yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=4987328]markster1983[/MENTION] Sorry, link fixed. The Mediatek preloader USB VCOM driver is here (read the readme).
[Android General] markster1983:
Thanks! this is the original mediatek driver i presume?

I think the drivers are installed correctly already.......

I get this error when using SPFT...
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=4987328]markster1983[/MENTION] The error message is pretty clear: you haven't loaded a (partition) file yet. If you load a scatter file, the SPFT should automatically load the partition files, if they are in the same folder as the scatter file, and have the proper file names. Otherwise, you need to click into the "location" column to manually load a file for a partition. Read my quick how-to.
[Android General] markster1983:
should i try another version of SPFT, i can`t download the latest version (no permission to download)

i use v5 1628.

Thanks for your time, Tzul and others!

Just tryin to get rid of those pesky commercials (install.sys keeps booting up), and making it bit smoother in operation!:o
[Android General] rmckeen:
Hey guys thanks so much for all the great information hear have learned and continue to learn alot. Just got my new Tab 2 A10-70F which is replacing my Idea Tab A2109a rooted with TWRP and has been a great tab for my needs. But time to upgrade and put it to rest. Question, went through the OTA updates prior to installing recovery and root, and the build number is now A10-70F_S000122_160505_ROW was thinking about installing [MENTION=5837440]Krystyna[/MENTION]'s back up zip (thanks) and it made specific mention to come from Lollipop

(A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW_clsA) do I need to go back to that version before using his back up or am I good to go. I am rooted with custom recovery installed now but nothing else waiting for my new sd card to come before going to town. Thanks.
[Android General] Tzul:
What do you mean, no permission to download? Is that an error message by the SPFT? If so, please show another screenshot.

What's "Krystyna's back up zip" and why do you want to install it? A10-70F_S000122_160505_ROW is the latest firmware version, if you want to customize things, you can start from there.
[Android General] markster1983:
when trying to download v5 1632, i get this message...

so i went and downloaded v5 1628
[Android General] rmckeen:
Thanks and sorry about incorrect posting as you can see I am new to the posting part.
[Android General] markster1983:
ah it finally worked!!! my bad Tzul...... (i missed one step in your tutorial)

can i flash UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.65-20151226141550 instead of BETA v2.49?

thanks alot!
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=4987328]markster1983[/MENTION] Good to hear. Yes, you can of course use a newer SuperSU (v2.76 at the moment).

[MENTION=4186102]rmckeen[/MENTION] You didn't do anything wrong, I was just asking what exactly you're intending to do with your tablet, because I haven't heard of that backup you mentioned.
[Android General] markster1983:
anyone familiar with this ``install.sys`` app, it pops up with commercials (after closing 3 times it doesn`t start again btw).

I want to remove this, along with google books, google kiosk and such!!

what app do i need to remove them?!
[Android General] loner.:
I use Titanium Backup.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F
[Android General] markster1983:
works great thxs!

Can i remove google films, google kiosk, music, books and this lenovo tab 2 a10 app without any problem?
[Android General] mjsharon:
I did with no problems. Have you made a backup you can return to?
[Android General] markster1983:
no i did not....

what partitions should i backup?

thxs!
[Android General] mjsharon:
Boot, data, system
[Android General] WilderSu:
I've played with stock Lolipo ROM a bit, stripped lenovo crap and google stuff, point of this was to install MicroG google services replacement for extreme battery savings, If someone is interested in this let me know.
[Android General] markster1983:
that`s over 6gb`s !?
[Android General] mjsharon:
Store it externally.
[Android General] markster1983:
ok thxs!
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=4987328]markster1983[/MENTION] If you haven't customized the system partition yet, there's no real point to making a backup of it, as you can always restore it from the firmware archive. Same for the boot image. Also, in TWRP you can enable compression, that'll reduce the size of the data backup a bit.
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=1454767]Old faithful[/MENTION]

Have you installed/moved any of your apps to the SD card? Some apps don't like that.

