yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
FIRMWARE

There are two main branches of development for this tablet. It is very important to know which one you have because they are incompatible with each other. I personally bricked my first one with firmware from a x.9.x while mine is x.12.x. How do you check? Simple. In your build number, you can find it in "About tablet" in Settings or in the text at the top of the recovery screen. It's at the end of the number and it will look like 1.12.30, 10.12.20, 2.12.20, 1.9.1, 1.9.5, 10.9.1...etc The number in the middle is the important one.

Steps(Windows): For step 2 you will have five seconds. Preloader mode is only active for five seconds. So read first!

1- Extract the drivers to the destktop and open the device manager.

2- Plug your tablet in as such: turn off the tablet. Plug a male to male USB wire from the computer to the USB port on the tablet. now plug the power wire into the tablet. now very quickly in the device manager locate the new device and right click on it. select "update driver software" then select "browse my computer for driver software" and "browse". Now navigate to the driver folder, select the "CDC" folder and click on "OK" the "Next". The driver should install at this point. Once that is done, unplug the power cable from the tablet.

3- Extract the firmware and the sp flash tools to your desktop.

4- Start the sp flash tools and where it says scatter file loading click and navigate to the folder where you have the firmware and load the scatter file. You will see the firmware get loaded and a checksum check.

5- Once that is done, uncheck the preloader from the list and click on the download button.

6- Plug the power cable into your tablet. At this point the sp flash tool will load the firmware into the tablet. DO NOT UNPLUG ANYTHING UNTIL THE SP FLASH TOOLS SHOWS YOU A GREEN CHECK MARK TO INDICATE THAT IT IS DONE OR YOUR TABLET COULD BE HARD BRICKED AND UNREPAIRABLE.

7- Press the reset button and turn it on. Done!

Drivers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz4bOoJ_E5XzRWJCbGFINndmVmc/view?usp=sharing

SP Flash tools: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz4bOoJ_E5Xzb0g3ZnlEcHE0bEE/view?usp=sharing

Firmware x.9.x:

RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V37-V10.9.21-NFC-V2.3LA-20150820

RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V32-1.9.1-20150409

Do not flash the preloader for the Surf1001 versions!!

Firrmware x.12.x:

RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V77-V1.12.50-EMMC-user-Kingston-V6.1_20160316

RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V70-V1.12.30-B-EMMC-user-Kingston-V6.1_20160121

SURF1001-ANDROID5.0-V11-V7.15.0_T8515B_V6.3_SAMSUNG2G_20151116 (Use method No.2 for root)

RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V63-V10.12.0_T8515B_V6.3_PCDDR31G_20151106

SURF1001-ANDROID5.0-V07-V7.15.0_T8515B_V6.3_SAMSUNG2G_20151016

RCT6503W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V66-V20.12.20-B-Camera-2M_PCDDR_V6.3-20150928

RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V63-V2.12.20-B-EMMC-user-Kingston-V6.1_20150811

Sources:

http://laurentiumihet.ro/technology/...test-versions/

http://www.needrom.com/download/mtk-...er-v5-1453-03/

http://pan.baidu.com/share/home?uk=2...ategory/type=0

http://baiduyun.57fx.cn/so-result.ht...7DK&type=share

And Google of course...
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Bootloader

So the bootloader on this tablet is locked. To unlock the bootloader, in a perfect world, you would usually boot the tablet in fastboot and type the command "fastboot oem unlock" and then follow the instructions on the screen. However RCA did not code in the volume keys in fastboot mode so it was impossible to unlock the bootloader that way. So our friend Bogram edited the bootloader and now the volume keys are not needed. What swell guy eh?

Unlocking your phone’s bootloader completely wipes (formats) your Android phone’s internal memory including applications, contacts, SMS and MMS messages etc.

So what you need is a scatter file like this one and a patched bootloader like these: x.12.x or x.9.x .

You will also need ADB & Fastboot and the drivers.

1- Just like in the FIRMWARE section, install drivers and SP Flash Tools.

2- Open SP Flash Tools and load the scatter file and in the line where you see "uboot" on the right click in the blank field and a window will pop up. select the patched bootloader. Make sure it checked and click on the "Download" button.

3- Now plug the male to male USB cable and then plug in the power. SP flash tool will flash the bootloader and then show you a nice little green check mark.

