changing files to see what DOES cause it to break. I would recommend the 50/50 method (change half of the files, test, change half of the remaining files, repeat...), so you only have to do a maximum of log2(x) tests (where x = number of files in the partition), assuming that the issue is the files themselves and not some special header or data elsewhere.

If any of that is unclear, I can explain further. I will try to put some time aside to work on this some more, not sure exactly when I'll be able to.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Heck no, I understand that PERFECTLY clear. One of the standards of trying to debug data. And I'm surprised that I hadn't let my brain go down that road yet.

I'm going to be lost on that header file though. I've looked at them and still see them as some kind of magical mystery. But I think I'll do the good ol' 50/50 trim-down elimination process first. What an EXCELLENT suggestion. (I shamefully admit. <grin>)

Thanks!

-- David

---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 AM ----------

Here's the reply that I got back from them. Kind of an unpleasant one, and I'm surprised that they don't admit that the way they've got that support page laid out that it's misleading. It "does" look like they're telling you the A701 is how you fix the A700. But when you look at it, he's correct, it says that it uses the same user's guide. The rest about the A701 is just ALSO a part of the same page.

But he makes the statement about the non-DC ROM. I'm presuming "DC" to mean "Direct-Connect", ie "LiveSuit". Which also implies that this link is going to provide an SD-Card flashable ROM. I'm downloading it now to see what awesomeness lies within, Who knows? MAYBE it's what we're looking for. But BLuFeNiX has already assembled such a ROM. Regardless, it might (or might not be? or might have already been discovered and posted here making my post redundant?) be a step in the right direction.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BLuFeNiX:
Wow, I'm surprised I didn't notice that file before. I'm excited to hear back about the "LiveSuite pack A700-A701 no dc port". :D Maybe we can forget about livesuit and just restore from sd. That would be much more convenient for on-the-go unbricking.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Nope, not an SD nor a CWM-zip flashable ROM. It's a real honest-to-goodness LiveSuit .img for the A700, The "DC" doesn't mean direct-connect, it means "direct current". Which makes sense since there's only USB-charging available on this device and no DC port. Duh, "DC Port", duh <grin>.

The good thing is... I still get to play with it to see if I can figure out the internals. The better thing is... I won't keep bugging everybody to try to help me figure out what I haven't learned yet, I can feel more-at-ease trying to learn it more gradually. And the best thing is... we've got a LiveSuit "stock" ROM for this thing. YAY!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BLuFeNiX:
Awesome! Now I can get rid of my partition-modified ICS image and just link to the official one :)
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
I have been waiting ALL day to get back home so that I could try this out. And YES!!!! It flashed PERFECTLY. Next to your saving touches, BLuFeNiX, this is the 2nd greatest thing I've seen in ages.

I wonder how long it will be before they get their support site structured to include it.

Very happy am I. :D

---------- Post added at 05:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:32 PM ----------

After having JUST-FLASHED my A700 with the appropriate ROM that Azpen provided to me today, I pulled it up in the Uberizer to identify it. The result: "Detected model: A701_nuclear_inet".

Good call, absamide.

---------- Post added at 05:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 PM ----------

So... I think that in summing up the whole "ROM for the A701 doesn't flash in the A700" topic, it's because of something we did NOT know. It wasn't because one was a A701 and the other a A700. It was because the ROM that is posted is for a tablet that has a direct-current port. The A700 charges via USB "only" and does not have a port for a DC adapter.

Live and learn.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] goingcrazy614:
Cool stuff guys! Cool stuff!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] HampTheToker:
We now have our very own forum over at SDX w00t!
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JeffDenver:
I agree what the guy said before about view angles, but man, this display handles gradients REALLY well. Fantastically for such a cheap device. They are very smooth.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Yeah, right? It almost causes a 3D effect. I utterly love this machine.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mthous01:
I dare say that you fellows have created an amazing thread here. I think that further development is now possible thanks to your hard work. Maybe we can get a moderator to start a new device thread for the A700's. Goodness knows lots will be sold this holiday at Microcenter.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rogert30066:
FTR, I first tried the Windows version of this program, and it could not sort out the USB driver, but the OSX version worked like a charm, first time.

Thanks for starting the thread, and thanks to the developers of Impactor for a great program.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] thedarkfreak:
A700/A701 driver

I had some issues with their USB driver, too. I actually don't even use their driver; I use the official Google ADB driver. Turns out that, even with Windows x64 Driver Signature Enforcement on, if you specifically tell Windows to use an exact driver for an exact device, it'll do it.

Steps:

1) Get the Google ADB USB Driver from the Android SDK

2) Go to where you installed the Android SDK, find the sdk\extras\google\usb_driver folder, and open it

3) Right-click 'android_winusb.inf' and click "Install"

4) Open Device Manager

Win7/8: Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Under "Devices and Printers" heading, click Device Manager.

Win8 Shortcut: Press Winkey+X, click Device Manager

5) In Device Manager, find your device. If there's no driver for it installed, it'll show up under "Other devices", usually labeled "Android".