The problem and also advantage of USB mass storage mode is that it's exclusive - as long as UMS is active, the PC has access to the SD card, and the tablet doesn't. So, any app running in the background that is installed on the external SD card might run into issues or get killed. Or it might try to launch before the SD card is properly (re)mounted and usable.
[Android General] Old faithful:
Nope, none of that. I simply set my apps to SAVE to SD card - like the camera. In other words, i never asked any apps to be moved to the SD crad - I wouldn't want them there anyway, just my data

That sounds more plausible... some app, perhaps the camera, trying to immediately get SD card access before its properly initialized. Would be nice to get rid of this useless message automatically, though ;)

I'm going to have a look at the apps that get started on their own at system startup, that may give me a clue.

Am I the only one to use an external SD card for my data?!

***

On another subject I'm in a conversation with Ghost Commander's developer regarding a few bugs I've been experiencing, although I should be working I'm super thrilled that he took interest in helping figuring this out. It's potentially the best File manger for Android from the couple of dozen I tested, as it truly respects file timestamps, can even compute file hashes with it :)... It is a vital part of my "Taking Ownership of your Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70" tutorial :)
[Android General] zMILWAUKEE:
Thanks to Tzul and his ported TWRP I was able to debloat the stock 4.4.4. I had a list of all the apps I removed, but my Great Dane decided she needed a snack. Anyways a quick run down on this backup....Got rid of that 300+mb appjar file, and replaced the horrible stock launcher with Nova Launcher Prime, replaced the bland file manager with ES File Explorer Pro, I did leave the system update app on the tablet just so I can upgrade to lolipop later on and I like the reboot in recovery option it has. If you don't want it running in the background just disable it using the normal method in the app manager. After first boot without any downloaded apps the available ram is 1.4gb available and the amount of apps on the tablet is down to 49. And Tzul great job on the fully functioning TWRP build. My backup only took 109secs to complete and every option in recovery works great, better and faster than most ported TWRP builds I've used so far. To restore my backup, just boot into TWRP and make a backup of anything you wish, this is so TWRP creates the needed directories on your ext sd card. Next just download from the link below. Now when you extract the files, extract them to the same location as the backup files you previously created with TWRP, make sure you overwrite the existing files with the downloaded files. Next just boot into TWRP and restore. My wife also has this tablet so I restored it on hers and everything is working. Thanks again Tzul. Couldn't have done it without you. http://www.mediafire.com/download/38d1wjnd2347eir/Debloated_A10-70F_4.4.4_TWRP.zip
[Android General] hajkan:
Hey

I get that too and it is messed up. Also some of my apps sometimes are being uninstalled after a reboot. Do you also have a similar situation?
[Android General] Old faithful:
Apps getting uninstalled after a reboot? That's weird. What apps in particular were uninstalled? Could it be related to the auto updating process? One of the first thing I recommend doing when you first get the tablet connected is to immediately go to the Playstore and DISABLE auto-updating. At least this stops apps from causing misery (It doesn't prevent Google and other system apps from self updating, though, although that can be remedied as well but is slightly more involved).
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=5353647]zMILWAUKEE[/MENTION] In case you have missed the discussion on the previous page: the Android 4 version of TWRP makes incomplete backups of /system and /data occasionally.

I've just uploaded a new one (same old link) that shouldn't have this problem.

Anyway, your backup is complete as far as I can tell. Though I'm not sure about the legality of including apps like Nova Launcher Prime and ES File Explorer Pro. This is your work, please leave my name out of it. ;)
[Android General] zMILWAUKEE:
No problem, I'll rename the backup file asap. And as far as the Nova Prime and es file Explorer pro, I did pay for both and my sole purpose for sharing my backup is to have something to prove that TWRP is functioning to its full capacity. Im not sure where or how other people are having trouble with it. I have made about 13 backups, and restored all of them with no problems at all. Thanks again for the port of TWRP though.
[Android General] lion567:
Great! :good:

What was the cause of the issue? How do you fix it?
[Android General] hajkan:
Everything Google and Lenovo is disabled on my tablet. I neither use Google nor Lenovo apps for any purpose. So it cant be any of the setups. It feels like mostly F-droid installed apps disappear after a reboot. However I am unable to determine a pattern there either. I always assumed that the app installed message has something to do with it.