4- At this point you need to unpack the adb folder from the RAR file and place it in the root of you hard drive(C: ) then open a command prompt and nvigate to you adb folder (cd c:\adb) and leave it there for just a second.

5- On your tablet unplug the power wire, hit the reset button in the back and boot it into recovery mode by pressing and holding the volume up and power buttons together until the RCA splash screen comes up then release them.

6- In recovery, use the volume keys to navigate to "reboot to bootloader" and use the power button to select.

7- At this point your tablet will be in fastboot and your computer should detect it and install the driver. If not, the driver is in the "Android" folder in the driver files you extracted.

8- In your command prompt you left opened earlier, type "fastboot oem unlock".

9-Your tablet will do some magic, summon a demon, banish it to the depths of hell, reboot a couple of times and then it will have a unlocked bootloader.

10- Done. now you ca move on the next post and flash recovery.

Bogram also created a tool that patches the bootloader automatically should you have a different version we don't know about or what not...

RCA LittleKernel Unlock Patcher
By Bogram (http://xdaforums.com/member.php?u=7182821)
Tested models:
RCA Viking Pro (RCT6303W87DK), RCA Maven Pro (RCT6213W87DK)
USE THIS TOOL AT YOUR OWN RISK, NO WARRANTY IS PROVIDED.
License: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html
Input file:
W:/HaxeToolkit/projects/patcher/lk.bin
Wrote to:
W:/HaxeToolkit/projects/patcher/lk_patched.bin
Press any key to exit.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz4bOoJ_E5XzSnJ2R3d2NkxlU0k/view?usp=sharing
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
RECOVERY

This section depends on a unlocked bootloader. If you did not unlock your bootloader in the previous post, do so before continuing to this one.

So what you need is a scatter file like this one and a recovery.

CWM + Carliv compiled by vampirefo: (x.9.x)Clockworkmod recovery (x.12.x)Clockworkmod recovery

TWRP V3.00 compiled by Neporood: (x.9.x)TWRP V3.00 recovery (x.12.x)TWRP V3.00 recovery(Coming soon)

- Open SP Flash tool and select the scatter file.

- in the recovery line, on the right side in the blank field, click and select your downloaded recovery.

- Click on the download button.

- Make sure your tablet is off, plug the USB cable first and then the power cable.

- SP Flash tool will flash the recovery and show you a lovely green check mark.

- Once that is done your recovery will be flashed.

** The stock system has a file in the system folder called "recovery-from-boot.p". this file flashes stock recovery randomly at boot so with a rooted system, navigate to the folder with a root capable explorer and delete the file so that your new recovery stays there.

** When rebooting from recovery, cwm will tell you to fix root. Don't. Select no every time.

For thos of you who want a file explorer in recovery, You can download this Aroma installer flashable

It's a nice tool to have...

Aroma comes from here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1646108
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
ROMS

Not yet but soon.....
[Android General] NepoRood:
I'd swear I've seen all this somewhere before... lol

Good job, brother!
[Android General] jerryvail35:
Now , let the roms...begin.....
[Android General] Synman:
woot ... just in time as I brought my Viking Pro home from Wallyworld Saturday night.

Any thoughts on ADB? I couldn't make it all the way through the other thread and eventually just gave up.... ended up figuring out Kingroot on my own and then just enabled ADB over wifi. Would much rather have a wired ADB solution as moving an APK (I'm a developer, duh) over wifi can be somewhat s-l-o-w.
[Android General] thevypr:
Any plans to make a thread like this for the RCA Maven Pro (RCT6213W87DK)? It'd be really swell.

EDIT: Actually, with those sources you posted, I actually might be able to do this on my own.
[Android General] NepoRood:
I've got a Maven, and I've already done the porting. I'll be posting a guide tomorrow morning sometime. For now, I've sent you a PM with links to the firmware. Check your firmware version, mine is V36-1.9.21 (as long as you have the "9", you should be ok) The zip file has everything in it, preloader, scatter, custom recovery, etc...

Maven Guide is up, find it here
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Still working on adb... Trying to make a flashable ROM with the fixes... No timeframe tho..
[Android General] Synman:
I can't get the port(s) to light up under OSX. I've tried a couple build.prop changes, plugging in micro usb, usb type a, power connector, and various combinations but none of them appear to trigger registration of a usb device of any kind on the host machine.