6) Double-click the Device, hit Update Driver->Browse my computer for driver software->Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer->Android device->Choose either Google ADB Driver or Google Composite ADB Driver. If the device is in bootloader mode, choose Google Bootloader Driver.

7) Windows will ask you to confirm you want to install the driver, as it may be incompatible with the device.

8) Once done, test it out. Try to use the Android SDK's ADB to connect to the device.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] goingcrazy614:
Awesome. Thanks
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] HampTheToker:
Just FYI, I've been running zepplinrox' V6 Supercharger script for a few days now and the improvement is quite noticeable. I also use the Xposed Framework with Greenify Pro, XBlast Tools, Xposed Additions, Unicon, and XBatteryThemer modules as well as a pure black wallpaper to maximize performance and battery life. I've had this thing running all day and still have 67% battery. With moderate usage, it wouldn't be a stretch at all to get a full day without charging.

The only things I'm really missing are CyanogenMod and a custom kernel. A CM port would make this device pop IMO. Any slim AOSP rom would be great, really.

If anyone else has any tips to improve performance and functionality, then please feel free to post your experience.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ften:
Kernel Source?

Has anyone tried making a kernel for the tablet with this A1X generic source yet? It looks like it should work.

https://github.com/linux-sunxi/linux-sunxi
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Live and Learn

Wow, BLuFeNiX, I FINALLY got it (even though we don't need it anymore). I can finally make a LiveSuit-flashable image for the A700 after making mods to it. THAT WAS ROUGH!

And you'll NEVER believe what I was doing wrong... I'm ready to slap myself up alongside the head for this one....

I was using ImageSuite software for GINGERBREAD! I didn't bother looking inside the .bat file to see that the file names were wrong. SHAME ON ME!

Live and learn.

But... having lots of fun with it now. <grin> Don't need it, but at least I'm past it now.

-- David :o :angel:
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BLuFeNiX:
Awesome! http://forum.sdx-developers.com/viewforum.php?f=528&sid=df844ad8946ce80b4b3905b6574d35b7

Perhaps we should deprecate this thread and start posting there instead?

I tried using a prebuilt generic, but have not tried building my own. Not a bad idea; maybe I'll try when I have some free time.

Haha, well I'm glad you got it worked out. Now we can all come to you for LiveSuit knowledge :D
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Hey HampTheToker or ften or whoever... the e-mail address that I registered on sdx with was aol.com. APPARENTLY aol blocks wherever the registration confirmation request originates because I've told it to send and resend over and over again the request, yet nothing ever hits my aol, not even in the spam box.

We deal with e-mail issues all the time ESPECIALLY with aol. That's one of the reasons I keep the address -- just to know when we're having trouble with aol again.

But I can't fix this, and there's no way to contact an admin at sdx that I can see without first being logged in -- which I can't do since I can't receive the registration confirmation so that I can actually become valid.

Are any of you all capable of forwarding my request to them to delete "dsulliii" so that I can try to register it with a NON-aol address?

THANKS!

-- David :confused:
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BLuFeNiX:
Interesting. I think you will have better luck contacting AOL and having the email sent through properly (assuming the call center techs can do that). Otherwise you might have to email AOL support and wait a few days.

Did you try to retrieve the email via a web browser, or do you use an email client? If you use a client, I would recommend trying the web mail interface just in case. Also, do you have multiple spam folders or "triggers"? I haven't used AOL in many years, so I can't give any specific advice on the matter.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Taynxe, BLFNX (whoa, although inaccurate, that's quite a bit easier than typing it with the uei intermixed in it. ;) ).

I use my phone primarily. Here at work, I also have the AOL webmail up, so I'm using it. I pass-through to my home PC where I have the desktop client running (aol's software), and it's not there either. Nowhere at all. But that's typical for when AOL decides to block a domain.

No, AOL support is hard-headed about this topic. They claim to draw their line really high, but my experience is that they do let some spammers through (fortunately the spam falls into the spam box). But contacting them is almost always a dead-end. It's nearly impossible to get past their automated filter system. I've done it on work-related blockages, but with those, I have some power to throw at them. For personal stuff, I'm afraid I don't have the muscle to get through to them.

The only reason I keep it, really, is so that I can know whether or not they're impacting us at work or not. Contacting our clientele is crucial, and since so many of them were around back in the AOL beginnings, they're still with AOL. So I need to know IMMEDIATELY if we've been blocked again. I'm sure they hate me by now.

Just a little background on AOL and trying to break through the barriers. Heck, it was easier to get through to Azpen than it is AOL. <grin>.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BLuFeNiX:
Hah, I actually use that abbreviation when I'm character-limited, or for certain non-secure short access codes. Feel free to use whatever abbreviation you like, I don't mind.

Hmm. A bit of digging (pun intended) shows that SDX recieves its email through emailsrvr.com. It would make sense if they also sent email through this server, but I'm not sure (one could easily check by examining the headers in an email from them. I will do this when I sign up.). Perhaps contacting emailsrvr.com and having them contact AOL (to become unblocked) would resolve this issue.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ften:
Just tried, don't have access to that. I txted one of the site mods and emailed a few others, so someone should be able to do it.
[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dsulliii:
Thanks tons, ften.