DId you check to see if you have any custom app uninstalled? Do you mind installing Fdroid and installing couple appss from there like webtube or New pipe then try a reboot afterwards?
[Android General] Old faithful:
Sure, I'll try and see how it goes. As for myself, I download apps from the playstore WITHOUT an account: Simply replace "play.google.com" in the url with "apk-dl.com". You get the apk directly, I love it :)
[Android General] clsA:
Ok I gave it a try and NewPipe was still installed after 2 reboots and seems to work fine. Did you install fdroid Client and not just the .apk? .. their website says it's the preferred method
[Android General] hajkan:
You are not doing much service to yourself because all those apps still rely on google frame work, and google play app will still know all the apps that are installed on your system. If you want privacy disable all those apps, root your device, install a firewall and deny net connection to all those apps (including the linux kernel, root apps etc) except the ones you really really need.
[Android General] Old faithful:
Thank you, I already use a firewall to do just that for most of my aps ;)
[Android General] Tzul:
I didn't find the cause. Didn't want to waste more time on a version I don't use anyway, so I just took a /sbin/recovery binary from another TWRP release. This one wasn't compiled with "TW_USE_MODEL_HARDWARE_ID_FOR_DEVICE_ID := true", so it uses the serial number for the backup path, but I don't care as long as the rest is working properly.
[Android General] cheryanne:
trying to install custom recovery

I keep getting this error message:

My device is A10-70F VERSION: 5.0.1, KERNEL: 3.10.61, BUILD A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW - any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong?

I've rooted 4 Samsung and 1 LG device before now but I really am unsure about Lenovo.
[Android General] rawr703:
I don't see a device specific forum for this, but I've had this tablet for about 5-6 months and right now it's a paperweight. I haven't used it in maybe a month or more so I expected the battery to be dead but I was not expecting it to be unable to charge. I've plugged it in to two different power sources (confirmed they work by charging my phone it's also micro-usb) but nothing happens. Left it plugged in for a while and tried power+volume up (and power+volume down to be sure) I'm still getting nothing. No acknowledgement that it's charging. not change. Just dead. Anyone have any similar issue with this or have any ideas?
[Android General] CaptJager:
In spt did you choose the file by clicking on the empty row/colum to the right of recovery?
[Android General] cheryanne:
Thank you - how silly do I feel now?
[Android General] CaptJager:
I did the same exact thing
[Android General] loner.:
+1

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F
[Android General] markster1983:
thats what i thought, i didnt make a backup and went on to remove some apps.

thxs for all the help and time Tzul and others!
[Android General] A$h x:
I'm getting an error when using Play Store. It says "Authentication is required. You need to sign into your Google Account". Error code was DF-DLA-15. It works temporarily when I remove the google account, and re-add it, but it's a pain to do every time you want update or install apps.
[Android General] WilderSu:
Clear playstore data.
[Android General] rmckeen:
I was talking about this > nova.xposed.gsam.airdroid.supersu.zip that [MENTION=2895182]clsA[/MENTION] had put together in a very early post. It has some of the same things I was going to do and thought it might be just as easy to use this to restore from but was unclear about the firmware version or if that mattered with a nandroid backup. Since I flash infrequently I end up forgetting what I new the last time. Anyway thanks for help.
[Android General] _william:
Hi,

Thanks for the wonderful guide! I got my Tab a10 rooted and working well! :)

I wanted to ask: What custom roms are available for a10? Is there any way to get Marshmallow on it?

Thanks!
[Android General] chris5s:
Search this thread for Blisspop, that's one custom ROM. No Marshmallow (yet??).