I can't even get simple stuff like MTP to work.
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Time is my issue but I'm looking at two things. there is a firmware package i found on the Chinese server for a tablet with the model number rct6603w47dk with the same board as the viking pro but with a 8163 instead of the 8127. i think its doable to port over to our tablet. it is android 6. also the maven pro(rct6213w87dk) which is really close to our tablet with the same board but a larger screen, has adb working on it...
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
You should be getting a reaction through the micro usb port... on windows it shows up as a malfunctioning device.
[Android General] Synman:
i get nothing when sniffing the USB bus on my MBP.
[Android General] NepoRood:
I does the same thing on Ubuntu 14.04, absolutely nothing shows with "lsusb" in the terminal, unless it's in fastboot mode. You can use fastboot to flash the device, if you don't have access to a Windows machine...
[Android General] Jacube22:
I tested the new 1.9.3 firmware on my tablet... and it just shows a black screen.

DO NOT FLASH IT. it didn't work
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Ill find you guys some newer software that boots...
[Android General] e923:
What's the difference between sp_drive_v2.0_finally & mtk_sp_drivers_v2.0

Because I got the sp_drive install but having a problem with the mtk_sp , it keep popping up as incompatible software.... I'm stuck on the boot loader section
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
What version of Windows are you running..the difference is the drivers are signed or unsigned.. This matters more on newer versions of Windows.
[Android General] NepoRood:
Yeah, our advancements are surprising, lol. I didn't know about the adb thing, I never found the thread anyway :(
[Android General] PhillMc:
Just out of curiosity; how was access gained to use DD to pull the block? Would be useful for backing up and sifting through.
[Android General] darkensx:
im not sure how i missed this but theres a img file on the root of sdcard (internal storage) mmcblk0.img its a little over 8GB i will see if i can upload it i dont remember creating that img file :/
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
No adb access was ever gained... I use dd in the terminal emulator on the device ...
[Android General] PhillMc:
Figured... Lol; still useful.
[Android General] darkensx:
terminal emulator with root. just little fyi i dont have busybox installed.
[Android General] PhillMc:
Pretty sure busy box wouldn't be required as DD is integral to virtually all Linux based systems; including Android.
[Android General] darkensx:
yeah i know :P just stating that i didnt have it installed lol
[Android General] Voideka:
I've got a x.12.x firmware and I'm trying to unlock the bootloader here. I'm in fastboot (step 7), but I can't install the drivers on Win 7. I browsed to the MTK/Android folder but I just keep getting "Windows could not find driver software for your device." It shows up with a yellow warning sign in device manager as RCT6303W87DK. I'm using a type A male/type A male USB cable. Any ideas?

Edit: The hardware IDs are:

USB\VID_0BB4&PID_0C01&REV_0100

USB\VID_0BB4&PID_0C01

I'll try adding them to the inf

---

I added %CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0BB4&PID_0C01 at the bottom of [MediaTek.NTx86] and [MediaTek.NTamd64] and the drivers installed. Ran the command and it worked, though it left me on a boot mode screen which I had to reset out of.
[Android General] darkensx:
Adb can be gained just not traditionally and not without root.. get https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=za.co.henry.hsu.adbwirelessrootbyhenry from play store and adb via wifi :good:

---------- Post added at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 PM ----------

if you downloaded the drivers mention in post #2 (make sure your device is disconnected) once you extract MTK_SP_Drivers_v2.0.zip go to where you extracted the files you'll see 2 inf files (tetherxp and wpdmtp) and 2 folders android and cdc right click tetherxp and click install on the menu that pops up do the same for wpdmtp click yes/accept to any warnings and just ignore any errors next go into android folder right click android_winusb click install on the menu that pops up now now go back to the folder we started in and go into the cdc folder and do right click > install on cdc-acm now try plugging the device in window should install the drivers
[Android General] Voideka:
"The INF file you selected does not support this method of installation." I just added the PID to the INF and it worked alright. The CDC drivers installed normally, BTW, it's only the ADB drivers that wouldn't.
[Android General] PhillMc:
Why did I not consider this being a possibility? On a rooted device, this would entirely eliminate the need to find adb drivers... Opens a lot of doors on some of my older devices... :)
[Android General] darkensx:
only issue is you dont have the adb in recovery like to do : adb pull /dev/block/mmcblk0 mmcblk0.img ;) because it just tells me not a file or directory :confused:
[Android General] PhillMc:
Technically, it isn't; it's a block device. Plus, paths to devices are linked at boot according to however the boot-ee is configured. Comparable to the 'proc' directory and other 'temp' filesystems.
[Android General] darkensx:
is there a way to use adb to our advantage to get ahold of the files in mmcblk0 because i dont have a 64GB sdcard to do dd of mmcblk0
[Android General] PhillMc:
The device does have a full size USB port -- could mount external media (ext, fat32, vfat), though I wouldn't use fat32 due to filesize restrictions. Could also mount a network share.