Otherwise the stock ROM, rooted and tweaked a bit is pretty good to go with :good:
[Android General] clsA:
My tablet shipped with Lollipop and that backup works with any Lollipop version

---------- Post added at 02:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:46 PM ----------

None and no

the Blisspop he mentioned is horrible and a waste of time
[Android General] Old faithful:
This and other Google related errors can appear if you remove too much google stuff. I tried microG and didn't have much success, and had to reload the system partition, now all is well.

Bottom line, you don't need to register the device with Google to access your gmail account , just use Aquamail, for apps I get everything I want from apkpure.com and get a backup at the same time and get to chose which version I want installed, allows you to use pre-payware versions of apps or early alphas before they add all that crap that they do when it becomes popular. Heck the only Facebook app that works with my stringent privacy settings with no garbage was an old version of f lite I found that way.

And by all means get yourself a proper hosts file and get rid of 95% of ads and other malware.

.
[Android General] rmckeen:
[MENTION=2895182]clsA[/MENTION] Thanks appreciated will give it a try.
[Android General] adrian1216:
Hi.

Thank you for your previous help.

Now I have a small question. Is it possible to make "dump" of system of this tablet model. I have tried MTK Droid Tools, but there is no option to create scatter file - this chipset is not supported. I would like to make some modification on device and "clone" to other using SP Flash Tool device. I think that I cannot use scatter file provided by stock ROM to make backup after modifications.

There is option to see block map, but addresses are completely different than addresses included in stock scatter file.

Thank you for any help.
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=7114808]adrian1216[/MENTION] MtkDroidTools was discontinued and does not work with newer chips like the one used in this tablet. It has come up a few times in this topic, e.g. here. It's very easy to make a dump of the system partition with the SPFT's Readback function & ShowByScatter.

What do you want to change? If you want to mess with the partitioning, e.g. resize some, why?

You can use the "stock" scatter file, unless you change the partitioning, then you have to update the scatter file accordingly.
[Android General] Persizi:
I bought a Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F few days ago, who came with Lolipop. I downgraded to KitKat and it feels more agile and faster. Also it seems that the battery holds more. I did not run any benchmarks but SuperPi on 1M . 5.0.1 makes about 20 seconds, and 4.4.4 makes about 17.5 seconds. That is over 10% difference in favor of KitKat.

WiFi 5GHz didn't shows up on KitKat, but it not bothers me too much.
[Android General] djordjedisic:
BRICKET

Hello,

I make mistake i was try to instal twrp recovery on my tablet like is written here in tutorial BUT i have Lenovo Tab2 A7-10F not this model its vas so late in the morning and probaly i was sleeping so i do with wrong scatter and wrong twrp recovery file.

When i press download its was written that cpu is not same and i press OK

and my tablet is DEAD. its not possible to power on and when i put usb cable to pc its only vibrate one and in device manager is yellow sign on tablet icon and its writen that device have some problem and its not working propertly.Now i see it on device manager that work ok on com8 but i try with flash tool and doesnt work :/

So is any chanse to do something with this tablet now or no?

tnx in advance
[Android General] Johnny Storm:
That's interesting. My one came with 5.0.1. Does anyone else have any opinions on whether 4.4.4 has any advantages?
[Android General] Persizi:
According to some posts, Antutu have better results on Lolipop, but I don't trust this benchmark. I never run it on 5.0.1, but now with 4.4.4, Antutu 6.2.1 makes 36 300 points.
[Android General] adrian1216:
[MENTION=5919159]Tzul[/MENTION]

I would like to install few apps (some as system apps) and clone to other devices.

I made read back of recovery.img, system.img, and cache.img (userdata.img also) using "stock" scatter file values (start address, and length respectively).

I have switched to download tab, and downloaded already read images - tablet was working.

Then I reverted to clean verison of system - booot-ed completely.

Then I have downloaded into device my readback-s, for test just recovery.img, system.img, and cache.img.

After it - booting proccess takes long time - like clean version of system. Booted completely, but I saw Android intro - I thought it was saved that was already done in cache.img. So I downloaded only userdata.img.

Don't know why, but my readback userdata.img is quite huge 1,15 GB in spite of using values from scatter file (while making readback) from clean version of system - where userdata.img is 371 MB. After downloading mine - system stuck on boot logo (not animation).

What do I wrong? Now trying all 4 images in same time.

I also would like to save with cloning already installed TWRP - do I need to read back boot partition.

Also I did not repartition device before readback.
[Android General] Old faithful:
Some like myself would say "Does anyone else have any opinions whether 5.0.1 has any advantages" over 4.4.4... ;)

Fact of the matter, I've tried both and prefer 4.4.4 by a significant margin. The ONLY thing 5.0.1 is superior to 4.4.4 is the more accurate color rendering of the updated Miravision, especially color saturation which tends to be excessive in 4.4.4 (5.0.1 version of Miravision is unfortunately incompatible with the 4.4.4 base ROM - I tried)

On the other hand if you are a die hard 'material design' fan and don't mind old app incompatibilities, you probably won't like 'old', 'nerdy' 4.4.4 and its more prevalent, 'boring' (aka eye-saving), white on black UI elements.

That being said, with all the tips and information here, it's so easy to try and revert back, why don't you check it out for yourself?

---------- Post added at 08:01 ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 ----------

Someone else had the same mishap a few months back, if you take your time and look for it you'll find everything you need to get it back.
[Android General] djordjedisic:
I was try to find some solution all day today but i dont find anything.

btw my tablet dont respond on any combination of buttons.

So its not possible to power on in any combination. Only i can see it when i connect to usb but flash program dont see it anymore... so if someone can help me will be nice.

[/QUOTE]
[Android General] Tzul:
That's no surprise. The cache partition is used by the recovery and for some temporary files, it does not hold the ART/Dalvik cache!

The "dalvik cache" (which is still used in Lollipop and later, for ART files) is in /data/dalvik-cache, i.e. on the userdata partition!

When you install new apps, they have to be compiled/"optimized" first, and the resulting files are stored in the dalvik cache. Therefore, if you just clone the system and cache partitions, the dalvik cache has to be rebuilt completely on the new machines, which causes the long delay on first boot.

1.15 GB might seem huge, but it's actually not huge enough! The scatter file for this tablet intentionally lists a "truncated" size for the userdata partition!

I've mentioned that several times in this topic, e.g. here and here. Therefore, your readback of the userdata partition was incomplete and thus didn't work.

Using TWRP would be better, because it wouldn't save the entire huge partition, just the actually used data.

However, it is not a good idea to clone the userdata partition to other devices. Why? Because it contains a lot more than just the dalvik cache and apps. On many MediaTek-based devices, it also contains the extracted NVRAM, for example (/data/nvram). Therefore, by cloning that, you'd cause all devices to use the same MAC addresses for Bluetooth and WiFi, and the same IMEI for SIM cards - but all these IDs are supposed to be unique for each and every device! Furthermore, you'd clone the "Android ID" (randomly generated after a factory reset, i.e. with a wiped userdata partition), another number that should be unique for every device...

I've created a little flashable zip for TWRP, which deletes some key files that should not be cloned. You'd "install" it in TWRP immediately before making a backup or readback. However, it is experimental, and might not delete everything that should be deleted, or maybe it'll delete too much. Use at your own risk.
[Android General] pjadec:
I just tested Tab 2 A10-70F Android 5.0.1 Antutu 6.2.1 makes 41221 points.
[Android General] adrian1216:
[MENTION=5919159]Tzul[/MENTION]

Ok. I think I would may resign from cloning user data partition. But if I will clone system and recovery partition - I will have preinstalled TWRP and superuser. Do you know where are saved superuser app settings (on system partition or on userdata (in app folder)) ? Is some way to preinit superuser app. I mean settings like root privileges for my own apps.