Further, I wouldn't attempt dd'ing the entire mmcblk0 device, but rather dd a partition at a time; starting with mmcblk0p0 and work down until finding something useful. This'll get you a copy, but as long as the device is mounted you won't be able to directly write to it.
[Android General] NepoRood:
I couldn't get mine to "recognize" any usb stick over 32Gb... However, I've bricked it more than once, lol, maybe that's why. That's why I suggested one of those "high dollar" Ext SD cards.
[Android General] darkensx:
Do me a little favor if you could since you have a x.10.x look on your SD card/internal the root of it not root "/" directory...Is there a file mmcblk0.img? I don't know where the one on mine came from as I didn't create it.
[Android General] PhillMc:
When I get the chance I'll take a look.
[Android General] PhillMc:
Sorry -- the only thing visible in recovery file browser is *.zip files.
[Android General] darkensx:
Recovery file browser? Uh I meant while in the Android system and with root explorer or es file explorer or some equivalent.
[Android General] NepoRood:
A New Hope...

I think I'm on to something here guys, I need to see the following from a x10.x firmware user:

using a root file explorer (I use ES), goto / (root) folder, then the proc folder, and search for the file dumchar_info, make a copy and put it on your external sd card, copy to your computer and upload it, so I can take a look at it

Or, with your adb wifi app: adb pull /proc/dumchar_info

Or, increase font size in terminal emulator to at least 20 pt, then type: cat /proc/dumchar_info

Take a pic and upload that

If it matches mine, we're in business :good:

If not, I bet I can come up with something, get that posted and maybe you'll have your own firmware soon...

[MENTION=4666511]smartmanvartan[/MENTION], do I remember you saying you got MTK Droid Tools to recognize this tablet?
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
No I had bad experiences with droid tools ..why? what do you have?
[Android General] NepoRood:
Well, I figured out how to use the Readback function with the Flash Tool, pulling files one at a time or all at once, both work. However, I get a brom error when trying to flash it back, the images are also like twice size they should be. IE: recovery.img was 16Mb (instead of 8) :confused:

Using CIK, I unpacked and everything from recovery was in there, I repacked and it shrunk back to 8Mb, but still wouldn't flash

MTK Droid can "process" a whole system dump from the Flash Tool, but, with no device connected, that option is grey'd out (at least, I think that's why, lol)
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
But that's the problem. It needs an adb capable device.. Can you use the Wi-Fi adb?
[Android General] NepoRood:
I can use the adb terminal in MTK, connected via wifi, but that's it. I thought I read somewhere that someone got it to work with this, or maybe a different, RCA tablet. I'm going to do some searching I guess, see if I can find it again...

EDIT:

So, a couple guys got the MTK Tool to work by modifying the "config" file, but how they modified is unclear. I've tried a few different things, but still can't get it to recognize my device.

I'm off work tomorrow, so I'll try to work on it some more then
[Android General] PhillMc:
If only I had more than just recovery access I could provide more assistance. Sorry about that.
[Android General] NepoRood:
That's ok, the whole reason I'm doing trying to figure this out is to get you folks some firmware. I can pull firmware from my tablet, but it's not flashable in the current state :confused:

If I get that figured out, another x.10.x user could repeat the procedure and give you a firmware to flash ;)
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Are you able to pull the lk.bin?
[Android General] NepoRood:
I can pull anything the SPFT can flash, except, it's not flashable after the pull. I'm still working on why...
[Android General] PhillMc:
Are you certain the pull is preserving all attributes and permissions? A single change to a single bit will dramatically change checksums (aka signatures). For example, if you're pulling from a UNIX based filesystem to any FAT system, all permissions and attributes aren't preserved.
[Android General] NepoRood:
Hmm, I had to boot up Windows to flash my X10 and have been in here since, lol. I didn't think to go back to Linux and try, but I need to do some stuff with TWRP, so I'll be doing that shortly.
[Android General] motolio:
So, Im soft-bricked from trying some kernel "tweak" app last night. I found this and hoping you can help. Because I cannot get into the tablet to find my build number, which should I try? I have the 32 gb rct6303w87. I have the CDC drivers installed, as my computer obvious reads the tablet. The MTP driver keeps failing. Can you help?

thanks!
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Cab you boot in to recovery? The build number is in the recovery as well...
[Android General] motolio:
Nope I've tried everything. Should I just try a few of them, but not the preloader..? Recommendations ?
[Android General] darkensx:
Boom! here you go :P https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9vvQTsCktPJN2ZTZHBua2RIVjA
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Yeah don't flash the preloader. I guess start with x.12.x. Statistically it's the most common. I hope you don't have a x.10.x.
[Android General] NepoRood:
Alright, good deal. Now, I've made a "beginning" folder, it's attached below. It has a scatter file, the checksum.ini file and the APDB file in it. The rest is going to be on you, :p

Extract the zip package and launch the SP Flash Tool, click "Scatter Loading" and navigate to the MT8127_scatter.txt file, and select it.

This should fill in all your partition info. (If it doesn't, you may need to "borrow" my Preloader for a bit)

Next, click the Readback tab at the top (next to Download), it should be empty, click the Add button. In the new entry created, Double Click one of the entry fields, doesn't matter which (just not the one with the little X in it)

Navigate to the extracted x.10.x_firmware folder, change the name ROM_0, to recovery.img, and hit Save

When the Readback block start address window opens, leave Hex checked, and also leave the next field on EMMC_USER

For start address, enter: 0x2d80000

For size, enter: 0x512800

Then click OK

Now plug in your cables to your

Powered Off

tablet, both the male/male USB and the Micro end, then plug the male/male cable into the PC, hit the Read Back button, then plug the big end of the micro cable into the PC. This should start the readback process, shouldn't take long to pull the stock recovery, it's just a little over 5Mb

If it doesn't start after a few seconds, or you get a BROM error, leave everything plugged in and press and hold the Reset Button on the back of the tablet for a few seconds, then let go, it should work then (I've had this happen several times while doing Readbacks and Flashing)

Now, you should have a backup of your stock recovery. To test, click the Download tab, nothing should be checked, because you don't have any files to load, but if it is, you only want to check Recovery. Then Right Click on the file location and make sure your recovery backup is selected, make sure the drop down up top says: Download Only, then flash it following the same steps as for the readback.

If it works, we should be able to the same procedure for the rest of the partitions, we'll just need to enter different values in the Readback block fields. If it doesn't work, it won't overwrite, it should error out first. This may need to be done on a Linux machine, as that's what I used to do it successfully (finally, lol)

In the mean time, I'm going to boot back to Windows and give it a shot there, just to see ;)

Best of Luck,

Nepo
[Android General] darkensx:
seems to flash fine got green check mark from sp tools and no errors :good:
[Android General] motolio:
Why dontyou hope I have .10? should I just start with that one?

Thanks for all your help
[Android General] smartmanvartan:
Don't have any x.10.x firmware yet...Still looking that's why.. ;)
[Android General] NepoRood:
And it booted, both into recovery and with a normal start up? I just tested on Windows with the boot.img and got the same good results as on Linux, so the key is setting the correct size for the readback :good:

---------- Post added at 03:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------

We's about to build some though... :fingers-crossed:
[Android General] motolio:
Do you have the full x10x firmware file? or is this just the recovery?

Thanks

---------- Post added at 02:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:03 PM ----------

Just read your post about building it. Thanks!

---------- Post added at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:04 PM ----------

Would it hurt if I chose the format all and download option, or would that automatically erase my preloader too?

Thanks!
[Android General] PhillMc:
You've got me dancing in my chair; lol -- it's only a matter of time now. :D